two peas in a pod baby shower!

A couple of weeks ago, my sister and friend threw us an amazing baby shower for the boys!! It was so exciting and DEFINITELY needed, because we basically had nothing for baby boys. Ad was born in October, and these babies are due 8 days after their birthday. So, had they been girls, they would have been SET on clothing/toys/everything basically. But.. wouldn't you know.. we're having two boys. So none of her girly items can be reused.

That's always how the cookie crumbles, isn't it!?

Well we tried to decide on a theme. If it had been two girls, I wanted "Tea for Two" -- like a little tea party with little pastries and such. I also liked Thing 1 and Thing 2 for two little boys. But in the end, we decided on Two Peas in a Pod. So many cute ideas on Pinterest and I do love the color green :) So we went with it!



First, my sister had the idea to make these adorable "two peas in a pod" sugar cookies. They were a t.o.n. of work and we really had no idea what we were doing! We had to dye the icing in 3 shades of green, make little baby faces, and it was just.. a lot of work! It ended up giving me huge contractions and cramps - seriously.. that's what happens when you overdo it with twins in your belly! But they turned out MIGHTY cute. I loved them!



We decided to have a brunch -- two kinds of breakfast casserole, little quiches, chocolate covered strawberries, a fruit tray, etc. It was all so so good. My family and friends are the best cooks ever, to be sure!





There were quite a few kids there - which Ad LOVED. She had a blast with her little friends and cousins:

And the gifts.. they were awesome!!! We are soo thankful and SO excited to use all of these little gadgets/clothing/gifts on our two sons. Two sons. What a weird phrase to say or think!!! I still can't get over it. It seems surreal and impossible. I know in my head that I'll be birthing two boys this fall.. but I haven't *really* come to terms with it. I'm wondering when/if it will all sink in... ? Adalyn knows two babies are coming -- she comes and lays her head on my belly, pats my belly, and says "babies!" When we ask her how many babies we're having, she proudly exclaims "TWO!!!" She is obviously so excited :) I'm unsure how much she truly understands, but this kid l.o.v.e.s. infants. Every single time we pass a baby in public, she exclaims BABY!!! -- it always makes their parents smile and laugh. She also likes to point out "Mommy" or "Daddy" depending on who is pushing/carrying the baby. She's gonna be all set when we have two little kiddos coming home with us. I think she's gonna be in total heaven.

I foresee her wanting to hold the babies all the time and especially getting them their blankets, diapers, and pacifiers. And she'll also be pointing out nose/ears/hair/eyes/etc. on them. I can't wait to see her in Big Sister action. Talk about sweetness.

a huge twins update!

Some people (my sister!) have been begging me to blog about the twins. I have to sadly admit that I've been the worst at blogging this pregnancy. It's just horrible of me, I know. I just have this awful writer's block and it just feels weird now to sit down at the laptop and blog about what's going on. But I will kick myself for not blogging this pregnancy, so I need to do this.

So here I am!!

Almost 22 weeks pregnant. Bigger than a house. Feeling great. Things going smoothly.. Life is perfect! Today's blog post will be a general update on the growth of the twins and how I'm feeling. Here we go:

At 16 weeks, we went to a private ultrasound place to find out the genders of our little ba bes! I was so nervous and excited. I was betting on boy/girl twins, and so was Mark. But we both thought they would likely be two girls. Adalyn was sick that day with a fever and ended up sleeping through the whole ultrasound, so she didn't get to see her little siblings on the screen at all!





At 16 weeks, both babies were right on top of one another -- B (on top) was actually sitting on A's head and kicking him right in the noggin through the whole ultrasound! Poor kiddo.They seemed *so* close in the womb - you would almost think they were in the same sac.



It was pretty amazing to see two little squirming babies on the screen and completely surreal. We noticed the genders right away.. and to our surprise:




A and B, respectively. Two little boys! I could not believe it. Shock is an understatement. I thought one would maybe be a boy, but I honestly felt like we'd probably only have little girls. Boy, was I wrong! It looks like Adalyn will forever be our little princess! By the way, those penis shots are from 20 weeks. Yep - definitely boys.

At 20w4d, I went to see the specialist at the hospital to have an in-depth ultrasound. Basically, she seemed to check out me more than a typical 20w ultrasound would. We looked at my placenta, cervix, etc. for a long while and then finally moved to the boys. They're still one on top of the other and are both still transverse (boo!!!), but A (on the bottom) is tipped more head-down. They both weighed 15oz and look absolutely perfect - hooray!

The twins each have their own sac and their own placenta, so they are "di/di" twins.  This means that they are the lowest-risk type of twins. However, they still have a 30% chance of being identical. It's a lot to explain, but basically the timing of when an egg splits determines if they share a placenta/share a sac/or are conjoined twins. The tech explained to me that if they split early - like around day 3 - then they would each develop their own placenta. Or they could be fraternal! Won't know until birth, and I can't wait!






And as for me? Well, I'm doing wonderfully. I do feel extra big and have more pains early on than I did with my singleton pregnancy, but it isn't too bad at all! If I exert myself too much, stand up for too long, or walk too far, I do get contractions. I do have hip pain at night and basically spend each night flopping from side to side to ease the pain. But it's nothing I can't handle. My doctors seem pretty unphased by my twin pregnancy and act like it's no big deal at all. As long as we're all healthy, they don't seem to have any concerns at all! Which I guess is a good thing.



Me @ 19wks

So now? We're just getting all of our baby items in order and getting all set for the boys. I am nesting like crazy  and am a little psycho with it.  I basically want to clean and organize all day long and am itching to buy ALL of their necessities NOW. I definitely never thought I'd have twins - and I definitely never thought we'd be having twin boys.. but here we are! About 16 weeks to go until my "goal" of 38 weeks with the boys. Time is zooming by.. we're just praying that I'm able to carry them for as long as humanly possible and that they come out big, strong, and healthy.

And just for fun, here's me at 19 weeks pregnant with little Adalyn. Um, I think there's quite a difference between these pregnancies :) :)


Tomorrow I'll blog all about our fun Two Peas in a Pod baby shower!