The Big One

My two little guys celebrated their first birthday today!! Hard to believe that a whole year has gone by, and yet I can't remember life without them either. A year ago I never would have thought that we would be where we are now. In just 365 days, we went from this:


to this:


I have heard more than once parents of twins say that the first year just flies by in a huge flurry of craziness and there is no way of pausing long enough to figure out how you made it through that time. It certainly was insane! But I was able to pause. A lot. I was able to soak up those moments holding one of both of these wee tiny little people. I am sad I never got to experience those newborn moments with Marcus and Will, which I think made me appreciate all that time when all I could do was hold sleeping babies, even at 3am. This past year I was able to spend time surrounded by all these boys in my house and feel how truly blessed I am. Through all the craziness of this year, I have never felt so much love or felt so much gratitude for the life I have been given.

Sean:
Sean was the first born of the two. Born 6 weeks early, he was taken to the NICU right away. He never had any respiratory problems and was only put on a feeding tube briefly (24 hours I think). He had some brachicardia issues where his immature nervous system would forget to tell his heart to beat and lungs to breathe often enough. It never turned into an emergency and he would always get himself back on track without intervention. But it did land him with a 13 day stay in the NICU. Then he was home for good. Apart from a couple colds, he has been very healthy. (He did receive a fever for his birthday though and has an appointment first thing tomorrow since there has been some illness in our family.) In the womb, I could tell he was a wild man. He continues to be a wild man. I call him Dozer because he just plows over anything and everything. As soon as he learned to crawl, he was gone. He world expanded from a small area wherever I put him down, to anything and everything he could get his hands on, which was usually things he shouldn't have his hands on. Meal time is a wild frenzy of picking up handfuls of food and shoving it in the vicinity of his face in hope that something ends up in his mouth. He still doesn't have any teeth but that doesn't stop him! He is pretty easy going and often doesn't even care if Aaron grabs a toy out of his hands. He is friendly and loves to play with other kids. However, he doesn't like to be too far away from me either. He has to check back in often by crawling over, getting some hugs and kisses. And then he is off to play again. He is not a happy kid at all if I he sees me leave the room or he suddenly realizes that I am not around. He loves hiding in his crawl tunnel he just got for Christmas, playing peek-a-boo, and chasing after his ball. He also likes to "help" load and unload the dishwasher. He is a happy baby who loves to cuddle and give kisses. And I love to receive his cuddles and kisses.

Aaron:
I still call Aaron "Pinenut" sometimes. Just like when he was born, he is still smaller than a peanut. For such a little guy, he was very healthy when he was born. It just took him a long time to catch on to how to eat and to eat efficiently enough that trying to take in calories didn't burn up more than he was getting. His lungs and heart were healthy from the beginning, but his feeding issues meant he had to stay in the NICU for 18 days. I was scared to death when they told me I could bring him home. In part because then we had two new babies, but mostly because at the time he came home he only weighed 4 lbs 2 oz. It took him a couple weeks at home to catch on to nursing and for us to feel confident that he was getting enough to eat. Then there was a little health setback when he had to have hernia surgery when he was about 2.5 months old followed by getting his tongue tie fixed. After all that, it has been smooth sailing. Aaron is such an easy baby. He is independent and doesn't want anyone to help him with something he can do himself. He just smiles all day long, until you make him mad. If that little guy doesn't get his way, you can see the definition of a redheaded temper flair up! He might be a lot smaller than Sean, but that doesn't stop him from putting Sean in his place, taking his toy, and protesting loudly if Sean attempts to take something from him. His favorite toys right now are doors. Yep, doors. Bedroom doors or doors to cabinets or really anything that he can swing back and forth. The big heavy front door is the best. He is also a big lover of music and starts bouncing and dancing as soon as he hears it. He is happy to smile at anyone he comes in contact with, but prefers not to get too friendly. He is a little sensitive. He is quick to startle and often is not a fan of new people/places/situations. Aaron pays attention to detail. He finds every tiny piece of fuzz on the carpets (which go right into his mouth) and takes his time picking up his food carefully and neatly putting it in his mouth. Up until 2 weeks ago, he has been perfectly happy to sit and observe the world or whatever toy was within arms reach. He didn't seem to have much interest in learning to move about the world, but instead liked inspecting and observing. Then he learned to crawl. A few days later, he learned to pull up. He still uses his mobility mostly to find new things in the world to inspect and observe. He smiles. He smiles all the time. He smiles ear to ear when he is doing something he isn't supposed to be doing, all the while shaking his head back and forth to signify, "no no no!".