Abby, Zoë and Enzo

Mommy wasn't feeling well today, so daddy was tasked with picking Grandma Cindy and her new puppy up from the airport.  I had a long talk with the girls, and they promised to be good and well mannered for the car ride, and they were.  We made it down to the airport just in time to circle twice before seeing her waiting at the curb.  We stopped for afternoon snack at Dunkin Donuts on the way back.  All in all, the girls handled a 2.5 hour outting without getting out of their car seats, and without any potty accidents.  I was sure I might have to pull over so they go use the facilities, but nothing.  It was mostly uneventful, besides the constant singing and praying the car doesn't break down.  The excitement happened when we arrived home.

We began our April with a visit from our nutritionist, Marge.  Zoë is 31 pounds 11 ounces and Abby is 31 pounds 4 ounces... a shocking 7 ounce difference. (insert sarcastic tone).  Both girls are 39 and a half inches tall.  With a BMI of 14.3 for Zoë and 14.1 for Abby, they're both in the 10th-25th percentile.

Marge thought it was great that the girls are so eager to drink their green smoothies, and said that they are so healthy she may not be able to justify continuing to see them, though she'd like to find a reason since she enjoys visiting with them so much.  Zoë also informed Marge that she and Abby are going to be big sisters and Marge had some good tips for me for the pregnancy.

We finally got out for that nature walk the girls have been talking about, and Abby has been practicing writing.  We were getting warm clothes on just as Grampy arrived and so he decided he'd drive over to the trails with us.  Uncle Corey and Auntie Reanna had just pulled up as well so we all went over and walked ran the trails.  Both of the girls were just run, run, running with Reanna jogging along behind and me fast walking.  Corey and Grampy took the calmer approach.  We stopped at the look-outs and the girls slowed when I asked them to walk if we were passing dogs, but mostly they just got out some energy.  Not that they didn't still have plenty left when we got back home.

Daddy set Abby and Zoë up at the table with some makeshift drum sticks and instruments.  The girls have been banging on the computer box that's sitting near their bookshelf trying to make some music out of it so Chris had them get out a set of chopsticks, then some of their play food cups, and some other items from the kitchen. 

Abby sat at the table first for her turn, using everything as a drum set and played and played for a good while.  Finally Zoë got a turn and it was neat to see the differences.  Zoë would tap stuff like drums, but when she got to the plastic water bottle turned on its side, she picked it up and slid a chopstick back and forth across the rippled part to make a different sound. (I'm drawing a blank on that instrument that's used that way).

The temperatures were warm enough again this morning for the girls and I to walk to the library for story time.  It wasn't as fantastically warm as yesterday afternoon, but warm enough to walk without hats and mittens.  After story time we headed into town, on the way Abby and Zoë were telling me how they were great walkers.  I said that they did indeed already walk pretty far without getting too tired out, but that if we keep practicing going a little further and a little further, then pretty soon they'll be able to walk all over the place with us.  After stopping at a store in town, and then at the post office, we began to head home.  On the way, Zoë kept telling me that she "prefers walking a lot".  I gave Zoë the definition of 'prefer' and an example saying that if someone had the choice between walking and driving they might say, "I prefer to walk instead of drive".  She responded, "I prefer to drive."

Everyone accompanied me to my Dr.'s office again, this time to actually see the doctor.  On the way there Abby asked me, "Do you have to get an ultrasound again?"  It was a pretty quick visit, we just went over things we talked with the Dr. down in Boston about, asked a few questions, and listen for the baby's heartbeat.  The heart rate was in the 150's, when the baby would hold still long enough to get a reading.  I got more ultrasounds scheduled as well as my next appointment with Dr. McGlaughlin in a month.

Abby and Zoë were a big hit with everyone, all of the nurses were stopping to check out their sparkly shoes and tell us how adorable our girls are, while I was getting weighed and my blood pressure taken.  As I was waiting at the desk after the appointment for scheduling, Zoë was standing with me - Abby and Daddy had gone to wait outside - and the nurses and receptionists were asking all sorts of questions about their names, and just oohing and aahhing over how cute the girls are.

We finally got some warmer temperatures today!  This morning, just before lunch time, the girls and I went to a nearby playground, where there was only one other child (I saw some other playgrounds around town packed with kids later in the day) and both Zoë and Abby just had a blast running all around.  It started getting pretty windy just as we got ready to go home for lunch.  Later in the day when we went out to get in the car, it had warmed up to near 60 degrees and Zoë and Abby were thrilled to be able to wear skirts with nylons (instead of thick tights) and a light coat over their shirts.

Zoë said to me this morning, "I'm going to miss my sister when we're grown up and we're wives... but maybe we can live right next door and see each other every day!"

The girls and I headed to Wal-Mart without Daddy today, something we haven't done in a while.  As as I was helping Zoë and Abby with their harness buckles, Ms Betty said hello to us and let us know that we could get a free 5x7 photo with the easter bunny back at the photo center.  I'm up for anything free, so we headed back there and I let the girls get their picture taken before we began our shopping.  With Abby and Zoë sucking on lollipops in the cart while I shopped, we made pretty good time getting all of our groceries and then went to pick up our picture and check-out.  Before going outside into the super windy weather, I checked the items on the receipt, put it on the eggs, and helped the girls get their coats on and zipped up.  After I had Zoë and Abby all buckled in and the groceries unloaded, it was 12:20 and we were ready for lunch. 

Before I left the lot however, I realized I didn't have the receipt.  I had paid with credit card and we all know how precise Chris is with keeping records and keeping track of all purchases, so this was bad news.  I zoomed back to a parking space, ran back into the store with the girls and searched all around the check out area.  I went to our cashier and asked her if she was able to look it up on her computer but she said I'd need to talk to someone else, who happened to be walking by.  I explained things to her and she told me to meet her at the service desk.  She began trying to look it up on a computer with my credit card, along with the help of another woman, and finally they found it and printed off the receipt on some computer paper.  We got back in the car and it was now 12:45 and we were now very hungry and tired so I pulled in to Taco Bell against my better judgement and got us three bean burritos... I paid cash.

Lately Zoë has taken to telling us that she wishes her name were Abby, or that we should have named her Abby.  She does this whenever Abby gets something, or gets to do something that Zoë wants to do.  If we ask Abby to do something for us that Zoë wanted to be the helper with we hear "You should have name me Abby!".

Zoë and Abby are very excited to announce that they are going to be BIG sisters!  We are expecting our new addition the first week of October, so I'm almost 12 weeks ( three months) along now.  And it is confirmed, there's just one baby in there.  I have written journal posts with things regarding this pregnancy, such as when we found out and the first Dr.'s appointment, but have kept them all as drafts until now.  So, if you view as far back as mid January you can read those posts.

We went today down to Boston for a scheduled appointment with a Dr. that will perform the cerclage, should we chose to have one placed.  Given the circumstances of the pregnancy with the girls, we are leaning towards having it done, but the Dr. also told us that we do have a chance that I won't develop an incompetent cervix this time around.  If we decide that we want me to get the cerclage then we need to let him know by the end of the week.

Before we met with the Dr., they sent me for an ultrasound, where we got a nice view of the baby.  And it actually looks like a baby now, much different from our first appointment.  It was great to see the flicker of heart beat and to see the baby moving around in there.  Abby and Zoë behaved very well, and thought it was funny watching the baby on the screen.  We drove down before 8:00 this morning and didn't get home until after 1:00 p.m. so it was a long time for the girls, but they really did pretty well with it all.

(Ultrasound photos coming soon)

Just when we feel Spring in the air, it goes and snows on us again.  It didn't accumulate too much, but was unpleasant nontheless.  Abby and Zoë were bummed that they couldn't go to the stuff-a-bag sale with me, especially since Auntie Reanna was meeting me there, but they got over it.

Later on in the day we played two different princess card games (Mommy won one and got to go to the ball) and the girls drew lots of picutres.

Today, being 3-14, is "Pi" day.  I only know this because Chris informed me of this exciting news this morning.  I guess it would have been a good opportunity to do some sort of math project related to it with the girls, but I am so not math minded and hadn't the vaguest idea of what I'd actually do.  It would have been more fun, in my mind, to go make a pie and call it close enough. 

Instead we went outside for a little bit, just to the front porch, to enjoy the warmer temperatures (45 F).  Abby got a kick out of the breeze making her hair blow, and watching the shadow of it on the ground.  A couple passed by asking where they could get a good bowl of chowder, so I tried my best to give them a few ideas and then the girls and I went back inside.

Last time we were at the library we got a couple of early reader books that were "read together" books.  They have one page that the parent reads and then on the following page it has a couple of words in bold for the child to read.  Both Abby and Zoë really surprised me with sounding out some of the words.  Some they knew, others they just sounded them right out and then re-read the sentence.  Abby also picked up one of the early readers we got about a dragon and was sitting on the couch and I over-heard her sounding out and reading every page!

It was an eventful yoga class today.  First, about 5 minutes into class, the only little boy bonked his mouth and was bleeding all over.  His Dad had left so Ms. Amy was trying to comfort him and get him all cleaned up.  When he went back into the practice room I heard Zoë say, in a high pitched concerned voice, "Are you alright?"

They got to practice being lions, for March coming in like a lion and out like a lamb.  I also caught some glimpses of happy sitting post,  table, down dog, tree pose and some games.  I also heard and caught glimpses of the girls not listening so well.  There were times when they just went off and ran or jumped the gun in a game, so we had to talk about that after class.  They weren't the only ones, but they need to work on doing what is expected of them even if other kids aren't.

Daylight savings actually worked to our advantage.  It got the girls to sleep until 7:00 a.m, which of course would have been 6:00 - their normal wake-up these days.  So now we figure, to keep Abby and Zoë's internal clocks in check, instead of trying to have them asleep by 7:30 at night, we'll try to have them asleep in between 8:00 and 8:30 p.m. and then they'll wake up at 7:00 or later.  Ta Da!... we hope.

So, even though we knew this was our plan, Chris really worked it up.  He kept telling the girls they were going to get to stay up late tonight and watch a movie and had them jazzed about it all day.  They were lovin' this special treatment.

Abby and Zoë's new vice is the jolly rancher flavored jelly beans Nonna sent.  They ask for one when they come downstairs in the morning, when they get up from nap, any old time really.  And they are always thinking of us too... "Mommy, would you like a jelly bean?"  translation: Can I get myself a jelly bean while I get you one too?  Please don't take this to mean that we'd like more of these, I am looking forward to the end of the bag.

With warmer weather promised for today (42 degrees F) I was excited to take the girls to the park to get some much needed running around done.  After helping me make big salads for lunch, it was time for a rest so I told the girls that we'd go after a short nap.  Abby asked if they could rest upstairs in their beds (they usually nap in the living room) and I told her that I didn't think that was a good idea because they tend to just play and get rowdy and if that happened then we wouldn't be able to go to the park.  Both girls assured me that they'd go right to sleep, have a nice rest, and then get up and go to the park.  Well, after many warnings, and them getting sent downstairs, and Abby not sleeping at all... they missed the park.

Abby also missed out on her nap and later on she was so tired that she fell asleep in her little chair watching the computer screen, where Daddy had the visualization going for the music that was playing.

We got to Nonno's hotel at around 10:00 this morning and met him, Uncle Matt, and Caitlin, in the hotel room and then got ready to go to the Boston Children's Museum. (Thanks Uncle Matt for getting the tickets). This first thing the girls wanted to try when we got there was this very interesting climber thing.  Both Abby and Zoë were a bit unsure at first, but then Abby forged ahead and had to convince Zoë to follow along.  This climber went straight up and let out two floors up.  It was all visible and while Daddy and Nonno stayed down to guide the girls to start, the rest of us went up one flight of stairs to encourage the girls as they went.  Then we rushed up the next set of stairs and met them at the let out.  There were a couple of times that Abby had to wait or back up to help Zoë out, but once they got to the end Zoë was really happy that she'd done it and proud of herself.  We started on the top floor and worked our way down.  The girls got to make little boats to bring home in a construction area (even using the saw!), they got to try another climber and sat in the construction vehicles.  There were wet exhibits and bubble fun as well as some t.v. character related places. 

After seeing everything we went for a lunch at a little restaurant at South station.  After lunch Caitlin had to catch  the subway train home to tend to Sage and the rest of us went back to the hotel room for a nap.  Some gourmet cookies had been delivered to the room while we were out, as well as a fruit basket and once the girls were up from nap they dug in.  Same as last year, Abby decided not to have a cookie, after sitting with it for a while, and just wanted to munch the fruit.  Zoë ate about half her cookie and then took to the fruit as well.  After some relaxing we got ready to go down to the pool and swam a while.  Once the girls were chattering away, we got out and went up to get rinsed and warmed in the shower and then had some more down time. 

Uncle Matt had to leave to catch his train home so we said good-bye to him and then after a while we went downstairs for dinner.  We sat in the bar type area off of the restaurant and sat in big cozy chairs and bench seats.  Abby and Zoë shared a gnocci dish with me and really liked it.  They also both got their own shirly temples to drink and thought that was pretty cool.  They started saying the funniest things and just being very dramatic.  Abby was thanking Nonno for ordering the food and for this and for that, saying it all as if she belonged in high society. We finished up and then got two sleepy girls and one very sleepy Mommy ready to go.  Nonno went down to the garage with us and got some goodies out of his trunk he'd brought up from New Jersey with him.  He gave giddy Abby and a teary-eyed Zoë hugs and sent us on our way.  We all had a great day and the girls just loved every minute of it.  Thank you Nonno Ernie for a very special day.