Community Property

When you have twins, your life is no longer quite your own. I've heard this is true for all new moms, but I can only relay my own experiences.

I officially became a person of community interest at the beginning of my third trimester. Almost overnight -- and with the help of the onset of DC's sweltering humidity -- I went from being "slightly" pregnant in appearance to "ready to pop". People I'd never seen before would ask me all sorts of questions. While some of the questions were rather personal, at least no one tried to touch the belly. Most of the time the question was, "When are you due?" I received a lot of strange looks when I said, "Labor Day," until I explained that I was carrying twins.

I think I dealt with this invasion of my personal space fairly well and with good humor. It was good practice for what was to come.

Once the girls arrived, we became a bit of a spectacle. Now there was even more interest in us -- well, them really. The double stroller definitely attracts attention. No where do we draw more attention than in medical facilities.

For example, we've had a couple of routine appointments at the Washington Hospital Center. WHC in particular serves an elderly crowd. We discovered on these visits that older people adore babies and are particularly fascinated with twins. I think that the elderly have an appreciation for new life that those of us who are younger haven't developed yet. Anyway, it takes us 10 minutes to walk a normally 2 minute distance because we are asked to stop so people can admire the babies.

All of this makes me half curious and half fearful. What's going to happen if and when the girls begin looking more noticeably like the identical twins they are?

TV is back!

O Happy Day!

You know, since I complained about it, that I was distraught over the lack of TV last spring. Fortunately, baseball started and began to occupy my time. Too bad the Nationals weren't so hot this year. After the girls were born, it was the Olympics and America's Got Talent for the summer. I am quite relieved that regular TV is back on track, since I spend most of my time these days holding and feeding babies. Unlike Martha Sears, I can't entertain myself for hours on end gazing adoringly at the little ones or appreciate the retreat-like aspects of feeding time. My girls are wonderful, but I need something more stimulating than staring at a feeding baby. It's too bad that I can't type or surf and feed babies at the same time. I need an extra arm or four.

Time to run - DDA needs feeding and DDL is about to wake up.