Raising Steppe Sisters: Name that Twin

Everyone always asks me how I can tell the girls apart. Well, if you are a mom to twins, or you know any twins, you know that after you have been around them much, it's pretty easy. Kate and Alex have almost always been exactly the same in appearance and size. Born 2 months early, they were the same weight to the ounce. I couldn't tell them apart when they were first born, but let's be honest...they were only 4 lbs. If you would have thrown a third baby in there the same size, they all three would have looked the same. They were just way too tiny to have any unique features and it goes without saying that they obviously had no personality differences at a few days old. (Thank you, Captain Obvious.....) Once they got a little bit bigger, they started to look nothing alike to me.

I mean, come on, do these faces not scream individuality to you??

haha.

Now that they are much older and have COMPLETE DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES, it is much easier to tell them apart. I can hear their voices and tell you who it is, they can climg into bed with me in the middle of night and I know which one I am cuddling with. When they were little bitty babies, we contemplated how to tell them apart. I asked every M.O.M. (Mother of Multiples) that I met what their secret was. Finally, one lady gave me great advice......I painted one baby's toenails and they stayed painted at all times. We left their hospital bracelets on them as long as possible so we didn't get them mixed up. You wouldn't think this would have been too long but those scrawny little girls didn't grow too fast. Then, before we took the bracelets off, my stepdad painted Alex's toenails. I chose Alex because she had a boy name so everyone always asked if she was a boy (oddly enough, if I ever had a boy, I wouldn't dress him in PINK DRESSES, but obviously people missed small details such as that). But what can you expect when the first question asked of you is "Are they twins??" **If I had a dollar for everytime I heard this question......** So, that is how I know that the child that I have come to know as Alex actually really is the baby that we name Alex (Baby A) and vice versa. **side note that some of you may not know (all 2 of my readers, lol): the entire time I was pregnant, Alex was positioned to be born first (A) and during the last week that I was pregnant, Kate pushed ahead and swapped up the order. So, Kate is older but she was Baby B. Funny, huh?**

Alex is a complete princess. She LOVES pink, peace signs, dresses, her daddy, and anything princess. But she has a tiny bit of tomboy that comes out in her when you see her out on a field or a court.

Kate is exactly what you would think I was as a kid. She is 100% tomboy. Give that girl a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, and some tennis shoes and she is good to go! She isn't quite as confidant as Alex, but she is about as stubborn as they come. (Can't even imagine where that came from....must be from her dad.....) She loves any color besides pink, Justin Bieber, anything cute boy related (HELP), and her Nintendo DS.

Now, I will leave you with a few pics on a simple hint of how to tell them apart in this day and age. THEIR TEETH!! They have always lost the same teeth at the same time, until the last 2 that they lost. Being pretty anxious, Alex sat in front of the mirror for what felt like 2 hours until she pulled her front tooth. Quite the opposite, Kate let it stay loose until it was BARELY hanging on. So, because of their different approaches on toothpulling, their front 2 teeth have started growing in at different rates. Kate's are even and not completely grown in while Alex has one completely grown in and the other is yet to show up.

**You can use this method or you could just be like their cousins and call them both "kateoralex"....they usually will both respond to that.**