Most of us remember March 15, 2020 as the day the world started shutting down — the last day our kids were in school or the day that made us feel pretty scared about this whole pandemic thing. But for Jenny Marr, of Dallas, the day is remarkable for another reason: that’s when she gave birth to identical quadruplets.
“Life with multiples is just crazy … It’s fun to be able to share our story as it is so unique,” Marr told Today.
Unique doesn’t quite capture it… Marr was only able to find about 72 other cases of identical quads. Quads in an of themselves are rare, but Marr wasn’t undergoing any fertility treatments, and her boys were all born from one egg.
“It’s unbelievable. It’ll never happen again in my career. I said, ’Girl, go buy a few lottery tickets because those are the kinds of odds we’re dealing with,’” said Dr. Lauren Murray, an OB-GYN at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. “What a miracle it was.”
Although it was exciting, Marr’s pregnancy was also very high risk, since all four boys shared the same placenta. However, they were all born healthy, and are now busy toddlers.
“It’s kind of cool,” Marr said. “Life is great. I couldn’t be happier with how things are and how happy and wonderful these babies are.”
The Rugrats Family is Becoming More Diverse
The reboot of The Rugrats is aiming to be more reflective of our diverse society with Betty, the mom of Phil and Lil, “out and proud” in the new shows. Betty is voiced by Natalie Morales, who is also queer and says she always felt that’s how Betty identified too.
“Anyone who watched the original show may have had an inkling Betty was a member of the alphabet mafia,” Morales said. “Yeah, Betty is a fictional cartoon, but even cartoons were hugely influential for me as a kid and if I’d been watching Rugrats and seen Betty casually talking about her ex-girlfriend, I think at least a part of me would have felt like things might be OK in the future.”
Morales is also into the idea of showing a mother with a well-rounded life outside of her kids.
“Betty is a single mom with her own business who has twins and still has time to hang out with her friends and her community,” Morales said. “And I think it’s just so great because examples of living your life happily and healthily as an out queer person is just such a beacon for young queer people who may not have examples of that.”
The Mom Opening Up About Tiny Living As A Person of Color
When Alexis Monkhouse was looking for inspiration for living in a tiny house, she did what most of us do: turn to Instagram. But Monkhouse, who is Black, quickly spotted an issue.
“I’ve gone through #tinyhouse and #tinyhousefamily, and you can scroll for pages and you won’t see any people of color,” she told Business Insider.
When Monkhouse moved into a tiny house with her two year old, she began detailing her journey on Instagram, in part to create the representation that she felt was missing from social media.
“I’m glad that I’m at least showing some people that this is doable and that people who look like us are out here doing it,” she said.
The best part about Monhouse’s feed is that she’s realistic about living with a toddler in a tiny space.
“There’s always a mess, they always want to climb on you, there’s literally zero place to escape in the house,” she wrote in one post. “But I love it.”
Which mamas are inspiring you today? Tell us here.