So a little bit about the Tortorici family—both mom and dad are Marines (oorah!), the twins were children five and six, and they have two dogs and a cat. Mom is still on maternity leave with the twins, but Lord have mercy, I swear she must not have any time to sleep!

I met the Tortoricis just over a year ago when I was working at a local, family-owned coffee shop. Momma Tortorici used to work there as well, but had just given birth to baby number four, Adam! If you’re trying to do the math in your head—yes, that’s three boys under two. Like I said, she’s a saint. Last summer when I met her, she was already training for her second American Ninja Warrior appearance! Seriously—she’s amazing.

Fast forward to just about 10 months ago…she reported that they had planned for one more, to have a grand total of five precious babies. But…SURPRISE! Two came along instead of the one they had anticipated. The boys decided to throw them yet another curve ball before they were even out of the womb and came a little early. Kristin is a trooper though, and gave birth to Andrew in the hallway on the way to the OR; Aaron followed shortly after! The boys were in the NICU for 16 days, but have proven every day that they are strong, physically and mentally! Also, September is NICU Awareness Month, so if you haven’t done a good deed lately and feel compelled to do so, GO DONATE!!

Kristin and Joe swear the twins look nothing alike; instead, they insist they have one Strizki baby and one Tortorici baby. Admittedly, it was difficult for me to tell them apart, but as the session continued, I did see the difference they were talking about. Their hearts and home are full, and I couldn’t be happier for them!

So without further ado…Thing 1 & Thing 2!