Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon’s new mom video diary
Actress Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon, 40, recently welcomed her twin boys, Jax Joseph and Jaid Thomas, 5 weeks on Thursday, and has begun keeping a video diary of her experience for Mom Logic. Included is her surprise at her post-delivery belly, mommy milestones like shaving her legs, trying not to parent her husband, and being peed on!
Click below for the highlights.
On her post-delivery belly: What was really daunting was, when they took the two babies out [during the c-section] and I looked at my stomach and I thought, ‘They left another baby in — is there another one in there?’ because I didn’t realize that you still look so pregnant after you give birth — it was a little scary!
On Mommy milestones: Every day is a milestone…mine was the day I could actually shave my legs. I wasn’t able to, I couldn’t reach them…it was definitely a happy milestone for me!
I’m starting to feel kind of good again, in terms of no aches, being able to sleep some — at least more comfortable when I do sleep, because [when I was pregnant] I couldn’t turn around.
On trying not to parent her husband as well: These are my husband [Mike]’s first kids — I mean, he has a stepson [Oliver, 16], but these are his first and he’s never changed a diaper before, so what I found with him is that I’m trying, as a mom, to not tell him what to do, because I think there’s a difference between how a mom does things and how a dad does things.
But when the kids are crying, he is so fascinated by them that he will just watch them as they’re screaming, and I’m thinking, ‘Do something!’ and he’s just laughing. It’s true, he just holds them and stares at them like, ‘Oh my God, they’re crying! Look how cute they are!’ and I’m like, ‘Noooo, do something!’
So I’ve got to just bite my tongue and let him have his dad moments.
On being peed on: Mike got peed on a couple times because the diaper change was slow. And you know with boys … if their penis hits air, they’re peeing! [laughs]
Twins taking over the house: To think these two little people can take over the entire household is just unbelievable. I mean, we have things here in our dining room [shows diaper change area], we have their nursery, we have the co-sleeper in our bedroom — they’ve totally taken over. We’ll get our house back when they’re 18, I suppose!
On middle-of-the-night wakeups: The hardest part is waking up like that [mimes sitting straight up in bed, eyes wide]. There’s no, ‘Oh, it sounds like they’re starting to [wake up]‘ — they just go!
And Jax last night, he had a lot of gas and he was screeching at the top of his lungs, and so we were up a few times with him, and finally he went to sleep around 5 a.m., and then my alarm went off at 7 a.m. Sooo…I got that much sleep.
On Oliver: I have a 16-year-old son, who is actually thrilled to be a big brother. I thought because of the age gap, he’d be kind of blasé about it, but he’s been really great.
On how parenting has changed: It’s just so different now. I know breastfeeding is such a big deal nowadays as opposed to when I had Oliver, it wasn’t really the thing, it was more like formula, but now everybody’s into breastfeeding. I chose not to — which I know it’s controversial — but I’m learning to be okay with it.
There’s a lot more information. I mean, the Internet is the quickest way to get anything done. Even before you can reach your pediatrician, you can look online and find what you’re looking for, and get it that much quicker, which is unbelievable. When I had Oliver, it wasn’t that big of a deal.
Now it’s all about glass bottles versus plastic bottles, and I feel like sometimes we can be too inundated with information that we sort of don’t want to do anything. I mean, I think once in awhile, you have to go, ‘Okay, this is what I chose to do, this is what I chose to use,’ and you can’t worry about everything. You’d go nuts! You’re already lacking sleep, so you’re on the road to going nuts anyway!
MomLogic.com is an online community "for thinking moms who don’t have time to think." In addition to posting topical and relevant stories, the site features breaking news and how it affects the lives of mothers and their families in an ever-changing world.
- Posted on Nov 19, 07 at 4:59PM
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November 19th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
“…and I feel like sometimes we can be too inundated with information that we sort of don’t want to do anything. I mean, I think once in awhile, you have to go, ‘Okay, this is what I chose to do, this is what I chose to use,’ and you can’t worry about everything. You’d go nuts!”
I agree with her. You can’t just do what’s popular or whatever everyone else has fallen in line with. It’s your child and you have to do what works for you. What works for some may not be plausible for others.I just…I really do appreciate her honesty about not doing what’s “hot” right now, but what she knows will work and help her.
LMAO at her talking about the boys peeing on her or her husband. Those are the majority of diapers I’ve changed and I just duck or stick the diaper back over them and wait until they’re done, and I’ve stayed dry so far over the years…lol.
November 19th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
I love that she says this comment below. I agree, the majority of us are healthy people and turned out fine without our mothers fretting over this and that. We are becoming over consumed by media fears and what is best, it overtakes our real need to just love our children and teach them good morals.
“Now it’s all about glass bottles versus plastic bottles, and I feel like sometimes we can be too inundated with information that we sort of don’t want to do anything. I mean, I think once in awhile, you have to go, ‘Okay, this is what I chose to do, this is what I chose to use,’ and you can’t worry about everything. You’d go nuts! You’re already lacking sleep, so you’re on the road to going nuts anyway!”