The Differences in Camden and Carsen

Everyone always is asking me how to tell the girls' apart. I now feel I have enough pics showing differences that I can adequately tell you how I tell them apart. Now, honestly-and any mother of twins will tell you this-I just know them apart. I knew them in my womb and I was VERY anal about making sure that when they were born, Carsen was Carsen (as she was baby A on the right) and Camden was Camden (baby B on the left). This was hard, because they kept switching positions and the docs kept calling the wrong one A and B. SO, I named them and knew them by movement. I knew who was where the day they were born-the day when Camden made the suprise FIRST appearance and Carsen officially became the little sister, although she been in first position through the majority of the pregnancy. What can I say? Camden was born a drama-queen, God Love Her, so she had to be first! Anyway, here's how I tell them apart.


Camden & Carsen

Carsen & Camden: Carsen has thinner and lighter eyebrows (less hair) and her eyes are closer together and smaller than Camden's. Carsen's face is smaller and thinner and shaped more like a pear or football. Camden's face is much wider and her eyes are much bigger. Cam's head is shaped more like an apple or a basketball. Carsen's hair is shorter and thinner. Camden's hair is blonder, longer and thicker. Their hair does have the same texture, but Carsen's has some natural wave to it, especially around her face, while Camden's is board-straight.

Carsen & Camden: This is a great example of the difference in their hair. I fixed them both the same, but the humidity was very high so Carsen's (on the left) just kinked right on up. Camden's stayed straight. You can also see the difference in color here. Cam's is much blonder.

Camden has a distinct, up-turned nose like my sister's. It moves up and down when she talks. I love it-so cute! Carsen and Aiden have the same little button nose that I had as a child so they'll probably end up with my honker in the end. From the front you can't tell much difference in their noses, but the side-view is telling.

Camden & Carsen: Here's a great side comparison where you can see Cam's little up-turned nose. Carsen doesn't have an up-turned nose! So funny and cute!

Camden is also quite bigger than Carsen. She's a tiny bit taller, but she is much heavier-feeling. Now, the kicker is-there are only like 6 ounces different according to the scales. I called major BS on this at the doctor last time we were in, and they looked at me like I was a raving lunatic. I told them that my 'mommy-scale', which is me holding one in each arm at the same time, leans HEAVILY toward Camden being much larger. They still looked at me like I was insane. Don't get me wrong, Camden is not a 'heavy' child. She's not overweight by ANY stretch of the imagination. But she is larger than her sister by quite a bit. Those of us who know them well will vouch for that. I've not a clue what makes this difference not show on regular scales. You can look at them side by side and plainly see it.

Moving on now....

Camden & Carsen: Here you can see that Cam is taller and you can really see the difference in their faces. Cam has a rounder face with, what I call, 'apple' cheeks. I have these, too! The sunglasses just sit right there on top of them, lol! Carsen doesn't have high cheek bones. I think this feature will become especially more evident as they get older and will aid in helping folks tell them apart. Also, Camden has the 'Bridges' side-ways grin. She gets this from my Papaw Web, Mom's Daddy.

Now....Here's the question I get so often that I should write down an answer to pull out and read each time.

ARE THEY IDENTICAL?

Well, honestly....we don't know. I don't think they are identical and I'll tell you why. All my children look alike. And Anthony and I have very similar features, other than the fact that I am like 15 inches shorter than him and he's bald. We both have blue eyes, light skin, and blond hair. Anthony's hair is blond if he stays in the sun. Because he always kept it short, you never really saw this. I learned this when he lived on the coast and had hair because we were in the sun more than ever in our lives. He also has red hair in his goatee, along with some blond. I have some red heads in my family, too! The girls and Aiden look SO similar that he could be their triplet. He and Camden favor so much that I have always said they look more alike than she and Carsen, but then lately Aiden and Carsen are favoring more. I think that Cam and Carsen will start to grow their separare ways as they get bigger and taller. Their bodies are not shaped the same and they have different hair. They also have different allergies and Camden has WAY more moles than Aiden and Carsen. Carsen doesn't have any 'Sallies' as we call moles at my house, and Aiden has some, but Camden has MANY. Camden tans by simply looking at the sun, while Aiden and Carsen have to be out a few days consecutively before the paleness starts to fade (and they can thank me for that-sorry, Kids!). All my kids look SO MUCH ALIKE, but have their differences. If they had all three been born together, you'd be trying to tell me that they were all identical-which is impossible, by the way. Boy/Girl twins can't be identical. For the record, my girls were mono-chorionic and bi-amniotic with a shared placenta that appeared to have been fused together. For the layman, that means they each had separare amniotic sacs, but they ate from the same placenta, though it looked like their might have been two placentas at one time, but they fused together, which is VERY common in twin pregnancies, even with boy/girl twins, because of how vascular the placenta is. The outside bubble, or chorion, contained both twins together. If there had been two chorions, they would be 99% Fraternal, but there's still a chance they'd be identical even then. The only way we could be 100% sure is to do a DNA test, which I have been putting off because it's expensive and not necessary. I feel like eventually we will know based on their looks. I am VERY curious, but I can think of a million other things to spend $400 on other than an uncessesary medical test. If anyone wants to pony up for it, I'd probably insist you put that money in our Disney bank instead, because it's just not important to us to know right now. Maybe later if the girls start asking one day. Right now, they're just happy to call each other 'Sissy.' And I love that. SO, combined with their very different personalities (Camden is a major drama-mama and Carsen is a fun-loving silly girl) you now know how I tell them apart. :)

I will post later this week about their newly developing 'language' that Carsen has made up and Camden understands. Yes, it does exist! AH!

Love,

Mandye

PS-If anyone has any questions about the above post, please ask! I'd love to know if you agree with me or if this helps you to tell them apart now. For fun, I think I'll post some pics later this week and we can play NAME THAT TWIN!!!