Adoption Information

From our members, below are adoption recommendations and resources if you are looking to adopt.

Member (or friends and family of members) adoption recommendations based on successful and great experiences:

• Adoption Circle. Their website www.adoptioncircle.org is full of great information. Friend highly recommends this agency based on a fabulous experience adopting through them.
• Private adoption through an attorney if adopting in the US. Here in Columbus, the attorney who probably handles most of the adoptions is Tom Taneff. He can be reached at 241-2181.
• Adoption Link out of Yellow Springs. Their website is http://www.adoption-link.org/. Tom Taneff represented the birth mother (ours has since moved). He was very professional in all our dealings and I would not hesitate to recommend him.
• Foster Care adoptions - adoptuskids.org

Adoption Resources:

• New book out there for information, the author is Isolde Motley and the book is "You can Adopt: an adoptive families guide". She had a lot of good points to consider:
  - What age you want to adopt.
  - Consider domestic vs international (which she says does take longer).
  - She noted that once paperwork is done an adoption may take up to a year to be complete.
• Magazine/website called adoptivefamilies.com.
• Adoption Academy held by Children’s Hospital and the National Center for Adoption Law and Policy has a lot of wonderful sessions and information to take the mystery out of adoption. The sessions include comprehensive overviews on adoptions as well as sessions detailing domestic and international adoptions. The infertility support group Resolve also has lots of members who could probably help with current information.
• For CMOTC members - check the Twin Resources on the CMOTC website for member resource names, phone number and email addresses who have adopted.

Ideas For Winter Fun with More to Come

As we all do when we find something great, I wanted to share the following information. It was recommended to us to get one of our girls into a special needs swimming class at Aquatic Adventures to assist with her Autism issues.

I can not tell you how wonderful it is! After 20 or so minutes in the pool our critter has more eye contact and is more verbal than she is out of the water. The instructor with our girl is wonderful -she gets excited to see him which is rare for her. The staff is amazing, the area immaculate, and we find it worth every penny for the benefit our girl is getting. Come to find out they do everything there from lane swimming, diver certification, Scouting Merit Badge Certifications, (and are certified to do so), aquatic exercise classes, and really affordable, fun birthday parties. I am sure there is so much more, but those are the things I have seen first hand. I am not affiliated with them at all on a business level and know of them only because of the class we are taking, I just wanted to pass on information that could be useful to others out there.

Their information is; Aquatic Adventures Ohio www.aquaticadventuresohio.com 3940 Lyman Dr Hilliard, OH 43026 (614) 545-3483

-submitted by a member via email

Sleep and The Time Change

Question: Looking for advice on how to handle sleep and wake times for daylight savings (Nov 1) and how to adjust the schedule for the smoothest transition. My girls (4.5 months) currently sleep from 8:15-7:30. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

My boys are now 6 1/2, and we still struggle with what to do for them. When they were babies until about 4, we would put them down as close to the "regular time" as possible. Keeping them up/putting them down earlier didn't work for us. In this case, it would be putting them down at 7:15...which seems early. But, we started there, and then kept them up 15 minutes or so longer each night and eventually we were working on a good schedule. Does that make sense? If we got frustrated, we just let them "take the lead" on their bedtime and put them down when they were tired. It's easier for us to adjust as adults than it was fighting them or forcing them when they weren't tired.

The book that I refer to whenever any sleep issues come up says that you should keep the kids on their regular schedule and they will adjust accordingly. I usually don't have a problem during this time change (when it gets darker earlier) because my boys associate darkness with going to bed, however, when it got darker later, I had to purchase room darkening curtains so that they can go to sleep. Your babies may wake up a bit early in the transition, but it will eventually work itself out on its own. Good luck!


I think "falling back" is always easier than "springing forward". After dinner the evening before (Oct. 31 in this case), I pretend the time change has already happened. So, I will try to keep my kids up that evening an extra 30 min to 1 hr. Then they usually sleep a little longer in the morning... getting up at their regular time. Then I just proceed on my normal schedule throughout Sunday and Monday. If they wake up early Sunday, I let them, but I do not adjust nap times or anything, letting the day play out as close to normal as possible. It is amazing how quickly kids adjust, especially with the "longer nights". Another suggestion... start several days before and make the adjustment in 15 min increments over several days. It's too much work for me, but I have heard it works.

Professional Pictures/Photographers

Here are a few recommendations for pictures and photographers from fellow club members:

Top Referral: Portrait Innovations at Graceland.

Second Most Recommended: Flash (at Tuttle or Polaris). If you have an entertainment book, there is a 50% off coupon for any package

Private photographers:

• Kenny Pease -777-0814

• Anne Ciotola www.anneciotolaphotography.com
  
  
• Jessi Weithman - the pics are pricey but she gets great images jessiweithmanstudios.com
  
  
• Karyn Hanley phototgraphy in Westerville gives 20% off for twins - http://www.karynhanleyphotography.com/
  
  
• Lori Williams at Studio Williams - http://www.studiowilliams.com/
  
  
• Bethany Baldwin at Artful Interiors - 740-972-6491 or baldwindab@aol.com
  
  
• Minister Imagines http://www.ministerimages.com/
  
  
• Monty Soungpradith http://www.openimagestudio.com/
  
  
• Britt Lakin photography http://www.brittlakinphotography.com/

Others:
JCPenney and Sears - you can find coupons online and in most parenting magazines for free or $3.99 portrait sheets, free sitting fees, etc.

A Myriad of Stroller Thoughts

Question: I'm having twins soon and I'm wondering which stroller is best. I'm considering the snap n go. Any thoughts?

Here is the advice one of our members received.

I just had my twins 3 weeks ago and I absolutely love my SnugRide 32 car seats (holds up to 32 pounds) with Quattro Tour stroller by Graco. I got mine at BabiesRUs and while costly it is well worth the investment to keep you little ones safe. I went for a walk today and the stroller manuevers nicely and is easy to operate. It is a little heavy, but I can manage on my own.

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I bought the Duo Glider by Graco. It was great when I used it for my twins for snapping in the infant car seats. It turns great, the storage bin underneath the stroller fits a large diaper bag and it was convenient. You do have to try out the car seats to make sure they fit in the stroller (if you are buying car seats that don't exactly match the stroller). I had an older Graco Snugfit car seat that was too big to fit on the seat closest to the handle bars of the stroller. But it did fit the other seat. And luckily I had borrowed a car seat that was slightly smaller than the other and it fit in just fine.

BUT with all that said....now that my twins are one... I HATE the stroller. Once the twins were big enough to sit up in the stroller on their own, it's been horrible. It doesn't give them any support and they really "sluch" (sp?) down in the seats. Even my two year old doesn't sit comfortably in it. I actually decided to buy a new one. After surveying lots of twin moms, about 90% of them recommended a side by side Combi. I actually found one today at a garage sale for $30, it has a bad wheel but I am ordering a new wheel for $20. New Combi's run about $200+ dollars. I have been watching EBay for deals and there are some great deals out there.

So my recommendation....buy a cheap or used Graco Duo Glider and then spend the money on a stroller that they will use once you are done with snapping the car seats in the strollers (probably around the 6 month mark).

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I bought the double snap and go off of craigs list. I love it. I also have a graco one for when they are older, but we have not used it enough to recommend it!

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We used the Graco Duo Glider for our twins and that was a good stroller. However, we just had our third child and bought a snap-n-go and love it! You may want to get both. The snap-n-go is great for going out and about because it's very lightweight, but the Graco Duo Glider would be better for walks around the block and when they outgrow their infant car seats.

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I vote for the snap-n-go. Used it, Loved it! Excellent for small infants, lightweight. Buy one used off another twin mom. When the babes are out of their infant seats, use the money you saved to buy a double stroller that will last you a while.

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We bought the Graco Safe Seats and used the snap-n-go frame. The seats worked well with the frame. Just make sure the seat that you purchase works with the frame. Congrats on your twins!

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I had the double snap-and-go and loved it! It turns on a dime and wasn't hard to put together. I was able to push my boys around the grocery store while pulling the cart behind me ... that's how easy it is to maneuver.

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I used the snap n go for the 1st year and would highly recommend it. It's easy to buy used as well. You'll be able to sell it for what you bought it for (if you buy it used) b/c they aren't used for that long.
After that, the Peg Perego Aria is fabulous (for ages 9 months...when babies are sitting up well). It's a side by side and pretty light.

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Usually the snap n go is only limited b/c the babies grow out of their carseats. Now infant seats are going past 20 pounds so if you get the bigger infant seats, you'll be able to use it longer. You'll want to make sure your seats are compatible w/ the stroller but the snap n go is quite versatile.A jogger has it's limitations since they are heavy, somewhat clunky and not the easiest in mall type settings. Often moms choose another stroller as well, such as the aria. The jogger would probably work at 6mo...depending on how premature the babies are.

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In my opinion the double snap and go is the way to go. My twins are 8 months old and we are still using it. I have two other strollers but my kids are still too small to sit up well in a regular stroller. They do pretty well in a jogging stroller. We can put our carriers in our Graco double stroller but it is so large and heavy, the snap and go is so much lighter. I'll probably be selling mine in a few months and there are always ladies selling theirs on the site.

Ooohs and Awes...

This is also posted at Ventalicious but since I knew my fellow multiple moms would understand, I decided to post here too. Has this happened to you recently???


I guess I should be used to this by now but I'm not.
Today I went to a meeting for all the "Room Moms". The official title of the group of moms who are at the beckon call of the teacher at any given moment and who officially plans the holiday parties.
We were all sitting in a living room and introducing ourselves. You know the drill. Name, age of kids and teacher's name.
Halfway around the circle it was my turn. My name is KP and I have twins in Mrs. X's class. Before I could even finish my sentence I heard, "ooh, awe, ooh, twins ooh." It never ceases to amaze me. Given the number of twins in the world these days, it seems like a mom would need at least quads to produce that kind of reaction.
Yep, I'm super mom. Not.

Dealing with High Risk Pregnancies

www.sidelines.org/

Check out this website for all kinds of good info and support regarding high risk pregnancies.