Here are some pictures of the ever-deft (not daft) baby bathers bathing little Sophie... or is it Sasha? Whomever can tell the difference wins a cookie! ;)

http://www.ephemeron.org/~bigby/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=15556

For those of you not on FB or who missed them, here are pictures of Jen's and my new, healthy baby girls, Sophie and Sasha.

Baby birth highlights (pictures):

http://www.ephemeron.org/~bigby/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=13898

More baby pictures:

http://www.ephemeron.org/~bigby/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=15367

I don't think I can ever hear the word "commence" again without thinking of John Stewart's "America: Democracy in-action" and Stephen Colbert saying, in an amplified and echoey voice against the backdrop of rows of tromping boots, "I now proclaim myself supreme leader of the United States of Myselfia.  Commence with the killing of the red-heads!"
  --me

Yesterday we had our follow-up ultrasound to determine the progress of our babies' Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS).  The short version is that the news is good; our babies' respective weights are within 5% of each other, whereas they were previously more than 20% different (20% is the threshold at which they start to worry about weight disparity). There is still a significant difference in the size of the babies' amniotic sacs, which is indicative of problems (too much urine production in one baby and not enough in the other).  Our specialist wants to draw down the fluid in the larger sac, but such a procedure does carry a risk of complications, so he's holding off for now (since it's not absolutely necessary) in favor of doing no harm.

We're due to have another ultrasound in a week to track this situation.

Here are some pictures of the house that might yet be ours:

http://www.ephemeron.org/~bigby/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=13337

We are in escrow on our Chula Vista house.  We close escrow on or before October 6th, if everything works out.  We now have property inspection and FHA appraisal as hurdles.

Woot!  Wish us luck.  :)

We have, just this morning, had a seller accept an offer that we made on a property in San Diego.  This means that we're moving on to escrow, property inspections, conditions, and a whole group of new hurdles!  We're trying not to get too excited, as there are still lots of ways that this can fail, but it's nice to finally have made some progress after much head banging.

Today at our monthly ultrasound appointment, the technician noted that the two babies appeared to be about two weeks apart in growth. Fortunately for us, our, specialist was in the building, so she called him in and he gave Jen another ultrasound.  He said that it looks like we're in the first stage of twin to twin transfusion syndrome, or TTTS.  In this syndrome, the twins' blood supplies become unbalanced.  This can have a variety of effects ranging from decreased growth and development in one twin to the death of both twins.

We have another ultrasound appointment with our specialist in ten days.

We were fortunate to catch this early.  Both twins' hearts appear to be healthy and both twins are producing urine; both of which are good, positive indicators.  Our specialist seemed to suggest that while there are some grave possibilities, at this point, the prognosis doesn't look especially grim.  There is a treatment option (drawing off of amniotic fluid) that he may be administering at our next appointment, depending upon the severity of the case.

Try to find the space between accepting failure and expecting perfection.
        --me 

I received a marketing e-mail from a company we have bought products from ("Brother"), the subject of which gave me pause:

           "Think Big Save Big with Brother"

I thought, "hmmmm, that's unfortunate".  When I told Jen, she said, "perhaps they're not expecting their audience to be that well read. or the marketing people aren't well read.  or both."

I like to think of attitude as something that, while not entirely under direct, conscious control, is
not beyond our own influence.  I like to think that realism (as opposed to pessimism) is an option, that
we have some say in how our personalities unfold over time.

A couple of sunset pictures taken on Sunset Blvd in Mission Hills, San Diego, CA.

There are more pictures in the album (that the links point to).

This morning I saw a woman with a large belly, large breasts, and three children in tow, smoking.  My first thought was, "I hope you're fat".

I cannot count the times when I look at a picture of my father, or think of him, and think, or say with a voice and mind heavy with regret, "oh father". It is, at once, both my salvation and my misery to know that he is dead, for he will never have to know the anguish of a parent outliving his child, but at the same time, he will grace us only in our memories and dreams, evermore; we are ever-deprived of his wit and wisdom.

All of the poems I post here, unless otherwise credited, were written by me.