Twins and “triplets” in France

Renae determined to enjoy her usual cuddles even if she had to share them

We are enjoying an autumn break in France at the moment and last week were joined by my brother and his family. It was the first visit to France for my 10 month old twin nephews and the first time that Susie-Belle, Renae and Twinkle have had babies in their home. I have been a little concerned how everyone would get along as the girls are not used to children for any length of time and a week in their space was going to be a good test of their mettle.

It’s important for Twinkle especially to have good routines, that way she definitely relaxes and feels relatively at ease each day. I knew having babies around would disrupt these but as it turned out, Twinkle was not in the least bothered by the twins and attendant chaos that inevitably accompanies twins. I did what I could to maintain the routines of walking and feeding – the girls not the twins – but the major thing that was disturbed for the week was sleep. Daytime sleeping is what the girls do a lot of once morning exercise is over with, they will happily snooze till the afternoon once settled in the mornings. This didn’t happen for the week, the babies routines didn’t match the girls routine. I think this led Susie-Belle in particular to get a little over tired and by the last afternoon, she was a bit grumpy, barking more than usual, showing signs of being hyper alert to any movement or noise the twins made. I tried all week to give the girls their own space, taking them into the bedroom for some quiet time, but they feared missing out on things and always made their way straight back downstairs. Perhaps I should have enforced a quiet hour or so each day, but that was never really going to work, so I didn’t !

But we did have a brilliant week together, very different to our usual peace and quiet. It was a lot of fun having my nephews here and we got to take them on some of the favourite walks we do, albeit shortened versions. We were sad to say goodbye at the end of their stay, but I’m not entirely sure the girls agreed, I think they’ve secretly liked having the place back for themselves, the return of peaceful, lazy days and quiet walk without the accompanying twin buggy.