Keeping A Sense of Humor Through Your Parenting Journey
When I discovered I was having twins after seeing two blips on the sonogram screen instead of one, I blurted out, “You have got to be kidding me!” Insert a commonly used expletive in place of “kidding” and you have what I really said. Now don’t mistake my initial reaction as negative. I was, and still am, extremely blessed and happy to have twins. Just a bit shell shocked, that’s all.
Armed with my new discovery, I headed to my nearest Barnes and Noble and proceeded to purchase almost every book imaginable about twins and twin pregnancy. Many helpful and practical suggestions are provided in books about multiples. Authors offer advice in many areas, including duo baby items to buy, techniques to feed babies simultaneously, arrangements for twin sleeping and much more. But cleverly tucked within all the practical advice is one very important point. All books regarding multiples emphasize it: Keep your sense of humor! Or, if you don’t have one, get one. Consider yourself and your offspring an award-winning comedy routine you can enjoy daily for free. It’s so much better to laugh and enjoy than to tie yourself in knots over your shortcomings and your children’s multiplicity.
I am here to tell you: Do not underestimate this suggestion. To benefit all mothers, I would like to share just a few examples of why this seemingly simple idea is a sanity-saving necessity in your child rearing days.
In your first few months post-partum when you are up every couple hours simultaneously breastfeeding your babies, keep your sense of humor. When both babies spit up the entire 30-minute session of the feeding you just finished, keep your sense of humor. When you just got done changing Twin A’s poopy diaper only to have her poop in the not-yet-fastened-diaper, and then when Twin B subsequently poops all over your sheets mid-change, keep your sense of humor.
In babies’ next few months, when all your help is gone and you are alone with your 2-year-old and twins, keep your sense of humor. You’ll find it comes in handy when your tots are all screaming bloody murder at the top of their lungs for no apparent reason. --And when you are bottle feeding both babies on the couch and your 2-year-old catapults food onto the kitchen walls and floor, ignoring your idle verbal threats. When you have buckled and loaded all three children in the mini-van five minutes before your well-baby visit that’s 20 minutes away, hold on to your sense of humor. When you arrive at the doctor’s office late only to realize the well-baby exam is next week, cling to your sense of humor.
When your oldest child is 2-and-a-half and the twins are mobile, keep your sense of humor. Babies’ rolling into each other and pulling each other’s hair and faces may challenge you. Your 2-and-a-half-year-old’s swiping of toys from the twins’ hands and yelling, “No, Sissies!” may test you. Her yanking a pillow from underneath one baby and pointing her finger in the other’s face may try you. But hold fast to your sense of humor.
When all three kids are finally ready for a nap, but you have a hefty flight of stairs and only two arms, keep your sense of humor. When your husband is out of town for a week and you have to repeat this every day on your own, keep your sense of humor. When after doing this for months you are physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted, keep your sense of humor.
Or, if you’re like me, write a desperate story about your experience, and realize that although you were totally unprepared for all this and feel crazy half of the time, you have still managed somehow…to keep your sense of humor.
Kansas City mom Erin Davis spends the bulk of her time chasing her loving, but strong willed two-year-old daughter and ten-month-old twin girls.