Officially, A Year-And-A-Half Old!!!

Eighteen months ago today, I was scrambling for cell phone service in the lobby of Mt. Sinai Hospital, desperate to call into work to inform them that I would not be coming in for my shift for the foreseeable future. A day earlier, Lidia and I had an appointment with Dr. Thomas to prepare us for the impending births of our twin youngsters, only to be informed that we wouldn't be going home at all and that we'd, quote, "be parents by the morning". It didn't quite play out that way--after checking in pronto to Triage at Mt. Sinai and enduring a frantic all-nighter to induce delivery (featuring more in-and-out characters than a vintage Marx Bros. farce)--the decision was made to resort to the trusty C-section solution. I ventured home briefly to feed the cats and grabs some items for Lidia, and when I returned to the hospital around 10am I was handed scrubs, filled out a kit for cord blood banking, and was told to wait in yet another new room until summoned. At 11:05am, I was hauled into the delivery theatre. At 11: 15, I heard my first scream that would be Carter's way of saying "hello world" (he's stuck with it ever since). I was handed shears and told to cut the cord (something they didn't have us rehearse in our Multiples class). It wasn't so bad, really--thirty years of reading Fangoria magazine had prepared my for the grislier aspects of life, I guess. Two minutes later, along came his brother, Nathaniel, who responded to his new, brightly-lit surroundings with jazz hands and a glorious kick of his leg. I snipped his cord with a bit more confidence...

A year-and-a-half later, these two frail, waxy, purple-hued figures who initially resembled wriggly little space aliens have completely taken over our household and have filled it with laughter and song, and have made an immense impact in the lives of so many, some, like Lidia's father, only had the briefest chance to enjoy their company but who was no doubt transformed and enriched by it, and my own grandmother back home, who has had to wait through some very long periods for visits.

In some ways, it feels like we've been at it forever, but in the grand schemes of things, the adventure is really only beginning. It's hard to believe there was ever a time without them...