TEN: A decade in the making

The blog, like all my children, has been a bit neglected as of late.  This new job/move/baby surgery/end-of-school/sports/recital/CrAzY thing has gotten to me.  I haven't really missed any deadlines or skipped events completely, but I have been just under the wire more times than I care to count!  Including today when I totally flaked out on taking treats to school for the girls' classes to celebrate their birthdays with them.  Emma and Lara had each mentioned it last week, but I spaced out and forgot.  Mother's Day and Baby Dedication was yesterday.  I guess I was concentrating on that and not looking past the weekend.  But, thanks to their AMAZING Dad and cooperative teachers, they each got to have personal favorites for snacks this afternoon in their classrooms.  WHEW!

So, I am the mother of 10 year old twin daughters.  (And a five year old and 7 month old son, too.)  WOW.  I never thought this day would get here, and yet here it is.  Not much different from any other Monday in the past few.  Looking forward to school getting out in a week, trying to make sure we don't miss any rehearsals, practices, games or performances this week.  Trying to figure out exactly what it is I should be doing at work.  And with a blink of an eye, my first babies turned 10 years old.

4 months:

 10 months:

 

4 years:

10 years:

They are growing up into wonderful young ladies.  They each have their quirks, and their bad habits, but they are both loving, caring, creative girls who love the Lord and work hard everyday to meet the goals they have set for themselves.  They have changed a lot in the last year, having to learn some hard lessons and grow up so quickly.  I am loving having them in separate spaces for the first time in their existence as it seems to have changed them just a little.  They are started to appreciate each other more than they ever have.  The time they do spend together is slightly less electrically charged.  They even miss each other for short periods of time!

Here's to another birthday.  Double Digits!  They are already counting down the days until they are teenagers - just three short years away.  *sigh*  We had a little birthday time this morning before school where they got presents from us, and we went out to dinner to celebrate tonight.  They are having a small sleepover this weekend with friends.  A pretty quiet affair, but then again, that suits me just fine!

Neun, Nueve, Neuf, Nove, Nio, Dokuz, NINE!

Nine years ago today (May 13), I was wandering waddling through my cluttered house in Lewisville, TX thinking about my last few days as a childless woman.  I knew I had 3 more days until my twin babies would be born at Baylor Hospital – Grapevine, TX, and I knew I had a Dr’s appointment and paperwork at the hospital the next morning.  I knew I had family coming to stay with us for a few days, and I needed to straighten up the house, finish packing my hospital bag(s), and make a Target run (which was between my house and the hospital, so there was a stop planned there after the aforementioned appointment).  I had plenty of time.  Or so I thought!  Little did I know that in just a few short hours, I would be holding 2 precious, orange-headed baby girls who would rock my world and change everything about my life as I knew it up to that point.

Their arrival was a little hectic, and life has been hectic ever since! And I love it that way!  When they were tiny babies I liked to pick out their physical differences like Emma had no hair, Lara had TONS; Emma’s 2^nd toe is longer than her big toe, Lara’s is shorter; Lara has detached earlobes, Emma’s are attached, etc etc etc.  But now that they are growing into young ladies, the differences are SO much greater!  The way the approach life, their interests, the books they read, the friends they make, the areas they succeed in, the areas they have to work hardest in – are all different.  And it’s still fun to look at them and identify those differences.  To embrace them.  I love them both so much – and so differently!  Even the way I discipline them has to be different.  They are truly 2 unique individuals, who just happened to come into the world on the same day.

We are gearing up for another busy weekend!  Last night we bought all the birthday party supplies!  The girls each got to invite 3 friends to go to Swick’s Pizza  for a birthday party where they will make their own pizzas and play a round of glow-in-the-dark mini golf.  The party theme is “Way to Glow” and Britt is making each child a personalized glow-in-the-dark T-shirt to wear, and I got a ton of those glow necklaces and a few glow-in-the-dark bracelets for each kid to wear over in the dark room.  Should be fun!  Tonight, Twin A is staying home with me to make cake balls for her party (after Jake’s T-ball game!) and Twin B is going to Yukon with her “Other Dad” to make homemade pizza.  Emma opted to stay home so she wouldn’t have to get up too super early for her 10:00 baseball game.  See – it’s a busy weekend!  After the baseball game, they are having lunch with their Other Dad, then that afternoon/ evening they will open presents with us (the Five Dream Weavers) and my parents.  Then, the party is on Sunday!

They are growing up.  And I can’t slow it down!  I recently read a book called “Moms' Ultimate Guide to the Tween Girl World” by Nancy Rue and while I think we have not gotten to some of the issues presented, it feels good to be a little more prepared.  I would recommend this book to all my friends who are moms of tween girls!

I am looking forward to this weekend and celebrating the birth of my first babies 9 years ago.  They are beautiful, energetic, smart, fun, and wonderful young woman.  This journey of motherhood they are leading me on is inspirational, educational, rewarding, and the hardest thing I have ever done.  And I wouldn’t change it for the world!  Yesterday’s Tweet: