I put a lot of pressure on myself to do something really
grand this year for New Year's Eve because it's the twins' first NYE with the
family. Their actual first NYE was in 2017 and was spent at the NICU because
they were born 3 weeks early. Obviously, we didn't toast with champagne because
I was still trying to breastfeed and we were not really in a celebratory mood
because we were anxious to bring the twins home. Here's our first family photo
taken on NYE 2017 by our NICU nurse.
So I said to myself, I'm going to plan something really big
for the twins for NYE 2018. But as the Holidays were approaching, we suddenly
found ourselves in and out of the hospital. First it was Audrey then Antonino
and then Audrey again! We stayed in the hospital for almost 20 days between
October and November. We also had no yayas so naturally, NYE planning took a
backseat.
Then my cousin told me we should all check in to a hotel on
NYE. Our family has already done this several times before I got married and
had the twins. Of course, celebrations change when you put marriage in the mix
because you have to split special occasions between 2 families. Our normal
routine then was to check in at around noon, go out for lunch, then do various
activities which included watching a Metro Manila Film Fest entry (our little
way of supporting the local film industry), hearing Mass, counting down until
midnight and staying up way past midnight just telling stories and laughing a
lot. Of course, that all changed because we had one-year-old twins with us.
We had an early lunch at home then checked in to the hotel at around 2PM. The plan was to put the twins down for a nap so that
they would be able to stay awake until midnight. Of course that was just a
plan. The twins refused to nap and only fell asleep at around 7:30PM. I thought
to myself, "Well, there goes the twins' awesome first new year with the family." Plus, I honestly thought I wasn't going to make it until midnight either
because I was on medication for severe rashes which flared up due to stress
(mom stress - this deserves a post on its own).
By 10PM, we all got together in our room. We pigged out on
chips and other round-shaped snacks for good luck. Then Joey, my cousins and I
played a card game called Joking Hazard leading up until midnight. The game was
hilarious and just what we needed to stay up until midnight in our twin
parenting sleep-deprived state.
The twins slept through our whole countdown and only woke up
at around 12:15AM. So we tried to take some family photos - "tried"
being the operative word.
Here's our first try...
Our second try...
And third try.
Yup, that was the best we could do. We were all sound asleep
by 1AM.
So I didn't get to plan anything grand and elaborate. We had
a low key and simple NYE but it was still very special because in the end, it
doesn't really matter what you're doing as long as you're doing it with the
ones you love. With all the negative events of 2017, I really hope 2018 will
bring us new energy to help us all move forward. And to fellow parents out
there, may we all have the good night's sleep we so badly deserve!
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