What Do You Do?

We're not going to raise the girls in a religious tradition. Zazie was raised Catholic, I was raised Episcopalian. Zazie's convince the whole religion thing is a crock, I'd say I'm more agnostic. We don't plan to raise the girls in church, though the Society for Ethical Culture does seem intriguing.

If you are not practicing a religion, do you celebrate Christmas or Easter? Zazie really wants to do Easter baskets for the girls. I feel a little oogie about it- for my family, Easter wasn't about Easter baskets (though we got them, of course), it was about going to church and celebrating Jesus ascending. The whole idea of Jesus (put on earth to die for our sins, eating [symbolic or real, depending on which church] his body and blood) are what make me shy away from Christianity in the first place.

If Easter doesn't have a religious meaning for you, should you celebrate it at all? I know some of the traditions we think of belonging to Easter actually come from Pagan celebrations, which is great, but if that's the point, shouldn't we celebrate the Spring equinox instead? Do we as a family really need another holiday focused on what you get (presents at Christmas, candy at Easter) and not tied to anything in particular?

We decided that they'll get small Easter baskets and we'll do something outdoors to celebrate Spring. This year, they're each getting the heuristic play baskets we've been making (they're looking GOOD!), a few books that I loved as a kid, and candy. The candy will be eaten by Mama and Mommy, of course.

So exciting!

We finally put together the exersaucer my cousin lent us before the girls were born. If we hadn't been given one, I wouldn't have sought one out, but dang, they seem to be having fun with the obnoxious lights and plastic buttons!

Or should I say, Ruby's been having fun with the obnoxious lights and plastic buttons. From her loud screeching and squealing, I'd say that Ellie most enjoys playing with the round holes where the toys we can't find should go.

Heartsick

This past weekend, we put our beloved cat Idgie to sleep.

She was with us from very beginning of our relationship- Zazie & I picked her out at the shelter in Tallahassee 14 years ago. She made sure that she was seen- she meowed and meowed and meowed and threw herself against the bars until she was noticed. She must've had quite a life before we found her, because her tail was crooked, an eye tooth was broken, and her ears were scarred.

She was our creamsicle cat, an orange tabby with white gloves and face and a Cindy Crawford orange "mole." She never bit, never scratched. She loved to lick you, though. Fingers, face, didn't matter... especially when she wanted you to get up in the morning to feed her. She'd come running if you called her or beckoned with your hand. If you were sad, she knew it & made sure she was around for hugs. She had an endearing way of putting her front paw on you as if to say, "hey, I'm right here." She always wanted chin scratches, and sometimes, she'd roll over and let me rub her belly.

I don't know if there are enough words to tell you how awesome our sweet Idgeleh-pidgeleh was. What I can tell you is that she is so missed. We love you, sweet cat.

That's Hilarious

Eleanor thinks fake coughing is hilarious. Sometimes she also thinks Ruby's crying is funny, but that's hard to catch on camera.

What is this object like?

Someone on our neighborhood listserv mentioned making a Treasure Basket for their kid. I think this is a fantastic idea- ever since I read this page to Zazie yesterday, we've been trying to come up with what we'll put in baskets for Ruby and Eleanor. We're super excited about it, I hope the girls will be too.

Gah. Scared.

This is what we have to look forward to:

"How do you get your grocery shopping done? Is it possible to grocery shop with two toddlers? And if yes, I need details, please." HDYDI: What Was I thinking?

Cribs.

When the girls first arrived home, we had two borrowed co-sleepers set up on either side of the bed. Honestly, after the second night of waking up every two seconds to put a pacifier back in or feed a baby, we gave up and into the bed they came. Not that we were admitting that to anyone- the co-sleepers stayed where they were, nevermind that they were filled with baby supplies and dirty clothes, just in case anyone questioned us. You read so many cautionary tales about SIDS and co-sleeping that I felt guiltyguiltydirtyguilty for cosleeping, but it just felt so right.

Until a few weeks ago. Two 1-month old babies is one thing, two 5 1/2 month olds is another. Those girls are like an additional adult right in the middle of our in our queen-size bed. An adult who sprawls out in all directions and cries when her paci falls out. I still can't walk due to pain in my hips from sleeping only on my right side at the edge of the mattress to give them room (well, that & the lack of exercise lately, but Spring is coming and SAD can just get the f* outta here). I love snuggling with those girls, but I just can't see getting a king-size mattress to continue doing so.

We started by putting them down in their cribs for naps. Now we're working on a whole bedtime routine- bath (every couple of days, a bath every night seems excessive when they're not doing much), classical music, stories (right now I Live In Music and Goodnight Moon), sleep sack, bottle, cradling, crib.

The first few days, we did the first half of the night in cribs and once they woke up for the next bottle, they came to bed with us. The last 2 nights it's been crib, feeding, then back to crib and wow! How nice to have a whole quiet evening & the whole bed to ourselves. I miss snuggling with them, but I also like snuggling with Zazie, who I feel like I haven't seen in a year (what with the pregnancy and then life with twins).

On a side note, I'd been trying to keep this baby-related, but I don't know, maybe I should start adding other stuff. I might even post more often if I post whatever. My old blog, zeebah.tronic, is now defunct (I'd done it since 2002!) - I've even cancelled my host account.

Five months already?

Eleanor (l.), Ruby (r.)

My sweet girls are five months old. They both roll over. They love to stand up with help. They can both roll over, back-to-front and front-to-back. They've recently started to turn their heads to look at us when we talk to them. I find it hard to leave for work in the morning- I get too caught up kissing their faces and hands and watching their sweet smiles.

Let's take a poll.

It seems that most of the non-bio moms I can think of (myself included) are "Mama." How does that happen? And why?

Zazie and I decided that we would choose what we'd be called and I got first dibs. I chose Mama partially because it seemed more Southern (a girl has to do something up here in this Yankee wilderness, I suppose), despite calling my own mother "Mommy" growing up.

Now I sometimes slip & call myself Mommy because that's the word I naturally associate with the idea of mother. How awkward that I don't even know my own name! In retrospect I have to wonder, did I choose Mama because I was insecure about my role in our family? Now that they have been here five whole months, I feel much more certain of my place. My girls are definitely my daughters and I feel it in my bones.

What do you call yourself?