As Night and Day

Our twins are 3 months old.

I almost had to pick myself off of the floor after typing that sentence.

First of all, I can't believe it's been 3 months! And secondly, I can't believe I have twins!

Twins do not run in my family. At all. Unless someone is hiding something from me, I know of no other twins in my blood line.

I knew very little about twins in general before January of this year. I had always found them to be intriguing, but upon discovering I would soon be a "mom of multiples," I began doing my research.

I may have been foreign to twin trivia, but I did know that boy/girl twins are never identical. Duh! But you would be surprised how often I get the question, "Are they identical?"

Jack and Ryan Elizabeth are fraternal twins. Upon doing a little research, here are a few interesting facts taken from a "twin" website

* In the caucasian race, you have less than 1% chance of having fraternal twins -- they occur once in every 125 births. But if you are a fraternal twin girl, you have a 1 in 17 chance of having fraternal twins. {Congratulations, Ryan!}

* Once you have a set of fraternal twins, you are twice as likely to have another set in a future pregnancy. {uh oh}

* Fraternal twins are hereditary - they run in families. While identical twins happen by sheer chance, fraternal twins run through the mother's family. {or not...maybe God just chooses to answer your heart's prayer and give you twins!}

* The older you are, the greater your chances of having fraternal twins. {32 is not old, thank you very much.}

* Twins are more common in large and tall women. {Great...and there we have it....}

While Jack and Ryan are twins, former womb mates, they are as different as night and day.

Ryan Elizabeth is my little pink piglet. She snorts and squeals. She is as solid as a rock and has a pound advantage on Jack. She is very sturdy and can already stand up while holding my fingers.

She holds nothing back. From day 1, Ryan has been the loud mouth. If she is hungry, you will know it. When I was in the hospital, I would be awakened in the middle of the night to hear her screaming as they wheeled her bassinet down the long hall.

She can complete her meal in about 5 minutes flat. She means business when it comes to eating and wastes no time. She is pretty intense.

Jack is my little lamb. He is so laid back and peaceful. While Ryan is screaming her head off, Jack is looking around with his eyes wide open and his mouth in a huge, wide grin. I have a hard time feeding him because he is constantly smiling. I try to limit the eye contact so he can concentrate on sucking!

While they are as different as night and day, Jack and Ryan do share a few things in common. They are both deeply loved. They each fill my heart with sunshine -- even at 3 a.m. And they are gifts from God.

Jack and Ryan remind me that Jesus is the "Life Giver." He is a personal God and loves each of us uniquely and individually.

Count your many blessings. Name then one by one.