August 2014

Melanie

• Says some words when she is good and ready! Peppa (pig), mama, dada, bye bye.
• She loves giving hugs! I call her Huggie Bear.
• She loves Aunt Jackie and crawls to her to sit in her lap or give her hugs. She even said jah-chee when I told her Aunt Jackie was coming over.
• Screams and points at things she wants (especially her purple bike!)
• 8/26 - Got tubes put in ears. Easy, quick procedure and mommy didn't even cry.
• Often repeats words.
• Swings arms when she wants you to sing a song.

Connor

• Says a bunch of words... ball, bye, daddy, hi, high five, papa (bud)
• Loves throwing things, especially balls.
• Helps load the washer & dryer. Still loves sweeping.
• 8/7 - When I was leaving, Connor waved at me and said "ba bah"
• Drags his feet when you're pushing him on his bike. He can almost reach the pedals & tries to put his feet on them.
• Says open, all done, all gone, bye bye, & blows kisses.
• I'm seeing signs of OCD in Connor - conversation with him
• C: pointing at microwave - AAHHH OOHH
• Me: The microwave is open.
• C: Open
• I move on to feeding him again.
• C: pointing at microwave - AAHHH OOHH
• Me: The microwave is open. Do you want me to close it?
• C: Yeah.
• I close it
• C: Tanquu.
• Repeats a lot of words!

Our favorite Peppa Pig clip - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jil0WCh_UoQ

8/1
Connor looks at Melanie last night & says, "Hifive"
she puts her hand up
he stares at her in astonished amazement
walks toward her slowly
and slowly touches his hand to hers
and they both start screaming & cracking up

July 2014

Melanie

• 5 teeth - 3 on the bottom, 2 on the top, and getting a molar on the bottom
• Still likes to whistle
• Can wink with one eye
• Goes to bed at 8:30pm
• Loves playing at water parks
• Likes cuddling with Kitty and putting her head on her side. She loves fuzzy blankets & pillows too.
• She gets hot when she sleeps, just like mommy.
• Screams and waves her arms when you get her tricycle out.
• Puts her cup on the table when she's done drinking, instead of throwing it on the floor.
• Likes to take drinks when Connor does.
• 7/23 - Melanie and I were playing chase last night and she'd crawl toward me and when I was about to get her, she'd go flat on the ground and giggle into the carpet.

Connor

• 5 teeth - 3 on the top, 2 on the bottom
• Loves going to sleep. We usually bathe them and then put them to bed, but last night we did bath time a little early. When we went down stairs, he started crying and didn't stop until I brought him upstairs and put him in bed.
• Goes to bed at 8:30pm
• Loves playing at water parks
• Goes up and down stairs on his own
• 7/14 - Starting to "help" with things. I dropped a bib this morning and asked him to pick it up and carry it to the kitchen. He did it.
• Puts his cup on the table when he's done drinking, instead of throwing it on the floor.
• 7/23 - Connor runs away from me when I ask him for a kiss in the morning.

April 2014

Jason lost his job.
I lost my job this week.
We have enough money to last a few months, but are moving to Arizona on May 23rd. Scary, stressful, sad. I guess it's the 3 S's.
Packing is my life now.

Melanie

• Says Kitty - tuh-kih-tee
• Claps
• Said "Dada" tonight when Jason came out to get her out of the car.
• Said "Mama!" when I picked her up from daycare one day.

Connor

• Is SO close to walking. I actually think he walks when we aren't looking. LOL
• Sometimes cries, stops to check and see if you're watching, then resumes crying if you are.
• Eats everything except spinach & green beans. He even loves spicy food.

They are at a wonderful daycare, La Casita, with Miss Patty (Patricia Moros) and Miss Claudia. They get to hear English & Spanish. She has a wonderful yard and they are outside a lot, which I love. The inside area is very well organized & full of toys. I hate to switch daycares again. They are so wonderful. We've been so lucky.

Today is one for the records...

I really want to start writing more, so I can go back and relive some of the moments that I cherish most everyday.

Connor finally started getting his first tooth a couple of weeks ago at almost 11 months. Melanie has 2 now.

Saturday, March 1, Jason was cooking & I was feeding the babies. His back was to them & Melanie was kind of yell-grunting to get his attention. She finally raised her hand and, as if something just CLICKED, she said, "HI! HI!" Jason turned around and she was thrilled. She's been doing it ever since. She says hi to the car when we get out, says hi to the sign at daycare when we get there and when we leave, and she said hi to the door today when Jason brought her in from the car. It's absolutely the cutest thing I've ever seen. Although her first word was "mama" or "ama," she uses that word anytime she wants something, to be picked up, fed, whatever, but I feel like "Hi!" is really her first word because she understands she is communicating AND she repeats it when you do it. She's even said hi to the grandparents on Skype.

I'm almost done pumping. I've made it 11 months. While I feel lucky to have been able to nourish my children, give them antibodies & other good stuff, it has been A LOT of work. I hate having to go sit in a room alone for 30 minutes when we are visiting with friends or family. It's a pain to watch babies, keep them out of stuff, keep them away from the pump & hoses & keep them from pulling it off onto the floor. It's frustrating to be tethered to a machine! Only 21 more days. Oddly enough, as much as I hate it, I get a little freaked out about stopping. This is the ONE time in my life I will lactate. I have no plans to have more children, so once I stop, there's no going back. It's such an amazing thing, so have provided the ONLY food my TWO babies survived on for the first 6 months of their lives. We did supplement with formula here and there, but most of their meals were breast milk. It really is an intense feeling to know that you have provided for 2 amazing little people in so many ways.

Now to the reason today is one for the records: Jason lost his job. It's been a long time coming. He really needed to make the change himself, but we were hoping that the company would, after him working there for 6 years, lay him off and give him a severance. He didn't get a severance.

So where does this leave us? Well, for a while the plan has been to move to Arizona. The cost of living is considerably cheaper than it is here on the beautiful California coast. For starters, we will pay $1200-1400 rent for a house the same size we are in now (4 bdrm, ~2000 sq ft). Now we pay $2800. We are going to start looking for jobs there & see what happens.

What will I miss? The temperate weather. The house we moved into together after only being together 5 months. The room where he proposed to me. Our babies' first room. And memories before this... Living in Motel 6, one coworker's guest room (John Perlin), & another coworkers extra room for 7 weeks while I looked for a place here. Having a clothes bar in the back seat of my Passat for my closet & plastic drawers in my trunk for other stuff. My apartment where I lived alone for 5 years.

And our friends. Dan, Holly, Aubrey, Gayle. I will miss them a lot.

What I will miss most about pregnancy

1. Feeling the babies kick! I absolutely LOVE it.
2. Eating. Eating a lot. Then eating some more. Oh, and not gaining weight. And needing to eat more so I gain weight.
3. Quiet. I'm sure I will miss that.
4. Boredom. Although I don't miss it right now, I know I will wish I was bored in a couple of months!
5. Having an excuse for EVERYTHING!

Week 6 - Hell Week

Hey!

Well this week has really beat all... Mastitis for me with a 103 fever and then Jason got the stomach flu. I guess I am thankful it didn't happen the same day! Babies want to be fed small amounts constantly, which isn't fun with 2. Feed one, feed the other, pump, wait, no, feed the first one again, okay now I can pump, aw crap, feed the second one again. It's vicious.
I think I need to stop trying to breastfeed & just pump. They go back and forth with how well they latch, but the end result is always the same: I still have to pump & bottle feed them. I don't know why they can't get enough on the breast but it's just too much to breastfeed, pump, and bottle feed each one. I'd never sleep again!

Why You Need To Remember To Eat When Pregnant with Twins, or How to Ruin Valentine’s Dinner

31 weeks, 3 days

The last few weeks I’ve managed this delicate balance between eating enough and dealing with the horrendous indigestion that I have on a daily basis. When both babies are breech with their heads on your stomach, there just isn’t much room in there. I’m taking prescription medicine for the indigestion, but one night it was so bad, I had to get up and make myself throw up just so I could sleep.

Well last night my husband, Jason, and I had plans to go out to dinner. I felt a little hungry at 4, but I was working and quickly forgot about it, since my hunger signal is so weak right now. If only it were like this when I’m NOT pregnant, I would be a size 6!!! At 5:00 he said he would be home in a couple of minutes and we could leave for dinner right away. At that point, I figured I could make it 30 minutes more without food, so I decided to wait.

He didn’t get home till 5:40, so we headed out to dinner pretty quickly. I ordered food, we chatted, and I drank a little bit of root beer.

I told him I was feeling a little funny. I had had a sip of his beer and was like, there’s no way that one sip of beer made me feel like this! I hadn’t made the connection that this was now beyond hunger. My stomach still wasn’t really telling me I was hungry.

The waitress brought the food. Right as I leaned forward and started to eat, my ears started ringing. I started getting sweaty and clammy and my eyesight started to dim. I told Jason what was going on and he was very calm. He had me put my feet up in his lap, told me to drink the root beer, in case my blood sugar was low, & to keep eating. I did and started to feel better. I was still only able to much on the fries & drink a little root beer. Couldn’t even touch my burger at this point.

After a few minutes, it started to fade, so I started eating my burger. I was a sweaty mess! As soon as I put my feet down, it started again, but this time quicker and I couldn’t make it go away. I was almost completely blacked out and told Jason he had to help me. I was kind of freaking out. I didn’t want to ruin dinner, I didn’t want to pass out in public, I didn’t want to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance if someone called 911… So he took me to the bench in the front waiting area of the restaurant. I laid down and put my feet up, which immediately made the dizziness and passing out feeling go away, but I felt like such a DOOF laying on a bench in the restaurant.

Jason quickly paid the bill, our waitress, who knew I wasn’t feeling well, had already packaged up my dinner. Our friend, the restaurant owner, came out and made sure I was doing okay. Jason went and got the car and took me home.

I ate half the burger in the car on the way home, with the seat leaned back. I apologized to Jason for being such an idiot and not eating. Lesson learned!

This won’t happen again. I’m going to eat right now!