8.23.2007

Love Letter: Month Eighteen


Dear Tradd and Jackson,
I've decided that once a month I am going to write a love letter to the the future "you", so that one day you can go back and read all about what your life was like. When you have kids of your own one day you will realize what I was doing all of the months before and could not keep this up until now....

You are beginning to look more like little boys and less like babies. I think your hair is what makes you look older all of the sudden. You both have been bald most of your lives and this is strange because Daddy and I both have thick hair. When you look back at pictures of yourselves I hope that you will not be mad at us for not cutting it. Just when I think I've gotten up the nerve,with scissors in hand, I can't do it....but it's coming very soon. I have to giggle when you wake up from your naps in the afternoon because you both look like distant relatives of Albert Einstein. Somehow, the way the light streams in your bedroom window and bounces off the thousands of stray hairs you still look like babies to me. That's why I can't cut it. I am trying to slow this process of growing up and if leaving those curls gives me even one more glimpse of you as babies, then the crazy hair stays.

You both have really started to play lately...by yourselves and together, but you like it best when we all play together. Every time I get in your play yard one of you immediately comes to sit on my lap. Usually you come to me with a book in hand(the "Bright Baby" books are your favorites)and you will sit with me as long as I will let you. It is in those moments, when I am trying to share my lap with both of you, that I am overwhelmed that I am your mama. And that we were lucky enough to have twins. I can not imagine just having one of you. People ask me all the time if y'all have a secret language between the two of you. Just once I'd like to have the nerve to say, "How should I know if it's a secret?" I do watch you playing together and you are communicating, but I am hoping it's in some early form of English because I was never good at when it came to foreign languages much less secret ones!

Neither of you are very interested in television and for that I am thankful. We want y'all to play like we did as kids, outside riding bikes until dark. However, there is one show that will stop you in your tracks when you hear the music. ELMO, or Melmo as you call him, is absolutely your favorite character. Maybe it's the way he talks or the way he repeats himself, but whatever it is..it mesmerizes you both. I even catch myself humming that tune...La la la la- la la la la- Elmo's World...

School started for all the kids this week and while Mommy does miss teaching, I am so thankful to be home with you. I guess I am still teaching, I've just got a much younger class! You both are doing very well with saying words and using sign language. The funniest thing that you have done lately is trying to sign "I love you". You both get your arm up like a chicken wing and point your whole hand down...more like a gang sign gone bad, but we are working on it.

As I am writing this, you are sleeping in the next room like angels. Y'all are great sleepers, sometimes sleeping 11 or 12 hours a night and then taking a 3 hour nap during the day. You have gotten use to sleeping in the same room and you rarely wake each other up. Secretly though, if your Daddy is out of town I will grab one of you and sneak into our bed. I love snuggling up to you and watching you sleep. I still creep into your room at night to cover you up and make sure you are comfortable. I am still whispering for you to stay my baby boys. Just stay.

Love,
Mama

8.21.2007

Taking "frugal" to a whole new level



Last night I realized that the boys are in dire need of new pajamas! It's not that they don't have enough, they just don't have enough that fit. The only ones left in the drawer to choose from were the ones with feet that snap to the shirt. You know the "old fashinoned" kind that Carter's made cool again. Anyway, I'm sure you can see where this is going. With a few snips, I cut the feet out of those bad boys and viola! We can get at least another 3 months out of these things.

Sick babies and a Send Off

We spent the better half of last week tending to two sick babies. Lee left to go out of town Wednesday and as my luck would have it Jackson wakes up from his nap with a temperature of 104. I immediately gave him fever reducer and it came down. He was up most of the night flopping around my bed like a fish, but I was glad for the company. When Tradd woke up Thursday with fever too, I went ahead and made an appointment for that afternoon. It was their ears again. Tradd had both ears infected and Jackson just one. One more in the next month or two and we are headed for tubes.
Lee was sweet enough to cut his trip short and came home Thursday night late so that I could keep my lunch plans for Friday with my friends from Springdale. People ask me all the time if I miss teaching school and I do...but mostly I miss the people I worked with...and the kids, but it's different when you teach 5th grade because we are the end of the road. All of my old students are in middle school now, so when I go back to visit I don't know any of the kids. (Just a side note, my first class of students will graduate this year!) Anyway, it was good to catch up with all of them and just be at school a little bit.
Saturday we went to Presbyterian for Bryson's Fan Day. The boys had a ball, but it was HOT! We only got to see him for about 45 minutes. He is so good with the boys although one time he was clearly using them to bait the cheerleaders. Really, we are here to help, Bryson....
And finally Sunday. My sweet Anna (my best friend Cindy's oldest child) left for college. I guess I'm the closest thing she has to an older sister so she asked me to tag along. We had a surprisingly easy time unloading and getting her settled in. It brought back so many good memories of college life for me and Cindy and Jacob. We laughed a lot that day, but in the end we all left a piece of our hearts standing on the sidewalk in Charleston. I'm so proud of her and I know she will love it there.

8.15.2007

Biggest Summer Yet

I've heard it said before, "The bigger the summer vacation, the harder the fall." I'm not sure if they are talking about the actual season of Fall or if they are referring to the depression that one falls into as soon as they realize that last trip of the summer is over. Nonetheless, this has been our "biggest" summer yet. Since I decided to take a little hiatis from blogging...since February....let me explain.
Every year our first trip of the summer is to Bryson City, NC for Decoration...or "Declaration" as Lee called it for years until my keen ear heard the slip and corrected him. For those of you not well versed in "country", Decoration is another word for family reunion or at least it is in my family. We go Memorial Day weekend and my parents rent this huge log cabin called Black Bear Lodge. We cookout with family, tube down Deep Creek, and spend time together.
In June, Lee and I went to Edisto with Cindy and Jacob Wilkerson. We had so much fun on the boat (the first time we'd had it in the water in 2 years!) We had amazing weather, especially for our boat trip to Charleston. While there we both celebrated our anniversaries...we share our wedding date, June 23rd.
The last week/weekend in June Lee and I went to the Dominican Republic with our great friends, JP and Amanda. We had such a great time doing absolutely nothing! The highlight of our trip was Lee playing water polo. When you see the pictures you will know why....
July found us back at the beach with both of our families. My family made our annual trip to Fripp Island for the 4th. The boys loved the sand and the water! We really had to watch Jackson because he had no fear of the water. The cool thing about Fripp is that it is a very wide beach and tide pools form about half way to the ocean. This was perfect for the boys because they could play in the water without the waves. We came home from Fripp for 2 weeks and then we went to Surfside with Lee's entire family. This is the first time that I have ever been with Lee's whole family and I really loved it. Lee worked that week in the mornings because Myrtle Beach is in his territory. And again the boys loved to play in the sand and surf and had a lot of fun with their cousins!
Our summer was wonderfully full and wonderfully exausting...time to rest.....wait, football season starts in 3 weeks.......