Weekend In Pittsburgh

We spent the weekend in Pittsburgh visiting my brother, Tony, and his partner, Hien. Lucky for us, OG, Emma and Jake's newfound half-sib, Callie and her awesome moms live there, too. Friday night was fun. My brother is a professor at the University and the Faculty Advisor for the gay and lesbian group, so he had a few of the students over for a delectable Asian dinner and wonderfully fattening desserts. Nice kids - SOOOOOOO young. It made me feel pretty old to hear some of the things they talk about.
Saturday was a blast. We met up with Darcy, Mare and Callie at the Pittsburgh Zoo and my brother came along (so happy he did). However, Hien stayed home and sealed their HUGE driveway. What a daunting task that was.
We spent 4 hours trolling along looking at all the animals and the girls had a great time. So did the kids (hehe).
Tony and Hien were sweet enough to ask Darcy and Mare for dinner that evening. After we all went home and napped, they came over and ate and drank and talked and the girls played and it warmed my heart and made me wish (all over again) that we all lived closer and could do this on a whim if we wanted.
I have to give it up for Tony and Hien. They sat so patiently and graciously listened to all our talk of children and what they do and how they do it and how funny and smart our kids are and all kinds of woman stuff that nobody really wants to hear. BIG UPS! MWAAAAAAAAAA! (Tony - that s a big kiss for you and Hien).

The weekend was wonderful and my only regret is that I didn't get to go shopping at TJ Ma.xx with my IDOL, Hien. He is the clearance king and even I am in awe at some of the great deals he gets. (I am now on my knees bowing, paying homage to the master).

I leave you with pix of our fun...

The rhinos were huge, and uninterested in talking to us.

The family...poor Jake, and my brother, didn't have a prayer with all the estrogen surging that day.
My favorite fish in the whole aquarium...gimme a big kiss!
This scale lets you know what animal weighs as much as you do. And you are a...? Poor baby just paced back and forth, back and forth.
It was really hot, so the girls cooled off in a sprinkler.
The elephants were great. They were getting baths when we saw them and they frolicked in the water. We were sweating and quite envious. Nothing to say here - just cute!

Callie the rock climber.
Me and Callie, Mare and OG.

M&M's and Back.yardigans videos made for sweet ride home.

Olivia had to pee, no rest stop in sight, so she assumed the camping pee pee pose. No go, so she held it til we got home.

And a few of the babies - just cuz they're cute and they never get to have any fun!

Above - our little ladykiller and below, the maneater. They are also both Mare magnets. She couldn't put them down.

Empty House, Full Heart

They're gone. The last of our guests, our new family, left this morning and I am beside myself with sadness.

These women, these children, have imprinted on my life in a way I had not expected. And as each family departed, they ripped a piece of my heart from my chest and took it with them.
I knew we'd have fun. I think that was a given. How can you put 8 women and 9 children in 1 house and not have fun? But something else happened here in the last week. We made connections - with each other and with the children; connections that will last a lifetime. I'm sure of it.

I am in awe of these women. In the face of chaos and meltdowns and exhaustion, they found strength and sanity. They managed to hold it together for so many days, through so many things that would test the patience of a saint. And they did it with smiles that lit the night sky.

I saw in these women's relationships with each other what we all hope for in our own...respect and sincerity, friendship and warmth, love and compassion. And in their interactions with their children I saw amazing things...tender, caring moms who kiss scraped knees and who soothed hurt feelings. Moms who disciplined tenderly in defense of another child, with warmth and understanding, knowing just how difficult it is to be 3 or 4 years old. I saw women who, without hesitation, grabbed another's child and wiped away tears and changed dirty diapers and rocked babies to sleep. I saw women who are the examples of what we ought to strive to be in our finest hours. I saw women who I felt proud and blessed to call my friends, my family. They are my kindred spirits.

It's difficult to describe the feelings these days together have born. I am so in love with these women, as if they were my sisters, and with these children, as if they were my own.

I leave you with with some of my favorite pix, though there are so many.














And here's a montage of the entire week. My heart smiles and breaks every time I look at it.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Family Fun

I can't believe how amazing this week has been or how quickly the time is passing. The kids are enjoying each other so much and the girls are getting close. Last night I heard Hollie and Toni's daughter, Mikaela, refer to Olivia as "sister". My heart was full. Olivia has taken to Spence, Cam and Kyron with such love and Syd has taken over as assistant mommy to Emma and Jake. Amazing is not strong enough a word, but I don't have another way to describe it.

The sisterhood I have found with these women is incredible. Their warmth and sincerity (and sarcasm) is something for which I will be forever grateful. They are funny and sweet and loving. K is right on the money with the idea of us starting our own polygamist colony. Our "man", the donor is our our tie, but our bond is our friendship. It is so comfortable here with all of them. Each of us immediately took on the role of mother to all the children. There is never a hesitation about picking up a crying baby running to comfort a child who falls or gets hurt or stepping in when a tiff is about to begin. I never imagined feeling he comradery we have found with each other.
Gotta go now - getting ready or another amazing day. I'll leave you with some pix from last night.


Cindy watching Nemo with the girls...





A pose for Callie's homemeade birthday picture frame...



The Tickle Monster attacks...

They're Here! They're Here!

KJ and the Kids have finally arrived.
I won! I won! I'm the 1st to blog and Karen is gonna be sooooooo mad. She was trying to sneak in some blogging last night when they were here and we all gave her shit about it, so she didn't. She did, however, manage to check in on some of your blogs that she just HAD to read. She is an addict for sure.

Back to the kids. OMG! Syd and Olivia were awesome together! They were like little wind up dolls and when one would start to slow down, the other would wind her right back up and off they'd go. SO MUCH FUN! They were crazies!

As for Cam and Spence, how precious are they! So sweet. I forgot how wonderful that age is - they explore everything and are so curious. I can't wait til Jake and Emma start walking.

My camera is not here - long story, but I will have it back today and that freak Karen didn't bring hers. WHAT! I know, I couldn't believe it either. We'll take some pix and post today.

Here are he highlights fro last night.

They got here late afternoon and we decided on pizza.
I called 4 different pizza places looking for someone who even heard of, forget about makes, Hawaiian pizza. Found one, ordered it and 2 other normal pies.
Sat in den, tried to eat and play and feed babies and keep toddlers from breaking bones and heads on tile floor. Almost worked. Poor Cam "fell" off the little trampoline and banged his head on the tile. The little champ is no worse for wear.
Time for dress up. OG and Syd pulled out the princess dresses and shoes and ruled the kingdom all night, of course.
Someone, who shall remain nameless, knocked over a glass and red wine went flying all over the wall and rug. Karen freaked! I guess my posts abut cleanliness and my "carpet issues" made her a little nervous. I pulled out the Oxy Power cleaner and it came right off the walls and out of the rug. Karen is now a believer in oxy power.
Kids ran around and played.
And ran around and played.
And played and ran around.
Gymnastics for Syd and Olivia and flipping on Karen's and my legs.
Cindy freaking out.
Cindy went to bed at 9.
Kids ran and played and played and ran around.
Karen felt guilty about leaving a mess and started cleaning up.
KJ and the kids left at 10.
Coming back today - can't wait!


As we sit here, Olivia is bugging me about when they are going to get here.

If I Only Had A Brain

But I don't, so here are the things I have done in the last 24 hours.

1) I wanted to highlight my own hair to save myself the $200 it would cost me to have it done by a professional. I bought the kit, cracked it open and proceeded to mix the powder bleach with the creme. Then I applied it. After the 1 1/2 hours it took to painstakingly apply it, I realized that I had mixed the bleach with the after care conditioner rather than the developer.

Cried. Showered. Kicked myself in the ass for the rest of the night.

2) Craving egg salad. 5 eggs left. Put 3 in a pot with water, flame on high, wait for it to boil. Go downstairs, play with babies, answer emails. An hour goes by.

POP!!!!!!!!!! What the.....?

Uh oh, forgot the eggs were on the stove. Go to kitchen. Pot burning. One egg exploded all over floor. Two smoking rubber eggs still in pot. FUCK!

3) Fine, I'll have fried eggs and bacon for breakfast (Yes, I am still trying to lose weight. Plateaued on Slimfast, moved on to Atkins. Story for another day.) Cracked my last 2 eggs into hot pan, dropped already cooked bacon in to warm it up, removed eggs, left bacon in to get crisp. Went downstairs, checked emails, vacuumed.

Smell smoke. Uh oh. Forgot the bacon. Run upstairs.

As I reach the top step and run into kitchen, the smoke alarm goes off.

Kitchen filled with smoke. Dining room filled with smoke. House filled with smoke.

Take pan, throw it outside. I think I hit a squirrel in the head. Oops.

I obviously cannot be trusted with a stove. Cheerios for dinner tonight.

My brain after twins...

5 1/2 Month Stats

The babies are 5 months and 23 days old today and went for their 4 month checkup and shots (yes, we are way behind because they were so sick in the beginning).

Our trip was chaotic, to say the least. Olivia is not in school on Fridays anymore, so she came with us. My first inclination was to leave her home with Cindy because she works from home on Fridays, but that was not going to work. I chose not to have her in school on Fridays and she was not going to sit and play quietly while Cindy worked, so the answer was simple. Take her. It's my job anyway, so I just sucked it up and got everyone ready to pack up in the minivan.

While I was changing Emma, Olivia ran out of the room to get her doll, "Little Baby" so she could change her diaper and she ran full speed into the doorway of the bathroom. OMG! You should have seen the size of the egg on her forehead. Poor Baby!
As we're walking out the door with no time to spare, Olivia has to pee, of course. "OK, go, quickly, please." She yells from the bathroom, "I wet myself". NOOOOOOOOOOO! Not now. But, yes, she did. I washed her up and sent her to her room to get new panties while I rinsed her shorts and dried them with a hairdryer. I didn't have it in me to have her change her entire outfit, so I improvised.

Off to the doctor. Well, almost. When I was getting into the van, I saw that our tire was all but flat. I know we have a slow leak and have filled this tire 4 times in the last week, and yet, still have not made it over to the dealer for them to fix it. Can you say "LOOOOO-ZER!" So we went 2 miles in the opposite direction to fill it, then turned around and went to the doctor. We were only 3 minutes late. I have no idea how that happened.

Olivia was full of energy today and did her best to follow he rules we talked about 17 times before we got there. She tried so hard to sit and be still, but she couldn't control herself. She sang Old MacDonald 30 times and made funny noises with her mouth that she just learned. Annoying! But everyone commented on how well behaved she was, so either they were lying or I am just intolerant of 3-year old tomfoolery today.
Emma and Jake screamed a lot -especially after their 3 shots each in the legs. Poor babies!
In the end, we got out of there alive and here are the babies' stats.


Emma

weight - 13 lbs, 5 oz - 10th percentile
length - 25 3/4" - 50th percentile
head - 16 5/8 - 50th percentile
weight for length - less than 3rd percentile


Jake
weight - 14 lbs, 14 oz - 10th percentile
length - 26 1/2" - 50th percentile
head - 16 1/2 - 10th percentile
weight for length - less than 3rd percentile


The doctor was concerned that Jake had only gained 1 lb 4 oz. and dropped in percentile, so we have to try to beef him up a little. We'll be starting on orange veggies tonight and we'll see how hat goes. I'm sure I will it will be a sight and if I can find the charger for my camera, I will take some pix. I am very disorganized and unfocused this week and can't find anything.

On a little more serious not, he was also concerned about Emma's head. It was on the big side at the last checkup and has jumped up to the next level (50th percentile) relative to her size at this checkup. We are due back in a month for flu shots, so she will be remeasured, and if the circumference jumps again, we will have to go for an ultrasound to rule out hydrocephalus.

Developmentally, the are only at 4 1/2 months, so they have some catching up to do, but he felt that was OK since they were delivered 4 weeks early.

That's all for now. Maybe I can get a picture of Olivia's head today and I'll update with a picture. What a whopper!

Almost Famous

We're feeling pretty high on ourselves this weekend. My brother wrote a book, which is coming out in a few weeks, and asked us if we'd like to be on the cover.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!!!!

The book is called "Everyday Law For Gays and Lesbians" and we even wrote an excerpt for one of the chapters.

We were going to have a family photo taken soon anyway, so we agreed and I was going to get a photographer and get some good shots. We found out on Friday night that the cover designer needed it by today, so we had to pull together some coordinating outfits and whip out the camera yesterday to take some family photos. Here are some photos from the shoot, including the cover shot. Big hugs and kisses to Gale for taking the pictures and for putting up with my meltdown when Olivia got marker on her blouse. Oh, and the Xanax - couldn't have done it without you! Mwwwwaaaaaa!

And here are a few more shots from the weekend.

Olivia has started reading books while she sits and waits for nature to take its course.

All my babies looked sooooooooo cute after their baths that we just couldn't resist.

Cindy and I realized we don't have many pictures of just us, so we took some.

We went to a birthday party for Cindy's twin nephews - they just turned 15 and are amazing young men. Can you say tall?

Here's us again with Cindy's niece, Kelly and a picture of her beautiful daughter, Ava.