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My last opportunity to read tips about raising twins was when I was pregnant. Now, of course, there's no time to read anything but Real Simple magazine articles, which are about the perfect length to consume when one twin is in time out and the other twin is without a partner in crime. The house becomes quiet, for about three minutes.

And my pregnant self, of course, had no idea what to expect, especially since my daughters are my first children.

I distinctly remember reading suggestions to prepare a chart in order to record the times and general amounts of feedings for each child.

Huh? I thought. How complicated can it get? Yes, there are two babies rather than one, but that doesn't suddenly turn me into a doofus. How could a loving parent not remember the last time she fed her children?

Right now, the experienced parents among you are desperately trying to contain your laughter, just about spilling coffee on your keyboards.

Once I had babies, of course, I could clearly see why authors suggest that parents write things down. The fatigue, the emotions, the way the days run happily and sleepily together. Who knows when and which bills were paid, let alone who got fed last?

My husband and I were pretty lucky, actually, and didn't end up having to keep charts to record feedings. I breastfed as much as possible (and we used formula, too ... more on all that another time) and simply fed my daughters when they seemed hungry. One of the beauties of babies is that when they are hungry, they are hungry. When they're not, they're not. It seemed very straightforward to me.

Additionally, my daughters were very much in sync in terms of their sleeping and eating desires. I do realize we got off easy.

But now that my daughters are three-and-a-half and in their first year of morning preschool, we are dealing with the ravages of flu season. We have to keep charts to know when we've given Tylenol or other medications, especially since we are sometimes sick and feverish right along with the girls. Our little charts become like the rope Laura Ingalls Wilder's family used to navigate from the barn to the house during one of those North Woods blizzards.

Don't ever hesitate to write it all down.