Pregnancy - 2nd Time Around

Is it easier with a singleton vs. twins? Is it different? Is it all that you hoped it would be and more?

Pregnancy, where you carry a parasite for 9 months, and then have it explode out of your abdomen.  Oh wait, that's from the movie Alien.  That's how I relate to being pregnant, except you have the option  of how the parasite enters the world, exploding out of your hoohoo or your abdomen.

Ok, it's not that bad, except when I'm upset with my husband.  Then it's all his fault and I'm suffering terribly. But his usual response is that the last time I wanted a baby, I got double the deal with the twins and that every time they have a meltdown, they're all mine.   I think this time around it is MUCH easier on my body but the exhaustion from raising two very rambunctious 2.5yr olds has faded my memory of how hard it was the first time.

I'm trying to prepare for the arrival of our little girl.  I've bought all the clothing she'll need for the first few months of her life but it's hard to judge exactly how much clothing she'll really need.  I'm still in the mindset that I'm shopping for twins so this kid will probably never have to wear an outfit twice in her first year.  Oh well, Michael got a raise.  Hehe!!  Her nursery is still being used as a changing room for the boys but I've been looking at girly nursery ideas and we should be going into full decoration mode soon, unless I get completely distracted with the twins' halloween costume for this year.  I'm not really feeling the "nesting" urge just yet.  If anything, Michael feels more like nesting and keeping the house in order more than I do.

Now I have a question to ask all those moms out there who have two or more kids, especially if these kiddos are still too young for grade school.  How do you do it?  Are you on meth or Ritalin?  Seriously, I want to know.  These two weeks have been my most trying days since the boys were newborns.  Meghan, Mom, and Auntie Colleen took a trip to Asia, leaving us short on a lot of help.  So for the last two weeks, Michael has only worked a few days and spent the rest of the time with me and the boys.  We still have his parents helping out but it was just exhausting.  I'm so tired to the point that if my children asked me for cocaine, I'd say ok, whatever to make them happy.  At least now the morning sickness and heartburn is more in check after I switched meds.  It definitely has helped with keeping up with the boys (somewhat).  Being pregnant and having such young kids is most challenging.  The boys are also quite rough when it comes to their little sister/fetus.  After I tried explaining there is a baby in mommy's tummy, Daniel lifted up my shirt to see where exactly was this baby hiding.  They think it's hilarious to push my outtie belly button like a door bell and slam their heads right into my uterus.  Are all little boys like this?!!?

We've also been sorta trying to do the last step in potty training.  I'm thankful that the boys have been doing their No.2 in the toilet since they were 7 months old but they really need to be weened from diapers all together now.  There have been a few accidents and Alex does not mind having his underwear and pants soaking wet with pee.  Daniel gets it, he doesn't like being wet and uncomfortable and will pee in the toilet but still needs to be asked/prompted before he'll go.  The last thing I want is for the boys to regress and decided they want to be babies again once their sister arrives.  I've heard that sibling jealousy can cause such problems but maybe because the boys have always had sibling rivalry with each other that they won't really care if a new baby joins the group.  Feeding has also been an issue in our household.  You would think that by now, Daniel and Alex would be feeding themselves.  Nope, it is quite the opposite.  They have the option to feed themselves and Alex does a pretty decent job if you encourage him but Daniel will ask you to feed him.  They know when they have something good going on.

Can you tell that I'm going to get my tubes tied when I go in for this c-section?  Yes, another c-section. I'm not gonna labour for 30+ hours where I'm sure some complications will arise and have another section anyway.  I'm thankful that Michael has seen all these issues first hand and knows what will be the best for me and baby.  Heck, I'm sure the last thing he wants to do is suffer with me for so long and have to deal with a c-section as well.

Daniel and Alex - The Terrible Two's

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT!

This picture was taken a week before my c-section. Michael felt the need to document my suffering as I swore I'd never have any more kids and never have to deal with pregnancy again. But give me credit, I made it to the scheduled c-section date without being put on bed rest or having to stay in the hospital prior for complications.  Yes, I am very proud that I stayed pregnant for 37.5 weeks, although by the end, I wanted it to be over very badly.  

I'm wearing Michael's sweat pants as none of my maternity pants quite fit anymore but I was too close to giving birth aka cheap to buy any more clothing. My Canuck t-shirt is a Men's XL and at the time, waaaayyy too tight. I literally had to stretch it over my stomach to cover up the bulge and you could still make out where my belly button was sticking out. I'm not sure if you can see it in the picture but my whole midsection is covered in angry, itchy stretch marks, which are no longer red but still very visible. EVERYTHING was swollen: my feet, my face (even my nose), you name it, it was swollen. Pregnancy is not a pretty thing when you're carrying twins to term.

With that all being said, the boys have reached their 2nd year birthday. Their  annual well-baby check up went very well even though they were both sick from the cold mommy passed onto them. Developmentally, they are on track and doing very well. Sometimes I just need to hear it from their paediatrician, even though Michael always tells me things with the boys are better than fine. I'm sure he's just thrilled when Michael happens to bump into him when they're scheduled to be in the same operating room and he has a list of questions to ask about the boys. Another benefit to working at the hospital where I delivered the boys: Michael was able to see my pathology report on the placenta and the boys are indeed identical (monochorionic/diamniotic) twins. That's pretty cool.

We have moved into our HOUSE.  Yes, out of the cramped condo and into an actual 3 storey home! It did take a lot of renovating to turn it from Barbie's puke-pink nightmare into a craftsman soft-grey dream house but it's done and livable now.  We're discovering that our Kerrisdale neighbourhood is quite nice and pleasant when everything is accessible by foot.  Driving through the Kerrisdale shopping district is another matter when seniors are also driving/crawling along the same road.  Transit is also very convinient but we usually hop on a bus only if the boys have nagged us all day to go on a bus ride. 

My suspicion is the boys are entering the "Terrible Two" phase.  It's not as bad as some people have told me but they do have their moments.  For example, as we were leaving a restaurant tonight, an older gentleman blocked our exit just to tell us how well behaved the boys were throughout dinner and just how adorable they were.  When we got home, it was another story.  I caught Alex shoving his brother for some reason and before I could intervene, Daniel had slapped Alex back in the face.  That led to some stern words, a spanking for both, and some apologies to each other.  I literally turned around to get a face cloth from the bathroom and again I hear crying, but this time it was the howling type you get from experiencing pain.  There before me is Daniel with a bloodily lip and Alex with the guiltiest face ever.  What I am going to do?  I just can't keep up!

Onto other news, Michael is no longer going to Toronto for his fellowship.  I remember before we had the twins, there had been a discussion about doing a year-long fellowship in the UK.  Then after we found out I was pregnant with twins, the plan was to do the year-long fellowship in Toronto where the whole family would reside for a year.  After they were born, it changed again to a six month fellowship in Toronto where only Michael would go and the family would stay in Vancouver.  Now what would have changed so that Michael would not do the fellowship altogether?  I'm………….wait for it…………pregnant again.

Three things we have quickly determined through this event:
1) Birth control does have a typical-use failure rate of 15% (I'm as horrified as you are!)
2) I have indeed earned the nickname Fertile Myrtle
3) If God wants us to have another baby now, you can't say "no thanks"

Overall we are very happy about welcoming another baby into our family.  The first thing we did was go for an ultrasound to check if it was one or two.  I will admit I was actually very worried when the morning sickness started so early.  But the nausea is controllable, and better yet, I won't be vomiting every 3 hrs for the next 30 weeks.  Michael is over-the-moon giddy about not having to go to Toronto but he had to commit to doing a two-year Masters of Education for Anaesthesia in exchange.  It's not a bad trade off.  I'm anxious to know whether we're having a boy or girl though.  If it's a girl, this will probably mean I'm getting my tubes tied.  If it's a boy, then he'll have enough hand-me-down clothing to last him into his teens.  Do I want four kids, no not really, but I'm concerned that if it's another boy, he'll end up feeling left out of that special bond that Daniel and Alex have.  

Well, one day at a time.  

Another Wong Family Vacation

It has been one week since we returned from Hawaii and I certainly miss the warm sunshine and cool ocean breeze!! The last time the boys went on vacation, they were only 7 months old. Although, I think we had more fun in Disneyland than they did. They were just happy to nap and stay cool. This was a very different trip. We survived the plane rides there and back, although not as comfortably as sitting in business class with a seat all to yourself, they were such troopers!! We stayed in a suite at the Trump International Waikiki Walk hotel in Honolulu, which was very swanky. Maybe a little too swanky for a family with 22 month old twins. There was lots to do, lots of great shopping, and lots of walking. In Maui, the pace was much slower. Lots of time to relax and it did help that we were upgraded to the penthouse suite. The boys went to the beach for the first time and HATED IT!! Well, at first, they hated the sand and water but eventually it got better and would play quite nicely sitting on a towel. I think the next time we go back to Hawaii, we will just stick to Honolulu.

We are in our new house. It's still a mess from moving and coming back from the vacation. The boys have adjusted nicely here. They love running around and climbing stairs now. They are really into hockey and Yo Gabba Gabba. We are going to another game on Wednesday and the seats are awesome. Can't wait to see how excited they'll get!!

Time for An Update

As you may have noticed, my blogging has dwindled, so be warned, this post will be long.

A lot has happened since the boys turned one. For starters, I am a dental hygienist no more. I never went back to work after my maternity leave ended in February. Michael and I discussed in length about the pros/cons of going back to work for a few days. As it turns out, it's more benificial for the both of us if I stay home as a housewife. No arguments there!! Michael has passed his Royal College exams and is now working as a fully licensed anaesthesiologist. For now, he is locuming at SPH and BC Womens until July 2012, where he will complete a 6 month fellowship in obstetrical anaesthesia at Cedar-Sinai Hospital in Toronto. The rest of the family will remain in Vancouver since it is only for half the year.

In terms of logistics, we purchased a house in July. It's not an old house, only about 12 years old but it's "custom-built", so there are a lot of areas that need full-on renovations. We went through hell and back trying to find the right contractor, but it is finally being renovated. The house is great for our growing family. Michael really liked this house because of the bedroom layout. The boys can each have their own room and share a jack/jill bathroom. Meghan, who is our full-time awesome nanny has her own room with a private bathroom as well. There's a large rec room in the basement all for the boys. We're turning the basement bedroom into an exercise area. There's plenty of storage space downstairs and once the weird kitchen with the half wok style kitchen area has been renovated, it will be great. The backyard is quite the jungle right now. We had a wasp nest that was the size of a large balloon growing on a tree branch that suddenly disappeared. Someone had it removed, cut that branch right off. I'm sure there is also a family of birds living in the bushes in our front yard. We'll have to wait until the spring to deal with all the landscaping. The house is in a really nice area. It's considered to be in Kerrisdale but we're just a block off from Mackenzie Heights.

Onto the boys!! They are fantastic little boys!! They are 19 months now and are active as ever. They can walk, run, jump, and even dance now. I think they were a little slow lifting their heads and crawling but once they could walk, everything happened in hyper drive. They like to talk and have great vocabulary but most of the words they can speak are in Cantonese. I'm not too worried. Once they start school, their English will pick up. I'm hoping they can put sentences together soon. Legend has it that I was speaking in full sentences by the time I was 1.5 years old. They must take after their daddy then. Hehe!! They like to mimic now so we all have to watch our cursing, especially me and my sailor mouth.

As Daniel and Alex are getting older, I think they look less and less alike, even though they are identical twins. Although strangers swear they look identical. Daniel is still the leader of the pack and now he lets everyone know that he's the boss. Lately, they have been fighting a lot for the same toys. Daniel relates "ow" to hitting, maybe because it hurts. Anyway, if he doesn't get access to the toy he wants or if Alex won't give it up, Daniel will scream, shout "ow" and claw Alex in the face. Alex in turn relates pain to rubbing his head, so that's exactly what he'll do, even if that's not the area where he's hurt. Alex totally knows how to play victim and use his pout and teary puppy dog eyes to gain sympathy. I'm told to expect a lot more of this as they get older.

I've also been told it's time to look for preschools for them! Clearly I'm not quite ready for them to grow up that quickly yet. We've been trying to teach them their alphabets but they have no interest at all. Alex can point to all his body parts if you ask him where it is. Daniel knows where his body parts are but thinks this game is beneath him so he'll only play if he's in a good mood. They are both very good at playing with their iPhone game apps. Alex even knows how to unlock your phone to answer a call. They both love talking or pretending to talk on the phone. That is one of their favourite activities along with waving and saying "hi/bye".

The boys watch more tv than they should but I think they know what they're watching. They know the difference between Waybuloo, Cat in the Hat, In the Night Garden, Elmo's World, and Sesame Street. Scary right?

They love their junk food. We all spoil them with good treats, especially if they get hurt. I wish they would show more interest in feeding themselves but just like the issue with holding their bottles, they know it's better to have someone else feed them. Alex will eat and try anything, except he doesn't like the texture of meat. We grind up most of the meat in their meals. Daniel is picky when it comes to his food but he's heavier than Alex by a kilo! Milk is still a staple in their diet.

The Babies Are 1yr Old!!

We survived!!!

This is seriously what goes through my head sometimes. It has been an eventful year to say the least. When looking back at their pictures, it completely floors me at how much they have grown and their development is just amazing. I worried a lot (and I still do) about them meeting their milestones, especially when they wouldn't lift up their massive heads or their disinterest in crawling. Good news to report, they did lift up their heads and are FINALLY crawling, on the way to walking soon.

Alex is the more adventurous boy. When it comes to practicing walking without support, his usual technique is to find his target spot and fling himself at it. He'll usually get a few steps in before he either reaches his destination or falls flat on his face. Daniel on the other hand, will try and steady himself without help before he will even attempt to taking a few steps forward. If he's not steady, he'll spin around and cling right back onto mommy.

We had a small 1st birthday party for them. Family only this year. I had planned for an extravagant and over-the-top Sesame Street themed party but I finally listened to some wise advise from their Poh Poh. They boys went to their first birthday party for a friend's daughter and I had a glimpse of what mayhem would have ensued had we had a birthday party for them. The party itself was great, the boys, not so much. Daniel cried A LOT. Well, one of the crying episodes was justified after being placed in a choke-hold by a precocious 2 year old who wanted to carry him. Both boys stuck to me like magnets. It was not very fun for mommy.

The boys are off with their great aunts in Richmond, probably going for a stroll in their little red wagon. The last time Meghan and I tried taking them to the park in the wagon, we came upon a colony of snow geese settling in the field for the evening. Unfortunately, a pesky skate boarder thought it would be fun to run straight into the colony, sending them a-flight, which sent the goose poop flying, Meghan screaming, and us running away with the boys in tow....you get the picture.

Michael is writing his Royal College exam right now. It is basically his licensing exam that will allow him to practice anaesthesia in Canada. Once he is done his written portion, he will have to travel to Ottawa for the oral exam in June and should get the results pretty soon afterwards. I am so proud of him. For the last year, he has been studying, work, and raising our babies. He does it all people!!

We recently watched Little Fockers, and now Gaylord Focker has 4 year old twins. In one of the scenes, Grandpa Burns tells Greg that one of the twins will be more like him and the other more like Pam because each parent will pass on extra genes to their kid. At that moment, one of the twins tells someone to pull his finger, at which Grandpa Burns states which child got the extra Focker gene. I laughed pretty hard because it was cute and also preposterous. BUT, it got me thinking. Even though the babies are identical twins, their personalities are so different. We always say that Daniel is more like Michael and Alex is more like his mother. Case in point, Daniel is very smart, like his daddy, and is always eager to learn. Why this morning, he just said "baby" while looking at his brother. He wants to talk so badly. Alex, on the other hand, is just happy to go with the flow, sort of like me, and couldn't give a crap about speaking right now as he's trying to walk on his own.

We Survived Disneyland

This is what happens when I haven't blogged in awhile. Events build up, I try blogging about it and soon realize there is just way too much to stuff crammed into one blog posting, so I give up altogether and read other people's blogs instead.

Well here is a blog I started back in October..........

We are back from our first "vacation" with the babies. I say vacation with quotations because it was NOT a vacation.....I repeat, not a vacation. I'm almost caught up in laundry. In the last week, I have run probably around 12 loads of laundry, one that included all the clothing Daniel and Alex pooped in during the trip. Yuck!

The babies are 7 months now, they both have two crooked little central incisors, eating solids (well mostly purees and whatever mommy lets them chew), and are in the process of learning to crawl. A handful on a good day.

We went to California for one week. The first four night in Anaheim aka Disneyland and the rest of the week was spent in San Diego where Michael's anaesthesia conference was taking place. We reasoned that staying at the Disney Grand California Hotel was necessary since we have young children and it was just steps away from both the Magic Kingdom and California Adventure. Actually one of the hotel entrances leads right into the California Adventure park!! It was well worth the money for that convenience.

Well I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me backtrack a little first. The trip started off with a very early morning flight out of Vancouver to LAX. With us, we brought 9 checked-in bags, that included playpens, stroller, carseats, and TONS of luggage. The babies did pretty good considering we sat in economy (just kidding....economy was fine). The flight was just over two hours and the babies slept most of the time after eating breakfast. Things seemed to be going well, until we landed in LAX. Alex had pooped his diaper and it leaked all the way up his back. Thank goodness he's been eating solids so the poop wasn't as watery as it could have been. Our first adventure in California involved peeling off a onesie with dried on poop and changing a screaming Alex. I guess it could have been worse?

After the poo fiacsco, which was only a preview of more poo incidents to come, we went to pick up our rental car. After much debating, aka Michael insisitng he would not drive a minivan, we decided on renting a Suburban for the week. Now that is a tank that commands respect. Even with Michael's driving, no one dared to honk him! The babies had to have their lunch meal on the go, meaning taking a bottle and their solids in the car. No worries though, I bought these really cool spoons that has a bulb attached on the handle side that can hold purees. All I needed to do was squeeze the bulb and food would dispense onto the spoon! Yup, just that easy. Daniel loved it because he thinks we feed him too slowly anyway.

Most of our time was spent in the Magic Kingdom, we rode on It's A Small World, Dumbo, Pirates of the Caribbean, Pooh's Adventure, and Mr. Toad's Crazy Drive. I thought that the boys would be scared or completely overwhelmed with the rides but surprisingly, at least one baby would fall asleep.

We bought a ton of souvenirs of course. Our first purchase though, had to be hats for the boys as it was quite sunny and hot AND of course the hats that I bought in the summer did not fit. Let me explain. When I bought their travel clothes in July, I had estimated they would be in the 6-12 month range in October. Boy, was I wrong about their head size. My two 7 month old boys wear toddler sized hats, around the 2T range. Michael always reminds me that it was a good thing that I had a scheduled c-section when I lament over the fact that I never went through labour because of their large head circumferences. If Daniel had not ripped me a new one you-know-where, Alex would have. *shudder*

Back to happier thoughts!! We also went to two hockey games while in California. The Canucks were on a road trip and played the Anaheim Ducks first and then the LA Kings. Michael had two Canuck jerseys customized for the boys and so the whole family would get to wear their jerseys for the games. Unfortunately, the Canucks lost both games but we ended up on the jumbotron at the Staple Center. The boys were just too cute, especially with their matching earmuffs. After the games, I wish I had a pair of earmuffs. My ears rang for days afterwards.

We finally made it back to Vancouver, a little worse for wear, but I'd do it all again............a year from now. That being said, I think we're done for "vacations" this year. As much as I love Hawaii, I love having little boys who sleep well much more.

Upcoming Vacations

This innocently started with Michael making a comment about how he hasn't been on a decent vacation in a long time and suggested we take a holiday with just the two of us to Hawaii. The next thing you know, that comment has snowballed in to me going nuts at Gap Kids, buying swimming gear and summer clothing for the boys to wear when we travel to Hawaii in December.

Honolulu is one of our favourite places to go as we've never been to any other places in Hawaii. It is the perfect combination of the busy city life with the laid-back island beats: Moana Surfrider, Cheesecake Factory, North Shore waves, shrimp trucks, Ala Moana shopping center, MacDonalds that gives out pineapple, sunbathing turtles, Dole Plantation, ABC stores, Icees, Cold Stone Creamery etc......I could go on forever.

I am so very excited to take the boys on their first vacation! I have surprised myself in the research that I've conducted in seeing if a Hawaiian getaway was possible with 9 month olds twins. I'm sure there will be many "firsts" for them on this trip.

Not too long after our Hawaiian getaway, we'll be travelling to Las Vegas in January for an anaesthesia conference that Michael is attending. I'm not too fond of Las Vegas as it comes off more as a smoke-laden party hub, but I still would like to go, since Michael will be going. Let's see how much more I can win on this trip.

Then in March, I'm planning on taking the boys (minus Michael who has to work) to Hong Kong right after their 1st birthday. This all started because Meghan is part of the wedding party of a friend who wants to get married in HK. It works out perfectly as we can each take a kid with us on business class. We'll be staying with my aunt and uncle. I haven't convinced my mom to come with us yet, but she'll probably go since she says I'm very good at persuasion.

That's gonna be a lot of travelling in those few months!! Can't wait!!!

Update: Rather than attending the Las Vegas conference, it looks like Michael really has his heart set on the larger conference taking place in San Diego in October. It also happens to correspond with the away games the Canucks have in LA and Anaheim. It looks like Michael will get his wish to stalk the Canucks while they're on the road. Disneyland here we come!!