Things I want to remember... 2+ years

Because time flies and you blink and all that was big and important becomes small and distant. 

I was looking back through old photos... bless it... I should never do that unless I'm prepared to ugly cry uncontrollably. But alas, I did and I was remembering the things about the girls at that stage and laughed and cried and was like... oh my gosh, how could I forget these things already?! And WHAT ARE THE THINGS THAT I DON'T REMEMBER? to which I had a mini panic attack at the thought of me not remembering EVERY LITTLE DETAIL... So here I am. Tired from potty training bootcamp... and I'm making a list of the things that I want to remember. 

It's not gonna be a fancy well written blog post bc I aint got time for that. But if I never jot these things down, I'll regret it later. So here we go...

Noel 2 years 10 months:

• You are joyful and goofy. You just learned that you are funny and can make us laugh... and you totally use that to your benefit. Keep up the good work. You've gotten out of many spankings that way. 
• You have a way with words and sentences. Both you and your sister were a little slow to the speaking game and y'all talked in your twin language as long as you possibly could... but you my little one started figuring out syntax and word structure quite quickly once you got started. We DIE laughing at the things you say. Our favorite of your phrases right now is your "I like..." series. We never taught you how to say "I like," but one day out of no where you said, "I yike chocyate," (which is very true) and then you started saying that for everything you see. So now, usually at least once a day you tell me that you "yike candy/cookies/cake/table/games/the y/Daddy/Chikayay (Chick Fil A)/baths/Kiki/Grammy/Papaw/GDaddy/Sissy" and whatever other random food or object that you can currently see. It's the best. The other day, a friend's mom brought in chocolate tomatoes (who know those were a thing? not me!), and she turned and asked you, "Do you like tomatoes?" And you promptly replied, "No, I yike chocolate." Touché my little one. Well played. 
• You wink and raise your eyebrows to make us laugh... you especially like to do this to Uncle Dub. 
• You like to kiss boo boo's. 
• You still sleep with Po (hippo), but you're not quite as attached to him as you used to be. 
• You are very independent and like to make your own decisions, but it takes you FOREVER to do so. Ie. You have strong opinions on WHAT color of popsicle you want, but you stand there FOREVER trying to decide and if I interrupt that process and just give you one, or coax you towards a color... glory heaven help me. Your independent and stubborn streak flares, because bless it, nobody puts this toddler in a corner. 
• Speaking of colors, you know your colors, how to count to 10, and your ABC's. Of course, you frequently intermingle the ABC's and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star when singing them... "ABCDEFG, How I wonder what you are..." It's another fav of mine. 
• And on the lines of singing... you LOVE to sing, and we LOVE to hear you sing. And surprisingly you and your sister have really good pitch for 2 year olds.
• You're still the laid back one. But don't get too proud, you still have a feisty streak and can throw a mean temper tantrum. Your fuse is just longer, UNLESS you don't get your sleep... and then bless it... bless us all. You need your sleep or we ALL pay. 
• You've stopped saying "Papi" and now say "Paci." You also usually don't call me "Baba" anymore and either call me "mama" or "Maba." Which... is entirely your dad's fault because he's been working with you on saying things correctly when I'm not looking. 
• You LOVE people and aren't afraid of strangers AT ALL. You'll wave and talk to just about anyone at the grocery store. You especially love your sister. That makes me OH SO HAPPY to hear you ask for "Wisity."
• You're very expressive. 

Felicity Hope 2 years 10 months

• You are curious and sweet spirited. You are our little engineer wanting to know how everything works and what goes where. You love to figure stuff out and are SO proud when you accomplish a task. I can see it now, you will be the one most likely to color coordinate your school notes and have a planner... It's pretty adorable. 
• Like I mentioned above, you're sweet spirited and it melts our hearts. You love to snuggle at night and if I'm not giving you enough attention you come up and put both hands on my face and turn my face towards yours and gently say, "Baba look" and smile.
• You still say "papi" and "Baba" and I love you for it. Hold on to that baby talk as long as you'd like... (unless we get to middle school and you still have a papi... then we'll have other issues to resolve... but you get the idea). 
•  You still sleep with doggy, but mainly because I keep putting him back in your bed at night (I have issues... i know). You go through phases when you want him, but right now, you like him but aren't too attached. 
• But you know what you are REALLY attached to? Papis. We tried to take them all away and after 2 days of constant screaming... we finally caved and gave you back one. I mean you screamed for HOURS and wouldn't sleep. It was really quite impressive. I've read a ton of things on toddlers sleeping and almost all of it says that eventually you'll cry yourself to sleep. Nope. You proved them all wrong. On night #2 after HOURS of screaming (I think we were pushing hour #4...) we shoved a papi in your mouth and your eyes closed instantly. I wanted to scream and kiss you all at the same time. 
• Speaking of tenacity. You are a fiery little one. Both of you were born red headed, but y'all quickly turned blonde. Yet I'm pretty sure that fiery red head is still in you. You have spunk, and sass, and when you set your mind to something, you're going to see it through. And as a result, you can throw some pretty legit temper tantrums, but in time that passion and tenacity will serve you well if you learn how to control and outlet it correctly. 
• You're strong baby girl. You will move mountains. 
• You are tender hearted and also love to kiss boo boo's. 
• You love to clean and organize things. 
• You love Mr. Hanks, a lot. Like a whole bunch. You love to give him treats and climb on him and pull his tail and roll around on him and hug him and feed him and... you get the idea. You like him a lot... and he's really good to you too. 
• You're hesitant to people in the store, but you warm up quickly. Usually with people at the grocery store, you watch and observe them for a few seconds before you start talking to them. You're outgoing, but you usually have to assess the situation first before you just jump in. It's actually really fascinating to watch because you'll watch Noel, and sometimes you'll go along with her, but then other times you assess the situation and are like... nope. Not for me. Not gonna do that. And other times you're all in. I wouldn't classify the hesitancy as fear, rather it's more of an assessment. It'll be interesting to see this part of your personality develop. 
• You love your friends big. You ask for "Hawee" (Holly) and for the grandparents often. I love that about you and Noel both. You also love your sister so well. When you ask for a cookie or snack, you almost always ask for two so you can give one to sissy. I can't tell you much my heart explodes whenever you do that. 
• You love car rides and Target, and almost EVERY MORNING you say, "Baba, caw wide? Tawget?" Yes baby yes. Almost always... yes. 
• You just discovered Mickey Mouse and are borderline obsessed. I'm not mad about it. 

You both are such a joy. People ask me all the time if I have a favorite... which COME ON PEOPLE... dumbest question ever (and we get a lot of dumb q's about having twins). And I always answer the same... Of course I do. But it changes every day and USUALLY the deciding factor is who is screaming less and let me sleep the longest. And that changes daily. So just for the record I love you both a lot and equally and... I like you both a lot and equally too. I absolutely LOVE that I can see clearly how God has gifted both of you uniquely and how He formed you both as twins, but individuals. He's given you a gift in each other, but I love that He has given you each different giftings to bless each other and the people around you. 

You won't remember these days, but I want to. I want to remember everything (thus the post). But I pray that what you do remember is the feeling that you have always been loved, adored, and cared for. You have two parents who think the world about you, who pray for you, who kiss your boo boo's and light up at your smile. And you have one parent who has serious issues and boohoos at milestones, and a sane parent who has to find the crazy parent ugly crying while digging out the papis out of the trash can and putting them in a keepsake box. Lucky for you... you have at least one normal parent. I apologize in advance for how my BIG LOVE for you will embarrass the snot out of you when your teenagers. But for real... you're loved oh so much.

XoXo,