Twin Talks
Preparing your Twin Nursery

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Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.

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RACHEL CRAWFORD: Planning the arrival of your twins is almost a full time job and deciding what they need in the nursery would be a big part of it. Should you buy two of everything and here’s the greater part, you’re doomed to paint the walls either pink or blue. I’m Rachel Crawford, interior designer and founder of Mollie Quinn, here to talk about prepping your twin nursery. This is Twin Talks.

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CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Welcome to Twin Talks broadcasting from the birth education center of San Diego. Twin Talks is your weekly online on the go support group for expecting and new parents of twins. I’m your host Christine Stewart-Fitzgerald. Have you heard about the Twin Talks club? Our members get bonus content after each new show plus special giveaways and discounts. Subscribed to our monthly Twin Talks newsletter and learn about the latest episodes available. Another way for you to stay connected is by downloading our free Twin Talks app and it’s available for most smart phones. So before we get started let’s go around and introduce our panelists here on the room and Sunny?

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah. Yeah. So hey everyone I’m Sunny. I’m the owner of New Mommy Media which produces Twin Talks, Parent Savers, Preggie Pals and The Boob Group and I have four children. My two oldest are boys. I have a four year old and a two year old and then I have identical twin girls who are 7 months old and we actually for our nursery situation there was a play room dedicated for my boys and all their toys and then we had to switch it to a be a nursery so it went form yellow walls to pink walls. So I do I have a pink room and a blue room. Sorry very stereotypical.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: And I’m your host too I got to introduce myself as well. So I have identical girls who are almost 5 and you know we took a very practical approach to our nursery we’ve got we’ve got green walls with a little bit of pink and orange and then I have a singleton and ironically we put her in the second bedroom initially and then we found out that she is really a creature you know person social creature and so we ended up putting them all together so I’ve got three kids in one room.

SUNNY GAULT: Really?

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yeah.

SUNNY GAULT: Oh. Wow.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: And their they really like it.

SUNNY GAULT: That’s cool. That’s cool.

SHELLY STEELY: I’m Shelly. I’m the producer here at Twin Talks. I’m also a teacher but off for the summer. My boys are identical. They will be 2 next month and then I’m due with a singleton in August. We didn’t really make a nursery. The boys were in our room for about 7-8 months and we kept our other bedroom as a play room and then it’s gone through kind of a lot of transition as they’ve gotten out of cribs into toddler bed and into a bigger bed.

And this next one is going to be in our bedroom so I guess we I’m interested to find out how you can redo your bedroom in to make it more nursery like. I also want to let you guys know about our virtual panelist program. So you can follow us on Facebook or on Twitter. You could also be part of the conversation on the comfort of your own home by using #twintalksvp and it will let you participate in our conversations as a virtual panelist.

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SUNNY GAULT: Hey Twin Talks, we have a special comment for one of our listeners that we wanted to share with you guys today. This comes from Dara Lovitz and Dara writes thank you so much for producing the recent Twin Talks episode on diastasis recti. As a former triathlete who confidently wore bikinis, I’ve been struggling with my post twins diastasis recti due to which I cannot wear any of my belly hugging pre pregnancy clothes. Thanks to the episode I feel less alone in my condition and in currently researching kinesio tape.

Well Dara thank you so much for writing this in. On a side note, I have actually been in touched with Dara before and Dara has written this book. She actually sent me a copy of it and I like it so much I wanted it to share with you guys. It’s called “Catching Falling Cradles” and it has some different nursery rhymes in it.

Some of the classic nursery rhymes that you may be familiar with and I don’t know if this happen to you guys but once you have babies whether it’s twins or just singleton babies, you really start to pay more attention to nursery rhymes in what they are saying in them and there are some nursery rhymes that really aren’t all that nice and so Dara had a great idea and she has basically taken some of our classic nursery rhymes and changes up the wording just a little bit to make it a little more kid friendly.

For example you guys all know Humpty Dumpty right? Okay I’m taking this directly from Dara’s book. It says Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, his neighbors rush to put him at ease and help to bandage his ailing knees. See that to me like has a positive up swing to it instead of learning about an egg that’s all cracked and nobody can help him out.

So anyways I want to mention this book to you guys. My kids really like it. I think yours will too. Again it’s called “Catching Falling Cradles” by Dara Lovitz and has got some great illustrations on it and it is available at the amazon store. So be sure to check it out.

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CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Well today’s topic is preparing your twin nursery and today we’re talking with Rachel Crawford. She is an interior designer and the founder of Mollie Quinn an agency that specializes in designing kid spaces. So thanks for joining us.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Thanks for having me.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: So you know I know you’re doing a lot of stuff for kids of all ages and babies but in designing twin nurseries is there anything that’s really different in you know from having a singleton versus having twins?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: There is not too much difference besides having two cribs or a floor bed if you’re going them on the floor route and the only other thing is to add another feeding area if you’ll going to have somebody help you your partner with feeding. That way they are comfortable as well if you have the space but otherwise it’s pretty much the same. You only need you know only one changing table and it’s really just the double crib or floor bed.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: So that’s great to know. So we don’t have to have you know twice as much space to have . . .

RACHEL CRAWFORD: No! Yeah. I think that’s part of the misconception. You really need to have a lot less than what you probably think you need.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: And you know what are the essential items that every twin nursery should have?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Definitely two sleeping areas so two cribs or floor beds, a changing table for sure or a station, you can even do that on the floor. You don’t have to have a changing dresser or table.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: That’s you know that’s interesting that you say that because I think we’re we just automatically assume we have to have this you know high…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Level changing area but then maybe in some ways it is easier especially if you’re doing assembly lines stock pile just to have them on the floor. Do one…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Exactly.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: You don’t even have to lift them up, they’re right there, do the next one.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right especially if you got small spaces especially in San Diego with all of our houses made kind of on a smaller side. You don’t need to have all this big bulky furniture.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Ah interesting. Sorry what else do you need?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: And then you need to have a feeding station so that’s like you know a space for you to have a rocker or chair somewhere that’s comfy that you’re going to be able to bond and either nurse your baby or have somebody help you with feeding. And then a play area so that could be just on the floor another blanket an area rag just a place for them to have tummy time playing with toys you know or even a blanket. Those are the main spaces that you need.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: The main spaces. And now you mentioned that we need to have two sleeping area or two beds. Let’s just say you know what are some of the other things that we don’t have to buy sets of two?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: That you have to buy sets of two?

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Or sorry what are the things that we sometimes I think a lot of twin moms you know we go to the baby registry and we see oh my gosh we have to have two cribs. We have to have two strollers.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Bouncy seats and then it’s like oh my gosh it gets overwhelming but you know what are the things that you probably can get by with just by one?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: You can get by with one swing, one bouncy, one little you know those little chairs that you stick the baby because you’re constantly switching them. I called them stations.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yes.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: So you’re like you put one baby in one station, put the next baby on the floor…

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yes.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: And then you rotate. So you don’t they don’t always have to be on the same thing at the same time. They like variety.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: That’s you know that’s a great point and I think a great money saver too…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Exactly.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: That you know you really don’t have to have twos I mean those swings are pretty big.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: They’re big.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: And bulky. Yeah.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yeah and they’re expensive.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: I know, exactly.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: And so yeah you just have one.

SHELLY STEELY: In terms of dressers, storage, that kind of thing I mean these are pretty small right?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: They are small. You can get away with switching out clothes. They don’t have to wear the same outfit both the same. You know they can switch each other’s clothes. That’s the awesome part about having twins. You can have this rotating you know clothing that you can just keep going…

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: That’s true.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: And you don’t have to have two of the same they can be their own little people.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: That is I think that is an assumption that probably a lot of twin moms just automatically make that you know we have to have the, you know identical matching outfits just because it’s cute but from a practical stand point…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: You don’t have to do it.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: You don’t have to do it.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Especially if you’re the one that’s buying the clothing.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yeah.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Now you’re going to have people that are going to buy doubles of things which is nice but…

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yes.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: If you’re purchasing I would you know do want of each…

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yeah.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Or I’m sorry one of something different.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yeah and then now we often think of the nurseries as places where the babies spend most of their time but I mean we know that in the first few months that’s not often the case.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: I mean lots of times I mean the babies are sleeping in co-sleepers or bassinets…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: With their parents in the bedroom I know like in my case we didn’t actually move our twins to the, you know to the nursery until they were about four months old.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: So you know what would you recommend you know for parents as far as like planning for their nursery and the use of the nursery during that time period?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: I would still use the nursery for feeding, for changing, tummy time, just being with baby because you’re going to end up loving the space. I mean that’s going to end up being favourite room in the whole house and it’s a way to get you out of your bedroom. You don’t want to be stuck in your bedroom like it’s a den. I mean you want to move out and really get the baby to enjoy the space and what you’ve created for them. So I’ve used the room, the nursery, for everything else besides sleeping.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: So it doesn’t have to be just a sleeping space. I think we think of bedroom, nursery…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: It’s just sleeping.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right. Now it’s a space for them to grow and to experience things and you know to live.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: And so that’s and it also I think probably the proximity of the parent’s bedroom you know would help if you’ve got it you know close by then…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right. Especially when you’re babies are going to be sleeping in the next room over you. You want to be able to hear everything and to get up in the middle of the night and do those late night feedings without having to go too far.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yes. Now in that period too with the babies spending some time like in the parent’s room or sleeping, do you recommend the parents modify their own bedroom you know for that time period? Because I know sometimes I’ve…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Maybe Shelly you can talk to this too…

SHELLY STEELY: Yeah so we luck out. We’re in a I mean a smallish apartment but our master bedroom is actually really large. It’s like 20ft long…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Oh nice.

SHELLY STEELY: It’s just unusual. So what we did is we put both cribs in our bedroom and then I have a nice long dresser that kind of function as a changing table if we needed it. Just when they were really tiny and kind of fragile we use that but now we definitely use the bed most of the time. But it was nice because the boy’s cribs are in our room and in their room just had play mat, swing, books, toys and so it really was kind of just their space.

And then once we transitioned when they were I think 7-8 months yeah we just move the cribs right into their room and they were still we still have the middle of the room for the same kind of play space and then we never had a changing table in the room not with the floor is easier with only one person home with two babies most of the time it’s easier to have them both were you can keep your hands on them so yeah we kind of modify.

As they grew I felt like we had to keep changing so it was the nursery or their room was very has been through a lot of transitions. You know once they could stand it was like we had to move it so they couldn’t grab each other and they couldn’t grab the blinds so the cribs have to move and the dressers have to move and then yeah it’s been a very fluid kind of…

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yeah.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: That’s great.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Definitely you know and I think in our case too for that first you know 3-4 months when we had you know the girls in our room at least you know for the sleeping. We tried to do like I think sleeping in our room and then we tried to do some naps in the crib in their own room and kind of gradually move them…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: More into the nursery area. But they did spend a lot of time in our room and so I found I needed kind of even like a storage area for I mean I had like the nursing pillow…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: And I had you know post to support the tandem nursing pillow and then you know sometimes you know we did some supplementations so there was like some of the breastfeeding supplies and you know and then of course we’ve talked about mom’s breastfeeding wanting like a snack basket you know a little go to basket sort of thing. So I think it does help to have…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: All those little things.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Sort of little things close by ready and accessible.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Exactly. Yeah and you don’t need much else other than that or your bassinet I mean your baby is pretty small they don’t need too much, they tend to see mommy and…

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yeah.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Cuddle time.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Now on the flip side too I mean parents are going to be spending a lot of time in the nursery. What do you recommend as far as even making it more comfortable for the adults because I think so often we have I mean I see these pictures of these beautiful nurseries were they’ve got cribs and changing tables and there is like either maybe a rocking chair or a glider and when you got two that’s not always the most practical I mean you’ve got you know I mean parent is going to be there for considerable amount of time…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: What do you recommend for parent?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Well the number one thing I think you need to have in there is a night light especially with late night feeding you’re not going to want to turn on a light and wake up the baby or babies and have them think that It’s time to play and you don’t want to run on to anything either so that’s really important to have in this phase and the other thing is you can have a sofa or you can have a love sit so that you can sit there with babies and one can maybe hang out next to you.

You can have someone else helping you to feed. It doesn’t have to be a rocker. Those sometimes are not the most comfortable. I would do some sort of chair or something that’s comfy that you might already have but having a big sofa or a love sit makes it so much easier and then having bottles of water because you get super thirsty when you’re nursing and just having an accessible I don’t know so having those little snacks. I also like having a little iPod dock…

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Music.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Some music.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yeah.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Make it relaxing and enjoyable and make it a space that is yours and all those other things.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yeah and that’s a great point of having a little love sit because it think you know for breastfeeding I mean you know the moms sort to have to get into the groove and find those comfortable positions for breastfeeding whether it’s you know single or tandem feeding…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yeah.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: And I know for the good me it took just a lot of different pillows and you know having them in my both sides and I think yeah the sofa I spend a lot of time on sofa and couch.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yeah it’s just more comfy…

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yeah. Yeah.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: And more room and having a blanket next to you is also nice [inaudible] you get cold or…

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yes.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: You don’t have to sit there freezing while you’re nursing and not have to get up because you have to redo everything again to get situated put.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Oh yeah and you know for the dads you know I think I know my husband was kind of the baby whisperer so you know lots of times they’re waking up at 3am and we’d feed them and they still need that sort of consoling and patting…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: And going to sleep and so he would actually spend a lot of time holding them and I think having like a little sofa or futon or something would be you know great.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: It’s comfy.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: I wish we had that. I wish I’d you know thought of that. Just so you know I really . . .

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yeah when you’re altogether and it’s nice and it’s warm and baby can still smell mommy and…

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yeah and then having them having maybe one close by.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Have them together. Exactly.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Wow. Well when we come back we’re going to talk about some of the money savings tips that you can use in building out your twin nursery.

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CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Well welcome back today we’re talking with our Rachel Crawford who creates some really cool living spaces for kids and were learning about ways that we can keep the cost down. So when we’re thinking about twins and buying all the stuff and often you know buying for twins means it’s just bigger expense and sometimes two of things but what suggestions do you have for keeping the cost down and saving money?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: So first what I would do is take inventory of what you’ve already got because you can use so many things that are in your possession. So like with the changing table using the dresser that you’ve already have you might just want to paint it and it totally becomes something different and put new handles on it or knobs.

The other thing is instead of buying a rocker chair or glider like we’ve already talked about is having look around and see what you have. You probably have a comfy chair or you have a love sit that that you are not using, stick it in there.

The other thing you can use to make the money or the it less expensive is using [inaudible] rags or accessories, lamps that kind of thing that is not geared toward baby that way it grows with the baby. Something with what you’re painting the walls with making it a neutral color and then adding the décor with accessories and go in the theme that way and that way you can move things out and change it up really easy and not having to spend so much more money in repainting and redecorating.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: That’s a great idea I you know I really love the idea of repurposing things you know I mean I can say I’ve been to some cool boutiques where I’ve seen were they’ve taken some let’s just say 1960s kind of furniture maybe some TV consoles or you know the face or things like that…

SUNNY GAULT: Right.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: And it’s been you know repainted and refinished kind of the shabby sheik type of look to it…

SUNNY GAULT: Exactly.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: And really cool like glass knobs or something really funky and then it’s like whoa here you go here’s you know diaper changing station…

SUNNY GAULT: Exactly.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: And it’s really cool.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yeah and you came and go through shop shopping or fully market shopping and find some really cool pieces.

SHELLY STEELY: Yeah we used the dresser it was my mom’s dresser only they’re not from when she was growing up I mean in the seventies and her grandpa had her paint them orange because that paint was on sale so horrible bright orange color and I think there was two of them and I think at one point my brother painted one black but the other one was just sitting in the closet and so we took it out and repainted it kind of a bright blue. We got really cheap green knobs so it was a blue and green dresser for the room and then it’s great advice to avoid baby stuff because the prepackage nursery sets are ridiculous.

SUNNY GAULT: Oh my god.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Oh my gosh.

SHELLY STEELY: Even times one…

SUNNY GAULT: Yes.

SHELLY STEELY: And then times two my goodness so…

SUNNY GAULT: Yes.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: And it only is for so long.

SHELLY STEELY: Yeah.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yes.

SHELLY STEELY: So we got the lamp that we like that was cute since it was a monster lamp and then one of the blankets like a throw blanket that had monsters but a friend of mine moms found the same monster image online and blow them up and printed and framed them you know…

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Oh how cool.

SHELLY STEELY: Inexpensive and then…

SUNNY GAULT: Exactly.

SHELLY STEELY: We used the same color for the dresser and then we got some green rags. So we just kind of tried to pull you know as cheaply as possible the idea of this monster theme nursery without spending the 400 dollars it would have cost us to buy the pieces.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Oh yes. Yeah.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: And you’re not overloaded with the theme either.

SHELLY STEELY: Yeah.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: It kind of tones it down.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yes. I know as soon as you look at this sort of pre matched sets where you’ve got a crib you know the matching furniture and then you’ve got like the crib blanket and the bumper and the sheets and the curtains and it’s like oh.

SUNNY GAULT: It’s cute to buy but most of that stuff is not practical.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yeah.

SUNNY GAULT: Although I will say this is the first time so my I got one of those expensive things with my first born and he a boy and then my second boy used that same set right? And then with the girls I you know I had two boys and now I was finally getting my girls and I went crazy with pink. So I will say though one of the issues I’m having now I purposely didn’t get one of those bumper things because I’ve heard you know there’s a safety issue with that blah blah blah. Plus it’s just it was very cumbersome in my boy’s room it’s like they didn’t use it for that long or whatever.

So I purposely didn’t get it and now I don’t know again my girls are now 7 months old now their little chunky legs keep getting stuck in the things and I have to go in there…

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Through the slabs [inaudible]

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah through the slabs.

SHELLY STEELY: You know we have the same problem we didn’t buy bumpers or balancers…

SUNNY GAULT: Right.

SHELLY STEELY: Or any because they’re just so expensive.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah.

SHELLY STEELY: We just got crib just plain 10 dollar crib sheets and about the same age once they were like 7 they started rolling . . .

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah moving.

SHELLY STEELY: And they got stuck.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah.

SHELLY STEELY: And we decided to kind of watch and wait because can get a safe breathable bumper…

SUNNY GAULT: Yes. Yeah.

SHELLY STEELY: But their pricey…

SUNNY GAULT: Right.

SHELLY STEELY: And as soon as they start standing they can climb right out the crib bumper.

SUNNY GAULT: Right.

SHELLY STEELY: So…

SUNNY GAULT: Right.

SHELLY STEELY: We said we’d give it two weeks and see and it was like within a week they just stop getting stuck and…

SUNNY GAULT: They’ve figured it out probably.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yeah they got strong enough.

SHELLY STEELY: So I would say with something like that watch and wait is it good.

SUNNY GAULT: Yes. That’s a good advice.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: That’s what where doing right now..

RACHEL CRAWFORD: They’ve figured they didn’t want to get their legs stuck anymore. So…

SUNNY GAULT: The corners.

SHELLY STEELY: Because I mean the slats come with like what you said the bumpers…

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah.

SHELLY STEELY: You’re really not supposed to use them. The balances I mean who wants some monkey balance? Maybe you [inaudible] in your room and then they got this weird things like a diaper changing thing now that hang…

SUNNY GAULT: Oh yeah that’s not really practical.

SHELLY STEELY: Yeah really impractical.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yeah.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yeah.

SUNNY GAULT: Especially when you’ve got two babies to take care. It’s cute.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Now you know so I’m to say Rachel, where some of the places that you know parents can go to you know get some of this things if they don’t already have it in their house?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: We know where are some of your go to spots to sort of repurpose these things?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Sometimes your parents have things just like what she was saying. In the closet or in the garage or something and you just have to look at in a completely different light and to ignore that it is orange you know like what I was saying like the flea markets or thrift stores or even friends. Craigslist is awesome place…

SUNNY GAULT: Craigslist.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yeah. Just look pass what it looks like now and just you know think of the possibilities.

SUNNY GAULT: You do. You have to have an imagination for sure and isn’t there something about if you’re going to do a dresser or something, it doesn’t need to be real wood or something like that if you’re going to…

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Refinish it.

SUNNY GAULT: Obviously refinish. Yeah. It can’t be that press stuff you got to…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: You cannot refinish that.

SUNNY GAULT: Right.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: But most of the time you’ll be able some real wood…

SUNNY GAULT: Okay.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: And you can paint over that.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: And just put a prime on it.

SUNNY GAULT: And really affordably too.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yeah much more than it used to be a lot furniture stores even the cheaper ones the big you know the their carrying real wood just unfinished and you can you know there are little furniture specialty store you can get an unfinished one for cheaper. So avoiding particle board is good too because as soon as they start moving…

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: The durability. Oh yeah.

SUNNY GAULT: Oh yes.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Well you get a need to bolt everything to the wall.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Right.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: So as soon as they’re out of those cribs you don’t want any free standing furniture…

SUNNY GAULT: Right.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: And is way easier to connect real wood to a wall than to be drilling in on a particle board.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah. Exactly and safer probably too. It probably hold it better.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Definitely.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yeah.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Now on the decorating side of things, can you give us some ideas for you know some different theme that work well with twins? I mean I know we’ve heard a lot of like two peas in a pod . . .

SUNNY GAULT: Can we say some that we hate? I actually don’t hate two peas in a pod. I hate the thing one and thing two. I’m sorry I hate it. Just calling your child a thing is driving me crazy.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: For a birthday party maybe but for like a room…

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yeah.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: That’s a lot.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yeah.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah. That’s just crazy.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Not to mention I don’t know if I don’t have pictures of these things with this big red hair.

SUNNY GAULT: Don’t scare me. Yeah.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: I mean doctor says it’s great…

SUNNY GAULT: Right.

SHELLY STEELY: Right.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: But there are limits.

SHELLY STEELY: I think Noah’s Arc is a cute one.

SUNNY GAULT: I think that’s so cute.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yeah against the devil.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Oh two by two.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yeah two by two.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: And that’s how we like that.

SUNNY GAULT: We did because you know again two girls we did pink but I didn’t do a lot of like bright pink right I thought once they get to be teenagers they probably want fluorescent pink or whatever. So we did like this really pale kind of a carnation pink with tan and it’s roses but it’s really kind of light and airy but we kind of do the sugar and spice theme.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Oh.

SUNNY GAULT: So we’ve got, we used wall decals. I love wall decals.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Oh yes.

SUNNY GAULT: And then a couple I don’t know if it’s Etsy but there’s a couple online I think it is Etsy. There’s a couple of independent shops on Etsy that specialize on it. You can get anything written up. I have the girls names above their beds in this really pretty cursive. It was easy to put on and then I have a saying sugar and spice you know what are little girls are made off sugar and spice and everything nice and so we kind of nickname who’s sugar, who’s spice. So that was kind of our theme..

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yeah that’s a great idea the other thing is if you’re going to do a theme like say it’s a forest you can do two little deer or something subtle that’s not like in your face. But to get inspiration my favorite place was Pinterest.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Oh.

SUNNY GAULT: Oh my gosh.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: And they had everything on there and…

SUNNY GAULT: Do you have specific people you follow in Pinterest for ideas or like…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: No I kind of just I’ll think of something that I like.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Like a theme and I just plug it in and it’s not always a nursery that I’m looking for…

SUNNY GAULT: Right.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: It’s something in general so it could be base off of a movie or a book or a café or even a hotel that you’ve been to some place that you love and I create those sort of feelings and spaces in your home.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Oh that’s awesome. So I mean you probably talk to twin parents and they say you know what we just love I don’t know what’s the Enchanted I’m just going to thinking of the movie Frozen.

SUNNY GAULT: Oh no Frozen.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Frozen. I know I was thinking of the old school Enchanted…

SUNNY GAULT: Oh. Yeah.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: From the…

SUNNY GAULT: The combination of cartoon and movie. Yeah.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: The cartoons come to life in New York…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Oh right.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yes. I’m okay am I dating myself?

SUNNY GAULT: Frozen is the latest thing Christine.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: I know. I know. What am I thinking of but I mean you know they could probably say you know what we just love this movie. How can we incorporate that into the room?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: So you can just take an overall like a mood or a color that’s going throughout the film and pull that out and make that the wall color or on the ground with the area rag. But there are so many things you could do without of it being too theme-y. You can get the feeling of the space just on color and texture.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: So I mean in like in the case of Frozen then obviously blue works for girls.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: That’s my place exactly.

SUNNY GAULT: Or you don’t want to repaint the room.

SHELLY STEELY: I just know with how any with twins it is twice as long that you send them to their room. If not four times as long I mean I just remember I was in that room for hours and hours and hours because one wakes up and one goes back to bed and your sitting and you really don’t want to get sick of it.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Right.

SHELLY STEELY: I think especially with and we’ve all the extra stuff that ends up in there even if you’re not buying two of everything, I think it’s great advice to just pull one like color or one theme because the more theme-y you get…

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah more distractions.

SHELLY STEELY: That you start to notice the walls were kind of closing in on you.

SUNNY GAULT: Well distractions in general. I would imagine too that the type of colors you use if you use stuff that’s too bold you know maybe I don’t know maybe that would make it harder for them to sleep if you’re doing primary colors. I don’t know I don’t want to do that necessarily. You know what I mean?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right. Now you’d want it to create a base that’s probably soft…

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: And if you want it those things that are stimulating to the baby, have it out while the baby is awake and going.

SUNNY GAULT: Right.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: And then put it away.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: So how about for opposite sex twins? I mean that may be a little bit more challenge. I know with either you’ve got you know set of girls or set of boys you can do traditional color it’s probably easier. If you got boy girl…

SUNNY GAULT: Green and yellow.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yeah.

SUNNY GAULT: Just kidding.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: No I’ve done and were you have a base color that is good for boys and girls so like maybe we’ll do like a white and then on the boy’s crib and side we use colors that are a little bit more masculine but still compliment what’s going on with the girl’s side so maybe the boys will have some green and some blue and on the girl’s side there is more like reds and pinks and then but they are opposite on the color wheel so they’d compliment and they still look good and then the white just pops everything off. So kind of doing a base and then popping of each other and making sure that they compliment.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: And I guess with any theme you could have sort of like let’s just say the forest or the monkey.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: I know monkeys tend to be really popular. You can have a girl monkey and a boy monkey.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Exactly.

SUNNY GAULT: Wall decals.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Wall decals.

SUNNY GAULT: Their awesome.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Now how about I mean organization?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yes.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: I mean that is just a constant challenge at any age. So starting of I mean do you have any recommendations for you know organizing closets and storage areas?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yes so you’re going to want to do that well before babies are coming and babies that are twins are probably going to come earlier than you think so doing it well in advance so labeling everything. Ikea a container store have awesome ideas. Take those and use it on a baby’s room. You don’t have to do anything that’s baby oriented like baby baskets and do something that is a little bit more grown up.

I’ve even done organizations with peg boards you know like behind the changing table and you can have all your little things in there. The container store has great drawer organization so you can put your diapers in there, your wipes, the baby cream, all that stuff in the drawer tuck away and it’s all organize. There’s all kinds of ideas like on Etsy I just saw these really cool their like when you go shopping you know how we have the size dividers those plastic rings that go around on the…

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Closing wrap?

SUNNY GAULT: Oh yeah.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yes you can get those that are blank online and then you make your own little template.

SUNNY GAULT: Oh.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: And you can have your 3 to 6 months, your 6 to 9 months.

SUNNY GAULT: That is so awesome.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Oh.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yeah.

SUNNY GAULT: Because I’m always looking at it I’m more like well what size is this and I try to organize it but then where does it go from 3 months to 6 months…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yeah.

SUNNY GAULT: And then you got to find that dividing…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Thing.

SUNNY GAULT: I love that. That’s great.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yeah. That’s great so just having all those things and another idea I have used is using a curtain tension rod on the closet and they have you have the those rings for the curtains and they have a little alligator clips on them using those to organize the shoes. The shoes are all together and then lined up.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Oh wow.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Their easy to find and they’re just together and you know little things like that.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Having things ready to go. Yeah.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yes.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: And I like your idea of I mean just the idea of labeling things you know and if you have either a little like chalk boards or you know white boards or things that you can because it seems like you know as they grow older into a new phase then you’re so often repurposing that drawer and that space for something whatever the next thing is. I mean the diapers are there for you know couple of years but then there’s you know the toys…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Sometimes they change out and then the clothes and those types of things so I know that’s that always help to be able to have…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yeah.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: A flexible system.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Exactly.

SHELLY STEELY: Organization for toys was really important. We have those cube systems you know the Ikea with the basket and it was nice when they were little because we can just pull out one basket for them and then put it away and now that they’re older they actually they know they can pull out one basket and when their done playing with that, they have to put it back…

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah.

SHELLY STEELY: And put it and so I mean it’s like a whole house kind of organization system as so we pulled through the years.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yeah and you want things that you can put things away and then not see them. You don’t want to see clutter it just makes everything…

SHELLY STEELY: Yes.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Kind of crazy.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yes. Mine is the existing chaos…

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: You don’t want to add to it. Yeah.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Well awesome. Well hey thank so much for everybody joining us today and for more information about preparing your twin nursery or for more information about any of our speakers and panelist you could visit our episode page on our website. And this conversation continues for members of our Twin Talks club and we’re going to be talking about some cool DIY project ideas for the nursery. For more information about the Twin Talks club, visit our website www.twintalks.com .

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Alright here’s a brand new fun series that we are introducing here on Twin Talks. We love to hear from our listeners all the amazing stories you guys have with your twins and we want to create a platform where you guys can share how you found out your pregnant with twins and what the reaction was because everyone has their amazing story right? And so we are calling this series “We’re expecting what?” and so this one is from Gretel and Gretel says this is a nice sweet story.

She says I went to my 5month prenatal exam. I was anxious to get a medical professional on my case as I was as big as I was right before I delivered my son. I was 25% larger than what I’m supposed to be at 5 months. So my midwife set me in for diagnostic ultrasound. We waited over a week to find out and we were so hoping to be expecting twins but I could’ve been further along in my pregnancy.

The ultrasound specialist told us the happy news that we are in fact expecting fraternal twin girls. I giggled and thank god all the way home between phone calls and when my mom tell my dad he never laugh so hard in his life. We are all so excited. I think these stories are so amazing because it’s true. I don’t know if this was the case you know with your pregnancies but when I found out that I was pregnant with twins I almost felt like I should’ve known that there were two babies in there.

So Gretel like I totally get it. I can understand how you can be further along in your pregnancy and still not know but they say that moms have that extra hunch. I mean I didn’t it sounds like you thought maybe there was more than one baby in there so this is a great story. So Gretel thank you so much for helping us kick off this series. If you guys want to share your funny amazing story of how you found that you are expecting twins, you can either send us an email or you can call our voicemail met number 619-866-4775.

[Theme Music]

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Well, that wraps up our show for today. We appreciate you listening to Twin Talks.
Don’t forget to check our sister show:
• Preggie Pals for expecting parents
• Our show The Boob Group for moms who breastfeed their babies and
• Parent Savers, your parenting resource on-the-go.

Next week we’re going to be talking about recovering form diastasis recti. This is Twin Talks, parenting times two.

[Disclaimer]
This has been a New Mommy Media production. Information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. Though information in which areas are related to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, Medical or advisor care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider.

SUNNY GAULT: New Mommy Media is expanding our line up of shows for new and expecting parents. If you have an idea for a new series or if you’re a business or organization interested in joining our network of shows through a co-branded podcast, visit www.NewMommyMedia.com

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