Lena's first word?

This has been bugging me for a while. What exactly constitutes a first word? When and how does the reconstruction of history occur regarding your firstborns? (I have gone from being certain nothing in their history would be tainted to understanding that the sleep-deprived mind is a very creative thing.) I remember hearing Nico calling mama mama incredibly plaintively, and asking Chris, "So is July 24 the day and Nico's first word mama?" It was so clear, I wanted to stop the car and say, "Yes, baby, I'm your mama, don't cry." But that would only have prolonged the crying by prolonging the time til we got home. This was after Lena had been mumbling mamamama for a couple weeks. But they weren't looking me in the eye or holding out their arms as they spoke.

The day before Thanksgiving, Lena seemed to speak purposefully. She was teething and using my nipple as a teether, so I had been saying, "Ow, don't bite," quite a bit. Then Nico fell on her head and started crying. Then Lena spoke--but did she really make such a sophisticated connection? See, I hesistate to assert that Lena's first word is "ow." (And, what are the poetic implications of such a first word?) However, this evidence may suggest otherwise: Lena's first word?

So much stuff going on!

And here are some recently uploaded videos. I'm going to have to get these uploaded more quickly so I can be more current. Also, I'm going to tell some people about the blog.

4th of july eating

8th of july eating (featuring grandma and grandpa d)

tummy time

blip with toys

nico and rustom

nico eats an apple (10 months)

rice, dahl, and the hungry birds (10 months old)

News:

• Lena may have said her first word. Check out the next blog (waiting for video to upload).
• Nico is doing some awesome standing--20 or 30 seconds! Lena is doing a lot of downward dog. Very cool! Wearing their new Chucks may have helped them a little (but they don't like to keep them on too long.)
• Both girls are using the shape sorter on the Peekablocks thing.
• Daddy installed the mirrors in the playroom; I need to get some pictures.
• The girls were awesome at their Legal Seafoods Thanksgiving dinner with Grandma M.
• They had little colds this week, and teething continues. Lena's about to get her fourth teeth, and Nico is working on her second set of four.
• The girls were fabulous hosts to Sienna and Anders and Daddy's 20th reuinion friends.
• The car continues to rock, as do the Britax seats. Today we attempt the mall with a unfolded stroller in the back--what ease!
  

Everything is new this week!

New car (almost), new hair, new pediatrician, new teeth, and a bit closer to standing. Tonight we begin enjoying a fabulous new maroon Honda Odyssey (2002), brought to us in part by the generous folks in grandparent-land, those noble supporters of our brood. It is fabulous; the girls can see well (according to daddy), and the thing handles like a car. Send me comments for suggestions for naming our new chariot, please.

Our new pediatrician, Dr. Mark Vonnegut (yes, son of), also rocks. Grandma M helped me take the girls early this morning (Auntie Merce graciously lent us her car). He showed the girls a picture of his puppy to calm the girls. While the girls are still a bit traumatized from our last pedi, Dr. V's not-cold stethoscope (why doesn't every doctor have one?), his awesome playroom/waiting room, his you-don't-have-to-strip-down scale policy, and his overall amiableness may just heal this babies. Plus he wasn't at all worried about their weights or potential anemia even though I'm breastfeeding and not adding vitamins. Woohoo! I wish I'd found him sooner!

Lena continues to work on her upper right tooth; you can still just barely see it. And Nico seems to be getting another top tooth. I gave her Motrin tonight and she's out (a near-record at 2 hours and counting) after a rough night last night.

And my hair is short again. I'll post a picture when my car-stress zits go away.

New with the babes:

• They are becoming excellent mimickers. I started talking into a box to make my voice sound funny, and they each also "talked" into the boxes. They keep doing it.
• Nico has started to sign "all done" at meals (though she is rarely all done); she raises her right hand and waves.
• Lena is very agile with the door on her peekablocks box, putting things in and getting them out. She's also begun nesting.
• The girls were shaking things before, but now it's like they're making music. In fact, in the car this morning, mom and I were singing and then stopped to talk, and Nico called out in a singsong voice, I think asking us to keep singing.
• I made a practice carrot cake for their birthday.
  

stomach bug (and new this week)

the stomach bug has been running its smelly course for over a week now. nico got it first, and she threw up twice. the first time i had just gotten to trader joe's and was stuck in the parking lot. i got out of the car and asked three people to let me cut in line; it still took a while to park, but i got in a little sooner. she didn't seem too upset either time (the second was in te middle of the night). but oh the explosions! i probably have not done this much laundry since they were using formula and spitting up all the time. nico has, uh, solidified, but lena is still exploding and she threw up this morning. luckily it was only breastmilk (and enough that i should be less concerned that they aren't getting enough--my constant fear, thank you very much pediatrician number one)--but some landed on nico and i was soaked. i read here that it might be much worse if i weren't breastfeeding--no need for pedialyte. i've just given them the same water splashed with juice in a sippy. they're drinking a lot (maybe 6 ounces) and staying hydrated. and pretty darn happy. but lots of nightwaking except for last night--they must have woken between 10 and 5, but i don't remember it.

so not much is new this week. but they're 11 months old today (and it's a lot harder to get them to sit still for a picture)!

• lena figured out how to make the fisher-price block thing "say" what's in the peekablock
• nico wants to stay and stay and stay in the bath
  
• lena looks out the window and laughs from her new car seat
• nico is "talking" more when she "reads" a book
• lena loves when we go "blelalala" with our tongues and imitates us
  
• they're both getting even better at turning pages
• they're kissing each other more
• i asked nico to say "mama" and she did; but it was a fluke, i guess, because it hasn't been repeated
• they will stop fussing in the car for a bit when chris and i sing "wheels on the bus"
• they love staring out the window over the bed; nico will play at the window for a good half an hour before naps or bed
• lena is very slowly getting her top right tooth
  

super sweet things:

• lena rubs my belly as she's going to sleep
• nico turns around and motions for me to follow her whenever she crawls off
  

a funny!

here's a link to a video of lena attacking my stomach last week. she's been doing it more and more and knows it's funny. nico was doing a similar thing (with less vigor) just before naps...and if she had her way, she'd never sleep again. (she skipped her second nap yesterday and made it pretty happily through the day on 45 minutes. she helped daddy mop and put together the new high chairs that attach to the table--it's so glorious to have it back--in the kitchen with barely a peep while lena napped with me.)

anyway, you can upload videos at video.google.com for free as long as they're not obscene or pornagraphic. i wonder what their take on a nursing babe would be. i should do it!

celtics orphans and retribution for mommy

chris went to two celtics games last week. wednesday we put the girls to bed early, so they didn't really know daddy was gone. but friday he had to leave early to get robert parish and jojo white to sign copies of the above picture (cute outfits compliments of darragh at our baby shower). but we managed the evening routine all right (dinner and bath followed by a simple recitation of Goodnight Moon).

and what did my beloved give me in exchange for my extra baby duty? well, we planned a sunday of freedom for mommy (after chris and his dad spent saturday working on the bathroom--fast approaching the two year anniversary of the start of the project). daddy gave the girls breakfast, and for the first time, i stayed in bed! i had a weird dream about losing a tooth, but i didn't feel like i actually fell asleep. chris was going to take the girls out alone for the first time, but they both had diarrhea by this point, so we all went out together and had a pretty lovely day.

do moms ever really get a day off, or is that just an urban legend of some sort....

shoes sizes and new things

(the picture is from halloween--spooky, eh?)

so mom and i took the girls to stride rite to get their feet measured yesterday (after a lovely lunch at legal seafood--lovely until someone commented on how perfect the girls were...then i shot nico in the eye with lemon and lena got too much lettuce [oops] in her mouth). they're both a size three. but the shoes there, while i'm sure they're well-made, are more than $40 a pair. not cute enough to splurge and not neutral enough to wear every day. i'm thinking i might be a soft-soled shoe kinda mama. i love bobux. but i might buy some chucks.

so new baby things in the past week:

• last saturday morning, nico gave me a raspberry on my tummy. at noon, lena did it too. how sweet!
• lena is pointing all over the place
• lena clearly signed milk monday morning when i didn't nurse them right after breakfast
• clapping seems to mean more for both nico and lena
• they continue to love their books, especially ones that have fun things to feel, and they are getting good at turning pages
• they'll each stand for a second or two holding nothing
• nico will say "buh" for bottle and book; lena says "duh" for duck and dog; i think they're getting closer to saying "mama" just for me and "dada" for chris
• nico is grinding her top and bottom teeth--agh!
  

weightloss resumes!

well, i guess i will relive a few gory details. i was 218 pounds the day i delivered. i firmly believed that with breastfeeding twins, the weight would "fall off." breastfeeding twins uses about 1000 calories a day and makes you starve. it also requires you to sit still for about 23 hours a day for the first few months. it is awfully easy to eat an extra 1000 calories a day when nothing much else is going on. so i was only 198 7 weeks postpartum (that was a depressing day). then it got warmer and i could go on walks and i tried to eat less junk and i was losing about a pound a week. not as fast as i wanted to lose, but tolerable. then it slowed. in july, i added fats to my diet to "fatten" up my breastmilk since the girls' former pediatrician convinced me i was starving them. according to her, "some babies are too polite" to tell you they're hungry. ha! but i was worried and followed some anecdotal advice. my weightloss slowed (as i added cookies to healthier fats like almonds), but the girls gained thanks to their love of solids. i removed cookies from my diet in august, but i've been stuck at around 160 for the past month. today, however, i am 157.5, and i would love to be 150 by their birthday (although that's only 6 weeks, so it's really pushing it).

kellymom.com has great information about losing weight while breastfeeding, as does la leche league. a lot of moms online claim they lost a lot of weight all at once (at 4 months, 6 months...). i waited and waited, but it hasn't happened yet!

sippies help them stand!

yesterday we had a late playdate. the girls were due for a nap, but their schedule's been more erratic than usual and i didn't want to cancel the playdate (selfish mommy). so i gave them sippies wth a little more than the splash of apple juice i usually put in (tader joe's organic--cheap and good). i'm not sure if the sugar actually got them wired, but we all did seem to have fun with our 8.5 month old guest and her mom. then they crashed pretty hard for a half hour nap at 4.30 (and they still went to sleep by 7 when chris left for the celtic's game, 1 of 2 this week).

so one of the sippies was still up here this morning (bad mommy). nico was drinking from it (worse mommy) when lena spotted it. a fight ensued. i seriously don't know what to do when they fight. it's a difficult job to decide what's "fair"--but i guess it's more like deciding what's going to result in the least amount of crying and still be reasonable. so i ran downstairs for another sippy left over from breakfast (am i the worst mom for reusing sippies). that's when i discovered sippies help them stand. if they're standing with a sippy in one hand and want to use the other, well, that creates standing. so i rushed back downstairs and got the pump parts, started pumping, which of course made them want to nurse, but i am rededicating myself to pumping so they can have milk in their helpful sippies instead of faintly flavored apply sugar water.

desperately seeking other mothers

so my search for moms near me.... when the girls were six months and no longer cried every time i put them in the car seat, we signed up for a sign language class (sign, say, & play) at isis maternity. it was a good class, but at six weeks, too short to really get to know the other moms. plus, i took someone with me to each class because i wasn't sure i could manage them both (although managing both has turned out to be easier alone, often). undeterred and happy to have an outside-the-house activitity, we signed up for movers and groovers. there are more moms and we meet until december 13 (fifteen weeks), and the girls seem to enjoy it. we generally go to lunch with a few other moms beforehand (last time the restaurant ran out of high chairs). but it's still not the type of mom lovefest i expected. i'm realizing how other moms parent really affects how much i want to be friends with them. more on that later.

so we also drop-in to a playgroup at isis on friday. there i met a mom who came over with her daughter yesterday. that was fun and a little less stressful than meeting moms online through matchingmoms.org, which i've also done. there you enter your zip code and complete a brief profile (you can choose between bowling and breastfeeding as interests). i got in touch with a mom who also selected breastfeeding; she lives a few blocks away, so we've been on some walks and had a playdate. she seems cool, but it's hard to coordinate three babies' nap "schedules."

(above, my girls on halloween, fairies bribed with cookies)