Blossoming Blog

I’ve been pretty busy with life and it’s been a while since my last post. Not that I haven’t been blogging, I have, but for a couple of other groups I’ve added into my mix. I work full time, parent full time and try to include my blog and other exciting opportunities in my monthly routine as best as I can.

Three years ago, when I started this blog, I thought to myself, I will make something of it. Blogging is hard to keep up and many lose their momentum. When I started blogging my purpose was to reach other parents of premature children, as well as multiple-births children. I wanted this blog to take off and blossom. I was on maternity leave when I started Twintrospectives and was able to squeeze in lots of blog writing during nap times. Little did I know how connected I would become to the parents I aimed to reach, right across the world! Initially I worked hard to participate in blog hops to share the details of my new blog and it was very exciting to see new comments and visits to my blog.

In the early days, I didn’t know where this blogging thing would take me, but I was pretty determined to make something of it. I wasn’t setting out to monetize my blog (back when I didn’t actually know what monetizing meant), rather I truly wanted to connect with others or at the very least share my thoughts and opinions on raising premature babies and hope that someone would either get a good laugh out of some of my predicaments or identify with my experiences and feel like they’re not alone.

This blog has given me the confidence to reach out to the preemie community and connect in ways I never imagined. The conversations that have stemmed from this blog and Twitter have led to new friendships and professional connections. I am so grateful for both!

The biggest thing the existence of this blog has taught me is that if you take the time to say something that matters to you with complete honesty, people will listen and respond. Doors you didn’t realize existed will open.

I’d love for you to check out some of the groups and organizations I am working with now, which has so much to do with having started this blog 3 years ago.

Canadian Premature Babies Foundation

Multiple Births Canada’s Preterm Birth Support Network

Hand to Hold’s Preemie Babies 101

How Do You Do It?  Moms of Multiples Tell it Like it Is

Goodbye 2012

I held off posting during the month of December. The month of December has always been important to me.  Afterall, Christmas is my favourite holiday of the year.  Aside from the 1st Christmases of my three preemies, this Christmas has been one of the greatest times for reflection and thankfulness I can recall. Going into my oldest son's afternoon Christmas concert only minutes after hearing of the unthinkable act that took place in CT was like a slap in the face and yet another dose of reality that a child's life is so precious and you never know when the unexpected will happen.  I think we all know how much I appreciate my children, but if it's even possible, that event made me appreciate them even more.  Initially I wanted to get to my blog and write a rant about the entire situation, but I figured the media was doing a good job of it on their own. They're the professionals. I avoided my blog and my desire to rant and I was able to put my focus on something else--the things that really matter--my kids. So December was filled with even more time focused on kids, snuggles, playtime, craft time and hanging out. It was a wonderful month with my family, especially the over the holidays.

During the month of December my youngest son (Twin B) and I could be found in our region's McDonald's Restaurants on the serving tray sheets. Of all places I thought my face might show up, it never occured to me that it would be on the trays people eat food off of. Why would our picture be on such a strange thing? Well, we were able to help the Ronald McDonald House Hamilton with their fundraising again and it was a great experience. A lovely photo of me and my son was found on the sheet, along with one of my many thoughts about how much the Ronald McDonald House offers families with sick children in the hospital...The timing of this photo and quote is bittersweet. 

The quote goes like this...
"When I pictured having babies, the picture never included medical interventions and long term hospital stay, beeping alarms, hospital gowns and gloves. When the unthinkable happened, and my babies had to stay at McMaster Children's Hospital 50 km from my home, the one ray of light was Ronald McDonald House Hamilton. At RMHH my husband and I found a comfortable place to call our "home away from home" so we could be at our babies' bedsides at all times of the day and night. RMHH allowed us to provide our babies with the type of care that only a parent can."

As much as our children have changed our lives, the RMHH and hospital did too...

And the photo looked like this...

Overall, the year 2012 was very productive for my family, including me.  We were introduced to the world of Junior Kindergarten. Our twins continue to develop and catch up to their peers. They are turning into such spunky, funny little men--all three of them.  I completed 3 months of training to become a certified Peer Health Worker for my region's Public Health unit and I will be carrying out this role in my local Parents of Multiple Births Association, which goes into effect tomorrow, January 1, 2013.  I look forward to this role, as I'll be able to connect with and provide guidance and advice to expectant and new parents of multiples. I also started working on a voluntary basis with Multiple Births Canada on the Preterm Birth Support Network, which is a brand new network and I am working with a wonderful woman who has 30 years' experience working with expectant parents and parents of multiples (having multiples herself.) We are currently developing the "PBSN" and we look forward to working with parents of preterm multiples across Canada. This is an exciting venture, which will kick into full gear in 2013.  My actual paid, full time work, has also been very exciting throughout 2012 and I look forward to my gaining even more knowledge and experience with my online work with clients and through social media.

Finally, here is a little list of my Top 10 Things to be Thankful for in 2012...
1. My kids
2. Family/Friends
3. Health and progressive development
4. Our employment
5. Our house over our heads
6. Our daycare provider
7. Our support network-specialists, therapists and anyone who has helped us along the way
8. My local Parents of Multiple Births Association and the friends I've made there
9. Multiple Births Canada
10.New opportunities

Best wishes to everyone in 2013! May it be all you hope and dream.

November's such a busy month!

With International Multiple Birth Awareness Week last week, Remembrance Day, the overall month of November being "Movember" raising awareness for men's physical and mental health and then coming up this Saturday, being World Prematurity Day...it's hard to choose one topic to focus on. So I didn't!

For this house, multiple birth awareness week is every week of the year! Our twins are just two and still look so similar that it's a common occurence to talk to people about their twinness, their birth experience, their NICU experience, their current status of development and everything else related to the twin life.  The fact that I have taken on two recent formal roles to raise awareness and help families of multiples and families of preterm birth multiples only adds to the fact that I pretty much live and breathe "multiples."

For those that aren't in the know I have taken on a role to work as a peer health worker for my local POMBA.  The role officially kicks in January 2012, but I'm taking some heavy duty training for certification, on top of my full time job and full time mommy duties.  It's been exhausting, but a very rewarding and exciting time!  In addition to that I am now co-chairing the Multiple Births Canada Preterm Birth Support Network (PBSN,) which is brand spanking new and being developed right from scratch.  As a mom of preterm children-my tiny singleton and my teeny tiny twins-I know how challenging it was to get the right kind of support for my family in the early days and even after we all came home together.  It was a lot of late nights up researching at my computer, looking for answers and guidance.  With determination and many cups of coffee and tea, I did find leads to great things for our twins beyond the standard referrals to occupational therapy, speech and physio.  There are many services and agencies available to provide support if you know where to look...which I know from talking to moms and dads, we don't know where to look. We don't necessarily know the questions to ask.  I credit my background in social services and research for finding things, but had I been able to refer quickly to one source of support and get the information right away, we would have saved a lot of time.  The fact I had 3 little boys to manage during the day meant my research really could only be done when everyone was fast asleep. So we hope the MBC Preterm Birth Support Network will be the go to for Canadian parents of preterm multiples for support, guidance, advice and referrals. So if you are Canadian and are preterm multiples parents or know of a family that is in need of support or even just needs a few questions answered, please refer them to Multiple Births Canada's website, linked above.  There are many great benefits to becoming a member of Multiple Births Canada, the PBSN being just one of them.

Now on to Movember. I live in a house with 4 males, thus Movember is definitely important to me! So here are my 3 sons saluting this important month of awareness for men's health...

This past sunny, unusually warm Sunday, November 11, we made our way to one of the local cenotaphs to remember those who have fought to keep Canada strong and free, including a certain great-grandpa and great-great-uncle. Their WWII stories will continue to be passed on from generation to generation.

So it's been a very busy month and it's only half over! 

And coming up in 2 more days this page will turn purple...