We bought this giant exercauser when Parker was a baby. He loved it and used it for a very long time. Then I gave it to a new mom and she gave it to another mom. Now, we have it back. It is loud, ugly, garish and the babies love it. Parker seems to remember it well.
Girls aren't really napping today so I thought we would do a little solid food. I served a delicious rice cereal and pea mash medley.
Elizabeth loves to eat, but isn't very good at.
Miranda could take it or leave it, but is quite neat about the whole thing...she even wipes her own mouth when done.
Well...it lasted three hours (until 10pm) and ended with Parker falling asleep on the hard wood floor just inside his room. It was the saddest thing you have ever seen. I picked him up and put him in bed. Michael and I were so shell shocked by then, we just fell asleep ourselves.
Until Midnight, when it started all over again. This time, I got into bed with him. Which is what he was demanding and which made him happy.
Until 2am. When he demanded Milk. Which I got for him. He was happy, drank his milk and fell asleep.
Until 4am. When he demanded a variety of things. Somehow I got him back to sleep.
Until 5:30am. When he was up for good despite me pretending I was still asleep. The screaming started almost immediately so I sat, worthless in the chair and did the worst reading of Trashy Town ever.
Then Dad came in and took over.
One of the worst nights ever. And I haven't even mentioned the girls...
That's how long Parker has been hysterical this evening, not wanting to go to bed. And when I say hysterical, I mean two solid hours of the most shrill, piercing, skull-shattering screaming the world has even known. Thank god for naproxen.
When my mom was here she asked if Parker's day care ever sent home art work. I said, "Nope."
Well, apparently, I was quite wrong. We got a giant batch of it today. Here are some highlights.
Whenever we're feeling down over the challenge of having twins and a toddler, it's helpful to remember how much worse it could be...
My mom just went to the airport after spending almost 5 days with me and the kids. (Michael, as you have read, was in Chicago.) She was a life saver. Parker was sick almost the whole week so it would have been pretty much impossible for me to have been alone with all of them. Mom made breakfasts and lunches and dinners each day. She cleaned up, straightened up, organized, and did lots of laundry. She took Parker to the library, played marble game with him, and read him many many books. She brought gifts (Trashy Town and Five Trucks), both which were immediate favorites and memorized by day two. She shooed the dove that Zeke dragged into the house out the front door during my moment of panic. She gave me baby and toddler advice. She showed me home made games for kids and what to do with jello containers. She told me what books to get from the libary. She held crying babies, soothed cranky ones and yes, even my mom, goo-goo, gaa-gaa'd at them too.
She can finally see the difference between the gals, but can't for the life of her remember who is who.
It was a good visit all around.
My perspective was on KQED this morning. Michael and I listened twice, once at 6:07 and once at 7:37. We giggled and smiled despite having written it and heard it already in the studio. Besides my good friend Nann...no one else seemed to hear it live. But luckily, KQED has it recorded for all to hear. So here it is...my perspective...
http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R703010737
Last night around 2am, Parker started screaming out something. This is not a new thing, as he has been doing this for months at random times. He usually wants his Lion or some milk or to sing a song or no blanket. But last night I thought he said, WATER. I almost went to get him some except that I'm been pretty strict lately about not granting is every midnight wish. But as he kept screaming it, I realized he wasn't saying Water. He was saying, ga-mamas. What the hell is a ga-mamas? In my sleep deprived state (he had already been up twice), I sat on his bed wondering what the heck he was talking about. Then I realized, as he was tugging on his shirt, that he was referring to his pajamas. I'm still not clear what he was trying to tell me about them, but I told him to turn over, close his and go back to sleep. And he did. And I went back to sleep until the next time he did this, at 5am.
The girls, god bless them, slept all night through, again.
Parker has discovered how to pull his pants down and up. He isn't quite proficient at it yet, but seems to enjoy the concept.
It's been raining here for a few days. This, however, did not stop Parker from enjoying his outdoor slide with Grandma Judy. You can tell from his expression that he did not want to wear his jacket.
I flew into Chicago today to participate in an annual congregation of analytical chemists, which is supposedly much more fun than it sounds. I'm at the W hotel, which is decked out like a hipster nightclub, with pulsing techno music in the elevators, gratuitously dramatic lighting, and an air of exclusivity and beautifulness which would be more convincing if the place weren't crawling with analytical chemists sporting tradeshow credentials on lanyards around their necks. I'm on the 24th floor with what I'm sure would be a breathtaking view of Lake Michigan if only it weren't completely black outside through the falling snow. I've got a belly full of tapas and glenlivet, and I'm about to get the first guaranteed-to-be-uninterrupted night's sleep that I've had in ages, and that will be nice. And I'm not about to say that I'm not really, really looking forward to this night's sleep. But still, even though I only left them this morning, I really miss Rachel and the kids. I'm pretty sure that by Wednesday night when I get back to Oakland, that feeling is going to be palpable.
Sometimes I think the kids are plotting against us. As if they get together late at night after we are all asleep and discuss who will do what when. Or perhaps they use some strange, inaudible baby language and communicate right in front of us. Either way, here are some examples of their evil ways...
Example 1
Last night, both girls slept 12.5 hours straight. Couple minor wake ups, but nothing long enough for us to even get out of bed.
Parker on the other hand, got up a 12:30am to sing songs and play marble game (*thank you very much Marcus family*) and then "woke up" at 4:30am. Both times were major battles to get him back to sleep.
Example 2
Miranda has been falling asleep for naps like a pro. She just lies in her crib wide awake and then minutes later she is asleep. Elizabeth, on the other hand, take about 20 minutes to fall asleep, whining and wimpering the whole time.
Today, after the Parker madness last night, I was a bit tired, to say the least. So I put Miranda and Elizabeth down for their naps and Elizabeth fell right to sleep. I was soooooo happy. So I went to lay down and take a snooze. But sure enough, Miranda decides that she needs to whine and wimper for 20 minutes until I go back upstairs.
Example 3 (even the cats are in on it.)
Elizabeth who has been consistently sleeping through the night, woke up two nights ago. I let her cry for about an hour and then went to her. I gave her a bottle (since I had just pumped and couldn't nurse). While she was drinking it, Zeke came bounding in the room. Parker and Miranda had slept through her wailing, so I would be dammed if the cat would wake them up. So there I was holding the door (that doesn't quite close all the way) closed with one hand and feeding Elizabeth with the other. At 2:30in the morning. And just when I was done, she was back asleep, Zeke was back asleep, and I was back asleep, Parker wakes up. At 4:20. To sing songs and eat pancakes.
(Rachel painted the rectangles, and Parker painted the lines.)
The girls are 5-months old today. We are celebrating by hanging out with Parker who is home in honor of the presidents, also born on this day (well...not really, but whatever.)
Things are going fairly well these days. The girls are sleeping much better. Elizabeth does 12-13 over nighters with much regularity. Miranda is like her brother waking up to scream in the middle of the night. They both this did last night; Parker at 12:30 and Miranda at 4:30. Or so I am told. I slept in the back house to allow me to be plenty rested for my day with all three.
Naps are going better too, although we still have some work there.
The gals are still nursing, but I'm keeping better track of what they are eating (since it seems to have a direct relationship on how they sleep) by weighing them before and after feedings. If they appear done but didn't have at least 6 ounces, they get some pumped breast milk. Most feedings are full feedings, but this morning, apparently my milk ran out at 5.5 ounces for Elizabeth since she "nursed" for about 10 more minutes getting nothing more. Supply and Demand. Supply and Demand.
Miranda's tooth is coming up nicely and we think one is about to sprout on Elizabeth too. Elizabeth is rolling over both ways, but not regularly enough to allow her to sleep on her stomach quite yet.
Parker is still whiny and cries/screams alot for no apparent reason, but I think there isn't much to do about that. He seems to really like the girls, except when he wants mommy "in the kitchen" when she is with them. He also seems to know who is who. He is learning more and more each day. He counted to 10 in French the other day. He is learning how to count using his fingers. He reads complete books out loud to himself, page by page, even if he starts in the middle. He favorite items are circles, squares, triangles and rectangles which he demands we draw ofen. He sings songs in Spanish and is becoming quite the little painter.
The girls have decided not to sleep this morning, so I'm off to see why. Happy Birthday babies.
Parker's new occupation is sweeping the floor. He goes and gets the broom out of the pantry, and he puts it back when he's done. 
He doesn't quite understand the mechanics of the broom yet. He likes to push it from the back door to the front door and then back, with the broom out in front of him like this. Yesterday I saw that some food from under his chair had gotten dragged into the dining room, where it got tangled in the fringe of the rug. I just got him to push it back the other way.
He also doesn't understand the finer points of the dust pan, but he does seem to get the basic concept. 
Is it a coincidence that he always seems to be wearing his rain boots when he sweeps, or do you think for some reason he just thinks of these as his work boots now? Gotta sweep, better go put on my boots.
I'm a member of Twins by the Bay club...a local twin support group thing. They have sales and email exchanges and bi-monthly meetings. I've been going, mostly to get out of the house and make myself feel better (since I am usually more together than most of the women there, which is scary...but I digress.)
Part of the club is helping other twin moms, so last night, I brought dinner over to a new twin mom. Lasagna (that Michael made...mine sucked), Garlic Bread, Salad, Brownies, and a bottle of wine (for dad.)
When I arrived at their place, I heard crying. Dad came to the door and he looked frazzled. He had one crying baby in his arms and one in the swing. Their living room looked like a twins by the bay garage sale, with baby stuff everywhere. I went into the kitchen and started taking everything out since he didn't have a spare arm. I got to the salad dressing and said, "I wasn't sure what kind you liked so I brought this kind. Hope that is ok." He said, almost in tears, "Who knows what kind we like at this point."
Mom was at the drug store getting some eye stuff, so I gave my congrats and snuck off back home where our dinner and bedtime routine was in full swing.
It made me feel good to help them out and it made me feel good, as mean as this sounds, to see other people who are going through what we have been going through.
I hope they liked the dinner.
Since the gals are having such a hard time taking naps, one thought is that they are hungry. Granted, they are growing like gang busters and are in the 90th percentile for weight, but still...they could be hungry.
So we rented a baby scale from a local mommy and me store for $10 a week. I weighed them before they nursed this morning...
Miranda was 16 pounds 1 ounce.
Elizabeth was 16 pounds 12 ounces.
After eating Miranda was 16 pounds 7 ounces.
And Elizabeth was 17 and .5 ounces.
So Elizbeth got back to the breast and had a bit more to bring her up to 17 pounds 2 ounces.
Since they "should" be having about 6 ounces each feeding (up to about 32 ounces each per day), this was all very good news. They say nursing is all about supply and demand, but I can't imagine getting 64 ounces of milk each day. Crazy!
We did wonder how Elizabeh was 11 ounces more than Miranda when she was only 4 ounces more at the last doctor's visit. Then we realized that we had not changed her diaper. When we did, she lost 6 ounces. Damn, that is a lot of pee!
Parker likes to say his numbers, as I think I've mentioned. I don't think he's quite connected the words he's saying to the concept of units, but he sure likes saying the words. So when we started him in a Spanish language daycare, we were not surprised at how quickly he picked up uno through diez. His teachers were surprised, but we weren't. He can also sing his ABCs in both English and Spanish, including both endings*, and now sings all sorts of other Spanish songs we don't know.
So we're sitting together on the couch this afternoon watching one of these Baby Einstein DVDs that he likes so much. And it's the one that has all the segments with different languages, which I've never really sat and watched before. But this time I'm sitting with Parker, watching him watch this, when the show starts counting to ten in German. Parker is completely rapt, and I notice that his lips are moving. By the time they get to four or five I realize that Parker is mouthing the words along with the show, like he wants to be saying them but isn't quite fast enough. And then, sure enough, right on cue he manages to say, "Seben, Acht, Neun!"
He didn't do any of the French numbers, though, the slacker.
*ending one: now I know my ABCs, won't you come and sing with me. ending two: now I know I won't forget, how to sing my alphabet. I have no idea what they say in the Spanish version.
Parker is currently interested in shapes. He's very big on triangles, as well as squares and rectangles. Circles are sort of old news.
In the mornings, for example, if I give him four mini-pancakes for breakfast, he immediately arranges them very carefully in a square. Sometimes after a while he changes them into a rectangle. When he's ready to eat one, he shifts the remaining pancakes into a triangle. He narrates all of this pretty thoroughly, which would be cute if it weren't happening at 5:15am.
The other day he enjoyed a square of peanut butter crackers, which became a triangle, which became two dots. This was unacceptable, so he convinced me to give him two more crackers to make it a square again. Then he got mad at me for taking his picture.
Miranda just sprouted her first tooth.
This helps explain her recent anti-social behavior. Given her mood this morning I'd say she's got another one brewing just below the surface.
