"Identical" twins!

I meant to blog about this earlier this week when we found out, but such is life!  We had genetic testing on the boys through a twin study we are participating in, and the results came back - the boys are monozygotic, or identical!  We were very surprised to learn this news - while in Hotel Uterus, each baby had his own bedroom (amniotic sac) and kitchen (placenta), which usually means that the twins are fraternal, or from two separate eggs.  Identical twins usually share one or both of these things.  But, it is possible for one fertilized egg to split within three days of conception, which would create identical twins with their own separate living quarters.  This happens in only about 25% of identical twins.  This is what happened to us!  According to wikipedia (so you know it must be true), monozygotic twins are only .2% of the world's population, and only 8% of the twin population.  Further, male monozygotic twins are the most rare!

I put "identical" in quotes in this posting's title because so far our boys don't look the same!  It is possible that they could have different expressions of the same genes, or that environmental influences in utero have caused physical differences - the biggest difference is that Asher is quite a bit smaller than Felix, but also Asher's left ear was a bit smushed at birth (it's getting better), and the boys' heads and faces are different sizes/shapes.  They will probably begin to look more alike as Asher catches up to Felix though.  When they were first born, and in different nurseries in the hospital, I could have sworn they were identical.  But, once I saw them together, I wasn't so sure.  Over the next few weeks, they looked very similar when sleeping, but I could always see vast differences when they were awake and making any facial expressions.  Recently, before we got the test results, I was positive they were fraternal because they looked so completely different to me - Asher looked like me, and Felix looked like Eric.  But, I guess if you happen to know identical twins that actually look identical, you can always see differences and can easily tell them apart after you get to know them!

Monozygotic or not, these boys are definitely not identical - in appearance or in personality!

Can you tell us apart? :)