Preggernaut Thoughts

**I intended for this post to go up last Friday. See #11 for the reason for the delay. So any day/time references are based off of a Friday context. You may now continue onto the post!**

Behold, the 29.5 week belly! Yes, I’m 30 weeks now but I haven’t been able to post for a while because of internet annoyances. Such a tragedy when technology fails you. So, I have lots of little things to mention, plus my old college roomie, Jenna, tagged me to share (at least) 10 truths about myself. So without further ado, here are this preggernaut lady’s current thoughts:

1. 
   
   My bump didn’t become wildly obvious until I was about 20 weeks along but I’ve grown to be full term size by 30 weeks. So that means I’ve ballooned out in 10 weeks to what women normally take 20 weeks to achieve. My skin will never be the same.



2. I got a nice little zit back in December. It’s now the end of March and that mark is STILL HERE. Just a happy red bump sitting next to my chin and not properly disappearing with makeup, let alone all the stinking zit cream I put on the little bugger. It’s driving me crazy!



3. Ever since we walked to and from the rodeo, I’ve felt exhausted. I failed to consider that after walking to the entrance of the parking lot, I then had to walk to the stadium, a pretty distant length. And then all the way back. Less than smart. My lower spine angrily protested and I guess that’s just the way it’ll be for the next while.



4. It’s funny the comments people make to me. I’m in the camp that thinks you should never EVER ask anyone if they’re having twins. Because, dude, who wants to hear that if you’re only having one. So while I always respond happily because it is exciting that I’m having twins, I also want to whack the back of their heads and ask what they’re thinking!



5. I’m not one to seek out the spotlight but this belly pretty well creates a tractor beam for everyone’s eyes. I’m always a spectacle for the crowd of people waiting for the elevator as I take my bihourly trip to the bathroom (alright, that’s a slight overestimate… but not by much). I suppose I don’t mind too much, I do it too after all, but I do wonder what they’re thinking about. Especially when I walk to meet Sean for lunch through his primarily student-filled building- I see a whole lot of surprised faces.



6. Speaking of bathrooms, twice now I’ve seen doctors (my lab is part of a hospital) use a bathroom stall and NOT. WASH. HER. HANDS. Seriously, who goes to med school and doesn’t understand the importance of hand washing?!



7. All the doors in my work building are super heavy. I have to use all my body weight to do the job. Not made with expectant mothers in mind.



8. Moving’s hard when pregnant. I mean, it’s nice that I don’t have to work up a sweat, I suppose. But I also can’t really help do much packing or organizing or anything. Doing too much easily brings on a serious of Braxton Hicks. Moving is a stressful thing for me and the only way to soothe that stress is to get in there and work. Which I can’t do, so I just sit there and stress.



9. Our refrigerator was installed yesterday, hurray! But the fridge beeps when the doors open too long and it totally freaks Pogo out. Now any time we open the refrigerator door, Pogo frets and hides. She spent most of yesterday shaking. Poor pooch!



10. Sean and I have been wondering why “refrigerator” does not have the letter D but “fridge” does. Curious. Very curious.



11. AT&T internet support is super d.u.m.b. They were supposed to switch our internet over on Tuesday but couldn’t because some part was broken. We didn’t find this out until five calls later and only at that point did they schedule someone to come fix the problem. Which meant the earliest they could come is this coming Monday. I’ve had internet at work to subside me during the week but what am I going to do without it over the weekend? Aiy aiy aiy.



12. Woah, there’s some construction going on outside and just now there was a noise that was exactly like the howl type sound the Smoke Monster makes from Lost. Creeeeeepy.



13. Speaking of, wasn’t the last episode fantastic? It was a great story with lots of info. And I have a heightened respect for Nestor Carbonell’s acting.



14. Oh yeah, I got a haircut. It’s basically just shorter, about shoulder length. I’m still deciding how much I like it.



15. The other day, Sean was trying to tell me that he was “wildly in love” with me. But then, while speaking, he decide to describe it as “madly.” Of course, his brain merged the two and what came out was, “I mildly love you.” Back at ya, hon. J

This little house of mine

I'm ready to let it shine! Per some requests, let me do a little show and tell about our most recent (and most expensive... mm, except Sean's med school education) acquisition.

It's a patio home so the set up of all the surrounding homes is kind of weird and our front entrance isn't the most obvious or grandiose.

I don't really mind- all the better to stave off the soliciters! But maybe I we ought to add a little sumpin' sumpin' to make it stand out. Any ideas?

You know what's great? No walls connecting to homes of people who enjoy yelling matches and have the cops called on them to break up the many domestic disturbances. Joy!

There's beautiful hardwood floors in the living room/dining room and hall. Ha, you should see Pogo slide back and forth as she chases her ball. There's a fireplace that I'm SURE we'll use daily. The walls all have a nice non-white paint coat that will work just fine for all the places we decide not to paint. The windows are super huge and let it lots of light!

Oh yeah, for some reason I decided not to turn the lights on. Let's say I was being more environmentally conscious. Yeah, woo earth!

Such a pretty kitchen! With tile floors and backsplash! The stove and dishwasher are brand spankin' new, to boot! I think the walls need a little color though, don't you think?

It's a three bedroom house- I know, master bedroom, kids' room, AND an office/spare bedroom. Talk about spacious! Ohhh, I'm so excited to finally be able to decorate for the boys. Right now, I'm thinking a slate blue wall, I think that'd look so good with the white trim and dark wood furniture. But we're still in the planning stages.

There's two bathrooms, just like our apartment, but, ah, they're so much bigger. See that counterspace? That brings me glory. No longer will Sean have to crane over me to try and do his tie while I take up the whole mirror putting on my makeup, or whatnot. Space is highly underrated.

And we get a garage! And you know what else goes in that garage? Yes, cars, but something else too. A washer and dryer! Our very own laundry! No more quarters, no more broken machines that eat my money and leave my clothes soapy and wet, no more saving up for a big load of laundry to maximize our money's worth.

Can you hear them? The choir of angels? I think they're singing the hallelujah chorus. I think I'm in heaven.

Can you imagine having to do coin-operated laundry with twin infants? Shudder


There's a little taste of our beautiful, stately mansion. If you want to see more, come on over!

Closing Time

WE CLOSED!

After four or five "final" walkthroughs the last couple weeks in which the plumbing was never quite fixed, everything was finally finished yesterday. We signed our papers. We handed over a hefty check. We got our keys. We have a house. I still can't quite fathom the fact.

But it's all ours. Mm, it sure feels goooood.

Which babe?

• I had another doctor's appointment so that I could take my glucose test
• I've heard the glucose test can be a bit unpleasant, but dude, it was no big deal. It was like chugging a bunch of orange koolaid, my sweet tooth kind of enjoyed it. I guess if I were to fast before drinking it, that much sugary drink without anything else in my tummy would have been upsetting. But I didn't hafta, so I liked it.
• I didn't have any woozy or dizziness after having my blood drawn. Huzzah!
• We got some more ultrasound pictures. This time they looked like skeletor frog babies:

(Can you make sense of them? Both babies are looking at the camera. The top of the head is on the right in the middle picture, on the left in the other two)

• The technician lost track of which baby's which. Seriously. First of all, they switched position from their typical position of laying transversely on top of each other to each being on their own side, right and left. Secondly, they're now so similar in size, there's no "big one" or "little one" to distiguish. So she doesn't know which is A and which is B. There's no hope for us in keeping track of them, is there?
• I think I know which is which, though. A's head has always stayed in the same spot and there's still a head there, so I think that's A.
• That's good because we've started calling them by real names. It'd be tragic if we called them the wrong ones! And yes, I'll tell you the names. Sometime. Later. When I'm good and ready. I have to get used to them first, alright?
• Who can spot the foot? Who can spot the leg?

• On the elevator up, a big Russian guy asked us what why we were there. Sean pointed at me and said something like, "Baby!" And the guy said, "Oh, is it twins?" Woah, how'd he know? "I'm a doctor, I know," he answered. Awesome.
• My belly length is now 38 cm. If you remember, that's equivalent to a lady having a single baby at 38 weeks along. People deliver at this size. I'm 10 weeks ahead. Oy, where's it all going to go from here?!

**Oh, thanks everyone for your comments on my last ultrasound post, I needed all those opinions and tips. You guys are fantastic!

Rodeo-deo-deo

Howdy howdy howdy.

Guess what, folks, it's rodeo time down here in Houston!

And man ALIVE, is it messing up our traffic!

However, looking at the brighter side of the issue, we decided to take advantage of the rodeo's close proximity to our current residence. Plus, I don't think you can really consider yourself a Texan until you've been to the rodeo.

Wait, am I trying to be a Texan? Huh. How 'bout that.

There's all sorts of carnival and livestock fun to be had but unfortunately, Sean had a school thing go pretty late, so we skipped out on some o' that jazz. Plus I couldn't even do most of the carnival things anyway, thanks to the two little rascals in my tumtum. So we grabbed some grub and did a quick look at the animals.

What a happy little pony. He looks so glad to be carting those wriggly kids around...

A goat! He wasn't eating a tin can or anything, just regular food. Lame.

OH! There was a baby animal station! This little guy was just a few hours old. Yep, he was born that day! And he was already trotting around on his spaghetti noodle legs. Sheesh, us human babies are such pansies!

Suckling pigs. Poor mama, she was just wedged in there, letting the piglets feast whenever they pleased. It's a sacrifice with which all mothers can empathize.

Heehee, little baby lambs, causing all sorts of trouble. From what we saw, all these babes born in recent days were born as twins! GOoooOOO twins!

Oh, by the way, sorry for boring photo angles. I'm no longer very good at squatting, leaning over, or any of the other contortions that give an interesting point of view. My sincerest apologies.

Anyway, off we trotted to the rodeo! Look how excited my hubby is!

We saw things like steer roping and some horse riding things and even bull riding! Yee haw!

Uh oh, that cowpoke's about to get bucked.

Some of my favorite events involved the kiddos. These youngins were let loose with some calves and if they caught them, roped 'em up, and brought them back to the center of the ring, that kid could raise the calf for the year and then sell it. I tell you, it was a riot!

Chaos ensued- kids running all over, flipping the calves over, holding on for 10 minutes only to have the calf slip through their fingers, giving chase again. I was exhausted just watching!

Then there was Mutton Busting: little 5 and 6 year olds dangling around the neck of a sheep to see how long they could hold on.

Invariably, this happened.

Unless your this lucky punk who's sheep trotted around for a few seconds until he finally stood still. The kid kept hanging on until the officials prized him off. Way to stick with it, I say.

They interviewed one girl, she may have been the winner, to find out her strategy. She replied, "I just... I like... like... I holded on real tight." Sounds like a winning strategy to me.

Along with the rodeo tickets was admission to the evening concert. That night, we saw...

Rascal Flatts. Some of you may understand how funny this is. You might say I'm not the biggest fan of country. Actually, you could say that I really don't like country. But honestly, of all the country bands to see, this one wasn't so bad. I actually knew some of their songs and had a fun time being in the atmosphere.

And they had a cool stage. It rotated so the whole arena would get a view. When it faced you, the backdrop was full of lights.

But when it turned away, you could see right through the scaffolding. I'm pretty amazed by that.

Yep, it was a fun concert. And we left early. Because it was late and I was tired.

But gol durn it, I sure had a fun time at the rodeo. Thanks Texas and your cowboyin' ways!

bug eyes, rudolph nose, monster lips

One day we'll get a nice, cute 3D picture of both boys.

But not this time.

This is baby A with some wonky feature in each photo- cartoonishly bulging eyes, a mouth like he's had one too many plastic surgeries, and a Scottie Pippen nose (or maybe it's more like Dennis Rodman's... can anyone tell in which decade I paid attention to the NBA?). But if you put together all the the cute parts, it makes a cute baby!

No pictures again of baby B, that stinker.

New belly development: sometimes the middle goes concave and it looks super weird. Those boys are messing with me.
2nd new belly development: braxton hicks! No pain, just odd tightness.
New(ish) pregnancy symptom: drooling. I know, it's like I'm six years old. But once I lay down, after just 5 minutes, there's a trickle. My mouth could be glued shut and I would still find a way to drool. Ugh.
2nd new pregnancy symptom: swelling, ever so slightly. But it's just enough that I can't wear my wedding ring anymore. So I wear Sean's old CTR ring. Sigh, I guess it's a good second place.

QUESTIONS!
A) Swings vs. bouncers? I've asked around and it seems pretty evenly split on babies enjoying one over the other. What should I do, buy one of each? Which did your babies like?
B) Any diaper brand preferences? Do you swear by one certain kind or just avoid the cheap-o stuff? How about wipes, while we're at it?
C part 1) NOT a baby question. Do any of you have any favorite home decor/interior design websites? Now that we might have a new home to decorate, I need some inspiration!
C part 2) Does anyone know of places to buy decently priced big area rugs? We're gonna need a couple but I don't want to spend a boatload!

Come to my rescue!

A Double Dose of Cute

When you're having two babies at once and you've never had babies before... you need a baby shower. And that's just what I was given this last weekend. I had the best time with all sorts of friends who were so so so so generous with their ridiculously adorable gifts.

And the moment I plopped down on my chair, any thought of taking a picture flew out of my mind. So I took photos of the gifts after the fact. I did at least get this first food picture from Nicole, who threw my shower, along with Kim. What dear friends!

The theme was something like "Ready to Pop." Not that I am ready to pop. I want them to cook for a good while longer. But I do look like this:

Yeah, "bursting" would be a good word to describe it. It almost looks fake, how disproportionately large my bulge is, doesn't it? But you know what I love? Look at my bum, it looks down-right petite by comparison!


Okay, okay, back on track.

We were given so many cute clothes! All in twos. Here's a pair of onsies with a big animal face on the behind. They make me giggle. And another pair that a girl jazzed up with fabric- so clever!

Here's another coordinating pair- aren't baby clothes just darling? I think they'll be even cuter with babies in them.

Here's an outfit that isn't so matchy matchy. I think that's a good thing, they'll be coupled together all their lives, they need to develop some individuality!

And I have to start early. Heck, I should be lecturing them on cultivating their unique sense of being from the womb! What have I been doing these last six months?!

People, their burgeoning understanding of their own unique worth depends on ME! I can't help but work myself up! Ack! [pant pant]

But it's good to be matchy matchy too. Especially when it's with stripes!

And pajamas. Sack pajamas. And footy pajamas.

Then there's bibs that speak profound truth. And burp rags that are actually embellished cloth diapers. What a good idea!

Mm, and soft blankets. Look, look, twins! Twin animals!

We also got a bunch of bathroom stuff- hooded towels, washclothes, lotions and wash solution, and a super handy bath seat thing. Just one seat, I don't think I can handle washing both babies at the same time. One is slippery enough!

Feast upon this, homemade letter and number blocks that are nice and soft. I adore them!

Someone else made a diaper cake. Have you heard of these? They're new to me. It's lots of rolled up diapers in tiered layers wrapped with ribbon and decorated with fun goodies. I wonder how many diapers we'll go through... no, no, I don't want to think about that.

Everyone oo-ed and ah-ed over this number: a hand-sewn diaper bag with all sorts of pockets and snaps and zippers. There was much jealousy to be had when I opened this gift! Melissa, the creator, has an etsy store with many of her other delights, check it out!

I can't believe how giving all these ladies were, some of which hardly know me. I'm so touched and grateful. Thank you everyone, you can't believe how much it means to me and how much all this generosity helps!