Mine. To Have and To Hold.

The word of the day is "mine." Specifically, "mine mine mine...Mine....MIne...MINe...MINE MINE MINE!!!!!" Also, "Hold It." And, "Have It." Lord knows I am glad the boys are talking (remember how I was convinced they would *never* say Mommy and would call me Jenny?). But, this is a little much. No matter how many times Yancey and I try to explain that, "No, those pop beads are not YOURS, they belong to Mommy and Daddy who are nice enough to let you use them," they just don't seem to get it. Everything is Mine. And, whatever I have, they both want to Hold It or Have It. Sweet little things saw me talking on the phone and both started saying, "Hi Mimi! Hi Mimi!" but the minute I offered to call Mimi and got her on the line, they both wanted to Have It (the phone) and wouldn't say a word other than a high pitched scream. They also want to have and to hold the shower head in the bathtub, the steering wheel of the car, my purse, a spoon and open jello container (ugh), the stroller, my Coke*, scissors, the pen at the doctor's office, and a glass of wine. Who taught them to say those particular words anyway? Probably the same people that taught Foster to say, "one more time." Now, that's a good one. Especially around 8:15PM. Ahhhhh. Talking. But, should I be surprised? The apples have *definitely* not fallen far from either tree on that one.

Today also marks an occasion for me.....4 years ago today I entered the hospital, pregnant with twins, and was placed on bed rest for what ended up to be the biggest, scariest, saddest roller coaster ride I had ever been on. As most of you know, we ended up losing those beautiful twins at 21 weeks, and I came (relatively) close to joining them. If you don't know the story, it is not a happy one in any respect but one**. That one respect is Yancey. The words To Have and To Hold have never been more apt. From talking me through a totally doped up 24 hour labor and delivery with promises of Caribbean vacations and continued love with or without children.....to nursing me back to health then driving 120 mph to get back to the hospital again when the ambulance came to get me....to working through the intricacies and fears and hopes of gestational surrogacy....to giving me a puppy for my birthday the same day we met our potential surrogate, in case the meeting didn't work out (it did!).....to being my absolute rock (along with my sister) when I called him in tears saying the boys were about to be born over 3 months too early and we had to leave NOW.....to getting back on a Texas-bound plane with me after the engine blew 30 minutes into the flight (still hysterical to me).....to standing beside me for 3 months nursing those little ones and doing copious amounts of laundry and running completely random errands (I still don't know what all he was doing, especially during a *tornado*)....and finally to being the most loving hands-on Dad there is. Yep. Mine. To Have and To Hold.

*Note to Aunt Susan - they both say, "Coke! Have it!" You have done your job well.
**The narrative was better saying there was only one happy part of that crazy time, but there were actually several.....renewed faith....kindness of strangers....above and beyond from family and friends....and a true and real belief that life is, in fact, good.

Love Y'all! Happy Belated Thanksgiving!!! Hope yours was good. Mine was AWESOME but somehow, more tiring with almost 2 year old twins. Go figure! ;-)