Twins.  I did not know what to do with that word when I first heard it applied to me.  Shocked.  Amazed. And seriously, how can this happen?  Next came fear.  Fear of how can I afford two babies.  Now that I have my girls, I cannot think of not having them as a set.  I love both of them and I cannot imagine life with just one.  Reality for me is that, yes, having twins takes a financial toll. You really do have to be conscious of what you spend, how you spend it because caring and feeding two infants can seriously put a dent in your wallet, because everything is double.

Case in point, last weekends shopping trip.  I was excited to go to Babies R US to do some shopping because #1, I had a coupon and #2, they had a sale on formula.  I stopped breastfeeding at 6 months, about a month after I came back to work.  I wanted to stop because it was such a pain to pump, store and bring it home.  In hindsight, if I had known how much formula was going to cost me, I think I would have continued to ‘pump and store.’  Even with the sale and coupon, purchasing 10 cans of formula, which last about 5 weeks’ tops, cost me a good $200.  TWO HUNDRED.  When I take a step back, I often wonder how Octomom does it or the quintuplets in Texas that I watch on TLC or hell, even the Duggars! Its insane.  It is insane to think of how much it cost to just have a child.

Now that the holidays are approaching, I was recently asked by a friend for advice about gift giving to twins.  My friend asked me if they should require the twins to a) bring separate gifts at the same price threshold of $15 as the rest of the class; b) ask the mother to just bring one gift from both; or c) ask the mother to purchase two gifts that cost a total of $15.  I thought at first that this was an odd question but I guess if you are not in the ‘twin’ situation, it can get a bit confusing.  I know that my friend is thinking about the cost to the mother and how it can get expensive if you have to buy two presents but here is my take, being a mother of twins.  The reality of it is, my girls are TWO different people and therefore, I treat them like two individuals.  If they are in the day care class and participates in Santa day, I would of course buy two presents within the threshold amount because two kids are participating.  I do not expect them to get one toy and share just because they are twins because at the end of the day, they are two different kids.  I appreciate the concern the parents have about the cost but that is just reality and reality for me is and always will be, double the price.  But hey, like I said before, it is double the fun!