Tag Archives: twins

He’ll Be 1 Before You Know It

Posted on by
1

Houston’s first birthday is a week from today! Can you believe it? I cannot wrap my head around the fact that it was nearly a year ago when, after 32 painful hours of labor and 4 of pushing, our beloved Houston came into this world. The first year is such an amazing time, with our boy going from such a helpless little creature to independent boy in such a seemingly short period. We couldn’t imagine life without him … and soon we’ll feel the same way about the twins. It’s difficult to comprehend that we could love any other child as much as we love Houston, but by this November, our house will be filled with triple the love and joy!

Playing in the pool with Daddy in June 2008.  

On the pregnancy front, I had my last check-up on June 11. I had only gained a pound, but I was 10 pounds heavier at the beginning of this pregnancy than I was with Houston, so that’s no big deal; there’s plenty of fat to go around. Plus, now that I’m over my first-trimester nauseousness, I’m back to my old eating habits — quite healthy, to say the least. My uterus, however, was measuring large, which the doc says is totally normal with twins. Baby A (I suppose that would be Lefty, since he/she is located on my left side) had a heartbeat of 160 beats per minute and Baby B (Pancho) came in at a whopping 164. We will find out the gender of the twins on July 8 and my Clan Dillingham readers will be the first to know the news, so keep posted.

Also, I officially felt Pancho move on June 15 (he/she was saying, “Happy Father’s Day!” to Stephen) and Lefty move on June 16. There has been much activity since then, especially at night, as well as more cervical and uterine twinges than there were this early on in my last pregnancy. Again, the doc says this is to be expected with multiples. 

Hangin' with Adam (and the gun safe) in June 2008.

Here’s the lowdown on Houston’s recent happenings: 

  • Mommy and Daddy finally saw Houston take steps on June 1. He still isn’t walking per se, but he is taking 2-3 steps many times throughout the day, cruising like a champ, and of course, crawling around like a mad man. 
  • His pal, Gracie, taught him to clap his hands on June 4. Now he voluntarily claps to music and to some of his own stellar accomplishments — humble he is not.
  • Houston is obsessed with water! We bought a kiddie pool and have been playing in that on some of the hotter days. We have also been to a public pool on a couple of occasions with our neighbor, Heather, and her kids. There’s an area there that features geysers, sprinklers, trickles and lots of other aquatic-based fun for the kids. Houston thinks it’s great! 

Playing with Aunt Lisa in June 2008.  

  • “Uncle” Adam visited the family for a few days late last week. He helped out with feeding and playing with Houston, so that Mommy could run some errands.
  • On June 13, Houston had a play date at his friend Mason’s house. They frolicked inside and then headed outdoors to tackle Mason’s sandbox. Houston also slid down Mason’s sliding board with Mommy’s help. He was cautiously intrigued by the new activity. Check out the pics of that outing by clicking here.
  • Then Aunt Lisa visited over the weekend, so that Mommy could accomplish some long-standing items on her to-do list. Houston instantly bonded with his auntie, who constantly entertained him outdoors and taught him about leaves, plants, acorns, bees and ants. Houston got a weird poison ivy-looking rash that day, although it wasn’t the dreaded weed, thankfully. The rash never seemed to bother him and it’s almost totally healed. Click here to see pics of Lisa’s visit.
  • And yesterday, Houston and I babysat his pal, Jamie. He thinks she is one of the coolest things since sliced bread. So, he had a ball hanging out with her, exploring every nook and cranny of her house and drawing outside with her sidewalk chalk.

Playing in Mason's sandbox in June 2008.

We’ll have many fun and sunny pictures to share with you once we return from the beach. Till then, you can check out all the June photos.

Two Heart Beats

Posted on by
1

Stephen and I went to my 12-week prenatal appointment yesterday and heard the twins’ heartbeats. They were both nice and strong: 160/minute and 155 respectively! I cannot use a midwife this time around due to my having multiples, so we met with one of the five doctors at the practice. I will eventually meet with all of them (there are four female and one male obstetricians) and then use whatever doc is on call when I go into labor. The doctor said everything is looking good thus far, although I’ve only gained a pound and am still not showing that much — all stuff to look forward to (yeah, right), I suppose! I told her that I thought I felt the kids move when trying to fall asleep on Mother’s Day night, but she said she’d be surprised if it wasn’t just gas, since they’re still so small. I’m telling you … it felt like the real “fluttering butterfly” sensation to me, so I’m sticking to my story.

Houston experiencing a post-food high in May 2008.  

Here are some May happenings on the Houston front: 

  • The family went to an outdoor neighborhood party on 5/3 and he had a ball playing with all the kids there.
  • Houston played in a sandbox for the first time on 5/4. It belongs to his best buddy, Dixie, and although he didn’t like it when his binky got tainted by falling into the sand, I think he enjoyed the new adventure. Plus, it’s good practice for our upcoming beach vacation next month.

Houston playing with Dixie in her sandbox in May 2008.

  • He spent time all alone with Daddy from 5/10-5/11, so that I could go to a wedding in Wilmington. They enjoyed having some quality guy time together, without having Mommy hovering around. Stephen says it went off without a hitch, although he was exhausted from the experience.
  • Houston said “Mama” for the first time on 5/13. I don’t think he has put it together that I am indeed his Mama, but it’s fun to here him say it nonetheless.
  • A fourth tooth popped through his upper gums on 5/14, so he now has six total. The teething sometimes really gets to him when the drooling and runny nose seem to occur at a nonstop pace. But other than those few bad days, Houston has handled what I can only imagine is intense pain like the big, strong boy that he is. We’re very proud of him.
  • Houston is still into sniffing fabric and often carries around a burp cloth with him while he’s crawling about the house and yard. He must find comfort in the scent. But he has also taken to holding out his arm into the air and then looking at it with great pleasure. Sometimes the gesture is flat-handed, as if he is Caesar and has just made a declaration of some sort; other times, he will pump his fist, like he is leading a “Power to the people” chant. Our Houston Lee is a strange bird, for sure!

Houston doing the

As you can see by the photo above, Stephen finally decided to chop his hair, which he has had long since his high school days. Looks fine, don’t it?! Houston was a tad concerned about the change at first, but has now gotten used to it. And Stephen is loving how easy it is to manage. 

To see all the most recent photos from May, click here. 

Stephen and I just started watching a reality show on TLC called “Jon & Kate Plus 8.” If you’ve never seen it, Jon and Kate had twins (now age 7) and then four years later had sextuplets (now age 3). The show documents the family’s day-to-day activities and gives us a glimpse into how the parents cope with having eight young kids. Kate is type-A and extremely organized, so she comes up with lots of innovative ideas that I think help out parents of multiples and other stay-at-home moms in general. But she is also not Super Mom and has her occasional breakdown, just as every parent will do, so the show provides that reassurance that parents so often need: moms and dads should never strive for the unattainable perfection, but should only aim to do the best they can with each day. Sometimes we’ll fall short, while other times we’ll far exceed our expectations. But as long as we do everything out of love and what’s best for our children, we cannot fail. Moreover, I figure if Kate can handle eight youngins, I can surely handle three. For more info on their amazing family, visit http://www.sixgosselins.com/.

“What?!?!?!?”

Posted on by
4

Some of you may not already know what we at Clan Dillingham were considering some pretty big news: I’m pregnant again. No, we’re not insane. We planned this pregnancy to grow our family and fill the house with even more love (and the ensuing chaos, of course). We always knew if we were blessed with more kids that we would want them to be fairly close in age. It’s of our opinion that that provides for more efficient child rearing, since the closer the stages the kids are, the more they will have in common and thus keep themselves busy and out of trouble. Plus, I’m no spring chicken; at 36 years old, we knew we didn’t have too much time to spare.

Ever since we decided to have kids, Stephen has always said that he wants an “army” of rug rats. That way, he will finally have the musicians he needs to start his dream band. They’ll be like the Partridge Family of the Carolinas. Moreover, he is an only child, so he would get to fulfill his fantasies of living in a multi-sibling household. But I, on the other hand, knew that my aging and increasingly tired body didn’t have what it would take to birth and raise the aforementioned army of tots. So, I had always thought two would be the logical number for us.

Houston during his first professional pics back in November 2007.

Well, the title of this blog was my reply yesterday to the (internal) ultrasound technician at my first prenatal visit when she notified me of some shocking news. Here’s how the exchange went …

Tech: “Hi, I’m Tammy. Just sit back and relax. This will be a little cold at first.”

Me: “Okay.”

Tech: “Everything looks good. Oh, there’s a heartbeat.”

Me: “Wow, that’s amazing.” 

Tech: “Ooh, and there’s a heartbeat.”

Me: “How awesome,” I said calmly, assuming she was showing me one heart from two different directions.

Tech: “No, you don’t understand. There are two heartbeats. You’re having twins!”

Me: “What?!?! Oh my God … Lordy … are you sure … how can that be … man … oh God … but there are no twins in my family … what?!?!” 

Tech: “I take it this comes to you as a surprise.”

Me: “Uh, yeah!” 

 HL's hamming it up in November 2007.

According to my midwife, these two rascals were the result of pure chance. They are what is known as monozygotic twins (a.k.a. identical twins), “when a single egg is fertilized to form one zygote, which then divides into two separate embryos,” says Wikipedia. “Division of the zygote into two embryos is not considered to be a hereditary trait, but rather an anomaly that occurs in birthing at a rate of about three in every 1000 deliveries worldwide. Most of the time in monozygotic twins, the zygote will split after two days, resulting in a shared placenta, but two separate sacs. These are called monochorionic diamniotic (mono/di) twins. Monozygotic twins are genetically identical (unless there has been a mutation in development) and they are always the same sex. There are estimated to be approximately 125 million human twins and triplets in the world (roughly 1.9% of the world population) and just 10 million monozygotic twins (roughly 0.2% of the world population and 8% of all twins).” 

Houston sporting his cowboy boots in November 2007. 

I am eight weeks along in my pregnancy, due approximately November 24. However, it is common for twins to come a little early. But since “Pancho and Lefty” (our current nicknames for the kids in utero) are not sharing an amniotic sac, the chances of them making it close to or all the way full-term are much better than if they were sharing a sac. We will find out the gender in about 10 weeks.

Poor Houston, he has no idea what’s in store for him — pure double trouble! But we here at Clan Dillingham are firm believers that big families are happy and fun families, and I’m sure he’ll be the best big brother ever!

I’ve included a few pics from Houston’s professional pics back from November because I didn’t have time to download and edit any recent photos and post them with this breaking news, but also because these adorable images are just a reminder that our family has been triply blessed. No matter how much sleep deprivation, nausea, sore nipples, stress-induced headaches, hormonal breakdowns, lack of adult time, massive debt, cramped quarters I/we experience, we are the luckiest people in the world: not only do we already have one angel to call our own, but we now have two more on the way!