Big Girls

Kacie and Karli were pretty excited when they heard they would have not one, but two new cousins, a boy and girl. They reminded me several times during my pregnancy. Before the twins were even born, Kacie was dreaming about babysitting them when she gets old enough.

When Emma and Ethan were born seven weeks early, Kacie and Karli weren't old enough to get inside the NICU. Children must be 14 years old to enter unless they are a sibling of a patient. One of the girls said,

"LeeAnn's not gonna let us see the babies until we're fourteen!!"

It made me laugh so hard, but it was also a little sad. It was an accurate perception of my hyper-protection mode and also of the alienation they were feeling. I had to be cautious with the girls and the babies, but the last thing I ever wanted was to hurt their feelings.

Having preemie twins is not a normal bring-home-baby experience where everyone comes over and takes turns holding them. Once they do come home, they have to be strictly protected from visitor contact or any exposure to the public directly or indirectly. Children who attend school or daycare, grocery stores, and church were at the top of the list of things to avoid, according to our doctor. If they must be in contact, the doctor advised that the visitors should change clothes and take a shower before visiting.

Kacie and Karli visited every time they had a chance, freshly showered and they did their very best to comply with crazy Aunt LeeAnn's house rules and ritualistic hand washing and sanitizing.

As the babies got bigger and stronger, Kacie and Karli were able to hold the babies more and help feed them, even change their diapers. I am so proud of how good they are with them. They are very big girls at 9 and 11, the sweetest cousins ever.

The twinks recently spent their first day at The Ashings by themselves.

It sounds like they pretty much made themselves at home. :) Amy said Uncle Michael and Ethan relaxed and read the newspaper on the couch for a while. They both loved hanging out in the house and playing with all of the toys in the bedrooms. The big girls even let the two little monkeys jump on Kacie's bed!

The weather was perfect! They played outside, bouncing balls in the cul-de-sac. Then, Kacie, Karli and Aunt Amy took them for a wagon ride. Amy said her girls felt very big and did an awesome job of entertaining and helping.

They say they can't wait for the next visit!

  K2
+E2 

Art Buff

Art and music seem to be Ethan's forte. If I change a picture on the wall, it will surely be noted by Ethan Dempsey. Nothing gets by that little boy. "Huh...," he says. He has several huhs. He uses different inflections that mean different things. This particular "Huh..." sounds like, "Oh! I see! This is very nice."

I updated the pictures of the twins on the mantel, way, way up high, out of their line of vision. He noticed immediately. "Huh..."  He stood there with his shoulders a bit raised, head tilted all the way back: "Huh...."  I lifted him up for a closer look. He loved it. He pointed and smiled his little discovery smile.

About a month later, I put a new painting in the hallway. It is a night scene with huge tree trunks lining a pathway. A tiny man and his Boston Terrier can barely be seen walking down the path. He seemed to be especially fond of this painting. It is very peaceful looking. He stood on his knees in the hall by himself for at least 15 minutes, huh-ing with his hands resting on the wall. When we visited his Papaw James and Gramma Janis, he huh-ed all around the house looking at all the pictures and art work. Gramma Janis carried him from room to room so he could get a good look at all of her decor.

He reaches out to touch. He smiles and huhs until he has seen enough.

At Papaw Jack and Nannie Bette's house, he did the same thing...only they have lots of antiques, traditional pieces and family heir looms. It seemed like he knew this was a unique collection. He really loved their pendulum clock that can actually be heard! I don't think he had ever heard a clock go tick-tock! "Huh!" And they also have a unique railroad clock from Papaw's many years working for Union Pacific. The clock lights up and sounds like, chug-a-chug-a-chug-a, woo-woo! There has never been greater joy than that of Ethan with his hands and eyes glued to that clock, dancing to the beat of the choo-choo! ...except maybe that of Papaw watching his great grandson marvel at his "toy." Two Dempseys in a pod.

"Huh!"

"Over the River and Through the Woods"

When Emma and Ethan spend the night with their Mimi and Pappy, they get to experience a cowbaby sort of life where the cows really do say, "MOO" and roam all day in the pastures that stretch as far as their baby eyes can see. There are no fences, not much pavement, and the neighbors are far enough away for privacy and good neighborly friendships. Hank (the cow dog) and the cats run free. The chickens say, "cluck-cluck" and scratch the ground in the coup. Emma and Ethan get to help with the chicken feed and collect the eggs. They toddle around freely in the yard and discover Mimi's herb garden, berry patches and flower beds.

Mimi and Pappy let the babies rule the house. I know they love roaming in a baby gate-free world with less no-no's and more yes-yeses. There are tons of baby toys and Emma and Ethan have their own room with a crib and a tv where Sesame Street is on-demand. Mimi says they usually wake up once in the night. She sleeps nearby so she can reassure them in their home away from home. They wake up long before Bob, the rooster, crows. (Now, may Bob rest in remorseful peace since he has paid the ultimate price for terrorizing the feathered ladies in the coup)

The twinks hang out in their pajamas, have breakfast and try to wake up Pappy.

On one visit, Mimi served them some of the fresh eggs they collected. She said they happily gobbled them up. A few minutes later, just as we got there to pick them up, we noticed that around Emma's eye was red and she was all squirmy. We kept watching her as the redness started to spread rapidly all over her face and neck. She started fussing and scratching her tongue with her teeth and her fingernails. We quickly called a doctor and gave her Benadryl. It gave us quite a scare! Luckily, the medicine worked and she started looking and feeling much better a few minutes later. No more eggs for that little girl. We hear that egg allergies are sometimes outgrown. We shall see...


The latest slumber party was over Mommy's 30th birthday weekend, and they also got to spend some quality time with their cool out-of-town aunt, Jody, Mimi's sister. It was almost like two Mimi's.

 Of course. 
 Doesn't everyone have a twin? :)

Big Church

Cici was out sick this week in the church nursery, so this Sunday was a little different. Mom and I took the babies into the sanctuary for big church. We thought if they started fussing, we would sit with them in the nursery ourselves. Everyone was very receptive when we came in. People smiled and oooed and ahhhhed. Some people said, "Look how big they are!"
"She won't be able to carry them both for very much longer," and
"How brave she is to bring them both to church."

Reverend Ann made an announcement that the babies were sitting in this week due to Cici's absence and that they may be "let loose" during the service. I wasn't too sure about that, but I loved that she was. I held them both in the pew until Mom came to sit with us. She held Emma and I held Ethan. We kept them occupied with Cheerios and prayer request cards.

When we all started singing the first hymn, they were both very intrigued. Ethan started clapping his hands and shakin' his head side to side. It made my eyes a little teary to see him enjoying himself so much. Every time we spoke or prayed in unison, they seemed both amazed and perplexed. They looked at Mommy, then Mimi, and all around: "Wow..." they seemed to be thinking. When Mimi had to go sing in the choir, she took Emma, too. Emma is such a good girl. She sat very nicely with the choir, of course. She kept her eyes on the music book. It looked like she thought it was singing story time.

The hymns and aloud prayers seemed to come at just the right moments for their little attention spans. They made it through the whole service without a single tear or tantrum. At the end of the service, Rev. Ann came and asked Ethan if he would join her. He obliged, thank goodness. He had the privilege of assisting with the benediction. What a special moment! His eyes were focused on her lips. Lately, he and Emma are both watching lips very carefully. They seem determined to learn how we do that thing called talking. The benediction began and it always goes something like:

"Remember that wherever you are and wherever you go, God is sending you there. Whatever you do, He has a purpose for His blessings through you. Now, go and do it. May the love of Jesus Christ and the presence of The Holy Spirit be with you now and forevermore. And let all God's people say:"

"Amen."

"Ashes, ashes...we all fall down."

I am so exhausted right now. It was really hectic in the kitchen tonight because I was cooking dinner while in the middle of feeding the babies their chicken and broccoli-cheese-and-rice casserole. I also had some veggies I was making the babies for later. Food juggling, I guess.

I have a sort of food fiasco going on. I'm still trying to figure out how to merge our foods and meal times. I end up trying to do multiple things at once. Instead of pureeing vegetables, I am now steaming and chopping. I make everything in bulk and still use the ice trays to freeze them in convenient little ice cube portions. I have also started feeding the babies a lot of what we are eating now that they have been exposed to a lot of different foods. I can't believe they are so big, eating big people food. :)

Anyway, I was attempting Rodney's favorite tonight, chicken spaghetti, in the middle of a food and feeding frenzy. I had boiled the chicken with some vegetables and mixed all of the other ingredients in a bowl, cooked the noodles, and then I poured everything in the casserole dish and popped it in the oven. It looked so yummy! "Wow," I thought. "I am good." Then I looked over and saw that I forgot to pull the chicken apart and add it into the mixture! I pulled it out of the oven and added it, stirred it around. So much for presentation, but at least I saw it in time to fix it.
Then, I picked up the dish and almost made it to the oven, but it slipped and I dropped it. It spilled all over the inside of the oven door and all over the floor. Ruined.
"Call Domino's."
I felt like screaming my head off. I felt like throwing everything I could see in the trash. I hate the heat that rises to my head when I get upset. It's not helpful. The babies were watching me suspiciously while eating their carrots. I just quickly threw the mess in the trash and went back to chopping the squash. The babies went back to yelling out and banging on their trays. While aggressively rocking my knife over the squash, I dumped a huge bowl of diced carrots in the floor. I wonder how much food a person can waste in a single evening... That was so much work and money down the drain, not to mention the floor that I just scrubbed on my hands and knees last night--disgusting again. I am so frustrated and sad. This feels like a tragedy right now. The Death of the Chicken Spaghetti. It is so sad that all of that food, the chicken, the mushrooms, the celery, the pimentos, the cream of chicken soup, the broth, the tomato sauce, the whole bag of shredded cheese AND the carrots...wasted.
I'm so sorry.

I worked so hard all afternoon in the kitchen and now the trash is full of my groceries and I'm eating Domino's. Yes, we are eating Domino's, but the kitchen is a mess, all the dishes are dirty, the inside of my oven is coated with a cheesy, greasy film, and I feel like I just ran a marathon.

                                                                                                        Nighty-night!