Two weeks of Two Sweet Babies

Coming Home!

Our little Fozzy Bears

Time is flying, and at the same time days are LONG. Babies thrust caregivers into some sort of odd time warp. Our babies are awesome and behaving marvelously- as long as someone is feeding, changing or holding them. At first, Liam and Oliver made noises like little squeak toys when they needed something. Now they make bleating noises like sheep or really unnerving grunting noises like zombies. Ask me about the song I wrote about this new phenomenon- (although my mom disapproves.)
We've had a ton of great visits from relatives and friends: Lauren and Erik come at least twice a week to help out, hold babies and make food; Gammy and Grampa Scherer, Uncle Joe Scherer (minus poor Aunt Katie, and cousins Johnny and Andy due to a bug), Aunt Nancy, Uncle Chris and Aunt Cat, Aunt Lipa, Uncle Keithjones and Chris Perry, Uncle Tony and Aunt Rachel, Uncle Steve, Aunt Lisa and Paige, and tons of neighbors.



Oliver is his father's son. There is nothing gentle about him. He is charming and messy and twitchy and absolutely darling. Liam is a bit less messy, but very noisy and wild eyed. They like being together and Oliver is quite a snuggler with his brother.

My middle name IS Danger after all

What should have been a cursory midnight feeding/diaper change turned into a lovely mustard yellow christening for mom. MMMmmmm. What can you expect when your child's middle name is Danger?

WELCOME IVERS A and B!!!!

They're finally here and clearly some of the finest children ever born (along with the reader, of course.) Liam James (Bond) and Oliver Xavier (Danger) Ivers were born Thursday, October 11, 2007 at 6:46 and 7:06 am. Liam was 4 pounds, 13 ounces and 18 3/4 inches; Oliver was 5 pounds, 5 ounces and 18 1/2 inches. Each is happy and healthy and feeding (and pooping!) like champs.
I was told on Tuesday October 9 at a doctor's appointment that these boys needed to be delivered due to Liam dropping off in weight. Doctors and nurses at Highland Hospital tried valiantly for over 30 hours to induce me, and then out of the blue I needed to deliver. It took less than an hour and was more like a party atmosphere than anything you see in the movies. Chris and Lauren attended the delivery and Aunt Lauren took amazing pictures. Everything was fantastic and uncomplicated.
We had wonderful visitors in the hospital and well wishers from all over the North East calling and sending gifts. Aunt Lauren and Uncle Ick, Gammy Scherer (poor Grampa was sick!), Babcia and Grampy Ivers, Aunt Cat and Uncle Chris Brent, The Gambill Family, Uncle Tony and Aunt Rachel Bailey Jones, Marta and Kaitlynn Frank, and others popped in the hospital to give us flowers, toys and dinner. Thank goodness because hospital food is worse than it is rumored to be.
So far at home, people have made us a ton of dinners and have stopped in to help cook and clean- and to meet the awesome little rugrats. Gammy Scherer is staying with us to help right now, and Grampa Scherer finally was able to visit! I may be biased, but I think these children are darling- even for newborns who usually look like aliens or lizards. Okay, they looked a little like lizards at first, but things have drastically improved. Oliver looks like Fozzy Bear and Liam is a thoughtful and bright eyed little man who looks like a Keebler Elf. Chris and I have not really slept but are still remarkably happy about these two guys.

A Chance of Showers??

Aunt Katie Scherer, Aunt Megan and Aunt Sarah were nice enough to throw us a shower at Gammy Scherer's house in Buffalo at 31 weeks. Aunt Sarah couldn't be there and we missed her. Aunt Megan spent half the shower packing because she left for Forks, Washington, her new home, the next day (good luck Aunt Megan!) But we had a great time with all of Gammy's friends and some of our Buffalo family who were able to attend. We also got to hang out with cousins Johnny and Andy Scherer. Johnny provided constant entertainment- he's a very silly boy- and Andy at three months was already trying to roll over! Incidentally, Aunt Katie, although elusive for photos, has been extremely helpful with pregnancy assistance. She should think of going into business as a pregnancy coach. If any reader is interested in becoming pregnant soon, she should start buttering up to Katie, who enjoys M&M's and massages.












During week 32, Mom went back to work and Grampy Ivers and Dad fixed our broken down, carpenter ant infested, rotten three season room. Unfortunately for these handy studs, the weather was hot and humid. Also quite disturbing for them was that whenever Mom got home from work, she would lay around reading and relaxing within clear view of the work being done. This photo shows the work halfway done. Bravo, gentlemen!









Aunt Lauren and Uncle Erik threw us a shower at 33 weeks. They invited Rochester family and Mom and Dad's friends, all of whom were extraordinarily generous and fun. Uncle Erik, along with some of the other guys cooked a pretty fantastical meal: homemade sundried tomato polenta, poached eggs, and red sauce, all smothered with a delicious hollandaise. MMMMMmmmmmm. We also got fruit tart and a sundae bar for dessert. Shown below are pictures of the guys in their height of disappointment watching the failure of an Eagle's game, and the women clearly having a wonderful time not watching tv. Also shown is one of our very favorite gifts- the ultimate running stroller. This will ensure that our Mom and dog can quickly get into shape while we lounge. Look at Aunt Lauren pretending she's a baby!! Do you think she may have had a few too many Bloody Mary's??




























At 34 weeks, Mom was put on "medical leave" from work. Can you imagine a happier pronouncement? Medical leave should not be confused with "bedrest." She's been able to spend some time with Uncle Chris Brent and Aunt Cat on their boat, get a pedicure, and get our room ready. Doesn't she look overtaxed??








At 35 weeks, we had two very exciting events. The first was a Blessingway, thrown by Mom's yoga kula (community). (Aunt Lauren also came). This is a traditional Native American ceremony when a woman moves from one stage of life to the next. Mom's friend Cami had it on her beautiful property and everyone brought gifts from nature for us boys as a welcome to the world, a bead for Mom which is made into a necklace, blessings for our family, and a gift of service once we're born. It was pretty amazing! This was a very different type of baby shower and our family is very grateful to the kula!


Finally, we had one last shower thrown by the teachers at York Central. Again, our family is blown away by the generosity of our friends and family. Justine Arthur had it on her lovely property, and Marcy, Kathy and MaryJane made great food. We had a blast seeing school friends again and relaxing on a beautiful day.

A Big and Busy Summer for Small and Busy Babies

Babies A and B have been enjoying their summer very much and zipping around to weddings, showers and pig roasts. Their Dad is attempting a last semblance of DINK life and has been partying like it's 1999. (Please do not sing the Prince songs to him, however, as he is prone to wild dancing as those who attended Aunt Lauren's wedding were privy to).
At 26 weeks, the lucky babies traveled to the Catskills to their future Babcia and Grampy's summer camp for a clambake/pork roast weekend. Also visiting were the still single Aunt Lauren and Uncle Erok, and our good friend Keithjones. Mom is still practicing yoga and attached these pictures of pregnant yoga so you all can have a chuckle.




At 28 weeks, Aunt Lauren and Uncle Erik got married!! The wedding was one of the most fun things we as unborn fetuses have ever attended! We spent the whole entire weekend at Sweetbriar, a mansion- turned- spa/yoga center/inn outside of Geneseo. We got to see good friends and family, swim, get a massage, dance and make the maid of honor's dress much bigger than it would have been. Most importantly, we got to stand up for the newly-weds.

Here is the darling ring bearer cousin John Conway, lured along his path with treats, with his dad Uncle Joe and Aunt Megan.

And here is the lovely ceremony. (I'm waiting for a better pic of the bride and groom.) In the background you can see Grampa and Gammy Scherer, along with Aunt Sarah who flew in from Florida.





At 29 weeks, we attended the first shower in honor of us at the Ivers camp in the Catskills. Boy did we ever get spoiled- these people were NICE! Aunt Judy, Aunt Pat and future Babcia Ivers threw a lovely little party on Aunt Judy's front porch overlooking the lake. We were even fortunate to be given two cribs and two infant car seats and loads of other fantastic baby paraphanalia. The Scherer grandparents also came in for the weekend, so when we weren't attending a shower or washing the dog, it was still all fun and games.
Mom, Dad and Poppy relaxing at the lake.

Babcia and Gammy with mom.









Look at this haul!!












At 30 weeks, Dad threw a last hurrah for himself. Aunt Dina and Uncle Harry came in from their new home in Queens and we had a big old party. Aunt Lipa and Chris came in from Binghampton, and Tony and Rachel joined us from their new home in Geneseo, along with Peter and his dog Kayla. You can see Lipa and Rachel modeling the Che onzies Lipa bought for us boys. Vive la revolution!













Now that mom is 30 weeks along with twins, her doctor says her uterus is the size of a full term singleton pregnancy (wowzers!) The babies like to play games such as "swim meet," where they furiously do the butterfly stroke and then a beautiful flip turn, or a game called "kick boxing." Their favorite game is "Alien" where they make mom's belly look like the scene in the original Alien movie- you get the gist. When mom floats in water, the belly looks like a blow hole of a whale now because her belly button has completely popped out. Dad enjoys laughing at the increased level of waddling that mom utilizes to walk properly. Here is a 30 week picture: If you

look hard enough you can see the popped out belly button. Mom plans on returning to work next week, but is worried that she doesn't have enough clothes as her belly is getting unruly.



Here's how dad feels about this whole process:

The Babies' Registry

The babies will be here before we know it and so Chris and Amy have set up a registry at http://www.thethingsiwant.com/amysivers/. We really appreciate our family and friends already being so generous.

How we told Everyone about the boys...

In the attached photograph, note the beautiful spring Buda Hills to the right, the city of Pest on the left, the lovely blue Danube sandwiched in between, and Amy Ivers pointing out two very small stowaways who thoroughly diminished her enjoyment of such typical Central European dishes as sausages, dumplings, goulash and especially beer.

*Note: These two fugitives did nothing whatever to diminish Christopher Ivers' enjoyment of the same typical Central European dishes such as sausages, dumplings, goulash and most especially beer.




In June, after the exciting ultrasound that told us pointedly (no pun intended) the sex of Baby A and Baby B, here are the photos we sent to our family and friends.