22 February 2015
This has been the constant paradox for me in parenting twins, since the beginning and extending to the present. When I am alone with or focused on one, the other is always there in the periphery of my mind, exerting her gentle, constant pull on my heart, like a small moon.
Jane Roper, Double Time
Write write write fast! The girls have been napping for an hour already while I've been trying to figure out what to do with the glorious quiet. Walk outside into the cold wet bright foggy morning to take out the recycling! Look at Hanna Anderson for baby clothes?! Check out Jane Roper's blog when I was confirming what the name of her book is above! I'm a little manic on the joy of having slept from 8pm last night until almost 5am this morning, and then a bit more from 6 or so until 8 or so, cuddling in bed with Nora and then Bea and then Nora again before running out to Ike and Jane to get our second dozen doughnuts this weekend. What! We had company to help!
My mom was able to visit for the past few days, which was wonderful; she's so delighted by every sound and smile the girls make, it serves as a pretty good reminder that I might want to put down my phone and appreciate it more. Bo and I were able to go out with friends on Friday night for the first time together since we became Parents, which was so fun and funny and a reminder that one day we will be social again! It encouraged me to consider being social with the girls, during the day, which we've done oh so rarely so far, it being quite an expedition still. Once it gets a bit warmer and we're more solid in our morning and afternoon naptimes, I hope it'll be a little more viable.
In general, things are getting so much easier now that the girls are able to express themselves a bit more. Bo and I greedily absorb their mornings of smiles, Nora sometimes wide-mouthed with joy, Bea wrinkling her nose and smiling while twinkling her eyes with trouble. They wriggle like crazy with the appreciation of such things as 1) morning time! 2) mirrors, 3) things they can hit, 4) EATING, 5) getting picked up by Daddy, especially up really high. They dislike getting clothes taken off and put back on, and being TIRED, and are not reluctant to voice their discontent. There are a wide variety of other things that they vehemently dislike, but we parents are still attempting to piece together the clues to decipher what they might be exactly. Boredom? Matching clothes? Some positions on my chest? Being kicked by your sister? We're getting better though, and meanwhile, you two are getting better at being alive and not quite as pissed about it.