countdown to christmas...

i just looked back to see the date of my last post and my mouth dropped.  how in the world does a month go by ever-so-quickly?  amidst the hustle and bustle of the season, i seem to have let my "pair of parsleys" blog fall by the wayside.

what have you been up to, you might ask....

i would like to announce a monumental change.  i would love to present some amazing, knock-your-socks off news.  i would jump for joy to drop some information that none of you could even attempt to compete with....BUT i ain't got nothing, dear friends!

i have just been staying afloat in the daily routine of mommy-hood.  from breakfast to building blocks to dress up, my life doesn't "sound" all that exciting but i swear to ya'll it is running me ragged.  i was thrilled to go and get "my hair did" today so i could FINALLY get in a good washing!

minnie and tully are really pushing their little limits these days and using one another to make a heck of a team to knock down their mommy.  they are climbing, yelling, playing, and loving this time of year unlike anything i have ever seen.  while our lives might not be anything to make note of to most, living our life as a fam of four is our wonderful gift that god has blessed us with this season.

i could just gobble them up...

thanksgiving has come and gone.  i do believe it is once again my favorite holiday.  there is no stress over high-end purchases that max out a credit card bill.  there is no forgetting a last-minute gift.  there is no long line in the mall to perch  upon an old man in a red suit's lap.  there is simply "togetherness" with those we love.

i say that it is "once again" my favorite holiday because last year the holiday season might as well have not count.  i know there was a thanksgiving, an advent season, a christmas....yet i do not recall being present at any of them. pictures reflect my existence BUT i truly do not remember living and breathing in those moments one smidgen.

i know that my first turkey day as a mommy should have made me the most thankful lady in all the land.  however, my double D/E boobies were leaking, my daughter #2'd all over her turkey onesie and i was too stressed and tired to make a respectable thanksgiving plate for myself.  ya'll....2010 was the best year of my life but lordy, my life was topsy turvy to say the least.

this year, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...i could just soak it all in.  though i wish my babies were still "babies", it was so fun celebrating such an amazing holiday with both ben's family and my own.  we were surrounded by people that have helped us raise our little ones to be the precious, warm, exciting little turkeys that they are.  minnie and tully adored playing with all of their little family members and then soaked up the attention from the adults.  it was so fun to just sit and watch the "love".

every family has its drama.  every family has its crazies (we all have been the crazy one, too, by the way).  every family, though, has its own way of shaping the little ones.  for the family that is doing just for my babies....i am so very thankful.

on her way to eat turkey in style...

precious baby boy turkey...

turkey lady...

shooting hoops to work off his turkey belly...

be in the moment...

i try to be lighthearted and carry a sarcastic wit when asked "how IS it...how is life with twins?"  i don't want to be a downer.  i don't want to sound ungrateful.  i don't want to seem like a grumpy mommy.  all of that aside, i do want to be honest.  it is h-a-r-d.  


i have said to each of my close girlfriends that going from zero kiddos to any number (be it 1 or 2 or 3), is something no one can aptly prepare you for.  i always knew that but living the life of a new mommy is like an unexplainable journey that no piece of knowledge or tool can make it work flawlessly for you.  i am a big believer that raising children is imperfectly perfect.  no one does it the same.  no mommy personality is identical to the next.  no little one is a mirror image of his or her dearest friend.  you just have to buckle yourself and your little ones up and ride off into the sunset...handling the bumpy road along the way as best you can.


the main thing that being a mommy has made me realize is that you can plan, plan, plan out the yin-yang BUT you have to be ready to make on the fly decisions and live in the unpredictable moments that your babies create.  though my days look extremely similar on the surface, each day brings about different decisions, different moods, different twins for that matter......and you MUST adjust.


being a mommy of multiples requires routine....times 2!  so going from a rigid routine to pulling decisions out of my rear end at a second's notice has been a difficult extreme for me to deal with.  some girls can roll with the punches super-well.  i am NOT one of those ladies.    some girls are sticklers and say "no matter what, my day will look the exact same 7 days a week".  i am not one of those either.  i find my personality in the middle....and that middle ground can sometimes make life shaky.  


i came across a verse yesterday that i swear to ya'll was written for mommies of multiples.  maybe i should say it was written for mommies in general....


"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."


let me tell you.  i like the following words:  rest, gentle, easy, and light. those words just warm my soul just skimming across them.  as a mommy, those words resonate with me.  that's what i want for MY own minnie and tully just as christ wants that for us, his children.  i am so thankful he was there in the beginning...that he is here for me now....and that he will forever be there to comfort me in the future.  that way, i can live in the moment knowing i am never doing so alone.

our little spooks...one year later...

last halloween?  hmmmmm.  i do not recall a single moment.  i have some pictures so i know the
annual holiday came and went; however, i was in such a sleep-deprived, survival state that i don't have wonderful, warm & fuzzy memories of my first halloween as a mommy.

wow...do NOT recall this moment one bit, ya'll!

this year, however, was a day FULL of fun for us.  i loaded the babies up and took them downtown to see their daddy.  actually, i took them to the square for their daddy to show his little ones off.  i swear, ben had me dragging our little creatures in every office he could possibly justify toting them into!  he was so proud...and the babies knew it!

after a good, long nap we were off to mom and dad's.  minnie and tully were surrounded by dear family friends and family members that just gobbled their cuteness right up.  from playing outside to touching every halloween decoration in sight, they evidently loved their sea creature alter-egos because they never fussed about their get-ups one bit!

while we were all exhausted by the day's end, we couldn't find a negative aspect at all about our day.  they babies were happy.  we were happy....and we were able to EXPERIENCE that happiness and soak it all in.  i am so very thankful for my little fishy and pinchy lobster....oh how we love them so!

church and our children...

going to church has always been a part of mine and ben's relationship.  throughout the period of time when i couldn't get pregnant, sunday morning worship became an even more heartfelt experience.  it was such a relief when sundays would arrive.  though i was often emotional, i felt like it was the one hour during the week i could actually breathe.

i would pray to god that one day, he would make me a mommy.  sometimes i believed what i was offering up to god would come true; however, sometimes i thought my requests would receive an empty answer.  i would promise that if the good lord above gave us a child, i would forever be thankful and that appreciation would be represented by "never missing church" and ya-da-ya-da-ya-da.

i will be honest...we have not been the best, most diligent service-goers since the twins arrived.  naptime, illness, mommy exhaustion, etc are all reasons behind the parsley family's absence.  while i know god doesn't keep a record of rights & wrongs, i carry guilt when we don't get to the place where god answered my prayers with an emphatic "yes" to making me a mommy.

this brings me to today.  we toted the twins into church this morning thinking that if we made it even halfway through the service, we could put a check in the box beside did you make it to church today?
little did i know what a wonderful experience today's service would be.

within 5 minutes of being at church, i felt home.  there was that peace, that innermost peace that only one can reach within the lord's presence.  maybe it was the music? maybe it was the closeness i have with the people around us?  maybe it was the feeling of opening my eyes after the pastor's prayer and catching a glimpse of my son or daughter?

from the singing to the praying to the sermon, i felt myself "breathing" again.  i don't remember the exact lyrics of each song.  i don't even remember the verses from today's sermon.  i just know that god gave me a warm welcome back after a few sundays away from his house.  it has welcomed ben and i throughout our relationship, and now it is welcoming my precious babies.

TWO babies...

having twins means the obvious...twice the diapers, twice the clothes, twice the baby equipment (2 cribs, 2 car seats, etc)....and the list goes on.

what having twins ALSO means is having 2 personalities and 2 different sets of likes and dislikes developing simultaneously.  since i haven't experienced raising identical twins, i don't know if such sets of twins share similar traits.  what i can definitely say is that my kiddos do NOT share much in common at all.  though they emerged from the same belly, that's about the only common characteristic these two have!

i would like to say minnie is the "yin" to tully's "yang" but their distinct differences do not necessarily complement one another's.  instead, these two are like oil and water these days! these twins' personalities' simply don't mesh well at times! while they love one another, i swear they don't like each other 24/7!

let's break it down, twin verses twin...

mr. tully...

• loves snacky foods (gerber chedder puffs, rice cakes, graham crackers)
• LOVES squeezy pouches (the spinach mango and pear combo is his fav)
• very moody in the morning (wants to be held for a good 30 minutes before smiling and starting his day)
• adores playing with anything that has 4 wheels (cars, his little john deer tractor, and his step 2 car)
• whines for mommy...often in an extremely loud, piercing tone
• pouts...often:)
• loves his paci
• wants NOTHING in his bed when he goes to sleep
• waves at everyone and everything...he waves for a long time today at my neighbor's dog statue and never understood why his gesture wasn't reciprocated

miss minnie...

• loves herself a good meal (mac n' cheese, grilled cheese, chicken tetrazinni)
• will not eat a squeeze pouch...loves to use her precious, squishy digits to pick up her food
• is bright and cheerful from morning until night...she loves life from the moment she wakes up
• has HER favorite play items which include mommy's bracelets, newspapers/magazines, mail, tupperware)
• cries without making a noise if her feelings get her
• steals her brother's paci but can't figure out how to keep it in her mouth:)
• loves 4-5 lovies in her bed and talks to them all and hugs them before falling to sleep
• talks to herself and to inanimate objects and doesn't really care about human contact that much

so.......as you can see, different as night and day.  i am exhausted by the day's end because the differences between the two certainly keep momma on her toes.  the only thing these two share, is their crazy bath time look....hysterically and perfectly priceless

the more the merrier...

i have always taken pride in doing things on my own.  i am not saying, necessarily, that the word
"independent" describes me in every single thing i do.  however, i do tend to be a wee-bit stubborn and resistant to help when offered.  my, my, my...how how the tides have changed....

some women absolutely amaze me.  how they do it "all", i simply do not know.  some of these women are friends of mine, some are women i've always looked up to at church, around town, etc.  i would be completely lying if i claimed i was one of "them". i simply don't know how to dot my "i's" and cross my "t's" all by myself these days!

from the moment ben & i brought the babies home from the hospital, our house became a revolving door for friends, family, etc.  while i was reluctant at first to the thought of handing some of my mommy domain over to others, i felt rather overwhelmed from day 1. while i loved being a member of mommyland, i was going 90 to nothing and needed some help.  from having meals brought in to rocking the babies to even, dare i say, breastfeeding....i had extra hands each and every moment of each and every day.

the funny thing about this habitual daily daily lifestyle that began shortly over a year ago is that the same approach still exists in the parsley household today!  "it takes an army" is a quote that must have been coined by a mommy of multiples!  it truly HAS taken an army to raise minnie and tully.

for example, if you had peered into minnie and tully's lives over the past 4-5 days, you would have seen so many helpful hands and loving hearts you wouldn't even begin to be able to keep up!

ben's parents kept the babes last friday night while we had supper club...my parents had them for the weekend while ben and i pretended to be young and fun in knoxville revisiting college life...vicki and terry, 2 of m & t's favorites, came over to play with the twins and help them cheer on the vols saturday night.....our precious, perfect babysitter was on-hand this week to held me tandom take cover of some allergy-ridden kiddos...finally, the babies will be surrounded by sweet friends and their buddies today during a play date.  if you add that up, it's over 10 people in just a few days!

while alone time is often a scarce occurrence that i sometimes am DYING for, i am so glad that minnie and tully see so many smiling and caring faces that each day brings.  i want them to be go-with-the-flow babes that love life and those that god has blessed them with.  they are lucky little twins...and the people surrounding them are a testament to that.

brrrrrrrr.......

while i love the football, tailgating, etc that fall brings, i sure am not a fan of anything
under 70 degree fahrenheit.  if a sleeve is required, i am not loving the weather outside.  while i love how cowboy boots and yummy sweaters look in a full length mirror, i do not like how it feels to HAVE to wear those items outside for warmth!

my dad went to law school at the university of florida, and he and mom truly debated about setting up
shop in sarasota rather than venturing back into davy crockett territory. i always tell
him that staying near the gulf would have been a good choice for me, though!  i could peer out into the deep blue sea and be juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust fine 365 days of the year:)

enough feeling sorry for myself...fall is bringing about some fun times in the parsley household for sure!  minnie and tully are walking everywhere.  minnie took off at 11 months.  tully was about 4-6 weeks behind her.  now, they are shooting off in opposing directions and i have to choose whomever is moving at a scarier pace to catch first.  good exercise for mommy, i guess!

on top of being uber-mobile, they are gobbling up new things and loving it.  they love anything green...asparagus, peas, and spinach puff thingies to name a few.  they are also HUGE cheese-lovers so auntie colleen would be so proud:)

from moving about everywhere to gobbling bits of everything, new adventures are upon us.  while cold weather isn't a fave, this age sure is!!!!  if precious minky outfits and adorable, intricate fall smocking with little, itsy bitsy shoes don't get me pumped for THIS fall, NOTHING will!

our one-year-olds...

well, the big 1st birthday has come and gone.  ta-ta little ones...hello, big boy and big girl!

i swear to you that since the summer began back in june, people were asking me what i was planning for the big 1 year party.  i was never lying when i said "nothing so far".  i didn't get on the party planning bandwagon until the dog days of august were upon us.  i just wanted to put off the frenzy of planning a duo-soiree in efforts to enjoy the summer that we all had longed for.......and boy, we did!

this summer has been amazing.  i honestly do not even remember what last summer was like.  i know i was rotund and i know i often rolled into the pool to cool my preggo self off......but that's about it!  this summer, however, has been jam-packed with so many fun, fun "firsts" for our family of four.

these babies have come a loooooooooooooooooooong way.  seriously.  we brought these babies home weighing 4 pounds and a handful of ounces and let me tell you, they weigh a solid 5 times that easy now!  they were so tee-tiny, perfect to me, but fragile for sure.  from the day we brought them home, though, we knew as all parents do that we sure did have something special.

our twins are great sleepers.  our twins are hilarious little talkers.  our twins are finicky little eaters but their little mini-palettes are growing every day.  our twins are now BOTH mobile and are loving walking about.  our twins are loving anything with wheels.  our twins adore breathing in fresh air and taking in all that god has created in his beautiful, perfectly imperfect world.  minnie and tully, overall, are loving the lives that the good lord created just for them.

if only we could all have child-like faith as he asks us to.  we would all just weeble wobble around like minnie and tully do and just experience all that life has to offer.  it would be so nice to just "be", wouldn't it.  instead of getting all caught up in the hustle and bustle humanity creates, we could all just talk to the ceiling like minnie does or make whooping noises like tully does at anything from dogs to garbage trucks:)

i am glad i didn't get caught up in the party planning stress until i literally had to.  because i procrastinated a bit, i really was able to enjoy this amazing summer as a mommy right along with minnie and tully.

i don't want to rush through things with them.  i want to take the time to enjoy them, enjoy where they are at, and be thankful for each and every minute and each and every experience.  though i lived in denial a bit about them turning a year old, i think it really worked to my advantage.  i simply am madly in love with these babies. i am forever thankful for their lives and the year's worth of experiences each one has given me.  thank you, lord, for my son and daughter.  you have blessed me beyond what any computer keyboard could ever express.  let's celebrate!!!!!!!!!!!

so yum!

party time

hanging out porch-style before the festivities

miss mobile 

precious tully

happy birthday my little ones

birthday babes...

how we got here, i am not sure.  as i have gotten older, i catch myself saying things that typical "old people" say.  the phrase "it's amazing how fast time flies"truly does sum up, though, this past year.

i have never cried so hard, laughed so hard, or smiled so very big as i have since last september 1st. nothing could have prepared me for what this year entailed.  no training program, no book, nor knowledgeable person could have explained to me how much my life would change or how amazingly enriched it would become.  i swear, no price tag could be put on how valuable these 2 little lives have made my world.

minnie and tully are now a year old.  i can't count the number of awful diapers.  i can't count the hours of nervousness in this house.  i certainly can't count the number of smiles, though, either.  the good has definitely outweighed the bad.  the amount of happiness has far defeated the amount of helplessness.  the laughing by all of us has overpowered the arguments and daily moments of despair.  life has just been an ongoing sense of awe.

i can remember going through infertility issues.  i remember trying ovulation tests and never getting a smiley face.  i remember 20-30 negative pregnancy tests.  i remember 5 failed attempts with clomid.  i remember driving back and forth to nashville fertility in hopes that god's miracle workers would give me a baby!  i remember waiting the 2 long weeks to see if my IUI had "taken".

HOWEVER, what i remember most more than any moment in this world was the day i saw 2 little heartbeats blinking on the screen symbolizing my tully and my minnie's precious lives.  god gave ben and i 2 babies........2 babies.  he knit them ever-so-perfectly in my womb until last september 1st.  on that beautiful, gorgeous, crystal blue day, he invited them to join us.....

I am forever thankful to our god for giving us them on loan for a bit.  over the past year, they have been showered with so much love from our parents, sisters, extended family, and loving, dear friends.  minnie and tully are the wonderful babies they are because of ya'll.  we know that.  while we are so thankful for this first amazing year with our twins, we are also thankful and forever blessed by all that got them here.

our precious birthday boy

our little birthday girl

babies...

i just love babies.  i do.  the itty-bitty-ness of them all when they are welcomed into the world....ahhh....i just could eat them up.  while i often think fresh, little ones all resemble one another, i just can't stand the excitement each new baby brings!

my sister has been a gung-ho-boy-mommy since her 5-year-old, baker, entered her world.  toys and cars and construction vehicles have dominated her home decor for sure!  once little brother, hylton, came along two years later, the cult-like construction family has never been the same.

jessica and her svelte, model-like physique often look runway-ready in her shiny tories, stacked yearmans, and signature gucci bag.  however, do not let this outward appearance fool you.  this girl has gone to truck stops to get autographs of the ice road truckers.  she has stood out in the rain and the cold for multiple sports games.  she even goes to football games in k-town and actually WATCHES the game and knows what is going on!!!  she is a girly-girl with a boy-loving heart.

all of this, however, changed instantaneously today.  my sister had..........a daughter.  miss elizabeth brown jennings entered the world, sans epidural, in a matter of minutes today.  little "bebe", as they are going to call her, wanted her mommy.  instead of riding along in jessica's belly, miss bebe wanted to be wrapped up in her sweet mommy's arms.

the birth of my first, little niece has found me almost at a loss for words.  seeing her today just made me get that big lump in my throat that ONLY a little fresh baby face can do.  what IS it?  why are little babies so dern perfect?

all i know is that my 7 pound 4 ounce niece is pretty close to perfect.  no, no.  she is perfect.  now i know we will all screw her up with time.  hopefully, later as opposed to sooner.

i am just so glad god brings each and every baby to us in the way he does.  he brings them to us, knowing they would be sooooooooooo much better if left in his own hands and care.  all we can do is love them from then on...just as christ loved us.  i am so glad he gave our family miss bebe to try just that.

let the countdown begin...

the game is on, dear friends.  i simply cannot believe that minnie and tully's first birthday is 10 days away.

i cannot wrap the little brain that i have left around the fact that these little ones have been here with us for one whole year.  my, my....there have been some ugly moments; however, i truly can say the wonderful ones completely outweigh the not-so-pretty ones.

i don't want to completely trudge down memory lane right now.  i'll save that for the true "one year" posting.  i do, however, want to say that having twins has been the craziest, hardest, funnest, most life-altering task god has ever tossed our way.

certain people have the coping mechanisms to raise deux children at uno time.  this senorita, i shall not lie, was not born that way.  i am not a type A person.  i am not a rigid, schedule person.  i am not one that has everything done months in advance.  i am not a huge "planner" on a daily basis.  what i am trying to say is that all of those traits would help in raising multiples.

on the contrary, i decide what each day will bring on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis.  though i am organized and neat, i am not sure what the next hour will bring.  i am sentimental.  i am tender-hearted.  i can become a pile of teary mush instantly if i feel i am not being super-mommy to my babies.  all of these traits that i do possess often make raising the two kiddos pretty darn hard.

i often think god got confused when he gave ben and i the wonderful little lives that we named minnie & tully.  i don't see how he thought that i could raise a baby times two! even though i don't feel equipped with all of the knowledge needed to do it a lot of the time, i have to think the man upstairs knows what he is doing.

a bible study teacher of mine gave me a copy of this verse in college that i always keep somewhere in my car...

"for i know the plans i have for you, says the lord...plans to prosper and not to harm you...plans to give you hope and a future..."

i am so glad he was planning something special when he planted minnie and tully in that belly of mine in january of 2010.  those blinking heartbeats that we saw weeks later was the most precious sight these eyes have ever seen.  god gave us a hope and a future that day...and at almost a year later, i finally am beginning to understand.

they are growing up too, too fast.....

our precious babies are growing up so fast,
we are simply trying to make each moment last.

minnie is sweet and oh-so funny,
she love to stick that tongue out like she's licking up honey.

she giggles all the time and talks very loud,
when she catches herself walking, she is so very proud.

our handsome tully is growing even bigger than his sissy,
he loves to bang and cruise about...he's keeping his momma busy.

he is very lovey-dovey but can be a selfish little brother,
but those doe-eyes win us over every time like no other.

we fall in love with these babes more and more everyday,
we simply wouldn't have it any other way...

parsley..party of 1...

church is a new endeavor with kiddos.  it JUST is.  regardless of if your little bits are nursery bound or if you have a bag of tricks like i do to whip out in efforts to keep them with you during service, church is a whole new ball game once babies are thrown into the mix.

though the babies were sanctuary-ready last week, smocked clothes and all, it wasn't our most successful sunday in the long run.  we made it through the opening songs.  we made it through the offering.  however, by the time minnie knew the sermon was coming she was ready to boogie on out of there.  tully would have taken ahold of his paci and been in his happy place 5 minutes later on a shoulder.  minnie, however, i a nosey nellie and just can't give up the ghost.  so.....30 minutes into getting our jesus,  we found ourselves exiting the doors we recently were welcomed through.

even though we are taking the twins with us into our service for the time being, i refuse to be "that momma" with the child flailing about making a commotion in what is supposed to be a holy place.  i can't expect 10 month olds to act picture-perfect.  that i know.  i am literally sweating, though, in efforts to make them hush so that mommy, daddy, and the rest of the congregation can get some god for the week!  puffs, water, and non-electronic toys are pulled out like a magician pulling a rabbit from his top hat!

so...this brings me to today.  i decided that momma was off duty and needed a service to herself.  instead of a spa day or a mani/pedi venture, i just wanted to go to church and actually be a focused christian lady for an hour.  i never realized, though, how awkward i would feel.

i have always said that church can make you feel so loved, so warm and encouraged OR it can make you feel the complete opposite.  when ben and i were struggling to get pregnant, it was the only time during my whole week i felt light on my feet and peaceful.  i swear, church is either your sanctuary during a crabby time in life OR it can feel like an isolated island where you are the only person present.

today was an awkward day.  though i had planned on coming home enlightened and full of biblical knowledge to share with ben, i was lost throughout the whole darn service.  while i should've focused on a verse from 2 Timothy, i was thinking about what the babies would wear to a ut football game.  ya'll....the holiest thing i envisioned was UT actually having a winning season!

while i felt alone and was unable to concentrate during today's service, everything quickly changed during the last few minutes prior to the benediction.  a precious, little girl got baptized and the praise and worship band sang a song that had the following lyrics in it...

"hold on to jesus because he is holding onto you..."

in an instant, i didn't feel lonely.  as basic as this may sound, i felt so good being reminded jesus IS there.  he always is, always will be.  in being a mommy...in being a wife...in being a woman in the daily lives we all lead.....you forget that basic principle.  while i had gone into the service as a "party of 1", i was quickly reminded that we do absolutely nothing alone.

it is so easy to get swept up in the mommy stuff.  in the hustle and bustle of bottles, food, diapers, and all of the other "stuff", i know i feel like i am doing it all "by myself".  with god as our savior, our redeemer, and our friend, it is such a relief to be reminded that in all we do, he is doing it right along with us...we are always, at least, a party of 2....and that is a very reassuring feeling wherever you are.

it's a man's world...

what i am telling you, dear ladies, you already know. i don't care if you are a tree-hugging, peace, love and happiness kind of pro-woman lady, you simply cannot deny that so much of what is said and therefore done on a daily basis are decisions that "man" makes.  i would like to say life is 50/50, but i am afraid men carry a wee-bit more weight...and this fact begins in the womb.

when i was carrying the twins, tully was on top of minnie.  if that wasn't symbolic enough of how life would be on the "outside", he was literally sitting on her face with his little buttocks in almost every single ultrasound.  i always thought that minnie might pop out with an indention of her brother's rear end on her face. wouldn't that be a lovely characteristic to carry through life?

since the babies were born, minnie definitely has been the one to make herself heard.  she has no filter on those vocal chords of hers.  sometimes she sings to the sky.  sometimes she babbles to the diaper gods and swings her hands from side to side like jodie foster did in nell.  regardless of her noteworthy babbling, it is her brother that secretly dictates our day.  you would never know it from his angel baby facade....but this sneaky southern scoundrel is the one my day seems to be revolving around.

if tully is looking out the window, i decide it's time to go outside.  if tully's throwing sweet potato puffs at his sister, i think "awe, how thoughtful".  if tully is toddling about behind his walker i think he is doing so at an olympic-bound pace.  whatever this boy wants, he gets.  while his sweetness is what melts my heart, it is also going to be the thorn in my side i am afraid!

gigi and i took the babies to dinner tonight because ben is working all week on an awful, drag-it-out kind of trial.  i needed a "break" and decided a nice dinner out was the ticket.  must have bought the wrong ticket or hopped on the wrong train....

within 5 minutes, tully started to attempt to stand in his highchair.  my children LOVE their highchairs.  they love dinners away from home.  they love how everyone compliments them and pats their little heads in awe of how well our 10-month-olds behave in public.  emily post would approve of the parsley kiddos' manners.......until now.

ya'll, this little toot was having none of it.  by the 30 minute mark, i was getting my meal boxed up in a crappy styrofoam container thinking about what i could legally spank tully with once i got outside (no, no....i didn't but thoughts of inanimate objects danced across my brain).  i ended the meal holding him in my lap pulling the wiggles up on you tube.  yes ladies, i was that mother looking like a fool letting my kiddo call the shots.  he would point at what i was to jump at and i asked how high.  not my proudest parenting moment.....possibly one of my worst.

once i got them off to bed, i started thinking about how defeated i felt.  i do anything and everything for tully...and move much faster than i do for minnie!  i am drawn to fix his problems, tend to his needs, etc...at a preferential speed.  perhaps I am to blame?  as a mommy, that's not fun to admit.

for god so love the world that he gave his only SON.....hmmmmm........should this have been a sign of things to come?  i don't know.  what i DO know is that tully was outnumbered 3 to 1 tonight....and he whipped us all.

"i am so skinny"...

this saturday couldn't have arrived any sooner to say the least.  between ben's sweet aunt passing away and our home being invaded by every "mr. fix it" this week, it has definitely been a week of utilizing some of my mommy survival skills for sure.

ben and his entire family had quite a bit to deal with over the past 5 days; therefore, ben was at the hospital or working late making up for time he was away much of this week.  on top of such a sad situation, since lightning struck our house weeks ago, we've been trying to get our house put back together and it has taken all of the king's horses and all of the king's men to do so.

now, i love my babies but being out of pocket in the company of two 10-month-year-olds for a week is a sticky, 24-hour situation.  nap times away from home do not provide that solid hour and a half of solidarity like they normally do.  my babes are into everything now, too......so being in non-childproof areas is super-exhausting.  minnie and tully are quite a bit faster than their 30-year-old momma these days too....AND they like to go in opposite directions to make me look like a looney bird, i think.

so...can you tell?  i was ever-so-happy to see this weekend arrive!  weekend=extra baby help from daddy.  wa-hoo.....times two!

i was so caught up in this elated feeling that i failed to realize it was minute before our afternoon nap and we were almost out of formula.  i hopped in the car and sped to kroger (my home away from home).  as i was walking in, i thought "wow...these shorts feel so much bigger.  i must have lost some weight and am
feeling so skinny".

this feeling evaporated rather quickly, however,  while feeling full of delight about my svelte figure, i glanced down.  my drawstring shorts had my zipper down and button UNbuttoned.  it's amazing how big clothing can feel when they are literally falling off your body:)

ya'll....this momma has lost it.  it has been a long week....my shorts obviously say so loud and clear.

we, the mommies, of the united states...

so...i had an epiphany this morning.  i have to tell you, i think it is one filled with
intellectual thought, genius-like processing, etc.  i believe i should win a mommy nobel for
this conclusion if i do say so myself...

instead of getting caught up in the hustle and bustle life we, as adults, live in...wouldn't we all
live so much happier, carefree lives if we adapted the day-to-day living standards that our precious babes abide by???  seriously ya'll, if we all digressed a bit and acted as our little bits do, so much of the junk we create to battle with would just not be there!

to help you all jump aboard this band wagon i mentally created today, here's a mommy-made "constitution" if you will.


being a "baby" means...

1. staying in the bed until someone makes you get out
2. getting everything brought to you (drink, food, gadgets, etc) and never lifting a finger
3. having everyone love on you......all-day-long
4. getting to stay in a t-shirt all day with no pants on as long as you don't leave the house
5. you get to make people dance for you in efforts to make you eat
6. your wardrobe is even bigger and fancier than your own parents'
7. you get gifts all of the time for no reason
8. taking 2 good naps a day...AND not feeling guilty about it
9. watching tv, playing with bright-colored objects, and crawling are your daily "expectations"
10. getting a warm bottle and rocked each night before you go to bed
11. getting read to whenever you want....YOU don't have to read...someone reads FOR you:)
12. being pushed around in a plastic car that you don't have to fill with expensive gas
13. babbling about nothing and everyone listens like you are telling the best story ever told
14. getting smiled at...constantly...even when you #2 on yourself
15. you get to brake anything, spill anything, and mess up anything...and no one is mad at you for long

are you up for this kind of life?  baby, i am!

writer's block...

i have hitteth a road block in the writing department, dear friends.  i would like to say this detour off blogger boulevard hasn't lasted long BUT i would be lying.  maybe the summer bug has bitten me? maybe my author brain has been misplaced on a tropical island? maybe i am just mimicking carrie bradshaw in one of my favorite sex in the city episodes.

no, no....let's be real.  maybe i am just a twin momma barely able to stay afloat these days???? YES, that would be the proper reason behind the neglected pair of parsleys blog these days.

even though my life, my communication skills, my daily needs are setting about on the back burner these days, boy, are we having fun in twin land!!  i loved the itty, bitty baby stage (like 0-2 month-ish age), but i have to tell you this stage in the game is beyond fun.  i was always told i would "hate it" when the little twinks were mobile...but it is fan-dang-tabulous.  m & t his the 10-month mark today.  i feel like life (naps, daily activities, etc) couldn't be much better...

minnie and tully are truly growing into little beings these days.  they are little adults weeble-wobbling about.  though they have their baby-isms (diapers, paci-needs, etc), they seem like squashed little kiddos oozing with excitement and life.

tully has truly emerged from his shell...and this little turtle ain't looking back.  he crawls so quickly and with such ease.  he is equally as loud as his sweet sissy.  his mouth is full of sparkly white chompers (he has 6 to his sister's 1 1/2:)  i swear, he has done a huge 180 since our beach trip. he watched his cousins for a whole week and decided he is as big as they are!  he loves penne noodles and all of his little gerber snacks.  he thinks he is so big picking up his food and gobble, gobbling it all right up. however, he can be a stickler and NOT eat if HE doesn't feel like it, too......which really gets his mommy going.

our minnie is doing so well, too.  she talks with her hands making huge mannerisms as she babbles (like her momma).  she loves the bath and throws a tee-total fit when it's time to get out.  she loves to tilt her head to the side and talk on her imaginary phone.  she would play peek-a-boo for hours with anyone or anything that will join in.  she sits with a stack of magazines or tupperware containers forever...she is just our little play person!  oh...and she adores snow cones which makes her daddy beam.

so, long story short.  even though my life often feels like it has come to an abrupt halt, these babies' lives are full steam ahead......wouldn't have it any other way.  absolutely not.

define "vacation".....

va·ca·tion (v -k sh n, v -). n. 1. A period of time devoted to pleasure, rest, or relaxation


the above definition literally makes me want to laugh out loud.  the definition i found for "vacation" was obviously NOT written by a man or woman with kiddos.  i can guaran-dang-tee you that it wasn't written by a parent of multiples!  while vacationing at rosemary with the fam was a "pleasure", there wasn't much "rest" at all!


even though this vacation was not quite as self-centered and self-absorbed as ones in years past, i have to say i enjoyed my week so very much.  while we had some bumps in the road with minnie's stuffy nose and pack-n-play aversion, those little issues didn't even come close to overriding the joy and excitement minnie and tully brought to us all at the beach!


these twins loved it all...the pool, the heat, the ocean, AND even the sand.  while tully thoroughly enjoyed noshing on sand from time to time in between meals, minnie girl loved going face first into it.  they jumped into every day and every experience with so much excitement.  everything they did brought smiles to us all.


they hopped in the bike carrier and rode behind their daddy, making him feel so proud.  they took a 20-minute stroller ride in the heat to get doughnuts for their nephews, which made their bellies happy.  they sat and listened to their pop pop read story after story, elating his heart to the utmost degree.  they did so much for us all JUST by being the sweet babes they are.


now, i know they are not perfect.  however, i can honestly tell you that they were pretty darn close to it this past week.  if our getaway is any indicator as to how the rest of the summer is going to go, i think my two little beach bums are going to have a blast...while we all smile and watch:)

beach town and party bound...

minnie and tully arrived at rosemary yesterday.  we departed at 8ish and arrived by 4-something or another. overall, we were pretty pleased with our 2-stop journey from tennessee to florida.  while tully won the "mvb" award (yes...the most valuable baby award which is awarded to each twin from time to time), minnie rode like a little trailblazer quite well, too.

once the babes were out of the car on onto all fours, they were happy little larks.  for sure!  they were crawling about from the time we arrived until bedtime.  while their typical nighttime ritual was smoothe sailing for all, it wasn't indicative of the night to come.

there were only a few cries between 7:30 and 2 a.m.  then, you know what hit the absolute fan.  tully kept his daddy up from 2-3 a.m.  once ben thought he had coaxed tully back to sleepy town, he wiggled back in bed for only about 5 minutos until tully sat up and started wailing again.  up goes mommy.  i rocked and wiggled him back and forth until 3:30ish.  after literally dropping him back into his pack n' play, i barely got out of their room and then the tears started a flowin'.

yes...i was crying at 3:30 in the morning....and NO...i'm NOT preggo.  just a tired momma:)

instead of sniffling and getting the whole darn house awake, i decided to sit outside, listen to the waves, and just wind back down a bit.  b-a-d idea.  withing 30 seconds, i got stung by a big, darn yellow jacket! seriously.  they are out partying in the wee-hours of the morning.  just as i went to sit down with my tissues in hand, i sat on it!

within seconds, i was crying even harder running into our bedroom waking up ben.  poor man didn't know what hit him!  from copper pennies to ice packs, we started pressing anything on top of that sting to see if it would stop hurting...and it is STILL stingy!

on top of the stinging debacle, minnie awoke at 5 am and i consoled her and kept her asleep until 6ish.  i decided to mark night #1 down as done and start the coffee IV drip pronto:)

ya'll.......i look like poo run over twice at the moment.  hopefully, the sun will soak the hangover of such a crappy night right out.

splish splash were taking more than a bath!!!

the babes experienced their first pool encounter last weekend...and boy did they plunge right on in!
i approached the pool like the end all, be all indicator of how june, july and august were going to roll....and i am very pleased.

i swam WITH, not so much FOR, a swim team for a couple of years growing up.  however, i wouldn't say i was a top contender.

let's put it this way...they would always put me on the weakest relay team swimming the back stroke.  i couldn't freestyle quickly.  i couldn't breast stroke like a wee-little froggy.  i definitely couldn't butterfly gracefully...i looked like i was drowning.  therefore, i was left crashing into the lanes from side to side because i would swim at an angle:)

due to my post traumatic stress from swim-team land, i was quite leery about minnie and tully's swimming abilities.  thankfully, they are taking after daddy in this category....meet our little fishies!

opposites attract i guess...

having twins sure keeps things interesting!  just when i think i have them figured out, the other
half steps up to the plate and knocks the ball into the opposite end of the field.  these little ones are definitely a team...but they bring completely different ways of life into the parsley "ball field" each and every day.

though tully was the 2nd baby out, he sure has been making his mark and his personality is becoming more demanding than his sister.  in his mind, he wants to be first to do it all.  while many brother/sister combos have the sissy calling the shots, tully has decided against it.  he is crawling around like a mad man leaving minnie in his dust.  though she was actually our first crawler, once he hits the floor he is gone!

our minnie just takes everything in...if tully is our quick little hare, minnie is our precious turtle! she just lives inside a little bubble and gazes at everything.  she is a little sponge absorbing life, i guess.  her brother's life is currently going 90 mph on a highway and minnie is living life trotting on a horse on a country road:)

while having twins is definitely a "package deal", the little people that make up that package have a funny way of fitting in the same box.  how they came out of the same womb, i simply don't know.  however, they have a precious, innate bond that binds them together like a perfectly tied bow...

minnie looks down...

tully looks up!

minnie just poses in her funny little way...

stinker here is always on the move!

tully loves to be IN the jumper going to town...

minnie isn't quite sure about it and would rather be out!

minnie is captivated by the little things...

tully wants to eat the little things!