It was late one night and I was sitting on the couch enjoying a snack.  I looked down at my plate of pepper rings and realization smacked me in the face…the only time I eat pepper rings all by themselves like they are chocolate instead of vinegar soaks pepper slices… is when I’m prego.  A trip to the little girls room and a very pink plus sign confirmed what the pepper rings already told me.  Baby #2 was on the way.

We were thrilled!  But by like week 6 I started feeling SOOOO yuck.  So tired, so nauseous, just yuck.  I had those symptoms with Shay too, but this was intensified the nth degree.  My conclusion:  this one HAS to be a boy.  I was talking to a friend and told her how I had been feeling.  She sighed and responded with,”Erin, I think you are having twins.”  Ha!  Nooooo… it’s just got to be a boy this time.

Around 8 or 9 weeks I went in to my OB/GYN for the appointment that confirms you are pregnant and they give you the chat on eat this, don’t eat that, etc.  When Dr. L asked me how I had been feeling, I told her.  I also told her that my friend thought I was prego with twins… we both kinda laughed and went on to the sonogram.  Right away I hear an “OH!” from Dr. L.  She covers her mouth like she’s a little surprised and then looks me straight in the face and says,”There are 2.”  I thought she was pulling my leg since we were just joking about the comment my friend made.  And then to prove it she turned the monitor towards me to show the two little peanuts in two little sacs.  I think that was the first time in my life that I cried tears of shock.  I was literally just so surprised that it took at least 10 minutes for it to sink in and shock to turn to joy.

So we were on our way to being a family of 5.  I was thinking of letting baby #2’s gender be a surprise until birth, but the news of multiples ended up being surprise enough for us.  We were scheduled to have our ultrasound to find out what we were having on my birthday, so we decided to give our families the news that night at dinner.  We handed a card to my mom and one to Matt’s mom.  They opened them one at a time, to reveal that we were having two boys!  I have no doubt that the Lord has a sense of humor because I was actually a nanny for twin boys for about a year.  And the friend that told me I was having twins, is a twin mom herself.  I now joke with my girlfriends that twins are contagious, so just hang out with a twin mom long enough and you might be in for double trouble…double blessing.

My pregnancy was smooth and I went into labor at about 36.5 weeks.  It was a loooooooong labor, but super quick delivery.  I didn’t have a C-Section because they were both head down and ready to go.  I had an awesome cheer team of family and friends that stuck around the hospital for the 17 hours of laboring…and they got to hold the boys when they were just minutes old.  I was looking at some of their birth photos today and can’t believe it’s been 3 years already.  Time really does fly when you are raising little ones.  But they (along with sister) are our blessing every day.

To the left:  a continent.  To the right:  love at first sight.

Those beanies on their heads were VERY IMPORTANT for helping us know which boy was which!

One of the sweetest things that I’ve seen most twins do is naturally gravitate towards each other.  We would put both boys on their backs and they would usually roll into each other and connect arms.  I have a picture of them at 4 days old with their arms intertwined… and they did it on their own!  Guess when you hang with someone for 9 months in utero, you sorta get used to them being RIGHT THERE all the time.

Caleb- my “Monkey” and Chaser- my “Goosie”.  I can usually tell who is who, but this one had me guessing for a few minutes!

Hair inspired by R Patz:

This is “Scrunchie Face.”  It must be genetic cuz all my kids did it at this age.

Last year:

Still don’t know if they are identical or fraternal.  They didn’t share anything in the belly, which only occurs in about 20-30% of identicals from what I understand.  They would have had to split in the first day or two for them to be this kind of identicals.  Otherwise, they are fraternals who just look a lot alike.  We get asked this all the time and well, we don’t know.  They definitely have different personalities though!!

As we celebrate three years of life with these little ones today, we are overflowing with gratefulness for the gift of these boys.  I hope they will grow up realizing what a special gift God gave them in having not just a brother, but a twin brother…someone that they get to walk each step of life with.

Happy Birthday 3rd Birthday Caleb & Chase!!