My Twinners

I was recently invited to a "Mormon Moms of Multiples" Facebook group.  I'm addicted.  I love this group.  It's so much fun for me to read about moms of multiples, their struggles, about their families, their strengths, etc.  The ages of their multiples range from teenagers, to "I just found out I'm pregnant with twins".  It's a place people can ask for advice on multiples, or can just relate to one another.  I would have loved to have had a group like this when my twinners were babies.  I'm not as stressed out with having twins as I once was, but it's still a lot of fun.  I have constantly been reminded of the experiences I had when my twins were babies.  Which takes me down memory lane for a few minutes.

Going to the grocery store for a mom of multiples is so different than a mom of a singleton.  I know this, because I've done both!  When my twins were babies, and I would go to the grocery store, I would obviously have two carseats, and everyone would stop me.  They would ask me all kinds of questions, "Are they boys/girls? (Even though one was obviously in blue and the other in pink with a bow)  Are they identical?  (How do you explain that a boy and a girl cannot be identical to a perfect stranger after they insist they knew identical boy/girl twins growing up?)  Do twins run in your family? (In other words did you need infertility?)

 Then they will tell you all about every set twins they know, including their mother's, brother's daughter's cousins stepkids uncle...  They also proceed to tell you how luck you are to have twins (now while this is partly true, when you are going on very little sleep, and may not have had a shower in a couple of days, nor have had any personal space or time for a couple of months, you might wonder if any of this is true!)  Remember you are stopped multiple times by multiple people, and have this same conversation in the short amount of time you have, during feedings or nap time when there is a calm. So instead of being able to get all of your grocery shopping done, which you had a great ambition to do, you only are able to pick up one or two things. So you start to wonder if going to the store is even worth it.

However, now it's not so bad, I just end up chasing my kids.  No one stops me any more asking me if my kids are twins, no one thinks they are.  Maybe that's because I learned not to make eye contact, or because now it's really obvious that my boy is a boy and my girl is a girl. Who knows.  But I do kind of miss that.

I do miss the time I spent waking up in the middle of the night feeding my babies.  Whoa!  Did I really just say that?  I guess I did.  Those night time feedings are actually kind of special.  The house is quiet, and it's just you and your babies.  I was able to nurse mine, and so consequently, I HAD to get up with them.  I had a lot of time to think.  I was able to spend a lot of time with just them and me.  There are lots of cuddles and memories that are made even in the middle of the night.

I've also had the opportunity to stay home with my kiddos.  It's not always peace and fun at our house, but I get to be the one who wipes tears away.  I'm the one who kisses scrapes and cuts better.  I'm the one who gets to see them when they first come home from school and have some good news.

Overall, I feel so blessed to have the opportunities I've had.  They haven't always been easy.  Sometimes it's been all I could do just to make it through a day, but looking back, especially on some of those early twin days, I wouldn't trade them for the world!  It's what makes me love my little people more and more each day.