Twins

During the hectic holiday season, my nephew Michael and his wife had twin boys.
Michael is in the Navy and Morgan has been in the Army Reserve, but recently had to take a leave of absence because of their daughter's medical issues.
These two already have a lot on their plate before the twins arrived. Their daughter Lydia, 3, has seizures that have interrupted her development. She doesn't talk at all but she's very sweet and goes to some amazing specialists to help her accomplish as much as possible.
Their daughter Lorelei, who turned 1 in August, is a pistol.
And then on December 18, they had Liam and Lukas. Liam, only 4 pounds, came home just a few days after he was born, but Lukas, weighing in at 6 pounds, had some breathing issues so he stayed in the hospital until this week. That's a long time for identical twins to be separated.
Apparently, the boys are glad to be back together.
Here's a photo that my sister-in-law sent of the twins with their dad, my nephew.

My mother made the baby quilts behind them. 

Hoping for healthy children and an easier life for Michael and Morgan in the months and  years to come.

Saturday Snapshots -- Babysitting

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My week got very busy.
I started teaching three new classes in the evening; Tucker's high school musical opened and I've been helping with costumes for a couple of weeks; Suddenly, I had to babysit two days this week because my sister-in-law was struck down with the flu and ended up in the hospital.
My sister-in-law usually watches her three grandkids on Thursday and Friday. So I took a shift watching the three kids both days. Exhausting but exhilarating.
Caroline is 4. She's not allowed to eat wheat, so I introduced her to chocolate-covered raisins. We decided this was a healthy snack. You can see she is delighted.

Regan is 20 months old. She was supposed to be napping but had a dirty diaper and unfortunately decided to explore. She needed a bath before I could put her down for a nap again.
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Grant is 14 months old. He stacked these cans up by himself very meticulously. When I looked up childhood milestones, I saw that babies should be able to stack 2 to 3 blocks at the age of 18 months. He has six cans stacked up here. I guess he'll be an engineer or an architect.

Hope you all had a good week.

Post Christmas Wrap Up

The cats enjoyed Christmas, even if the gifts weren't for them.

Unlike many of you who are counting books you've read and challenges you've reached this year, I'm counting my lucky stars that we survived -- enjoyed -- a lovely Christmas.
I got most of my shopping done by the end of last week, or so I thought.
On Christmas Eve, we drove an hour and a half to my brother's house in Dayton for lunch. That was the first time we got to see my nephew's baby Lydia. She's a month old and all of her dark hair makes her look like a doll baby. Her mother paints her nails and keeps a bow in her hair. Our nieces who have daughters try to keep them from being too girly, so this is definitely a different style of parenting!

Cousins. My kids are on the left side. Michael, Lydia's dad, was holding
the bottleand stuck it between his legs for the photo. Goofball

On the drive to my brother's I reminded Spencer that he didn't really have much on his Christmas list, so people had to do their best to guess what he wanted.
"I know," he said. "The only thing on my list was NBA 2K14 for Xbox."
"What?" I shrieked from behind the steering wheel. "That wasn't on you list. You said you wanted a speaker and Boss Cologne."

I got a new cap and scarf on Christmas morning.

Suddenly, the only thing my middle child wanted wasn't under the tree.
We got back to Columbus around 4:30 and I zipped over to Target where I found the game he wanted. I'd planned to schedule a massage for him, so the game replaced the future massage. I'm still not sure he played it.
Midnight mass was on our schedule. By 10 p.m. Tucker and Spencer were both asleep and I was nodding off. I'm just not a late night person.
After opening our presents Christmas morning, we went to my husband's sisters for a casual meal and the chance to see all of her daughters and their children.

Regan, one and a half, was not about to sit still for photos.

In between these events, I snatched moments of reading. I can recommend Kathleen Tessaro's Flirt. What a fun idea.
Hope you all had joyful holidays and look forward to New Year celebrations.

Grant turned 1 just before Christmas. 

Saturday Snapshot -- Sleeping Baby

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We spent Friday babysitting for our niece's daughters, 4-year-old Caroline and 1-year-old Regan. As Regan was eating her lunch, she choked on a couple pieces of avocado. It scared her as we pulled her from the high chair and banged her on the back so she could breathe again. She let out a wail as the avocado dislodged, and we knew she wasn't choked any more. 

But even though she could breathe, she was scared and wouldn't stop crying. I finally rocked her to sleep, her lashes still clumped together with tears as she sucked on her thumb. 

Hope everyone is having a peaceful weekend. 

Saturday Snapshot -- Babies

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Our life has been blessed with babies recently. Some we get to see frequently, others not so much.
In June, we got to meet my nephew's baby. They live in Texas and Oliver was 10 months old when we met him.

That's my 19-year-old son hanging out with Oliver. He has surprised me, and himself, by enjoying the babies this summer. 

Spencer's favorite baby is Grant, Earl's niece's baby.

Grant stayed with us on two different days in July. He was 6 months old at the time. He's happy pretty much all the time.

Spencer says he loves Grant because he has a big head and makes funny expressions. He also has huge chunky thighs. He's so squeezable.

People always say babies are beautiful, but most babies aren't beautiful -- they're adorable and lovable and cuddly, but one of the babies we love is beautiful.

Regan, Earl's goddaughter, baby of his niece, just turned a year old. She came out with the most beautiful skin. 

Here she is with me, getting a photo taken by her 3-year-old sister.

Then here is Regan again celebrating her grandma's birthday.

Hope you have something as wonderful as babies in your world today. 

Saturday Snapshot -- Babies

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.
Earl's nieces have been giving us a baby boom recently. And luckily, one of them moved just a few minutes away. Last weekend we got to visit with six-month-old Regan. Here she is hanging upside down.

 

Earl's other niece just had a baby on Dec. 21. And we hadn't seen the new baby yet, but finally he was released to the family last weekend. From the expression on his face, I can tell that Grant doesn't think it's a good idea. He is very concerned at two weeks old.

More Babies

At the end of June, I wrote about Earl's niece having an adorable daughter. Little Regan is still a sleepy, floppy newborn which is good since her mother is recovering slowly from her C-section and taking care of her two-year-old Caroline. We've gotten to see baby Regan a few times, and now they've asked my husband Earl to be the godfather. He, of course, insists on calling her Ray gun.

Now my side of the family has decided to get into the baby business. My nephew Kyle, 24, became a dad last week when Oliver was born.

He was big, 8 pounds, 13 ounces.

My mom and dad traveled from Florida to Texas this weekend to see the baby, their first great grandchild. 

Here's a picture that my mom took on her phone, so it's a little blurry, but this is my Dad holding Oliver, while my niece Abby, 18, looks on. Abby, by the way, is not the mom, but the aunt of Oliver. Abby heads off to college at the end of August.

I love how alert Oliver looks, as if he understands whatever secrets my dad is telling him.

And here's the new dad, Kyle, next to his sister. Kyle's life has been pretty much go-with-the-flow so far. He plays the guitar in a punk band and has delivered pizzas on his bicycle. All of that should be changing now as he takes on the mantle of dad.

I haven't met Kyle's girlfriend, the mother of Oliver, and I don't see myself getting to Texas any time soon, so I don't know when I'll get to see Oliver either. Maybe they'll bring Oliver up north when he gets a little older so he can meet his great, great grandmother, my Nana, who lives in Kentucky -- 5 generations of Kincers.

New Addition

Just when I'm getting fed up with raising teenagers, Earl's niece comes along with the adorable two-year-old Caroline and now baby Regan.

Regan is 11-days old now and I finally got my hands on her. She didn't wake up but half opened one eye as she stretched and went back to sleep.

Sleepy newborns may be the antidote to cranky teenagers. This is Grace holding Regan. She is 20 now so does not count as a cranky teenager any more. Her brothers are still in the cranky teenage stage. I can't remember when they were this cuddly and sweet. 

Memorial Day

Our town has a Memorial Day parade on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Caroline came to visit for her first parade of the season. She's old enough to enjoy parades now and wasn't spooked by the blaring sirens or the revving of the classic cars.

Caroline loved those flags. She waved them throughout the parade, not even releasing them to grab the candy thrown by the passing floats.
This Memorial Day, I need to add the name of my Uncle Don to those who fought for our country and have passed on. He served in the Navy during the Korean War, even though someone else took his swimming test for him. Uncle Don died this year. Thanks to him and all the veterans, along with the active members of the military.

Simmering Tempers

That's me, simmering this afternoon. I planned to blog about the boys' confirmation last night, or maybe about Spencer's first college visit, but I'm so over being a mother to teenage boys right now.
Aaaargh!
Instead, I'll post a couple of photos.
One is my beautiful great niece Caroline who has grown up in the week since Easter when we saw her last.

The other is a precocious 4-year-old at church who felt the confirmation service went on a little too long. She is the youngest of 4 children and she rules the roost. She was mad because she couldn't sit with her mother, who was a confirmation sponsor for one of the teenage girls. Staying away from mom was torture for little Natalie.

One of the problems with my camera is that the photo may look great on screen, but once I upload it to the computer, it isn't the amazing shot I had imagined. Like this one of Natalie. She's a little blurry and the color seems a bit off. I wasn't allowed to use a flash during mass.
Luckily, Natalie's sister Morgan posed for me in the remaining daylight, so I got a clear, ferocious picture or her.

Sometimes I long for the day when my kids were these ages. Life seemed so simple then.
But I'd better not forget how tiring life was then -- physically tiring anyway.