Heath & Stef plus 2 - Latest Blog Entries

Barbie Ate My Daughter

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:17:00 -0700

I love a good princess movie - many of the classics even have a good message for young minds. But far beyond what the princess movies ever did, current marketing campaigns are driving a girlie-girl movement which is defining what being a female means to millions of young girls (and boys). I recently listened to a podcast on NPR's KUOW where Peggy Orenstein talked about her book Cinderella Ate My Daughter. She points out how girls are being taught to value material objects and looking pretty over individuality. Apparently "tween" is now 5-8 yr olds and is a hot market - it's the fastest growing market for things like makeup. There are lots of "pink" versions of classic board games - "girls" toys & games everywhere are splattered with shopping symbolism, high heels, cell phones, makeup, spas, and being "spoiled" or a "brat". Girl science kits are things like how to make lip gloss while boy science kits tackle things like physics and weather. This hits home for me because I have one very prissy princess that's all about looking cute. I have to constantly remind her that while it's fun to look cute sometimes, that doesn't define you and what you're capable of. Of course, being only four, she doesn't get that yet... but after listening to that podcast, it really reminded me the things I have to filter from my girls. I don't plan to completely eliminate the pink princess overload, but I definitely will work harder at balancing that image with a more empowered view that girls aren't just pretty things. Being a female techie, I know all about gender stereotypes, but I'm afraid that my daughters' generation will have an even harder uphill battle due to the new, improved obsession with appearance, not to mention the alarming "dumbing down" of our girls.

If you have young children in your life (our little boys are getting the message too), I highly recommend listening to learn more about how marketing (including a $4 billion Disney Princess franchise) is widening the divide of what it means to be a girl and what it means to be a boy in America. Listen on your computer here: http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=26159 or stream the podcast from the NPR mobile app > Seattle's station KUOW.

Also, check out www.CinderellaAteMyDaughter.com for ideas on toys and games that have a positive female message or get the book here: Cinderella Ate My Daughter.

The Case of the Reappearing Books

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:28:00 -0700

A few years ago at work our team started a "library" cubicle. Somehow 2 paperback novels (Reunion in Death by Nora Roberts and Scorpio Illusion by Robert Ludlum) made it in there with the XML, C# and other technical books. (By the way, who has time to read spy/romance novels at work?!) When our team moved aisles about 9 months ago, by boss graciously placed those salacious books on my desk. Being the type that never cleans up my surroundings, I left them there even though they gave visitors the impression that I needed more work to do. A few weeks ago during my last week at Cerner, as I was packing up my things, I decided to return them to my boss - in case he needed reading material. I placed them on his desk. Next thing I knew, they were right back on my desk where they were before. At my next opportunity I placed them back on his desk behind some other stuff. I practically blinked my eyes and they were back on my desk. How did he do that?! We happened to be moving cubicles in the next few days so I placed them UNDER his desk (where no one ever looks). He packed up his things and moved to his new cube. I didn't see or hear about the books for a while. Ah... freedom. Amazingly, a project manager that moved into his old desk couldn't get her power to work. He walked by as she was talking about it and offered his assistance. The next thing I knew, he was on his stomach in his old cube, then heading towards me with an enraged look on his face and the cursed books in his hands. Seriously?! Well, I didn't want to leave Cerner with his prized afternoon slacking materials so what was I to do? On my last day in the office, I put the books in his internal mailbox (which, by the way people generally check about once a month). Soon, he ran over (red faced) and handed me the books. He noted that he almost never checks his mail but had an inkling. (If this guy ever has teenagers, they are so screwed!) As my last day winded down, he ran around eyeing me like a hawk and checking to see if the books were off my desk. I hid them in my drawer for a while just to drive him nuts. Somehow I was able to sneak them into one of his desk drawers under some junk. The books were quickly on my desk again. My last ditch effort to not leave town with his favorite books was to interoffice mail them back to him from the south campus when I returned my monitor to Properties. It's been four weeks and I’m guessing he just found them because this is the message I just received:

I am so angry at you right now!!!!!!!!!!

can I get your address please?

So, if any of you have any extra spy or romance paperback novels you'd like to donate, I'd be happy to forward them to my boss in Kansas City. I think he needs more reading material.

Flying with Twins

Sat, 03 Sep 2011 15:12:00 -0700

It was our last day in Missouri and the girls were so excited to go on their first airplane ride! Before leaving Gramma's farm, the girls were pushing each other on the big kid swing! (Ah... self-sufficient swinging... finally!) We started our travels at 10 am and said our sad goodbyes to Tim, Jaleesa, and Gramma. :( At the airport, getting through security with the girls, the electronics bag, my purse, and both of their backpacks was amazingly painless! My planning and preparation had paid off! The girls were eerily quiet as we waited to board the plane. They were so cute with their backpacks on, sitting crossed legged with hands in laps intently watching everything around us. When we boarded, they were all smiles as we found our seats and got out the chewing gum to help our ears pop. The seats in the Frontier plane were amazingly wide and there were only 4 seats per row (2 and 2) so I had to sit across the aisle from the girls. Because of the wide seats, I could only reach halfway into Hannah's seat and not even close to Kayla's. Once we got past the millionth "Are we flying yet?", takeoff was easy and we had no ear problems!! Wahoo! Unfortunately, we had a wing view, so we couldn't see much of anything. I broke out various activities to keep them entertained. Unfortunately, the DVD player didn't work but they kept busy with their Leapsters, coloring books, reading books, kids music on the iPod, and iPad with coloring and storybooks. They kept me busy because, of course, neither could do a single activity longer than 10 minutes at a time. I got lots of compliments on how well-behaved the girls were! At one point Kayla needed to use the bathroom so I got a flight attendant to come sit with Hannah. Luckily I didn't have to take them both and our bags with me because we wouldn't have fit into the bathroom! Kayla was pretty amused about how small the bathroom was. "This baffwoom is berry berry small! We don't even fit in hewe!" :) Then they decided they needed snacks, so we broke out the travel applesauce pouches and they each got a small cup of soybeans, pb crackers, dried fruit, and pretzels. Kayla promptly knocked hers off the tray table, spraying snacks all over their seats and floor. *sigh* I'm sure we entertained everyone and they were thankful it wasn't them. We even got a special announcement directed at us that went something like "The captain has turned off the seatbelt sign. If you're traveling with small children, now's the time for you to clean up all debris in your area as this plane has another destination immediately after Seattle." Nice... Unfortunately, the girls didn't sleep a wink even though they had their pillows and blankets out - and it was naptime. At one point we hit some turbulence which threw us around a bit and the girls thought it was hilarious. Thankfully they didn't notice that everyone else was scared to death and just kept right on laughing and throwing their legs up into the air. Throughout the flight they kept me on my toes, but it was pretty easy going… until our descent… about 20 minutes before landing, Hannah started doing her "I'm tired" whimper that included a few "I wanna go home"s. Kayla had the evil eye going that comes out when she's napless. Timed perfectly to coincide with me getting incredibly bad knifelike pains in my ears (that wouldn't go away with the most ferocious chewing/swallowing I could manage), they started arguing, pushing each other, screaming, slapping, and slowly taking down the tray table with a sly smile knowing I couldn’t reach them… My death look worked on Kayla who put the tray table back and started whimpering because I was "mean at her". And even though my ears were on fire, I was deaf for the next hour, and it took us forever to find Daddy, we made it safely at about 4 pm local time (8 hours total travel time, 4 hour flight). The girls were out like a light the second they hit their carseats in the van. Thank all that is holy that I was the only one with the ear pain! I probably only lost a year or two off my life due to that flight... much less than what I would have lost if we had attempted the 30 hour road trip instead. Now onto the next chapter in our lives!

Charting

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:12:00 -0800

Many of you know that I'm a little obsessed with charting. I'll admit that I recorded everything that Hannah and Kayla ate and drank and every time they peed and pooped well into their second year. I have since weened myself off most of the charting, pretty confident that they are healthy, (shall I say strapping?) big girls! I haven't, however, stopped charting their heights and weights. This is not simply to confirm their health, although it started that way. Now it's become a fascinating study in twin growth!

When they were born, Hannah weighed 7#12 and Kayla weighed 7#7. Hannah, although heavier, was a tad shorter at 20" compared to Kayla's 21". This has been the most they've differed in height. So Kayla started out a little skinnier, but quickly became a tiny bit bigger in both height and weight. She has consistently been a better eater than Hannah, yet it's amazing to me how closely their heights and weights mirror each other!

They're coming up on their 2nd birthday and they're currently the exact same height, 35.75", and just reached 30#, only .3# difference from each other. I can't wait to see what this graph looks like when they're 18! :)

Officially Over The Hill...

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 05:08:00 -0700

Yep, I made it! Thanks to everyone who came to my party... I had a great time reminiscing and catching up. I've got some great friends and family :).

Balance

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 02:23:00 -0800

Just as Kayla and Hannah are mastering the skill of balance, it’s getting harder and harder for me. In the past few weeks, they’ve learned how to sit without help. They’re learning when to push and pull, when to shift their weight at just the right time so they don’t fall backwards, forward, or side to side. They love being able to experience their world from an upright position! I love these beautiful girls so much that I want to hold them all the time, cradle them throughout their days, caress them as they fall asleep. But just as much as I want them to know how much they’re loved, I want them to be happy and healthy girls. To ensure they have the independence to fall asleep on their own and eventually do all of the things life demands without my help, I have to restrain myself just the right amount. I can shower them with love, but I also have to let them be alone sometimes. I can show them how to do new things, but I have to let them try and fail on their own. Just as the girls are learning their first lessons of balance, I’m also learning. This Christmas, it’s not easy to restrain myself from buying every toy the girls might like. I want to give them everything, but I know that it’s impossible to appreciate the value of things when you have it all. I want our girls to appreciate what they have, to know how lucky they are to have a loving family, a nice house, and all the clothes, toys, and food they need. But it’s difficult to provide everything they want and also appreciation for it all. It’s a delicate balance. The only way I can think of to accomplish this seemingly impossible task is to hold back now, invest in their future, and expose them to families without enough. Instead of giving them all the fancy toys, clothes – and eventually cars – they want, we’ll put that money away for later. Once they’ve grown up with everything that they need, when they’re on their own they can have everything that we can give. We’ll ensure they get a proper education and the promise of an easier life. But as soon as possible, I want them to feel what it’s like to help children who aren’t as lucky as they are. Perhaps every Christmas, our family can adopt another family – one in need – and spend some time shopping for other boys and girls who won’t have as much under their tree. Perhaps we can spend some time volunteering every spring to help Harvester’s wash the 11 eggs in the carton with the broken one or sort food on its way to children who don’t have enough to eat. So, I’m learning all about balance. I’m learning not to buy them every toy I want to… I’m learning to put money away for their future… and I’m thinking about what we all will gain from giving back now. As we have our first Christmas together, we’re all learning about balance. I don’t want our Christmases to be about the toys, but instead the gifts of family and love and goodwill. I want to do this right – I only have one chance.

Not Where I Left Them

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 02:58:00 -0700

About two weeks ago, Kayla woke up complaining. Hannah had decided to start moving around in the middle of the night and her big sister's face was a cushy place to rest her legs! This was the first time either of them had not been right where I left them when I came back. I can't believe they're already learning how to move around!

At night, the girls have been sharing a pack 'n play tucked into the corner of our bedroom ever since they were born. This is because our charming home is made for about 1 1/2 people while we're cramming in four people, a cat and a dog. (Everyone who's ever had one knows that a baby and all her accessories takes up more room than a full grown adult!) So anyway, we've finally sold our house and are in the process of moving from our plaza bungalow into the 'burbs where we can finally spread out! Woohoo! But in the meantime, we brought a second pack 'n play into our bedroom and wedged it next to the other one in the corner so each of our daughters have plenty of room for stretching & rolling around at night. And faces can be feet-free.

Since that first episode, both Hannah and Kayla have learned to arch their backs and work their way around in a circle, flipping onto their sides and all! It's so fun watching them figure things out! I love it! Another really fun milestone is the adventure of solid foods. Rice cereal may have bored them, but peas is a whole 'nother story! Kayla could take it or leave it. She'd be happy with just her bottle of milk. On the other hand, I've never seen anyone looove peas like little Hannah does! She's like a little bird starving for the best peas & rice ever made!!! Just wait until they get to taste Chicken & Rice or Hawaiian Delight!

Hannah's just starting to show the signs of crawling - it's not far on the horizon... Before we know it, we'll have two little monkeys running around the house while Mommy & Daddy are trying to keep up!

The Twins Try Out Solid Food

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:39:00 -0700

I will try and post vids like these when time allows. Password is: kaylahannah.

Cloud Nine

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 03:42:00 -0700

It’s now six weeks after meeting my girls and my life is so much different than it was before. Nowadays four hours of sleep is a great night. I’ve never been happier to see poop and hear passing gas as I am when it’s past due for one of my baby girls. Showering is a luxury these days. I change my clothes due to spit-up, poop or pee mishaps, not because it’s a new day. I have no idea what day it is anyway. At my last checkup, I was told that my abdominal wall was so distended during pregnancy that the damage is permanent. I will always look like I'm six months pregnant.

And I have never felt luckier!

Now my days are filled with sparkling smiles from my little angels. Their bright eyes and precious dimples make my heart melt. Tiny hands grab onto me like little monkeys and they stare into my eyes with total trust. I’ve never been happier than when my daughters lay sleeping sweetly on my chest. This is pure heaven. I cherish these moments and look forward to so many more.

Besides, I can always get a tummy tuck.

Announcements Sent

Sat, 24 May 2008 02:57:00 -0700

Ok, I know I've been slacking on the updates. It's funny how my girls keep me so busy that everyday tasks like simply taking a shower take a lot of coordination (and luck) to accomplish! I do plan to blog again in the next few days, but I have accomplished something in the past couple weeks: birth announcements. I designed them using the girls' nursery pattern, printed them and finally got them all sent out this week. Whew...!

Now don't ask me how I'm doing on the baby books...

New Additions to the Huffman Family!

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 08:35:00 -0700

The Huffman girls have arrived! We proudly welcome Kayla Renee and Hannah Jolie, who finally made their appearance on Wednesday! Stef and the babies are doing great!

Kayla Renee Huffman

April 16, 2008 at 10:29 am
7 pounds 7 ounces and 21 inches

Hannah Jolie Huffman

April 16, 2008 at 10:30 am
7 pounds 12 ounces and 20 inches

We'll be leaving the hospital at the beginning of the week. We'd love to introduce you to our precious girls once we're home, so if you'd like to meet them, we'll be in our Sunday Best next weekend! :)

Being a Mom

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 13:09:00 -0700

For as hard as my pregnancy’s been on me physically, I have mixed feelings about it coming to an end. On one hand, I can’t wait to meet the girls face-to-face. And I’m sure I’ll feel like super woman once I get my body back. However there’s just something so magical about being pregnant. I’ve been able to spend special alone time with the miracles we created, feeling every stretch and hiccup, talking and reading to them, even playing games with them in the middle of the night. It’s almost time for me to share you girls with the world.

"Making the decision to have a child-it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."
--Elizabeth Stone

I’m about to start the hardest and most important job I’ll ever have: being a mom. I’m sure I have no idea of the power of the moment when I get to look into their sweet eyes for the first time. I’m already overwhelmed by the love I have for them and my need to protect them, to do whatever is necessary to make sure they’re healthy. Now I have to be strong enough to trust other people to care for them as well. For me, the scariest part of becoming a mom is this new state of vulnerability. I’ll have two beautiful souls to worry about… for the rest of my life.

So, as this pregnancy comes to an end, I look back on how much we’ve already changed. As the births grow near, Heath has softened into a proud papa when he feels the girls rolling around – I can see his heart swell. Our entire focus has slowly shifted from the two of us to our new family. We’ve spent the past nine months preparing for our new lives and how everything will change forever. Now there’s no more time to prepare.

We have a lot of dreams about what kind of parents we hope to be. We want our home to be filled with love, fun and laughter. I’ve learned from my own mom that giving children things was never as important as giving them time and love. With all the things we’re able to provide for our girls that we didn’t have growing up, if I do my job right, they will be appreciative of the life they’ve been given.

I will do everything in my power to nourish, love and protect you both. The time has come for me to share you with the world. I know it will be a better place with you in it! I can’t wait to meet you.

On Your Mark, Get Set...

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 07:22:00 -0700

For the past 8 months or so, a lot of people have kindly told me “You look great!”. But suddenly in about the past 3 weeks, I’ve noticed people’s expressions have completely changed when they see me. All of the “you look great”s have suddenly changed into some version of “Are you alright?!”.

This is probably due to the fact that I’ve hit another turning point in this pregnancy. I’m sure the discomfort shows on my face as the babies race to become the biggest twins ever recorded. As I drag around the 60 pound baby bump, my legs have come to resemble those of an elephant (cankles and all) due to swelling. My hips are preparing for childbirth as they cramp, pop, and lock up. In addition, everything presses on my lungs so much that as I try to breathe I sound like that annoying wheezy guy sitting next to you on the plane.

Contractions and dilation have started, so we’re definitely nearing the end of this part of the adventure. On our 37^th week now, our girls have done remarkably well. The doctors and nurses are delighted we’ve made it this far as it’s not uncommon for twins to come earlier. With most of their development complete, the girls are just hanging out where it’s warm, allowing their lungs to mature a bit more. (We've seen them practicing breathing via ultrasound!) They could decide to come today or wait another week or so, but the doctor won’t let us go past 38 weeks.

Heath and I are as ready as we could be at this point. I don’t know if you can ever prepare enough emotionally for becoming parents, but we have everything we need physically. Heath’s diaper party furnished us with tons of diapers and wipes (Thanks, guys!), and we have all the other baby gear we've been told we’ll need. We have our bags packed and sitting by the door. Our anxiety rises each day that passes without the onset of true labor. Yeah... I’ve never been good at being patient...

Mt KaylaHannah

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:37:00 -0700

Click here for photos.

It started as a little mound. I’d wake up with two tiny girls piled on top of each other, unable to fight the force of gravity caused by me sleeping on my side. Every morning it's been fun to see what shape the bump had taken over night. Sometimes the girls are side-by-side, sometimes they’re stacked on top of each other, and sometimes there’s one or more little behinds pushing against my skin with unbelievable force. Whatever shape the lump takes, it’s sure to amaze and astound us. In the past two or three weeks, the funny lump, now known in our house as Mount KaylaHannah, has grown and morphed into an out-of-this-world, warped and writhing mountain. It’s taken on a whole new level of entertainment. Or shall I say ‘torture’.

Celebrations!

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 07:27:00 -0700

This week we finally got to reveal our final decision on the girls' names. After much deliberation and negotiation, and going back and forth from our first choices, Shaniqua & Latifah, we landed on two lovely names for two lovely girls: Kayla Renee and Hannah Jolie.

Also this week, I was lucky enough to celebrate the approaching arrival of our baby girls with two groups of people!

At work, my good friend Miyuki threw a lovely shower with all my coworkers/friends. We had a beautiful cake and laughed and chatted about funny baby stuff like meconium, freaking out all the guys in the room! My coworkers were so generous, they pitched in to get a bassinet pack n' play, some much-needed bottles, some princess books (can't have enough books!), and a home-made wreath of diapers with goodies all over it! Now that we have the pack n' play (for the girls to sleep in for the first few months), we're almost entirely ready! We had lots of fun!

On Saturday, my friend Tami threw us baby shower so that family & friends could celebrate with us too. She graciously allowed us to take over her house, which was decorated with streamers, balloons, and all kinds of fun baby decorations. Sara brought a super-yummy cake decorated with the girls' names so that we could reveal our final decision to everyone. We played fun games like, Guess How Big Around Stef's Belly Is (hey, why was everyone so far over with their estimates?!) and Sniff the Dirty Diaper/Guess the Melted Candy Bar - eww! It was fun to open the gifts, especially the super-cute girly clothes and SHOES! Awwwww... A few weren't able to make it, but lots of our friends and family sent along very generous gifts to help us get started. (Thank you, Grandma Rosemary!)

Thank you to Miyuki and Tami for putting so much effort into making it such a fun day! We feel so lucky to have such generous friends and family to help us welcome our girls, but most of all, we know our girls will be LOVED & HUGGED to pieces!!!

Rash of Bad Luck

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:16:00 -0800

I'm always one of the lucky ones who get to experience the rarest conditions, the ones with the tiniest percentage of occurrence. I'm not sure why this luck doesn't come to me when I play Black Jack or slot machines. My latest jackpot is a lovely pregnancy rash made especially for pregnancies of multiples - and almost always when the babies are boys.

This condition is so consuming that I hardly notice that I'm extraordinarily uncomfortable with all the body parts stretching and kicking at me. I'm just about to scratch my skin off - I'd rather have bloody stumps than this maddening itch on my belly, between my fingers, on the palms of hands, on my ankles, and even on the soles of my feet!

After trying prescription steroid cream and oatmeal baths, I've come to the conclusion that the best relief (however temporary) is ice packs. Luckily though, all the doctors say the rash will completely go away after the babies are born. So that means I only have to wait about 9 more weeks. That's if I don't jump off a bridge by that time...

Dress Rehearsal

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 01:21:00 -0800

This week we had a nice little practice run on what it will be like when the girls decide to make their appearance. It started with questionable evidence of leaking fluid. When I called my doctor, she said to go to Labor and Delivery right away. As soon as we arrived, we were immediately whisked to the ultrasound room where it appeared as though Baby A had diminished fluid.

Back in the observation room (if you can call curtains-for-walls a room), me in my lovely backless gown, the nurses were telling us the girls are coming. Not just coming soon, but coming within a day or two. WHAT?! We aren't ready for this! The girls aren't ready for this! They were explaining the steroid shot they were going to give me in order to accelerate the development of the babies' lungs and told us we weren't leaving the hospital until they were born. This came outta nowhere!

We were admitted to the hospital and taken to a labor room, both of us wide-eyed and completely freaked out. After finally getting Papa to relax a bit and stop pacing the floors, we tried to figure out the TV remote-on-a-string to distract ourselves as we waited for the doctor.

Further testing couldn't prove that the waters had broken. We hooked the babies up to monitors, which thankfully showed no signs of stress. After testing another couple times and still finding no confirmation of a leak, they decided to wait and take a look at Baby A's fluid levels the next morning.

After a pretty comfortable night in the hospital – gotta get me one of those adjustable beds – we did more tests and again came up short. Without concrete evidence and with Baby A’s levels a little higher that day, they decided to release us to bed rest for the weekend. Of course, the fact that they couldn't prove there is or isn't a leak makes me a bit nervous so I will insist on more frequent monitoring than the "once a month" my doctor recommended. (Are you crazy?! They could be here before you're ready to monitor again!)

So we had a nice little practice run, got the lay of the land, got to experience the fabulous hospital food (bleck!) and backless gown. It sure was a wakeup call that these girls can make their appearance any time now. We could have done without the dramatics of the nurses in the observation room telling us we were definitely having these babies now. At least we finally convinced Pops that he needs to pack his hospital bag!

Sack of Kiddos

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 13:39:00 -0800

Sometimes I feel kinda like Santa, carrying around a bag of gifts. Only mine is attached to the front of me. I can’t wait until the day we get to open up our presents and meet the little miracles inside!

Our little miracle girls are still doing great! We go to the doctor to be monitored twice a week and they’ve passed all their tests each time. Last week we had a growth-check ultrasound where we found that the girls are 3 pounds 9 ounces and 3 pounds 14 ounces! Those measurements put them 2.14 & 3 weeks ahead of schedule for a single baby of their age! They’re growing so fast! We feel so lucky that we haven’t had any complications thus far and the girls are doing fantastic! I just hope they stay put for a little while longer. Working on week 31 now, we’re shooting for 34 weeks, but we’d be really happy with 37.

We got to see our girls with 3D/4D ultrasound last week! That was amazing! We weren’t at all surprised to find that the girls are absolutely beautiful and full of personality!!!

Twin A's funny scoul	Twin B sleeping sweetly

Even though the girls each have their own amniotic sack, somehow they manage to get completely intertwined! We saw that Twin A was lounging with her head on her arm which was on top of Twin B's head! Then she also had her leg thrown up next to Twin B's head so that her foot was under her sister’s chin! And Twin B had her arm thrown across Twin A's body. They are going to be very good at Twister, I think. We saw Twin A yawning and Twin B licking her own knee. Right now they have lots of hair and cute little chubby cheeks!

Most mornings I lay in bed for a few minutes before getting up and watch as the sack of kiddos sways and bumps with little feet, fists, hips and shoulders trying to get comfortable (or fighting for room). I love that the girls are growing at a better than average rate. However, my enormous belly is becoming a bit difficult to manage. When I walk, I’m sure I’m defying the laws of gravity and tipping points. In public, our presence is beginning to cause a small scene. It usually goes something like this:

Stranger: “Due any day now?”
Me: “I’m due in May. Got a ways to go still.”
Stranger: “Oh my gosh, you still have April and March to get through!”
Me: “Yeah, I’ve got two of them in there.”
Stranger: “Twins?! That’s amazing! Betty, she’s got twins, come over here!”
…

I often try to skip the part where I tell them I have twins so I can continue on my way unobstructed. But they usually look so confused… At least everyone is so kind and happy to hear our fortunate news. Luckily, I haven’t come across too many belly grabbers.

I’ve reached the point where I can’t be without my belly support belt for very long. That thing is so valuable – it takes some of the pressure off of my back and helps me walk for a little while longer, delaying the feeling that I’m going to faint for a few more minutes. In the shower, where I can’t wear the belt, I spend most of the time with my foot on the side of the tub so my belly can rest on my leg. (Hey, you learn to adapt!)

Well, our hospital bags are packed and the carseats are installed! We’re ready when you guys are… (But don’t rush – take your time!) We’ll see you soon, girls!

Destruction of a Belly Button

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:20:00 -0800

My cute little belly button with the navel ring has been demolished. It started in one corner, slowly turning inside out, gradually making its way across to the other side. I didn’t get the fun pop that happens the day it actually flips to an outie as everyone talks about. Instead, mine was a slow morphing like the motion in a lava lamp. I finally had to remove my jewelry because it kept getting irritated, presumably because of all the stretchmark-prevention lotion I've been slathering on twice a day. Having a halfway outie wasn’t that bad… until… the brown spots started. For some strange reason, extra pigment seems to float around a pregnant woman’s skin, looking for a place to collect. Well, turns out the piercing site is a great place for extra pigment to hang out – it loves it there. So there’s a nice brown spot just above my belly button that looks as if I’ve been dragging it around in the mud. As all the pigment traveled to the area, it left a very light brown trail, a stripe from the very top to the very bottom of the baby bump. Lovely. As if it wasn’t freakish enough, last week I started having “burning hot poker” sensations behind my belly button. A couple days later, I noticed a tiny stretchmark escaping from the top of it like a pantyhose run. Aha, so that’s what the burning was. Glad it wasn’t the girls starting a fire like I had previously thought. The very next day, the stretchmark had exploded all over the place up and down the belly button region. Nice… I think the girls also got the memo that we were going to demolish the belly button because they take turns whacking it from the inside with little feet. Even with all this, I take time every few days to make sure my piercing hasn’t grown closed - I’m looking forward to getting back to my pre-pregnancy size so that I can put the silver ring back in. But for some reason, there’s a phrase I hear in the software world every now and then that comes to mind just now: “it’s like putting lipstick on a pig.”

Party Girls

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 14:15:00 -0800

Our girls like to party. I can tell because they dance all day and night. I don't know how they do it, but I think they invite their friends over too because I'd swear there's more than 8 elbows and knees bouncing around in there sometimes.

The babies seem to be moving, rolling, and kicking more often than they're sleeping! Ever since week eight we've gotten to peek into their world with regular sonograms and have been lucky enough to witness our girls' personalities from the beginning. We've learned that one of them is more active than the other, more laid back one. But even our shy, demure girl likes to shake her booty, just not quite as often as and usually (but not always) a little more subtly than her sister. She's learning to play coy, I do believe.


	Waving at her fans (Week 16)

Together, the girls practice their dance moves all times of the day. Sometimes we witness big tumbles where a large lump (under which lies a head or a rump) travels across the surface of the baby bump. Sometimes there are little tickly swipes like fingers trailing along the walls of their warm quarters. And other times there are quick jabs when one or both of them are practicing a wild dance move, disco perhaps. The most painful for me is when they decide to stretch and shove their way into a different corner of their allotted space. With all of this going on, my belly often looks like a jiffy pop pan expanding with jumping popcorn kernels.

When daddy decides to get in on the action with his hand on the walls of the dance hall, he's always surprised by the ferocity of the girls' flips, jumps, and jabs. However, I seem to have gotten so used to the party within that I sometimes forget about it. I'll be talking to someone when suddenly their gaze moves south and eyes widen as if an alien is about to emerge from my abdomen.

As the big event nears, Heath and I are still very busy preparing for it. He's been focusing on renovations of our house, quickly shaving down the to-do list so that we can put it on the market in just a few weeks. I've been learning everything there is to learn about strollers, baby monitors, and the like. I'm finishing up our list of required baby apparatus and starting to line up daycare options. We're getting close to ready for our party girls to arrive on the scene! Their debut will undoubtedly be the talk of the town!