Ten years ago today I gave birth to my youngest two children. Seth and Joshua came into this world nearly 5 weeks early, and weighing just 4 lbs. and 4 lbs 13 oz. After 4 children that were quite a bit larger than that, it almost seemed like they weren't quite "done" :-) They were so tiny. I gave birth to them 11 days before my 40th birthday! How's that for a birthday present? I had a friend that sent me a card that said "I'd rather be 40 than pregnant!" Inside, she wrote "Oops!" They are definitely not an "oops" in our life though. They are sweet gifts from God. They captured the hearts of our whole family from the minute they were born and we've never been the same since.
They are known as "mirror image" identical twins. The description fits well. Mirror image twins look alike but it is almost as if they are looking into a mirror. One is left handed, one is right handed. It's the same with that little swirl at the back of their heads, one is slightly to the left, the other is slightly to the right. In case you were wondering, it has to do with when the egg splits :-)
Although they look alike, they are very different in personality, as any parent or sibling of twins would know.
Seth was born a minute before Josh, so he claims to be the oldest twin. I do see this as a misnomer since they were created at exactly the same time :-) He is more outgoing, and was the one who seemed to develop the twin language they had when they were little.
Josh is the quieter of the two, at least when he first meets someone. He can be quite loud around us though!
Early on, we started dressing them in different colors. They looked so much alike that this was our best way of telling them apart. I was out running errands one time when they were little, and my son Ryan (our practical joker around here) decided to dress them in each others clothes. No one even realized it until I came home and noticed the switch. It was a bit eye opening to realized we identified them by the clothes they were wearing!
So in many photos, Seth is in blue and Josh is in "the other color", whatever that might be :-)
Seth and Josh, we love you both!
Happy Birthday my sweet boys!
And the answer is "yes" to those of you that are doing the math.
I am about to turn 50...
Yikes!
Blessings,
Marcia