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!