I'm pretty sure having twins is the best thing ever.
At least moments like these...
I Do Now
1 week ago
Thursday, April 24, 2014
3:52 AM
You read that right. It's 3:52 AM right now. I just got a screaming baby back to sleep and for some reason I had to write about it. Oh, and surprise! This is the husband.
Danielle and I just had our 6th Anniversary date a few days early. Nothing too special... I think traditionally the 6th anniversary is the cardboard anniversary, or maybe it's plywood? I lose track. Not one for traditions, Danielle and I saw a movie and grabbed a gooey dessert from Chili's afterward while friends of ours were kind enough to watch our boys for us. Jesse & Leandra Call, you're a life saver!
We got home and laid the boys down late, maybe around 9pm, then tidied up. We watched some TV, then settled in for sleep. Danielle is doing what I like to call "Shifting" tonight, which means staying up late so she can nap tomorrow afternoon in preparation for starting a night shift tomorrow at 7pm. She stayed up later than I but eventually made her way upstairs. Once we were both completely asleep and loving our pillows the most one of the boys decides to pipe up and let us know what he thinks about all this silence.
Not much, it turns out.
Danielle hears and responds first (and better) by going down to check on him. Once the screams reach a certain pitch, volume, and frequency I'm forced to admit to myself that she might need a hand. I stumble downstairs and ask "What can I do to help?" She has clearly reached her wits' end due to lack of sleep and all the noise. She's tried the usual fixes like binkies, milk, snuggling, and threats to sell him to the circus (don't you judge us). No dice. I reach in and pick him up and to my horror he quiets right down.
Tag, I'm it.
I walk around with him a minute while Danielle tries to help by filling a sippy cup with water for us. He's not too interested in that, but he sure likes the fact that Daddy now has to walk around with him for a while. He pulls a lean-in move toward Danielle, but she tells him, "You need to stay with Daddy." VILE BETRAYER! What, the other 14,000 times she's gotten up with him suddenly means Daddy is on the hook for his, like, seventh?
I swallow my pride and trust the math. Yeah, it's probably my turn, so we walk around. I try my best to get him interested in something he can take to bed like water, a binky, or a blanket. All he wants is for Daddy to walk around and around with him, so I do. My body is bouncing, but my mind is racing. What can I do to shorten the distance between me and my mattress? Suddenly I spot a toy of his and I figure it's worth a shot. This toy is a teething ring we've had for them for I don't know how long. It's blue and made of rubber and has these five little things around the outside. I offer it to him, but he isn't impressed. I grip one of the little doodads in my teeth and suddenly it's a lot more interesting. He reaches for it and we start up a game of "Here-ya-go, no-ya-don't" as I alternately present and hide it by swinging my head around. I'm getting dizzy, but he's also got a tiny smile on his face which is a step up from the somber eye-rubbing he'd been doing up to that point.
We continue to play our little game when suddenly I get the strangest feeling of connection to this little toy. Like Richard Dreyfus with a pile of mashed potatoes, I keep feeling this means something. This is important. This squishy little ring has become the one thing he might be interested in besides keeping daddy up and, somehow, we're bonding over it.
He lets me sit down without too much fuss and we shift the game from "Here-ya-go, no-ya-don't" to "Gimme-that, now-take-it-back" as he quietly takes the toy from my hand, then replaces it over and over again. All the while I can feel him calming down. After a time we're just sitting on the couch. He's on my lap, pressing his snuggle blanket to his cheek and I'm whispering and singing to him and feeling confused at how he could tear me away from my bed in the middle of the night but still cause such deep and incredible stirrings in my heart. I feel overwhelmed that I can love him so much despite all the lost sleep and sacrifices on his behalf, but in all reality I realize that it's probably because of those sacrifices that I can love him so much. I'm starting to understand what love is.
Since I became a parent I've started to realize more and more what true love means and how truly and deeply our Heavenly Father must love us to have done so much for us. Danielle and I talk about this all the time and compare God's Plan of Salvation to parenthood. We make the most mundane and ordinary things our boys do into an allegory that reveals deeper principles about God's will for us. The stairs become the Law of Chastity. A bump on the head teaches us about adversity. Their cries as we take away a toy reveals an eternal perspective on death. God must know what he's doing because this all makes too much sense to be an accident.
Eventually the kid let me lay him down and he went back to sleep. Honestly I don't even know which one it was. What matters is he's asleep and I'm still up typing out my random thoughts when I have to be to work in... looks like four hours now.
Posting this will have to wait until I can do a quick proof-read in the morning, but for some reason I had to get this out tonight. I don't post very often (much to Danielle's chagrin), and I especially don't make a habit of staying up late to write about my feelings. Tonight, though, I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep again until I got this all down. If this helps someone out there, then I'll consider my work to be done. If not, then I just hope I can find time for a nap tomorrow.
If anyone reading this ever has questions about what Danielle and I believe, just ask us. There's not much in life I enjoy more than talking about my religion. If you'd rather not hear me ramble on and on you can visit mormon.org to learn more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Of course, if you talk to me there's a free book in it for ya!
Ok, time to sleep. Good night!
PS: And, for the record, I tried to find a picture of that teething ring we were playing with on the internet, but after all my searching I couldn't find a single one. It's kinda like that story you hear where a broke couple gets a merciful meal from the nice old lady in apartment 4A only to hear from the super, "No one has lived in 4A for 20 years." Maybe the toy was an angel in disguise or maybe I'm not so good with the Google Fu at four... check that, FIVE in the morning. Either way I'll call it a tender mercy that it worked. Now, for real, my pillow is missing me.
Danielle and I just had our 6th Anniversary date a few days early. Nothing too special... I think traditionally the 6th anniversary is the cardboard anniversary, or maybe it's plywood? I lose track. Not one for traditions, Danielle and I saw a movie and grabbed a gooey dessert from Chili's afterward while friends of ours were kind enough to watch our boys for us. Jesse & Leandra Call, you're a life saver!
We got home and laid the boys down late, maybe around 9pm, then tidied up. We watched some TV, then settled in for sleep. Danielle is doing what I like to call "Shifting" tonight, which means staying up late so she can nap tomorrow afternoon in preparation for starting a night shift tomorrow at 7pm. She stayed up later than I but eventually made her way upstairs. Once we were both completely asleep and loving our pillows the most one of the boys decides to pipe up and let us know what he thinks about all this silence.
Not much, it turns out.
Danielle hears and responds first (and better) by going down to check on him. Once the screams reach a certain pitch, volume, and frequency I'm forced to admit to myself that she might need a hand. I stumble downstairs and ask "What can I do to help?" She has clearly reached her wits' end due to lack of sleep and all the noise. She's tried the usual fixes like binkies, milk, snuggling, and threats to sell him to the circus (don't you judge us). No dice. I reach in and pick him up and to my horror he quiets right down.
Tag, I'm it.
I walk around with him a minute while Danielle tries to help by filling a sippy cup with water for us. He's not too interested in that, but he sure likes the fact that Daddy now has to walk around with him for a while. He pulls a lean-in move toward Danielle, but she tells him, "You need to stay with Daddy." VILE BETRAYER! What, the other 14,000 times she's gotten up with him suddenly means Daddy is on the hook for his, like, seventh?
I swallow my pride and trust the math. Yeah, it's probably my turn, so we walk around. I try my best to get him interested in something he can take to bed like water, a binky, or a blanket. All he wants is for Daddy to walk around and around with him, so I do. My body is bouncing, but my mind is racing. What can I do to shorten the distance between me and my mattress? Suddenly I spot a toy of his and I figure it's worth a shot. This toy is a teething ring we've had for them for I don't know how long. It's blue and made of rubber and has these five little things around the outside. I offer it to him, but he isn't impressed. I grip one of the little doodads in my teeth and suddenly it's a lot more interesting. He reaches for it and we start up a game of "Here-ya-go, no-ya-don't" as I alternately present and hide it by swinging my head around. I'm getting dizzy, but he's also got a tiny smile on his face which is a step up from the somber eye-rubbing he'd been doing up to that point.
We continue to play our little game when suddenly I get the strangest feeling of connection to this little toy. Like Richard Dreyfus with a pile of mashed potatoes, I keep feeling this means something. This is important. This squishy little ring has become the one thing he might be interested in besides keeping daddy up and, somehow, we're bonding over it.
He lets me sit down without too much fuss and we shift the game from "Here-ya-go, no-ya-don't" to "Gimme-that, now-take-it-back" as he quietly takes the toy from my hand, then replaces it over and over again. All the while I can feel him calming down. After a time we're just sitting on the couch. He's on my lap, pressing his snuggle blanket to his cheek and I'm whispering and singing to him and feeling confused at how he could tear me away from my bed in the middle of the night but still cause such deep and incredible stirrings in my heart. I feel overwhelmed that I can love him so much despite all the lost sleep and sacrifices on his behalf, but in all reality I realize that it's probably because of those sacrifices that I can love him so much. I'm starting to understand what love is.
Since I became a parent I've started to realize more and more what true love means and how truly and deeply our Heavenly Father must love us to have done so much for us. Danielle and I talk about this all the time and compare God's Plan of Salvation to parenthood. We make the most mundane and ordinary things our boys do into an allegory that reveals deeper principles about God's will for us. The stairs become the Law of Chastity. A bump on the head teaches us about adversity. Their cries as we take away a toy reveals an eternal perspective on death. God must know what he's doing because this all makes too much sense to be an accident.
Eventually the kid let me lay him down and he went back to sleep. Honestly I don't even know which one it was. What matters is he's asleep and I'm still up typing out my random thoughts when I have to be to work in... looks like four hours now.
Posting this will have to wait until I can do a quick proof-read in the morning, but for some reason I had to get this out tonight. I don't post very often (much to Danielle's chagrin), and I especially don't make a habit of staying up late to write about my feelings. Tonight, though, I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep again until I got this all down. If this helps someone out there, then I'll consider my work to be done. If not, then I just hope I can find time for a nap tomorrow.
If anyone reading this ever has questions about what Danielle and I believe, just ask us. There's not much in life I enjoy more than talking about my religion. If you'd rather not hear me ramble on and on you can visit mormon.org to learn more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Of course, if you talk to me there's a free book in it for ya!
Ok, time to sleep. Good night!
PS: And, for the record, I tried to find a picture of that teething ring we were playing with on the internet, but after all my searching I couldn't find a single one. It's kinda like that story you hear where a broke couple gets a merciful meal from the nice old lady in apartment 4A only to hear from the super, "No one has lived in 4A for 20 years." Maybe the toy was an angel in disguise or maybe I'm not so good with the Google Fu at four... check that, FIVE in the morning. Either way I'll call it a tender mercy that it worked. Now, for real, my pillow is missing me.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Just Too Cute
Sometimes, you're just too cute for your own good.
And your mama wants to hand you the world.
{Briggs}
And you cheese it every time mama pulls out the camera.
My heart literally bursts every time I look at this cute face. And of course his brother's face too.
{He's really in to turning his head sideways to look at you.}
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Easter: NOT keeping up with the Joneses
Let's be honest here. We're no Joneses. You know, those Joneses. The ones everyone is trying to keep up with. Yeah, we're not keeping up with them. Like, at all.
I went on a hunt through our attic for the Easter baskets I bought last year. Of course I could only find one, which surprisingly enough, doesn't do us much good.
Then in true mama-brain fashion, I forgot to use the one basket I had. So the couch it was.
The boys got these cute outfits and when I dressed them in the shirts they were so cute I almost died. They fit absolutely perfectly, which I decided wasn't good enough. They were so cute I didn't want them to just fit perfectly right now. So I'll be returning them for a size bigger so we can enjoy them longer.
We then wore these shirts we already had for church. Which is fine. Not shiny and new like everyone else's kids, but they were still absolutely adorable.
{I}
{I}
{I}
{I}
{I}
{B}
{B}
{B}
{B}
{B}
We also didn't get some adorable picture of our whole family out on the lawn dressed in our Sunday Best. We were lucky to get these. We were all tired and hungry when we got home from church. Jesse tickled the boys until they were exploding with giggles and my camera seemed to focus on everything but their darling faces.
{B} {I}
We had big plans to lay out eggs for the boys to see when they got up from their nap.
Instead, we took a nap too. Our boys will probably be scarred for life because they didn't find Easter eggs on their first Easter home {last Easter was three days after they were born so that barely counts since we were all hanging out in the hospital.}
Ian did have a sweet moment with Jesse after his nap and actually sat still for a couple of minutes. And didn't scream. That was nice. We hear lots of screaming these days.
We had a wonderful non traditional dinner of crepes. Which was absolutely delicious.
And then we put the kiddos in their pajamas and we thought a walk would be a nice way to top off our day.
Until we walked outside and it started raining.
So instead, we went for a rainy car ride.
It was delightful.
Oh and I also failed to post an Easter video or picture on facebook with the true meaning of Easter like everyone else. So instead, here you go.
http://easter.mormon.org/?cid=HPTU041514694
I truly am grateful for my Savior. I know he lived and died for me and that through his resurrection I can be with my sweet family forever. I know that he broke the bonds of death so we all can live again. I know that I will see those who have died before me because death is not the end. I love my three boys more than anything else and because of Him, they are mine forever. He has risen.
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Friday, April 18, 2014
Park Day
Every once in awhile I have a great idea.
Or a crazy one.
Either way, I packed up the boys and went to the park. Followed by frozen yogurt.
Alone.
Yes, I'm a cool mom.
But I probably looked a little crazy .
The boys loved this big rock.
Of course they're fans of the slides.
{But it's a little hard to take action shots when you're there by yourself.}
Also fans of this bench.
It was bright outside, but these kids cannot keep their eyes open for pictures!
I blame Jesse.
And the double swing area is a favorite.
It's just perfect for us.
{I}
{I}
{B}
{B}
And I don't have any pictures of frozen yogurt. It would have just been me eating the frozen yogurt anyway. The boys were too busy people watching and staring at the TV to appreciate our yogurt.
Oh well. More for me.
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