Thursday, July 30, 2009

Thanks for all the fun!

Despite being at home with the family instead of living it up at Blogher, it looks like I (or at least the photo of my head) had a great time.

I got to hang out with cool women:



Mayberry Mom took me all over town. I got cozy with a unicorn's butt, ate cheeseburgers and indian food (this focus on food pictures shows that despite having not met me in person, MM knows me all too well).

More evidence of what a good time my head had are here and here and here. And here.

Thanks!

Edited to add:

Apparently not ALL was joy and glamour for my head. Christy was only able to get one picture before her daughter ate my head. Maybe in retaliation for me spelling her mom's name wrong in a prior post?
No Fiona, NOOOOOOO!

Edited AGAIN to add:
Melissa figured out who the original head on a stick is! The head that Gwen and I found last year is Karen Meg's head! Nice detective work Melissa!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Random quote and unrelated photo(s by Ada) of the week

Ada shooting 1


Ada shooting 2


Ada shooting 3

Photo Credit: Ada

"I'm strangely calm," he told me, laughing. "But then I don't know when I'm not strangely calm."

Calvin Thompkins
Shadow Player: The provocations of Paul Chan

Monday, July 27, 2009

Half right

Ada came running downstairs wrapped in a blanket, yelling, "turkey cold! turkey cold! turkey cold!"

Alighting at the dining room table she declared, "I'm cold like a turkey!"

"Cold like a turkey that's really cold?" Chris asked.

"NO. Cold like a turkey when it's cold."



Well, the kid usually runs hot, but she is right about one thing. She is a turkey.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Random quote and unrelated photo of the week

Robots Still


When fresh, (zucchini) are great tools for self defense; but if you leave them in your pocket or purse for too long, you'll have a smelly mess.

Travis Salig
westsidegardener.com

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Open Letter to the Fairies (a guest post from Monkey Boy)

Dear Fairies,

 I would like to know if  you know how fairies get into nutshells?
Also I would like to know how fairies are so tiny?
How are fairies inside nuts?   How can they make beds in nuts?
I would like to say why can fairies fly away so fast?
Fairies: I have a school with lots of other children in it.  Even girls and even boys.  The girls and boys in my school sometimes go outside.  Sometimes when my mom and dad pick me up from school they have something for me to eat.  I have one backyard and I know about fairies, but I never met one.  I would like to say if you would like to get in one of the daffodils in Darrel and Claire’s yard.
And then I would like to say how come we can’t see fairies?


Monkey Boy

Monday, July 20, 2009

Two Month Tales

On Due Dates and Don'ts
The folks posting messages on my local twin group's web site seem to think 8 weeks is a peak of horrible. Can't say I disagree where fussiness and refusal to be pacified are concerned. The problem with pinning my hopes on things getting better in the immediate future is that all the experts' sleep and other milestones are based on weeks after the due date. So this could mean no relief for three weeks or more. This is a bit daunting. Yes, I know this will ease up; unlike with Ada I know this stage will pass. The problem is that I am tired now. (On the up side, I have gotten some good naps when kind friends  have stopped by to walk the babies - Thanks!)

Since We Both Know Preschoolers are Filthy
A woman at the farmers market approached Mira, who was in the stroller. She and her young son looked at Mira, and then the kid reached out and touched Mira''s face. Without asking me first. More importantly, without the mother asking. I know from experience the range of nasty that a four year old can carry around. Please don't touch my child with those hands, unless you are prepared to sit up with a cranky, stuffy-nose baby in three days. Thanks.

Smiles, Everyone Smiles!
Week 8 brought a happy milestone for both Mira and Ian - they both smiled for the first time. Wel, they have smiled before, but only those internal "I feel good with my full belly and cozy cradling" smiles that are nice to see but not related to the kids interacting with us. Early in the week, Chris was holding Mira. She was alert, not hungry, and not fusssy. Ada started cooing and talking to Mira, who rewarded her big sister with big toothless grins. It was great that we saw those smiles together, and even better than Ada was the smiles' recipient. She was thrilled, and it has encouraged her to interact more with her siblings. Thursday afternoon, while I was sitting outside with my feet in the kitty pool, Ian smiled at me. Now that we have reached this milestone, can crawling, talking and driving be far off?

Their Best Trick
I don't know if it is because Ada was pretty much exclusively breast-fed when she was two months old, but Ada was not much of a spitter. We burped her, but my memory is that she rarely spit up. Not so with Ian and Mira - they routinely spit up, whether they have been fed by bottle or breast. This is fine; it is not as if I am wearing fine silks and linens. But. Ian and Mira have somehow figured out that the best place to spit up is down my shirt, between my breasts. It has happened more times than I would like to admit - I burp one of the babies, and do or don't get anything out of them. Then I turn the baby to face me and suddenly: BRAAAP! a big spit-up is sliding down my chest into my bra. Chris laughed when it happened again this morning, saying "I think it is their best trick." Best trick indeed. Let's see who's laughing when then learn to spit up on his pants zipper.

My Number One is Still So Number One
Ada has really been fantastic. The first few weeks were pretty rough, and sure, we still see more than our share of tantrums and difficult behavior. But overall, and given the abrupt change in her circumstances, Ada has been amazing. She loves Ian and Mira (especially Mira, who she favors possibly from some gender-based bond) and enjoys holding them, feeding and bathing them, and offering opinions about why they might be crying. But more importantly, she has shown herself willing to play independently in a way that is fairly new for her. When I need the time to pump or to put the dishes away she jabbers away to her dolls, busts out the pens and stamps, or reads herself books. She still needs (and deserves) a lot of attention, but she has been able to adjust to our changed world, showing a lot of maturity and charm.

Edited to add:
Chris is still the best husband ever. We had a night nurse come for part of the night (more on that later, hopefully) and we both got up with the babies at 2:30. Mira woke up again around 4:30, and he got her fed and back to sleep before bringing her to me in bed and then taking care of Ian. I just left Chris and Mira snuggled up in bed together.

Chris is incredibly kind, much nicer than I am, and about eleven thousand times as patient. All I have on my side of the balance sheet is the good sense to have found him so early in my life.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Long in the Nipple

Today at breakfast Ada said: Your nipples are quite large. It makes you look old.

I'd heard of "long in the tooth" but "long in the nipple" could be my new euphemism of choice.

6 weeks
part of what is aging me

Monday, July 13, 2009

Please Don't Ask That Question

Please - do not ask us how we are sleeping.

Even if you are concerned about us, don't ask.

Even if you think it is a funny little joke for parents of newborns, don't ask.

No really. Don't ask us. Do you really want to hear that we went to bed by 10, exhausted, were up at midnight to feed the twins and back in bed by 1, up again at 3? We did another feeding and then I went downstairs to pump. At 4 I was back upstairs to find Chris up with Ada, who had woken and had a bowel movement in bed. While he helps her clean up, I am with Mira, who has woken up and refuses to be settled, At 4:30 I sink into bed but can't sleep. I listen to my kind husband patiently helping Ada. I worry about how we we will ever get her to break this cycle and listen for noises from Mira and Ian. They'll wake again in an hour and need attention. Then Ada will wake up again and want some too. If we are lucky Chris or I will get a nap sometime later in the day. For me, that nap can be make or break, the difference between whether I function or melt into an emotional puddle.

This is just one night, worse than most, but not as exceptional as I would hope. So unless you really hate us, don't ask how we are sleeping. 

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Random quote and unrelated photo of the week

Wyse Bang!


If you still doubt me,
Please be assured that this magazine has a rigorous policy
   of fact checking,
And all the information in this poem has been checked,
And directly verified with me.

Ian Frazier
Lines on the Poet Turning Forty

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Happy Birthday Monkey Boy!

One of my favorite kids is five. People are right, time does fly.

birthday boy

knocking out nemo

this is good, right?

Happy birthday kid. We love you. 

Monday, July 06, 2009

Thank You, Mother Nature

Nature is clearly not an entirely benign force, but once in a while we get something so charming that the cruelties can be, if not forgotten, at least momentarily forgiven.

I am not one of those women who revel in infancy. I don't believe all newborns are beautiful. Sure, I love the smell of a baby's head, but give me a soft round 6 month old and I am much more prone to melt than I am when faced with a skinny baby only a month along.

But once in a while... The other night I had one of those moments that stays with you when the memory of infancy's exhaustion and tears fade. Mira was fed and I was rocking her to sleep. She was in that groggy but not quite sleeping state when she suddenly flicked her eyes wide and flashed me a huge grin, complete with a big chortle. It was just a few seconds, but it seemed to last longer than that before her eyes closed and she was really asleep. The moment left me so charmed and elated, even though I knew she was not smiling at me or rewarding me for something I had done. But still, it was a reward, one that at 5 weeks helped tow me into a future where there will be real smiles, not to mention other real joys and challenges. Oh, I do love infancy, as long as it is as truly fleeting as everyone keeps reminding me to remember that it is.

Mira, early july
Mira, sleeping during a family walk

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

In Case You Were Wondering

Three (non-consecutive) hours of sleep is a wildly insufficient amount for a night.


Good thing they are cute.

ian
Ian, with an admirer

Mira with horn hat
Mira, non-plussed that her parents are zombies

(the above was written with one hand while holding Ian so that he'll drop into deep enough sleep that I can lay him in bed, pump and then pass out.)