TWO years. I’m tearing up looking at the words I’ve just typed and the past 24 months flashing in my memory. As I write this, the Gents just laid down for their afternoon nap and can I hear Royce singing “Johnny Johnny, Yes Papa” in his crib. It boggles my mind how much they’ve developed during the month of January. The people closest to us here see it, too, so I know I’m not one of those crazy mums making stuff up. My favorite is their singing. You can’t understand any of the words but you can definitely recognize the rhythm and tone. It’s the best and brings and instant smile to my face.
I think back to the first few days in the NICU and being so worried, but them proving themselves early and hitting a new milestone everyday - coming off CPAP, gaining weight, graduating from the feeding tube and being able to nurse from me, regulating their own temperature and moving to an open-air crib, continuing to gain more weight and finally coming home. I was so proud of their strength and feistiness from the beginning.
So how should we appropriately celebrate this especially funny, sweet, adventurous, chill and clever set of twins? I looked to others here, who have set the bar pretty high. We’ve been to a number of birthday parties these past eight months. Families have put a lot of effort into celebrating their kids and hosting guests. I almost felt we needed to return the favor. Initially I wanted a full-blown party, inviting the people we hang out with (admittedly The Gents seem to be around more adults than children) and the families of the few kids they do play with. And when I started writing out the invite list that quickly climbed to 50 people, I decided I didn’t want to do it. That was pretty much the number of people we had at out wedding and there wasn’t a single family member on this birthday guest list. J and I are private and low key. I’ve never followed the crowed so why would I be swayed now? Plus, one of mothers I’m friendly with admitted to me, during her own son’s birthday party, that they should have spent the money on a vacation.
C&R’s actual birthday was pretty chill. I handmade some decorations for the dining room and made a couple dozen cupcakes from scratch for J’s office to enjoy. We went to the Embassy to join J for lunch, but he had a last minute lunchtime meeting. Sitting in the cafeteria, eating a cheeseburger and fries, C&R held court and we able to see a lot of their favorite people who wished them Happy Birthday. At home I prepared one of their favorite meals of pasta with Bolognese sauce (yes, the Tyler Florence recipe), and made their individual cakes. If you follow my Instagram you might have seen the video of Royce not wanting to be sung Happy Birthday. I can just imagine how much worse it would have been if a room-full of people were singing it to him! After a respite and a video chat with J’s mother we were able to sing, with him sitting on my lap, and enjoy cake. We closed out the day opening presents and playing with their gifts. Even with Royce’s crying episode, it was a great day.
Later this week we’ll leave for Abu Dhabi to celebrate The Gents and J, whose birthday is later this month. Yes, we took that mother’s advice. J’s been working a lot it’s time for a little family getaway. We’ve been meaning to see more of the region, but we wanted something relaxing. And the big bonus for The Gents is that Legoland is a short distance away. Who knows, maybe this is a new tradition? For us, this is the best way to celebrate our twin gentleman – chill, fun, with just the right amount of exploring for them to make more memories with our little family.