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!

weaning and turning into a big sister.

I haven't mentioned it to many people, but...

Adalyn is in the process of weaning!

Let me first say that I was fine with her nursing to her little heart's content. And we were - at 18mos, she was nursing around 6 times a day (though often for less than 5 minutes. and it was barely sucking - a total comfort thing). But.. I'm pregnant. And while I felt physically fine in the first trimester, the second trimester brought on lots of pain during nursing. It was pretty unbearable.

So I started distracting her when she asked to "nuss" (nurse), and I would tell her that mommy doesn't feel good. ...She hasn't nursed in nearly a week! She still asks once per day and isn't phased at all when I say that mommy has no more milk. She is completely fine with it and goes on playing. I am so proud of her (and me!) through this. No tears, no dramatic forceful weaning. It was just time for us. I'm happy about it in that sense - that it has gone so smoothly.

But I'm going to miss it so bad. Those cuddles with her, those special moments of just the two of us. The fact that I could make the world right for her with nursing and no one could comfort her like me. As she's gotten bigger, she would just like to nurse for the closeness to mommy. I can't even verbalize (or write, in this case), the bond during that time as she would just stare into my eyes. Thinking about it makes me want to cry, because those days are gone. Forever. A huge part of me wants to whisk her up in my lap and nurse her one last time - I feel so not ready for this season of our lives to be over. I'm really not ready. At all.

Since I can't nurse her now, I'm trying to make up for it by grabbing her up as often as I can (a *lot*) and smothering her with kisses and loves. I tell her every day that she will always be my baby, and I'm going to love her forever and ever. And that she is my whole heart and my best little friend. I'm sure this sounds completely dramatic to most people - and I guess you could only understand if you nursed your baby into toddlerhood. Because it becomes so much more than nourishment. It's a precious bond that I'll treasure forever.

 

And these days, she's turning into a little mommy right before my eyes. She helps swaddle her babies, feeds them bottles, nurses them, puts them in their playpen and gives them toys to snuggle with. She says "shhh" as she pats them to sleep and makes little sucking sounds while she feeds them a bottle. It makes me so eager to see her with her siblings this fall. The little baby I was nursing earlier this spring will be my "little mama" come the fall. That's a huge transition. I'm not ready for it. But I hope that over the course of the summer, I'll slowly learn to be ready. She's my big girl now. And I'll always miss and treasure our nursing past. But it was our time.

And in just 5 months, I'll be nursing two new babies. Can't. Even. Fathom. It.

a lot!

Today we took Little Toot to the Disney Store (one of her favorite places on earth).. She ran to the pile of stuffed animals, picked up Cubby (from Jake & the Neverland Pirates) and yelled CUBBY! CUBBY!!!!!!!!!!

How on earth does she memorize characters like that?!?!

She really wanted (REALLY WANTED) the big Peter Pan doll. Note that she's only seen Peter Pan *once* in the Jake and & the NP special on TV. She carried him around the whole time and her lip stuck out and she *almost* cried when we had to put him back at the end. A little heartbreaking. But she ended up getting Rapunzel instead. Way cooler :)

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My belly is getting so big! The babies are definitely growing and I feel movement daily but not too often. It's sporadic just here and there! It feels like little squiggles in my uterus. I can't wait to be kicked hard and tell them apart based on location!

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We decided on the diapers for the twins! Prefolds using Thirsties covers and Bummis covers:

And here's an example of a newborn in a prefold (not wearing a cover) in case you have no idea what I'm talking about:

You just stick the cute colorful cover over it and that's it! I've never used prefolds, so I have no idea what to actually expect. Some people love them and some people absolutely hate them. I'm going to force myself to love them since they'll be saving us lots of money :) Plus they're super cute!

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This little nugget is 18 months old. 22.4lbs and 25% on weight, 75% on height, and 90% for a big head. I love my little munchkin to death. And that concludes this blog post.

18 months WHAT!

 My Little Toot is 18 months!

A year and a half old!

6 months until she's TWO! AHH!

I've been feeling pretty crummy lately, so I haven't been taking photos as usual. But! I did get a few while we were in Kentucky.



 

Adalyn is such a little spitfire. She's changed so much since 12 months. Now she's extremely social, very very very talkative, and can tell you exactly what she wants! Now, she still hates  the church nursery. But I have my suspicions as to why. And when I say "hate" - I mean we were actually paged to pick her up on Sunday. But any other time, she is literally running up to strangers, touching them, saying hi and wanting to be their buddy. I thought for sure that she would be quiet and reserved around Grandma and Poppy when they came to visit. Um, nope!! She was RIGHT up all over them, giving them kisses on the lips and was immediately attached as can be!

snuggling cousin Hudsie!

Some of the new things she does:
-Saying the animal name when she sees it (dog, elephant, cow, etc.)
-Can say "woof woof" when asked what a dog says and "moo moo" for cow, and "ribbit" for frog
-Actually talks to me now and tells me what she wants (small words, I mean)
-Can work an iPad like nobody's business. which isn't always a good thing :)
-Tells us "I poop" when she's pooped and points to her butt. Knows we put poop in the potty and says ew.
-Knows the oven is "hot" and we don't touch it :) Luckily, she trusts us on this and hasn't touched it to find out just how hot it is!
-Stands by me as I throw up and says yuck yuck yuck yuck!! 

 The top 3 words said each day are: Oso, Mama, and nurse. In that order.

Yes, she still nurses. And yes, it definitely hurts now that I'm in my 2nd trimester!

She now tries to sing along to songs that we know. We sing the ABC song multiple times a day (always during brushing our teeth!), and she chimes in at "G" "K" "P" "S" "Z" and at the end she says "WITH MEEE" .. of course it's just memorization since we sing it so often. She also chimes in during the theme song of Little Einsteins and Oso.. my entire family can testify. She just says a few words here and there - it's way cute! I must get it on video somehow!

Sigh. She's growing up so big. Lately, she seems more like my best buddy than my little baby. She shares (steals) my food and drinks, gets blankets and pillows for me, and runs up to us and hugs/kisses us all the time! I'm pretty certain that we'll be having her 2nd birthday in July, since the twins are due RIGHT at her birthday. And I definitely can't throw a party with newborns or while I'm in the hospital. So we'll have to do it early. That's okay, though! Who knows what our theme will be.. but I'm crossing my fingers that her Elmo obsession will be long gone by then :) :)

I love her to death. I really do.

13 weeks with my twinnies

 Well! Here I am, 13w2d pregnant with twins! Yesterday I had an appointment, so I thought I'd update everyone on the growth of our little nuggets!

How far along? 13

Total weight gain: 0 - currently at pre-pregnancy weight

Maternity clothes? I do love maternity pants/shorts, but my regular clothes still fit!

Sleep: A little better but still waking up at night

Best moment this week: Seeing our nuggets!!

Movement: Yes! I feel them ever so often, just randomly. I sometimes feel a little squiggle in my uterus! Only a few times a day, though!

Gender: I'm going to guess a boy and a girl today, but I definitely don't have a huge intuition or anything.

What I miss: Not being sick and not having these HORRIBLE headaches all the time!

Weekly Wisdom: Don't listen to the receptionist, because they really don't know anything!!

Looking forward to: My gender ultrasound on May 19!! Come on!!!!


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So I had my 12-week appointment a week late, because I was in Kentucky (oops, I totally forgot to blog about that!) and I was SO wanting an ultrasound. Thankfully, the nurse decided to put me in the ultrasound room since I had twins, and my new doctor came in and didn't even whip out his doppler - he went straight for the ultrasound machine! (He later said it would be incredibly difficult to get both babies on the doppler because they're so small and close to each other.) Seriously, the grin on my face was HUGE! I was so, so excited to see them!

The membrane separating the babies was REALLY thin. I'm talking like.. a piece of paper thin. At 8 weeks, they had a big separation, but not anymore. They are so close that the doctor couldn't tell if I had 1 or 2 placentas - keep in mind that this machine was *ancient*.. it looked like one of the first u/s machines ever created :) We saw them squirming away and he zoomed in and gave me photos of each kiddo!

                                                                           Baby B:

 

Look at the baby's butt, Baby A is under its butt. 

They are SUPER close to each other.

Baby A:

 

 little arm!

There really wasn't much to "do" at my appointment, so the ultrasound sadly went too fast for me. He did tell me that the practice does not force me to be induced at any week - so we can go as long as we're all healthy. And they're completely fine with vaginal twin births and breech babies. So that's a blessing! Of course, everything can change and I may actually NEED a c-section - but we're taking it one day at a time and praying for healthy, big babies and hoping our darndest for a vaginal birth!! (And I mean really hoping!)

I'm definitely "accepting" the twins more. I don't know how good or bad that sounds, but everyone with twins always says that there is no RIGHT way to cope with having twins! It's definitely a shock and it definitely takes time to adjust. But now, at 13 weeks, I feel so much more at ease about having two babies at the same time and more confident in my mothering. At 8 weeks, when we found out, it was like "Oh my mercy, how am I going to do this..." And that feeling still creeps in daily. Sometimes by the hour! But Big Sis has turned out pretty fantastic, so that makes me feel a little bit better about everything - ha!

I'm still really confused on a lot of "logistical" aspect of twins - like where/how they'll sleep at night, for instance. My current PLAN is that they'll both sleep in the Fisher Price Rock & Play Sleepers as newborns. I didn't co-sleep with Ad until 8 weeks, and she slept fine on her own - so I'm really unsure if we'll co-sleep with the twins? Not against or or for it at this point, but we'll just play it by ear when they come! The only thing (for now!) that freaks me out is nap time for 3 kids and bedtime for 3 kids.. how do you get 3 kids under 2 to sleep at the same time!? Oh mercy :)

We're settled on ONE girl name - no middle name for her. And we're kind of settled on a boy name (first & middle!) but I'm not SET on the boy name just yet. Something feels off about it. My girl name matches Adalyn's name, so if it's 2 girls, I would hate for the 3rd girl to have a name that.. didn't match.. so I don't know. I'm through with the name search for a few weeks - it's exhausting! :)

My next appointment is in 4 weeks, and my next ultrasound is in THREE! Yahoo!

10 weeks!

How far along? 10 weeks.. woohoo!

Total weight gain: -5

Maternity clothes? No, still fitting comfortably in my regular clothes!

Sleep: Eh. Last night was horrible because I had a headache all night, but normally it isn't too bad! I do wake up more than usual, and I can only get comfortable by sleeping on my belly!

Best moment this week: We decided on our boys' names!! Finally.

Movement: Nope - can't wait!

Gender: Right now I'm feeling both girls. I go back and forth between B/G and G/G!

What I miss: I miss Ibuprofen!

Weekly Wisdom: Nothing much here :).. yet!

Looking forward to: Finding out the genders!!!!! And getting our baby items!


I thought it would be "fun" to make a little list of what's currently making me nauseous these days:

-Elmo
-Mr. Noodle
-"Draw Something" the iPhone app
-thinking about Mexican food
-being hungry
-any kind of meat. Sometimes I can deal with chicken but I *hate* the thought of beef

I wish I were kidding about some of those. But literally, I get nauseous over Elmo and the iPhone game. It's completely bizarre - I had to delete the app!

We've finally decided on our two boy names, which I love! I'm kind of getting closer to deciding on girl names, but I'm really still up in the air. Nothing ever feels "right" the way Adalyn felt to me. I always just knew that Adalyn would be Adalyn! Even before we conceived her! This time, it's so different!

I can't remember what I've blogged and what I haven't, but we've decided to use prefolds & covers for the first bit of our babies' lives until they can fit comfortably in FuzziBunz. We're going to need more FB's too, and probably get new inserts for them! I'm extremely excited, though, and can't wait to see my little nuggets in their cloth!

I just found both babies on the doppler - one was 176 and one was 181. I am really hoping I'll miraculously get an ultrasound sometime around 12 weeks; I cannot wait to see them again and get some of my questions answered -- I'm dying to know if I have 1 placenta or two! And at 12 weeks they'll be able to kick around and look absolutely adorable on the screen.

Adalyn @ 12 weeks!

Holy moly! I can't believe how BIG she was at just 12 weeks! It makes me so anxious to see these babies! And if anyone has any girl name suggestions (unique ones!), send them my way! Pleeeease!