Thanks to wordsmeaneverything, ghostwhisperjimel, libby, katie, emily, stagediva23, caroline, sb1218, h23brock, melissa, sophie, laura, nancy, simy, whitney, anna, kim, and rafap for reviewing.

ENJOY!

It's not the most dramatic of chapters but that's coming I PROMISE! This is more of just a typical day but also a step towards the future. Davis and Jude aren't infants anymore... I hope you like seeing the boys grow :)

AGE 2

On this particular morning, Brooke stood at a table folding clothes when she heard the mumbled sounds of her sons talking from their room. She sighed and looked at her watch, hoping she would have gotten a little more time to get things done before they woke up, but it was better than nothing. Since taking them off all bottles, the boys usually gave Brulian a hard time at bedtime which ended up giving the parents barely any form of downtime together at night without both of them being exhaisted, yet it did get them a little extra time in the morning though. The boys loved their sleep once they were settled, thank goodness, it was just getting them to sleep that was the problem. But they didn't seem to give Brooke enough time on this particular morning.

"Stop! No Jude!"

Davis was much better at following 'rules' than Jude, so Brooke knew him yelling meant Jude was doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing.

Brooke hurried out of the laundry room with an armful of folded clothes and walked into boys' room.

She gasped. "What do you think you're doing, mister?"

Brooke entered to find her more adventurous son sitting on the top of his crib bars, swinging his legs on the outside. Brooke grabbed Jude before he could even think about jumping off or falling off, and she placed his on the ground.

"Hi Mumma!" Jude smiled.

"Me say no!" Davis told on his twin as he extended his own arms up for Brooke to lift him out of his crib.

Davis was definately the more cautious, thoughtful of the two boys and was way better at listening to directions. He was more like Julian than Brooke could have ever imagined.

"I know, I know. But we'll be all done with climbing once Daddy sets up your big boy beds today."

"No more cib! Yea!" Jude did a little fist pump thing in the air that Brooke couldn't not laugh at.

"Me help?" Davis asked her.

"Sorry bud, but while Daddy's replacing your cribs, we have to take a little trip up to the doctor's office."

The boys had turned two a couple months ago, but with all the craziness of raising twins during the start of the 'terrible twos', it had slipped Brooke's mind to make an appointment for check ups.

"No! Mean!" Jude yelled and ran out of their room.

Brooke shook her head. They'd had a lot of appointments there over the past two years, and the boys always hated it. Every nurse and doctor was as kind as could be, yet Jude, especially, still found them to be mean when they weren't.

Davis took Brooke's hand and they walked out of the room to find Jude hiding behind Julian's legs, which were planted firmly on the floor as he sat on a stool at the kitchen counter. Anyone else's legs would've been dangling up off the floor, but not Julian's. Brooke smiled and secretly hoped the boys got his height.

"Why is he hiding under me?" Julian asked, puzzled.

"I told them about the d-o-c-t-o-r's appointment."

"If you told him already, then why are you spelling it?"

Brooke gave him a look as Davis ran over to his Dad. Julian bend forward and picked up his son so he could sit on the stool next to him.

"Me not a-scared." Davis said proudly.

"Good. You shouldn't be," Brooke assured him.

"It hurt!" Jude yelled from under the chair still, not denying the fact that he was not wanting to go to see any doctor.

"Jude Nathaniel, come out from under there, please, and have some breakfast."

Jude slinked out from his hiding place. Julian attempted to pick him up like he had Davis, but Jude pushed his hand away.

"I do it," he said as he climbed up onto the stool on the other side of Julian by himself. For only age two, he was a pretty good climber.

Brooke handed them both a bowl with cereal and just a tiny bit of milk, per the boys' request. She noticed Jude kneeling forward.

"Bum on the seat please, Ju Ju Bee."

Julian looked up from the newspaper and let out a chuckle. Brooke always hated when Sylvia called Julian that, but it had grown on her a little bit, so now she said it as a joke for her own son.

Jude frowned and did what he was told as Julian pushed the chair in a bit closer to the counter.

"The doctor isn't bad at all, guys. I've been a million times and I'm just fine," Julian tried, remembering how bad his allergies were as a little kid.

"Poke us, Daddy," Davis countered, wanting to be brave, but still kind of agreeing with Jude.

"Shots are just a little pinch and then you'll have big boy beds tonight so it won't even matter."

Brooke was glad that the boys seemed to like that answer as they finished breakfast quickly.

"Okay boys, let's get dressed. Huh?"

;

Brooke opened the big heavy door of the pediatrician's office and let the boys walk in front of her. She went to the front desk to check them in and then went to sit in a chair.

"P'way, Mommy?" Jude pointed to the little play set at the far end of the waiting room.

Brooke shook her head quickly.

"What did I tell you in the car?"

Brooke had explained to the boys how other kids' germs were all over the waiting room so they weren't allowed to touch anything. Just thinking about what the boys could catch from this room make her feel gross. Most importantly, she wanted to avoid the boys getting sick at all costs.

Jude frowned and started figiting around in front of Brooke. She reached out to pull him closer to her and sat him on her knee.

Davis was also walked back and forth in front of Brooke but then got sidetracked and pointed to pictures on a bulletin board.

"Babies!"

"Yeah, those are some other patients. Are you up there?"

Davis looked quickly and shook his head no.

Brooke picked up Jude and took a step towards the board.

"Yes you are! Right... there," Brooke pointed to a picture of two very tiny babies side by side dressed in matching red onesie Santa suits and hats. The boys were only seven weeks old that first Christmas and were still in the NICU hooked up to machines. Brooke remembered herself and the nurses laughing, trying to put their little outfits on while they wailed hysterically. Apparently they didn't like Christmas very much back then. Or at least, the outfits.

"That's you, Davey. And that's Jude."

"Me?" They both questioned. They didn't quite understand it. Those tiny wired-up babies didn't even look real to them.

"That's definately you. Daddy took that picture, I remember."

Davis studied it more while Brooke went back to sit down with Jude.

"Come sit down, Davey."

"No!" Davis yelled.

"Fine." Brooke shrugged, choosing not to pick this battle.

Davis was surprised when she didn't get angry since he yelled in public, and so he thought he had won. But after just a minute, Davis was shoving his brother to the side a bit so he could sit on her other leg. Brooke smiled, knowing she was the true winner.

It was only a few minutes before the nurse called both Davis and Jude's names together and they followed the nurse to a small exam room.

"Okay guys, can you take your shoes off and follow me?"

Brooke took a deep breath when the boys kicked their sneakers off and Davis's shoe hit the wall with a loud bang. Of course Jude laughed as he raced out of the room. Brooke watched as Davis stepped on the scale and measured in at twenty-six pounds and 34 inches tall. When it was Jude's turn, Brooke laughed as he tried to sneak in an extra inch on his tip-toes but the nurse caught him. He measured in at twenty-three pounds and thirty-two inces tall. Funny enough, they both had a head circumference of 19 inches and Brooke was a little happy that she didn't have a vaginal delivery. Even as premies, their heads were bigger.

The boys then had to sit still on a chair while the nurse took their blood pressure and their temperatures before they got back into the exam room.

"Okay guys, Dr. Kaptin will be in in a few minutes. But before he gets here you need to decide who's going first and you have to take off all your clothes but your diapers, okay?"

When the nurse left, Brooke struggled to keep the boys out of the drawers in the room and took off all their clothes. She picked them up so they sat on the exam table side by side, and of course, Davis ripped the paper liner thing immediately.

"Knock knock!"

Dr. Mitchell Kaptin had been recommended by the NICU nurses as being the very best pediatrician in the area. They all had their kids going to him, and Brooke thought that was the best complament you could give a doctor. He'd first seen them in the NICU and then every month for the first year of their lives. Then at two, the visits came less often, but he always did his best to make the boys feel comfortable.

"Do you remember Dr. Kaptin, boys?" Brooke asked.

Jude shook his head.

"Capin?" Davis furrowed his brow and then did a mini salute. Brooke laughed. Davis watched too many old movies with Julian.

"Yea, kind of like that," Dr. Kaptin nodded. "So who's going first?"

"Me!" Davis raised his hand high and kicked his legs, trying to be braver than Jude for once. Usually Jude was Mr. Adventure and Davis would stay behind.

"Okay.."

The doctor put his kit down on the left side of Davis and put his stethascope in his ears. He listened to the boy's heart and lungs, looked in his ears, nose, eyes, and throat before getting Davis to lie down so he could feel his belly. Davis laughed and squirmed, not remembering being tickled at any other doctor's appointments. So far it wasn't that bad. And he hoped it stayed like that. Then the doctor lowered Davis onto the ground and bent him over to look at his spine.

"He's just a little crooked, nothing more than 5%, but we'll keep an eye on it. Hopefully as he grows it won't get any worse. It might actually get better on its own as well."

Brooke nodded, hoping that would be the case. A bad case of scoliosis is not what they needed.

Then after asking Davis to jump as high as he could a few times and checking reflexes, the exam part was over for Davis.

Brooke tried to pay attention to all Dr. Kaptin was saying and doing, but she had to try to keep a fiesty Jude calm and sitting still as well. She had a feeling that his exam wouldn't go as smoothly as Davis's.

At first, Jude did okay with the stethascope touching his bare skin, but trying to look in his ears, nose, eyes and mouth became a challenge.

"Jude, it's okay buddy. Calm down," Brooke tried as she watched her son pull away with all his might.

"Mom!" Jude called to her even though she was standing right beside him. Dr. Kaptin backed off for a minute and Jude's arms flew to his mother's neck.

"Jude, he won't do anything to hurt you... you saw what Davis did, you can do that too."

Brooke got Jude to sit back down on the exam table as long as she held his hand. She eyed Davis and was glad to see him sitting quietly on the extra chair just playing with her keys.

When the doctor started making his way towards Jude this time, he didn't whine or pull away again, but his poor little face still looked terrified. The rest of the exam went pretty smoothly, and Jude did end up loving how he got to jump up and down a lot at the end. Then Dr. Kaptin asked Brooke a series of questions about how well the boys slept at night, how their eating habits were, how active they were, etc. She told him how they could both run around the yard all day long and never stop. She didn't know how they did it. But it was good that they did that to offset the fact that they wouldn't touch anything green on their plates yet. Brooke and Julian were still trying to work on that. Brooke also told the doctor about how the boys continuously gave got each other sick. They would pass things back and forth, making the illness worse each time, even. He said it was normal for sibling to do that, so he wasn't too concerned.

"We're actually taking out their cribs tonight and setting up their new beds."

"Great. What a big step, huh boys! Just beware that now that they can get up out of bed and walk around, you will probably need to start being more strict about bedtime. Explain to them once that they have to stay in their beds, make sure they understand, and if they do get up, just bring them back to their bed every single time until they understand. Even if they cry."

"Yeah. I've seen that on a TV show or something. We'll have a talk about that tonight. I'm just hoping things go smoothly."

Dr. Kaptin nodded. "Well best of luck to you." He stood and shook Brooke's hand. "The nurses will be in in a minute so they can get dressed. They're turning into very healthy, active little boys, Mrs. Baker. I'm glad to see them doing so well after all they've been through."

"You're telling me," Brooke mumbled and then looked up. "Thank you."

Unfortunately, when Brooke started helping them dress again, the boys thought they were done. But they weren't.

One shot each stood in the way of them and the exit.

Two nurses came in shortly and tried to be inconspicuous as they setup for the shots. They found that with twins, it's just easier if you give shots at the same time, so neither gets to watch the other or freak out in anticipation. They placed one boy at each end of the exam table and put their supplies in the middle. One nurse prepped Jude's little thigh with an alcohol wipe and davis's nurse did the same. They asked the boys the look in opposite directions at something on the walls and did the shots simulaneously.

One second Brooke had two adorable boys, the next, they were screaming their heads off.

"All done boys, it's okay." The nurses backed away and Brooke took their place between the boy as they both lunged at her. She rubbed their little backs for a minute and shushed their crying.

"It's all over. You did so good. And now we can go home and see your new beds," Brooke tried.

And it actually kind of worked, too. The boys quieted down enough that she could get their coats on and get them to walk out to the car. Brooke carried Davey but made Jude walk. But Jude was being dramatic and as they walked out, people in the waiting room frowned sympathetically as he held his band-aid covered thigh and limped. He was fine though, he was just trying to milk it. And Mommy knew that.

'Oh yes, he definately got the drama from us,' Brooke thought, remembering how sensitive herself and Julian are with injuries.

But by the time Brooke had loaded the boys into their carseats and drove home, they seemed to be over their pain or fear.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Davis ran to his room immediately to look for Julian.

"Hey big guy. How was the doctor's?"

Davis totally ignored him and went to the spot where his crib used to be. It was now replaced with a low-to-the-ground red framed bed. He immediately jumped onto the mattress and smiled.

Davis's bed was all put together but Julian was still working on Jude's.

Brooke gasped when she entered the room with Jude a moment later.

"Whoa!" Jude exclaimed as he went over to inspect Davis's completed bed. "No cib!"

"It's not a nursery anymore," Brooke pouted as Julian stood.

"Yep. Bye bye baby beds."

Julian wrapped his arms around his wife, knowing it was hitting her now. Jude and Davis weren't babies anymore. And this made it official.

;

That night before bed, Brooke and Julian sat the boys down and explained to them the rules about their new beds.

"You have to stay in your beds all night. There will be no playing with toys after bedtime and no come in to try to sleep with Mommy and Daddy. Unless you're sick or need to use the potty (which they still had diapers anyways), then you stay in your beds. Even if you wake up in the middle of the night, okay?"

"Why?" Jude asked.

"Because you're big boys now and just because you don't have a crib anymore doesn't mean you can leave your bed whenever you want. Is that understood?" Julian tried.

The boys nodded their heads, but Brulian was hesitant to believe them.

After their usual bedtime routine of teeth brushing, diaper changes, PJs, and rocking in the rocking chair with Brooke for a few minutes, it was the moment of truth. The parents tucked both boys under their sheets and kissed them goodnight. As they walked to the door, they crossed their fingers.

"Mama stay!" Davis sat up.

"Lie down, Davey. What did we talk about before?"

He laid back down and Julian shut off their light.

"Goodnight babies. We love you."

Brooke shut the door but left a sliver of it open for light, just like they always did. Brooke and Julian sat down on the couch, hoping for the best.

"Maybe what we said actually worked."

Julian chuckled. "Maybe. Let's hope we didn't speak too soon."

And sure enough, they had. They just didn't know it yet.

Brooke sighed. "Aren't you a little sad that the cribs are gone?"

"No. Why would you say that? Are you sad about it?"

"Yeah, a little. This means they're definately not babies anymore."

Julian leaned over to kiss his wife's head. "Would it make you feel better if I told you I kept one and put it in the attic?"

Brooke laughed. "Ha, why?"

Julian shrugged. "You know, just in case.

Brooke's eyes widened, smiling at Julian's illegal grin.

"Just in case, huh?"

"Yup."

"Good, I like that," she approved as she sunk more into her husband's side.

;

A half an hour later, the sound from the movie they began watching covered up the noise of the boys' creeky door opening and a little boy sneaking out.

From the end of the couch, Brooke saw something out of the corner of her eye before she turned and gasped.

"Ugh! Jude, you scared me! What are you doing up?"

"No sleep... head," he told her as he pressed his palm to his forehead. Brooke knew that meant he couldn't fall asleep because he had a headache. He always had headaches...especially when he was getting over a cold. And it seemed both boys were always getting over a cold these days.

Brooke looked at the clock. She was actually surprised he made it that long before coming out. He wasn't a good self soother, but he had to learn sometime.

"Come on..."

Brooke grabbed his little hand and led him back to his room, where she found Davis sleeping soundly. At least they didn't have to do this with both of the boys, she thought.

"If you close your eyes and rest, your head will stop hurting, okay? I love you."

Brooke got Jude tucked in again but he thought she was staying for a little bit. He looked sad when she told him goodnight and left the room again.

"Mama? Dada!" Jude yelled.

When he got no response, he got up again.

"Jude Nathaniel!" Julian said when he was the first to spot their son again.

"Peas stay," he pouted.

"Jude, no. I'm sorry buddy. You need to go back to bed just like Davis."

This time Julian led him back to his bed.

The same cycle happened about six more times. Brooke and Julian took turns bringing Jude back to bed. At first Jude saw it as a game, but Brulian persisted, eventually not even talking to Jude when he came out, just silently bringing him back to bed. The last time it happened, Jude began to cry. He cried hard and loud. Jude even started coughing and wheezing. Brulian assumed it was because he was crying so much.

Brooke put the pillow over her face. They had now migrated to bed themselves, and just wanted Jude to sleep. This had been going on for at least two hours.

"He's probably woken up Davis by now and this is gunna go on forever," Brooke mumbled.

She was beginning to hate the terrible twos. Especially with two boys at the same time.

"We just have to stay strong. They'll be alright."

"It just feels wrong to let him cry like this. I mean he's coughing a lot and his headaches have been getting worse lately. What if he is sick or something?"

"Brooke... don't let him break you. He's just pushing boundaries."

"I know. It's torture, though."

Julian nodded, knowing how horrible he felt, yet he knew this is what needed to be done. If they cracked now, they'd just have to do it again the next night and the next night until it worked or they'd have Jude sleeping in their bed until he was a teenager. He really hoped Jude caught on sometime soon.

"Peas Mama!" Jude let out one more teary shriek.

"STOP JUDE!"

Brooke couldn't help but laugh when she heard Davis scold his brother.

Then there was silence.

"Did Dave just save us?" Julian asked, trying to contain a smile.

"I think so."

"Thank God!" Julian went to turn over. "Goodnight. I love you."

"I love you too," Brooke yawned.

Now the family of four was finally able to get some shut eye.

Coming up next time: DRAMA!

hahaha you all guessed it. My stories are never short on drama, so it's on its way! ;)

REVIEW PLEASE! The more I get, the happier I become, the more I write!

Also, I need ideas for age 3 and a half.. i have the others mostly planned out but idk what to do at 3 1/2...

~ Haley :)