All in the Family

We had such a nice, if busy weekend with Aunty Renee, Aunty May, and Aunty Sherri in town along with Chris' niece Justine. It was truly wonderful getting to know Justine better. She's doing some great stuff with Americorps rehabbing houses in Minneapolis and told us how she has managed to eat organic on a pittance. Americorps pays so little that she could potentially qualify for food stamps! Americorps does provide some funding for college for every year worked, which is nice. Justine says she will be going to school next year, possibly in Minnesota. Brrrr....

Chris and I love when the Auntys come visit. They are the best! The Auntys took Alana to the zoo where they spoiled her rotten and probably pumped her full of sweets ;-) I think this was her first outing without either of her parents. Wow. She's growing up.

Thank god my back is better. And I am being oh so careful with it. I have nightmares of my being laid up from a back injury. After being prostrate from terrible morning sickness, then bed rest, then the c-section and catheter injury...ugh, I have to stay healthy. I have figured out a whole bunch of different ways to bend that don't cause (much) pain.

Hey, does anybody watch The Real Housewives of NYC? Yeah, I'm trashy like that. I love that show, along with RHOC and Project Runway. I'm a real Bravo junkie. I can't stay up late enough to watch each episode when it first comes out (10pm around here) but I catch it on the Bravo reruns. I CANNOT WAIT to see the catfight between Bethenny and Kelly. Meow! The other show I love is 30 Rock and to a lesser degree I'm a fan of The Office. Sadly, I haven't caught either of these in awhile. Hope to catch up with the reruns in a few months, once my babies are sleeping better.

Sorry, no pictures this week...I have some video clips but I'm too tired to put 'em up on Youtube.

A Good Week

All in all this has been good week. Alana had a few rough days, but the babies have been feeling good. Arden always wakes up happy, smiling and ready to tackle the day. Cari has been a little more fussy than usual but not bad at all. Arden's tummy is adjusting to getting more formula and less breastmilk. Last night, Arden slept straight through from 11-7am while her sissy woke up twice.

I guess I would be a lot happier except that my back, which has been threatening mutiny for the last week, has finally declared all out war. The back spasms are unbearable. I'm not sure why it's gone out now (possibly because I have less help during the week, possibly because I recently started doing squats and lunges, and probably because of a preexisting health issue) I have done pilates the last 2 days to try to help it, but I wonder if it made it worse? I'm going to try some different exercises specifically for the back. As Chris says, I cannot get sick :(

On a happier note, the headaches I had late last year are NOT due to a brain aneurysm. I got an MRI just in case and everything looks good. For those who don't know, the reason the doc recommended the MRI is because my uncle Allen passed away from a brain aneurysm at age 30 and people of Japanese descent have a higher than average risk of brain bleeds. (Apparently, mom's aortic aneurysm is more likely the result of smoking and not a heriditary thing. Ma, see why you should quit smoking?)

Tap/ballet class
I managed to take all three kids to Alana's dance class and everyone had a good time. Wha?! It was awesome!

Video clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJFGG3lWwzE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-e0VI2aWR4

Babies are So Big

Lately, whenever strangers ask how old my babies are and I tell them, they say "wow they're so big". I cannot believe how big my former preemies have gotten.

OMG, it it only Wednesday?!!!

This has been the LONGEST week. I made quite a few tactical errors that led to a meltdown last night and my descending into the use of foul language. Lani was already in bed when I let go, but I guess she heard me. This morning Grammy had to make up the FORK-spoon-knife song to fix my faux pas. Jeez, sometimes my parenting sucks!

Anyway, about my tactical errors. Error #1, I did not allow myself to adjust to having lost my extra pair of hands. I decided I was going to organize a bunch of baby and maternity things I didn't need and put them up for sale on Craigslist. Yeah, well, it looked like a clothes bomb exploded in my dining room. So that probably set me on edge, since I thrive on a certain level of organization.

Tactical error #2, I tried to do too much on my first outing with my THREE children. I took Lani to get her first haircut with babies and Grammy Jean in tow, thinking she would love it. After all, she loves the dentist and the doctor, hello! The babies ended up being fabulous but Alana was not thrilled about the experience. Then to top it all off, I offered too many sugary bribes and she ended up bouncing off the ceiling when we got home. (There were cute moments, however. Like when she finished her lolly-pop and held out her hands in disdain. "I non't nike sticky hands".)

Tactical error #3, I got complacent and forgot that having twins is freakin' hard. And my babies are EASY. Individually. Together they are mamakillers. I feel I cannot enjoy even one moment with one (such as bathtime when they are both ecstatically happy) because in the other room I hear "anngh, anngh, anngh". And last night, my darling Arden slept through the whole night, but Cari woke up at 4:30am and 5:30am. I had to wake poor Arden from a dead sleep at 6:10am just to keep them on the same schedule. So the moral of the story is somebody's always givin' ya trouble, when you got two babies.

Cari's Head Shape Issues

We had an evaluation with the PT today, and she confirmed that Cari has some issues that may be resolvable with a DOC band (sort of like a foam helmet with holes cut out). She would need to wear it 23 hours a day, and I think it would be adjusted weekly. Because she is only 4.5 mos, it would only need to be on for about 3-4 months. I will probably go for it if insurance agrees to pay. Otherwise, it would cost us $3,600.

Anyway, enough of my whining. Here's what you really want. Cute pics!

Alana Getting Her First Haircut

VIDEO CLIP OF HAIRCUT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qB_y1nJN5w

C and A Patiently Watching Big Sissy Get Her Haircut

Handsome Daddy and Alana Using Daddy's Pyuwer

Arden - I got the entire outfit at a garage sale

Cari - Also in garage sale attire

VIDEO CLIP OF CARI PLAYING: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zH8ZUctD1Q

Alana Ballerina

Alana's 2 favorite things these days are ballerinas and spiders. Don't ask me why she loves spiders but she does. Her favorite show is Angelina Ballerina. She wears her tutu EVERY day over whatever clothes she has on.

Isn't she just tutulicious? She wakes up from her nap and says "I want my tutu". She can put the tutu and her ballet slippers on all by herself. My big girl amazes me every day.

How to Comment

A little birdie told me that some folks want to add comments, but don't know how. It should be pretty simple. Scroll down to the bottom of the post on which you wish to comment. Click on "0 comments" or "1 comment" or however many comments, and it should allow you to post a comment. It is possible that you have to create a google account to post. If so, it is free to do so and you will then have a gmail account. Having a free gmail account is good for many things...using it when you buy things from websites that will spam you. Giving it to blind dates before you're sure they're not weirdos or stalkers or mama's boys. Maintaining a double life as a secret agent for the Israeli Mossad.

I hope this helps. Chris and I would love love love to hear from you.

Love,
Jen

Sorry it's been awhile since the last post. I have taken soooo many cute pics and videos but haven't had a minute to post them. (OK, raise your hand if you wish I could just put up with fingernail clippings in the nursery, so that I could keep my blog updated? :P)

Anyway, on to the pics. The babies are growing by leaps and bounds. Both of them can sit in their blue bumbo seats, though Cari does better than Arden.

Here are Cari and Arden, respectively. Isn't the hat adorable?

I picked up this really neat musical toy for the twins at a garage sale, but it caught Alana's eye and that was the end of that. Here she is "sharing" it with her sisters.

Grammy Jean with Arden

I have more photos but I will have to post later. Gotta go and take a nap while I have the chance!

Here's a story with some teeth

Last night I was feeling Cari's lower gums and I felt the teeniest tiniest poke of a tooth. She's been drooling a lot so it certainly makes sense. Of course, this morning I felt for the tooth again and it's gone. Nonetheless, I know what I felt. One of my baby girls is teething!

Alana Ballerina

Even though we are nanny-less, I still managed to take Alana to her first tap/ballet class today. The teacher was very good with the kids and Alana enjoyed it, but I'm not sure this particular class is for her. There was too much learnin' and not enough dancin'. She listened to the teacher very well for a 2 yr old, but she would occasionally come tell me that she wanted to dance and she wanted music.

Miss A Munching on a Pre-Class Snack

I took a couple of great videos of her in class. You will notice that there were only 2 girls, so it was almost like a private lesson. The other girl was 4 years old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMw5aIx_INs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAa6YnJG7JY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6gFVPDrRjo

All Fired Up

I had to fire my nanny today. I don't like letting someone go, especially in this economy, but I really saw no other choice. Over the course of a few months, she has shown herself to be unreliable and unmotivated. We paid her very well, and she used us like a reading room. As far as I could tell, she was good to the babies, which is important and one reason I allowed it to go on as long as it did. However, tonight was my tipping point. As has become her habit, she dropped the bomb on me that she had to be late tomorrow. Today's excuse...she was feeling dizzy from some medication she just started taking and had to go to the doctor tomorrow morning to get it checked. She wanted to come at 11:20am, instead of 9, tomorrow after the appointment. Well, what could I say? No, don't go, I want you to pass out? Meanwhile, I had plans to go to a 12pm dance class with Alana tomorrow. Obviously, that's out now. So I told her, "of course, go to your doctor's appointment." Well, she left at 5pm. At 7:30pm, I'm putting the babies down and find a half-empty bottle lying in the crib and also see a full pail of baby laundry. Okay, that's just inexcusably lazy. Mom and I took the babies to the pediatrician today and she was home for 2 1/2 hours with a NAPPING toddler. What the heck was she doing all that time? Oh yeah, that's right, reading. But do you want to know what the kicker was? I also found a nice little pile of fingernail clippings on the side table in the nursery! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, fingernail clippings! Now, as if it's not bad enough that she's cutting her nails in MY house, in MY BABIES' nursery, she's too lazy to throw out the disgusting evidence?! Am I justified? I darn well think so! Anyway, I hope you had a more hygienic day. I'm done ranting for today.

Waking, Dancing, and The Helmet

Waking

The babies have settled into sleeping through the night with just a few wakings, and I'm feeling less exhausted all the time. Cari was breaking out of her swaddle and smashing out of her sleep positioner (she is a BIG girl), which keeps her lying on her side. In my wisdom, I thought she was ready to sleep without having her arms swaddled. I tried to get Cari to sleep with the swaddle just around her bottom half as a transition to no swaddling whatsoever. Uh, sir, no thank you, sir! After five days of misery for us both, I gave up and reswaddled her. She has slept like an angel ever since. As an added bonus, I plan to get in a few extra naps during the day now that Grammy is in town. Yay, Grammy!

Playing in the Crib

Dancing
Click below to view some cute videos. The first two are longer and show Alana dancing with Daddy then with Grammy. The last is a short clip of random cuteness.

Daddy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBBsX_TEeio

Grammy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bXH9R2Cx5A

Random cutie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7dQ38TyCTo


Funny thing the other morning. Alana was calling "mommy mommy I wake up". I went in and she said "I want mommy". I said "mommy's here" and she told me "no, I want grammy" and started crying when I told her she was sleeping. She had been calling for her grammy! Alana loves her Grammy!


The Helmet
Cari saw a pediatric plastic surgeon last week for her head shape issues. He felt her narrow head shape was probably a positional "deformity", not a suture fusion issue which would require surgery. He said only a CAT scan can tell for sure, but I decided not to expose my girl to that radiation unless absolutely necessary. So, our next step is to meet with the folks who do helmets to see if they think that might make her head shape a little rounder. As for Arden, her head is fairly round, the little monkey, but the slope on top is a bit flat and also has a slight flat spot at the back. These are definitely positional issues but mild. The dr said her hair will cover those up. No treatment necessary.

Hallucinations

Dear Faithful Blog Stalkers,

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've written. I've cut out the middle of the night feeding and the babies are still waking up a lot in retaliation. I'm so tired that I'm hallucinating. Why, just today, I was driving on a street in my neighborhood, and I thought I saw one car sitting atop another one.

Actually, this is real. According to witnesses, the little silver Porsche (?) was going a bit too fast and slammed into the 2 parked cars. The result is pictured above. The physics of this is amazing, ain't it?

More baby pics to come soon. Once I've gotten some rest, whenever that may be.

Tired Hugs,
Jen