I get by with a little help from my friends...

...and baby gear. Baby gear is a must.

Here are my top six necessities for twin baby life in the first six months (in no particular order)

1.  San Diego Bebe Nursing pillow

I honestly could not have survived without this. I tried tandem nursing without it and you would not believe how miserably I failed! This particular pillow comes with a built in cover, which is great because the babies can't pull it off and there is no awkward shifting around to try and stay covered. Also, when Annelise and Olivia first came home from the hospital we had to monitor how many ounces they were getting, so I was only allowed to nurse once a day and then I bottle fed them (expressed breast milk) for their other feedings. I liked using the nursing pillow to be able to hold them both even when we were just doing bottles. I had one rule in the beginning, and that was "when one baby eats, the other baby eats". I bought mine used at a local baby store.

2. Baby Trend Snap-N-Go

The girls were asleep when I got to the grocery store, so I plopped them in and off we went!

Car seats are an obvious must, so I'm not even going to discuss that. But the snap-n-go? GENIUS. I love this thing. If the girls are asleep in their carseats and I don't want to wake them up to wrap/wear them, I just take their carseats out and go. No juggling babies and unclipping and reclipping. No fuss, no muss. It also maneuvers extremely well, which is important, because I generally have to push/pull a cart as well!

3. Bouncer

All snuggled up in one bouncer! Also, I'm morally opposed to dressing twins the same,
but EVERYONE gets matching PJs on Christmas!

In the beginning I just put both babies in one bouncer, they were happier that way and LOVED to be snuggled next to each other. They don't fit together anymore, but even now when they seem inconsolable I just hold them both real close to one another and they calm right down. I only had one bouncer from when Gideon was a baby (I got it for free at a church swap and shop!), and I didn't want to buy two because I knew that some babies prefer a swing. At this point Annelise is always in the bouncer and Olivia is always in the swing.

4. Swing

This is actually Gideon in the swing, because apparently we have
no pictures of Livvy in it. 

This is the swing that my AK sisters got for Gideon and he spent a lot of time in it. Now it's where Olivia takes most of her naps! Again, I didn't buy two swings because I figured one baby could be in the bouncer and the other in the swing.

5. Baby wraps

The top one is a Free Hand Mei Tai, the dark blue braided one is an Oscha Nebula 6
and the tealish one is a Vatanai Orkney 7

I could not live without these. They have become a bit of an obsession. It just isn't feasible to bring a stroller everywhere you go, and with three children 1yr and younger I just don't have hands enough to carry them all either! This was an absolute MUST for me. I would wear the girls to church, to the grocery store, to weddings, on walks, EVERYWHERE. It also doesn't hurt that I feel like Supermom when I wear them all together. 

6. Medela Double Breast Pump

You get no pictures of me using this item.

A double Breast Pump is a glorious thing. If you are having twins you will need this! Since the girls were in the NICU and unable to breastfeed at first, this was a necessity to build my milk supply. If you have children in the NICU they have breast pumps there for you to use, but it just wasn't feasible to be there every time I needed to pump. For those first two weeks I pumped every two hours during the day and I slept through the night. I figured that I should get all the rest I could while the babes were in the NICU and that my body would readjust its supply for nighttime feedings. *Check with your insurance company to see if they will furnish one to you for free, that is one great thing that has come from Obamacare

There are obviously tons of other items that are amazing to have when you have a baby, but these have been my most used items specifically with twins.

Other items that I would recommend:

Cloth diapers (read about those here)
Dr. Brown's Bottles
Bottle Warmer
Aiden and Anais Swaddles
Bumbo
Exersaucer

**I should also note that because of our transient lifestyle (oh the joys of a husband in school!) all of my children have slept in Packnplays instead of cribs. It is not as aesthetically pleasing, but they get the job done and they are easy to move and fit almost anywhere. For the first 4 months the girls slept in the same Packnplay, but are now sleeping in their own because they can roll over. That means that Gideon got kicked out of his and graduated to a toddler bed (this happened about 2 months ago)!

Looks comfy, eh?

You can't really tell, but there they are in their packnplay!