iCandy Meets the Wildes
A trip to Shoreditch with the iCandy Peach
Congratulations to lifestyle blogger Amber Wilde and her partner Kirsty who have welcomed baby number five to their beautiful brood. The family of seven enjoyed a day out in Shoreditch with the iCandy Peach, using the single mode on the day, and captured some beautiful photographs of their adventure. iCandy caught up with Amber to hear about her experiences as a mother of five...
Tell us a little about yourself?
Hello! My name is Amber Wilde and I write the parenting and lifestyle blog Meet the Wildes, a modern love story about raising children as a same-sex couple. My partner Kirsty and I have been seeing each other since we were teenagers and together we have five children, twins Balthazar and Lysander, who are four years old, twins Embla and Olympia, who were two years old, and baby Vita who was born last November.
Were you shocked to discover that you were expecting twins? Conversely, was it a surprise to learn that your third pregnancy was not a twin pregnancy?
All of our children were conceived via IVF. We ‘planned’ twins with both of the twin pregnancy, and both times we were asked by our fertility clinic to sign a disclaimer to say that we were aware of the risk. With each of the twin pregnancies we transferred two embryos back into my womb and both of them implanted; this is why the twins are fraternal rather than identical. There was a one-in-four chance of that happening and we got lucky both times! With baby Vita, we thought that we would treat ourselves to an easier experience and so we only transferred one embryo and fortunately that stuck too. We still have one embryo frozen in storage at the clinic...
What is the difference between having twins and having one baby?
In terms of the pregnancies, there was surprisingly little difference. I was able to work until the end of all three of my pregnancies, both the twin pregnancies and the singleton pregnancy went overdue and I required intravenous iron infusions with both the twin and singleton pregnancies.
Having one baby rather than two has been a complete game-changer for us. We had only ever 'known' the reality of parenting twins, which we had enjoyed, and although we conceived just one baby by choice this time (our twins were also intentionally conceived in pairs via IVF) we were concerned that just one baby wouldn't feel like 'enough baby' to share between us. In actual fact we have absolutely LOVED sharing the one and being able to genuinely enjoy every minute of her, rather than constantly managing the overwhelm of two. Baby Vita won't have the advantages of being a twin that the others have - the closeness of a ready-made playmate in a same-aged sibling, for example - but she definitely benefits from being absolutely doted on as the smallest child in the family.
Have you ever faced any negativity about your family dynamic as a consequence of sharing your lives online? If so, how do you deal with that?
Actually, for the most part, people are very accepting of our family structure. In ‘real life’ we have never encountered any homophobia as parents. Online, we do sometimes get negative comments but they are mostly made from a place of concern rather than a desire to hurt us, I think. We tend not to respond to negativity; replying to all of the lovely things that people are kind enough to say to us takes up more than enough time. My favourite comments are from LGBT people, usually young women, who say that we give them hope.
What is it like to juggle so many young children at the same time? Do you manage to get out with all of them and how do you do it?
We are fortunate that the boys are excellent walkers; they’ll come out on foot with us all day, and all that they really ask is that we make a point of stopping every so often for cake and coffee! They have visited almost all of the best coffee shops in London and are very discerning about the quality of their coffee. If they have been very good we will order them a decaffeinated cappuccino with a slice of cake to share. Our two-year-olds are beginning to venture further afield on foot but they do tend to tire and end up requesting to be carried - “I need a cuddle!” - or to ride in the pram, especially if we are out all day. They are definitely the hardest work! Thankfully the baby is a little sweetheart; we barely know that she is there unless she is hungry! We try to take family trips at least every couple of weeks, but mostly we ‘divide and conquer’ either by separating the twin sets for activities (the baby stays with whomever is doing the easiest activity) or else the baby stays at home with one parent and the other takes all four mobile children out to try to run off all of their energy! They are such good children and they make every day an absolute blast; we consider ourselves to be very fortunate.
What do you like best about the iCandy Peach?
We absolutely love the Peach for its versatility. With three children at different life stages, all of whom use the pram at various points, it was really important to us that the Peach converts so easily from a single to a double and that it can be used from birth but equally, is comfortable and has plenty of space for the toddlers when it is their turn to ride. Equally important to us is how easy it is to manoeuvre; we can push it one-handed whilst holding a child’s hand with the other (or worse - carrying a tantrumming toddler!). It’s not something that one tends to think about until one is in that situation, but having such a light and easy pram makes a huge difference. And of course, we appreciate that it is gorgeous!
Amber has also shared her experience of the iCandy Peach on the Meet the Wildes blog.
Photography by Meet the Wildes
