tnh9479

We have been married for 8.5 years, have 5 y/o twins, and my hubby got his citizenship 4 years ago. It has been a journey, but no one else would I rather spend it with!

The US paperwork was quick, but I had to get my senator involved as the packet Casa sent out with his interview date never showed. Senator gets involved and things happen like dominoes.

Nice to see lots of familiar names! We filed a K-1 from Morocco in 2005. We are coming up on our 7 year wedding anniversary this summer. We have almost 3.5 year old b/g twins and hubby was naturalized a day before their first birthday. We both come back occasionally to check in and read. I have a fellow teacher at my school who married a woman in China over Christmas break. So...I am cheering him on in his visa journey.

Just wondering if there are any testimonials about TV2MORO. We are contemplating dumping the Arabic package from DISH and switching to this.

We had fun at school two years ago when all of my students of Cuban descent were called down to the office to fill out a new registration form. Apparently they are not Hispanic any more, but Caucasian. They came back asking me what was going on. All the new state forms now have our Central and South American students check Caucasian for race and then Hispanic for ethnicity. Would be nice to be able to add Arabic to ethnicity too.

Another member of the K-1 Class of 2005 here! We will be married for 6 years in July and have 2.5 year old twins. So glad we finished with USCIS well over a year and a half ago! (Just can't leave here.)

Stef - do you need a referral to go to a pediatric gastroenterologist? If not, I would be calling for an appt tomorrow to see if they can help you even more. I am so sorry you are going through this.

I would consult a pediatric allergist. We had Hana tested at 18 months. We thought her periodic projectile vomiting and almost constant ear infections might be a food allergy since we have a big family history. We just took her to her six month follow-up appointment. Since we have avoided wheat, squash, oranges, and now kiwi, she is doing soooo well. He said we really need to keep avoiding these items until she is at least three. Then, he'll test her again and see if she reacts. I know from my own food allergy, that it is better to reintroduce under medical supervision. Some scary things can happen with food allergies, even if they didn't last time.

Poor little girl! I hope she gets better soon!

I guess it's all a matter of how confident you feel in your OB's opinion. Mine had privileges at 3 hospitals. Two were close. Only one had a NICU, level 3 at that. So...it was a no-brainer due to twins and other issues.

We have had a roller coaster ride lately. Zak was chewing on a straight pin Thursday night. When I tried to get it from him, he seemed to swallow it and then vomit. So...I took him up the ER. Luckily, nothing was seen. Hana fell at my mom's house yesterday and was complaining about her arm. So, she went to the peds today. Luckily they think she just bruised it. I have two way too active toddlers!

As for Pampers, it depends on the brand. I have used Baby Dry since Hana's horrible dermatitis at 4 months. We have had no problems. They are using the dry max in Swaddlers and Cruisers and parents have had horrible times with that. I tried recently a generic brand on my two. Zak started to have issues after 2 generic diapers. So... Pampers will remain until they get potty trained.

We are taking the duo to Disney this weekend. DH and I are soooooo excited!

Stef - he is a handsome little guy!

Kelly - one of my friends found that a beer every once in a while helped her supply. She was pumping during the day and bf'ing at home during the night.

I wouldn't buy too many diapers either. We had so many people give us diapers that we were stocked up for the first four months!!!!

I never got to do the hospital tour or birth class as I got put on bedrest. However, I did take time to go find a good pediatrician. You may want to start putting out feelers on that one.

One of the science teachers I work with did SIDS research in his life prior to teaching. Besides removing suffocation hazards from their cribs and putting them to sleep on their backs, he told me it still can be a mystery why some infants succomb to it. I thought the risk dropped a lot after 6-8 months, but he told me it is more like 12-14 months. Anyway, I freaked more about milestones than that, after hearing all the other twin mommies talk about all the speech, occupational, and physical therapy their kids went through. Luckily, we have been blessed enough to avoid that.

A breakthrough tonight--Hana took a bath without fighting, after 2 weeks of screaming and tantrums! We had a wonderful trip to the park this afternoon. What a gorgeous afternoon in South Florida.

@Kelly

Hana and Zak both got a cold at 2 months. It totally sucked! I took Zak in because he coughed out brown gunk. Luckily all was well, but I got great suggestions from the nurse practioner to help them. Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

AFU: did any of you go through a stage where your toddler who loved the bath fights it hardcore the next day, for no reason at all? Hana has been exerting her two-ness in this respect for the past week. I am hoping this is just a phase.

You guys have no idea how raw the emotions are two years later. I was so set on BF'ing and life threw me a curve ball. It started a couple of weeks of depression (combined with overcoming the rocky end to the pregnacy). I will say I am thankful now it turned out the way it did because my husband was able to jump in and bond with quickly when Mommy was in a funk. I wish could tell you all the negative ####### I have endured due to comments of inconsiderate people. It feels like a lot of parents are in some sort of mom competition. Oh...you don't feed your kids organic food? Oh...you had a c-section? Oh...my kids are so close in age, it is like having twins. Ha! All I have to say is thank goodness for my online and local twin mommies for their loving support.

I find do many exceptions to the healthier part in my every day experiences. I had friends who exclusively breast fed the first year and their kids were back and forth to the peds all the time for this or that. I really think it all comes down to genetics. My husband, in his 30's and eating American food, is still a size 30 waist. We both are over 5'8" tall. It is no surprise our two are tall and relatively thin. My DH and I both were rarely sick as kids. So are our two. Allergies are sooooooo prevalent in my family (my sister, myself and all my dad's family had horrible incidences of it and all were breastfed). So...it was not a huge surprise to find one of our kids has allergies. What do I think is a problem? The prevalence of all these additives in all processed or semi-processed food. As a society we used to eat so much less prepared food a generation ago. Now this stuff is laden with salt, fat, wheat, soy, corn syrup, etc. It is no wonder why we are widening as a society. To blame that solely on formula feeding is naive at best. Do I trust all studies? As a person with a science degree who teaches science classes, you got to look at who is doing them and who is funding them. Just look at all the drama around the vaccines and autism study.

I have to disagree about your baby being healthier if you breastfeed. Is it more natural or organic? Yes. But, I know I couldn't breastfeed (my milk NEVER came in -- never got engorged at ALL). So, we had to formula feed. My sister chose to because she had so many issues. We have kids who are growing and thriving. Heck my nieces are soooo smart too (there goes that IQ idea too). I really hate sweeping generalizations. Wouldn't it be better to say breastfeeding at first can be hard, if all goes right? Just give it your best try and do not cave in easily to formula feeding as it will make it harder.

Good to see so many survivors! Congrats on the oath ceremony! It is such neat ceremony and my husband's ended with both of us in tears. What a trip it has been!

Wow! So many new babies here or coming soon!

Lately it has seemed like Hana has been bitten by a case of the terrible two's. But, there are signs maybe she is not feeling well. Sometimes toddlers are hard to figure out!

@ Steffi

I am sorry Ben (and you) are having to go through this once more. Hopefully you can find a competent and compassionate surgeon who can understand the situation. Keeping you in my thoughts!

@Kelly Good luck!

AFU, we are dealing with a vocabulary explosion. We were all in the car Saturday and Hana says to me, "Mommy, turn the music on!". She is getting talented at talking in sentences, just sometimes it is so fast you can't understand her!

Here's to hoping for more babies soon!

I know with c-sections that it was the time I was in the hospital that the governing medical bodies came out and said no inductions/ c-sections before 39 weeks for singletons or 37 weeks for twins, unless medical indications warranted it. My peri and I had a conversation about it because my OB said she would deliver at 36 weeks and had booked the OR, and he came into my hospital room and related the news to me. I know I cried afterwards. I was so over bedrest! It was good to wait, though. Hana

and Zak were not ready to leave, even then. I never had many contractions at all.

@Kelly I can totally sympathesize with you. The last three weeks of my pregnancy were very similar in the changing messages - c-section now, c-section at 36 weeks, oh...maybe emergency c-section because baby a is unresponsive during biophysical profile, decelerations are seen (horrible nurse who couldn't monitor twins well and got me put on 24 hr monitoring and no food or liquid), finally it was peri who said no delivery, unless I deteriorated, until 37 weeks. Then...OB who visits from practice at 36 w 4 d decides to pull blood on me. Ha! C-section scheduled for 36 w 5 d. Luckily my husband's work was cool and let him call in the day I delivered. My mom came home with us and hubby then took off the first week I went back to work. I wish we lived near! We would definitely help entertain Zaid.

My husband finally got through last night to a cell number.

Welcome to the world Eloise and Congrats to Mommy and family!