by Bex
Now that we're in the new house I have finally been let loose on the ordering of important baby related items! :D
Along with the obvious unpacking, organising, decorating and sorting that goes along with moving into a new home, I have also been working my way through the 'twin list'. We've now ordered the Bugaboo (a very generous gift from my in-laws), the cots, the co-sleeper (recommended by a few twin mums but it's £295! We bought ours second hand on ebay for just £80 barely used and it's fully washable.), the bean bags (as recommended by Roz and I found a 10% off code!), various bits for the nursery, LOTS of Ikea flat-pack (which Mum mostly built) and we're currently researching baby carriers and breast pumps. (Any advice on these would be very gratefully received - I had seen the Medela Freestyle double recommended for twin mums but it's pretty pricy. Anyone have any experience of electric pumps? I'm now thinking about the Medela Swing as recommended by Zoe and Roz.
Baby wearing options are proving to be a difficult one - there is just SO much choice out there!! Slings vs carriers - we'd want one each so we can go for walks together without the pram (particularly down the little woodland lanes nearby) and if they can be worn front and back, it gives me the option of wearing both babies at once if required when they're a bit older. I've also seen slings worn with a baby on each hip which might work better so straps aren't getting crossed over and confused while avoiding crushing any baby parts on front and back!
Some of the above items have actually started arriving now too! Our Bugaboo came much quicker than anticipated (we were told 6 weeks when we ordered it which made me panic slightly but it showed up after just 2, yay!) and we built it on Monday evening. We ordered it from a great local baby shop called Frills All Round which is apparently the baby shop for most of Sussex! It's huge and has so much stock and we found our Bugaboo for the same price as everywhere else we'd seen it but they gave us a 5% twin discount which we were delighted with! :)
I absolutely love it but after seeing the coloured fabric canopies and cot aprons in real life I was a bit disappointed with the colours. The petrol blue which looks a nice bright teal on the website is incredibly dull (not at all me) and a lot more blue than I thought. The cream was quite bright, making the petrol blue look worse and it also concerned Nik how dirty it might get in the winter with mud spraying up from the wheels, etc. When we ordered it, we even decided to change the cream for the sand but that was discontinued, or the bright pink but that was also discontinued. Our only other choices were blue, baby pink, royal blue, red or black. None of which I like and I didn't want two the same. After already being limited in our choice of buggies due to needing a double one, I'd already missed out on the myriad of colours available out there for so many other buggies/prams. None of the double ones came in 'my green' of course so I was happy with the nice teal. I think you'll agree that it's nothing like the website picture shows:
Luckily there are older colours for the Donkey available on ebay so I spent the next day searching for a colour I knew to be a limited edition from 2012. I found one full set available, barely used and a decent buy-it-now price. Perfect! I thought Nik might go mad but I ordered it anyway and it arrived the very next day and I love it! We both prefer it to the previous colours and I've sourced a brand new Sand set as well. Once that arrives I'll show you the all new, much more Bex style Bugaboo! ;) (It's still not olive green though.)
Now we're just hoping we can return the original fabrics to the shop for a refund as they haven't actually been used and have folded nicely back into the boxes. (They're sold separately elsewhere but we were given a price for the whole twin set up so we're not sure if we can return them.) If not, we'll just sell them on ebay.
The cots arrived today (Thursday) and Mum built one which was extremely frustrating as it was SUPER simple to put together - basically just inserting 16 bolts into 16 holes with specially shaped nuts placed inside - yet it took over an hour due to the silly design of the nuts meaning getting the bolts to actually thread into the right place was a nightmare! If Mum swore it would have been a very sweary hour!! We've left the other one for Nik! ;) (The other one actually arrived damaged so I need to contact the company about that so we're not building it yet.)
Anyway, as for the babies themselves, they seem to be blissfully unaware, kicking away frequently which is just as well as it's now been 8 weeks rather than 4 since our last scan so I have no idea if they are still growing well, at least I know they're alive in there with all the squirming! SO many people keep commenting on how 'neat' I am and you'd never know there's 2 in there, etc that I'm getting a bit paranoid that they're too small and not growing the same as before. I'll be glad when we see them again tomorrow afternoon! We missed a scan due to the move and scheduling them down here is a bit trickier as ultrasound seems to be very busy. I've now met my local midwife, had my booking in appointment all over again at our new hospital (more bloods, urine and lots of the same forms basically), the 'twin midwife' at the hospital who will see us at all our appointments there and we'll meet the twin consultant on Monday at our next appointment where we'll all plan the birth! Eeek! Only 6 weeks to go now, unless the babies have other plans and come early!! I'll either be induced or have a c-section at 37/38 weeks unless there are any problems before then. Oh and I found out that even if I can have a natural birth, I can't have a water birth (which I always wanted) or use the pool at all since they need to monitor the babies closely from the beginning. :( Obviously we'll do whatever's safest and needs to be done but I was a bit disappointed. It might end up needing to be a section anyway.
Anyway, I'll do a proper pregnancy update soon and finally share those 3D scan pics with you! :)
Now that we're in the new house I have finally been let loose on the ordering of important baby related items! :D
Along with the obvious unpacking, organising, decorating and sorting that goes along with moving into a new home, I have also been working my way through the 'twin list'. We've now ordered the Bugaboo (a very generous gift from my in-laws), the cots, the co-sleeper (recommended by a few twin mums but it's £295! We bought ours second hand on ebay for just £80 barely used and it's fully washable.), the bean bags (as recommended by Roz and I found a 10% off code!), various bits for the nursery, LOTS of Ikea flat-pack (which Mum mostly built) and we're currently researching baby carriers and breast pumps. (Any advice on these would be very gratefully received - I had seen the Medela Freestyle double recommended for twin mums but it's pretty pricy. Anyone have any experience of electric pumps? I'm now thinking about the Medela Swing as recommended by Zoe and Roz.
 |
| Our gorgeous rucomfy baby beanbags! Love the colour! |
Baby wearing options are proving to be a difficult one - there is just SO much choice out there!! Slings vs carriers - we'd want one each so we can go for walks together without the pram (particularly down the little woodland lanes nearby) and if they can be worn front and back, it gives me the option of wearing both babies at once if required when they're a bit older. I've also seen slings worn with a baby on each hip which might work better so straps aren't getting crossed over and confused while avoiding crushing any baby parts on front and back!
Some of the above items have actually started arriving now too! Our Bugaboo came much quicker than anticipated (we were told 6 weeks when we ordered it which made me panic slightly but it showed up after just 2, yay!) and we built it on Monday evening. We ordered it from a great local baby shop called Frills All Round which is apparently the baby shop for most of Sussex! It's huge and has so much stock and we found our Bugaboo for the same price as everywhere else we'd seen it but they gave us a 5% twin discount which we were delighted with! :)
I absolutely love it but after seeing the coloured fabric canopies and cot aprons in real life I was a bit disappointed with the colours. The petrol blue which looks a nice bright teal on the website is incredibly dull (not at all me) and a lot more blue than I thought. The cream was quite bright, making the petrol blue look worse and it also concerned Nik how dirty it might get in the winter with mud spraying up from the wheels, etc. When we ordered it, we even decided to change the cream for the sand but that was discontinued, or the bright pink but that was also discontinued. Our only other choices were blue, baby pink, royal blue, red or black. None of which I like and I didn't want two the same. After already being limited in our choice of buggies due to needing a double one, I'd already missed out on the myriad of colours available out there for so many other buggies/prams. None of the double ones came in 'my green' of course so I was happy with the nice teal. I think you'll agree that it's nothing like the website picture shows:
 |
| Image on left from Bugaboo website, on right - our real life bugaboo. |
Luckily there are older colours for the Donkey available on ebay so I spent the next day searching for a colour I knew to be a limited edition from 2012. I found one full set available, barely used and a decent buy-it-now price. Perfect! I thought Nik might go mad but I ordered it anyway and it arrived the very next day and I love it! We both prefer it to the previous colours and I've sourced a brand new Sand set as well. Once that arrives I'll show you the all new, much more Bex style Bugaboo! ;) (It's still not olive green though.)
Now we're just hoping we can return the original fabrics to the shop for a refund as they haven't actually been used and have folded nicely back into the boxes. (They're sold separately elsewhere but we were given a price for the whole twin set up so we're not sure if we can return them.) If not, we'll just sell them on ebay.
The cots arrived today (Thursday) and Mum built one which was extremely frustrating as it was SUPER simple to put together - basically just inserting 16 bolts into 16 holes with specially shaped nuts placed inside - yet it took over an hour due to the silly design of the nuts meaning getting the bolts to actually thread into the right place was a nightmare! If Mum swore it would have been a very sweary hour!! We've left the other one for Nik! ;) (The other one actually arrived damaged so I need to contact the company about that so we're not building it yet.)
 |
| Image Source Saplings Kirsty Cot Bed |
Anyway, as for the babies themselves, they seem to be blissfully unaware, kicking away frequently which is just as well as it's now been 8 weeks rather than 4 since our last scan so I have no idea if they are still growing well, at least I know they're alive in there with all the squirming! SO many people keep commenting on how 'neat' I am and you'd never know there's 2 in there, etc that I'm getting a bit paranoid that they're too small and not growing the same as before. I'll be glad when we see them again tomorrow afternoon! We missed a scan due to the move and scheduling them down here is a bit trickier as ultrasound seems to be very busy. I've now met my local midwife, had my booking in appointment all over again at our new hospital (more bloods, urine and lots of the same forms basically), the 'twin midwife' at the hospital who will see us at all our appointments there and we'll meet the twin consultant on Monday at our next appointment where we'll all plan the birth! Eeek! Only 6 weeks to go now, unless the babies have other plans and come early!! I'll either be induced or have a c-section at 37/38 weeks unless there are any problems before then. Oh and I found out that even if I can have a natural birth, I can't have a water birth (which I always wanted) or use the pool at all since they need to monitor the babies closely from the beginning. :( Obviously we'll do whatever's safest and needs to be done but I was a bit disappointed. It might end up needing to be a section anyway.
Anyway, I'll do a proper pregnancy update soon and finally share those 3D scan pics with you! :)
4 comments:
Going to pm you on fb re slings :)
Love the beanbags with built-in Y fronts!
You're absolutely correct about the teal....
Ax
Hi Bex. Glad to hear all going well. I used the Phillips Avent electric breast pump - you can do both boobs at once! It was brilliant and has variable pumping speeds which was very handy. Not sure about price as I was given it. Cannot recommend Lansinoh nipple cream and breast pads enough. The pads are slightly more expensive but they do not leak! I bulk brought them from Amazon. Xx
That colour doesn't look like the petrol blue at all does it; I'm sure I've seen it in JL and it looks a lot more teal, do you think they've maybe sent ice blue instead?
If not, I was considering getting it for baby girl but not if its that blue, will need to go back and have a look.
We've got a baby bjorn carrier that we had for H but im considering the new ergo one as it can now carry baby facing outwards which Holden loved on the bjorn but the older ergo doesn't have.
Pump wise I've got a philips avent electric one too; started with the manual but it was too much work!
I agree with the lansinoh breast pads too, more expensive but far superior to any other ones. I leaked a lot and any others were awful.
Post a Comment