large and in charge

Camera and battery have reunited- so you may now observe my 33.5 week belly. It juts right out there, doesn't it?

Ignore my lackluster face. I was thinking about how much I wanted to sit back down.

ahhaa, this picture just makes me giggle. You know how when people pretend to be pregnant and put a basketball under their shirt? And it looks ridiculous? Well this looks ridiculous. But it's real.

But I do love having these babies to grow. See my little love pat? Yeah, that's love.

Ah yes, I have a new question- Is gentle detergent necessary for baby clothes? Should I just use my normal stuff and see how the boys react, then buy some different detergent if it's irritating?

Fun pregger belly developments! They are thus:

• I've never heard of this before: Every so often, I'll hear a little click from my belly. Kind of like the pop from a very small bubble of bubble wrap. It's usually accompanied by a kick and comes from the top of the belly curve (though how well can I localize that, really?). It now happens about 5 times a day. Anyone have an explanation?
• I have ITCHINESS like the dickens. I don't know who or what the dickens are but my stomach skin just cannot be soothed. I wake up scratching all the time.
• You can find us often writing down times as I start counting braxton hicks contractions to see if they're in a pattern. The doctor said to call if they're in a pattern for 2-3 hours. Well, last weekend I'd get them 3-6 minutes apart for an hour and a half and then they'd go on a break for 20 minutes. So we never called. Perhaps we should have? I tell you, that was fun for Sean while he studied for finals. At least it motivated him to pick out some clothes for the hospital bag.
• Not really new, but the baby ninjas are constantly getting more active. Here's a quick example:

(Man, could I sound more lethargic and dopey?) Oh babies, you two just have too much fun.

Octopus

Did anyone notice that it's been a month since I've put up ultrasound pictures?

What's that you say? You didn't miss them because you couldn't make heads or tails (literally) of them anyway?

Too bad, I have more. Two weeks ago, the high risk OB, the one who does the 3D pictures couldn't get a good view of either face so... he didn't give us any pictures. Hmph. But the tech at our normal doctor gave me a slew of pictures this last week. Not stellar pictures, mind, but good enough.

TOP: Somebody's leg. The tech was getting so frustrated with these guys. They've moved from being beside each other- left and right- to on top of each other- anterior and posterior (toward my belly button or my spine). She showed us a view of all the limbs flailing around in there- it's like there's an octopus in my belly!

BOTTOM: Aw, someone's foot! Except the big toe's hiding somewhere. I HOPE IT'S NOT MISSING! We'll have to be sure to count toes at the hospital.

TOP: I guess the tech figured out which arm was baby B's. He's a strong boy, look at him flex!

BOTTOM: I don't know what to make of this. You can see both their skulls. That's cool I guess. What IS cool as that they're both still head down!

Ok, now let's try and look at faces (well, just A's because B wouldn't look at the camera. He's a shy thing. Don't judge). Look at the bottom picture first.

BOTTOM: Okay orientation- forehead is on the right, chin on the left with the chin tilted slightly up. You can see the shadow of the right eye fairly dead-center in the picture (the other eye is completely shadowed) and you can sort of make out the line of the mouth by the chin. Yeah? Kinda?

TOP: This one's weird, I admit. The head's off the to upper right side and the chin is tilted up more. But you can get a sense of the mouth a cheeks a bit better. Okay, okay, move on, you'll hurt your eyes if you look at that one too long.

MIDDLE: Ah, good ol' profile. I mean fuzzy ol' profile. It's still forehead on right, chin on left. Can you make out the nose and lips?

These guys are just too well-formed and squirmy to get good pictures anymore. They're getting mighty big- A was 4 lb 12 oz and B was 4 lb 4 oz. It's like I have a 9 lb baby in me!

Once we get the camera battery, I'll show you my monster of a baby bump. We're hoping these guys wait for a few more weeks before their grand arrival. At least a week because Sean has finals all this week, heh. But if they make it to 36 weeks, there's a good likelihood that they wouldn't have to spend any extra time in the hospital. And folks, that's only 3 weeks away....

yikes. I better start getting ready!

zoology

Our camera has returned! Apparently in working order, but I can't check... because Canon didn't send back our battery or charger. Ugh. I don't know if they lost them or what but they're sending a replacement now. So once again, these babies better wait!

But we did get our washer and dryer today. Though, that didn't go without a hitch either- they initially installed the wrong washer. They called to tell me that bit of news after I had arrived to work so I had to leave early so they could switch it out. Not that I really minded leaving work. And it was an easy change and now we can do laundry whenever we want!

... Should I really be excited about that?

Anyway, no proper camera means no new pictures. But, hey, remember that one time Sean and I went to the San Antonio zoo? And I constantly promised to show you pictures and never did? Yeah, way back at Thanksgiving time? Wanna see them now? Okee dokee. I wish we had the telephoto lens back then but I did the best we could. I guess that I'll just have to make another zoo trip!

So bring on the pictures and a title accompanying each.

Bear Necessities (Sean suggested "Bear," then "Bear Walking")

Coy Koi

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Do Not Disturb

King Rodentia

What You Lookin' At?

Options, Options, Options

Stretch Marks

Anaranjado

WEIRDEST ANIMAL ON THE PLANET

Blue Hood

Dormant Amongst the Leaves

Twinsies

**Warning: this post contains the word "uterus" and the like, so feel free to skip it if that sort of topic aint yo thang.

Speaking of lack of pictures, our camera is on the fritz. Well, it's supposed to be fixed and on the way back here by now. The darn thing started giving me an error code after every few pictures and eventually stopped turning on at all. Luckily, this all happened two weeks before the warranty ended. But I tell you, I've been a little extra worried that our babies were going to show up and we'd be without a camera. What a thing to worry about!

So since we're pictureless, how about I tell you the story of how we found out we were having twins. Sounds fun to me!

I was pretty nervous for our first obstetrician's appointment. I had already been in there to do a blood test to confirm pregnancy- see, when we took the at home test, the control line didn't show up too well. Observe:

Hey, I did put in a picture! Anyway, that horizontal line was just so faint. So I wanted to make sure I actually was pregnant but was too cheap to go get a new test (I know, I'm a weirdo). And that's why I had already done a blood test at our obstetrician's office, which confirmed our happy hopes!

But I already had a kernel of doubt. I little piece of my brain worried they'd do an ultrasound at seven weeks and find nothing. It didn't help that Glee had featured just that sort of thing.

But lo and behold, the ultrasound found a little fetus! The PA who was performing the test took all the measurements while Sean and I exchanged loving gazes and a few happy tears. She showed us the baby's fluttering little heart and finished up by checking out the general health of my uterus.

She came back to the heart and I saw her give me an odd side-ways look. So I immediately start thinking something's wrong. Sean didn't notice the look and remains a happy-go-lucky soon-to-be daddio.

After doing a little more ultrasound surveying, the PA starts to explain, "alright, here's your baby's heart." A little more moving, "and here... is another heart."

A moment of processing...

"You're having twins."

My initial reaction: "Really." Delivered straight, hardly any inflection at all. Honestly, I was feeling sweet relief- that look didn't mean anything bad at all, it meant something doubly great! But the surprise counteracted the relief into a sort of neutrality.

Sean's initial reaction: Excitement. But so struck with shock that he couldn't say anything for a moment. He hadn't seen the PA's funny look a minute before, after all, he wasn't expecting any new information.

But recovering quickly, Sean pops out little "wow"s and "twins?!" while a second set of measurements were taken, as he watched wide-eyed. I don't think I ever had a moment of utter shock. Just a growing sense of surreality. And happiness.

I walked into the doctor's office that day worried the doctor would find an empty uterus but walked out knowing we had twice the baby! What a doubly fantastic day.

Crying Over Missing Pictures

Every now and then, someone will tell me that they can't see any of the pictures on this here blog. That's just down right tragic, as pictures are the soul of The Bradley Bunch.

Can photos make up a soul? Can blogs have a soul?

Well that's neither here nor there right now. This picture problem is an issue that needs to be addressed immediately!

The only thing I can think of is that the viewer's internet program (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, etc.) is interfering with loading my Flickr photos. Or maybe the security settings keep them from loading. Or something entirely different is going on. So if anyone is out there that reads the blog but can't see the pictures, could you tell me what internet program you use (I feel like there's a way more accurate term than "internet program" but I can't for the life of me think of it)? Thanks a bundle and a half.

In the mean time, anybody else experienced anything like this? Any idea how to fix it? So you're better informed, the way I put pictures on the blog is thus:
1) Load piccy onto Flickr
2) Upon viewing loaded piccy, click on the "All Sizes" feature above the piccy, then choose the medium size
3) Copy the HTML below the medium size piccy
4) On Blogger, I go to the "Edit HTML" feature within the Post editing page and paste in the HTML
5) There's the piccy! (at least, there it is when I go back to "Compose" or click "preview" or publish the post)

Any ideas you may have are so very welcome. I'm a little stumped. And verklempt.

Aqua

As I gear myself up to go do laundry at the laundromat- yes, I have spent several hundred dollars to purchase my own laundry equipment but the backorder was extended until at least midmonth... sigh- let me show you one fun little sideshow in Kemah. There's a little aquarium there, associated with the big main one downtown. But in this one, you get to feed the sting rays.

That's right, sting rays. Feeding them. Awesomeness.

Better count your fingers! Nah, they're pretty docile. And it was kind of hard to feed them since their mouths are on the underside. You couldn't see where to put the food!

Heh, docile until you run out of food. Then, ATTACK!

But the baby ones were cute. Well, anything "baby" these days is super cute. I'm a silly willy.

They also had floating fish, agh! No, goofy, they're not floating, they're in a tank. What you thinkin?

Grumpy much?

This guy makes me think of a dreamsicle. Oo, that sounds really good, we might have to make a pit stop on the way to the laundromat.

Thanks, aquarium, for that dessert inspiration!

Kemah

I think our favorite excursion with the Bradleys was to Kemah. I liked just walking along, looking at the water, at the storefronts, at the birds, at the rides... it just gave a peaceful, happy feeling.

Austin, the youngest of the bunch, is now taller than me. It's completely bizarre.

They're big on photography. No wonder Sean and I both enjoy the hobby, it was bred into us.

Yep, photography. Of Austin and Rachel doing The Robot. I just love this fam.

They all like each other too. Pretty lucky.

They're always laughing and having a fun time. Hee hee ha ha.

Especially when there's funny seagulls swooping around overhead. Watch out!

They're so used to people, Sean snuck up right behind them. Boo!

And now for... FUNNY FACES!

Wooga wooga! I love that face. Particularly in silly form.

Somewhere, out there...

Smell something, Rach? Probably one of your brothers.

Alright, that's plenty. How 'bout a little sweetness.

Aw, no wonder this family gets along so well. Love is all around!

The Moving Weekend

Whelp, the big move was last weekend! Sean's family (sans Kyle and Lindsay) came down and helped us with so many many many things. And took us out to dinner repeatedly. And went on lots of little Houston excursions.

This is the only picture I have of anything related to the move and little house projects. I was too busy packing to take pictures! Sean's cutting out a hole for the dryer vent- otherwise it would have just vented out into the garage. Talk about sweltering!

We had so much help from friends and Sean's family as we moved, it only took a couple hours. Thank you Elliot, Lara, Jeff, Angela, Jon, Kim (and Addie!), the Elders, Papa Bradley, Mama Bradley, Rachel, and Austin. And Pogo. It would have taken us a month to do everything that you guys helped us with! One of the worst parts of this move is changing wards (the geographical assignment of which church building to attend) and leaving all the great friends we've made. I'm going to miss seeing everyone so regularly. But we'll still be friends... right? Right?! (We're going to be going to the ward at least once more, guys, so look forward to that!)

Holy Swollen Feet, Batman! You can't tell that so well from this picture, can you? Well I wasn't about to let Sean take a close-up photo! Plus, this is after a few days of trying to stay off my feet. That moving day sure did a number on my tootsies.

Hmm, this must be somewhere in downtown Houston during one of the few instances in which I was standing. Remember those feet? And those braxton hicks which are ridiculously frequent? I was constantly finding a quick place for a rest.

And Sean was constantly looking fantastically handsome.

We were super excited to go to NASA. So excited, in fact, that we didn't bring the camera and had to take this photo at a later drive-by. The COOLEST part was seeing the Saturn V rocket. Holy macaroni, that thing is enormous. And it's that big mostly to accommodate all the fuel required to get out into space (and the moon!). Nutso. Awesomeo.

We checked out the Houston Aquarium. Though we didn't take many other pictures there besides this. Slackers. Ferocious slackers (see our sharp teeth?).

Our last visit was to Kemah, a fun boardwalk area along the coast. I'll put up some more pictures from there in the next post but first I'll include some carnival shots that I just love.

Who doesn't love a carnival? And a long weekend with family?

We do! Or, should I say "we don't"? We don't not love the weekend with family. Which means we love it.

Uh...

You get it.