24 weeks

A plague has visited our happy home. Gastroenteritis. The pukes and the poops. I and the babies survived it, but Big Daddy G just got started. I have to stay home to rest for a few days longer than I would if I were not pregnant, but I'm okay. I never even had a fever and never lost weight. We were supposed to have a fun weekend with company, but we had to modify that plan because this is really contagious. Yuck. We work in the cesspool otherwise known as pediatrics, so this happens occasionally. I'm just glad it wasn't too serious for me. We're disappointed about the weekend plan change, but it's the right thing to do.

I had my ultrasound yesterday and finally got some really cute profile pictures, but my scanner will not cooperate, and G is down for the count. I will post them ASAP...They weigh 1.5 pounds each. Twice as much as a few weeks ago.

One baby (Baby A/Lower baby) has my profile and the other (Baby B/Upper baby) has Gregg's. This amazes me probably more than it should. Of course we can't know who will have whose hair or freckles. Gregg's face, with red curly hair? My face with thinner brown hair? I can't wait to see. They really seem to have distinct personalities...Baby A seems very busy in there, while Baby B seems pretty mellow. These are our personalities too...Gregg is non-stop and I am non-go. If they really are like this, and one really looks like me and one like dad, they would have the opposite personalities that we do...little me would be busy and baby G would be calm. I wonder...

They really like it when I talk and sing and listen to music. That is, if movement means "like". It could mean, "please god stop". This reminds me that G and I had a fight about a month back about what kind of music the kids should be exposed to. I said, "everything, let them decide" while Gregg wants it tightly controlled to "protect them from sh*t". The fight started when a piece came on NPR about "good, listenable children's music" which went on to highlight some totally annoying stuff, but stuff I thought kids might get into. I said as much and Gregg went off, thoroughly disgusted. We fought. The only thing we could agree on in the end was that NPR almost never features anything we really like on its music reviews. They really work too hard not to offend anyone and include everyone and highlight technically good musicians at the expense of , well, enjoyment. Anyway, one can see how this argument between parents to be can devolve into one about the details of how to influence children to be...and I'm really glad we're not religious, or of different religions...because that must be a really great argument. Luckily, we didn't go there. Are we supposed to go there? That's too deep...

Well, last night I discovered some children's music that will probably please both of us. It's not wonderful, but it's a compromise...The Rockabye Baby series...slow music box lullaby versions of some of the music we're into...The Ramones, Radiohead, The Beach Boys...on and on...It will suffice for calming baby music...that, plus some classical and some folk vocals, Phoebe Snow, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, and so much else... That should get us through the first 6 months...

I also finally got a baby ticker widget thing. At first, I put 10 babies in it to be funny, but Gregg though we might have some confused relatives and the media calling. Plus, I put in our 37 week date, because that seems more realistic to me than 40 weeks. I didn't get one before because the images of the early fetal stage made me oddly queasy. Now the image is of a well formed little human...apparently more acceptable to my primitive brain. Weird.

90 days to go. That's nothing.