The next TwinTuesday...

Well, I'm back from my trip to Arizona... but, I'm still trying to collect myself :-p So, not really doing a TwinTuesday today... but I have made the post for the next TwinTuesday (which includes a great giveaway)! Click here to check out the details!

TTTS Awareness Day

Today is " TTTS Awareness Day"... TTTS (or Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome) is a little known (although it affects approximately 1 in every 1000 pregnancies), but very dangerous disease that affects some monozygotic (identical) pregnancies. It is a disease of the placenta, not the babies... but in many, many cases, especially if it goes undiagnosed/untreated, one or both of the babies do not survive (or are left with lifelong medical conditions).

I am incredibly thankful every day that both of my babies not only survived, but are completely healthy, despite their undiagnosed/untreated case of TTTS. However, it was nothing short of a miracle. I meant to do more for this, this year... but at the very least I wanted to take this time to remember how lucky I really am. And that more does need to be done to raise awareness and treament of this disease that makes identical twins an even more rare miracle than they already are...

You can find more about TTTS Awarness Day @ http://worldtttsawarenessday.com

The next TwinTuesday is... in Arizona! :-)

Just wanted to post a quick note... I'm just hours away from heading down to BWI so that I can fly out to Phoenix! Gonna be there for a little over a week so I may not be around much... especially on this upcoming TwinTuesday. But, do feel free to carry on without me and, if you do happen to live in the Phoenix area, please feel free to join me at the First Official TwinTuesday Tweet-Up! :-) (I will be checking e-mail while I'm away so please feel free to still drop me a line at jennifer@twinhappy.com)

Anyway, I'm super nervous... I haven't been on a plane in over 9 years... have never traveled alone... although, I think the thing I'm most nervous about is leaving my girls for this long! They will certainly be well taken care of (have lots of family members taking turns caring for them)... and this is definitely a multi-purpose trip that I needed to take for many different reasons... but I really started to choke up while singing them "Twinkle, twinkle little star" tonight. I know I can call (even video call)... and that I'll be back before long (have promised them that, that's when we're going to set up our Christmas tree, and go see Santa and all)... but, I just didn't want to stop kissing them tonight.

I know I won't be able to stop kissing them when I return...

Well, wish me luck! :-) We're supposed to get our first snow of the season here in MD tomorrow... but it's not supposed to hit until I'm well on my way out to the desert :-p As nervous and heartbroken as I am right now, I'm also SO excited. This is the biggest adventure I've had since having twins! (OK, so nothing tops that, but this is still pretty big :-p)

The next TwinTuesday is December 1, 2009!

Have actually gotten my act together early this week and have already posted this week's TwinTuesday info! :-) And yes, we're back to a full schedule of TwinTuesday activities... including a giveaway!

Click here to check out all the details!

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Had my first parent teacher-conference on Monday... actually pair of parent-teacher conferences, since the girls are in separate classes. Both of their teachers say they're doing fantastic... and, while I've never been one to do the whole competitive thing with how much my babies can do, how early, etc., it was nice to hear that they were impressed with the how much they already knew: They know all their letters, upper and lower case, can count to 20 (and even beyond a bit), know all their shapes and colors...

The only negatives were things I already knew about: how dramatic Josie can be when she doesn't get her way (I don't know WHERE she gets it from :-p Actually, she gets it from both of us, so she's extra dramatic :-p)... and how Anna doesn't like routines to be interrupted... she's always ticking off what order things should go in and all that :-p

One bit of extra cuteness, though: Even though the girls are doing great in separate classes (I still think it was the right decision for them), when they meet up on the playground, they always get so excited and run up to each other, saying "My Anna, my Anna" and "My Josie, my Josie!"