Vicky and Norm

Current Location: Home
Current Mood: sleepy

We found a pediatrician!  Someone recommended a great doctor to us and one of the moms in the twins club raved about him also.  I met with him yesterday and I knew it was a good sign when I spotted all the Mets memorabilia in his office.  He will be coming to the hospital when the girls are born to check them out.  He said if I can carry the girls to 32 weeks we'll be in pretty good shape and any time after that is a bonus.  I was very uncomfortable yesterday and my stomach just felt huge and weighed a ton.  The girls have started to move in such a way that their body parts will push out my stomach.  It is very weird to see bumps coming out of your stomach.  I guess room is getting tight in there though and there's not much they can do.

Norm's co-workers were kind enough to throw us a shower on Tuesday.  It was a lot of fun to see everyone.  They all said I looked great, but really what can people say at this point.  We got lots of cool things for the girls and a very generous gift card that we will be using this weekend.  There was a cool power point presentation with photos from different stages of our life along with our 3D pics of the girls.  A special thanks to Melissa for putting everything together and making it such an awesome day. 



Last night was our breastfeeding class.  Norm was disappointed as there was minimal boob exposure.  It was limited to the short film we watched and they were British boobs.  We think in the future they should have Playboy Playmates making these videos.  It might make things more interesting for the men attending.  The class was okay.  We certainly know more about breastfeeding than we did before.  The instructor even gave us some information about breastfeeding twins together.  I think I will become a fan of the double football hold. 


We have made the decision to use cloth diapers with the twins.  It is a personal choice that we came to after much research and deliberation.   We had planned to use a diaper service to start with, but there aren't many options in our area.  There is one place in the next county that does it, but they will not deliver here since they cannot bring their truck on the local parkway and it's difficult to get here.  They did ask if there was another place we could meet for diaper drop-off and delivery.  Oh sure, I feel like driving around with a load of dirty diapers and meeting a truck driver in some parking lot for the hand off.  So we are now looking into buying our own supply of diapers and covers (which will be MUCH cheaper in the long run over a service or disposables, even factoring in energy and washing costs) and washing them ourselves.  It's a good thing we invested in that fancy washer and dryer. 

Well, it's official!  Norm has graduated!  We went to UConn on Saturday for the graduation festivities.  Norm's mom drove from Canada for the occasion.  We had an uneventful trip there and before we know it Norm was suiting up in his cap and gown.  The graduation was mercifully short, which suited this pregnant lady just fine.  I was filled with a tremendous feeling of pride as I thought about all of the work that had gone into this moment.  Norm has made many sacrifices and persevered when many would have just quit and forgot about the whole thing.  When they called Norm's name his mom and I made a little ruckus.  After the graduation we met with Norm's advisor for some photos.  Later, Norm, his mom and I went out to dinner to celebrate.  Yay Norm!!

Some pics of the graduate
 




This also serves as a  27 week pregnancy photo

Well, it's official! I am officially a doctor! *phew!* 

Yes, yesterday marked a major milestone in my life, and I must admit, it's kinda hard to fathom what's happened. On Thursday, May 8th, at 3pm, I successfully defended my dissertation, thereby earning my Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology.

For those of you who don't know what a dissertation defense is like, let me explain. After years of data collection and analysis and months of dissertation writing and revisions, I needed to turn my 100-page dissertation into a 25-slide, 30 minute PowerPoint presentation. That alone was no small feat. But then I needed to script out what I was going to say. Even though I'm usually comfortable ad-libbing my presentations, there was no room for error here. The audience would consist of my three committee members (two from my I/O psychology program and one from the social psychology program), and two additional faculty examiners. In addition, there would be loads of current graduate students there to observe.

But the presentation wasn't all. After the 30 minute presentation (which I thought went pretty well), then came the questions. Specifically, there was 1 hour and 5 minutes worth of questions, mostly from the five faculty members in the audience. These were not right-or-wrong questions, but mostly questions of interpretation or theory. The toughest part is when a faculty member asks a question and you know they're looking for a certain answer, but you don't know what it is! Anyway, I would have to say that my question-answering performance would be rated a "7" on a 10-point scale. I kept my composure and didn't curl up into a ball and cry, but I also didn't knock the ball out of the park, either. Anyway, after over an hour of questions, my advisor instructed me and my fellow graduate students to step outside while the faculty conferred.

Talk about pins and needles! The committee made us wait over 20 minutes in the hallway, and I must admit, I knew there was a chance that my advisor would come out and ask me to step inside. (You DON'T want them to ask you to step inside.  What you want them to say is "Congratulations, Doctor {Insert your last name here}")

As an aside, one of the great mysteries of life (besides the pyramids and Stonehenge) is what a dissertation committee talks about while the doctoral candidate stands out in the hallway.  On the one hand, I'd like to think that this time is spent lauding the performance that they just observed.  But the cynic in me wonders if they're just talking about their upcoming summer vacations.  Do they purposefully drag their feet and make sure that at least 20 minutes go by, just to make the students sweat?  Is this a little game that is played?  I was so tempted to place an audio recorder in that room so I can find out the answer for myself, but maybe I don't really want to know the answer.

Anyway, after 20 minutes, I was ecstatic to hear that one word... "congratulations".  Roars of applause, and handshakes and hugs all around.  What a relief!

There are still some revisions that I need to do on the paper by May 20th, but those are merely formalities.  I have officially earned my Ph.D., and after 12 years of being enrolled in graduate school, it's about darn time!

Now, you want to see instant gratification?  I'm happy to report that I'll be participating in the university's graduate commencement ceremony this weekend!  Not only will my name be called by the head of the graduate school, but my advisor will be "hooding" me as well.  It's not as bad as it sounds.  Basically, think of it as the snootier version of the tassel being turned on the mortarboard.  Or a slightly less snooty version of being knighted with a sword.  However you look at it, I'll be there having it done!  Woohoo!

For those of you who've already called and emailed, thanks for your words of congratulations.  They mean a lot to me, and I appreciate having you guys around for support.  And no, you don't have to start calling me Dr. Norm!  :)

Current Location: home
Current Mood: excited

We thought we should stop calling the girls Baby A and Baby B.  We don't want to give them a complex.  We picked out some names we really like so if you don't, keep it under your hat because we are using them.  Norm and I aren't into trendy, celebrity baby names so we just went with some classic names.  I'll include the middle names since people have been asking about those. Baby A will be Claire Anne and Baby B will be Grace Sarah.  Norm has an aunt named Claire but the baby won't be named after her particularly.  We just thought the name was very pretty.  My grandmother's name was Grace (Grazia in Italian) and we were very close.  If baby Grace has some of her qualities then we will be very lucky indeed. 

So there you have it!  Claire and Grace will be making their debuts in July! 

Current Location: home
Current Mood: exhausted

On Wednesday Norm and I left for Disney World.  We were going to spend a few days there with Jamie http://jamietr.livejournal.com/ and Kelly and enjoy some warm weather.  We came back last night very exhausted, but glad for this last chance to get away before the babies are born.  We couldn't have had more fun with Jamie and Kelly, who I must say are perfect for each other.  Not only were their outfits coordinated, but they feel asleep on the same attractions! 

I am not going to write a day by day account as a) I am too lazy and b) Jamie is already doing that.  But I will share some of our favorite photos from the trip.

Jamie in our first hotel room enjoying an expired sandwich


Vicky and Norm at the castle


Norm and Jamie and funnel cake


Norm and his rice krispy treat, fudge and peanut brittle in a Mickey head


Norm and Vicky waiting for a boat at the Dolphin hotel


On Sunday, Jamie and Kelly had an early flight so Norm and I went to Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios.  The new Simpsons ride is set to open this Spring.  We are bummed that we missed it, but since I probably wouldn't have been able to ride it, I wasn't too bummed. 

Norm having some fun with Barney


and Moe, all the while unaware of the big ax behind him


The outside of the Simpsons ride


It was great trip, made all the better because we got to share it with friends.  Thanks Jamie and Kelly!

Current Location: Home
Current Mood: optimistic

One of the great things about the internet is that it seems that no matter what you are thinking someone has already thought it before.  I discovered some great blogs yesterday by twin moms and they not only express everything I have been feeling, but offer wonderful advice on things such as breastfeeding both babies at once and going to the store with two infants. 

I shared this with Norm yesterday and we both laughed at how true it was.  We have become so used to the idea of two babies that we now think it's totally normal.  Recently someone shared an ultrasound picture with me and all I could think was "where's the other baby?"  It's weird how our perception has become skewed and they're not even out yet!

http://howdoyoudoit.wordpress.com/2008/03/03/my-version-of-normal/

Yesterday we picked up the furniture for our nursery. This may sound like a pretty simple task, but this is us we're talking about, so it was more complicated than it needed to be.  I looked at a number of cribs and really loved one in particular.  As luck would have it, the crib was also priced $50 cheaper than any other one I'd looked at.  Norm didn't have much of an opinion here.  To him a crib is a crib.  The crib I wanted was only sold at Target.  The shipping charge was astronomical.  $259 for 2 cribs.  We just figured we'd avoid that by picking the cribs up at Target.  There were a couple of issues with that.  1-There is no way they would fit in our car.  2-our local Targets did not have the crib.  But did we let that stop us?  Of course not!

We found out there were 2 Targets that carried the cribs and they were each 30 miles away - in opposite directions.  We went to one of those Targets Thursday night just to get a look at the crib.  They said they had 2 in stock as well as 1 changing table and 1 glider which is everything we needed.  They would not hold the items for us for more than one day nor does Target ship the items to a local store for free like Wal-mart.  We rented a van for Saturday and figured what are the odds someone would buy our cribs in a day.  Surprisingly, pretty good.  We called Target in the morning before leaving to find out if they still had everything in stock.  Now they only had one crib.  They told us the other Target in the opposite direction had one left in stock.  I had to go tutor so super husband and dad-to-be Norm was left with the task of hitting up these Target stores and gathering our furniture.  He said the most annoying part was that the van we rented was considered a commercial vehicle so he could not drive on the parkway which was the quickest route between the two stores.  Instead he had to take local roads and it took quite a bit of time.

Finally he arrived with our nursery goods. 

The "commercial" van


Norm straining to carry the glider as his unhelpful pregnant wife takes photos



Maybe we should just set up on the nursery on the porch



After deciding on which room to use for the nursery, we cleared out all the furniture that was in there and brought in our baby furniture to assemble.  The assembled cribs would not fit through the door of the room so we needed to assemble them inside.

Norm did a great job with the heavy lifting segments while I handed him things.



Almost done!


Final placement of the cribs


Changing table


The glider will be closer to the wall.  We will move the tv out eventually, but for now it's nice to have it while we are working in there.


So this is the first step in the transformation of this room into our nursery.  We still have lots more to do.  I was so happy to get started early as the prospect of bedrest always looms in later months with a twin pregnancy.  At this point I am large but mobile and can help Norm with things.  We don't want to wait to do things until I can no longer help, so we figure we'll do as much as we can now and then just sit back, relax and wait for the babies. 

On another baby note, the twins received their first presents on Friday.  Thanks to our favorite Southern couple (not Mickey and Minnie!) for thinking of us!  It makes this whole things seem even more real.  As Norm said, "we got presents now, I guess it's too late to turn back."  We are going to put the gifts away until our baby shower.

Current Location: home
Current Mood: sad

The Jamie Rubin Memorial Room is no more.  This was the only room that would accommodate the layout of two cribs, a glider and a changing table, so it will be the nursery. We spent much time in the other bedrooms seeing if we could somehow make the arrangement work, but it was either a tight squeeze or window placement got in our way. We will not be calling the nursery the Jamie Rubin Memorial Nursery since I think that sounds a bit morbid.  We are however bestowing the JRMR title to the exercise room/guest bedroom.  So the name will live on as will the memories.