Gracie and Luke get dunked, (oops!) I mean, Baptized

Despite lots of tears and hysterical sobs, Gracie and Luke were baptized yesterday along with Baby Cousin Nathan at Holy Family in Glendale. Nathan is actually a year older than the Twinsies, but he will always be Baby Cousin Nathan to us (that is, until he is old enough to say "Aunt Jen, stop it!").

Something funky was going on with the camera, so most of our pictures are yucky. However, here are some you might enjoy.

We followed up the Baptisms with a yummy afternoon lunch at BJs. Nina Marlisa made her fantastic chocolate cupcakes (heaven in a paper cup). A fun day was had by all. They Twinsies passed out at 6:30 pm.

One half a year old...Time Flies When You are Growing!

rolling over...almost
blowing bubbles...yes, yuck
"talking" to Mommy and Daddy...yup
sleeping through the night...well, they were
holding onto our own bottles...when they want to
teeth...Lukie - 2
teeth...Gracie - 1
kicking water in the bathtub and soaking Mommy...you bet
6 months old...that's right!

Gracie and Luke celebrated their 6 Month Birthday yesterday. Gracie did it in grand style by rolling over for the first time. They have grown so much in the past few months. They don't even look like the two tiny babies we held in the NICU. Here's an idea of how big they are now:

In the NICU:


With Dad when they were only a few weeks old:


With Mom in their Yearbook photo at 1.5 months:


5.5 months old:


6 months old:


To prove that the Twinsies are indeed old enough to be considered "almost 1" (gasp), they are finally starting solids. Everyone told us to start with rice cereal. Ummmm, no. Honestly, have you tried that stuff? Yuck! Then, they suggested oatmeal. We considered it, but then we thought the Twinsies are too amazing for that.

So we went for the ultimate in Twinsie food: AVOCADO.

Gracie was excited at first, but then wasn't sure what to do with it.
Luke decided that he wanted to eat it, but made a face like I was feeding him poison.

Each of the Twinsies had about 8 spoonfuls of avocado until they were D-O-N-E. At that point, we gave them both bottles of breastmilk which they ate ravenously.


We plan to keep feeding them avocado for the next few days to see if they start liking it more. We haven't decided what their next meal will be, but it will be something equally exciting. We have to get them ready for Tia Elvira's avocado salsa.

The next exciting thing to come is the Twinsies' baptism on Saturday. Watch for pics of the most adorable babies on the planet on Sunday.

Lukie the Medicine Man

When you are 5 months old, most people would think that all you have to worry about is eating, drinking and pooping. Not so if you are Lukie. You also have to worry about taking (and running out of) your steroid medication, silent reflux, thrush, and diaper rash. So many things to worry about when you are little!

For 2 months now, Luke has had to take prednisone for the hemangioma on his nose. Every morning, I put 3.4 mL of the nasty tasting stuff into his bottle. The theory is that by putting it in his bottle, he will be so hungry he will ignore how awful the medicine tastes. To date, it has worked. Last week, he ran out of the medicine and went cold turkey. By Wednesday, he was going through serious withdrawals (I didn't know there were withdrawals from such a low dose). He would violently vomit anything he drank, was lethargic and just plain sad. Daddy was so upset that he called me at work to ask if he should rush Lukie to the emergency room. I had him take Luke's temperature and, happily, he was normal. That afternoon, we headed over to the doctor's office who, yup, declared Luke was going through steroid-withdrawal. Talk about Roid Rage! On Zantac for the reflux, he is doing better. He's still spitting up, but not like Wednesday. (Think tiny baby and the Exorcist.)

We traveled to UCLA on Friday to see the pediatric dermatologist. They decided to put Luke back on the steroids in an attempt to step him down slowly.

"Um, he hasn't had the 'roids since Monday. Aren't they out of his system?" I asked, attempting to protect the baby boy from more yuckiness.

"Well, most likely," the cute blonde med student replied. "But going off of steroids that quickly can affect his adrenal system."

Starting to feel like the worst Mommy on the planet, I clutched Lukie to me and tried to quiet Gracie (who decided then to have a serious explosion in her diaper).

But wait! There's more. Not only is he back on steriods, he has to take medicine for thrush in his mouth AND he has a topical cream for his nose when the steroids end. So, Lukie, my almost 6 month old is on 4 medications. Just call him the Medicine Man (aka Super Lukie).

Pictures from December and January

Valentine's Day...with Twins

First, Happy Valentine's Day!

Second, what a difference twins make! No card, no gift (not that I was really expecting one - Ed doesn't get to go anywhere by himself very often). I did get a phone call, which was nice. I purchased Ed a Cubs logo pen with a special case. He loves it!

The Twinsies are wearing their Valentine's outfits. I wonder if they went shopping?

Drowning in a Sea of Unexpressed Gratitude

We have received literally hundreds of gifts for Gracie and Luke. Some were received before the babies were born, others at our Meet the Babies showers. I've done my best to try to send out thank you cards asap, but it seems like there are not enough hours in the day to keep up with all of the thank yous I need to send. Every time I get ready to sit down and write them, a baby will start crying or I will realize that I need to pump or Eddie will need something. Now, I look at my list of thank yous I need to send and am starting to feel like I am drowning under their weight.

I've been wondering what Emily Post would think of e-cards as thank yous. What do you think? Would she support it for moms of multiples?

My New Mantra - Let It Go!

It seems that every day I am reminded I am no longer in control of my life. Whether it is the baby paraphernalia that is all over my house, the students who come and go from my classroom without a care for whether or not I might like some privacy, to people just walking into my house without calling to see if it is okay if they come over, I now have no control over anything. I can't even manage to get myself out of the house on time. Arg.

I've always liked things a certain way. Some would call me a control freak. But now I am starting a new mantra: LET IT GO!

Trust me, this is easier said than done. I often have to take 10 deep breaths while thinking it.

Letting things go is very hard. Auntley (Aunt Loretta to those of you who did not know her) used to tell me to let things go all the time. Her favorite word was "Whatever." She let things go that weren't important in her life. She did not sweat the things she could not change or the opinions of people who were ignorant. She lived her life to make others' lives better.

Right now, my babies are my #1 priority and that is making all of my other priorities suffer. I have so much to grade that I am having anxiety issues. I'm trying to find a way to let it go.....

Let's see how that goes!

New Year, New Stats

We celebrated the new year by taking the Twinsies to their 4 month check-up (well, 3 days early).

Here are their stats:

Gracie - 9 lbs 14 oz - 22.5 inches (not quite on the chart for weight, but 5th percentile for length) Eddie is convinced she would have been 10 lbs if we waited until Saturday (when they are truly 4 months old).

Luke - 12 lbs - 23.5 inches ( 5th percentile weight, 5-10th percentile length)


We are off to UCLA on Friday to see Lukie's dermatologist. Luke has a hemangioma on his nose and he has been taking medication to try to stop it growing. The steroids have been shrinking the hemangioma, but we have to watch that his blood pressure and growth remain on track. The frustrating thing is that the hemangioma seems to change from day to day. Some days, it will swell, then others it stays small. We still have 2 more weeks of the steroids.

The pediatrician told us to hold off on introducing foods (rice cereal) to the babies until they are 5 - 5.5 months old. While most babies get to start on food when they are 4 - 6 months old, the doctor would like us to keep feeding them breast milk as long as possible. When they are 6 months old, then we can introduce baby food. We also get to start giving them water. Not much, just a few ounces every day. So many changes!

Happy New Year!

We are just a few minutes before midnight and Eddie and I have been talking about all the things we have to be grateful for and our plans for 2008. This time last year, we had no idea what the year had in store and look where we are now!

Gracie and Luke will be 4 months old on Saturday. In the last week or so, they have gone through a major transformation. Gracie's hair has begun to thicken (well, except for that awful bald spot on the back of her head) and she doesn't look as small as she did before. If you put the babies next to one another, Luke looks a little stockier, but that's it. Luke has stopped losing his hair and is having lots of fun making his "talking" noises. He giggles like crazy and has learned how to push himself up (not so helpful when trying to put him in his car seat).

I have tons of pictures to share and lots more to write about. Look for more updates soon!

Merry Christmas!

The Top Ten Things Jen & Ed are Thankful for this Christmas

10) The 2006-2007 Chicago Bears made it to the Super Bowl (even though they lost)!

9) Jenny Craig really works!

8) For pregnancy tests that leave no doubt that you are positively preggers

7) For the amazing technology of ultrasounds that let you see you are expecting twins at four weeks pregnant and that let you see your babies are genetically healthy and are a boy and a girl

6) Dr. Steven Hartford is such a fantastic OB and was at Huntington Memorial Hospital the day the babies tried to come early (he is awesome!)

5) For the wonderful, kind, reassuring, funny, caring nurses in the High Risk Unit who took care of Jen and helped her gain twelve more weeks for the Twinsies!

4) For Dr. Tun who fixed Ed’s leg when he broke it after flirting with the nurses in the High Risk Ward (on 7-7-07!)

3) For our family and friends whose love made Jen’s time in the hospital and Ed’s recovery time so much easier

2) AFLAC! That duck really does pay!

And the Number One thing we are thankful for this Christmas…

Graciela Eva-Loretta and Lucas James,

the best gifts we’ve ever received!

Guess Who's 3 Months Old?!!

You guessed it! Gracie and Luke are 3 months old today!
They celebrated their 3 month birthday by sleeping through the night for the first time. Daddy got a full 7 hours of sleep with the babies. He was very happy this morning.

If the bathroom scale is correct, Luke is now a healthy 12 pounds and Gracie is a petite (but healthy too!) 9 pounds. Their favorite pastimes are smiling and cooing at Mommy and Daddy. Their favorite place is the changing table where they can see Mommy, watch their Chicago Bears mobile go around, and look out at the sunshine.

Gracie is a total morning person. She can be in a dead sleep, but as soon as I pick her up to go change her diaper, she is smiling and trying to laugh. We are having lots of fun putting different bows and headbands on her and collecting lots of great blackmail photos for when she is a teenager.
Luke takes about a half an hour to wake up. He will lie in bed next to Mommy and be moving his legs and arms, stretching, but not really be awake. His newest fun thing to do is hang in the jumpy seat and move around when he kicks his feet (this is good since he hates the bouncy seat and the swing).

Today we are taking our Christmas photo and attempting to put up the Christmas tree. Daddy is determined that the tree will be up for the Twinsies first Christmas. I'm wondering how we are going to do it!

Eddie and I can't believe that 3 months have already passed. Everyone told us that the time would pass quickly, but I never thought it would pass this quickly!