Wow, this is for real

Yesterday was a big step for us, the first tangible evidence in our house that life as we know it will soon be undergoing a dramatic change (other than the fact that my wife now looks like she is unsuccessfully trying to shoplift a large watermelon). We finally got the cribs out of their boxes (that were in our dining room) and assembled in their future quarters (our bedroom). Some how, actually seeing two cribs, in our house, together, was another one of those wake-up calls you experience from time to time when twins are on the way. But it was fun. We decked out one of the cribs in the bedding set we bought (but still need another mattress) and put the changing table together as well.

I suddenly started thinking about hearing the term "the Singer boys", and how I haven't really heard that used since my brother died (has it already been 5 years?). It will be good, but a little bittersweet, to hear that phrase again. Not to mention that I know that one of them will carry my brother's name - Jeffrey Kirk. And then I thought I won't just be raising twins, and not just boys, but brothers. I used to have this concern that I might consciously or subconsciously bond a little more with the one son named for my brother. But now, when I think of them as brothers, I think of my brother and myself. As two individuals, but still brothers. And now I know I will never see one as Jeff and the other as "not Jeff". I'll see them as "the Singer boys."