It's a Boy... and a Girl!

At the ultrasound on Wednesday, I was sweating bullets after the technician said that Twin A was a boy. A whole family of boys would be fine and, I'm sure, pretty fun, but I was hoping for one girl in the mix. Twin B was sitting cross legged and refused to be identified. The technician came back to Twin B 3 times before saying that she thought it was a girl. When the doctor came in, he took about 5 seconds to determine Twin B was most likely a girl. Hooray! The Y family girl drought is finally over!

Twin A: the boy










Twin B: the girl









You can see in the photos that Twin A is clearer (well, as clear as an ultrasound photo can get) and Twin B is a little fuzzier. That's because they are both in the transverse (sideways) position with Twin A on top of Twin B, bunk bed-style. They were facing each other during most of the ultrasound and it looked like they were punching the hell out of the slim barrier between them. At it already, I guess.

They both look good at 10 oz each and 10 inches long. All systems checked out and we're good until our next visit in a month. I'm up about 15 pounds and just hit the 20 week mark. Starting to get pretty uncomfortable, but I'll keep my complaints in check since there's still such a long way to go. :)

Croup!

My generally healthy little guy is battling his first episode of croup. He'd had a mild cold late last week, but was tapering off with the sniffles. Then late yesterday I noticed his voice was hoarse and about an hour and a half after going to sleep he woke up sobbing and gasping for breath. I took him into the bathroom and threw on a hot shower. He still wouldn't stop crying. Finally I took him out of the bathroom and he settled down. He slept with us the rest of the night and I spent most of that listening to him struggling to breathe.

Around 4am I could tell he was spiking a fever and when he woke up at 6am he had one of about 101 degrees. He tried to take a few quick gulps of water and threw up immediately. After that he calmed down and I managed to get more water and a dose of Tylenol into him. His lungs were still rattling though, so I took him to our pediatrician's daily walk in hours. The doc on duty agreed with me that it was croup, but that he might also have another cold complicating it. She even told me to watch for pneumonia! Scary!

When we got home I tried and failed miserably to get a dose of the medicine into him. The second dose was delivered via juice and that worked well. He doesn't typically drink juice, in fact he asked for water, but I kept supplying pretzels, so he didn't really have a choice. Then a little Motrin and we tried to get him to bed, but he was having none of it. I guess being indoors all day got him very wound up. He did get to bed until just after 10pm. Hope he sleeps in, but by the sound of his breathing, I wouldn't be surprised to have to turn on the shower again tonight.

Quick Recovery

LR had no fever and very little congestion today. It's the fastest cold he's ever had. I gave him Dimetapp just before bed to make sure he slept comfortably, but I skipped the Motrin. He had such a big day today that I'm hoping he sleeps through the night without any problems.

This morning we all went to meet my MOT (Mothers of Twins) Big Sister. She gave me a quick view of life with a three year-old and twin year-old girls. They were adorable and kept both their moms very busy. They had lots of good advice, I just need to remember to write it down before the twins arrive. After our visit there, we ran off to Target to pick up odds n' ends. Then LR fell asleep on the way home.

I had to wake him up 2 hours later so that we could go to our 2 year new moms reunion. What a mistake that was! Too many kids in too small a space. There was hitting, stealing of toys, and a couple of tantrums. LR got slapped for trying to take a toy and then pushed another little girl down a small slide. I was within inches when he did it and apologized a dozen times to the parents. The girl wasn't hurt, but it didn't make me feel any less guilty about it. After that party, we ran to his friend R's second birthday which was much more relaxing and enjoyable. The kids ran around outside and there were more than enough toys to go around. LR introduced a game of hanging off a bar that was part of the railing for the stairs and as a result, all the kids joined in, trampling R's mom's plants. She initially tried to stop them, but was overwhelmed by the power that is 5 little 2 year-olds intent on doing the same thing.

Birthday Fun and Not So Fun

After we blew up LR's gift from us on the morning of his birthday and he crawled into it, Daddy asked me, "are we the worst parents in the world, or the best?" It made me laugh, but I knew what he was getting at. We're trying to walk the line between spoiled and well taken care of. We have the means to provide him with all his needs and most of his wants. Do we turn our house into an indoor amusement park or a place for adults to socialize. We've chosen more the amusement park route and I can't say I'm too disappointed. Being an adult is pretty overrated. Playing with LR in his new moon bounce or pushing him in his beautiful new tricycle from Grandma W and Grandad B or spending family time after each dinner playing with his Playdough factory from Grandma Nese and Papa is some of the best time I've had this week. I can't say the same thing about work.

Unfortunately, the day after his birthday was his 2 year physical which he hated. It was a regular exam and he did well with the weigh-in especially since he got to use the big scale this time and not the baby one. He didn't mind them looking in his ears, but being shut in the room made him crazy. I don't know if it's small spaces that bother him or that he knew being in this room could only mean one thing. Well no shots, but they did a lead test which is a finger stick and then lots of squeezing to get enough blood in the vile. He was unhappy to say the least, but recovered quickly. Then in the evening he started a runny nose and small cough. He was up every hour and by morning was completely congested. I was able to give him Dimetapp for the first time since he's now officially 2! Hooray for 2! That helped, but by mid-afternoon today he had a fever and so we're just crossing our fingers that the Motrin will keep it down and the Dimetapp will help the congestion overnight. We could all use a good night's sleep!

Side Note: LR can pick up the words for a song within a few reps. I sang Daisy Bell for him 4 times in the car (he kept asking for it "again, again") and the next time he joined in. He made it through the main words of most of the lines. Tonight he requested in while in the bath and sang right along with me.

Happy Birthday, LR! You're 2!

A big happy birthday to the little guy that changed our lives 2 years ago on this day. Despite the massive sleep loss, we'd do it over again. Love you, LR!

Monologuing

LR watched part of The Incredibles the other night. I thought it might be a little adrenaline inducing, but I guess no more so than Nemo. He seemed to enjoy it, but I always laugh when Syndrome says, "You sly dog! You got me monologuing!" I think of it every night now when I put LR to bed. Our latest trick to get him to go to sleep is to catalog the events of the day. I start with his morning routine, skip over most of what happened with the nanny other than what she's told me, and then launch into a painfully detailed description of our day. By the end he's usually asleep. Guess it doesn't say much about my story telling abilities, but it works well for Daddy too, so we're pretty happy about it.

The bedtime routine is still close to half an hour, but I'm hoping that gets shorter. Unfortunately, I keep falling asleep with him and then Daddy has to come wake me up to get ready for bed. Last night I really wanted to get a snack before bed, but missed it because I was too busy getting LR ready for bed and then Daddy woke me up close to 10:30. I crawled into our bed after dutifully brushing my teeth and then woke up at 2am starving. The twins were obviously displeased with their lack of sustenance, but I was too tired to go downstairs, so I just tossed and turned for half an hour thinking, "I'm hungry... I'm hungry... I'm hungry. I really should stock our little micro-fridge with ice cream bars. I'm hungry."

Me, Myself, and I

LR started using "I" this past weekend. It was really interesting to hear since we've only heard him refer to himself as "baby" and by his first name until now. He's also singing many more songs. His favorite right now is a Laurie Berkner song about the moon. We belt it out at dinner time as a family and tonight he and I sang it as part of the bedtime routine. Speaking of which... no more bottles! After less than a week of water bottles, he's given them up. I'm tossing the chemical-releasing Avent bottles today!

No More Midnight Milk

So we've finally altered LR's bedtime routine. I figured it was all in shambles with the transfer from the crib anyway, so I decided to try to get rid of the milk. LR used to take a bottle of milk before bed and the routine was simple: bottle, blanket, books, bed. If he woke up during the night, he put himself back to sleep. Then when he went to the mattress on the floor it was bottle, blanket, books, bed... followed by a little bit from the bottle each time he came wandering into our room, once or twice per night. I really started to worry about his teeth in a way that I hadn't before. After fretting for a week someone (I can't remember who) suggested replacing the milk with water. Brilliant! Genius! He noticed the change, but didn't put up a fuss. He drinks much less now and I imagine we're not far from getting rid of the bottle completely. I'd really like to do that before the twins arrive.

Pictured above is Daddy's fix to our gate problem. Now LR can't let himself out of the yard. Unfortunately, they're even a little tricky for adults to open, so we'll keep looking. In the meantime, we can keep LR a little safer.

It's All About the Ladies

Saturday morning we had a play date with friends D & M and their daughter C, who is just 3 months older. They hadn't seen each other for a very long time, so it was good to see them interact well together. C got cuddly toward the end and we're pretty sure LR thought he was getting a big 'ol dose of cooties.

After they left we spent the rest of the afternoon at a big block party on our street. LR loved seeing so many kids and had a ball running up and down the street. We got lots of compliments on LR and congrats on the twins from our neighbors. I think we also got a lot of pitying glances... Found out that there was something in the water years ago when everyone had girls. There are more than a dozen girls from ages 5 to 18. We thought LR was the only boy, but I guess someone poisoned the well, because now there are 4 male 2-year-olds on the block. Awesome! Lots of friends for LR!

Sunday we took it easy since I had to do a 24 hour urinalysis. Daddy did the grocery shopping and took LR to the park while I tried to catch up on a bunch of rugby World Cup games. Just in case you were curious, the USA did not get slaughtered by England. I believe it was the least number of points the US has ever lost by in a world cup game. Go Eagles!

Monday we had a play date with LR's girl, V. They chased each other around both inside and outside the house. V's mom and I tried to rest since she's due with baby #2 this week and I'm starting to look like I'm close. (It's not that bad, but I'm getting bigger by the minute!) Also got my AFP test result back which test for Down syndrome and we're in the clear with both babies. That was a relief. Am becoming more comfortable with the idea of a C-section. It just looks like that's the direction that twin deliveries are going now-a-days thanks to a study which says the second twin delivered vaginally has lower APGARs and spends more time in the NICU. Might as well do what's best for both of them.

LR started his gym class today and Nanny C reported that he loved it. She said she thought the trampoline was his favorite and he has a hard time doing group activities because he wants to do his own thing. Not a surprise. Hope I get a chance to go to one of his classes.

Finding His Voice

LR has learned a new skill, singing! He's got the ABC's down for the most part, which he often sings while strumming the grill above the fireplace. Not sure what he likes about the sound it makes, but it's music to him. The past few days, he's picked up Ba-Ba-Blacksheep, Jack and Jill, and Old MacDonald. We sing at home and in the car. As long as the song is long enough, he will start to join in. He really liked Old MacDonald yesterday and even suggested animals. It's nice to feel like I haven't been singing to a brick wall for 2 years. He was actually absorbing a lot of it, just waiting for the connection to the mouth to develop, I guess. Very cool stuff.

Oh, and his favorite new bedtime show is Sleeping Beauty. I'm really enjoying the old Disney movies. The scary scenes are far less scary and adrenaline inducing than more recent Pixar movies. The music is wonderful and LR is soothed by it. I'll have to pick up a few more. So far Dumbo (it has a train!) and Sleeping Beauty are hits. Alice is Wonderland is okay, but probably his least favorite of the three.

First Day of Practice

LR came with me to the first rugby practice of the season last night. He mimicked the players as they stretched during warm ups, touching his toes and sinking into deep squats, and chased them while they ran laps. He showed off his somersaulting skills and they whooped and hollered for him. He was a little star. He gave lots of high fives and was told often how cute or cool he was. Speaking of, his new phrase is "how cool!" Guess that's a little of me rubbing off on him.

Despite all the attention and having a new fire truck to play with at practice, LR became a major distraction. When I held him during instruction, he overpowered me with car noises, "vroooooom, VROOOOOOOOOOOM!" The team thought he was hysterical, but we couldn't get much accomplished. Now I'm going to need to find a babysitter during practice. *sigh*

The picture is of Daddy and LR playing their new favorite game "jump truck." The rug is beautiful and apparently Nanny C has already had to learn the game. LR calls out the name of the vehicle and also the color. He really loves the rug. Thanks Yianni and Cookie!

At The Car Wash

This is our first test of the video upload feature. We know the quality is poor, but we're learning. Thanks to Daddy for both taking and editing the video!

Floor Mattress

So we ended up putting our guest double mattress on LR's floor. He calls it his "new" bed and hasn't had any problem sleeping in. The problem, unsurprisingly, is that he won't stay there. It takes around 45 minutes for him to fall asleep with either Daddy or I next to him, but then at some point in the middle of the night, he wakes up, closes his door behind him (I have no idea why he does this) and then toddles down the hall to our room. For the first few nights, I let him sleep the rest of the night in our bed. Then last night I took him back to his room each time he came to ours. He only woke up twice, so it wasn't too bad. I hope as he gets used to the arrangement, he'll stop wandering around quite so much.

The other reason he had a hard time getting to bed last night, Yianni and Cookie bought him a great big, new rug with construction vehicles all over it. He invented a game where he jumps on each vehicle and calls out its name. When it was time for bed, he asked to play the game again. I was barely able to convince him to get back in bed. I'll have to take a picture of the rug this week and post it. One of the nights of their weekend visit, Cookie made artichokes which LR couldn't get enough of. He got the hang of the scraping skill quickly and Cookie helped to make sure he didn't get any sharp ends as we got closer to the center. He kept us all entertained during dinner and then demanded another game of chase with Cookie afterward. She obliged and they went tearing around the house again. You can see how much gun he's having in the picture.

A new favorite game of Daddy's creation is Plunger Ball. If you haven't visited us yet, you might not know that we keep two plungers in the half bath between the washer and dryer downstairs. They have never been used for their intended purpose. I bought three for the house when we moved in. They were cheap and the first time we had the opportunity to use one we found that they lacked the necessary "oomph" that a plunger needs. So, we kept the other two as "decoration" and LR loves playing with them. He uses them as stilts, ground thumpers, and most recently, as a sort of batting / golfing implement. I'm not really clear on the rules, but Daddy seems to know them. I think both twacking and plunging are legal.