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Twin Tuesday: Kaitlyn & Sienna

Today’s featured twins are Kaitlyn and Sienna, the daughters of Ashley and Kyle. Ashley writes a blog at http://ashleyquarles.blogspot.com about the loss of her son, and the twins older brother, Erik. It is heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time. A unique look at raising two beautiful girls through the grief of losing another child. I can’t read without tearing up. But for today, the focus is on the girls, and I’ll let Ashley take it from here:

Are your twins identical or fraternal? Do twins run in your family?
Kaitlyn & Sienna are fraternal twins. I didn’t know until I was pregnant with them that twins ran in my family. My dad had twin brothers and my grandmother’s father was a twin.

When did you find out you were expecting twins and what was your reaction?
We found out I was pregnant with twins Thanksgiving Day, 2007. I was 14 weeks along. I had decided to have my family over for dinner for the first time and was busy getting everything ready. As I was peeling potatoes for potato salad, I felt a big gush (TMI) and went running to the bathroom. I couldn’t do anything but cry until my Mom got there to watch our son so we could go to the ER. Once we got checked in, they checked for a heartbeat and couldn’t find one. I felt my world come crashing down on me. The doctor wanted to be safe, so I was sent to the labor and delivery floor for a better ultrasound than what the ER could provide. I nervously laid on the ultrasound table and waited for my nightmare to be confirmed. Instead, the ultrasound tech calmly said “you know you’re having twins, right?” I think my husband about passed out. Sure enough, there were 2 sweet little babies and I left the hospital that day carrying 2 miracles instead of what I thought to be losing a baby.

How did you go about picking names?
For Baby “A”, we knew we wanted to use Kaitlyn. That was the name we had picked out for our first pregnancy – had he been a girl. Kaitlyn’s middle name, Della, is a family name. It belonged to my husband’s great grandmother who lived to be 100 years old. I loved the uniqueness of it. Baby “B” was a little more difficult. I had fallen in love with the name “Sienna” from a myspace friend. I loved how uncommon it was. Her middle name is “Faith” and that’s simply because I knew that I would need a great deal of faith to carry twins and then care for them.

What is the hardest part about having twins?
The whole first year is quite a blur to me. Caring for 2 newborns and an older child was extremely difficult. I lived on very little sleep! Going places with 2 newborns was quite difficult too! My biggest issue when trying to go out and about was being stopped a million times for strangers to gawk at my babies – especially when I was in a hurry.

What is your favorite part about having twins?
I honestly love everything about having twins. It was pretty rough in the beginning, but once I got everyone on the same routine, it became 2nd nature to feed, bathe, change and care for 2 babies at once. Now that they are older, I love that they have a built in playmate!

What advice would you give to other parents of twins?
My advice would be to establish a routine very early on and stick with it. If you’re feeding one baby, feed the other as well. Change diapers at the same time. Bathe at the same time. Basically do the same thing twice! I would also advise to make time for one on one attention with each twin. I made the mistake of never separating my girls and now they can’t go anywhere without the other one. They have become too dependent on the other and that’s made certain things difficult.

A big thank you to Ashley for answering some questions for us and sharing her girls today! Visit her blog to keep up with these cuties, and have a great Tuesday!


Are you a twin or multiple? Are you a mom (or dad) to twins or multiples? I want to feature you! Click here for more info.


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