“Silence is golden…unless you have a toddler.  In that case, silence is very, very suspicious.”  I am certain that all the moms out there can relate with me here. (Except for my own mom, because my sisters and I were angels, weren’t we?)

I have told my mom many, many times…how in the heck did we get two of the wildest, orneriest, strongest, and cutest little girls in the world?  Jake and I thought that Liberty was a little fireball.  She could climb the most un-climb-able surfaces…at just a little over one, she was climbing our banister, getting on top of counters, climbing drawers, bookshelves, and getting on top of everything.  It was to the point where I could hardly cook on my cook top because she would get on top of the counter while I was cooking.  One night while I was cooking supper, it was wonderfully quiet.  Wouldn’t you know…Liberty had taken a brand new bottle of Worchestshire sauce into the living room.  How she managed to bite through the plastic label, and open the bottle, I’ll never know.  The smell began to flow into the kitchen, and I’m pretty sure my heart stopped.  I dashed over to Liberty and let out a little yelp as I saw she was covered in the dark liquid, as was my beautiful carpet!  All I could think of was how I was going to hide the evidence before Jake the Perfectionist got home!  Ha, ha.

Shortly after Bella was born…I searched high and low and found a very solid, expensive gate that would block off our kitchen from our living room.  It was glorious.  Jake and I laughed a little at Liberty’s excitement as he was assembling it.  After it was up, the screaming began.  Liberty would bang and pull as hard as she could to get on the other side.  The noise was a little much, but I welcomed my kitchen back.  Finally, I could have order again, and cook!

Liberty could open doors and unlock locks by the time she was 18 months old.  She could escape into the garage by doing so, and climb onto the counter and push the automatic garage door opener…and voila!  She was outside where she had dreamed of being.  The sickening thing is, just as Liberty has learned not to disobey, Bella has learned to do the same and open the back door. 

As I got ready one morning, Liberty was playing in my closet as Bella took a nap.  It had been a few minutes without any sound, so I went to check on her.  I peeked in the closet and it honestly looked like the entire closet had been covered in flour.  Little did I know, Jake left his foot powder in his bag, and Liberty had the time of her life blasting it everywhere!

We laughed when Bella was born, saying there was no way she could be any more ornery than Liberty.  We should have known…the fact that she started crawling at just 5.5 months should have been our clue.  She’s living up to her name quite quickly.  At Dillons, she will eat through at least half a block of cheese by the time we check out.  Why don’t I take it from her?  Because this little girl has the voice of a LION!  The entire town of Hays would know.  Why don’t I hide it?  Nothing can be hidden from Bella the Snoop.  It’s not even worth trying.  She does the same thing with hotdogs. 

It panics me a little even thinking about playdates. As much as we love being social, all I can think about is if we can keep the other person’s house in one piece in the hour that we are there.  Going to the library?  My heart stops.  Bella finds sheer joy out of knocking 100 DVDs and books off shelves while we are there.  At the same time, Liberty is sprinting to the elevator to escape to the bottom floor while I’m madly putting items away.  The park?  Oh dear God…watching two speedy devils in a PUBLIC place with NO fences and busy streets?  I’ll pass.  Please know that I'm laughing like a hyena as I'm typing this, and please don't worry...we still go to the library, the park, and to play dates...I just say a little prayer than my heart holds out. 

It makes me laugh out loud thinking of our girls’ antics.  When my arm threatens to give out as I have to carry Bella (who is 27 lbs) like a football to the car at the park, I dream of collapsing on the sofa after bedtime.  As I’m carrying her, Liberty is sitting in the trunk on her potty chair then high tails it to the front to “carry” my precious chocolate chip frappe into her car seat.

I thank God every day for these two girls.  They have fierce, loving spirits.  Their curiosity and zest for life will take them so far.  Their passion and aggressive behaviors will bring them success in athletics and academics.  Their beauty and their hearts, will win them their true loves in many years.  Jake and I may have our hands full, but our hearts are bursting.   Bursting with love and contentment for these two girls…our dreams come true.