Take Me Out to the Ball Game

I have a future baseball star on my hands. Yes, I'm sure I'm not the first parent to think that their child is a natural athlete, but I can't help bragging. Berkley absolutely LOVES baseball and it's all thanks to his cousin, Hutch. Berkley and Meredith enjoyed watching Hutch play baseball this spring and it's obvious that Berkley has a natural love of the game. I wish I could take credit for it, I did play softball from 5th-10th grade, but I think the love of baseball comes from idolizing his big cousin! I bought Berkley and Meredith little play baseball gloves today and felt so silly when I realized that I'd gotten him a left handed mitt when he needs a right handed mitt b/c he's a lefty (sorry if that sounded confusing). Anyway, I thought he'd put the glove on his left hand and it wouldn't be a big deal...I mean, he's never been taught which hand to wear it on, so it shouldn't bother him. WRONG! That child automatically took that glove off of his left hand and put it on his right. I couldn't believe my eyes. He also knows where the ball is supposed to hit the bat and it frustrates him so bad that he can't throw it and hit it like I do. Oh and I almost forgot, as soon as he put the glove on, he started hollering for his hat. When he found his baseball hat he put it on backwards and started to play. I think I'm going to be spending a lot of time in the stands in the future!

Introducing the Sprinkler

There's nothing like random opportunities for fun. The twins and I got home late from having dinner at Grandma's house and Steven was just setting up the sprinkler to water our lawn. Since we were getting ready to give Berkley and Meredith a bath anyway, I gave Steven the go ahead to let the twins play in the sprinkler. As you can imagine, they had a big time playing in that water.

Berkley's 1st Haircut

Today was the day...the day that Berkley had his 1st haircut. Oooooohhhhhh, my baby boy is gone, he's all little boy now. Can you hear the tears that I'm holding back? I was so nervous that he would throw a fit, you know, with the whole "terrible twos" and everything. But people, Berkley did AMAZING!!! I cannot brag on my little boy enough. I talked to him before we went in and explained everything that would be happening and I'd like to think that helped. I have to give a shout out to the stylist at SuperCuts, she was wonderful with him and very personable. Again, I am so, so proud of my little boy. From the minute he sat in the stylist's chair he was a sweetheart. He loved the stylist combing his hair, he was intrigued when she had to spray water on it, he giggled at the buzzer, and laughed at the blow drying. Every minute of that haircut was a joy to watch. I was that mom too, the mom that takes a gazillion pictures and videos, but I've narrowed it down to these few to share with you. Enjoy!


This is Berkley before


He sat up so straight like this the whole time.





You can tell he liked the finished product. He's giving a look like, "hello ladies, here I come"

What a Week!

It's certainly been an eventful few days in the Manning home. Most of you have probably learned by now that my mother, the twins, and I were involved in a car accident last Friday. I know I shouldn't go into too much detail on the world wide web, so I'll try to keep it simple. We were sitting at a stop light and two cars collided in the middle of an intersection and then hit us, sending our van into the curb. Our car is totaled, but the huge praise is that everyone is okay! I had a slight concussion and a seat belt burn, my mom is bruised from the seat belt and the twins are unharmed, with the exception of being initially frightened! Meredith likes to tell people that her car broke; that's what I told them right after the accident to help them understand what was going on. Many people have asked me about my mom and I'm sure you're all also wondering how I'm dealing with things emotionally, considering I lost my sister in a car accident. Here again, I don't know how much detail to go into. We're all doing okay, we're thankful for God's provision in our safety and we're all the more grateful to have each other and to have so many friends and family who care for and love us. I'm sure as I process all of this that I'll have more to post later.

In other events of the week, I've experienced my first temper tantrum in a public place...and no, it wasn't me who had the tantrum, it was Berkley. Berkley is my independent, free spirit who wants to explore everything and explore it on his terms. We were at the nursing home visiting my Nana yesterday and Berkley didn't want to follow us down the hall. He started to have a melt down and my heart just dropped realizing what was about to happen. I'm sure every parent out there can understand the anxiety going through my heart and mind at the time. All the options of how I could handle this were racing through my mind, but of course everything I tried just seemed to make it worse. Berkley kept screaming louder and kicking harder. I finally had to carry him outside. Woo, was I tired after all of that. I'm sure those old folks thought that I was a.) a young parent who didn't have a clue how to discipline my youngin', b.) thought, "bless her heart," or c.) were thinking, "my goodness that boy is strong," because I could hardly hold Berkley in my arms he was flailing so much. It was a learning experience for me, that's for sure. It's been good for me to think through how I can handle situations like that differently in the future.

Another interesting first for the week, which is probably over-sharing, but I can't resist, was having to take Berkley and Meredith into a public restroom with me. We were at Target this morning and wouldn't you know it, I had to take a potty break. I've never had to take them to a public restroom before, at least not without them being in a stroller. You guys would have been laughing hysterically at me if you could have seen me trying to potty all the while trying to keep the twins from touching the floor, sitting on the floor, opening the door (which I failed at) and/or putting their hands in or on the potty. So, my kids have had a good dose of immunity building today and mommy has had a good dose of embarrassment...but it had to be done:) Again, just another opportunity to learn that sometime the greatest gift you can have in parenting, especially when parenting multiples, is a sense of humor!

Finally, the twins had their 24 month check-up today and I'm pleased to report that they're growing beautifully! Berkley weighs nearly 28lbs and Meredith 26 (I think). Berkley is 33 3/4 inches tall and Meredith is 33 1/2 inches tall, so they're really close in height. In the beginning, I thought Meredith was going to be a lot smaller than Berkley, but I'm seeing that Meredith is going to give Berkley a run for it:) It was their last visit with the doctor they've had since birth, which is so sad. We've loved Dr. Schmidt and nurse, Debbie and will certainly miss their compassionate care after we move. We're so happy to know our babies are doing well physically and developmentally!

Everyday Life

I wanted to share a couple of sweet pictures from the last couple of days. It's so rare that I'm in any pictures with my kids because I'm typically the one behind the camera. So, it's great that Steven captured this sweet moment of Meredith and Berkley relaxing with me in the living room. Oh how I do love those babies! And for those of you who may notice in the second picture, yes, that is a Darth Vader shirt. I'm super excited about Berkley's first Star Wars shirt that he got for his birthday! Who needs toys when you have a hole and dirt that you can play in?

They're TWO!!!

I'm sitting down with my computer after a whirlwind week. Steven was on vacation this past week and we took the opportunity to get serious about preparations for putting our house on the market. There's no need to go into all the details of all we've done, but it's been a lot! On top of the house preparations, Berkley and Meredith celebrated their 2nd birthdays on Thursday, so we've been busy with birthday celebrations as well. At this point, I'm exhausted and yet I'm so thankful for all Steven and I have been able to accomplish as well as being thankful that I have two such precious babies to celebrate (they'll always be my babies). I don't really know where to begin in filling you in on all of the details of the week, so I'll do it via pictures.

The week started with Berkley and Meredith staying with Steven's folks so that Steven and I could clean and pack. They stayed for four nights and I have no clue how we would've gotten anything done around this house without Mima and Papa's generosity...not that they minded having their grandkids for 4 nights. Steven and I spent the night Wednesday night and then Thursday morning we all got up and celebrated the twins' birthdays together! Berkley and Meredith had lots of adventures during their stay at Mima and Papa's. I think some of their favorites were playing in the sand pile out back as well as visiting a petting zoo and park in Windsor.
After spending the morning at Mima and Papa's, we left to go to Grandma and Grandaddy's to celebrate some more. I love this picture of my mom with Meredith.

I just love these last two pictures because they show how big Berkley and Meredith have gotten. I felt like they had totally changed in the 4 days they were away from me. You can tell they're toddlers now because they're both running around with skint knees. They love to run!



We had our own little party at Grandmama and Grandaddy's. We wore party hats and sang happy birthday, it was so much fun! I loved that Berkley and Meredith knew how to blow out the candles this year. Joe-Joe made up his own bluegrass style of happy birthday and Berkley and Meredith clapped along with giddy little grins on their faces. They loved digging into their cake and as you can see from Berkley's happy face, they really enjoyed the sugar kick. Meredith is so proud that she can show how old she is on her fingers.

I know that some of you may find these pictures of the twins with my dad sad, but they make me happy. Yes, it's sad to see how sick my dad is, but it's precious to see how Berkley and Meredith love being with him in spite of it all. Berkley laid back on my dad and just relaxed and they both thought that he was playing peek-a-boo with them when he put his arms over his head. I feel like having them sit with my dad in his bed has got to be good therapy for him.
On Friday we went to visit Nana at the nursing home. Sadly, it's been awhile since I've taken the twins to see Nana, so you can imagine that she was really excited to see them walk through her door. Nana was in bed, which lies low to the ground. The twins went into the room ahead of my mom and me and Nana let out a huge shout of joy when she saw them. Meredith ran to my Nana's side and actually climbed in bed with her to give her a kiss, Berkley proceeded to do the same thing. It was priceless and I wish I could've gotten it on film. Definitely something to never forget.


While visiting at Grandma's we all enjoyed the beautiful weather and scenery of being around the farm. Above, you see just a few of my favorite pictures from our adventures outdoors.



And on Sunday we celebrated with our families. We had a great spread of food, but just being together was the best part. I love the first picture of Berkley cutting his eyes as he sees the cake coming. And as you can see from Meredith's face, they had red iced cupcakes; it was an Elmo theme. Berkley and Meredith got these awesome trikes as a gift, Berkley's riding Meredith's in the picture above, and they also got these ECU ball caps. They were so in love with the baseball hats! Now we just need to take them to a baseball game.
Here are all of the Manning grandchildren. I try and try to get a picture where I can see all four of them together and they're all four smiling, but I think it's going to take another year at least before mine understand that. Nonetheless, it's great seeing them all together and boy did they have a great time together! Berkley and Meredith look up to Hutch and McKinley so much!
I love this picture of Berkley's happy little face after giving his cousin, McKinley, a sweet kiss. Berkley loves his cousins!
Here are all of our guests from our party on Sunday. So great to have our family together to celebrate our two little blessings!


Overall, it was a wonderful few days of celebrating my precious twins and all of the joy and excitement they've brought to our family. The celebrating was not what I'd planned, but it turned out to be much more fun than anything I had planned. Just goes to show that God knows better than I do.