Category Archives: Rebecca

Proust Questionnaire

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I had to fill out the Proust Questionnaire for a feature in this month’s Moms Club newsletter. And since I just got the father-son camping photos edited and into gallery, I thought I’d go ahead and share my answers for this blog.

Houston & Daddy swim in the lake @ Hanging Rock.

What is your idea of perfect happiness? Hanging out at a comfy backwoods locale with my hubby and the boys. We’ve already done a good hike and set up the site. All that remains is devouring our campfire-cooked feast and relaxing under the stars.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Being a yeller. I grew up in a house of yellers, so refraining from that learned behavior takes constant work. I usually succeed, but when I fail, I feel horrible.

What is your greatest extravagance? Getting an occasional full-body massage.

What do you dislike most about your appearance? My weight. Raising 3 boys, I’m probably stronger than I’ve ever been, but unfortunately, all my muscles are cloaked under a big layer of flab.

What is your greatest regret? I’m not really a regrets kind of person. I feel like learning and growing from my mistakes has made me a better person, wife and mother.

Father & son maneuver the water via canoe.

Which talent would you most like to have? Being able to live happily and healthily on 4 hours of sleep a night.

What is your current state of mind? Positive.

If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be? I suppose I would come back as the cat of a doting pet owner. That way, I could snooze my days away and party at night — similar to college, but without the exams and debt.

What is your most treasured possession? My pictures: three-decades’ worth of 35 mm memories housed in photo albums and more recent moments of time captured and living digitally on CD or in iPhoto.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? The loss of a child.

Where would you like to live? In the mountains, especially at an altitude where the temp never gets above 85 degrees.

This boy is ready for a hike!

What is your favorite occupation? Freelance writer or blogger, where I get paid to pen my thoughts at my leisure and for an exorbitant amount of money.

What is the quality you most like in a man? Self-reliance.

What is the quality you most like in a woman? Same.

What do you most value in your friends? Honesty.

Who are your favorite writers? I don’t have any particular favorites, but I am a nonfiction junkie with a penchant for biographies and political tomes.

Who are your heroes in real life? People who stand up for their principles when the particular position is unpopular.

Waterfalls: the perfect way to cool off from a hike.

What is it that you most dislike? Deception veiled as truth … and drivers who tailgate.

How would you like to die? Any way God wants me to (preferably something quick) and hopefully at a point that I’ve gotten see my boys grow up, get married and get tortured by, I mean, enjoy kids of their own.

What is your motto? One day at a time.

Click the top photo to check out Part 1 pics from Westover’s father-son camping trip, which took place in August. And click the above photo to see Part 2.

A Lil’ Time for Rebecca

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Right now I am in Richmond enjoying a long solo weekend — no kids, no housework, no play dates, no doctors appointments — just me in my hometown, relaxing and hangin’ with family.

April kicked off with rampant sickness, minus Daddy, who must have the constitution of a super-hero. Last weekend was really rough for me, as an ill mother finds it nearly impossible to tend to her motherly and household duties. Daddy tried his to pick up the slack and even took that Monday off from work, but it was still a struggle for us all.

Clan Dillingham in all of its glory.

As if his super-dad performance from that trying weekend weren’t enough, Stephen insisted that I take a break from Clan Dillingham and get some-needed R&R to regain my strength in mind, body and soul. Thanks for the mini-vacation, Beeler … hope you and the 3 Amigos are delighting in your boys-only weekend!

Cough containment, vamoose vomiting

Last month, Zeke underwent an allergy test of 50 skin pricks and, thankfully, has no allergies. However, he has been diagnosed with cough-variant asthma. Luckily, Zeke’s new oral Rx is working wonders and the poor kid hasn’t had to use an inhaler or a nebulizer. If all goes well, he will just stick to his yummy-tasting nighttime meds and eventually outgrow the condition — not a rare thing for kids to do, says the asthma doc.

Z-bird had what we hope to be his final appointment with his gastro-intestinal specialist. The doc and I agreed that it is time to take Zeke off the Prevacid to see if his acid reflux is gone. Today was his first day without the meds and the doc says it takes a while to get it out of your system, but Daddy and I are optimistic that Zeke has outgrown the condition.

 Our mad hatter Zeke is a lover of all headwear.

“Baby bobble” banished

Now that Zeke’s cough is under control and everyone is getting a good night’s sleep again, we did the cold-turkey approach and took Gabriel’s baby bottle away for good. Tomorrow will be two weeks that he has been without his sleepy-time comfort item. The transition hasn’t been easy for the G-man, but he has handled it like a champ!

Next bad habit to tackle? Kickin’ Zeke’s thumb-sucking, which will undoubtedly be a bit more challenging.

Swinging solo, biking boldly

Houston can now swing all by himself. Although he needs a little push start get going, Houston has mastered the technique through lots of practice and can confidently keep up with bigger kids.

Just this week, Houston also made huge strides bike riding. He’s still a bit wobbly and unsure of himself, but Houston can now handle the peddling, braking and steering without assistance, and even made it all the way around the block yesterday morning.

The boys have some rainy-day fun in their cool fort.

Next physical feat for big bro? Learning how to swim. I was going to teach him myself, but I think it’ll be more effective for him (not to mention much easier for me) to learn from someone other than Mommy. He starts swim lessons at the Y next month.

The terrible twos x2

It was difficult enough when Houston was going through this stage, but the dynamic duo of Gabriel and Zeke are certainly a formidable foe some days. Luckily, these occasional bouts of double trouble are usually followed by expanses of pretty-darn-good behavior.

And then there’s triple-trouble, like the afternoon that Gabriel hurled an unopened soup can into Zeke’s forehead, Zeke dumped out two full bowls of cat food and proceeded to eat some of it, and then Houston and Gabe stole all of my clothes pins and scattered them in their outdoor fort. What a crazy day.

Other stuff

Our little chatter boxes Gabriel and Zeke are making awesome progress with Miss Pat. They are right on track.

Houston helped Zeke master the seesaw just this week. I’m sure Gabriel will soon follow suit.

Gabe doesn’t like cake, doughnuts or ice cream cones. He does like ice cream straight up in a bowl and plenty of other sweets, like juice, candy, popsicles and chocolate. Weird, huh?!

Gabriel does like some sweet stuff, like dippin’ sticks.

We moved Houston’s bed into the twins’ room, since he was sleeping in there every night anyway. The dudes love being together and we love having our computer out of the bedroom and into Houston’s old room.

“What did you learn about tonight?” we asked Houston after Adventure Club at church. “Oh, somebody dying.” Priceless.

Some recent activities: Matthew’s Thomas-themed birthday party at a bounce place; checking out cool critters at the Natural Science Center with Haylie and Savannah; and neighborhood fun, including trampoline jumping, fighting light saber battles, and toasting s’mores and hot dogs ’round a backyard campfire.

Happy belated 33rd birthday, Daddy. We love you!

Charitable giving

Being that April is Multiples Awareness Month, GMOM is having a spring fundraiser. If you are interested in buying bulbs or seeds for your garden, please consider supporting our group.

Darth Dillingham fights bad guys … or is he on the dark side?!

And don’t forget to contribute to the Clan Dillingham team for the March For Babies. We would like to thank the following people for their donations: Stephen’s co-workers and pals Melanie, Sandra, Carol and Linda; Uncle Tommy and Granny; Miss Lorrie and even an international donation from Becky and Steve in Switzerland!

Click the top pic to see re-shoots of fam photos from September and check out a couple basketball re-shoots of Houston (note how much taller he is than the other 3 year olds). Click the above pic to view March – part 1 photos and Zeke to check out part 2.

Greetings From the Hospital

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Gabriel and Zeke are doing great, especially considering all that they’ve been through. They are well taken care of in the NICU, where the RNs, nurse practitioners and neonatologists are extremely judicious when choosing a course of action for preemies. When a baby shows any sign that he or she might be in distress, the err on the side of caution.

As of my last visit to see the boys a few hours ago, Gabriel was still breathing freely on his own, but Zeke had been put back on his CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) in order to help him achieve more fluid breathing. They still have IVs and are being fed what the nurses call “meat and potatoes” — liquid form proteins, carbs and fatty acids. The doc says that Gabriel can probably start having real food via IV later today. I think that means the colostrum (also known as “natures first food” and “immune milk,” and referred to as “liquid gold” by the lactation consultants around here) I’ve pumped thus far, supplemented with preemie formula.

It takes about two weeks for moms to really start producing large amounts of regular breast milk, so I have to pump every three hours to help my milk come in. Once I can hold the babies, I’ll start practicing breastfeeding with them, really just mimicking the process, since they will still be too small and weak to latch on. That way, they’ll be ready for the real thing once their big and strong enough to get the milk on their own.

Yeah, not being able to hold my beautiful boys is torture, especially since the human touch is known to be a relaxing and stabilizing thing for newborns. Once I get the okay from the NICU folk, I’ll be allowed to do “kangaroo care” — just having Gabriel and Zeke lay on my chest and feel the warmth and security of their mama through skin-to-skin contact. I’ve been told that I might be allowed to hold Gabriel tonight, but not Zeke, since all that moving around could compromise his CPAP and monitors.

The boys look like skinny little dolls, with long bodies and big feet and hands. (Note: Even though Zeke weighed 5 ounces more at birth, he is an inch shorter than Gabriel; they are 16″ and 17″ respectively.) They have especially large big toes, just like Houston, and look like miniature versions of their big brother. Although, they’re identical, I can already tell them apart by the shapes of their heads and their cute noses and lips. You’ll get to judge for yourself, though, ’cause Stephen plans on downloading all the pics from my camera and putting them up on the site tomorrow (hopefully), so keep an eye out for those.

Another interesting tidbit is that Zeke was “born in the caul,” which means when Dr. Stringer took him out of me, Zeke was still wrapped in the amniotic sac. It’s harmless since the sac is still intact. Therefore, Zeke didn’t gasp for his first breath of air till the caul had been ruptured and removed. It’s a rare thing, occurring in only 1 in 1,000 births. Moreover, being a “caulbearer” was considered a sign of good luck in medieval times; as the legend goes, it was thought to be an omen that the child was destined for greatness.

It’s as if Gabriel and Zeke are always defying the odds, from being identical twins, to sharing a placenta, to getting TTTS, to pulling through fetoscopic laser surgery, to making it well beyond what anybody thought they would gestationally, and now a darn caul. I have a feeling that this is just the beginning of my boys causing trouble, especially when led by big-brother Houston … here’s to the Three Amigos!

Another factoid is that Dr. Stringer and his c-section team “oohed” and “aahed” over what my placenta looked like post-laser surgery. Apparently, the ablated vascular connections were pretty darn freaky looking, evoking childlike wonder in the OR personnel. It’s a weird feeling to have all these medical professionals so excited by something that had previously been inside of me. I told Dr. Stringer he could have the placenta, if he wanted it obstetric study or posterity. Not sure if he took me up on that or not.

P.S. For those of you who were wondering, the quote that began Stephen’s 10/15 blog can be attributed to Sgt. Apone from the 1986 blockbuster “Aliens.” My sci-fi-loving hubby says that it’s the best line from film.