July 4th 2009

Nicholas and Celia have never seen fireworks until this summer. The past 2 summers they were either too young or bedtime meant FAR too much to sacrifice. Both Jason and I really wanted to take them this year, and with Aaron only being 6 wks old and still quite portable, we decided to go. A couple hours before leaving we showed Nicholas and Celia a video we found online of fireworks. We talked about how they would be in the sky and they would be very loud (and they could cover their ears if they needed too).
Our friends Nicky and Matt went along with us. Having another adult or two is very nice when you have 2 year old twins and a newborn.
We went to the Kewaskum fireworks on friday July 3rd evening. Nicholas and Celia's normal bedtime is between 7:30 and 8pm. We didn't leave the house until about 8:30pm. We stopped at a gas station for a couple sodas and a bag of SunChips (I had promised N&C they could have some soda treat for the fireworks). We parked and walked a bit to our spot - right across the pond from where they fire them. I don't think I've ever been so close.
When they started Celia was a little hesitant - she wanted Jason to cover her ears right away. She warmed up though and liked them. Nicholas LOVED them. He had a look of pure joy on his face and he would call out the colors as they burst in the sky. Aaron slept through most of them , but I covered his ears just to be safe.
When they were done we took the kids back to the van and I had them both go potty in the little Bjorn car potty. We put on their pull-ups and Pj's and drove home. My friend Nicky and I took Nicholas and Celia into their bedroom and they both fell right asleep. This was at 10:45/11:00. The latest they have ever stayed up since they were teeny babies!

* our friend Matt has pics on his camera and i will need to wait until I get those to add the blog*

So since we knew Nicholas loved the fireworks so much (he talked about them all day on the 4th) we contemplated going again to the ones in our city. But we were all exhausted (I was recovering from a cold and 2 nights of going to bed after 1:30am and nursing Aaron at night). Nicholas and Celia's behavior has been into the realms of 'terrible twos' the last week, so we canceled our plans to go again. We put N&C to bed at 7pm in hopes of them catching up on sleep. Well... 9pm comes and it finally seems like they have fallen asleep. Our neighbors started to shoot their own fireworks and I went into their bedroom to close their window. Nicholas wasn't sleeping yet. I went back out and thought that maybe since he was not sleeping, Aaron was nursed and sleeping, and Jason and Celia were sleeping... that maybe I could get him up and he and I could watch the little fireworks outside. So I went back into their room and leaned over his crib and said "Nicky... want to go see some more fireworks?". His face lit up and he said "Yes!". I picked him up and wrapped him in his blanket (it was getting a bit cool) and we snuck out the back door to sit on the back steps and watch 'baby fireworks'. It was so sweet to sit there with him and see his delight. At 9:45 I heard the West Bend fireworks start. We couldn't see them thru the trees, so in a spontaneous moment I took Nicholas to the van, ran in the house and grabbed keys and we drove to the top of the hill and I parked in a driveway of some businesses. We were a ways away, but we could see the big fireworks over the city. I took him out of his carseat and sat with him in the front passenger seat. We called out the colors of the fireworks and saw some 'rainy fireworks' and some smiley face ones. While he looked at awe at the fireworks, I looked in awe at him. What a little boy he has become. How quickly he has grown. And also... what can I do with Celia that could be so special (the guilt of a twin mom, ha ha). I told him when the clock said '10:00' we would need to drive back down the hill to go home. I was worried Aaron would wake to nurse and Jason wouldn' t know where I was!
At 10pm we drove home (a 1 minute drive perhaps) and I carried him in to bed. It was a very special moment. You know those moments that you know you will carry with you forever even while they are happening? It was like that. My favorite 4th of July to date.