babbys

Is anyone out there getting tired of ultrasound pictures? Too bad, I'm still going to show them to you. Because they're my babies, dang it! They're in my belly but I can still see them! That's too neat.

This time, we have only one picture, repeated twice. It's of Baby B:

21 weeks!

He's looking straight at us in this picture. His head's slightly tilted in the middle, forehead on the right and dark eye spots on the top and bottom.

Baby A had his face hidden the whole time. Shy little feller. But the two boys had their heads right up next to each other- they're already scheming! I'm done for!

They were moving a whole heck of a lot, so it took them a while to complete all the measurements. I too can attest that they've been very fidgety- it's so wonderful to feel them moving all the time. Now they kick and punch in series, rather than the random jab I used to notice. That makes it a lot easier for Sean to run over and feel their movement because they keep doing it over and over!

They're still looking great on weight, no signs at all of twin-to-twin transfusion. They weigh a pound each! Keep it up, boys!


And now, a question:
We've been trying to figure out all the stuff we need to buy, such as a stroller. I had originally wanted a travel system, for the ease of transporting them out of the stroller in a car seat. But... I can't find a double stroller travel system anywhere. All I could find are some strollers that accept infant car seats, meaning I'd have to buy the stroller and two infant car seats seperately. But apparently babes grow out of infant car seats in 3 to 6 months, so regular car seats will need to be purchased as well. So my question is this: Are infant car seats worth it? Should I buy the stroller, the two infant car seats, and the two "older child" car seats (am I right that "convertible car seats" are the only options?)? I have a feeling I know what people are going to say, but I thought I'd still ask. Give me thine knowledge so that I may judge!


Finally, I'll leave you with this text message that my sweet 6 year old niece sent to me several months ago:

" Hi tell me wen your babbys are out of your tummy"

:-)

Da mamas and da papas and da birfdays

I just love having my parents come visit. Because even though I still have to work and clean and cook, I feel like I'm on vacation. And I have these trippy, conflicting states of being- feeling like an adult as I host them in my home and discuss kids and the future and adult type things, but at the same time they'll go buy me a donut if I drop the hint, just like they would when I was five. How can I feel like a grown-up and a kid at the same time?

Enough of this existentialism junk, lemme tell you what we did when they came this last week.

A lot of the time, we just stayed home and talked and ate and played games. Mom and dad rebonded with Pogo, who gobbled up their company. Sean told them about med school and showed them this:

Yes Ma'am, that's a real human skull. Didn't know you had springs built into your head, didja?

Mom retaught me how to sew. Though I only practiced on an old T-shirt. But my friend Angela just gave me some scraps! Now I have lots things to try!

Sean also showed off his new kitchen knife and his beautifully precise tomato slicing:

I tell ya, I haven't cut a thing since I bought Sean this knife. Best present I ever gave.

It came in handy when we made tomato-basil pizza (I linked to a "sort of" recipe but if you want the pizza crust recipe, you'll have to get the Pioneer Woman Cookbook- worth it), though was unnecessary when making baked fudge. But both were Deeee-lectable! MmmMmm!

My parents also bought me my first pair of stretchy maternity pants. No, I will not be sharing a picture with you, thankyouverymuch. Most of my pants can still fit, they just sit really low and drag on the ground more than usual. So now I have something that fits properly. It's weird, though, having that elastic around my belly. It takes getting used to.

And the very most adult-ish thing we did was... looking at houses! My dear husband and I are very much thinking of purchasing our very own home. I've got to say, it's a lot of fun looking at houses and talking with a realtor. The idea of having our own space, a backyard, room to move around after doubling our family size, freedom to do what we want to the walls- I'm all a'tingle! I'll keep you posted as things develop.

We also spent some fun time all together with my brother and his family. We spent Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the park, playing and eating. Nothing better.

Sean took some fun photos:

She was having fun diggin' in the dirt. Easy to please.

He's always doing the thumbs up thing. I guess there's nothing wrong with being so positive, is there?

Pogo sure loved being outside so long- beats being couped up in our apartment.

Sean was the day's entertainment, both in juggling and facial expression. Let me display their parallel digression:

Looking good- juggler holding steady, a face of sheer concentration.

Uh oh, Sean, tighten up that form, get back in the game!

Alas, all is lost. Limbs flailing all over the place; it seems to make Sean almost sick. I feel your pain, honey.


That's okay, no one was looking:

"Hmm? Sean did what now?"

"I want to find more dirt!"


Oops, it looks like Darren and Niki saw and were terribly disappointed, so they stormed off:

Can you storm off while holding hands?

Ha, just kidding, everyone thought Sean was funny, because he is. Fooled you, didn't I?


And to top off the whole week, it was my birthday! I think I am now undeniably old... 25! A whole quarter century! I've come a long way these 25 years, learning to walk and talk and all. I even found a perfect boy and fell in love. I guess I'll spend the next quarter century having that boy's kids, teaching them to walk and talk. How the world goes round. Speaking of babies, here's what I looked like on my special day:

Coming along quite nicely don't you think?

I spent my birthday looking at houses, going out to eat at Kona Grill ('twas our first time and I quite liked it), walking around the mall because that's my idea of fun (window shopping and people watching, ah, that's the life), experiencing my first instance of a stranger rubbing my belly and giving me motherhood advice for 10 minutes, and fell in love all over again with that boy named Sean. It was a perfect day.

And a perfect week with my parents- thanks, wonderful family, for being so wonderful!

Ultrasound Mania

Do you remember those zoo pictures I promised? The ones you've been anticipating for over a month? You ready to see them?

Well... you'll have to keep waiting. Haven't touched them yet. Maybe my next post.

But I DID have another ultrasound. Two actually. Just a week apart. They're supposed to be two weeks between but the holidays messed it up. I don't mind seeing them so frequently though. It's lovely that I don't have to take it on faith that my little boys (my little boys!) are doing okay in there.

So here's some pictures!

At a gestational age of 18.5 weeks:

I think A was always looking at the probe so we couldn't get a nice profile picture. So instead we see an alien face propping his chin on his hand. He's already practicing for all the pictures I'll be taking.

Hey buddy!

Come on, readers, wave back! It's only polite.

Aw, precious baby B!

At a gestational age of 19.5 weeks:

A's in a The Thinker pose. Can you make out the almost-profile? The tip of the nose is just about smack dab in the center, then to the right there's a dark shadow of the eye. I think.

B's in the same head orientation, though a bit smudgier and zoomed in. Dude's got a big nose. His parents don't exactly have dainty schnozes, so genetics aren't on his side.

Like Sean mentioned in the last post, I'm now confident that I'm feeling these boys kick. Or maybe they're punching, from the orientation they're in. When Sean felt that first one on Sunday, ah, his face was so bright and happy! It was like a father-son high five.

And I know I look like a dope, but I had to document the day when Sean first interacted with his child- so here I am at 19 weeks!

Baby Ninjas

I felt my babies today! I'm so excited! We were sitting in Sunday school when Katie turned to me and whispered, "I think I just felt the babies move!" I put my hand on her belly and almost immediately felt a little jab under my hand. I had to resist the urge to jump up and shout the news to the entire class! They seem a lot more real now, especially with Katie growing every day!

Also, I saw this comic yesterday and thought it was cute. XKCD is the most awesome webcomic.

-Sean

Christmas '09 + Advice

18 weeks along. It's so weird that this is a picture of me.

First, a little Christmas round-up:

• Sean and I had a fantastic time with his family. Thanks, Bradleys, for always providing great fun and togetherness.
• I realized how quickly my skin has adapted to this humid Texas air. I used a hecka lot of lotion while out West. My lips are still recovering.
• I got a lovely cold just after Christmas. Holy cow, did that make the return flight miserable. Actually, just the descent. One ear popped just fine but the other... ow ow ow! It didn't pop until the morning. Pain.
• Sooo many people told me I didn't look big enough to have twins and/or to be as far along as I was. I don't know what they're talking about, I feel huge.
• I didn't take any pictures besides the wedding and the hazy SLC temple. I think all the wedding photo editing put me in picture overload.
• Sean bought me a sewing machine! Given the fact that I'm pretty sure I haven't used one since I was in middle school, I need to practice. Anyone know of any good, simple sewing projects to start out with?
• My favorite gift given was a Vincent Van Gogh action figure to Sean's mom (the art teacher), complete with interchangeable heads (the more aged head is missing its ear)! It got even better after we opened the package to discover that the head shoots off the body. Hours of fun!
• It was kind of nice to be around mounds of snow. And really nice to leave it.
• We saw Avatar- it was pretty cool. Compelling story, amazing CGI, lots of action. Katie officially recommends it.
• This isn't really a part of Christmas, but it was during Sean's winter break, so I'll count it. After we returned home, Sean spent some time in the hospital helping to deliver babies! He scrubbed in for two C-sections (and didn't even feel faint! Atta boy!) and thought he might help with a twin delivery but they didn't come before Sean's shift was over. Wouldn't that have been cool? Sean loved the opportunity!

And now, I need to ask some pregnancy advice:

1. I'm having trouble gaining weight. I do not say this to brag because I'm supposed to be gaining weight like gangbusters right now and I've only put on a few. I can beef up just fine when I'm not pregnant but now, it's a struggle. Has anyone had similar problems? Are there certain foods you ate that helped you gain weight? Any certain eating habits that let you pack on the pounds?
2. I'm not sure how to tell if I've felt these babies move. Sure, I've felt weird wurgly sensations but I don't know if I can differentiate normal GI tract movement from baby movement. And yes, I know that all too soon it'll be painfully obvious when they kick and roll, but in the mean time, how do I tell?

*I just wanted to point out that when taking pictures of the Haze in the last post, Sean and I were snapping pictures back and forth so those photographs could have easily been taken by my dear, handsome, talented hubby. That is all.