TWINS WEEK: WHEN DOES IT get EASIER?

longtime reader, Laura Case, has twin young boys who are five. She is on the other side of new parenthood and when you see her amazing (she’s a professional!) photographs of her sons, Nate and Alex, you can see that it should get easier, or at least a lot much more fun! We are so grateful to her for sharing her story.

Let me be truthful ”“ when my husband Jon and I had twins, we got our butts kicked. I had NO idea how numerous different ways our butts would be kicked. first there were all the inhumanities of a twin pregnancy, as well as the difficulty of carrying 12lbs 4oz of babies around. I experienced the distinct delight of 15 weeks of modified activity and/or bed rest, and Jon didn’t get off easy because he was my personal servant.

Then there was our one week NICU stay, which sucks no matter how long you are there. Those first three months home were a complete blur of feeding babies, changing babies, pumping, and very little sleep. and the crying, THE CRYING! The most significant secret of twin mothers is ALL THE CRYING.

Jon and I both telecommute so when my maternity leave was over, we chose to put our young boys in day care. While a great choice for our family, the young boys were SO sick all the time for the first two years. add in Alex’s torticollis (due to twin pregnancy) – months of physical therapy and his resulting plagiocephaly ended in a helmet. add in Nate’s reflux (due to prematurity) – unlimited vomiting, unlimited ear infections, and finally ear tubes. and did you know sick babies don’t really like sleeping?

My million dollar question through all of this was ”“ when does it get easier? When do Jon and I get some of our life back? Newborn twins = FREAKING HARD. twin toddlers = double dose of CRAZY. Potty training two young boys at the same time = we are worthy of a freaking award (and new carpet) like you wouldn’t believe.

Then something really amazing started to happen when our young boys turned 4. In addition to being able to walk, talk, feed themselves, sleep all night, and wipe their own butts, they started to play together. really play together for long periods of time. all of a sudden I could read a book for an hour while the young boys were awake. At first we didn’t know what to finish with ourselves but rapidly we started doing much more things for ourselves.

Now we sit back and view our friends have new babies. They have sleepless nights. They learn how to juggle two mobile children. They have to referee. Meanwhile, we’re finished with our kid transitions and we have reached what I believe is the golden Age for twins. In just the past few months I practically hit my personal record for a half marathon, Jon was gone overseas for two weeks and I didn’t call for any backup, and I’m in the process of launching a photography business”¦ yet I still spend a lot of quality time with my boys. I finally feel like the mother I was implied to be. I finally feel like I can breathe again.

As hard as those first few years were, I would go back and do it all over again in a heartbeat. Without all of those challenging years, I wouldn’t appreciate how much simpler it is now. as for our marriage, after going through a twin pregnancy and the twin parent rookie years, I feel like there is little life can throw at me and Jon that we can’t tackle together. and seeing our twins’ relationship blossom over time has been one of the most special experiences of our life together.

All photos by Laura Case. follow along with her life as a working mother of Kindergartners-to-be at her blog.