Party of Five: March 2009

Thursday, March 19, 2009

My Babies Are Seven Today!

This afternoon, in a rare free moment, I pulled Mary and Laura's baby albums out of their closet. All day I had been reminiscing about babyhood and aching to snuggle my girls as babies again, just for a moment. My memories of their first few months are vague at best. It's a sleep deprived haze of nursing and diapers. Looking at pictures of them as newborns is almost shocking. How could those tiny people have become the amazing girls they are now? They make me so proud. They cried if they weren't in the same bassinet. Mary wore two hats, jammies and two pairs of socks and still had to go in the warmer. Laura was jaundiced and they had to keep drawing blood to check her levels. I wanted to find a picture of the three of us on the day they were born to post with one of the three of us today. Shockingly I don't look so great in any of them. My husband was kind enough to point that out even as he scanned one for me. He shut up after a gentle reminder about which of us actually squeezed those two out. Now, due to the late hour and some technical difficulty, you won't get to see me holding the twins, looking not my best, half an hour or so after they were born. It was fun looking through the albums today, though. Diana looked at a picture of her, with Steve and I before we left for the hospital that day. "Ah, those were the glorious days," she said, tongue in cheek. Turning the page, pointing to one of Mary and Laura in the hospital: "That's what ruined it all". Luckily I know how much she really loves them, even though they drive her nuts in the way only little sisters can. And, lucky her, she got two at once. The world became a happier, noisier, crazier, prettier, smarter, sillier and better place on March 19, 2002. I am humbled to be their mother.

Monday, March 16, 2009

"How to Overstimulate Your Children", or "Happy Birthday, Girls!"

First, pack five first graders into the back of a van for 45 minutes. Next, arrive at the arcade, crammed with people, lights flashing, bells ringing, kids screaming, and music playing. Feed aforementioned children plus four more who arrived in the back of another van (thanks, John and Allsion! We couldn't have done it without you!) root beer, two bites of pizza each and more root beer. Follow children into insanity that is arcade and watch them literally ricochet (oh so happily, I might add) from one game to the next. Give them unlimited rides on the "Frog Hopper", then ice cream sundaes. Cap it all off with 30 minutes or so in the gigantic play structure. Finally, spend about eight hours helping each of nine children "spend" their tickets on junk toys before piling back into two vans for the long drive home. (knock, knock joke, anyone?) Overstimulated yet? Oh yeah. Best birthday party ever? You bet!