Babies' first smoothies

Little Pangs

I saw a woman unloading her twin girls into her Target cart the other day and I almost burst into tears. She pulled one pink infant seat out of the back of her car and carefully snapped it into place on the top of the cart. I turned and looked because babies are cute and, like most people, I like to catch a glimpse of them whenever there's one around. It barely caught my attention when she walked around the back of the car and reached in the other side. But when she stood up carrying an identical pink infant seat that's when it hit me like POW! The lump that immediately clogged my throat shocked me and I was embarrassed by the tears that formed in my eyes.

Why the waterworks? Reminders of my kids growing up bombard me constantly but rarely are they so poignant. Just yesterday it was me unloading 2 infant carriers into my Target shopping cart. Now I load them into their stroller and push them through the store while pulling the cart. Tomorrow I'll be shopping alone after dropping them off at kindergarten.

And again with the wet eyes. It's just too fast.

Things I know now that I didn't know 14 months ago:

I will ask my babies to do tricks on command just like all parents before me. Like those parents I will try to convince people that Lola and Jack can laugh/pull up/crawl/walk/say "bye bye"...etc while onlookers smile and think how ridiculous I look. They will not, of course, think any less of my child for not performing. They might, however, laugh a little at me.

My kids will have runny noses, food on their faces and cloths, sneeze on another child's toy just before he puts it in his mouth, and be generally disgusting. Previously I would have thought I was too clean, conscientious, proud, you fill-in-the-blank to allow this to happen. I am obviously not.

My kids will pull another child's hair, whine for what they want and scream when they don't get it, throw themselves and their toys on the floor in protest, laugh in the face of correction, and quite frankly annoy the heck out of me some days. Contrary to what I thought before they were born, I do not possess magical mommy powers of discipline. Oh well.

Ahhh the bliss that was the ignorance of first time pregnancy.

Is anyone supervising these children?!?!?
(Look closely. That is a beer in his hand. And dirt all over his face. And cheetos all over the floor.)

Experimenting with Video

Finally I have the video camera working! We have only a few videos of the past year, but I now have everything back in working order and you should be looking at more than just still photos from now on! Yeah!
Remember when...

Working in the garden, and a little play too!

Yes, Lola is about to eat dirt.Jackson helping Pops spray some plant food on the garden.
Digging up some weeds.Jackson is determined to break into the shed. He has yet to succeed. Enjoying some play after all that work in the garden.