JENNA BUSH HAGER & BARBARA BUSH 'We'll Always Have Each Other's Backs'

THE TWIN SISTERS ARE TACKLING PARENTHOOD IN TANDEM AS THEY LEARN TO CHERISH AND LAUGH ABOUT THE PAST THE PRESENT

- By ALEX ROSS

The Hager Team Shuffle "Three is an interesting dynamic," says Jenna. "They all have a lot of fun together. Mila's super protective of Poppy (far left), and she definitely holds her in a way that an older sister would. Sometimes Poppy and Hal sleep in the same room, and Mila will get Poppy at bedtime like, 'No, no, come with me!""

The moment Jenna Bush Hager arrives at her sister’s place with three children in tow, she jokes that Barbara’s going to need a bigger house.

But the five kids between the Bush twins, 43, quickly settle in. Jenna’s youngest, Hal, 5, runs circles around his sisters Mila, 11, and Poppy, 9, as they work together to feed 7-month-old cousin Edward, while Barbara’s oldest child, Cora Georgia, 3, scuttles out the door to school with her father (and Barbara’s husband), Craig Coyne. Amid what Jenna, who shares her children with husband Henry, later dubs the “circus,” the little Hager ladies remain a well-synced tag team. With a mom and an aunt who finish each other’s sentences, it’s not hard to see where they learned the art of sisterhood.

In fact, Jenna and Barbara are busy with just that as they release their fourth book, I Loved You First, and—just for a few days—cohost Jenna & Friends on Today, where Jenna’s worked since 2009. (Barbara works on social impact for the NBA.) The sisters’ clear bond has flourished in the 32 years since their grandfather President George H.W. Bush left office and throughout their father George W. Bush’s Presidency from 2001 to 2009. Now they’re facing this era of parenting the next Bush generation the only way they know how: together. Says Jenna: “That’s what a sissy does.”

Was persuading Barbara to return to the fourth hour of Today as a guest cohost a challenge?

JENNA BUSH HAGER She said she’d never do it again, and now she’s coming for double the time. It’s Bring Your Sister to Work Day!