Raising Twins

This is a picture of my 31 year old twins, Terra and Travis. They were my first babies so I have never known what it is like to just have one. So many people used to ask me, when they were little, "Are they identical twins?" Used to crack me up and I would say "No, they are what are called fraternal twins because one is a boy and one is a girl." Not to mention my son was a blue-eyed blonde and my daughter has dark eyes and hair. For those of you who do not know the difference; identical means they came from the same egg, fraternal means they had seperate eggs.

I remember going through 180 cloth diapers a week. Thank the Lord someone was kind enough to pay for the diaper service that would come to your door each week and pick up the used ones and drop off the new ones.

Another comment I used to get was: " I always wished I could have twins, especially one boy and one girl, because then it would be all over and my family would be complete." Well, that sounds nice in theory, but the truth of it was that I always had to have someone go with me to the grocery store because the twins and their carriers took up one cart. I also nursed them at the same time-and I mean that literally. I have a picture of me(not going to show that) where one is balanced on my left leg and the other on my right. You also don't get much one on one time as the chances of one sleeping through the other crying is next to nil.

Once they started on solid foods, feeding time became a show in itself. I couldn't shovel it fast enough to satisfy them. By the time my son swallowed his bite and I was trying to give one to his sister, he would twist up his face and start to cry like he was starving or something.

The one really nice part was that they had each other to play. Back in those days we used playpens to keep them contained so that you could get something done around the house. I happen to think that was the best invention since sliced bread! I don't know why more mothers don't use this as it gives them plenty of room to play and they can stand up or sit and even crawl around. My grandkids come over and they are in one thing and then another.

When I was 8 months pregnant I was still working the floor in retail and showing people to their dressing rooms and hanging loads of clothes. By my 9th month I was sitting in a chair and using hand signals to customers to show them where the dressing rooms were. I was so huge that I couldn't even fit into a booth anymore.

Anyway, this is for those of you who wished they had twins. It's great now that they are grown but it took a lot of patience and endurance to raise them.