Taga Time!

There is a new addition to the family and its the Taga Bike! Its a stroller bike that just came to the USA about 6 months ago from Amsterdam. Its a bike with a stroller attached to the front. I am so excited because it will give me a chance to get some exercise, fresh air, and also spend some quality time with Harrison! We took it out today and it was definitely a work out. I am so weak after this pregnancy. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things!

Henry goes back to the dr on Wednesday to get his helmet. He will have it for 4 - 8 weeks and wear it about 23 hours per day. We went last Wednesday and had him fitted for it. It was a crazy experience. These 4 ladies put a stocking cap over his face and set him on a stool in the middle of this room surrounded by cameras and weird lights. It was like something out of a sci-fi movie. Of course he hated it because he had to sit up straight with his neck upright. He doesn't quite have the strength for that yet so I know it didn't feel good. As much as we hate all of this, we know it must be done and at this age it will be the easiest it will ever be to correct!

The boys are doing great! Charlie is 10 lbs, 12 oz. Henry was 13 lbs, 6 oz at his last weigh-in but that was over a week ago. So I am guessing they are at least 3 lbs apart at this point! Totally different body types. Both as cute as they could be. They are smiling so much and interacting with us more. They usually sleep at least 6 hours at a time, which is great for this age! We have taken them to eat at Steiner Ranch Steakhouse and Hill Country Pasta House and they were angels.

Harrison has been saying some really sweet things lately. The most recent: "Princess mommy protects me from monsters", "I miss your face", and "Mommy looks like that angel". However there are days when he tells me he wants to poop on my face, so I guess I will just focus on the sweet things! Adam and I took him to Dave and Buster's the other day at lunch and he had so much fun. He is really lucky too! Amy and Parker came over for a playdate the other day and Parker spotted a tarantula on our deck and just picked it up! I think Amy and I were more scared than the kids were!

Adam and I had our 4 year anniversary last week. Our plan was to have a drink at the Tapas Bar where we had our first date. However, when we arrived we realized it had a new name. Then after ordering our first drink, we were quite sure it was now a gay bar! Oh well. It was still fun. We had a wonderful dinner at the Driskill Grille afterwards and Adam had a 7 course dinner!

We finally found a home for Oscar. A nice family of cat lovers took him in. I can't believe someone wanted him since he has epilepsy. I miss him, but he needs to be in a home where he will have attention. Also, I can't worry about him biting our little ones!

Poop-tastrophe

My little ones are already 2 months and 5 days old! At their 2 month appt, Henry weighed 11 lbs, 10 oz (in the 52%) and Charlie was 9 lbs, 6 oz (in the 6%). They were both 21 inches long (2%). The doctor says they are both perfectly healthy and growing exactly as they should. We have an appointment about the helmet on Tuesday. Henry is our big guy. We nicknamed him "Hank the Tank" because he is so solid! They are still adjusting to the transition to formula. The first week was rough and I felt just terrible for them, but they seem to be ok now. We had an outing to Oasis for dinner with MeeMee and PopPop and an outing today to Luby's to celebrate Mim's birthday. We also had our first trip to the park this weekend. But other than that, we keep these babies at home! Nana came to help out last weekend too. They are both starting to smile and coo and are just so cute!

I was hoping I wouldn't have to hire help for the babies. I tried it on my own for awhile! And the realization was that although I could do it on my own, I couldn't do it well enough. One person just isn't quite enough for 2 infants and a 2 year old. There was always someone crying, someone neglected...And poor Harrison would have to occupy himself while I fed the babies which was all the time! I was terribly stressed out with my blood pressure way high. We now have a nanny named Mary Anne who comes 25 hours per week to help me. She is exactly what we needed! I am able to spend quality alone time with Harrison. When I am spending time with the babies, Mary Anne plays with Harrison. So everyone is now getting all the attention they need. Because of it, Harrison is so much happier. He's nicer to his brothers and so sweet to us. He tells us how much he loves us regularly. He told me the other day "Mommy, I love you. Please don't ever go away. I will come find you!" I overheard him tell Mary Anne "I like you. You're my friend. I want to do things that make you happy". He also has told me "I am going to be nice to Mommy. I am going to bake you a cake, water your garden, put on my construction hat and build you a house. And then build you another house". He is just such a sweety! Harrison and I spent so much time together before the babies came. And then I went on bed rest and then hospital stays and then taking care of the newborns and I hated that for us! But now I feel like things are perfect again with us. We still have our share of tantrums! But they are just because he is 2 and we will just have to survive those.

Ahhh and I can't write this blog without mentioning a couple good poop stories. It had been several days since Henry had done his business and I was starting to freak out about it. One morning I had him in the Bjorn while I washed bottles when I saw that he was doing his thing. I let him finish because there was no way I was going to screw this up for him! When I took him out of the Bjorn I saw that he had poop all the way up his back to his hair! Thank goodness Adam was still home. We just had to bathe that poor kid. But he had a smile on his face after that! I will be telling this next story for a long time. I put Harrison down for a nap the other day, which is becoming more difficult everyday. I got the babies to sleep too and then called the insurance company to sort out this stack of medical bills. I turned down the volume on Harrison's monitor for a few minutes while I was on the phone. When I finished, Henry and Charlie were starting to wake up (thanks for the 15 minute nap guys!). I grabbed Henry and went to peek at Harrison before I started feeding the babies. Little did I know the poop-tastrophe I was going to walk into. I first see the poop balls in the middle of the floor. I look up to see Harrison without pants or a diaper on. There is poop smeared ALL OVER his sheets. He apparently used his foot to smear the poop in every inch of the sheet. There is a puddle of pee in the middle. Poop all over his hands, feet, hair. And a big grin on his face. Around that time Henry starts screaming at the top of his lungs (Henry doesn't mess around when he's hungry). I laid Henry down and started to approach the crime scene with wet wipes when I realized how pointless that would be! So I just had to plop him in the tub. It was madness for awhile. I would have NEVER expected this from Harrison! He doesn't like "yucky" stuff! But he is a little boy and I have 2 more to expect these shennanigans from I guess!

Well I must go now because there are a million things to do before we can go to bed. Things in our house are so much better now that I am not spending 4 -5 hours pumping everyday and I have help! Things are exactly as they should be! (and bonus - my blood pressure is back to normal!) I will try to update again soon!

Bye, Bye Milk

Well I never thought I would say it this early, but I am weaning the babies! I have to pump milk for Charlie and that is about 4 hours total per day and night. That extra time just doesn't exist for me! It takes away from holding the babies and playing with Harrison! Not to mention that when I am attached to the machine I can't make sure Harrison is safe, I can't pop a pacifier in a baby's mouth, I could go on and on. I made it almost 2 months so I am going to pat myself on the back. I didn't finalize my decision until I went to my doctor for my 6 week check up. My blood pressure has been really high since having the babies. We assumed it was hormonal but she said it should have gone back to normal and attributed it to stress. She told me that stopping breast feeding would help as well as more sleep (good luck with that one!) The weaning process has been painful. I am on Day 3 now and using cabbage leaves and taking lots of Ibuprofen. I was making so much milk that this is going to take awhile. :( I hate it, but it will all be over soon! The babies seem to be doing fine with the formula and the doctor assured me that the first month was the most important!

My pediatrician's daughter has been coming twice a week from 9 - 2 to help me out. She plays with Harrison and helps me with feedings. Its been a big help! Although I feel like even if I had 2 full time nannies, I would still be busy! I have had lots of wonderful friends and family come visit. They don't realize what a big help this is to me!

Henry is getting soooooo big. Our scales weigh him at over 11 pounds! Charlie is growing well too, over 9 lbs now.

Diapers.com has been wonderful for us. Diapers are priced well and they deliver free in 2 days. They also sell anything and everything you could want for your babies. Now they have a sister site called soap.com. They sell anything you could ever need except food! They have detergent, makeup, toiletries, you name it. Free 2 day shipping. I am so excited. Now if I could just get groceries delivered.......

This weekend I am going to the spa to get my hair done, woo-hoo!!! We are having a movie night with the Leandras. Harrison can't wait to see "Little Hay" (Hayley Leandra). He is going to totally try to kiss her during the movie. Hopefully her daddy doesn't see! :)

Starting to feel more normal....

We are starting to regain some bit of normalcy in our lives! I devised a brilliant plan to get more sleep! Adam and I have both been getting up at the two middle of the night feedings and we each feed a baby. As a result we usually don't get more than a 2 hour stretch (3 if we are lucky). So now, for example, I will start out sleeping upstairs (where its nice and quiet). Adam will take the first feeding and feed both babies. So I can sleep from like 11 til 4. Then I take the 4:00 feeding and we switch beds. That way Adam gets to sleep from about 1 til morning and only has to get up to switch beds. I usually have to wake up at some point in my long stretch to pump a little. I am still breastfeeding. Totally hating the pumping but I am going to hang in there as long as I can! A babysitter/nanny fell into our lap and she starts Tuesday. She will come 2 days a week for a half day and play with Harrison, help me with feedings, diapers, etc. It will be a huge help! Harrison is excited too. Tonight Adam and I are going to get out for a few hours and go to dinner. Hayley, Kim, and Gary are coming over to babysit. The babies are adorable, not too much to report. Henry is getting so big! He is a thick little boy! They seem to have completely different body types. We finally received the sectional for the deck via UPS. It came in like 18 boxes. Poor Adam! The weather last night and this morning was amazing so we have been hanging out there a lot. I am really looking forward to the nice weather, lots of time spent on the deck, playing outside, and walks to the park with my 3 boys!

Helmets and Hydrocodone

Ahhh, the days of weekly blogging are sooooo over. The boys are a month old now and I am still in survival mode! I expect this to last awhile, like maybe 3 years....or 18. :)

They had a doctor's checkup today. By the way, at our first appointment it was a rude awakening when we paid two copays and filled out 2 giant books of paperwork! There is going to be 2 of everything from now on! Anyway,they are perfectly healthy except my sweet Henry has a slightly misshapen head. Might have something to do with him dropping so low so early in my pregnancy! We are going to see how things are looking at the 2 month appointment and if they haven't improved, then he will have to be fitted for a helmet. Yes, (gasp!!) a helmet. My baby will have to be one of those kids that everyone feels sorry for. But I don't want him to have a wacky head and not be able to wear hats. The doctor said its not cheap - like 2 or 3 grand and usually not covered by insurance. They are usually worn 6 - 8 weeks. So that was unpleasant news. But there is much worse news to hear at the doctor's office and I thank God every day for my healthy babies! When Charlie and Henry are 15 years old and fighting over the same girl, Charlie can bust out the helmet pictures and have an advantage and we can all have a laugh. Well, everyone but Henry I suppose.

Henry weighed in at 8 lbs, 14 oz and 20 1/4 inches. Charlie weighed 7 lbs, 3 oz and is 19 3/4 inches. They are growing beautifully. In fact, I must say Henry is actually looking a little chubby these days. He is kind of built like a little football player and he grunts a lot. Don't let appearances fool you though because is so super cuddly and sweet. Charlie is much smaller, very wide eyed and alert and more calm than his big brother. Also, incredibly cuddly. I can already tell he looks up to Henry. He snuggles up to him when they are sleeping and follows his lead on when to cry. They are just so cute I can't stand it!!!

I am still breastfeeding but its wearing me out! It was a breeze with Harrison. This time around is so much harder though. I was unable to get Charlie to successfully latch (long story) so I pump for him. I breastfeed or give a pumped bottle to Henry while also giving a pumped bottle to Charlie (one in each hand propped up on nursing pillows - very tricky) OR feed them one after another or go back and forth. THEN pump. And this is every 3 hours, round the clock. Its about 8 - 10 hours per day just dedicated to feeding/pumping. Of course when Adam is here, he feeds one baby. Its especially hard during the day when I am also entertaining and trying to keep Harrison alive and happy. As I am feeding both babies, I usually have a book or giant wooden puzzle plopped in my lap. When I have to turn down his request, sometimes it can turn into an all out tantrum. Its what my nightmares are made of. A few weeks ago when I was still dealing with the hormonal changes (baby blues) and major pain from the c-section coupled with the daze I was in from percoset (oh yeah and sleep deprivation), Harrison went on a rampage. Emptying trash cans, slamming doors, trying to walk out of the house, hitting....I just lost it and sobbed. But that kind of behavior has been few and far between, thank goodness. And my body is adjusting to the lack of sleep, I am weaning myself from the drugs (although unfortunately the pain is still there) and the hormones are pretty much back to normal. Harrison is adjusting to the boys and I think sometimes he really actually likes them. All of our neighbors got together and bring us dinner every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It seems like they all have little girls and come along when they deliver dinner. Harrison has been in heaven because of this!

I do realize that I can't do all of this all by myself. There just isn't enough of me to go around. When I am pumping, I am wishing I am holding the babies. Sometimes I barely have time to hold them all day! When I am feeding the babies, I am missing being with Harrison. So first of all, we have the housekeeper coming 3 times per week now instead of 1. He helps with laundry, dishes, you name it. I am also talking to our pediatricians daughter about coming over twice a week for a half day to help. She will play with Harrison, help feed the babies, diapers, etc. And finally I think I am going to have to let go of this dream of breastfeeding the twins for a year and supplement. I don't have a plan yet, but I have to free up some time. Its more important for them to have more time with their mama than 100% breastmilk. Its a tough call to make but I know its best for everyone. I have to look at this new adventure as a marathon. Its going to be work, work, work and I am constantly going to be looking for solutions but I know its going to get better and I will figure things out.

As horrible and grueling as some of this may sound, I am completely in love with these boys and can't imagine life without them! Only the love for your children can get a mama through this kind of madness! And I know it will all pass so fast and I will look back on these days and miss them :)

Henry and Charlie, Here at Last

To say its been an eventful week would be the understatement of the century! I don't even know where to begin...

Last Monday I went to see my doctor for an exam. I was 4 - 5 cm dilated and 90% effaced. Most women have gone into labor at this point, but I was still hanging in there with no real contractions. My doctor told me if I had progressed any on Wednesday that she wanted me to check into the hospital, and even if I hadn't progressed, she still wanted me to check in. She was worried I wouldn't make it to the hospital in time when the babies decided to come and I was too!!!

So Wednesday comes and I am 5 - 6 cm dilated so into the hospital I go. Adam got me settled and went home to take care of Harrison. I was basically just on bedrest there. At this point, staying in the hospital was no big deal to me. I knew the whole drill, even knew some of the nurses. So I watched some TV, took an Ambien, and went to sleep. The next day was a lot of the same. I didn't feel contractions and was baffled that I hadn't gone into labor yet. I was 36 weeks and 3 days along so I knew that every day was another day that the babies could gain weight. At this point, I was expecting them to weigh 5 lbs, 12 oz and 6 lbs, 4 oz.

That evening, I was waiting on Adam and Harrison to come to the hospital to hang out. The nurse and doctor came to check on me and did an exam. 5 - 6 cm dilated, 95% effaced, no contractions. They did a test to see if I had broken my water yet or leaked amniotic fluid. The doctor told the nurse to call her with the results and left. The nurse glanced at the test and said it was negative and walked out. A few minutes pass and she pops her head back in and said excitedly "Your test just turned positive! Your water broke!" She waited for a reaction and I just sat there stunned. She said "Did you know your water broke? When did it break?" Ok NO! I didn't know it broke. I think I would have mentioned that to someone! Apparently it was just trickling out little by little. I knew Adam and Harrison were about to leave our house. I asked her what exactly this meant?! She said that I could be going to labor and delivery OR the doctor might want to wait it out and let the contractions start and it could be 12 - 18 hours. So I told Adam what happened and calmly told them to still come, but to put Kim and Gary on high alert that we might need them to come get Harrison if things started happening. So they loaded up in the car to come.

Next thing I know, 4 nurses appear at the door with 2 wheelchairs. They start throwing all my stuff into my bags and loaded it onto one chair and getting me up to go to the other one. I was confused. Where am I going? They said Labor and Delivery! I asked if they talked to my doctor and they said she hadn't returned the page yet. So now I am being rushed to labor and delivery. I call Adam. He is also very confused. I told him to go ahead and come and bring Harrison. I just had to see my little boy before all of this happened!

It was 6:30 pm when all of that happened. Still no contractions. Where are the contractions? On the wheelchair ride over, I start barking out orders. My number one goal in life at this point is to make sure I get that epidural in time. I am frantically asking "Is the anesthesioloigst coming? Is my bloodwork done? Do you have the IV fluids ready?" It sounded like they were on top of things. They let me know that I had the "good" anesthesiologist. I kept asking them who the "bad" one was because he scared me to death. They quickly got the IV in and the anesthesiologist was there by the time Adam and Harrison walk in. I quickly said hi and kicked them out because there was no way Harrison needed to see this! The epidural was no big deal. It was like a shot that was a little extra painful. Everything started to go numb. At that point, Adam called Kim and Gary to get Harrison, I got to spend just a few minutes with him and we said goodnight. I think it was around 8:30 when they left. The doctor came to break my water the rest of the way. Everything moved really fast after that. Although I was numb I started to REALLY feel the contractions. When you have an epidural and you have a big contraction, your whole body shakes and you just feel pressure. I said several times to the nurse how intense the pressure was. She asked if I need to push. I told her yes and if I push, the baby is going to come out. She paged the doctor to come immediately. She came in, checked me out, and said "10 cm, I can feel the baby's head, get the OR ready! Jennifer, don't even cough because if you do, the baby will come out. He could crawl out at this point". Oh great! As they race me to the OR I am telling them to please not hit any bumps! They threw Adam scrubs and I was on the table in no time. When you have twins, you deliver in the OR even when its a regular delivery. If there are any problems with Baby B, they might have to do a C-section so they have to be ready. They got everything in place in just a few minutes and told me I could push. When you push, its a 10 second count. I pushed. I pushed again and the head came out. I pushed a third time and we had baby Henry. They took him over to make sure he was ok. Adam went over to look at him and assured me he was perfect. I was just gazing over there trying to get a glimpse of him. Next thing I know, there is panic happening in front of me. Charlie was up really high, nowhere near coming out. There wasn't much chance of guiding him downwards. All of a sudden they lost his heartbeat. I think it turned out that he had curled up in a little ball, because thats how they pulled him out. But when you don't hear a heartbeat of a baby, you leap into action. I heard my doctor call it. C-Section!!! Adam swears he heard the term "slash 'n' go" somewhere in there. There are at least a dozen people in the room and they all start moving so fast and the curtain goes up in front of my face. They send Adam out. The oxygen mask was stuck on my face. I was so confused. I knew what was happening could be very bad. The anesthesiologist is putting more drugs in me. I was trying to stay calm and not hyperventilate. I couldn't say anything and I finally get the words out to the anesthesioloigst "Is Charlie ok?" He asked me to repeat myself. It took all my strength to say those words again because just saying them freaked me out more than anything in the whole world. "Is my baby ok?" He couldn't tell me yes and he dodged the question and gave me a polite answer. I don't even recall now what it was, but it was obvious he was saying it just to keep me calm. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, which turned out to be just 9 minutes, they pull Charlie out via emergency C-section. They tell me he is ok. They are sewing me up and throughout the madness I say to no one in particular, "Please go get my husband". I knew he was probably a mess outside. He is by my side in a second and looks at Charlie and assures me he is ok. They got an 8 and a 9 on the APGAR scale. If you have had a baby, you know thats good. Especially for preemies. Charlie has 4 lbs, 11 oz and Henry was 6 lbs, 1 oz, much smaller than I thought they would be. I thought they would be a half pound apart, they were a pound and a half apart. I briefly got to hold Henry and Charlie. Unfortunately I didn't get to hold Henry again for about 5 hours and Charlie for 10. Henry was born at 9:16 pm and Charlie was born at 9:25 pm. It was less than 3 hours from the time that we got the positive test result. Thank goodness I was in the hospital. Since I had no idea my water had broken, who knows if I would have made it to the hospital in time or what might have happened to Charlie? As I was laying there afterward, I notice blood splatter on the curtain. As I look up at my doctor, I see blood splatter on the shield she was wearing over her face. I look over at a trash can and there is bloody stuff thrown in and draped over the side. An emergency c-section is NO JOKE! I had to lay there on the OR table for a little while because you have to get an x-ray done immediately after. Normally before a surgery, they count all their tools and with an emergency one, they don't have time. They have to do an x-ray to make sure no tools were left inside you! Also, they don't have time for the full disinfecting process, etc. They literally just throw the iodine on your stomach (I think thats what it was). The whole thing reminds me of a horror movie but thank goodness they got my baby out safely. Thats all I cared about.

After the surgery, Adam went to the nursery with the babies while they did all their normal tests, baths etc. I went to recovery. It was a big dark room and I was in my little curtained area, laying there numb. There was one nurse going back and forth from a computer in my little area to a desk about 20 feet away. I started to feel pain. This was no normal pain. It came stronger and stronger. They had given me a tremendous amount of drugs, including morphine, but as the epidural wore off, I felt no morphine. I tell the nurse and they pump more morphine into me. I wait for it to set in and it doesn't. She asks how it feels and I tell her that it feels like I have been in a knife fight and someone has ripped open my stomach. They pump more drugs in. A nurse comes and pushes down on my stomach, which they have to do after a c-section. It makes me scream out in pain. Its worse than labor. She would go back to her desk and I was all alone and I kept making her come back. Finally the anesthesiologist comes in and they figure out that he had given me something that counteracted the effects of the morphine. In other words, I was feeling everything and not feeling any of the drugs. Thank God we figured that little issue out and they fixed it!!!

Now that ordeal was over. I went back to the regular room and the wait for my babies started. Henry was brought back to the room with us and it was wonderful. It was the middle of the night. We find out that because Charlie's blood sugar was low, he was put in the NICU so he could be on IV fluids to raise it. I didn't sleep for 48 hours. It was horrible. He is so wide eyed and alert. I hated having to walk away from him and leave him all alone like that with his little eyes wide open. We would drop Henry off at the nursery and go to the NICU to see Charlie. Luckily we could hold him and I could nurse him. They kept checking and rechecking his blood sugar and it wasn't until our third night in the hospital that they brought him to our room. It was midnight. We were so happy to lay the twins down together. The next day they were starting the preparations to discharge us. They have to do something called a car seat test for preemies. You bring your car seat in, they strap the babies in, and monitor them for an hour. Henry passed. Because Charlie was 4 lbs, 11 oz and our car seat was for 5 lbs and up, he failed. Adam went to buy a new car seat. He is retested and he failed because his heart rate dropped. They tested him again in 3 hours and he failed again. They said they would retest in 24 hours because they wanted to observe him in the NICU. Henry and I were scheduled to be discharged that afternoon. The nurses said that we could stay an extra night in the room as a courtesy. I was all set to do so and planned for Harrison to come stay in the room with us. All day long I was upset because I couldn't stand being away from Harrison anymore. All we wanted was for all of us to be under one roof together. Harrison came and we ate dinner and we made the decision together to just go home. The doctor had told me it could be tomorrow when Charlie came home or 3 to 5 days. I knew we weren't helping him by being in the hospital and I was ready to give the rest of the family a normal life again. So we packed up in the middle of the night and went home. I cried so much. When I was waiting for Adam and Harrison to get to the hospital earlier, I went out in the hallway to walk Henry around. I saw some of the nurses that helped deliver them. They asked about Charlie and when I explained to them that he had to go back to the NICU and we had to go home without him, I just lost it. I sobbed and sobbed and couldn't stop. Leaving Charlie was the the most painful thing I have ever done.

The next day, Adam went to spend the morning with Charlie while I stayed home with Henry. Harrison went to play at MeeMee's. That afternoon, one of my friends came to take me to the NICU so I could see him. I can't drive yet and am on painkillers so getting back and forth to the hospital was going to involve a lot of planning. I knew there was a chance that we could take him home that day but didn't allow myself to even think about it. Within 3 minutes of getting there, they let me know we could take him home. I was ecstatic! Adam raced over there so we could get to him before they closed to visitors at 6:30. As we walked out that day, I realized it was one of the happiest days of my life. But I hurt so badly for all the babies and families we were passing by as we walked out. We probably had the healthiest baby in the NICU and there were babies there that had been there for months. I can't imagine what they go through everyday. We took our babies home and Harrison got to meet Charlie for the first time.

Everything has been crazy for the past few days but I love it. I don't even mind getting up in the middle of the night. I will breastfeed one and Adam will feed the other one from a bottle with breastmilk. Its nice. The babies are sleeping and nursing well. We went to the pediatrician yesterday and she said they are both perfectly healthy. They are tiny and beautiful and I couldn't ask for a better family. This will definitely go down as my happiest birthday ever :)

(And if you are wondering how in the world I found time to write this, it took several days and the usage of a hands free pumping bra! Hey - don't knock it til you try it!!!)

Harrison, my model/doctor

Harrison was being such a little model in these pictures. He likes to pose and then immediately look at the picture on the digital camera. Biggest update on Harrison: He totally knows his ABC's! Probably has for some time now! We have always read ABC books and done puzzles and occasionally I will sing the ABC song to him. He points out most of the letters and knows them so I assumed he had a good grasp of the alphabet and he even told me the other day that he wanted to learn ALL the letters. But he has NEVER sang the ABC song. He doesn't sing really at all. He likes us to do the singing. So at dinner the other night when he just busted out and sang the entire ABC song flawlessy out of the blue, we were floored! Right after he finished he covered up his face like he was super embarassed. He didn't even screw up the "LMNOP" part. He sings it whenever we ask now. I can't describe how exciting this is for a mommy and daddy! We think he can count to 20 too, but the 11 - 20 often gets a little jumbled up. He also tells us entire stories. I think they are supposed to be able to say 2 and 3 word sentences at this point and Harrison does these big run on sentences. Its so fun. He always keeps us laughing.

I had a doctor's appointment scheduled for tomorrow morning but I was paranoid that I was leaking fluid and I am all of a sudden having the menstrual like cramps so I thought it was smart to go in early. All I can do to protect the babies at this point is be super cautious and call the doctor for every little thing. We are at 36 weeks today and the babies should weigh in the neighborhood of 5 lbs, 9 oz and 6 lbs, 1 oz. I took my last Procardia at 10:30 last night. That alone is going to increase my contractions. And of course we have a full moon tonight so who knows how that will affect me! The doctor checked me out and I am still at 4 cm, 90% effaced. My contractions were every 6 minutes. She was nervous to send me home, but set up on appointment for Wednesday at 4pm. She told me to make sure my bags are packed. She said if there is any change, she will admit me to the hospital and she might admit me even if there isn't a change. Once you are at 4cm and you move past that, things can move very fast, especially with twins. Her biggest concern and definitely mine too, is that things will happen so fast that I won't get to the hospital in time. And I not only want to get to the hospital in time, I WANT THE EPIDURAL!!! So if I was admitted on Wednesday, they still wouldn't induce me until Monday. But I would be at the hospital if anything were to happen before then. The thought of spending a week plus in the hospital is miserable, but its certainly better than the alternative of endangering all of us and not getting there in time. I will spend the next few days taking it easy and enduring these contractions. Unless something happens, I will update after my next appointment!