Congratulations!
You summed up parenthood very, very well! The cliche I always liked was “It’s the toughest job you’ll ever love.” My boys are teens now and every year has brought some new pain and some new joy.
Regarding Scott Hanselman’s comment, I like this excerpt from Breakfast with Socrates:
"So paramount is this responsibility to feed and nurture the young lives the parents have created, it alters the value of their own. In life, children come first, relegating their parents to a poor second - which is why the flight attendant’s advice to parents to put on their own oxygen masks before those of their children feels so wrong and throws the heart into conflict with the head. Surely one tends to the children before the adults? A parent is one who in prioritising the life of the child will risk his or her own, and as soon as you start making sacrifices for your children, there’s no bar on where it might end. How, as a parent, could you ever say you wouldn’t give up your own life to save your child? Protecting the child’s life is everything, which means the life of the parent ultimately counts for nothing.
[…]Without their parents creating them, children can’t exist, and once existing, they depend on those parents to keep them in existence with food and water. In this respect, the life of the parent is indispensable to the life of the child. But precisely because parents are obliged to do anything for the sake of the younger life, even to the point of self-sacrifice, the value of their own lives flips over and they now become dispensable to the nth degree"
Congratulations! I know somewhat what you’re getting into, the happiest day of my life was finding out that we’d tried for one and gotten two. It brings a lot of that first-baby excitement back because trust me it’s about 4 times as hard as one baby, especially when you have an older one as well. Twins are a lot of work but a lot of joy as well, and they’ll always have someone to play with.
Thanks for making my day, even if I’m 2 weeks late seeing this. I never really understood the word “miracle” until I witnessed the birth of my first child. Here’s my belated Official Words of Parenting Advice:
Your kids will be fucked up in spite of your best efforts, and your kids will turn out okay in spite of your worst.
Beautifully written Jeff, and captures my experiences and emotions spot on. Twins are a rush, our boy / girl twins are 8 now, and it’s been a fantastic experience. The first six months of twins are “hard”, up until they’re sleeping through the night, but 1) after that it’s easier than a singleton imo; and 2) your experience with your first will help.
Again, congratulations and thanks for your post.
Before I read the other comments, having just read your article, I’d like to say, wow… thank you for a very, very nice article… and the chart… quite a talent! 
Then, also, congratulations on becoming a father (Wishing you lots of patience). Having 2 little daughters myself I can only agree with all of what you have nicely written in this post… Kids are little monsters
We’ll be joining you in chaos^2 in April. Screwed. Delightfully screwed. Can’t wait!
Dear Jeff,
Thank you for this wonderful post and for all the comments it has gathered. It made my heart warm and my coffee taste better. My second baby babbles in our big bed, chewing a toy. My eldest just wrote her letter to Santa. I am so happy I am a mom, although sleep is scarce, me-time is on my wish list and the Eldest just asked me if she can have a mobile phone for her 7th birthday, an i-pod for xmas and an i-pad for her sain patron’s day. Now, it can’t be easy parenting twins and a big brother but I just wanted to tell you that the second time around you get to enjoy your babies. As you’ve been there before, done that already, now you get to actually see and cherish what’s happening to you. Just lavish your eldest, spoil him rotten and keep telling him he’s the best big brother in the world. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you. God Bless!
Wow…I think this is superbly written and give nice advices to everyone who read this.Thanks a lot for sharing this lovely post.
Numisma Technologies
Congratulations Jeff, I have 3 boys and a girl, they grow up way too fast my youngest is 13.
Medical Billing and Coding Information
Congratulations,
our sonogram was “baby A” and "baby B"
19 years of happy happy joy joy. A readily made friend for life.
cheers
Congratulations! The first year with twins is the toughest! once they hit about a year old, it will all settle down, and life will be manageable again. (not the same, just manageable) Good luck, and as you know, it’s worth it!
Bah, you’re graph was pretty hilarious. Everything else was pretty useless to me. I want to know what being a parent is like by simple experience. Don’t expect me to feel the warmth from the coat you’ve put on…
Congrats! As a parent is completely agree with everything you said in this post. As of 12/8, we are now on our third child. I would love to see posts on how us programmers manage time (i.e., work, learning new tech, etc.) while enjoy parenthood.
Hi Jeff,
My husband found your entry on parenthood. This is awesome and so well said. I usually say that I work 99% of the time for that 1% of pure parental pleasure. So I totally understand that “1%”.
Congratulations on your coming twins. I’m due with baby #2 in April '12. Can’t believe we’re doing it again!
Good Luck!
“That one percent makes all the difference.” - correction: the percentage it’s actually two 51-49. Anyway, congratulations and good luck!
Congrats, Jeff! And as they age, it only gets worse/better!
Thank you for writing this. My wife is trying to convince me that it’s time to have a baby and as a classic engineer I am trying to weigh the pros and cons of the situation. This post helps me understand that there are lots of pros that I just can’t see right now.
Congratulations! Now I am not a parent, but a good friend and colleague of mine has four children and is adopting two more! I asked him how he plans to do it being outnumbered like that.
His response: “Well once you have more than two, it’s all about the same. You just have a clan of children since there’s nothing you can do about them outnumbering you.”
FANTASTIC post! thank you! YOU ROCK!