Too busy running my mouth.

Look at these ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING children of ours! This was taken last weekend at their first trip to the zoo. They were sitting in a big duck egg sculpture. The pollen is so bad here that the dandelion puffs were falling like rain! Seriously.

I've been so busy running my mouth about other stuff that I didn't mention that Ruby has TWO teeth and El has another on the way. Also, I swear they've been trying to kiss us lately ... they put their little open mouths right up to your cheek. I didn't truly believe that's what they were doing until the BabyCenter email told me so this morning. :)

The latest

Honestly, seeing pictures and video of all these kids is mind-blowing. There's a half-sib out in California that blew us away when we watched a video last night- her mannerisms are totally our Ruby!! And yet, she has the same cheeks as Ellie. Some of the half-sibs resemble one girl or the other, some don't resemble our girls at all.

Now we're talking about our kids food allergies. That's some pretty helpful stuff... having moms out there raising kids who share half your kids' genetic material and can possibly shed light on food or health issues. Most of the half-sibs are at least a year or two older and have a head start on eating solids, so their moms have a ton of info. How cool is that?

Donor's mom has been contributing to the listserv and responding to emails. Zazie asked if at some point, she might share some baby pictures with us... we do have a photo span to adulthood, but it doesn't start until the donor was around 3 or so. She responded that it was too painful right now, but that she would try to get something together soon. Zazie was quick to respond & let her know that she shouldn't worry about us right now, that she should do only as much as she was able to. The family was supportive of their son's decision, they knew about the kids, but I can't imagine how overwhelming it must be to get emails day after day with pictures of strangers' kids that look SO much like your son or the rest of your family.

Here's a question that we've been discussing with one of the other moms. There is an online condolence book for the donor available through the local newspaper. It will be coming down in one week. Do we download a copy of it for the girls to have later? Part of me wants them to have all information available to them, should they want it later. The other part of me thinks that what we have already, and what we'll have from his family in the future (hopefully), should be enough and that downloading a record of condolences from strangers to his family is unnecessary, morbid, and somehow intrusive.

Two Ton Death Machine

We were almost hit by a car while walking in our neighborhood. This is the second time something like this happened, though the first time, the driver actually grazed Lauren's hand with her drivers' side mirror (and would've hit her squarely if I hadn't yelled at Lauren to move). Our rule after the first time was, never assume a car is going to slow down for you or see you. Now our rule has to become: if there is a car anywhere near you, do not try to cross the street. This neighborhood is terrible for pedestrians- it's bad in NYC in general, but this is the worst I've ever experienced.

I lost it and started screaming at the driver. As she passed (with earphone dangling, by the way), I said something like "watch your f*cking car". She said something along the lines of "get out of the way," I said "I'm a f*cking pedestrian and I have the right of way." Her response was "Nice language to teach your f*cking kids." A few more words were exchanged (I can't remember exactly what). As we were walking away, I turned around & made a motion like I was blowing a kiss to her. She yelled after us something like, "look at those fat @sses, those f*cking tubs of lard." I couldn't help myself... I slapped my ass and yelled at her to "kiss it."

We, of course, were really shaken and angry when we got home. That driver was definitely in the wrong. She should've at least slowed down. She was a jerk, but she what she said about teaching our kids is sticking with me.

What will it teach them that I cursed out this stranger? I don't have a problem with the language I used... I curse often and though I'm trying to curb myself (a. I don't want the girls to do it and b. it isn't particularly creative), if there was ever an "appropriate" time to curse, that was it.

I guess if she'd shown some remorse, or it hadn't been the second time someone had nearly run over my family in nearly the same spot, maybe I wouldn't have gone to the lengths I did. I acted the way I did because I was scared and feeling powerless, but what good did expressing my anger do? I could've the crap out of the girls (Ruby, who I was holding, didn't seem phased), the woman could've had a knife (I don't know, it's possible), etc. Better to just say "Watch it" and keep walking, no matter what that b*tch said back to us?