Jinx

After this past travel weekend, there are certain phrases that I, or the GC 2.0, can never utter when travelling again. 

The reason is that as soon as they were uttered, the Evil Jinx heard it and caused the exact opposite to happen!!!


Some examples of the Evil Jinx heard this past weekend:


1. "Look, Maine, the carseat is free. There is noooo way the airline can lose it!"


2. "Man, this flight has been a breeze!!!"


3. "I feel good. I think I'll have another Shipley Donut!"


4. "The Pizz usually doesn't make a mess in the tub"


5. "She can't hurt herself. It's just carpet" 

6. "The Pizz is a great sleeper. Never cries at night!"


7. "Woo hoo! I made it a whole trip without clogging Laura's toilet!!!!"


Never again, Jinx!  Never again!!!

In da hood!!

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Blood, Sweat, Tears. Eyes, Throat and Ears!

This title pretty much summarizes how the last BY Vacation (in a long time) went.  It can be basically be summed up in 6 little snippets from the first 6 hours of travel!!!


1.  "Throat"- Well, the GC 2.0 has been dealing with a URI for about a week now.  Turns out that she decided to "lose" her voice the day of travel.  Oh, gee Mike, you're going to have to say and do everything.  Great!  Some parts were sort of interesting, especially when she got out a good, husky sentence.  She pretty much figured that we'd be on auto pilot the whole trip.  Well, the first decision of the trip came at the Check In counter in Wilmington.  "Would you be checking your carseat?"  Well, I was already in my 'airport mode' (Editor's note: not sure if I mentioned my OCD with airports before.  Basically I am afraid of being late/getting stuck in security/missing my flight/getting abandoned...).  Sure I said, let's check it.  The GC 2.0 sent me a horrified look: "You know ", she husked, "they're going to lose the thing, and then we're screwed."  "Naw babe, trust me.  Easy breezy, Japonesey.  We don't want to be lugging this thing around ATL airport do we?  Plus, it's free"  I gave her the wink...  She harumpfed off with the Pizz...  So we're off!!!

2. "Blood" - Landed in ATL no problemo.  Got off without a hitch.  We then had a 2 hour layover, before our flight out.  So we had to eat...  Well, to our glorious surprise, we found a Moe's in the ATL terminal.  Ahhhh, nothing says flying then a large bean burrito, a gallon of cheese and the Pizz.  Too bad there was very little seating.  We wedged ourselves in between a family of 4.5 (their dog) and a business man.  "See, Maine, we couldn't do this with the carseat!"  I felt very proud of myself.  She harumpfed off to the gate.  We got their with 45min to spare.  We tried to get the Pizz to go sleepy time, since this was starting to be way past her bedtime.  She didn't want to.  Next thing I know, I'm chasing her around the terminal.  I follow her to a carpeted corner area.  She's happy, giggling, being chased/chasing her daddy.  I turn away for a second, and then I hear an "Uh!".  I look back and see the Pizz face down in the carpet.  Uh oh.  Maybe she'll just bounce up like she always does.  Well, she picked her head up and started screaming.  Top of the lungs in the middle of ATL!  Great.  I'm going to get arrested for parental abuse!  I pick her up and she lays her head in my shoulder.  "Ok Pizz... ssshhhh!"  Trying to sooth her.  She picks her head off my shoulder and blood is everywhere!  Dripping out of her mouth, on my shoulder, shirt.  Oh crappo!  I'm really heading to the pokey now.  But, cool and calm I was as I took out my daddy daycare handkerchief!  I tried to dab and hold pressure, thinking that this would be a simple cut.  Oh no!  I think she lost like a gallon of blood!  Now, I was internally starting to worry, as I made my way back to the GC 2.0.  We sit her down and try to get her calm.  Ice?  No!  Stick? No!  Pacy? Ok, but I'm still pissed!!!  Finally she started calming down.  The bleeding subsided for us to get a look at things.  Busted upper lip, that was now starting to swell pretty good.  Nice Pizz, now you've got Angelina Jolie lips!  She didn't laugh.  Man, are we there yet!

3.  "Eyes"-  We finally make it on the plane and take off.  Man, my left eye is starting to water.  Hmmm...  that's strange.  Why would it do that?  I've never had that happen.  I look over at the GC 2.0.  "Hey, is there something wrong with my eye?"  She squints over in my direction... "uh oh"  "What?  WHAT!?!?!  Is it falling out?"  "I think you're getting Pink Eye!!!"  For real?!?!?  I mean the Pizz had it like last week and I'm getting this now!?!?!?  I instantly began feeling my eye itch!  Crap!  Now this is going to go real well on vacation!  "Did we bring Pizz' eye drops?"  "No, we left them at home, remember."  Yes.. yes yes... long story about how her eyes got better and then worse and then better, and how the Ped thinks that she might have had a chemical conjunctivitis too...  (this after dropping llike $80 on 2 sets of eyedrops!!!).  Seems that was money well spent!!!

4.  "Tears"- So we finally get the Pizz down and asleep on this last flight.  Whew!  We're home free!!!  "GC 2.0, this baby is a flying machine!!!"  Then we land.  As soon as we hit the ground and the cabin lights turn on, the Pizz wakes up.  And she is not a happy camper!  Oh boy.  She started screaming bloody murder.  Nothing we could do would make her happy.  We just had to ride this out.  Unfortunately, we were at the back of the plane.  So, there we were... "those people" who couldn't get their baby to be quiet.  We were stuck.  That cabin door seemed to take hours to open.  Everybody took there sweet time getting their crappy bags, while we were stuck with an exhausted, screaming baby.  As we finally deplaned, we slunked out of the plane, eyes and heads down... not making any eye contact with anyone!  Once we finally we got out of the plane, the Pizz stopped!  Thanks!!!

5.  "Sweat" - We all deplaned and headed down to baggage claim.  I had the Pizz attached to me, and the GC 2.0, well, she had the Twizzles in tow.  We get to the conveyor belt and wait.  We were pretty frazzled and exhaused by now.  Daddy needed a drink.  There were about 30 other people.  Finally the belt starts....  The gosh damned thing was the slowest moving conveyor ever.  I think a snail could move faster then this God-forsaken thing.  I give the Pizz to the GC 2.0, and walk over to the belt.  (I didn't want to miss the bags!).  Our suitcase comes off without a hitch.  Yay!!!  I wait...  and wait...  Other people are grabbing their bags, and walking off...  Uh oh!!!!  The brow becomes a little moist!  Crap!  Surely this cannot be happening.  Then the belt stops.  I look around, there is only the GC, the Pizz and I.  Neither females looked very happy.  I'm dead!  Now the sweat starts pouring!

6.  "Ears" - So now we're in full fledged panic mode.  We look around for the info desk.  Well, you see, in small town America, these little po-dunk airports don't keep people past 10pm.  Oh crap!!!  The GC 2.0 takes over.  We split up.  She's to track down the airline people, and I'm to see if we can rent a carseat!  Really!  She goes off and I got to the rental agent.  Seriously!!!  This cannot be happening!!!  Oh, but it is!!!  I find the only one open of the 3, and she was getting ready to go.  "Hey, I was wondering if I could rent a carseat?"  "Really?  Why?"  "Um, well, um... I'm dumb!"  I explain the situation, and she seems to understand.  She goes, "Well, I can't rent you a car seat, without the car?"  "Really?!?"  "Maybe you should see if it's not in the back somewhere?"   "Ok"  I go off to find the GC 2.0.  I find her coming down the escalators... steaming.  "Nobody up there"  she husks...  "Did you get a seat?"  "Um... uh... babe... well I have to rent a car to get one.  The lady said to try the back rooms first."

...  Then clear as a bell come the words " YOU BETTER GO BACK THERE AND GET A F&(^()@$!!! CAR SO WE CAN GET HOME!!!  IF THAT LADY LEAVES WITHOUT US GETTING A SEAT, I AM GOING TO F&(!)(@)!!! KILL YOU!!!"  There was no doubting what my ears just heard.  Nope.  Clear as a bell.  Point taken.  I'm dead!

So I go back to the lady... "Um... well... um... we can't find anyone... so um... I'm going to need to rent a car."  "Ok"  So we go through the machinations.  After some bogus discount, but that got inflated with "insurance premiums" I had to fork over $100 bucks.  That sure better be one pristine car seat.  She gives me the keys, and then drudges back to pick up the Platinum Edition BY Thanksgiving Carseat, and comes back!  The damned thing was a POS!!!  Looked like it was 15 years old and hadn't been cleaned once.  "Gee... thanks!!"

I grab my PEBYTC and slink off after my husky bride.  I find her at the ticket counter.  They don't know where the carseat is!  The GC 2.0 looks at me.  I hold up the PEBYTC with a mild smirk.  "We're good babe!"  She looks back at the lady.  "See we had to rent a car to get a carseat!  Are you guys going to pay for that?!?!?"  The lady was like "No, you had to rent a car anyway!"  Then the GC 2.0 sort of exploded (if not already!)  (Editors note: Later we realized why our MFM OB didn't want us to travel after 24 weeks... too stressful!!!)  Then the lady matter of factly said, "well, why did you do that?  We have seats in the back!...."

So there I was...  11pm....  Po-dunk America.  Sweating.  Ears ringing.  My hundred dollar POS carseat in tow.  Running back across small Po-dunk airport.  To get to the rental place.  Trying to get a refund!

At that point, I made a pact with myself...  this officially will end my family airplane travelling days.... for a long, long, long, long..... long time.  Unless we win the lottery and can charter a jet!

Pigtails and Airplanes

Pigtails and Cheesy Poofs!!!!

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Couscous!!!

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Guest Post from the GC2.0: About being blessed with fertility and carrying around a lot of little people

Everyone is asking me what it’s like to find out you are having twins.

Well, if you want to know exactly what passed through my mind when they said the word “TWINS,” it was actually quite literally blank, like I didn’t know what that word even meant.  Mike was sitting in the corner whispering: “Oh sh*%!”  My first real thought was: “Holy crap!  How many carseats are we going to have to have!??!”

After that thought, there was a lot of anxiety.  Our minds couldn’t grasp the fact that we wouldn’t just be squeezing in one more little Yarnoz in our family/cars/home.  We launched into planning ADHD - we need another car! and crib! and high chair! Oh my! Can we get three kids to daycare every morning? (The resounding answer was ‘no’ for that one.)  How much Xanax will Hamilton need?  Am I going to lose my job over this?  I can honestly say that there were days when I wanted to do nothing but cry.

Then there came the visit with the high risk obstetrician.  It seems his job is to warn about all the complications and disasters that can strike a 34-year-old woman with multiples brewing, then to gleefully tell you each time “But you are doing great!!”  Not necessarily a balm for the already anxious soul.

Meanwhile, the ‘fault’ for all this lies firmly in my genetic tree -- hyperovulation being a common occurrence in the Rabalais women.  (Not to mention there was an accidental perch on an ancient fertility chair in 2007 (see photo) and a fateful conversation about 2 years ago when I jokingly told Mike: “Wouldn’t it be nice if I could pull off a two-fer and squeeze out some twins?  This would cut way back on the amount of time I am restricted from traveling to Haiti.”)

Should have guessed it might happen, but it honestly never crossed my mind.

Eventually, as I worked my way through double the nausea and fatigue, it started to sink in.  It was actually getting to be a little bit fun watching people’s expressions when I told them I was harboring twins inside.  One of my pulmonology colleagues looked absolutely horrified and screeched, “Was that expected?”  Or another one I love: "Did you take something? (Yes, I induced this on myself because I wanted to have 3 children under 18 months... what!?%$"  But most people looked shocked in a good way and would say things like, “Won’t that be fun?!” or “Oh, good luck! You’ll be very busy!”  And a few continue to light up and say things like: “I’m a twin!” (guy on the landscape team today) or “I had twin boys and it was wonderful” (GI attending who typically barely speaks to me).  In fact, when you have two it enters you in a tiny little elitist club of twin-bearing women, each one having her own special story to go along with it.

So, the second trimester has been all about less -- less nausea, less fatigue, and less anxiety -- as well as more -- more OB visits, scans, and freakish comments about my innards.  The kiddos are moving, frequently kicking each other in the head when scanned, and the abdomen is growing.  Mike likes to remind me that I have the genetic equivalent of a whole Yarnoz inside of me.  (I’m still holding out for a kid that might resemble me though, since I’ve totally lost with Kemper.)  

As we enter into the third trimester, we’ll probably relapse back into high-anxiety mode. (Can I make it to 38 weeks? What if I’m early? What if I have to have a c-section? How am I going to pick up Kemper anymore? Which car should we buy? Which au pair should we choose? etc etc...)  I mean, it’s hard to really feel like you are ever out of the woods -- there is only 44mm of a “gorgeous cervix” (by far, the weirdest compliment I’ve ever gotten from a man) between the world and my little Yarnozs -- I simultaneously want to keep them in there forever and want to see what our new little people will be like.  

Hopefully it really will be as fun as people try to tell me it will be... but maybe not too much fun, because Mike has already told me that he “can’t make it through another pregnancy.”  Plus, the obstetrician already warned us that we have an even higher chance for twins again next time.... 

Walking around

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In Search of the BY's Family Truckster

So, most of you BY Followers know by now that the BY Universe is going to get a whole lot more crowded in about 4 months now.. (whew!)

So one of the most controversial decisions the GC2.0 and The Editor have been racking their brains over is the addition of new transportation....

Yup.  Seems the brood just won't fit in the GC2.0's hybrid "mommy car".  Nope.  Not at all.  It would be like wedging sardines into a can...  Or stuffing 18 clowns into a mini-Cooper....  Just can't happen.

So we've been discussing/haggling/fighting with each other over which cochito to acquire.  This has been difficult.  We can't even decide on how to "acquire" said cochito!

We've even had the opportunity to go test drive certain candidates for the BY Family Truckster (... Thanks again, Ita and Wowo).

It has only clouded our minds.

The candidates: The Toyota Highlander (hybrid, of course), the Toyota Sienna, the Honda Odyssey, the Honda Pilot, and the Mazda 5 (making a late push with a snowball's chance...)

The votes:

• GC2.0 = Highlander... "Groovy, hybrid, 3rd row seating.  I don't want to drive a Minivan!"
• The Editor = Swagger Wagon ... er Sienna.  "Huge... accommodating... sliding doors.  Oh and I get an Xbox!!!"
• Hamilton = ruff ... "wherever I can be part of the action... but keep me away from these noise-makers!!!"
• The Pizz = uh-oh... "I like facing forward now"

And the debate is raging on....

Any votes on who will win???

Buy me!!

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Toys!!!

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Names, Names, Names...

So, I've been racking my brain to try to find some good name options for the Twizzles...  It has been tough, especially with the GM renovation, the job, and the Pizz...

But I've got some to share... So enjoy!


1. Black and Decker

2. Donnie and Marie

3. Daisy and Duke

4. Ozzie and Harriet

5. Ike and Tina (The Editor's personal favorite!)

6. Sampson and Delilah

7. Tarzan and Jane

8. Vegas and Reno (What happens in Vegas' diaper, stays in the diaper...)

9. Montana and Rice (The Editor's second favorite!)

10. Kirk and Uhura


I'll work on the voting booth!

GC2.0 at 20 weeks....

Learning how to sign...

Right before a Fussmaster Pizz explosion!

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Yay Black beans!!!!

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