We are in love with all things stuffed. We are in love with little friends who we can clutch in our tiny chubby hands. We don't remember how skinny our hands were when we were born. How we were not completely cooked. But the parents remember and they are wowed at our pink plump hands.

The Rachel half of us loves to yell at her plush friends. She will grab a little iguana by the back scales and just squeal at him. Then she stops and looks at him as if to say, "what do you have to say?" The iguana is always silent and the monkey Rachel yells again. Anya is a little more guarded with her new relationships. She smiles at the small soft ones and sometimes laughs a little, examining faces, touching ears, making friends.

Enter Robin. Robin is handmade by PerfectChildren.etsy.com and arrived today. She is amazing. I took her out of her box to Anya's delight. She looked at Robin and smiled, then I showed her that Robin had eyes on the front AND back of her head and Anya broke into this tiny laugh. Ah, I love that she can laugh now at things that don't include tickling. This was an intellectual laugh. Amazing. It was her second one, actually. The first was at the Discovery Channel commerical where a man is wearing a sasquatch suit. I tried Robin out with Rachel and got the same response. Interest, touching of Robin, laugh at the eyes on back of the head. Amazing. Here are some pictures of first Anya with Robin, then Rachie.

anya and robin times two below.

rachie with robin

everyone loves robin

There are so many moments when being a parent sucks. And they aren't even the moments that I thought they would be. I thought I would hate all the diapers and getting spit up on and boogie shopping and all the gross stuff. But that stuff is silly and we are lucky to be able to help our children with such silliness. It is the other moments, the sleep deprived nights, the hungry baby whose cries threaten to crush you while you heat up formula. There are truly moments when you say, out loud, why did I do this to my life? Sometimes, in the middle of the night, eyes heavy, I even whisper to jeff, "i am so sorry my body made twins, this is too hard." It is ok to say these things. It is ok to feel them. Because this is insanely difficult. But then there are moments like these tonight. Moments when the eyes on the back of a yeti's head make us laugh. Moments when we yell at the iguana and our hands are fat and healthy. Moments when we love our lives that make all the other crap not matter.