Sarah and Zane are Here!

Sarah and Zane arrived yesterday, and we've been having a great time! The only bad part so far has been getting stuck in rush hour traffic on the way home from the airport while the sun glared in Zane's eyes (and made him cry). Other than that, smooth sailing.

Sarah has been cooking great protein-rich food, which I am loving. Sarah used to be a vegetarian, but is now quite the meat-eater. She made a wonderful beef stew for dinner tonight with brown rice, and tomorrow we are having meatloaf. Yum!

Sarah is my longest friend in California. I have known her since September 1999, when we worked together at Stanford at the Stanford Center for Professional Development (SCPD). I was the main graphic designer and designed all the promotional brochures, literature, etc. Sarah was the main web designer and designed their website. For our job, we sat in a one room office with our boss. We weren't supposed to talk (we were supposed to be working, afterall), so we would email eachother all day long (like every other minute). That was before IM really caught on, and besides, we weren't allowed to have IM on our computers anyway.

Over the years, we have changed a lot, but have remained close friends! Sarah now runs a successful doggy daycare business in Colorado. Her website is: http://www.divinecanine.net/

We've been having a great time hanging out, going to the park, and just letting the kids play together. Zane is very smart and active, which is just wonderful. Paprika LOVES him and will be sad to see him go. After Zane went to bed last night, Paprika kept saying over and over again, "I like Zane! Zane is a nice boy! He is a nice baby!" The first thing she said when she woke up this morning was, "Let's go see Zane. He's a nice boy!" Then after her nap today, I could hear her saying upstairs, "Where's Zane! He's such a nice boy!"

I was worried about the sleeping issue, since I am sleeping in Paprika's room with her and Sarah and Zane are sleeping in the Master. I set up a queen bed in Paprika's room for me - she is in her crib. Last night I put Paprika to bed and then waited about an hour for her to fall into a deep sleep before tiptoeing into her room. As soon as I laid down on the bed, I heard Paprika sit up in her crib and say, "What doing, mommy? What doing, mommy?" So, basically the second I opened the door, she woke up. I explained to her that I was sleeping in the room with her and she said, "Oh, okay!" and then went on to talk to me in half-gibberish for 15 minutes (all about triangles, dinosaurs, stars, Zane, the park, babies, and a bunch of other topics). Finally, she fell asleep. So, that was a success! I am considering having Paprika and the babies sleep in the same room after the first year. We shall see if that will work. It will be like a constant slumber party. How fun!

Anyway- Sarah and Zane are great company. Mr. Mustard is home tomorrow from his job in Santa Barbara and we will have the next two months together before he possibly has to go back to Santa Barbara to finish the job. Things are good!

Ultrasound Photos

Here are a few ultrasound photos of the babies!

Here they are at 10 weeks 5 days:

Baby A:

This is a frontal shot- so you're looking at the baby's face and body directly. That's the bottom of Baby B just over Baby A's head.




Baby B:

This is a profile. Baby is upside down in this picture.




Here they are at 11 weeks 6 days.

Baby A:

Profile picture. Baby A's hand is up by the nose, which is why the nose looks a little funny.




Baby B:

Profile Picture.

Sarah and Zane are Coming Tomorrow!

My good friend, Sarah, is coming all the way from Colorado to visit me. She is bringing her son, Zane, with her. He is six months younger than Paprika, and I can't wait to meet him. They arrive tomorrow! Yea!

Instead of cleaning the house all day (like I should be doing in anticipation of their visit), I took Paprika to the park for three hours today. We had such a great time. The weather was perfect- sunny, mid 70s, and breezy. Paprika made lots of friends and by the end was tired and ready to go home!



I know Paprika is going to be so excited to meet Sarah and Zane tomorrow. She loves people, and these will be the first overnight guests we've had in awhile. Paprika will love having a constant playmate! :-)

Everything Changes!

Everything changes- that's my lesson for this week. Right after I posted the long post about everything Paprika is doing now, she started doing a whole new set of things! I can't keep up. She learns a million new things every day, it seems. Her counting AND her letters are pretty solid now. She's singing REAL songs with words. She especially loves the theme to "Elmo's World" and will even substitute in the phrase, "That's Paprika's World!" into the song. It's a hoot. She also sings the whole song, "Walking" by Hap Palmer. And, of course, she still loves to sing the ABC song, and it's more complete now than ever.

Her new words and phrases are a riot lately. For example, a birthday cake is NOT called a birthday cake. It's called a happy cake! She has also learned the power of the word please. If I won't let her do something, she'll turn so sweetly to Mr. Mustard and say, "Daddy, please! Please, daddy." One of her funnier sayings is "Time to go!"- which she says whenever she's tired of being somewhere. She says it so brightly and with such enthusiasm, it really makes you want to leave, too! She'll say it over and over again, "Time to go! Time to go! Yea!!!" and then start clapping.

Paprika continues to be enamored with hats and shoes. I was trying to sell a box of her old shoes on Ebay last week, and when she saw the shoes (which are all several sizes too small), she HAD to wear each and every pair. On Saturday, when I was dropping off old clothes at Goodwill, the attendant asked me what was in the bags, and I said, "clothes and shoes." When Paprika heard I was giving away shoes, she got SO MAD and started yelling, "No!!!!" Nevermind that they're my shoes- that doesn't matter to her. All shoes need to stay in the family, according to her.

Paprika can put on her own shoes (but more often than not mixes up the right foot from the left), and is trying to put on her socks. She wants to grow up so quickly, and I want her to stay my baby!

So, that's what's going on as of today. I'm sure it will all change again by tomorrow!

Memorial Day Weekend!

What a whirlwind! We did so much this weekend, I can barely remember it all. Friday, of course, was our doctor's appointment. Saturday, Mr. Mustard was back up in Santa Barbara editing. Paprika and I spent Saturday running errands- dropping off items at Goodwill, returning things to Target, and grocery shopping. So, the weekend didn't really get started until Sunday! Our wonderful friend, Mike, came to visit us from San Francisco. He is in town finishing up his movie and came by for lunch, and to take Paprika to the park. It was GREAT to see him. It was mid-60s here, so a bit brisk. The weather has been SO weird lately- about 100 degrees last week and now foggy and cold. Strange.



I was feeling really really sick all day yesterday, but still managed to get out and do the fun stuff with Mike, Mr. Mustard, and Paprika. Last night after Mike left, we took Paprika to "go cars" at the go-kart track since she was asking to go all day long. I went along for the drive to the track, but was way too sick to get out of the car. So, I waited in the car while they went inside and played. Luckily, I had my iPod in the car and could listen to it while they were inside. I figured I would probably be too sick to go inside with them, but I wanted to spend the car ride together as a family (it's a great time to get to talk to Mr. Mustard one on one). And, it was actually relaxing just to lay in the car with my eyes closed and wait for them while they were playing indoors.



What else? Oh, I forgot to mention that we test-drove some "family cars" this weekend. Since our cars only fit two carseats, we have to go bigger. We test-drove the Honda Odyssey and it was actually pretty great. Of course, we're going to buy one used through a private party, but it was nice to sit in the shiny new one at the dealership and dream! :-) We also looked at a Mazda5, which Mr. Mustard really liked, but it's way too small, so that car is officially off the table. I feel like we spend half our lives searching for, selling, and buying vehicles. Enough already! Hopefully once Mr. Mustard is back in Los Angeles for work, we can sort through everything and figure out the car situation once and for all!



Here are a few pics of Paprika playing music with Mr. Mustard. Really cute, if you ask me!

Today's Nuchal Fold Ultrasound- 11 weeks 6 days

Today, Paprika, Mr. Mustard, and I all went to the doctor's office for my Nuchal Fold Ultrasound (NT Scan). Paprika was phenomenal in the waiting room (we were waiting for 45 minutes to 1 hour). She was SO cute, going around to everyone going, "I like your shoes!" and passing out lollipops saying, "Here you go!" and at one point took the sign in sheet down and was bringing it around to everyone showing it to them and asking them to sign in. So, she was perfect- a total doll.

Then we went into the ultrasound room and I got up on the table and they turned out the lights. When she saw them put the wand on me, she started screaming at the top of her lungs, "NOOOOO! Don't hurt mommy!!!!!" and just totally lost her mind (she was in the stroller at that point and was trying to rip off the harness). I was saying to Mr. Mustard, "Please, take her out- please go now- please LEAVE!" but he didn't want to leave and was saying, "Oh, she'll calm down." Well, it just got worse so finally I was basically yelling at Mr. Mustard to get out of the room- and Paprika was screaming so hard- when they left, I could hear them all the way down the hall, out of the office, and until she got to the elevator.

I think she was REALLY scared that the u/s tech and machine were going to hurt me. All day since then, she's been hugging me, kissing me, and checking in on me (like when I was taking a nap later this afternoon, she kept asking Mr. Mustard to open the door to my bedroom and saying things like, "Mommy's okay. Mommy's okay. Mommy's okay.") She is usually NOT snuggly like that at all- so I know that she's really worried about me.

The tech was not as good as the one we had with Paprika. It took her FOREVER to get the measurements (over 1/2 hour)- at first she couldn't find a nasal bone on baby A, etc. The neck measurements were okay- baby B was 1.7 and baby A was 2.2 (anything under 3 is good). The overall risk for Down Syndrome was 1 in 1400 for baby A and 1 in 500 for Baby B. The babies are perfect sizes- growing great. One was measuring 12 weeks 2 days and the other is measuring 12 weeks on the dot. So, that's good news!

I asked her repeatedly to check for the sex- and she basically blew me off. She kind of wanded over that area VERY briefly and just said it was too early to tell. She definitely was not putting in the effort and at one point she even was commenting on the sex while looking at a profile of the baby! She was like- well, I can't really tell- and she was looking at a profile. I was thinking- yea, from that angle, there's NO way you could tell even at 30 weeks!

Oh, and the thing about twins is (I am learning this)- is that the doc charges you TWICE for everything. So, the NT Scan is being billed as two ultrasounds- and we had to pay a double deposit for it. It's definitely not two babies for the price of one-it's two babies for the price of two!

So, overall, a successful visit- even if it did involve a major meltdown by Paprika. I'm glad to be home, and glad that results of the NT scan were so good.

Rainy Day!

Something very different happened today- it rained! So, we spent most of the day indoors, watching the rain from our windows, which was pretty fun. Paprika was very intrigued by the thunder and lightning and wasn't the least bit afraid of it when we were at home. But, when we made a quick trip to the store, she wasn't so sure about getting out of the car in the pouring down rain.



I'm excited about the rain because it's a nice break in the intense heat we've been having and will hopefully cool everything off (and clean everything off, too)!

Fun Things!

I realize it's been awhile since I have posted about all the fun new things Paprika has learned and what she's saying now.

Paprika can look at different shapes and call them by their proper name: triangle, square, circle. She recognizes the shapes in all sorts of different places and out in public she will say, "That's a blue triangle!"

Paprika is starting to say more complex sentences. For example, she will say "Let's go downstairs and watch Barney!" or "Time to go! Let's go see people! And babies! And cars!" or "Let's go eat a bagel and play with toys!" or "That's a rainbow! A rainbow has colors." One of her favorite things to say is, "That's a BIG truck." She usually narrates the whole car ride with: "That's a car. That's a bus. That's a car. That's a car. That's a BIG truck."

I can hear her on the monitor every morning before I wake up. She talks to herself non-stop and points out everything in her room. "That's a blue flower. That's a pink flower. That's Snow White. That's 'Rella (Cinderella). That's Ariel. That's Baby Brains (a book we have). That's Pooh. That's fish. That's a light. Where's Baby Bop? There's Baby Bop!" She can talk to herself for a LONG time like this- probably hours if I'd let her. When she gets bored pointing out everything in her room, she starts singing and sings things like, "Baby baby, ahhhhh! Baby, ahhhhh!"

Most words she says very clearly, for example: "Cookie Monster" or "Dinosaur" or "Rainbow." A few words she has her own way of saying, for example, for "and" she says "et" and for "open" she still says "abit". She's very consistent with how she says those words so we know what she's saying. For "mommy's lap" she says "mommy's slop!" It took me forever to figure out what she was saying- I would always ask, "Paprika, what's mommy's slop?!"

Paprika knows most of the letters of the alphabet because of the alphabet song, and is able to match many of the alphabet shapes to the words. She's more sure about some letters than others, but the list of the ones she knows for sure is growing longer by the day. Right now I know she knows A, B, C, D, F, G, H, M, N, O, P, R, T, Y and Z. As far as singing the alphabet song, she sings, "A,B,C,F,G,H,I,J...and then it gets a little jumbled from there...Y,X,Z,now I know my, now I know my, etc." Her counting is getting better. She used to always say, "One, two, SIX!" but now she says "One, two, three" and today I caught her counting to eleven unassisted getting most of the numbers right.

Paprika knows some colors. She knows orange, yellow, purple, blue, pink, gold, and silver. She can point out a blue fish, a pink fish, etc. I'm not sure what other colors she knows. Sometimes she makes lucky guesses.

She loves reading to herself and for a long time now has not allowed me to read to her at night. She reads all the books and I just listen. We read for about an hour before bed each night, and then throughout the day in little spurts. Her favorite book to "read" to me is "Oh The Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss. She has the whole book memorized and says all the right things in the right places. But instead of calling it "Oh The Places You'll Go," she calls it "Oh, Peepees Go!" When she gets to the scary parts of the book, she gets really animated and says "Bump! Slump! All alone!" - she says it very omninously, which is a riot because she's sooo serious and consistent in her tone. She reads me a lot of other books, too, and makes up her own story to the book when she doesn't already have the book memorized. Usually it only takes one or two times of me reading the book to her for her to memorize it, more or less.

Yesterday, she discovered how much fun it is to splash water everywhere in the bathtub and we both got drenched. It was hilarious, and we were both laughing so hard. I think I may be in for a soaking at all baths from now on. I don't mind one bit.

So, that's the state of the Paprika address as we sit here at the beginning of her 21st month. She is a joy and makes life so wonderful and exciting every day. I feel like the luckiest person in the world, and I am enjoying the best days of life I have ever known.

Our Own Pool!

The weather has been so hot, I decided to finally break out the kiddie pool! As soon as I took it out of the box, Paprika got super excited and started exclaiming, "Fish! Fish!" I had a heck of a time blowing it up and resorted to getting an air pump from Target. The whole time we were at Target, Paprika kept saying, "Go home! See Fish!"

Needless to say, she is very excited about the pool, and that's even without any water in it yet. For tomorrow's project, we'll put it out on our patio, fill it up with water, and go swimming! Yea!

21 Months!

Today beautiful Paprika turns 21 months old! That's three months away from her two year birthday. I don't know if I'm ready for that!

Mr. Mustard has my car because he had to take the Subaru into the shop to have the air conditioning fixed. Even though we just bought the Subaru a month ago, we have decided we are going to have to sell it because it's not big enough for three carseats. Of course, when we bought the car we didn't ever expect we'd be having twins! And, when we bought it, we didn't realize the air conditioning would break three days later. Ahhh, hindsight!

So, today Paprika and I stuck close to home. It was one of the hottest days I can ever remember. We took "Paprika's car" up to the park near us, which is right nextdoor to a pretty rough highschool. We usually wait til the heat has passed to go to the park that we drive to, but because we were going to the park we can walk to, we had to get there by 1pm, since by 2:30 all of the hoodlums are out of school and it's nowhere you want to be at that hour.

Needless to say, we were sooooooo hot. I brought water for Paprika, but after about 45 minutes of playing, she climbed back in her car and said "we go home!" That's the first time I can ever remember her initiating leaving the park early. I was about to pass out and was sitting in the shade fanning myself while Paprika played in the shaded play structure. I was actually starting to worry for the twinnies and just tried to stay very still. When we left the house I didn't realize it was such a hot day.



I am still trying to figure out what we are going to do for household help. I definitely need someone to watch Paprika when I go to my doctor's appointments, since at pretty much all of the appointments they are going to be doing some very detailed and precise ultrasound work. I don't know how I can manage her alone while lying on the table with a team of doctors examining my uterus. As I get bigger and may need to be on bedrest, I will definitely need someone to help me with Paprika then. So, to the drawing board it is. I am compiling a list of people to email to ask about possible paid babysitting help, or even perhaps a babysitting swap for the next few months (although I don't know what kind of condition I'll be in a few months from now). I have some ideas, and I know it will work out fine.

Great Date and Second Doctor's Appointment!

Today we had a VERY busy day. Mr. Mustard and his mom drove down from Santa Barbara. In the morning, they took Paprika to the park for two hours while I straightened up around the house and enjoyed a nice shower!

Then, Mr. Mustard's mom watched Paprika while Mr. Mustard and I zipped off to our doctor's appointment in Beverly Hills. I am going back to our old OB (the one who delivered Paprika) because he is a great doctor and he is very on the ball, which is what you want with twins!

We had a wonderful appointment, and we are definitely switching back to his practice. There's no question in my mind that he is the most competent person to deliver the twins and provide the best prenatal care.

We finished at the appointment at 4:45pm, the beginning of rush hour! So, instead of dealing with sitting for hours in traffic, Mr. Mustard and I had a date over on the Westside while Pat watched Paprika! It was fantastic! We went to Baja Fresh at the Century City Mall and then saw Iron Man, a very fun movie! For an afternoon, we felt like a newly married couple! Great fun. Of course, we were happy to see Paprika when we got home, but it was nice to have a little adult alone time. Paprika had a great time with Pat and all was well.

I have a follow-up ultrasound next week (to check the nuchal folds). Pat will already be on vacation in Maine for over a month, so I definitely have to figure out someone to watch Paprika. I may end up toting her to the appointments with me. That will be, ummmm, interesting!

Paprika's Dancing Boots

Who cares if it's 80 degrees outside? It's always the right time to dance in your snow boots and sing at the top of your lungs into a pepper shaker!

Paprika at 20 Months

A few recent ones of Paprika...

Uncomfortable Conversations

Today we spent another gorgeous day at the park. I've noticed a pattern to our park days and it goes something like this. Paprika and I will be playing by ourselves. Another mom with her similarly-aged toddler will approach us. The kids will start to play together and the mom and I will chat. After a few moments, the mom will look at me really nervously and say something like, "Does she always talk like that?" or "Wow! She knows an awful lot of words!" Then the mom will get all insecure and will ask me how long Paprika's been talking like that, and then start to worry aloud if her child is developmentally behind.



Today was probably one of the more pronounced instances. We were at the park and this lovely woman approached with her 21 month old daughter. Paprika took the lead and started talking to the toddler (about the bucket Paprika brought, how big it was, that it was hers and that, no, she didn't want to share). The mom about fell over. Then, Paprika went over to the little girl's stroller (while the girl was NOT in it) and showed the toddler how to buckle and unbuckle the safety belt. Apparently, this is not a 20 month old skill. By the end of the encounter, the mom was asking me if Paprika's behavior was normal, if she'd been evaluated by anyone, if her child was behind and needed to see a speech specialist, etc. Needless to say, I don't think we'll be invited on many playdates with this nice lady and her daughter.

I would like to say that this is an isolated example, but it's not. It happens frequently. I would say the most common thing I hear from other moms is that they like Paprika's hat! (Yes, I'm aware it's cute!) The next most common thing I hear is how bright Paprika is. (I'm aware of that, too.) It makes for some uncomfortable conversations, but I am most certainly not going to apologize for Paprika's abilities to make someone else feel better. I mean, I don't broadcast it, but it's pretty obvious that she's a smart cookie and that she inherited it all from her daddy!

Mother's Day Weekend!

We had an excellent Mother's Day weekend! Mr. Mustard was home and we spent lots of quality time together as a family. Friday night we went to the Go-Kart track. It's Paprika's favorite nighttime activity, and she begs to "Go Cars!" whenever Mr. Mustard comes home.

Saturday we caught up on errands, had lunch at Chipotle (yum!) and went to the Paseo in the evening. Paprika had a great time people-watching and it was nice to just hang out with Mr. Mustard.

Sunday (Mother's Day) was filled with culinary delights and pampering. Mr. Mustard made me breakfast - pancakes with strawberries and sausages. There was a bit of a glitch in the breakfast making, as Paprika has hidden most of our pots and pans and we can't find them anywhere. We also couldn't track down our waffle iron (it may have been lost in the move). So, the original idea was waffles, but those turned into pancakes. Mr. Mustard improvised with the sausages by making them in a less than ideal pan- a few got stuck, but in the end, everything turned out great!



For the afternoon, we went to the Huntington and let Paprika play in the kids' fountains. She had a great time and got SOAKED! I brought her an extra change of clothes this time.



When we got home, Paprika went down for a nap, and Mr. Mustard and I got to enjoy a wonderful outdoor barbeque. We made steaks on the grill and baked potatoes. It was awesome!

Here is a picture of me.



Here's Mr. Mustard manning the grill!

Protein Shakes!

I've been reading a lot of research about identical twins, getting them to term, and what causes low vs. high birth weight in twins. The most interesting research comes from Dr. Barbara Luke, who has written a book about nutrition during pregnancy of multiples. She is a leading expert in the area of twins, and has had great success getting women to full term with their twins, getting high birth weights (over 6 or 7 pounds each), and avoiding a stay for the babies in the NICU.

The basic principle of her nutritional plan is that a women having twins must eat at least 3500 calories/day, and must eat at least 170 grams of protein/day. I am following the plan (after hearing the many success stories from women who've had twins), and I must say, easier said than done! 170 grams of protein is ALOT of protein! Consider that a cheeseburger will only have, on average, about 15 grams of protein. A cup of yogurt has about 5 grams of protein.

So, last night, Mr. Mustard, Paprika, and I went to Whole Foods and bought one of their Protein Powder mixes. Each scoop of protein powder has 10g of protein, so if I make a shake with 4 scoops of powder, that's 40 grams right there! I just made myself a blueberry/cranberry/banana/strawberry shake with the powder, and it's not half bad! Three more of those today and I'm practically done! I have a feeling I may start to tire of drinking these shakes EVERY DAY-- but if it's what it takes to have big, healthy babies, then so be it.

Sleeping Baby!

I don't think I can even get tired of looking at pictures of sleeping babies, especially my own! This picture was taken on our trip up to San Luis Obispo last weekend, on our way to Tom and Ann's wedding. Just prior to taking this picture, Paprika was slumped all the way forward (which was WAY cute), but the sound of me opening up the camera bag woke her up slightly and she settled into a more comfy position.

Paprika Smelling The Roses

We had a wonderful day today at the park (good weather is here again). Paprika took some time to literally smell the roses.



Hmmmm...what is the best position for smelling roses? Upside down, of course!

Me and Caroline!

Here's a snapshot (the only one I got) of me and Caroline at the beach on Tuesday.

Many Updates!

I haven't been able to post photos because of a problem with our computer. I hope to have this fixed when Mr. Mustard (our resident computer genius) is able to get a spare moment to fix the problem. He will be home tonight for a few hours, so hopefully I'll be posting pictures again by tomorrow!

We went to a BEAUTIFUL wedding this past weekend in San Luis Obispo. Tom and Ann finally tied the knot, and the wedding could not have been more magical and perfect. Paprika was wonderful the whole weekend, and even slept well in our hotel room! It was like a mini vacation- and we got to see Mr. Mustard for four straight days, which was soooo wonderful.

I find I am sicker than normal with this pregnancy, constantly tired, and when I'm not throwing up, I feel like I'm going to! It's sort of like constantly being on a tiny sailboat in the middle of a vast, rocking sea. I was definitely not this sick with Paprika!

I am behind on my deadline for the book I'm completing with Jessica. Hopefully she will understand how sick I've been and cut me a little slack on it. Every spare moment I have to myself when Paprika is sleeping, I want to just go to bed. Paprika definitely keeps me VERY busy during the day.

My next doctor's appointment is in a few weeks. I've decided to switch back to my old doctor (the one who delivered Paprika) because his office is SO state-of-the-art, and I know I'm going to get super vigilant care with him. That is super important because the more I read about identical twins, the more I find out that they are very high risk both for mother and babies, and this is going ot be a long journey ahead. I really want to be prepared for everything along the way, and I know with him I'll have the best chance of delivering healthy, happy babies.

Yesterday I saw my cousin Caroline! She is staying with a friend at her friend's uncle's house in Long Beach. We met up in Santa Monica, had lunch at Barney's Beanery on the Third Street Promenade, went to the beach, and walked on the Pier. It was super fun. Mr. Mustard's mom came down and watched Paprika for the whole day, which was just great! When I got home, I even got to take a nap! It was a pretty great day overall!

Paprika is finally sleeping (holding my breath as I say it) on a normal schedule. Last night she went to bed at 9pm and woke up at 9am this morning!!! The night before that, she went to bed at 8pm and woke up at 9am. Let's hope this trend continues!

Video of Yesterday's Ultrasound!

Here is the video from yesterday's ultrasound. It is pretty GREAT!

You have to know that even though Mr. Mustard took the video from the MOST unflattering angle of me, I really don't have 400 chins in real life. Okay? Okay!

A Very Exciting Surprise!

I am super duper happy to report that we are pregnant and expecting in November 2008! We have known for about six weeks that I am pregnant, but have been keeping it to ourselves. We wanted to wait until our first ultrasound to start letting people know. Well, our first ultrasound was earlier today, and everything went perfectly, if not a bit unexpectedly!

We left the house early this morning to head to Beverly Hills to see our OB. I have been planning on having a homebirth. The midwife I was planning on hiring suggested I go talk to an OB who would give me back-up support in case I needed to transfer to a hospital, and also he would be someone who would perform ultrasounds and other routine tests during the pregnancy. She suggested this particular doctor (Dr. Kline) in Beverly Hills, so I made an appointment and off we went today.

Paprika came with us to the office. I arranged for Lauren to come meet us at the doc's office. Her parents are visiting from Atlanta, and they graciously offered to take Paprika over to the Farmer's Market so that Mr. Mustard could come in to the appointment with me. Having Paprika at the appointment would have made it pretty unmanageable, since she is so curious and into everything. I wanted to be able to really talk to the doctor and ask him questions without distraction.

The doctor called us into his office and we had a great talk for about half an hour, and he was just really supportive in all ways and said that if I decided to have a homebirth, he would back me up in any way that he could. He was wonderful and I got such a great feeling talking to him.

After our talk, he decided to do an ultrasound to determine due date, since ultrasounds performed in the first trimester are very accurate in determining due dates and we were unsure exactly when to expect this baby. We went into the room and Mr. Mustard fired up the video camera. Then the doctor began the ultrasound and immediately, I saw that my uterus looked full. I am used to seeing what Paprika's ultrasounds looked like, and the picture on the screen did NOT look like her ultrasound. So, I said to him, "What do you see in there?" And he said, "TWINS!!!" We were, of course, shocked! We have no family history of twins, did not use any fertility medications, and are just in utter awe that this is happening. We have a 20 month old! So, we will have 3 kids under the age of 2 1/2! Eeek!

The doctor measured the babies and their hearbeats. They are both growing at the same rate, and their heartbeats are strong, regular, and perfect! After that, the doctor went and got another doctor to get a second opinion and to help determine if they were identical or fraternal twins. The other doc came in (he was also very nice and knowledgeable)- and together they determined it's definitely IDENTICAL TWINS! We don't know their sexes yet, but will either be having two boys or two girls. We'll find out in a month or two.

Of course, the homebirth option is definitely out. I am not going to deliver twins at home, obviously. I was actually wondering if homebirth would be an option because of the preeclampsia I had last time. In an uncomplicated natural birth, homebirth is wonderful. But for twins, I am now high risk and will be getting a lot of prenatal care, which is GREAT! I am very glad we found this doctor and wouldn't have known about him had I not met with the midwife, so I feel it happened for a reason.

The doctor did mention that I need to think about weaning Paprika due to pre-term labor issues with twins. Easier said than done! I will definitely start the process, even though I know it's going to be hard for her. I plan on taking it slowly and hopefully she'll take the lead.

Mr. Mustard is in a panic, stressing out to the max. I think I am still in shock and in denial. I am confident that God never gives us more than we can handle, so I believe we'll be fine.

This pregnancy is going to be much different than I expected. When I woke up this morning, I was praying to see one heartbeat on the ultrasound monitor. A few hours later, we found out that there are two healthy, identical babies growing inside me. What a difference a day makes and what curveballs life can throw at you when you least expect it! Our life is definitely not average, but it sure is exciting!