Last year I thought I’d write a blog post all about the adventures the girls would have when they turned 6, and I’d title it “Now We Are 6” like the A. A. Milne book. But that didn’t happen. Instead, this year I’ll look back at six full years of raising twins. We have all grown so much in such a short amount of time. So now we are 7. 7 years of enjoying life and the blessings that come with raising twins. We like to dress up fancy. We mostly get into mischief together. Body art Dirty babies on the move! Fort “Helping” at the grocery store Playing house We don’t like to sleep alone. We a ..read more

I remember, about 6 years ago, the twins started crawling. They had a whole world literally at their fingertips and the entertainment possibilities were endless. For small moments of their day, as they fearlessly roamed our apartment, Mommy was off the hook. I felt all those things that moms feel whenever their kids reach new stages in development: Overwhelming joy at this new tiny bit of increased free time, pride in my brilliant “grown up” kids, fear that they’ll get in over their heads, sadness at the loss of baby-ness… It’s in that place in between elation and sadness where a mother’s love ..read more

When I was expecting twins, I had no idea what I was getting into! Everything in my early pregnancy seemed to go so well. I didn’t have any complications. The girls were born healthy and we came right home from the hospital. But once we were home it was clear how little thought I had put into the 4th trimester of a twin pregnancy. I bought the right nursery gear, read books on breastfeeding, but had I given any consideration to myself and how I would handle life after birth? Had I researched what to expect as a postpartum mom of twins? Nope. Today I hope to offer some answers to expecting twin ..read more

We don’t mess around with spending a lot of money on our kids. When we buy them a present, we do our research to make sure we’re getting something that will last, is the best available price, and that they will actually use. Last year for their birthday we got the twins a version of Amazon’s Kindle Fire for kids. It’s just like a regular Kindle Fire tablet, but it’s the kids edition. We’ve spent 9 months using their tablets and have found so many cool little things that I had no idea were even available!   5 Reasons why we Love the Kindle Fire Kids Edition The practically bulletpro ..read more

People always ask us if our twins are identical. To tell the truth, I can’t say for sure that they are. I guess people get their twins tested, so they can legitimately say that their kids are scientifically 100% the same. Well, ours aren’t the same. Madeline has a faint birthmark on the back of her hand, and she’s always been a fraction of an inch taller than Emily.  But when people want to know if they’re identical, we always say yes. It’s a much simpler answer than having to explain that they’ve never been tested, or that there are slight differences between them. I mean, my own parent ..read more

When I was expecting twins I had this irrational, borderline-obsessive fear that I wouldn’t be able to tell them apart. I took note of every tip and trick used by parents of multiples: painting toenails different colors, making a mark on their foot, colored teething necklaces… By the time they arrived I was fully prepared to be a clueless mother who couldn’t even tell her own twins apart.  Some links may be affiliate. Those first few days in the hospital, my husband and I relied 100% on the girls’ medical bracelets. We didn’t know then well enough to recognize which baby was Madeline and ..read more

There’s nothing like that first visit with the OBGYN when the doctor casually announces (as if she’s not about to totally rock your world) that you’re carrying twins. It’s a game-changer. I can still remember how it felt to hear Dr. Basu say, in her singsong Indian accent, “Oh! It looks like there are two in there!”. I had no idea we were even capable of having twins! After picking my jaw up off the floor I had a lot to think about. I’ve written before about when we first found out we were expecting twins, but I didn’t share this little backstory you’ll find in this month’s Real Talk ..read more

We are at one of those times of year when our family is smack dab in the midst of schedule chaos. Logan is playing off-season baseball, John just finished midterms, I am up to my eyebrows in report cards, parent conferences, and first trimester (of school, not pregnancy paperwork. Honestly, I don’t think I could handle anymore schedule complications. But last week we got news that means there will be a big change for the twins.    A little backstory: Over the summer, I had some extra free time and so I researched a bunch of programs for low income families. While John is in sc ..read more

4 years ago my twins were born, healthy and full-term. Of course, I knew at the time how lucky I was. Since then I’ve met many other women who had difficult twin pregnancy experiences. Now it’s clear that, while not uncommon, my easy pregnancy was a tremendous blessing! My Twin Pregnancy Timeline Weeks 1-6 As soon as I had a missed period, I took a home pregnancy test and was elated to discover out that I was pregnant! We went to the doctor, who did an ultrasound and completely blew our minds by showing us two itty bitty babies on the screen. Finding out we were expecting twins was exciting ne ..read more

I love Instagram. I love seeing the creative flatlays that people put together, checking out the great places my friends visit, and eating vicariously through the amazing food pics. Of course, I also love connecting with my followers in the comment section below my posts. It’s like my own cozy hangout in my little corner of social media land. I occasionally post cute pics of my kids on my feed. But for every perfectly cropped and edited image there are a dozen Instagram outtakes that didn’t make the cut. Our Instagram Outtakes I was trying to get a cool beach pic before the girls got too cover ..read more