Recap

October 2008 on Vimeo.

The No No Game

Sometime in the last few months, E became two. While he still has another month before we can celebrate his birthday, E has embraced the two with fervor. His favorite words, though he knows many, are simply: 'No.' and 'MINE!' H never encountered this stage. In fact, he still uses the word 'mine' incorrectly as he thinks it should be 'mys' following the logic of 'yours' and 'hers'. Thus, such stereotypical behavior rarely has described our boys but E is breaking the mold.

Lately, he answers all question initially with a 'No' if he likes the sound of it, or if he feels that perhaps we didn't hear him, he'll repeat it a few times for good measure. 'No! No nonono' with some vigorous head shaking thrown in for emphasis.

And he also has developed a new game for himself. As he is winding down after a long day, trying to fall asleep, you can hear him talking to himself in his crib (the soliloquy goes something like this):

E [looking up at the pictures on the wall, querying the room]: Wass that?

[long pause for sucking on fingers]: Is it a doggie?

[lightning fast response to himself]: No! Nonono! Is it a duck? No! No! NO.

Is it a bird? [when clearly it is a hummingbird that he's pointing at]: No! [chortle chortle]

Somehow, A and I find this mightily amusing. Though I suppose it will start to become irritating soon enough. Hopefully, he'll have moved on to something else by that point.

the m show

We get a lot of questions as to how the boys are adjusting to M. Not surprising I suppose since we got a lot of questions beforehand in regards to whether the boys were looking forward to M's arrival. H was really excited about M- from her birthday, her sleeping in his room, to having a gurl [his way of saying girl]. The little boys were oblivious.

H was also a little apprehensive, 'M is coming. She won't bite me?'

'No no,' we reassured, 'she doesn't have teeth. '

I'm not sure if this stems from B taking an occasional not-so-loving chomp out of his brothers or if instead it is simply H's way of processing impending danger (as he frequently looks for reassurance that various objects and/or people won't be biting him... 'That fish can't bite me!' ).

Regardless, H is excited. But somewhat surprisingly, so are the little boys. B and E are ever running around yodeling 'Baaaaaaabbbyy!' And chortling with delight at catching a glimpse of her. There has been much inspecting of head, hair, ears, nose, hands and eyes. A ritual that involves one the boys pointing out M's parts and then follows detailed pointing to everyone else's parts in the room. M's ears, Daddy's ears, B's ears, E's ears.... and so on and so forth. It is particularly cute the first time and then a little tedious as are most 2 year old's rituals. :)

Other than that, M continues to make nary a peep (yes, I know these halcyon days are numbered). She is a stellar nurser and tires herself out with all her eating. Simply said, we are enjoying her and her brothers immensely.

the much anticipated arrival of Miss M

EWT
7 lbs 12 oz
20 in

Miss M was born at 6:02 yesterday (October 2). We arrived at the hospital for our induction at noon after several delays. Things started out slowly. While we waited for my pitocin drip (the medication that brings on contractions) to be started, A read to me. My mom joined the party around 1:30 and the pitocin spiced things up at 2. Being an old hand at this induction thing (haha), I requested my epidural immediately. Not for pain, but because my doctor won't break water until the epidural is inserted. Since waiting for the anesthesiologist was the longest part of the twins' induction, I opted for sooner rather than later. The epidural team was quick and efficient; my water was broken at 4:15. Alas they must have put saline in the epidural at first because my contractions were feeling intense. By 5:15 I had gone from 4 cm dilated to 6. Yes, a lousy six. The doctors wisely suggested calling the anesthesiologist back in to increase the dose a touch. Viola that did the trick. At 5:40, I booted [kindly directed] my mom out of the room to find the nurse and the doctor. Shortly thereafter, little M made her way into the world. It was an extremely rewarding and straightforward birth.