Built On Trust

Our life

I agreed to to an interview and photo shoot for a magazine to show the world a glimpse of our life, and so everyone can see some of the twins now that they're almost 6 months old. After waking up early and getting myself ready, I decided to wake up Shay so she can eat before she gets dressed.

"Are you excited for today?" I ask her. She's been talking about this since we told her we were doing it.

"Yeah!!" She yells getting some of her cereal all over "Oops."

I clean it up off the table and let the rest on her knowing she's just gonna make more of a mess anyway "It's okay, sweetie." I get myself some coffee and breakfast then sit across from her at the table. She keeps asking questions about the 'picture people' as she calls them, and what they're going to be doing. I tell her they're going to be taking lots of pictures of us and our house, and that they'll be asking Brad and I some questions about her and the twins. What I say suits her, and when she's done eating we go upstairs to get her bath.

"I do this." She tells me taking over undressing herself down to her diaper where she stops and let's me do it since she can't figure out how. Once I get it off I put her in the tub, turn off the water and give her toys to play with. She splashes around and plays with her toys for a while before I tell her it's time for me to clean her.

I get a washcloth and her soap rubbing it all over her "You have to be good today, okay? That means listening to daddy and I."

"I get candy?" She asks shielding her eyes as I wash out the shampoo in her hair "It hurt!" She yells after I'm done pointing to her eyes.

I wrap her towel around her and hold her as she tries comforting her. "Can I see your eye?" I ask and she let's me look and I can see that it's really red "It'll be okay, sweetie. You just have to give it some time."

She finally calms down and I take her to her room to dress her. I put her diaper on and tell her to stay where she is while I find an outfit for her. She doesn't listen and walks over to where I'm standing at her closet and pulls out her favorite dress that she always wants to wear. Since it goes along with the other colors, and is nice enough for the pictures, I agree and let her wear it. I help her put it on "You look really pretty." I tell her and she smiles huge then sits for me to do her hair. After a few more minutes I get her hair done and tell her to play and do whatever while I go and check on Brad and the twins. When I get to their room I see that he's struggling. He has Aly mostly dressed and Jess is screaming trying not to let him dress her.

I walk over to where he's trying to dress her and hold her so she calms down a little "You have to let daddy dress you." I tell her, and she just looks up at me with no clue as to what I said.

Brad finishes dressing her and puts her in her crib to go get Aly and finish with her "Thanks for helping." He tells me when I hold Aly for him "They just really don't like clothes much."

"Or maybe they just don't like you dressing them." I jokingly point out that they're both fine when I hold or dress them "They'll get over it, Shay did." He says he needs to get ready so I pick up both girls, get Shay, then take them all downstairs letting them play in the living room until everyone gets here.

The photographer decides that she just needs a few pictures, and some of Brad and I holding them while sitting on the couch and then us watching them all play is fine. Brad puts Jess on his lap, Shay goes in the middle, then on the other side I sit with Aly on my lap. The photographer gets a picture of us like that, then she has us go on the floor. She gets one of just Brad and I sitting together, then has us watch the girls play, and she gets a few of that.

The interviewer watches us interact with the girls and each other for a little to get the information she needs, and Brad and I continue playing and watching the girls like we normally would. The twins start trying to crawl around and I move their toys a little farther apart encouraging them to move and get them without much luck. Jess moves towards hers a little, but gives up about halfway there, and Aly doesn't move at all. Brad plays with Shay, helping her name what her animals are, and asking her what they do. She gets almost all of them right, surprising Brad and I, so I go and get her some candy, and we tell her how proud of her we are. We watch her together as she tries to teach the twins what all of them are, but she gives up pretty quickly when she realizes they don't really care.

The interviewer decides she has enough background information and starts asking me questions. Since it isn't for a movie or anything very specific most of the questions are about my personal life.

"What advice would you give a new parent?"

I think about it for a while trying to remember different advice others gave to Brad and I "I would have to say make sure that even with all the stressful days, you still communicate with each other. If you're fighting it's just going to add more stress and at that point you really don't need it."

"What would you say the hardest and best parts of being a parent are?"

"There are so many of both. I honestly can't tell you the last time I slept a full 8 hours with no interruptions so lack of sleep is probably the hardest." I look over at Brad for agreement "The best part is getting to see how excited they are to see you every morning when they wake up, or every accomplishment they make. Big or small, seeing them happy and excited is worth everything."

"Other than the movie you just finished filming do you have anything else lined up?"

"I start filming another one in a few months in New York that should be fun, but for now I just wanna relax and spend time at home."

"Is there any specific thing you miss that you or you and Brad did before the kids?"

It seems like it's been many years since it was just the 2 of us, and I have a hard time trying to think about something I miss. I finally remember our dates "We would go out one night every week and talk about what happened on set, or even sometimes about our future and what we thought it would be." I look at Brad, who is looking at me lovingly, and I know that he remembers them "Those nights to us were so special because no matter how busy we were we still got to spend time together."

"What would you say your favorite thing about Brad is?"

I don't even have to think about this. He's so perfect to me "His heart, he's so loving and caring and I love him more every day. He's always loyal, and honest, and can put me in a better mood. He's also so great with the girls and that means the world to me."

"If you could change anything in your life right now, what would it be?"

This one really gets me. Right now, in my eyes my life is perfect, and I have no reason to change it, but I have to answer her "Right now, to me I'm so lucky to have what I have and I wouldn't want to change it. My family and friends are all happy and healthy, and I have all I need and much more. The only thing I think I would change is to keep the girls little, they're growing too fast."

With that she finishes the interview and everyone else leaves. Brad and I put the girls for a nap, and sit together on the couch talking about how lucky we really are.