A Little Look Ahead.

It comes around every six months and still I am never ready for it.

I find it so hard to look at these faces and yet so compelling.

With hair done and make-up on it’s like a sudden glimpse into the future.

I’m transported forward eight or so years to a time when perhaps the make-up won’t just be for concerts. To a time when there won’t be any buzzy bee antennas to soften the blow of how quickly my girls are growing up.

Did you know they can read now? They can read, you know… books.
OK so they still need some help with words here and there but they can read.
That freaks me out just as much as it makes me smile.

There’s even been a recent shift in thinking… something clicks on every now and then and they can both actually think ahead, judge consequences, think about how others might feel and act accordingly. Sure there is still whining and tantrums, but there is also putting away of shoes without being asked, helping and loving on their brother despite the punches he throws.

It feels like there is some momentous change in the air… just lingering around, waiting to really settle. It feels fabulous and scary all at the same time.

Lucky for me, along with the scary ‘is this what you will be like when you are 14?’ faces they throw in quite a few of these faces to keep me sane and happy.

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9 Comments

  1. I had a moment recently when Annie had gotten out of the shower and I realised that you could see her hips and waist starting to take on that hourglass shape. :( My baby is growing up.

  2. Gorgeous.
    I know the feeling (well minus the makeup) but I catch a glimpse of Lauren and think woah when did you grow up.

    The reading freaks me out too!

  3. Don’t they grow up far too fast (and aren’t they beautiful)!!

    I have to remind myself when I eek at the impending teenage years is that I have to enjoy the years before they come rather than build too many bridges just yet.

  4. Wow, you are right, the girls really do look so grown up in these photos. Oh, Mama, I am not looking forward to these moments on my parenting journey.

  5. I found your blog while doing a search on Twin to Twin Transfusion.

    My girls are now 8, but when i was pregnant with them, at first we didn’t even know there was a “them”. Up until 18 weeks, we thought there was only 1 baby in my belly.

    At the 20 week mark, i began having mild contractions, but the doctor was amazing and just kept a watch on me. By 22 weeks, the twins were diagnosed with extreme TTTS. The recipient (Caitlyn)was already going into heart failure and had water around her brain and bladder. The donor (Alyssa) was so stuck she appeared to be almost dead when we viewed her on the ultrasound.

    We, too, elected to try the serial amnio’s. I went through 3 pokes in a week and the last one must’ve compromised the amniotic bag. My water broke that next day.

    I went into full labor at 24 weeks and they were able too keep the girls in for another
    4 days while i remained drugged up on Magnesium Sulfate.
    Caitlyn and Alyssa entered the world at 25 weeks exactly, weighing 1.2 and 1.3 pounds. They were soooo tiny.

    We prayed for them and for a peace about whatever the outcome would be. Tough times, those NICU days :(

    They got to come home a day after their due date, but were immediately re-admitted due to an instant bout of pneumonia. Our first 3 1/2 years were very hard.

    Like i said, though, now they are 8 years old and such a joy in our lives. There are minor delays that we notice with their development, but we are overall super blessed.

    So nice to ready stories like yours that other precious twins survived the TTTS disease.

    Feel free to leave me an email :)
    ccluv at verizon dot net