Welcome to my new feature on my blog!! I am so excited to share with you every second week another mother and her story! Mothers with Many celebrates women from all backgrounds. This feature is not just for mothers of singletons or multiples but for all mothers; mothers of fur babies, step mothers, foster mothers and so on. I just know that you will enjoy reading about these fabulous women!
Our first mother on Mothers with Many to be featured is Crystal Bryan. Crystal is an identical twin herself and is mother to identical twin girls, Kinley Anne and Chloe Rose! Crystal opens up and gets real with us in sharing her journey of motherhood and its challenges. To learn more about the fabulous Crystal you can find her on IG @twinwithtwins or check out her blog at www.twinwithtwins.com .
Thanks Crystal for sharing and for being our first amazing mama on Mothers with Many!
1) How many children do you have and what are their names and ages?
I have identical twin daughters Kinley Anne and Chloe Rose who will be 3 years old in a few weeks!
2) What is your current occupation?
I am a part time transitions of care pharmacist and a stay at home mom most of the week.
3)What are the challenges of balancing work and parenting?
That balance is so hard and I don’t think that it is ever perfect. It’s so easy to feel guilty that you are not enough. I went back to work after the girls were born to a full time corporate job where I worked long days. As balanced as I tried to keep it, after the commute I felt like I was a mom for two hours a day. It wasn’t right for us so we decided to make the transition. I love working 20 hours a week. Some days I am thankful for a break from my kids but I am also thankful for a chance to keep working in the field and be part of a team and I like speaking to adults! I am also thankful for the time I get to be home. Time goes by so fast! There are days I don’t want to go to work and days I can’t wait to get away from the whining but for us, we seem to have found a pretty good balance!
4) What is your life philosophy?
I haven’t really thought about my philosophy enough to have a phrase that is mine. But I really like my late father in laws. He used to always say, “life is simple if you let it be.”I think this is true and I think of this phrase often. It helps me keep in the present, enjoy the little moments and helps remind me to put my energy towards friends and things that matter, not over stressing about an empty sink or an empty laundry basket.
5) What is a piece of advice you would give other mothers and what is one thing you wish you would have known before having children?
My biggest piece of advice would probably be to accept help! In today’s age, it seems like we always have to have our ducks in a row, but let down your pride and take people up on their offers. Not only will this help you, it also helps to open the door to genuine and authentic relationships and an expanded network. One of my dearest friends and I started our relationship after she allowed me to bring some burp rags! Now she’s the person I can talk to on my roughest “mom fail” days and we are always able to be there for each other.Accepting help is so wonderful and everyone feels great about it at the end of the day. I wish I had known how to better communicate with my partner. Things were tough and I didn’t feel like the workload was evenly shared. Take the time if you can to invest in your relationship before kids and after so that everyone can be happier. We are in counseling now and its made such a difference in so many areas of our lives!
6) What is your greatest achievement apart from your kids so far?
My greatest achievement is honestly my friend network. It may seem silly because it’s not a corporate achievement or something that can be seen objectively like running a marathon, but it’s something that matters to my very core and impacts my everyday life! I have a lot of amazing friends, some from college, some from adulthood, but I treasure each relationship with my close friends and love that I can be open, honest , genuine and truly myself. There is nothing more powerful than a group of women that can lean on one another , love hard and lift each other up through the best of times and through the worst of times.
7) What have you done that you thought you could never do?
My parents always taught me to work hard and that through dedication and sweat I could achieve anything. I used to think I couldn’t run a half marathon but I have now done three! I also did an 105 mile bike ride! I have yet to complete one of these events after children, but I am working on getting more physically fit so maybe I’ll take that on someday too. Outside of my physics achievements, I never thought I would start a blog, but this year www.twinwithtwins.com was born and I am really enjoying it.
8) What books do you/did you like reading to your children?
We love tons of books and the kids are only 3 so most of them are short, but here are a few of our favourites: 1) Trashy Town -what kids does not love a trash truck?! It is not very mainstream so I get it now for al the kids we know. 2) Cuddle bear -it’s just so sweet and a great bedtime story. 3) Night time stories for rebel girls- this is a longer compilation of short stories about amazing women but we love it. 4) Chicka Chicka, Going on a Bear hunt and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. There are just too many good ones!
I am also super happy that Crystal and her girls enjoyed my book Three Times the Fun. Here is what Crystal had to say:
We loved this book!
I almost didn’t buy it because I thought it was more for triplets and I have twins, but then I read about the principles the book discusses and couldn’t wait to get it.
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It was perfect. My girls LOVED it. They liked the story, they liked pointing out how all 3 kids were different and kept talking about how ‘we’re sisters too’. Come to think of it, I’m not sure why I hesitated, I buy books about singletons all the time.
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This book was truly a delight. The girls loved the clean/simple illustrations, it was the perfect amount of words per page for their attention span and after 1 night it’s already a new favorite.
