Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon Dishes on Life With Her Boys

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When it comes to raising her three children — Oliver, 17, and twins Jax Joseph and Jaid Thomas, 11 ½ months — Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon is able to sum it all up in six simple words: "Lots of work, lots of fun." Beginning the journey of motherhood once again, Garcelle is blessed with two babies this time around, and although she has had plenty of time for the idea of twins to sink in, she admits that it is still hard to believe that there are two baby boys! "I’ll look down and see them both crawling and go, ‘Oh my God, I have two of them," shares Garcelle in new interview with FAMEbaby. Along with two babies to cuddle, Garcelle and her husband Michael Nilon have realized that their twins can be double the trouble as well, forcing the couple to completely baby-proof their home. Although the task was somewhat "daunting," the actress says they have achieved their goal, as she dares anyone to "try and get a spoon out of a drawer or go to the bathroom. It’s like Fort Knox."

While baby-proofing the house may have been a bit difficult, naming the babies proved to be a dream come true — literally! Finding out that they were expecting boys, it didn’t take long for Garcelle to come up with Jax, a name that she had always dreamed of calling her son, and also coincidentally a family name. "My father-in-law’s name is Jack. Even before meeting my husband I always wanted to have a son named Jack, which is bizarre," Garcelle explains. Although the original plan was to name the baby Jaxson, it was decided to simply shorten it to Jax. With one baby accounted for, the second, Jaid, came down to the fact that Garcelle "just needed another J name." Despite sharing the same first initial, Garcelle reveals that when it comes to the boys’ personalities, the two couldn’t be more different. Calling Jax "our flirt, our dancer" and giving him the nickname "Mr. Personality," Garcelle describes him as a very easy, outgoing baby. This has allowed him to share special time with his big brother Oliver — "Jax is a little easier and friendlier, [Oliver's] bonded a little more with him," says Garcelle. Compared to his twin, Jaid — who also "has a great personality" — takes a little longer to warm up, as he makes people "work for the smile. He’s much more observant."

Click ‘more’ to read about Garcelle’s thoughts on using the Ferber method, weightloss and her plans for the future!

After years of uninterrupted sleep, having two newborns in the housecaused for some adjustment on the couple’s part. While the two boys arethankfully sleeping through the night, the same wasn’t true in thebeginning. Sharing that they stuck with the Ferber method,Garcelle admits that although they had a baby nurse for the first fewweeks, nighttime was definitely rough! Reluctant to get a nurse fromthe start as Garcelle says she "had waited so long to have a baby,"after much input from friends and family, the actress felt that morehands for feedings were needed. However, once the twins were six weeksold, the couple were ready for the challenge of dealing with the nightroutine on their own. While both Garcelle and Michael got up, theactress admits that the majority of the time she was left with thefeedings while her husband tended to the diaper surprises! "I’d haveboth of them up and be like ‘There’s a poopy diaper and there’s afeeding, who do you want?’ Most of the time he’d take the poopy diaper,which was great!" As Michael became more comfortable with the boys,Garcelle shares that he realized that parents should be warned thatwhen a baby wakes up, be prepared to stay up for awhile!

"Myhusband said the thing no one ever told him was that it really takes 45minutes to an hour when they wake up, because it’s not just feedingthem and putting them back to bed."

An older mom at 41-year-old her second time around, Garcelle shares that raising babies "in a different place in my life," has given her much more tranquility and understanding. "It’s much easier to come up with the patience than before," admits Garcelle. Additionally, having children in a world where technology is always available to provide parents with the latest information takes a lot of the pressure off, while at the same time causing an overload of knowledge! "There’s another side to it where there’s too much information, which can freak you out as well," explains Garcelle. With the significant age gap between her children helpful for Garcelle, the same goes for Oliver when it comes to making friends! Although the teenager rarely babysits — or according to Garcelle, does so "in the middle of text messaging" — he has learned the benefits of having adorable babies in the house!

"When friends come over, especially girls, [Oliver will] be like, ‘Come and see my brothers.’"

With two babies, a teenager, and a husband, Garcelle shares that she was in no rush to shed her pregnancy weight. Depending on the Scarsdale food delivery service as she initially had "no time to cook," the actress — while realizing that many celebrities do — did not hire a trainer or a chef to ease up the burden. Instead, she contributes her weightloss to a bit of luck, a lot of moderation, and trust that getting back to pre-pregnancy shape was possible.

"After having the babies, I thought they had left one in there because I was still looking pregnant. We can’t pressure ourselves. You do it when you can, how you can. A lot of walking in the morning with them helped."

Continuing her attitude of fully enjoying her family, Garcelle is only "just starting to take meetings and read scripts." Shocked that people would ask how many nannies the family has, she shares that she has
"one and me and my husband." The choice to be completely hands-on and soak up the time with her babies instead of rushing back to work comes following Garcelle’s choice to "be a little selfish," as she explains quite simply that she "wants to be around them." Following the idea that "by the time the right job comes along, I’m sure I’ll be ready," Garcelle is focusing on her up and coming jewelry line, a fun and creative job that she can do on her own time. "The jewelry line is something I can create at home, so I’m not going completely stale creatively," shares Garcelle, who says the line — including a special bling line — will be "fun, but you don’t have to worry about spending a lot in case [the kids] lose it."

Source: FAMEbaby