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Friday, June 24, 2011

Triplet Boot Camp in Palm Springs.

Through friends (and the blog universe), we have met some great guys who have beautiful 9+ month old triplet girls.  They have graciously offered us a "Triplet Boot Camp" of sorts this weekend at their home in Palm Springs (within a block or two of our former weekend home there...who knew!).   When the guys discovered they were expecting triplets, they visited another couple in the Pacific Northwest with triplet boys of their own.   They said the weekend was a great experience in learning what to expect down the road so they have offered the same to us.   We are SO looking forward to meeting them and their girls and doing anything/everything they ask of us this weekend.   Wish us luck....we have so much to learn!.   [Look for Jim's post with all the details next week.]

Thursday, June 23, 2011

17 Weeks!!!

Not much to say today except that our babies are now the size of Turnips!   Turnips?   Do people really eat Turnip's anymore?   I mean, my grandma used to reference them....you know, around the holidays....but does anyone know anyone under the age of say, 80, who eats Turnips these days?     Who even knows what the hell a Turnip looks like or what it's size is anyway???   Oh well, at least we have moved off the Fruit!

Since my last post, "Bubbles"  has really taken to her nickname.  Even her husband ("FlyDaddy" for reasons we will tell in another post) agrees it's a perfect nickname for her.   I just can't believe it's taken us 20 years to come up with it.   You see, Bubbles has a great sense of humor (even when she isn't funny she will convince you that she is funny).  She always tries to look at the bright side.  She has never met a stranger and will talk to anyone!.   She greets you with a big smile every time she sees you and, as i have said before, she loves a nice glass of the bubbly..... but only the good stuff.....  We have had some amazing times wth Bubbles and FlyDaddy over the years.   Trips to Napa, Jackson Hole and Las Vegas are just a few of the places we have gone on vacation together.   Bubbles was one of the first people we told about our kids.   We knew that she would be as excited for us as we were for ourselves and she didn't disappoint.   She loves us and she loves our kids and for that we love her.   Although soon we might not be able to travel with Bubbles and FlyDaddy as much as we used to, we are looking forward to sharing our new lives and roles as parent's with them and we know the jelly beans are gonna love them as much as we do!

Bubbles and I have had a few good laughs since the last post....i'm afraid at Cindy's expense.   Seems a lot of people have read the blog and, putting two and two together, have guessed "Bubbles" real identity......so it's only a matter of time before "Cindy" figures it out.   I hope that Cindy isn't too upset about our telling the story.  We didn't tell it to upset anyone or to appear mean.    We told the story to shed light on the fact that there are people out there that either don't know gay people or just don't know any better.   They don't understand that being Gay is not a choice.   There is a lot of misinformation out there about our lives and if telling that (true) story educates one person or showcases the absurdity of the notion of raising one's own child to be gay , it will have been worth the risk of hurting "Cindy's" feelings.   Changing hearts and minds one at a time....we will get there.

So, tonight we are raising our glasses.  A toast to 17 weeks, to Bubbles and to the jelly beans!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Rambling Thoughts for a Friday. . .

So I was talking to Morgan the other day and she said "The babies are the size of an Avocado!  Isn't that great!"  I thought that was pretty cool.....but then I remembered.   The week before the babies were the size of an Apple.  The week before that, a Lemon.  The week before that, a Lime, a Kumquat, a Grape.....and so on and so forth....you get the drill. 
We couldn't help but joke that although these kids have two Daddies, we needed to find alternative methods to refer to their size in the womb than continually referring to them as Fruit.  I mean, really.  There has to be another way. . . . and then I remembered a conversation I had a couple of days before:

My friend Bubbles (not her real name but appropriate given her personality and her love of Champagne) says "You're not going to believe what Cindy (also not her real name) said to me the other day!".    Bubbles says that Cindy called her up and said:
  "Well, I just have to ask you, are JR and Jim gonna raise those babies GAY?" 


[I'm going to let that sink in for a moment]


Are you kidding me????   Isn't this 2011?   Did she REALLY just ask that question?   Was she kidding?   Was she serious?   Even if she 'thought' it, did she actually "speak those words?"

After Bubbles and I had a good laugh it donned on me that there might be more "Cindy's" out there than I had cared to imagine and it might benefit Jim and I,  in the event we encounter that question in the future, to have a prepared response.   But, given the sheer absurdity of the notion, how do you really respond to such a question?  Seriously, I'm asking?   Do any of you have a response for us?   We welcome them all but in the interim, we have come up with a few of our own:

Maybe we say:  "Well Cindy, we have decided to raise one gay, one straight and one African American"   I mean, if we can choose their sexuality, we can certainly choose their ethnic origin.  Right?

Or maybe:  "Well Cindy, that's an interesting question.  Since we are new parents, we are not exactly sure WHEN we make the decision on THEIR sexuality.  We will have to ask my mom and dad when they decided to raise me Gay".   [After all, I am sure that at some point Mom and Dad (well meaning 18 year olds) sat down in their cute little apartment in Smalltown, Kansas in 1962 (not California or New York but KANSAS....in 1962!) and decided that their first-born son would be raised Gay.]

Or maybe its:  "Cindy, we have decided to raise them to be HAPPY.   To be good people.  To love who they choose and to be who they are and be proud of their family,"   Isn't that the job of a parent?

To all the "Cindy's" out there:  We realize that some of you are well-meaning but unaware.  We hope that if you meet us or others like us on the street, you will see that we are just parents.  We want to raise our kids to be happy, well-adjusted people.  We want to teach them the tools necessary to make good choices, to be good, law-abiding citizens, to give back to their community, to respect other people and lead loving, healthy lives?   We can't think of any better reward ....and that is our goal.



Wednesday, June 15, 2011

16 week ultrasound!!

So here we are.....16 weeks!  Jim and I can't believe it.  The doctor's appointment was at 8 am this morning.   Rather than get up at 5 for the drive (if you know me, that isn't going to happen very often), we drove down to San Diego last night and stayed with my brother, sister-in-law and two nieces (thank you Madison for giving up your bed!).   We got to the doctor's office a little early and it wasn't long before we saw Morgan get off the elevator.  We were So Happy to see her.  She looked GREAT!  She was practically glowing and she looked so cute in her maternity top.   The first trimester was not an easy one for her so were happy to see her looking so good, joking around with us and being her happy sweet self again....let's hope the babies keep it that way.  Ha

We had a different ultrasound tech this morning who was pregnant with her third boy (so she knew a thing or two about ultrasounds)  She took us back and it wasn't very long before we could see how much the babies have grown.   We hadn't seen them in four weeks and it's amazing how much difference one month makes.  All three babies were very active this morning.  They were kicking, turning and waving their little hands and feet....it was so great.    

The ultrasound tech started the exam with Baby A which was the baby in the middle.   Morgan, Jim and I were immediately confused.  Until now, the babies were always referred to as Babies A, B and C from Morgan's left side to right side (or right to left on the ultrasound screen) with Baby B always in the middle.  However, this ultrasound tech said that Baby A is normally the baby closest to the cervix so Baby A should be in the middle.  Who were we to question?  So we now have Baby A in the middle, Baby B to Morgan's left and Baby C to Morgan's right.   The tech confirmed that Baby A is a girl, Baby B is a boy and Baby C is a girl (at least they didn't move positions as that would have been way too confusing).  She took all their measurements, looked at their brains/hearts and other organs and said that everything was proceeding perfectly.  The girls each weigh 5 oz and the boy weighs 6 oz.   We couldn't have been happier with all the good news.

She even treated us to a few 4D pictures:
Baby Girl "A"
Baby Boy "B"













Baby Girl "C"

 We already love these little jelly beans and think they're pretty cute.  Can't wait to see them next month!