Backtracking

Fueled by a vision of the twins’ happy faces on Christmas morning , I was the first one at the yard sale advertising a riding Thomas train. Weeks later I found a second train of the same brand with a caboose. I cleaned them, replaced the batteries and stored them until the big day. Later, I worried if they would fit in our house, and a measurement found just enough room. Christmas came and they loved the trains. However, I didn’t account for the extra room needed for collisions and derailments, nor did I realize just how loud two riding trains would be. After one day of this chaos, we replaced the riding trains with their new train tables, and the boys never said a word. Come springtime, they will be delighted to rediscover their riding trains outside.

Scattered Family

Uncle Steve, Aunt Erin and Cousin Levi came over tonight to celebrate Christmas. They had spent Christmas day in Indianapolis with the Jones family then traveled to Owensboro to join us. Unfortunately, Sandy couldn’t be with us. We had already planned months before to put her on a plane the day after Christmas to travel to Utah to see the Roe family and our new niece Chesney. We hope to drive out west this summer so the boys can meet and visit with our family out there. As the family grows and scatters, coordinating everyone’s travels and schedules is difficult. The best we can do is savor the times we find together.

Remembering Great Uncle Bubba

Pa’s older brother, Gene Ray Edds, passed away today after a lengthy cancer battle. He was 81. Pa began calling him Bubba, for brother, before he could say Gene Ray, and the nickname stuck.  To me, then later the boys, he was always Uncle Bubba. After their father and grandfathers, Uncle Bubba has been the most prominent male in the twin’s lives. We visited with him at least once every month. Rides in the country always helped the boys nap, and Gene Ray loved to join us and tell family stories. He referred to the boys as “the little boogers” and enjoyed teasing them. We last visited him at his home on Christmas Eve where he weakly asked each one what they wanted from Santa. Before we left, Aunt Peaches slipped us two packages containing Thomas trains. Heaven is fuller and happier today.

A special treat

As parents, we all want our Edds boys to grow up strong and healthy. Diet is very important to that goal. Uncle Steve and Aunt Erin have Cousin Levi on a gluten free diet and also limit his dairy intake. We avoid feeding the twins fried foods and have thus far prevented all candy from their intake. For their visit Tuesday, Aunt Erin volunteered to prepare a meal compliant to all the children’s dietary goals. She prepared homemade spaghetti and meatballs with a garden salad, and for desert she made a special choo choo train cake. Everything was made with healthy ingredients and tasted delicious. All three boys were excited by the train cake and everyone enjoyed the meal.

Our 7th Wedding Anniversary

After our engagement, my ailing 80 year old grandmother asked me if I was really getting married. I don’t think she thought I ever would, and she knew me pretty well. She knew I would never compromise on a mate and doubted I could ever find what I was looking for. Sandy too said one of her closest friends also confessed her surprise over our engagement believing Sandy would never marry for perhaps the same reasons. Well, here we are happy as can be seven years down the road. Much has changed, except for our love and devotion to one another. Our sons are our miracle gifts from God, the answer to so many prayers. We are so happy to have our faith, our family and our friends enrich our lives and marriage.

Thanks to Sandy Clause

Sandy makes Christmas work at our house. She plans and labors very hard to insure all details are accomplished with style and excellence. Her ambition often pushes her schedule to the brink and unplanned issues occasionally bust it wide open, like when business emergencies required her to work overtime on Thursday night until midnight and on Christmas Eve morning until noon. This was personal time she had planned for Christmas preparation. To get everything accomplished, we worked after the boys went to bed until 3:00 am Christmas morning. After a few hours sleep we woke with excited boys on Christmas morning. The family opened presents for a few hours and then we enjoyed the fine brunch Sandy prepared. Afterwards, everyone enjoyed a well deserved afternoon nap and a little free time before reassembling for Sandy’s Christmas dinner. We then opened more presents until bedtime. It was an awesome day.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Just after waking on the big day, Benji and Trey Davey asked if Santa had come and brought presents. We waited until Pa and Granny arrived before going downstairs to investigate. It was difficult to determine who was more excited, the boys or the Grands. Mommy and Daddy were late night numb, but were soon revived by coffee. Under the tree the group found two riding trains, two tricycles, two train tables and a sled among the other beautifully wrapped gifts. At first the boys found the bounty of gifts was breathtaking and could only stand and gaze in amazement. Had they really been that good? Once they had processed this visual overload, they began to engage.

This was no Box Christmas

Having the experience of three previous birthdays and Christmas days under their belts, the gift opening process was old hat to our little veterans. They were now old enough to know that inside these beautifully wrapped boxes were gifts more precious than the containers. Both boys still liked to completely unwrap each gift and play with it a bit before moving on to the next package. Pa especially appreciated this practice as he felt it indirectly showed gratitude to the giver for that specific gift. It also slowed down the gift opening procession from a paper-shredding race to a parade of discovery. 

Busy Christmas Eve

Sandy had to work late the night before Christmas Eve and most of the next morning. After lunch, we frantically wrapped gifts while the boy’s napped. Later we attended church with Pa and Granny. On cue, snow fell during the service providing a beautiful white Christmas. Afterwards, we stopped briefly by Great Uncle Gene Ray’s house to say hello. He was not feeling well enough to go to the family party, but was in good spirits. We then drove slowly through the snow to Great Uncle Richard’s house in Livermore. After a wonderful dinner, fellowship flowed throughout the house. As typically happens, the ladies congregated in the kitchen and dining room while the men assembled in the den. Later everyone gathered together for a game of Family Feud. We then traveled home and put the boys to bed. Then we wrapped gifts late into the night.

Christmas Carol

Carol has watched our boys weekday mornings since they were 8 weeks old. She is much more than babysitter though; she’s more like a third grandmother. Carol introduced the boys to Thomas the Train by purchasing DVDs for them. She enjoys shopping for the twins and regularly brings the boys snacks, DVDs, clothes and toys. She told us she couldn’t wait to see the boys open the Christmas presents she purchased for them. Today was the day and Carol went all out filling their Thomas gift bags with Thomas pajamas, Toy Story pajamas, a Thomas outfit, a Thomas DVD and a few toys. The boys were delighted and appreciative. We are so fortunate to have Carol in our lives.

Our Newer Minivan

We had already decided that we needed to update our minivan next year. While it had been a marvelous vehicle for us, the 12 year old Dodge was beginning to show its age. Quite unexpectedly, our neighbors offered us their 2005 Chrysler Town & Country at a very good price. It had low mileage and was loaded with most of the features we wanted like keyless entry, automatic door openers, stow and go seats, power windows, rear caption’s chairs, CD and DVD players. The radio’s FM band even worked, which made it very attractive with Daddy. We weren’t prepared to trade car until spring, and especially not Christmas week, but the deal was too good to let pass. We should easily sell the “puwple caw” (as Davey calls it) in January once the tax returns begin arriving. 

Edds Christmas Eve Tradition

As Great Grandmother Kitty Edds’ seven children began having their own children, things became crowded under her Christmas tree. At some point, probably around 1968, a decision was made to gather her family together on Christmas Eve freeing them to open Christmas morning gifts at their individual homes. As most everyone lived locally, travel wasn’t an issue. Forty some years later, the Edds are still gathering for Christmas, although it is a more complicated affair. Travel is now a formidable issue, as most families no longer live locally. Extended family obligations also make it difficult for many of the cousins to make the annual trip. Still, the kindred holiday spirit flows strongly, and has swept up the spouses in its wake.  Sandy loves this big family event and cherishes it as part of our holiday tradition.

OMOM’s Christmas Party

Sandy is the President of the Owensboro Mothers of Multiples organization this year, and for months she has been sweating the staging details for their annual Christmas Party. Everything was in place to hold the party on Monday the 13^th, but that day proved to be unlucky. Snow and ice closed the schools and postponed the party a week. By then, her talent had a scheduling conflict and her photographer had the flu. After some scrambling, a substitute guest of honor was secured and our friend Kirk Duncan, a Channel 14 cameraman, took over the photography duties. About a dozen families enjoyed pizza and make your own desserts. There were crafts and coloring tables too, but best of all was a visit from Santa Claus. Trey Davey, Benji and all the children had a wonderful time after all.  

The Choo Choo Tree

Sandy had a great idea. She believed that given the boys’ overriding obsession this year, it made complete sense and was wholly appropriate to create one Christmas tree in our home devoted solely to all things train. While unpacking our existing tree trimmings she found we had already accumulated a number of railroad related ornaments. These were added to those purchased in museum gifts shops along our train laden travels this year. More recent additions came in the mail from Aunt Roberta. The boys crafted two creations at the OMOMs Christmas party, and Sandy handmade several railroad sign ornaments. A shopping spree of local box stores generated a few more locomotive trinkets, but the crown jewel came from Hallmark.  It was a snow covered mountain with ice skaters and a train that moved through a tunnel to the tune of “There’s no place like home for the holidays.”

Hide and See

This spot is great. I can hide here and watch everything without being seen. It’s hard to hide in this house. Until recently, they had us gated in one room or the other. Since the gates have come down Davey and I have had a little more freedom to explore. Tell them you need to “pee pee in the big potty”, and they will let you leave the room. Once you are out of site, then you can explore, but don’t take too long because then they’ll come looking for you. That’s what Davey did, and Daddy’s gone now to check on him, which gave me the time to crawl in here. They’ll freak out when they can’t find me and I can watch it all from my cozy little spot.

Mr. Orderly

Since the day they were born we have been observing our twins closely for any indications that would suggest each boy’s individual God given talents. Would they be naturally athletic, scholarly, social, logical, artistic, etc.? One clue to Trey Davey’s hidden talents presented itself here. Sandy created a potty training poster for each boy on our upstairs refrigerator. Stickers were presented to each child as a reward for using the potty correctly. While Benji joyfully applied his rewards stickers to his poster haphazardly, Davey methodically applied his stickers in neat rolls matching similar images together. This is reminiscent to the way he aligns his train cars on the shelves. Davey’s orderliness is no surprise to those who know his anal-retentive parents, but where Benji got his free-styling method is anybody’s guess.

Farewell Our Friend Mack

The Burtons have been the twins’ next door neighbors all their lives. Their son, Mack, was born just six months after our boys and the twins really don’t ever remember Mack not being next door. For their first two years, the boys really were too small to play together. It was only in this last year that their friendship began to truly blossom. Unfortunately, all too often our vacation and sleeping schedules clashed preventing more interaction. When Mack’s sister, Reed, was born in June, the Burton family realized they needed three bedrooms on one floor. In November, they tested the slumped housing market and were shocked to immediately find a buyer. They hurriedly purchased a newer home and began the task of moving. We will miss a pajama-clad Mack wondering over to our backyard to say hello, and hope to reconnect with him later on down the road.

Christmas Cards

Christmas cards were not really part of my family’s routine. My first real exposure to sending personalized Christmas Cards was at city hall where, as an intern, I helped the mayor mail about a gazillion. That experience didn’t wet my appetite to send my own cards, but when Sandy came along she brought a greeting card giving culture. Her family would exchange cards on Groundhog’s Day if they were available. I liked that, so I totally jumped on the Christmas card bandwagon with Sandy. Each year we send a personal photo card and always feel honored when we see it posted on our family and friends’ refrigerators. We also include an annual Christmas letter, which may be a little passé, but always receives positive feedback from many. Even though the project is costly and time consuming, we hope it will be a tradition our boys will continue with their families.

Pa’s Panther Pride

Usually Granny goes with Pa to the Kentucky Wesleyan College men’s basketball home games. They have had season tickets for years. However, tonight she planned on attending her Ladies Sunday School class’ Christmas Party. This gave Pa the opportunity to invite us to join him. This was the twins’ second KWC Panther’s game. The first came when they were just 14 months old. They weren’t very mobile back then and just sit still the entire game and enjoyed all the activity. Almost two years later, sitting still was not in their itinerary. They climbed, crawled and kicked around our second row seats excitedly exploring everything new. Luckily the game wasn’t well attended and no one was bothered. In fact, several friends later said they enjoyed watching the twins more than the blowout basketball game. Perhaps one day the boys will entertain everyone from the court.

Their First Real Christmas

For their first Christmas, we laid our three week old babies under the tree while we opened their gifts. The boys were just learning to walk by their second Christmas and talking was new to them last Christmas. Everyone remembers Benji saying “Oh my goodness!” each time we opened a gift. Those were all dress rehearsals for this year, which was their first real Christmas. This year, all the wonder and anticipation of the season was in their eyes.  They talked about this being baby Jesus’ birthday and pointed him out with each nativity scene that we passed. The twins chattered constantly about Santa Clause. They weren’t scared of him this year, they literally embraced him. The boys sang Christmas songs and watched Christmas cartoons. Christmas was real to them this year.

Potty Choo Choo Training

Our potty training progress has regressed somewhat lately, with accidents on the increase. One observation Sandy recently made was that when the boys were actively engaged in play, they resist any interruption, even to pee. This is especially true for Trey Davey, who cries daily when we pull him away from his toy trains to eat lunch. One solution we have used to help him transition from play time to lunch time is allowing him to take one small train with him to the dinner table. Adapting this technique for bathroom breaks gives a whole new meaning to the term “potty training”

Overloading

Sandy was trying to do laundry this Saturday morning and the boys were being too helpful. “Come on, come on Mommy” Trey Davey encouraged. “Open the door, open the door, open the door,” he demanded. “I want to put the clothes in Mommy,” Benji instructed, “my do it”. “Put my blanket in Mommy, put my blanket in Mommy, put my blanket in” Davey commanded. “I want to put the soap in Mommy,” Benji asked, “it goes in there” with a little finger pointing to the correct spot. “Push the button Mommy, push the button, push the button,” Davey insisted. “No, I want to push the button,” Benji cried, “I want to do it.” At this point Sandy shouted out, “Daddy, can the boys help you with something in there, now?”

Twin Beds for the Twins

Turning three is a significant milestone, one worthy of new rewards and privileges. The first of these progressions is big boy beds. We have been preparing for this transition for some time. The beds from Kansas City have been in storage waiting for two years. Mommy picked up the bed rails at local yard sales. The boys practiced sleeping in big beds with bed rails in hotel rooms during our travels last summer. Over Thanksgiving, Grandma and Granddaddy Roe helped us select a stay dry system incorporating plastic mattress covers and soft mattress pads. Pa and Granny gave the boys choo choo train sheet sets for their birthday. The blue twin-sized comforters from KC perfectly matched the one on the parents’ bed. Mommy arranged each bed with one side against a wall and a bed rail to the other to keep her boys from rolling out. It was a team effort.

Teamwork

Some of Pa’s grandson stories can become enhanced a bit, but Granny verifies this one to be absolutely true. The Grands were babysitting last night and helping with potty training. Benji announced that he needed to go poopy on the big potty, so Pa took him to the bathroom. Benji clearly enjoys getting out of the family room and was milking the task for all he could. Suddenly, Davey came running into the bathroom and began moving the stool in front of the toilet. He said he had to pee pee right now and told Benji to “get out of the way” as he began lowering his pants and underwear. Benji looked very concerned and hurriedly spread his legs and scooted back on the seat just as Davey released a jet stream. Thankfully, his aim was true and neither the seat nor his brothers’ legs were sprayed.

Watching the Wheels

Thirty years ago tonight, I remember clearly the news braking during Monday Night Football that John Lennon had been assassinated. I was a high school senior then and a big Beatles fan. Lennon was just reemerging after a five year retirement. The demands of his early professional success made him a stranger to his first son and ruined his first marriage. When he later remarried, Lennon took a career timeout when his second son was born. The concept of a stay-at-home father was unheard of then. The music he made after this hiatus was among his best and, had he lived, many believe the personal growth he enjoyed during his time off would have contributed to a new explosion of creative productivity. My family leave time was unplanned, but unquestionably benefitual to our boys. Hopefully, I too will emerge from this hiatus renewed and resume my career better for the experience.

Farewell ol’ Friends

Our cribs have served us well, but the time has come for a sleeping promotion. These twin beds were originally purchased in Kansas City for Mommy and Aunt Susan. Each girl received her new bed when she turned three. A few years ago Granddaddy Roe updated these beds with brand new mattresses. We moved all the children’s bedroom furniture from Kansas City to Owensboro when the boys were just 10 months old, and these beds have been waiting in storage over two years for this special day. Sunday afternoon, on the boys’ third birthday after their last crib nap, we woke them and began assembling their new beds while they watched excitedly. Once the new sleep centers were in place, each boy selected and test drove his own new bed. Then, they turned their interest to helping me disassembling their old cribs with perhaps a small degree of melancholy.

Last Crib Nap

We have been planning the cribs’ retirement for sometime, and yesterday afternoon’s nap was our last use of them. Each were purchased new for our next door neighbor’s niece, Lacy, who rarely used them choosing instead to sleep in her parent’s bed. Initially, the boys shared a crib and we used one upstairs and the other downstairs. As the boys grew and began rolling over, we moved the cribs together upstairs. Each crib was designed differently, and each boy wanted to sleep in only their own. The cribs served as their timeout area and were a safe place to calm down during a tantrum. Some children begin climbing out of their cribs at around 18 months, but our boys never did even after they were physically able. They begin regularly climbing into their cribs about three months ago, but never climbed out.

Birthday Benchmark Photo – Three Years Old

The one thing that strikes us repeatedly these days is how much the boys are maturing physically. They have slimmed as they’ve grown, and their little baby wrinkles are gone. Long arms and legs have begun to grow well past the cuffs of their older clothes. Certainly, the rapid growth of their hair and nails indicate good health. They are eating and sleeping more these days suggesting that they are in a growing stage. Trey Davey now measures 39 inches tall placing him in the 84 percentile for boys his age. Benji stands 37-1/2 inches tall and ranks in the 52 percentile. These ranking have been pretty steady over the last two years and seem reasonable when comparing our boys to the others their age in church. It appears the measurements in their first year were flawed. So it is unlikely we are raising giants, but it is a certainty that we have happy, healthy boys.

Good Ol' Fords

Katelyn was shocked and excited to receive my phone call on Wednesday. We hadn’t spoken in several months, and she hadn’t babysat for us since the spring. She and her sister Erin first started babysitting for us when the boys were newborns. They used to watch the boys weekly when we belonged to a weekly small group Bible study, but since that group dissolved we hadn’t used them much. In the last year on the few occasions when we needed someone to watch the boys, Pa and Granny helped us out, but they couldn’t this time because they were working at the Christmas Home Tour we were attending. The Ford girls were surprised how much the boys had grown, how active they were and how much they talked. Katelyn and Erin said they hoped we call them again soon.

All aboard the Polar Express

Cold weather has settled over Kentucky leaving us confined in our home. Without the opportunity to go outside and play, restlessness has set in like an unwelcome house guest. We were having problems winding down the boys tonight after dinner. They were energetic, restless and confrontational. It was a constant cycle of timeout visits following toy skirmishes. Then, everything changed. While channel surfing I stumbled upon the movie “The Polar Express”, and the moment they saw a train, they were captivated. The room’s tension instantly dissolved, and each boy crawled up into my chair to watch the movie. Mommy brought us blankets for head rests and tucked us in. They were such wonderful snugglers, and we were soon toasty and content on this cold winter’s night.

Twins' Towers

The boys have been going through a destructive streak lately. After finding their GeoTrax train layout disassembled several times, Sandy decided to give that toy a temporary rest and challenge them with something new. She brought out the Mega Blocks and showed them how to build walls and towers. Their finished projects may well reveal something about each child’s talents and creativity. Trey Davey’s towers displayed planning and forethought. They were straight and symmetrical. He stuck mostly to two colors, red and yellow. His work displayed structure and utility. Benji’s design was radical and dangerous. He seemingly made each selection randomly with no regard for color or form. His principle concern was building a tower taller than his brother’s. The results revealed a remarkable use of balance and inventive thinking, which achieved his goal. These boys may be twins, but they are not identical.

Taking Down the Boundaries

This week we began removing all our baby gates. For the last two years, ever since the boys began toddling, we have had gates throughout the house to limit the boys’ boundaries. This was our zone defense to keep the little ones confined and safe. For the adults, walking through our house was like negotiating Alcatraz’s multiple cell blocks; open one, close one. It was a hassle, especially for our guests, but after a while we just got used to it. Over time though, both boys learned how to open the gates themselves, and the devices became more of a suggestion than a deterrent. Now that the gates are gone, it feels so weird just walking through our house room to room unencumbered. Free ranging is going to take some getting used to.

Instructor Training

When Granddaddy was in the Navy he learned to fly jet airplanes. After the service, he took that skill to Trans World Airlines and became a commercial pilot. During certain periods of his career he worked at TWA’s Training Center in Kansas City teaching other pilots the techniques for flying large commercial airliners. Given this extensive background, teaching the twins the techniques for operating their new Thomas the Train toys on Saturday was child's play for all ages.

Remembering Great, Great Aunt Jane

Jane Schott, of Indianapolis, passed away Saturday morning in her Central Avenue home after enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday with her family. She was 83. Knowing that she was in diminishing health, we took the opportunity four weeks ago to visit her. Jane was very found of the twins and asked to see them. Previously, we visited her in 2007 when Sandy was very pregnant and again in 2009 when the boys were 15 months old. During our 2007 visit, Jane showed us the scrapbook Sandy’s great grandmother Schott had prepared for her son Charles, Jane’s husband. Charles’ mother had written stories beside each photo laid out chronologically through his life. While Jane was not the author or the subject of this work, she was our link to this family history and in doing so provided us with the inspiration for this very blog. God Bless you Aunt Jane.

The Icing

Sandy’s birthday party masterpiece may have been a piece of cake, but it was by no means easy. She found the idea on a website and ambitiously decided to give it a try. Baking the cake, slicing it into sections and assembling it into a train form weren’t the hardest steps for our engineer. Applying the icing was much more challenging. The red icing ran and the detailing and lettering were tedious. Sandy used licorice sticks for the train’s funnel and side bumpers and whole Oreo cookies for the wheels. Crushed Oreos made realistic looking coal for our steamer. When she had real difficulty icing the face, I removed a plastic Thomas face from a toy and it fit perfectly. It was the perfect cake for our “T” party, and it tasted great too!

Our "T" Party

In 2009, populists, conservatives and libertarians began protesting massive U.S. government spending, and these actions were labeled the Tea Party movement. On this day in 2010, grandparents, parents and boys gathered to celebrate the twins’ third birthday one week early, and the “T” in our party stood for “Thomas the Tank Engine”. Thomas was everywhere. He was on our cups, on our plates, on our napkins and on our cake. He was on our balloons, on our hats, on our signs and tablecloth. The twins received some very nice gifts from their grandparents before being presented with a large Thomas toy box filled with Thomas toys, each with a unique ability. One played records, one was a flashlight, one would go when you pushed down the driver’s head and another would go when you blew a whistle. It was a noisy, festive event with no protests.

Groom and Doom

Nail clipping is right up there with haircuts on Trey Davey’s least favorite list. He hates it. Perhaps he believes these activities invade his personal space or cramp his grooming preferences. Who knows, but he has consistently resisted these actions from the beginning. Every grooming experience is a wresting match, and this little boy is strong. Clipping nails is a delicate procedure under the best conditions.  Trying to trim his tiny little toenails on one pumping foot while his other is being pushed into my kidney is nearly an impossible task. The process of trimming Benji’s toe and finger nails takes about five minutes, while Davey’s grooming may take three times longer due to his squirming and screaming protests. I hope he grows out of it, but if you ever see Davey with shoulder length hair and nails, you’ll know he got too big for me to handle.