Breastfeeding twins everywhere

Mercy just said, unsolicited: "I can't believe there are people who don't breastfeed. It seems like the most natural thing in the world."

The girls have done plenty of nursing this week. I really feel so fortunate that we were able to stick it out; I can't imagine how worried I'd be about them if they were eating so little and just drinking cow's milk.

I used to think I'd be shy or modest about nursing them in public when they reached toddlerhood, but I think I nurse them more now out in public. I've nursed them at the zoo, on the T, in stores at the mall, on the train to and from NY (and on airplanes last year), in Penn Station, in taxis.... Two weekends ago I was sitting on the steps of a neighbor's house (whom I don't really know), and their teenage son walked by while I was nursing Nico. I'm not sure he even noticed.

Lately the girls like to nurse while I read to them. It's getting a little crowded in our nursing chair. I wonder what the post-illness phase of nursing will be like.

Day Thirteen of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet

Insanity here. We're on Day 13, and I've cut out eggs (which means the "cheesecake" too--I am hungry!). But the girls have a strange virus, so I can't see if cutting out eggs makes any difference.

I thought the virus was chicken pox, but the doctor said no. She's not sure what it is; seems like roseola, but Nico's fever was too short (about 15 hours). Lena, however, is on day two of her fever, so perhaps it is roseola. I, of course, think it's a weird hybrid caused by the chicken pox vaccine.

I am typing with a girl asleep on either boob. I haven't even been able to check email this week. Mercy (Mimi!) has been here helping out the last couple days, but I am still really feeling sorry for myself. I need a personal chef, a personal shopper, and someone to clean the house. I won't even tell you the last time I bathed.


(Above, here we are just before we left Christine's in New York. The trip was pretty awesome, and Christine and I are reading Sugar Blues together. Of course, she's probably done, and I haven't even started. Actually, I haven't even unpacked everything from the trip last weekend.)

Day Two of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet

The only cheating I've done is not to puree the carrots. They are not being completely digested by the littles, so we'll puree tomorrow!

Die off is happening. On the one hand, I'm psyched, because it means this is real and we should be doing this diet.

On the other hand, I feel so guilty that I let so much bad bacteria/yeast get into my precious little babes.

I will describe the die-off when we're a bit further away from it and I can see more clearly. I'm a little more functional than yesterday but still extremely stressed!

Day One of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet--Take 2

This time I didn't cheat. I did, however, lose it frequently throughout the day. Mercy threw her back out (which I didn't know), and I called her and bitched her out for bailing on our plans. Oops. Then I couldn't find either set of car keys, so our milk (which I can no longer drink unless it's been fermented for 24 hours) and eggs are still sitting in Cambridge. Grandma M. is going with us in the morning.

I feel okay now, but this is very hard for me for some reason. The girls are understandably fussy. They slept three hours. Lena wanted to go to sleep at 10.30 (9.30 before the time change); Nico passed right out too. (Of course it's now 8.12 and Lena's on my hip.) I dropped own to 141 after two days on the fake diet (eating lots of nuts and nut muffins); I'm a little worried I'll lose too much too fast. Not that I mind losing; I just don't want to dump more toxin into my littles. Sigh. Wish us luck. I'll be posting about it here.

Our library rocks

Friday morning we went to the toddler story hour at our library. It rocked! At first we were the only ones there. The librarian read Lunch! to the girls--a very cute story about a mouse who eats a lot of fruit. And, each girls got a copy of the book! The librarian is a nice young guy, and I was very interested to see the girls' reaction to someone else reading to them. Then a few other kids showed up. They were older and pointing and talking about the book, so the girls started pointing too, especially Nico. After the stories, there were puzzles and crayons. Get this: The girls understand not to eat crayons when they're in front of other people! Not a single bite! I'd tried to replicate the experience at home. Nope; crayon teeth.

This weekend was warm and wonderful. Saturday we went to Auntie Beth's baby shower. The girls were stars. We got so many compliments about them--beautiful and well-behaved. Lena'd slept about 20 minutes in the car and Nico didn't nap until 3, on the way home. We broke our diet with cheese and cucumber, but they didn't reach for any of the other food. (I have to say I feel a little creepy that people think they're so well-behaved, as if I'm disciplining them to be "good." I don't really correct them, you know? They're just good babies.) On Sunday there was lots of playing outside with the twins around the corner and another boy visiting his grandma. Tonight it's cold and rainy again.

New stuff:

• Last week we cut all 20 fingernails in a five minute span of time. I've never even gotten all day in one day before!
  
• We went to the zoo by ourselves Friday, sans stroller. Good workout.
• Lena is really mimicking everything we say. I think she said tractor. As the diet's gotten stricter, she seems to be talking more. It's so cool.
  
• Nico is such an explorer. People call her a mama's girl (my little sweetie), but she wants to go into everyone's backyard, even without me. And she loved "riding" the toy horse at the baby shower. Beth said she's a natural. (I don't really know about riding, but they seemed like they seriously thought she'd be a good rider.)
  
• The girls are addicted to books. And airplanes. And dogs and cats and birds and other twins.

(Above, with the doggie at the shower in Kittery, Maine.)