Where are the babies?

Note: Finally was able to post pictures in the Halloween post. See below. The picture at the left is of LR playing with a ticklish card that Gigi sent for Halloween.

LR has definitely figured out where the babies are. I can't remember if I blogged about it before or not, but we have a game we play in the evenings sometimes with his stuffed bunny, Rye the Bunny. LR runs out of his room, picks imaginary vegetables from the floor in the hallway, runs back into his room and feeds Rye. He picks carrots, lettuce, and corn typically, calling out what he's feeding Rye as he does it. He also makes the noise of Rye eating for him.

Well, 2 days ago while Daddy and LR played "tow truck, dump truck" on LR's rug, LR decided the babies needed milk. I was sitting in the glider watching the fun when LR ran out of the room, picked imaginary milk from the floor, and ran back in to feed the babies by poking me in the belly. He made eating sounds and then ran back out to pick carrots, then lettuce, then corn. The babies were very hungry.

Team Support

There is a tradition at Tufts where students paint the cannon on the hill. Often it's for an event or celebration. Groups carefully stake out the night of the planned painting, check around campus to see who else has made noise about painting the cannon, then paint and protect the cannon the rest of the night. The rugby team decided to do just that the other night in honor of making it to the D3 final 4 and managed to get a few pictures of their stellar work.

In the second picture you can see they painted "Kara Jr." on the back of the cannon. I picked up the photo from one of the team member's postings on Facebook. The caption said, "represent the babies." I love my team.

Dirty Cucumber

LR has started to get a little sensitive about food and dirt. Like his cousin Bud, he's started asking to have his hands wiped when they get sticky or dirty while eating. For that reason he's getting better with a fork and spoon. He still gets frustrated and goes back to shoveling food in with his hand and then wiping it after each bite on his shirt. Recently we've been giving him cut up cucumber which he loves. When he finishes his portion, he'll ask for some from the salad bowl which typically has dressing on it. The vinaigrette that we've been using has spice which to LR looks suspiciously like dirt. He inspects each piece I fish out for him, announces that it's dirty, and makes me wipe it off. I keep telling him it's spice and not dirt, but he clearly doesn't believe me.

Yesterday Daddy took LR to the doctor since on Sunday he complained that his ear hurt. The doctor said there was some fluid behind his ears, but that they're not infected. We have to go back in a month to check them again. I just want his cold to be over soon. He's better now about having his nose wiped because the constant dripping makes him uncomfortable, but he still doesn't love it. The cold weather doesn't help either. When we go outside he's like a faucet because of the cold air. With rugby finished we're not spending quite as much time running around outside, but then he's not wearing out as quickly as he should and bedtime is still an exercise in patience.

Halloween

We had a great time trick or treating and LR really got into the swing of it. We practiced during the day with his pumpkin basket. We'd knock on the door to the garage and then I'd pretend to open it. He's say the right words and I'd put a lollipop in his basket. Then he took it out and ate it. For that reason we only practiced twice.

Daddy came home just in time to go out. LR was ready to go in his skeleton costume that Daddy picked out for him. The weather was perfect in the high fifties, so the costume kept him just the right temp since it was sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Only when we got outside did I realize that an all black costume at night was a bad idea so near a busy road. Daddy and I stuck close by his side though, so it wasn't a problem.

At the first door, LR tried to back out, but Daddy rang the door bell and our lovely neighbor and mother to our baby sitters opened the door. LR changed his mind as soon as he saw her, climbed the steps and said "trick or treat!" She put a candy in his pumpkin and when prompted he said "thank you!" Then he wanted to go in her house. We got him to go back out to the sidewalk by lighting his way with flashlights. We each had one. LR with his little plastic one, me with an LED, and Daddy with the Mag light. I think he was just thrilled to be walking around in the dark.

We hit about 6 houses and LR did the right thing at each door. He definitely tried to grab more out of bowls that were held out to him, but otherwise did okay. The only other glitch was when we saw a house with spooky decorations. LR wanted to see what was going on, but halfway up the long staircase he heard the audio recording playing and turned into my legs claiming "scary." I picked him up and said "Don't worry. We won't go to the scary house," and turned and walked back down the stairs. The rest of the night he fixated on it. Right up until bed time he was saying "Don't worry. Go scary." I assured him each time that we would not return to the scary house.

All in all, we had a great time. LR wanted to break into his candy as soon as we got home, of course, but it was bath and then bed time.

The Difference Between Twins and Singletons

Here is a picture of SwingDaddy and Lady M's Halloween pumpkins from this year. They are expecting their second child a few months after the twins. Their pumpkins are very happy pumpkins.



No joke. These are our pumpkins from this Halloween. Daddy's is the bigger one. See the difference?






Tomorrow I'll blog all about LR's Halloween adventures.

First Try on the Potty

Looks like LR is ready for potty training (and as expectant parents of twins, not a moment too soon as far as we're concerned). We've had 2 potties in 2 different bathrooms for around a month and showed him how to sit, but it's mostly been a toy and a stool for him. Last night Daddy took his favorite bath toy, a large rubber dinosaur with a hole in his belly, and had him "pee" in the potty for LR's entertainment. At that moment it clicked for LR. He absolutely had to have a turn on the potty and if he hadn't just peed in the bath before getting out, he would have been successful. He sat down on the potty, tucked himself behind the special, boy splash guard that these potties have now, clenched his teeth and little hands, and really tried to pee. We were halfway between laughing and applauding his efforts.

In other news, LR is getting into coloring more. We inherited an Ikea table and chairs from a neighbor and now it's his designated coloring table, although he really enjoys coloring on the couch with Daddy most of all.

Scared

LR has been using the phrase "scary part" to describe an upcoming part of a movie he doesn't like for a while. For example, he's not a fan of the marionettes in The Polar Express. I have to fast forward through them every time. Recently, he's started using the word "scary" every time he goes into a room without the lights on. He stops at the edge of the light and runs back into the room I'm in, grabs my hand and drags me to the dark room, declaring (loudly), "scary! Scary!" It happens more now that we're losing light so early in the day. Luckily, it doesn't seem to apply to his room at night.

Speaking of LR's room, we finally have his crib converted to a double bed and he loves it. I love that I no longer have to heave myself off the floor at night after putting him to sleep. After he recovered from that last cold, he was waking up only once at night. I was finally starting to get some decent sleep again. Then, on Saturday night he was up every half hour. I suspected the start of a cold and sure enough, his nose was runny on Sunday. He didn't seem to mind although he's figured out how to wipe his nose on his sleeve. I've convinced him to let me wipe his nose now although I have to tell him to blow. Last night we gave him Motrin now that Dimetapp Cough and Cold has been deemed useless. He slept better, but was still up 3 or 4 times. Today he's more congested and coughing a bit. Crossing my fingers that croup doesn't show up again.

In the meantime, not sure what to do about practice on Tues. My normal sitter can't do it and I can't leave him at a playdate since I don't want other kids infected. Yes, our season has been extended unexpectedly. The ladies made the first round of playoffs, won in a tight and rainy 7-5 game against St. Michael's College, and made it to the semi finals for our division. We'll be meeting a team we lost to already this season, so I don't have high hopes, but any given Saturday... Here's the kicker. Not expecting to win the game, I told the team I'd name a twin after the high scorer if we won. The young woman who scored the only try AND kicked the conversion is named Kara. She said if Kara Jr. is too awkward, I could use her middle name Ann. Funny, I have no problem with Kara Jr. which is good because that's what the team has been calling her since then.

The twins continue to grow quickly. Last Wed, twin A (boy) measured 1 lb 4 oz. Twin B (girl) measured 1 lb. 5 oz. They both seem to be right on track for singletons. This time, he was underneath and she was on top. Her head and his butt were right under my right ribcage which explains the pressure I was feeling last week when I breathed. They both kick in distinctly different areas, so when people ask me if it's different to carry 2 vs. 1, I can say, yes. The kicking is more constant, came earlier, and is clearly from 2 different little animals.

Pumpkins

LR helped Daddy pick out pumpkins. We got one for each member of the family. LR even picked out 2 tiny ones for the twins.






Then he showed Mommy his mad pumpkin cart pushing skills.









And finally he helped Daddy scoop out the innards of Daddy's pumpkin. Such a great helper all day long!

Getting Near to the Groove If Not Into It

LR seems to be completely recovered from his cold finally. This past week we've been trying to get him back on his old sleep schedule with no success. The gate helps to keep him from running out of the room, but it still takes us 30-40 minutes to get him to fall asleep. I, invariable, fall asleep with him and Daddy comes to wake me around 10pm so that I can actually go to bed. Then LR wakes up twice during the night. He used to come into our room, but the past 2 nights he's just called for me instead. I prefer the calling so that I don't have to carry him back to bed. I just can't lift him anymore. The third trimester is going to get tricky since I'm already having trouble half way through the second.

LR's new twin mattress arrives tomorrow and we'll put together his bed first thing on Saturday probably. Hoping that helps with the routine. We'll get his "Cars" sheets on the bed from Papa and Grandma Nese finally. Anyone know why a twin mattress is called a twin? Or double, queen, and king for that matter? I'm going to Google it...

In other news, we had a mouse run across the living room and into the dining room two nights ago. Luckily I had a quarterly visit from Terminix already scheduled for the next day. The inspector set out some glue traps and sprayed for bugs. Hoping that it was a one time thing, but with the cold weather, it's the time for mice to be looking for warmth. Ah, the joys of living in front of the woods!

Pity: How To Make It Work For You

There is a hidden benefit to having twins, pity. As a teen with Lupus, I hid the fact that I had the disease for over a year after diagnosis. I told myself that I didn't want anyone's pity. Turns out I needn't have worried. Everyone in high school is too busy pitying themselves. :)

But over the past week, both Daddy and I experienced the up-side of pity. Daddy had a coworker hand him an enormous bag of baby clothes saying, "take it. You'll need it." I asked Daddy if the clothes were lent or given. He said given. I'm still going to put the coworker's initials in the clothes just in case he wants them back at some point.

Earlier that same day, I met with a foot doctor who said that although insurance would only cover one visit per year, she would see me whenever I needed it and just take care of me. She explained that she has a one year old at home and couldn't imagine a toddler and twins. I thanked her for her pity and slipped my much happier feet back into my shoes.

Today one of my coworkers brought me an infant snowsuit, toys for LR, and extra odds n' ends from her kids. She said they were collecting dust in the attic, but I'm pretty sure she was just feeling sorry for me.

Ear Infection

Well LR's cold lasted long enough that he woke up Friday night after being asleep for an hour with an ear infection. The doc said to give him Motrin and Dimetapp and to bring him in the next morning. I had a game to coach (Homecoming which we won 38-0), so Daddy took him to the doctor where he confirmed our guess of an ear infection and prescribed Amoxicillin. It seems to have already done the trick. Sunday he seemed better, but tired. Today he was pretty much back to his old self and the coughing has finally subsided as well. This cold has been going on for over 2 weeks, so I guess I'm not surprised that it turned into an ear infection. I am happy that it's his first one ever though. He was able to tell me that his ear hurt even though I hadn't missed the dozen times he poked his left ear while trying to fall asleep.

"No Like Gate"

New bedtime strategy! After 3 nights in a row of 10 o'clock bedtimes, I went out on Wednesday and bought a gate for LR's bedroom doorway. I hate the idea of locking his door, but warmed up to the idea of putting a gate up in the doorway and treating his room like a giant crib.

The first night he went back and forth to the gate and opened and closed his door a bunch of times. Each time he returned to the bed where was since there wasn't anywhere else to go. He didn't seem upset by it, just curious. The last time he returned to bed we had a little conversation about the gate.

LR: Open door?
Me: You can open the door if you want.
LR: Open gate?
Me: No, it's bedtime.
LR: Open Hudson's gate?
Me: No, it's bedtime.
LR (under his breath): No like gate.

A snowsuit arrived from grandparents B&W. They've been scouting the Carter's outlet in Denver for weeks, waiting for the winter gear to arrive and finally it did. I opened the box while LR was playing in my car. He wanted to put the hat on right away and admired himself in the visor mirror. He didn't seem to mind the mittens still attached to the top. Thanks, folks!

Birthday Party

On Sunday we had a little shin-dig for LR's second birthday. September is busy, so we were a couple weeks late, but he didn't seem to mind. He was still a little under the weather from his croup/cold, but it didn't seem bad enough to cancel the party. I managed to way over order Mexican food, but everyone did their best to help us out from under the mountain of food. Although we asked people not to bring gifts, he received a bunch of really great books and a couple of toys that he loves. He's very into firetrucks right now which explains the firetruck themed party. He loved the hats and made Daddy wear one while playing with firetrucks with him. I bought him a big truck a few weeks ago to help at practice and it's been one of his favorite toys since. My friend A with a 2-year-old in a leg cast and a 3 week old, gave him a smaller friction firetruck which is the noisiest toy he has to date. Thanks A! ;)

Thanks to a few weeks of pretend play where we sang Happy Birthday, blew out fake candles, and ate imaginary birthday cake, LR was a champ at blowing out the candles on his cupcake. I desperately wanted to make some cool cake like my mom made for us when we were kids, but I ran out of time. I was trying to make flame-like cupcakes, but it fell through when guests starting walking through the door. LR didn't seem to care and ate most of the cupcake anyway.

We blew up LR's new bouncy castle for the kids who were there and he and V had a great time despite the fact she couldn't jump. She crawled in and let LR run around her. He actually spent a lot of time crawling around the house with her. Not sure if it was empathy or if he just thought she was playing a game. Anyway, here's a picture of the two love birds. They are adorable together.

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!