When Brenda Little of Edenton thought about becoming a grandmother, she was filled with anticipation. But, she admits, she never expected things to turn out the way they did.

When her oldest daughter, Tonya, gave birth to identical twin girls, Kyra and Camryn, 10 years ago, Little says she was excited.

“I knew twins ran on my side of the family,” Little said, “but still, you don’t really expect it to happen to one of your children.”

But happen it did — not just once, but three times. Almost four years ago, her son Aaron and his wife Erica became the parents of twins, too — fraternal twin boys, Caleb and Micah.

And in late July of this year, Little became a grandmother of twins again when her youngest daughter, Tamara, gave birth to a set of fraternal twin boys.

“When Tamara called me with the news, she first said, ‘Mom, are you sitting down?’ and I remember feeling so shocked when she told me, I could hardly believe it. Three sets of twins on one family, that’s just not something you hear about every day.”

Little, who is retired from the Edenton-Chowan Schools, has just returned from spending time with her youngest daughter and the newest twins, who live in Chesapeake, Va.

“My mom is really good with the kids,” said Tamara, who gave birth in July to twin sons, Aidan and

Tristan. “She cooked and cleaned so I could feed the babies every two hours.”

Already, Tamara said, the twin boys are exhibiting their own individual personalities.

“Aidan, I would say, is more laidback,” Tamara said, “while Tristan has a little more attitude. He’s a little more feisty.”

Tamara and her mom say that the two older boys haven taken the new arrivals in stride. Naike, 9, is trying to help as much as possible. Nishawan, 2, wants to help but isn’t quite old enough.

Tamara, who works fulltime at a detention facility in Virginia Beach, is out on maternity leave but plans to return to work at the end of September.

In the meantime, Tamara says she plans to spend as much time as possible with each of her children.

“I want them to know that each one is special to me,” Tamara said.

Little said she knew having twins to bring up along with two older children would be a challenge for Tamara whose divorce from her husband will soon be final.

“I told her that I don’t believe God puts anything in front of you that you can’t bear,” Little said. “I told her the family would do whatever we could to help and I think that eased her mind.”

Little’s son, Aaron Knight, said he and his wife Erica consider their twin sons a challenge and a blessing.

“I don’t know how single parents do it,” said Knight. He and his wife also have an older son, Joshua, 7.

Aaron said that since his family lives in Suffolk, Va. they don’t have a lot of support in terms of having a grandma close by to call on for babysitting — since Little lives in Edenton and Erica’s mom lives in Gates County — so that they can enjoy an evening out away from the kids.

But, Aaron said, the family visits North Carolina during holidays and keeps in touch by phone at other times.

As his boys are growing, Aaron said, they too are developing their own personalities. While Caleb is playful, Aaron said, Micah reminds him of a grown man in a child’s body.

Aaron said he admired the way his mom had stepped up to help his younger sister with the recent birth of her twins.

“My mom has really had her hands full,” Aaron said.

Finding out his younger sister was also going to have twins was a shock, Aaron said, since he and their older sister, Tonya, had already had twins born into their families.

“When I heard the news, I was like, three sets of twins, you’ve got to be kidding,” Aaron said. “It was definitely a shock.”

Aaron added that he and his wife consider their twin boys a special gift from God. Before their birth, he said, they had endured two miscarriages.

“I really believe our twins are God’s way of giving us our two babies back that we lost,” said Aaron, who works with at-risk youth. As far as adding to their family, though, he said, “No, we are done. We don’t plan to try to have any more.”

Brenda Little, whose mother, Evelyn Sessoms, 80, died not long before Tamara’s twins were born in July, said she agrees with her son’s feeling about why the twins were born. She said she only wishes her mother could have lived to see them.

“She (Sessoms) would have loved that,” Brenda Little said.

Tonya, the oldest of Brenda Little’s children, and the only one who still lives in North Carolina, makes her home in Durham with 10-year-old twin daughters Kyra and Camryn, and her son Tahj, 12.

Of the three sets of twins, hers were the only ones born in Edenton. Her doctor, Peter Boehling, did not get to deliver them, however. Boehling was out of town when the babies came and an associate of his did the honors.

But following an ultrasound, Boehling did get to deliver the news that she was expecting twins, which Tonya said came as quite a surprise.

“I knew I had a distant cousin that had had twins,” Tonya said. “But at first I didn’t believe him (Boehling) when he told me. Looking back, I know I was in denial about it because I was huge.”

In fact, it was Tonya’s size that prompted Boehling to suggest the ultraound, she said. Boehling thought, Tonya said, that perhaps she was further along in her pregnancy than she believed.

One of the biggest challenges for a mother of twins, telling them apart, was made a little easier for Tonya.

“Kyra has a birthmark on her left leg,” Tonya said. “It was the only way I could tell them apart.”

As they got older, Tonya said, the twins developed different personalities that also made it easier to know which was which.

“Camryn has turned out to be the more outgoing one,” Tonya said. “Kyra is friendly but she still kind of keeps to herself.”

Tonya said that in an effort to let the girls develop into individuals, she would dress them in the same outfits, but in different colors with Kyra in pink and Camryn in blue. Now, she said, each has her own style. But the girls remain close.

“I think they are each other’s closest friends, they seem to fill a niche for each other,” Tonya said.

Now divorced, Tonya has resumed using her maiden name. She works in the healthcare field with mentally challenged youth.

Brenda Little said she and her husband, Thurlis, athletic director at Elizabeth City State University are enjoying watching their grandchildren grow up and are always glad to have them come for a visit.

“My husband and I feel that we have been blessed to be here so that we can enjoy our grandchildren,” Brenda said. “One of the greatest joys of our lives is getting to spend time with them.”