>Skinny Jeans for Tots

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First it was denim diapers. Now, providing your baby is watching his or her carbs, can toddle around in skinny jeans.

Luckily, these trendy tot pants are stretchy enough to accommodate a diaper.

The jeans are turning up in stores like American Eagle and J. Crew’s Crewcuts, according to the Wall Street Journal.  Gap, denim maker True Religion Apparel Inc and Levis are also embracing the trend by stocking skinny jeans for the tiniest fashionistas.

Gap is reporting that skinny jeans now comprise 40 percent of its jeans  for infant and toddler girls. For children’s apparel makers, kids’clothing sales are a positive sign in an otherwise dismal retail period. While parents have reduced the amount they spend on their own wardrobe in the recession, they’re still shelling out for cute outfits for their kids.

“People tend to put their kids first,” GapKids and Baby Gap’s executive vice president Mark Breitbard told the Wall Street Journal. “They’ll pass on something for themselves to make sure their kids are still looked after.” 

Why skinny jeans rather than rompers? 

“It’s more fun,” Ava Lane, a mom who snagged four pairs of skinny jeans for her two year old, told the Journal.

The skinny jeans for babies are designed a little bit differently than the ones for grownups, though they do feature pocket details and criss-cross stitching like the adult version. Skinny jeans for babies may have an elastic on the back of the waistband, though they don’t have inseam snaps for diaper changing that most baby outfits do.

Prices for skinny jeans range from $19.50 to $39.50 at babyGap and GapKids. They come in sizes as small as zero to 3 months.

To get ideas, Old Navy sent teams to playgrounds to watch consumers, Old Navy senior vice president Michelle DeMartini told the Journal.”“We talked for a long time about how much stretch, what should that feel like?” she said. “Adults might want to forgo comfort for fashion, but children will not.”

Gap took note of the tremendous popularity of adult-styled kids clothes after the chain debuted a kids and baby collaboration last fall with Stella McCartney. The line was so well received that a second one debuted in March.

“People love trend take-downs,” Breitbard told the Journal. “Fashion-right clothes are really adorable the smaller they get.” 

So what’s up next? 

The latest mini fashionista item to hit the GapKids stores is a hybrid of jeans and leggings. The name: Jeggings for babies.

Source: NYDailyNews.com

Will you be purchasing skinny jeans for your tots and bubs, or do you think skinny jeans are a bit much for tiny tots?

>Product Recalls: Baby Monitors and Wooden Rattles

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Wooden Toy Rattles

P. Graham Dunn of Dalton, Ohio, is recalling about 500 wooden toy rattles because the wooden dowels can be installed at an angle, allowing the metal rattle inside to become exposed. This poses a serious choking hazard to young children.

The firm is aware of four incidents of the metal rattle becoming exposed. No injuries have been reported.

This recall involves a wooden toy rattle with light brown stain, eight wooden dowels and a gold-colored metal rattle inside. The toy rattle is circular in shape, measuring 2 3/4 inches by 2 inches.

They were made in China and sold at gift stores and book retailers nationwide from June through July 2010 for about $6.

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled product and contact P. Graham Dunn to receive a full refund. For additional information, contact P. Graham Dunn at (800) 828-5260 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday or visit the firm’s website.

Baby monitors

About 800 Levana wireless video baby monitors are being recalled because the wiring can overheat and emit smoke, posing a burn hazard.

Distributor Circus World Displays Limited of Ontario, Canada has received two reports of the camera portion of the monitors overheating and smoking. No injuries have been reported.

The recall involves Levana wireless baby monitors with model number LV-TW300. The receiver front is white and green with six round buttons and the printed word “Levana.” It is 7 inches tall and includes a stand/base. The camera is all white, about 5 inches tall and is attached to a 3 1/2 inch long white base. The camera can rotate and swivel. The camera and receiver each have their own A/C adapter.

The monitors were made in China and sold at BB Buggy and Health and Safety stores nationwide and on the Internet between February and May 2010 for about $200.

Consumers should immediately stop using and return the baby monitor directly to CWD for a refund or replacement with a different model. For additional information, contact Circus World Displays at (866) 946-7828, by e-mail or on the firm’swebsite.

Source: L.A. Times.com

>Made for Multiples: Diapers.com Brand Diapers

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If your a mom of multiples like me, your probably looking for ways to save a buck on the things your family needs. One of the ways that I found to save some cash, is by ordering diapers in bulk. When Diapers.com introduced their own premium brand of diapers, I was reluctant to buy them  at first because I was a loyal Pampers customer. Huggies was always my second choice in diaper brands, and off brands were completely off of my radar. What intrigued me about the Diapers.com brand, was the number diapers offered for $40.99. A box of size 3 diapers comes with 200 diapers in the box, and the size 5 box comes with 156 diapers in it. I had to try the diapers out because if the diapers were good, my monthly diaper budget would be cut in half. 

After completing my first order, I was nervous about how good or bad the diapers would be. I was worried about sacrificing quality for quantity. The package arrived pretty quick, I ordered on a Saturday, and my diapers arrived by Monday evening. The first thing I did was open the package, and feel the texture of the diapers. The pampers felt like the quality would be okay, but there was only one true way to test them out. I had to starting using them on my children to see how the diapers would hold up, especially during the night. 

The first few diaper changes went well, with no complaints. As I continued to use the diapers on a daily and weekly basis, I had no doubts about buying these pampers again. My twins are almost nine months old, and I still order the same Diapers.com brand Premium Diapers for my all 3 of my children. When I went on the website to re-order a few weeks ago, I noticed that the major diapers brands are offering extra larger boxes of diapers as well. Of course their extra large boxes are a few dollars more expensive than the Diapers.com brand, so I know who I’ll be sticking with. 

>Malcolm & Marcus, The First Weeks

>I would like to introduce our twin sons Malcolm Valentino and Marcus Raymond to the world. These two little guys were born on 11/24/09, exactly 10 minutes apart at 12:16 and 12:26pm. Malcolm weighed 5 lbs. 1 oz. at birth, and Marcus weighed 4 lbs. and 7 oz. at birth. My full birth story and hospital pics will be posted soon. In the meantime, here are some random pics from their first few weeks at home.

Malcolm and Marcus 1st & 2nd Week

Marcus and Malcolm 3-4 Weeks

Marcus and Malcolm 4-6 Weeks

>Twins and More Twins!

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I hate aging myself, so I’ll use estimates within this post when it comes to years. My bestie and I have been friends for a super long time. We have been through so many stages in life together, and we’ve always been supportive of each other. I remember how shocked she was, when she found out that she would be having twins. I never thought that I would experience the same shock myself some years later. My bestie delivered two beautiful twin girls, and I delivered two adorable (if I must say so myself) twin boys. 

During my pregnancy, it was nice to have someone so close that had prior experience with twins. Even though we live in different states, her advice helped me to prepare for labor and those first few months at home. I remember calling her several times, feeling like I couldn’t get a grip on new motherhood. Yes, I had prior experience and plenty of it with my four daughters, but no single birth can prepare you for a multiple birth. The basics of what to expect goes right out the window, when it’s more than one newborn coming. A support system is necessary just to keep your sanity.

My bestie was a huge part of my support system, along with my doctors and nurses from the hospital. It was very tough to have twins, while having a young toddler without any family living in our neighborhood. I eventually got the hang of it, and it no longer takes me two days to get everyone ready to leave the house. My days of calling the bestie in tears are gone as well. Every now and then, I still have the “I can’t believe that there’s two of them” thought. I guess that’s all part of the transition. Now, the boys are at an age where I can have lots of fun with all three of them. One of the best part of being a mom of multiples, is having something so special in common with my bestie. It gives us plenty of chances for cool photo ops like the ones in this post. We both never thought that we would share twins in common. I guess that’s an example of how funny life can be.

>Family Visits and a Happy Birthday

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Summer always brings good times with family. Last month, my mom and my brother came to visit me and my family, as well as my sister and her family. We all met up in Jersey, and had an awesome time! My sister threw a great birthday party for my two year old that was also a family BBQ. We held the party a month or so after my daughters birthday because we wanted mom to be there. My mother got to meet all three of her new grandchildren, see how much her older grandchildren grew, and enjoy some quality time with her children. We had a great weekend overall, and Mima had a great birthday party! Check out these pics.

There’s nothing like a family visit and a birthday party, to bring everyone together. I miss having my mother and my brother close by. Did you have any cool family gatherings this summer?

>Black and White Newborn Twins?

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I’m all about seeing the beauty of your babies, looking at them and thinking they are the most beautiful and unique and special beings in this world. But one mom — Carole Fraser — might be treating her twin babies like the oddities they are not. They are twins. Rejoice! I love twins — I have twins. But get this (drum roll please): One is black and one is white.

OMG! How could this have happened? Oh I know. The mother is black and the father is white. So you have fraternal twins who don’t look a lot alike.

This isn’t that unusual and Jezebel agrees. My twins don’t look a lot alike. In fact, Penelope is more olive skinned with brown eyes and looks a lot like me. Hunter is fair and blond and has blue eyes like my husband. We’re both white but even white people come in different shades (though some orange people are just white people wearing really bad fake tanner).

Carole, her husband Brian, and her twins — Martha and Daniel (nicknamed Salt and Pepper by mom) — are being treated like a circus sideshow and she seems to like it. She even said Japanese tourists stopped her family so they could take pictures with them. (Gasp! No stranger danger there, I guess.

“For us that takes some getting used to because we just see them as our babies, and we’re used to one being black and the other white. We sometimes forget that it might look strange to other people,” Carole said.

She lives in Bearsden, Glascow. Perhaps they are stuck in another time?

The Mirror did a big feature on the family and both that paper and Carole call her black and white twins a million-to-one miracle. Maybe they wanted some free family photos? They should have went to People magazine — they would have dressed her in a fancy dress and $300 earrings and perfected her hair and makeup and then placed the twins in her arms. (Oh wait, that was Jennifer Lopez.)
All this makes me feel bad for the couple’s 2-year-old daughter who looks just like the dad. There’s always going to be fuss over a new baby (or babies), but this is over the top.

I don’t want to poo-poo all the excitement this mom has about her babies — they are adorable and I do believe babies are miracles (all babies). And the fact that one is like mom and one is like dad is fantastic. I get this excitement, I have it with my own twins, but it isn’t an OMG I cannot believe this moment. Now if her twins were anything like the twins born in the movie V (you know, one looks human but has an alien tongue, the other is a green monster baby), then I would say WOW! Or if the twins had two different dads, then I’d say WHOA! But to me, it’s just two really adorable twins born to a black mom and a white dad.

Source: The Stir
Photo Source: The Mirror

>The Joovy Big Caboose

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The Joovy Big Caboose is the stroller that I thought was best for my children. I searched for a stroller for several months during my pregnancy, and there weren’t many strollers available for my special circumstances. I knew that a regular twin stroller would be insufficient, because my two year old was only 16 months at the time that the boys were born. I wanted a stroller that provided a comfortable space for all three of my little ones, without necessarily being a full triple stroller. My price limit was $500, not a dollar more. That narrowed down my search to a sparse number of strollers available. The two that I was most interested in was the Joovy Big Caboose, and a triple jogging stroller from another brand.

I ended going for the Joovy Big Caboose because the price was reasonable at $339 from Amazon.com, and I knew that it would fit through the doors of my favorite neighborhood shops here in Manhattan. With a wide jogging stroller, I wouldn’t have been able to walk down half of the sidewalks in the neighborhood. The Big Caboose is so convenient that it even fits on a subway train, and that’s a triple bonus. Most people would not believe that I was able to ride the subway with my children in a triple stroller, but the design of the big caboose enabled me to pull it off. The Big Caboose has two full sized reclining seats for the twins, and an awesome seat in the back for my two year old who loves to sit in her spot. When she gets a little bigger, she can stand and hold on to the stroller. This stroller will grow with my children, which made the purchase feel more like an investment. I would recommend this stroller to other moms of multiples out there, who also have twin babies and a toddler around the ages of 16 months- 3years of age.

>Double Stuff Plus 1 Updates

>As many of you know, I recently made a return to work full time. As a result, the past three weeks have been pretty hectic for my family. Between the new job, moving, assignments for class, and being a hands on full time mother, life gets pretty tough around here. The new changes in my life are keeping pretty busy, and made me realize the fact that I needed to tighten my schedule in every way. My blogs have been placed on a once a week schedule for updates. My natural Hair blog (Natural Nina) will be updated every Sunday, and this blog for mom of multiples (Double Stuff Plus 1) will now be updated on Mondays. These minor changes will allow me to keep an organized schedule, for every aspect of my life. With that said, I would like to thank you all for your support, and I look forward to sharing my mom of multiples experiences with you all.

>Career Moms: Preparing for My Return to Work

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Being a mom of multiples can be quite stressful at times, especially when mom has blogs to run, jobs to interview for, classes to pass, a weight loss plan to maintain, and a full sized family to look after. My days would be at the least overwhelming for the average person, and if it were a job most people probably wouldn’t come back the next day. I knew my life was going to change dramatically with the addition of twin boys. Every aspect of my life is different now, and this blog is one of the many ways that I maintain my sanity. 

Finding a balance can be quite difficult at times, and I’ve learned that everything will not always go as planned. Soon I will be incorporating a return to work into my crazy schedule, and I will need to balance my papers for school around the children and the job. I am determined to get an Executive M.B.A. degree within the next few years. I returned to school six months after I had my two year old, and I attended part time during my pregnancy with the twins. I am now 8 classes away from graduation with an A.A., in Communications. Early next year, I’ll begin my three year accelerated B.S. and M.B.A. program in eMarketing.

This Tuesday, will be my first day back to work in over a year, and I’m both excited and anxious about returning to work. I can’t wait to have adult conversations again, but I know that I’m going to miss my babies. As much as I may complain, I enjoy singing songs with Marli and the boys everyday. I also enjoy teaching them new things because their little minds are like sponges. Not a day goes by in my house without practicing numbers, the alphabet, colors, shapes, and vocabulary words. Once I return to work, I’ll have to maintain our daily fun and learning practices to keep a sense of normalcy for the children. I don’t want them to ever feel like I’m too busy to spend quality time with them. Jason and I are very hands on with our children, because we don’t have a lot of family close by to offer a helping hand. I would never want to weaken the bond that we built between our little family. 

I’m optimistic about my new career path, and the future that lies ahead, We have a lot of exciting things happening in the next few months. The next few weeks are going to be insane, but I’m sure that we’ll be able to adjust. I’ll let you all know how my first week went, next Sunday. Boy, I have to get used to having a full time work schedule again. I’m Super Mom! I can do this, and I got this. Bring it on!