Picking out the Right Double Stroller

Everyone who is expecting twins will go through the pain of trying to find the best double stroller.  It's a fact of life that no matter what stroller you look at you are not going to find one that is perfect, they all have their pluses and minuses, it just comes down to which ones you want to overlook.  After months of looking around at reviews, opinions, options, prices, specs, and going to different stores we more decided on the Mountain Buggy Duet.

When we were looking for strollers we had already booked our tickets to Germany, so we wanted something that could accommodate us on our trip.  We wanted something that wasn't a giant monstrosity, super heavy, folded well, but also not too lightweight and flimsy so it could handle a bit of a beating.  What sold us on the Mountain Buggy was the width of the stroller(or lack there of.)  It comes in at only a few inches wider than most single-wides and fits through pretty much any doorway, and we squeezed through some small ones without a hitch. Being shorter than tandems and narrower than every other side-by-side gives it great handling and makes going up curbs super easy.  We took our two test subjects(nieces) down to the store to try out a few strollers with some weight in them, when you are pushing an empty stroller they all seem like they handle great.  Once loaded up with two toddlers it was clear that the side-by-side handled way better than the tandems, and trying to pop the front wheels up on something like the City Select(our second choice) was far and away easier with the Mountain Buggy.  Our other major concerns with the Mountain Buggy were the weight and the lack of width for the future.  Our two test subjects aged 4 and 2, fit just fine, s owe figured we'd have no problem fitting the boys in for a few years.  The weight of the stroller is a big downside, however, I don't think you'll find a double stroller that is as light as you want it to be.  The Mountain Buggy is average weight for a double, so we'll just have to live with it.

If you take anything from this post it should be to take kids with you to the store, hell, you should take sandbags if you have to.  Without getting a real life picture of how it feels with some weight in it you shouldn't buy it.


 

Mountain Buggy Duet Double Stroller.

Travelling with Twins, Where to Stay? Hotels or Apartments

Hotels or Apartments, that is the question:   People would ask us before our trip how we were going to stay in a hotel room with our twins, as if it was the only option.  If you need someone to come in a make your bed and fluff your pillow everyday, you should probably stick to a hotel....if only it was that simple.  For us hotels can offer more than just some housekeeping, but apartments still give us the best bang for our buck.  Even with the boys sleeping in one crib and not needing much space to move around, we find even the more spacious hotel rooms don't quite have the space needed.  Even a studio apartment we booked through AirBNB during our Germany/Hungary trip provided much more space than a hotel, plus we had a kitchen and a washing machine.

There are some things though that hotels could provide that made us happy we opted to stay some of our nights in one.  A bed that isn't two twins pushed together is probably one of our biggest reasons to go for a hotel over an apartment.  After spending weeks sleeping on sub(american)-standard beds, a night on a good hotel bed felt a tad bit like heaven.  Hotels can give you an options for a much needed splurge, it is vacation after all. We stayed on the Regency Club Level room at a Hyatt in Germany and took full advantage of the breakfast and evening cocktail "hour," with snacks and free drinks.  Pools also make a hotel a worth option at some point, it's just nice to be able to go and have a dip in beautiful, heated hotel pool, the boys especially enjoyed those benefits.  Lastly one thing that we especially missed at times in our apartments this trip was some nice high powered, bone chilling, air conditioning.  Those Europeans and their energy efficiency sure are missing out when it comes to the A/C.  There are other small things like ease of booking/cancelling, easier check-ins, nice big lifts, and maybe a feeling of added security(sometimes),

Apartments though will be our main choice for accommodations.  It really just comes down to the extra space available and we can find somewhere with a washing machine. Especially next year when the boys are moving around and we have two cribs to set up, an average size hotel room just isn't going to cut it.  Sure you can get your clothes washed at a hotel, but for a price, knowing we have a washing machine where we are staying allows us to cut way down on the amount of clothes we are bringing, which is a HUGE plus. We used AirBNB for the first time this trip, and we are hooked.  It makes the booking process smooth, you get a good sense of what you're getting through reviews, and we found all of our hosts to be really accommodating and super easy to work with.  Two of our hosts even had cribs set up and some baby toys for us when we arrived, the whole AirBNB thing was amazing, I can't imagine using something else to book an apartment.  Places like Homeaway/VRBO seem to be such a hassle and booking upon arrival is just not an option for us anymore.  Our Italy trip is probably going to be mostly setup in advance and booked through AirBNB, but we'll probably also sneak in a couple hotel nights, just to lay on a huge king bed :)

If you click the AirBNB link to sign up you'll get $25 off your first stay(full disclosure: I would get a $25 referral after your stay)

First time Flying with Twins

After all the dread of babies screaming for hours, drinks being thrown at us,and flights being diverted,  we boarded our first flight with the boys.  The flight from SFO to FRA clocked in at about 10.5hrs of flight time, and it couldn't have possibly been a smoother time in the air.  For all of our worry and preparation we were rewarded with essentially no screaming, barely any crying, no blowouts, no projectile vomiting.  It really couldn't have gone better, which also scared us, we figured our good fortune would have to catch up with us at some point.

If you've found this post ,you're probably like us, looking forward to going somewhere with your babies, but scared shitless about the journey to come.  There is a wealth of info from parents regarding flying with babies  and toddlers of all ages.  For all the worry that leads up to the event the journey will probably be pretty anticlimactic...as long as you're prepared for most of what could happen.  We had bottles and boobs for takeoff and landing, front-packs for the restless minutes before naptime, extra clothes and plastic bags for blowouts.  For us the key was to be prepared for what could happen and just run with it, not much else you can do at 35,000 feet once you are there.  You may read about people scheduling their flights for naptimes, and bending over backwards to try to force your little ones into the same routines, but for us that seems pointless, after all, this is about BREAKING your routine.  Once you've left for the airport, you're at the mercy of the travel gods, an unexpected delay, a long line at security, a wait on the tarmac, whatever, and your plan to keep your routine will crumble in no time, so why force it?  

The flight home from Munich proved to be nearly as uneventful as the flight there.  But we were dealt a small dose of reality when "Baby A" decided to provided us with the biggest, messiest, smelliest deuce he's ever taken, one that had been brewing inside him for 10 days!  In the end it was a blip on an otherwise normal flight, poopy clothes thrown into a plastic bag, 30 wipes into the trash, tons of screaming and  5 minutes later we were good to go.  If the worst that happens is screaming and pooping, that's pretty much the same as any other day, why let that hold you back!  You may even get rewarded with a compliment from a nearby passenger about how good your little guys were. :)

For our flights we booked one seat to be able to put a car seat on the plane.  It was nice at times, and definitely made the flight easier, but I think we would have gotten by just fine without, especial on the flight over which was only 2/3rds full, and we had a whole bulkhead row to ourselves.  If we had it to do again I'd save the miles/money and take a chance that we'd be able to find an empty seat to be able to stretch out.

(Baby B chillaxing in the carseat on the plane.)

Product Review: Phil and Teds Traveller

We looked at a lot of options for travel cribs / cots / bassinets , in reality nothing really seemed to fit what we were REALLY looking for, which would be light, compact, fit nicely in a backpack.  It seemed like they were either big and bulky or small but oblong.   We ended up getting the Phil & Teds Traveler, Travel Crib,while it is still bulkier than we would like, we found it to be usable especially since at 3-4 months both of the boys can fit without really disturbing the other.

The crib is pretty light, coming in around 7lbs, it's reasonably compact, and doesn't have a funky shape.  The frame seems sturdy enough that it will last to their toddler years as well.  The fitted sheet that comes with it to go over the therma-rest is softer than any sheets we have for our own bed, so I think they're plenty cozy sleeping on it.  We found that setting up the crib was extremely easy, 8 pieces to snap together for the frame, a couple zippers, put some air in the therma-rest and you are done.  We had read some negative reviews on the setup before we bought it, so we were a little worried at first, but putting it together the first time was a breeze.  The take-down however can be a little bit of a pain in the ass.  The pieces that snap together for the rails are impossible to depress enough to disconnect the two sections without using some sort of object to push them in.  Once you take the pieces apart a few times, you'll realize what works and what doesn't(your fingers) and it won't be a problem.

All in all it's a great product that fit packed in our luggage and didn't require any real extra hauling around, just a slightly bulging backpack!  Now that we can't fit both boys in a single crib we may have to break the bank a bit to buy another one, but at least we won't be breaking our backs!

1st Trip - Lessons Learned, Looking to the Future

We made it through all the doom and gloom, nay-saying, and sarcastic "good lucks!"  Our first trip with our boys was a success, it wasn't exactly the same as what we were used to, but it went off without a hitch.  Sure, we didn't stay out late and drink our asses off, maybe we never ate dinner past 6:00, but we didn't feel hindered by our new additions and enjoyed (almost) every minute of it.  It went so well that two weeks in we booked our flights for next year!  That's going to be a whole 'nother story, hopefully we won't have any early walkers to contend with.  Here's some things we figured out, or were reinforced, from our first trip with the boys.

Lessons Learned:
#1 - It ain't that bad! -  Quit worrying about what could happen and just get out there and do it.
#2 - Pack Light -   We tried our damnedest to pack as many essentials as we could without being crushed under the weight of our packs. Even still, pushing a stroller with two carseat attached, carrying a 35lb pack is daunting, we only had to do it fully loaded a few times but I couldn't imagine bringing more stuff.  Do yourself a favor and if you're not sure you'll need it, don't bring it!
#3 - Stay Hands Free - This one may be a bit more of a personal preference but, for us, backpacks were a must.  We'd always brought them on our travels anyways but I couldn't imagine not being able to have both hands free.  If you're pulling a piece of luggage and trying to push a stroller simultaneously, you're going to be miserable.  Even with carrying 35lbs on your back it's much easier to maneuver, tend to the baby, open doors, go up curbs, whatever.
#4 - Be flexible -   Don't saddle yourself down with MUST-DOs.  You're not going to be able to do it all, you'll get slowed down when you're rushing, you'll get distracted when trying to concentrate, and you'll just get frustrated if you are locked into having to do things a certain way or at a certain time.  Slow it down, don't lock yourself into a timetable, just go with the flow and do what you can do, you can always come back!
#5 - Everyone loves twins! -  Not much of a lesson learned, but we were surprised by how much of a spectacle we became at times.  People would stop and talk, often in a language we didn't understand, they'd take pictures of them(a little weird), want to pick them up, make a distinctly European ticking sound with their mouths(kinda like what you might do to get a horse to move), it was a bit crazy at times.
#6 - Accept some help - After assessing the situation of course, at restaurants, hotels, airports people love to help by holding a baby if it looks like you might be struggling.  Accept their offer, free yourself up for a quick second, and maybe take advantage of it for a few more seconds to stretch or do what ever for that brief baby-less moment.
#7 - Learn to Love the Ergo - Or whatever your carrier/front-pack of choice is.  Our boys aren't too fond of the stroller, at least for sleeping.  It's 100X easier for them to sleep in the Ergo than the stroller, and they sleep for longer, no worrying about keeping the stroller moving if you stop.  We found that if it's about nap-time and we wanted to do any museums or anything like that,  it is much easier to put them in the front packs and walk around and have them fall, and stay, asleep.

Booking before babies

We decided we weren't going to brave our first flight with two lap infants...I know we're sissies, but we're also not rich, so we opted for buying a seat for one baby and flying one as a lap infant.  We came to find out that it is much easier said than done to book a flight while expecting twins.  Basically, booking a seat for an un-born infant can't be done, not in a straight forward way at least.  Lap infants are easy, just call back and add them in after their birth, but booking an actual seat is another story.  My first time dealing with United I was told I would have to call back after the twins were born and book another seat, if there is one available.  I asked if we could put in "infant" for a first name and change it later after they were born...nope, not possible.  After a little more digging I found a suggestion to book an extra seat for myself(like someone who physically takes up two seats has to do), I could then add both babies in as lap infants after they were born, and just use the extra seat for a baby as originally planned.  The tickets are booked, now we just have to hope United doesn't screw us over adding in the lap infants!