A few practical suggestions for new parents based on personal experience

There are countless books and websites with advice on parenting so I won't pretend that I have anything new or profound to add to the general pool.  But what follows are are just a few things that I would tell a friend about to become a parent for the first time.

First, get the book, Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads.  As you can tell from the cover, it's meant to be funny, and it is.  But it is also, hands down, the best parenting book that I've come across, chock full of the practical advice it promises.  It's concise and easy and fun to read with helpful and hilarious illustrations.  I bought or was given a few other parenting books during my pregnancy, which weren't particularly interesting to read before the babies were born and which I have had no time to read since.  But this book, which I bought for Lee, is one that we actually consulted frequently in the first couple of weeks at home.  We poured over the illustrations of various techniques for burping babies at 3 am as we tried to get the twins to stop fussing so they could go back to sleep and read their suggestions for bathing babies immediately before Eva got her first bath.  And the fact that it is written for dads sets it apart from man parenting books which seem to focus on mom.  I would suggest pairing it with this book, which is a more mundane but also practical and a bit more comprehensive.

An outfit with snaps up the front.

Next, a word on clothing.  Although the onesie seems to be the staple outfit for newborns, Lee and I are not fans.  We both agree that having to pull clothes over a newborn's head is annoying for both us and the newborn (although it does amuse me to watch them fuss and flail as I try to squeeze their head through the neck hole and say to them, "It's like being born again!").  Also to be avoided are outfits that have snaps in the back, which also require extra steps and changes of position to put on or take off.  The clothes that we like best are those that fasten up the front, either with snaps or a zipper.  That way, you can lay the baby down on top of the outfit and fasten them into it without too many extra contortions.

A further word on clothing.  Where your baby clothes come from will probably depend on your finances, the generosity of your friends and family, the enthusiasm of your parents (the twins are my parents' first grandchildren and my mother has been shopping quite enthusiastically for them since the earliest news of their conception) and whether you have other friends with children to give you hand-me-downs.  The twins would probably have been sufficiently equipped for the first 6 months without my having spent a cent on clothing for them but I have indulged, nonetheless, in a little shopping.  However, I have never spent more than $2 for an outfit.  Whether you like shopping for clothes for yourself at a thrift shops or not, I would really recommend you take at look at baby clothes there.  Babies grow quickly and consequently may wear an outfit only a few times (or not at all) before they outgrow them.  These barely used garments end up in thrift shops where they can be purchased for $.50 to $2 or $3 apiece.  The low price tag has allowed me to indulge my shopping instinct at little cost, and having more clothes allows us to go longer between loads of clothing.

A favorite thrift store find of mine.  I was
thrilled when it actually got cold enough in
Florida for Liam to wear it one day.

Next, a word on baby finger nails.  Babies are born with tiny, razor-sharp talons, five on each hand, which they employ to gouge furrows in their tiny, angelic faces.  If you have twins, one of them may menace the other with his scissorhands, seeming to threaten to slice off chunks of her cornea during the free photo session at the hospital as you look on in terror.  You will probably have received a pair of baby nail clippers at your baby shower, or will have taken the step of purchasing them yourself, only to discover that, when faced with itty, bitty, delicate baby fingers, the idea of applying the clippers, which are really no different from adult nail clippers, to those fingernails, is nothing short of terrifying.  I never attempted it, sure I would end up removing one or two distal phalanges and ruining forever my child's future career as a concert pianist.  For the first few days of his life, Liam, when not swaddled, was forced to wear socks on his hands.  Whenever we let him have his hands free for a few moments, he would invariably drag his claws across his face leaving angry red welts and not infrequently drawing blood.  Some parents trim their baby's nails by biting them.  I will admit to having attempted a few cautious nibbles before I discovered my own solution to the baby fingernail problem.  But I would caution parents who want to try the biting solution that you risk giving your baby herpetic whitlow (If you think you're safe from this risk because you don't have oral herpes, consider the fact that 80% of the population has it although most of us are asymptomatic.)  Okay, so what do I suggest?  A nail file.  I use a cheap emery board to file the twins' nails.  It's very easy and absolutely safe and I don't know why anyone would attempt anything else.