My Nieces and Nephew

I really do have the cutest nieces and nephew! Andy's brother, Peter, and his wife, Lisa, have four kids and they are all completely different, but with amazing personalities! We had fun with Aunt Mindy's new camera yesterday and I caught some fun photos, catching some of their fun faces.

Anna (8)

Lauren (4) and Sarah (6)

Tommy (3)

Now, we're just waiting for my sister and brother-in-law, Ellie and David, to have their son so I can add him to my cute list!

Showered with Love

On Friday, February 20th, we had a shower at my mom's house with some of our friends. What a fun time! Now, if I can just find a spot for all of those gifts...

Those boys are definintely growing! Here we are at about 27.5 weeks! You can see my belly button starting to pop...

My brother, Dan came home from Houghton to help Andy with the valet parking, moving all of the ladies' cars next door! Here he is with Grandma Lisa and Marissa, who took all of the pictures with my new camera!

This is Dan's Jim Halpert face from The Office. Isn't it great?

My good friend, Alicia Atwater-White from college and her 7-month-old angel, Marissa. Beautiful!

Me, my mom, and sister, Marissa. We missed my big sister, Ellie, who's due any day with HER little boy!

I get really excited about food these days, especially at Mom's house!

These little booties from Margie looked like sneakers. Too cute!

Michelle made us TWO quilts with a Noah's Ark theme because they came into the ark "two by two." Get it? Twins? I was ashamed I didn't think of that myself! (Consequently, you can see her fantastic blog at http://rosebudquilting.blogspot.com/!)




I was so excited that Alicia and Amy were able to make it for the shower... and help! We missed Robyn (in California) but can't wait for her visit in July!

Andy enjoyed his cleverly-made Daddy Diaper Duty Toolkit from Judy. He's definitely ready for the challenge! He still jokes that he'll be able to change both boys at the same time. :)





The proud parents-to-be, looking forward to our boys' arrival in just about ten weeks (Lord willing!) We'll be sure to keep you posted!

Joys of a Twin Pregnancy

We are currently at 26 weeks and 5 days, just about a week from the third trimester. And praise God, everything continues to go extremely well! However, as my belly grows, there are a few things that I have a very difficult time doing, now that my midsection is measuring as if I were a 36-week pregnant woman.


Here are some of the chart-toppers. It has become difficult for me to:

• Bend down. I am currently in the process of training my feet to be more useful to me. My hands can only do so much three feet from the ground.
• Sleep on my tummy. Perhaps this is obvious, but ever since I was 12 weeks pregnant, sleeping in this - my favorite - position has become obsolete. I constantly flip from my left to my right side through the night, waking up every time to adjust the pillows.
• Get in and out of the car. I've never gotten so excited about drive-thrus. Having a 1993 Chevy Lumina so close to the ground is probably not extremely helpful at this point, but it's better than nothing! I'm actually looking forward to that minivan we're looking to get this summer.
• Reach for things in the cupboard. Although I'm tall and usually have no problems with this, my belly gets in the way of me experiencing my full reach-ability. I feel bad having to ask my husband to do these menial tasks for me, including putting the clothes from the washer into the dryer, although he insists he doesn't mind.
• Run. I've never been athletic, but with my long stride, I've always been able to hustle. Now... not so much. Every step seems to bounce Baby A on my bladder. Plus, it's uncomfortable on my ligaments. Andy, however, has kindly adjusted his pace and always picks me up and drops me off at the door!
• Watch adventure shows/movies. This is very unusual to me, but it's true. I just can't take the suspense. My heart goes crazy when I see a show where someone is in trouble (especially a child,) a race, or a mystery with lots of twists and turns. I have become a certified wimp.
• Sit, stand, or lay in any position for too long. My boys don't like to be crowded. They give me subtle (and not-so-subtle) hints when they need me to change my position to increase their comfort.

I shouldn't lead you to believe it's all bad, though. There are some perks to this pregnancy: I get to stay home, sleep whenever I need it, eat almost anything I crave, experience dozens of doctor's offices and people, and add my name to the millions of women who have done the same thing, survived, and have lived to tell about it. Those same women try to encourage me by saying, "Girl, you haven't seen nothin' yet. Just wait 'til they're born!"

Gee, thanks for the encouragement. I have much to look forward to...

A Happy Ending

After all of that drama yesterday, I am proud to say there is a happy ending!

I got a call from the doctor that:
a.) I didn't have to re-do the glucose test,
b.) They were able to gage the results from what they had received,
c.) I do NOT have gestational diabetes!

Hooray, for each one! God is so good.

My Veins, What a Pain

I have always had what my mom calls "disappearing veins." They're small, hard to find, and seem to roll whenever someone tries to isolate them. Because of that, I'm also a bruiser. Stab me once, I'll have a bruise for three weeks.

I knew all of this when I headed to my 3-hour glucose test this morning. But since it's a standard test for those pregnant with twins, I fasted after 6pm last night and showed up for my bloodwork at 8:20am.

The girl was really nice. She took my blood for the first time with little problem and then had me drink this orange fluid that tasted like flat pop... sugar pop. Man, was that concentrated! Thank God, I got all of that down, but it didn't take long for my boys to recognize the foreign sugary liquid running throughout their otherwise calm environment. Poor things. I haven't even drunk hot chocolate or Caffeine Free Diet Coke since I've been pregnant! They were going CRAZY!

An hour later, I went in for the second poke. I got a little winded, but communicated my circumstances to the nurse and it quickly passed. For the third poke, she had a really hard time finding my veins and had to go back and forth between my two arms. She finally succeeded and stopped the bleeding with a cotton ball. But at this point, I could hardly see straight. Now, I've never fainted before, but I have gotten light-headed. (Blame it on my weak stomach!) However, I have never experienced anything quite like this before.

My vision blurred and my ears clogged. I got very warm and hopelessly tried to pull my hair back, off of my neck. The nurse could see my lips losing color and offered me water. She reclined my chair and got me a cold compress. I could feel the room closing in on me and felt like it was coming in fast. Then my stomach felt like it wouldn't hold that orange fluid any longer. I told the nurse just in time for her to bring the wastebasket to my head and hold my hair away from my face long enough for me to dispense the entire contents of that disgusting orange bottle into the can... well, I did miss a little.

Great. Now, what? I only had one more hour and one more successful poke before I was free! She called the doctor and they confirmed that she should terminate the test. (I did just throw up the most important part of the exam.) Was I going to have to do this all over again? I still don't know. She begged the doctor not to make me do this for a second time, sighting her difficulty in finding my skinny and disappearing veins and the effect it had on me.

Oh Lordy, I hope I don't have to. That was torture!

I Got a New Camera!

Last night, Andy and I made the biggest purchase we have since we bought his truck... we bought a new digital camera!

It's a Sony Alpha SLR with 10.2MP and a detachable lens - a beautiful piece of machinery. I've always wanted one, but put it off because there were so many other things we could find to spend $600 on. With the upcoming arrival of our twin boys, however, it seemed like a great time to make the purchase, if we were ever going to. So we did!!

We took it with us to church today and then out to lunch for my mom's birthday. This is one of the first pictures I took with it... my parents!

I can't wait to experiment with it more!

Now, if my sister, Ellie, can just have that baby boy (due March 7th,) I can get some real practice!

Pictoral Update

I went to my specialist today and received some new information on the boys!

Praise God, everything is going well. Their skeletal systems are developing nicely and both hearts are beating strong. They're still putting their money on fraternal twins, judging the size of the membrane between the embryonic sacs, but they said they can't be 100% certain. Both heads are close to eachother and facing down, with Baby A draped around my left side and Baby B cradled along my right. So I guess it's their FEET that I feel under my ribs! She measured Baby A's little foot and it was 4 cm or 1.5 inches. How cute is that?

Normally at 25 weeks, a singleton baby is about 1.5# and 8.5" long and my boys are right there! Baby A is 1#12 oz and Baby B is 1#15 oz. The nurse didn't know for sure, but judging by their leg bones, she thinks they're taller than 8.5" so far. These are gonna be big boys! But the good news is that they appear to be very comfortable in their habitat and are show no signs of wanting to come out early.

Sounds good to me!

Eating for Three: A Blessing or a Curse?

Last night, Andy and I went to Quaker State in Williamsville for dinner, since we both craved those famous burgers and wings! It was definitely worth the wait on a Saturday night. I indulged in a huge cheeseburger, fries and six of their mild Buffalo wings. After all, I'm eating for three, right? The boys were dancing with delight! And even though I probably ate a little too much, I didn't regret it.

Right away, that is.

Afterward, we went to see "Paul Blart, Mall Cop" (which was cute, by the way,) at the Regal just behind the restaurant. I sat uncomfortably through the movie, shifting my weight to ease the burden on my already-expanding tummy. I could just feel the grease oozing its way through my body. But the idea of getting "comfortable" has dramatically changed since I got pregnant. I straightened my posture and then leaned forward, shifting the pain from one part of my body to another. I tried crossing my legs, but quickly gave that up. I leaned on the empty seat next to me just so my stomach could have ample room to digest all of the food I had just ingested. But since the taste of those Buffalo wings lingered on my tongue, I still didn't regret it.

When we got home, I layed down. Still, no comfort. The boys were obviously enjoying the flavor from my dinner and were doing somersaults to show their appreciation. Both of them. One was jumping on my bladder and the other was digging his toes at my ribcage. At this point, I couldn't tell the difference between the babies' movements and gas pains. I propped my numerous pillows in their usual spaces and got up when I had to, just to alleviate the strain and empty my bladder.

Overall, I got very little sleep. I woke up very tired, but definitely still full from the night before.

What did I learn from this experience? Eating like that might not be the best thing for me, even if I am eating for three. Maybe next time, I'll skip the fries and the wings and just go with the burger. Or even a salad.

Maybe.