Tag-team napping

Just as I put Elizabeth down to sleep, Miranda wakes up. It's like a ballet they've worked out.

I hate growth spurts.

Michael has been on vacation since December 23rd. The word vacation doesn't mean a whole lot when you have a 2 year old and twin infants. For this reason, we decided to try to give each other some kid-free time during this holiday time. I saw a movie, hung out with friends, went to a dog training class. Michael did some sleeping, saw a movie, and hid in the back eating ice cream. We also wanted to let him actually sleep through a whole night. Even though I am generally the one taking care of the gals in the middle of the night (since I am the food source), Michael does get up often with me to help with changing. And he is the regular one to deal with Parker when he wakes up. So 4 nights ago, I said, "Ok, go to the back house. Take your cell phone. Wish me luck." I told him I would only call if it got really ugly. But since the gals had been sleeping from 7-3 regularly, how bad could it get?

Well...that night they woke up every hour and a half. And they weren't in sync (sometimes they wake up together and sometimes they don't). So from 10:46 when Parker did his first call out "MOMMY" to 6:00 when he was up for good, I was awake and feeding Elizabeth and Miranda 6 times. It was awful. Just awful. But I never called Michael...until the morning, when Parker had a tantrum and my sleep deprived body still attached to the gals couldn't cope. In tears, I called his cell phone and he came into the house. I finished feeding them and then passed out.

We speculated it was caffeine (I had had a decaf coffee and coke that day) that made them crazy. But then we realized they just weren't awake, they were EATING and awake...all the time. Ahhhh. Growth Spurt. That day, I looked it up and sure enough at 3 months it is common to have a growth spurt that results in fussiness and frequent feedings, especially if breastfed. It last 2-3 days, but sometimes a week.On day 4, we think it is over. Elizabeth slept 8 hours in a row last night and Miranda only woke up one extra time. And they have been delightful and eating their normal amounts.

In fact, everyone was delightful today. I did a spa with Sheehan and Rachel (another Rachel married to a Michael with twins) and Michael had the kids to himself. Super dad had no worries and when I got home, everyone was in good spirits and playing well. As this picture can attest. I sure ain't looking forward to the next growth spurt. Maybe we'll send the kids to Grammy's that week.

Fertility

When we first started trying to have a baby six years ago or so, a friend of ours gave us a fertility goddess she'd picked up on her world travels. We thought this was very sweet, and placed it prominently in our house.



When we learned we had fertility issues, and started trying the things one tries, without any luck, this statue started to feel like a cruel joke. But it turns out that the joke was on us. Her powers are slow, but potent.

And on that note, we realized last night that we need to get this out of our house, and she'll be moving on to help the next couple very soon.

A look back at '06: September 19

It was a pretty good day.

A look back at '06: Hawaii

In July I went to Maui to attend my brother's wedding. It was a nice wedding, right on the beach at sunset, flower petals in the sand, the whole bit. Here's me and Lori and Kathleen on a walk we took along the beach at Wailea.


I had a very nice condo at the Hale Pau Hana resort in ramshackle Kiheh, right on the beautiful beach at Kamaole II. The front was all glass, and it had a kitchen and a bedroom, and a stereo, and it was 400 square feet of heaven. I snorkled with the turtles right out front.


Yep. Hawaii is nice.


At some point I left my camera in Lori's bag, so she kindly took pictures with it, including this one, which is one of my favorites. She had the camera on some inappropriate setting, so the lighting is really funky and cool. I love the picture for two main reasons: 1) it's a picture of someone taking a picture, which is funny to me, and 2) that glassy-eyed look of bemused contentment on my brother's half a face.

Christmas Morning

Parker had a heap of presents under the tree and a stocking from Santa. He didn't really know exactly what was going on, but he definitely dug that all sorts of cool toys kept miraculously appearing.


As he opened each gift he had to play with it immediately, even if this meant running straight to his room at full speed, where the tracks were set up.


But eventually we'd coax him away from that gift and get him to focus on the next one.


Which inevitably led to another trip to the tracks, historical imprecision notwithstanding.


The girls had, of course, exactly zero clue what was going on.


All in all, a fun morning. For some reason, Parker wanted to keep his bib on after breakfast, and he wore it half the day like it was an elaborate necklace or an exotic vest.

A Karaoke Christmas

Here's Parker playing with the sing-along frog-shaped boombox from Grammy and Ginny.

The standy thing

A look back at '06: pink clothes

Before the twins were born, Rachel got busy lining up a hand-me-down wardrobe for them - some bought, some free, and all of it for under a hundred bucks or so.


The girls are good to go until they're about 18 months.

A look back at '06: Cabo

We went to Cabo San Lucas at the end of February


We used a friend's timeshare at a little turista compound, that was pretty nice.


Rachel was about 7 weeks pregnant at this point, I think. She got sick on this trip and stayed sick until September 19th.


Parker cut his head on a sharp shower frame here. The bandage from the gift shop had some sort of red medicine on it that ran like blood in the hot mexican sun. He still has a little scar from that cut.


All in all Cabo was a mixed bag. We came home a day early.

A look back at '06: girl names

I carried this list around in my wallet all summer, and had it in my pocket when we were in the delivery room on September 19th.



We'd decided that we'd each get to name one of the twins, and mine was Twin A, now known as Elizabeth. As late as the minute she was born, I'd been planning to name her Beatrice Ann, but changed my mind once I had her in my arms.

A look back at '06

Parker honed his table manners.

too cute!

Short and Sweet

3 month check up yesterday.

Miranda = 13 pounds 5 ounces.

Elizabeth = 13 pounds 7 ounces.

And she is taller with a bigger head.

So big Twin A that wasn't so big has finally come into her own.

Yay Elizabeth!

Jolee the Dog

Because the Longs don't have enough going on...we are fostering a dog for BADRAP (www.badrap.org). Her name is Jolee and she is pretty sweet. Very nervous about the world, but very quiet, so we like her. Well, I like her. Parker and Michael don't seem to care for her too much, simply because she is a dog. But the girls and I like her. Here are some pics from an adventure to the park. We took the whole family...foster dog as well.

The Marble Run

I didn't think it could happen, but something finally displaced trains as Parker's favorite toy. He can't build his own runs yet, but he's happy to put dad's designs to the test.

Yummy Pie

Here's three minutes of Parker's 2nd birthday pie experience.



And here's the year before, for comparison.

Parker's Bday

It is Parker's birthday today. We celebrated in style even though he is having a party in a few weeks with his pal Mac. Here are the highlights of our adventure.

Michael took the morning off and I got a sitter for the gals. We first headed off to breakfast, something we used to do often but haven't done in ages. Then we made our way to the Jumpy, Jumpy place.

Parker just loves this place.



Mom and Parker go down the slide.



Dad sits in the ball pit.



Then we came home, dad went to work and everyone (yes everyone) got naps.

When we awoke, the gals ate and then played, while Parker played with his new favorite thing...the Super Marble Run, a gift from the Marcuses.






A couple hours later, dad came home and we opened the rest of the presents.

First was an activity table from Grammy and Ginny. Here he is opening it and then enjoying it while reading, Uncle David's gift, a great book by the same author/illustrator as the Fly book.




Then Dad let him open some presents form us.

A tshirt of Zonk the turtle (Parker has some Zonk paintings in his room.)



Another book...Good night Moon, in Spanish. Buenos Noches Luna. (He sang an entire song in spanish the other day.)




And then finally, a complete puppet show. With stage and 6 fabulous puppets. He was a bit scared of them, but I'm guessing he will come around.





Then some dinner and some birthday pie. (See next blog from Dad for more on the pie.)

Then baths for all the kids, some nursing, some reading, some singing and bedtime.

Just in time for mom and dad to watch Survivor.

Happy Birthday Parker!