In the spring of 2007,
our daughter delighted us with the news she was pregnant the second time
around. Oh goodie, I thought, maybe a little sister for our grandson. At 2½,
the little guy lived 20 minutes away and was the highlight of our everyday
lives. Born just weeks before our older grandkids moved cross-country, he
filled the emptiness we felt after six years as hands-on grandparents.
It was a quiet
afternoon about four weeks later when the house phone rang. My daughter usually
used her cell so I was surprised to see her name on caller ID. “Hi babe,” I
answered cheerfully.
Silence.
“Hello” I asked.
Then I heard a soft, timid-toddler voice whose
words sounded like” mama” and “baybee.”
Or was it “baybeeees???”
Coached to repeat
it louder, he made it clearer…“Mama has
two babies in her belly!”
My brain was not registering what I’d heard. “What does that mean?”I asked when Tracy came
on the phone. Laughing and crying at the same time, she exclaimed, “Mom, we’re having twins!”
“Oh my God,” I screamed
for my husband. He stared at me for a long time before it sunk into his head
too. I sat down on the kitchen floor crying happy tears as my daughter and I
went back and forth with a “two of this and two of that” kind of chant.
Freaking out was definitely the term.
They would have
three kids under three!
Two more car
seats times three cars (including
mine) equals nine!
Two cribs,
Two changing
tables or one?
Two baby swings,
Two highchairs
eventually,
Two playpens, two
rocker seats…. and on and on it went.
Anxiety and anticipation eventually gave way
to confidence and joy as time went on; but mom and dad, two sets of
grandparents, various in-laws and siblings constantly weighed in on the how,
where and what of welcoming twins in the family.
As
they prepared to buy double dollars worth of stuff, the most important question
came from ME. ”What about
color?” I asked. “Two blues, two pinks or one of each? Gender testing was
scheduled for the next week.
With her first born, Tracy had met me in the
baby department at Kohl’s for the big reveal. There she was, holding a little
blue outfit…a boy! I agreed to find out the same way this time, near the newborn
displays at Kohls. I’ll never forget her coming toward me with two similar
outfits; one in blue and one in pink! YAAAY! How blessed we were!
I decided it was time to quit working and plan for a brand new
gig; two new babies were going to need grandma’s full attention. I retired from
teaching after 33 years. Since my husband’s job enabled him to work remotely
and the twins’ arrival date wasn’t ‘til December, we decided to celebrate by
renting a cottage in southern California near our son’s house.
It was paradise. A cozy little beach house in a throwback beach
town where we spent two months with our grand girls. Volunteering at their
school, I became intrigued with the girls’ classmates. Namely, their names, the
so-called California names. Sunshine, Shade, Phoenix, River, Bella la Bella and
Davy Blue are a few that come to mind. This was also around the time Angelina
Jolie and Jennifer Lopez were pregnant with twins. Celebrity shows and social
media were full of speculation and wouldn’t you know…I got caught up in the
name game too. Actors seemingly one-upped each other with outlandish monikers. Bear,
Mowgli, Apple, Pilot and Calico.
I annoyed my daughter on a daily basis with the latest names I heard.
(In my defense, I did respect her wishes for no rhyming names such as Barney
and Marney or Jenny and Kenny) One day she emailed me and said enough! She’d let
me know when they decided. I continued walking on the beach thinking about
playing in the sand with two coolly-named kiddos someday.
During our last few days in town, I was browsing the gift shops
along Main Street. Just as I picked up a couple of “I’m the cute twin” tees in
the B
is for Baby store, my daughter
called. “We’ve decided we love the names Rain and Storm,” she gushed. I was thrilled! “Cool names,” I kept repeating
and assured her it was wise to wait until they arrived to see which name fit which
babe. Of course, the saleslady overheard and I over-shared, gushing way too
much about helping these soon-to-be grandbabies have trendy names. She looked over
her glasses at me and said, “I’m so sorry, dear.” I bought the identical tee shirts and hurried
home to tell grandpa and the rest of the family.
I emailed my teacher friends and gal pals back home, called my
mother….a soon to be a great-grandmother of twins, and told the donut ladies at
the coffee shop I visited each morning. Did I mention I was thrilled? We flew
home at the end of October in time to have our grandson for the weekend, carve
a pumpkin and buy Halloween goodies. I told the neighborhood trick-or-treaters Rain
and Storm were going to be the most adorable babies ever.
When Tracy and I met at our favorite Mexican restaurant for
lunch one afternoon, she nonchalantly mentioned they were rethinking their
decision about baby names. She said, “Think about it, Mom. You were a teacher
and must have rolled your eyes a few times,” referring to kids with weird
names. I nodded. “Can you see Rain and Storm in our suburban Atlanta school?”
No….I really couldn’t. When I acknowledged that the trendy name thing seemed
normal on the west coast but silly in our corner of the world, she started
chuckling. She laughed harder and shook her head saying, “I got you good!”
The light bulb went on. I suddenly knew she’d been joking the
whole time. “Well played!” I said. We hugged and segued into the negative aspects
of a kid called Storm. Would he/she be an angry, wild child? Would Rain be sad
and cry a lot? I was a bit embarrassed that I’d believed her, that I’d never
considered the consequences for the twins as they grew up. I promised I
wouldn’t ask about names ‘til the newborns’ appearance.
One week into December
with the Christmas season in full swing, the day finally came! Twins require a
scheduled delivery and we were off to the hospital. The other grandparents were
there with our grandson, along with an aunt, uncle and cousins. When daddy came
into the waiting room, we all stood up. “Big brother gets to meet the twins
first,” he announced. Drew jumped into his arms and the rest of us sat back
down. A half hour later he opened the door and waved the grandparents through.
Voila! There they were… a bundled baby boy in blue and a pretty
pink-blanketed girl lying in mama’s arms. As she placed the ‘oldest’ in his
paternal grandma’s arms, we were introduced to Lane Hudson. My arms reached out
to meet Miss Paige Nicole. Two rockers, two grandmas rocking and two brand new
babies being rocked! The grandpas finally got a turn as we played
pass-the-babies around the room. We cooed at the ten little fingers and toes on
each, the mass of dark curls on Paige’s head and the long blond wisps on
Lane’s. It wasn’t long before I’d nicknamed these Christmas gifts Prancer and
Dancer!
The frazzled parents took
time to adjust and set up a routine. When my son-in-law headed back to work and
Drew to preschool, it was my turn to show up for duty. My favorite memory from those early days is
Tracy sitting on the floor surrounded by books, reading aloud various passages
on the feeding of multiples. Listening, I warmed the bottles of breast milk and
settled on the couch feeding the babe in my lap with one hand and the one
propped on pillows with the other. She looked up at me and said, “Thank you,
Mom.” It was common sense in my opinion. They were both hungry at the same
time. But at that moment we both realized it was going to be learn-as-you-go
rather than following ‘how-to’ books. Dr. Spock did have good advice when it
came to colicky tummy aches. Walking and rubbing Paige’s back as I hummed
nursery rhymes soothed her many times. Looking back now, I so admire how my
kids handled that first year. Getting three fed, bathed, loved and cherished
while grabbing sleep whenever you can is the hardest but greatest job in the
world.
Drew was a bewildered toddler in the beginning, regressing to join the
baby circus. But by 3 ½ he was ready to help entertain and care for the twins.
Fetching diapers and this and that from the upstairs nursery is a mighty
important job.
Today Lane and Paige are fifteen. They are finishing their freshman year of high school where Paige has earned a varsity jacket in softball and Lane plays baritone in the Marching Band and euphonium in Atlanta’s Youth Wind Orchestra..Paige is a social butterfly and a
sweet friend to everyone. Lane idolizes his big brother and is often annoyed by
his one-minute younger sister; but he's the peacemaker, the moral compass of the family. He’s witty, sensitive and street smart while Paige is an insightful
thinker who likes to ponder every detail and leads by example.
They love family history and made me proud many Veteran’s Days when they presented a Social Studies project about
their great-grandfather’s WWII experiences.
Watching these two blossom into young adults continually enrich our lives every day. They’re still double the trouble sometimes but mostly double the joy! We wouldn’t have it any other way.
