Christmas Joy and Travel Hell

The girls had their first Christmas!!! For the most part, they didn't notice it....They were a little overwhelmed by the concept of opening presents so we didn't open too many. But they enjoyed the food, they loved the LeapFrog table they got from Gram and Sam and the piano they got from my mother and Papa Chris. They enjoyed Christmas mass but only because we bounced to the choir music : )

The next morning we had a 6:55 am flight out of OAK to SLC. OAK after Christmas is always a disaster and every year I figure they'll figure it out. Well they didn't. We arrived an hour and a half early only to find a 2 hour baggage check in line (I'm NOT joking) followed by a 40 minute security line. We bribed a guy to check our bags in which gave us just enough time to get to the plane in time to watch it take off. Total nightmare. (but our bags made it...even worse!) So now we have to fly out of SJC through Reno the NEXT DAY. I honestly can't believe we are actually going to do this! And I am starting to feel sick. But we keep saying that we love to travel and we want to learn to do it with kids, so I guess we're going for it...

More pics of Xmas to come...

(ps. I fell into the same terrible habit of saving as draft all these entries and now i'm trying to catch up... it always sucks when I do this because I can't remember the things I originally wanted to write about...NY resolution to stop doing this!)

December

Second doctor trip in a week. Dylan has an ear infection and bronchialitis. It has been a real bummer to have the girls be so sick the two weeks leading up to Christmas. At least they are so little that they don't really know that they are missing Christmas.

It has been a rather "hectic" holiday season for several reasons--sickness, works has been getting busier, and the girls have not been sleeping. All in all, I would say this has been a lesson in how NOT to handle the holiday season. Luckily this year can kind of be a 'trial run.' Next year I am determined to set aside time to really help c&d experience the holidays--from baking cookies to going to see xmas lights to buying ornaments.

Holy Sh%t!

We're a family of four!! This fact never ceases to amaze me.

99% of the time it makes me giddy with happiness. 1% of the time I look at things that say "The Dodsons" and I feel like June Cleaver. I know you aren't supposed to admit this as a mother, but every once in a while I look back wistfully on things I used to be able to do. I think it might be the rain...it makes me really miss Paris. (And I know, this sounds obnoxious) Anyway, my theory is that if I didn't miss some of it, I must have had a lame ass life before, so the fact that I now miss some of it is only a good thing! And besides, I wouldn't trade ANY of my life right now for all the shoes in Paris : )

Things I love

Things I love:
Dylan
---How wiry she is... there isn't a person who has held her who hasn't said something like "she is so strong for such a little thing" or "man she is a mover."
---How she sticks her tongue out at herself when I put the car seat in the car and she sees herself in the mirror I put up to view them.
---How she gets so excited to see Andrew that if I'm holding her she tries to literally move my head out of the way to get to him (she hasn't quite figured out that it is attached to my body).
---That she makes the most bizarre, gutteral noises when excited.
---That she often lays on her back and thrusts her pelvis upward continuously, enough to kinda freak Andrew out and make him sing "Do the Humpty Dance..."

--How when she eats she often moves her bib around to be more of a cape, so we call her "Super D!"
Charlotte
---That she always wants to be held, but once held she wants to use you as her lookout, to enable her to see all things new and interesting.
---That when she sees her lion animal blanket it is as if she is seeing her long lost best friend. She rolls on top of it onto our stomach and rocks her little butt back and forth in excitement.
---How her smile is more of a nose crinkle that lifts up her mouth.
---How her crawl reminds me of Kaiser Sose.
---How, when she eats, she gets a bit of a pirate's sneer her face--Andrew calls it the "arrrrrrgh" face.

Both of them

---Their two front teeth(s). They are coming in and you could drive cruise ships in between them. They might as well have $$ signs on them because they signal a LOT of orthodontia bills. --That they get so excited when I take them into the bakery they almost screech.

--How, when we turn music on, they start shaking their heads and kicking their legs back and forth....REALLY quickly.

--That sometimes when I'm breastfeeding them they reach out and hold each other's hands. (sorry for the visual)

---That often when I carry one into a room that the other is already in, they get huge grins on their faces. They are smiling not at me, but at each other. It is worth every stress over already having two 529s.

My husband.

--I feel kinda weird writing about him. I can gush over my kids but somehow I feel like I'm not supposed to gush over my husband. I swear I'm not saying this to make up for something bad I did (he doesn't read this blog anyway). But seriously, he kicks ass on so many levels that sometimes I can't believe he married me. I am constantly amazed by his ability to manage his work, family, friends, etc. He is so good at prioritizing---both in terms of what he needs to get done but also what is important. If anything, sometimes I think he handles it so well that those of us closest to him don't realize how much he's got going on and we don't support him enough. Sometimes I want to kill him, but mostly I want to thank whomever I'm supposed to thank for sending him to me.

And to make matters worse...

I keep getting the cutest cards from people...I turn them over to see where they ordered them, and they MADE them OR used OFOTO (and they look freakin' great!!) They made these beautiful cards w/ great pictures, and I can't even manage to figure out how to use my printer. I am so screwed.

What the hell was I thinking...

We never send out christmas cards....a lot of effort and Andrew always balks at the cost... but now that we actually have munchkins to show off I told Andrew there was no way I wasn't sending out cards this year.

So I found some I liked, but they were a little pricey. Andrew keeps saying "Ofoto, just do ofoto"... and my answer of course was "All my friends send these beautiful cards, not ofoto." And Andrew's answer is always "Have you seen where your friends live? We're in a slightly different income bracket." So a few weeks ago I'm in paper source and I run into Ashley...the mother of Frances and Olivia....she's putting together her own cards. The materials are beautiful and the cost is minimal given how great they look. I think to myself "She has twins AND she's a doctor full time. If she can do it, I can do it."

Should have considered two things. 1). I SUCK AT ART, PROJECTS, CRAFTS, ETC. It falls right after cooking for me. and 2) My computer is broken therefore printing all these things will be a huge pain because my current loaner doesn't hook up to the printer.

And even worse, I don't have a great picture to use. The best I have is one of the 4 of us, and I really just wanted one of the girls but I don't have a one in which they are both smiling.

So if you think you'll be getting a card from me this year, don't hold your breath. Maybe around Valentine's Day. : )

(Pictures are of the girls getting themselves in "tight spots" too... Dylan halfway under the changing table and charlotte underneath the ottoman...but laughing because i'm standing right over her).

Sick Again...

Both girls are sick again, this time with a typical cold. Their noses keep them from sleeping which doesn't help them get better. It is hard to be a little munchkin and sick. Dylan in particular acts like I am subjecting her to cruel and unusual punishment when I try to blow/wipe her nose. It has also been raining a lot which really cramps our style (though they don't mind the rain shield on the stroller).

Charlotte is crawling! It is more of an under-the-wire navy seal maneuver, with the right side strongly favored, but it moves her forward so it counts! I know that A) it is a great sign developmentally, and B) neurologically it is better for her to crawl. So yeah! Of course, our lives are about to COMPLETELY change.

Above is a pic of Charlotte, Olivia, Dylan, and Frances. This is at Frances and Olivia's first birthday party. Frances and Olivia had an even tougher time than the munchkins did making it into this world, so to celebrate their birthday was so much fun! Ashley and Andrew are friends of a college friend of mine (his wife and Ashley went to Georgia together) and they introduced us. They are great and I really love being able to swap suggestions/ideas/stories with Ashley. Ashley and Andrew are both residents at UCSF too, and thus my idols because they are managing everything so well. Their daughters are going to be so proud of their mother the doctor. (Sometimes I envy this... need to figure out what I need to do to make my daughters proud of what I do on a daily basis). Anyway, their party was great and I love seeing the girls together (I think they might be soul sisters...Dylan and Frances are both smaller and always on the move, where as Olivia and Charlotte are a little more chill. D and F were tinier at birth but O and C struggled a little more at birth). I also love that C & D don't look like fly-weights when they hang with Olivia and Frances!

It's Official

The munchkins clearly see Cardinal Red, not blue.

(ps. This was part of the Yankee Swap gift I put together for Parthenon's holiday party. It is a "surviving Andrew" kit..includes this framed pic, a Duke Sucks t-shirt,and a bottle of Grey Goose. Since they see more of him than I do I thought they needed it.... : ))

HP SUCKS

THEY...SENT...THE...WRONG...FREAKIN'...HARDDRIVE.

In other lovely news, we have taken the 'wedges' away from the ladies...what this means is that they now roll around the bed, screech across the cribs at each other, and generally crack themselves up instead of sleeping. Yesterday I went in to find Charlotte on her tummy, pulling down the bumper so she could see out through the slats of the bed, giggling. Dylan, on the other side of the room, is chirping away as she tries to throw one of her little legs over the side of the crib.

Thus the cribs are going to be lowered this weekend (which is why I've gotten VERY little sleep the past two nights, because the rolling around wakes them and then I'm convinced they will flip themselves out of the bed). Going to keep the bumpers in as long as possible....I might even try to discourage them from trying to pull themselves up. Why you ask? Because those bumpers are damn cute, and they weren't cheap! Taking them down will be like the end of an era (retro girl, at it again i know). So maybe stunting their development is worth keeping those cute little things up longer. At least I got gender neutral so I can trot them out again for subsequent munchkins regardless!

And just to give you an idea of how tired i've been lately, yesterday I broke down and took the girls to Whole Foods for the first time (taking them to grocery stores is not an easy task, but we have NO food). As I walked in (I should say steered the snap n go in) and started to go down my list I sort of absentmindedly grabbed one of the orange samples they had out... (i know, samples are germ centers, but i'm a snacker so I get over the germs). Oh, but not this time...because I realized after putting it in my mouth that I had grabbed from the wrong bowl...I had grabbed from the already eaten slices!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BLECK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I need more sleep. Really, I do.

Back to work. I'm actually cranking all day today on work things, and I have to admit that I'm really enjoying being 'working molly' for a full day (of course, this version of working molly hasn't even brushed her teeth yet, but whatever).

Exhausted

• Charlotte has been running a fever for the past few days. I think it is teething but who knows.
• I spent most of the night up with Charlotte on Saturday night.
• I can't get the girls to sleep past 5am, and I really don't have the energy anymore to let them cry. I've tried everything and their bodies still want to wake up at 5am. There is a HUGE difference between getting up at 6am every day and getting up at 5...trust me. I know we'll get them back to 6am eventually, but it will be a long time before I change more than one time zone again.
• Andrew has been working on a deal for almost a year and it is blowing up. He wants this deal to close very badly. I want this deal to close very badly. Citibank wants this deal to close very badly. He spent most of the weekend on the phone working.
• My mom got sick on Sunday and couldn't help take care of the girls for a few hours...I thought Andrew was going to cry when I told him.
• Our (Andrew's but I like to hear about it and swear I'll have more time next year to have a team) fantasy football didn't advance in the playoffs.
• Toxic saliva has effected the earpiece on my cell phone, making it difficult to hear people.
• My nanny had to cancel today, and the last minute nanny place I call is fully booked all week.
• We have andrew's office party this Saturday and my babysitter cancelled. I have no idea what we are going to do with the munchkins.
• But here's the real kicker. Our three week old HP Pavillion died this weekend. Imploded, exploded, died. Unreal. The hard drive is at Best Buy..we're hoping to recover the data. A new hard drive is on the way. My old computer died after getting the new one, so I am without a computer, and without a tech department to hand me one. I'm living on borrowed time even as I write this, but the past few days have been so unbelievable I had to write it all down because I need to legitimize my fatigue.
• Amall's getting evicted after a month in her apartment in NYC. DR is losing her nanny. They still beat me, but I'm putting in a good run for third place for "whose life doesn't really suck, but is really a big pain in the ass right now."

Plastics

Yesterday we went to the plastic surgeon to check out Dylan's skin tag...she has a skin tag at the base of her tailbone...she had a ton of tests when she was first born because skin tags are rare in that area and can point to major spinal problems. Thankfully, it turned out to be just a skin tag. It was how she was originally identified relative to her sister because other than size it is the only thing different about them. I could have left it on her, but truthfully, it was not how I wanted them to be differentiated, and it reminded me a bit of Jason Alexander in Shallow Hal. My daughter was not going to be teased about having "a mini-tail." Never.

So it just so happens that there is a great plastic surgeon next to my ped's office, so last time I was in a made an appointment. We go in yesterday and the doctor takes a quick look and says he can remove it right then and there. No anesthesia needed ...he said it would hurt more than just clipping it off. So I held the wiry miss Dylan long enough for him to snip it off. She cried about 5 seconds and then was fine. I had a moment of panic because I thought "If they end up the same size and then something happens to me, who will tell them apart?" (Andrew assures me he will).

As the doctor leave he looks directly at me and says "If there is anything else I can do for you just let me know." Given that there weren't any other obvious skin tags on my daughter, it was pretty clear he meant ME. (I guess he figured, if you are vain enough to bring your 10 month old in to remove a skin tag, you must be vain enough to consider plastic surgery). And yes, maybe I am. And clearly he saw that there were things that need fixing (my stomach is still about two inches further out than it was 2 years ago, and my rack has definitely dropped half a floor). So I took the bait, and he told me all about the breast lifts, tummy tucks, body lifts, etc that he does for mothers, his "biggest clients." And So Dr. Bermudez, we'll see you again after I have my last kid : )

ps. The pic above was part of an attempt to get a Xmas card picture..unfortunately Charlie wanted nothing of it. Complete strangers were coming up, trying to make them laugh, taking pictures of them (which happens kind of a lot, and i try not to freak out about it). Nothing doing, Charlotte sat there like a buddha while dylan mugged for the camera. so we'll try again this weekend i guess.

Heading towards the holidays

As we get closer to the holidays I find myself really thinking about last year. Much like I dealt with the death of my father, I find that some of the emotions that I had about this time last year are actually coming out of me this year because in some ways I'm reliving what I couldn't face at the time. The difference between this and the death of my father was that this had a happy outcome.

By "this" I guess I mean my pregnancy. I didn't expect to have the pregnancy that I ended up having...I thought I was going to be miss-fit-pregnancy, not miss-bedrest-pregnancy. I have a hard time remembering any thoughts of "what will they be like" during the pregnancy because most of my time was spent wondering "would they even BE?" 24-28 weeks was the worst because I knew they could survive but they could have major problems/complications. Anyway, I don't think I can explain myself very well other than to say that lately when I go out on a run I burst into tears midway through the run--I think I'm both overjoyed by my life and allowing myself to remember a little of the fear that gripped me for so many months.

About the only thing that makes me sad is that so much of the girls first months of life are a blur. I think I was truly in shock. Some of my most distinct memories are very odd...I remember bringing colostrum to the NICU about the third night I was there, and hobbling in to find Dylan naked and laying on a very cold scale. A very petite nurse was weighing her, and I remember thinking how odd it was that this thing, my baby, this scrawny little thing who previously was with me 100% of the time, was doing things I didn't even know about... Sometimes I wonder if we lost a lot of bonding during those weeks in the NICU (and for this reason I loathe Dr. Sears because he basically makes preemie moms, and twin moms, feel as if they are never going to bond with their babies). But I have no right to complain about anything because I could not be more lucky today.

So why is this all coming out of me now? Well like I said, mainly because it was about a year ago that things got dicey. But I think it is also because I have been reading a fellow NICU mom's blog again lately. One of her amniotic sacs broke during her amnio, and she spent 10 weeks on bedrest before she went into labor at 26+ weeks. She delivered two beautiful daughters but only one of them survived. The surviving twin has a lot of complications, one of the main one being that she vomits all the time. My friend Mackenzie read her blog after I told her about it, and in an amazing gesture she offered to donate breast milk (the mother had stopped pumping before realizing that breastmilk was the best thing for her daughter). Mackenzie really started the donation trend, and recently I was able to give some of my own milk. (It feels like the end of an era because I now have freezer shelves filled with something other than frozen breastmilk). Anyway, I have been reading her blog and so much of what she experienced I did as well (willing your body to keep your babies in, being frightened, not excited, to be wheeled in for delivery, being wheeled into the NICU to see your babies in the isolettes) and yet our outcomes are so different. I read her blog because I want to keep up on how her daughter is doing, but I also read it because she is the strongest, most amazing mother I have ever seen and I can only hope to be half as good. I only wish that she didn't have to be a role model to the rest of us. This is her story if you'd like to read it.

I have been asked to join her preemie mom's group here in Marin and I have mixed feelings. I feel guilty because in general my babies are fine, and our "followup" is minimal compared to hers and several of the other mothers. At the same time, I know that I "get it" more than most mothers will... I know how often people say things that are insensitive to me, and so I can only imagine what some of these other women have to put up with... So I think I'm going to go, if only because I can understand 1/100th of what these women are going through.

I know, I'm rambling and I'll stop. I just spend so much of my time in awe of these two little things rolling around my house, and I can't imagine having gone through such hell only to suffer even more later. I promise not to go on and on about my pregnancy anymore, but I have been thinking about these things a lot lately and I just had to get them out.

November

Wow, has this month gone by in a blur. I have started a very bad habit--I start a blog entry and then save it as draft to finish later, but then I end up w/ several posts to finish and I never think I have enough time to actually finish them at one sitting so then days and even weeks go by. I'm going to end that habit right here--which might means that I end up w/ more hodge podge posts like the one I'm about to write, but whatever.

---It seems that we get sick in this household one person at a time--spaced far enough apart to make it really painful. First Charlotte started throwing up on Friday, then she gets a fever Fri/Sat. She seems to be getting better and then threw up again on Monday. Dylan started the same cycle on Tuesday, which lasted up until yours truly got sick upon my arrival in Houston. I hate when they are sick because it is really hard to give one the attention she needs without neglecting the other. I know, I know, I'm whining.

--We had professional photos of the girls taken last month.... I love all the pics of the girls... I hate the family pics but I'm ok w/ that because I didn't even think we'd take any.. I didn't even wash my hair that morning, and it SHOWS.

--We just got back from a week in Houston for Thanksgiving. Andrew's mother, in an act of grandmother sainthood, flew out here to California for one night just to fly back with me and the girls the next day. She was a total trooper and more than earned the title of SuperGram. Andrew flew out a few days later to join us. The week was very fun, but exhausting, as I am learning that holidays w/ babies are (read: not a lot of time to watch football). But here are some highlights:

• The girls got to hang with their cousins Ainsley and Hayes. Ainsley is much more interested in babies who don't actually LIVE with her, so she was very, very sweet to her cousins. She kept saying things like "I want to take pictures with the chubby one" or "I want to take pictures with the purple one (Dylan had on purple socks)." Hayes is 15 days older than the girls (actual age) and about 15 pounds heavier (no, I'm not kidding). '


• The girls got a lot of time with Gram and Sam. In fact, they got so much attention that they are sort of looking at me this week like "it's JUST you? this sucks!"


• The girls met Hokey Pokey Elmo...he's about their height and spins around...a big hit w/ both of them. They also met most of andrew's high school friends...Nicky is a little bigger than Hokey Pokey Elmo and also has red hair, so he was a big hit too : )
  
• The girls met Jill and the absolutely beautiful Avery. The only real disappointment of the week was that I came down with a fever after I got there and couldn't spend Monday with Jill and Avery as planned. We didn't even get a picture of the three girls which breaks my heart. I'm hoping it becomes an excuse to see each other again very soon.

Being in Houston was great but it did make Andrew and I appreciate living where we do (more urban vs. suburban). We are so lucky to live two blocks from just about everything we need... with two babies getting in and out of the car is a big pain, and where we live I rarely have to do it. So it made us really happy that we haven't gone suburban yet (although now i'm really freaked out about preschool because i applied to more Mill Valley than SF places and now I'm worried they won't get in anywhere...isn't that RIDICULOUS that it is so hard to get your kid into freakin' preschool!?)

In other news:

--Charlotte and Dylan are REALLY starting to get fun. They are starting to make each other laugh and it is really more entertaining than I can even describe. We'll be driving and we'll hear chuckling, and we'll look back and the two of them are leaning forward to look around their car seats and laugh at each other. The other day Dylan tried to roll around and kept rolling into Charlotte...Charlie thought it was the funniest thing and just kept laughing and laughing. They love to look across each other in the exersaucers and laugh, smile, or scream. I think they are finally figuring out that they are in fact two separate people... anyway, I could go on and on about what a thrill it is to be around them these days.

--Charlotte and Dylan are becoming, as far as I can see, very good eaters. I have been trying to make more food for them and give them more 'real people' food. I don't know if I have a philosophy on food other than that I want them to be open to a lot of different things, and I've read that you need to introduce them to things before they are one or else they may end up with very bland taste. The problem is that I SUCK as a cook...really, it bums me out how much I suck. So even though there have been several disasters I have managed to cook and puree up a few things. In the past week C and D have eaten: chicken pieces, beef pieces, beets, kale (dylan not a huge fan, but charlotte liked it!), petrale (white fish), clementines, tortillas, peas with curry and cumin, and raspberries. They have also eaten a boatload of Cheerios (a must-have for the airplane) and a lot of croissant (blame Gramma Peggy who loves to see them kick and scream when she walks in the bakery). They now eat WAY more things than their father. (Now I do pat myself on the back a little for giving them these things, but I also have to admit that I give them vanilla teething biscuits more often than I should...but that is the cookie lover in me...I just can't help myself).

--I have been struggling w/ my professional/personal balance a bit. More on that later....

PS. I know, I'm so pathetic that I don't have better pictures from Thanksgiving. These pics were very nicely taken by my sister-in-law Ali. There were in fact pictures taken of all the dodson kids, but just not on my camera...I'll post as soon as I get them.

Wedding Bells

My brother Daniel got married on Saturday, November 11th in San Mateo. Charlotte decided to ring in the wedding weekend by throwing up first thing Friday morning. So we had a sick Charlotte for the wedding weekend, but Andrew's parents came out to take care of the girls for the weekend which helped a lot. The wedding was very pretty, Andrea looked beautiful, and a good time was had by all. Here is a pic of the 4 of us at the beginning of the reception (Dylan is w/ Andrew). Poor Charlotte was getting over a fever so she looks a little dazed (and no, my ribbon doesn't match my dress--i bought the wrong color--and yes, my face is absurdly shiny). I really should stay out of all family pics because I inevitably hate how I look--maybe that is why it essentially took me two years to order wedding pics.

Innocent

Charlotte and Dylan went to the pediatric cardiologist on Wednesday. Dr. Nikola Tede was very nice to get them in to see her. (I love that we were referred to a woman. If I have my way the girls will only see female doctors. I will consider myself a successful mother if one day one of them says to me "Mommy he can't be a doctor. He's a MAN.")

The girls have "identical heart murmurs" according to Dr. Tede. Most importantly, they are "innocent" as far as she can tell. We'll go back in a year to check again, but for now we can be pretty confident that they are murmurs common to infants and that they will eventually go away.

Once again, we feel incredibly blessed that the girls seem to be doing so well. We are worried that Dylan is so small but we are going to simply monitor her weight for the time being.

Happy Halloween!!

Round two and three of our Halloween festivities involved three things...


First, we went to the NICU Halloween Reunion party. It was great to see Shannon, our favorite nurse, who is expecting a boy on my birthday. Unfortunately, we didn't see any other of our favorite nurses, but it was great to see a lot of healthy kids running around. In some ways it was once again a reminder of how lucky we are... even though for us those six + weeks were very significant, for many of the nurses we were just a blip on their radar screen. I mean this in the nicest way--- I'm quite sure they remember the babies in there for 4 months much more than they remember us. It was definitely a nice milestone to hit though, and it was great because Andrew was going to be out of town on Halloween and this way he saw them in costume.

Second, we went to the Chestnut Halloween parade (the street near us). It was PACKED--I was glad I wasn't trick or treating with the girls at different stores because it would have taken FOREVER.

Finally, we went to Serena and Alec's for their annual Halloween party. They live in the BEST neighborhood for trick or treating--they get hundreds of kids trick or treating (I'm not exaggerating). In years past it was mostly a party for single people and couples--we'd drink and hand out candy. This year it officially shifted to a party for mostly 'families'.... we were all so busy taking care of our own kids that we sometimes neglected the trick or treaters---every once in a while you'd see a trick or treater roaming around looking for the candy bowl! The only hard part for me was that Andrew was out of town, and so most of the time I had to trade off putting one of the girls in the car seat on the floor while I held the other. It is times like that that I get a little sad that my daughters don't always have someone who can pick them up and hold them at all times if necessary. But all in all, a great first Halloween for charlotte and dylan!

And a Twin Shall Lead Them...

This past Friday we had 8 sets of twins (4 sets of identical girls!!) at our house for a twins playgroup. It was like a scene from the book "Barnyard Dance"---we had pigs, dalmations, cows, a cowboy, a cowgirl...it was mayhem. The Dodson girls actually had a last minute outfit change because it was @ 75 degrees out and their grandmother decided that it was way too hot for them to be in their original planned costumes. So we had two little ladies in tutus.

The party was in our backyard (a pretty little yard that makes me think of the little Italian family that grew up here when the Marina was full of Italian immigrants) which will, very sadly, soon by cemented over so the new owner's son can have a basketball court. Charlotte was so excited when it started that she could hardly contain her excitement. Unfortunately, when she gets that excited she sometimes starts to cry. So Charlotte got so excited to see all these kids, with her toys, OUTSIDE, that she started to cry. Charlotte crying made Dylan cry, so for awhile it was an "It's my party and i'll cry if i want to" playgroup. Luckily there were lots of twins parents and a grandmother around to hold them, and even Daddy was able to get off work early and make part of it.

Hearts Murmurs

The girls had their nine month check up today. Charlotte is 17lb, 6oz and Dylan is 15lb, 6oz, and they are both 26.5 inches long. They are still really short and small w/ big noggins (relative to others of their actual age). We are going to keep an eye on Dylan's weight (because she is in the 5th percentile for her age). We also confirmed that both Dylan and Charlotte have heart murmurs. The pediatrician is pretty confident that Charlotte's is an "innocent" heart murmur (benign). She cannot tell about Dylan. She thinks that if it were something really bad they would have definitely picked it up during the ecocardiograms she had (one fetal and at least one after she was born because of the single umbilical artery). "Worst case" as she described it would be a hole in the heart between the chambers, and this is something that could be repaired with surgery. It could also mean that she doesn't need surgery but would need to take antiobiotics when having dental work.

The cardiologist that the pediatrician referred me to is booked until Jan 3rd, but the nurse is going to get the files on the girls and show the doctors so that if they think we need to come in earlier we can figure something out. I would certainly prefer to go in earlier, but I also hope that they are not overly concerned about the girls based on the information my ped gives them.

I am of course worried, but I am relatively confident that anything really bad would have been picked up much earlier given all the tests Dylan had on her heart, spine (because of skin tag), etc. I still feel extremely lucky that the girls are as healthy as they seem to be, and I would do anything to keep them from having any health problems, ever.

Beach Bums

This is an indication of the weather we had the first few days in October. Then....

...the weather changed and it has been an absolutely gorgeous October. (More pics). The days are cloudless windless, and warm...making the area around the GGB crystal clear and amazing. The afternoons have been so beautiful that we are becoming regulars at the beach. The munchkins love it... especially all the dogs...Charlotte goes crazy watching the dogs on the beach. They also like all the other kids they get to see. And they are even starting to notice the birds. It is such a wonderful way to spend time with the girls that I don't even mind dealing with all of the sand that they manage to bring back with them (or eat).

I wish the weather were like this all the time because it really has been spectacular and I love being able to literally walk five blocks to take my daughters to the beach. Of course, if the weather were like this all the time there is absolutely no way we could even afford to rent an apartment in this city : )... so I guess I should welcome the fog (but I can't, because I love warm weather!)

Dylan and Charlotte: The Gangsta Years...

Don't they look like they are about to go rip off a pre-school? (btw, Dylan is holding their hands down, number one toy...they go CRAZY over it...) Andrew dressed them... we like to call it Dylan's "Johnny Cash" look.

I'll have what she's having....

Why we bother buying toys is beyond me... I'm learning the hierarchy of things that interest the munchkins and this is the basic order...

• Toys trump books.
• Sunglasses trump toys.
• Remote controls trump sunglasses.
• Cell phones trump remote controls.
• Your sister's feet trump cell phones.
• A blackberry might trump all of these if they could ever get their hands on it.
• And anything your sister is holding trumps anything you already have in your hand.
• And yes, sometimes I give them the cell phone or the remote to play with in desperation. Twins trump singletons and give their mothers an excuse for doing things they shouldn't...mothers of triplets probably let their kids play with knives...

My Hometown

People who don't live in the Bay Area often say to me "How can you live there, it is so ridiculously expensive?" or "It is never warm in San Francisco, it is always foggy." I agree on both accounts, and there is a decent chance that Andrew and I will move away from here eventually (because yes, it is absurdly expensive). But for right now there is nowhere else I would want to be. And here is why:

• It is beautiful. Life is too short not to live in a place that is beautiful. I get inspired every time I go for a run because I get to run out on the water by the bridge. On beautiful days it is breathtaking.
• Ten years ago I lived in Austin and spoke to my family about twice a month (Ok, granted, I was psycho at the time, but still). Last week I got to go to see the As in a playoff game (and yes, it was ugly) with my brother, while my mother watched my daughters. Some of my first memories are going to As games with my family, and I can't wait to take the girls to games.
• This week my aunt came to take the girls out for a walk and Chris came by and took them to the park. It is to so nice to have the break and the help, and so nice that the girls have so many people around to shower love on them.
• This past weekend was Fleet Week and the sky was filled with jets. We saw the Blue Angels perform on Saturday and Sunday in crystal clear skies. When I hear the jets (which were not that sweet during naptime) I can't help but play the Top Gun song in my head, and when I see them cross through the Golden Gate I want to yell "I see blue smoke!" And I want to tell people that real estate in San Francisco is expensive, but so much of what we love to do here is not.

The only downside is that it makes me realize how hard it must be for Andrew to be away from his hometown. To Andrew they say "Houston, it is so hot!" or "It is so ugly!" And Andrew just responds with "Yes, both are true, but it was a great place to grow up." I wish we could find a way to live in both of our hometowns somehow...

Is This As Good As It Gets?

I have already mentioned that I am often too concerned with the future. So in general, my answer to the above question has always been "No... better is yet to come!" There has always been the next big thing in life to look forward to...when you are in high school it is college, after college it is making it on your own...then there is getting married....etc. We also had a few years in there where so much happened it was crazy...business school, wedding, amazing trips...so no matter how much I was enjoying myself I had a feeling that even better stuff was yet to come.

Then I had two babies, and the thing is, no matter how great other parts have my life have been, I'm pretty sure that this is as good as it gets. Now don't get me wrong, there is a lot in my life that is NOT glamorous right now, but I mean fundamentally, THIS is the last "big thing" in my life. Which has me both happy and sad. Happy because I feel so lucky that I have made it this far in life to be able to experience motherhood, and because it is everything I thought it would be and probably more. Sad because I think it might be all downhill from here. I know people say "oh it only gets better." And I believe them, to a point. The next 10 years should be fantastic. But then what happens? I keep asking my mother what it is like to have grown up kids, and she keeps saying "oh, I have liked my children more at every age."

You know what? I call bullshit on that. That just isn't possible. I understand that they get cuter as they talk and whatever, but then they learn to TALK BACK. And just comparing me to my daughters... when my mother walks in the room, I don't smile, screech, and kick my feet. I don't laugh at my mother when she is singing silly songs or making goofy faces. My clothes aren't little and cute and I don't get all excited when I hear "Hickory Dickory Dock." I am often critical of my mother (she claims that at 2 years old I looked at her and said "mama I love you even though you have that big ugly mole on your face"---she got it removed the next week and I guess I've never stopped giving her my opinion since) and I certainly don't kick my legs when she walks in the room. So I'm pretty sure this is as good as it gets.

Now I should probably take another look at my life and realize that there are things I've given up or put on the back burner that someday I will really enjoy picking up again... a solid attempt at a good career, dressing up and going out on weekends, running marathons (let's just say "exercising"), blowing my hair dry more than once a month. These are things that I did like to do a lot and one point and so I'm sure I'll look forward to them again. But I don't know...maybe it is my fear that some of those things I couldn't get back even if/when I want them... ie. could I ever make up what I might be losing career-wise right now, will I ever be in that good of shape again, will I ever actually feel like a bad ass again when I'm all dressed up (and yes, occasionally I felt that way). I said to andrew the other night after going out w/ a bunch of single people "I'm having a hard time getting used to the fact that I'm not even remotely cool anymore." So maybe I worry that I either won't want or won't be able to get some of these other things back someday. Fair enough.

But maybe it is just that I see things like the picture above...little shoes on the floor, a short little jacket hanging on the doorknob, a stuffed animal in our bed, an elephant washcloth in the tub... and I know that I can't stop this prescious phase in my life from eventually passing (other than having a lot more kids, and while I'm working on Andrew on this one I'm not sure how many kids one can handle and live in the bay area). And it honestly makes me want to both shout for joy and cry at the same time. So call me corny, but I'm going to continue to lament that someday it will be over, because at least that way I can't be accused of not recognizing how good I had it when I had it. (And for the record, I think my mother likes me a lot more now that I've had Charlotte and Dylan... : ))

18 Hours Away

On Saturday night Andrew and I flew to LA for Jason and Julie's wedding celebration party--the first night I have been away from the girls since they escaped the NICU.

My mother used to say that she didn't worry when we flew as a family because then "no one would be left behind" if something happened. I remember thinking "god mom, that is sooo selfish" but now I totally get what she means. You of course want your children to be safe, but you also want to know that someone will be there to take care of them. Anyway, so I hated the flying part of it but it was nice to be away for a bit. Unfortunately I still woke up at 5am because I'm so used to it, but it was nice to have a little PT with Andrew.

I've been told that I was drunk...but I really only remember feeling drunk at the end (so let's just say I remember 'the end' as a rather short part of the night...whether or not this is true I choose not to find out). But I do remember that the party was great...it was great to see Julie (she looked beautiful) and Jason so happy, and it was fun to see the Texas crew. However, there is a reason I don't bring cameras to events that involve my trilogy friends...EVIDENCE.

Oh, and apparently the airlines don't let you bring breast milk as a carry on unless you have "a baby" as proof... how ridiculous is that??!! My heart goes out to mothers who travel for work... that sucks.

Maddox WHO??

Thanks to Tom and Alexis for sending these adorable onesies!!! (And Jason and Julie for the oh-so-hip pants!) They looks so grownup I half expect them to open their mouths and tell me I'm "so not cool."

Sisters

I think you feel warm Dylan. Let me see if you have a fever.
Hmmm... this is a nice dress you are wearing. Let me see how it tastes....















GET....OFF....MY......DRESS!!

And no, I didn't let Charlotte kick Dylan in the head.

And here is a video of the girls laughing as we bounce them on the bed...this one is Dylan laughing the most.

Aloha

So last week the Dodson family went to Hawaii for five nights. (pics) We used my (and I want everyone to know they are MINE because I may never rack up that many starwood points or be Platinum again) Starwood points to go to the Princeville on the north shore of Kauai. Kauai is as beautiful as I remembered, but it does rain a lot. The hotel was great given that it was free, although it was a bit 'tired'... We found out that they are turning it into a St. Regis next year and now we understand why. Random thoughts on the trip:

• I think we were a little naive. I brought a ton of sunblock for Andrew and myself... But when was I really going to just sit out in the sun? As a result I am still butt white...sucks. Next time I would try for a room closer to the pool so we could sit outside while the girls were napping.
• I feel like a terrible mother for giving my daughters Benadryl before the flight, but it did help. I figure if I only give it to them for flights of 5 hours or more or time changes over two hours then I am not a bad mother drugging her daughters, I am a good mother helping my children to deal with popping ears and hopefully to learn to love to travel (love of skiing, travel, football, golf, and Astros baseball are things that are important to at least one of the Dodson parents... I bet you can guess which one doesn't matter to me as much..And I only want them to love golf so that they don't become golf orphans :)) Yes, I know, I'm totally trying to justify doing.
• The girls HATE to sleep at night in places they don't know. This SUCKS for mom and dad.
• The girls LOVE to swim.
• Dylan ADORES her Daddy. Charlotte loves her Daddy too, but she also shows a lot of love for ANYONE who gives her the attention she feels that she deserves. (Charlotte couldn't figure out why everyone on the plane didn't smile at her the entire time). Dylan doesn't look at anyone else when Andrew is in the room. If he is pushing the stroller she flips her head back so that she can watch him. Even Andrew said "she is mildly obsessed with me, isn't she?"
• Charlotte does NOT like driving around windy roads in Kauai. This was not that sweet.
• Charlotte and Dylan like to go on hikes.
• Charlotte and Dylan find the TVs in airplanes fascinating. We would walk up and down the aisle with them and they would follow a tv all the way until it was right above them and their necks were craned back. Then they would give up, look ahead, and an "oh my god, there's another TV!" look would cross their faces, and they would repeat the cycle all the way down the aisle. It was really entertaining to watch.
• Oceanside massages feel REALLY good, and are nice gifts for your husband to give you even after you say repeatedly that you "don't need any spa treatments."
• Bringing grandparents along when you are traveling with two 8 month olds is a very good idea.

All in all a good trip, great to have Andrew around so much even if he did have to work, and charlotte and dylan get cuter EVERY day. Tonight I thought they both had hairballs or something caught in their throats because they were coughing as I fed them. Then I realized they were doing it on purpose...It was a new noise for them. I started imitating them and they laughed themselves silly. At least the coughing is a little less (but not by much) messy than Dylan's other trick--giving my raspberries while I try to feed her. It's like being misted with pureed fruits and veggies.

Thank you Sameer and LJ

Babies require a lot o' Stuff.

When we first started looking for 'stuff' it went like this....
Molly: "Andrew, I want the double snap 'n go stroller...it is not that expensive and we will need it for first 6+ months before we get a regular double stroller."
Andrew: "You don't know what you want (this sounds worse than it actually does when it comes out of his mouth). Let me show you what I think you want." (He shows me some big complicated stroller that in theory will work as our one stroller, but in reality would just suck all the way around).
Then a week later:
Andrew: "Uh, I did a little more research. I think you are right. We need the double snap 'n go to start."
You think? Really?

And thus began the process by which I started making almost all purchasing decisions. I bought the cribs, bumpers, stroller, high chairs, etc. on my own. I asked Andrew for his opinion sometimes but then just made the final purchase. Sometimes this stressed him out, and sometimes he acted like he could have made a better purchase, or maybe I had spent too much, or whatever. But then a wonderful thing happened...

LJ got pregnant. And every time we have called them for the past few months I hear Sameer saying to Andrew "We're shopping for more baby gear, you know how it is..." to which Andrew replies "totally man." Then he gets off the phone and I look at him and say "No you don't know how it is." And then he thinks about it and says "You're right, and THANK YOU." So Sameer has helped Andrew realize that sometimes having your wife spend a little more than you'd like on a purchase is well worth not having to actually be involved in the purchase itself. Now Andrew stays involved in the stuff he likes---anything technology-related and anything he'll use a ton (like the large ottoman)---and he generally leaves me alone for the rest of it. It's like a 10% TAX that he is willing to pay in a manner of speaking. So THANK YOU SAMEER for allowing me to actually get "credit" for not involving Andrew in these purchases : )

Oh, and the other benefit? LJ now knows everything there is to know about every piece of baby gear out there...even things she doesn't need yet like double strollers? So I returned my copy of Baby Bargains and now I just call LJ when I need to research a product. It is AWESOME.

Report Card

The munchkins had their 6 month (adjusted age) developmental check up at the Whitney Clinic at the CPMC today. They saw a neurologist, a pediatrician, and a developmental specialist. They did very well which put big smiles on our faces. They are definitely behind verbally (the specialist said Charlotte was closer to 2 1/2 months than 6 months verbally, although she was tired and around strangers to understandably less verbal than usual) but given their development in other areas, and the fact that they are twins (multiples verbalize late), the doctors did not seem to be very concerned. It was very helpful for us to understand what to look for and how to help them reach certain developmental milestones. I think that, assuming they end up w/o any special needs, it is a wonderful lesson in celebrating your children's successes and not measuring them against anyone else. Size-wise the girls are still tiny but with large noggins. So far we have not been referred to any additional testing or therapy, which is a wonderful sign. They will be tested again at 15 months adjusted, although the developmental specialist offered to visit us at home in a few months and I think we will definitely ask her to do so. And if you happen to see the girls anytime soon, please make lots of vowel sounds : )
We did find out that Dylan has a heart murmur, which we are really hoping sounds a lot scarier than it is.... we will talk to our ped. to determine if we need to see a cardiologist, but apparently in most cases with this type of heart murmur the children simply outgrow them. The murmur supposedly has nothing to do w/ the single umbilical artery in utero. Not a great thing to hear but we are hopeful that it will simply be something she outgrows over time.
Other than that we are recovering from our wild ride of sickness. Sickness and travel have caused a bit of a revolt in the sleep department and they are back to waking up once a night. Since I am by myself all but one night this week and then we go on vacation, I am sorta giving in and I figure that I will work on it post-hawaii. Andrew is slumming it at the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay for next three nights (which, it just occurred to me, is only 36 miles away, less than most people commute every day to work, but I digress). Sometimes I have to remind myself "He's not just having fun, he's working his *ss off"--literally, I say this to myself several times until the image of a heavenly bed disappears : ).
We are really excited for Hawaii, though I did have to break down and buy a swimsuit for it because I would look like Pam Anderson in my current suits...NOT FUN. I bought a one-piece for the first time in about 18 years. Anne Cole...I felt like such a MOM.

Now do these pictures look like these ladies have trouble verbally expressing themselves ? : )

Mmmm.....Cookies

I forgot to post these pics awhile ago of the girls eating cookies for the first time. Dylan LOVED them...she cried when I took it away. She also doesn't get that you have to move your hand to get more of the cookie, so she ends up kinda gnawing on her hands. Charlotte was more interested in what Dylan had in her hand than in actually eating her own cookie.

And the Hits Just Keep on Coming..

Do you ever have those weeks when you think "If this weren't happening to me I wouldn't believe me?" You are telling people things and you realize you don't even believe yourself it all sounds to ridiculous. OK, so maybe I'm being dramatic, but that is how these past two weeks have felt. I don't mean to complain, and I can't stand it when people always want to tell you how tough their lives are, but I think I have to at least list everything that has happened:

• Let me preface this by saying that my mother was out of town for the past few weeks at my sister's house, so I don't have my "please come help me" person.
• Let me say first that I started working for the first time since the girls were born. Not full time, but part-time consulting work that I mostly do from home. I have really wanted to get back to working and so this is a wonderful opportunity for me. So it's important that things don't go wrong. We'll get to the work stuff in another post.
• So about two weeks ago I get a bit of a cold. A few days later the girls get running noses too. No big deal, though a bummer because no mother around to help out extra.
• Then Kallie, the nanny, gets sick. She was planning to come more often over the past two weeks as I started to work. So two days where she can't come.
• Then we go to Colorado. Travel of any kind with two babies is a LOT of work, so this equates to more things to do. Very fun trip, although Dylan really struggled with bedtime in a strange place. But fun wedding, good to sam and gram and lots of our hbs friends, and definitely glad we went.
• We get home last Sunday night, tired. Monday we take it easy in the morning and I figure I'll start getting things done Monday afternoon/evening and Tuesday. I start feeling really sick. First it feels like pregnancy sick, which sorta freaked me out even though I knew that there was no chance in hell that could be it (I mean I'm still feeding TWO babies!) Maybe that was a good scare though because it made what came next seem less scary. What came next was not something anyone wants to read about, but the very basic idea is that I threw up 8 separate times in 8 hours. It was unreal.
• About halfway into it Andrew gets sick too. Do I need to remind you that we only have 1 bathroom? It was almost comical and I am so grateful to the girls for sleeping through most of it. We figure it must be food poisoning because it hit us at the same time and went through us pretty quickly.
• So Tuesday morning rolls along and Andrew cannot even get out of bed. I somehow manage to get out of bed just enough to try to take care of the girls, but I even had to break my rules and turn the TV on for a bit because I could barely stand up long enough to pick them up and had no ability to interact with them.
• Wednesday things seem to be looking up a bit. My mom is on her way home and I have Kallie all day Thursday to get things done. I am about to have my first business meeting on Thursday since becoming a mom and i am very excited.
• Thursday morning, 8am, Charlotte throws up for the first time IN HER LIFE. Two hours before I leave for my meeting. I'm such a clueless new mom I'm thinking "what bad timing" and "what a coincidence." I almost cancel my meeting, but then talk to Kallie and she makes a good point "it isn't the next three hours that are the big deal, it is 24 hours from now that you have to worry about." So I go to the meeting and Charlotte throws up once while I'm gone. I still figure that maybe she just had a bit of an upset stomach.
• I get home and, instead of checking various things off my lists, I take care of Charlotte while Kallie plays with Dylan because she has been a little neglected since Charlotte's been sick.
• Kallie leaves at 4pm. At 4:10 Dylan throws up in a major way, at 4:30 Charlotte does the same. I--FINALLY---clue in to the fact that this was not food poisoning but the flu, a flu I had now given to my little daughters. In desperation I call my mother who has just gotten home and is exhausted but of course, saint mother/grandmother that she is, she drives over even as I tell her that she might get sick (andrew is 2-3 hours away at best).
• My mother helps me get them down and I prepare for the night. I don't know what I thought I could do to prepare. Basically I had always wondered what would happen when they both got sick, and last Thursday I found out. Andrew and I got at BEST two hours of sleep while the poor little girls threw up all night long. They would cry and move about for about two minutes before throwing up, throw up everywhere, look really dazed, and then smile a few minutes later because they felt better. It was so sad.
• So the girls were sick until midway through Friday. I called Kallie as soon as I realized that it was the flu and apologized for exposing her, but she wasn't sick yet so we were hoping she had escaped it.
• Saturday morning my mother calls me, TOTALLY sick. Sunday morning Kallie calls me, TOTALLY sick. So now I get to start the next week off without a nanny, and this of course is totally my fault. I feel like my entire apartment should be quarrantined.
• And just to add insult to injury, I have had no dishwasher because half of my kitchen was w/o electricity, and then I find out that we have incredibly dangerous electrical circuit boards. Sweet.

I do not want to be one of those mothers who always tells you how tough their life is, but in this case I think I am allowed. The past two weeks have been a complete and utter DISASTER and I keep waiting for it to end. Andrew is gone all week and I am cranking to get some work done before Hawaii next week, so I'm REALLY hoping that this week starts to look up very soon. I just couldn't help but feel that the gods were conspiring against me just as I am trying to become a part-time 'paycheck mom'. I really do get satisfaction from working so I'm just going to have to fight through it. As Andrew says "well you know that this is the WORST it is going to get." At least I hope. I do not know how moms who work full time do it. My hats go OFF to them.

I know, I'm feeling sorry for myself and I shouldn't. I am of course incredibly grateful that the flu is the most sick my little girls have gotten since they left the NICU. Andrew was a champion husband this weekend (he always is really) and really helped pick up all the pieces that had fallen over the past two weeks. And we are incredibly excited for Hawaii!!

Here are pics of the girls, at the park again, in my favorite outfits...Cozy Splendid outfits that just make me want to hug them all day long. The other picture is taken outside the Discovery Museum two+ weeks ago, right before all hell broke loose (and yes, it is cold and the girls are dressed in little rompers, and yes, they are wearing each other's outfits...Daddy dressed them and we can't expect him to always remember whose is whose, and we know he is NEVER cold and assumes his daughters must not be either).

Summer in San Francisco

The first pic gives you some idea of how bad the weather has been in the past few weeks (ok, it hasn't been that cold, but I always think it will be that cold when I see all the fog). But seriously, I mean to look like this in August???? I hear Marin calling my name.

The other pics show the girls on the swing... they have definitely grown since the last time I put them in it. Taking the girls to the park by myself is a little scary because I have to leave one to put the other in or out of the stroller. I feel very safe in the park I go to but it still worries me. But they are really starting to enjoy the swing and watching the other kids so I'm sure we'll still visit often. I can only imagine what lies ahead when they start walking.

Still sick but feeling better. Now I just feel like a fat, mushy, lard because I haven't exercised in forever. With my mother and Kallie gone this week it would have been difficult enough...add the sick factor in and you get couch potato molly.

Parental regression

So I have a confession to make. I think I'm regressing back to childhood a bit. Maybe it is because I am sick, but there are a few of these 'baby' things I might like a little two much. Two examples:

---Baby food...I have to say that I LIKE it. Last night I topped off my dinner with a jar of Earth's Best mashed bananas. NO JOKE. Ok, maybe the real problem is that Andrew was working late and I didn't feel well enough to get to the store on Sunday, but still, the stuff isn't half bad. I mean really, who doesn't like pureed sweet potatoes??? mmmmmm.....good.

---Animal blankets. So we started to give the girls little animal blankets (half stuffed animal/half blankie) during sleep training. The ones I bought originally were cute but probably wouldn't stand the test of time (meaning 2 years of little girls trying to eat them, rub their faces in them, etc). So my mother found and bought new ones... the most adorable giraffe and rabbit blankies I have ever seen. So incredibly soft AND they come with proteins embedded in them that help fight asthma and allergies (a big concern with preemies). As part of the process of giving them to the girls I sleep with them for the first few nights so they smell like me. The problem is that I LIKE sleeping with them. I'm actually having a hard time giving them up to C & D (although it is really cute to see how quickly they have fallen in love with them...they get huge smiles on their faces when I give them to them).

So I attached this picture because it is a classic "dylan and charlotte" comparison. We tried to take pictures of the girls and couldn't get Dylan to stop moving long enough to look at us. Charlotte, on the other hand, mugged for the camera for several minutes. You can see the drool hanging off of her chin as evidence of how long she was grinning.

One more tidbit about the ladies....they LOVE when things hit them on the head. I'm not joking on this one. We have these soft foam blocks...you would think they would like to see them stacked up and then knocked over. Nope. They prefer that I throw them up in the air and they land squarely on their faces. Dylan laughs and laughs and laughs. Or, even worse, the Prices gave them these little toy hammers that make noises when you hit them lightly on something. Charlotte and Dylan, Dylan in particularly, LOVE it when I use the hammers to hit them on the head, forehead, nose, etc. I have absolutely no idea what this says about them.

Big Weekend

This weekend was a busy one in the Dodson household. Considering that I have not been out two nights in a row--other than for a wedding--in about a year, I am definitely feeling it today. I didn't even really drink and I still feel hungover. But it was fun, so I guess that makes it worth it.
First, Friday was Andrew's birthday. No, sadly, not the big 30 yet. Just the little 29. We started the morning with a walk to get coffee with the girls, which was nice because andrew had just returned late the night before after a 4 day work trip. In the afternoon we joined Andrew for a work happy hour near his office in honor of his birthday. Then in the evening we met some people for dinner at Tortilla Heights. Tortilla Heights is a relatively new restaurant that has semi-decent fajitas, good queso, good margaritas, and good churros. The queso, margarita, and relatively good prices have made it, as you can guess, Andrew's new 'favorite restaurant' in SF. This is good news because usually he just says "i'm fine with Left at Albuquerque," which means we end up eating really bad Mexican food with lots of B&T people (I know, I'm one too, but whatever) on a Saturday night. (btw, I don't know what bothers Andrew more, the fact that I have a mental block and always want to spell queso "cheso," or the fact that our friend Peter (from Chicago) refers to it as "cheese dip." The lack of queso in CA may be Andrew's biggest beef with the place (well, that and the 10% states tax, ridiculous housing prices, and the fact that we paid $90 for <5 hours of babysitting Friday night). Other than that we are slowly converting him.)

After dinner we went out for drinks, but then I had to get home to relieve the babysitter. Although Andrew was only out about an hour and a half later than me, he managed to make good use of the time apparently. Given that I found him peeing into the shower at 3:30 am, I think it is safe to say that he didn't let the fact that he has a wife and two kids get in the way of celebrating his birthday in true 20-something tyle.

Saturday came along and we had to get ready for baby Dholakia's baby shower. The baby shower was moved to chez Dodson after Reese Glotzbach arrived 5+ weeks early and we figured that she might want her new home to herself. The party was moved here and we had to make the place look more like a home and less like a pre-school. Thanks to Krista and Sudhir the party seemed to go ok. One of the best parts was that we got to meet Peyton Price, who is as beautiful as she looks in pictures. I felt bad actually because I kept saying "wow, she is so beautiful"...but really, she is. I feel bad enough that I gave my daughters my boring brown eyes, and when I see babies like Peyton I feel even WORSE. It was great to hang with Andy and Mackenzie, and of course, it was just cold and ugly enough here that they could ask us why the hell we don't move back to Texas.

So today we basically did our best to recover.

So what else is going on?

--The girls are starting to sleep through the night, which is going to be a nice change in our life. After 4 weeks of Dylan crying all but a few nights for 40+ minutes, during which time I was either spending the day stressing about whether or not she would cry or spending the evening feeling completely exhausted from hearing her cry, the sleep consultant and I decided that she clearly didn't "get it" and that I should just get her down any way that I could. Well wouldn't you know it, the night after I soothed her to sleep she "got it" and she has basically gone to sleep very easily since. It is almost as if she sensed that I was less stressed because I knew that I didn't have to let her cry, and that in turn made her less stressed. Whatever the reason it makes me VERY happy.
I have only had to let them "cry it out" a bit 3 times in the middle of the night so far. The first two times Charlotte cried for about 30 minutes but the cry was more of a cry to herself than a cry for me. The third time was gut wrenching because she was almost asleep when she woke Dylan up. Now I'm all for teaching them not to wake up in the middle of the night, but can you blame a little girl for waking up when her sister is screaming in her ear for 30-40 minutes?? (The fact that they can sleep through each other crying for so long bewilders me. Other than the "waking each other up" issue, I love having them in the same room again because A) I hated having Dylan sleep by herself so far away, and B) I'm ready to claim my own room again.) So after almost two hours of listening to crying on and off (Andrew was out of town) I caved. Since they seem to be on the right path I'm no longer going to beat myself up when I go against the "rules."
The good news is that the girls are so much happier now that they are settling into a sleep routine. It is almost bizarre... you read these books, they tell you how babies will respond to this or that, and then they do almost EXACTLY what the books say they will. It almost creeps me out (I found out, btw, that it 'creeps' Andrew out that I keep a blog. Not quite sure what to make of this new information). Anyway, as you can see the sleep thing has been ruling my life lately, and I'm happy to say that I things are getting much better (and I promise not to go on an on about it anymore as a result).

ps. The first pic is Dylan watching her Daddy open gifts. The second pic shows off the Astros outfits I bought the girls in honor of A's birthday (although they have already told me they are As fans first, but will humor him). C=L I don't have pics of the party because my camera broke shortly after taking these pics.