FAQ

When I say we get stopped in public a lot, I'm not lying. I'd swear 97% of our outings have included some conversation with a stranger about the twins. I've noticed though, when I'm with my female friends and no Josh, we hardly get talked to at all. Maybe it's less obvious who they belong to and if they really are twins? Who knows. I usually don't mind talking to people (if you know me, that shouldn't surprise you...) but sometimes I'd like to do my shopping in peace. I mostly get annoyed of being a broken record because the questions are always the same. Some of our more common questions/comments are:

Twins? Yep.

How old? 7 months

2 girls? Yep (although a lot of times we get asked if it's one boy and one girl. Poor Lillian, people always think she's a boy.)


They're identical, right? No, fraternal. Oh I think they're identical! I can't tell them a part at all! Well, they do look like sisters, but most people can tell them a part.

Do twins run in your family? Yep, my Dad's a twin. (I leave the part out that his twin didn't make it) Sometimes I'm tempted to give people a biology lesson on how one has twins. We get the "skips a generation" myth a lot. We also get "there are twins on my husband's side so I might have twins' myth. Both are false. Unless you're talking identical-those are a fluke (a good fluke, but a fluke) and can happen to anyone. Fraternal twins are from the maternal side BUT can be passed through her father's line. So in my case, my dad carried the hyper-ovulating gene (2 eggs at once) but since he obviously doesn't ovulate (he's a male...), it didn't increase his chances of having twins (although there are twins on my mom's side {that are a little more distant} so they could have had twins and I could have got it from the Olson side.) Most likely though, my dad passed the gene on to me and BAM! 2 babies. It's all about the mother's eggs. So it appears to skip a generation, but my dad's sister has just a likelihood of having twins (since her mom technically did and could have passed the gene to her) as I did and my girls are just as likely to have them. It's kinda like how women can be carriers of the color blind gene, but it shows up in males. Make sense? Ok, enough science for the day... (and I didn't know any of this until I became pregnant with twins. My doctor and many online articles explained it all to me.)


Do they cry at the same time? Do most siblings cry at the same time? Sometimes, but not all the time. They aren't cloned robots. They're sisters. They do things completely independently from each other, including crying.

Oh my goodness, one is doing {insert activity such as sucking on thumb or holding onto a shirt} and the other is doing {insert a different activity like playing with a toy or grabbing toes} I wonder what that means? Again, they're different people. Maybe it means that she has a itchy toe and she likes her thumb.

How do you do it? I get up, feed them, play with them, change a billion diapers, put them down for naps, get them up, feed them, play with them, change a billion diapers, put them down for naps...lather, rinse, repeat. How do you do it with one (or five) kids?

After a variation of these questions, we usually get a story about some twins they know. We just smile and nod our heads. Now, please know that I'm trying not to be a jerk, BUT sometimes it gets old. Especially since sometimes it happens up to 5+ times on one trip. (Like an awful trip to Sam's Club a few months ago.) I think if time wasn't an issue, I'd be more than happy to show off my darling babies to everyone in the store (even if they didn't want to see them) but the fact is that we usually only have a window of 'happy baby time' and it gets taken up by strangers at the store. What's worse is when the happy baby time has run up and people still approach us. Example...

A few days ago, we were at Boarders. The girls were ready for their nap and pretty grumpy. A lady approached me and threw down all the classic questions;


Lady: "Twins?"
Me: Yep.
Lady: "Girls and Boy?"
Me: Nope. 2 girls. (At this point I knew she was nutty since one was in pink and the other in purple.)
Lady: "Oh cute! I've always wanted twins. How old?"
Me: 7 months
Lady: "Oh look, one's rubbing her eyes and the other is sucking on a binkie! Are they always like that?"
Me: Uhhh... it depends on who's tired?
(both babies start crying)
Lady: "Oh and you're buying them a Big Bird! How cute! Do they share all the same toys?"
Me: We have doubles of some stuff, but they mostly share. They're still young enough that we haven't run into those issues yet.
-Insert a one-sided conversation about Sesame Street-
Lady: "Oh dear and now they're really both crying! How adorable!" Yeah, they're kinda getting over a cold and it's getting to be nap time. We should probably go.
Lady:"Ah, they are just so cute!" (now speaking to the babies while laughing hysterically) "If your mommy and daddy ever get sick of you, you just tell them to bring you to my house! We'd have lots of fun!" I say nothing. There's no way in *#!@ I'm leaving my children alone with her.
Lady:"Wait! Before you go, can I get your information for my Mary Kay business? We have a new foundation that I really think you'd like." WHAAAAAAT? I was too burned out to argue with her, so I took the card, filled out my first name, maiden name, and gave her a fake email, phone number and address. Oopps...


I felt a little bad for giving her false information and maybe I should have been more forward with her, but lady couldn't take a hint. I don't understand why anyone would continue to talk to a mother with crying babies. I understand that the girls are cute and people are just trying to start conversations, but like I said, it gets old being a broken record. I really we should have shirts made with all the answers to the questions on them and let that do the talking.
But what can ya do? My babies are adorable and people like to talk about them. I hear it gets easier when the kids can answer the questions themselves. Only time will tell, I guess.