Another Doctor Visit

Today I had a visit with the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialist. He was wearing a bow-tie. That's not really relevant, just thought it was interesting. Anyway, the appointment went REALLY well. I got another super-long ultrasound and everything and everyone is nice and healthy. The ultrasound takes forever because there is a ton of stuff they have to take a picture of and sometimes measure and label. I would say they took 50-70 pictures of each baby.

Of concern at this visit was the girls' hearts. They looked fine at the last appointment 8 weeks ago but occasionally they will discover a problem at the second visit even after everything looked fine the first time. The only reason this was a concern was because Steve's family has a history of congenital heart defects. But, as I said, everything looked great.

Things we found out today: we are definitely still having two girls (thank god), Baby B has some hair (don't know about Baby A), Baby A had her butt in her sister's face- not sure what that says about her... Also we found out that Baby A weighs in at 2 pounds and 15 ounces and her little sister, Baby B is at 2 pounds 13 ounces. For those of you adding it up at home, that's almost 6 pounds of baby! No wonder I'm so tired and my tummy feels so heavy. Plus all the other stuff that comes with babies.

The last (and best!) thing that they told me is that my cervix is "a mile long." That means that I am not having any signs of preterm labor. Nothing is dilating or effacing- the doctor feels that I'm still going to be pregnant for a good while. I almost felt like I was wasting his time being so healthy. This is a doctor that sees high-risk pregnant women all day every day. He has to deliver a lot of bad news to a lot of upset parents. I'm sure he is glad to see someone that is so healthy but I kind of felt like I didn't have much reason to be there. Anyway, I was released from his care today and I have a regular OB visit next week! All said, a very good day.

Kickboxing Babies

I'm fairly certain that my girls have discovered the joy of kicking their sister. The sheer amount of activity in my belly the last two days is amazing. I just pull my shirt up and watch and wish I could see what they're doing in there. Sonogram tomorrow with the maternal-fetal doc, guess we'll find out what they're doing in there!

The cutest crib skirt you've ever seen. In your life.

I made this a few days ago and it felt like it took FOREVER! Mostly that involved cutting ribbon and tulle. Thankfully I bought the tulle on a roll (like for weddings) and so I only had to cut it to the appropriate length- not the width too.  If its hard to see- it looks like a tutu!

The light in there was kind of bright so its not actually as neon as it looks. I had been wanting to make a crib skirt for the cribs but nothing was really inspiring me. The one that came with the bedding set was really plain (plus it was $40 which I thought was a bit much) and I wanted to do something fun and cute so this is what I finally came up with. I did lots of searching on the 'net before I finally decided on the tutu skirt and I think this might be an original. Apparently tutus are really popular for little girls (for what? I don't know. Dress-up I guess) and I wanted it to have some color so I added the ribbons.

Tomorrow we are having a (birthday) party so poor Steve is at the store shopping for supplies.  I feel bad for him- he's on shopping duty on top of everything else for the next 10 or so weeks. Although, I hate going to the grocery store so I'm glad to get out of it. Mostly though it stinks not being able to do things for yourself. I feel so bad because I'm at home all of the time and Steve has to go to work every day and then still come home and do housework and take care of me. Its hard losing your independence even if its only for a few months. I can only imagine that it would be so much worse if I was on bedrest. At least I'm allowed to cook if I feel like I can. Or whatever.

My stomach is ridiculous!

If all goes according to plan, I have about 10 more weeks left of pregnancy. I can NOT imagine where 10 more weeks worth of growth is going to go! And my poor tummy is SO itchy! What is that about? I mean, I know its common to have an itchy belly when your pregnant but is mine more itchy because I'm getting so big so fast?

I'm wearing my new "Be nice to me, I'm having twins" shirt. I thought I was getting a black one but I guess I ordered white.

Nesting?

This weekend, Steve and I *suddenly* realized that the babies will be here in somewhere between 6 and 10 or 11 weeks. That's not very much time! To that end, I've been online-shopping and working on some projects to get ready. Saturday night we set up one of the cribs. This one is going in the babies' room- the other one will be in our room but we're not setting it up quite yet.

Steve wasn't real excited about me taking pictures of him working- apparently the screws and the other parts didn't want to stay together and it was frustrating. I just look at it as now he has experience for the next one. The crib is super-cute though as you can see. Just needs a crib-skirt and I have to make those yet. And the curtains. Busy busy. For my next project, I decided that the dresser and the desk/changing table needed more girly hardware. They were just plain metal handles which have been spray-painted pink now! I don't have a before picture.

I don't know how well you can really tell but the handles match the bedding perfectly. And for our last project, I had this plain black shelf that we've had forever and never really used. I'm not even sure where it came from.

Anyway, it is now a cute green shelf (its not as mint-green as it looks in the picture. More of a pistachio).

And now, because this post doesn't have enough pictures already, I will entertain you with my rapidly-expanding belly... Here I am 5 weeks ago at 21 weeks-

And last week at 26 weeks-

And yet somehow, I keep thinking I can't get any bigger. But I do. Steve says it looks like I'm pretending, like I've got a pillow or something underneath my shirt.

Designed For Babies

I recently found out about the website Designed For Babies. They have clothes and stuff for twins, triplets and quads. I recently ordered this shirt- I haven't got it yet but I'm excited. Maybe I'll wear that next time I go to the mall...

I hope that they don't mind- I snatched this picture from their website.  I hope it gets here soon!

Doctor visit

I had (another) doctor's appointment today. I'm at 26 weeks +2 days and everything is right on track. The babies and I are very healthy and the best news (!!!) both babies are head-down! Now if they will just PLEASE stay that way... The doctor said that my belly is measuring as though I was 34 weeks pregnant instead of 26. That's what twins will do to you... Both girls are growing and happily, they are growing at the same speed. All in all a very good checkup. Two weeks from now I have another appointment with the maternal-fetal specialist and the week after that, another checkup with the regular doctor. Add in childbirth classes and visits with the doula and the hospital tour and the breastfeeding class and I feel very busy! I can't wait for the girls to get here!

In other news, Steve is in New Orleans today and tomorrow. His whole class had to go because they're studying a battle that took place there or something.

After my doctor's appointment today I went shopping. I got 4 little board books at Target for $1 each- which is a bargain. Those are usually $5-6. I also got a dress to wear to the baby shower and came to the realization that I am no longer cute-pregnant. I look like a cow now. And dresses really don't help. They make you look so much worse. But I was able to find one for the shower without too much trouble. While I was in Motherhood, I ran into Jamie that lived across the street at the old house. It was good to see her and catch up and let her know where we moved to. She actually is 34 weeks pregnant and I think she might be smaller than me. Not that its a contest or anything. Jamie was a bad influence on me- she had just come from Gymboree and so I decided to go in there and see what they had. I ended up getting two little sleep-and-plays with pink giraffes on them in preemie size. They were on sale so I didn't feel too guilty and I love when I can find two outfits that are similar without being the exact same. They are so adorable and tiny but at the same time, I can't imagine that I have TWO of those in me! Oh boy...

Also while I was shopping today, I was accosted by the old lady who was running the Olan Mills booth in the middle of the mall. She kept telling me how big I was and how I must be due soon. So just to mess with her I told her I wasn't due until October but I didn't tell her it was twins. I thought it was pretty funny until it backfired on me! When I was leaving, she stopped me AGAIN (the gall on this lady...) and made her friend come over and look at me so that they could BOTH tell me that I was too huge to be delivering in October. Wow. Don't people know the only thing you are supposed to say to a pregnant woman is "You look great."

My Daily Doings

I don't have much to do these days other than sit around and grow babies. And while that's fun, its not the most entertaining thing. So I try to find something to do every day besides just clean house (which, I'll be honest, I'm doing less and less of because I can't be on my feet very long).

Today I got an email that some yarn I had purchased wasn't going to be coming after all. I have REALLY been enjoying making things for the girls (expect more pictures to come) but I don't like to make them out of plain boring yarn. I like to find beautiful, soft, one-of-a-kind yarns. And while that's more expensive, I think the end result is worth it. Anyway, I've been ordering some of my yarns from etsy.com which is a place to buy and sell all things handmade. It is truly a marvel. But its kind of like Ebay- all the sellers are individuals. And while some people make their living selling things on Etsy, its not like ordering things from a business. I placed a special order with a girl I'd ordered yarn from before and she assured me that it was no problem. About 3 weeks ago, I started to wonder. It seemed like my yarn should've been at my house already and I hadn't heard from her. So I emailed her and she said that her boyfriend had mailed the package for her and forgot to get delivery confirmation and that it should be there in a few days. Fast forward 2 weeks, the yarn still isn't here and its obviously not coming. She offers to remake the yarn for me and send it out ASAP. Great. Then today I get an email saying that her spinning wheel is broken so she can't make the yarn until she gets a replacement. Well that ruined all my plans and I ended up getting a refund.

The reason I'm telling you all that is to show you what I did today! I had some leftover yarn from what I ordered from her before but I wanted it to be a different color. The leftover yarn was plain white so I knew I could dye it. After a little research, I found out that I could dye it with Kool-Aid. So after spending 80 cents, my yarn is reborn! And its gorgeous if I do say so myself! In the photo its drying on a towel on the patio.

Besides the yarn, the excitement around here is that they're tearing down the house next door.  On Sunday the house looked like this (by the way, this is our old house, not the actual house next door):

And today it looks like this:

Before you know it though, it will look like this (this is our new house):

Isn't our new house adorable? It looks almost just like every other house on our street, but still, its a lot better than what we had. And don't even get me started on how the old place smelled...

Weekend Update

This weekend we had Steve's family here for a visit. They all came in shifts- first Pam on Friday afternoon and then Friday night Chris, Val, Leighton and Jen arrived. Saturday afternoon, Ron and Emily joined us to complete the set. The house was packed but no one had to sleep on the floor and everyone got to see our new house!

I absolutely love our new house and I'm happy to say that it does NOT look like we moved in a week ago. Steve and Ron along with my parents were such good movers. We have pictures on the walls and although not everything has a permanent home, we're getting there! And thankfully, we finally have internet!

While the Harmons were here, we went to the pool, had a Thanksgiving-in-July, played Guitar Hero and Apples to Apples and just hung out. Sunday afternoon I had a little bit of trouble- my heart started racing and I felt like I couldn't breathe. Luckily I had (almost) two nurses in the house. Pam took my blood pressure and my pulse and helped me lay down for a little while. I think she would have preferred to take me to the hospital but we eventually decided I was fine. I just don't have as much breathing room as I'm used to.

We have started to call the twins "The Octopus" because of the crazy way they squirm around in my belly. Its good though because it means they are growing but I feel like I'm running out of room for them. Just to prove it- I'm posting a photo of myself. This is me this past Wednesday- 25 weeks and one day pregnant.

First Blog Post!

February 5, 2010, I found out I was pregnant. On March 8, we found out it was twins! And then on June 2 we found out they were girls! These days all have something in common with our wedding day- it was pouring down rain! We like to say that when something good happens to us, it always happens while its pouring. We could not be more excited to have our baby girls on the way and so we've started this blog to help our families stay in touch with our girls lives! As of today, we are 24 weeks and 2 days along and the girls are wiggling around like crazy!