Kate and Luke

I can't believe the babies are going to be a year old next month! What a wild ride it's been! I continue to hear of new twins births (three in one weekend!) and anticipated twins with such mixed emotion. While we feel very blessed to have Kate and Luke in our lives, it is certainly not easy to have twins.

They are both crawling now and getting into lots of trouble. Luke seems to be the most curious one while Kate follows along to see what he's doing. They love to get into anything where there might be hidden treasures. My purse on the floor, the TV cabinet, the remote control basket, and most recently the toilet all are their favorite things right now.

This is a really fun age, an age where they seem to come up with a new skill every day. They are waving to everyone, clapping, and showing us how big they are..."So big!" The best right now is Luke will constantly shake his head "No" while Kate will only nod her head "Yes". It may be an indicator of what's to come...

Enjoy the Monotony!

(This is a delayed blog due to the blogger’s ineptitude. Sorry for the confusion, maybe the anticipation of the actual story will make it that much grander.)

We all complain. I hear it everyday at the grocery store and I am constantly doing it. (A special “shout out” to Kathleen at this point for putting up with me.) We complain about our kids, our husbands, our finances, our lack of time, our boring lives…so many things. Not that we are negative people, but it’s just something we do.

But no more for me. I’m done complaining. I just had one of those reality checks I always talk about needing. The kind where you need to take a good, hard look at your life and think, “My life is good.” A reflection on all which is right in the world and knowing you are fortunate.

My friend is going through one of those hair-raising, one-chilling moments right now in her life. Her seven year-old daughter may have cancer. How can this be? Seven year-olds don’t get cancer. My father passed away from the disease at 57 years-old and that was way too young, how can this little seven year-old girl have such a ruthless and devastating disease?

My friend thought her daughter had a urinary tract infection. T. took her to the doctor for antibiotics and they didn’t seem to help. H. continued to have severe pain and it worsened. After another day, T. called to doctor back and they told her to take her to the ER. Long story, and a hospital transfer later, they are awaiting test results from a potato-sized tumor removed from her uterus, along with a fallopian tube and one ovary. Results will come in the next couple of days.

I sat in my car this morning, frazzled from trying to get two babies and three boys ready for the day. As I started the car I thought about how every day seems to be the same old, boring regimen. Then I thought of my friend and her terrible ordeal. I realized how fortunate I am to have such a monotonous morning today and every day. Monotony is not such a bad thing.

I’m a fortunate person. I have a lovely family full of love and grace, a lovely home to fit all of our love and grace, and all I ever hoped and dreamed of having. We have a roof over our heads, food on the table, and no more health concerns than some runny noses and, currently, one ear infection. Life is good.

Follow-up: H. is home from the hospital with good news. No cancer!! She is recovering, swamped with balloons, flowers, stuffed animals, and treats. Mom and Dad are thrilled! I’m sure they are looking forward to some monotony!

Buried Treasure??

There are guys jack hammering outside our house right now. It's shaking the house and VERY loud! Unfortunately the babies are both asleep and I am quite certain they will wake up from the noise. It irritated me until just now...

Lance has been looking out the window, wondering what they are doing. It looks to me like they are replacing a block of the sidewalk which was marked with an "X" because it was unsafe. Lance has been talking aloud about their possible motivations for doing this work and finally has come up with the perfect solution. "Mom, they are looking for buried treasure! They found the X and are now digging up the treasure." He continues to watch to see if they bring up a treasure chest.

Oh, to be four again! At least I got a good laugh out of it and the babies are still asleep! What a wonderful thing!

POSTLOGUE: The jackhammering didn't wake up Kate, but the sound of Lance exclaiming,"Yummy!" to my chocolate chip cookies did. Just goes to show how delicious my cookies are!

Luke's Favorite Trick

Luke is amazing me every day with his new talents. It's hard to keep up with everything he can do, but I will share his funniest thing right now.

A couple of days ago, I went to lift him out of his crib. He was laying down and I bent over to say hello and he shook his head. I laughed and he laughed. He did it again, I laughed harder and he laughed harder. Now it was a game! I took him downstairs and he shook his head "no", so I shook my head "yes". Then he shook his head "yes". The game continues.

The game has evolved into a certain "Mystery Eight Ball" fun. I will ask him a question and he will respond with a yes or a no, the fun is that you never know if it is a yes or a no. Ask if you are looking particularly cute today and you may get a "no", but you may get a "yes" if you ask him if he's a turkey! What fun!

Another little trick coming from him is the violent nodding of his head when he hears music. He likes to dance on his knees with the head swinging! So cute!