Feeding your crew

Gear. Gear is our favorite. Fun to research. Fun to buy. And so fun to pass along to next person when you’re done. We are both addicted to gear. Food gear is no exception. Though not quite as fun as strollers. We will save you the time of wondering what to do about a second high chair. Once your first child is able to sit up well, a $20 booster seat is all he needs. So put the high chair away until your second child needs it and get yourself a booster seat. In fact, Cara even says you can skip the high chair entirely and just buy a second booster. Linda would disagree on this matter since her daughter took so long to eat that it was easier to stick her in a chair since it was sometimes an hour of sitting/feeding. She says that if you want to purge your plush high chair because it’s just too much to clean and move around, the Ikea plastic high chair for around $20 is a great purchase because you can take it outside and literally hose the spaghetti off of it.

If you’re still using the high chair and want to prolong the purchase of a booster, the bouncy works great for when the baby is moving to solids, provided the incline is high enough. Park your Baby in the bouncy, Toddler in the high chair, and serve up the Moveable Feast (you know by know that Baby’s food will be on his shirt and Toddler’s will be on the floor).

Boob gear is, of course, determined by nature. Bottle gear is determined by your little one’s preferences – sometimes you have to try different nipples/bottles to see which ones your baby will accept. Start with any recycled brands you have left over from #1 and progress to other brands (just buy 1 until you’re sure the new brand is a fit!) until you find a match.

We did find, if you are pumping, that Avent makes a nice system of bottles, freezer cups, and disposable bottles that are interchangeable and easy to use/re-use/toss.

As you may know by now, the only thing that multiplies faster than rabbits are sippy cups. Many a husband has been known to run screaming from the kitchen in frustration after being attacked by the “sippy cup museum” – the cabinet of 100 different types of mismatched sippys and lids. Find a brand you like, stick with it, and buy lots so when lids get lost or melt in the dishwasher, the bottom isn’t useless because it can be matched with others in the museum. Even better, when #2 was born Cara moved exclusively to Take N Toss disposable sippys when she left the house. This way she wasn’t spending a fortune replacing lost sippys because she was too frazzled to keep track of two children and their respective drinking paraphernalia.

You will go through more bibs than diapers, believe it or not. After 6 months of trial and error and a lot of laundry and tossed skanky bibs, Cara recommends the soft plastic bibs with adjustable necks that have a well that curves out at the bottom. These wonderful inventions can be rinsed off with a sponge or tossed on the top shelf of your dishwasher when they get really gross! They have no trim or plastic pockets, so they get nice and clean very easily! A friend with an older child gave Cara one of these at a baby shower for #1 and told her it was the best invention ever, but she ignored the advice and rediscovered it the hard way – don’t make the same mistake!

Getting out the door with two

I like to call it "Baby steps out the door." Don’t have high expectations for the first few trips out the door with two. Every child is different and depending on the age difference in your two or three or four, each trip comes with its own challenges at various stages along the way. Don’t let your first trip out the door be the grocery store. Do not be fooled by the fancy car carts or double seats. Your first outing should be someone’s house. A faithful and trusted friend or fellow playgroup mom with other kids to occupy your toddler. These are the safe havens for those with two little ones. Do not expect to be on time or stay long. Do not try to bake cookies. Do not try to put on makeup (this is why I said trusted friend). Do not expect to remember everything you need. Just let it be what it is. A practice of getting people into and out of the car and, in and out again.

A general tip about even this process, which seems so simple in theory. Always strap in your oldest child first. Clipping the infant seat in the car may appears to be an easy and quick task, but an 18-month old (or even a three-year old) often doesn’t understand the consequences to chases his favorite ball down the street. You’d be surprised how quickly a toddler suddenly leaves your side. Toddler in first. Toddler out of the car last. The infant seat will be your new best friend and you will it hard to give it up when it’s time because of its ease in getting two in the car.

Double Strollers

The good news: there is a nice variety of double strollers to pick from these days.

The bad news: there is no perfect stroller.

Strollers are not merely a form of transportation for your wee ones. Strollers are highchairs, beds, places to strap in a child when you need to help the other, or respite from a long walk. I only wish it was about getting from point A to B. Strollers are probably the single most important piece of gear that you own—next to your car and dishwasher of course. For those with two so small, a stroller is essential in getting you out of the house and about your daily life.

So, why isn’t there a perfect stroller out there?

If a stroller could grow and change as your children did, perhaps there someday might be a perfect one. A 6-week old baby who sleeps 90% of the time uses the stroller to nap. An 11-month old baby who is ready to see the world, may use the stroller to play with her feet. An 18-month old 30-pound baby defies any reason to be in the stroller. But you all know this, you have older children.

I am a stroller fanatic. I am to strollers like my husband is with cars. In fact, if they had a stroller magazine (aka Stroller and Driver), I would seriously subscribe to it. Double strollers are no different. When my two were little (ok, before my youngest was even born), I research strollers like crazy. I was the proud owner of a Mountain Buggy Urban, which I will most definitely say is one of the best investments we ever made. But at $350 I wasn't ready to part with it after the birth of my daughter or invest another $700 for the double version. So, I got by the best I could on what I had and could afford. Which ended up being a compilation of many different things, all the while wishing I had the “perfect” stroller. If you have two children less than two years apart, in your early or even later months of pregnancy you may ask if you even need a double stroller. The answer is a resounding YES. If you children are 14 months apart, your oldest will be walking probably, but you will still be doing a lot of carrying him or her around. If your children are 22 months apart, he may be a more skilled walker, but I guarantee he will.

They now make every type of stroller imaginable. Tandem (front to back), twin (side-by-side), sit and stand, double jogging strollers, double 3 wheel (front to back), toddler attachments for the front and toddler attachments for the back.

My first piece of advice is that if you can’t afford one of the expensive multi-purpose strollers that you can take to the mall and for a walk, then I would go the second-hand route and buy strollers as you need them as your needs change. In the end you may still come out ahead.

We started out with a single and the Baby Bjorn until my daughter was about 4-5 months old. We then moved on to the double. My youngest loved to sit in it, by my oldest wanted to have nothing to do with her sitting so close. We had a few months where they would sit together. Soon, I had to abandon the double altogether due to constant fighting (hitting, leaning, picking, pulling, pushing). When my youngest was about a year, we sold our double stroller (InStep Safari TT), and bought a double umbrella stroller. It was then, my two decided it was OK to sit next to each other. The problem with this, was they were both so heavy by now (27 and 35 pounds) that I could barely push the stroller with both in it. Now that I'm in the later stages of stroller life, my biggest regret was not making an investment in the Phil and Ted E3. I have seen the recall notices on it, but it still would have been probably the best investment for my kids. In some research for our book that may never get published, I asked moms of two under two on several yahoo groups what strollers they found to be the best.

Best strollers and why: (all feedback from moms with 2 under 2)

1. Phil and Ted E3

Pros: Single stroller width with a double stroller attachment. Maneuvers like a single. All terrain. Great for the mall too.

Cons: Expensive. Small storage space. One child sits low to the ground.

2. Mountain Buggy Urban Double

Pros: Very easy to maneuver. Great on all terrain.

Cons: Expensive. Bulky in the trunk. Harder to use at the mall. Double stroller width.

3. Peg Perego Aria

Pros: Easy to maneuver. Light and small for in and out of car.

Cons: Not great for walks on anything other than sidewalk. Can be hard to push once older child starts getting close to 35 pounds.

4. Graco DuoGlider

Pros: Great for a newborn since you can clip on a carseat. Easy to get through aisles. Lots of storage space

Cons: Harder to maneuver.Takes up lots of trunk space. Not great for long walks.

5. Jane Powertwin

Pros: Compact for a double. One-handed push. Plenty of storage space. Fits carseat. Stadium seating.