Twins!

I am so glad I have twins. I am watching them playing together at the moment, they are creating Play Doh monsters, they are sharing so nicely, the house is quiet aside from their giggling and chatting, which is wonderful to listen to and I am appreciating my lot.

Of course twins are such hard work, and so very expensive. The difficulties of 2 hourly feeds through the night, the burping, the soothing and the diaper changes. Oh the cost of diapers, I would hate to work out how much we spent on diapers, I couldn't wait for them to be potty trained and that drain on our finances gone! Then there's the price of two baby car seats, the double stroller, two cradles, two cribs and all the associated bedding and blankets. Double the amount of crib toys and rattles, two times the clothes and shoes. The cost of car seats once they have outgrown their baby seats. Winter coats, boots and hats, summer jackets, sandals and hats. Two times the toys, the teddies and the balls. Two times the blocks, the pirates and the cars. The ride on toys, tricycles and bicycles. It's a riot of color and noise and mayhem.

Twins are great, it's a built in playmate, someone to whisper to at night when you are tucked up in bed, someone to share your imaginary games, and someone to yell at (and occasionally hit) when the game doesn't 'work right' or one twin steals a toy from the other.

It's an expensive business. It's every waking (and sometimes sleeping) moment of your life. Having a baby changes things in more ways than you could ever imagine. Having twins is double that, and more! It's challenging, tiring, funny, sad sometimes and wonderful! Of course if the boys weren't sitting playing so nicely - as they have been for the past 2 hours - my view here would be completely different. But I am making the most of this afternoon!

It's great having twins!

It's time for a haircut!

I had a dream last night, where I was standing in my bathroom just randomly cutting off pieces of my hair, and when I had finished I had gone from shoulder length light brown, to short, spiky black! And it was the most stylish and attractive haircut I had ever had! Spiky in all the right places and it so suited my face, which appeared at least 20 years younger! I was thrilled! Of course when I got up this morning and looked in the mirror it did make me wonder whether my inner self was telling me to cut my hair! Perhaps it's time for a change, but I think short hair demands a young, fresh face, and I feel none of that applies to me. In my mind longer hair makes me look younger, and it could be all my family and friends think the opposite, who knows? Plus I can hide behind my long hair, it's a useful security blanket at times!

Anyway, today turned into haircut day in the Wadge household. The boys go back to school tomorrow, they start pre-k, and I want them to look decent. Oliver spends most of his day peering out from between his too long bangs (fringe for my UK readers) and although his hair is very fine, he needs a good cut because it's far too long. Jamie has thick hair, and it's all over the place. It grows so fast I can't keep up with it, yet both of them hate having their hair cut and will scream and wriggle through the entire process, often ending up with a lop-sided haircut that they refuse to let us adjust!

Chuck started out cutting Jamie's hair and while it was nice and short and spiky on the top, he wouldn't let us use the razor at the back to equal it out. He let me trim around his ears and his neck with scissors and that was that! It was a buzz cut mullet! Oliver cried the entire 5 minutes he let Chuck loose on his hair, but did stop while I straightened up the edges and around his ears. I also cut his fringe so we could see his lovely blue eyes! But he wouldn't let us do anymore, and it's so hard to keep a squirming 4 year old still!

In the end I had a bright idea - and apologise now to everyone who is against bribing their children! I offered the twins a bag of Twizzlers each if they let us give them a full buzz cut! There was almost a stampede to the bathroom!! Each boy sat on my knee facing me, while Chuck got to work! In no time at all they both had really nice haircuts. They want some hair gel so they can spike it and we have promised to get that when we go grocery shopping later.

I went out into the office and left Chuck to clear up in the bathroom, (there are some perks about being on crutches) and I thought he was putting the razor away, until he shouted "Don't be mad at me!" And when I went into the bathroom, there he was cutting all his hair off!! I couldn't believe it, he looked like a convict! He'd done this before, a long time before I met him, and he had told me that he didn't have a good shaped head! SO WHY DID HE DO IT???

Perhaps someone, somewhere is trying to tell me something? Did my dream just tell me I need a change in hairstyle, or was it a forewarning about this day?? Who knows? I just know that Ziggy and I are now wary of anyone approaching us with a razor in their hand!!

They've changed!

There are a lot of children in our neighborhood, ranging from baby to 6 years of age, give or take a year or two. We try and get together at playgroup now and again, but sometimes miss a session here or there. And it's after these breaks from catching up with friends that you look at their children and invariably say "Haven't they grown?"

It's amazing to me how that happens, one minute your friend has a baby, just taking their first steps with those big diapers waddling away on their bottoms, and then you turn around and they are trying to ride a bike and are potty trained! It seems to happen in the blink of an eye, and why should I be surprised? It's the normal state of things, but it still seems to happen so quickly.

Sometimes when I am hugging my boys I say "Are you my baby?" and they invariably reply that they are not babies, they are 'big' boys!

Yesterday we were heading up to Denver, Chuck was driving and the boys were in the back watching a DVD. I turned around to see if they were OK and I realised in that instant that they were no longer babies, no longer toddlers, but boys. I could look at their faces and see the child behind the toddler, could see how they will look as they grow and move onto grade school.

Only last year they were small and a little upset to be leaving me to attend preschool, next week they start in pre-k. Where does the time go to? It's staggering. And while in many ways I miss those little bundles of joy I can now look forward to the conversations I will have with my boys! Already I love to talk with them, to watch them earnestly discussing a game or idea they have. They use their hands to describe their ideas, they have so many plans and schemes for their games it's fascinating for me to listen to them talk about it. Oliver has even started to come and apologize for his bad behaviour - without coercion - and it's a sign to me that he's getting bigger and starting to realise the world does not revolve around him and that he isn't always right and I am not always wrong or mean or horrible!!!

This past month two of my friends have lost their fathers, one in a tragic road accident and another to cancer. It has made me realise how fragile life is, how all this can disappear in the blink of an eye. It has made me want to make more effort to stay in touch with my friends, especially those that live many miles away.

We are often so caught up in our own lives, the dramas and problems, that we don't always give our friends and family the time they deserve. I know I have much to be thankful for, not least my two 'big' boys!