The Joys of Twins » holidays

Happy Halloween!

Dawn — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 13:06:34 +0000

Logan was a scary skeleton and Forest was a scary (but oh so cuddly) dragon. They had a wonderful time getting dressed up and making it around the street trick or treating. They were little pros at the Halloween thing!

Logan loved his makeup and costume so much he kept running to look at himself in the mirror.

From Halloween 2010

Easter pics (finally)

Dawn — Wed, 05 May 2010 19:52:59 +0000

I owe you some pictures. Here is Easter:

Merry Christmas

Dawn — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:19:37 +0000

The day we went in for the boys 3 year check up, Logan was running a low grade fever and both Forest and I were a bit under the weather as well with coughs and sniffles. A few days later and Forest is doing ok with only a small cough but Logan and I are both getting body aches and chills although still not running any serious fever. Well here we are weeks later and Logan is in perfect shape, no more cough, no more runny nose, all is well. But I’m still in the midst of it and wishing I could just feel healthy again. I think I may be having my first bout of the infamous “cedar fever” after living in Austin for over three years now.

We had a beautiful Christmas with family visits and adventures. But I think that my favorite memories of this year are based on how the boys are starting to learn our cultural and family traditions around Christmas and their excitement and enjoyment of it all. We drove around a couple nights looking at homes decorated with lights, the boys were enchanted. They were excited to put up the tree and loved hearing stories about Baby Jesus, They couldn’t stop waving at and shouting “Hi!” when we saw Santa in Petsmart taking pictures with pets. Their brilliant joy shines through my soul and fills me with such warmth and comfort. Christmas is not only for the young, it is also for those who are blessed to be in their sphere of influence and feel their hugs.

Snow

Dawn — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:02:33 +0000

We live in Austin, Texas so snow is a BIG deal. I grew up in more northern states and in Europe so I really miss it. Even my 10 years in Dallas got more snow then Austin does. So when they started predicting snow the other day I got excited. I can’t wait to show the boys what snow is like. So much so that I asked that my family’s vacation (my parents, brother’s family and my family get together for a week every year) be in a snowy place next year and my family was kind enough to oblige with reservations in Tahoe. Needless to say, today’s snow flurries were neat and unusual, but left the boys still very neglected in the snow department so I’m glad we have those reservations next year.

It was really fun and the boys tried to get into it, trying to catch snow flakes on their tongues. Unfortunately, the flakes didn’t show up well on my camera even though they got pretty hard for about 20 minutes. Here are some pictures, see if you can see the flakes. I’m not even going to post the pictures where I couldn’t see any, only the ones that hint at the snow falling. You may need to click on the pictures and see the full size to actually see the flurries.

From December 09

That’s snow on Forest’s hair:

From December 09

The Past Week

Dawn — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:39:04 +0000

We have been busy.

First my parents anticipated arrival on the 22nd was postponed due to the unusually heavy snow in the Pacific Northwest this year. The earliest they could get a new flight was Christmas night, the same time Brad’s parents arrived. So we planned for a nice quiet Christmas at home. Forest woke Brad and I on Christmas Eve at around 12:30 AM screaming. A fever showed up at around 4 AM. We had our first sick child. Forest had an ear infection. We made it two years before our first sick baby. It was an awful experience to hold him as he screamed with no idea how to help him. As kids will do, Forest played with the train table we got the boys and the toys Dusty got for them in between extra naps and lots of cuddles.

From xmas 08

Christmas morning with the train table.

From xmas 08

Not able to put down the sick baby even though my arm was asleep. Reminded me too much of having an infant again and for some reason that was a good feeling.

By this point the boys had participated in three Christmases; the Trammell’s, at our home, and at Dusty’s home. Friday morning Brad’s parents had Christmas with us and Sunday afternoon my parents did their Christmas with us. Yes, the boys made out well. Actually, we were all very blessed with wonderful gifts. We got in family time with Brad’s extended family on Saturday and Sunday and lots of time with my parents before they left on New Year’s Eve. Forest got better and better with each day and aside from some cold and allergy symptoms and teething agitation, is fit as a fiddle again.

From xmas 08

Little Builders

From xmas 08

No ear infection can keep Forest down!

From xmas 08

Logan loved the pies.

From xmas 08

The new rope swing with Dusty, aka “Green Daddy”.

Dusty took the boys New Year’s Eve afternoon and Brad and I had the opportunity to participate in Austin’s First Night Parade with our friend’s belly dance troupe. Brad played the djimbe and I was on tambourine with a group of about 8 other “band” members. We watched the amazing clock tower burn down at Auditorium shores, ate some good street food, and made it just in time to watch and hear the Tesla coils play music. Talk about an amazing New Years. Unfortunately, now Dusty is having ear trouble and I suspect a sinus infection. Oh, and did I mention that Brad’s dad came down with an ear infection the day before leaving to go back to California?

From xmas 08

Logan checks on Grandpa Warren to make sure his ear is ok. The past few weeks have been a lesson is the boys understanding of emotion and empathy. It’s precious.

Oh yeah, did I also mention that we bought training pottys for the boys earlier this week, too? Yes, it’s THAT time!

I found out this afternoon that a special friend’s father passed away after a two year battle with aggressive cancer. I find myself reflective this evening, New Year’s Day 2009, about mortality in general, but specifically the mortality of our parents as I near my 36th year of life. Aging is a strange experience. I find myself not understanding how I suddenly am now a mom who cares for sick children, who’s parents come to visit for the holidays when I remember so (perceived) clearly my own Christmas experiences of childhood. We were very blessed to spend the holidays with our families and know all the comforts of warmth, food, and shelter. To have health insurance, no debt, and savings that is still worth something despite the economy. It feels a bit more like Thanksgiving again to me.

From xmas 08

Drawing

From xmas 08

Logan wearing his New Year’s Eve seahorse while trying to draw an “A”.

Letting Go and Having Fun

Dawn — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:44:55 +0000

I’m extremely stubborn. It’s something that has caused a multitude of problems for me and that I’m constantly working on. It’s particularly difficult being a mom because I want to be the laid back mom that is able to let the boys get dirty and make messes and just go with that flow as appropriate. But it’s really hard for me because somewhere in my subconscious resides this woman who wants the perfect Norman Rockwell experiences of baking cookies, setting up the Christmas tree, playing in the kiddy pool, or whatever it may be. But today I realized something. I seem to be able to let go if I stop being “mom” and move behind the lens of a camera. And here’s the proof.

Creating Christmas Traditions

Dawn — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:14:32 +0000

Being a new parents brings up the question of what traditions we want to have for our family. Some traditions are introduced by us from our childhood and own experiences, others are organic and emerge as the family simply lives our experiences.

One tradition that we agreed to before the boys were born was to always spend Christmas as a family together including all three of us coparents. Because we get along so well, we would rather all three share Christmas with the boys instead of having to divide the holiday up. Of course there may come special family trips in the future but for the most part, if our families want to see the boys on Christmas day, they will have to either travel here to our home or invite all three parents to theirs.

A tradition that Brad and I started for ourselves last year is bagels and lox for Christmas breakfast. For some reason there is something about that meal that makes me feel like I’m on vacation and since the local New York deli is open on Christmas morning, what a perfect tradition. Oh, and potatoe latkes with sour cream. MMmmm

This year was my first opportunity to really do stockings right for the boys. Last year there just wasn’t much that would fit well because of they were still putting everything into their mouths. This year I had a field day in Target’s dollar section over the past few months. That and we finally broke down and gave them candy so they will get a few chocolates as well.

We’ve had several conversations about Santa Claus around our house. All three of us parents have agreed that we’ll introduce the boys to Santa and such but won’t go to great lengths to maintain his existance. If they ask, we’ll be honest and talk about him as representing the spirit of giving. Yeah, we’ll pry be the parents who’s kids tell your kids that Santa isn’t real. And being huge fans of mythology and religious studies , our kids will know the origins of Santa Claus and probably also be the ones telling other kids that the three wise men wouldn’t really have been in the manger scene either. I’d like to think the boys will even know to tell people that the wise men were probably Zorastrians. Talk about bonus points for our geekiness. There is a fine line between mythology and magic and I think that you can have both simply by having faith in God.

We’ve enjoyed introducing the entire Christmas cast of characters this year: the Christmas tree, the star on top of the tree, Reindeer, Santa, snowmen, wrapped gifts, stockings hung on the fireplace. The boys hear me singing carols constantly and Forest even joined in “la la la” with Deck the Halls the other day in the car. I love how easily they soak in the traditions and characters.

We haven’t joined a church family here in Austin yet so church traditions are yet to be set. But we did buy the boys their first book telling the story of Baby Jesus and it’s sweet to see them pointing at the baby in the manger and teaching them that his name is Jesus, his Mommy is Mary. Start simple I say. Big concepts to come in the future. I’d also like to introduce the boys to Chanukah so if any of my Jewish friends have a good board book recommendation, please comment. Again, we are inclusive instead of specific about our religious beliefs and plan to expose the boys to many traditions and beliefs as they grow up.

Christmas cookie baking is also one of my traditions from childhood that I am going to stand firm on keeping with the boys. Christmas eve we’ll be cutting out shaped sugar cookies and decorating them with sprinkles and frosting. Pictures will follow of that!

What traditions have you as parents created in your family? What comes from your childhood and what is new?

Christmas Tree Parent Hack

Dawn — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:54:56 +0000

I’m not the most creative person, as in I have trouble thinking outside of the box. I’m stubborn. But as anyone will tell you, when you have kids, you learn to be less stubborn. You learn to bend a bit. And so when we put up the Christmas tree and Logan immediately picked up one of the glass balls and threw it to the ground saying “ball, throw!”, I figured this was going to be one bare tree. We put a few special balls and ornaments near the top. And then I remembered that I have a bag of ribbon collected over the years, mainly from Dusty’s mom’s gifts to me. She always does the prettiest wrapping with all these big, beautiful bows. And I knew they’d come in handy some day. Saturday was that some day! My very own first parent hack: when you have toddlers who don’t understand to stay away from the Christmas balls, use pretty ribbon to add color to your tree. A much better solution then putting up the big ugly gate we used last year.

From xmas 08

Forest the Negotiator

Dustin — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 03:01:13 +0000

Last week I took the boys up to DFW to see my family for Thanksgiving. I noticed over this trip that Forest has begun trying to negotiate for the things he wants. There were two really good examples of this during the trip:

First, ever since the Childrens’ Retreat out at Earthsprings Forest has been obsessed with M&Ms. Dawn had made some trail-mix snacks for all the children to take on nature walks and they had M&Ms in them. Now, Forest will just randomly ask me for “Ms?” with a sly grin on his face… He did this a number of times during our trip and I had to tell him “No, I don’t have any Ms!” He would then try and negotiate with me and hold up one finger and say “Ms?” When I said no he’d hold up four fingers and say “Ms?” I think once he understands quantity he’ll be a much more adept negotiator, but what he really needs to understand is when there really are no Ms to negotiate for in the first place. (:

Also, while packing up a box of toys to take with us I told the boys to put toys they wanted to take into the box. Both boys started putting things in and then one of them ponited at the ball-pit I’ve made for them out of a portable crib and said “balls?” I told them that we couldn’t take all of them (there are 300) but that they could take one of each color. The boys climbed into the ball pit and started handing me balls. I put one of each color into the box and handed them back the ones that we already had in the box saying “No, we already have that color!” Once all of the colors were in the box, Forest looks at me for a few seconds (I could almost see the gears cranking), and then picks up two green balls and looks at me and says “Green?”

Really… now how can I say no to that? (:

Eight or nine green balls in the box later he decided to try and sneak some other colors in but I wasn’t having it…