Monkey See, Monkey...

Bulimia Update

No vomiting since yesterday morning. The doctor put them on formula. I was a little freaked out because they've never been on formula before, but they seemed willing to drink it. It seems to have helped...they are getting protein but not dairy. Tomorrow I'm going to reintroduce some yogurt and see how it goes.... both of the girls are smaller than they were two months ago. If D loses any more weight I'm going to have to turn her car seat around.

And a few people pointed out that the girls are in identical dresses, which seems to be at odds w/ my general twin philosophy. Generally, I don't like dressing them the same. But these dresses were too cute (their great grandmother MADE them) and sometimes it is a little hard to resist. Also, I am starting to have trouble because if I buy them different things they tend to prefer one over the other. Ie. they have a blue sippy cup and an orange one---they both want blue. I had to get another blue. They have a dog towel and a frog towel---they both prefer the dog. I ended up getting them the same Halloween costume because I worried that they would both prefer one over the other (my other identical twin moms are having the same issues). So you may see more "identical" things moving forward.

This is an old video (about 3 weeks ago) that I'd originally uploaded just to send Andrew, but I've had some video requests so here goes...

More pics

The blog police said I put the "worst picture" up (trying not to get offended because it was the only pic that included me). Here are more pics of C/D. C is in the darker bow, but unfortunately they are so different in size right now I think it is easy to tell who is who (their size difference continues to worry me, and if one more person tells me it is "no big deal" and its "ok for girls to be little" I'm going to hurt someone. I know it isn't the worst thing in the world, but I'm their mother, I'm the one who was supposed to give them good prenatal care, and I'm allowed to worry).

And I know what you're thinking "what kind of horrible mother dresses her kids up for pics in the middle of the stomach flu?" I could give you all the specifics, but let's just leave it at "yes, I'm that kind of clueless, horrible mother."

And here's a video of the girls before they got sick. One of their favorite new tricks is "walking backwards." They are so proud of themselves. I have a better video of it, that includes their attempts at jumping, but I'm struggling to figure out how to edit w/ quicktime Pro so who knows if you'll ever see it.

Still Going (again)

Both C and D threw up again last night. Sometime in the middle of the night. I feel like the WORST mother because I didn't hear it (even though I have the monitor back on now), nor did I go in and check on them when I went to bed because I didn't want to wake them. And so they spent the night in vomit. I feel so so awful. And I'm tired of this...we're on day 10 of this flu and that isn't normal. They're tired, hungry, and miserable, I'm worried, my work is suffering, and I just want them better.

Was I on crack when I wrote that last cheery post? Clearly. Call me Britney.

And here's a pic that was taken amidst all of this during one of our few "well moments" (notice no one is smiling)...nice bra strap Molly. OMG, I AM turning into Britney. Poor ADod.

These are the Easy Years

This morning C threw up. AGAIN. We are now on day 7 of this illness and I feel so bad for them. Yesterday we seemed to be out of the woods. Today we seem to be taking a step back again.

Luckily, last week I got an email from Aunt Pat that has stuck w/ me the past few days. She said that kids are exhausting...physically when they are little and emotionally when they are older. And all weekend I kept thinking that I am in the BEST years of my life. That getting thrown up on was really not that bad, especially when your little girl looks at you afterwards and says "Hold you?" which means "pick me up!" Or when they run up, throw their arms out wide, and bury themselves in your lap.

My mother used to say that she loved her 30s best (mind you, she had her last kid at 3o...while I was still throwing up myself after a rough night at HBS at 30) because she would go to bed at night with all her kids tucked safely into bed. When they were older she could go to bed when she wanted, but she couldn't sleep because she'd lay awake and worry that one of her kids was out lying in a ditch somewhere (to which my brother Daniel would inevitably respond "How many ditches do you see around here Mom???" --My brothers are the funniest people I know. I wish everyone could experience a holiday dinner w/ my brothers and cousins.)

My point is, I'll take physical exhaustion ANYDAY over emotional exhaustion. I'll take staying up all hours rocking a baby to sleep over staying up worrying that my child is in with the wrong crowd, depressed, not eating enough, doesn't like me, etc. I'll take a child who won't leave me alone for five seconds (going to the bathroom is a family affair for me these days) over one who won't have anything to do with me. I'm sure that having adolescent and adult kids is also wonderful, but I gotta admit, every time I felt exhausted this weekend, or got a little tired of someone begging to be held, all I had to do was flash forward 11 years to teenage angst, and suddenly the weekend seemed like one of the best of my life.

Oh, and the Milfs (my FF team...the blog police (Andrew) censored me on this one, but whatever, I need a rooting section, and how can you root for my team if you don't know the name) had a rough week--maybe they had the stomach flu too.

Turning the Corner...

We hope. We seem to be on the upswing. I blame myself for dragging this out a bit...I feel like such a rookie mom and it crushes me to think I screwed up the recovery process. We're laying low today and then my mom is going to help us tomorrow (This week has made it official: I would not survive motherhood without my mother. She came over part of Wed and Thurs of this week and helped me, willingly exposing herself to the plague. I am so excited for my brothers to get the same help when they have kids, and so sad for my sister that she can't use the Pegster Bat Phone. I feel guilty even writing about it).

And my lovely husband (I know, the one who pisses me off when it comes to going to the doctor) bought me an awesome new little video camera (the Flip) as an early anniversary/I feel bad for you gift. Can't wait to use it on my thin (D now weighs less than she did two months ago), tired, sick but recovering little monkeys (who, btw, are obssessed w/ the damn hats they are wearing below in fatter times. C insisted on sleeping with hers today. HELP!!!)

Now when we go to Hawaii we are really going to feel like we EARNED it.

Still going...

I'm still doing a ton of wash, I'm still getting thrown up on, and D and C are still really sick. In fact, they are worse today. I took D in to see the doctor this afternoon, although I did it in part to satisfy Andrew (The one thing we really fight about w/ regards to kids is the pediatrician. I'm sure this will come up in a post later, but what is it about men and the freakin' idea that you should always "go see the doctor")? The doctor confirmed that hydration is paramount and recovery is a touch and go process (all things we discussed when I spoke to her earlier in the day).

Anyway, we're now giving C/D pedialyte through a dropper. They are still throwing up but I'm really hoping it will stop soon. It has to, right?

It is really hard to deny your little girl when she picks up a spoon, looks at you w/ pleading eyes, and says "cottage cheese?"

Notes from an Infirmary

They wouldn't be identical twins if they didn't both get sick right? 24 hours after C threw up, D did. I have been thrown up on at least 6 times in the last two days. I feel so, so terrible for them. And to make things worse, we passed it on to C, the new nanny. (K is still going to see them on occasion, but her school schedule this fall is too much for her to work much, and she's probably moving to San Diego early next year).

This has been one of the toughest weeks on record. Not because I couldn't be in Hawaii (we moved it pretty easily and should be there soon enough) but because it is so hard to watch my monkeys suffer. I'm just so glad they got sick before I left..I could not have handled being away from them for any amount of time while they were sick. And yes, it has been hard to try to take care of two sick little ones, who just want to be held. And for the first time I actually wished they watched tv/videos. They have about a 5 minute attention span on anything on tv, which on any other day except a sick day I love. (If, on top of a week of sickness, a ton of weight loss, and a just plain miserable experience, they learn to like tv/videos and I have to spend months denying them, I'm going to be really bitter).

I had mroe eloquent thoughts about the past week, but they were lost somewhere along with about 15 hours of sleep.

My poor, poor little monkeys.

Aloha...no no no!

I'm having a mini pity party.

Why? Because I was supposed to go to Hawaii tomorrow. With my husband. And no one else.

And I'm not.

Because D got a chest cold, and then C got the stomach flu. All in one night. Two nights before our first real trip post-monkeys. The trip I could justify because what is good for my marriage is good for my kids. The trip during which I would do VERY little.

Alas, this trip is not to be. At least not this week. Bugger.

As C would say when she mimics me while she does something she isn't supposed to..."NO NO NO!"

The Kite Runners

We were supposed to go to Carmel this weekend, but C/D have been sleeping terribly and w/ a pending trip to Hawaii we decided it would be too much.

This morning we went to the Discovery Musum and this afternoon I took the girls to a Kite Festival. They LOVED it. We looked at huge kites, chased smaller ones, ate ice cream, danced to music, and sat in a yellow bus. AND C/D jumped in a Bounce House. Well really, they were thrown around inside a bounce house, but they LOVED it.

Check it out...(I am having a trouble embedding it. I'm done w/ Google video. It sucks)

Day on the Farm

Yesterday I took D/C to Slide Ranch, an educational farm by Muir Beach. It is 15 miles and a world away from our apartment. It is flanked on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north, south and east by beautiful rolling hills and not a building in sight.

The rules on the ranch are 1) Get Dirty, 2) Try Something New, and 3) Have fun. We happily abided by all of them. We watched goats get milked, fed chickens, petted goats and sheep, hung with chicks, turkeys, ducks and geese, picked blackberries raspberries and apples, made bread, ate a snack in the secret garden, and got the girls faces painted.

We met up with Katie and Carter and their parents (both Stanford alums coincidentally, and he’s going to be the color commentator this year for Stanford basketball and football). Katie and Carter are the kind of girls against whom you don’t want to measure your children. They are about 6 inches taller, 10 lbs heavier, and have a vocabulary like you wouldn’t believe. I’m not joking. I can CONVERSE with them. And of course, they are really sweet and cute, as are their parents.

Definitely a great day and a really unique experience.

Make Hugs Not War...

I tried to watch the movie United 93 tonight. I couldn't. It was way too real, too scary, too sad.

I figured today was a good day to teach the girls how to hug each other.



Maybe we need to stick with holding hands for now...

Hello Summer

"Summer" has officially hit San Francisco. Indian Summer that is.... not really enough of a summer for me, but certainly better than nothing. We have been trying to take advantage of it, spending a few glorious mornings at the beach and generally being outside as much as possible.

Here are a few pics to prove that it does get nice here every once in a while...

My New Fantasy...

I come from a long line of football lovers. Well, actually, Raider fans. When I was an infant and my parents had no money, my dad was a security guard at Raiders games so that he could see the games. He was a loving father except for Sunday afternoons, when the phrase "move out of the way (you're blocking the TV)" was common. The toilet paper my maternal grandparents used said "This One's for you Al" after the Raiders moved to LA. And perhaps the greatest sign of devotion, my cousin Rich wears a catheter to Raiders games so that he doesn't have to miss anything to use the bathroom (a story that entertained all 15 people in the delivery room as they prepped me for surgery on 1/18/06).

So joining a fantasy football team just seemed like the right thing to do. Andrew (and pKitty) were kind enough to let me join their league. I was lucky enough to get the 5th pick (out of 10), and I was lucky/unfortunate enough to have Andrew as my advisor during the draft (he knows more than me, but his teams generally suck). Personally, I think I did ok. While L won't stand for LaDanian, it hopefully won't stand for Loser either. (Come on Frank Gore!)

And while C and D don't know anything about Fantasy Football yet, they already know that real women wear black...

Labor Day...Revised

We were supposed to go to Utah for Labor Day and meet up w/ the Texas Team Dodson contingent, but sickness led to cancellations from critical party members, so we went to Carmel instead. Not a terrible trade off, given that the weather was SPECTACULAR. I've never seen so many people on the beach in Carmel in my life. A great weekend given the last minute change in plans. Here are some pics (there are a lot of them...not that often that I get to put the monkeys in swimsuits and sleeveless dresses!)