Mother's Day 2013

A picture says a thousand words...

Both of my offspring had a case of the grumps for the day. :-P  Nick rallied big time, though, with a yummy breakfast and the new popcorn machine I was hoping for! :)

Saint Louis or bust!

We took a very, very last minute trip to Saint Louis this past weekend!  We needed a change of scenery, and Emmy (and Hannah!) were going through cousin withdrawls.  Luckily, Kris and JP were game!  Albeit brief, we still had a great time just being with one another. :) We hit up the local transportation museum, and spent lots of time playing on the playset that one of Kris and JP's neighbors gave them!  The boys took bedtime duty, enabling Kris and I to sneak out to see the Great Gatsby and to celebrate our upcoming birthday over some Cheesecake Factory dessert.  Such a treat, for so many reasons!

Clairey and Emmy are absolutely, totally and completely inseparable.

Jacob was in his element!  He is totally obsessed with trains :)

Nick and the girls!

First family portrait since Christmas morning! :-P

Sissy had the giggles :)

Kicking back, watching airplanes.  They swung for HOURS.

Hannah eating her breakfast on the floor.

"CHEE!"

19 weeks & 20 weeks

19 weeks

We made it to the halfway point (bearing in mind that Dr. Anderson will induce at 38 weeks!)  I had an appointment with Dr. Anderson confirming that everything is going smoothly thus far.  All of my screens have been normal (praise the LORD!)  Weight gain is on target, my blood pressure is still low, but I have had fewer dizzy spells this week, thankfully!

Sissy reminds me where my attention should be focused.  Should I make the selfish decision to read the news on my computer, she will promptly climb on the couch and straddle my belly right in front of the computer, just like this.  Problem solved!

20 weeks!

This week, I have started getting questions about when I'm due when I'm running errands...There's no hiding the belly anymore.   Last night, I was left no choice but to take the girls to the grocery store for some almond milk for Sissy. It was a less than pleasant excursion, given that it was taking place at bedtime and both girls were spent.  To add to the experience, the dude at the check-out asked me when I was due, and when I told him October, he looked at me buggy-eyed and proclaimed that I am going to be enormous.  Apparently, he hasn't yet gotten the memo that you never use a word like that when talking to a lady about her size.  Perturbed, I told him that I anticipated I would be because there are two babies in my belly.  At which point, he pointed out that I was never going to get any sleep.  So glad he brought that to my attention, too.

As for the high point of the day, I had my 20 week anatomy scan at a high risk OB clinic in Nashville!  It took an hour for the technician to get most of the images she needed of the babies...I decided that a job requirement for an ultrasound tech is extreme patience!  Baby girl, in particular, was wiggling all over the place, making it really difficult to get clear images of certain details of her tiny little organs.  Baby Boy was just slightly more subdued...They will fit in nicely to our brood!  I had a follow-up consultation with one of the high-risk OBs, who confirmed that everything looks great so far!  I learned that Baby Girl is on my right side and Baby Boy is on my left side, and they are positioned head-to-foot.  There is a impenetrable membrane between them, which is much like a curtain.  They can still feel each other's movements, and I got to watch them knocking each other around. :-P

After my appointment, I took FULL advantage of my babysitter and spent the remainder of the morning and afternoon crossing things off my to do list.  One of them being buying the triple stroller I found on Craigslist!  So far, we are nearly all covered with our baby needs!  I found a behemoth twin nursing pillow at a discount store last week, and Kris, so graciously, loaded my car with her infant carrier carseat and three containers of boy and girl baby clothes.  Such a blessing!

Baby Girl's profile

Baby Boy waves hello!

Baby Boy and Baby Girl's sweet faces!

Baby Girl

Baby Boy

Our "new" Joovy Triple sit and stand stroller!  We have adapters to be able to snap in the infant carriers  and a place for a third child to either sit or stand.  From what I've read, this is going to save me when I have anywhere I have to go!  It is a beast and the turning radius isn't spectacular, but, honestly, it's the only thing on the market that can accommodate my kids that doesn't require me shopping at a day care supply store :-P.

Just Three Words...

HERE COMES TROUBLE

Sissy and I went "big" grocery shopping while Emmy was at school last week.  She made her point that she'd had enough as we were headed towards the check-out, and by the time we were being rung up, she was DONE.  My only saving grace was that she'd dug around in one of the already-loaded grocery bags and fished out a couple of enormous chocolate bars that I needed for a bake-sale fundraiser cake.  Not wanting to rock the boat, I decided to pick my battles and allow her to hold them.  She maintained her death grip as I put her into her carseat and determined that it really wasn't a big deal because it's not like she could open the package.  I turned around at a stop light to wink at her and noticed the Hershey bar wrapper flapping around and chocolate all over her face.  Being that there was nothing I could do until we arrived at our destination, I let her indulge for a few more minutes.  After I parked and opened her door, I was greeted by a scowl and my docile little Hannah hugging the chocolate bar whining "NONONONO!"  That's when I pulled out my phone to document the remainder of our encounter:

I made the giant mistake of thinking I could actually vacuum my floors last week.  Luckily, Emmy has no problem narking on Sissy (or literally dragging her from whatever place she's not supposed to be, despite Sissy's shrill protests.)  Emmy screams at me over the hum of the vacuum cleaner that Sissy was in the bathroom.  I took off running to find her swimming in the toilet.  So, naturally, the first thing I do is grab for my camera, because there really wasn't any more damage that could have been done.  I was just thankful that Emmy had remembered to flush.

Bummed this is blurry, but the first thing Sissy said when she saw me was "CHEEEE!" (Cheese!)

18 weeks

I had to take a belly picture on my own this time because during an earlier attempt, I found Sissy rinsing her toothbrush in the potty. A couple of days into this week, I started to feel some little movements from the babies!  Such a miracle!  I can only guess what sensations I have to look forward to as these two grow bigger and feistier! :-P

We had a gorgeous seventy-five degree spring day this past week and celebrated with a trip to a park in Nashville.

Emmy tried to feed the ducks some old bread, but either they were full or extremely picky because they really weren't interested.

"Weeeee!" she says.

The girls make it hard for Nick to leave for work...Our goodbyes tend to linger.

Both girls are nurturers at heart, and take very good care of their babies.

Our first born choose to cuddle in one bed.

Our church group had a gigantic yard sale to help raise money for one of our families' mission trips to Ethiopia.  It was awesome!  Nick brought the girls for a few hours and both of them went shopping as soon as they arrived.  Sissy zeroed in on the baboos, and were even feeding her chicken nuggets to them at lunchtime.

I found Emmy playing house by herself with a fancy chinese dragon inspired hat.  I had a good laugh to myself about it.

Cheer Class

 Nick picked up a flier for a free cheer clinic when we were at a local festival a couple of weeks ago, and Emmy agreed to go without any hesitation.  It was scheduled from nine to noon on a Saturday morning, and I was near certain that she wouldn't last until the end.  Boy, did she prove me wrong!  She was most attentive and participatory for the first hour, but she stayed out on the mats for the duration, even if she was engaged in the cheer equivalent to "chasing butterflies" on a sports field.  The coaches were infinitely patient, particularly those responsible for the 3-5 year old group, and did their best to teach a very basic cheer, dance, jumps and a stunt.  When it became clear that the kids were losing focus, they inserted a fun game to help get extraneous wiggles out.  I was hugely impressed!  Emmy's very favorite part of the class was playing the game "Little Sally Walker," it barely took the first verse of the song for me to recall the rest of the words from my own days at cheer camp.  (I pretty much had it stuck in my head the rest of the day, subsequently, so did Nick.)  I happened to catch Emmy's turn in the middle of the circle on video and even though she was paralyzed by her shyness at the time, she watches the clip over and over on my phone with a goofy grin on her face. :)

When I asked Emmy if she was game for a Mommy and Me gymnastics class this summer, she responded with a resounding "YES!" Lets hope that there isn't much required from the Mommies, though, because I'm not nearly as nimble these days as I used to be.

Emmy (in the bright pink tank top) was working on her "T."

Practicing a jump!

Emmy at the top of the stunt! :)

"Chasing butterflies."

17 weeks

Babycenter.com tells me that our two little peanuts are roughly 5 inches from head to rump and weigh 5 ounces, which is both unbelievable and totally believable all at the same time.  I tried to shimmy under the bed last week to reach the electrical socket behind our bed, when it quickly became apparent that it wasn't going to be possible.  I could feel the bulge in my belly that would not give an inch, and hurt being squeezed in such tight quarters.  So I had to call in my three year old for reinforcements.

I also had to retire my beloved Ergo pack for carrying Sissy around.  She is perturbed by this latest development and insists that I hold her the old fashioned way instead.  I figured it was a matter of time, though, because carrying a toddler in a pack while also carrying your next child(ren) in your belly looks a little bizarre.

Also, this week, Emmy and Hannah have decided that our previous napping schedule was passe.  Emmy is no longer interested in napping and Hannah is dropping her morning nap entirely.  As to be expected, there have been some growing pains, that will undoubtedly sort themselves out in due time.  Emmy must still take a "quiet time" in her room, but keeping her in there is a totally different story.  Sweet Hannah is managing to rally until her after lunch nap, but it's a long haul from her early wake-ups.  I am hopeful that, soon than later, our schedule will shift so that they sleep in a bit later and Emmy falls asleep significantly earlier than she has been.  I'm just grateful I was able to get through my first trimester before this all came about!