32 Weeks

I can't believe we're actually at 32 weeks! Throughout this whole pregnancy the question running through my mind has always been "How long will we go?" The twin birth stories I've heard are all over the board, from babies that were born as early as 28 weeks and stayed in the hospital with all kinds of health problems for several months, to moms that went past their due date, to (the most common scenario) moms that gave birth at 34-36 weeks with babies who stayed in the NIM or possibly NICU but who came home fairly quickly after birth.

32 Weeks is kind of that "whew" moment since as Dr. Taber puts it: at 32 weeks babies will survive with very few health problems but will be in NICU. At 34 weeks babies are fine but will probably stay in the hospital a few to 6 weeks. At 36 weeks babies can usually go home with mom.

Since I'm not showing any signs of pre-term labor I feel pretty confident that we can hit that 34-36 week mark!
I thought I'd post some updates from the last couple weeks, I'm a little annoyed with my blogger account lately as it never seems to place pictures the way I want them so I apologize for the weird order.
Last week Andy and I both had Friday off so we took Samson to the Holland beach for some swimming. Needless to say Sam loved it but we didn't get a lot of relaxing in!
Each week BabyCenter sends an update with a picture of a baby's development. Every 8 weeks or so they send one that also includes fraternal twins images. Here is this weeks image, just for fun:

We finally have a functional nursery! More has been done since I took this picture but here are the cribs all set up. It was a pleasant surprise how easily these cribs were assembled:

Here's my belly today at 32 weeks!:

My friend Beth and I were about 8 weeks apart. She was able to make about an hour of my "Friends Shower" a couple weeks ago and I'm so glad she did because she had her little boy Lincoln Edward a couple weeks early via an unplanned C-section. They are doing well! (Look how tiny she is :)

And finally, this is what happens when I ask Andy to take belly pictures- they are lopsided and usually most are not of my belly:

Boring, Tired, Unmotivated

Sorry I've been a boring blogger lately. I'm hoping one day soon I'll feel movitated to upload some recent pictures and update but for now, I guess I'm just no fun when it comes to my blog :(

Sautee Naccoochee Valley, GA

I know I'm about a month late, but I figure it's never too late to post some fun pictures. This is the youth trip toGeorgia- which turned out to be fraught with car troubles!

Here we are in an Arby's in Kentucky, nice huh? Except we were stuck here for about 4 hours waiting for our AC to get fixed.

Unfortunately, the AC could not be fixed, so we spent the next 6 hours or so driving down the highway in a tin can under 95 degree sun with only the emergency hatches for breeze. Whew! It was warm.

Once we arrived we settled in- it was about 10:30pm and hit the sack. The next day was a work day which we spent at the camp working on their new basketball court. This particular camp, which is the organization's summer headquarters, was brand new to TeamEffort. There was a lot of work to do so each group spent a day working on-site. Our group got to do two days since we had a lack of transportation for a little while.

(In Picture: Tori, Kaleigh, Lauren, Alyssa, and Josh)

There was a lot of moving dirt and concrete from one spot to another. Here Tyler is shoveling some beautiful red Georgia dirt into a trailer to be moved to a more useful spot.

Everyone lent a hand for each job. This was actually one of the more pleasant jobs as it was in the shade!

It was HOT- think at least 95 degrees, in direct sunlight I would guess we got closer to 100.

(Alyssa, Kathryn, Amanda, Tori, and Lauren, with Tony in the background)

The younger guy on the left was one of our leaders- Clayton. The older gentleman was a volunteer who's nephew helped to start TeamEffort. One of the more disconcerting realizations for me when we arrived at camp was that all of the leaders were about 20 years old and there was no real go-to person who was in charge of the whole camp. There was a camp director floating around but we rarely saw him.

Tony Doster was the other adult male leader. He and Kathryn worked well together to move broken concrete away from the basketball court!

Every day we went "off-site" for our picnic lunch. Hanging out by the river was definitely our favorite passtime and on the second day of eating at this location the kids discovered they could catch minnows in their bare hands. After a few tries they learned not to scream and drop them the minute they caught one :)

A little minnow-friend.

Another fun activity was wading out to the "white water" in the middle of the river. It was slippery so we had to go on all fours or link arms but we were willing to do just about anything to get cool!

Thank goodness our rooms were air-conditioned! Evenings after worship and small groups was spent playing "Nerts" (or "Peanuts") and Euchre.

(Left to Right: Tyler, Lauren, Tyler, Mark, AJ, John)

This is Renee, our other fearless, but camera-shy, leader from TeamEffort.

We learned lots of new skills! Kathryn and Tori tried their hands at drywall.

John was a pro at sanding those drywall seams!



Our other work days were spent in a trailer park called Baker and Glover. The family we worked with had 3 children- Jose, Igselle, and Brittany (their new, week-old baby). Igselle had lots of friends!

(Left to Right: Naomi, Igselle, Erica)







When Alison and I made our trek to Atlanta to pick up the rental vans to temporarily replace our big bus we missed lunch and found this great little place to eat- The Old Sautee Store. On our 1/2 free day we brought the kids back for lunch and to buy candy for the return trip home.

(Left to Right: Lauren, Jessica, Mark, Amanda, Chris, Tony, Kathryn, Kaleigh, Tori)





The Old Sautee Store had all kinds of novelties- this was a measure of your romanticism. Somehow I ended up being pronounced "clammy" while most of the kids got "passionate," "burning," and "hot stuff." I guess the heat fades with age? Awesome.

The restaurant area of The Old Sautee Store

Nice big front porch- we knew we must be in the South!







On our full day off most of the kids went whitewater rafting, while Jessica, Alison and I hung out in a restaurant and played cards.











Time to go home!

(Front Row: AJ, John. Middle Row: Alisaon, Kaleigh, Lauren, Alyssa, Christopher, Jessica, Tony, Mark. Back Row: Krista, Tori, Kathryn, Amanda, Zach, Tyler, Tony, Tyler, Josh)

Last Weekend

Forth of July on Belfast!

3 houses in a row- all pregnant!

Super Sally! Our faithful carriage steed.

Can you spot what's different about these pictures??

Yup, I've given up my long-time ban on shorts as a part of my daily clothing selection as well as the idea that the tank top is anything other than an undershirt.

Why did I pick now when I weigh about 20 lbs more than normal to bust out this more revealing wardrobe?? DANG, it's HOT OUT!

Andy's Child

We had another ultrasound this Monday, "routine" for twins, I guess we'll be having them about once a month from here on out. Like the last ultrasound I had a difficult time laying on my back for the majority of it. The nausea/discomfort at laying on my back has now progressed to even the slightest recline- car seats, pillows in bed, even my desk chair, so while I loved watching the babies move and do crazy things on the big screen I definitely breathed a sigh of relief when it was over. I'm counting my blessings though because I know if/when I am ever pregnant with just one baby I will miss all these little glimpses!

This week we verified that we do indeed have one boy and one girl, our little girl was much less shy about revealing herself to the camera and our baby boy was finally willing to give us a good look at his face. My ultrasound tech maintains that she is not supposed to give us 3D pics so shhh you didn't see the following images.

We also learned this week, now that baby boy is ok with showing us his face that he is truly Andy's child. Can a baby in the womb look any more like it's father than this kid?!"

Now I'd like you to prepare yourself for this next picture, this is how I knew this little boy most certainly does not take after his mother (please note, the mass to the left of the the pic is his sister's behind...he does have his reasons I suppose):

The next too images are of our baby girl, she was much more coy and rather sleepier than her brother. She also must be more apt to take after me since she is loath to show her face to the world when she just wakes up.

It's not as obvious with this child who she looks like but we think she's pretty darn cute nonetheless. I also like the fact that she appears to be sleeping quite peacefully and soundly. Hope you keep it up once you're born kiddo!

On an unrelated note, I took a nice long, relaxing bath this evening to help out my sore back. When I returned to my room I found this.

It refused to extricate itself from my sheets.

Even when I began taking close-ups of it's nostrils.

Glad I brushed it today, otherwise it might have left behind enough hair to make a 2nd Sammy.

Thoughts For the Day...

1) I'm ready for hubby to come home. I must have gotten used to him being around because he's only been gone for two days!!
2) Love love love the new carpet, and so does Samson. He is snoring.
3) I enjoy watching "How It's Made" and currently they are showing how to make oreos. Mmmm I want an oreo, or 5.
4) So excited about my cloth diaper choices I could cry. The more I learn the more comfortable and adventurous I feel. So very tempted to buy the 3 pack on Babysteals.com today simply because the patterns are adorable. I. Will. Resist.
5) LOVE the bedding we picked out, now I just need paint. Contemplating asking hubby to paint the nursery while I'm in Georgia...it would be so nice to come to home to a finished paint job!! But at the same time, it's a lot of work and I don't mind helping...
6) Miss breathing freely while talking, laying on my back to read/watch TV, and sleeping on my belly. If this is the worst of my "grievances" I know I have it pretty darn good so I won't complain too much except to say: I miss these things.

The End, have a great Wednesday!!

Go ahead and laugh...

I am SO excited about the prospect of cloth diapering.

I know many of you out there in cyber-land think I am nuts, but that only makes me all the more determined! I also have the benefit of lots and LOTS of other current cloth-users who tell me they love it...and NONE who have yet to say they hated it so much that they gave up.

As of a couple weeks ago we narrowed it down to pocket diapers- something I swore I wouldn't use because I didn't understand having to change the cover every time you changed the insert... Until I saw them in person that is! The pocket diapers just seem so much more fitted to me. They feel strong, sturdy, soft, and I can picture them lasting through multiple children. They are also very cute.

That said, I headed out to a boutique in Rockford today to start a registry for either Fuzzibunz brand or BumGenius. I ended up settling on Fuzzibunz on the advice of the store owner who made a good point: given my and Andy's height we would be safest to go with the higher rise of the Fuzzibunz to ensure them lasting through potty training. (These are one size diapers, meaning they grow with the babies, though we still intend to use disposable until they are out of newborn sized diapers).

Here is an example of a Fuzzibunz diaper...look how stinkin cute it is!!

Thankfully this store also carried a new brand called Flip Diapers that I had seen online but needed more information on. They are a perfect hybrid for me. They combine the fit and look of a pocket diaper with the convenience of a prefold (so you can reuse the cover and insert a new liner, most of the time). They also have biodegradable inserts perfect for days out- they can be thrown away just like a regular disposable diaper.

Here is a picture of a Flip Diaper in their pretty "Zinnia" color:

I'm sorry to say I opted to skip registering at the boutique in Rockford because I think it's just too far to drive for most of my friends and family but I found a great website (thanks to a friend) called Kelly's Closet that has some fantastic deals on packages as well as individual diapers. If you're curious check out the website! It's crazy how many options there are...