Redefining Us

2012 has brought on a lot of changes for us. For Jason & I. Mainly, of course, the birth of Zach & Lucy. And with their arrival, things have been shaken up. The vast majority have, thankfully, shaken up for the better.

I think some people & couples will disagree with me here, but I’ve always thought of a married couple without children as that. A married couple. Not a family per say. I guess to me, the word ‘family’ means/involves/includes children. So for the first {almost} five years of our marriage, I thought of us as a couple trying to eventually, one day, then hopefully soon, become a family.

The term family for me was my parents, brother, grandparents, aunts etc. It extended to Jason’s family too. But they were more ‘your’ family or ‘his’ family. As for our families now, they are still very if not even more so present. New babies mean that they’re now excited new grandparents, aunts & uncles, & great-grands. They are loving it & we’re redefining relationships there too.

Now that Zach & Lucy are {oh-so-thankfully} here, we are a family. Our own precious, perfect & complete family of four. And we’re in the process of defining what that means to us.

For now, this month, it means getting our first fall/winter family photos for Christmas cards. Negotiating holidays where we decide when it’ll be time for it to be celebrated with just us as a family of four. {I’m not quite ready for that yet.} Creating family traditions for the babies to look back on through pictures. Being together as much as possible. Calling each other “Mommy” & “Daddy”. And being thankful.