Every day I come to blogger to write about Emma's latest antics and every day I leave without having written a single word. It isn't that I don't have a lot to say. I do. It's that my head has just been consumed with so many thoughts of the babies, the logistics behind having two babies at one time and getting Emma prepared to be a big sister. I literally couldn't type anything. But I am finally here and have broken the ice with a few sentences so here we go!
The Babies
About a week and a half ago we had our first visit with the perinatal doctor, Dr. Fisher. We went for our NT scan to check for probability of down syndrome, trisomy 18 and 13. Honestly, at that point I didn't care about any of those things, I was more concerned with having twins that shared a placenta and a sac which meant a huge risk to me and to the babies. Fortunately, within a few minutes Dr. Fisher found a second sac! Our babies are identical but can't strangle each other with their umbilical cords or get nasty knots in them. They can however, one can starve the other and take its blood so I will be seeing Dr. Fisher every 2 weeks for the rest of my pregnancy starting on June 19. And he said I will deliver by 37 weeks so sometime that second week of November at the latest. We haven't really done anything in terms of getting ready for the babies yet. We need to move a lot of furniture and pack up two rooms in our house to make room for them. It's going to be an undertaking. Otherwise all is well on the baby front.
Emma
Ahhh my sweet little monkey has become Mommy's girl lately. She is always sitting in my lap or telling people that I am her mommy. It is so sweet and I am trying to enjoy every single second that I have left with just me and Emma. We have told her that she is going to be a big sister and that she will have baby brothers or sisters. Generally the response we get when we ask her if she wants a baby brother or sister is a resounding NO! So we have our work cut out for us. I really love this stage of childhood and always have. Babies are okay but they can't really interact with you. Emma can carry on a conversation, tell you what she needs, entertain you and is fairly independent. She comes up with the craziest things. The other night I looked over while she was eating and she had put an empty bowl on her head! Back around Easter time, Target had cute little straw Easter hats in the $1 bin so we bought Emma one. It's pink and has a ribbon tied around it. For a while she would wear it around the house when playing with her babies. Now, it has become her rain hat. I kid you not. Every single time we leave the house and it is raining or the ground is wet, Emma demands "ma hat." And she wears this pink straw hat to protect her head from getting wet. No other hat will do. I need to get a picture of it because it is the funniest thing.
Monkey has also started asking her Daddy to play "toys" with her. Now I have no idea what toys she is referring to. She has many. But they end up playing Weebles or trains most of the time. She has also set up her on little gym in our living room. She asks to have her Pottery Barn chair flipped over so that it is a triangle and we push it up against the ottoman and surround all of it with pillows. She then climbs on the ottoman and uses the chair as a slide or as a place to flip over. Clearly the girl is destined to be a gymnast. And don't worry we are always right there with her so she doesn't crack her head open!
Finally with some of Mommy's energy coming back, we have been trying to just spend lots of time doing fun things. We went to Busch Garden's the other week and Emma had a BLAST! Mommy, not so much, but in 90 plus heat and being sick and pregnant who expected me to really? This weekend we went to the pool two days in a row. Emma had the baby pool all to herself on Saturday and she loved it. She and I played catch with the pool toys and splashed around. She did manage to fall in as she was running (for which I had told her to walk about a million times) but I was right there to scoop her out of the water. Scared her pretty good though. On Sunday we went with her friends Addy and Morgan and those three girls had the best time swimming, splashing and eating everything in sight. This weekend is her daddy's birthday so who knows what fun we have in store!
So there you have it. An update on the Toscanos and on parenting worries. Guess I had it in me afterall.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Monday, May 14, 2012
Twins Oh My!
So yesterday we finally let the cat out of the bag about our expecting twins. We found out on April 20 when we went for my 8 week appointment. We had known there was a chance of us having twins because of the fertility treatments that I was using (HCG injections and Femara) and I knew there were two eggs that were mature when I had my injection the last time. But, never in a million years did either of us think that we'd be in the 10% chance for twins. Never. So when the ultrasound tech broke the news that there were indeed two little beings in there we were not prepared. Mike started sweating profusely and I feared he'd have a panic attack right there in that hot, dark room. I was numb and unsure how to respond. I think I can equate the feeling to finding out you are pregnant at the wrong time in your life like when you are 16 years old, dating the wrong guy for you or something like that. It took weeks and weeks for us to work through this blessing individually and then another few weeks to come back together as a couple. I can only speak for myself here but my primary worries were 1. how can we afford two more babies? We had only budgeted for one. Yes we budgeted for our child! 2. How will I ever be able to give Emma the attention that she needs and deserves. 3. How can we handle two infants at once? Like I said, though we had prayed for one more baby, we were totally unprepared for two more babies. Still are actually. We began to come to terms with it by looking at our budget, finding car seats that fit into my existing SUV, researching and educating ourselves and just breathing. We just trust God has given us the blessings that he knew we can handle. At some point we always planned to have three children, just not two at once!
As I approach the very end of my first trimester and start the very welcome second trimester (Lord please give me some of my energy back and less nausea!) things are a bit more complicated. Our babies as of right this second are identical and sharing a sac and a placenta. This is very high risk. Now I say right this second because I still believe that they are fraternal but my regular OBGYN says she feels like she can't see a second membrane or a second placenta. I go for a NT Scan next week and perhaps the more advanced ultrasound will find more favorable results. Perhaps not. Then we roll with it and hope and pray for the best. As for my dear husband (and this could be hormones but probably not) he's been very good. I'm really bone numbingly tired at the end of each day and he makes dinner, cleans up and doesn't complain much about it. The few times when I just couldn't even muster the energy to give Emma her bath he has stepped in and done it. Poor guy made me a delicious Mother's Day dinner last night. The steak which I would ordinarily love looked gross whole so I asked him to cut it up for me and he did! Still didn't fix the gross factor for me so I am officially giving up on eating meat for a while. I'll have to go to the good old Boca line of products I guess.
So for all of you who read this little blog, hope you enjoy our ride until December!
As I approach the very end of my first trimester and start the very welcome second trimester (Lord please give me some of my energy back and less nausea!) things are a bit more complicated. Our babies as of right this second are identical and sharing a sac and a placenta. This is very high risk. Now I say right this second because I still believe that they are fraternal but my regular OBGYN says she feels like she can't see a second membrane or a second placenta. I go for a NT Scan next week and perhaps the more advanced ultrasound will find more favorable results. Perhaps not. Then we roll with it and hope and pray for the best. As for my dear husband (and this could be hormones but probably not) he's been very good. I'm really bone numbingly tired at the end of each day and he makes dinner, cleans up and doesn't complain much about it. The few times when I just couldn't even muster the energy to give Emma her bath he has stepped in and done it. Poor guy made me a delicious Mother's Day dinner last night. The steak which I would ordinarily love looked gross whole so I asked him to cut it up for me and he did! Still didn't fix the gross factor for me so I am officially giving up on eating meat for a while. I'll have to go to the good old Boca line of products I guess.
So for all of you who read this little blog, hope you enjoy our ride until December!
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Just like that
My last post was about the beginning of potty training for Emma. Here we are 18 days later and my sweet baby girl is all grownup. Sure she still wears a diaper at nap and bedtime but most of the time it stays dry. Like most every milestone of becoming a little girl, it was sort of anticlimactic. No m&ms, no bribes. Just ta da. Every milestone has been this way. When Emma was ready to stop using a paci after discovering her thumb at three months, there were no more pacifiers. Samething happened when we allowed her to decide when to give up bottles at 15 months and when she decided to sleep in a toddler bed. Rarely is there drama or tears. Just Emma making the decisions and moving on to the next phase of childhood. I will say that it does make me very sad to see this last bit of baby Emma slip away so easily. Buti do have hopes that giving up her thumb might not be so easy!
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
On Potty Training
Let me be the first to say that potty training is not for the squeamish or faint of heart. We started officially potty training yesterday. Big Fat Failure! On any other day my little monkey loves to go pee on the potty but put her in panties and the kid seals her legs shut! Throughout the day I wondered how many accidents Emma might have had until I got a phone call from daycare. Turns out Miss Toscano decided if she couldn't potty on her own terms, she would not potty at all. She held her pee ALL DAY! I got to school and we tried again with me, first in the kid's potty and then in the teacher's potty. All she did was scream. I might also mention that she still wears a diaper at naptime and in her stubbornness still held her pee, despite the diaper!
So off we went to our house. I immediately put her on the potty again. I was convinced she'd go on her own potty at home. Nope. When I say she threw the most heart wrenching tantrum I have ever seen, I am not exaggerating. Any momma would have been distraught! She cried her little heart out. So we got off the potty and I let her be. She cried for a good 15 minutes sitting on the kitchen floor until she peed on herself. Now this set off a whole new tantrum because she was upset that she had an accident. I was trying to soothe and strip her naked at the same time. Poor kid was so traumatized that I put her in a diaper and we snuggled and watched Toy Story.
Cut to today. I really, really, really wanted to put a diaper on her. I did. But we proceeded forward with panties on. Got downstairs and not five minutes later she grabs her crotch and says she peed. She did indeed. So fearing a fight or tantrum, I said okay let's go sit on the potty like Addison and Morgan do so Mommy can change your clothes. This works! She sits pitifully on the potty while I run and get her new clothes. Then as we are leaving for school/work, I go to put her coat on her only to find that she has pooped in her pants and said nothing! So gross. Now I have no experience with how to clean up that much poop out of someone's panties. In the end, we threw them out. I can afford to buy new underwear rather than deal with that. So now we've had our pee and poop accident and the child is at school STILL IN UNDERWEAR! I have no idea if she will continue on this stubborn streak of I'll do it in my own time or not.
But for you mom's and dad's who haven't ventured into potty training yet, be warned. Personally, my kid may be the one in diapers starting kindergarten!
So off we went to our house. I immediately put her on the potty again. I was convinced she'd go on her own potty at home. Nope. When I say she threw the most heart wrenching tantrum I have ever seen, I am not exaggerating. Any momma would have been distraught! She cried her little heart out. So we got off the potty and I let her be. She cried for a good 15 minutes sitting on the kitchen floor until she peed on herself. Now this set off a whole new tantrum because she was upset that she had an accident. I was trying to soothe and strip her naked at the same time. Poor kid was so traumatized that I put her in a diaper and we snuggled and watched Toy Story.
Cut to today. I really, really, really wanted to put a diaper on her. I did. But we proceeded forward with panties on. Got downstairs and not five minutes later she grabs her crotch and says she peed. She did indeed. So fearing a fight or tantrum, I said okay let's go sit on the potty like Addison and Morgan do so Mommy can change your clothes. This works! She sits pitifully on the potty while I run and get her new clothes. Then as we are leaving for school/work, I go to put her coat on her only to find that she has pooped in her pants and said nothing! So gross. Now I have no experience with how to clean up that much poop out of someone's panties. In the end, we threw them out. I can afford to buy new underwear rather than deal with that. So now we've had our pee and poop accident and the child is at school STILL IN UNDERWEAR! I have no idea if she will continue on this stubborn streak of I'll do it in my own time or not.
But for you mom's and dad's who haven't ventured into potty training yet, be warned. Personally, my kid may be the one in diapers starting kindergarten!
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Monday, March 26, 2012
What happens next?
Many of you who read my blog know about my friend Deanna and her daughter Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn passed away on Thursday from Neimann-Pick Type A. It was an awful, grueling battle to watch from a distance. I can't imagine what it was like to watch up close and to live every day. Though we all knew the end was near, it still shook me to my core. I still check Deanna's blog every day expecting an update. The reality that God now has Kaitlyn has not set in for me. This brings me to where my thoughts are today. Today Kaitlyn is being laid to rest. My thoughts frequently turn to what do the Bourgeault's do now? Deanna and Chip have literally been by Kaitlyn's side day and night for months. Chip said on Facebook the other day that the two have not been in the car together in he can't remember how long. Deanna literally never left the house and probably rarely the master bedroom toward the end. Their dedication to loving their child is awe inspiring. Now, with Kaitlyn at peace, I imagine it must feel strange and maybe a little overwhelming to find some new normal. What do you do with all of those hours you filled caring for sweet Kaitlyn? My guess is you spend it trying to keep Cole's life "normal."
What I do know is that it really does put in perspective life and love and giving and healthy children? You know? So as the weeks and months go by, let's all say a prayer of thanks for what we have and one for the Bourgeault's as they adjust to life without their sweet girl.
What I do know is that it really does put in perspective life and love and giving and healthy children? You know? So as the weeks and months go by, let's all say a prayer of thanks for what we have and one for the Bourgeault's as they adjust to life without their sweet girl.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Happy Birthday Sweet Emma
Dear Emma,
You celebrated your second birthday on Friday. I can't believe that you are two. It seems like you were just learning to roll over. You have learned so many things over the last year. You have mastered walking and have mastered running too. You really like to practice running away to the swings! You have started singing songs to us which is completely adorable. Twinkle, Twinkle Mommy Star is your favorite. Though you have been known to bust out in a rousing rendition of Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes too! And let's not forget the Itsy, Bitsy Spider! You are also learning your ABCs. You can recognize letters as letters and then start singing ABCDEFG mumble mumble mumble Q R S T U V and then you move on. 5 and 7 are your favorite numbers and your favorite color must be yellow since you think all things are yellow. You are very well mannered and always say please and thank you and sometimes even you're welcome if we don't say it fast enough! You are also a great helper and love to help with the laundry and unloading the dishwasher.
The thing that I love most about you is your spirit. You are a girl who knows what she wants and I love that. As we look toward this third year of your life I am excited to see what crazy antics you come up with. I'm excited to watch you learn to use the potty (I'm not excited about the mess.) I'm excited for you to sleep in a big girl bed and I'm excited to hear the stories you come up with. Mostly I'm just excited to have you as my daughter. I love you baby girl.
You celebrated your second birthday on Friday. I can't believe that you are two. It seems like you were just learning to roll over. You have learned so many things over the last year. You have mastered walking and have mastered running too. You really like to practice running away to the swings! You have started singing songs to us which is completely adorable. Twinkle, Twinkle Mommy Star is your favorite. Though you have been known to bust out in a rousing rendition of Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes too! And let's not forget the Itsy, Bitsy Spider! You are also learning your ABCs. You can recognize letters as letters and then start singing ABCDEFG mumble mumble mumble Q R S T U V and then you move on. 5 and 7 are your favorite numbers and your favorite color must be yellow since you think all things are yellow. You are very well mannered and always say please and thank you and sometimes even you're welcome if we don't say it fast enough! You are also a great helper and love to help with the laundry and unloading the dishwasher.
The thing that I love most about you is your spirit. You are a girl who knows what she wants and I love that. As we look toward this third year of your life I am excited to see what crazy antics you come up with. I'm excited to watch you learn to use the potty (I'm not excited about the mess.) I'm excited for you to sleep in a big girl bed and I'm excited to hear the stories you come up with. Mostly I'm just excited to have you as my daughter. I love you baby girl.
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