Parallel Lives

This is my friend Kelley. She spells her name the same way I do. And she was due with twin boys the same day I was. No kidding. I couldn’t even make this stuff up y’all. She went a month later so her boys are younger than mine yet bigger (all my babies are small. humph.). Sometimes she comments on my blog as Kelley. It probably confuses some of you. Because sometimes I’ll see a comment by Kelley and think “I didn’t comment on that blog post, did I?”

And here’s the picture where one of her twins is assaulting Rhys.

Halloween 2010

I thought I’d wait till after everyone else shared their pictures so as to not overwhelm you all at once.

We had a dog ballerina (K), a terrified Tigger (R), a person ballerina (S), and a confused Pooh (O).

Remembering

Yesterday just after lunch, I was holding Rhys in the kitchen looking out the glass door. He had been fussy and not taking normal naps which meant he and Owen were not sleeping at the same time. I was in the midst of a giant pity party that my quiet time was not going to happen when I remembered. A year ago yesterday- after lunch- I was in Houston, Texas. I was in the middle of a 1.5 hour long fetal echocardiogram- a scan that showed that Baby B- Rhys was Baby B then- that Baby B’s heart was starting to have irregular patterns. It showed that the TTTS was progressing and that time was getting short. It confirmed that we had taken the right step in flying to Texas for this space-age surgery. I mean really- who has laser surgery in their uterus with their twins in there?

Rhys

And I looked at my son in my arms- my healthy, strong, perfect child- and cried. I cried over him and how this moment almost wasn’t. All that pity- no more. How can I pity the miracles I’ve seen in my life? How can I begrudge the biggest blessing ever? I have four incredible children- FOUR. I wondered so many times if I’d ever see these days. These days are hard but they are precious. And you would think after all we went through that I wouldn’t forget it. But I do.

Owen left Rhys right

Did I ever tell you that there is one doctor who lives in Spartanburg who is trained to deal with TTTS? And that one doctor just happens to go to our 350ish member church. And that doctor just happens to have a daughter in my oldest daughter's class at church. A class that Kiran is actually 7 days too young for but she just happened to be put into that class anyway. And that Kiran and his daughter just happened to become friends which lead to us befriending the parents. Discovering the twins- a facebook message- a doctor who was able to get me a Maternal Fetal appt one month earlier than my original appointment. My original appointment was for Dec 2- that’s two weeks after I had surgery. I can’t even think about what our outcome would have been if we hadn’t gotten in much earlier. Less than 10% survival rate.

Owen

So today we purposed to remember….to remember what God has done for us. How He was working on behalf of these boys long before we even thought of them. How He preserved their lives and not just their lives but their health also. And what better to remember than with cookie cake?

Anyone get the double meaning?

I am so incredibly thankful and joyful that this holiday season is going to be filled with lots of laughter and music and baking yummy goodies. I have a fresh excitement for the holidays and I can’t wait to share them with my sons.

In the Car

What do you listen to in the car? A friend asked me a while back what kids songs we listened to in the car and I just kinda stuttered that we don’t. The number one requested song in my car is “Revelation Song” sung by Kari Jobe (called Holy, Holy by the girls) and the number two requested song is “Jai Ho” from the Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack.

But I have been thinking about what we listen to in the car. Honestly though, we don’t listen to CDs or the radio all that much. Or its turned way down. That time in the car is usually a fun time of “I Spy” and making up stories (Kiran’s new favorite thing). Do I sometimes want quiet in the car? Yep. Do I sometimes try to enforce that? I try. But most of the time the girls are talking and I enjoy interacting with them.

But I have taken our Seeds CDs out to the car and have been listening to them on the road some. We have these two and we love them (Thanks SIL!).

I was looking for my Sound of Music soundtrack to take but I realized if I had it in the car, we would never listen to anything else. Ever. We sing lots and lots of SofM songs even without the soundtrack.

My parents have some kids CDs that are about the different letters and the numbers and my kids love, love, love them. But I think Chief has limits on those. He probably makes them listen to Car Talk. I mean that’s what he did to me.

So what do you listen to in the car? I’d love some inspiration.

Twins Day

We have declared October 27 to be officially celebrated as Twins Day in our house from now on. It was one year ago today that we had the big ultrasound and found out that Caskey Baby #3 was coming with a Bonus Baby!

I remember going to Mops that morning. I was greeting and I held the door for a friend who had two singletons then twins. I remember wondering, “Am I going to be like her?” Then I wondered, “Where did that crazy thought come from?”

I remember kissing the girls good-bye promising to be back soon with news of a baby brother or sister coming.

I remember chatting with Jonathan in the waiting room as we tried to whittle away the time until finding out if this was our third girl or not. I remember him saying my belly wasn’t big enough for two babies in there.

I remember seeing the two big blobs on the screen and telling myself that it was just different parts of the same baby. That there was no way there were really actually honest-to-goodness two babies in that belly.

I remember asking the OB how we missed this.

I remember shaking as I walked out; Jonathan left me at the doors to go get the car for me. I remember dialing Brenna, saying “I’m calling you first!” (She had guessed that I was having twin boys and made me promise to call her first if she was right so she knew exactly what that meant) and then collapsing into tears.

I remember calling family members in the parking lot of Jonathan’s office and listening to Jonathan tell each one “It’s a Boy!” to which they would cheer. Then he would say, “And another boy!” and there would be stunned silence. The shock got everyone.

I remember walking into Jonathan’s office with him. His coworkers yelled out asking what we were having. Jonathan loudly announced that he was indeed having a son- in fact he was having two sons. Heads started popping out of offices and jaws dropping.

I remember calling Merritt from the workroom in Jonathan’s office. I had told her a few weeks earlier that each pregnancy was getting harder and harder and that if someone could guarantee that this pregnancy would be twin boys, I’d sign up and be done. I remember her being quiet- stunned- not believing what she was hearing.

I remember calling my dad. And taking a deep breath before I walked back into my house. I remember the girls running to greet us in the kitchen with my mom behind them. I remember telling Kiran and Sienna that they were getting two brothers and Kiran acting as if that was the most normal thing in the whole world. I remember my mom’s face of confusion- not being able to comprehend what her oldest daughter was saying. Then she cried. And I did too.

I remember Jonathan had a work dinner to go to so I took the girls to small group by myself. I remember where I was when I called Melanie and Brooke and Erin H and Jill and Laurenpeters and Kari-Beth and Deb. I remember showing Anna the ultrasound when we came in and Matt & Kirby too.

I remember writing my status update on FB about four times before I hit publish. And then social media took over and it was contagious. I printed out the comments from that status update. It makes me smile to read everyone’s shock and celebration.

I remember Melanie coming over with her kids the next morning just to talk this out and let it sink in. I remember talking to Erin G who for some reason hadn’t been on the internet all night so I was able to tell her our news myself.

I remember wondering what in the world I was going to do with four children under four and how me and God could have such different ideas about what I can handle!

Twins Day 2009

Rhys left Owen right

Twins Day 2010

Owen top Rhys bottom

8 months

Owen left Rhys right

I thought on the occasion of the twins’ eighth month birthday, I would discuss 8 things that are different between Rhys and Owen.

1. Their looks! Ha! They look so different to me now. Its in the forehead, the eyes, the cheeks.

2. Rhys is more active overall and Owen is more laid back.

3. Rhys always always always has his fingers in his mouth! Maybe he’s teething? Owen likes to chew on his fingers some but not nearly as much as his brother.

4. Owen generally stays in the exact same place you put him down to go to sleep. Rhys might be on his back of his belly or his side. He might be head up or head down or sideways on the video monitor. He might have his bum up in the air or his feet through the slats of the crib. You never know.

5. Nursing styles- Rhys is all business while Owen looks around every time he hears someone talking or moving or breathing near him.

6. Rhys is very impatient when I feed them baby food while Owen just patiently waits for his turn again.

7. Owen is my snuggle baby. He’ll curl up with you a lot more that his brother will.

8. Rhys spits up all. the. time. Everything. Colored spit up everywhere. As a result, Owen has passed Rhys in weight for the first time. Owen is now 14lbs and Rhys is 13lbs 15oz. Owen has one full ounce on his brother.

Today

S and O