Ob Appointment

My Ob appointments are so uneventful, I forgot to mention it Friday. 2 news worthy items: I'm measuring 30 weeks already (pretty normal for twins at 20 weeks)....and my perinatologist and my Ob want to see me every 2 weeks now.

20 weeks was a critical milestone. Now if there's trouble, the twins will have a good chance even if they have to take them out super early. We're hoping they'll stay put until we decide to bring them out, and have no reason to think they'd come super early. It's just happy to see them doing so well.

Games

Yahoo games has a section called "5-minute daily games" (you have to scroll down to the very bottom of the page). I really like their word roundup game. The Sodoku drives me nuts, but I do it anyway. I try the crossword puzzles, too. It helps me feel like my brain isn't turning to mush. But then....the games usually take me about 20 minutes instead of 5....so maybe my brain is mush!

Crazy Hair Day at School :)

Getting Stuck

Delightful Finch has been exploring new ways of getting stuck. She loves to go into a room and close the door so she can't get out. It's fine when I'm by her, but sometimes other family members don't listen for the muffled pleas for help.

She has a fisher price booster seat that she eats on. Instead of strapping it to a chair, we set it on the ground and let her eat next to us. Her newest trick is to sit down on the booster seat when no one's watching and then pull the tray up over and over until it snaps into place and tah dah - she's stuck!

She hasn't tried to climb out of the crib yet. We leave the side down because I got tired of putting it up and down. I'm actually sort of hoping she'll start getting out of bed on her own. I'm only allowed to pick her up for 2 more lbs.

Don't tell Sexy Haqon,....but I can feel the twins kicking now :)

Dr Peri Visit Today

The twins are very active. Baby B is still using Baby A's head as a foot rest. My perinatologist is going to start seeing me every 2 weeks now. One chamber of Baby B's heart is too much smaller than the other chambers. We're pretty sure she'll need surgery once she's born. I'll go see a fetal cardiologist next month so they can plan everything out. They might try to leave the babies in a few weeks longer so Baby B will be more ready for her surgery. We'll know more next month. Did you know that 25 weeks is the best time to see the heart in an ultrasound? Now you do ;)

Twins...twins..twins....twins....

I'd heard there were a couple sets of twins at church. I just found out there's 3 sets of twins that were all born in January with in the same 24-hour period! Crazy! I guess my girls are a little late ;) ...and that they'll have at least 3 other sets of twins in their grade at school. I don't think any of the other twins are identical twins.

Happy Easter

Yay Wonderpets!

Strong Bear likes playing Wonder pets. On the way home from church he was singing his version of the theme song:

“Wonder Pets, Wonder Pets,
We’re on our way
To help a baby dolphin
And save the day.

We’re not too big
And we’re not too tough
But when we work together
We’ve got the right stuff

Gooooooooooo Wonder Pets!
Yaaaaaaaaaaay!-**BE QUIET!!"

[repeat]

**Strong Bear added the "be quiet". I don't know where he got it. really!

Eggs, Showers, Fans

We decorated Easter eggs today while Delightful Finch was napping. Beautiful Rabbit is very creative with colors and stickers. Strong Bear likes green and orange.

When Delightful Finch woke up, she was hungry! Mommy was busy playing with her new cpu fan, so Finch reached up as high as she could and pulled the newspaper off the table. She was rewarded with a shower of colorful eggs to eat! It must've been a dream come true! ...until Mom and Rabbit rescued the eggs before Finch could finish chewing through the shells. Poor lil girl!

With my cpu fan properly installed(and the kids well fed), I discovered I didn't fry my chip or my motherboard - yay :) I'm still having the computer problem I had before my fan died. When I right-click on my hdd or my cd drive, instead of a context menu, my puter just thinks and thinks and thinks. All I get is the hour glass.

UPDATE: My computer is fixed! I had to uninstall a program that I haven't used in 4 years. I have no idea why its shell extension started causing me trouble this month. Iomega hotburn. craziness!!

Thanks for Offering :)

When people find out I'm having twins, this look flashes in their eyes that's 1 part 'wow, you're crazy'(like I chose to have both babies at once..), 2 parts 'awww...cute', 1 part 'what if that happened to me'. Right about then, most people offer to help and ask what they can do for me--even neighbors that I've only just met. It's very sweet.

With the twin due in June, I find I don't really need much yet. However, yesterday I was reading up on twins (something I do a lot lately) and started counting up how many diapers we're gonna be going through. The twins'll use 20 diapers/day for their first couple months. Delightful Finch will still be in diapers. Strong Bear has a 40% chance of still needing diapers or regressing to diapers when the twins come home.

That's a ton of diapers! So, if an extra bag of diapers happens to fall into your cart, we'd be happy to take it off your hands for you. In fact, we're now officially accepting diaper donations. (prefer sizes 1&2, but any size would be greatly appreciated.)

We're all set up for car seats/cribs/toys. I don't dare say we're ready, but it's not as scary as it was a few months ago.

Thanks for being there for us, and thanks for reading :)

2 points for Spring!

We played outside today. Yay! It was too cold for most of the day, but by late afternoon, outside play was doable. I even met 2 more neighbors--each with their own daughter about Finch's age. For the most part, we were able to keep all the kids out of the streets. Sometimes it's hard to remember the rules after a long winter. Beautiful Rabbit helped me keep an eye on the young ones. (She runs a lot faster than her pregnant mommy and our pregnant neighbor.)

Strong Bear was really well behaved. He rode his tricycle all around everywhere. But each time I yelled for him to come back, he'd turn around and head back. Delightful Finch was on foot. (sporting her cool new shoes.) She'd acknowledge that she heard you (with a glance) and then keep on doing whatever she wanted to do.

With all this outside playtime, I thought I'd be up for Mommy of the Year. I forgot how angry the kids would be when I made them come inside so I could start dinner. It was worse because I let them stay out extra long so they were all hungry (read cranky) and no one wanted to go inside. I made them come in anyway. I'm so mean!

Berry Smoothie

Craving of the day! Combine: 1 C. vanilla yogurt, 1 1/2 C. Milk, 1 tsp flax seed, 8-10 frozen strawberries, 6 frozen dark cherries, 3 squirts clover honey. (see - i didn't forget St Patty's Day - I've got some CLOVER honey in there....see....see...er..) Blend until smooth.

Delightful Finch HATES the blender. Instead of running away from the loud, scary noise (like my other kids did when they were little), she runs straight for the noise and then chews you out for making such a racket.

Strong Bear said, "I don't like it." ...meaning that he'd rather drink it from Mommy's cup than his own. "I want some....I want some." Delightful Finch ranked the berry smoothie right up there with avocados! (That's 5/5 stars on her food list. Nothing's higher than an avocado.)

Three cheers for Sexy Haqon for insisting on getting a blender for smoothies!!!

Meow, Meow

Delightful Finch used to make an icky sound to communicate her dislike of how things were going. Thankfully, she's moved on. Sadly, Strong Bear picked up on this icky sound and uses it now himself.

Tonight at dinner, we started singing Diego's Theme song to distract Strong Bear from making that sound. When we got to the part about Baby Jaguar, we all took turns saying "meow, meow". (actually it sounds like it has an 'R' in there somewhere, but I wasn't sure where to put it.) Delightful Finch walked into the kitchen and took her turn meowing!

OK, she didn't really sound like a baby jaguar or even a cat, but you could tell she was really trying. She always knew when it was her turn, and piped right up. She's not shy! We all got a kick out of her being part of the family fun. She seemed proud of herself, too. What a cutie!

Feel the Burn!

My puter died today. Not really. My hdd was dying, so I managed to clone it onto my other (bigger) hdd. Everything was going great. I was feeling victorious. Then.....I smelled something burning. When I glanced into my case, I noticed the cpu fan was STOPPED!! ACK!! I turned off my puter immediately and felt the fan. Then stupidly burned my finger on the side of the fan. Ouch!

Sexy Haqon went all over town looking for the type of fan I need, but came home with cookies (comfort food) instead. I had to order one online. So, I get to wait til next week to see if I fried my cpu. Keep your fingers crossed for me :)

Ice and Shoes

Sexy Haqon conjured a smoothie maker! Actually, we got a blender that does ice because all the reviews on smoothie makers were awful. He made a smoothie last night that had fruit with a little bit of peanut butter. It was yummy! Glad you like your new toy, honey :)

Delightful Finch went with us to the store so we could get her some shoes. I'm not big on baby shoes, but she needs something to protect her feet outside. She LOVES going outside and hates wearing anything on her feet - even socks. We got her some purple, soft-soled shoes. She tried them on and walked around the store. Every person that walked by stopped to adore her. They couldn't believe someone so tiny was walking. It was a slow walk to the front of the store. Sexy Haqon got impatient and waited in line at the checkout for us. Delightful Finch loved stopping to look at everything on the shelves at eye level.

There was a Dora cup set that I had to physically tear her away from. I guess she really likes Dora. She put her nose right up on the box to peek inside at Dora, and then she "talked" to her. She must've recognized Dora from Strong Bear's Diego online games. (Dora is Diego's cousin).

Learning

Beautiful Rabbit: Thanks for setting me on fire, Mom
Mom: huh?
Beautiful Rabbit: Ya know - teaching me how to make the hot cocoa instead of making it for me. It's like that saying: Give a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
Mom: (mumbles something about fish)...

So close to dinner...

For a few blessed minutes, I thought I'd come across a dinner that the whole family would eat - beef stroganoff! Alas, Delightful Finch (who isn't that picky and usually loves everything pasta) wouldn't touch it. I might try again in a couple months. Delightful Finch is teething something awful tonight. She did like the lime jello I'd made for dessert. As usual, she ate half of it and painted the floor with half of it. She even opened the snow peas so she could throw a few peas across the floor. I think she's training for the twins arrival. It'll be up to Finch to teach them everything about everything!

Yesterday was awful. I felt sick all day and had a horrible headache. Today was better. So, I organized all the kids' clothes and labeled the drawers so people who aren't me can figure out how to dress the kids.

We watched the last episode of Witchhunter Robin. I'm sad they didn't continue the series. It had a good ending. So, of course, I wanted more. Beautiful Rabbit is learning how to draw people. She actually declined a walk to the lake because she was busy with drawing stuff. I'm glad she likes it.

Make your own breakfast!

We made muesli last night. The kids each had their own bowl. They each picked out their own fruit. Strong Bear is allergic to oats, so he had cream of wheat and barley baby cereal in his. It was HARD to wait until breakfast to eat it. I cheated and had some just before bed.

It was soooooo yummy! Delightful Finch loves it! We're gonna have to do it again, soon :) Strong bear's favorite part was eating the fruit before Mommy could stir it in. Beautiful Rabbit's favorite part was the fruit, too.

Clean Paint

We painted the windows today. We mostly used soap and a bit of washable finger paints. They turned about pretty cute. We're only half done in the picture. The windows by the front door turned out really nice, too. Beautiful Rabbit helped lots and the neighbor boy helped some, too.

We watched Elmo today. Delightful Finch is scared of Snuffy! Every time Snuffy came on the screen, she'd scream and run away. Beautiful Rabbit tried to stand in the way so Finch couldn't see Snuffy. That just made Finch annoyed that she couldn't see the show. She tugged Rabbit out of the way, and then screamed and ran cuz she saw Snuffy. Poor thing. He is kinda scary, now that I think about it. Especially when he's stomping on run-away meatballs!

Date night

Sexy Haqon and I both had the same idea for date night this week. We saw Vantage Point. It was good. It's been a while since we did the movie thing. All the posters around the theater were new. It's nice to have a night all to ourselves.

When we came home, the kids didn't see us. They were too busy watching Rayman's Raving Rabbid's videos. We snuck upstairs and talked for about half an hour. I was waiting for Beautiful Rabbit to call me on the cell phone. I was going to tell her, "I can't hear you very well. Go up in my bedroom and close the door. Then I'll be able to hear you better." She never called, so I wasn't able to play my trick.

Turns out she'd tricked us! She saw us come in and pretended not to notice. It was a good trick.

14 weeks to go!

It was barely warm enough for a trip to the park. Delightful Finch LOVES walking around outside. Apparently she likes chewing on wood chips, too. Doh!
Strong Bear was very brave on the playground - climbing high on the rope ladders without anyone spotting him.
Beautiful Rabbit made a new friend on the playground. She's always making new friends.
Our neighbors came, too. Gma and Gpa also stopped by. It was nice out as long as the wind wasn't blowing. Can't wait for Spring to really get here....and Summer and Autumn ;)

HAL is a girl!

Last night Delightful Finch turned HAL on while I was holding him. HAL said her first words (in a definite FEMALE voice): "Please check wheels." Poor HAL, we've been calling her a 'him' for 5 years..... =\

Five years ago, we bought a first generation Roomba for my birthday. We named him HAL. 3-yr-old Beautiful Rabbit loved HAL. He was much quieter than our previous vacuum which never failed to bring her to tears just by being on. Also, HAL was good for Buffy-type fighting practice. She'd chase HAL around the room and run screaming/giggling from him when he turned to chase her. We had to make a rule: no jumping over HAL.

Three years later, we traded HAL in for a second generation Roomba Discovery SE. Beautiful Rabbit threw a fit when we were packing up HAL. Finally we convinced her that HAL was just going in for a make-over and would come back better than new. Because he was the same robot, just upgraded, we called him HAL. 8-mo-old Strong Bear was fascinated with HAL. We had to make a rule: no letting HAL touch you. HAL became part of the "rescue the princess" game. HAL was poison! If HAL touched you, or if you touched the carpet, you'd be poisoned, too.

Last night, we traded HAL in for a third generation Roomba 560. When told HAL was going in for a make-over, Beautiful Rabbit pictured HAL with lipstick, eyeshadow, and curly hair. Strong Bear didn't want to put his pants on until he found out it meant a trip in the car. Delightful Finch bursts into tears every time HAL vacuums. New HAL is quieter, but still too loud for Delightful Finch.

Lucky for Delightful Finch, HAL now has a scheduler! I can program HAL to clean 3 different rooms (one at a time) at any time of the day or night. Plus, each day of the week can have a different programing schedule. Now if only he could climb stairs.....

Life without Power

The power went out while I was in the shower. Not that I noticed - it's so bright in our bathroom just from the window. Breakfast was hard. The Albertson's guy was on his way - but not until after noon. Frozen breakfast had been the plan. The new plan was Carl's Jr. I loaded the kids up in the car and then pushed the garage door opener. Nothing. but...but...it's on batteries!! Apparently, only the remotes are on batteries. Ooops.

After a very creative breakfast....

Strong Bear: Mom, can I play bunnies?
Mom: I'm sorry, sweetie, bunnies isn't working right now.
Strong Bear: Mom, can I watch Diego?
Mom: Oh, Diego isn't working right now, either.
Strong Bear: It's working! I want Diego.
Mom: OK. If you can get the TV to turn on, you can watch Diego.
[Strong Bear pushing buttons]
Strong Bear: Oh. It's not working, Mom. Mom, can I play Zuma on your computer?
Mom: My computer isn't working right now, either.
Strong Bear: Mom, can I play basooka[Worms: Armageddonz]?
Mom: Your computer isn't working right now either. I'm sorry, sweetie, you'll just have to find something else to do.
Strong Bear: Can I play balls on Daddy's computer?
Mom: Daddy's computer isn't working either. Do you want to bring up a balloon from the basement to play with?
Strong Bear: Ya!
[Strong Bear opens basement door, stands on his tippy toes to reach the lightswitch, flips switch 5 times. Looks down the dark stairs.]
Strong Bear: I don't want a balloon.
.....
I, too, could only think of computer-related tasks to accomplish. Strong Bear ended up playing with whatever toys Delightful Finch seemed interested in while I read a book. He's been glued to his computer since the power came back on. I guess that's OK until dinnertime.