Twinopoli

- My fam

- My job

- My BFF 🙏

- Covid-19 vaccine (Akilah and Zak got their first shot) 🙏

- Kind deeds

- Peleton classes

The world is often a dark place. Let's celebrate the light that breaks through. Have a meaningful #Thanksgiving2021.

When you have kids, you’re going to have an accident. It’s inevitable. Since Akilah and Zak births I have been to an out-of-state emergency room and out-of-state urgent care facility. Both incidents required stitches above their left eye.

At the time I didn’t have a first-aid in kit in the car, I still don’t. I have one at home, but I should have one in our family car. It’s time to address this issue.

Months back my sister sent me a really good article on how to build your own first aid kit. I recently read it. It took me a few months but eventually I got to it. In the article, “How to Build a Proper First-Aid Kit,” Emily Reed gives readers awesome tips on what your first-aid kit should include and how to customize it for your needs.

Rather than buy one I’m going to create my own. First-aid kits range from  $9 (band-aids, pads and peroxide) to $150 (all your first-aid bells and whistles).

Not only will I be spring cleaning, I’ll be preparing for the accidents I can anticipate will happen.

When Akilah and Zak were close to nine months Karim and I enrolled them in a waterbabies swimming class through our town and recreation park’s department.

It was a great experience for all of us. Swimming classes gave my husband and I a new way to bond with them, while Akilah and Zak learned basic elements of swimming.

Although they’re not ready for competitive swimming lessons, I was impressed by what they remembered from the classes over the eight weeks. Akilah was doing some flutter kicks and hand scoops that modeled wading water. Zak who isn’t a fan of cold water and the pool was cold quite often also had some wins. By the end he would jump into the pool with one of us and began to push away from the walls.

A few months later when we drove down to Florida to visit my friend Yesenia, it was in her complex’s pool where Akilah and Zak didn’t show fear of the water and were doing some of the basic skills they learned. I was impressed. I think Karim was too.

Life has a way of quickly changing course and although I meant to sign them back up I didn’t. When I finally got around to signing them up online, the day I wanted for the classes was filled up. I had to wait til spring.

Spring is finally here and today will be their first day back in the pool. Now that they’re older and have a better understanding of their surroundings I wonder how they will process being in the water.

For my sake and Zak’s I hope the pool is warmer this time around. I look forward to sharing post-waterbabies class photos. Stay tuned.

I’m living a “tale of two toddlers.” I’m half-way through through the toddler phase and am still amazed by how much Akilah and Zak have changed, yet have remained the same.

A few things I’ve noticed in the same category. They:

Still want to be picked up

Continue to have a wonderful twin bond

Yet the sibling rivalry is real and can get ugly at times

Are amazing learners and showing interest in different things

Still not asking with please ( I want...)

Both love pizza, but not mac and cheese

A few things I’ve noticed in the different category. They:

Are showing different food preferences

Are showing different interests in toys

React to stress differently

Like different colors

They process information differently

They have tender sweet moments and then 30 seconds later they’re in full melt down mode. But I’m not sure if I’m onboard with calling this development phase the “terrible twos.” It’s too negative for me, plus I’ve heard three can be worse. LOL.Right now, I feel like my life is like a yo-yo. Similar to the toy we experience our ups and downs and I’m focused on being able to snap back.

I started the day feeling good but somewhere around 3 it all fell apart. At six p.m. I was wishing it was nine p.m. so I could get ready for bed. Now it’s 9:36 and I’m typing this. Boy would it be nice if I could sleep for a day, maybe two. A girl can dream.

Kids are sleeping, lunch for daycare tomorrow is done, dishes are washed as well as a load of laundry. Time to put it in the dryer. Yeah getting the night time rate. I also managed to book my hotel rooms for Sesame Street Place this spring. Yeah! I’m going to do my Duolingo and call it a night.

Tomorrow is another day to do it all over again and maybe check another couple of boxes off of my me list. Night.