The Adventures of a Twin Mom – Page 23 – Motherhood and Travel Blog

May 11, 2017

8 Things Not to Say to a Woman Pregnant with Twins

I really enjoyed coming up with this list of things twin moms or twin moms-to-be would rather not hear… Trust me, moms of twins will hear it all, even the not so comforting or kind comments. Get ready to laugh and/or have your mouth drop open. These things have all been said to me!

“Better you than me. Your life is over!” I was left speechless when someone said this to me. My biggest life goal was to be a mom and to me, a new chapter in my life was beginning and I could not have been more excited!

“Are they natural?” I wish I would’ve said “No, they are imaginary!” The truth is, I am proud to share my infertility journey with others but I would never say my twins are unnatural; they are healthy and perfect. My husband and I just needed a little extra help to bring them into this world.

“Are you having a C-Section?” I know people are just curious because twins aren’t super common but this question is by far the most frequent question we received and one that drove us up the wall. It’s completely awkward talking to those you aren’t close to about having a vaginal birth. My reserved husband recently made a comment about how often he said the word “vaginal” because people asked this so much! What people don’t realize, is about half of twin pregnancies end up needing a C-section but there is still a 50% chance of bringing the babies into this world the old fashioned way.

“You get two for the price of one!” This could not be further from the truth! We needed two of everything, not to mention our twins came after years of infertility and 3 rounds of In-vitro (IVF), costing us tens of thousands of dollars. The only thing I can think of that we saved money on is the hospital bill.

5. “A boy and girl, you’re done!” My husband and I are probably done having kids but our family planning isn’t anyone else’s business. There are tons of couples who have twins and want more kids in the future. No one should assume how many kids a couple wants.

6. “You only have to be pregnant once! You’re so blessed!” Yes, I am extremely blessed to have my miracle babies but in reality, twin pregnancy was not a cake walk. There were so many things I had to deal with that I most likely wouldn’t have if it was a singleton pregnancy. I thought for sure pregnancy would be glamorous, that I would have the cutest maternity wardrobe, and it would be an amazing 9 months. In all honestly, I was miserable for almost the entire pregnancy and I wore my husband’s t-shirts towards the end of my pregnancy because I could not get comfortable. Twin pregnancy was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever put my body through.

“That’s too bad they aren’t identical.” This statement really confused me! After all the hardships we went through to get pregnant, we prayed for twins but we never once prayed for identical or fraternal twins, we just wanted healthy and happy babies! I’m not sure why someone would want identical over fraternal or vice versa. I think most moms would agree, a healthy and happy child or children is all that matters! 🙂

8. “How much weight have you gained?” Do I need to explain this one?

If you’re pregnant with twins, my biggest advice is to ignore others ignorant comments and just enjoy the process. You were chosen to be a twin mom and it’s going to be an amazing and rewarding journey! If you know someone pregnant with twins, just congratulate them!

This blog was originally posted on sarahwellsbags.com

December 5, 2016

Travel Themed Baby Shower

I am not going to lie… I’m one of those girls who have always dreamed about her wedding and baby shower! My mom hosted a beautiful baby shower for me a few weeks ago. My husband and I love to travel to it was travel themed.

I love the invitation! I hired a designer on Etsy to make all the stationary.

Each table had a burlap runner (from Prime Time Party Rental, two vases of roses, and a travel themed center piece.

We had the shower at Bravo!, the food was delicious! “Bon Appetite! Enjoy the taste of Italy!”

The dessert table had desserts from around the world and of course a travel themed cake.

The cake was made by Cake, Hope, and Love.

Fireplace “TWICE THE ADVENTURE”

Gift table “Luggage Drop Off”

Favor table. “Bon Voyage! Please grab a favor on your way out. From my shower to yours! Love, Brianna”

Each favor had a loofah and a custom made bar of soap (Etsy).

It was such a special day spent with family and friends! I feel so loved and I know the twins are SO loved already!

THANKS MOM!

November 22, 2016

Hawaii Babymoon

We recently celebrated our babymoon in Hawaii!! We didn’t have very many choices while selecting a location because the Zika Virus is everywhere right now! Thankfully Hawaii hasn’t had one case of Zika!

We started off our trip by spending 4 days and nights in Maui. We rented a condo in Lahaina, the condominium was called Lahaina Shores.

This was was the view from our condo. It was right on the beach and walking distance to the adorable town of Lahaina.

Tip: if you go to Maui, a rental car is a must because everything is pretty spread out.

Our first full day we spent at Black Rock Beach.

The snorkeling here was to die for!

Hi twin bump!

The next day we spent at Kapalua Beach. This was a very small beach but it was very cozy and beautiful.

Our last two days we spent at Napili Beach, this was by far our favorite beach in Maui (exactly why we spent 2 days here).

We spent every day in Maui lounging at the beach and the evenings were spent exploring downtown Lahaina.

We went shopping and ate dinner in town every night, it was perfect!

Our final five days in Hawaii were spent on Oahu specifically Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. We were nervous about Waikiki because it’s in the middle of a big city. We realized fast that we had no reason to be nervous, we LOVED Oahu! It was our favorite island.

We got lei’d by the sweetest little Hawaiian lady when we arrived at the Honolulu Airport.

We stayed at the Hilton Waikiki. If we go back, we will stay here again. The hotel is beautiful and just a couple blocks from the beach.

One morning, we rented a car and went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. This was one of my favorite activities from our trip.

We took the plantation train tour.

And of course we tried some DELICIOUS Dole Whip! YUM!!

We stopped at Pearl Harbor, always a must see in Hawaii.

One evening we went to the luau at the Hale Koa Hotel!

We had an absolute blast.

The dinner was delicious!

The entertainers did a great job of keeping everyone entertained throughout the show.

We spent one afternoon snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. This is a marine park where you can swim and snorkel. It is beautiful and a must do in Oahu!

Judd climbed to the top of Diamond Head after snorkeling!

How beautiful are these views?

Every evening we wandered around the restaurant/shopping area in Waikiki. We were amazed at how upscale this area was!

Our last two days were spent lounging on Waikiki Beach. Tip: The best section of Waikiki Beach is directly in front of the Hilton Waikiki. They have coves so you can relax and not worry about waves.

We rented chairs and umbrellas both days, the rental prices were astronomical but those two days of pure relaxation were exactly what we needed!

It was the perfect babymoon!! 🙂

September 27, 2016

Los Angeles

Our main flight to Thailand (16 hours) left out of Los Angeles. Due to it being a ridiculously long flight, we decided to fly to Los Angeles a day early to give ourselves a break in flying. We arrived in LA at 9am, took a taxi to our hotel, checked in, and spent the rest of the day exploring!

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn Marina del Ray and had a great experience! I highly recommend this hotel. It is about a 10 minute drive from LAX and it is one of the stops for the hop-on-hop-off bus tour! This made it very convenient for us.

After we got settled in our room, we headed out to catch the bus. We decided to do the bus tour in LA because of traffic and parking. The (Green Line) bus picked us right in front of our hotel. We drove through Venice, Marina del Ray, and Santa Monica.

We had to switch lines (red) which took us to all the attractions we wanted to see:

Beverly Hills

Rodeo Drive

Farmers Market and the Grove

Walk of Fame (specifically the Backstreet Boys Star)

We ate lunch at Pinks Hot Dogs. It was delish!

Chinese Theater. There happened to a premiere the evening we were there so we got to see them setting up!

We got pretty close to the Red Carpet!

Mall at Dolby Theater

Hollywood Sign! Tip- to get good views of this. Go to the third floor of the Mall at Dolby Theater.

We concluded our evening by meeting my husband’s cousin, Rachel in Venice Beach for dinner. After dinner we stopped to get ice cream at Salt and Straw. If you’re ever in LA, I highly recommend Salt and Straw! It was the best ice cream we’ve ever had (and we eat a lot of ice cream)!

We had a great day in Los Angeles which was the beginning of our trip in Thailand and Singapore!

September 13, 2016

Singapore

Well, I am about 4 months late in posting this but I have a very good reason… Our greatest adventure is about to begin…we are pregnant with twins after years of struggling with infertility! We are absolutely thrilled but I will talk more about that in the future! This post is about the beautiful and unique country of Singapore!

I’m not even sure how to describe Singapore… The newer section reminds me of Dubai with the over the top architecture, how clean it was, and the prices were astronomical. However, when you leave the newer parts of Singapore, it becomes pretty seedy.

Once our plane landed, we went through customs (fastest customs experience ever), and then grabbed a taxi to take us to the Ferris Wheel. I know all the big cities are building these now but I hate it because it’s taking away from the London Eye.

We then headed towards Helix Bridge.

We had fun taking pictures on the bridge. We made some friends from China while taking a picture and they even asked to get a picture taken with us, they kept calling us “honeymooners”.

Our next stop was the Marina Bay Sands or often called the “The Boat Hotel”. Marina Bay Sands contains a hotel, a huge mall, restaurants, and a boardwalk with gorgeous views.

Walking around the mall! We didn’t buy anything because we found out they don’t take Visa and we didn’t bring enough foreign currency. Plus, everything was VERY expensive.

Enjoying the breathtaking views from the boardwalk!

This was one of my favorite meals in Thailand and Singapore. It was just chicken and vegetables with rice but it was delicious!

Our next stop was my favorite in Singapore… Garden by the Bay.

This attraction is 2 huge glass domes filled with plants, waterfalls, and bridges! It is truly breathtaking.

We paid a little extra to go up in the Cloud Forest in the Gardens. This is exactly what it’s called, we felt like we were in clouds in the middle of a forest. It was incredibly beautiful! It just happened to start pouring while we were up there and since the dome is all glass, it got really foggy. It was such a unique experience.

Afterwards, we walked around the outside of the gardens.

We then headed out of the newer part of Singapore and into Chinatown.

Chinatown is exactly what you’d expect it to be… tons of restaurants and shops. It was fun to walk around but I prefer San Francisco and London’s Chinatown the best ! 🙂

Our final stop was the Hindu Temple. It was pouring down rain at this point so we only stopped for a few minutes. It was a very unique building with a lot of color and things to look at.

I realized Judd must not have been in a photogenic mood, he took most of the pictures!!

If you go to Singapore, I don’t think you need to stay more than a day or two! The metro (and city) is very clean and really easy to navigate. If you haven’t been, definitely add this country to your list!

I have two more trips to write about and then my blog might be turning into mostly a mom blog!

May 30, 2016

Thailand

We recently returned home from an AMAZING two weeks in Thailand and Singapore to celebrate our 4^th anniversary. Seriously, this was one of our favorite trips ever! I could write 10 posts just about Thailand but I will instead write one about Thailand and one about Singapore. This long post (sorry) will be about Thailand.

Can you tell that I love Thailand? I love, love, love it! We had the best time.

We first arrived to our hotel in Bangkok, Amari Watergate. I loved this hotel, it’s a 4 star hotel located in the heart of Bangkok. The hotel is very modern and luxurious, the employees are wonderful, AND they have the best breakfast I’ve ever had.

We did all the touristy things in Bangkok….

We visited the Grand Palace; this is the biggest tourist attraction in Bangkok. This was the residence of the Kings of Siam and Thailand. Now, it is being used for official events.

The Grand Palace is beautiful and there is so much to look at, here are a few more pictures:

We then walked a few blocks to see the Reclining Buddha.

How cool is this? It was huge, this is only half of it!

I placed money in 108 bronze bowls which represents the 108 characters of Buddha. This is supposed to bring good luck and the money also helps Thai monks.

The final temple that we visited had the Golden Buddha. I expected this to be bigger because it’s worth $250 million but it was still pretty!

You probably noticed in a few pictures that I had interesting clothes on, if you don’t have long enough clothes to go in the temples then you have to rent clothes. It was 100 degrees there so I did not pack long clothes so we paid to rent clothes.

We then rode in a tuk-tuk!

This was a must- do in Thailand!!

My favorite day in Bangkok was a day tour that we took! Honestly, not only was this one of my favorite days of this trip but this was one of my favorite days ever!

We first went to the Floating Market Dumnoen Saduak!

We hopped into a long-tailed speed boat and off we went to explore the canals.

It was quite amazing, there are hundreds of people selling things from canoes: fruits, clothing, and artifacts.

Once you get to the end of the market, you can get out and do more shopping on foot.

I got to hold the cutest lemur.

How adorable is he?

And Judd held this scary guy!!! Ick!

While we were there it was over 100 degrees!

While shopping, I heard a noise and looked down and saw this dog hanging out in this fridge! He obviously wasn’t a fan of the heat and decided to cool off! It was adorable! I couldn’t blame him, it was HOT!

After the market, we headed to lunch. We ate lunch at a floating restaurant that happened to be right next to the Bridge over River Kwai.

This is the railway that Japan’s POW in WWII built from Thailand to Burma. It is known as the Death Railway because thousands of people died while building this.

Next, was our favorite part of the entire trip! We rode elephants! I did a ton of research before this excursion because I did not want to ride elephants or give money to a place that abused elephants. I learned that it is actually illegal to mistreat elephants in Thailand, they will be thrown in jail if caught. 99% of Thai citizens worship elephants and would never harm them.

When we first arrived to the elephant camp they put on a little show for us.

I got an elephant massage.

We both got kisses <3

Then it was time to ride elephants!

We took turns riding on her back.

It was an exhilarating experience and at times scary!

BEST DAY EVER!

We ended the day and our time in Bangkok by going bamboo rafting down the Kwai River.

It was really fun!

At first I wasn’t going to get in the water because I was worried about how clean it would be. I realized after a couple of minutes that it was clean and since it was 100 degrees I wanted to cool off!

After 5 days in Bangkok, we took a flight to Phuket. Phuket is considered the “pearl of Thailand”. It has the worlds most beautiful beaches!

We stayed at the Novotel Phuket Kamala Beach. This hotel was very modern, the staff was wonderful, and it was right on the beach!

This part of our trip was very relaxing!

We spent most of the week relaxing by the pool and beach! I read a lot of good books , took some long naps, and soaked up some Vitamin D! The sun was very intense but luckily neither of us got sun-burnt!

One day, we took a boat tour to Phi Phi with Phuket Sail Tours. This was an incredible day! The company picked us right up from the hotel and took us to the pier for breakfast. After breakfast, we headed out on the speedboat.

Our first stop was Maya Beach in Phi Phi. How beautiful is this?

This is where they filmed the movie “The Beach”

We then headed to Monkey Beach where we got to feed the monkeys from the boat.

Next, was a snorkeling stop at Phi Phi Le and then Phi Phi Don. I love the water and snorkeling, I was the first one off the boat each time!

We then ate a delicious lunch on Pi Phi Don Island and then went swimming and relaxed on Bamboo Island. I was very impressed with this company, they went out of their way to make sure the guests were having fun! They had tons of food and drinks and even had extra things to make our trip enjoyable, such as mats to lay on at the beach. I highly recommend Phuket Sail Tours!

What a fun day with my favorite person!

On one of our last days of vacation we went to Tiger Kingdom in Phuket.

I got to play with two tiger cubs!

They were so cute!

Judd and I then took a few pictures with 4 big tigers. This was really fun and scary!

Cheers to an AMAZING time in Thailand!

Also, during this trip we went to Singapore. I will write about Singapore in my next entry! I hope you enjoyed reading about our Thailand adventure! It is an adventure that we will never forget! 🙂

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