Surprise! It’s TWINS
The day before I turned 30 we found out I was pregnant AGAIN. Our oldest was 10 and we weren’t trying. I had actually been on birth control pills for 10 years. We go in for our first check up and they go through and get all your history. And here comes the question “any twins in your family?” Yes my mom is an identical twin. I’ll never forget the conversation after that.
- Midwife: Oh I need to deliver more twins, and she shows us a picture behind her of the last set of twins she delivered.
- My husband: Don’t put that on us
She tells us that they are going to do an ultrasound to see if everything looks ok and to check how far along I am.
Lo and behold there’s two in there. The ultra sound lady asked me if twins ran in the family and again I’m like yes my mom is a twin. And she said “well you are having twins.” My husband falls back in his chair and says noooo. Then asks if he can sell one to pay for the other one. She never cracked a smile and leaned over and whispered “congratulations I think.” I swear if I could have reached him I would have smacked him. I told him afterwards that she probably put a note in our file “if one comes up missing daddy sold it.”
Fast forward 11 years later. They are both still here. They look and act nothing alike. Michael is into sports, art, cooking, music, and being outside. Paul lives in pajamas and loves video games. They are both extremely smart though. School has been interesting through the years so far. When it was time for Pre-K registration we wanted them to go to the elementary school. The only problem was they did a lottery system. You register your kid(s) and they drew names. 10 boys and 10 girls. So filled out the paperwork for both and hoped for the best. Because we didn’t know what would happen I also had to fill out paperwork at the daycare they went to in case they had to do Pre-K there. FOUR sets of paperwork filled out. The day of the lottery I went to the school and watched as they drew out the names. Paul’s name was drawn. Michael’s was not. I was not surprised at all. That was our luck. They put Michael’s name at the top of the wait list. The first week of school they went to two different schools. On Friday of that first week I got the call. A little boy moved and there was a spot open and Michael could start that Monday. Thank you Jesus!! I was so relieved. They were so excited to be back together. I’m thankful I listened to the teacher and waited a week before I pulled Paul out.
Once kindergarten started I chose to put them in different classes. I wanted them to be independent and give them a break from each other during the day. At home they shared a room and bed. They did great. I kept them separate up to 3rd grade. In first grade Paul got in the ALPHA program. That’s the gifted program in our school system. At the end of of second grade Michael got into the same program. That’s when I learned that starting in 3rd grade they put all the ALPHA kids in the same classroom. That poor teacher, because that meant she was getting 5 boys that were wild and all friends. They adjusted well to being back together as they had their own set of friends and had nothing to do with each other. Fourth grade went well and we had no issues. They actually had their Pre-K teacher again. So that was fun because she got to see how they had grown up.
Now we are finishing up 5th grade. It’s so hard to believe they are finishing up their elementary years. I’m going to miss that school and those teachers. A lot of the same teachers that taught Morrison are still there and the boys have had some of them.
What I haven’t talked about is they each have their own challenge with school. Paul is ADHD and Michael has a speech impediment (stuttering). I will discuss each of these in a separate post.
Keepin’ it real,
Magan Outlaw
Parenting An Awesome Child Who Has ADHD
Twins are challenging sometimes, but you are doing a great job.
Awe thank you.