March 26th is 135 Days Away...


   Why is this important information?  Because that is the day Owen and McKenna will be born if all goes to plan and they stay their little selves in there and don't do any of that preterm labor stuff.  My doctor wanted me to go ahead and schedule my C-Section just in case so I could get first pick of the day.  Now, there is still a possibility they could be born naturally, we are not ruling out anything. But, I don't want to make the decision 4 weeks out that we need a C-Section and get the 5pm time of day where I can't eat or drink for 36 hours prior....PASS.  So, on March 26th we are scheduled for a 7:30am C-Section...so exciting! And 135 days is not that far...right?
   This past weekend we worked on the nursery.  Step 1 was having the garage sale and clearing out all the junk which we did the first weekend in November.  Step 2 was painting which we did this weekend and Step 3 happens Friday...new carpet!  
  When we started thinking about nursery colors and themes I had a hard time wrapping my brain around how to do it for two different sexes.  If it was two girls I wanted a pink wonderland but I have known for some time that it wouldn't be two girls.  If it were two boys I had no clue and if it was one of each I REALLY had no clue;  But after searching some Pinterest and thinking about it I knew I liked grey as an accent color and I REALLY wanted a chevron wall.  So, Friday night Melissa and I headed to pick out paint while Mason and Justin stayed home and taped off the room.  When we returned we started on the walls and I have to admit, I was not sure about the color we picked.  Now, Melissa has picked nearly every paint color in my house and I have LOVED every single one of them...afterwards.  But every time we have painted I have thought the color was too dark originally and then it gets all done and I love it. The nursery was no different. We finished painting late Friday night and went to bed and sure enough, Saturday morning I headed in there and with the light coming in the window it was BEAUTIFUL! 

   Saturday was the hard work though, it was chevron day. 

  Justin tried to free hand the chevron taping but after a bit we decided I would make us a stencil using a chevron pattern in Microsoft Word.  Once we got that printed and taped together I went about tracing the chevron pattern on the wall while Justin and Melissa taped the lines down.  Mason was instrumental in painting the trim and stopping periodically to sing to us and tell us how much the trim paint job sucks!  Once the taping was done it was simple...so we thought.  We just painted in the lines with the same color as the wall only in a high gloss so the look would be subtle.  We stopped for a lunch break and when we returned to the room we started taking off the tape only to see it looked beautiful...except for the clearly visible pencil marks from the tracing.  So, it took the three of us going back over each stripe with a detail brush to paint over/blend the pencil lines.  THAT job took nearly as long as the taping and tracing.  Meanwhile, once the trim was painted the new bright white we realized it made the closet doors look like someone had been smoking in front of them directly for years...yellow and dingy!  Justin painted the doors and we finished up the pencil line issue.  Once all the tape was removed, the doors were painted, the trim and windowsill were done, and we all stepped back to look it was PERFECT!  The chevron look is very subtle and you see it especially well when it catches the light. Mason cleaned up the supplies and the room was finally empty and truly ready for carpet this Friday. 

   We have also selected and registered for their bedding.  I had a day or two where I was trying to convince myself we needed custom bedding.....welllll, that may work for one but for 2, totally unrealistic.  And I always swore those moms who paid for custom bedding had fallen and hit their head because they only use it for a year and they pee, barf, and poo in there but lo and behold, my time comes and I am captivated by ruffles and bows but not so much by $400 price tags EACH.  So we found some we like at Babies R' Us....

McKenna's Bedding

Owen's Bedding

    Today also marks 18 weeks with my sweet little ones and I am sooooo ready to start feeling them move.  After paint-a-palooza on Friday and Saturday I could barely walk on Sunday.  My hips and legs were so sore I thought I was going to die.  I took warm soaks and tried to nap since I didn't sleep great Saturday night.  I am wondering if one of them is sitting on a nerve or something because even a few days later my left hip and leg are still killing me as is my back.  I continue to read this is called "round ligament pain" as my body is "stretching" to make room for them.  Thats a visual...Here is an 18 week belly shot...

   Still have little to no interest in meat although I have noticed I am eating more which is good, I need to put on some weight!  Owen and McKenna continue to suck out all my brain cells.  This morning marked morning number two where I attempted to put my purse in the refrigerator instead of my lunch...I wonder if they will leave me with any functioning brain cells after they are born?  

   We have a busy few weekends coming up! We have our nephew, Wyatt's, 2nd birthday this weekend and then our niece, Harper's, 2nd the next weekend!  Throw in Thanksgiving, Sissa turns THIRTY and Lindsey's bridal shower in Conroe and we are going to be BUSY!!! Wouldn't have it any other way, maybe it will make the time move quicker....can't wait to hold and snuggle two sweet babies in my arms AFTER they have cooked adequately!

Drumrollllllllll....and they are???

    The day finally came.  The day where we would find out what our beautiful, healthy babies were.  What we will call them, monogram on their clothes, put on their birth certificate, and the names they will put on their job applications. Pink or blue? Boys or girls? I wasn't antsy the day of the scan or even yesterday but today, I was about to jump out of my skin!  I kept texting Mason "7 more hours" or "5 more hours" and the day moved at a snail's pace.  But finally, we were showered, dressed, and headed to Justin and Melissa's. I even had on makeup and a new maternity shirt that had just come in from Old Navy this very afternoon.  I was wearing blue because I have felt for weeks that it was boys after a rather, ummmmmm, interesting dream where the word testicles just kept appearing over and over.  I know, nice right.  We got to Justin and Melissa's and it was AH-MAZINGLY beautiful.

 

 

Cake, Cake Pops, Cupcakes and Punch!!!

 

 

     We had a photographer there so we will have more/better pictures soon but most everyone came wearing the color they thought the twins were. Pink was two girls, blue was two boys and yellow was one of each.  Lets just say the one of each crowd was the biggest.  I was the ONLY person who thought two boys and very few people thought it was 2 girls either.  We had decided to do a group balloon pop since it was daylight savings time and too dark to do any kind of balloon release in the backyard.  Melissa got black and gold balloons to go with her gold theme and we discussed putting the genders in two balloons with colored confetti.  However, she ran into a problem.  The confetti balloons were too heavy...they didn't float!!!  I wanted our moms to be the ones to pop the balloons with the confetti but we had to warn them prior to hold them carefully so people wouldn't be the wiser.  It was finally time, everyone had a balloon and a pin and we were all circled around ready to pop on 3. 1 - 2 - 3 POP!!!  My eyes were glued to mom and Pam and there it was PINK confetti and BLUE confetti!! I felt the tears well up and I just hugged and hugged Mason.  The next few minutes are a blur and I can't wait to see the pictures so I can fill in the gaps.  We announced their names...Owen Michael after his daddy and grandpa and McKenna Grace (because mommy likes it).  We cut the cake, passed out cupcakes and drank pink and blue punch.  And we knew! We knew who they were and what we were having and it finally made this all seem so real.  I didn't sleep thinking and dreaming and wondering what it will be like.  Ballet lessons, girl scouts, baseball, soccer, and campouts...we truly get to experience the best of both worlds and I cannot believe I am going to be a mom to a girl AND a boy! And more importantly, I get to watch Mason with his son and his daughter.  His son who he can teach things to and show how to be a man and is daughter who he can dance with and show her how men should treat women.  We are so very blessed...

  Next on the agenda, we have carpet being installed in the kids room next weekend and we are painting this weekend.  The dogs are very confused because they no longer have a "dog room" to themselves, they are now sharing my office with me. 

 

 

Before - Their own room

 

 

After -- sharing an office with me!

 

  After paint and carpet go in we have another OB and scan appointment on December 5th and I will be about 21 weeks along.  Before then we get to have Thanksgiving and a much needed week off from work. It will be the first year Mason will be off the same time as me so I am looking forward to some relaxing and just being together.  We continue to pray for an uneventful pregnancy and healthy, chunky babies!!  Pray for us!!

 

 



Hearts, Brains, Kidneys, Oh My!!!

  We made it to anatomy scan day!!!  The day dragged on forever but that's to be expected. We had my OB appointment at 2:15 and then scan appointment at 3pm and I was already somewhat panicked of what we would do if OB ran late or something and we had to be late to scan time but it all worked out perfectly. 
   At Dr. Richards I did my normal weight, urine, and blood pressure.  I have gained a whopping 6 pounds and my blood pressure and urine looked fab.  We got into a room and Dr. Richards popped in rather quickly.  He even told us he skipped another lady to get to us...I knew I liked him!  Let's see, we discussed how much I pee (a LOT) and what I haven't been eating (meat) and how when I sneeze I feel like the babies are going to fly out my belly button it hurts so bad.  He checked me for a bladder infection (negative) and told me as long as I am striving to eat healthily (which I am...I crave salads and fruit...well except for the spaghettios) then I will be fine, and the sneezing thing he just laughed and said I probably pulled something.  That was it.  End of appointment.  I liked it because it was routine and everything looked good but I am pretty sure I will not care for it when I get the bill for yet another monthly "chat".  We were out of there by 2:45 and headed straight over to Dr. Rhinehart's for our scan.
   When we arrived at Rhinehart's office there were 4858495 people waiting in the room but we got taken back surprisingly quick.  Now, the last time we were there the doctor told me it makes the scan go better if you have a full bladder so on the 3 minute drive to his office I downed a bottle of water.  Maybe not my smartest move. Anyway, we were taken into a room and we got to wait and my anxiety grew and grew.  Its important to mention that not only was this the anatomy scan to make sure the babies were full of all the right organs, it was also to find out their genders for sure. However, we decided to have a gender reveal party and find out with all of our family and friends so I did not want to know one bit.  Mason was a different story.  He was swollen up like a toad because he was ready to know what they were. I ran the idea of the gender reveal by him before we ever decided to do it but I must have missed the part where he wanted US to know and reveal it to everyone else.  Whoops. Moving on.  We are in the room waiting, I already have to pee again and the technician finally comes in.  She started with baby A and went body part by body part.  Two kidneys, a healthy brain, a heart with valves and chambers and she checked the blood flow into the umbilical cord as well.  Everytime she would tell me something was ok I felt a little relief wash over but then I realized, there is a whole other kid in there to look at.  She moved over to Baby B who was ALL OVER THE PLACE, flipping, turning, etc. She had a hard time getting it still enough to check everything but all was well for little B too!  She told us they each weighed 7 ounces which is "above average" for weight at this time but that's perfectly fine.  I mean really, above average for weight, who is shocked at that??   She also said they were measuring about 4-5 days ahead...my babies, the overachievers!!!!  Then she showed us the coolest thing!  This teeny, tiny, little line that separated the two of them, this thin little membrane. BUT they were each pushing on it, sticking their heads into it, and Baby B looked liked it was trying to push through it! Several times it looked like their little hands were reaching for each other, so sweet!!!  Both times she told us when she was going down to look for the gender and I looked away. She thought everything looked great and I finally felt like I wasn't going to explode with anxiety. We waited a few more minutes and the doctor came in.  She took the wand and placed it back on my belly and of course, everyone thought it was nap time.  So what does she do, she pokes me with the wand in several places all over my belly.  I looked at Mason and all I could think was "I wonder how many women have peed on this very table because I am about to join them" but alas, I held it in. She told us she agreed with all the technicians measurements and she also agreed with the genders she noted.  And then it was done.  The technician came in and handed me two envelopes...one said A and one said B.

 

I did not peek!!!! Promise!!!

 

   I paid at the desk, scheduled my next appointment and headed out.  I promptly took the envelopes home and placed them in my mailbox and my sister-in-law, Melissa, came and got them.  When Mason got home from mowing he seemed grumpy and I asked him what was wrong.  He was NOT happy someone else knew what his babies were and he didn't.  It is really very strange, I was not bothered at all which is very unlike me. I guess with knowing these will be our only children I want to involve as many people we love as I can.  I was thrilled with the idea of finding out at the same time as our parents and family...Mason, not so much.  But at the end of the day we both remarked that they are both healthy and on track for where we are in this pregnancy and that means more than what they are any day.  Wednesday night is the big night...we cannot wait!!!

Some Quirks...

   So here are some little factoids (which I am sure you are DYING to know about) thus far in my pregnancy:

*  All I want to eat are spaghettios with meatballs.  We buy the giant large cans for $2.12 and I eat them every night for dinner.  I could really eat them for lunch too but I am trying to get SOME variety going on here.
*  I am down to one nausea pill a day in the morning, however, eating still leaves me a little off afterwards.  I have tried small meals, meatless meals, etc. and no matter what after I eat I just feel unsettled.  If I eat too much or something junky I really feel awful....clearly these children are confused because too much and junky are two of my favorite ways to eat. 
*  Still can't stand meat but I can handle Jack in the Box tacos...smart babies, smart. 
*  I convinced myself last week that I was anemic because I was pale, exhausted and nearly asleep at my desk, plus I was having a little dizziness and lightheadedness.  I got on the internet and diagnosed myself with anemia and sent an email to my nurse listing my symptoms and asking her if I needed to get on iron or come in for a blood test.  She wrote back, "Dear Kelly...you aren't anemic, you are pregnant...with TWINS.  ALL of that is normal for you."  Oh. But they will check me again at 20 weeks just to make sure. 
*  I have a new obsession everyday.  One day it was their closet, the other day it was how will we handle teenage drinking, and the day prior it was what if one of us dies before we have time to adequately up our life insurance or compose a will.  Mason just tells me "babe, take all the thoughts out of your head" because whenever I have an obsession, guess what, I make it his obsession too.
*  If I lay on my right side and put my left hand under my belly between my stomach and the bed and lay realllllllly still I can feel little heartbeats.  No kicks or anything yet but definitely little pulses!
*  I am having lots of lower pelvic pain from the stretching ligaments I assume but sometimes when I sneeze I have to hold my stomach to keep from having a searing pain go across the bottom of my abdomen.  Who knew your body utilizes stomach muscles to do something like sneeze!?
*  I forget EVERYTHING.  Now, I won't lie and say my memory was stellar prior to this pregnancy but now, I remember nothing.  I can't remember why we came to a store between leaving the house and arriving at the store.  I am constantly asking Mason, "now what are we here for?"  The other morning, I went to the bank to make a deposit for our business and filled out the WITHDRAWAL slip with the wrong business name,  I politely apologized to the teller and told him I was having twins and we were all 3 sharing one brain...he said "no worries ma'am, I will fill it out for you". 
*  I am now averaging 2-3 bathroom trips a night.  This does not make me happy because then I get back in bed and latest obsession pops into my head and I am wired for another 30 minutes or so until I can fall asleep...and by then its nearly time to get up and pee again!
*  My hips hurt, along with my knees (although they always hurt really even before pregnancy), and I am still out of breath by the stupidest things like talking too fast.
*  I look, at 15 weeks and 6 days, like some women do on the day they deliver.  I feel like I look GIGANTIC which means I am only going to get more gigantic. Oy. 
*  I haven't worn makeup in WEEKS...
*  I am not entirely sure its set in that this belly will one day give way to two PEOPLE...I catch glimpses of it when I walk by the mirror at night on the way to get in my pajamas and I am constantly like "whoa!"

   We have our anatomy scan on Monday, November 3rd.  We will find out the genders FOR SURE but more importantly, they will be checking them to make sure all their parts are present and accounted for.  I am, of course, terrified that something will be wrong but the doctor has said several times that they looked great on the 11 week scan and my fluid levels were very normal...both good signs.  Keep us in your prayers!

Thoughts...

    Being pregnant is a dream come true for me...really.  I have wanted nothing but to be a mom since I was about 5 years old.  When people would ask "what is your biggest fear" I would say snakes (because really its a close second) but my REAL biggest fear was not being able to be pregnant and carry my own babies.  Now, Mason and I were ready to go the distance to have our family even if it included adoption.  And I would have felt blessed and happy to get a child in any way, shape or form. But secretly, I want to carry our child, I want to feel them move, I want to deliver them into this world and I know how incredibly blessed I am that this is the path I am on because there are so many women who want this. 
    Having said that, being pregnant is not fun. From about 6 weeks on I haven't felt like myself.  Between the vomiting, the exhaustion, the back pain, the constipation (TMI sorry but the struggle is real) and the raging hormones I have cried, yelled, and sulked more than I care to admit and I am not even halfway there. I am continuously told by my doctor, friends who have been pregnant and the books I read that "all symptoms are exacerbated with twins"....fabulous.  But the bigger thing I am starting to realize is how much being an oven and then subsequently a parent is going to change things.  Everyone knows children change your lives, thats a no brainer.  You know you are no longer going to be able to just take off on a whim for a weekend getaway, not without careful planning for both the kids and the dogs and which grandparents aren't busy etc. Clearly, you are no longer going to be able to go out Friday and Saturday nights, enjoy yourself to the fullest, ahem, quench your thirst to your hearts content, roll in at 3am and sleep Sunday away. But what you aren't prepared for is that the people around you without children aren't bound by these changes and life marches on.  And for someone as nosy as me and who HATES to miss out on things...this is hard.  
    Saturday night was a concert I have looked forward to FOR MONTHS.  It was two of my favorite bands with my favorite people in beautiful weather as our last concert of the season...the culmination of our concert year that has included all our favorites, our boots, singing in the car, tailgating, and stories and pictures we will remember forever.  And by Saturday afternoon, 2 hours before we were supposed to go I was in tears because I didn't want to go.  I tried on 348743 shirts and nothing fit, I was tired, I was dreading my boots because they make my heels hurt because they aren't quite broken in yet, and the tailgate meal of choice was fajitas (normally one of my FAVES) but see, I can't stand meat right now.  So I had packed my little cooler with my yogurt and spaghettios and cheese stick and was prepared to power through.  And it was then that I realized that this parenting thing changes you forever.  I didn't end up going to the concert; I took a nap and ordered Chinese food (rice and egg rolls) and was in bed by 9pm.  But all night I cried off and on.  My wonderful friends and sweet husband sent me picture after picture and videos galore and I would look at each one and then the tears would start up.  Of course, I also cried at The Big Bang Theory episode where Bernadette and Howard got married too so really I was just a mess.  This is not a change I was prepared for I guess, already feeling differently before they are even born.  Everyone talks to me in terms of weeks, "well how many weeks will you be by then" or "you can't do that because you will be ___ weeks by then". They aren't wrong, it's just so strange to hear, its strange to have limits as an adult, its strange to have to pass on things that you normally live for because you just don't have the energy.  BUT I continue to keep my eye on the prize.  The day will come that I will be sitting on my couch watching everyone go out and have fun via Facebook or Instagram but I will have two, squishy, beautiful, dreams come true in my arms.  The answers to my prayers!  I actually can't wait for that day, I can't wait for the day I get to hold them in my arms and my new job in life becomes protecting them and being their mom. But until then, I will get me some clothes that fit, trade in my boots for flip flops, and keep going and doing as much as my body will let me...as everyone tells me, it won't be forever.

Registering....

   Friday night rolled around and as I skipped out of work I had the bright idea that Mason and I should go and start our baby registry this evening since really, what else is there for us to do!  I ran that idea by him and he thought it was great. 
   Now, a little background.  We have registered once before for our wedding. We each got a gun and scanned until our little hearts content.  That is the reason Xbox Live ended up on our registry as did Bluetooth video game headsets.  But really, who cares about a wedding registry?  If you only get 3 of the towels you registered for then you alternate those 3.  Only get 5 plates, perfect, you have enough to have 3 people over.  My point being, I don't think very many people go out and "complete" their wedding registry because they don't have the money and its just not that big of a deal.  Welllllll, I felt COMPLETELY different about this baby registry.  For me, the scariest part of having twins is not the raising them part its the paying for them part. Daycare alone will be more than our mortgage payment so I am all about maximizing our money at this point.  People have offered us things and we have turned NOTHING down. We bought our cribs on sale and our biggest expense for the nursery will really be new carpeting as there is currently nothing but concrete because one large, white pitbull ATE the carpet in the room.  So to me, we need to get most everything on our registry so we don't have to come out of pocket for it later....However, I guess I never relayed these feelings to Mason. So he approached baby registering with the "get whatever" attitude that we approached wedding registering. I, however, had a checklist, a pencil, and my phone handy to look up customer reviews.  I had also put a post on a multiples website asking for suggestions and I have pinned 576968 different posts to Pinterest about "surviving twins" or "10 things you must have with your twins" or "3 things that saved me from going insane with twins" etc...so this was a MISSION for me.  All I needed was a sweatband and water bottle really. 
    We arrived at Babies R' Us and I should have known I was in trouble when the lady asked if we each wanted a gun.  It was like in the movies we said "no" and "yes" at the same time...I was the one who said no if you were wondering.  Well, he was having none of that so we took off with our individual scanners and our checklist and we headed to the first aisle.  Let me also stop here and point out that Babies R' Us is what I imagine hell must be like.  It is overwhelming and it makes me feel like a bad mom and my kids aren't even here yet.  So, anyway, we are on the first aisle. I am reading the top of the checklist and musing out loud of where we should start and I hear the scanner dinging. I look up and Mason is holding a sheep/lamb combo of some sort  saying "look its a gift set" and I said "whoa whoa, whoa, a giftset of what" and he replies that its the lamb that makes the womb sound that you can put in babies crib.  I thought that sounded nice so I looked a little further and found just the lamb for half the price and I suggested that we get two of those instead.  As the words are coming out of my mouth, the gun is still dinging.  Long story short, our registry currently has NINE different lamb/sheep/lamb sheep combos/womb sound machines on  it and we had been there for 5 minutes.
     Next, we moves onto the breast feeding aisle.  I knew I needed several things there so I was going about looking at the difference between disposable nursing pads and washable pads, lanolin vs. other creams and THE GUN IS DINGING FROM THE NEXT AISLE.  What is HAPPENING?  HE IS NOT FOLLOWING THE CHECKLIST OR THE FLOW OF THE AISLES AT ALL? I know I am very Type A and I need routine and a spreadsheet and a schedule etc. to feel comfortable and Mason IS NOT, so I cautiously called out "babe, what did you find" and I think he yelled something like "Boogie Wipes" or something and I politely suggested he join me back on this aisle (as to get back on schedule). I hastily scanned a bunch of crap for breastfeeding because he was ready to start on bottles.  He felt very strongly we needed to use Dr. Brown's bottles which is fine because I have read up on them so we read on the checklist we need a starter kit so we found two of those.  Then I tell him we need different nipples and he says "why" and I told him they might chew them, they get lost in the dishwasher etc. and the difference between slow flow, medium flow and as his eyes glazed over I just pointed at what to scan.  We began scanning a million nipples and then realized they were 2 packs.  So yes, we are the people that registered for 20 bottles and 65 nipples...its fine. 
    Then it was time for the bath aisle. This happens to be my favorite and its what I give the most at showers.  I like to buy the bath tub, the baby washes, the washcloths and the little robe and give it as a gift.  So I tell Mason I am going to scan the lavender nighttime bath wash and lotion because I love the smell and he says "I like Burts Bees....".  I replied that Johnsons is $4 a bottle and the Burt's Bees is $14.99 and that when we run out of the 1 bottle of Burt's Bees on the off chance someone gives it to us, I am coming back and buying Johnsons because we can get 4 bottles of that for the same price as the Burt's Bees.  Johnsons made the registry list.  I could go on and on because we were there for hours and we really barely scratched the surface and our registry has like 219 items on it.  But I learned a lesson...when its time to go register at Target I am taking my Sonic drink, my yellow memo pad and my pencil and going ALONE!!!  Mason is a wonderful husband and I know he will be a great dad and really, what was most shocking of the evening was that he had an opinion.  Usually, he feels strongly about so little that he just defers to me....maybe I've gotten used to that! But, lets be honest, when he is changing a diaper and putting cream on a behind he won't care/know the difference if its Boudreaux's Butt Paste or Desitin!  Such fun Friday nights we have!
   Saturday was my sister and Ted's couples shower.  It was so cute and Katie did such a great job on it. They got lots of great stuff and I know they had a blast because there was football!!! Afterwards, we ventured out to the fair with my brother and sister-in-law and it was AWFUL. I LOVE the fair but I have never been when it was this crowded and it took all the fun out of it.  The food lines were 30 people deep, you couldn't even walk down the main walkways you just kind of oozed along with the crowd.  We were there maybe an hour...enough to eat a corn dog, a caramel apple with nuts, and look at the cars.  It will be interesting to see how we do the fair next year since we will have
6/7 month olds and I think that's too young but we shall see.
    Sunday, we ate Babe's for lunch where I ate all vegetables because its all I care about these days. Afterwards, Melissa and I ran around and did some Christmas shopping and finally came home where I cleaned out my kitchen in preparation for our garage sale on the 1st.  Needless to say, it was HARD getting out of bed this morning. 
   I laid in bed last night OBSESSED thinking about closets...specifically the twins closets.  We are cramming two babies in one room with one dresser so that translates to...the closet must be a ninja organized masterpiece. I am trying to get my thoughts under control but lets just say I did some closet planning online today and it brought about a sense of calm that is so sad to get from a closet. I wish it was free...
   Here are a few pregnancy updates:

*  I still HATE meat and crave salad and fruit and carbs.  I am going to start adding protein powder to my strawberry smoothies this week because I know I need the protein.
*  Lots of lower pelvic pain these past weeks.  I am told its because my ligaments are stretching to make room for the babies...
*  I am still sleeping sort of on my belly. I lodge my boppy pillow up under my stomach and prop myself against it but it is starting to not be as comfortable which is a MAJOR bummer because I am all sorts of a belly sleeper with one leg hanging out of the covers.
*  Pregnancy dreams are INSANE and what is even more insane is I can remember them pretty vividly when I wake up...crazy.
*  I really hate eating. Those who know me well know this is not me AT ALL.  But things sound good for a fleeting moment and if I don't get whatever it is pretty quickly...I'm over it.  I really do try things with meat but they just don't sit well.  The saddest part is, Mexican is just not my friend...this is a problem.
*  I may have a popsicle addiction.  My record is 4 before bed last week while watching TV, poor Mason kept getting up and bringing them to me until he finally just looked at me and said "really" and I took that as my cue to stop for the evening.
*  The only drink that sounds any good to me most days is water and I HATE water...what are these children doing to me!?

  In 4 short weeks I will be about halfway done with this pregnancy and that is AMAZING to me! We head back to the doctor on the 3rd of November for our gender scan and to check for more stuff that could be wrong and is gonna scare the bejeebies out of me until then. I am looking forward to them being able to hear and for me to start feeling them move!  Thanks for reading and have a great week!!!

14 Weeks and 2nd Trimester!

     We are nearly 4 months pregnant and Ebola has hit Dallas.  More specifically, the first Ebola patient in the U.S. DIED in the same hospital my doctor is in and where the babies are supposed to be delivered.  Most days I don't panic or let it bother me but they have had two more confirmed cases and it just gives me the willies.  I have spoken to my doctors and they all feel comfortable that we aren't in any danger going to see them at Margot Perot. A friend of mine who is also pregnant and a patient of my doctor's said she spoke directly to him today and he still feels confident there is no issue. But, he and the other doctors in the practice have been granted rites to practice in other hospitals JUST IN CASE. I don't deliver for another 4 months, at least, so I am praying it may be no big deal by then.
  In other news my sickness seemed to be getting better and then I got to week 14 and this morning I thought I was going to die again. Fortunately, a pill and a meal made it better and I was set for the rest of the afternoon.  I also had some weird pains Saturday night in the night and I felt wrecked on Sunday too. I am patiently waiting for this second trimester energy burst and cessation of sickness.  It is BETTER but I would love it GONE!
  In food news, I am very concerned about my protein intake.  I don't want to eat meat AT ALL, the thought of it makes me want to hurl. All I want to eat are carbs, salad, fruit, and popsicles.  I got in touch with the doctor and asked about protein powder and he gave me the green light so I am going to get some this weekend and start adding it to my fruit smoothies I have been making. 
   Over the weekend we went to some friends housewarming party.  Everyone got themselves good and "thirst quenched" while I ate at the kitchen island.  I was exhausted by 10:15 so I left Mason to have fun and I headed home for bed.

 

 

   I am also so very excited because we are having a GENDER REVEAL party in November! I have always loved the concept and since these will be our only babies I am so glad we get to have the opportunity to have it.  My sister and brother in law are opening their home and hosting our closest family and friends....check out the invite!

 

 

$12 on Etsy...print at home!!!

 

 

   According to BabyCenter, this is the developmental stage for our 14 week babies:

 

Fetal size: Length, 3 1/4 to 4 inches, crown to rump. Weight, around 1 ounce.

Fetal development milestones: Your babies' male or female genitalia are forming. Tissue under their faces and limbs is beginning to harden into bone. Their livers and spleens are producing red blood cells. Upper limbs are becoming proportionate to the rest of their bodies (although lower limbs are still underdeveloped).  Now into your second trimester, your babies' bones are beginning to harden in a complex process called ossification, where inorganic and organic compounds come together to help the skeleton harden. 

 

   And I will leave you with the belly...the one that no longer fits in any of my pants and very few of my shirts.  This belly is holding 2 peach size babies and it amazes me EVERYDAY that I have been chosen to carry out this task.  We are truly blessed!