WOW…. my first borns….(is that how one describes twins????) turned 7 today…..I am just full of  ‘WOWs’ about this.  I can’t quite believe it.  7 years they have been on this earth, 7 years DH and I have been practising our parenting skills, 7 years of smiles (and a lot of tears!  Theirs and mine!), 7 years of looking at the world through their eyes, 7 years since I last had a lie in, 7 years since I could go out with just a handbag and not a bag of nappies, wipes, spare clothes, water beakers, and what feels like the entire contents of the toy room!

As a surprise birthday treat, we collected the kids from school on Thursday and drove to the Atlantis hotel where we had booked in for a night.  They thought they were going home to ‘wait’ until the next day for their birthday, and all the joys that brings with it…

GOTCHA!  Post school pick up blues vanished in an instant.  The thought of Aquaventure, the children’s water park, inspired screams of delight and furious running around in circles.  DH checked in whilst I tried to stop the kids knocking over unsuspecting hotel guests.

We had a blast.  Yes, it is still hot and humid but as long as some part of your body is in water and the shade, it makes it more bearable.  They wiped themselves out at Aquaventure and were asleep in their giant hotel beds by 8pm…..mental note, ‘could we recreate a mini Aquaventure in the garden’????  2nd mental note ‘we do not need a mini waterpark in the garden.  It only seems to encourage them to get up at 5:30am the next day’!

With each birthday that passes, I can’t help but wonder where the time has gone.  When they were born, like all  parents, we measured time in days, weeks, and sleepless nights.  Now, we measure time in real time; in years, school starts, summer holidays and wobbly teeth……when did that happen????  Often, the quick passing of time makes me nostalgic and teary eyed.

When I look back, there are so many moments I wished away: sleepless nights, DS’ night terrors which had him screaming uncontrollably for most nights until he was 15 months old, the need to dump their pureed solids on their heads rather than attempt to eat it (I’m not that bad a cook!), folding and unfolding a twin buggy and trying to to fit it through impossibly small doors, potty training of 2 at the same time, nursery tears, the bare knuckle/fist/biting fighting in which they regularly engaged because they wanted the same toy…..the list goes on.  Sometimes I catch myself wishing I could go back in time and re-live those moments, and embrace them without the anxiety I felt back then.  But as I said, DH and I are ‘practising’ our parenting skills.  Some days we get it spot on, others not so much.

So many wonderfully touching, truly blissful moments have passed and so many more lie ahead.  From now on, the true joy will be sharing those moments with little people who also appreciate them and who will be able to welcome our participation.