What the girls like to watch

So, we don't watch a lot of television in our house. Usually we're outside or playing or doing something else. 

However, our girls do a have a couple favorite television shows, including anything Snoopy. 

It just proves that even an outdated comic strip character is just as popular as ever. 

I don't know why some people think the strip should stop running. It will take another 50 years to get through all the reruns.

And our girls eyes light up when they see Snoopy on the screen. There's nothing fancy about the animation like today's cartoons. 

Other shows they watch include Backyardigans and Curious George.

Mom left in dust as twins hit 1 year in a flash

Here's my latest column. 

Twelve months and counting, and I can’t believe it.
I never could have guessed I would have made it this far in the realm of motherhood.
My husband, John, and I are the busy, stressed-out parents of twin girls – one who’s bald, one who has a head of hair. They celebrated their first birthday recently.
Boy, has one year gone by fast.
It seemed like it was just the other day I was swinging a golf club with my husband – our last official outing before parenthood. An hour later, my water broke. And in the wee hours of a Tuesday morning, our babies Brett and Kaci were born.
At the time, their first birthday seemed light years away. I didn’t think I’d ever get through the period of no sleep, the screams from colic or the change of lifestyle – one that meant more days in the house watching two girls than going out gallivanting.
Then they hit six months. They got teeth and began to crawl. Soon, they were eating macaroni and cheese beside mommy and daddy at the dinner table.
Then – gasp – one year passes, and two little girls are sitting at their high chairs slamming down birthday cake in front of memorized onlookers. Where did the time go?
I didn’t figure I’d get used to bad diapers or food everywhere. Now I don’t even think twice when a Cheerio or sweet pea crunches underfoot, although I still scream for John when I smell something foul.
Still, it’s the toughest job occupation I’ve ever encountered. On most days, our house is a whirlwind of activity, and the little monsters, as John calls them, are in the center of it.
Keep your hands out of the poop, and your hat on your head. Brett, don’t pull your sister’s hair! Kaci, that’s Brett’s pacifier, don’t take it from her, and don’t dig through the trash. Why are you pooping sand?
Didn’t Mommy say no?
If only they would make it easier. I tried to tell them this during their one-year review. If they were listening at all, they didn’t seem to acknowledge it. Instead, we repeat the same scenario daily.
Still, I can’t help but wish they’d stay a year old forever.
I don’t want Brett to get hair – she’s my cute, bald little kid. And I definitely don’t want Kaci to get any more active. She’s already running from room the room and into everything.
I love how they babble to each other in some foreign language that only they understand. I love how they cuddle when they’re tired, how they’re eyes light up when we walk into the room and they see us, how they try to give us kisses.
Then, all of a sudden, they are 1, and here we are having a party celebrating the momentous occasion.
It brought both joy and terror.
They screamed at the people, which included close relatives that they don’t see a lot. I felt terrible as they clung to John and I – desperately trying to tell us, “Mommy, Daddy, make them leave!”
But they started to cheer up when present time rolled around. They tried to eat the packaging.
They loved the cake, which they happily stuffed in their mouths and smeared on their face, clothing and high chair, then dripped the bright blue icing on the floor.
And somehow, they slept well that night, despite the sugar high.
When it was all over, John and I sat back, exhausted from the planning, the people and the overall event.
“I’m a little sad it happened so fast,” I told him of the past year.
“But look at everything we have to look forward to,” he reminded, then rattled off all the things he wanted to do with his little girls.
I guess he’s right, I thought, and then smiled. They’ve brought so much happiness and love to our little family.

Twins turn 1

Brett and Kaci turned 1 on March 6. It is hard to believe that one year went by so fast. We celebrated with close family, which included watching them stuff cake in their mouths. Happy Birthday!

Baby A and Baby B

Want to know how it all started? Here's my first story on being pregnant with twins. This published in November of 2006. 

My husband calls them Baby A and Baby "Holy Catnip."

Well, those weren't his exact words, which can't be printed, but they were definitely uttered when we left the doctor's office after my first sonogram.

Our first children would be twins, the ultrasound technician told us. But to me they looked more like little aliens than something human.

Not that we hadn't planned for children, when I hit 30, i realized my biological clock was ticking, plus I was a little tired of the questions friends and family on why we hadn't started a family.

"You do practice?" one nosey relative asked me once to my dismay.

Anyway, I'm due in March. Preparation already has begun in our household.

We are going to need diapers -- a ton of them. Some of the facts. 18 billion disposable diapers are thrown into landfills each year -- making up the third-largest source of solid waste in landfills after newspapers and food and beverage containers. I guess we will add to those statistics. 

Besides spending more money on diapers, we're already planning for two cribs, two high chairs, tow car seats and a double stroller, just to top off the list. What we budged for day care will double, as well as the other expenses of raising children.

Husband John's big money-saving idea: We'll buy a goat and milk it if, for some reason, the babies are allergic to breast milk. He even asked a co-worker about keeping on at her farm. HE also would be the one milking it every morning and evening.

On the subject of motherhood, I'll admit I'm scared to death. I'm not domesticated. I eat cold tomato soup out of the can when John's away coaching, or frozen pizza and Kraft macaroni and cheese. I still don't consider myself a grown-up, and the thought of being one gives me goose bumps.

I don't know the first thing about changing diapers, what a baby east and all that other stuff that probably is in the book "Parenting for Dummies."

Also, we're in a habit of doing things whenever we feel like it. We might decided to go out to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings or to the movies at the last minute. We play softball three or four days a week in the summer, and in the fall, we're at every home Kansas State University football game.

Life from now on will require careful planning.

But to tell you the truth, we couldn't be more excited. WE talk about how someday our twins might like to hunt and play sports, that they will go to college and become professionals and make sue extremely proud.

Some couples dream of having one baby; God blessed us with two.

For now, all has gone pear-shaped, and I expected to turn into the Great Pumpkin any day now. 

Jayhawks

My twins

Likes: Mom, bananas, pizza, macaroni, swings and wagons.

Dislikes: Sleeping and KU.

I'm a K-State fan. That's where I graduated. That's the team I followed since I was a toddler. 

My husband is a KU fan. We have a divided house.

He's one of those die-hard Jayhawk fans. He recalls listening to games at night on the radio when everyone in his family was asleep. So, naturally, it was a stressful time around our house during the NCAA tournament this year.

Now he's preparing to frame every newspaper in the land that had a front-page picture of the Jayhawks. He has a championship T-Shirt. He says I don't understand. My team only as won a national championship in debate.

Still, I say, he's out numbered.

If I have it my way, the girls and I won't be wearing red and blue anytime soon. We bleed purple.

But, I'll have to admit, if he was posting this, he'd probably be writing a different story. And if he had his way, the girls would have more red and blue in the closet than purple and white.