A Weekend to Remember

WHAT A WEEKEND. This Saturday was lil taters birthday party. The very first one. It's crazy to think that only a year ago he was born. It seems like yesterday that I held him for the first time. That I heard him take his first breathe of air. It seems like only yesterday that he slept right next to us in his bassinet, and now a year later hes walking, talking (his own language) and exiting babyhood and moving into lil boy(hood).  I'm not sure if I'm ready for him to grow up. I know what your thinking he still only one you've got seventeen more years to have him, but if this first ONE went by that fast how fast will the rest go. Its such and amazing overflow of emotions as a parent, be proud and excited as your baby grows up. And on the other hand be saddened by the fact that they are. I feel kinda bad now that I think about it, I'm sure this is how my parents had to feel as I grew up. I'm not sure if ill ever be able to look at my lil tater and not see him as a little baby, so cute and lovable. That's kinda hard for me to admit because I would love for him to grow up and be a tough linebacker type, a gentle giant. An animal on the Field, or court, and pleasant, and nice off.  I guess I'm putting the cart before the horse we probably better just get him sleeping without his teddy bear before we unleash him on the football field. Well, anyway, this weekend was a complete success, thanks to my wife. I really can not brag about her enough. She put together this amazing birthday party. She made cakes, sent out invitations, it was great. Not sure if lil tater will remember it but we have enough picture to last him a lifetime.  A bunch of people should up for the party, including the grandparents and Great Grandparents. So of course since we had everyone in town we had to share the "NEWS."  I'll tell ya what its kinda hard to divide the time, because we wanted the party to be about lil tater but we wanted to tell our family while we had them there in person, so we did. My wife thought up a great idea about wrapping up little diaper to share the news on the front it read "Boy ? Girl"  then on the inside we put "TWINS."  It was a great hit, I believe both sets of grandparents were blown away, completely caught off guard, but blown away.  Everyone was extremely excited about the thought of twins. For my parent this is going to be there second Grandchild so they were elated to escalate up to three grandchildren to spoil. My in-laws were thrilled as well. My brother in-law also has three children so we have caught up to them, and now my in-laws have an even number to spoil. All in all it was a phenomenal time. I love when we get to see out parents, especially when we have wonderful secrets to share with them. This weekend was a wonderful time, lil tater got more presents than he knows what to do with. Our parents got a little extra gift surprise that they were unexpected. And we got the joy of being parents to the worlds best one year old, and looking forward to celebrating many more with him and the TWINS.

Tellin the friends

With this incredible information we defiantly have to tell people. First of course we wanted to tell our parents. But, since it is going to be "taters" birthday this weekend we thought we would wait until then. However, with the overflow of excitement like Niagara falls, we had to tell someone. We decided to let our friends know, in hopes for positive encouragement. It is a mix of emotions to say the least. I believe that my wife and I are a kind of a unique couple. Because we have friends that vary in age dramatically. Some of our friends are later in years with four or more kids. Others are having their first, and some are in the process. Praying that the L-rd would bless them with little "tator tot" to add to their family. This made it an on edge experience. Our friends up in years, ( not saying OLD) we were worried about their response. In my head I had prepared for the worst. Something like, "OH BOY, THAT'S A HANDFUL." or "YOU BETTER GET A BETTER JOB" or my personal favorite "GLAD THAT ISN' T US."  All these comments seemed to flood my mind moments before we told them.  But to my surprise (not sure why I doubted them) they had only positive things to say. I could tell by their face that they too felt some of the overwhelmed feelings that I felt when I found out. (think if it were truly you with twins)  But overall they we ultimately positive. Encouraging us that it was going to be a great ADVENTURE, but one that we could handle. It felt great to tell someone, to just talk about it. Almost like something we needed to get off our chest and the more people we told the better we felt. With such a great response from our " OLDER" friends we were super (yep I said super) excited about telling our friends who were also excepting another child. Surprisingly we seem to have quite a few friends who are on to their second child. Must have been a LOOONNGGG winter. ( wink, wink)  But how do you tell your friends who also just found out that they're pregnant expecting their second. When they are finding out the sex and are so excited. I felt like a big party pooper, just raining on peoples parade. I mean how does it sound when they are like "we're having a girl and we so excited." and you chime in "WELL WERE HAVING TWINS." It reminds me of a comedian who has a joke about the "ME" people, who always talk about themselves. The comedian says he wishes that he could have been the first person who landed on the moon. Because then he could let the me people talk all about themselves then just totally smash them by saying, "Yea well I landed on the Moon." Thank you so much Brian Regan for your amazing stand up that has truly impacted my life, probably more than I wanted it to. Please don't get the impression that I have selfish friends, quite the opposite. Our close friend are some of the most compassionate and selfless people that I know. But telling them feels like a thunderstorm during an (outside) pool party. We didn't want to be the one uppers, but we were. We seriously never intended on out doing anyone. I mean at our wedding I was nervous but not because I was getting married but because I had to stand in front of all those people. So being in the lime light is not really a badge I like to wear. So this is really a stretch for me and my wife to just steal the attention, but we managed to do it. All of our "expecting" friends were very happy for us. Funny enough they to had a similar facial response as our "not as young friends."  We could tell that the information was overwhelming, as they put themselves in our shoes. But as much as they possibly wanted to they refrained from negativity. Only excitement and encouragement pored from them. Along with some "If you need any help let us know."  Funny coming from people who were about to have their second child which is a dramatic life change. Apparently they took pity on us. I guess when someone tells you that they are having twins it makes a single birth, one child seem less of a big deal. So all you parents who are worried about your single baby birth, " WE ARE HAVING TWINS."  Hopefully that makes you feel better it was not intended to down play the importance of your birth. There I go again sounding Egocentric, I guess that's what having twins does to you. Anyway the last friends that we have to tell are our friends who are praying for the L-rd to bless them with children. My wife and I have actively joined them in this petition to our Father. That He would bless them with a kido that would make their home complete. How do we tell them, they are amazing people and I TRULY believe that the L-rd will bless them, but how crushing this news about our twins will be, or so I thought. We called them to "break" the news to them.  I mean I can't imagine praying diligently that my wife and I would get pregnant then to hear that some friends of ours are having double what we are asking for one of.  Not only that but just a year ago the L-rd blessed us with our first son, so add that to the scenario.  I had feelings of excitement to tell them with complete and total heartache. I would literally do anything to see our friends pregnant, expecting. My heart still aches to think about that, but that is not the reality, like I said, I truly believe any day now they will call us with new that they are expecting and we can all celebrate together. So we called them up and told them of our new development. They are were more excited then I would have imagined. even making jokes about something being in the water. There can not be enough said about these kind of people. True from the L-rd brothers, and sisters.  The L-rd has been so good to my wife and I, but one of our eternal blessings has been the friendships that we have been apart of. And we could never thank them enough for their friendship,and encouragement during this time. We will continue to need them through this " adventure" and hopefully after, (if we still have friends after twins?) Its funny though because my wife and I are the ones who will be raising these precious lives, but what we surround them with and who, will make an equally significant impact on their lives. As I see times changing and our world seeming to go more airy everyday, it puts comfort In my heart to know that  outside my home my children will be tended to with Love, Encouragement, and Hope from THOSE friends and Family.

When we found out!!!

It was a normal day.( I know that's how all stories begin, but for this story that detail is vitally important. My wife and I knew that we were pregnant already but due to our Gypsy like summer of traveling so much we had not yet been to the doctor for our first check up.  We knew where we wanted to go since our son had only been born a little less than a year ago (literally).  So when it came time for us to choose a place we knew where and what mid-wife. The appointment was scheduled and we were planning an exciting reveal at our sons birthday party the next weekend.  My wife and I thought it would be fun to tell everyone what we were having, boy or girl (ha ha) at his party, so we were semi anxious to see if we could see the sex of THE BABY this early in the pregnancy.  The doctors appointment went as scheduled, with all the questions and poking and prodding, along with a 11 month old running around small room scouting things that he could get his hands on. Then we asked THE question that open THE door to the wonderful journey we are now on. "Could we get an sonogram, to hopefully get to see the sex?" We explained the situation with the upcoming birthday party and our exciting thought on how to reveal the sex. With no hesitation our Mid-wife said "no problem," and so she got the machine out. The Mid-wife put that blue goo on my wife's tummy (what is that stuff anyway) then proceeded to do the sonogram. There was no talking for what seemed like 10 min. I remember looking at the sonogram and thinking, "it's pretty clustery, in there."  It was defiantly not the normal one defined head, little tiny torso, then some legs. It looked like a blob of bod(ies)?  Then our Mid-wife said these words that I know WE will never forget. With a smile on her face she said "it looks like there are two babies in there." My jaw dropped, I had no words, and for me that is saying a lot. I can not explain the rush of emotions and whirlwind of excitement and being overwhelmed that set in right them. I tell people its kind of like when you ask and friend for some veggies from their garden, and when you get home your front yard is full of veggies. You know at the end of the day that it is going to be great to have the veggies but all you can think about is the work required to clean, can, cook these veggies. At this point my son was giving me the dead legs and wanted to run around so I optioned to take him to the waiting room to let him down and gather my thoughts. To be honest I was freaking out. With this new information all I could think about was I have to finish our basement, were going to have to get a van, we're gonna need a nanny, I need a better paying job. (you know the things you think about when your told your having twins).  So in the waiting room I asked the L-rd to "give me wisdom and what am I going to do." With amazing speed the L-rd responded.  I believe that He knew how overwhelmed I was and answered instantly. He told me, " put a smile on you face and tell your wife how great this is going to be and how excited you are about these babies." Then He said, "do not go down any roads, that pertain to preparation or what are we going to do, just enjoy your healthy beautiful babies."  With that word from the L-rd I went back into the room with a big smile on my face. At this point the Mid-wife had gotten another Doctor (who shall be named Doctor poopy pants) to come in and assess the sonogram for verification.  Doctor poopy pant (who was one of the most negative people I have ever meet) told my wife all the bad and ugly of having twins (he must have forgotten the GOOD) while I was in the waiting room. Once I came back into the room the appointment had basically expired and my beautiful wife was putting her clothes back on to leave. I commented to her "how you doing?"  when I say that my wife is special I Mean it. Sorry to all other wives out there but you don't even compete with the woman the L-rd graciously gave to me to be my wife. She said with misty eyes "I don't want to talk about it!"  At this point I was semi confused because I was on my Husband of the Year campaign, smiley face and full of positivity. She told me about what Doctor POOPY pants said and that she just wanted to leave at this point. I Started to let that flood of positivity poor out, completely unsure of the things that i was saying, but putting on a good bluff. She slowly came around. I shared with her the direction that I had received from the L-rd. She said that this direction was exactly what she (we) needed. I remember vividly the angle at the desk as we made our two week appointment.  She with a smile on her face asked "boy or girl?"  My wife and I starred at each other and kinda smirked.  With a bigger smile on her face the receptionist said "TWINS?"  We shook our heads yes. The receptionist still Smiling said "I have twins, don't worry the shock will go away and you will realize what a blessing you've been given." She hit the nail on the head Shock was exactly what we were in. Through the next couple of hours it slowly sank it. There was not a time that I would not think about us having twins without smiling and LOLing ( laughing out loud). I mean this is something that happens to other people, in a positive way ;) But I am pretty sure that I actually stop and stare at twins when I see them ( yeah I'm that guy). And now I am going to be the father of twins. It is a feeling that I can not explain. But I know it is one that life for me would be incomplete with out feeling. I have already fallen in love with these two little blessings and I know that the next 5 and a half months with be a journey my wife and I will never forget.