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Modern Families

Husband who lost his job reluctantly moves family in with mother-in-law. Pure joy ensued.

Families moving in together isn't failure. Sometimes it's their greatest success.

Image via Canva

Katie Bunton shares her family's journey with multigenerational living.

Multigenerational living is not as common in our independent, self-sufficient American culture–but Instagrammer Katie Bunton (@ktbunton) is hoping her experience will open more people's minds to it. Bunton, her husband Harry and their twin boys recently moved in with their mother-in-law Louella Beale (@nana_lulu_love) after experiencing financial hardship, and opened up about the experience with her followers.

"We moved in with my MIL (mother-in-law) 2 months ago when my husband lost his job and I just keep thinking...it must have taken a lot of propaganda to make us believe this was failure," she writes in the video's caption.

In the inspiring video, Bunton showed her viewers some of the incredible benefits they've had with the extra support of Nana Lulu. From making and eating meals together to time spent in the garden and doing other menial daily tasks, she shows that life has truly improved–even though society may look at their living situation differently. "So you’re telling me, this isn’t how it was supposed to be all along ? #multigenerationalliving with @nana_lulu_love 🫶🏽," she captioned the video.

And viewers are showing their support. "I wholeheartedly believe that we’re supposed to be living with family❤️," one wrote. Another added, "It’s the best. My grandmother and mother live with us. I could never asked for a better support system. I would never ever live without multiple generations in the same house or compound." And another shared, "This has forever been my dream 😢 I’m with you, we’ve been lied to in the west. Intergenerational living is beautiful and to me the gold standard for living in harmony and raising children well ❤️."

And Nana Lulu herself commented, "🥹🥹😭😍😍 I’m such a lucky lucky so and so. 🙏🏽Thank you 🙏🏽 thank you 🙏🏽 thank you 🙏🏽 for the beautiful blessings of family love. 💛💛💛💛"

In another video, Bunton shared a vlog with her followers showing more about living with her MIL and the benefits of living multigenerationally. "You’re telling me we could have both parents present and hands on, all we have to do is just lower our cost of living? spend less money? And pool our resources with family? 🤯" she wrote.

In the video, she explains that her family moved in with Nana Lulu at the end of January 2025. "It's taken us quite a while to get into the swing of things. We moved into a new town as well," she adds.

Their routine has completely changed, but in a good way. And she has noticed positive changes in her relationship. "My husband has felt happier, lighter and more himself than I have ever seen him," she says.

The second video also got tons of positive comments from viewers who are loving their new living situation. "This is my definition of rich ❤️," one wrote. Another added, "As someone that doesn’t have a MIL to fall back on, I just want you to know that I’m so happy you have that. So happy you know the peace that extended family can bring and that you/your husband have the support you need to get to the next stage 🫶🏼💕." And another shared, "My husband and I live with my parents. They built us a basement apartment and I am forever grateful to them not only for that but for the bond it has allowed them to have with my kiddos ❤️ I definitely get caught up thinking we’ve done something wrong but we’ve just done what we can with the cards we are dealt. I am so grateful for my village."

This article originally appeared in March

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Australian twins recount dramatic carjacking in news interview—and speak entirely in unison

They know each other so well they're practically one person.

7News Australia/YouTube

The Powers' twins are famous for their unique way of talking as if they're one person

My wife and I like to joke that we know each other so well at this point that it's almost like we share a brain. Having spent so much time together, we can finish each other's sentences and even find ourselves having the same thoughts almost simultaneously. It's common for siblings, family members, and partners to feel like their brains are "in sync" in this way.

But most of us have nothing on an unbelievable set of twins who stumbled into viral fame when a stolen car wrecked near their home and a gun-wielding carjacker stumbled out.

The two sisters who witnessed the incident gave an interview to 7News Australia. Though their story was dramatic, it was the way they told it that made the clip go mega viral.

Throughout the bizarre interview, Bridgette and Paula Powers, who are identical twins, speak almost entirely in unison as they deliver their eyewitness account.

It's truly a sight to behold. At various points in the interview, the sisters finish each other's sentences, speak the same thoughts at the same exact time, and take turns speaking as if they were one single person. They even make the same gestures with their hands and mirror each other's facial expressions.

Lost in the mayhem is the absolutely wild story of the carjacker. If you watch the clip you'll probably find yourself so fascinated by the twins psychic connection that you hardly follow the story at all.

The clip racked up nearly seven million views on X with another 300,000 on YouTube. News outlets all over the world including Entertainment Tonight, Fox News, and Inside Edition each ran features on the web-famous twins.

It's actually not the first time the twins have gone viral for their unique speaking style. They're well known in Australia as the "Twinnies," but are relatively new to the rest of the world.

Viewers and commenters all over the Internet were absolutely stunned in the best way. Not only was the joint-speech a cool "party trick," people were touched by the unimaginable connection the two sisters share.

In a follow up interview with 9 News Australia days later, the twins again dressed and spoke in unison.


- YouTubewww.youtube.com

They clarified that they always do everything together. Being identical twins means they share the exact same DNA. If their DNA is the same and their day to day experiences are almost exactly the same, you can see why they have such a strong connection. It really is like they exist as one person!

Experts say twins don't exactly have a psychic connection, although it can certainly seem like they do. The closer their DNA (exactly the same, in the case of identical twins) and the more shared experiences they have, the more likely it is that they'll have a brain synergy other people can't really comprehend. Many twins actually create their own language, a phenomenon known as cryptophasia. But even when they speak "normally" bystanders often have a hard time understanding twins' conversations because they can't anticipate each other's thoughts and sentences so well, with the conversation devolving into something unintelligible to outsiders.

The Powers sisters insist that their synchronized speaking is not an act. It's something they do together all day every day. And they don't particularly care if anyone believes them, or if people find them annoying. "If you like us, you like us. If you don't, you don't," the sisters say.

When asked if they ever get sick of each other, the answer came easily for both. "No," they said, shaking their head in unison. "We're best of friends."

And further, they're grateful for the attention, though it's not fame they're after. The twins, who are old friends of the late Steve Irwin's, run a rescue for birds and are happy for their cause to get a little extra exposure any way that it can.

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Mom's tearful post about leaving twins after maternity leave has people debating U.S. policy

Many working moms share this woman's feelings about going back to work.

Courtesy of @marissa_jeanne/TikTok

With no guaranteed paid leave, moms in the U.S. take far less maternity leave than nearly every other country.

The United States has long been viewed as exceptional in many ways, some very positive and some not so much. One not-so-great thing that sets it apart from nearly every other country on Earth is its paid parental leave policies—or rather, its total lack of them.

The U.S. is one of just seven countries—and the only wealthy nation in the world—that offers no guaranteed paid parental leave by law. It's up to companies to provide leave to employees as a "perk," but it's in no way required. The average American mother takes 10 weeks off after having a baby, but that's combining both paid and unpaid leave and only those who are able to take it. Compare that with the global average of just under 19 weeks of paid leave—longer if you include protected unpaid leave—and it's clear the U.S. is indeed exceptional on this front.

A mom who took three months off after her twins were born shared a tearful video explaining how she felt on her last day of maternity leave, and it's resonating with many American moms.

"So, today is my last day of maternity leave and I go back to work tomorrow. I just feel like I haven't had enough time with them," Marissa Jeanne shared on her TikTok page. "I know I got longer than a lot of women get with three months, but it just doesn't…I just don't feel ready."

Marissa shared with Good Morning America that she'd had a high-risk pregnancy and the twins were born 5 1/2 weeks early, spending several weeks in the NICU before they were able to come home. The three month countdown began as soon as they were born, so she said she felt like she got robbed of some of her postpartum time. "And that does not get accounted into your maternity leave," she said.

She described the "abrupt change" of being with her babies all the time and then suddenly only having a few hours a day with them, worrying that they're going to forget her.

babies, twins, maternity leave, paid leave, US, parenting It's hard to go back to work full-time with babies.Photo credit: Canva

"I also love my career," she added. "I am proud of what I do, but there's always that mom guilt of you're not giving enough time to your kids."

Unfortunately, Marissa received some judgmental comments from people telling her she should just make it work to stay home, but that wasn't an option for her family financially, especially since she holds the health insurance (another American exceptionalism). She's not in an unusual situation; a large percentage of Americans live in two-income households, and rising living expenses have made it more difficult not to.

Many moms empathized with her feelings. People from outside the U.S. offered not only sympathy but bafflement over the fact that longer leave is not the norm like it is in every other wealthy nation.

"How is this normal or allowed in America in 2025 when we get a year in Europe many countries more than the one year in the UK?"

"In Canada the mothers get either 12 or 18 months paid maternity leave."

"3 months is not long enough! Moms deserve more!"

"I had to go back to work after 7 weeks. It shattered my heart. I couldn’t afford to take 12 weeks off. 😔"

"Maternity leave in the United States has to change. And then to jump back into the flow of work, with the emotional imbalance. I’m not even the mother and this is heartbreaking."

"This is real 💔 Moms and babies deserve so much better."

"U.S. needs to step up their maternity standards. It’s crazy that we are so behind every other developed country."


One of the arguments people make against longer parental leave is that it puts a burden on companies, but that begs the question of how all the other countries with businesses make it work. Interestingly enough, this is an issue that doesn't seem to fall neatly among partisan lines. People on both sides of the aisle argue for federally mandated maternity leave, but it hasn't happened yet. Until it does, families will continue to feel the pressure to go back to work quickly after welcoming their babies and struggle with the reality that it's simply not enough time.

Watch Marissa's full video:

@marissa_jeanne

Last day of maternity leave and I am a mess. There’s nothing that prepares you for this day in your postpartum journey. #maternityleave #maternityleaveover #postpartumjourney #pospartum #3monthspostpartum #backtowork #workingmom #workingmoms #workingmomstruggles #twinmom

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Modern Families

One's white. The other's black. But their mom wants you to know they're still identical twins.

via DanielandDavid2 / Instagram

On February 26, 2019, Stacy and Babajide Omirin of Lagos, Nigeria got quite the shock. When Stacy delivered identical twins through C-section one came out black and the other, white.

The parents knew they were having identical twins and expected them to look exactly the same. But one has a white-looking complexion and golden, wavy hair.

"It was a massive surprise," Stacy told The Daily Mail. "Daniel came first, and then the nurse said the second baby has golden hair. I thought how can this be possible. I looked down and saw David, he was completely white."

"I called my husband in so he could see what we had here," she continued, "I didn't understand. He couldn't believe what he saw either. They are so adorable and it felt like we had been given a miracle."

The boy's father was overjoyed when he saw the unique pair arrive into the world.

"Their dad was really overwhelmed and immediately named My Twin 2 (David) 'Golden,' so he fondly calls him Mr. Golden," Stacy told Bored Panda. "He was all overjoyed seeing his boys. He stood for more than 10 minutes staring at them and said he was just looking at God's wonderful work and that they are his best gift ever."

David was born with a condition called oculocutaneous albinism which affects one in 20,000 births each year.

It occurs when the body produces little or no melanin, resulting in a lack of hair pigment and light skin. It can also cause visual problems, but Stacy says Daniel is perfectly healthy.

According to Action on Albinism, albinos in Nigeria suffer from a "high level of discrimination." Nigerians with albinism are more prone to live in poverty, resulting in a lack off access to education and basic healthcare.

A study conducted in 2014 found 41% of persons with albinism interviewed exhibit mental health issues related to being a person with albinism.

The twins are often the center of attention when the family goes out in public, so they started an Instagram page to create "awareness" about their unique family. "We opened an account for them because we believe they have a story to tell to the world," Stacy said.

"I have to answer questions all the time when we are out. People say ''excuse me madam, which one of the kids is yours?''" she said. "I just say both of them are mine and people look at me as if I am joking."

Some women have told the family that they pray at night in hopes of having twins like Daniel and David. "They are special to everyone and I love them. It feels special to be their mother because they are a special kind of twins," Stacey said.

"I believe I am blessed and I am so proud of them."


This article originally appeared five years ago.

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