The Year of Milk and Honey

2011 was full of firsts for the babies. Each small step for the babies has been monumental for the new parents. Our preemies who were once bumps on a log who couldn't reach out and grasp a toy or roll over, are now running around the house, playing in their room together and climbing up on the furniture. They are just starting to figure out how to talk on their pretend phones and they don't want their mom to help them with things as much lately. They imitate singing, animal sounds and so many words. Ethan amazes me with how well he remembers the sounds that go with the pages in his books: "ROAR!"
Emma is an awesome barker, buzzer and meower. I can tell that she has pretty much full understanding of the language based on her responses and facial expressions when we talk to her. It's amazing to watch all this happen. Ethan's latest milestone is plasticware. He doesn't want me to feed him these days. He wants me to put the food on his tray and he proudly digs around with his new tool. Emma's latest feat is saddling up on their Radio Flyer rocking horse and riding away with a huge smile. And a another small new thing for Emma, she always has to play with her hair while falling asleep now. She runs it through her fingers over and over and she plays with mine sometimes, too.

Neither of them are strangers to the time-out spot, but Ethan has so far proven to be the reigning king. The leading cause for Emma is biting and hitting with a toy. For Ethan, it's standing on the furniture or running behind the furniture where all of the outlets and electrical cords are. He does this over and over and over and thinks it is so funny. Emma is usually very upset to be punished or corrected. She wants mom and dad's approval.

On New Year's Eve Day, we took a family walk with the new trikes. There are poles with handles behind them so the parents can control the steering if they can't steer yet or if they get tired. They can almost pedal, but not quite. Later, we played outside and Rodney cooked on the grill. We spent all day together and tucked the babies in safely by 9. A few minutes before midnight, Ethan woke up crying. I think he must've heard a fire cracker or something. I went in to comfort him, and as I laid him back down and he was sound asleep, the fireworks started. I quickly tiptoed out to enjoy them with Rodney without stopping to get my coat. He pulled me in and we shared his coat while we hugged and watched the neighbors light up the sky.

 All of a sudden, a tube fell over and artillery shells were blasted into two neighbors' yards. Fire caught fast and ran all over several yards across the street from our house. A few neighbors ran to try to stamp out the flames, but it was spreading too quickly. I can still see the eerie sight in my mind of one man frantically stomping and waving his arms while becoming surrounded by flames.  I called 911 and other neighbors rushed to help with blankets and trash cans full of water. I'm sure none of the neighbors could sleep very well that night after all of the excitement. It was terrifying to see multiple fires so close and how quickly they became out of control. The fire came right up to the front door of one house. The neighbors could've lost everything...just like that. Luckily, all of the neighborhood heroes had the fires out before the firemen came. The call was cancelled and all went black and quiet.

The next morning, I drove down to see how much damage was done, and the burned grass did go right up to one house's front porch. But it looked much smaller than what my eyes had seen. I was just so relieved that no one was hurt and no one's house burned down at the strike of the new year. That couldn't be a good sign.

But maybe this is a good sign...God's call from a burning bush.

 "The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed....When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, 'Moses! Moses!'
   

And Moses said, 'Here I am.'” (Exodus 3:2)


Here I am, God, in 2012! May Your will be done, and may this be the year of milk and honey.

Amen.

Tradition Transition

In the months after the babies were born in 2010, the usual hustle-bustle of the holidays on my side of the family ceased to be. It was the strangest thing I had ever seen. My parents' 40 year family traditions were broken. Why did it have to be on the one year that both of my babies were brought into the world? I wasn't sure if I was hurt of relieved. I think I was both.

I was hurt because that was the first year of my life that Thanksgiving and Christmas were not complete extended family affairs for my mom's side or my dad's side. Normally, we have to run around like crazy to meet with group after group of our extended and blended families. It's a bunch of craziness. I love it.
We did go to my parents' and Rodney's grandparents' houses and celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas in 2010, and it was lovely. But none of our extended family got to meet our babies.  I had imagined getting to proudly introduce our biggest blessings to every single person in our families. I thought everyone would be dying to meeting them. I'm sure they were, but that's not how it worked out.

At the same time, I couldn't help but be a little relieved because my fears about the babies getting sick were lessened knowing that it was a small family gathering. We were also packing a ton of stuff and it helped that less people would be tripping over all of the baby gear. Plus, that Thanksgiving, the babies still had their heart/apnea monitors. Those were a potential tripping risk as well, with all of the wires times two.  A month later at Christmas, the monitors came off. I felt like dancing all around the living room with the babies just because I finally could without throwing monitor bags over my shoulder or getting wound up in wires. They were a pain but they made me feel secure. I slept a lot easier knowing that an ear piercing alarm would sound should one of the babies stop breathing.  But no monitors meant the babies were getting stronger and healthier, that things were moving along as they should.

This Thanksgiving recommenced the family tradition and marked the beginning of a new tradition for the Nelson family of holding its gatherings at the marina club house. I loved watching Emma and Ethan stomp all around in their fancy clothes like big kids. They were walking right up to greet (or investigate) new people, and they got to enjoy all of the yummy Thanksgiving "big people food" for the first time.

Our family has grown a lot in the past decade. We are currently in a marriage and baby boom. There have been two sets of twins born in one year. There are still many babies to come, I'm sure, and if we're all going to start having them two at a time, then we might just have to start renting a warehouse for our holiday festivities.

By the time Christmas rolled around, I was feeling exhausted. I just couldn't find the energy for anything. I wasn't depressed. I was just...not festive. But it turned out to be wonderful anyway, thanks to my husband. He did all of the work to make Christmas happen this year. He put the lights out on the house and even decorated the inside of the house. He hung the stockings. He brought the tree in from the attic. He did the shopping online. He even provided a crappie Christmas dinner at his grandparents' house.

The babies watched me decorate the tree and they thought every ornament was a new toy I was denying them. They cried almost the whole time because their mommy was hogging all of the "balls" and hanging them all out of reach on a beautiful lighted and forbidden tower that stood high inside their pack-n-play.

They still don't understand wrapping paper, but they loved seeing the living room after Santa had come. Emma screamed out with glee and Ethan stared and moved in for a closer look. He walked around saying, "Ho...ho," all day. Emma said, "Hu-hu!" They both loved playing with all the new toys and toys that they hadn't seen in a long time too. ;) It was Christmas at its best in the eyes of a pure and innocent little boy and girl.

Instead of fancy Christmas clothes, they spent all day in their comfy Christmas pj's.

The babies were finally able to meet almost everyone for the holidays this year and now it just feels complete. It feels like they were finally and officially initiated into the family and our traditions.

And now, Emma and Ethan, I pronounce you Nelsons and Robinsons, Garlands and Hodges.

Costume Control

I wanted to choose the perfect Halloween costumes for Emma and Ethan this year because I know that my control over this is very temporary. I would like to take advantage of the fun "twins" factor and do at least a few years of coordinating costumes. After much thought and many suggestions from my friends, I was still undecided in September. I mentioned some of the ideas to Rodney and he vetoed every one. Typical.
"Okay, then what do you want them to be?"
There was a Halloween catalogue sitting on the counter from yesterday's mail. He flipped it open and quickly turned the first few pages. His finger came down hard on a page and he said, "There. There's their costumes."
"Oh my goodness. I love it."
Little Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Wolf. Perfect.

We took them to their Pappy's office to trick-or-treat, and they had their first Dum-dums since their one year shots. They were very sticky and messy. I was afraid they would ruin their costumes on their very first stop. I kept wiping their faces and trashing Dum-dums. Oh, how they cried. I felt so mean. Mimi and Pappy just kept giving them another one. What a mean mommy. What did it matter anyway if they ruined their costumes? They would still be adorable, and it would've made for cute memories in the pictures. I need to learn to loosen up a bit and be more flexible.

I am still amazed that they both kept their hoods on the whole time and weren't bothered a bit by their costumes. They were so cute. We stopped by their daddy's work to show his co-workers, then our grandparents' houses.  We finally met Rodney's cousin Mallory and her family for some real trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Well, almost. We didn't really walk them up to any houses. We just pulled them all around in the wagon to see all of the other kids. They had already had enough candy for one day. Plus, it seemed more than a little wrong to take our little tinies up as decoys so that we could eat all the candy later. Sure, it sounded like a good plan at first...;) but we just couldn't let two other kids be turned away later because LeeAnn and Rodney have a sweet tooth.

Emma silently stared from the wagon at the parade of plastic masks and painted faces. Maybe she thought she was dreaming these visions of marching ghosts and fairy princesses. She looked to be in a dream-like state but still very much awake.  Her little red hood and cape made her look so whimsical in the breeze. Ethan was interested in all of the action too. His eyes followed every trick-or-treater out of sight. By the time we made the rounds, his head was bobbing and he kept falling to the side in the wagon. I pulled him out and carried the sweetest little big bad wolf the rest of the way home.

Naysayers

No is the word of the house now. I don't like saying no, no, no all the time. I don't like that Emma and Ethan say it more clearly and more regularly than any other word. I try to redirect instead of saying no when I can, but as the babies have become more and more mobile, our new favorite word shows up more and more as well. I am a little sad about the negativity it brings into my house even though it is a very necessary and important word. I like letting them make messes with the Tupperware in the kitchen now and then or pull all of the clothes out of the dresser. I let them play with whatever of mine that they want: my necklace, my bracelet, my phone, my iPod, my hair brush....  I try to reserve most of the no's for the really important things.

The babies say it enough for all of us. They are the cutest little no-it-alls. They walk around the house no-ing everything. They start a no chant and stomp around the living room in a no marching band.
They even say no when they clearly mean yes. They may still be working out the difference between no and its rarely heard counterpart yes.  But sometimes I think NO just seems so much more fun to say.

Ethan screams NO if you take something away from him. He paces back and forth in disbelief, scrunching his face and shaking his head at the wrongness of it all: No, no, no!

They point to things they know are no-no's and label them as such.

Emma shakes her finger, no, no, no.

When Ethan first wakes in the morning, he sometimes practices his no's softly to himself. He knows there will be plenty of no-ing to do today.

If Emma isn't ready to go to sleep, don't you dare sing her a lullaby or try to rock her. You will be immediately corrected: "No!"

"Did you go poo-poo?"

"No."

"Can I have that?"

"No."

"Do you want a bite?"

"No."

"Are you ready for bed?"

In unison: "NO!"