When I truly stop and reflect on my life up until this
point, specifically my life when trying to have a child/ren, that portion seems
just like yesterday. This past week was especially near and dear to my heart as
it was National Infertility Awareness Week. My heart goes out to anyone who is
undergoing the struggle of infertility. If this is you, please know that you
are not alone. I thought it was
uncommon for people to have infertility
problems until I was one of the statistics. Once I was a part of it – I realized
that MANY people struggle to have a child. The journey to parenthood was certainly
a season of growth in my life. I am thankful for the extra time Cole and I had
together and time we had to grow closer to the Lord. In the end, I will always
be a ‘statistic’ in the struggle with infertility, however, I am beyond
grateful for the blessings of life that God granted us in our twin girls.
On the flip side of struggling to have a child – the Lord
once again left me speechless when I became pregnant in October without any
sort of medical intervention. My first thought was, ‘Wow, that happened fast.’
My second thought was, ‘Oh my word – the baby and girls are going to be very
close in age!’ My third thought was, ‘Praise the Lord for blessing us so
quickly and thank you for showing us once again the work of Your mighty hand.’
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more
than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the
church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
– Ephesians 3:20-21
I realize a Praise to the Lord should have been my first
thought! I was truly speechless and in awe of the timing, especially with my
track record of over five years trying to have the girls. Carrying this baby has
been different in many ways than carrying twins. First of all, since the girls
happily expanded my uterus – it feels as if this little boy has all the room in
the world to MOVE ALL OF THE TIME. The second and most obvious difference is
that this time around I am pregnant while taking care of toddlers. It never
dawned on me how much I squat/bend down to pick up a child, a toy, a thrown
sippy cup, dirty clothes, dirty diapers, and on and on. All of these simple day
to day tasks have become more noticeable to me the larger I have gotten! I am
not naïve to think that life will be ‘easy’ with a newborn and two toddlers. I know
that there will be many adjustments for all five of us to make. I cannot wait
to meet this little guy and to see the look on Grace’s face and Kalei’s face
when they get to hold their baby brother.
Miss Grace and Miss Kalei; oh, how they have captured my
heart. It is hard to believe that they are nearly two years old.
Some of their high lights at 23 months old include:
-
Sleeping in their own big girl day beds. For the
first week nap time to them was code for ‘play time.’
-
They shout out ‘potty’ and are practicing going
potty in their big girl potty chairs. They are not potty trained yet – in my
dream world this will happen before baby arrives.
-
Pumped about their new play set that Daddy built
them just today!
-
Loving to play at the park. One would think they
would like going down the slide the best. One of their favorite things to do
besides swing is to climb up and down the stairs.
-
Singing. I love that they like to sing. Their
favorites are ‘Happy Birthday,’ ‘Tomorrow,’ and ‘Let it Go.’
-
Dancing. They will bust a move to music playing;
however, they have gotten very picky about what song is on. Grace’s typical line
is, ‘New one.’ Meaning she insists on a new song!
-
Merry Go Round and Horsey. They love spinning around and bouncing up and down. No one plays these games better than Daddy.
- Trips to the library to pick out new books and sit in the reading house, of course.
-
Taking care of their baby dolls and dressing up
with their purses, necklaces, and bracelets.
-
Starting to have an opinion about what clothes
they have on – already! They truly are girls.
-
Repeating. They have been putting sentences
together and repeat nearly anything we say – which could interesting!
Even though they are not quite two yet - I have seen
plenty of glimpses of ‘two year old behavior,’ so that part of it is not hard
to believe. What keeps coming back to me are the lines I have heard from many a
parent, ‘It goes so fast!’ Or, ‘Don’t blink – they will be in school!’ I just
want them to be little for as long as they can. I want them to run to me
because ‘Mommy makes all things better.’ I want them to snuggle for as long as
possible. I want them to ask Mommy to read them books. Although many things will change in the next few months, the little girls that Grace and Kalei are becoming will always be my little babies.
