An adventure

Two year olds require a lot of energy. Two two-year olds are an adventure, my house is always crazy and I love it! I am the happily married, full-time working, part-time grad school going mom of two and half year old twin girls, Delaney and Alison.

My husband and I met in college, during my sophmore year. We were married the fall after I graduated from college and two years later, we decided we were ready to start a family. I became pregnant after our first month of trying and was in for the shock of my life when at 9 weeks, during my first ultrasound, we learned I was expecting twins! Our life has been in high gear ever since.

My pregnancy was relatively routine until 27 weeks. My husband and I had just purchased and moved into our first house. I was excited to decorate the house and purchase things for my girls. At my regularly scheduled appointment, my OB discovered that I was dialated and in labor (news to me!). I spent the next six and a half weeks on strict bedrest, and delivered two beautiful girls at 34 weeks. Delaney spent exactly a week in the NICU and Alie was home after nine days. My girls were wonderful babies. They slept a lot. We were able to quickly get into a routine and discovered things that worked well for our family. I returned to work when my girls were almost 3 months old.

The best parts of motherhood for me are the relationships. I love the relationship I have with my daughters, the relationship they have with each other, their father, their uncles, grandparents and Godparents. I really love watching their personalities, likes and dislikes develop. Delaney is deliberate, careful, excited and sometimes bossy. Alie is curious, funny and adventurous. They love the Disney characters, princesses and "bad-guys", chasing each other around the dining room table, playing with baby dolls, coloring, playing in the pool, riding their tricycles in the alley, my little ponies and pizza. They are learning their colors and how to count. They recently mastered day-time potty training. Everyday they say something that makes me smile and every night, as I fall asleep I wonder how I was so lucky. It is awesome to receive kisses and "I love yous" from two little girls everyday. I love listening to the conversations my girls have with each other.

One of the things that has suprised me about motherhood is how much and how little my life has changed with the birth of my daughters. Of course my husband and I anticipated a shift in our priorities once we became parents, but I don't think you can ever fully anticipate such a huge change until you are parents. I think we thought that our lifestyle would change dramatically, not that we were huge social butterflies before we had children, but we were active. We are still active, we just bring our daughters along for the ride. Delaney and Alison are the most important people in our lives, but that doesn't mean that has to come at a huge sacrifice to who we are. Growing and experiencing things together is amazing.

For now, I am trying to enjoy everyday as it comes while looking forward to the future. I am so blessed to have my wonderful girls, my awesome husband and my loving family and friends. When my husband and I started this adventure, I could have never imagined this in my wildest dreams.