Raising Twins – Page 3 – Chasing Dreams

Two Years

October 24, 2014October 24, 2014 Rhiza2 Comments

Photos from two years ago.

It’s that moment when the lights are out, and everyone is asleep, and I’m alone as the clock strikes 12 on a very special day. The twins’ 2nd birthday officially begins! And it’s as if they wanted me to have this moment to myself—to breathe, to let stuff sink in, to be quiet, to reminisce, to thank the Lord for every good and perfect gift.

I’ve been reading posts from two years ago over the past hour, and I.. am such a crybaby. Is this okay? Am I being too melodramatic? Is it normal for mommies to be a little sentimental about things like, you know, birthdays and stuff?

Around this time, 2 years ago, I was being wheeled into the recovery room after giving birth via c-section, and Dawn & Rain were breathing their first breaths. Fast forward to last night, before the girls fell asleep, Dawn was singing twinkle twinkle little star (without the actual words) at the top of her lungs, and Rain was busy putting coins in her new alkansya. Meanwhile, their Daddy and I watched them with amusement and so much love.

Do you remember?

When we took the girls home and it felt like Christmas morning?
And these photos from their first day home?
How about the day we dedicated them to the Lord?
Or when I started this 52 Week Project?
How about their first birthday?
Or when they turned 18 months and we got them a cake?

Wow. What difference two years can make!

I want to share King David’s Prayer of Thanksgiving, which has become the prayer of my heart today:

“Sovereign Lord, I am not worthy of what you have already done for me, nor is my family. Yet, now you are doing even more, Lord. You have made promises about my descendants in the years to come. And you let a man see this! What more can I say to you! You know me, your servant. It was your will and purpose to do this. You have done all these great things in order to instruct me. How great you are, Lord! There is none like you, we have always known that You alone are God.” ~2 Samuel 7:18-28

God is beyond amazing. And this mommy here is ready to celebrate. Today is going to be awesome. :)

Retail Therapy and Taking Photographs

July 15, 2014December 23, 2021 Rhiza1 Comment

Photographs of my daughters, once a week, every week, this 2014. Week 25.

This set is definitely one of my faves! Can I just say, I may be the one deciding what they wear on Sundays but I can NOT take any credit for the way they pose..

..or the way they project themselves in front of the camera.

Nope, I didn’t teach them that. Their Daddy denies teaching them that too. Lol.

But for sure their Daddy is semi-responsible for making them laugh. He can be such a clown sometimes, and the girls love it when he goofs around.

Also, don’t you just love those dresses? You know, when mommyhood is becoming tough and monotonous (and sometimes even lonely), I sometimes resort to retail therapy. When I was single, I’d give myself a little treat once in a while and make room in my budget for some shopping spree. (I can see my husband rolling his eyes on “once in a while”.)

When we had Dawn & Rain, my retail therapy shifted to dresses and accessories in much smaller sizes.

If retail therapy is not possible, which is often the case (no time, no budget), I discovered one therapy that doesn’t cost anything at all: taking out my camera and snapping photos of my girls. Ahh, ‘works like wonders!

Are you a mommy who’s feeling a little lonely sometimes too? Here’s one thing you know you can do: Take out your camera (or phone!) and snap photos of your children. Take photos of your messy house even. Or your dirty laundry. Or the toys that are scattered all over your living room floor.

We all want to remember this time of our lives forever, so go ahead, take pictures! Preserve the memories. They say it will be over before we know it.

We Weren’t Joking Alright

April 2, 2014June 27, 2019 Rhiza3 Comments

Two years ago, on April Fools Day, we announced on our Facebook wall that we were having twins. It sounded like something someone would post on April Fools, but we were overjoyed and we couldn’t wait until April 1 was over to share the news to our family and friends.

“I know it must sound like a really good April Fools joke, but it’s for real, we’re having twins. We’re still recovering from the sweet surprise, thank you for including us in your prayers.”

It wasn’t an April Fools joke alright, but we still couldn’t help but laugh whenever we remember that moment we found out we were having twins.

We were in the ultrasound room of Delgado Memorial Hospital, when the sonographer on duty nonchalantly announced The single most life-changing news of our lives.

“Twins? Seriously?” my husband squeaked, “Are you really sure?” I remained still on the hospital bed, and my husband barraged the sonographer a bazillion questions I would have asked myself, except I was frozen and unable to say anything at all. He calmly explained to us what we were seeing on the ultrasound screen—two gestational sacs, one placenta, 5 weeks old.

“How did that happen?” my husband asked.
“Do you have twins in your family?” the sonographer asked us back.
“None in my family,” I answered. (That time, we didn’t know this yet.)
“Is that really possible?” My husband asked.
“Yes. It happens. Very rare, but it’s possible to have twins even if you don’t have it in your genes,” said the sonographer.

He answered a few more questions until we’re positively convinced that what we heard (and saw!) were true. Dazed, we went out of the ultrasound room, sat in the hospital lobby to wait for our ultrasound prints, and took some couple selfies that we later posted on Facebook. We then called my Mom, and then my husband’s father, who also couldn’t believe their ears.

The rest, as they say, is history.

They’re turning 18 months old this month, and wow do babies grow fast! It’s not at all easy to raise twins, and there are days when I feel so tired like I could sleep an entire week straight. The expenses are doubled, the responsibilities are doubled, and I sometimes wish 24 hours a day is doubled too. There’s never enough time for everything!

But what an awesome, awesome ride this is, and believe it or not I still sometimes whisper to my husband at night, “Do we really have twins sleeping in the bed with us?” He would smile and answer, “yes we do” to state the obvious, and we would drift off to sleep like that—smiling.

God wasn’t joking alright, when He called us to be the parents of these two, and we couldn’t be any more grateful for this sweet April Fools surprise God has played on us.

Best April Fools non-joke ever.

One year and one month

November 24, 2013May 13, 2019 Rhiza3 Comments

How do you blog about your baby’s first birthday? I totally missed doing that, and it’s weird because I was so sure that I was not going to miss out on blogging about that milestone.

I was going to write an open letter to Dawn and Rain. I’d tell them how much they’ve changed our lives and how thankful we are to God for this beautiful first year. I was going to post lots of photographs from their birthday party, which would be beautifully styled and DIY-ed like the ones you see on Pinterest.

But then their first birthday party happened, and all I could think about doing after weeks of preparations was to lie down in bed the whole day with the twins and their Daddy, and laugh at how silly these two are becoming. Which was pretty much what happened.

And then the following days turned to weeks, and the weeks turned to a month,

and here we are.

The open love letter I imagined myself writing became a short cover photo caption posted on Facebook, which simply said

Dear Dawn & Rain,

You probably didn’t care so much, blowing your first birthday cake. But for me and your Daddy, it was a beautiful moment, a milestone, we’ll remember forever. Thank you for giving us reasons to celebrate life everyday.

Love, Mommy

I meant it with all my heart, no doubt about it, but it was about a thousand words short of how I imagined their first birthday love letter should be, and what I really wanted to say.

And these photographs, haha.

When we had Isaac‘s first birthday party, there was not a single photograph of him smiling. I thought to myself, when I have babies, I would make sure they were smiling on their first birthday photos.

I guess even that is beyond my control.

Life is just too big for words

The truth is, I stare at blank spaces a lot these days. Blank WordPress screen, blank Facebook status field, blank pages of my journal. All waiting for me to pour my heart out.

Time is flying swiftly and most of my reflections these days remain in my head (and my heart), unwritten. Dawn & Rain are growing too fast, and I’m sometimes scared of missing out on that. As much as I want to capture every moment so that someday I can relieve them, God is teaching me every day to live each moment as they come, and then let them go.

Lara Casey blogged about this so eloquently, and for lack of better words, I quote (emphases mine):

As a creative, I am compelled to create because I want to mirror back to the world God’s goodness. I want to create with every fiber of my being. I try so hard. I try to share and create what I think will help. I try to share what I hope will inspire Grace one day to know and love Him. I try, but sometimes I get really tired trying to pour the ocean of life into a little cup. Most of my favorite moments don’t get photographed because I’m completely immersed in them. And sometimes life is just too big for words.

Well there you go. I bold-faced phrases for emphasis, and then underlined some words in those phrases for even more emphasis. I laugh at myself for being such a weirdo sometimes. On a serious note, that’s how much her words resonate with how I feel and what I really want to do around here.

Go ahead, read the whole thing.

Today marks Dawn & Rain’s 13th month. Oh wow, I’ve been a Mommy for 13 months!

And like a broken record I would say it over again, it still often feels like I’m living in a dream.

Happy 13 months, my loves.

Starbucks Double Date

November 11, 2013November 13, 2013 Rhiza2 Comments

It’s November and the Christmas drinks at Starbucks are here. So on Saturday morning, I convinced my husband to go to the nearest Starbucks with me so that I could get my Toffee Nut fix.

But his idea was even more ~~crazy~~ brilliant: Take the twins with us and have a little family date. And so we did, and what I got was more than just a satisfied craving.

Going to Starbucks has always meant for me either one of these two things: (1) to meet friends for some catching up, or (2) to have some alone time with my laptop, my earphones, and my thoughts. Bringing along two giddy little girls is surely a deviation from my usual Starbucks “dates”.

Instead of having a meaningful conversation, my husband and I had our hands full—holding the babies close, feeding them, entertaining them, singing songs to them, and making sure they didn’t fall off the couch.

But in the midst of the riot, I found myself pausing for one moment and holding back tears of joy.

It was my Dad’s birthday that day.

He would have been 64, and I still often find myself wishing that he’s around to spoil his grandchildren rotten, watch them grow, and steal them from us every now and then so that the parents can go away for a date haha.

But even if there’s a little bit of sadness in that thought, mostly there was joy knowing that a part of my Dad lives on.

So we placed a little candle on our Banoffee Pie to remember the life of the Great Lolo Bob who still never fails to inspire us even until now, 6 years after he’s gone to be with the Lord.

Happy birthday, Dad. Happy birthday, Lolo. We love you.

I praise God for moments like this.

In fact, I look forward to moments like this. Afternoons when we can just slow down and breathe in this new life that we have as a family. Times when we can bring them along wherever we go (while they still have no choice!), take them to places we love, and make some happy core memories.

And okay, maybe I’m a little too excited about making memories. They just turned one year old and surely they won’t have a recollection of this day just yet.

But someday.. someday, they’ll start to remember.

In the meantime, I’ll keep taking photographs and writing memories down.

Hooked on Veggie Tales

August 7, 2013December 23, 2021 Rhiza3 Comments

Our darling twins, eyes glued to the TV screen as they watch their new favorite show.
As for me, the real show was the one happening right in front of me.

This is the usual morning scenario at home, the twins starting the day with Veggie Tales. For now, their attention span lasts the first 3-5 minutes of the show, where Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato sing and dance their usual opening number. The moment they hear Larry start playing his tuba, they drop whatever they’re doing and turn their eyes to the screen.

As for me and my husband, we spend the first 3-5 minutes watching them, entertained by the expressions on their faces.

When Larry and Bob are done with their opening song, we can’t help but consume a little Veggie Tales ourselves. We take one baby each and have them sit on our laps (so that they won’t crawl around and get distracted), and the four of us watch the show together.

Veggie Tales is not just for kids

Admittedly, Dawn & Rain are not the only ones hooked. My husband downloaded about a dozen episodes and was planning to have a Veggie Tales marathon. We think Veggie Tales is written not for the babies, but for the Moms, Dads, and adults who accompany the babies watch the show. The script contains intelligent jokes, Biblical truths, and wise words that seem more relatable for adults than for babies.

One of our favorite Veggie Tales episodes is Gideon the Tuba Warrior. Yesterday as I was watching it with Dawn & Rain (for the Nth time), this dialogue between Gideon the Cucumber and Angel Grape spoke to me and cut deep into my heart just when I needed it.

Gideon: “Do you ever have a hard time trusting God?”
Angel: “Me? Nah. I see Him every day. I know how glorious He is. I know He never breaks His promise. I also know how much He loves you, as He told me.”
Gideon: “Thanks.”
Angel: “You know what I think? I think you’re doing great. It’s easy for an angel to trust God, but you have faith in something you’ve never even seen! I admire that. Trust Him Gideon, He’ll never let you down.”

The angel left and Gideon started praying:

“Hey God, it’s me. You and I both know I can’t do this on my own. But You can. And that’s good enough for me. I pray that You’d be with us tonight and that Your will be done. That’s it I guess. Oh, one more thing. You could have chosen anybody but You chose me. Thanks. Amen.”

In that short moment I found myself praying Gideon’s prayer too.

Lessons from Gideon the Tuba Warrior

Gideon’s battle was different, but how many times have we felt the way he did? Like we’re fighting a battle that’s beyond our capacity and strength? We wonder if God made a mistake choosing us for a specific task. We find our circumstances a little too much to carry. We often cry out to God, “Lord I can’t do it on my own, help me!”

Last week we had to take care of two sick, cranky and clingy babies, and we had to do that on top of errands, work, extra-income work, and a Sweet Dreams event we had to cater over the weekend. Ohh the stress, the anxiety, and the sleepless nights. All I wanted to do was to nurse the babies and hold them close until they’re well, but I couldn’t abandon the other responsibilities too.

And there I found comfort in a TV show for kids.

Sometimes all we need to keep going is someone affirming us that we’re doing just fine.

To remind us that God never breaks His promises. That He never lets His children down. That the battles we face are not really ours, but His. That He never makes mistakes in choosing us for a specific task, and when He does choose us, we become the best persons for it.

Beautiful truths to be reminded of in an ordinary day. And by a talking cucumber no less.