Double Time by Jane Roper - Book Review

May 072012

Double Time: How I Survived - and Mostly Thrived - Through the First Three Years of Mothering Twins by Jane Roper
Published by St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of Macmillan

After trying in vain to have a baby and enduring fertility treatments, Jane Roper finally learned that she was pregnant. With twins. Following the initial moment of panic, Roper - a writer and reader - searched for a book that was, at the time, nonexistent: a memoir of the first years with multiples. Roper’s own first few years with her twin daughters were filled with many exceptionally joyful times, but also with renewed depression and professional hardships.

Double Time is a funny and insightful look into life raising twins. Much of what Roper discusses will be relevant to all parents, life with young children viewed through Roper’s wry sense of humor:

After extracting what cat food I could from Elsa’s mouth – not that it mattered, really, but the idea of one’s child eating horsemeat and fish eyeballs and whatever else is in dry cat food isn’t terribly pleasant, especially when, as Alastair pointed out, we hadn’t formally introduced those foods yet – I grabbed the dishes and went into the kitchen to find a towel to mop up the water. –p. 109

Of course, Roper also brings in the challenges that are unique to parenting twins, or children very close in age in general, such as the inability to be in two places at once as twin babies grow into toddlers, and both decide to engage in risky or disgusting behavior at the same time.

As the soon-to-be mother of twins, I found Double Time to be an honest and open look at twin parenthood. It is reassuring, even when Roper discusses the challenges, because she explains how she and her husband, Alastair, were able to meet those challenges without loss of life or limb. Her approach is descriptive, rather than prescriptive, which is also reassuring as she shows a picture of a family making it and being happy, rather than an unattainable picture of familial perfection. Towards the end of the book, she says something that sums up perfectly why Double Time is so reassuring, when responding to the eternal ‘how do you do it?’ question:

Of course the answer to all of these questions – in any context – is that raising twins is not a matter of being some kind of superhuman wonder parent. We simply don’t have a choice. We just do it…. Not always well, and certainly not always with the amount of patience and perspective or consistency we’d like. But we do it. –p. 259

I would absolutely and unequivocally recommend Double Time to new parents of twins, but I think many parents - perhaps mothers in particular - will resonate with Roper’s experiences. Highly recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher, via Netgalley.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

An Announcement

Jan 112012

Lately it has seemed as if half of all book bloggers (and quite a few authors) are either pregnant, or have had babies. An astonishing number of people seem to be due in April or May (seriously, what was in the water last fall?). With my son turning two and 1/2 at Christmas, it was time for us to think about our next baby as well, and it turns out that the baby will be arriving this summer, due July 23rd.

Funny story, though. The baby actually won’t be coming by his or herself. We went to our first doctor’s appointment and got a nice ultrasound picture of the baby. Then, a few weeks later, we went to our second appointment and had another ultrasound. The doctor appeared concerned or confused - which, by the way, is NOT how you want your doctor to look AT ANY TIME - and kept searching around with the ultrasound machine. Finally, she looked at us and said with surprise, “there’s two people in there!”

And then our jaws dropped so hard that we banged them on the ground.

So, yes, twins. Identical twins, actually.

Okay, this isn't actually twins, it is just two pictures stuck together of Daniel as an infant

Needless to say, this sped up our “we probably need a house now” timeline. One baby we might have been able to squeeze in, but two not so much, plus twins tend to come earlier than single babies. Luckily, we had an appointment to look at a house just a few hours after we went to the doctor and happened to love the location, potential, and price of what we saw. We should be putting in an offer soon, which will hopefully mean that we can end up being in the house before I’m ready to pop.

So, between that, our mini-move, and the heater drama that ensued Sunday - Tuesday (the heater went OUT right after we moved in, and the repair company had issues getting the right part), we’ve had an exciting week, to say the least.