A Double Blessing

After a fairly uniformly crap year, it is so nice to have a reason for our family to celebrate: On Monday, October 18^th, exactly two weeks after my Mother-in-Law passed on, her great grandsons, my twin great-nephews came into the world.

Welcome, Nachshon Eitan & Betzalel Zamir

The boys arrived in the morning, nice hefty bruisers at around seven pounds each.  A delicious, delightful pair of full term, full size fraternal twin boys, much like my two, some eight years prior.

We visited them in the hospital, held them, and were overcome anew at the miracle that is a baby.  Times two.  Watching our niece and her husband being transformed into parents; watching these beautiful boys breathe and yawn and pucker their tiny rosebud mouths, still veiled in the cocoons of their newbornness; I filled up with love.

Later I reflected on how far our journey has taken us in these eight years since we were the new parents.  It is cliche but true: it simultaneously seems like yesterday and a lifetime ago.

Today we gathered together to welcome the boys into our family, our community and the covenant of our religion, Judaism. 

I cried much more than I thought I would.  There was so much meaning there, so much joy that needed to be released.
 

Three generations: my husband, niece, grand-nephew

They reminded me so much of Ethan and Jacob as newborns, I was flooded with feelings and memories. I just had to dig up some photos of them, too:

Newborn Ethan (one week old)

Newborn Ethan with my Mom

Newborn Jacob with my Dad

OK, he's not a newborn here, more like two months old, but I've always loved this photo of Jake:

Baby Power!

These early photos have such power over me, fill me with bittersweetness. They are of a time of innocence, when I was just a mom, just a twin mom. From the time before autism blew into our lives, before I became an Autism Mom.

And have I mentioned I'm having a love affair with the scanner right now?  Expect more photo madness soon.