The Shock of the Two

Le weekend: Ice-cream, ice-cream everywhere!

2011-07-03T15:26:00.000-07:00

Mmm, mmm, mmm. The floodgates to ice-cream - or preferably gelato - have opened. We have discovered the delights of gelato at La Bottega di Giovanni, aka the Italian deli-cafe on Franciscan Road in Tooting. Super child-friendly (when we were babies they didn't baulk at our buggy taking over half the space) we are finally big enough to share a few scoops of gelato with mummy at the table. We also love their selection of pasta, especially the finger tubes which are the perfect size to fit on our fingers.

We've also been sampling the ice-cream from the Tooting Common Cafe too. Not quite as lush as the gelato from the deli, but good. Mummy was pleased to see that we actually stopped eating the ice-cream once we'd had enough, rather than scooping out and slurping to the last lick. Maybe a legacy of our breastfeeding days? That said, it is something mummy finds difficult to do, and she was breastfed.

Bert (tee-shirt Stardust Kids Clothing)

Freddie (tee-shirt Stardust Kids Clothing)

Mummy has slightly decided that a little bit of ice-cream won't hurt, and if she wants to eat it, it'd be hard to explain why we shouldn't. Although we don't get to gorge on it and she makes sure we brush our teeth well morning and night-time (we're getting good at brushing teeth). Latest ice-cream spot to try out: Limoncello on Mitcham Road...

Le weekend: Twins make a splash at Tooting Bec Lido

2011-06-26T14:33:00.000-07:00

What a scorcher, mum! Today was a very hot day and we rode on the back on mummy and daddy's bikes up to the Tooting Bec Lido to meet our buddies Matilda and Ben for a splash in the paddling pool. It was busy - we queued very patiently for about 15 minutes, toddling alongside mummy and daddy as the queue progressed towards the entrance - but not so hectic you couldn't think, and we loved splashing in the pool. Mummy and daddy were disappointed when a floater in the pool meant it was closed down for the day - unsubstantiated rumours abound that the culprit's parents hadn't even put him/her in a swim nappy - but we were happy playing under the trees and eating our picnic lunch, with Matilda very kindly sharing everything she had with us.

After the paddling pool closed, mummy and daddy tried to convince us to swim in the big pool (largest outdoor freshwater pool in Europe or summat, don't ya know), but we were not having any of it, so we still haven't quite managed to have a proper swim yet. Soon, soon...

Four hours of playing later (could've been longer if not for the pool closure - good value for £5.50 per adult) we cycled back via Matilda's house where we played in the paddling pool and with a hose (to the point we were shivering with cold!), and we had yummy pasta and sauce, and ice-cream and a cake! Thanks to Matilda's mummy. Again, next Sunday please!

Le weekend: Father's Day out with daddy (and mummy) at Deen City Farm

2011-06-19T13:22:00.000-07:00

Happy fathers' day daddy! Seems unbelievable that this is our third fathers'day already. We each made daddy a card at nursery, very successfullly we might add(!), and bought daddy an American football top from Xclusive on London Road in Tooting. More importantly, we went by bike along part of south west London's Wandle Trail to Deen City Farm, one of our favourite places to go and see animals, and usually have a picnic lunch too, while watching the horses. this fantastic resource has just had its funding from Merton cut by 12% with a further cuts planned in the next financial year, threatening its survival. Mummy could rant for hours about how wrong this is (and may well do in future posts, when she is less tired) but meantime, if you'd like to know more hit their website, or better still sign the petition to urge Merton to reconsider the cuts.

Anyway, where were we? Ah yes, the horses. Having sung several rounds of 'horsey, horsey don't you stop' to said beasts as they cantered and jumped around the farm's riding school showring, we had baked potato in the cafe (which also has a very entertaining fish tank). Afterwards we did the rounds of the farmyard - ducks, geese, rabbits, guinea pigs, finches, chicks - and then the paddocks - sheep, twin lambs, cows, pigs, alpacas, goats and (bucking) horses.

As well as the farm, we have also been to two friends' birthday parties - Scarlet and Matilda both turned two this weekend - happy birthday girls! This meant we have spent a lot of time singing 'happy birthday to you' and blowing our imaginary candles (as well as a few real ones). Matilda got given an amazing cow-shaped space hopper, which caused much covetous excitement and a bar brawl broke out between all toddlers in attendance. The quantities of cake consumed over the past two days may also have had something to do with it.

Don't forget to sign the petition to urge Merton to reconsider the cuts to funding of Deen City Farm! You don't have to be a resident to appreciate how fantastic a resource this city farm is.

Le Weekend: Twins leg it to Legoland Atlantis Submarine ride

2011-06-12T13:56:00.000-07:00

What a busy weekend! Following a flying visit from Nanny and Grandad yesterday, today we headed to Legoland in Windsor with mummy and daddy, to try out the new Atlantis Submarine ride and generally get acquainted with Lego (and Duplo) bricks on a grand scale. This involved three underground trains, two big trains and one taxi/bus each way, but we assure you it was absolutely worth it.

We were lucky enough to be invited to a special preview morning, which meant no queuing and a ride in a yellow submarine alongside Dom (of Dick and Dom fame) and also Matt Baker (Blue Peter.) Not that Mummy realised, as she is generally not a good celeb spotter. When we first embarked, we weren't too sure about the submarine, Bert even started to cry - it's dark and they're on a constant loop so we had to be carried in - but once the lights went up in the water and we could see the fishes (and in the next tank, the sharks) we really enjoyed it.

The submarines have floor to waist-height (head-height for us) windows, so you have a brilliant view of all the colourful fish, sharks and Atlantis-themed lego sculptures. Afterwards we enjoyed the mini interactive aquarium features, which included a tank with a tunnel so you could pop-up in a bubble in the middle, and also touch rock-pools. We touched a crab and also a sea apple.

We were unlucky with the weather, which was very wet but not too cold, but there was still plenty to do and it meant there weren't too many queues. We watched a puppet show, where we also ate a picnic lunch, and Freddie took a ride on a miniature blue train with Daddy (Bert wasn't keen and helped mummy take pictures instead.) There were lots of well-designed activities for all ages, and we could imagine there'd be lots of fun to be had in drier weather, although mummy and daddy suspect we'll appreciate it more when we're a couple of years older, and if we had better waterproofs in case of rain again. Mummy has certainly decided she's looking into more stylish wet weather gear after Keisha ex-Sugarbabe mistook her for the staff.

It isn't a cheap day out, but Legoland does seem to be great value for money, with more than enough for an action-packed day out, and there are often offers for one and two day passes and overnight breaks - and look out for Legoland Hotel which launches in 2012!

Mummy's been looking into going back and discovered it's actually free for under-3s to go to Legoland, but adults pay £37.20 each if they book online. There is a great 'Pre-School' pass for 3-5 year-olds, which costs £45 for a year of unlimited access for a child and one accompanying adult - we want one for two-year-olds!

Le Weekend: Twins bike Tooting Common

2011-06-05T14:44:00.000-07:00

This weekend we had our first ever ride on a bicycle, and we think this is definitely the way to travel! Mummy and Daddy are excited, as it suggests that a return to cycling holidays is on the horizon (albeit a few years away yet.)

We were very intrigued at the prospect, trying to help Daddy fix the Hamax Sleepy seats, which Grandpa gave us (previously used by our aunties), onto the bike, wanting to try out the seats, wear our 'bike hats' and generally wanting to get involved. Picnic packed, wearing our new Met helmets, Daddy bought for us from Mongoose Cycles on Colliers Wood High Street, we set off - with Mummy veering precariously for the first 20 metres or so. The balance is all different with a seat on the back, and also she hasn't cycled since she got pregnant nearly three years ago (a bike and a buggy in our hallway would just be awkward!) but it really is true that it is just like riding a bike...

Once mummy had worked through her wobbly patch over Figges Marsh, we hung a left and headed up to Tooting Common, where we stopped to see the ducks and play in the playground. Then daddy realised he had a puncture and we had to detour via the very friendly Crazy Horse bike shop at Tooting Bec to get a new inner tube. Needless to say, as we were wheeled there, we both fell asleep (seats are obv comfy enough then!), with Bert having to be taken out at the shop so the wheel could be attended to.

Overall we very much enjoyed being passengers on mummy and daddy's bikes, and have been clamouring to go out again ever since. It made getting around so much quicker, although the downside being that mummy and daddy have to keep cycling if we fall asleep, and promises to be the key of lots of fun days out this summer (not today though, as it rained. Boo.) Mummy and daddy will make sure they take the puncture repair kit next time though!

Battersea Park Children's Zoo as we hit the twos

2011-04-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to us! Two today and what a blast life is so far. Mummy is writing this, glass of well-earned champers in hand, while we snore away next door (having refused sleep till at least 9.30pm - gah!) The day didn't go quite how it did in her fantasy head (like, she didn't get us a card, or one for dad, and we left the house later than planned, which is usual. Then we fell asleep before getting to our destination so went in later than planned), but Daddy pointed out that it was still a great day, and Mummy chilled out and enjoyed herself and all the things which were gerat and did happen rather than the bits that didn't.

Mummy and Daddy took today off work and we went to Battersea Park Children's Zoo, where we forked out £26 for a family ticket (by the time we discovered they start charging once you turn two it was too late to hide the two massive '2' helium balloons Daddy bought us and tied to our buggy), which felt steep at the time, but in fact was great value, even just for our entertaining monkey impressions. If we went again, we'd take a picnic (La Gondola cafe on the park's lake is a rip-off, although the zoo's cafe more reasonable) and go for a whole day, as there's loads to do, with farm animals to the more exotic (and they do feeding time), and also loads of activity spaces - a sandpit, climbing frames, a fire engine, a tractor.

We just got back from a fantastic week on the Isle of Wight with our buddy Joby and his mum and dad, after which we made it as far as Bristol for a couple of days to catch up with Nanny, Grandad, Granny, and lots of family and friends. This included two birthday teas, which involved eating far too much cake, and grim poos.

Back by popular demand - did you miss us?

2011-02-16T12:54:00.000-08:00

Bert

Freddie

After a two month hiatus, and following much lobbying from Granny, Nanny, extended family and unexpectedly fans, The Shock of the Two is back. The interruption to service was due to Mummy having a moment of reflection vis-a-vis work, life, the universe and everything inbetween.

Lots has happened since we last posted, after our nursery Christmas party. Christmas, of course, which we spent with family and friends in Bristol. New Year's Eve, which we spent with friends in London; babies were put abed upstairs while the mummies and daddies forgot momentarily that they were parents (Mummy to spectacular effect. Whoops.)

We have grown - gone up two shoe sizes in as many months, and are now the proud owners of a pair of proper trainers with flashing lights, from Clarks. We have moved up to the toddler class at nursery and are really loving it, especially as lots of out friends from the baby room are there too.

We love animals, singing, dancing, exploring, books - all sorts of things. Apparently we also love raw broccoli - which we discovered when mummy was talking us through vegetables from our Riverford box.

Our first meeting with Father Christmas - and he seems familiar...

2010-12-15T14:40:00.000-08:00

Today was the nursery Christmas party. Mummy and Daddy came in last Friday and helped us make sparkly hats, which we wore almost the whole party - although Bert's kept falling over his eyes.

We had a singalong in our room, then joined the older room for dancing and a party tea. We also met Father Christmas in the sensory room/grotto, who gave us each a duck hand puppet. We weren't sure about him at all - although he did look familiar.

Wandsworth Twins Club party means action-packed advent

2010-12-12T14:56:00.000-08:00

WOW! What a busy couple of days we've had. Not only a visit from Nanny and Grandad, but also the Wandsworth Twins Club Christmas Party AND a Christmas get-together with our pal Leila (and Rex too, but he was asleep).

This meant today was a baby marathon: after an impromptu visit from our Bristol buggy pals Josh and Ollie, who dropped in this morning, we went onto a slap-up Sunday roast at The Railway, Streatham Common (if you're in the area, definitely check it out - they do AMAZING baby/child portions.)

Then we hopped on the train to Battersea Park, via Balham (where Mummy made a mad dash for raffle tickets) and then onto the One O'Clock Club for the WTC Christmas get-together. We were a bit defuddled, but were drawn into the merriment of musical entertainment from Tin Pan Annie, and enjoyed picking up wrapping paper after a visit from Father Christmas.

There was a great raffle, with a top prize of a photoshoot from Nadia Swindell (who also snapped the event), as well as prizes from Little Legs Company, Cupcake, Trotters, Estee Lauder, Babymel, Twins UK, Jojo Maman Bebe and, oh, our Daddy, who gave a personal training session! Well, mummy did help organise it!

After a picnic tea we headed to The Calf in Clapham Old Town (friendly but no highchairs) to meet Leila and Rex and assorted grown-ups. We got lots of lovely presents, including Little People from Leila, and brilliant pop-up books and fancy dress Christmas bibs.

It was a good day, but Mummy and Daddy are NOT going to ever pack so much action into one day again EVER!

Freddie and Bert experience snow in London

2010-12-03T13:11:00.000-08:00

This week a new word augmented our vocabulary - snow. Wrapped up warm in as many layers as mummy and daddy can get on us, we've been experiencing funny cold white stuff, which is like a sparkly blanket across our neighbourhood. When you're a toddler, a few inches is hard work to wade through!

At nursery, our key workers brought snow from outside so we could play with it in our sand-tray table. Yesterday it had boats in it, and today it was dinosaurs. Today, mummy and daddy came to pick us up early, and we waddled round the park in our wellies with our pals Noah and Dylan, and their mummy, before seeking refuge in the Lavender Centre's cosy sensory room.

Bye, bye breastfeeding cushion...

2010-11-03T15:23:00.000-07:00

In the week that we officially became bipeds, it seems fitting that Mummy has sold our EZ-2 Nurse breastfeeding cushion. She feels a bit sentimental about it - it was probably THE most essential purchase she has made as a twin mother, and completed a 14 month, much-appreciated service.

So as we toddle off to bedtime tomorrow, saying bye-bye to everything in the house (literally everything -dolly, teddies, toys, balls, washing, hallway) we'll also say a final farewell and thank you to our blue cushion. We hope it goes on to help another twin mummy to breastfeed - in our experience it really makes things a whole lot easier!

Mummy and Daddy have volunteered to talk about how they approached exclusive breastfeeding at NCT breastfeeding counsellor (and mother to triplets!) Janet Rimmer's seminar at the TAMBA AGM on November 20. They think it's important that twin parents know that it dan be done!

Happy Halloween little pumpkins

2010-10-31T15:11:00.000-07:00

Little pumpkins have been enjoying Halloween activities; a party at the nursery, organised by the parents' committee, and the Tooting Common Pumpkin Parade, organised by the Friends of Tooting Common. No trick or treating this year though!

Sunday lunch for all the family at Balham's Locale

2010-10-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

Freddie

Bert

Uncle Tom came to visit today, so Aunty Harriet joined us for a belated 30th birthday lunch for Tom at Balham baby hotspot Locale.

Situated on the main drag, halfway between Balham and Tooting Bec, Locale is a reasonably-priced, authentic-feel Italian, which welcomes kids and babies, natch. The approachable staff welcomed us straightaway and brought out two sturdy wooden highchairs for us to use. As is often the case in family-friendly restaurants, service was slightly on the slow side, but - once the food has arrived - this is kind of what you want when you have two children at the table.

Freddie and Harriet share a raspberry

Bert, Freddie, spotless!

Bert, Freddie, checking for approval

We shared a sausage and ragu pasta dish with Mummy, and had a taste of her tiramisu (the top layer, without the coffee, obv.) , and generally enjoyed making friends with other customers. Before we left, we gave the table a good wipe, and have been offered a Christmas job. Maybe in 16 years' time we'll hold them to that.

Bert and Tom discuss perils of Oz sharks

Cosy coats for Diana Memorial Playground and Kapoor in Kensington

2010-10-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

Having hit Peter Jones to scoop up a couple of cosy winter coats (don't we look smart!), we met our buggy pal Luca at the Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens. This is an AMAZING playground, which we don't appreciate yet, but mummy and daddy can't wait till we do! Grown-ups can only go in if they are accompanied by a child.
Actually finding the playground was really quite difficult as the signposts seem skewed (could also be because mummy and daddy were a bit sleep-deprived), but no matter; as well as copius quantities of ducks and dogs (high value for us), Anish Kapoor's 'Turning the World Upside Down' sculpture trail was dotted around the park - reflective metal structures reflecting and subverting the view of the sky. Beautiful.

Rainy days at play...

2010-10-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

Rainy days don't stop play in our house - unless we all want to come down with a severe dose of cabin fever. So Mummy and Daddy zip us into our Snugbug waterproof all-in-one suits, bought from the Fishermen's Cooperative in St Ives, and we can play in the puddles to our heart's content. We've seen similar at Bush Baby (which also does some snuggly fleece all-in-ones very like ones we used as little babies) and Waterproof World (a whole website dedicated to babies and kids' raingear - amazing!)

This Sunday we walked outside for the first time, first with Daddy's help, and then on our own. In the last week we have started really enjoying walking, and are getting better and better every day. Shame one of Bert's shoes have gone missing and we're awaiting replacement - thanks to ebay! - slippers just aren't waterproof!

Sweetcorn-fuelled steppin' out

2010-09-30T13:00:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month, while we were by the sea (more on that soon), Freddie took his first, very tentative, steps unaided. Bert was underwhelmed by the prospect, and has been mainly sticking to all fours, although we've both been enjoying the walkers at nursery.

This week, Bert's interest has picked up, and we've been getting braver, trying dashes between furniture and into Mummy and Daddy's arms. Possibly fuelled by super-seasonal sweetcorn from our Riverford box, this evening we had our most enthusiastic walking attempts yet, both standing in the middle of the room and walking confidently across to Mummy and Daddy. Slow and steady wins the race!

Home alone and a trip to Colourscape

2010-09-29T13:48:00.000-07:00

...well not exactly home alone, uncle Tom and aunty Harriet came to stay and looked after us while Mummy and Daddy went away for TWO WHOLE NIGHTS. It was the first time they'd had a weekend away since we were born, and it seemed to work out well for all. Mummy and Daddy wrote copious 'how to' notes, and Tom and Harriet amused themselves by sending photoshopped pics of us to Mummy and Daddy (the Childcatcher one being particularly upsetting to a fragile, hungover Daddy).

Determined to spoil us, Tom and Harriet took us to the annual Colourscape Festival on Clapham Common. Colourscape is an inflatable, multi-coloured inflatable 'maze', with music staged inside. Participants wear coloured capes (as we are in the picture), which enhance the kaleidoscopic adventure. We were sceptical at first, but were soon crawling merrily about the space, and came out the other end pretty zoned out...

Messy play... five minutes light work

2010-09-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

We have a reputation for enjoying messy play at nursery, so when Mummy dropped us of this morning we decided we should show her how it's done. This pic shows the results of five minutes' hard graft at a builders' tray full of squidgey paint. Even Mummy ended up covered from top to tow - luckily she was working from home today.

Our buddies Kyler and Jeremiah got in on the action, and we all had very funky hair by the end, which had dried in by the time Mummy came to collect us at the end of the day. Jahshante's mum ( a hair stylist) gave Mummy a top tip for getting the paint out; massage in a bit of baby shampoo and leave it to soak for a bit, then rinse and massage out the shampoo and paint. The bath water turned purple, and the foam was impressive, but Mummy can report that it did the trick. We used the Moisturising Shampoo from the new Simple Baby range, and can confirm that it is definitely a 'no-tears' formula, judging by the purple rivulets running into out eyes without irritating!

Messy play is definitely one of the big bonuses of nursery - especially for twins, asit just seems too much to start pulling out the paints at home, and we've only done it once so far.

Bristol for friends and family time, and the Harbour Festival

2010-08-03T14:14:00.000-07:00

This weekend we broke a self-imposed six month hiatus to visit family and friends in Bristol. Since Daddy' dislocated his shoulder, making the train journey seemed too much of a challenge, as Mummy ended up being a bit of a packhorse!

We checked out the Bristol Harbour Festival, heading to Castle Park for the children's zone and BITA twin towns zone (which Alix was managing), which were by far the most chilled out and baby-friendly areas. Most importantly, got to meet our mini buggy pal Josh, little bro to Ollie, and catch up with Joby. Here we are wearing our pirate-themed tee-shirts - Gracie has one too, as we are the St Ives pirate crew!

Happy birthday Gracie girl!

2010-07-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

Life seems to be an endless whirl of first birthday parties at the moment - and who could complain? Sunshine, picnics, cake, presents and lots of fun for all of us.

Today is Gracie's first birthday, and we hit the Brockwell Park paddling pool for a celebratory splash around with her and her family. It was great to help our best girl mark a big milestone. Her Mummy and Daddy had bought her a charm bracelet to build through her life. We bought her a pirate t-shirt!We laid out picnic rugs under the tree, and Gracie's Mummy and Daddy brought a cartload of food, balloons and goodies for us to share. It's party central - there were other parties going on all around us, but the paddling pool was surprisingly unhectic.

Gracie's Mummy made a yummy heart-shaped sponge cake, filled with strawberries and cream. We enjoyed this.

We were all tired bunnies by the end of the day, and had to schlep to Clapham Common to get the rail replacement bus home, the Northern Line was closed, and all the buses from Brixton were too busy to accommodate our Nipper! But we met 11 month-old twins Adrian and Ben on the bus, so it was a nice end to a busy day.

Happy Hart Beeps Birthday for Finn and Max

2010-07-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday Finn and Max! We can't believe it's a year since we blogged about them starring, in utero, in the BBC Secret Life of Twins documentary. They sent us a super-cool chocolate bar invitation, by 'My Little Wrapper', so how could we refuse?! We caught the train to Hemel Hempstead for their birthday party - the first time Mummy has caugh the train outside of London on her own with us.

Finn and Max's Mummy and Daddy had enlisted a 'Hart Beeps' party entertainer to keep us amused. Neither they nor our Mummy and Daddy would usually think to do this, but she was good. She had a backing CD, loads of cute dress-up props (bunny ears for hop bunny; fairy wings for twinkle. twinkle), a smiley face parachute, bubbles, and a stars and galaxies projector to chill out to at the very end. apparently there's a London franchise coming soon - so we wait to see a Hart Beeps invitation closer to home.

Having not napped on the train, Freddie flaked 10 minutes before the party and slept till lunchtime *we think hw smelt teh sandwiches being released from clingfilm). although he missed most of the entertainment, apart from the star projections (v sensory room), he was quite content with the beach balls that were still knocking about.

Finn, Max and Thomas's Mummy Hermie made a more-ish '1' cake with buttercream icing and giant buttons - yum! And instead of party bags (what are they anyway??), she made us all gingerbread men with our names on - yum yum!

We arrived back in London at tea-time, so Mummy and Daddy decided to try hitting our local Pizzeria Sette Bello, where we had bolognese penne and got to play behind the bar. Despite the fact they only had one highchair, so Bert sat on Mummy's lap, it was great.

Heat and babies - not a good mix

2010-06-29T13:29:00.000-07:00

We babies and heat simply do not mix. We are having a right old time of it at bedtime. One evening Bert is a sleep refusnik, the next it's Freddie. Mummy has been sharing her woes with fellow parents, as they are wont, and is reassured that she is not the only one, even if there is not solution except for the threat of rain.

Mummy deposits us on Daddy, and if we're not being too wriggly, he lies with us till he - and we - fall asleep. Cute though ain't we? Right little tinkers. Mummy is very tired from being woken in the night and having no evening, and is continually amazed by how much energy she still has for work the next day. Her brain is still firing and everything.

On a totally separate note, Mummy nearly cried when she read in The Guardian about Kathryn Blundell, Deputy Editor of Mother & Baby, being let loose on the mag with her untempered breastfeeding article, in which she referred to her breasts as 'funbags' and breastfeeding as 'creepy' and that she didn't want to do it as she wanted to 'reclaim' her body. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but given that only 1 in a 100 women are still breastfeeding at six months, the last thing we need is an official stamp on the idea that breastfeeding isn't 'normal'.

Mummy can't bear to think of all these self-critical women, like Kathryn, who have so little faith in the power of their bodies, other than as objects. It seems to her that women spend so much time being negated - by women, by men, by press - that they cannot believe and are overwhelmed by the realisation of the power of their bodies. She for one has found motherhood hugely empowering, and breastfeeding a key element of that.

Freddie is a big fan of ball, or 'Ba' as it's known in our house.

BA Bertacus, wearing Mummy's bling rope necklace.

We celebrate 30 years of Wandsworth Twin Club

2010-06-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

Sunshine and summer parties are generally an anthema in the UK, but not today! The sun shone on the Wandsworth Twins Club summer get-together, which also marked 30 years since its founder, Gillian Liddiard, invited Tooting twin parents to the Furzedown Family Centre for support and friendship. We wore our fab new SPF40 sunsuits from Granny, it was so hot (SuperFred and Bertman, geddit?!?)

Over 100 members turned out, and also special guests Gill, and Julia and Jan, former founder members of the WTC (then Tooting Twins Club). We were treated to entertainment from Bertie and Boo, a bouncy castle and an inflatable ball pit (which we tried but was a bit wobbly for us, though we liked the balls); the grown-ups sipped Pimms and had very pretty cupcakes.

We enjoyed a picnic tea, and aunty Lucy won us some books in the raffle. This raised funds for Snong and Rayek, Cambodian twins whose parents are HIV positive, and raised around £100. Other prizes included books, £50 vouchers for posh ready meal company Cook (yum!), a massage from The Stork Spa, worth £100 (which Mummy loves!), and goodies from Twins UK.

We somehow made it home for bath and bed by 7pm still, but are finding this heat makes us a little eggy and difficult to get to sleep. Cue lots of fractious wailing and bemoaning before we finally pass out from exhaustion. But we're cute while we do it!

England through to the World Cup last 16!

2010-06-23T13:54:00.000-07:00

We're getting excited about the FIFA World Cup, both at home, and at nursery. Today we wore our England strips - it was Freddie's turn for the official kit - and here we are with our 'half time' (pre-breakfast) oranges (satsumas).

Our outfits were trashed during a painting and sticking session, but at least we weren't shamefaced by the end of the day, as England came good, winning 1-0 against Slovenia and going through to the next round. Unfortunately, as USA won against Algeria, England's next game clashes with the Wandsworth Twins Club 30th birthday party, so its possible Daddy won't make it. We hope that we'll still see plenty of our twin buddies - there'll be a bouncy castle, a ball pool, entertainers, face-painting and a picnic tea - we can't wait!

Happy Fathers' Day (for yesterday)

2010-06-21T14:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Fathers' Day for yesterday, Daddy. Can you believe it's already the second one under your belt?

Mummy bought us some Crayola crayons and we each made a drawing for Daddy - Freddie likes scribbling the crayon, Bert prefers dotting them - which was much less messy than paint and we discovered we quite like eating coloured wax.

In the afternoon we went to TWO first birthday parties - Scarlet's picnic on the common (where Freddie managed to truffle an extra fairy cake, unwatched, and Mummy discovered the chocolate and hazelnut joys of the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook), and Matilda's barbecue, where we had a splash in her mini paddling pool.

Football and Fathers' Story Week

2010-06-15T14:33:00.000-07:00

World Cup fever here at our house; Freddie was adamant he wasn't going to today until he'd seen a fair bit of Brazil vs North Korea. Didn't spot Alix and Uncle Stan - this time.

What about the England score on Saturday then? We're taking it in turns with the official England shirt; Freddie's turn on Friday...

As well as the football, it's Fathers' Story Week until June 19, celebrating daddies and father figures in children's lives. Our nursery is taking part, inviting daddies to come in for stay and play, and suggesting fun activities that we can do together.

Daddy's operation and al fresco dining

2010-06-07T13:23:00.000-07:00

All has been a little topsy turvy in the Fleuriot Vangasse household of late. Daddy finally had his shoulder reconstruction on May 19, meaning his arm is out of action for THREE MONTHS. Any parents out there please note: do not attempt any activities which might result in broken limbs, as it really reduces ability to get things done.

We found it a bit confusing at first, that Daddy couldn't use his arm, but have learnt to clamber up ourselves for a cuddle. We have also learnt to climb the big stairs, although we're still kamikaze about going down. We practice on the sofa cushions, which Mummy and Daddy pull off to make a soft play zone in the comfort of our living room.

The brilliant weather has meant lots of al fresco dining - meaning less floor mopping - and picnics. At the weekend, Granny, Alix and Uncle Stan and Aunty Stella came to visit. We met them in the gardens between the Oxo Tower and Stamford Street on London's South Bank, then back to our for pasta and sauce - yum!

Ball pools and squidgey-ness at Brixton Recreation Centre Play Zone

2010-05-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, Gracie showed us a super-cool new hangout - the Playzone in the Brixton Recreation Centre. Open 10am till 6pm, seven days a week, it's a soft play area with a ball pool for babies, and a Fun House-style climbing frame/maze/soft play mecca for the older kids.

We mainly stuck to the ball pool, which is a bit of a favourite activity at nursery and even better when four times the size, as it was here. We did have a minor attempt at exploring the big kids' option - mainly because Mummy and Daddy wanted to check it out - until the big kids actually turned up and it all got a bit boisterous.

Apparently, at the weekend and during holidays it can get pretty frenetic, but we were there on a Friday afternoon and it was really quite quiet - so our £2.35 entry fee (each) meant we could've stayed all day if we'd wanted to.

Ooow! Booster jabs and MMR for brave babies

2010-05-17T14:31:00.000-07:00

If we look suspicious in this picture, it must be because we could sense a trip to the practice nurse was in the offing. Post-Shreddies, we found ourselves at Figges Marsh Health Centre for our 12/13 month jabs.

Instead of HiB/Men C at one year, with MMR and PCV a month later, it's now recommended that all three are done at once. So bang, bang, bang, in they went into our pudgy thighs. Freddie cried silently, and Bert more indignantly, so a round of Row, Row, row Your Boat and we calmed down before we left the room.

The upside is that we don't have any more jabs now until three years, four months, when we have a second dose of MMR and our pre-school boosters.

Mummy and Daddy then came with us to nursery for a 'Stay and Play' session, during which we painted and generally showed them what we get up to at nursery - mainly sitting in the ball pool throwing the contents out.

Now we know how animals in London Zoo must feel...

2010-05-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

Did you vote? Hope so. We were at the polling station before breakfast, and then to nursery. So while we await the outcome of the hung parliament debacle - a complex notion for us babies to get our head around...

Congratulations and Happy 2nd Birthday our buggy pal Ollie, who has a new baby brother - born today, so they share a birthday! No doubt his mummy Alison and daddy Simon think May 10th is a lucky day. It's also another buddy, Joby's, birthday too - he's one-year-old, just like us.

We're on the move to the point Mummy and Daddy can't turn their back for a second, so we have a new Mothercare stairgate for those kamikaze baby moments.

Mastering standing is on our agenda at the moment; we can pull ourselves up and stand against furniture - or the bath as we like watching the water running and bubbles growing.

Freddie now has his third tooth - just, with the fourth looking like it might make an appearance.

Stand up and be counted - vote tomorrow!

2010-05-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

We might only be one, but voting matters, even to babies. Bitter battles were fought, and lives lost to give us the right to vote, and we mustn't forget that. Bert is concerned about how a change in government might affect the fantastic Sure Start Nursery that he and Freddie attend. He is also showing off his ability to stand against furniture, and would like you to know that he has four teeth now.

Don't pander to the 'celebrity' of politics, make sure that you read the policies...!

Revisiting pregnancy diaries for WTC...

2010-05-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

Mummy's been revisiting her pregnancy diary for the Wandsworth Twins Club newsletter, queue much daydreaming on the past year. Sigh! In contrast to our birthday bedtime pic, here's an early post-feed moment...

The sun shines on Wandsworth Twins Club picnics!

2010-05-03T12:47:00.000-07:00

Mummy and Daddy volunteered to host a Wandsworth Twins Club Coffee Morning, except decided to do it in the afternoon, it was a picnic and there was also no coffee. Previous experience has taught us that our home reaches maximum capacity at around 6 babies, which, for twins, is not a lot of families, so we decamped to the local park and enjoyed the sunshine. Six sets of twins, and their mums, made it along, including one family we hadn't met before - always like to make a new buggy pal or two!

For those of you feeling grey after a (mainly) grey bank holiday, here's a little reminder that only a week ago the sun shone, and will do so again soon - probably once we're all back at work (or in our case nursery)...

One today! What a busy year we've had!

2010-04-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

So today's the day we actually turn one. To us, it's a day like any other, although we got to open some things called presents. We liked the boxes and paper best. To Mummy and Daddy it is a BIG day, worthy of champagne celebrations.

After a morning at nursery, where we sang happy birthday and gave our pals bubbles (rather than cake - you never know who can eat what, these days), Mummy and Daddy picked us up and we went to Tooting Common for a picnic tea. We were joined by Gracie, Luca, Sonny, Oscar, Hamish and Scarlet, so it was a bit of a party!

When we got home we got to open our presents - we were very lucky boys to have such lovely new things. Mummy and Daddy are going to have to sort through our older toys and do a charity shop mission to make space for everything!

The past few days have been lots of fun, but very tiring. The E-Z 2Nurse pillow is still holding out - we're too interested in feeding to wriggle off - but look how much more space we take up on it!

Babies' first birthday at Tooting One O'Clock Centre - the movie...

2010-04-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

Aunty Harriet and her friend Jocie filmed some of our birthday party, held with six buggy pals at Tooting One O'Clock Centre on Tooting Common.

Tomorrow is our actual birthday. We're going to have bubbles and sing-along at nursery and friends over for tea. And PRESENTS! Mummy and Daddy are excited about this as, really, they get to open them for us.

Birthday picnic party AND the London Marathon

2010-04-25T13:36:00.000-07:00

We turn one on Tuesday, but it'd be boring to celebrate just the two of us... Instead we got together with six buggy pals - Luca, Isla, Jai, Sonny, Marlena and Lachlan - to have a joint first party at Tooting One O'Clock Club.

The sun shone and the event became a veritable festival, baby-style. We had balloons, food, a sing-along and a cake each - Mummy made ours. Lots of family and friends came to help celebrate and it was a lovely day.

Today, we went to the London Marathon, and played in Green Park, adidas tracksuits at the ready. Colin, Daddy of our twinner pals Finn, Max and their big bro Thomas, ran his personal best of 3h7minutes. We're impressed!

Before Nanny and Grandad headed back to Somerset, we were allowed to open their present, which we found hugely exciting - lots of shouting and giggling accompanied paper-ripping. We are now the proud owners of a set of garden gnome skittles - but without the ball! shame on you M&S!

In two days we'll officially be one year old - Mummy and Daddy can't quite believe it. champagne and whisky all round...

Freddie starts to crawl with Bert

2010-04-21T13:53:00.000-07:00

Uh-oh... Freddie has now also mastered the art of crawling... of a fashion. More commando-style exploration.

Point is that he can make it to the top of the stairs in record time. Where Mummy and Daddy previously only had to contend with Bert trying to leap the two steps down to the kitchen, they now have to keep an eye on both of us.

We find it very exciting to be chasing each other around our home, and follow each other in and out of rooms and down the landing giggling away. Maybe time to install our babygate?

A hot day, warm and dry. Bright sun in the sky!

2010-04-18T14:01:00.000-07:00

...to quote Dr Seuss. Legionaire hats and suncream a must.

We hit Tooting Common with our buggy pals Noah and Dylan, and their mummy and daddy; Aunty Harriet and Duncle came along too. We were quite taken with his take on facial hair (read: beard).

Bert now has three teeth - another has come through on the top - with one very close to cutting through. This is a gap of over two months since the first two.

Freddie is finally starting to consider the benefits of crawling. He is still at tummy-shuffling, snake-style stage, but proved today that he can get onto his hands and knees, and is just working out how to move his legs appropriately.

Easter break on the Isle of Wight

2010-04-11T14:06:00.000-07:00

We've all been holidaying on the Isle of Wight, along with Granny, GrandAl, Aunty Stella and Uncle Stan, at Ice-Cream Cottage in Shanklin. It's become a bit of a family tradition to spend Easter on the island, one that we want to continue despite Great-Granny passing away last August.

Her 80th birthday would've been April 8, so we went on a pilgrimage via the new Garlic Farm Cafe to the Springwood Woodland Burial Ground. Along the way we picked up extended family, including Hunter, our first cousin, once removed, who was born ten weeks ago, and is very cute. At Springwood, we planted woodland-appropriate plants on her grave and had a picnic, before then heading back to our holiday home with the family.

The Garlic Farm Cafe offers good, garlic-biased food and friendly service. It's accessible for buggies but only has two high chairs so you have to book them in advance, especially for twins! We walked there along the 'Sunshine Trail' cycle route, which is perfect for buggy walks, although the road from the route to the farm is fairly busy, so single file!

Whistlestop visit from Pappy, aunty Jade and Ashleigh

2010-04-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Pappy, aunty Jade and Ashleigh made a pitstop in Tooting enroute back to the West Country. They marvelled at our lunch portions - second helping are what we're known for at nursery - and generally our cuteness. We were a bit quiet when they first arrived but were soon flashing our best grins and babling away.

Mummy is enjoying scoring a limited edition Stella McCartney GAPkids anime black and white graphic tee - for herself. We're indignant.

Originals B-Boys (baby-boys that is...)

2010-03-31T14:21:00.000-07:00

We've been a little quiet in the last week, as Bert's been under the weather. This meant a trip to hospital, our first day spent separately, and - most importantly - learning to high five one another and finally growing into our adidas originals tracksuits.

The nursery called Mummy on Wednesday as Bert wasn't being his usual boisterous self, so we both had to go home early. The next day, after a trip to the doctor's for Bert, Freddie flew solo at nursery so she could focus on looking after Bert. It was our first ever day apart, and we seemed remarkably unphased by it. When Freddie got home, we had a fruit snack and Freddie babbled at Bert to cheer him and made him laugh after a day of feeling sorry for himself.

Just after supper, Bert started looking very sad and 'scrunchy', pulling up his legs and hardly moving, and he'd had a high temperature that wasn't going down, despite max dosage of paracetamol and ibuprofen. Having called on Noah and Dylan's Daddy (a medic) for a second opinion, Mummy decided it'd be best to go to hospital to get Bert checked over. This meant taking both of us to hospital, where Daddy met us, and we inevitably didn't get home again till after midnight.

Freddie was well-behaved and patient, even though it was tricky to sleep, and Bert got some extra painkillers and eventually his temperature was under control and he was trying to crawl off the hospital bed. The next day we were all very tired and we all stayed at home as Bert was still not quite better, and Mummy was too tired to get Freddie to nursery.

Bertie - space invader

2010-03-22T07:34:00.000-07:00

Yet again, Bert shuffles backwards into Freddie's lap...

Freddie: 'Get outta my face!; Bert: 'I'll get inside your face!'

Chickie-spotting at Deen City Farm

2010-03-21T13:16:00.000-07:00

Spring is here; the miniature daffodils are finally bursting into bloom in the garden. Making the most of the sunshine, we hooked up with Gracie and her Mummy and Daddy for a trip to Deen City Farm.

We caught up with the chickies we first met at the beginning of February. They've started sprouting proper adult feathers and no doubt will be fully-fledged chickens by our next visit. We also saw horses, turkeys, llamas, pigs, sheep, goats, ducks, rabbits... everything MacDonald needs for his farm and then some.

Superbabies (courtesy of H&M)

2010-03-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

Our first birthday is approaching, and it's time for new clobber to accommodate our fast-growing bods. Mummy found these great Superbaby all-in-ones, with built-in 'cape', in H&M for a bargainous £5.99. We've skipped 9-12 months, and gone straight to 12-18 months, for maximum wear.
If you're a fan of Gap, now's the time to shop for babygear, with 50% of various transeasonal goodies. So she knows when to hit the shops, Mummy's also signed up for the Gap VIP mailing list, the originator of the fabled 30% off vouchers, to keep in the loop about future sales and promotions. We're working the Breton look, baby-stylee, in these vests, down to only £4.99.

Babies play on the swings...

2010-03-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

Now that we are big little boys, we can play on the swings in the playground by our nursery. We drop by there on the way home. In its current magazine, Tamba highlighted the challenges faced when taking twins to playgrounds, mainly as parents need 'eyes in the back of their heads'; for now there's just the risk we might rock out of the swing.

Happy Mothers' Day, Mummy

2010-03-14T15:57:00.000-07:00

Mummy's first Mother's Day as a mum. We'd made her cards during messy play at nursery, which she is very proud of. Our keyworkers had even stuck pictures of us in messy play, paint 'n' glitter action, inside the cards.

The weekend started with a one hour, at-home massage on Hydrotherm hot water pillows from Jeannie from The Stork Spa - just the mind and body rejuvenator that Mummy needed.

Today we went for a walk in the sunshine and then onto super-chic French-Algerian artisanal bakery/cafe Tartine on Tooting High Street for afternoon tea. Recently opened - we were tipped off by Noah and Dylan's Mummy, Rosie - and part of the Soho-based Joy Food family, this minimal, rustic-style destination is a much needed upgrade to the cuisine scene in these parts.

We're pleased to report that it's super-welcoming to buggies and babies, even doublers; the waitress even opened the door for us and helped us navigate the route to the comfy sofa. We munched hummus, falafel, couscous and all manner of tasty snacks from the Mediterranean and North African-inspired menu (which included a good spread of French patisserie.)

First ever bedtime without Mummy

2010-03-10T12:48:00.000-08:00

Never leave babies unattended with a tissue box within reach...

A busy few days. On Monday, a visit from Aunty Anne, who lives in Cardiff. We went for a walk to The Mitre for coffee and a snack for us. It was our first dash of fresh air for a few days.

On Tuesday, Nanny and Grandad headed over from Somerset for Aunty Lucy's West End premiere in Love Never Dies. Mummy and Daddy went too. It was very spangly and they didn't get home till nearly 2am. A very long night - luckily we have found a fantastic babysitter who not only put us to bed, but was also happy to stay till the small hours.

Our attempts at bedtime formula feeds are still in progress, however; we go to bed but only drink about 20mls of formula, if that much. Either because of this, or because we're under the weather, we are waking up a lot earlier in the morning, so Mummy ends up breastfeeding us then. She'd rather do it at the more sociable bedtime hour.

Tooth two for Freddie and our first bedtime bottles

2010-03-07T12:25:00.000-08:00

We're just recovering from a heavy dose of sticky eye and a cold. Mummy couldn't get an appointment last minute, so headed to the surgery and the doc popped out between patients to prescribe some eye drops. It's a little easier to administer these now than it was when we were younger.

Our big news is that Freddie now has two teeth, so finally on par with Bert. And Bert has worked out how to sit up in his cot - time to move the mattress down a notch!Today we supped our first bedtime bottle, as Mummy and Daddy are hoping to make it to the Love Never Dies premiere to see Aunty Lucy on the West End stage. In fact, Mummy has realised that it will be the first time we haven't spent bedtime together since we were born. The plan is that we will get to grips with bottlefeeding by the time Mummy goes back to work, so we're covered for the evenings she can't get back home by bedtime to breastfeed.

Mummy and daddy had no idea how to choose a formula, so went for a ready-made one for the first attempt - any tips on where to find impartial advice would be useful! Freddie managed 60ml of formula (we won't say which as they can pay for their own ads) before flaking out, and Bert gulped 40ml before deciding he wanted to chat, and had to have a breastmilk top-up. Freddie woke up about 30 minutes after being put into his cot and also needed a breastfeed to settle. So close but no cigar. We will persevere and no doubt get there in the end!

Finally... Freddie's first tooth!

2010-03-03T12:36:00.001-08:00

After a fair bit of uncharacteristic tetchiness, Freddie is proudly sporting his first tooth. Spookily, it arrived exactly one month after Bert's. Mummy and Daddy have to remember to make sure we brush our teeth now!

A lullaby from Zero 7 chanteuse Sophie Barker

2010-03-01T14:30:00.000-08:00

We are settling in nicely to our third week in nursery, although the change to our natural routine means we're a little more tired than usual. Mummy and Daddy have been working on a new evening routine to counteract the hyperstimulation of the daytime.

So, now it's a slightly gratuitous, light snack when we get home, followed by bath, quiet play and lullabies, ahead of milk and bedtime. We've been introduced to 'Lullaby', by Zero 7 chanteuse Sophie Barker, working with Brian Eno/Bjork producer KK, for the post-bath period. First released by Sony Music six years ago, it's being rereleased today in anticipation of a Lullaby 2 album - apparently the duo are on a mission to 'save the lullaby'.

While Calico Pie is still our top musical request, as its very jocular and jaunty, and we love its beats, it tends to wind us up rather than down. As might be expected from a Zero 7 baby, Lullaby is the polar opposite - a truly chillaxed, hypnotic collection of nursery rhymes and gentle songs. Like Calico Pie, it's very acceptable to the adult ear; it also has a handy songbook for mummies and daddies who've forgotten all the words; and some proceeds from the sales go to children's charities.

We especially like Row Your Boat, Hush Little Baby, Brahm's Lullaby and Dream a Little Dream. The only element we're not sure of is the spoken tracks; we'd've liked them to be put to music, like Calico Pie, as the speaking jars against the lovely singing.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Nanny and Grandad visit as we hit 10 months

2010-02-28T12:29:00.000-08:00

Nanny and Grandad drove up to the Big Smoke from Somerset this weekend, bringing handknitted aran gifts from GG Eira, our great grandma. How smart we look! Machine-washable too.

They babysat so that Mummy and Daddy could go to Tim and Hannah's wedding; a much-appreciated opportunity to dress up and catch up with friends without us fidgeting at their side. Lovely as we are, it's good for parents to have a bit of a break every now and then!

Unfortunately, Nanny and Grandad didn't have much of a break, as Freddie had an out-of-character tetchy evening, and, having woken up, didn't go back to sleep till Mummy and Daddy got home and dosed him up with Calpol and breastmilk. Mummy is realising that a little bit of alcohol of an evening doesn't necessarily affect us. Not that she's going to be testing that theory too regularly, mind.

Bert samples the breadsticks; Freddie eyes the vino

Today we went for lunch at Pizzeria Sette Bello in Tooting, meeting Aunty Lucy and Joe. As might be expected from an Italian - though owner Tony is actually Sicilian - it's very family friendly; our double buggy was 'no problem' to accommodate, and highchairs were brought to the table. We tried tomato bruschetta, pizza, tricolore salad, and the waiter gave us our very own breadsticks while we waited for mains. What a treat - thank you Nanny and Grandad!

Granny visits - Mummy hits London Fashion Week

2010-02-21T13:51:00.001-08:00

London Fashion Week's in town, a perfect point for Mummy to start easing back into work. We've enjoyed our first week at Lavender Nursery, doing 4-6 hours a day at first to get used to the different environment. So far, we seem to be getting on quite well, enjoying the company of other babies and our key workers, and eating up all our meals.

The only downside to a nursery is that if we want to sleep outside of the designated nap period, then we sleep where we fall, rather than being put into a cot, like we are at home. This means that we are missing our natural napping point at 10am, as everything is too exciting for us to go to sleep; however, we are getting better at napping, as our keyworkers have started putting us down together, sleeping 1h30 on Friday after we had our lunch (from having napped about 30 minutes on Tuesday).

Granny came to stay for a few days, to help out while Mummy was out and about, and to see us, of course. We loved having her to stay, she is lovely to us. While she was here we got to grips with waving 'goodbye' and Bert is trying his best to crawl, although he's currently at the starting position. He can sit up from lying on his tummy now too.

Today, Aunty Lucy came to visit, ahead of her West End debut in Love Never Dies tomorrow evening. She sang 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' to us, and if this is anything to go by, she'll be fabulous. We played in our new den made up of pieces from our new Alphabet and Numbers floor puzzle playmat Mummy and Daddy scooped up in TK Maxx for a bargain price - thanks to Scarlett's Mummy for the tip off!

Big boys start (nursery) school

2010-02-16T03:22:00.000-08:00

First day at nursery school today. Mummy has swung full circle, from a brief flirtation with being a long-term, stay-at-home mum to the realisation that, actually, she wants a bit o' out-of-the-house, working mum action too. So the plan is to start nursery now so that we get used to it at our own pace, reducing 'teething' troubles when she's back at work (speaking of teething, Bert now has two teeth. Freddie still none so far).

So today we had our first unaccompanied 'settling in' day at Lavender Nursery, housed within the Lavender Sure Start Centre. We spent four hours there, including lunch (which we ate all up), while Mummy and Daddy were on call in case they were needed for any reason. They weren't, we were fine; hardly blinked when Mummy came to collect us, though we were happy to see her.

It probably helps that it's not our first time at the nursery. We've been on two visits, one with Mummy and Daddy, and one yesterday, with Mummy. Our key workers, Honor May and Jennifer, also came to our house just over week ago, a routine visit to meet us and give us our school bags, which Mummy has since filled with just-in-case spare clothes. We've also been regulars at the Yummy Mummy Breastfeeding Cafe every Tuesday, which is in the same building, so we know a lot of the faces, including super-friendly Debbie, the receptionist, and Olive, the caterer (who gave us banana bread once - yum!).

So far, so good then. They don't put us down for our 10am nap like Mummy does, which means that we slept a little later in the day instead. This is probably to try and squeeze us into the same routine as the other babies - one of the facts of life of nursery it seems - but has the downside of confusing Mummy and Daddy entirely, as it means that we didn't eat and sleep at the same times as one another, which we do at home as it's just easier that way. In fact, we still had a quick breastfeed at 2.30-3pm-ish, and on the plus side, we seemed to want to go to bed a little earlier today, so more evening for Mummy and Daddy to surreptitiously munch American pancakes through.

Interesting fact: John Aslan and Partners, the architects practice which designed Lavender Centre, was also behind the refurbishment of 1930s classic De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea, which Mummy and Daddy cycled to in the summer before we made an appearance.

Bert claims first place in tooth race

2010-02-03T12:51:00.000-08:00

Bert has officially cut a discernible tooth - Mummy was hooking out the umpteenth piece of jerusalem artichoke he'd stashed, hamster-style, in his cheeks, and felt an ivory tip. Daddy confirmed that it was definitely a tooth, not her imagination, prompting a trolley dash to the chemists for a double-dose of toothbrushes.

She went for Wisdom Kids Step-by-Step toothbrushes, which have a spoon-shaped, chewable handle so we babies - and Mummy and Daddy - can hold it more easily. So far, we've just licked and chewed the brushes a bit, and then dropped them into the bath, in favour of our new squirty pirate bath toys, by Alex, a present from Gracie.

Nine months old today - already!

2010-01-27T14:26:00.000-08:00

Three-quarters of a year old today. As a dry run for our first birthday, we even got something in the post - our Calico Pie CD, which Granny posted to back to us. We were VERY pleased to have it back, as other music just doesn't cut the mustard (although we quite like Louis Armstrong), and Mummy and Daddy couldn't take the looks of disappointment when Calico Pie failed to play much longer.

Created by Paul Bradley, Calico Pie is a selection of traditional nursery rhymes and interesting poetry set to lovely music. It is acceptable to adults as well as kids - no hyperactive drama school queens - and very, very catchy. We love clapping, jigging up and down, and trying to sing along to the songs - it makes us very happy and excited.

We also paid a visit to the health visitor for the first time since October, for our eight month development check. As expected, it was medium-useful. We were weighed and are currently 8.8kg (Freddie) and 8.7kg (Bert), so a respectable size. We are 70cm long and have 47cm head circumference. Bert is able to pick up a pea and a cotton reel, Freddie, who knows, as the health visitor didn't bother to check. Perhaps she thought that we are one and the same person... this is one of the reasons why Mummy tends to avoid health visitors.

On the bright side, we did pick up our first Bookstart pack, which had two books for us to read with Mummy and Daddy, and whoever else would like to volunteer. Bookstart is a charity to encourage reading together and a love of books - apparently we get two more packs as we get older. We are generally fans of books, and love trying to turn the pages and looking at the pictures, so this can only be a good thing.

Bert thinks Granny's really funny...

2010-01-24T13:42:00.000-08:00

Second generation Windmill Hill City Farmers

2010-01-18T14:26:00.001-08:00

We're going back to our roots... Yesterday Mummy took us to Bristol's Windmill Hill City Farm, where she used to spend practically every day as a child. Granny, Alix, Uncle Stan and Aunty Stella came too.

It was a lot quieter than it was in her day, but there were still enough animals to say hello to, to make it worth it; this goat maa'ed at Freddie which scared him and made him cry. Bert slept through the fracas.

There's currently a campaign to save the city farm, as it's in financial difficulty. Mummy hopes that they do keep it open, as it's a fantastic resource for city kids, to see animals and learn about nature. You'd be surprised how many kids still don't get to see animals!

We love playing peekaboo

2010-01-11T13:36:00.000-08:00

We love playing peekaboo - since Christmas we have learnt to play it ourself. We put our towel or a scarf over our face and then pull it away with a big grin on our faces. We giggle when Mummy or Daddy ask where we've gone.

Today we went to the Bolingbroke One O'Clock Club with Luca and his mummy Oli. It was over in Battersea, but we were able to get the number 77 bus all the way there; we even nearly managed to get there when we said we'd be there, at 2pm. Mummy thinks that, rather than being able to do things much more quickly, she's much more realistic about how long things take now!

We had hoped to use the sensory room, but it was broken so we just played on the baby playmat. A lot of the toys were a bit broken, but there were some good sensory toys, and overall it was a really nice space. We met another baby boy our age, called Ben, and his mummy Jenny.

Snow blizzard babies

2010-01-06T12:51:00.000-08:00

Big snow today - we weren't sure what to make of it; Bert enjoyed licking the big snowflakes though.

We hooked up with Noah and Dylan, and their mummy Rosie, and made the short strut across Figges Marsh to the Lavender Centre for a song and story session, which became an impromptu sensory experience - we love the bubble tower and the fibre optic cables.

Our very own bedroom and a cot each!

2010-01-04T15:10:00.001-08:00

Just before we went away for Christmas, we were definitely waking one another during the night, as Bert likes to wriggle in his sleep and we're getting a bit big to co-bed.

It transpired we'd outgrown the travel cots too, so co-bedding was abandoned and we had a cot each. Bertie was in the Petite Star, while Freddie got to sample stretching out in the Little Life Twin Arc Travel Cot. The construction of this slightly flummoxed Daddy, but once it was up, it was a good size for a chilled out sleeper like Freddie, and very light and easy to carry - perfect if you haven't got much luggage space or, indeed, a car (like us!).

Mummy and Daddy had been putting off moving us into our own room, as they've enjoyed having us as room-mates, plus they could only imagine our room looking like a mini orphanage - all cot and nowhere to play. But we're eight months old now, and it's time to move on, as we're quite big little boys now.

Here we are in our very own cots, ready for bedtime - check out our bright stripey Grobags!

Christmas time!

2009-12-26T11:23:00.000-08:00

We're having a lovely Christmas and have been thoroughly spoilt. We are lucky boys.

Not convinced by the Father Christmas outfits we keep being dressed in, but Mummy and Daddy think we look cute.

Daddy's favourite Half Pints

2009-12-15T11:18:00.000-08:00

Mummy's found a fabulous website, Babes with Babies London, a great source of gifts and goodies for parents, babies and parents-in-waiting. It even has a special twins section and thoughtfully offers TAMBA members a 10% discount.

We got an early Christmas present for Daddy from the website - a Twisted Twee 'pint' tee-shirt for him and 'half pint' tops for us. Every Daddy's gotta have a set! It serves as an apt reminder of how Mummy and Daddy's lifestyle has changed since having us.

It arrived giftwrapped, a free perk of the Babes with Babies service, perfect for busy people like Mummy, who might not have the time to get busy with ribbons and things.

Got milk?

2009-12-08T14:00:00.000-08:00

When we grow up, we don't want to risk only being good enough to play for Accrington Stanley (who are they? exactly), so milk is very much on the agenda. Whole milk. That's the rules. Mummy even drank it as her main milk from eight months, once she was no longer breastfed. That's not the rules.

Being housebound of a morning, it's a bit tricky if there's no milk to be had for breakfast. Luckily, Mummy was introduced to e-tailer Milk & More by Scarlett's mummy Helen, which points shoppers in the direction of their local milkman. Yes, they still exist - our one is called Yohannes.

We order our milk and other goodies online by 9pm, and it's delivered free by a real milkman in a real milkcart, before we are up for breakfast. It's about the same price as buying it in a store, plus there's less recycling and rubbish, as the glass bottles are collected to be reused at the dairy. Perfect.

Christmas countdown

2009-12-06T12:00:00.000-08:00

A lazy Sunday today; we were snuggled into our Nipper 360 and went to meet Mummy's friend Victoria at the Fat Delicatessen, and Aunty Harriet came round to play too.

She brought us a great selection of Christmas jumpers - we shall have to post some pics of us modelling them soon. Daddy got down the Christmas decorations and tomorrow we decorate our Christmas tree. Obviously, Christmas, like most things, is a new one for us, but we can't wait to try it!

Pinker and perkier... but a Grim day for Daddy

2009-12-05T12:07:00.000-08:00

Still not 100%, but we're getting there. Still pretty snotty - you shoulda seen the nose bubbles this morning - but generally more cheerful. Our appetite is definitely returning - today was fish and chip (mash for us) supper to celebrate Daddy's completion of the Grim Challenge this morning - as if the challenge of looking after us two isn't enough!

Teatime has been designated squidge and slosh time - we get to play with our food more and attempt drinking from an open beaker. Ideally, we would do this every meal, but with there being two of us, it makes so much mess!!!

We're getting better at picking up food and getting to our mouths, so Mummy and Daddy are going to start giving us more finger foods as it makes eating so much more fun!

Goodness me, Bert's first trip to A&E

2009-12-02T12:47:00.000-08:00

As you'll have gathered, we've been a little off colour for the last week or so, but as it was a viral infection and we didn't have temperatures, there wasn't much that could be done.

That all changed on Tuesday night; Bert woke Mummy up with his cries, and when she picked him up he seemed to be spasming in pain, and was very hot. It was a bit scary to watch. Mummy woke Daddy up and they checked his temperature - thank goodness Nanny C bought us a big First Aid box! - and it was over 39C.

They weren't sure what was wrong, or what to do, so called 999. It was surprisingly tricky to make the decision to call - what qualifies an emergency? - but they thought that it would be better to do so than not, just in case. An ambulance arrived very quickly; the medics checked Bert over and decided it would be best to go into paediatric A&E, so Mummy wrapped him loosely in a light blanket and they went to St Georges. Freddie stayed behind with Daddy. It was a situation that neither Mummy or Daddy had thought of before, so there was no milk for Freddie till Mummy got home, poor thing.

At hospital, Bert was given baby ibuprofen and his temperature slowly started coming down; he then had to sit with his nappy off till he could give a wee sample. This took a while, and after a feed and a nap, it finally came when the nurse was keeping an eye on him. When tested, the sample quickly showed he had a urine infection, so he's been given a seven day course of antibiotics, and baby paracetamol and baby ibuprofen (which can be used alternately) to manage the pain while the antibiotics kick in. Thinking about it, Bert had done a smelly, ochre-coloured wee that morning, which Mummy had missed as a sign something was wrong - she and Daddy'll be reading the signs more carefully from now on!

Mummy and Bert arrived at hospital at 1am and were home by about 4.30am; Freddie had been awake nearly the whole time, so we both had a feed and went to sleep. In the morning, Mummy called the doctor for a cancellation so that Freddie could be checked out and another A&E trip avoided; he just has a viral infection, causing a croup-y cough and slightly sore throat, so there's nothing that can be done for him, except pain relief if necessary.

Mummy and Daddy are exhausted by the drama, but we seemed to be in much better spirits by the end of the day! Certainly we were loving our new jimjams from Aunty Lucy. Hopefully we'll be all better soon...

Playing with porridge...

2009-12-01T12:19:00.000-08:00

Slept better last night, although the cold hasn't quite departed as yet (check out Bert's snot ribbons), so we haven't been out on the baby circuit. We only made a couple of sleep cries in the evening, but didn't wake up, and then Bert made it through to 6am, had a quick feed then slept and woke up with Freddie to 8am. This meant Mummy and Daddy were a bit more alert today, although Mummy still naps when we do, as every day is different and who knows what we might get up to tonight...

We have started having milk first thing again, at about 8am, as ultimately the idea is that Mummy will feed us first thing in the morning, mid-afternoon and bedtime, with solid food in-between. We still love the porridge, but weren't quite as hungry as usual so Mummy let us play with our breakfast once we'd had our fill. We loved squidging it in our fingers - roll on playdough and fingerpainting!

A weekend with Nanny and Grandad - and colds...

2009-11-30T12:10:00.000-08:00

Nanny and Grandad came up from Bristol to visit this weekend, so we had a great time having cuddles with them. Nanny helped feed us, using the lovely bowls she gave us, and Grandad helped Daddy with DIY around the house, to make it cosier for us. Nanny and Grandad also babysat on Saturday night so Mummy and Daddy could pop out for a couple of drinks - which was fun, even if they paid for it a bit the next day!

Unfortunately, we both have colds at the moment - snotty noses a-go-go - but we're not too poorly, no infections or temperature so far, just a bit gross. Bert has been a bit sick after food today as he's swallowing so much phlegm. Nice. But really, we're otherwise very much ourselves, so not too much to worry about at the moment, just cabin fever for Mummy as she's not sure whether to inflict our germs on other babies.

The main downside to feeling sorry for ourselves is that it means we're not as settled in the evening, waking up every 1-2 hours, and often needing a feed by midnight if we can't get back to sleep, so Mummy and Daddy are much more tired than usual (if that were possible!). It just means tapping into their reserves of 'Parent Patience' and riding it out...

Magnificent seven months...

2009-11-27T14:38:00.000-08:00

We marked our seven month birthday with a trip to the cinema and our first fish supper. We hit the Big Scream for our second attempt at seeing New Moon, with Mummy and aunty Lucy, and Gracie and her mummy Roxanne. All three of us babies were very well-behaved.

Mummy tried giving us breakfast after milk this morning, and we still ate 1.5 cups of baby porridge, so we will be pursing this route from now on. This means we're only having three feeds a day now. For tea, we wolfed down poached haddock, ratatouille, peas and spinach, and sweet potato, with apple and pear puree and yoghurt for afters.

Nanny and Grandad arrived after bedtime, as they've come to visit for the weekend - we can't wait to wake up in the morning and say hello!

For the last time... twins can be breastfed!

2009-11-24T12:56:00.000-08:00

A catalogue from Twins UK - online purveyor of twin goods - dropped on our doormat today. The strapline read 'everything you need to know about twins and multiples from pregnancy onwards', plus they are the exclusive stockist of the ez2nurse pillow, our MVP (most valuable product), so Mummy had to check it out. We bought our ez2nurse from them - despite their arguably exorbitant P&P charges - and mummy loves their Dr Seuss Thing 1/Thing 2 baby clothes collection.

Flicking through to the 'Feeding' section, she was disappointed to read their claim that 'For many reasons, exclusive breastfeeding isn't possible...'. Well, maybe we're mistaken, but that's exactly what we were doing for the first six months of our lives, plus we're still breastfeeding now, alongside our solids. And we're not the only ones.

To give Twins UK the benefit of the doubt, the sentence read like a typo, but what a dangerous typo to make, given how hard it is for twin mums and mums-to-be to find adequate breastfeeding support as it is. They did make it clear that it is not a question of breast or bottle, possibly the most irritating non-debate ever, but that the two can work in tandem, which is a positive, as so many women don't realise that they can do this if they want or need to.

Given Twins UK positioning as a twin info resource, not just a retailer, mummy would expect it to be a bit more positive about the possibilities of solely breastfeeding if the mother wants to do so - and at the very least not dismiss it out of hand. Grrr... we hate to think of all those twin babies missing out on breastfeeding because their mums and dads think that it's not possible (and all the mums and dads exhausted by bottlefeeding).

A weekend of firsts: we attend a 1st birthday party

2009-11-22T10:29:00.000-08:00

This afternoon we hotfooted it across London to N1 for Kit's first birthday party, hosted at his Nona's house. Well, we say hotfooted, it is actually a bit more of a mission than that, especially with the two of us, and the two of us weaning, to boot. Some days we get an affliction called sticky house, when getting out the door seems an almost insurmountable task - today was one of those days...

But, despite our snotty-nosedness, we made it! We hadn't met Kit before, so it was good to finally put a face to the name. He was having a nap as we arrived; the party went on all afternoon, but this worked quite well as people were dropping in and out, so there were lulls in the cacophony of noise and excitement. The guests were mainly grown-ups with a smattering of under-fives - but we enjoyed cuddles from Charlotte and her mummy Sarah, and also Beck. Freddie got a bit overwhelmed, but this isn't unusual for him - a quick mid-afternoon feed set him right.

We had a bit of a moan on the way home - possibly as we missed teatime and are starting to expect it now, or possibly just because we're a little tired out by an activities-intense weekend. We've also been doing a weird wake-up at around 10pm for the last few evenings. It started off as a sleep cry, which would stop if we were cuddled, and now we actually wake up properly and find it very difficult to settle back down. Freddie is the main 'culprit', screaming for up to an hour, with Bert more readily settled. Mummy and daddy have worked through all the possibilities in their mind for what's causing it, but the simple answer is that there isn't one answer.

It could be: getting too squished in the cot (we're getting a cotbed soon); snotty noses; digestion from solids; something we ate being a bit niggly; a loud noise; teething (hard gums but still no sign of the actual enamels. We're skipping the dairy for a bit to try and get our catarrh under control, so we shall see if that makes any difference. Babies eh? If only people could understand what we're trying to say...!

Our first zoo visit... and first AGM!

2009-11-21T12:49:00.000-08:00

Today we caught the train to Hemel Hempstead, where we were met by Finn, Max and Thomas, their mummy Hermie, and daddy Colin. We all headed to ZSL Whipsnade Zoo for the TAMBA (Twins and Multiple Births Association) AGM and Family Fun Day. It was a blustery day, but we saw a random gaggle of animals - a sea lion, zebras, a kangaroo, giant guineapig-like creatures, goats and various birds.

It was our first time at a zoo, although whether it was our first 'real' zoo visit is debatable - we didn't really know we were at a zoo, or really what a zoo is. Probably if we were to go next year we'd appreciate it much more. Regardless, it was great to hang out with our fellow twinners Finn and Max, and their big brother Thomas, who's really cool. We also bumped into Oscar and Hamish, their mummy Karen and daddy Alistair, who we know from the St Georges twins antenatal class. Oscar and Hamish are nearly nine months old and officially on the move - it sounds like fun!

Mummy had a chat with the TAMBA Course Coordinator Kate, as she had been in touch with her as she and daddy are going to speak at a twins parenting seminar; Hermie had a chat with the organisation's Chief Executive Keith about what TAMBA is doing to address the issue of mothers returning to work after having twins or multiples; especially as they are less likely to do so than mums of singleton babies - it's just rarely financially viable in the short term. Of course, in the long term, mummies' career prospects will be better if they continue to work in some capacity, but if one can't afford to do so, what then?

Attempting the Big Scream cinema experience

2009-11-20T12:13:00.000-08:00

There are certain mummy and baby experiences that twin mums resign themselves to never being able to do solo. Swimming is one of them. Baby cinema is another. Known as the Big Scream in our neck of the woods, and held once a week at the Clapham Picture House and Brixton Ritzy, these are mid-morning cinema screenings which we under-1s are allowed to tag along to.

Aunty Lucy volunteered to accompany us so we could all see New Moon on the day it hit the cinemas. Gracie and Roxanne decided to come too. Flying by the seat of our porridge-splattered pants, today we made it to the Brixton Ritzy in good time to get acclimatised to the surround-sound, old-school cinema experience.

All three of us babies were very chilled, mesmerised by the booming sounds, low-level lighting on gilt fixtures, and flickering images on the screen. We all had a feed, and one-by-one dropped off nicely. Mummy, Roxanne and Lucy were settling into the film - a fabulous gothic teen flick, and very easy on the brain - when it all hiccuped and, just at a pivotal moment, the film started playing upside-down and from the end. Once it was established that this wasn't an occult message being played out to hormonal women, there was much disappointment - with more screaming from mummies than babies!

While we got an instant refund, the mummies aren't convinced that the cinema management really appreciated quite what it means to have your one chance of watching the latest film on a big screen - with popcorn - whipped away from you. This applies to twin mums especially; mummy won't be able to see the film now unless Aunty Lucy is up for a third New Moon screening(!) as the no-buggy rule means she needs two laps. Mummy and Roxanne haven't been put off trying Big Scream again, however; despite it going so wrong, it was quite a relaxing experience. As it's sponsored by nappy rash ointment Bepanthen, at least we won't get sore behinds if we do!

**STOP PRESS** Aunty Lucy has just got an email from the Brixton Ritzy to apologise again, and to let her know that they have scheduled a special Big Scream screening of New Moon next Friday morning - Aunty Lucy can come too, so we're there!

Sitting up to the table...

2009-11-19T12:06:00.000-08:00

Having abandoned the highchairs temporarily - we couldn't sit up straight for long enough - mummy and daddy started no-pressure practice runs when we weren't hungry or eating,
and realised that in just two weeks we have got much better at this high chair business.

We are now eating three meals a day, of up to one cupful of food between us, but usually half to three-quarters of a cup. We have a few flavours each meal as it keeps us interested - they start off as single flavours, but by the end of the meal are all mushed together!

We still aren't that bothered about our beakers, possibly as they only contain water, but we persevere every mealtime and will get the hang of them eventually.

So these are the foods we've tried so far:
Veggies: carrots, potatoes, jacket potatoes, roast pumpkin, swede, roast carrot, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, spinach, broccoli.
Fruit: apples, pears, mango, peach, banana (since abandoned - it constipates us)
Protein: Live yoghurt, whole milk, cheese, cheese sauce, chicken, egg yolk, butter beans, baked beans.

Look how much we've grown!

2009-11-16T14:01:00.001-08:00

Last week, our latest buggy friend, Leila Ruby, arrived on the scene, daughter to Elaine and Dave (Elaine went to university with mummy). We can't wait to meet her; mummy and daddy are just working out the logistics of doing so...

We also heard about the birth of Macey, daughter to Danny and Clare, who live in Bristol. We're hoping to see her at Christmas.

All these lovely new babies got mummy and daddy reminiscing about when we first arrived; Granny uploaded some video of us to YouTube, of when we were teeny tiny. From small acorns...

That darned banana wreaks havoc again

2009-11-13T13:20:00.000-08:00

Banana? Ba-no-no. We tried a bit of banana again on Wednesday and had two funny nights; not settling to sleep at bedtime and then an out-of-the-ordinary 3am wake-up on Wednesday; Bert stayed awake for about two hours. Possibly our opinion of the yellow herb is unfair - let's face it we could've just had an off-day - but we're going to avoid it for a few days and see what happens if we try it again.

Yesterday we headed to the Tooting One O'Clock Centre to meet Gracie and her mummy Roxanne. An NHS Community Nursery Nurse from the Tooting Locality Early Years Team turned up to give an impromptu Rhyme Time session, and answer questions that the mummies and daddies might have. He gave mummy a list of loads of great free play sessions around Tooting, mainly at the Hillbrook Children's Centre.

Today, we didn't wake up in time to be ready for Friday Frogs at St Nicholas Church, Tooting, which is apparently so popular you have to queue! Mummy looked it up on the internet and apparently it involves Bible stories, so possibly not our scene anyway.

Our twinner buddies Noah and Dylan, and their mummy Rosie, came for lunch. They are 10 weeks old - which led to much reminiscing by mummy and daddy. We also went to Scarlett's for tea (mummy) and milk (us). Despite a good feed, were still hungry for solids once we were home, so wolfed down cauliflower cheese and spinach at teatime. We seem to be eating about half a cup at each meal consistently now, so mummy and daddy might start increasing our portions.

We kickstart our YouTube channel

2009-11-11T12:20:00.000-08:00

Still loving the food! Not banana though; tried it again after a few days' break and caused bedtime consternation.

We've found YouTube - aunty Harriet filmed us and here we are chowing down on sweet potato on the global hyperweb. It's only about 1/4 cup between us but looks like so much more!

We hook up with fellow twins, Finn and Max

2009-11-09T11:41:00.000-08:00

You may remember we mentioned our twin buggy pals, Finn and Max, before. Their birth featured in BBC documentary The Secret Life of Twins last month. Their mummy, Hermie, our mummy and Gracie's mummy, Roxanne, were housemates back in 2001. Today we all met up for the first time since Finn and Max were born.

They came all the way from Hemel Hempstead to Balham - respect to Hermie for making the journey solo, especially as she had to get back by 3pm to pick up Thomas, 3, from nursery school! We went to The Fat Delicatessen for elevenses, then stayed for lunch too, as we all needed feeds and it was too complicated to move.

We sat by mummy on the sofa and had our first solid feed outside of the house - apple puree cooked up by daddy last night, yum, yum yum. It wasn't too messy; overall, with mummy and daddy working together, the weaning process is becoming less confusing and more fun for them, and for us. It's only tasting for now, after all. For tea, we had cauliflower, sweetcorn and butter bean puree - the beans didn't squish too well, so it was quite bitty, but apparently this isn't a bad thing.

At the table in our highchairs

2009-11-06T15:28:00.000-08:00

Daddy went to Ikea today and picked up two Antilop highchairs - red for Fred and blue for bert. Mummy and daddy had toyed with the idea of investing in a Stokke Tripp Trapp or a Bloom Nano, but this option was wipe clean, easy to disassemble, and a tenth of the price; ultimately, a high chair's a high chair so we won;t bankrupt ourselves for one (or two in our case!).

It made the feeding process much easier - less stress on mummy's back, and we can sit up straight so less choking. Or at least eventually we will be able to sit up straight. For now we have to be wedged in a little; we enjoyed it for the first 20 minutes but found it got a bit uncomfortable after a while. We'll get better with practice.

Overall, mummy is working through a negative attitude to weaning and is almost come out the other side. Last night we woke at 1.30am, and then at 7am, but really, this could've been for so many reasons, it might be nothing to do with weaning. After all, we're just small versions of people, and can't be expected to be any more predictable than anyone else, if anything we should be less so. Weaning's fun for all of us really, just it takes a little while to adjust from only having breastmilk to eating grown-up food, so it's inevitable that it'll be a bit wobbly at first.

Banana - the herb of all evil?

2009-11-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

Whisper it... after a funny few days of Bert waking up at around 11pm, and both of us crying after our suppertime feed (about 6pm), we seem to have settled down per normal this evening. We had our tea at the earlier time of 4pm, to allow the food to go down before supper, which might've helped. There's still plenty of time for a middle of night wake-up call though, so mummy and daddy await with bated breath...

Mummy has had no less than three people suggest that banana can cause constipation in babies - why did no-one mention this before!?! - and perhaps this has affected Bert, who always has a more delicate constitution (certainly he had a green poo earlier and seemed much better after). Great Aunty Anne also pointed out that mummy had a tummy bug which could have affected us. Or it could just've been a couple of off days. If only we could articulate our issues, we would tell you!

Today we had banana and rice and sogged a piece of toast for breakfast; and roast pumpkin, carrot and potato puree for tea; we also sucked satsuma pieces, although we're too good at sucking - Bert nearly choked as mummy lost her grip on the segment (he also retched on a piece of toast at breakfast). We also are starting to get our heads around beakers of water, although we tend to try and use them upside down.

Instead of pre-prepared pots, today Mummy boiled up a lot of carrot and potato (ratio 4:1) and whizzed it in a blender with previously roasted pumpkin; she then added this mix to some previously cooked onion soup for her and daddy, and we ate the clean puree. This seems to be the way forward; we got seven meals for us and one for mummy and daddy out of it.

All this solid food malarkey means we're having a bath practically every night. This does mean that mummy's found a way of bathing us solo, as daddy's usually at work. She washes one of us, snuggles that baby into a towel and then washes the other. This means that the water doesn't go cold and also that the first one to be bathed doesn't fall asleep before supper is consumed!

Solid food - so NOT the Holy Grail of good night's sleep

2009-11-04T14:43:00.001-08:00

Against all expectations, eating solid food seems to be making Bert less inclined to sleep, rather than more. This confounds and perplexes mummy and daddy.

The past two evenings, Bert has not settled easily to sleep, crying after his suppertime breastfeed - unusual - and has then woken up later in the evening very upset, only to be placated with a feed. Go figure. For what reason? That's the $60,000 question. Some of the possibilities:

The goblins came in the night, replacing Bert with a changeling.
Bert is mainly drooling food down his chin, not into his belly. Therefore the four breastfeeds a day are not enough.
Bert is eating too much, too close to bedtime, therefore is bloated and uncomfortable at the end of his supper breastfeed.
He is teething, despite his gums and mouth appearing no different.
Processing new stuff in his tummy is slowing his digestive tract and holding up his bowels.

Answers on a postcard please.

Today we ate banana with a splash of breastmilk and tbsp baby rice; sucked a toast finger; and chowed down on carrot and potato with breastmilk, and apple and pear with a tsp yoghurt.

Mmm, mmm, carrot and potato

2009-11-03T13:50:00.000-08:00

Today we had 'tea' for the first time today. Mummy and daddy's first attempt at carrot puree wasn't too successful, so we used a reserve Hipp Organic carrot and potato jar, which was mixed with a bit of breastmilk. We lapped it up, and looked like Oompa Loompahs in Benidorm by the time we'd finished. Bathtime followed immediately - we were so orange we dyed the bathmat!

Our napping schedule is changing at the moment; following rice and banana breakfast, and our milk feed, we're eschewing the morning nap to hold out for a long lunchtime nap. Or at least, that is what we seem to be doing, might be different again tomorrow.

This meant we slept til 2pm and woke up hungry, so we had to skip Balham Library Rhyme Time. Instead, we wrapped up in our teddy hoodies (every baby should have one) and super cool new knitted hats from Jill Lance, and went for a walk to the Colliers Wood retail park (a well-known mum destination apparently) where we purchased Tommy Tippee free flow beakers - as recommended by Finn and Max's mum Hermie. We'll be using these for drinks with our meals.

With the proper teatime, we had one less breastfeed - we're now down to four a day - so we shall see how that affects our sleep tonight. GrandAl has come to stay the night, so hopefully we won't suddenly start waking in the middle of the night!

We find our appetite for solids...

2009-11-01T11:08:00.001-08:00

A week on from starting solids, and our second day of banana mixed in with our baby rice, and we really seem to be getting excited about proper food. Not that we're eating loads - it's more about tasting and playing with the spoon - but for now we're still sticking to all our breastfeeds, and will do so until we start eating more serious quantities of grown-up food and decide milk's less interesting (or so mummy supposes). Tomorrow we'll be introduced to teatime.

As our appetite increased, Mummy's had been temporarily knocked sideways by a 48 hour vomiting virus, which had her laid up all weekend and subsisting on toast and honey (barely). Luckily Daddy had Friday off work and aunty Lucy was able to come and help look after us, so all mummy had to do was feed us. We were very well-behaved.

Although Mummy still feels icky from her bug, there were two positives that came from it:

1. Confidence that breastmilk really is about supply and demand, and that her body can provide our food, even when she's feeling ropey and has hardly eaten (not that she'd make a habit of it!)
2. Discovery of a new position for tandem hold which means that she can lean back rather than sit up - much easier if you're feeling dizzy! We bascially lie on the ez2nurse pillow with our bums against the back of the sofa and our legs in the air, and she supports the top of her back more with cushions.

Although Mummy knows that it is a virus that made her ill, she can't help feeling that the excessive volume of cake and related goods that she has been consuming in the past few months cannot have helped. The 1600 additional calories she requires would be better obtained from healthy meals and snacks than nutritionally vacant fats and sugar. Something small once every day or so is one thing, but several every day a whole other matter, and she needs to keep healthy so we stay healthy. Back to the oatcakes and hummus it is then...

Meeting our Wandsworth Twins Club buddy

2009-10-28T11:54:00.001-07:00

A few months back, when mummy despaired of ever making buggy friends, we joined the Wandsworth Twins Club, a local support network for twin families. The club runs a buddying system, matching pregnant mums-to-be with new mums, so they can find out a little more about what they've let themselves in for(!). We didn't have an older buddy, as we didn't join while we were still in mummy's tummy, but she has volunteered to buddy someone.

So today we met Kellie, who is 24 weeks pregnant with non-identical twins. Our buggy pals Camille and Stevie, now four months, also came along with their mummy Anna; they are super-cute and really like making big smiles and standing up. All four of us were on very best behaviour, even though Stevie has a bit of a cold, and were very friendly while mummy and Anna regaled Kellie with tales of twin life. Hopefully, we added to Kellie's excitement about her own twinners growing in her tummy.

We also popped round to Matilda's house; Scarlet and her mummy Helen were there, as well as a new baby Ella, six weeks, and her mummy Becca. Cake was enjoyed, as is standard at these occasions, and the mummies discussed the possibility of setting up a Babysitting Circle; for those who missed the 1970s/80s, this is a reciprocal childcare group with each family having babysitting 'credits', babysitting for one another to earn more credits. The group also meets regularly so that the babies know one another and, of course, all the adults involved. Mummy reckons her and daddy would have to babysit overtime as a lot of people might want a second-in-command to babysit twins, so two credits for every evening out, but she thinks it could be worth it if it means her and daddy get out, even if only once in a blue moon!

Significantly six months

2009-10-27T13:35:00.000-07:00

Six months old today - mummy and daddy can't quite believe we're half way through our first year already, and how much we've grown. It's also aunty Lucy's birthday today, so she joined us at the Balham Library Rhyme Time - daddy came too, which meant we could both join in with the actions.

We bought mummy a surprise present for looking after us - an at-home massage from The Stork Spa, which specialises in pre- and post-natal treatments. Jean, who runs the spa, visited mummy when she we were in her tummy; mummy loved the hydrotherm massages, which Jean does on hot water bottle-style cushions - lovely and relaxing!

A little update on what we're up to. We've just started eating solids - just one meal a day of baby rice at the mo - and once we've mastered keeping a bit more of each spoonful in our mouths, we'll be dropping one milk feed, but otherwise we're still being breastfed mostly. Sleep, so far, is still good, and we're sleeping 10-12 hours on average a night, with bedtime being around 6.30pm. We love singing, laughing, making mouth noises, wriggling when excited and happy, being naked. Bert is a fan of any combo of fingers and thumbs in his mouth, Freddie likes labels.

Sunny Monday in Tooting

2009-10-26T12:32:00.000-07:00

Nice and simple - an impromptu playdate with our dude pal Luca. Mummy and his mummy, Olivia, met for lunch at Franciscan Road Italian deli/cafe La Mediterranea, which serves up bonafide hot dishes - lasagne, parmigiana - and sandwiches to munch among wall-to-wall shelves of Italian foodie goodies. The owners were very welcoming, our Nipper 360 fit through the door, and they didn't baulk at mummy dragging it in and slightly impeding maximum dining capacity - although there was space for us and Luca too.

Being too young for pasta, we fed at Luca's house and played with him on his fantastic Tiny Love playmat, ubiquitous in baby circles. A sunny walk on Tooting Common followed; we bumped into Jamie and his mum Gail, who does postnatal yoga with mummy at the Iyengar Yoga Centre in Tooting, Gail's friend Liz and her baby Nathaniel; and later also fellow twinners Noah and Dylan and their mummy Rosie. At the playground by the tennis courts two enterprising girls, maybe about aunty Stella's age, had set up a stall selling homemade cakes to raise money for charity - as it was all for a good cause, mummy and Olivia just had to partake!

All aboard the weaning train

2009-10-24T10:55:00.000-07:00

So, four days ahead of our six month milestone, we have finally got to chow down on runny baby rice. It was something of an anticlimax, given how much mummy and daddy had been overthinking the process, but the upshot is, we like, and we'll be trying it again tomorrow.

We'd been playing with our squidgey, BPA -free Vital Baby soft tip spoons for the last week or so - a tip from fellow twin mum to help get us used to them - and now it was the real, albeit slightly bland, deal. There was no fanfare, no fireworks. Freddie was bemused but happy to allow mummy to shovel more into his mouth; Bert was more vocal in his appreciation and kept trying to grab the spoon from daddy's hand.

We're getting started with 'breakfast', although, as everything pivots around feedtimes and sleeps, it was more 'elevenses' in the end. The plan is that we have solids about 30 minutes after a feed at first - so that we're not too hungry and anxious to enjoy ourselves - and we'll have one meal a day for this first week, adding another meal next week, and another the week after that, so we'll be on three square meals within the month - so grown up!

The Organix baby rice was mixed to a slightly weaker consistency than on the instructions - 1:6 rather than 1:4 rice to breastmilk/water - so that it wasn't too different to our usual milk, and mummy and daddy'll thicken it up over the next week as we get used to it. We probably ate about half of what was made, so we'll have a little less in the bowl tomorrow, as it means shorter time on the Medela Swing for mummy - not that expressing's really as hard as she remembered it being, just she prefers not doing it. We can then have more as our desire for baby rice grows...

Working up an appetite for solids...

2009-10-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

This week we have been mostly going on 'playdates'. These are really just going to friends' houses to play while mummies sip tea and indulge in cake, but we tag them with an important sounding name to make the mummies feel like they are scheduling in appointments, just like in the good old days of 9 to 5.

This week we visited Gracie (pic above), Lachlan (Luca was there too) and Scarlet, and also went to Noah and Dylan's house, one road away from our's - they're identical twins like us, born September 1, who we met at the Lavender Children's Centre Yummy Mummy Breastfeeding Drop-in. Mummy thinks it's great to have fellow twinners and their mum, Rosie, so close by! Aunty Harriet and cousin Amy dropped by one day too, and aunty Lucy another day.

All this excitement makes us hungry, so conveniently we have just about hit the six month mark and have solid food to look forward to from tomorrow. Mummy dusted off her Medela Swing breastpump to express milk to make the Organix wholegrain baby rice (chosen as it's gluten free so minimal allergy potential). Despite the pump's efficiency, mummy was only just able to get 110ml of breastmilk, enough for one twin meal's worth of rice. Just shows how hard it is for mummies to express as much as we babies can eat ourselves at the breast; our steady growth would suggest we definitely get plenty of milk in one feed of a similar time!

So...grown-up food here we come! We shall let you know how it goes...

Meeting Evie Nell and highchair practice

2009-10-22T12:30:00.000-07:00

While back in Bristol for Runcle and Becky's hitch-up, we met our latest buggy friend, Evie Nell, for the first time. She was born at the beginning of September to Julia and Stu, and is doing very well, thank you. She was sporting a cherry top, while we had our Green Baby fruits tops - a game of baby fruit machine.

We also got to hang out with Granny and some of mummy's family - aunty Stella, uncle Stan, Tuncle Tom and GrandAl, as well as Doreen, GrandAl's mum, and Delene, GrandAl's sister.

Mummy and daddy arranged a houseswap with Alison and Si, Oli's mum and dad, as they had a wedding in London. This is the way to go when you have to go away with babies, they think, as much more space than a hotel room, cheaper (obv.) and more chilled, as they had space to themselves.

We loved it as we got to practice using a highchair (Ollie's), ahead of weaning. His is a clamp-on highchair - might not work with our current dining table, but good for four-legged tables as saves a lot of floor space and can't kick against the table and topple over...

Our fourth wedding...

2009-10-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

Technical hitches and our fourth wedding has meant something of a break in blogging for us babies. Yes, we're now back, having completed our baby re-enactment of the Brit film classic with the hitching of Runcle and aunty Becky in the beautiful Priston Mill, near Bath.

It was a lovely day, the bride looked stunning, and we enjoyed getting to see all daddy's family, who we hadn't seen for a couple of months. We especially enjoyed playing with our cousins, Ben, Sophie and Tom; we reckon we'll have lots of fun together once we're bigger!

Mummy was excited to be wearing a dress, a pre-pregnancy All Saints number which conveniently has a poppered-down bodice for easy breastfeeding. Using a voluminous silk scarf, she fed us on the mezzanine, rather than the breastfeeding cubicle, which was tucked away in the ladies' loos (at least they'd thought to have one though!).

We'd had a chilled out week in the build up to our weekend away, which meant that our feeding had calmed down and mummy wasn't the feeder for the entire day, which can happen when there's the two of us. We went to sleep around 7.30pm, and transferred smoothly to our cot once home, which was a first!

Baby beatboxing and Babymel

2009-10-14T14:20:00.000-07:00

Aunty Harriet and Duncle came round today, mainly for baby cuddles but also they made mummy and daddy dinner, which is always nice when you're tired! Bert enjoyed chowing down on Duncle's fist - definitely getting ready for food, or teething, or something - and we were both transfixed by his beatboxing, and decided to practise our own baby version at 3am.

So, soon we start eating solids, and we'll be needing to carry more gear than just a few nappies and emergency clothes - until now, no extra equipment has been needed as we're breastfeeding - and so we've been rethinking our pram bag situation.

Mummy and daddy have invested in a Babymel X2, a pram bag specially designed for us twinners (or those with two small children.) It's two bags which popper together, so that you can carry them as one big bag or two separately, as each has its own shoulder strap and changing mat. Each bag has loads of pockets, which means that everything is easier to find, as long as you remember what you put where (sometimes mummy doesn't as her brain can get very tired!); twins need a lot of stuff eventually, so it makes sense to be organised as possible.

The X2 may sound a bit gimmicky, but in fact it makes a lot of sense, as it means that you can have one bag for things you need to hand over the buggy handles, and the other bag in the under buggy storage, so you don't end up with one overstuffed bag which makes our lightweight Nipper 360 imbalanced and go all bouncy (and not in a good way!) Bonuses are that the colourway we went for - camo and brown - is a quite manly option, so daddy finally has his own pram bag, while mummy likes the fact that, if you use it without a strap, it is an oversized clutch - so this season...

Moving not shaking...

2009-10-12T11:52:00.000-07:00

For lunch, we met Gracie and her mummy Roxanne in The Fat Delicatessen in Balham, which fit our Nipper 360 through the door and alongside our mummies' table - always good when that isn't a faff. Which is often can be, despite it being one of the slimmest side-by-side double buggies on the market.

Bert officially managed to sit up unaided today - he was able to hold up his body and his head without falling onto his face for at least a minute (see picture evidence). When sat in his Cosatto Snoozi bouncy chair he crunches his tummy to try and sit up properly, so all-in-all it's looking promising. This is exciting, and stops us feeling inadequate for being the only babies in SW London not to own the ubiquitous Bumbo seat, which helps babies sit up from three months.

Freddie isn't so into sitting up at the mo, perferring lying on his tummy and holding his head up. With some effort, he is able to roll from his tummy onto his back - he's done this twice. We were both very interested in daddy clicking his fingers - Bert tried to copy with his hands (daddy reckons) and Freddie started making clicking noises with his mouth.

This difference in development is apparently not unusual in us twins - we guess that just because we are genetically identical doesn't mean we will do everything at exactly the same time, although we do inspire one another!

A weekend of total chillaxation

2009-10-11T12:09:00.000-07:00

We'd had a hectic few days last week, wearing ourselves and mummy out, so we took it down a gear over the weekend; with no planned activities whatsoever. This gave us more opportunities to loll around on the playmat and practise holding our head up when on our tummies, rolling over, baby grappling and that sort of thing.

Mummy seized the chance to get out the Peter Rabbit Cradle Cap and Massage Oil, which she worked into Bert's scalp before going to town on his reptilian cradle cap - juicy! - she is a bit simian like that. He's now looking far more healthy, and the initial pinkness of his treated scalp has died down.

To maintain our consititution we went for fresh air strolls across Tooting Common, and popped by Luca's house for a cup of tea (for mummy). Luca is already eating solids and loving it; we hear it's really exciting and are looking forward to it. We loved visiting him; we find it much more chilled going to friend's houses to play. Luca has a Lindam baby bouncer and loves dancing around and around in his doorway; we have one too, which Ben, Sophie and Tom handed down to us, so mummy and daddy are going to get it out for us to play with, see if we like it as much.

Today aunty Lucy popped round for a good dose of baby cuddles, that well-known hangover cure, and helped with bath-time.

Sunshine and a playdate at Zack's house

2009-10-08T11:43:00.000-07:00

Playdate at Zack's (clockwise, from top left): Matilda, Bert, Freddie, Scarlet, Zack

Brilliant sunshine today, necessitating an easy stroll to Tooting Common, where we met Otis, who is 10 months old, and his mummy Mel, who is an ex-workmate of mummy's.

Afterwards, we headed to Zack's house, for a playdate of the old-school variety. His mummy Maria got the carrot cake in; Matilda and her mummy Halide, and Scarlet and her mummy Helen also came along. The mummies nattered over peppermint tea, while we enjoyed the smaller group of buggy friends and cosy, chilled out environment. Freddie, in particular, has found baby groups a little overwhelming at times, as they can get boisterous for us babies, especially at the One O'Clock Centres! We'll still be hitting the groups, but home get-togethers are definitely also on the agenda as the days draw in.

We headed home in time for our teatime feed, as last night we had an uncharacteristic regression, waking at 11pm for a feed. Mummy is thinking 'yikes' and hoping it's a one-off wibble, rather than a full-blown change of plan, especially as feeding late evening didn't even mean we went past our usual 4am feed - so much for dream feeds!

Last time we did an unexpected evening screech, at three months-old, it coincided with a busy day visiting mummy's work, so mummy and daddy wonder if yesterday's most likely due to a few full-on days meaning all three of us are a little tense and tired out. Mummy is scaling back operations for a few days, to make sure we get enough feeds in the day and are relaxed by the time bedtime comes; this evening she practised our massages and we seemed to feed better, so fingers crossed!

Toot Toot! Tooting One O'Clock Centre

2009-10-07T10:51:00.000-07:00

We wanted to see Gracie today, so mummy and Roxanne arranged to meet at the Tooting One O'Clock Centre, which, at the top of Tooting Common, is equidistant from both our houses. Mummy took along a playmat for us to loll on, following her experience of grubby outdoor shoes on the baby playspace at the Brockwell One O'Clock Centre.

Tooting One O'Clock Centre is fairly small, and the baby area was a bit of a tight squeeze, although they brought out more mats as more babies arrived, including Isla, Greta and Sonny, and their mummies Katharine, Bryony and Louise; we were well-prepared for impromptu socialising in our chic, autumnal M&S Autograph babywear, a lovely gift when we were born, which we finally have grown into! The staff at the club were friendly, and there were lots of activities for the older kids.

We had a tricky entry and exit situation, as it was raining, the buggy park isn't right by the door there is no shelter over the entrance (this also made the room a little chilly). This is perhaps not such as issue with one baby, but with twins it means either one of us waits in the rain, or one of us waits in the buggy park. Mummy sometimes wonders how much these One O'Clock Centres think about us twinners when they ban buggies.

A stomping, marauding toddler, who answered to no-one, not even his mum, kept snatching toys from babies (and even mummies!), and looked in danger of falling on us several times. Mummy felt that a. his mum should've controlled him better and b. why is there no gate around the baby area to keep out bigger kids. We felt that he was old enough to not want to play with baby toys, so why do it? We doubt we'll ever be privy to such indulgent parenting as that naughty boy.

BUT despite these little niggles, Tooting One O'Clock Centre seems a likely place for meeting up in colder weather, and we are sure we can stake our claim to a few mats in the corner.

Exhausted by too-much-to-do Tuesday

2009-10-06T12:27:00.001-07:00

An ambitious day today, with no less than three activities on the agenda, none of which mummy wanted to scratch as they all have their benefits. We were very tired out by it all, so mummy's going to revert to one activity a day again; got to try everything once though!

This morning we started a four session baby massage course at the Lavender Children's Centre. Mummy had asked our health visitor about baby massage about eight weeks ago, and she referred us. Mummy figures that, with twins, anything which is meant to help babies chill out can only be a good thing. Mummy couldn't give us the focused attention the singleton babies did, as she had to repeat each new stroke on each of us in the time the others did it once, but we seemed to enjoy ourselves - although Bert was arguably more interested in Rhea, who was on the mat next to us, and is the same age.

Coincidentally, the massage group leader had twins herself, now 20, so mummy quizzed her on a few questions, including co-bedding; she had co-bedded her twins till they were one, top-to-tail, and they had been fine squeezed in, lying all over each other, so mummy and daddy reckon they'll continue till we'd rather not share sleep time.

We then scooted home for mummy's lunch, and then back to the centre for the Yummy Mummy Breastfeeding Drop-In, where we had lunch and also saw a lot of the pals we have been making there over the last 10 weeks, and met new potential buggy friends. Some of us are going to be meeting up at Zack's house, as his mummy Maria is hosting a good, old-fashioned coffee morning, like Granny and Nanny would've gone to when mummy and daddy were babies.

Leaving Yummy Mummy a bit early, we caught the train to Balham, where we met aunty Lucy and walked to Wandsworth Common for the Wandsworth Twins Club Playgroup. We'd tried it last week and liked it, and this week Camille and Stevie came along with their mummy Anna. The baby corner was very busy - matching babies everywhere - and it was good for mummy to chat with other twin mums, especially those still breastfeeding at seven or eight months, as she's planning to keep feeding us for as long as possible and finds it helpful to have support. Freddie was a little overwhelmed, even after a feed - seems the massage and consequent overstimulation had worn him out.

Maybe it was the massage (which can make babies crotchety and tired at first); more likely it was overstimulation. We certainly needed a big feed to settle down to sleep tonight. Tomorrow's a new day!

'At home' weaning chat with our health visitor

2009-10-05T12:18:00.000-07:00

Countdown is progressing... in three weeks' time we'll officially hit the fabled 26 week mark; the half-a-year milestone which calls for weaning, moving into our own bedroom, teeth, sitting up and all manner of things. Granny swears its all plain sailing from here; mummy wants to believe this but is not so sure.

Mummy had been in contact with our health visitor team about attending a weaning session, and one of them offered to drop by to talk to mummy and daddy about the NHS's weaning guidelines. With twins, if you don't have to leave the house for an appointment, you don't argue, and it worked out perfectly for all of us as it rained all day.

It was a health visitor of the informed variety, who talked mummy and daddy through the NHS's ideal scenario, from milky baby rice to three lumpy meals a day, in four weeks, and answered their questions. It wasn't so much that they wanted to be told what to do, as much as wanted to get one answer and adapt it to suit our little family. As the health visitor said herself, it's only advice, and we should interpret as we see fit.

It was short and sweet (unlike our future meals!), but useful. These are a few tips which they thought they'd share:

Even if we seem hungry before 26 weeks, breastmilk will suffice - just means mummy might be feeding us for a while at each sitting!

We still get to breastfeed before each meal at first, so that we're not mega hungry and no-one's anxious about how much we eat - it's only tasting at first.

We'll start with one meal a day, eg breakfast, of milky baby rice mix, which is gradually strengthened; then we'll have lunch after about a week, then dinner after another week. Each meal should be about baby fist-sized (we think because it reflects our tummy capacity).

Mummy and daddy won't be cooking us anything specially; they'll just mash up what they're having, cooked without salt and sugar. No Annabel Karmel for us.

We'll be sticking to veggies, protein and grains at first, so we don't get a sweet tooth, especially as breastmilk is quite sweet anyway.

Lumpy food's gonna be on our plate as early as possible, so that we don't get weird about having to chew and new textures.

Mummy had been told about baby-led weaning, where we'd get our food on a plate and eat at our leisure. The NHS doesn't advocate this (although obviously is up to each family what they do), but suggests having a bowl to feed us mashed moosh, and also the same food (pre-moosh) on a plate in front of us, so we can experiment with the texture and holding food. Sounds good to us!

Our weight may plateau at first as not much actual food will go in(!); we will all just enjoy the process of eating together and learning about food. Another excuse to skive the weigh-ins.

Oh yes, and no TV for us - as it's a distraction (and the opiate of the masses - mummy says). This works for mummy and daddy, as they always eat at the kitchen table anyway.

So none of it rocket science, but a good starting block. The only point mummy and daddy are a bit sceptical about is they say we need to take vitamin drops post-26 weeks as apparently breastmilk will no longer suffice, vitamin-wise; if this really the case, why is it not prescribed on the NHS and breastfeeding advocated till two years old by WHO? They are going to look into it some more before making a more informed decision on this one.

Anyway, mummy and daddy feel more excited about the approach of such a milestone now, and are looking forward to introducing us to a more grown-up way of eating. Better start thinking about what kind of highchairs we want to be seen in...

A trip to Dulwich in gratuitous fancy dress

2009-10-04T12:17:00.000-07:00

For no particular reason, we've been enjoying dressing up the past two days - Bert is a cowboy (from H&M via FARA charity shop) and Freddie is a glow-in-the-dark OshKosh skeleton.

Yesterday, we met up with Gracie, her dad Andy and mummy Roxanne, at Tulse Hill, from which we struck out to explore Dulwich, as we'd heard lots about its yummy mummy/indie shopping credentials. We got the train from Tooting, and mummy has made a mental note not to use Tulse Hill rail station unaccompanied due to the multitude of stairwells, unless she can guarantee that no platform change is required.

Gracie and the grown-ups needed to stop for lunch, so we pulled to a halt at the cafe in the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Set in the gallery's gardens, the cafe was fully buggy-accessible, although our double buggy would only've parked up beside a minority of the tables inside; in fact, the interior layout wasn't great for breastfeeding anyway, so we all sat outside - a little bit chilly for the grown-ups! Mummy noted that there's a children's menu, for when we're bigger, but felt it was a bit pricey, overall, for the quality of food and service.

After a leisurely lunch, we strolled through Dulwich Park and then we two were hungry, necessitating a pitstop at the Pavilion Cafe. Split into child-free and more frenetic family areas, the airy cafe had posted a disclaimer asking customers to be patient, as they were short-staffed. This meant long queues and dirty tables, but at least it was warm and relaxed! The double door entrance had one door locked, so daddy had to undo its bolts to get our Nipper 360 buggy into the cafe, but this would no doubt be less of an issue in the summer, when the cafe's patio doors are open.

Mummy and Roxanne then had a mooch along Lordship Lane's shopping parade, closer to East Dulwich station, checking out lush but pricey baby clothes, toys and general paraphenalia in Soup Dragon, as well as kitsch-but-chic interiors shops including Mrs Robinson's (clothes being lower on the agenda at present) and their fave independent wine merchant Green & Blue (mainly to sniff, not swig!) We three hung out with our dads in The Palmerston, an award-winning gastropub which was unexpectedly happy to accommodate babies and buggies.

Jumping Beanz at Brockwell One O'Clock Club

2009-10-02T11:38:00.001-07:00

Buoyed by our second ultra long night sleep (over 11 hours!) in two days, mummy made it out of the house early doors this morning, as we had a playdate with Gracie in Herne Hill. We hooked up with our pal at the Brockwell One O'Clock Club's Jumping Beanz baby session, 10am-midday. It's meant to be an under 1's session, but there were lots of much bigger children, which made it a bit busy for us to play on the floor too much. We met other babies and their parents (daddies were spotted among the mummies), including new face Louise, whose baby was only 17 days old; mummy and Roxanne were v impressed that she had got out of the house so soon!

It was our first trip to a One O'Clock Club, which were established about 30 years ago so that parents and pre-schoolers had somewhere free to go; they generally host afternoon play sessions for under-fives from 1pm onwards, but it seems they also sometimes have other sessions too - this one has a daddies' hour on Saturday mornings. It seemed quite friendly, and there was lots of play equipment for bigger children, plus an outdoor area. Mummy did think that the babies and toddlers should have had separate, designated play areas (in fact, she didn't expect to see any toddlers as it's meant to be for babies!), and also that the naughty grown-ups should've taken off their shoes when on the baby area. She might take our own playmat if there's a next time.

Afterwards, we wheeled across the park to The Lido Cafe, situated within the Brockwell Lido buildings and overlooking the aqua pool, serene today as it is winding down its opening hours ahead of winter, but clearly a key kid destination come summertime. Fully buggy-accessible, mummy reckons there'd even be space inside the cafe for our double buggy, once it's too cold to sit outdoors. The toilets are a bit low-rent, but are being worked on, and even if there's no proper changing table, they do leave out eco-friendly baby accoutrements, so the intention is there. Mummy and Roxanne had yummy wholefood-y meal, for only £6, followed up with a slab of delicious cake each to keep their energy up. The three of us had the usual.

All the activity of the day meant we didn't have a good solid nap, and so we had a bit of a freak-out as we left the cafe, soothed by taking the long route around the park back to the station, during which time we fell asleep.

We settled down tonight after another marathon, hour-long supper at our new, self-selected earlier bedtime; fingers crossed for mummy and daddy that this means another long night's sleep from us. This is the beauty of breastfeeding; we can take as much or as little as we need in one sitting. If we manage another long stretch, stick that in your pipe Gina Ford, you baby sadist! If not, no worries either, we've plenty of time to get the hang of night-time, and it means that today they have a whole evening to chill out together.

A flying visit from great aunty Anne

2009-10-01T11:41:00.000-07:00

We've had a busy two days entertaining - and being entertained by - our great aunty Anne, who is daddy's aunty. Anne is brilliant fun; we've been developing more and more responses to humour and pleasure recently, but mummy had never yet heard us laugh like we did when Anne played games with us. She is hitherto to be referred to as the baby-charmer.

We were very lucky boys, as she brought us some fab new clothes she'd picked up in TK Maxx, including a jolly red and blue hoop hoodie - we love these as they keep our ears warm and we look like little dudes.

We took Anne to see the baby sights of Tooting, including Tooting Common and its cafe, where we bumped into three sets of friends, including Oscar and Hamish, whose mummy Karen is gearing up to return to work three days a week, leaving our pals in the capable hands of their pa, Alistair. Today we all went for lunch at The Selkirk, where mummy wolfed down a breastmilk-enhancing roast belly of pork with lots of vegetables - yummy crackling!

Tired out by all the excitement yesterday, we were ready for bed by 6.30pm and fed for nearly an hour(!). Mummy couldn't object, as our lengthy supper must've contributed to our mega sleeps - 10-and a-half from Bert, and an out-of-sight 13 hours from Freddie. We've gone for broke, milk-wise, tonight too, so mummy and daddy await the outcome with bated breath...

Mummy and daddy have been reflecting that, only a couple of months ago, midweek visits from anyone were a no-no, as we live in a small flat and mummy uses the living room for night feeds, so as not to wake daddy, as he has to go to work early. Now that we can feed more quickly, it's not so much in the middle of the night as early in the morning, and mummy finds it easier to feed us in bed, it's open season on our sofa bed...!