My Expanding World

My Little Houdini

2009-05-19T17:26:00.001-07:00

I walked in to get my boys up this morning. I picked up their blankets, puppies, and pacifiers - typical detrius thrown out of the crib upon waking and playing. And there, under all those lovies, was a diaper. We are currently cloth diapering, and the evening selection had been an all-in-one (for those of you savvy on CDing!). For those not knowledgable in this brief but lovely part of life, this means the diaper was held on with velcro. Which D loves to undo and play with. The amazing part of all this was that both boys still had their pajama shorts on! Of course, I knew it would have to be D... and sure enough, it was. Lucky for me, it hadn't been long, and he was still dry. But, oh, what this means for coming months!

Holidays Fast Approaching

2008-11-21T11:06:00.000-08:00

Can you believe the holidays are approaching? Where has this year gone?! Thanksgiving is next week already. Time to appreciate all we have in life... for me and my family in particular. Wow. How blessed I am to be able to stay at my parents' with my two beautiful boys. They are healthy, and growing well. And, although it brings plenty of screams and frustration, the boys are steadily moving forward in their development. Standing, crawling, growing teeth! And plenty of firsts: first Halloween (Thing 1, Thing 2, and mommy was the Cat in the Hat! pics will be posted soon), first Thanksgiving and first Christmas are coming up. Lots of family celebrating time. It will certainly be lively with 2 little ones running around this year! Too bad my brother won't be here to add his little ones to the chaos! :o)

In the meantime, it's time to start thinking about holiday gifts. What do you get little ones who have a million toys? Isn't that the eternal question? At least at this point they're too young to want, want, want. But I'm sure that's coming soon! One of my favorite websites has mother-approved suggestions - I'm looking forward to checking them out (even though they are often out of my price range, it's always fun to see what ideas they have!). Got kids? Check out Cool Mom Picks Holiday Gift Guide, and get a jump start on the season!

Papi

2008-08-25T11:49:00.000-07:00

Hi Papi!
Well, Hito finally made it here in mid-July. It's been a crazy time for him... adjusting to a totally different lifestyle, seeing his boys for the first time, sleeping on the couch for a month! We've had fun dragging him around to see the sights:
San Francisco,
BART,
Santa Cruz (man, that water is COLD! but we swam anyway),
Six Flags (we finally got him on a rollercoaster for the first time after he swore that nobody could *pay* him to ride one! and of course, he ended up loving it... 30 mins before closing!),
bowling (watch out... he's a pretty good bowler),
and of course, meeting friends and family.

The boys have enjoyed getting to know Hito, and they love being around him and his rough-housing. :o) Hito will be going home in the next couple weeks (how fast time flies!). It's been good for him to see the boys, and we plan to see the DR next summer!

Stearns 3 Update

2008-06-11T09:06:00.000-07:00

For the last 2 months, I have been a part of a great twins class called DoubleTalk (http://www.doubletalkfortwins.com/). There were 8 mothers of twins in my class... all with babies between 0-6 months. You can imagine how noisy it could get with 16 babies babbling, crying, screaming... but we actually had a few times when all the babies were quiet! It was a great time to meet other MoMs and to get serious help in topics from sleep (VERY important!) to scheduling to play to travel. I'm sad the class is over, but I'm excited we've decided to keep meeting for play groups!

The twins are growing well now. They finally fit in 0-3 month clothes! :o) They are very aware of everything in their little world. They actually look for me or Mema when they hear our voices! They are starting to recognize each other as well. When I put them near each other, often they will start babbling while looking directly at their brother. They've also started rolling over. At about 1 month, both boys would roll from front to back (that's how much they hated being on their tummies!) Now Adrian is rolling from back to front, which makes getting things done much harder for me since he seems to forget that he can keep rolling, and starts screaming to get off his tummy! Both boys love to sit an interact with people, laughing, babbling, smiling, but they spend a good amount of playtime batting and kicking toys on their gymini.

Lastly, mom (me) is starting to look for part time work. I'm hoping to find something in the evenings that will let me spend all day with the boys, but still get some hours and benefits! Right now I'm looking at Starbucks... we'll see how it all goes.

2008-03-23T22:50:00.000-07:00

So it's Easter. I feel like I owe my blog a big catch up... but it's just too overwhelming. Needless to say, the twins have arrived. They were born Feb 3, and today they are 7 weeks old. And what a 7 weeks it has been. :o) But about today...

The boys went to Hillside today. So many people dying to see them. After our first bout with Hillside on Friday, I was so ready by the end of this morning to say "baby? what baby? no, i don't see two!" But maybe that's because my month & half of running on 4-5 hours of sleep is catching up with me. It really hit me yesterday how exhausted I was. But, we continue to pull it together and feed the babies, and try to enjoy the inquisitive people.

Besides church, the boys made their first visit to their great-grandma's house. It was truly inter-generational - their two great-grandma's, their grandparents, mom, and the newborns. Naturally, since they had an audience, they were fussy - by turns! And they continue to be fussy, as I write this line by line between fusses. :o)

So, just like anything I try to do these days, I gotta cut this short and go feed the munchkins. looking forward to more short posts later!

PS. There are new pics! http://picasaweb.google.com/stearns003

Travels

2007-09-07T18:00:00.001-07:00

Well, the travels have finally come to an end. As of last week, I finally made it home - back to CA and my family. I was very nervous to be traveling since my morning sickness had been pretty unpredictable, but count your blessings when you find them! I managed to not only travel without feeling ill, but have been feeling great since I got home. (Or at least the pregnant equivalent of great!) It's been great to see my family and catch up on all the changes in the area in the last 2 years (although my mom's so excited to show me off that she's wearing me out!). I'm looking forward to catching up with old friends and meeting their new significant others and little ones that are now attached. It's amazing how much changes in a couple years. So, here I am. Home. Finally. ...at least for another year. :o)

Not Camera Shy!

2007-08-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

...the twins, that is. Not me. :o)

While I think it's a great idea to make a "belly book" (in other words take pics of my expanding waistline!), I'm just not sure how I feel about having to pose for a picture every week or so.

The babies, on the other hand, don't really have a choice to be camera shy. In the last 2 months since I found out I was pregnant, I have had 4, yes... count them... 4 ultrasounds. Why so many? Well, one, there's the slight complication of spotting. Usually, this isn't a big deal at all. But, since they're twins, everything's a big deal. Two, they're twins. :o) Doctors like to keep a closer eye on twins since they're much more susceptible to complications. So, be prepared to see those sonograms!

So, while my little twins keep practicing smiling for the camera, I may reconsider, or at least keep considering, that belly book idea. And maybe once I get home and unpacked and all, I'll actually find my camera cord so I can get some posted here for you all. :o) Meanwhile... enjoy the little ones at week 13!

The Big News

2007-07-31T12:36:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends from my many walks in life -

The last month has been full of unexpected surprises, challenges, and very big changes. I wanted to let you all in on the news and answer as many questions as I can at once, so sit down and hang onto your seats. :o)

As many of you know, I've been a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic since Sept 2005. Well, my service has now come to a slightly early close due to some unexpected news. I am happy to announce that I am pregnant! Wait... there's more... we are expecting TWINS! Yes, things do seem to come in pairs. So, I know you have many questions, so I'll see if I can answer most of them.
1. The official due date is Feb 17, 2008. However, since they are twins (which tend to come early), we are expecting them sometime in January.

2. I am currently living with my brother in Florida, spending time with his family (hanging out with my little nephew!). I plan to move back to California (Walnut Creek) sometime in Sept or October.

3. We are currently working on paperwork for Hito's visa. However, this could take anywhere from under 6 months to over a year. Keep us in your prayers that this process goes extra fast and he can make it in time for the delivery.

4. If you want updates on the babies and everything, please send me an email. I'll start to put together an email list to keep people updated.

5. Lastly, PLEASE feel free to send me your input! Suggestions, ideas, offers, etc for pregnancy, doctors, pediatricians, used baby items, temporary jobs... anything is welcome!