Something to get excited about

If you are ever at our house when Gracie and Luke wake up, you need to be in position to watch the run from their bedroom to the living room. There are 3 things they want in the morning: a "cracka", "mwilk", and "Bahney." The run is made while they shout these three words in no particular order.

Once we get our cracker and milk (and sometimes raisins), we sit down to watch an episode (carefully Tivoed) of Barney. We have 11 or so saved to the DVR, but their favorite is the episode when a petting farm comes to the park. Usually, they say "Cow! E-O, E-O!" This makes sense because they sing Old MacDonald had a farm.




Normally, we reserve Barney only for the morning, but this afternoon, our nap time did not go well. After we played outside for 2 hours (I'm still stunned by that!), Gracie started asking about Barney and the "poo-poo." Now, if you haven't seen Barney's movie, you would have no clue what she's talking about. But if you have, you know that one of the kids in the movie steps in cow poop at one point. For some reason, our children are fixated on that scene!

Before the movie started, I caught the following:



Aren't they hysterically cute?!

It's like herding cats

The first time I heard the phrase, "It's like herding cats," it took me a few seconds to picture the idea in my head and see how it applied to the situation. Not surprisingly, it made absolute sense. Cats have their own agendas. They do what they want to do, not what you hope they'll do. Cats will sidestep you quickly if you try to direct them where you want them to go. They might even bite or swat at you if they get really annoyed.

Getting my children out the door is like herding cats. First, all they care about is food. See? Cats. I hear the word "cracker" within the first 5 minutes after they wake up. It's like clockwork.

"Good morning, my Lukiloo! How are you this morning?"
kiss. kiss. snuggle. snuggle. kiss.
"Cracka? Cracka? Cracka? Cracka?" This continues until I get up and get the requested cracker.

"Good morning, my Gracie-Lu-Who! How are you this morning?"
kiss. snuggle. kiss. kiss.
"Agua? Agua? Agua? Agua?" This continues until I get up and get the requested water.

We'll watch Barney for as long as they can while I get dressed. It is then that the herding begins.

"Okay! Diaper time. Lukie, let's change your diaper! Do you have potty? Let Mommy change your diaper. Come here! Lukie, come on. Diaper!"

I usually end up going over and picking him up. Raggs the Dog usually keeps him occupied long enough for me to get the diaper changed. Then, the process is repeated with Gracie. If there is poop in her diaper, Oh, Good Gravy! I have to chase her around the house.

"No, no, no, no! No poo poo! No poo poo!" she says as she runs from me.

Diapers changed, we move on to the next task.

"Okay! Everyone get your shoes! Get your shoes. Gracie, where are your shoes? Lukie! Shoes." This one sided conversation continues until I go across the room, sit down on the floor next to the shoe basket and choose their shoes for them. The kicker? They love to put shoes on and will do it for a half an hour while playing. But when I want them to put on the shoes, they won't!

Next, we need to make it to the stroller. The stroller is the safest way to corral wandering cats toddlers.

"Okay, let's get in the stroller."

"Cracka?" says one twin.
"Agua?" says the other twin.
"Papa?" says the first twin.

"If you want to see Papa, let's get in the stroller! Oooh! And Tio Martin and Grandma. Stroller? Stroller, where are you?!"

It starts again.

"Cracka?"

"Agua?"

"Come on, let's go!" I say in a cheerful voice.

"Beeeen? Beeeeen?" A twin falls on the floor. "Beeeeeeeeeeeeen!" the twin wails.

"Where's your binky, Lucas?"

"Beeeeee? Beeeee?" cries the other twin.

"Gracie, where's your binky?"

After 5 minutes of looking and crying, I go to the Binky Drawer. Crisis averted, twins are settled in their seats (with seatbelts...and binkies).

"Okay! Here we go!" And off we go, Twinsies leaning out the side of the stroller trying to reach walls or rip leaves off of plants.

Occasionally, we have to stop for a thrown binky or a dropped shoe, which is amazing because it is 47 steps to our car. I know. I counted. How can they manage to reak so much havoc in such a short distance?

On the days when I bravely choose to leave the stroller in the car, Lukie gets held and Gracie holds my hand (and has to be reminded to keep holding it).

Once we get to the car, I have exactly 2 minutes to get everyone strapped in and get the car turned on so Barney can sing. If not, the crying commences.

"Oh! Truck!" says Gracie, hearing the trash truck coming down the alley.

"Yes, truck," I reply distractedly, trying to strap her in.

"Ooo! Ooo!" exclaims Lukie, trying to turn around in the stroller so that he can catch a glimpse.

"Agua?" says Gracie.

"You can have some water at Grandma's house, Gracie."

"Aaaaagua?" she begins to wail.

"At Grandma's house," I sing.

"Noooooooooooo! Aaaaagua!"

"At Grandma's." I close her door and reach for Lucas.

"Ooo! Uh. Uh."

"What are you looking at Lukie?"

"Uh. Uh."

"Use your words."

"Uh." I look up and see a plane.

"Oh, an airplane. Hi, airplane!" I buckle him in and dodge the books Gracie is now throwing at me.

"Let's go!" I say and climb in. Barney turns on and off we go.

This process is repeated when we arrive at Grandma's house. Only occasionally do I have to chase one of them down the street as they go looking for the lion statues or the dogs.

Cats. It's like herding cats.

20 Months Old - The Countdown to 2 Begins

Are you kidding me? Twenty months old? We're, like, on the downhill slide toward 2 years old!

Torture me a little more, why don't you?

This month, my Little Gracie-Lu-Who, you have developed quite the attitude. In fact, if I had not been present at your birth, I might be inclined to think you were actually in 7th grade and about to celebrate your 13th birthday! The phrase "Nnnnnnnnnnn-No!" is your favorite one. You have developed into such a drama queen that I must make sure I have 3 feet between me and any surrounding furniture when you are in my arms.


You have become quite the fashionista. You like to try on shoes, hats, and any pjs with kitties on them. You have a definite opinion about what I am about to put on you and if it is something you don't like, I am in trouble. You can still fall asleep with a snugly blanket and a warm body next to you. You think that bubbles are AMAZING and the tub is your pool. You love books with a passion and can sit for 30 minutes just looking at pictures and pointing at things.

The most amazing thing you've done this month: you pointed at a picture of an ice cream sundae and said, "ice cream" quite clearly!

Ah, my Little Lukie-Lou. What a crazy month it has been with you! I don't know what you are going through, my little man, but something has you very unhappy. You want me to hold you all the time. If I don't, you grab at any part of me you can hold onto and I drag you along with me. You can fake cry: yes, I know you are faking it. Surprisingly, you have not yet figured out that the key component of the fake cry is the tears. You, like Gracie, love books, bubbles, baths, "swimming" in the tub. Your words are quickly catching up with Gracie's and it makes me very happy to watch you two talk.

Your hemangioma appears to have plateaued in its growth. There are days when it looks like you don't even have one, but later in the day, your nose will swell a bit. I'm hoping that these are the signs that it might be resolving itself sooner rather than later.



Together, the two of you are obsessed with buses and trucks. Our morning drives to Abue's house are filled with: "Ooooo! uck!" Barney is the best thing since sliced bread. Any tantrum can be solved with "Barney is a dinosaur from our imagination...." I have a season pass for Barney and make sure to keep 5 episodes minimum on the DVR. You fight over the Barney books and the books with lift the flaps or other hidey holes.

You don't eat as much as you used to. Instead, you seem to eat only when you are absolutely hungry. Well, except when Abue Juve shares a Popsicle with you! Those you will eat whenever they are presented. You love Grandma's rice and anyone's chicken. You don't like pasta or anything with sauce on it. You like to eat with Tio Martin or on my lap. Of course, you also like to eat on the go!


The best thing about you both is the absolute excitement and joy you show about everything you do. Your hugs break my heart every time, every hug feels like the first one ever! You are friendly and loving to everyone (unless they steal a toy or retrieve one you stole from them - then, it is on!).

In 4 short months, you are going to turn 2 years old. I'm speechless. I guess I'm just going to have to play with you more, enjoy you more, love you more so that I live every single second with you to its fullest.

So, my little ones, keep the good times coming!

18 Months Old

Dear Gracie and Luke,

Today is such a bittersweet day. Today, you turned 18 months old. That's a whole year and a half old. You are truly no longer babies. Instead, you are toddlers and there is no going back to the days when you did not have a will of your own, the days when I could get you to do exactly what I wanted because you did not know you had a choice!

Today, you both know exactly what you want: what the other has! You fight for the things you consider yours, but share because you love one another. You hug me. You hug your grandparents. You blow kisses and pucker up when I ask for "Kisses, kisses!" You say something that sounds remarkably like "thank you" and everyone says you are friendly, sweet children. You have infectious laughs and one of my favorite sounds is when the two of you are playing and you start giggling so hard you can't stop laughing.

You look so big to me, but compared to others your age, you are still rather on the small side. I try not to consider that, because I can still remember when you were so tiny! I remember when Gracie was teeny weeny and even preemie clothes were too big. I remember Lukie and the O face he would make in the months after he was born. Gracie's cry that would take over her entire body. I remember how we would put you on opposite sides of the Pack N Play and you would migrate so that you were side by side. I remember when you drank milk from those tiny bottles the NICU gave us. They were so big back then and all they held was 2 ounces of milk. Today, you can drink 8 ounces of milk like it is nothing!

Do you remember when you were in the NICU and Daddy would sing that song? You know the one in Spanish about the sea and the boat? He only knew the chorus, but he would sing the song and you two would quiet immediately and watch his face raptly. Eventually, you would fall asleep and the nurses marveled at how just the sound of Daddy's voice could calm you.

Today, you still love the Slippery Fish song, but have discovered many others. You like it when I sing "Old Mac Donald" in the car and you clap along when I sing "If You are Happy and You Know It." You love your stroller and shopping cart. Slides are all the rage. Gracie would rather swing than anything else. As much as you love your friends and time at day care, you cry every time I pick you up. It breaks my heart every time, because I wish that I could be at home with you every day instead of sending you off to day care.

You love apples, graham crackers, hot dogs, any kind of cookie or cracker, milk (!), juice, and, tonight, I discovered you really enjoy broccoli beef! You like string cheese, but can really only eat half of one by yourselves. You throw your food when you are done (I wish you'd just sign "All Done" instead). You eat green beans like they are candy, but you still aren't sure if you like corn. You think pretzels, both soft and crunchy, are fantastic and when we go to Sam's Club, our trip is not complete without one.

If you got to choose the one activity to do all day, it would be to Splash, Splash, Splash in the bath tub. You love holding your bath tub cups under the water as it comes out of the spout. You love to splash the water so hard that it soaks the entire bathroom. You really dislike having your hair washed and sometimes I wonder who is taking the bath, you or me?

You are both obsessed with talking on the phone, but only when no one is on it. You will talk and talk and talk and then when I get Daddy or Nana on the phone, you refuse to talk. You love to push buttons, especially the ones on Grandpa's television and the ones on our dishwasher. You think that climbing is totally fun and climb on everything: your table, our kitchen table, the day bed, your stroller, the computer table, the toilet seat. You like to run from me when I try to pick you up; it's all a game to you!

You love your shoes. You will both sit by the shoe basket and pull every last one out and toss them all around the room. You will try to put them on your own feet and when you can't manage to do so will bring them to me and smile sweetly until I put them on for you. You like my shoes too, but have realized they are much too large for your feet. You are very helpful when we get dressed in the morning and when we get undressed at night. You are not so helpful when it is time to put on your jammies or have your diapers changed.

You are just starting to wear size 18 months in t-shirts; they still swim on you, but your 12 month shirts are getting short. Your pants are still size 12 months and Grandma has had to sew darts in the waistband so that they don't fall down to your knees every time you wear them. You like to pull your socks off and if you could figure out how to get your shoes off, you would never have any sockies on your feet. You hate hats. I don't know how anyone gets their children to wear them.

At night time, the three of us lie down in bed. I put on More from Pooh Corner on the CD Player and you drink your milk. Then, I turn off the lights and we lie there together. Sometimes, you fall asleep right away and sometimes, you think it is time to play, even when you are exhausted. You still use your binkies at night and I know the time is coming when I will have to take them from you. I'm not that worried about how you will react, I'm more worried about not having them to help you soothe yourselves when you are tired. Gracie will only sleep when she has her blanket and once Lukie is asleep he is really asleep. On nights when you will not go to sleep and I am so exhausted I want to cry, I will pack you up in the car and drive around until you fall asleep. On those nights, I feel like the worst mommy in the world because I resort to a sneaky trick to get you to rest.

Every day, I feel like I'm doing this whole mommy thing wrong: I don't hold you enough, talk to you enough, help you deal with the disappointments enough. When I feel the worst, I will hold you in my arms and savor the feeling of your little bodies snuggled close. For a brief moment, it will make me feel better. Deep down, though, I still feel like I'm not doing enough.

I wish that I could do so many more things for you. I wish that I could make Daddy all better so that he can come home. I wish that there were more time in the day, more ways to show you I love you, more opportunities to make wonderful memories for you. I wish we lived closer to Nana, Aunt Bec, and Auntie Ten Ten so that you could see them and your cousins more often. I wish our house were not sitting in the middle of a burned out wasteland so that you could have room to run and your own room to sleep in at night.

Even though I can't do anything about all of those things I wish for, I do know that I am very proud of who you both are. I am proudest that both of you are so incredibly friendly and loving. You wave and say "hi" to everyone and "bye" to people, too. You like people and are not afraid to make friends. People like you right back!

So, today you are a year and a half old. No longer babies, but toddlers for sure. In 6 months you will be two and just the idea of it makes me excited. I can't wait to see what will happen in the next month, the next 6 months. What words will you say next? How tall will you grow? What new and amazing things will you learn? What new ways will you find to say "I love you" with out a single word?

Today is bittersweet, but I would not have it any other way. Happy year and a half birthday, my loves! May the next 6 months bring amazing and exciting things!

This will be a long one

Make sure you are sitting in a comfy chair. Maybe grab a coffee or other refreshment. Heck, if it's lunch time, I recommend bringing it over to the computer. This is going to be a long one.

We'll start with news from the Daddy front. I spoke with Daddy tonight. The gastroenterologist came to see him and decided that he wanted a more detailed look at what was going on inside of Daddy's body. They had him eat a radioactive egg salad sandwich (I'm still giggling at the idea of a radioactive egg salad sandwich) and they took x-rays for several hours. What they saw was that his digestive system is moving very very slowly. The good news: it's moving. The bad news: much more slowly than it should be. Before he could tell the doctor about the drug that helped him back in 2003, the doctor actually recommended the Propulsid (our banned by the FDA drug) and he increased Daddy's dosage to "with each meal." He is also putting him on some kind of antibiotic that tends to get your gut moving for some reason. Dr. A, our pediatrician, tells me that it is most likely Eurythrimiacin as it tends to do a number on most digestive systems, but that it really seems to help people with slowly moving guts.

The gastroenterologist wants to send Daddy home so that he can start getting back into the swing of things, hoping that being at home will help him heal more quickly. This is exciting and terrifying news. We desperately want Daddy home, but he gets very anxious about his nausea when he is not in the hospital. Today, marks 25 days since Daddy was admitted to the hospital. We were hoping he would be home for the Super Bowl, but it looks like he'll get to watch it on his flat screen tv in room 5211!

Genetics Suck. I know what you are thinking, Mom. I have better words in my vocabulary, but right now, the word "suck" fits the bill quite nicely. At four weeks old, Gracie was diagnosed with an ear infection. In the almost 17 months she has been alive, she has had more than a half dozen ear infections, four of which have happened since September 2008. This is to be expected. I had multiple ear infections, tubes in my ears, and was generally a sickie-poo. I was hoping that Gracie and Luke would some how be spared from tonsillectomies and ear tubes. We have been referred to an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor to check out Gracie's right ear and to see if there is anything that can be done.

The curse of genetics does not stop there. Gracie has been on all 4 antibiotics pediatricans will prescribe to children her age. She started on Amoxicilin, then was on Augmentin, something called Omnicept, and last, but not least Biaxin. The last time she was on Augmentin, she was switched quickly to the Omnicept. The Augmentin gave her terrible diarreah and made her generally sad. This time, the Biaxin did not do its job and Dr. A decided to prescribe Augmentin again along with a probiotic to counteract the diarreah.

She started the Augmentin on Wednesday. Yesterday, the day care ladies mentioned a rash to me. I did not really see anything when I gave her a bath, but when they mentioned it again today, I took a really closer look. Gracie has a rash over her chest, back, chin and neck. It is bumpy and red looking. She hasn't been scratching it (thank goodness), but it worried me enough to call Dr. A and get her take on it. Dr. A was so worried that she had me take digital photos and email them to her. Sure enough, an hour later, Dr. A called me and told me to stop the Augmentin. Gracie is having an allergic reaction to the stuff. I asked Dr. A if she could be more specific about what part of the Augmentin Gracie was allergic to (it's a combination of antibiotics) and Dr. A said that most likely it was the Amoxicillin component. Notice the suffix "cillin" in that word. As in penicillin. Yes, just like her Nana, Gracie is allergic to the 'cillins. Great. Fantastic.

I'm going to pick up a new prescription for Omicept in the morning. In the meantime, Benedryl is our friend and I keep sneaking in to make sure she is okay. There hasn't been a peep out of them since I put them to bed at 7:30 pm. Which makes me think I need to go check on them again....

Our picture of the day is of Gracie's rash. All I have to say is "Go away rash! Go away!"

I'll be up checking Gracie throughout the night. Honestly, I'm terrified that her allergic reaction will get worse. I'll stop by tomorrow to let you know how it goes.

It dawned on me today

Every year there are those lists that radio announcers will sometimes read. They usually come out around graduation time, sometimes earlier. The lists generally include a litany of things that this year's graduating class has never lived without. In recent years, these lists have included things like:

• they've never known a time without an answering machine.
• Walkmen have never existed. It's always been about the iPod.
• They don't know what a vinyl record is.

and so on...

This morning, while I was driving in to work and listening to the happenings around today's inauguration, it occurred to me.

Gracie and Luke will never know a time when an African American has not been president.

They'll learn about the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Parks, but they won't understand why today is so momentous. They'll look back at this day in history class and say, "The 44th president was Barack Obama. He was the first African American President of the United States." But they won't get it. They won't understand the sweeping feeling of hope and excitement. They won't know how incredible today is.

Whether you are a democrat or a republican, you have to admit that this is an amazing day to be an American. I don't know what the next 4 or 8 years will bring. I don't know what history will say about President Obama's accomplishments or his failures.

But today, America gives a gift to our children. It give them the realization of our founding fathers' dreams.

What a wonderful, hopeful, joyous day!

Go Bears!

I know.

The Chicago Bears were eliminated from everything a few weeks ago. That doesn't mean we stop being fans! Tonight at dinner, I had the news on and a college player was announcing that he is foregoing his senior year of college to enter the NFL draft. During the story, clips of a football game were shown and, as Daddy has trained them, they started to cheer for the Bears.

I captured this after the initial spontaneous cheer. It's a little dark, but worth it for the fun factor.

New Words

The last few days have been exciting in the world of Twinsie language. Out of no where, Gracie started saying "craca" (a word which here means "cracker"). At first, everyone thought she was saying "caca" but none of us uses that word with her. I realized it was cracker when she tried to take some Wheat Thins away from me. Now, anything that even remotely resembles a cracker is a cacar: Teddy Grahams, cookies....

Lukie started saying "agua" a few days ago, parroting Miss Gracie. Agua is the word for water, but they seem to use it for any drink when they are thirsty. This morning, Lukie busted out with "craca." He was so nonchalant about it (but totally excited by the Teddy Grahams in his snack cup).

Then, as we got out of the car at Grandma and Grandpa's house, Gracie looked at the house and said "abue" (an abbreviation of abuela or abuelo) clear as day. I looked at the house and there was Grandma Rosi at the top of the steps. It was incredibly sweet!

It also made me realize: except for cracker, the Twinsies' words are all in Spanish. I am in trouble!

From the "Whose idea was that?" Files

Apparently, the day care teachers have been letting the Twinsies experiment with Crayola markers. They are washable, so technically they are safe.

The first time I discovered they were using markers was when my son had orange and green marks all over his neck, chin and ears. I may be wrong here, but I am pretty sure they are supposed to be drawing on paper or something like that, not on themselves. Admittedly, it was easy to remove the marks, but they were alarming when I first discovered them.

Today, I arrived to pick Gracie and Luke up from day care and their care giver, Viviana, said proudly, "Look at what Gracie and Luke drew!" They are 16 months old, so you can't expect it will be a masterpiece. Instead, it was a series of lines, swiping across the page. Some dots and dashes speckeled in between the lines.

"Nice!" I said, making sure that I sounded excited. All I could think was, "Oh, poop, they are going to have marker all over them!"

Lukie reached me first.

Gracie did not have a mark on her.

When we got home, I let them play to get some of the wigglies out.

Mass - Our First attempt goes horribly awry

I've promised myself that I am going to go to mass this year. Nothing huge, just 12 times. Once a month would be wonderful considering we haven't been going at all!

Last night, Gracie and Luke spent the night at Nana's house and I drove out to pick them up this morning so that we could go to lunch with our friends. Nana was reading at Mass today, so I decided to see if I could check off one of my 12 Masses for the year.

Let me put it this way, if I hadn't had Teddy Grahams with me, there would have been a nuclear meltdown in the church! One Mommy and 2 toddlers does not equal a good time. The first thing they did was pull every prayer book and song book out of the pew. I solved that by sitting both of them on my lap. They were interested in the lights and flowers. Lukie was especially enjoying the Christmas trees. When they saw Nana walk up with the priest, Gracie shouted a loud "Hi!" and waved at Nana. I managed to keep her quiet with a quick Teddy in the mouth. They kind of liked the music. Kind of. But then, Nana had to go up and read and I was left by myself.

Dear Lord in Heaven, I am so sorry for the words I said in my head! Please, please forgive me!

Lukie tried to wriggle off of my lap and when I would not let him down, he started to yell. Gracie cried every time her supply of teddies fell short. Then, Lukie pulled his famous "Throw the binky and they'll put me down" trick - to no avail. Nana came back and held Gracie, who immediately started to cry because I was not holding her. When Nana stepped out of the pew to remove the screaming Gracie, Lukie chucked his binky at Nana's back. I am not kidding! You could hear the collective GASP! that came from the parishioners throughout the church. This is not an exaggeration. Nana sat us in the second pew and, in the semi-circular church, everyone saw what he did. That was the end!

So we officially made it to the beginning of the homily. Nana helped me take them out to the car. We hightailed it away from the church and headed straight for McDonald's. French fries made the Twinsies feel better and an iced tea did the trick for me. About 5 minutes later, they were both asleep.

Oh, well. Better luck next time!

Slippery Fish

Do you know who Charlotte Diamond is? I didn't either until the day Gracie and Lukie's Day Care teachers had them demonstrate their "dancing" ability to the song "Octopus" by Charlotte Diamond. They played this music and sang a song and the Twinies gyrated their hips and flailed their arms all to the beat of the Slippery Fish Song. The next day, I downloaded it from iTunes in English and Spanish!

We have since discovered that the Slippery Fish song is a magical song. It distracts immediately and the Twinsies love it. You will too, that is, until it is stuck in your head as well as it is in ours!

Grandma's Kitchen

Gracie and Luke love Grandma's house because they can tear anything up and no one seems to mind. Tonight, we were waiting for Grandma to get home and the Twinsies discovered that Grandma keeps plastic bags in one of the cupboards.

Grandma, are you sure you don't want to baby proof?

Cookie-Day Smookie-Day!

Sunday was the annual Cook Girls Cookie Day. We have them every year. They are a tradition started years ago with Auntley. She would make dozens and dozens of cookies with us, and I have no clue who she thought would eat all of them. I still remember this chocolate cookie we would make that was frosted - yes, frosted - with more chocolate. Cookie Day is a Christmas Tradition I look forward to every year. Since Gracie and Luke are mobile now, I was really excited to see what they would get themselves into on Cookie Day.

However, it was not to be. Sunday, instead of making Christmas cookies with the Fam, I spent the day in the Emergency Room cuddling my little man and waiting for the epinephrine to get to work. I have NO idea what happened. I don't know if something bit him or if he ate something I did not see. All I know is that Gracie, Lukie and I were taking a nap on Nana's couch and all of a sudden he woke up screaming. He wouldn't let me put his binky back into his mouth and he kept trying to hit me. Eddie had just sat down next to us and said, "What's the matter with Lukie's eye?"

I pulled Lukie away from me and saw that his left eyelid was swelling out of control. I looked at him all over and saw a white bump under his left ear (which turned out to be a hive, but I thought it was a bite). I started to panic and tore open the backpack to look for the Benedryl I always keep with us. NONE! I cannot tell you how terrified I was. Eddie grabbed his keys and headed over to Walgreens to get some Benedryl while I held a screaming Lukie and tried to keep a now screaming Gracie calm.

I managed to get some Ibuprofen down Lukie's throat. It was the only thing I could think of while we waited for Eddie. He got back rather quickly and about 11 minutes after we first noticed Lukie's eye, we got the Benedryl into him. At that point, both of his eyes were swollen shut, his tongue was swollen and he tissue under his tongue had swelled so that it was pushing his tongue up toward the roof of his mouth. He was breathing fine; no wheezing or anything like that. I called the advice nurse and she calmed me down and walked me through the check list. As soon as she heard that his tongue was swollen, she told me to take him to the doctor. Problem: We were 1 hour from home, and there isn't a single blasted urgent care (that takes my insurance) for 30 miles.

Lukie seemed to be calming down and his eyes actually seemed to be getting a little better. So we drove up to Aunt Bec's house for Cookie Day and I sat next to him with my hand on his chest to make sure he was breathing properly. When we arrived everyone was stunned by the way he looked (you could not recognize him - Eddie was trying to say that he looked like Rocky Balboa - I was not amused). It took very little convincing to get me to take him to the emergency room, even though he had taken off out to the backyard to play. Nana and I took him down there and the triage nurse put us in a bed really quickly. In the end, he had 2 shots of epi ( I always wanted to say that! epi - epinephrine) and an oral steroid before the swelling in his eyes really started to go down. His tongue was the first to start to deflate and that is when I started to calm down. They kept us there for 3 hours to make sure he was okay.

By the time we got back to Cookie Day, he had hives all over his body. The doctor had warned me this would happen, so we stripped him down to his diaper and let him run all over the house Apparently, steroids turn little kids into maniacs. Right. He ran all over Aunt Bec's house chasing kids and eating anything anyone would hand him. Eddie laughed that he had the munchies. Again, I was not amused. By the time Lukie was done, he passed out in the car and slept through the entire night. I slept next to him and frequently checked that he was still breathing.

Today, we had a little eyelid swelling episode, but Benedryl cleared it up. Dr. A saw Lukie today and she was really worried about him. We now have an oral steroid he needs to take for 3 days, and our Dr. A has ordered 2 epi pens to use in case this ever happens again. He also had blood drawn so that they can see if they can figure out what happened. We still have no clue what happened, but I really hope the blood test will tell us.

Lucas, if you are 35 years old and reading this, you need to thank your Guardian Angel who whispered in the ears of the 20 people in line in front of Daddy at Walgreens. Every single one of them let him skip in front of them so he could get back to you.

Oh, and if you are 35 years old and reading this, you had better hug me today, really hard. I lost 8 years of my life being scared for you and I need all the love I can get!

Words Words Words!

We've had some crazy language development in the past month or so!

Luke has been slower in the language department than Gracie. While Gracie has been talking (baby babbling) for some months now, he's only really gotten going in the last couple of months. This morning he was talking up a storm. I have no idea what he was saying, but he was very proud of himself. He says Daddy/Dada, Mommy (Only when he wants something. Otherwise, I'm Daddy too). He also says DA! for anything he gets really excited about. We try to always say the word for him so that he will get it. In the last few days, he has been saying, "Oh, wow!" He loves to make the "oh" shape with his mouth. I also realized today that he has a word for Gracie. It's Day-Dee (can't you see Gracie in there?).

Gracie proudly says Daddy, Kukie (Lukie), Mommy (or Memmy depending on how desperately she wants to talk to me), mas (more), agua (water), baby, ball, buba (bubbles). She may have more, I'm trying to pay close attention to everything she says.

Both Gracie and Luke understand a lot more than we realized.

Give it to Mommy.

Please.

Thank you.

Good girl/boy.

More?

All done?

Apple?

Banana?

Milk/leche/lechita

Do you want to go splash/splash? (bath)

Let's go!

Are you hungry?

March. March. March.

They will also pat each other when they are sad, hurt, or upset. We are trying to get it all on video, but we always seem to forget!

We promise to be more diligent!

Hitting and Biting

Who is this child? Who is this biting, hitting child and where did my Lukie go?

Tears have been prevalent in our apartment, in the car, in the store, pretty much anywhere we have traveled this week. Lukie has taken to hitting and biting Gracie whenever he feels like it. It is completely unprovoked and he's bitten hard enough to leave a mark.

What is this? The Twinsies loved each other just a few weeks ago. Now, once we reach a certain time of the day, I can guarantee you that Gracie will be attached by the Lukie Monster or someone else will.

I've been grabbing his hands and holding them together in front of him. "Lukie! No! Biting hurts. You hurt Gracie!" Gracie is clearly crying at this point, with huge tears streaming down her face (if you thought her eyelashes were long before, you should see them with tears on them)!

Arg. I hope this is just a phase. Help!

Graciela, you are in so much trouble!

Gracie gave Eddie the scare of his life today. In fact, now that I hear the story, I'm surprised I'm not passed out from the shear terror of the situation.

Eddie was taking the babies to the car this morning, holding both of their hands. Gracie either tripped or pulled hard enough that she broke free from Eddie's hand. The next thing he knew, she had taken off running as fast as she could toward the street. Terrified, Eddie put Luke in the van and closed the door, so that he could go after Gracie. Without a cane, he walked as quickly as he could, calling for Gracie to stop. She thought he was playing a game with her and continued to run up the street. By the time he caught up with her, she was passing the second house past ours and decided to hang a left and head across the street. Luckily, he caught up with her and was able to pick her up and walk back to the car.

Honestly, this has been my nightmare: that one of the babies would take off like that and be hurt by one of the maniacs who come tearing around the corner. Eddie is still traumatized by the event.

Gracie, if you are grown up and reading this, this is the reason you are grounded until you are 30! Never ever do this to your Daddy again!

Incident Report #2

Another permanent record! Sheesh!

This time it was Lukie who was injured. Some little creepazoid boy bit his hand. There are no marks and Lukie is fine.

Here's my question: Should I be more worried that my kids are being injured by the other kids at Day Care, or more worried that they aren't the ones doing the injuring? Shouldn't they be defending themselves? Or is this an indication that my kiddos are nice and empathetic instead of evil "beat them first, ask later" kids?

Daddy's Diaper Change Helper

I so wish I had video of this! It must have been amazing!

Gracie and Luke are crazy at diaper change time. They've learned how to twist themselves just so that you have to hold onto their feet for dear life or risk poop ending up all over everything. It has become our National Past time to figure out how to keep them entertained during diaper changes, thus preventing the dreaded baby skid marks on the floor.

This morning, Eddie was changing poopy diaper #2 for Lukie and Lukie was doing his best to twist out of his grasp. Scrambling for something to distract Lukie, Eddie grabbed a Cheerio from the carpet next to Lukie's head and put it in his mouth. Obsessed with eating, Lukie immediately calmed down and chomped on his Cheerio.

Why is this so cool? It isn't, but what happened next is.

On Saturday, I blew up balloons for the Twinsies and Gracie has spent the better part of the past 3 days walking around the living room dragging her balloon all around. While Eddie was changing Lukie, Gracie was watching the exchange. Fascinated by Daddy's actions, Gracie scooped up some more Cheerios, plopped herself down next to Lukie's head (her balloon in tow, of course) and proceeded to feed Cheerios to Lukie while Eddie finished changing Lukie's diaper.

That girl is freaky smart sometimes. We're in SO much trouble.

The Dreaded Binky Debate

Binky. Pacifier. Whatever you call them, there is a ton of debate about giving them to babies. I read a lot of articles before Gracie and Luke were born about pacifiers. Some of the articles led me to believe the twins would be irreparably harmed by the use of binkies. They assured me that they would have horrific teeth. Sorry, that's a given. They are our kids after all! They assured me that my children would be 10 years old and still using a binky because they would not be able to part with it. Then, other articles reassured me that using a binky allows babies to soothe themselves.

I had convinced myself that binkies were not to touch the Twinsies mouths. I did not want 37 year olds living at home because could not grow past their infancy. That is, until I was rolled into the NICU and saw my babies with their little binkies in their mouths. The nurses had decided for me. I wasn't sure if I wanted to rip the offending binkies from them or just leave them be. When I saw Gracie calm down as soon as the binky was placed in her mouth, I realized that I was being lame. I was using fear created by everything I had read to keep my children from experiencing calm when I could not be there. The nurses couldn't be there 24 hours a day, hovering over the babies, and neither could I.

When we came home from the hospital, I tried to use the binky only as needed and discovered that the babies only really wanted them when they were very tired. I could also use them to get a few more minutes to prepare bottles when necessary. Honestly, the spit the binkies out more than they kept them in. The hospital had provided us with Soothies and they did not have anything that would catch on the roof of the babies' mouths to keep them from falling out. This was problematic when they would spit out the binky and I needed to run from wherever I was to pop it back in.

We eventually found the Playtex Ortho Pro, specially designed to provide room for growing teeth and to stay in the mouth when the babies relaxed. We love these things! I've recommended them to new moms everywhere. Gracie and Luke's teeth are fine even though they still use the binkies.

As of 5 days ago, Gracie and Luke are 14 months old. By some standards, their binkies should be a thing of the past. They are not and I'm not apologizing for it. However, I've noticed that Luke, at least, has already started to say good-bye to his binky. His favorite binky action is to toss it as hard as it can possibly be tossed. Occasionally, this means that binkies are found under carseats, in the trunk, 1/2 mile back down the road. The binkies are also a source of fun because of the Musical Binkies the Twinsies play all day. Gracie will start with the pink one and Luke will start with a blue. By 30 minutes later, Luke will have stolen Gracie's binky and run away, happily. Gracie steals Luke's binky more often. They think it's fun. It can be frustrating, but when it comes down to it, the binky is still needed at bed time. The binky helps Gracie and Luke when they are falling asleep. About an hour after they fall asleep, the binkies get spit out. If they wake up in the night, they have learned to feel around for them and stick them right back in.

So what is the binky plan? I'm hoping that if I start keeping the binkies away from the Twinsies immediate sight, they may start needing them except at bed time. One article I read said that babies will wean themselves from binky use and the more of a deal that I make of it, the worse it will be. They seem to be fine if I hide the binkies. The only issue is when they are tired.

I don't want to be the Mommy with 3 year olds still using binkies. In fact, if we can be done with them by 18 months, that would be awesome.

Shall we start a countdown?

T-minus 4 months and counting...

Lukie's favorite thing to do

The Twinsies have lots of things they like to do. For example, they like to steal one another's binkies. They like to dump out all of their books. They like to climb on their table and see if they can reach the top of the couch (Gracie discovered this one. She scared the heck out of Eddie). They like to steal one another's snacks (okay, this is mostly Lucas stealing Gracie's food). They especially enjoy dumping every last toy out of the organizer, because, hey, Mommy and Daddy love cleaning up after babies!

But Lukie's new favorite thing to do caught Eddie and me off guard. Gracie and Luke have a Busy Ball Popper by PlaySkool. When I first bought it for them in July, they looked at it like it was a snake. They promptly lost 3 of the 5 balls it came with, so we are down to playing with just 2. Luke has found a different use for it. Storage.

This morning, I was looking for the phone and realized that Lukie was hitting the Busy Ball Popper. He seemed rather despairing in his beating of it. That's when I saw this:

Here's another view:

If you look closely, you will see the phone, 2 binkies, 2 glow sticks, some paper and one of the balls stuck in there. I was so stunned at what I saw that I had to grab my camera.

This isn't the first time he's put things in there. We've found Cherrios, Gracie's binky, tubes of diaper rash cream, shoes, a necterine seed. Clearly, the thing is meant to be for storage!

The problem is that once he puts things into the Ball Popper, he can't get any of it out. I usually have to take it apart and fish each of the items out. Sometimes are easier than others. This time, the orange glow stick gave me quite a challenge. A pair of scissors were needed to grab ahold of it.

Of course, 30 seconds after I got everything out, Lukie was already trying to put everything back in.