Sister, Sister

Once upon a time, my sister had twins.

  And I could just end the story right there.

I find it amazing that she had twins.
Identical twins.
Identical twin girls.
Identical twins don't even run in our family.
TWINS don't even run in our family!
But nevertheless, she had twins.

Seems like she had them a week ago, but soon they will be TWO. They are both very near and dear to my heart for many reasons. And she knows why.

Here is one of my favorite pictures of my sister:

Obviously, I didn't take it. That's her husband holding the camera.
Another thing that is super obvious about this photo is the fact that she is super pregnant.

I can't really specifically explain why this happens to be my favorite picture of her. I mean, of all the photos to chose from, I pick the one where she's in a hospital gown and 9 months pregnant??
I know, I'm strange.

I would totally hang this photo of my pregnant sister on a wall in my house, but I think it might look bizarre to guests. I can imagine questions like this:
Guest: "Oh is that you when you were pregnant?"
Me: "Oh no, that's my sister and her husband."
Guest: "Ohhh...that's...nice..of you...to put a picture of your pregnant sister on your wall...."
Or maybe that would make for a great conversation starter.
I'll think about it.

It might be my favorite picture because I never got to see her in person when she was pregnant. That's because she lives here:

 Arizona. And I can't take credit for this photo either.

By the way, this is not the sister that lives 1500 miles away. This is the sister that lives 800 miles away. I have multiple sisters. And a brother.

Maybe it's my favorite photo of her because I never got to talk to the twinsies when they were curled up cozy in her belly. Maybe it's because she's a champ for carrying twins. I love how big her belly was in that photo. In any case, it's my all time fav.

After the twins were born, my sister and her husband took tons of pictures.
I would say they took DOUBLE the number of pictures that you would normally take.
Get it?
Double??
Twins???
I'm hilarious.

Here are some of my favorites they captured from when the twins first saw the light of day.

And the way they slept always got to me...

Is anyone slightly teary...or is it just me??



On a side note...who looks this good after having TWINS?

It was hard for me to tell them apart at first. But then they started getting their own little personalities. And let me tell you, my own personal nicknames for each of them started surfacing.

My nicknames for them are cute, but my sister recently shared something with me that made my heart smile. She calls them by their names, of course, but each twin has special meaning to her, which I'm sure she'll explain to them when they are older.

Think of it this way. As they begin to grow and are known for being an identical twin, how would you be sure to let each one know they were special in their own individual way?

She does it like this...

This one, she refers to as her HEART...

...and this one, as her JOY.

I love this little family.