Last Day as an Only Child

Since the twins won't be home for another 4 or 5 days at least, LR won't feel the pinch right away, but as of tomorrow he will officially cease to be an only child. N has been preparing him by playing with his baby doll we bought him almost a year ago to go with his stroller. He's never shown much interest in it, but after a couple of play dates with friends who have baby siblings now, LR is much more interested. He named his baby after his friend's baby brother, Cooper. I came home from the hospital yesterday and found N and LR playing with Cooper by counting his fingers and toes, classifying the fish on his stroller, and pointing out his eyes, ears, and mouth. Then LR took him out of the stroller and cuddled him on the couch. I'm really grateful to N for picking up on his interest and reinforcing it. She tries to make sure he's gentle with the baby, but he still sometimes flings Cooper out of the stroller.

This past weekend we had a nice, although quick, visit with Papa and Nese. LR got to go in Papa's airplane a couple of times. He was thrilled to just hang out at the airport a bit. It was a bright day, so the shadows are a little deep in the photos. I'll have to work on that. Before we got to the airport to pick them up, LR informed me that we needed to watch out for the propellers. I was impressed that he remembered the word and my warning from the last time they were here at Thanksgiving.

We also got another snow storm this week. Everything had finally melted from the last series of storms and now we have a fresh 6 inches on the ground. LR is starting to get better at walking through the snow. N likes to take him outside at least once a day and he loves having snowball fights with her.

At my OB's office yesterday, I measured at 44 weeks even though I'm only 35. The kids are still moving and my blood pressure seems to be holding steady. She double checked with me on whether or not I wanted to try an induction and I gracefully declined. I think "hell no" is what I said. She agreed that risking another long induction wasn't a good idea and that twin B, the girl, will be better off with a c-section.

It may be a while until I post again and hopefully by then I'll think of some nicknames to use on the blog for our new additions.

Crack Your Head

I keep forgetting the things I want to blog about, so pardon the random nature of this post. One thing that I find endlessly amusing is that LR has started to pick up some of N's South African phrases such as "you'll crack your head" when he does something dangerous. He's really taken to her and that makes all of us feel good about our new family. Tonight she's putting him to bed for the first time in preparation of next week's craziness. Despite protests from my nephrologist, we're still on for a Jan 17th c-section.

We've decided to get rid of LR's naps. We tried the 3pm naps and the 9pm bedtime, but it wasn't working well, so the past few days we've just skipped the nap. Last night he slept for 12 hours! This child has never slept for 12 hours, so I think we have a winning plan here. Just in time too! Last night he did wake up at 4am and come down the hall. Daddy intercepted him halfway and I heard LR say, "I'm looking for my mommy," as if I were playing hide-and-seek with him. It was cute enough to let him come to our bed and finish the night there. The new schedule has him nodding off at dinner, but he's quickly revived with a bath and then bedtime is smoother and faster.

Sleep has been difficult for me recently. Between the constant need to pee and the tossing and turning, I'm only getting a few hours at a time. Because of the constant interruptions, I've been having vivid dreams, but the one that I've now had 2 nights in a row is that I'm going on a trip with my family and I'm the only one not packed or ready to go. Wonder what that could mean? At least I'm not having the teeth-falling-out dream.

The pics for this post don't really relate to the text, they're just recent ones that I like. Actually, I don't like the one of me, but I've had lots of requests from family to see how big I am. That picture is from 32 weeks. I'll be 35 tomorrow and I'll take the final horrifying pics before the c-section.

I don't like this

LR has been eating a ton of new and different foods. Yesterday I went out to lunch with some ex-coworkers and brought home more than half of my chicken stir fry. LR has rejected most meats since he started solid foods, but for some reason, the chicken was a hit when I warmed up my leftovers for him for dinner. He was eating while standing in his tower at the kitchen island when N came up and was chatting with me about his day. When I turned away, he put a large piece of bok choy in his mouth. For whatever reason, taste, texture, or size, LR spit it back onto the plate and emphatically announced, "I don't like this!" At first N and I thought he was talking about us having a conversation and not focusing on him. Then I realized he meant the food. It's the first time he's said something other than, "no like!" I was worried that his cute phrase was gone for good, but I've heard him say it since then. I'm sure it'll be gone soon though.

He used another great phrase in the car the other day when we past a pond which had frozen over. N asked him if he saw all the ice on the pond and he replied, "much too icy for Hudson." I'm pretty sure he picked up the "much too" from N. He also makes "batteries" a 2 syllable word the way she does. He'll be speaking Afrikaans before we know it. 

New Teeth!

Last week we noticed that the pads of LR's thumb, index finger, and middle finger on both hands were getting so dry that the skin was cracking. For his thumb, we even had to moisturize it and put a band aid on it two nights in a row. (Actually for his hands we need band aids AND medical tape, otherwise, he just rips it off.) I thought it was the dry weather, but then I realized he was sticking his fingers in his mouth a lot. I thought it was awfully late to start sucking his thumb and then it hit me that his 2 year molars were probably coming through. I watched him stick his fingers all the way to the back of his mouth and not gag himself, so that night I asked him to open his mouth while he was in the bath and, sure enough, I saw molars creeping through on both sides. He even let me put my finger in his mouth to feel them and didn't bite me. It felt a little like putting my head in a lion's mouth. I didn't want to push my luck and try feeling the top, so I'm just assuming those are coming through too.

He hasn't complained about them hurting him, so I guess everything is going smoothly. We're moisturizing his hands as much as we can, but the skin is still cracking and last night the soy sauce from his sushi stung, so he ended up washing his hand in my water glass. (Listen people, I'm too big to be getting up just to get a wet paper towel to wipe his hands. I'll just drink water after dinner.)

Speaking of my big belly, the ultrasound yesterday revealed a huge weight gain by both kids. He put on a pound and 3 ounces and she put on a pound and an ounce in just 2 weeks. That puts her at 4 lbs. 11 oz. and him at 4 lbs. 4 oz. He even crept up from the 24th percentile to the 31st. By the time I deliver on the 17th, she should be just shy of 6 lbs. and he may be near 5.5 lbs. All the doctors have finally agreed to the 17th, so I'll be able to deliver at the same hospital at which LR was delivered. So, 14 days and counting!