My little people

You know one of my favorite things about watching my kids grow up... 

The minute a baby is born, it starts: He has his daddy's eyes! She has her grandma's nose! His head is shaped just like great-uncle Bob's!

As they grow, those features grow too, and may change, or may deepen in resemblance. But as they get older, their features really grow to look like... themselves. As we get to know them, they may still have mommy's mouth or daddy's hair, but increasingly, their features are their own, unimaginable in that particular combination on anyone else.

What I've started seeing, though, is that in their utterly unique personalities, they also have funny little habits that they've picked up/inherited from us. Eleanor squeaks "Oh my goodness!" or even "Goodness gracious!" with perfect inflection when something surprising happens, which she's picked up from... any number of people, actually. Steven plays with sounds like I do - he'll pick up a phrase and repeat it, then repeat it again with different consonant sounds beginning the words, then again with another consonant. He'll hum a song with nonsense syllables... num num num num num num num, ba ba ba ba ba ba ba, dee dee dee dee dee dee dee, doo doo doo doo doo doo doo, num num num num num num num, la la la la la la la (Twinkle Twinkle/ABCs, if you're curious). 

Oh, and? He loses his mind over Aunt Suzy's buttercream.

Whew!

I meant to write about Christmas. I really did. I meant to write about our awesome trip to Colorado after Christmas. I think I even have a draft saved where I started, and it just didn't get finished. But I will! Maybe even right here, after all.

Clever girl

What happened? Well, I started a new job, which is amazing, but involved some big changes for us. I have to wear pants to work, and the kids are now going to Mothers Day Out three days a week, and staying with their grandmas one day a week (this morning when I dropped them off, Eleanor jumped into my mom's arms and waved insistently, "Bye mom! BYE MOM!" Okay, okay, I can take a hint...), and they're just thriving. It took Steven a few days to adjust to being dropped off at MDO, but it didn't take long before they'd both run in to their favorite toys and not look back. Most days, when I get there to pick them up, they're running around holding hands. They're learning SO much, and they're so bright - their teachers say Eleanor picks up everything they say and parrots it back, while Steven listens silently all day long, until it's time for naps, and then he sits with his head against the side of the crib and talks. And talks. And sings. And talks. Everything they've taught them, all day, all week, comes pouring out while all the other kids are (or are supposed to be) asleep.

Helping me organize my garage sale pile

So, Christmas. Was pretty amazing this year. We had a pretty low-key day with family, and the kids had a great time baking with grandma:

And checking out Christmas cards:

And generally spending time with our family. The next day, we embarked on our epic adventure: the kids' first vacation! We packed a huge van with two car seats, two toddlers, 7 adults, and about a ton of luggage, and drove to the YMCA of the Rockies. It snowed the first night we were there, and we woke up to this wonderland:

We all had a great time playing in the pristine snow.

We stayed in a cozy cabin, and the kids (for some reason) really loved playing in the hallway where the bedrooms were. I think because it went right off the living room/kitchen, so we could always see them, but they could feel like it was their own little space. They'd race cars down it, and have little dance parties where they flipped the lights on and off (their favorite feature of the cabin: low light switches), and generally work themselves into hysterical laughter every 3 minutes or so. My mom made all 3 kids snuggly fleece sleep sacks, and they love them - they call them their "cozies" and still beg for them every night now that we're home. 

We were only there a few days, but of course we had some opportunities to walk around downtown Estes and eat great food. 

And of course there was just a tiny bit of goofiness (...um, all the time. The whole trip. Pretty much every minute.):

We didn't want to leave, but we were happy to get home. Although heaven help us if Steven notices we have a fireplace at home too - we might have to start using it.

Bonus frog song that I get to hear all the way to work and all the way home now (sorry, my voice is really loud):

2013: A Photographic Year in Review

"Normal"

I've had a couple of funny conversations come up lately.

The other day, while having dinner with a friend I hadn't seen in much too long, she asked me what has surprised me most about having twins.

My answer? Nothing, honestly. I don't know anything different. There was a family sitting at a table near us, and they were leaving as we were having this conversation. I pointed out the child with them, who was about the age of my kids, and told her that my "normal" is so normal to me that I'd had a nagging feeling all evening of, "where's the other one?" When they got up from the table and picked up the little boy to leave, I thought, "they're forgetting one!" My brain just works in twos now. As a great twin-book we got at a baby shower says, it's double-everything. Double diapers, double pajamas, double hugs, double cheese and macaroni. Or halves - I can't just make one lunch (as I discovered the other day when only taking one kid to Mothers Day Out) - then what would I do with the other half of the sandwich, the apple, the fig bar?

Mothers Day Out has been a great thing for them, and I'm so glad it's worked out that way. It took Steven a few days to adjust, but now I have to drag him out while he struggles to go give one more kiss, one more hug, one more "HI!!!" to a teacher next door. Half the time, when I get there to pick them up, they're holding hands and racing around the room - apparently they do that a lot. This never happens at home... I think they appreciate each other that much more when there are other kids around.

Or when they're cooped up inside
for days because of ice.

The other conversation came up when I was searching old chats for our lawn guy's phone number (exciting, I know) - I was scanning through a chat that came up in the search when I saw from my husband, "How are you feeling today? Pregnant? Not pregnant? Normal?" I answered, "Normal, I guess." And his reply? "Well, I guess we'll know for sure tomorrow."

We had NO idea that day that "tomorrow" our normal would change completely. We'd waited and waited for so long, we honestly didn't even dare to hope. That chat sent me down the rabbit hole of other chats about what we thought our life would be like once they came, and the day they were born, and the day after (we chat a lot) - bittersweet conversations about the first set of pictures he took in the delivery room, where we realized I hadn't actually ever seen either of my babies naked; more bittersweet conversations about tests being run and tubes being pulled; sweeter conversations about moving into the Special Care nursery where we'd be able to stay with them all the time. I had NO idea, no way of knowing, that this...

...would be our world, our life, our normal.

Where to start, where to start...

Where does one even start with a post about life with 19-month-olds? There's just so much going on, every minute, I don't even know where to begin documenting it.

They're into everything, all the time. They want to do everything, all the time (Steven's favorite phrase right now: "Do dat! Do dat!") They want to read all the books, play all the games, chase the dog, color all the paper, swing in the swing, eat all the snacks, drink up everything life has to give them.

This is a pretty typical pre-bedtime Eleanor - get into monkey pajamas and tiara, and go around giving mommy and daddy kisses (well, the kisses were new tonight, and amazingly sweet and fun) while experimenting with echoing siren sounds in a cup.

We've also gotten set up this week with some basic crafts - they've been enjoying coloring with crayons for a while now, so I thought it would be fun to introduce play-doh, pipe cleaners, and a few other things. It turns out play-doh is Steven's new favorite thing. He brings me the tub every chance he gets, and loves to see how he can change its shape and put it in different containers.

His sense of adventure cracks me up. Once he sets his mind to something, nothing's going to stand in his way. He has a bizarre fascination with my big straw cup, and one day when it was on my desk, I turned my back for just a minute, and turned back to find this little scene. The boy is determined!

Fair Day!

This year, our day at the State Fair was the most fun I think I've ever had. Last year, the kids were only 6 months old, and to be honest, I think I spent the entire time looking for changing tables or nursing stations, and it was just sort of a fog of baby-ness. The year before, I was very newly pregnant and determined to fight through the ickiness and heat, and came home and was sick all night.

This year, I was a little iffy about going - I woke up with the beginnings of a migraine, and if it had been any warmer, I probably would have stayed home. But the forecast called for a crisp fall day, so I thought I might just be able to get away with being outside for a while. Sure enough, the beautiful weather blew my achiness away, and the kids started out the morning with pink noses and the excitement of riding the train to the fair.

My uncle and aunt met us at the entrance, which was a fun surprise - we haven't spent much time with them lately, so it was fun to get to hang out with them.

The DART Rail station is right outside the car-show buildings, so we went through one of those on the way to our first food stop (waffle-fried chocolate covered strawberries). The kids enjoyed pretending to drive (aka pushing all the buttons) and pretending to be chauffeured (aka bossing her cousin around).

Sadly, as much as Eleanor wanted to try a corn dog last year, she discovered she didn't really like them. Steven, on the other hand, was a huge fan as soon as I added a little ketchup. I took out the stick so he could tackle it on his own.

We wandered through a big greenhouse on the Midway to look at the trains, and came across a little area with free pumpkin decorating for the kids. They had fun with that, and while they were working on their masterpieces, a 10-foot-tall walking, talking TREE came up and said hi. Eleanor was mesmerized. When we left the greenhouse, we were getting ready to go on the big carousel when the kids discovered that the big "rocks" in front of the greenhouse were made of foam, so they spent a while bouncing on those before we got in line for the carousel.

My mom had Steven, while I had Eleanor - she wasn't really sure what was going on, and when the carousel started moving, she thought it was fun, then a little scary, then fun again. They liked watching for Grandpa and Uncle Dane and Aunt Abbey waving outside.

I figured they'd be getting tired and ready to head out, but they were cheerful and happy still, so we changed clothes (casualties of pumpkin-decorating sharpies and ketchup) and kept going to the petting zoo. Eleanor went NUTS for the baby goats.

It was very crowded, but she waited patiently to pet one, and another little girl let her hold some food to tempt one over.

We regrouped with the family after the petting zoo, and while we were doing that, the kids dozed off. Right as they were both really settling, we walked past the big concert stage, where a band was playing a pretty hard-driving, bass-heavy song. Mom turned around and said, "Good luck getting past here with them still asleep..." and right as she said it, they switched to a very soft hymn, which they continued playing until we were well past.

We figured that was a good end to a really sweet, fun day at the fair.

Twins at 18 Months

So. A year and a half.

We spent the day before the kids' half-birthday at a reunion carnival that their NICU puts on each year. It was such a neat time to think back on how far they've come, and to see the other happy kids that have come through similar experiences, tossing beanbags and eating cotton candy. 

I was thinking about personality today. People ask a lot about what each of them is "like" - how they're different, what their personalities are like. I have a very hard time answering - to me, they're completely distinct little people, but not in ways that are easy to categorize. They both chatter like magpies, in an identical mix of babble and real words (and frequently I realize that something I thought was babble is actually a real word I just wasn't understanding); they're both increasingly adventurous (but still pretty cautious) when it comes to climbing around playgrounds; they're both starting to pay a lot of attention to music and dancing and singing; they spend a lot of time involved in games that involve a lot of laughing and a lot of improvising.

The "twin" thing is something that fascinates me every day. Obviously, I have no personal frame of reference for it, and I'm really enjoying learning about it firsthand. I wonder how it's going to play out in the rest of their lives. They're not completely joined at the hip - in fact, in some ways, I think they're more independent than a singleton their age might be, because they always have the confidence that the other is still there, somewhere. 

It's like they're little planets that orbit around each other. Maybe they're not always together, maybe they can't always see each other, but their unseen, unspoken gravity always brings them back together, if only in passing.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what the next six months will bring. Health-wise, they're amazing - definitely caught up on the growth charts and both tall for their age - and they're both just the sweetest people you could know.

It's certainly been a week of milestones! 10 years married, 18 months parents. Somehow it still feels like just the beginning, and I couldn't be happier about that.