Twin Confusion

Since the boys were tiny babies we have kind of color coded them.  I know some parents of multiples swear by color coding and really go all out.  It started when they were infants and the bottles we bought came in blue, green, and purple.  The boys came home from the NICU on two feedings a day of Neocate which provides extra nutrition for preemies.  At 2 months old our doctor said Oliver no longer needed it, but Owynn still did.  We decided to keep the 2 formula feedings a day for Oliver because 1-Owynn still was on it 2-we were all used to the 2 formula bottle schedule (I nursed the boys for their other feedings) and 3-I had no idea how long I would be able to nurse twins and we wanted a possible switch to only formula to go smoothly.  Oliver's new formula came in a blue container, so we decided that should be his color and Owynn had green.  It helped a lot when they drank out of bottles because we always knew whose bottle was whose.  The colors stuck and now if the boys get something similar but not identical we try to get one in green and one in blue.  Like the Easter bunny brought the boys Mickey Mouse hats, but where EB got them from they only had the hats in blue and red.  So Oliver got blue and Owynn ended up with red.  We still color code with their sippy cup lids.  The boys don't really care whose cup they drink out of, but it helps us keep track.

Anyways, Sunday we were in a hurry to get everyone ready and out the door to John's parents' house.  I grabbed the first couple of shirts I saw in the basket of clean laundry and they happened to be blue and green.  But the blue shirt was in Owynn's size and the green in Oliver's.  I didn't think much of it, because really we don't find the color coding absolutely necessary, it's more for our convenience at knowing whose things are whose.  But I was totally messed up all day.  Having their colors reversed totally threw me.  I kept mixing the two of them up all day and it really frustrated me.  Apparently I rely on this way more than I thought (even though like 85% of the time it's only for their sippy cups).  That or we've just been doing it for so long that I'm really used to it.  Either was I wasn't very happy with myself for repeatedly mistaking one kid for the other.