First of all, thank you all SO MUCH for your overwhelming support and congratulations over the last few days. Benjamin and I read every comment (and, no joke, got a little misty-eyed at every comment). Each one meant so much to us.

We have been basking in the glow of our bliss. Taking it all in. To say that we had so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving is a gross understatement. It’s hard to believe it’s really happening.

While we were struggling to get pregnant, the word infertility would send shivers down my spine every time I heard it. I never really let myself believe that I would never get pregnant, because if I had, it just might have broken me into a million pieces. It is the one thing I fear more than anything else in the world. And the moment I saw that “pregnant” readout on the home test, all the tears and fear and anxiety that I had been pushing to the back of my mind came out like a flood. And it made me realize just how amazing that moment was. And without going through all the waiting and the struggling and the yearning, I’m not sure that moment would have been as sweet. So, to all those ladies out there still fighting the fight, take heart. Not only will it happen for you, but when it does, it will mean so much more than if it had come easily. I am certain I will not take even one moment of pregnancy for granted.

So, what happened after the video ended? Well, there was a lot more crying and hyperventilating (for Benjamin AND I). And then, we actually had a friend staying with us for a few days, and he was asleep downstairs. I was certain my shrieking and crying would have woken him up, and I didn’t want him to think something was horribly wrong, so Benjamin and I crept down the stairs and stuck the pee-covered stick in his face. At 6:30am. Of course he was thrilled, but it took him a few moments to process . Lucky for me, I already had an appointment for a blood pregnancy test at 8:00am at Boston IVF (since we knew it was 14 days past ovulation on a medicated cycle). On the drive over, I made a few phone calls to my mom and siblings and some other friends, mostly people who knew about the blog, because I wanted to tell them the news before they read it on the internet. Prior to finding out, I had brainstormed all these creative ways to tell people the exciting news, but when the time actually came, all I could do was blurt out “I’M PREGNANT” as soon as they picked up the phone. And then cry. I did a lot of crying. Which is funny, because I’m not a crier. I almost never cry. Benjamin commented that the moment I saw the positive pregnancy test was maybe the 3rd or 4th time he’s ever seen me cry. I have a feeling this pregnancy is going to change all of that — I’ve been on the verge of tears for the last 3 days! Happy tears, but I just can’t seem to stop the waterworks.

Anyway, bloodwork came back very strong! My beta (the level of hcG in my blood) at 14 days past ovulation was 387 mIU/ml. Wahoo! Normal levels range from 5 – 426 mIU/ml, so my number is on the high side of normal. It’s also high enough to indicate the possibility of TWINS, so Benjamin’s not out of woods yet   I don’t think we’ll know that for sure until our first ultrasound, though, which isn’t for a few more weeks. I go back for another beta this morning. The numbers should double over that period of time, so I’m hoping for a 750/800.

LOTS of things to update you on in terms of symptoms, etc. More posts to come.

For those who have been pregnant, do you remember your beta numbers? What were the earliest pregnancy symptoms you had?

Here I am again with streaming links! Now its from the SME groups Super Junior and Girls’ Generation!

Both are considered as counterparts of each group right? Only that SuJu has 13 members and SNSD has 9.

So then here are the links.!

STREAMING: (Imeem)

/ Girls’ Generation [SNSD] – Gee
/ Girl’s Generation [SNSD] – Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)
/ Super Junior – Sorry Sorry
/ Super Junior – 너라고 (It’s You)
/ Super Junior M – Super Girl
/ Super Junior 05 – TWINS (Knock Out)

Super Junior 05 is SuJu’s pre-debut name with the exception of member KyuHyun. Super Juior M is a SuJu sub-group formed to promote the group and the main SuJu group in Mandarin speaking countries. SuJu M is concentrated on Mandopop and such. 2 memberd of SuJu M are not part of the actual SuJu group itself. Mandarin members Henry Lau and Zhou Mi are those 2 members.

again for those who want the DL link to it you can find the post here or if you’re too lazy to look for it yourself you can comment and ask for it. i don’t bother giving it to you.

so then! that’s it for now!

Our family Christmas tradition:

The Christmas Gown

Our family tradition started in 1994 with a simple Christmas wish. Linda told her twin, Brenda, she wanted a new gown. To add an element of surprise to a “given”, Brenda wrapped her old red nylon gown that had seen better days. Its worn fabric was ”see-through” in spots.

The following year, Brenda was surprised when she opened a gift to discover her raggedy gown returned to her. For several years the twins exchanged the gown between each other, but on Christmas Day, 1998 they shared the fun with other family members.

Each year the lucky recipient adds a personal note and determines who is blessed the next Christmas.

Aunt Doris said in her note, “I don’t expect you to wear this “treasure” but hope it will provide lots of laughs as you recall this Christmas.”

Cousin Pam wrote her own rendition of “’Twas the night before Christmas.” Here is an excerpt:

Wanda opened the box,

Carefully they say

It was a beautiful gown

That she hoped for on Christmas day.

There was one little problem

That caused her some dismay.

It looked like it had been worn,

A lot by the way.

Aunt Linda and my mama, Brenda

The Red Gown

Last week I had the incredible pleasure of photographing two of the most beautiful miracle twins.   John and Andrew are amazing .   I used to work with their Dad “back in the day” and so it was fun to see how lives change, evolve and become so rich with the addition of such a gift as these two boys.   They touch my heart.   Enjoy the following sneak peak at the day.

The X Factor: Kyle enters The X Factor to follow his passion of singing and love of Girls Aloud. Will his idol Cheryl put him through to the next round?

El Peor Cantante del Mundo

La Mas Agresiva Del Factor X

This is probably the angriest contestant we’ve ever had on The X Factor. Rachel thinks she’s got what it takes to win – but her reaction turns nasty when the judges don’t agree.

The X Factor 2009: 40-year-old Daryl from East Sussex is a cabinet maker by day, but is following his passion in his brother’s memory. Will he make it through?

Eighteen-year-old, Leon, shop assistant wants to sing, but his mum’s not too sure. Has he got what it takes?

John & Edward The X Factor: Twins John and Edward from Ireland bound onto the stage with incredible confidence – but have they got the voices?

X Factor – Crazy girl, she is angry. Enjoy!!

The X Factor 2009: Olly Murs is an ‘ordinary geezer’ but dreams of making it big. Does he have The X Factor?

These girls certainly make an entrance! They give Dermot quite a surprise too!  They call themselves Fallen Angels

Lloyd Daniels The X Factor 2009: 16-year-old Lloyd has only ever performed in school plays, and is nervous about his audition. Will the judges be impressed?

The X Factor 2009: With a member of the group who has failed The X Factor before, have Miss Fitz got that spark the judges are looking for?   MISSFITZ

18 year old shop worker Matthew thinks he can be the next Robbie Williams… but he starts with some impressions of previous winners…

When I got out of bed at 4.45am this morning, I did so with a spring in my step.

As I shaved, bleary-eyed and fuzzy-headed, I couldn’t suppress a grin (which added to the challenge somewhat…)

I didn’t just jump in the car, I leapt.

Even an hour and half of traffic, roadworks and contraflows couldn’t dampen my spirits.

After I parked the car, the crispness of the early morning air bit through my shirt, but my shivers were more from excitement.

I quickly downed a coffee to keep me awake for the drive back.

And then, when I saw them, I was whole again.

J, Ollie and Ella appeared round the corner and passed through the doors into the arrivals hall.  I bounded like a demented spaniel up the walkway and enveloped J in a hug that seemed about a week too short. She turned to her friend T who she’d been staying with and who’d accompanied her on the flight back from Cape Town to assist with the twins and gave one of those looks that women are trained to deliver: the one that says ’sorry about him – I’m going to have to have him fixed one day…’

In front of the double buggy, I squatted and cooed and grinned like a loon. Ollie, who had apparently only just awoken (after sleeping right through the landing, the disembarkation, passport control and the luggage retrieval) appeared to be considering either crying or feigning death to escape.  Ella meanwhile, in the true spirit of the moment, smiled her six-toothed smile and filled my heart with 10000 watts of tungsten light.

By the time we’d walked back to the short stay car park at Heathrow Terminal 1, I’d already lifted Ollie out of the buggy and was leaping about with him.  I was determined that even if he’d forgotten me in the two weeks that we’d been separated, that he would quickly love this strange man who kept cooing ‘dadadadadada’ in his face. Thankfully, it appeared to be working.

Even as they all slept in the car on the way home, a warmth spread through me and my smile got so broad it’s a wonder my whole head didn’t shear off at the jaw. They were all home. My family – and my heart – was complete again.

A truly great day.

Laura went to see our baby doctor last week. It turned out she was not in and Laura saw someone else instead. It was a complete waste of time, in my opinion.

The latest ultrasound was not, however.

Gabriel is 1lb 12onz and Ethan is 1lb 13onz….

That was Laura’s quote from her Facebook profile. The twins are at a healthy weight for their gestational age. We went to a post natal class on the weekend and learned some tricks and got comfortable with what is to come. A good refresher for Laura and a total new experience for me.

This week has had its share of trials. Frustrations abound. We had to take Laura into the hospital the other day to make sure everything was ok, as she got light-headed at Costco. The doctor’s were useless and said it was her not eating enough. I think I proved them wrong by having Laura stay off her right side that night. Everything is ok. We are waiting to hear results on whether or not she may have Gestational Diabetes. So far though, everything is going fairly well.

We hope that everything continues to go so well. I know we are both eager to see the birth of the twins as it has been a rollercoaster ride so far. Wish us luck!

- Jon

Happy Thanksgiving! If you have twins, you may be interested in The Parent’s Journal with Bobbi Conner The 11/18/09 Podcast at 0:600 includes dad speaking to the topic of twin sleep. Enjoy. -Dan

So, you thought I was ‘just’ a counsellor. You thought wrong, biotches. Oh, didn’t you know? I went to Get A Degree Overnight University and am now a registered pediatrician.

Yeah. Because there are no appointments until next Tuesday, even for 15 week old babies with eczema and fucked up rashes. WHO NEEDS CONVENTIONAL DOCTORS?? Not when I can do my own home visits, natch.

Smear some barrier cream on those tummies. If it works for their ass/willy/hoo-hah IT WILL WORK ON THEIR SKIN. Yeah. Rub it in. Rub it in real good.

Oh, her cheek looking bright red? Her forehead still have that vulcan ridge of thick dry skin? Well…..FUCK IT! Your wife will go to the chemist on the way home from work and buy all the cream that yourself, in consultation with Dr. Google, has decided she should be prescribed.

Slap some steroids on his face. Oh, sure, they thin the skin, but what the fuck, right? I mean, his face immediately flares back up into eczema the second you stop using the steroids, no matter that you are smearing him in thick layers of gasoline-smelling cream every hour. And he woke up this morning with broken, scaly skin that may or may not start oozing? STEROIDS.

So. We’ve got a combination of the ass cream, some mild topical steroids, hardcore expensive creams, no doctors appointments for miles around.

Dr. Existere will fix this shit, she’ll fix it reeeeeal good. When TMD brings the new creams and bath solutions home – because the bath shit prescribed last week has caused red bumps and braille messages to appear on two tummies – we will see which one works and then I will tell the doctor what he/she should be prescribing us. Because who needs respect for the medical profession?

Not when you’ve got two babies who apparently were born with such delicate, sensitive skin that unless you are using cream made of pure gold, it will not be good enough for them.

I WILL FIX IT.

You shit your pants, getting poop everywhere? Yes, it took me twenty minutes to clean you, and I just now remembered that I left shit smeared on the changing mat, a shit covered outfit thrown on our nice new neutral coloured carpet, piles of shit soaked cotton balls on the nice wood changing table. Who cares? The poop is mostly off your skin, and hell, let’s just slap a lot of cream on your cootch JUST IN CASE. Barrier creams can solve anything, can’t they? They work on Mommy’s pimples, they will work on your cootch that is rubbed raw from all the shit everywhere. MOMMY FIX IT, YO.

She fix everything. No questions. No lack of confidence.

You refuse to burp? Well, fuck a doodle doo, I’ll just throw a bib on you until you fall asleep in an upright position, and then rip it off once you are asleep. You will wake up in an hour and throw up, but shit, dawg, we need to air out your paper-thin neck skin covered in that ugly, ugly rash. FIXED IT.

And you, little girl? Overnight nothing fits you? And there are no clean big girl or big boy outfits? No clean scratch mitts for him? Eh, fuck it, yo. I’ll just smell these scratch mitts that I found on the floor to see if they smell like gasoline cream, because if not it’s probably okay for him to suck on them. I’ll do laundry, MOMMA FIX IT.

Oh? Cradle cap? The one thing the gas lotion fixes. Slap it on, glue your fine blonde hairs to your head with all this gunky greasy cream. There you go. Now you look like Mama if she doesn’t shower, and your cradle cap has softened into a yellow goo. FIXED.

Giant booger in your nose, girl? We’ll wait until you throw up out of your nose, as that will push it close enough to the edge for me to be able to hook that little fucker with my pinky finger. And when I pull out that rubbery inch long piece of brown snot, I will hoot in pleasure, screaming my victory much like an old man who catches a big fish in the sea. SNOT FIX.

You won’t sleep? Crying? Mama will pick you both up and sort of juggle you around on her lap/tummy, praying to god your head won’t snap back and break your respective necks at any point. She will rock back and forth and ooze positive thoughts in your direction until you slumber. SLEEP FIX.

I FIX IT ALL. I am a pediatrician, and I won’t listen to you if you say I’m not. Now, back to the rash problem…..

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
We are in Australia at the moment visiting family and friends. We’ve told everyone here our news since I’ll be 13 weeks in about 4 days. As expected we got a lot of questions about the twins.

1) Do twins run in your family? (Fair enough)
2) Did you get fertility treatments? (Can you believe people are this blatant?)

I am not ashamed that I got fertility treatments to get to this point. Some people are just not lucky enough for it to happen naturally and what’s wrong with getting a little help? I knew that we would be getting questions like this and I was prepared with answers.

Answer to #1: yes they do. My cousin has twins. (IVF twins but they don’t need to know that!)
Answer to #2: yes we had help (…followed by no further information unless pressed)

My thoughts on this are that yes, infertility is a private thing for some people and it’s certainly not information that I will necessarily voluntarily share with someone. However, if asked, I am not going to belittle or downplay the shit we had to go through to get here by lying. Also, I am conscious of the fact that there may be other couples out there that have problems and don’t know anyone else that have gone through treatment. I know I was one of them. If any of these people ever wanted to ask us questions then I would love to be there for these friends as support and to answer any questions. It’s something that I did not have because most people are so damn private.

Anyhow…while I’m more than ecstatic to be with twins, it would have been ok with me to have avoided all the intrusive questions (which I’m sure we’ll get from more people back home when we announce there) by having a singleton.

We reviewed the article about identical /ai’denticl/ twins and checked homework questions. I like the way you can find specific sentences in the text to justify your choice for each question. That’s a great way of double checking whether you’ve chosen the best answer (assuming you’ve read and understood the question properly, that is! ).

In terms of topic, isn’t it absolutely fascinating what scientists have discovered? Well, in a nutshell, they say that our genetic make up is not only reponsible for how we look but also how we behave! I never knew! I’ve certainly learned something new.

Afterwards, and as a general question, I asked whether you wanted to have children in the future. Most of you said you’d like to have more than one.

Language: focus on a variety of future forms.

Speaking skills: expressing your views

Writing skills: a letter to a friend. So, essentially the register and style needs to be informal and if you remember, we changed so rather unnatural formal expressions in a letter from one friend to another into appropriate informal synonyms.

Which ones can you remember?
(See FCE boards page to check)

Homework: is writing a letter page

In modern baseball, Jim Kaat’s career, from 1959 to ‘83, spanned the most presidential administrations: seven, from Dwight D. Eisenhower through Ronald Reagan.

**factoid courtesy of ‘Armchair Reader – Grand Slam Baseball’

Charlene Choi, la mitad del famoso grupo hongkonés Twins, ha desvelado con quien está saliendo. Y no ha habido sorpresas, su novio es Ronald Cheng.

Ronald es un famoso cantante cantopop con el que se relacionaba a Charlene desde hacía tiempo, pero siempre habían negado su relación. Finalmente, el domingo pasado, mientras celebraba su 27 cumpleaños, Charlene hizo pública la relación. La prensa rápidamente empezó a preguntar sobre los rumores de su inminente boda, a lo que ella respondió que no se casará hasta que haya pasado los 35.

También se le preguntó por su compañera de grupo, Gillian Chung, caída en desgracia tras el escándalo de Edison Chen, a lo que contestó “En el pasado, cuando estaba con Ah-Giu (el apodo de Charlene), ella es mucho mas valiente que yo. Yo me atrevía a decir las cosas cuando ella estaba a mi lado -ya no tengo sensación de seguridad. No tengo suficiente valor para decir las cosas en voz alta ahora, y espero reunirme con ella pronto.”

Por su parte, Gillian también estuvo en la fiesta, disfrazada de Lady Gaga (la fiesta era de disfraces, no es que le guste llamar la atención).

This has been a bad week, and so far it’s been a terrible day.

Things kicked off when I was working on GUGS. I went back and read some of my old blog that talked about working at camp, just to see what sort of gems I had hidden there. I unearthed something awful: entry after entry about how our marriage was deteriorating in the summer of 2002. That was a shitty, fucked up summer. TMD had always picked work before family from the start of things, and that summer was the ultimate in painful confusion. We came very close to ending things. We got through it, though, and that’s what counts.

But rereading all of that? Wow.

I remember being so angry when I was writing, my fingers pounding the keyboard. Now I don’t see anger when I read those entries, I see lots and lots of hurt. I’ve always been one to go all hard and angry when I am hurting.

So. That was just this past weekend that I read that stuff again. It was sort of shocking, particularly because we have the happiest marriage I could dream of. And things have only gotten better since the babies.

But Monday night TMD was really late home from work. I couldn’t get too upset about this because her work involves very vulnerable young people, and this was sort of an emergency situation. Then came Tuesday. She told me she had a meeting scheduled that would go half an hour later than usual. When that time plus another 25 minutes passed, I rang her just to see if she was on her way home. She said she was only just leaving work. I let loose some sort of rageful sigh and hung up.

When she was home, I escaped into the bathroom….but not before saying, ‘Do you have an excuse tonight? Well, fuck you.’ I know. Any little blogger crush you have on me is fading fast at this point.

Last night was fine, except I didn’t even want to talk to her.

All of these things are isolated incidents that happened to happen in a bad week. Why bad? Here is the meat of it, the bit you could have sliced directly to: this country does not celebrate a well known holiday. My home country does. This morning, people all over that country are waking up to a long weekend with their families.

This morning, I woke up knowing that TMD was working until 9 pm tonight, even though she knew it was this particular holiday and it was important to me. Now, working that late any night would bug me. By about 5 in the afternoon, my SPD is kicking into high gear and I’m in quite a bit of pain. And, I LOVE MY CHILDREN, but no matter how great our day has been, they are getting a bit rambunctious by about 5:30. Yesterday was an extra dollop because they wanted to eat at the same times and there was no appeasing them. So, you see, my mommy nerves are getting a bit wound up.

Plus I just miss my wife. I watch the clock in the afternoons, looking forward to the time I hear her keys in the door.

I am pissed she is working tonight. Yesterday I realised what I really want is her to not be working today or tomorrow; I want to establish traditions. We never really made a big deal of this holiday before. We are both veggies, so our traditional turkey day meal involves copious amounts of Indian food. And perhaps this potato and onion thing I excel at.

Growing up, this holiday wasn’t a big deal to my family either – but then, ‘family’ wasn’t a big deal to my family. Everyone was always screaming at each other, or ignoring each other, and having to sit around the table for dinner was usually quite a painful experience. I wanted this to be different for my kids.

TMD’s dad just called and left a message wishing me a happy day. He said he knew I was far away from my home country and my family, and he said he bet I was homesick on this days like this. He gets it, why doesn’t she?!?

I don’t know what she can do to make this better. I told her over a month ago how important this day was to me, and she still never changed her plans to work so late. I know she feels trapped into it. I know she just wants to do a good job at work. I know in another two months or so I’ll be getting no pay, and that she is the main provider for our house.

I know it, and I’m still hurt to be spending the most family of family holidays as a threesome rather than a foursome. I hate knowing that I have Crazy Woman Mind, and that every future year on this holiday I will be reminded that she fucking was absent for Coconut and Snort’s first one. (There, the crush died all the way, didn’t it.)

I am hurt, angry, hurt. Hurt.

And hurt some more.

She tries so hard to be so sweet, and I feel like it doesn’t matter because I have been sticking-power-mad all week, and there are no signs of these thunderclouds breaking any time soon. The last time I was this sort of mad was in that bad, bad summer of 2002. I generally don’t get upset about shit. We also very very very rarely fight, if ever.

This morning we were both screaming at each other. She then fed Coconut while weeping, while I sat on the edge of the bed wanting to isolate myself from her. She ripped up a letter she wrote me (which Coconut watched me tape back together with interest, as I explained to her the intricacies of letter surgery), and left a turkey day letter/pictures from the babies.

Christ. I think Snort just pooped. Neither kid has pooped in days, so there is going to be some ass explosion, bouncy chair staining, poop pants today. *sigh*

I am lonely on this day when I should be all cosy and chilled. I have to try to relax so at least the babies can have a good day.

I am now 26 weeks pregnant, which means I’m nearing the third trimester, and everything is going just fine. I had another prenatal with my midwives today and it is official: I am carrying only one baby! The thought of having twins was rather exciting, but honestly I’m glad to be having only one. With two young kids already, I’m not sure what I would do with four under the age of four!

I’m healthy and feeling much better energy-wise. I started eating more red meat, nuts and seeds and I’ve noticed, over the course of a few weeks, a steady increase in both my energy level and my ability to handle normal fatigue. The funny thing is, I’ve never been one for steak, and I prefer a vegan diet, but there is something particularly appealing about eating meat that has had me salivating each weekend when Glen cooks a couple up. Nevertheless, we do plan to slowely go back to a more vegetarian diet after the baby is born when I no longer have high nutritional demands on my body.

This month I also discovered the cause of my hip getting painful at night. I thought my left hip bone was just getting really stiff at night, but after it became painful enough to affect my ability to get up to nurse my 15 month old during the night, and was starting to become an issue even during the day, I started doing some research. Thanks to a wise midwife friend who quickly picked up on my symptoms, I realized I was pulling a muscle in my left thigh that was creating a painful imbalance in my pelvic bones. Although it is still uncomfortable, I was quickly on the mend. The most difficult part is trying to break bad posture habits. So much for my recent post on how posture affects fetal positions!

It suddenly dawned on me a few days ago that all these things I’ve been telling myself I would do sometime before the baby is born are things I ought to be thinking about getting done soon! It won’t be long before we are anticipating labor any day, and if I don’t set short term goals I certainly won’t have much accomplished before baby #3 arrives! So I’ve been working on my goals for my book, Inspired Birth, and in finishing up the last two books I wanted to study before the birth. It will take a lot of work, but I’d like to have them done by the end of the year so I can focus on other things in the last few weeks… like training my new childbirth educator, getting food stocked up in the freezer, and taking the Hypnobabies home study course which I’ve borrowed from a friend.

Nemo is getting very excited about the baby and keeps making references to “when the baby comes”. He likes to show my belly (the baby) his toys, read stories and sing songs to him/her, and practice saying Atlas and Piper (the potential names we’ve picked out). He’s such a good big brother to Daphney and I know he’ll be such a big help with this sibling too. Daphney on the other hand… is too young to understand what is about to happen, and I haven’t really bothered to try and explain it. It’s just one of those things she’ll have to learn when it happens.

I’m really starting to feel pregnant now, as if I wasn’t feeling that way before! I will very soon be taking off my rings as my fluid and blood volume is obviously increasing, my belly is starting to get in the way of things, and even some of my maternity shirts aren’t fitting over my belly anymore. Oh yeah, and I’m getting the distinct feeling that heartburn is right around the corner (probably due to the meat-eating I’ve been doing). But all in all I’m feeling very well and dreaming about a newborn curled up on my shoulder. Gotta love mommyhood!

25 Weeks

"El Factor X"

El Factor X: 27 años de edad, profesor Danyl tiene una pasión por el canto y se roba el escenario por completo en una increible primera audicion!

The X Factor: 27-year-old teacher Danyl has a passion for singing and manages to completely own the stage in an incredible first audition!

Connie Talbot singing Ben and winning her Britains Got Talent semi final

Andrew Johnston

The X Factor: It’s difficult to surprise Simon Cowell, but Stacey Soloman manages to do just that… Does she have The X Factor?

Jamie Archer AKA Jamie Afro has never had his chance to break into music, despite it being a lifelong dream. Will he get that chance today?

Joseph McElderry The X Factor: Joe from South Shields immediately got a yes from Cheryl before he started singing! But will he be able to perform well enough to impress the other judges?

Susan Boyle – Memory from Cats – Made Amanda Cry – Piers said brilliant!

You voted him, out of thousands of entrants, your X Factor winner 2007! Watch Leon Jackson perform his brand new single When You Believe!

Lucie Jones,The X Factor 2009: Nervous Lucie takes to the stage, but her choice of song is questioned by Simon. Has she got The X Factor?

The X Factor: 24-year-old Duane returns to The X Factor after failure at last year’s Boot Camp. Has he got what it takes for this year’s competition?

Shaheen Jafargholi Britains Got Talent Wins Semi Final,UNBELIEVABLE 12 YEAR OLD BOY SINGS!!!

Nicky Evans, who recently lost her father, tries her luck at the auditions – and manages to amaze even Simon!

Friday afternoon, I headed over to Severna Park to take pictures of two absolutely adorable children, Brynn & Rhys. These two just turned 1 this week and what better way to celebrate a birthday than with pictures! I had a great time chasing these two around the yard and house…with the help of mom and dad of course! Iwan, Stacy, Brynn & Rhys thank you fror spending your Friday afternoon with me and Happy Thanksgiving!

After playing outside for a bit we headed into the house to get warm again!

After we had warmed back up, we headed back outside for a few more pictures in the backyard.

So yesterday was Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day. Apparently it’s an annual holiday. I don’t know who celebrates it, but I’m guessing their friend-count on Facebook might be in the single digits.

As I alluded to in an earlier post, one of my useless claims-to-fame is that I can sneeze like Donald Duck, a “talent” that not only stops conversations, but also sends people to wash their hands in our H1N1, whose-saliva-is-on-me world. If that isn’t bizarre enough, I can sing Amazing Grace to the tune of The Lion Sleeps Tonight as well as to the theme song from Gilligan’s Island, both perfectly off-key. Nothing I’m going to add to a resume, that’s for sure.

When I was a six, my sister dragged out a tape player the size of a poodle and recorded me hosting a Gong-Show style program. (We were farm kids with little to do in the winter).  If you’ve blocked out memories of The Gong Show, you can watch the clip below, featuring The Unknown Comic . It’s worth it to see a young Steve Martin on the judging panel, or to see the show whose “sardonic outlook continues to influence many unsympathetic talent and reality shows,” according to my research assistant, Wikipedia. If that’s not reason enough, then check out The Unknown Comic’s shoes.

In my own six-year-old version of The Gong Show, I gave talents to my family members and rated them. My dad’s skill was hammering and he pounded his way to a score of 7 out of 10. My brother’s talent was “blowing stinks” (you guessed it: farting); he got gonged, as in big time, wind-up, hit-the-gong-as-hard-as-you-can gonged. Not sure what my sister’s skill was, but it was no doubt pretty good. My mom’s special talent was curling, as in the sport, and she received a 10. And there you have it, my worldview at age six. (By the way, if you’re not suitably bored at this point, watch this video on curling; if you’re still not bored enough, go curl).

In honour of Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day, I asked my five-year-old twins to share what they believe are the unique talents of each of us. According to Vivian, her talent is drawing cats and flowers, William’s good at silly dancing, and Mommy excels at loving and cuddling (I believe this was a thinly-disguised attempt at kissing-up since she desperately wanted a treat). Daddy, according to Viv, is really good at watching basketball on TV. And she’s right, he’s is really good at it.

William then weighed in on the debate. He declared that he was good at playing computer games (insert bad-parenting-guilt here). Vivian, he claimed, was great at playing blocks. He confirmed that watching TV was Daddy’s specialty. As for me? William says my talent is sitting. Freaking great…sitting…I can hear the gong already, while I’m seated on the chair sneezing like Donald Duck. Voted off the island.

Happy Belated Unique Talent Day. If you don’t have one, perhaps you can practice for November 24, 2010.

The kids don’t know what’s in store for them. They know something is coming, but they don’t quite know what. They know I’ve been going for “job interview”s and that I want to go back to “work”. They have heard Amit and me discussing daycare, but they don’t know what daycare means. I’ve told them they’ll be going to a second school soon, it seems to have got Mrini a bit worried. Yesterday, when I went to pick them up from school, she was sobbing in the teacher’s lap – most unlike either of them to behave like that. She saw me and greeted me with an absolute flood of tears. It turned out that she had been worried that I wasn’t going to show up. I wasn’t late, really, but some of the kids had started to leave, so she got worried. Poor little thing.

Today they had a class picnic. Wow! A picnic! My kids went out with a bunch of friends and not a single parent went along! They went in a school bus for the first time, they went to a strange place (a park of some kind, I gather) and somebody else took them! I don’t know about them, but this was a big thing for me. Given the uncertainty in the air with my new job and all, I thought they (or at least Mrini) might be worried about where they were going and all that, but they came back looking ok. I was waiting on the sidelines as the school bus drove up and disgorged the kids – the twins got off separately and walked off without seeing me. Tara was fine, though a bit confused (as always); Mrini had a slightly worried expression, but when she finally saw me, she smiled. If she had been really anxious, when she saw me she would have cried. So that’s ok. They didn’t say anything to me at all about the picnic, which is sad, because I’m dying of curiosity… but I suppose it will come out slowly.

And tomorrow, they start daycare. The first few days are on a trial basis to see how they take to it. If they seem willing to settle down and enjoy it, then we’ll have to shell out a horrendous amount towards enrollment, and three months’ fees.

The saddest thing about this daycare is that by the time they get home, it will be too late and too dark for them to go to the park. They don’t know it, but the era of park outings every evening with their gang, the Famous Five, is coming to an end.

Actually, the era of the Famous Five would have ended anyway, with the two boys going off to a distant land in a couple of weeks’ time. But the twins don’t know about that yet either. They so look forward to meeting their gang every evening in the park, it is going to be sad having to explain “goodbye” to them. At least daycare will give them a new set of friends, albeit in an indoor environment. The boys who are moving away, on the other hand, will have to get used to a new home, new country, new everything. They’re a few months over two, they’ll adjust quickly. Soon, they won’t even remember their gang, the Famous Five. It’s still sad, though.

It’s going to be a tough couple of weeks, as I spend long afternoons at daycare getting the kids used to the place. It would have been easier if I didn’t also have an Archaeology assignment that needs to be completed before I start work. But I know that it’s only a matter of getting over the bump – things will get easier with time as we all settle down to the new regime. I hope.

And then, soon after, sure enough things will change again.

For the Girl Who Likes Blue

For the Girl Who Likes Yellow

These mirrors are a gift for twin girls who are three years old.  Children that age love to find things, especially on the ground when they are out walking.  Their pockets and rooms fill with rocks, sticks, shiny papers and such.  These mirror frames filled with colorful tiles, rocks, glass flowers, and tiny beads, enough to pique the curiousity of a pair of growing girls.

For a parent, the unquestionable first priority is the child- her health, her mental and spiritual growth, her opportunities in life.  Through their innate cuteness, babies make sure that they are their parents’ priorities and, when that fails, they force the issue through their loudness.  Parents usually put their own needs aside at least part of the time, in order to do what the child needs for them to do.   Having a multiple birth means that there are two or more tiny people each vying to be the most important element of their parents’ lives.  The parents are forced to figure out their priorities because no one can be in two places at once or do two things at once well.  If all goes according to plan, by the time the parents have raised the children, the young adults will understand that each person is not the center of the universe.  They will each understand how to put their own needs and comfort aside part of the time in order to serve the needs of others.

But, how do we learn to set our own priorites in a world that cries out for attention from every corner?  When we’ve reached the state of maturity in which our whims are no longer our dictates, how do we decide which friends to keep and which to let go?  Which activities to continue and which to let slide?  Which organizations to support and which to ignore?  Which of the world’s needs to fulfill and which to allow someone else to serve?  We had a young pastor at our church who repeated on several occasions the adage that we find our life’s calling at the intersection of the world’s deepest need and our greatest desire.  This is profound for several reasons.  Looking for the world’s deepest need entails setting aside thoughts of oneself and looking at the highest good for others, the noblest condition of our human souls.  And, examining ourselves and finding our deepest desire involves not impermanent emotions, but the most permant underlying structure of our being- our true talent and purpose.  So, thinking of ourselves not at all and simultaneously thinking very deeply on the subject of ourselves yields the fruit of human existence- the thing or things each of us is created to do and be.  It is the result of listening to voices- first, those of our parents and families, then, those of friends, then teachers, employers, and eventually the collective voice of our society, and learning to choose which voices carry weight, which deceive, which impossibly demand, which do not demand enough, and then learning to listen to that voice inside which is able to speak audibly only after the others have been put to rest.  I think that even the best and most discerning can spend a lifetime learning to find and listen to that one true voice that speaks out of the quietness and through the din, telling us our calling and urging us toward the best.

Count on Audrey Niffinegger to surprise you endlessly with her storylines and plots.  We were absolutely blessed with her concept of time travel in The Time Traveler’s Wife and this time, the focus is on the supernatural forces of ghosts.

The novel opens with the death of Elspeth Noblin, who bequeaths her London flat and its contents to the twin daughters of her estranged twin sister back in Chicago. Although they are 20 years old, Julie and Valentina have had no real world experience and seem to be almost childlike in that they dress the same, often sleep in the same bed and only make plans together.

The twins move to London, and Historic Highgate Cemetery, which borders Elspeth’s home, serves as a haunting setting as the twins become entwined in the lives of their neighbors: Elspeth’s former lover, Robert; Martin, an agoraphobic crossword-puzzle creator; and the ethereal Elspeth herself, struggling to adjust to the afterlife.  Niffenegger has you mesmerized by these characters within no time, particularly Robert in my case.  Elspeth’s life as a ghost in the apartment is a bit hard to follow, but if you can suspend your disbelief, it is well worth it.

Valentina begins to develop a relationship with Robert, making Julia jealous, particularly when Valentina also decides to pursue her interest in fashion design independent of Julia.  Elspeth secretly is developing a relationship with Valentina, also based on jealousy but much more deviously than Julia.
Valentina and Julia create a plan (sure to go awry) that will allow Valentina to move forward with her life while at the same time “rescuing” Elspeth.

While the characters are wonderful, the plot unique, the setting haunting, and the writing beautiful, the very confusing ending does take a bit away from this otherwise incredibly creative and compelling story.

Click here to find this book in our catalog.

Mum of 13: I won’t stop until I’ve had twins. A MUM-OF-13 who costs taxpayers £50,000 a YEAR has said she won’t stop having kids until she gives birth to twins. Baby machine Sara Foss, 39, is due to give birth to her 14TH child in April but will try to get pregnant again as soon as possible to realise her dream.The brazen mum said today: “All I’ve ever wanted is twins or triplets. It’s my biggest wish, and I’m going to keep trying until I do it.

“It would be fantastic. In fact, I won’t stop trying until I’ve done it. I love having babies – it’s the most wonderful thing in the world.”

i

Minnesota Twins Catcher Joe Mauer, who is also a mentoring spokesperson through the Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota (MPM), won the American League Most Valuable Player award almost unanimously Monday. Read more…