Getting out with our babies to a PEPS meeting meant we could venture out other places with them too, like the grocery store...and everyone would survive.

- Carolyn H, PEPS mom

Getting out the door with a new baby in tow is a challenge for any new parent. Just when the diaper bag is finally packed and the baby has been fed and strapped into the car seat, a blow-out occurs, requiring a new set of clothes or maybe even a bath.

Multiply this scenario by two and it’s a wonder twin parents are ever able to reach the curb! And that’s why, when they’re on their way to a “twins” PEPS Group, they can take comfort in the fact that all the other attendees have “been there, done that”.

Carolyn & Hoss, parents of twins Brady and Cooper, appreciated their evening twins PEPS Group because, “there were no judgments if you showed up to the group in your PJ’s and slippers.” Being able to get out regularly with their babies to a PEPS meeting helped them realize they could venture out other places with them too (like the grocery store)...and everyone would survive.

“At the first meeting you worry that your babies are going to be the only ones crying,” says Hostetler, remembering the first time all 14 babies started crying at the same time - a trend that continued at least once per meeting. “Our group leader, Kate Gonzales (also a twin mom), knew just what to do by breaking into song. Once all the parents joined in on Twinkle Twinkle, all the babies calmed down.”

Despite going into parenthood with intention and a ‘we know what we’re doing attitude’, the Hostetler’s were surprised by how, at times, parenting twins could make them feel totally incompetent. Being able to bounce ideas off the other parents in their group (including a doctor, a nurse, and two teachers among others) was “an invaluable resource” to everyone in the group.

Hoss recalls feeling that other dad friends in his life, who had only one baby at a time, had zero understanding of why he was tired all the time in those early months. “They couldn’t understand that it doesn’t work for only one person to take the babies at night when there are two of them.” For him, the twins experience meant that “we were working with all hands on deck” ultimately resulting in no one getting much of a break. PEPS helped them see “all the different ways each couple coped and tried to split up duties,” says Hoss.