Cute Movies

These videos are a little boring, but I wanted to show them interacting with each other doing every day things. Enjoy.

Mmm...Cardboard...and some bitching.

I couldn't wait to get into the house so we could create a fence out of some boxes. Unfortunately, I had to start taking wet brown paper out of their mouths. I wonder where that came from. I have covered most of the boxes with sheets now, but they, and by they I mean Amelia, seem to be obsessed with putting fuzzies into their mouths now.

Our fence should be here on Friday along with the rest of our CT stuff. It will be 3 1/2 weeks without cribs. I think this is just awful to do to military families. How can they do this to people every couple of years? Horrible, in my opinion. There's nothing we or you or anyone can do. It's government and that's just the way it is and we have to accept it. I would march on Capital Hill, but I'm too tired right now.

And don't even let me get into military health clinics and how they insist on telling me every time I need to see a doctor that "no children are allowed". I'm thinking about writing someone on this. What are military spouses supposed to do with no family around and a husband who is gone or not allowed to babysit? Just what the hell are we supposed to do? I ignore this message and I'm sure everyone else in my predicament (most military spouses) ignores it, too. My problem is that it makes us angry or hurt every time we are told this over the phone. I want the bleeping message bleeping GONE.

On a lighter, sunshinier note, a Case Manager from the Bremerton Naval Hospital called and asked me if I was interested in having her help us out with all of Evan's referrals. I told her that, quite frankly, I was shocked that I was even speaking to one. I have been trying to get one since he was born. Bethesda Navy Hospital, you suck. Walter Reed, you suck. Athens Tricare, you suck. Groton clinic, you suck. Bremerton, are you my savior? Is it real? Anyway... I am taking the kids to meet her next week because, well, she just wants to meet us and I think that that's great. She is going to help me get outside care if I choose to, especially for Evan's back. Not a chance in hell is an Army doctor operating on my son's spine. You've seen Greys Anatomy, right? Well, maybe if it was that doctor (with his shirt off).

Thumb Surgeries

After you read the blog below, check out the Benjamin's Big Adventure blog. The link is over on the left. Benjamin had thumb pollicization done on his right hand. On the left, he had some tendons moved around to create a stronger thumb. He is doing remarkably well. It is so great that in this technology age moms of these kids are finding each other for support and advice. I can't imagine being all alone out there.

Evan Hand(s) Update

On Thursday, we drove down and around to Seattle Children's Hospital to see a recommended hand surgeon for Evan. Since Evan was born, there has been an overwhelming interest in his left hand. It is only because it looks so different. Doctors want to see him. They want to show him off to all of interns and fellows. It is a birth defect not seen often and they all love to talk about the possibilities of surgery. The problem is that they don't slow down to think about the big picture. Now I'm not saying I'm a genius, but I constantly ask questions. I especially like to pick the brains of the therapists. Will he ever be able to move his elbow actively? If you move his wrist onto his ulna (wrist centralization surgery), will he lose function of some fingers? Would we really want to do the surgery if he has a short ulna?

I feel like the first couple of surgeons we saw weren't listening to me. The "best surgeon in the country" was recommending the surgery, yet she never questioned the future function of his elbow. If we straighten out the hand and he can't bend his elbow, isn't that removing function from him?? (There is currently no surgery done to improve elbow function.) I feel like she brushed me off. And she didn't even want to talk about his right arm, though she mentioned that she would in the future. What does that mean? Does she think I'm stupid and won't understand?
Sorry, I had to vent about that. This surgeon we saw Thursday seems better. He looked at Evan's elbow and his X-rays and agreed with me. He actually said that doing anything to his left arm would be inhumane. Thank you, hallelujah, this is what we've thought all along. He wants to concentrate on his right hand and arm. Evan's right hand does not bend back as far as a normal hand. There is something preventing it from doing so and we have not been able to get a surgeon or doctor to be concerned about this. Finally and answer. It looks like that, most likely, the radius bone on his right arm is slightly shortened and causing his hand to turn slightly inward, and hence, his hand has a hard time bending back. Wow, I can't believe it took a year to figure that out. This could mean a bone lengthening surgery when he is six or seven and maybe another one when he is older.

Also going on with the right hand is his thumb, which has been called triphalangeal (finger-like). The thumb is smaller than normal and the base of the thumb is not as strong.

In order for the thumb to be completely functional, a surgery would be needed to give it support. This would be done by moving tendons around. Or, if this cannot be done successfully, TBD soon, we would possibly do pollicization the surgery. This involves removing the thumb and turning his index finger inward to act like a thumb. This is an extremely successful surgery that has been done for 30 or so years. It seems crazy to do, but kids learn how to use their new thumb in no time and you can't really tell that they are missing a finger. Either surgery would be done by the end of the year.

I have to mention that Evan, even with all of the hand/arm/thumb/finger issues, can do still do everything that any other kid can do. He is such a typical boy, which I never thought I would say. He tries to take everything apart and has successfully taken off baby-proof caps.

Anyway, the hand surgeon is drawing up a plan and he will observe Evan and go over his recommendations with us in two months. And that's that, I guess.

Both kids have been projectile vomiting this week. Amelia only twice, but Evan couldn't keep anything down for two days, so we had to take him to the ER to make sure he didn't get dehydrated, what with the one kidney and all. If that isn't enough, we're dealing with all of this living out of a hotel room, so if I haven't called you back, you know why!

Now I have to deal with the military clinic and insurance this week trying to get 10 different referrals and moving into our house on Tuesday. And of course waiting for the Direct TV guy on Wednesday. I have to mention this because it will be one of the best days ever. I can't believe I had to live without my Tivo and all those channels for 10 months. How did I survive? Not that I even have time to watch T.V., but when I do I certainly don't have time for commercials. Things are looking up!

No.

What, no sweet potatoes?



If you don't know already, we have no high chairs right now. The movers have them and I suspect that they are seeing some tornado action right now, or possibly a blizzard in our country's mid-section. I know that I am developmentally delaying their spoon feeding, but they are very good finger food eaters and- let's face it- no one uses utensils anymore, anyway. This is fast-food nation.

We are here

Safe and sound, but absolutely exhausted in Silverdale, WA. We thought since Saturday was a travel nightmare and we all lost sleep, that maybe the time change wouldn't be a problem. We gave them an extra bottle that night and I figured that I would just pretend like there was no time change with their subsequent feedings. Wrong. Amelia was up for the day at 3:30am today. Got her back to sleep just after 4 and got a short nap of about 20 minutes. Then, Evan was up for the day at 4:30am, Amelia up again at 5. Oh well, we did get some good sleep before that. And we got a house today, so life is good now. We have a view of the Olympic mountain range from the back of the house!

We still have to stay at the Navy Lodge until next Tuesday, when the movers are coming with our stuff that was taken from us last April. I have no idea what I even have in all those boxes coming. I am going to treat it like a treasure hunt. More exciting is the prospect of creating a fence with all those boxes! Our latest bunch of stuff moved from CT will not arrive for a couple of weeks.

The best part of the Navy Lodge is that they have these rickety wooden playpens for the kids so we don't have to sit with them constantly. I think they are made with Tinkertoys- and we don't even care! These are playpens that you would never put your kids in. However, we fixed the non-sturdiness of them by tighten screws with a butter knife, wrapping masking tape from a lint roller around the corners and cracks, and stabilizing the corners with belts, blankets, and towels tied in a knot. Voila! Perfectly safe playpens. Hey, we got to take a nap at 5:30am, so it works for us.

Eating crack, I mean puffs, at the airport:

Best cribs. Ever. And you thought I was kidding.:

Who needs toys?

Toys are overrated, overly expensive, and full of lead. All you need is a Gatorade bottle. You can even leave that little last bit of liquid in it that, for some reason, you never finish. Add another bottle and you got cymbals! Just don't let your kids drink out of them 'cause of the BPA (Bisphenol-A).

The fence is gone now and so are the toys. We are flying out Saturday and I only brought some tiny toys that I could fit into the diaper bag. It's hard to fit toys when we need 40 diapers! We will all be living out of 1 giant suitcase for about two weeks. I only have 1 pair of shoes with me- quick, someone call channel 8.

We created a play area using walls, a dresser, a toy box, couch cushions, etc. It's not working out so well. They are chewing on the window sill, opening drawers, scaling the giant beanbag. I'm exhausted.

OK, most of those pics were taken before the fence was gone. Here is an update. It is Saturday now and I'm going insane. We are at my father-in-laws with no baby barriers. I cannot handle two babies running around. They are running around like crazy and when I'm rescuing one of them, the other needs rescuing, and so on and so on. Rescuing from what? Remote controls, crawling under end tables, running down the hall, lint in the mouth, and so on and so on. No playards, fence, cribs, or even high chairs. On top of all that, they aren't sleeping well on the floor so John and I have had hardly any sleep this week. My brain doesn't work correctly and I am saying the wrong words in my sentences. (I've been calling the stair railing a mantle.) I want my mommy!!!!

Pajamarama

Cute pajama pics.

I probably get a lot of pajama pictures because if I don't have to go anywhere, they stay in their pajamas for quite awhile the next day. And I stay in mine!

On a side note, something happened today that cracked me up, which was nice after that "please don't hate me 'cause I'm negative" post. At therapy today, I parked the double stroller near an older lady. The lady next to her mumbled something about how great it must be to have twins. The older lady then said, "My daughter had twins....it was horrible." She didn't know I heard her, but this just made my day. I think the lady next to her was caught off guard. You will only hear something like that from someone who lived it. It's an honest comment, made in a tongue in cheek kinda way. We don't expect anyone to understand, especially the sunshiny people who attack us with "how wonderful"ness. I really don't mind all that much that people think my kids are cute and are so very happy for me. It's just refreshing to actually hear someone tell it like it is. And by the way, I don't think that my experience has been at all horrible. As I've blogged before, twin moms tell me how horrible certain times have been for them. I haven't gotten to that point yet. Although the tantrums are starting...