Dad's Guide to Twins

Episode 242 of the Dad’s Guide to Twins Podcast Show Notes Today we continue our father of twins interview series with Barnaby Haszard Morris, father of non-identical girl twins from New Zealand. Listen as we explore his twin parenting journey, including: Starting kindergarten with twins Telling similar twins apart Mom’s terrible nausea until the morning twins were born Waiting 3 days for availability at the hospital to deliver the twins When the NICU was full so couldn’t deliver twins Mom’s complications after birth Recruiting family to come and help with the twins When the time comes to go back to work Having Mom stay home with the kids Finding out that Dad could manage on less sleep and thus take night feeds Moving twins to two separate rooms and more… Connect with Barnaby on Twitter Transcript Joe Rawlinson 0:00 Imagine having to wait three days to let the hospital admit you to deliver your babies and being turned back each day when you thought you’d be having your twins. Today we discussed that and much more with a fellow father of twins. Intro 0:16 Welcome to the Dad’s Guide to Twins Podcast the podcast that will help you survive and thrive as a father of twins Now, here’s your host, the author of the book, the “Dad’s Guide to Twins“, Joe Rawlinson. Joe Rawlinson 0:32 Hey everybody, and welcome to the Dad’s Guide to Twins podcast. This is Episode 242 and I am Joe Rawlinson. Today we are continuing our father of twins interview series with with a kiwi twin dad from New Zealand. But before we jump into that conversation, I want to let you know that today’s show is brought to you by my book “Dad’s Guide to Raising Twins: How to thrive as a father of twins“. This book will guide you through the first couple years of twins and help you overcome the challenges we all face during those crazy first years. You can learn more about this book at raisingtwinsbook.com now let’s jump straight into that interview. Today I would like to welcome to the show fellow father of twins. Barnaby Haszard Morris, welcome to the show, Barnaby. Barnaby 1:13 Thanks so much for having me, Joe. Joe Rawlinson 1:14 Barnaby, how old are your twins right now. And what’s something exciting about this age? Barnaby 1:20 Right now they’re three, they turned three in November 2020. And something that’s really exciting about them. I mean, every day is exciting in a different way. But just this week, they started going to kindergarten, one day a week by themselves. Whereas last year, they were only going together. So that’s quite exciting and a little nerve wracking. But Nora got through it really well yesterday, and had a great day by herself at kindy. And hopefully, June has a similar story today. That increased independence, I guess. What’s really nice about this age. Joe Rawlinson 1:56 So you’ve got two girls, are they identical? Barnaby 1:58 Yeah, two girls, they’re not identical. They do look quite alike. Blonde hair, very blue eyes. So strangers find it hard to tell them apart, and sometimes family members. Joe Rawlinson 2:09 So there’s a secret marks or identification that you can use? Barnaby 2:14 Yeah, there is actually June has a birthmark on her forehead that’s quite pronounced. And it’s sort of darkened over time to make it a bit more prominent. Whereas when they are born, you know, there’s marks everywhere, it’s kind of hard to tell, Joe Rawlinson 2:30 you mentioned that they just started going to kindergarten by themselves. So how has that transition been from what they’re doing before? Barnaby 2:38 Tara my wife and I do our best especially Tara cause she’s home with the kids, we do our best to prepare them for these sorts of transitions and talk in a in a relaxed way as possible about what’s coming up. So that when that happens, they sort of expect it. So they started kindergarten towards the end of last year when they were about shortly before they turned to three. And they talked to her pretty well. But I actually expected that with twins, they’d be really comfortable going into social settings like that. Because they’ve always had someone around. So they’d be more they’d have a lot more experience relating with someone else their own age, what actually happened. And I don’t know what it’s like for other twins. But Nora and June kind of leaned on each other and they would stick together to the point where they wouldn’t necessarily interact with other kids so much. So the thing where we’re getting them to go to kindy by themselves for one day a week each, instead of give them that chance to express themselves in their own way, and not to be so bound to each other. But generally, the transition to kindergarten has gone really well. And they do cope quite well with transitions with notice, which is very

Episode 241 of the Dad’s Guide to Twins Podcast Show Notes Today we continue our father of twins interview series with Grant Holloway, father of boy/girl twins. Listen as we explore his twin parenting journey, including: Raising one-year-old boy/girls twins Becoming a twin dad through adoption Preparing for twins last minute Determining who does what with infants Which parent wakes up to care for twins at night How to feed twins by yourself How to handle both twins at the same time When twins start walking Day in the life of one-year-old twins Introducing the dog to the babies and more… Transcript Joe 0:00 Becoming a twin dad through adoption and surviving that first crazy year with twins today on the podcast. Intro 0:08 Welcome to the Dad’s Guide to Twins podcast the podcast that will help you survive and thrive as a father of twins. Now, here’s your host, the author of the book, the “Dad’s Guide to Twins”, Joe Rawlinson. Joe 0:23 Hey everybody, and welcome to the 241st episode of Dad’s Guide to Twins podcast. This is Joe Rawlinson. As always, you can check out all previous podcast episodes and the show notes and transcript for this episode at twindadpodcast.com. Today we are continuing our father of twins interview series with fellow father of boy/girl twins. But before we jump into that episode, I want to let you know that today’s show is brought to you by my second book for dads of twins. It’s called “Dad’s Guide to Raising Twins: How to Thrive as a Father of Twins“. You can learn more about that book and pick up a copy for yourself at raisingtwinsbook.com. Now let’s jump straight into that interview. today. I would like to welcome to the show fellow father of twins Grant Holloway. Welcome to the show, Grant. Grant 1:02 Thanks for having me. Joe 1:03 Grant. How old are your twins right now. And what’s something exciting about this age? Grant 1:07 I saw they just turned one a couple days ago. And I probably the most exciting thing is really starting to see their personality come out. You know when they’re babies newborn, they’re very clingy, you know, you don’t really get to see their personalities a whole lot. But now they’re one they’re independent. They’re laughing they’re giggling they’re talking to each other. They’re playing with each other. You really get to see who their kind of are becoming. It’s quite fun. Joe 1:33 That’s great. I would say if you can survive the first year with twins, you can do absolutely anything. So hats off to you for making it through that big milestone. Do you have boy/girl twins? Grant 1:42 We have a boy girl twin. Joe 1:44 Well, let’s rewind the clock back to when you found out twins would be joining your family. What was your situation like? Grant 1:48 Yeah, so I became a twin dad through adoption. We found out on a Friday. And my wife and I we’re just we were at an aquarium just having a great day. We went out for lunch. And we got a call from our adoption agency that said that we had been matched with a birth mother who were interested who was interested in our profile, and wanted to meet us. And so we met our the birth mother on Sunday, two days later. And the next day, we went to an ultrasound and a doctor’s appointment. So we got to meet our twins for the very first time. Three days after we found out we’re going to be twin parents. And then a week went by and we went to another doctor’s appointment with our birth mother. And the doctors say well, not this week, well, we’re gonna probably wait a bit longer. The babies are healthy. birth mother was healthy. So there was no real concern about the baby, but babies being born. And so we went home. And we were a little disappointed because we thought that that was going to be the day we would become twin parents. But we went home and we got a call. It was a Wednesday. So about 10 days after we found out we were going to be parents. We got a call about five in the morning. And they said our birth mother was going to the hospital the babies were on the way. We are twin parents because of adoption. We had about ten days to prepare for this whirlwind tour of being a parent to two little ones. But it was a really fun week just preparing the house, get everything ready. And just getting ready to be a twin dad, it was an adventure. Joe 3:33 That’s fantastic. How long were you waiting until you finally got word that there was an adoption possibility? Grant 3:39 Yeah, we were on a list for about a year we were matched with a birth mother in November. And that adoption actually fell through. And so we put back on the list in December. And so a little over a year, we had waited to become parents. Joe 3:57 And it sounds like the birth mother was pretty far along when you found out that that you’re going to be twin parents. Do you remem