Mama Mama Quite Contrary

Vivi has been very interested in monsters lately. While she doesn't necessarily fear them she does talk a lot about them- where they live and what they do and whether they are scary or not. She loves to read books about monsters so Where the Wild Things Are and There's a Nightmare in my Closet are often in our story time rotation. There is one monster, however, that is forefront in our lives these days and his name is Chaos. You see, several months ago at the beginning of this monster phase, Vivi learned that our dear friends have a monster who lives in their basement. His name is Chaos. Chaos is not a mean monster and he doesn't have much interest in little kids. Chaos just makes lots of messes when no one is looking and doesn't clean them up! It seems that Chaos has recently relocated to our house. This morning was a prime example or new life since Chaos's arrival. Jude woke up with a fuss and promptly nursed. During this time, Eliya started screaming. I popped Ju...

Let the regression begin! In the past week, Vivi has gone from being our one and only to a proud big sister to a third baby. It was inevitable but her difficulties with the upheaval in our family have thrown all of us for a loop. To illustrate, here are some of our challenges: Vivi is rarely peeing on the potty these days and asks to wear diapers like the Turtles. I found her snuggling in the Pack 'n Play under one of the twins' blankets which, I must admit, was a bit of a relief after several occasions of finding crammed next to a baby in a moses basket. While I was nursing Eliya this afternoon, she tried to latch on and I had to explain why she couldn't. (A rather pathetic attempt to extol the virtues of big girl foods like pizza and Pirate's Booty.) Trying to get Vivi to sleep requires immense amount of energy and ingenuity- both of which my husband and I are severely lacking. Perhaps the saddest moment of all occured this evening. I opened the bathroom doo...

After 6-7 hours of labor, our little girl Turtles were born at our home in Providence on Friday. Jude 7 lbs. 19" long Born at 1:55 a.m. Eliya 6lbs. 12 oz. 18 and 1/4 inches long Born at 1:59 a.m. My husband is now a real ladies man with two more daughters in the mix! We are all delighted by the uncomplicated birth and Vivi managed to sleep through the entire labor and woke up just in time to see Eliya being born. She is doing wonderfully in her role as big sister. Thank you to everyone for their warm wishes and encouragement throughout this entire pregnancy. I will post more when I can. Now the real work begins!

Where for art thou fair Turtles? That is the question we keep asking ourselves since it appears they are really in no rush to come out. Monday, March 9th is my official due date and I am starting to think that they might actually wait until then. Or, even more horrifying, come out after that date. Is that even possible? I mean, I saw two babies on the ultrasound. What the heck is taking soooo long? Is this normal?! I've always believed that our bodies don't function independently of our minds so it stands to reason that they haven't come out because I haven't felt ready for them to. There have always been just a few more things to do even though I am really tired of carrying around these extra 40 pounds. (Not to mention the somewhat unsettling feeling of having my belly rest on my thighs when I sit down.) For the last two weeks, I've just kept thinking of reasons to wait-- the car, the laundry, the snowstorm. Well, after 2.5 hours at the DMV this morning ...

DONE -Purchased our new car and feel like we got a good deal. -Compiled Turtles' e-mail birth announcement list. -Double checked all home birth supplies. -House is in reasonably clean condition and the laundry is done. TO DO -Pick up aforementioned new car and register it. -Find a new home for old back-up car so new car can fit in driveway. -Drop off a box of donations to Salvation Army. COMPLICATIONS We are snowed in! No sign of the plow which means we can't get out to do our final errands. (My dear husband left this morning on his cross country skis for his four mile commute to work.) This storm also means that, at this point, our midwives can't get to us. Not good. Must keep Turtles in for one more day. Please send all your positive energy for a continued gestation my way!