A petite Minnesota mother has captivated TikTok
Alexis LaRue, 22, welcomed identical twin daughters Camila and Elena in March, and while they were born weighing just 6 lbs., 7 oz. each, they’ve quickly tripled in size.
So when Alexis — who is only 5’3″ and weighs 116.4 lbs. — carries both of her babies at the same time, it makes for quite a comedic picture.
Though her fiancé, Leo Mejia, 23, is certainly taller than her at 5’11”, Alexis was not expecting her baby girls to be quite so big.
‘In the twin community, it’s pretty normal to expect babies around 5 lbs. or less. I had already bought preemie-sized clothes for the twins, as I thought they were going to be very small,’ she said, according to Metro.co.uk.
‘However, with the combined weight of almost 13 lbs., the girls went straight into newborn and have been growing very rapidly since,’ she added, calling them ‘fast growers.’
They are now in the 98th percentile for height and wear clothes for a 12-month to 18-month-olds.
The average weight for a seven-month-old girl is 16.8 lbs.
Alexis had been regularly sharing videos of the twins on TikTok when, in September, she saw a viral clip of another mother of twins holding both with one arm while doing other tasks.
Alexis tried to do it herself — though it was clearly a struggle.
‘I tried to copy that girl — you know, everyone knows her. It is not for the weak. I don’t know if I’m just weak, or my babies are just chunky,’ she said, holding the girls with one arm.
The video has since been viewed 48.2 million times, and Alexis has shared more clips of herself juggling the twins.
She has also shared a clip of Leo holding the babies in which they look much smaller by comparison.
‘No one believes they’re mine!’ she told Today.
Speaking about her pregnancy in one TikTok video, Alexis revealed that she has ‘always been really tiny’ and weighed around 105 lbs. before she conceived the twins.
However, during her pregnancy, Alexis says she ‘gained 80 lbs.’ and ‘got really big’, with the mother-of-two admitting: ‘I don’t know how I did it but our bodies are amazing.’
While most commenters are kind about her videos, a few have made some rude comments.
‘Some people say things like, “Oh, they’re gonna be NFL players,” and “together they weigh more than you,” or “stop feeding them so much,” but I don’t let it get to me,’ she said.
‘They’re getting just the right amount of milk. They’re happy and healthy and that’s all that matters. Some people just have big babies!’
‘Their pediatrician has not had any concerns about their sizes, they are simply very fast growers,’ she added.