On the day your twins turn one year old -- possibly even at the stroke of midnight -- you will fall back on your bed and breathe a huge sigh of relief. After all, no year could be as challenging as the first, right? Right. That's the good news. Some additional news: The second year is going to be an "interesting" one. However, you're going to make it. Here are ten products and mind-sets that will guarantee your success from Elizabeth Lyons, author of "Ready or Not…Here We Come! The REAL Experts' Cannot-Live-Without Guide to the First Year with Twins."

VERY Low Expectations
A trip to the grocery store during which the kids were not in the most wonderful moods might be viewed as a success simply because you were able to keep some semblance of peace until everything on your list had been purchased. Heed the advice of Emmet Fox: "Bless a thing and it will bless you. Curse it and it will curse you…If you bless a situation, it has no power to hurt you, and even if it is troublesome for a time, it will gradually fade out…"

Your Own Phone Booth
As with many of my sanity savers, I credit my friend Mollie for this one. We were talking recently via phone, all four of our boys were screaming at us, and she said (loudly), "That's it! I'm asking Gary for my own phone booth for Christmas this year!" The key to surviving this year of non-stop vocalization is to accept that you will have nary a moment of peace between 7 am and 8 p.m. When you are playing with your children, each is vying for your attention. When you're trying to book a doctor's appointment (perhaps with a licensed therapist), at least one child will likely be hanging on your leg and whining. When you're trying to simply take a seven-second-bathroom break, one is banging on the door in fear that you've stealthily slipped out via the toilet bowl.

Try to limit your social phone conversations to naptime or after the kids' bedtime. That way, when you have to receive or place an important call during the day, you can be more firm about the fact that Mommy is on the phone and unless someone’s bleeding or has stopped breathing, the issue will need to wait a few moments.

A Warehouse-Sized Jug of Maalox
During the second year, you will likely find your twins in some precarious places -- and possibly even positions attempting to get to those places. For starters, I've found my boys locked in their room -- one with an appendage stuck behind the bed, on top of their bookshelf (yes, it's bolted to the wall), and hiding small toys quite deep inside their floor vent. The key to keeping your doses of Maalox infrequent: When it gets uncomfortably quiet in your home before the kids are in bed for the night, don’t be thankful. Be nervous. Be very, very nervous.

Duct Tape
I never thought this item would come in handy for child-related challenges. I was wrong. Our multiples sorority's first experience with duct tape came when Mollie could find no other way to keep her boys from pulling open her oven door. All of the baby stores were out of the oven locks (must be a common challenge) so in the meantime, she wrapped the entire front of the appliance with duct tape. Shortly thereafter, in an effort to strategize a solution to preventing Jack from removing his diaper during naptime (he can -- and will -- take off any and all clothes to get his diaper off), Mollie suggested wrapping it with duct tape. Good news: It prevents the child from being able to completely remove the diaper. Bad news: It does not prevent the child from reaching up through the legs of the diaper and removing its contents. More bad news: It's about as hard for parents to get the diaper off as it is for the child!

The Ability to Discriminate Between an Inconvenience and an Emergency
As Dr. Richard Carlson noted in his book, "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff…And It's All Small Stuff," "Although most people believe otherwise, the truth is, life isn't an emergency. The first step in becoming a more peaceful person is to have the humility to admit that, in most cases, you're creating your own emergencies. Life will usually go on if things don't go according to plan."

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