Happy Finding-Out-We're-Having-Twins Day

On this day three years ago, we found out we were having twins. The twins were all:

When the ultrasound tech innocently informed us of this fact, I was all:

And Chris was all:

And our friends and family were all:

But I was still all:
























But it's okay, because now we're all:





















This post wouldn't have been possible without my OB-GYN and and a Google image search, so many thanks to them both. ;)

Festivus Miracle

Lauren really is getting her power wheelchair soon. Everything was approved. It should arrive in January. And it'd better be pink, Josh from Permobil! That's a $33,000 Christmas gift that we were not expecting, so a hearty "thanks!" to the taxpayers of Arizona. Kyle may have to wait until NEXT Christmas to get his, though, as his paperwork fell through a crack. So, taxpayers, keep paying those taxes, please.

We celebrated Christmas Eve tonight with extended family, and then headed home to go to sleep straight away and hope that Santa comes. (He did.)

Heh? What was that? I don't understand "Approved"?

We got an email today from our physical therapist, who was forwarding an email from the Permobil (wheelchair) sales dude, claiming that Lauren's powerchair has been approved by insurance.

Well, the last I heard, they denied it because she requires an attendant-control unit, and I didn't even appeal that denial. And that was months ago. I had planned to start over with the whole process in January, now that we have plenty of video footage showing how easily they can drive and manipulate the loaner chair that Permobil temporarily gave us.

In any case, our beloved Permobil rep will be here on Monday to take new measurements for Lauren's powerchair. I still don't believe we'll get it. Good, complicated things don't happen to good, normal people. Usually that would require Al Gore to step in and casually suggest-slash-encourage it. Gasp! Maybe that's what happened! I should find out soon and will of course keep you posted...

p.s. No word on Kyle's chair. They're two different kids with two different mounds of paperwork, so we never expect something like this to be approved for them both at the same time.

p.p.s. Anyone know how we can get our minivan converted to transport two powerchairs?

p.p.p.s. Anyone know someone at Bank of America who can fast track our current contract on a pre-foreclosure house? It's a perfect house for wheelchairs, and it's been "pre-foreclosure" for weeks. The final foreclosure date is next Wednesday, which means our contract gets flushed down the toilet if it's not approved by BofA by then, and we are again without a house to buy. I need room for these wheelchairs, yo! Make it happen!

Big, Fat (Phat?), Fabulous News

Our virtual friends, Bill and Victoria Strong, head a charitable organization named after their daughter called The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation. Gwendolyn was born a couple months after the twins, and has SMA type 1. This one family has been super successful at raising money for the cause of SMA research, and run the Petition To Cure SMA. We found out this week that Gwendolyn's foundation won $25,000 from something called Chase Community Giving. That's Chase, as in the bank, who allowed Facebook users to vote for up to 20 local charities to receive this award, and Gwendolyn's foundation was one of the winners. Bill and Victoria Strong have announced that the sum of this donation will be forwarded to the stem cell research program run by Dr. Hans Kierstad at UC Irvine. Is this awesome or what? Stay tuned for January, when I post again begging for your vote again--that's the huge million dollar final contest!

In other news.....

1. Santa has already wrapped all gifts and pre-assembled all toys destined for our house on Christmas Eve. Does Santa rock, or what?? Also, Santa needs her hair color touched up, so if the colorist around the corner at the North Pole doesn't get an opening soon, the children who spy Santa on Christmas are going to notice a LOT of gray hair. Hmmm... wait a minute, that analogy doesn't work very well, given Santa's known hair color. So let's just say that my hair is almost as gray as Santa's. Must have color done soon lest the world think I'm a homeless person who *used* to have great highlights and mutters to herself things like "I should totally Tweet that".

2. Jenna already has a second loose tooth. Tooth Fairy is currently hunting for empty tin cans to cash in, in order to finance all the tooth losing going on here.

3. Also? Santa needs a pedicure, stat. And slipper socks. Right away. It gets all the way down to, like, 40 degrees at night these days, and Santa's toesies are suffering on every level. Bbrrrr.

Such fun!

What a week.

Jenna lost her first tooth. And the tooth fairy came.

Then Jenna's cheerleading group at school performed during the live morning video announcements:

And THEN Jenna got her second and final H1N1 immunization at school. Special thanks to Brenlee's mom who coached her through her tears!

And we had a GREAT time at the MDA Christmas party today. Big thanks to my mom for coming with us to enjoy a great time, and provide another set of eyes and arms for the kids. And BIG thanks to the MDA for hosting such a fun time! We missed some of our friends there, including the Harmans and some new SMA families in Phoenix, but were grateful to reconnect with the Wolff's, Nichols', and Felix's.

Taking a Stand

Lauren took her first stand today. Not against nuclear proliferation or the Obama White House or daylight savings time. No, I mean she literally stood for the first time today. We got her stander a few days ago, and she got in it once when her physical therapist, Gayle, taught us how to use it, but she didn't last long in it before melting down. So today was attempt #2, and she lasted a whopping 10 minutes! The goal is to stand for two hours per day, but we have to start small. Her legs have never supported her trunk, ever, in her whole 30 months of life. I'd say we had success, wouldn't you?

Don't doubt that M&M's were her motivator for getting into her stander today, though! She's human, after all.

Bakey McBakerson

It's the season for baking! I love to bake, though my talent could only ever be classified as "moderate". Lack of talent notwithstanding, here I come bearing my favorite baking tools that I think everyone should have. They make the experience easier and more enjoyable for me:

1. A cookie dough scooper. They can be used to scoop many things, but they distribute the perfect amount of dough for a perfectly sized and perfectly shaped cookie. Mine is a Food Network brand scooper from Kohl's, but any not-extremely-cheap version would do, I'm sure.

2. Easy Read measuring cup set from Pampered Chef. At $23 for the three cup set it's a little pricey, but I haven't seen this style anywhere else. You read the measurements from inside/above the measuring cup, instead of from the outside. I love it. No more bending down to countertop level and squinting one eye to determine if I have the right amount of oil. Supremely convenient. http://tinyurl.com/pcmeasuringcups


3. Those silicone baking mats. My mother in law once tried to make me a fan of these and I would have none of it. Turns out, she was right. Whoda thunk? They're great, specifically for baking any kind of cookie. They lay like a thick layer of protection on a cookie shhet. And if you're lucky, you can still find pink silicone mats from October's breast cancer awareness retail extravaganza. Because, you know, everything is better when it's pink. Otherwise, any ol' color will do, I suppose.

And this is an item that I don't actually posess, but I covet. Adorable, yes? Surely my pie crusts would never burn if I wore this? I wish I wish I wish I wish I wish.







































Does anyone else have must-have ideas for baking? My husband does all the cooking, so if it's a cooking tool then that's lovely for you chefs, but I'm interested in just the baking-related stuff...

Something to get you into the holiday spirit

I couldn't manage to get little Kyle to do this solo (because he can! And you can almost understand him!), so he had "help" from his big sister.
(as usual, if you're reading this on Facebook, you have to link to the original post in order to view the video)


We're still healthy and happy this flu season--I hope you are, too!