32?! Seriously?!

Doo doo doo doo doo, today is my birthday!
Doo doo doo doo doo, happy birthday to me!
And all that Beatles stuff...

Ok, so I have to admit something. At first when I realized that last year was probably my last totally drunken birthday in a good long while, I was a little sad. I know. I know. Good things are in my not-too-distant future, but I assume it's only natural to mourn the passing of your past life when you're about to embark on big change. Mommyhood must be the mother of all big change so I think I should be forgiven for a momentary bout of sadness. But it was only momentary. All in all, I can't wait to start 32!

So back to this year's birthday. It was really pretty fantastic! Greg arranged a dinner last night with a few friends at Hyde Park Bar & Grill, a restaurant I had always heard such raves about and really wanted to try. The meal was delicious. Being preggo, I didn't feel even slightly guilty about devouring my chicken-fried steak - bonus! And I must say once again that I feel so incredibly lucky to be surrounded by such great friends here in Austin. I wish I could give them all a big, wet, sloppy kiss! But they might not want to be my friends if I did that on a regular basis so most of the time, I refrain.

Then today I was spoiled again. First came the bouquet - so pretty!


And then Greg prepared what is probably my most favorite meal in his repertoire - goat cheese salad and sauteed sea scallops. So yummy!


He also got me a full-length body pillow - just what every girl with a burgeoning belly desires.And I'm also getting an as-yet-to-be-chosen laptop computer. Yay! I just need to pick out what I want, and I will finally be mobile, something bound to come in handy if I should happen to be forced into bedrest and once the babies are here.

My husband... What can I say? At least I can give him big, wet, sloppy smooches...

What's In Mah Belly?

Would you look at that mid-section bulge! Could it be way too much turkey and stuffing from the holidays? A little over-indulgence on the Christmas puddings?

Well, yes... It's all of that.


BUT it's also BABY! Or more specifically, BABIES!

I'm pregnant! With twin boys!

Chances are that if you know me, this is old news. But I'm officially outing myself on the blog so in case you hadn't heard, SURPRISE!

Frequently asked questions:

1. How far along are you? Today I am 16 weeks and 6 days pregnant, well into the 2nd trimester.
2. Has it been awful? Actually, I've been amazingly lucky. No real morning sickness, only occasional nausea when I don't eat enough. The only real symptom I've suffered from is some pretty heavy-duty exhaustion. Greg has been an absolute super star about taking care of me & indulging in my every little craving. It's been awesome.
   
3. When are you due? Officially, I'm due June 29th. But twins tend to come about 4 weeks early so more realistically we're expecting to meet the little ones in late May to mid-June.
   
4. Are the boys identical or fraternal? There is a small chance that they could be identical, but it's much more likely that they're fraternal. We'll find out for sure (hopefully) at birth.
   
5. Do twins run in your families? Nope. I was on Clomid, a fertility drug that comes with a 7% higher chance of having multiples. Luckily for us, it worked on the first try. Really, really well...
   
6. Have you picked out names yet? Sorta. We've picked middle names. First names have been much more difficult. But we're keeping them top secret until the boys arrive. Sorry, Charlie.
   
7. Are you seriously posting a picture of yourself in your pj's for all the world to see? I'm not going to lie. It's Sunday, and there's a very high probability that I will remain in my pj's for many hours to come. And I'm comfortable with that.

So there you have it. Now you understand why I've been silent so long on this blog. I've been obsessed with pregnancy & babies but not able to talk about it. That's also why we're planning on fixing up the upstairs bedroom from the post below. It'll be our nursery.

Lots of good stuff happening in the near future. Stay tuned for more updates!

Big Plans

Apologies once again for a long blogging hiatus, which wasn't really a hiatus so much as a top secret mission. But more on that later...

For right now, I wanted to show you our new rug!

It was more than we wanted to pay, but it went with the rooms - dining, kitchen & living room - so beautifully. And after months and months of searching with no luck, we decided to go for it. Then, of course, the kitties started digging in their claws... Lesson learned. No more pricey rugs, no matter how pretty or perfect they might seem! Oh well...

So now our downstairs is (almost) completely finished. Time to move upstairs and on to the next project!

This bedroom has functioned as simply a catch-all for our mismatched, crappy college furniture. It's functional as a basic guest bedroom, but perhaps it's time to give it a little TLC.

The south wall - the door to the room is just down a short hall on the left.

The west and north walls with the two windows in the corner
(click on the picture to see the whole thing)

And the east wall with the closet and the short hall to the door

So I've got some ideas thanks entirely to the help of the lovely McGee. Greg and I hope to make serious progress and have the grand unveiling soon. We are in for a busy couple of months!