Happy Anniversary, Babe!

It's been three years since that amazing day.
And they just keep getting better and better.

Yesterday Greg came home with a beautiful orchid for me.

Tonight we're going out for a romantic dinner date, perhaps our last for a long while so I plan to savor every minute of it.

I love you, my shumma!

Bump Progress: 31 Weeks

Me and the belly - wow...


It's hard to believe I still have about 5 to 7 weeks of expansion ahead. People keep telling me that This is nothing. And Just you wait. You're going to get sooooo much bigger.

And to that I say, UGH!


Let's see. What's new?

1. Sitings of my ankle bones have been few and far between for the last two weeks. The swelling has begun in earnest. My big, roomy flip flops are even betraying me, leaving strap indentations in my feet.
2. I might need to invest in a back brace. They make these things now that are similar to what weight lifters wear to support all that extra tonnage. I think 40 - yes, FORTY - extra pounds of baby weight qualifies.
   
3. That extra 40 lbs is killing my feet too. Maybe I can convince Greg to start giving me foot rubs. (Ahem, hint, hint...)
   
4. Ok, enough winge-ing, as my husband would say... Focusing on the good now... Still loving the belly acrobatics. Every now and then my bump will jump so violently that I can't understand how Greg didn't catch it from across the room. It's still a thrill to see those bounces & little alien movements just under the surface.
5. We had another ultrasound last week. At that point, 7 lbs & 6 oz of my 40 were baby! They're growing about an ounce per day, which would mean that today I've probably got 8 lbs & 2 oz of baby on the inside. Holy crap! Can I call 'uncle' yet? I know the answer is NO, but I like to fantasize. Greg and I are convinced that we're going to have a couple of 7-pounders on our hands by the end. C-section is sounding better and better...
   
6. At my doctor's meeting last week, my OB told me that she was "very impressed" with my "very strong" cervix. Probably the weirdest compliment I've ever received. But maybe also the most important, I guess. It means these babies have been behaving and staying put so far. Let's hope they stay that way.

Next week I'll be 32 weeks pregnant, which is a very significant milestone to hit. The prognosis for premature babies born at that point is very encouraging. But if my she-beast cervix holds out like it has been, no worries about that even being a prospect.

Guest/Boys' Bathroom Fancification

When we bought 3.5 years ago, this was quite possibly the ugliest room in the entire house. It's the upstairs guest bathroom though so it didn't warrant much attention. Until now. This is right next to the nursery and will be the boys' bathroom so it was time to make some much-needed improvements.

The bathroom before...

Please note the ugly vinyl flooring that was cut & coming up in places.

And the f-ugly wallpaper that was also peeling.

I hate these monster panes of mirror that are just stuck to the walls.
Oh, yes, and the lovely showgirl lights. Blech.

Work in progress...

Greg killed himself removing all of the wallpaper, spackling over the tears, sanding and priming. That's when I came in to help paint. We chose a very light grayish blue that I love.
(Pssst... Don't tell my nurse I did this. OR my mom!)

Greg deciphering the instructions for installing our new, low-flow toilet.

Bathroom Prettified...

Greg replaced the shower head with a water-efficient sprayer with hose, the better to reach the babies with. He also installed the new toilet we got from Austin's free toilet replacement program. Instead of using 3.5 gallons of water per flush, this one only uses 1.3 gallons. We wanted to test it out before we used the program to replace our other two toilets but so far so good. I think we're going to do it.

We hired Floor Centers of Texas to come in and not only install wood floors in the office, hallway and stairs, but they also installed these beautiful porcelain tiles. No more vinyl! Yay!

The paint job.
And Greg also replaced the towel rack, TP holder and little hand towel rack.

Greg removed the big ugly mirror & installed this medicine cabinet for more storage of baby crap. We also got an electrician in to replace the light fixture.

Ok, so that's pretty and all. But this room is going to be for our babies! We needed to cutesy it up a bit.

Bathroom Babified...

New adorable fishy shower curtain & bath mat.

And cute accessories! A night light, toothbrush holder and soap dispenser. The fishes move in a circle around the dispenser.

I could die of the cuteness!

All the new fishy stuff is compliments of my very generous and very stubborn mom. She's having a great time being grandma already. :)

Thanks, Mom!!

Girly Baby Shower

This time there were no boys allowed. :)

My lovely friend Katie hosted a baby shower for me on Saturday. It was great. I got to see lots of girlies that I don't get to see very often, including my mom. The spread was delicious - mimosas for the lucky ones who can indulge in such things (I'm not jealous at all...), and quiches, fruit & pastries.

We played the game where you have to measure the preggo's girth. Yeah. I have no idea so I guessed an astonishing 62". Not even close, thank goodness. If you're curious, Lauren got it right on the nose at 46". I'm really curious how much more I'll expand in the next weeks. Scary!

Then it was pressy time.

Mom, me & Alisha

Tons of sweet cards, most of which with penciled in corrections to make them twin-appropriate. :)

Beth, Janice & Heather, tying knots on a few baby blankets.
Apparently they love that - the babies, not Beth & Janice. :)

Lauren & Caroline, looking cute and thin (damn them!)

Ooh, feel these blankets!

Heather & Katie had to feel too

Surrounded by presents!
It was amazing. These babies are almost completely kitted out.
I really can't believe how generous everyone was (AGAIN!).

And I had to add a picture of the cake.
The bakery perfectly matched it to Katie's shower invitations.
So cute and very tasty!

Mom and I spent much of Sunday sorting through and washing all of the absolutely adorable clothes, blankies, booties, mittens, pacifiers, and various baby gear with much ooh'ing and ahh'ing. We had a grand ol' time doing it.

But Lani's favorite is definitely the swing. Ha ha!

My New Mommy Mobile!

I kinda love it! Correction, I really love it!!

This is our brand new 2009 Subaru Outback. It's got a lot more power than my baby Geo Prizm. So much so that I was speeding along I-35 on the way home without realizing it. In my Geo, I didn't really need to look at the speedometer. I could pretty much tell how fast I was going by the sounds of the groaning motor. Not so much with this car.

I'm also amazed by all the stuff... When I got the Geo back in 1997, nothing came standard, except maybe power steering. Air conditioning was an add-on. With the Subaru, I get power locks and windows - what a concept- and cruise control, an alarm system, CD player, Ipod jack, what else... I don't even know. I'm drunk with the add-ons. :)

Poor Greg is so very, very jealous because this is primarily my car since I'll be with the boys for a while. But he's promised to pay me back one day by buying himself a super-sweet midlife-crisis car. I don't think he's joking.

Anyway, we both love it, and I can already tell life will be much easier with this car once those two little babes are here. Hallelujah for that!

Eskimo Kisses

I <3 Visitors

One of my favorite people in the whole world came to visit last week.

Shelley, the kitties & me

Next week my mom comes into town to see her first grandbabies still incubating and do all kinds of fun grandma stuff. WooHoo!

Our First Baby Shower

Greg works at this great company, full of young, happy people. And a few of the girls wanted to throw us a baby shower. So nice!

I headed up there today for the potluck lunch to find their break room decked out in blue everything - table clothes, balloons, streamers, confetti. It was pretty cool.

Me with the hostesses, Dilek, Lauren & Rebecca

Look at this uber-cute spread! There was so much food. This is just a small section of it.

Admiring Rebecca's cake-making skillz

Seriously. Take a look at this thing! She made everything herself, including these super-cute fondant duckies & umbrellas. I'm so impressed!

And this diaper cake was made by the girl friend of one of Greg's co-workers. She's due to pop with their little girl on Friday. Not only is it adorable, but it is chock-full of all kinds of little goodies.

Peeps, enjoying their food. It was delish!

Greg and I with our hostesses!

(psst - Rebecca, the one in red, has lost 105 pounds using Weight Watchers. One hundred and five pounds! Doesn't she look fabulous!)

It was so much fun & I am so touched by everyone's generosity. They pooled money & Lauren spent two hours at Babies R Us last night decking us out with both of our infant car seats, a changing pad, many crib sheets, burp clothes, and tons of nursery thingies. Plus, there's still a gift card left over. It's just so generous & thoughtful that I don't even know what to say.

THANK YOU, EVERYONE!!!

So... I Think We Just Bought a New Car...

A 2009 Subaru Outback!

Right now we both drive little sedans, and when I say little, I'm talking about my baby 1995 Geo Prizm.

::sigh::

I love that car. I really do. It has been so good to me and has withstood my particular brand of vehicular neglect like a true champ. It's 14 years old with a cracked windshield, hail damage and slightly peeling paint. And I still love that car. It probably has a good 100K miles in it if I wanted to give it a shot.

But the simple fact of the matter is that even if I managed to fit two car seats in the back seat and not kill my back schlepping two babies in and out of there multiple times a day, there's no way I'd be able to fit all the accompanying crap that two babies require. Just a double stroller alone would involve an open trunk, lots of rope, and much praying. Ghetto-tastic! So we came to the realization that it's time to upgrade.

Right away Greg wanted the Outback. Fine, but I thought we should also check out other options as well. So through much painful pleading and debate, I finally convinced him to also give the Toyota RAV4 and the Honda CRV a shot. Greg is adamantly, vehemently, pig-headedly anti-SUV so you better believe that was a struggle! But I broke him down to at least consider the other two options.

Our plan was to test drive them all this week-end and then sit on it for a few weeks while we made decisions and haggled prices. Well, we test drove both a manual and an automatic Subaru. Then we hit Toyota for the RAV4. Next we had a horrible experience with the salesperson at the Round Rock Honda dealership. If you're ever there, and a gruff woman named Sophia starts talking to you, RUN AWAY. She was a nightmare! Greg and I are still pissed about it. I want to write a complaint letter to the sales manager, but I just don't know if anyone would care... Whatever.

Anyway, I personally had a slight preference for the RAV4, but not enough to make up for a $3,000+ difference in price. Greg's been on the phone all day with both Toyota and Subaru. Poor Toyota just can't compete with Subaru's cash back and 2.9% financing right now so we're done. Our "three week wait" turned into a 3-day wait. Easy as that!

We sign all the paperwork on Thursday morning, and I get to drive away with my brand new mommy mobile! I've never owned a new car in my life! I have to admit I'm excited, guys!

Gratuitous Belly Shot

Every now and then Greg is so taken aback by my girth that he insists that I pose for a belly shot. This is me at 27 weeks and 5 days (on April 4th). Things are starting to get uncomfortable.

I now live in those Old Navy maternity skirts.

Learnin' New Stuff

We're off to our first birthing class tonight.

Greg is convinced that we'll be one of the oldest couples in the room. We'll soon see...

Doin' Good

I don't know about you, but I pretty much hated high school. Couldn't wait to get the hell out of there & have never looked back. There are only a few people I still keep in touch with from those traumatizing years. One is my friend Zeph, who is all kinds of awesome. He works up in New Jersey for the National Education Association, advocating for teachers. Local boy done good.

Last summer Zeph got hitched to a lovely girl called Myisha. And Myisha was recently on CNN, as a representative of the Black AIDS Institute, to discuss the shockingly high rates of HIV infection and AIDS in the D.C. area. Check it out:



It's a little silly because I don't really know Myisha, but I feel proud. :)

More Pregnancy News

I took the dreaded glucose tolerance test this morning at my doc's office. It consists of throwing back a small bottle of a super-sweet drink that wasn't nearly as disgusting as everyone makes it out to be. I was expecting thick, syrupy stuff, like Gu that I used to occasionally eat when I was training for my marathons. That stuff always made me gag. Glucola is just like Kool-aid with an extra punch of sugar added. No big deal. I highly recommend the fruit punch flavor.

I was told to eat my regular breakfast, take the drink & then haul ass to my OB's office to have a blood draw exactly an hour later. My multiples nurse, however, advised me to eat a protein-rich breaky, and I'm so glad she did. They like to see numbers under 140, and mine was 111. Yay! No 3-hour test or gestational diabetes for me!

I've also determined that the scales at my perinatologists' office are evil. According to my home scale and the one in my OB's office, I've now gained 35 (THIRTY FIVE?!?!) pounds in this pregnancy. At my peri's office, it says I've gained 39! Not cool, guys. Not cool.

Got a quick glimpse of the babes. Right Baby has flipped again so he's now breech. Tease. According to my doc, he could keep flipping to his heart's content for a while because they still have lots of room in there. How that is possible in my huge, tight belly, I have NO earthly idea. Left Baby probably won't flip because he's sitting a bit lower and is more wedged in spot. I think he's just stubborn, like me, and refuses to lose his first place in line. He's not about to give his brother the chance to sneak in there. If Left Baby stays where he is, he'll be the oldest by a few minutes. :)

From now on, I'll be seeing my OB every 2 weeks instead of every 4. I'm not complaining because I like the fact that I'm being checked out often and get progress reports to say everything's a-okay, but man, I've had LOTS of doctor & nurse appointments in this pregnancy. I already see my nurse every Tuesday. Now I'll be seeing my OB every other Wednesday. And I see my peri every 4 weeks but that might become more frequent too. That translates to almost 2 pregnancy appointments every week. Wow...

At least I can rest assured that if anything starts going downhill, I'll know about it quickly. But so far so good. All my docs are happy. The babies are happy. It's just mama that's starting to feel like poo. But it's a small price to pay if it means the boys are healthy. (Stop whining, Larisa!)

Miscommunication

The kitties are very confused.

I'm writing at home & the boys are very active so I thought I'd pull up my shirt & catch the show for a while. It's awesome. I keep seeing bumps pop up on my belly. And once I saw a bump move from my left side, all the way to the right.

As I'm sitting here, laughing and talking to my belly, both kitties come running up and stare at me. I don't think they understand that I'm not talking to them. It's also 4:30, an hour before dinner time, so they are begging and bugging the crap out of me. Maybe they took my talking to be their cue that they're about to be fed. Sorry, kitties. One more hour.

In the meantime I'm going to sit here and jostle my belly a bit more. This is so cool.

Dissertating

This is what a miserable grad student looks like.

Please note the aforementioned double chin...

Bump Progress: 27 Weeks

It has been TWO months since I last posted a bump picture. You'd think that since this is my first (and probably last) pregnancy that I'd have a whole series of weekly photos to document the entire process. But then you'd be wrong.

As you can see there has been significant progress in the bump expansion department. But I feel the picture above doesn't adequately capture the magnitude of the beach ball that is my belly.

So how about some nekkkkid pictures?! :)


And here is where I freak out my friends who haven't been pregnant...


See that dark line that's traveling down the middle of my belly? Don't panic! That's the linea nigra, another one of the weird perks of pregnancy hormones. It goes away (or so I've been promised) after the babies arrive. I have a really bizarro one that sometimes looks like there's also a bruise around my belly button. Normal but not as common.

No stretch marks yet. (Thank you, thank you, thank you) My mom never got any in the course of having 3 BIG babies so I'm hoping I'm in the clear on that one. No swelling yet - unless you count my chubby cheeks. (I was referring the ones on my face, not my booty, but I guess that applies as well.) I gain weight like a damn chipmunk so one of the first things I get is a fat face. In fact, I've recently seen evidence of a double chin. Lovely.

I've since gotten used to maneuvering my body. No more crushing the babies by bending over because I forget the bump is there. There's no forgetting this puppy anymore! Since the weather's warmed up, I'm on a strictly flip-flop shoe regime so Greg's been spared from helping me dress in the mornings. I can still roll myself over in bed, but the movement must be accompanied by a grunt or two. Good thing Greg's a heavy sleeper.

One of the very cool things I've noticed this week is the fact that my belly MOVES! I mean, if the boys are kicking, especially Left Baby - he's definitely more squirmy than his brother, I can sit back, look at my belly and actually see my skin bounce from all the kicks & punches & rolls! It really is amazing. And I'm loving every minute of it.


p.s. In case you were wondering, my 27-week belly is the equivalent size of a singleton mom's 34-week belly! That's almost FULL TERM, people! And we still have a long way to go. I'm going to need a crane to move myself around by end of this...

Camera Shy

Another Ultrasound: Week 27

Yesterday Greg and I got to see the babies again. Have I mentioned before how much I looooove my monthly ultrasounds? :)

They're both head down now, which is a bit surprising given my possible bicornuate uterus problem. Until now they've always been in the opposite orientation. And because of this, I've always taken it for granted that I'll need a c-section. However, if they're both head down by delivery time, I could actually try a regular birth - something I hadn't really considered until now. Hmmm... Maybe I should be looking into those breathing classes after all...

Anyway, they're both doing so well! One is 2 lb, 8 oz and the other is 2 lb, 7 oz. They're actually measuring about a week ahead of schedule - and that's by singleton standards! Cheryl, our ultrasound tech, said this was wonderful news because there could be some growth restrictions later on down the road when things get REALLY tight so this way they have a little bit of a head start. I don't know - Greg and I suspect we're going to have two 7-pounders on our hands by the end of it.

Anyway, on to the good stuff...

Both babies' heads - they're conspiring and telling secrets.


Left Baby, who is still in pole position, gave us a wave...


...and a quick profile shot.


While Right Baby was posing for a while so we could get a good look at his face.



I swear I saw him blink! I just read that's a new trick they're learning in this week of their development. My babies gots skillz!

So the excellent news is that if (heaven forbid) I were to go into early labor right now, the boys' lungs are almost mature enough to be okay. They'd definitely spend some time (at least a month!) in the NICU, but their prognosis would be good. Of course, I'm hoping to make it at least to week 36, but it's very reassuring to know that with each developmental milestone that they're getting closer and closer to having a healthy start.

Grow, babies, grow!