Nagging Negatives

I get it... I have twins and I will hear all sorts of comments about them because of this fact. I truly do wish though that more of the comments would be more on the positive side and not the negative.. I understand that not all twins and other multiples are well behaved in public. I also understand that having multiples is hard work. I realize that many people are glad that they aren't me (a mother/parent of multiples).

I do realize that even having 1 baby is hard work (and secretly I sometimes wish that I had 1 kid at a time too). Must I hear this almost every time I go out (even when I'm out with only one kiddo or by myself) ? Do they think that I am not sick of it? So I've started to retaliate..

• When I get asked "Are they twins?", I've started to say... "No..they're triplets...oh no I left one home alone".
• When they say "Double Trouble", I reply with "Twice as Nice" or "Double the Love".
• When they ask how I wound up with them... I so want to say 'I had infertility problems and after many years of trying we finally tried IVF and got lucky..do you need my doctor's number?' but I do usually just say "I guess I got lucky".

I've also been much more aware of people who are out with their own multiples and making sure that I comment positively or commend them on how great a job they are doing (even if the reality is far from that for them).

So you might be wondering why I am blogging about this tonight. Well something happened tonight while I was out getting groceries with Lily. We had scored a Car Shopping Cart (I've only seen 2 at our Stop n Shop and they are usually being used by kids that really don't need them) and Lily was having a great time sitting in the car section and turning the steering wheel and beeping the horn. She was also leaning out every so often and I was having to remind her to "Please sit up Lillian Grace" when she would do it. She only threw her hat out of the cart once (and luckily someone retrieved it for me). As we were leaving though someone commented about her (I can't even remember what they said) and I commented that we were heading home to Daddy and her twin and they were basically floored and commented about them being Double Trouble. People who don't even know us or have met Anna just figured that if Lily was acting up (she was at that moment) that her twin must be just as bad or didn't deserve the opportunity to go out with Mommy too. In truth, Lily was having a not so good day and it was easier to bring her with me than to leave her at home to have a fit with Daddy since I had taken the opportunity to do some last minute shopping for the holidays with my mom and was gone for a few hours today. These comments just aren't fair. So if you've made it this far into my rambling on this posting, please be kind to parents of multiple children. We need to hear it.