abbababy

And by the way...abba is the Hebrew word for "dad" or "daddy." So far, on or about Nov. 5, Morley becomes abba, Tim becomes daddy, Zizi becomes "tati" and Bernard becomes "bana." In addition to the 3 uncles the boys already have, Andrew, Shyam, David are also laying claim to that title, and, in addition to the 2 aunts they have, Shawna also gets that honorific. Let us have your requests and suggestions for your favoured honorifics and appelatives so that we can begin to drill them into babies a and b.

Morley

The beginning of the third trimester, the last big countdown on this amazing journey, is just days away. We've had a lot of company this summer, and we're expecting still more, as a result of which this house is quickly becoming what we hoped it would be -- a place to share with family and with the friends we love so much that they might as well be family. A place to accumulate memories. We've been thinking about what it will mean to the Beiser twins to spend part of their lives here. So far, all we can see are advantages. There are castles to explore, history to relive, safe places to play, two languages to speak, and a whole village waiting to love them. A few days ago, we went on a hike with friends, among whom were Eric and Martine from Paris, their 10 year old son Tristan and a friend of his. At one point, we passed by an open field. Perhaps because Tristan's friend was closer to the ground than the rest of us, he noticed little white things lying on what the rest of us saw as an empty open field. The little white things turned out to be garlic that had apparently been missed during the harvesting, and which, thanks to him, we scooped up and put in our pockets to take home. A little while later, Tristan crouched down in what seemed to be a field of white flowers and declared that they weren't flowers at all, but thousands of little white snails. Tristan opined that the snails had climbed out on the grassy stalks to collect the morning dew and that they'd probably go back down underground as the day got hotter. I don't know whether he's correct or not, but it was certainly a plausible and creative hypothesis. The Beiser twins will not only have the advantage of living in, and learning about two different national cultures, but that they can have the kind of learning experiences about the natural environment that Tristan and his friend were having, and that just don't present themselves in Paris or Toronto. Tim and I know that there are a lot of dirty diapers to change, and a lot of over-the-shoulder burping to do before the boys start to forage for garlic, hypothesize about the lives of snails, or ask for stories about Cathars and French kings, but...what a lot of fun to look forward to.

Morley

This is a little preview of our son "Baby A" from our June 14 ultrasound. The shots proving that he and his fraternal twin brother are indeed boys we'll keep to ourselves. But trust us. We got a couple of really clear shots which leave very little doubt that we're having sons.

As of today, the twins weigh 1.46 lbs or 660 grams each. They're 13.62 inches or 34.6 cm long. Within the next two days, air sacs (alveoli) will begin to develop in the babys' lungs. Breathing is usually possible by the end of Week 24 because some of the alveoli have developed at the ends of the bronchial tubes and the lung issue is well supplied with blood. In addition, the membrane that separates the air sacs from the capillaries is thin enough to allow oxygen - carbon dioxide exchange. Not that we're keeping track of such things.

Timothy