Virtual friends

When I was pregnant, I discovered the greatest place on the planet- babycenter.com. Whether you are TTC (trying to conceive) or a SAHM (stay at home mom), you can find your place on BBC (babycenter). Whenever I had a question I would log on to BBC and never even have to post a thing, because typically 100 other women had the same question and 200 women answered the call. If there's anything that women enjoy more than talking, it must be typing!

When I discovered I was pregnant with twins, I found a group of women who were also pregnant with twins and due around the same time. We were from all over North America and varied in age, profession, number of children and background but our common bond was our twin pregnancy. We were each others biggest cheerleaders. We celebrated each milestone, each pound gained, each day without morning sickness. One by one we all made trips to the hospital for pre-term labor or pre-eclampsia and one by one we started having our babies early.
Our group is still together, and we still celebrate our most notable achievements- setting a schedule, sleeping 8 hours, going on a date, surviving vacation. We don't check in as often as we used to, but it's so nice knowing that there are "friends" out there who share your same experiences. Isn't technology great?

Big boys!

I never thought I would be so happy to have children in the 2nd and 3rd percentiles for anything, but we are ecstatic that the boys are finally on the the growth chart for weight. Today was our 12 month appointment and the doctor was pleased with their recent weight gain. In just the last few weeks they have really packed it on. Today's stats:

Matt
18 lbs. 4.5 ounces
29 inches long

Will
18 lbs. 10.5 ounces
28.5 inches long

Typically at this age we would wean them off formula and onto whole milk, but our ped suggested we continue to use formula for another 3-6 months. This is what went through my head as he dropped that bomb- 3 1/2 cans of formula per week x $26.00 per can x and additional 12-24 weeks = holy-cow-that's-a-lot-of-darn-money!

There are many, many benefits to breastfeeding but let me tell you just a couple:
1. You save lots of money
2. You don't have to wash bottles

I'm pretty sure I'll come to terms with spending all of that money on formula, because after all I have a sugar daddy. Unfortunately my sugar daddy doesn't wash bottles, so that means my hands will be cracked and bleeding for another 3-6 months.

Holding Matt

May 5, 2006 was the first day I held Matt. He was 10 days old. Before that day came, I distinctly remember feeling an overwhelming need to hold him. It was hard on me to be able to go in and do kangaroo care with Will while Matt laid in his bed. Apparently the responsibility of being a parent to twins was already weighing heavily on me.

I have a feeling that someday we will be talking to our grown boys about the first 5 weeks of their lives and I'll slip up and mention that we first held Matt a full 5 days after we held Will. I can already hear the bantering that will ensue, and those 5 days will explain away everything that Matt did wrong throughout his whole life.

Weekend

The boys have been on a weight gain diet for the last few weeks since I discovered at Matt's last appointment that he still had not hit 17 pounds. I started pumping them full of formula until they were taking five 8 ounce bottles a day. I have a feeling it's paying off, but we'll find out tomorrow at their one-year check up. Since they've been drinking so much formula, we've noticed that they are also sleeping much better. We now put them down around 7:30pm and they don't wake up until 6:30 or 7:00 the next morning. For the last few days they've also taken a nap- something they rarely did in the first year. It is so nice to finally be on some sort of schedule.

Check out some photos from this weekend. Matt is on the left in each picture. I totally did not plan on Will matching Chris today, but we both got a chuckle out of it.

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia

I cannot tell you the number of discussions that my on-line twin mom buddies and I have had about Miss Marcia Cross. I'm sure she's a very nice person, but she's really starting to irritate me. So, Marcia if you are one of the 3 people who actually read my blog, I'm just going to apologize now.

Are you out of your mind? Are your hormones unbalanced? Are you feeling as though you must live up to Bree Van De Camp standards? Do you wish to make enemies of every twin mom in the country?

I'm still trying to get over the whole People magazine article. You know, the one where you made this remark... "Earlier in the day, Tom was dancing with Eden... we put on some Tchaikovsky and they were dancing to Swan Lake. That was just so (insert deep contented sigh) beautiful."

And this comment regarding bed rest... "I thought I might as well learn something so I got some books on tape- ancient Greek civilization, something on the symphony, Middlemarch."

Oh and remember this one... "I think we both feel happy that we're so prepared and have lived enough and been through enough that parenthood seems relatively easy."

Gosh my experiences have been so similar. Seriously, we could be BFF!

I can't tell you the number of times I have hoarsely sung "5 Little Monkeys" to a screaming baby in the middle of the night while we paced the floors, uh I mean "danced" together.

I didn't have time to listen to ancient Greek civilization books on tape while I was on hospital bedrest. I was too busy making my 30 minute round trip to the bathroom every hour. It's quite a chore to roll yourself out of bed and unhook 12 monitors, leads, pumps and plugs and then drag your IV pole across the room and back and hook yourself back up. The other 30 minutes of every hour was spent listening to the "thud, thud, thud, thud" of two babies' heartbeats and watching my contractions peak on the monitor. Oh, butI did watch the Price is Right every day- you can learn a lot from that show.

I'm kind of at a loss for the "parenthood seems relatively easy" comment. Are you sure you are a mom? To twins? Who are only a few months old?

Today you were on The View. I only caught about a minute of your interview. Unfortunately it was the minute in which you bragged about losing 40 pounds in 2 weeks. I'll admit I was feeling pretty impressed with myself after having Matt and Will, but soon the reality of caring for two babies set in and the pounds came piling on. My problem was that my publicist, nanny, personal chef and trainer were all on vacation and couldn't stop me from putting the chocolate into my mouth every minute I was awake. Did I tell you that I was awake at least 20 hours everyday for 11 months? That's a lot of chocolate!

Marcia, one day your nanny will call in sick, your husband will be out of town, and you will realize that you are alone and responsible for two beings who prefer to communicate their needs with loud, irritating voices. My advice to you? Don't bother dancing to Tchaikovsky, don't call upon your knowledge of ancient Greek civilization, just grab those darlings, pace the floor and sing "5 Little Monkeys" 100 times. I promise it works every time.

Wednesday Smackdown

Matt and Will might make a great tag team wrestling duo someday; they'll have perfected all their moves on one another. A few times a week we have a smackdown. Typically one is the instigator and the other is his unwilling partner. Today Will came out on top and enjoyed wearing the featherweight champion diaper for the day. I have a feeling Matt is dreaming of ways to reclaim the title at the next match up. Stay tuned.

Holding Will

May 1, 2006 was the first day I held Will. He was 6 days old and it was only for a couple of minutes while his nurse changed his bedding. I wish I could find the picture. I'm awkwardly holding him as if he's on a serving platter. The wires, tubes and IV's limit how far I can raise him, but I do my best to get as close to him as possible. He cried when I picked him up after leaving the warmth of his heated bed, but soon he settled down and fell back to sleep.

Here's a photo of Will and Chris from that same day.