9m1w6d

Ok so according to my lovely ticker above the twins are now 9 months, 1 week and 6 days old...so I guess that means I am 1 week and 6 days late on posting their 9 month update and I do apologize for that. Let's see what is new for Evan and Taryn this past month
- They are both crawling all over the place...I am tired from chasing twins around the house all day. Well actaully not really because we installed some gates to contain them to the living room...thank goodness or I really would be chasing them all over the house all day long. They dont stay in one place long
- They are pulling up and walking along the furniture and they stand every chance they get...they pull up on any and everything
- We have added macorni and cheese, spinach, and many more finger foods to their diet. To this day the only things I cannot get them to eat are avocados and bananas. They will eat asparagus but not bananas (hmmm, starting to wonder if they are really my kids LOL)
- Evan is saying dada all day long...so he is not saying w/ purpose but he is saying it. Taryn is saying dada and mama but again w/o purpose...they just say it to say it...cant wait until the word assocaiation comes into play.
- They are finally on the charts at their 9 months appointment Evan and Taryn finally made it on the growth charts...it took a lot of persistance and work to ensure they were eating enough during the day but it was well worth it.
Evan: Head: 25th%, Weight 5th%, Height 10th%, and Weight for Height 25th%
Taryn: Head: 50th%, Weight 12th%, Height 25th% and Weight for Height 50th%
We obviously still have some work to do espeically w/ Evan but we are making progress. Evan is actually heavier and taller then Taryn but becasue they are boy/girl they are measured on different charts...so although it appears Taryn is doing better, Evan is still bigger.

I believe that is pretty much it for now...so until next time
Hugs to all
Gena

RIP Lil' Nashie

NASH TUTTLE

July 2, 2003 - January 8, 2010

It is with great sadness that we share w/ you that our little Nashie went to doggie heaven today. He had a back injury about 6 months ago or so. We took him to the vet they gave him some muscle relaxers and pain meds and he was fine w/in a couple of days. However, on Wednesday he re injured his back but this time it was much worse. He wasn't moving his hind legs. Chad and I really didn't know how serious it was but we took him to the vet about 10:00 p.m. Wednesday night. I just couldn't stand the thought of him in pain over night w/o seeking some kind of help for him. We found a vet that would see him at that late hour. She did a few diagnostic test on him and determined that he most likely had a spinal cord injury as he was not showing any signs of feeling in his hind legs but he still had his reflexes in his booty which was a good sign. So we left him there overnight on a steroid drip and hoped for the best for him. The next day we got a call from the vet at around 10:00 a.m. saying that Nash was no better and if anything his status was declining. We still hoped for a miracle. On Chad's way home from work the vet had called him again this time to say that Nash has now lost his feeling in his booty and no longer had the ability to relieve himself :-( at this point we basically knew what his fate was. I cried most of the night at the thought of loosing our little buddy. So this morning Chad called the vet to verify his status and again to improvement he discussed our options w/ us and as we had expected she advised us to put him down. So we went to spend an hour or so w/ him...just loving on him, stroking him, kissing his cute little head, massaging his ears as he always like so much. I said my goodbyes w/ tears streaming down my face and then took the kiddos home for their nap. Chad stayed behind and held Nashie until he took his final breath and then wrapped him up in his favorite blanket and brought him home. He is now resting peacefully buried deep beneath his favorite tree in our backyard. We even threw some rocks in the bottom of his grave as he loved to sunbathe on those rocks in the summer time.

Nash was only 6 years old and full of life. For those that didn't know him, he was an awesome dog w/so much personality. Sometimes we think he thought he was human. He was so loving and always wanted to be near you and would often sit your feet to keep them warm for you. He never met a stranger and made friends everywhere he went and he went to a lot of places w/ us including DC, Nashville and Hilton Head. He loved the beach and chasing the water. He was our 'baby' until we had real babies. He would have been such a great dog for Evan and Taryn....we miss him so much already!!!!!!!

Rest in Peace our little buddy...we will love you always and cherish all the wonderful memories we made w/ you!!!!!

Confessions of a Twin Mom

There are Confessions of a Teen Age Drama Queen and Confessions of a Shopaholic so why not Confessions of a Twin Mom....LOL. Actually this isn’t my idea; I have been committed to reading online forums for support/information for a few years now. It started w/ general trying to conceive boards which evolved to infertility boards and then to pregnancy boards (I used to day dream about the day I could belong to a pregnancy board) and then finally the parenting boards. It’s a great way for me to gain insight from other real women who have been there done that. One of my favorite boards is Twinstuff.com I like the board because all the mom's on there have twins or higher order multiples. One thing I like to do is read ahead so I know what is coming i.e. when I was still pregnant w/ the twins I would read the First Year board so I could read about what all the mom's w/ newborn twins were experiencing and now that our babies are 9 months old I stumbled over to the Second Year board to see what all those mom's were up to and read about the challenges of having 1 year old twins. I find challenges easier to deal with when I am prepared for what’s to come :-). Anyway, there was a thread on the Second Year board all about "confessions" I found this thread mostly humorous and really comforting to know that all those things I do that make me feel like a horrible mother are actually more normal than horrible...nothing like reading about other people’s 'dirt' to make yourself feel better LOL. Some of the post I did find kind of sad and it does make me realize that just like anything else in life ATTITUDE is everything especially when it comes to mothering your children. It appears that those w/ negative feelings towards parenting their twins have a harder time dealing w/ the challenges and the day in and day out struggles than those who have an easier time embracing their rolls. Not that this is a new observation it is just something that stood out like a flashing red light as I was reading through hundreds of 'confessions'. It was a little disheartening to me to find that mom's in the 1-2 year old age group sounds just as overwhelmed as those of us still in the first year. I had great hopes for the second year to be easier. OK now for confession time. I figured if I was going to read everyone else’s confessions it would be only fair for me to create my own list. The funny ones that were pretty common on the thread that are true for me as well...
1. Yes, I don’t even think about washing their hands before I feed them...not sure why this didn’t occur to me
2. Yes, I pick food up off the floor and feed it to them, otherwise we would throw more food away that they actually eat. We do follow the 5 second rule (that makes it better right) and I don’t allow our dogs in the kitchen so our floors should be fairly clean right???? Anything to make this sound better.
3. Yes, I will leave them in their cribs in the morning if they are happy and playing to get an extra 5 minutes of sleep but I will get up as soon as they start fussing.
4. Yes, there are days I wish I was working instead of at home w/ them...sometimes I just feel someone else would do a much better job at playing w/ them and interacting w/ them.
5. I never saw myself as a Stay At Home Mom and even as I write that I don’t really identify w/it...I kind of feel like this is temporary for me, but.......at the same time when it really comes down to it I WANT to be home w/ them and I can’t imagine not being the one taking care of them every day. Even though there are moments and even days (sometimes) that I really wish to be working when it comes down to it I really LOVE being home w/ them and would not trade this time I have had w/ them for anything
6. I question every decision I make for them and everything I do. I wonder if I am unknowingly going to cause some kind of long term damage that they are going to be in therapy for as adults LOL.
7. I don’t have a favorite (some mom's actually admitted to having a favorite). I honestly do not. This was a huge fear I had when I was pregnant and am so relieved to be able to say that there isn’t a favorite
8. I think my babies are the cutest babies EVER!!!! Even though I know every other mom would argue this point w/ me, I can accept that but it doesn’t stop me from thinking it :-)
9. I didn’t feel that instant motherly connection that everyone always talks about...you know those overwhelming feelings of love that make you sob just thinking about your babies. I seriously thought something was wrong with me until I started sharing this w/ other mom's and realized that it just doesn’t happen that way for everyone. Those feelings came and now I can’t think of them w/o gushing buckets of tears because I love them so much.
10. I am afraid that I am going to be so over protective of them that they are not going to be able to experience real life.
11. The idea that they are going to have to learn hard lessons throughout their lives makes me want to put them in a bubble (my poor kids).
12. I can’t wait for them to talk so I can know what they are thinking and feeling (yes I realize I may want to take this one back one day LOL)
13. I didn’t enjoy the newborn stage...I never understood what everyone was talking about when they would say how fun it was to cuddle their babies when they are so small...and then it occurred to me...I didn’t get to cuddle my babies because there was always another one to take care of.
14. I envied moms of singletons for the longest time. I LOVE both Evan and Taryn and would not trade either one of them for anything but I wished I could have enjoyed them one at a time and really bonded w/ them separately. I feel like they were cheated of that special one on one time singleton babies get w/ their moms. Sometimes I still wonder if they get ALL they really need from me.
15. I hate the attention having twins brings. I never make eye contact in public w/ anyone so they don’t feel compelled to talk to us and ask a gazillion questions. When I notice people pointing and smiling at the babies I pretend I don’t see them so I don’t have to talk to them.