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This journal is about raising identical twins.Fifty Seventh Month
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Saturday, Apr 6, 2002 (4y+8m)
The twins are now four and a third year old today.Daddy spent the morning cleaning the rain gutters around the house. The gutters have not been cleaned for 10 years and they are clogged with rotten leaves, sands and mud.
We spent the rest of the weekend dealing with contractors for our home-remodeling projects. The twins were not very cooperative, though they played on their own most of the time, they occasionally ran to us to disrupt us.
Joanne wore her bunny ears wherever she went.
Sunday, Apr 7, 2002 (4y+8m+1d)
We dropped off the twins at Aunt Tina's place. Grandma Ling and grandpa also visited Aunt Tina. Grandma took the twins to the park nearby. We went out with Aunt June and grandpa to talk about our remodeling project at our new home. We also shopped and ordered some carpeting. The twins complained that we promised to come back soon, but we were gone for a long time.
Monday, Apr 8, 2002 (4y+8m+2d)
Mommy had an appointment with the carpet man for measurement at our new home. We had to wake up the twins early so they would go with mommy.Mommy took Joanne to the doctor office to see the result of her TB skin test. The doctor said Joanne tested positive. We were puzzled because Jasmine was tested negative and they both were exposed to the same environment. It means that Joanne was exposed to the TB bacteria. Further test was required to see if she was infected. Everyone in the house also needs to take the skin test. Mommy took her to take a chest X-ray right away. The result came back negative, which means that she did not have the TB diseases and she was not contagious. She can go back to school as usual.
The doctor prescribed the Isoniazid (INH) treatment for Joanne, which requires taking medication for 9 months. The treatment is optional because the chest X-ray indicates that she did not have active TB diseases. The latent form of TB will not spread to others unless it turned into active TB diseases. We have to keep watching out for any symptoms.
We are still doing research to decide if we want Joanne to go ahead with the treatment. People reacted positive to the skin test may NEVER develop active TB diseases in their life time. The medication may have serious side effects, such as liver damage. Once the treatment is started, it cannot be stopped because the bacteria may become drug resistant. We just couldn't imagine how Joanne would have the discipline to take the medication for 9 months.
The twins returned to school as usual after a weeklong spring break. The first day of each week is sharing day. Mommy asked Joanne if she wanted to show her bunny ears. She said she didn't want to because she was afraid people would laugh at her bunny ears because it was no longer Easter.
Joanne had been a crybaby all week. She cried whenever something was not to her liking. Mommy never yields to nagging and whining, so Joanne crying is mostly fruitless. I asked mommy to watch for other symptoms because kids are irritable if they are not feeling well, but don't know how to tell.
Tuesday, Apr 9, 2002 (4y+8m+3d)
Mommy had an appointment with a painter for a quote at our new home. Mommy brought the twins along. It was not a problem for them because they loved going to the new home.They went to school as usual in the afternoon.
Wednesday, Apr 10, 2002 (4y+8m+4d)
We had a meeting with the remodeling company in the early morning to talk about the design and changes. The twins watched video in the waiting room while we talked to the designer. After the meeting, daddy returned to work, mommy had a doctor appointment and the twins followed along.Mommy hired the painters to paint two rooms in our new home so that we can move in before the remodeling work is completed. The remodeling company estimated the project would last three to four months. It would be too costly for us to pay mortgage for two houses during the remodeling project. We would sell our current home as soon as the required repair work is completed.
The painting job finished in half a day. Mommy was quite satisfied with the result, though daddy had not seen it yet. Mommy told the twins not to touch the wall because the paint was still wet. As all curious kids would do, they had to touch the paint just because you told them not to.
Since we all got up very early in the morning, the twins were very tired and fell asleep around school time. Mommy decided to let them cut class again because the sleepy kids wouldn't learn much in school anyway. She took them to the community center within walking distance. They watched other kids taking dance class there. Mommy said this facility was better than the place the twins were going for dance class currently.
Thursday, Apr 11, 2002 (4y+8m+5d)
The twins went to school as usual.
Friday, Apr 12, 2002 (4y+8m+6d)
We are in the process of getting the house for sales. The twins stayed home because mommy needed to wait for the termite inspector.The twins went to school as usual.
Saturday, Apr 13, 2002 (4y+8m+7d)
The twins woke up very early in the morning. In the late morning, we went to great grandpa's grave with mommy's family. It is around Chinese Ching Ming festival. It is a tradition to visit ancestor's grave. Joanne was not behaving well. She kept saying she is tired. She nagged daddy to carry her so she could sleep on my shoulder. We went to a restaurant for lunch. Joanne returned normal and ran around the place with Jasmine and Cousin Matthew.The twins were invited to a birthday party. But due to time conflict with the visit to great grandpa's grave, we declined the invitation. The twins were not happy with mommy's decision and said they would go on their own. When asked how they would get there, they said they could ride their bicycles there.
In the past two weeks, whenever mommy went to our new home, she packed a load of stuffs in the minivan. Gradually, we reduced the clutter in our old home. Our real estate agent has also asked us to tidy up the home a bit for better showing.
When we were loading the car with stuffs in the afternoon, the twins played on the driveway with their water pistols. Joanne said our car was too dirty, so she took a sponge and some detergent and smeared the dirt around. We moved several big items which mommy couldn't move during the weekdays.
Jasmine fell asleep on our way there. We left her sleeping in the car in the garage. When daddy assembled some shelves, Joanne rode her tricycle around the garage and made a lot of noise. We asked her to keep quiet and not to disturb Jasmine's sleep, but she didn't listen. Joanne was not very considerate about Jasmine.
After Jasmine woke up, we went to Home Depot to buy some locks and shopped of a skylight for our new home. We had an early dinner before returning to the house to replace the locks.
Before we left, we chatted with our neighbor from across the street. His daughter is called Yasmine attending 3rd grade, so she is around 9 or 10 years old. The twins got acquainted with Yasmine right away and screamed in joy when they played hide and seek. I told Jasmine that Yasmine's name is same as hers, though the two are spelled and pronounced differently, both came from the same Persian origin.
Sunday, Apr 14, 2002 (4y+8m+8d)
In the morning, we disassembled the twins' slide and packed them into the minivan. The twins were very involved and actually moved some of the smaller pieces for us.We went to Melinda's place around lunchtime. It was Alan's 4th Birthday party. The twins were so familiar with Alan's toys that they just felt right at home. They didn't eat much for lunch but both had a big piece of the birthday cake.
When we got to the new home, Joanne nagged for a nap, so we let her sleep in the family room. Daddy and Jasmine reassembled the slide in the living room; Jasmine wiped clean the pieces for daddy; Joanne heard the activity and cut short her nap to help. They loved the empty living room because they can run round the slide without any obstruction.
Hing and Lucy visited us and we took the kids to the park just two blocks away. Jasmine rode her tricycle; Joanne and Terence rode on the wagon pulled by daddy. We had dinner together afterwards. During dinner, both twins nagged for a nap again because she didn't have a good nap in the afternoon. We tried our best to keep them up during dinner. They fell asleep in the car as soon as left the restaurant. We let them sleep couple of hour before waking them up for a shower. They got quite dirty from the birthday party and the playground in the park. Mommy couldn't let them get in bed with the dirt on them. We sent them back to bed after the shower. The twins were so tired that they fell asleep right away.
Monday, Apr 15, 2002 (4y+8m+9d)
Since the twins went to bed early last night, they got up at 6:30am in the morning. They spent the morning playing inside their room. When they came to us, we found their hands and feet as cold as ice. They dove into our bed to get warm.We have hired a contractor to do minor repairs to our home before we put it on market for sale. The twins cooperated as long as we let them watch their favorite cartoons.
They went to school as usual in the afternoon.
Tuesday, Apr 16, 2002 (4y+8m+10d)
The contractors were still doing repair today. The work should be completed tomorrow. The twins went to school as usual in the afternoon.
Wednesday, Apr 17, 2002 (4y+8m+11d)
The contractors stopped repair work today because of rain. The work needed to be postponed till next week. The twins went to school as usual in the afternoon.
Thursday, Apr 18, 2002 (4y+8m+12d)
The weather is fine today. Mommy was able to get the contractor return to the job. The repair work finished today. The twins went to school as usual in the afternoon.
Friday, Apr 19, 2002 (4y+8m+13d)
Mommy hired a carpet cleaning service to clean the carpet. It was a windy day, the carpet man said it was a perfect day for carpet cleaning because the carpet would dry faster. It took two hours to clean the carpet. Before he left, the neighbor already came to grab him for another job next door. Our real estate agent sent in a property inspector to get a report ready for the sale of the house.The twins went to school as usual in the afternoon.
Saturday, Apr 20, 2002 (4y+8m+14d)
We handed over the key to our house to the real estate agent for an open house in the afternoon.Daddy helped Grandma Chui to move to her own apartment. The twins helped moving some light items. Before we reached the destination, Joanne had fallen asleep. Jasmine satisfied her curiosity about grandma's new apartment.
After the move, we rushed to our new home for chimney sweeping. The chimney man took over two hours to clean two chimneys. The twins entertained themselves by drawing and playing with each other. Mommy took off to attend a tea party threw by one of the moms in her support group.
After the chimney man left, the twins nagged for some bubble gums. Daddy took them to the mall to get some since they have behaved well during the chimney sweeping. Joanne complained that she didn't get to see grandma's apartment. I told her she was asleep when Jasmine went for the visit. Joanne said she was not asleep, she just closed her eyes. Daddy knew better because I heard her snoring.
We went from the mall to grandma's apartment to satisfy Joanne's curiosity. We then return home to pick up mommy for dinner. We went out with grandma and Aunt Elaine for a nice dinner to celebrate grandma's new home.
We sent the twins to bed early because they played hard today. Our agent called us, he said the 3 hour open house in the afternoon was fruitful. We got one offer at full asking price. The buyer was well qualified with very little contingencies. We accepted the offer and jokingly said the agent made easy money in just 3 hours.
Sunday, Apr 21, 2002 (4y+8m+15d)
We cancelled the second day of open house because we already accepted the offer after the first day.We went out to lunch with Lucy and Terence. Hing worked overtime, so Lucy was alone with Terence. After lunch, we went to the Cherry Blossom festival at the memorial park in Cupertino. It was like a regular arts and crafts bazaar. Very little vendors were really selling Japanese products. There was not much Japanese festival atmosphere. We lost interest really fast and let the kids played in the playground for awhile before we parted our way.
We went to Target to buy some gifts. Bonnie and CW came to our new home to visit us. Since we have not moved in yet, the house was practically empty. The kids had a great time running around with no obstacles. The kids played so rough that Deanna left a finger nail scratch on Addison's face right between the two eyebrows. When Addison's eyeglasses fell on the floor, Jasmine stepped on it by accident and broke it into half. We immediate went out Wal*mart to get it repaired, but the optical department was closed when we got there. We then proceeded to the restaurant and had dinner with CW's family. After dinner, we returned to our new home and celebrated Deanna's 8th birthday. She already celebrated her birthday in advance yesterday with couple of her close friends. Since today was her real birthday, we sang birthday song and cut the cake again for her.
On our way back to our old home, the twins were very tired. But we were able to keep them awake by asking them a lot of questions and asked them to sing along with the radio. When we got home, we immediately gave them a shower and put them in bed. They fell asleep immediately.
Monday, Apr 22, 2002 (4y+8m+16d)
Joanne woke up with a runny nose and a very bad tantrum. Mommy worried that she would pass her sickness to Jasmine if she didn't get well soon. Usually, we just let the twins pass their germs to each other like ping pong balls. But this week was special because we were preparing Jasmine for her eye surgery on Thursday. If she gets sick, the surgery must be rescheduled. In order to let the twins rest well and reduce their exposure to germs in their school, Mommy decided to let the twins skip school for the whole week.Mommy had an appointment with a roofer for a quote at the new home. After the appointment, they went to a kitchen appliance showroom to check out the choices. Then they all returned home for a good rest.
Tuesday, Apr 23, 2002 (4y+8m+17d)
The twins skipped school in preparation for Jasmine's surgery. They all go a good rest at home.Joanne's nose has stopped running. She still got a lot of booger in her nose, but she refused to blow her nose as instructed by daddy. Jasmine finished her dinner quickly; Joanne took almost 2 hours to finish hers. She kept nagging for daddy to feed her, but daddy told her she was not a baby anymore.
The twins performed a dance to daddy and mommy in the evening. All our videotapes were already moved to the new home, I was not able to tape the performance.
Wednesday, Apr 24, 2002 (4y+8m+18d)
The twins skipped school in preparation for Jasmine's surgery tomorrow. They all took a good rest at home.
Thursday, Apr 25, 2002 (4y+8m+19d)
Today is the big day for Jasmine's eye surgery. Daddy has taken two days off from work per the doctor's recommendation.We took the twins to the surgery center early in the morning. We told Jasmine in the past few days that the doctor would fix her cross-eyes. She had no idea what was involved. We didn't want her to be nervous. She just handled it like other doctor visits.
When it was time, the nurse gave her a small cup of drink to relax her. She was drowsy within 10 minutes. When the nurse carried her to the operation room, she was smiling and almost asleep.
Joanne and we stayed in the waiting room for the next hour or so. The doctor said the surgery took about 40 minutes. She said it went very well. I asked her how soon we would know the effectiveness of the operation. She said it all depends on how Jasmine's brain adjusts to the new alignment. It may take a few weeks to see the effect.
Joanne told mommy that she heard Jasmine crying despite the recovery room was quite far from the waiting room. The nurse didn't send us into the recovery room before Jasmine woke up. By the time we stepped in the room, Jasmine was screaming and crying. She was struggling to get out of bed like an injured animal. Her eyes were swollen from the operation. She could hardly open her eyes. She grabbed and climbed all over daddy with the IV tube still attached to her hand. She wouldn't calm down. The nurse suggested mommy to sit on the sofa to hold Jasmine on her lap. Jasmine calmed down and woke up crying several times in mommy's embrace. The nurse said it was normal reaction when Jasmine woke up from anaesthesia because she was confused.
Joanne sat quietly on daddy's lap. She whispered in daddy's ear saying she was scared to see Jasmine like that. Daddy reassured Joanne that Jasmine would recover soon. I told her that she could not bully Jasmine during her recovery. Joanne promised she would be nice to Jasmine. We stayed in the recovery room for about 30 minutes when the nurse checked on Jasmine several times and went over how to take care of Jasmine at home. The nurse said Jasmine could resume her normal activities as soon as she feel like it. She can eat anything she wanted but we should not push too much because the after effect of anaesthesia might make her vomit. She only needs to avoid swimming for the next week or so. She can return to school as soon as Monday. Despite the nurse said Jasmine was doing fine, it was still very upsetting for us to see Jasmine in pain.
When we got home, we encouraged Jasmine to take her naps several times. She got very good rest on her own bed. She woke up couple of times complaining about discomfort in the eyes despite the Tynanol she took. She wanted Kleenex tissues to wipe her tears and then she pressed the tissues over her eyebrows until she fell asleep again. Daddy massaged her forehead and she liked it.
By mid afternoon, she still refused to open her eyes but she was asking for food. She had a big appetite because she had been fasting since 8pm last night in preparation for the surgery. Mommy gave her some Jell-O and she gulped it down faster than mommy could feed her. By dinnertime, she ate a lot and was happy again. At least she laughed when she watched TV. She continued to cover her right eye with a piece of tissue while she watched TV. When we asked her if she was in pain, she replied no. We could tell from her facial expression that she still had discomfort occasionally. The doctor said Jasmine might see double vision in the first few days that would explain why she covered one eye. She was still reluctant to let mommy put the eye drops in her eyes. When we reminded her that Joanne was brave to take the eye drops when she had her sty, Jasmine tried to be brave too.
Jasmine and daddy switched bed. Mommy slept with Jasmine and daddy slept in Jasmine bed next to Joanne. Mommy didn't get a good sleep because Jasmine slept too much in the afternoon and she was tossing and turning all night. Joanne and daddy slept rather well except Joanne asked daddy to turn on the music at 4 o'clock in the morning.
Friday, Apr 26, 2002 (4y+8m+20d)
Jasmine woke up and opened both her eyes. She watched TV on bed with no complaint. I sneaked next to the TV and observed her eye positions when she was concentrating at the TV program. The inside corners of both her eyes are still deep red with blood from the operation. Her cross-eyes condition was much improved from before, but they still looked a bit different from Joanne's normal position. We asked about pain, she said none. She still had good appetite. By noon, she was already jumping on bed with Joanne. We had to stop her from the exercise. Mommy and Jasmine stayed home all day long.Daddy took Joanne back to school in the afternoon. The twins had skipped school since Monday in preparation for this eye surgery. Joanne got back a stack of homework after a four days hiatus. Jasmine got right on the homework as soon as she saw them, more enthusiastic than Joanne did.
Jasmine and daddy switched bed again.
Saturday, Apr 27, 2002 (4y+8m+21d)
Jasmine returned to normal after two days of rest. Her eyes were still red at the inside corners.The twins were restless at home. So we took them to an appliance store. They watched cartoon in a conference room while we talked to the salesman. We picked some kitchen appliances for our remodeling project.
We dined out with Aunt June. June came to our place to use the Internet because her connection at home was down. The twins initially was unwilling to share the computer, but they were easily distracted.
Jasmine was so much back to normal that Joanne had already forgotten her promises not to bully Jasmine. We had to warn Joanne several times not to make Jasmine cry because that might hurt her eyes. Mommy asked Jasmine if she wanted to sleep in her own bed. She said yes without hesitation.
Sunday, Apr 28, 2002 (4y+8m+22d)
We went out to lunch with Grandma Chui. Both twins had very good appetite. We made a quick stop at our new home after lunch. Jasmine hopped on her bicycle right away. They also did some painting before we left. Jasmine was no difference from before except her red eyes.They returned home for their afternoon naps when daddy went out to shop for some parts for home repairs. When I came back, the twins were awake and fighting for the computer pen as usual. With daddy's intervention, Joanne had to yield to Jasmine because Joanne promised to be good to her during Jasmine's recovery.
Jasmine was not bothered by her eyes anymore. She was more used to taking the eye drops than a few days ago.
Monday, Apr 29, 2002 (4y+8m+23d)
The twins went to school in the afternoon. Mommy asked Jasmine to refrain from playing rough in the playground. Mommy watched over them during recess.
Tuesday, Apr 30, 2002 (4y+8m+24d)
The twins went to school as usual.I asked Jasmine if she feel pain or itchiness in her eyes. She said no. Her eyes are still pinkish red near the inside corners. Much improvement over the past few days.
Wednesday, May 1, 2002 (4y+8m+25d)
The twins didn't go to school because of Jasmine's doctor appointment.Mommy took Jasmine to the eye doctor for a follow-up check. The doctor said Jasmine eyes look straight now. Her vision is 20/50. She said her previous eyeglass prescription used far-sighted lens to relax her eye muscles, which was not appropriate lens for her vision. The lens might have forced her eyes to adapt differently and resulted in imperfect vision. Jasmine needs to wear the glass until next visit and the doctor may need to adjust the prescription then.
Thursday, May 2, 2002 (4y+8m+26d)
The twins went to school as usual.
Friday, May 3, 2002 (4y+8m+27d)
Mommy took Joanne to take a blood test. The Health department recommends Joanne to take the INH treatment for her positive TB skin test even though her chest X-ray came out negative. The doctor believed it was not really necessary despite the Health Department's recommendation. She prescribed a blood test for Joanne to see if the INH treatment would be harmful to her liver. Various doctors had different opinions about the INH treatment. My own doctor said INH is toxic to the liver, it should not be taken unless absolutely necessary.The twins went to school as usual.
Saturday, May 4, 2002 (4y+8m+28d)
We had lunch with Sunnie and Michelle's families. They were high school buddies of mommy. Michelle's Aaron is almost two years old. Sunnie is expecting a son in June. We went to the Great Mall after lunch. Joanne nagged daddy to carry her because she was tired. Instead of dealing with a whining baby, I decided to take the twins home. Mommy stayed with her friends. I asked Joanne to take a nap when we got home, but she said she was not tired anymore. In my opinion, she was just too lazy to walk; she was not really tired.Mommy and friends came home after their round at the mall. The moms sat and chatted till dinnertime. Aaron ran around the house and Simon was after him wherever he went. The twins didn't play with two year old Aaron. However, Aaron loved to hug and kiss the twins. We joked that Aaron must have inherited his fondness of girls from his father Simon. Instead of taking the kids out to dinner, everyone agreed that we should just buy take-out from Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Sunday, May 5, 2002 (4y+8m+29d)
We went to Kristen's birthday party at a gymnasium. The kids got to hop around an obstacle course. The kids particularly loved the trampoline and the rings, which were used as a swing. When it was time for the birthday party, the kids didn't want to leave the gym. They had pizza as lunch and cut the birthday cake in the party room. Kristen's party theme was butterflies. One of our gifts to Kristen was a bathrobe with butterfly patterns. It was a coincident.We paid a visit to Grandma Chui. We then went out for an early mother's day dinner. We will be moving to our new house next week. So we might not have time to celebrate mother's day next week.
After the gym session in the morning, both twins were very tired around dinnertime. Jasmine was willing to stay awake for dinner per our request, but Joanne refused to eat. We put a few chairs together and let her sleep next to our table. When I carried her back to the car after dinner, she woke up briefly and asked why we didn't eat. I let her eat the left over food when we got home. She picked all the good stuffs and stopped. She said she would finish the rest only if I spoon-fed her. She had good appetite and finished the whole box.
Monday, May 6, 2002 (4y+9m)
The twins are 4 year and 9 month old today.
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started on May 7, 2002