Happy 2nd Birthday Boys!

Isaac and Eli, my sweet, crazy boys… you are 2.  I just can’t believe it.  I feel like I was just crying over the fact that you turned 1!  And now, here it is, your 2nd birthdays.

Isaac,

Your name means, “laughter” or “he will laugh,” and you have certainly proven this to be true.  When you were teeny tiny, before you had even learned how to laugh yourself… you were always doing, silly, cute things to make me and your Daddy laugh and smile.  Once you learned the joy of laughter yourself… well, you really haven’t stopped laughing since.  Just today, Daddy was letting you watch part of a Shrek movie that was on TV, and Fiona and Shrek were being silly ogres and fighting- punching, kicking, hitting, using all kinds of crazy barbaric weapons… And just as I thought, “Hmmm… I don’t know if he should be watching this…”  You let out the biggest belly laugh!  You thought it was so funny that Fiona punched Shrek in the face.  Your Daddy and I laughed… and then immediately changed the channel.  But that does bring up another side of you- the side that is “all boy,” as everyone says who watches you for even just a few minutes.  You are rough and tough.  You fall down and get right back up.  You love to throw and kick any type of ball, or anything that looks like it could possibly be a ball. One night, when I got home from work, I went in your room like always to give you a little pat and tell you I love you… and in your sleep you said, “B-ball!  B-ball!  SHOOT!”  Which is what you spend a large portion of your day doing- shooting the “b-ball” in the basketball goal that Uncle PJ got you for Christmas.  You love cars, trucks, trains, and dinosaurs, too.  You also seem to learn new things constantly.  You love shapes and would play with any of the shape sorter toys 50 times in a row if I would let you.  You know and say, “heart, circle, square, triangle, oval, star, cross, trapezoid, hexagon…” and maybe a few others I’m forgetting.  It amazes me!  You can also name most of the Sesame Street characters- Elmo, Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, The Count, Telly, Abby, Big Bird, Grover…. You LOVE to take a bath, and you splash the majority of the water in the tub on whoever is giving you a bath, and the rest of the bathroom.  You love to stick your head under the running water from the faucet, and dunk your head in the water in the tub- therefore, we have to watch you REALLY closely in the bath, Wild Man!  You love to brush your teeth, and your hair, and put on lotion (I guess you get this trait from your Poppo...)  My favorite thing about you right now, is that you LOVE to hold my hand.  If say, "Isaac, you ready to go?"  You will gladly walk to the door or car, but you say, "Hand?" first and hold your little finger our for me to grab.  Melts me heart every time.  You love music, so you love to watch American Idol with mommy.  You'll say, "Singin'... Find it..."  which means, let's watch American Idol on DVR, Mommy."  You are even starting to sing.  You sing part of the Alphabet song, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  You love for mommy and daddy to sing you to sleep- your favorites are He's Sweet I Know, Your Love Is Deep, and Isaac Franklin (the song mommy made up for you when you were teeny tiny in the NICU).  You sleep with your frog lovie, which you call, "night night" and suck your thumb right before you fall asleep.

Eli,

You have grown and changed so much over the past year.  This time last year, you were still on O2, and sporting your cool blue helmet.  I'm thankful both of those things are gone.  Now you go around sporting your brown glasses (that probably get you too much attention), your spiky hair-do, and contagious-heart-melting smile.  If I had a $1 for every time someone saw you said, "Awwww..." I could quit my job and stay home with you two silly boys all the time!  (Hmmm... maybe I'll start charging for people to look at you...)  You have your sweet, adorable, heart-melting side... but the bigger side of you is "Mr. Independent," especially now that you are walking!  I often wonder if this has something to do with how much we babied you, or doted over you, making sure your O2 was always in your nose right, carrying you around (because you weren't crawling or walking yet), making sure you didn't get sick, making sure you had your medicines, holding you to feed you in your g-tube...  But now that you are healthier, and independently mobile... you totally protest if someone starts to make you do something you don't want to do.  You will tell them, "I GO!" which usually means, "put me down and let me do what I want!  Y'all been telling me what I'm gonna do for 2 years now... now I make my own decisions!"... and off you go!  You LOVE TV.  You'll really watch anything- Sesame Street, or anything on Sprout, Sport Center, The Today Show, Price is Right, America idol, Paula Deen cooking show… you don’t care, you like all of it...  So we have to be careful to not leave the TV on all the time.  If we did, we'd know where to find you... right in front of it.  Thankfully, you also have other interests...  You LOVE books.  Often times I find you camped out in the playroom closet- there is a book shelf in there and you will just sit in the closet and look at book after book.  You are learning your shapes- you don't say their names yet, but you can match them up and put them in the right hole.  You love cars and trucks- and talk about all the cars and trucks we pass while we are driving.  "Car, car, car... truck, car, car... truck... truck..."  You love animals- especially DeeDee and Poppo's doggie, Rudy.  And he lets you pull on his ears and legs and doesn't get upset at you, thankfully.  You love music.  Love to cheer for others- especially Isaac when he plays "B-ball.  Love to smile and clap, and say, "Amen!"  You LOVE Elmo and Ernie from Sesame Street.  These are usually the second and third words out of your mouth in the morning.  You say, "Mama" or "Daddy" (whoever gets you up), then it's immediately on to Ernie or Elmo.  You are a man who knows what you like and what you want, that's for sure.  You LOVE to get a bath- love to play with the squirt toys and splash with Isaac.  You still love your paci, and maybe I should start weening you from it soon... but you really only get it when you go to sleep at night... You fall asleep the quickest when you are rocked and patted gently on your bottom, just like when you were tiny in the NICU, with your paci in your mouth, of course.  You sleep with your paci, lovie duck, and Elmo that daddy bought you after your last surgery.

Daddy said about you both yesterday, "I mean what I'm about to say both in a good way... But when I think about Isaac I just want to laugh, and when I think about Eli I could just cry."  I have actually said the very same thing about you.  So has DeeDee.  So has Poppo.  And others who know you both well.  We are so thankful for each of you, and your unique personalities that keep us on our toes.  I love you both more with each passing day!  I cannot wait to see how God writes the rest of your stories.

Happy 2nd Birthday to my two sweet, silly boys!