F*ck Yeah, Baby!!!

TD got the job at Think Tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3 years of commuting ends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so happy I could bust - he's having to take a bit of a pay cut, but it'll not really be a cut when you factor in the thousands of dollars we'll save not buying plane tickets and having two households. Plus, there's the unquantifiable mental and emotional toll of commuting that will now be alleviated.

It's going to be so weird living together again. Who is this stranger who's here all the time? Wait, and what are these other two strange things????

Awesome.

Random Bits of Cottontail Fluff

It is going to be 79 glorious degrees today - spring has sprung! Dogwoods blooming, daffodils emerged, azaleas starting to bust out, Bradford pears in full show...

And I will be in my office today working on Egg - at least my office has a big window to look out and see the various species in nature...I just wish I could open it.

So, here's what's what:

1) Uno and Dos are well - I'm into the second trimester now and seem to have a touch more energy.

2) Egg chapter revising continues to swim along - in re-reading this, I'm thinking it might actually not suck.

3) Yesterday I went and looked at a FIVE BEDROOM house that I believe we are going to rent for next year. It's for sale, but the market is slow and the seller is willing to take it off the market and rent it to us for a year. If we like it over the course of the year, we might be able to buy it (it's actually very reasonably priced). It's an awesome house, built in 1925 with tons of potential. The kitchen needs a bit of a re-do, but it's fine for a year. We will have our bedroom, manatee room, TWO offices, and a guest room! Some of the rooms are small (one of the offices especially), but really - how much room do you need for an office and guests? Anyway, tons of windows, great big living and dining room. I want this house.

4) There might be some good news with TD and Think Tank. I do not say it's definite or even likely, but it might potentially maybe bode well.

Give me your thoughts on this: Think Tank group leader sent an email on Thursday with a new subject line of "Think Tank Job Opportunity" and wanted to set up a time to chat on the phone with TD either the end of last week or early next week. She asked TD to send her a bunch of times and they'd coordinate. So, he did and they're going to talk Monday morning.

Now, doesn't this sound positive? If they were going to tell him that he didn't get the job, would they perversely set up a time to tell him? Would they use that subject line in the email? Or would it just be something like "Update"? Keep in mind that TD has gone entirely through the interview process, so they are no longer doing final interviews or anything. This is decision time, folks!

So, whaddya think?

Twinage

Okay, so TD and I have processed this a bit more and I can honestly say I'm abso-frickin'-lutely overjoyed. Insta-family. One epidural, one delivery, straight to menopause as far as I'm concerned. I'd never conceived of myself having more than two kiddos at all, so this is GREAT! TD has been tearing up for the past 24 hours and is so happy.

So, here's a bit more about the situation (in case you're interested) - the twinlings seem to be fraternal (thank you Uncle Clomid - although there's a chance they could be early split identicals) - they have separate everything (placentas, etc.), so that reduces the risk significantly. ALTHOUGH, upon talking to my mother-in-law yesterday, she informed us that TD has two cousins (brothers) who both have sets of twins. Ahem. Never knew that little tidbit.

The big thing now is that they need to cook thoroughly, so I might be on bedrest at the end of the summer (as though I wouldn't be laying around listless already). Rebel Lettriste just had 38 1/2 week full term twins (you're my new hero, lady!), so I have a goal! Dr. Canadienne (new name for our baby doc who is from Quebec originally) said that all looks fantastic and that if I can hold out past 35 weeks, she'd be very pleased. I'm at 12 right now.

Here's how it went and how we're apparently the furthest along parents to find out they're having twins in the history of the very large, modern OB-GYN practice we go to:

(*Darkened room, MW lays prone on the table, TD hovers nearby, we squint at the screen*)

Ultrasound tech: (*making conversation as she boots the computer thingy up*) So, how far along are you?

MW: 12 weeks today!

UT: Cool! Almost through the first trimester - quite an accomplishment.

MW: Yep - whoa! Is that blob the baby??

UT: Uh-huh - two strong heartbeats...lemme see if I can get a better picture...

MW: Exsqueeze me? Two?

UT: Yep. One. Two.

MW & TD: (*in unison*) WHAT??!!

UT: You do know there's two in there, right?

MW: No, there's not. Look again.

UT: No need, see for yourself...Baby A and Baby B.

(*MW & TD squint harder and see one manatee twitch and then a second manatee twitch!!*)

MW: Holy shit. Babe, how are you??

TD: (*mouth open*) F*ck.

UT: (*shaking with silent mirth*) I've never had anyone going into their 2nd trimester not knowing there were two - didn't you have really bad morning sickness?

MW: I never had morning sickness. What the hell - shouldn't someone have caught this? Babe, are you okay?

TD: (*voice muffled from putting his head between his knees*) We have to think of more names...

MW: I have to finish my book, like NOW.

So, that was it - we have pics of Uno and Dos (handily labeled b/c I can't tell which end is up) and news spread like wildfire throughout the practice. Apparently, no one ever did a check on the quantity of the hormone in my blood, they just confirmed what the 75 home preg tests we'd done indicated: we were pregnant. We only heard one heartbeat on the doppler and didn't think to look for a second one!

These are the good things about having twins:

1) The diaper period will be over for both our kids at the same time. Sweet.
2) All of my twin friends say the bond between twin siblings is amazing and fun - no toddler getting jealous about the new baby, etc.
3) We have nothing to compare it to, so it won't be twice the work. It'll just be the work.
4) I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of it. It's 8:30AM and I'm already wanting mac and cheese...

My most immediate concern is getting this book manuscript revised and OUT - the Egg will shove off again next month!!! I have the fall semester as maternity leave and then the fall of my 5th year as research leave - I'll teach 2 classes in the spring semester on autopilot. I believe I will get no research done in AY 2010-2011. Maybe I'm wrong, but if my book is under contract before the aliens emerge, then I'll feel damn secure.

Didn't see that coming

We went for our ultrascreen today to check for chromosomal abnormalities in the manatee.

All is well!

Oh, and we found out we're having twins.

Medieval Manatees.

Still processing. More later.

Quick Bleg - Ovid

What is the standard scholarly edition of Ovid's Metamorphoses?

Pride goeth before the stomach flu

So, after bragging about my hobbity eating schedule, I was waylaid by a horrible stomach flu on Saturday night.

Oh. My. God.

I have never been that sick. I was so weak on Sunday that TD literally had to help me walk from the bedroom into the living room and back. Not a pretty sight. Even yesterday, when he went back to Dutchmanlandia, I couldn't do much other than sit on the couch all day.

Finally today is better - no queasiness or other untoward physical symptoms; I slept well last night and I can actually get some work done. This is my spring break and I'm foregoing a trip to see TD so that I can WORK ON MY BOOK MANUSCRIPT AND GET THOSE REVISIONS DONE!!!!

In the midst of all this I worried about how this bug might effect the nascent manatee, but TD looked it up and apparently it doesn't hurt a baby b/c it's confined only to my digestive tract. Lovely.

Oh, but in cool news, we heard the heartbeat on Friday! It was very strong (she said) and it was a good sign to hear it so strong so early in the pregnancy! It sounded like a little propeller.

So, now it's a manatee in a "chopper."

I am become a hobbit

More than usual.

I now eat first breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, lunch, second lunch, and a later snack.

One of my grad students commented the other day: "Every time I see you, you're eating. It's just like Brad Pitt in Ocean's Eleven."