When Jonah and Cody were newborns sixteen years ago, the nighttime feeding was almost more than I could handle. I adored those little babies, but boy was it hard to get up every two hours (alternating with Ren who did it too) and feed them both! When they were about six weeks old, we were hanging out in the wee hours of the morning together, just my little boys and me. I had them propped up next to each other on my pillow and I was feeding each of them a bottle. I could hardly keep my eyes open, and truthfully, the sleep deprivation was really getting to me. I remember feeling teary and overwhelmed as I struggled just to keep my arms up and hold the bottles in their mouths. After a few minutes, one baby stopped eating and I pulled out the bottle, then the other. As I prepared to start the baby burp fest (and power barfing that happened with every feeding) I looked at their little faces and made a connection. They both focused right in on my face and then...it was all worth it...they smiled up at me at the same time. Oh my! Those twinkly eyes and scrunchy little faces were darling! My heart grew ten sizes that night as I learned the joys of mothering twins. They are the embodiment of Dickens' statement, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." As hard as the hard times are, the joy and fun and sweetness of the good times are also magnified.
I dropped them off at school this morning after our morning banter and as I wished them a happy day studying fungi and other random stuff, they looked at me at exactly the same moment, just before they closed their respective car doors and grinned those incredible, boyish smiles. I was transported back to that night sixteen years ago when I discovered the treasure of twins, and my heart is again doing a little happy dance. I just love those boys!
