24 WEEKS!!

Today marks the 24th week of my pregnancy.  I really can't believe it.  Some days it doesn't even seem real.  Feeling those kicks...and now even seeing the kicks as my stomach flickers and moves around...is still the most incredible thing ever.

I wish I would do a better job of adding ultrasound updates and "what's happening this week" updates to my blog so I could keep track of everything, but let's just hope I can start now.

Here's a recap of the recent:

Nov 22 (18w4d) - Ultrasound with specialist.  Baby A (boy) weighed 8 oz. and Baby B (girl) weighed 10 oz.  Both in the good range.

Dec 22 (22w6d) - Ultrasound with specialist.  Baby A (boy) weighed 1 lb. 6 oz. and Baby B (girl) weighed 1 lb. 3 oz.  They are growing at the right pace according to the doc, and getting more and more feisty every day.  I really can't believe how strong they are already.

Dec 30 (24w) - Yay!  No appointments today, but I just feel happy that we made it to the viability stage.  I know they want to cook in there some more...and mom and dad still have lots to do, so we will let them take their time.

Here's some pics of my giant belly (today's baby center update said my uterus is the size of a soccer ball!!  yikes!!)

We still don't have names for our little angels.  It's such a hard decision...and trying to get two names that we LOVE and that fit together well seems impossible.  I am just praying it comes to me in a dream or something.  :)

Christmas Crafting

My very crafty friend, Claire, taught me how to make some fun words out of wooden blocks.  I did this for little Christmas gifts to some friends and family.  Mikey helped too, and we actually had a lot of fun doing it.

Step 1:  Gather the following:  2"x4" wood, Acrylic Paint, Scrapbook Paper, ModPodge, Foam Brush, Wax Paper

Step 2:  Cut wood into small peices (all different sizes is kinda cool)

Step 3:  Sand the edges so nothing is sharp and no splinters stick out:


Mikey was a very good sander!!



Step 4:  Paint the blocks:

Step 5:  Pick your scrapbook paper and print letters on them in any fonts you like, then cut the letters out to fit on each block.  I cut them a little bit smaller than the block so the edges will stay down, and clipped the corners off a tiny bit.

Step 6:  MOD PODGE TIME!  Use the foam brush to Mod Podge the entire block (all sides) and the back of the paper letter.  Stick the letter on the block and voila!  Then add a final coat to the top of the letter to seal it from the outside.  (Try to get air bubbles out too)

I had to protect the babies from the fumes!  :)

And the final product....

Try it!  If I can do it, anyone can do it.  :)

A Wedding in the Works!

I love weddings...and am SOOO excited about my sister-in-law getting married this May.  She couldn't have picked a better guy, and I'm so happy for them both.

Mikey and I both feel honored that Erin and Taylor asked us to be in their wedding.  It is going to be gorgeous and so much fun.  Both families are a blast to be around, and who doesn't love a great party?  They will be getting married in Atlanta at a beautiful location, and one of the best parts is that Erin's dog, Bella, gets to join the rehearsal.  If you know Bella, you know this is a must!

The night of the engagement!

The Rock!

Bella...and her pearls!

What an awesome couple.  Congrats guys!!

What a blessing!!

My babies are kicking all the time now...and I LOVE it.  Every single little nudge makes me smile...I could lay around all night and just feel the kicks.  It's amazing.  I used to be so curious what it would be like, and wondered a lot if I would ever feel it.  It has TOTALLY lived up to my expectations.

Mikey felt them first...and then some family and friends have felt it lately too.  So cool!  :)

Keep kickin' babies.  It's good for you and it makes mommy very very happy.

Crib Construction

We took the plunge on black Friday and bought our cribs.  We just couldn't pass up the deals (and I am extremely anxious to get the nursery done...I am not patient!!).

I was a little concerned since Mikey tends to be a bit on the short-tempered side when it comes to following printed instructions.  He just gets really frustrated, but I was shocked at how well he did.  He only threw the directions down two times, and was actually able to talk to me through the entire process!!  I guess his new daddy-genes are growing his patience.

Anyway...here are some pics of the fun:



Gotta have our little helpers  :)




Getting started





Here goes #2...





Ta-da!




First time using the "timer feature" on my camera!

Now we just have to figure out a paint color for the room...

The Family Ultrasound

On Monday I had my big ultrasound.  This was the one that they checked measurements for all of the organs and different abnormalities/diseases, etc.  Of course it was a little nerve racking, but the doctors said everything looked great.  I LOVE hearing that.  :o)

Since we already revealed the gender, we decided to invite our parents.  Mikey's dad had to work, so we had to keep him posted through texts and picture messages, but Mikey's mom and my Mom and Dad were all able to come.

The ultrasound was the longest one I will have during the entire pregnancy, according to the nurse.  I was doing great until the last 3 or 4 minutes, and all of the sudden I got really light-headed.  I started to sweat and couldn't focus on anything.  It was the weirdest thing and came on so suddenly that I didn't even have enough whereabouts to say something to the Ultrasound Tech.  Anyway, she left the room and I sat up and started to feel better.  I found out later that day that sometimes that will happen.  There is a blood vessel thing that can get pushed/squished on when prego people lay flat on their backs (and probably more when they have a ultrasound pushing into their stomach for 20 minutes).  Anyway, it was likely being pushed on so the blood to my heart was being decreased.  I was glad to know it was normal.  This was something I had never heard of before, so I wanted to share in case it ever happens to someone else.  Don't be alarmed...just roll to your left side and breath slowly.

Here are the kiddos...

The Big REVEAL

Last week we found out what we are having.  I don't think I have stopped smiling for 7 days.  I am so excited.  I wasn't supposed to go to the doctor until November 22, but I had some cramping at night and was a little nervous, so I went it at 17 weeks. 

The ultrasound tech first got both babies in one shot and I could see two strong pumping hearts and a lot of movement, so I was instantly relieved.  I get worked up about stuff, and at that point I just wanted to make sure they were both doing OK.  Then she went for the gender scan!!

"Baby A is a BOY" was her first comment.  I was so excited I think I stopped breathing.  Then she took a while on the second, and said "I just want to be sure about this one" and a couple minutes later "Baby B is a GIRL."  UNBELIEVABLE!!  God is SOOO good.  Mikey wasn't with me for this appointment since it was a last minute thing, so I had to wait for him to get home that night to tell him.  That was really fun...I went and bought a blue swaddle and a pink swaddle and wrapped up a couple of teddy bears to show him when he walked in.  His reaction was priceless.  He's going to be the best daddy ever!!

The next night (Thursday night) we had our family come over to share our news.  We told them to dress according to their gender prediction.  If they thought it was 2 girls, they were to wear pink.  If they thought 2 boys, they wore blue.  If they thought one boy and one girl, they wore yellow.  Here are the outfits:




Pink Team - guessed 2 girls

  

Yellow Team - guessed 1 boy, 1 girl


 

Yellow Team late arrival



Blue team (you will notice her in all 3 pics...cheater!!)  :)




We tried to get a little payback on both of our moms for having a hard time at keeping our secrets during the first trimester, so we didn't reveal the news until the end of the night.  We made them BEG!!  :)  I baked a cake for each baby and covered it in icing.  It worked pretty good, but if you looked closely, you could figure out that one cake was pink and one was blue, so we hid the cakes until after dinner.  Uncle Taylor thankfully took a video that we posted to YouTube...and Ron took one too, but we haven't downloaded his version yet.

Here's Taylor's video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmn4DyT_XZ8   (sorry for the dim lights...we had to turn the light off so nobody could see the colors of the cake before it was cut).

And a few of my favorite pictures from the party:



Can't you just FEEL the excitement?!?!  :)  LOVE it.




Instant Classic.  Gotta love my dad.

 

Cheater!!



Mamaw and Papaw...so cute




Mikey showing off his babies!!

And now for the best part:  BABIES!!!!!


Yay!