Weekend of One on One

This weekend, I got to do some really fun things with each of my kids.

Friday evening, I took Nicholas to the library with me to drop off books, then we played at the playground there for a while. Then I took him shopping (that wasn't really fun but it was still one on one time). He enjoyed spending his time in the sand pit (something he would do again at a different park on Sunday).

Saturday

Saturday morning, we took the kids to their swim lessons. Thankfully, Benjamin got in the pool this time! They seemed to have enjoyed themselves. Nicholas, on the other hand, defintely enjoyed himself. He was doing a little doggie paddling in the pool. This time, instead of being in the pool with him, Jon went in so I could watch (and so I wouldn't need to wash my hair again before going to my next social event).

In the afternoon, I went to a friend's baby shower while Jon took the kids blueberry picking. They also got to look at some farm animals - they told me how they had fed the goat.

When they got home, I took Ella to the movie theater for her to see her first movie in a theater. We went to go see Kung Fu Panda 2. Most of the time, she was telling me she wanted to go home (probably because she was tired and not because of the movie). She did enjoy the popcorn though.

Then on Sunday, we went to church, then out to a picnic lunch with a couple friends and their almost 20 month old son. Nicholas liked the sand pit. Ella and Benjamin did too, though Benjamin also seemed to like just hanging on the blanket too.

Then that afternoon, I took Benjamin to see the Everett Aquasox game (the Mariners are too expensive when they play popular teams). I think he enjoyed it at lot. He watched the game, ate a hot dog, then went on an inflatable slide, ate some ice cream that came in a cute little baseball cap and then got to run around the bases after the game. I tried to get Benjamin to run on the bases by himself but he wasn't doing it so I ran with him (of course, I didn't mind that at all - though it isn't quite the same as when you are at Safeco Field).

A very busy weekend but it was definitely fun. I didn't get a lot of chores done, but we had a lot of fun. And an extra bonus is that one of the ladies at the church gave us some size 6 clothes for Ella and Ella was really enjoying the fairy costume. There are some really cute dresses in there too that I am so jealous of Ella's wardrobe!

Well, that's it for now. This coming weekend, we are going to a 40th birthday party of a friend of Jon's from high school that promises to have a bouncy house for the kids. We haven't seen this friend since we were going through IVF so it will be his first meeting our kids and our first meeting his son. Also, I plan to take Benjamin to a movie in the future and Ella to a baseball game because they both want to and well, so do I!

Church and Talking

This past weekend, we were invited to join a friend of ours at a church nearby her house (and right across the street from where some friends used to live). The service started at 10 a.m., so I was a little anxious about it because it was around the time Ben & Ella usually take a nap and well, I didn't know anyone.

We took Ben & Ella to the nursery so they could play or take a nap if they wanted to. At first, Ella wasn't letting us leave, but one of the teachers there came and took Ella and calmed her down. They gave us a pager and we went on our way to the service.

About 5 minutes or so into the service, the pager starts to beep. So I walk back to the nursery (and right before the pager started beeping, I was telling Jon I wanted to go check on them - I hate leaving them when they are upset like that). When I got there, they told me everything was o.k. The pager must have been malfunctioning. But Benjamin saw me and it was all over. He wasn't going to let me leave. So I picked him up and rocked him in the one of the chairs. He eventually fell asleep.

During this time, Ella was with the teacher and the teacher was telling her the Noah's Ark story complete with props. Ella loves books, so she seemed quite entertained. Eventually, she got tired though and she wanted to be snuggled too. I couldn't take her because I had Benjamin and I was afraid moving him would wake him up, so the teacher rocked her - though Ella wanted me - it was so hard to see her with those huge tears coming out and looking at me like she was saying "don't you love me anymore?". UGH!

She did calm down until her brother woke up - so I sat them both down gave them their milk. Shortly thereafter, the service was over and we all went out to brunch. We may go back there. Everyone seemed really nice there. I'm still a little anxious about it being their naptime though. I'm wondering when they will outgrow their need for a morning nap.

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And Ella, lately, has become quite the talker. We have heard her say "did it" when she goes down the slide at home. And she also says "Whee!" when she goes down the slide. I've heard her say something like "here you go" when handing somebody something. I could have sworn the other day she said Cheerio and Jon think she said it yesterday morning combined with "uh oh" probably when she was dropping the Cheerio onto the floor. She has said "shoe" once that I know of. I'm sure there are others (besides the ones I've mentioned in previous posts). I know she understands a lot more words, as does Benjamin, then she says. Oh, she has said "hi" and, of course, "no".

After eating, we do have her help us clean up the mess she made. She puts the Cheerios into a bowl (occasionally sneaking one to eat it). She also helps by taking dirty diapers to the trash.

Benjamin says a few things here and there, but nothing I really understand except for dada and momma. He did say Ella once and book, but I haven't heard it since. He does sit down and "read" a book - much like Ella does too. He will also help with taking the dirty diapers to the trash. He is still working on his walking. He will fall down and I think then loses some confidence that he had, but he's getting closer. He has become very clingy to me the past few days. Usually, when we get home, I go and change into some comfy clothes while the twins play or follow me into the bedroom. But last night, he wouldn't let me unless I carried him into the bedroom and even then, he was not happy with me putting him down.

Anyway, this is getting long so that will be all for now.

More Cute Stories

This weekend was a pretty low key one for us. Having a weekend like that per month is always good. On Saturday, we went did a bit of shopping and Jon put together the outdoor playset we got for the kids. They absolutely loved climbing up the slide and going back down the slide - so much giggling! It was great.

Then on Sunday, we went to Target and while there had a bit of an adventure. While we were just about to get onto the elevators (ours is a 2 story Target), all the lights in the store went off. It was pitch black. The kids didn't freak out, thank goodness. Just a little while later, some of the lights came back on and there was suddenly all these people heading our direction to get out of the building. At this time, the alarm was also going off. Thinking it would be better outside, Jon took the kids outside while I waited in line to pay for our stuff. It turns out they would have been better inside as the alarm pretty much died down inside but was still going off so loudly outside. We were leaving at the same time as a bunch of other people and because someone thought it a great idea to close off the express entrance and exit on a weekend day, it took forever to get back out of the parking garage.

After that, we got back home (after a pit stop at a secondhand children's store that was having a big sale - we didn't get anything). Jon put up the new gate between the dining room and the kitchen so I don't have to hurdle over the other one - this one has a pedal that you press on to open a door. So anyway, we put the box down on the floor for a bit b/c Sophie, one of our kitties, hearts the boxes. Well, this time Ben & Ella were loving the box. They thought it was so hilarious to play on. Then a bit later, they were either playing hide and seek or chasing each other or both. Ella would walk to their bedroom and Ben would start crawling after her, then she would walk out and they would crack up and go back to the box. They did this multiple times. I took video of all this as did Jon. When I upload the videos, I'll let you know - just know that when you watch, you'll see laundry on the floor - Ella was "helping" me put away the laundry.

That's our weekend and, unfortunately, I'm back at work. I don't feel pregnant at all. Sometimes I feel nauseous, but not as bad as I remembered it being before. I'm exhausted all the time, but I do have 2 toddlers to take care of. Next appointment is on August 22. We have the NT scan and an OB appointment that day. And unfortunately, more bloodwork. Must try to plump up veins for that day to lessen trauma from bloodletting.

By putting the ultrasound pic on my flickr site, one of the ladies in my support group knows about the pregnancy. I forgot she and I are friends on flickr. She e-mailed me and I e-mailed back. I'm currently waiting on her reply. I'm anxious to get her reply after I told her this time it was natural. I don't think anyone from my support group reads this, but maybe they do so maybe more of them know already? I see them in a couple weeks for a picnic. I hope that I am not showing by then, but so many people say that the 2nd pregnancy, you start to show earlier...

Anyway, back to work. End of break.

Weekend...

We ended up having a bit of a busy weekend, but not too bad. On Saturday, we went to that playdate. We were there a little over an hour. Then later that afternoon, we went to get this outdoor playset for Ben & Ella. Ben absolutely loved it - he giggled and slapped his hands down on the playset. Ella liked climbing up the slide. They took it apart for us so we could get it in our car, but we haven't put it back together yet.

On Sunday, I went over to a friend's house to plan our Vegas trip a little more and I watched the third act of Dr. Horrible and the new trailer for Twilight - thanks, Kelly! The sound on my computer at home isn't working. Then later, we had a high school friend of Jon's come over for a little BBQ before he left to go back home in CA. Ben & Ella took a little dip in the pool before dinner, then after dinner enjoyed pushing the fold up chairs all around the deck. Benjamin really enjoyed himself - he laughed quite a bit.

I guess while I was gone yesterday, Ella climbed up the steps when Jon was gone just for a moment. I think Benjamin did too. She can climb up those stairs quite quickly. We best keep that door closed when we have to leave the room for a bit (though Ella hates it when there is no adult in the room with her normally - she cries out and follows us wherever we go).

Yesterday, Benjamin took a tumble - not from the stairs, thankfully; he doesn't know how to stand on his own yet and he took a tumble after his papa got up and Benjamin was leaning against the couch between his papa's legs. Poor little guy has a bruise on the side of his head. :-( He cried out and so did Ella as she was nearby handing him something (I think a book) - I think hers was more out of shock because she didn't fall or maybe she thought by handing him something, she caused the fall. I don't know.

TGIF

You have no idea how much this weekend is needed for me. I am so exhausted. I almost wish I hadn't agreed to a playdate tomorrow. We probably won't be there too long though. We also need to get our plates put on the new car tomorrow. And if this one person gets back to me, we may be buying a used outdoor playset for Ben & Ella (though they may be a tad too young yet, but she's selling for 1/2 of what it cost new so I wanted to get it - but she may have already sold it). Oh, and Jon's reunion is this weekend - of which I'm still not sure if we're going or not. He hasn't made up his mind, I guess. It might be a busy weekend - but at least, it won't be at work and I'll be with my family. And weekends are good for me, so I don't think about things that are worrying me too much because I am busy with my family.

Speaking of family, in August, I'm going to Vegas without them. I'm going with a friend. I'm looking forward to it as I've never been and I'm not sure when I'll be able to go again, but I will really miss my sweeties! Jon will watch Ben & Ella. He encouraged me to go. I felt like I was being a bad mom leaving them and was nervous on spending the money to go so I wasn't going to go (plus, I wasn't sure if I could due to work deadlines), but he kept telling me to think of it as a rejuvenation time and girlfriend hanging out time. I do need a vacation - but from work, not from my family! It will be nice though. I am looking forward to getting away from work if only for 2 days.

Later on in the month, we're planning a trip to Spokane. I'm looking forward to that too. It will be nice to see everyone...though my aunt tells me she's coming over here to take her grandson to a Mariners game. We'll see if she does. I keep meaning to get tickets to go with my children so we can run around the bases, but I'm not sure about spending money on that. I may want to take them to the zoo instead.

Well, that's it for now. Maybe next time, I'll share some cute stories of Ben & Ella.

Ben & Ella's 1st Birthday & Weekend

I meant to write about Ben & Ella’s first birthday before now, but things get busy when you have family in town and a party to throw!

Their first birthday was this past Thursday on June 12. We celebrated it by giving them some ice cream. They liked it, but they weren’t too impressed by it (we gave them vanilla). Perhaps they’d like it more if we gave them chocolate! We also took some photos that recreated ones we took last year right after Ben & Ella were born. That was fun - they really didn't stick with the positions they were in last year. They are a bit more squirmy these days. :-D


Then on Friday, we spent time cleaning and hanging out at home waiting for my family to arrive. That night, we just spent some hanging out and watching most of a dumb movie (Walk Hard).

Saturday was the day of the party. We had a bit of fun when our toilet decided to overflow shortly before everyone was set to arrive, but thankfully Jon took care of that while I took Ben & Ella out with my sister and her kids to shop for Ben & Ella’s birthday present. The party was a lot of fun. We had a BBQ and they enjoyed their first ever cupcake (it’s really a mini-cake since it’s from Cos&tco). Here is a video of that fun.


Ben got it all over his face and into his ear. Ella used the frosting as a hair conditioner. There are some pictures on flickr if you’d like to see. They also enjoyed opening their presents (with the assistance of their parents). They got some great presents!

On Sunday, since it was finally nice day in my part of the world, we decided to go for a picnic at Hamlin Park. After the picnic, my sister and her kids wanted to go see the Fremont Troll, so we drove over there to see it. Jon walked Ben & Ella back home from the park (his idea). After the troll, we went to Magnuson Park to enjoy the weather by Lake Washington. Then we came back home for another BBQ (we had a lot of leftovers), then a few of us went to go see a friend host and sing at an open mic at Wayward.

Monday, the kids wanted to go to Archie McPhee so we headed over there for a bit, then had some lunch and then my sister and her kids and my parents and brother were off back to Spokane. Jon and I later took Ben & Ella out on a walk after their nap. Ella got a bit fussy on our way there – I think she wanted to get out and walk, but she was happy when Jon put her on his shoulders until we got to a nearby park. They both really happy to walk around in the grass.

Fun Times in the Sun

This weekend was a lot of fun.

On a very warm Saturday, we went and got some stuff for a picnic, then we went over to Hamlin Park to enjoy our picnic foods. We ate and played. I forgot to bring the camera, so I took a few pictures with my cell phone that you can view on my flickr page. Unlike our last really warm day outing, Ella actually seemed quite alright with being in the grass. Benjamin loved being in the grass and kicking his legs into it and if a parent joined in, that was even better. I loved doing that with him – seeing his big blue eyes and his big smile and his adorable laugh! I took video of that, but I haven’t added that to flickr yet. I also took a video of Ella ignoring me and standing and playing with the stroller.

At some point during our picnic, Ella came over to me to give me a baby kiss (you know, big slobbery kiss with the mouth wide open) and it tickled so I laughed. That only encouraged her to do it again by climbing on top of me to give me even more ticklish kisses. I was laughing so hard my tummy hurt and Ella was laughing quite hard too. I loved every second of it.

A while later, Jon took the babies on a walk through the trees and were gone for quite a while. I stayed back and read my book. Most of the time while we were there, there were several baseball games going on, but for a brief 10 minutes, the park seemed deserted except for me – that was a nice 10 minutes.

That night, I was going through the mail and noticed an ad for a kid swimming pool and thought, we should totally get one for the babies so you know what I did, I went out and got a $12 swimming pool from Target. The next day, we got Ben & Ella in their swimming suits (even though Ella’s is a 12 month suit, it doesn’t fit her!) and put them into the pool. They loved it! After a while, though, they wanted to crawl out of the pool and into the yard. I keep meaning to find some information on swim lessons for them. A friend of mine started her baby at 6 months. I’m mainly wanting to take them at a certain time so that they are with kids their own age and the time is a bit structured. As soon as I have time, I’m going to upload the pictures of them in their swimming pool.

Earlier in the day, we went to a certain warehouse club to pick up some items (diapers, baby wipes, etc.) and couldn’t resist the samples because I was HUNGRY and what better way to fill yourself up than to feast off the samples (though many of the samples were still in the oven cooking). One of the samples was a ice cream popsicle treat of some sort. I let Ben & Ella have some and they LOVED it. They saying “uh” when I was giving a taste to the other baby. When it was gone, they were not happy little campers. Jon said that I created two monsters. Luckily, they weren’t monster babies for too long.

Fun and Busy Weekend

This weekend seemed rather busy. I was doing chores most of the time, it seemed like. There’s always laundry that needs to be done or dishes – something. I’m completely exhausted today. I almost called in sick just so I could sleep. I went to bed early enough but I had to get up earlier than I usually do since the vanpool guy was on vacation today. Next week, he’ll be gone for 3 days, then later on, he’ll be gone for 2 weeks. Getting up that early just sucks and not being able to see my babies awake before I go sucks even more. They slept in ‘til 7 today, my husband says.

Anyway, Saturday, I had a friend coming over to meet my babies for the first time. This person was a bridesmaid in my wedding, but we seem to keep falling further out of touch. It’s always me that makes the contact too. It was nice to see her. She told me that she just had surgery to remove a tumor in her breast – thankfully, it was benign and it isn’t the kind that grows back. She’s younger than I am – just scary. Speaking of, my mom is having a MRI done today where her breast used to be. Hopefully, it is nothing more than scar tissue and not anything more serious than that. We should know more later. Please send some good thoughts her way.

Sunday, I had some friends over from my support group. It was great to see everyone and their babies. It’s just wonderful to see all of them after what all of us have gone through to get that point. Now, instead of our discussions revolving around how much we could be parents – it is exactly how to be a parent. The topic did come up on whether any of us would have any more children and all of us said yes, we would like to have more children though it didn’t seem that anyone is planning to go through another fresh IVF cycle. 3 of the ladies there have frozen embryos to use. One is possibly going to adopt another child. For us, I’d love to have another child, but it would have to happen naturally and I don’t hold out any hope of that happening. Although I don’t consider us really trying to make that happen either. If it happens, great; if not, great. It seemed the concensus among the group is that we are happy with our children, though we’d welcome more if it happened.

Speaking of being a parent, I read this article last night. I sometimes feel like I’m one of the 3 they talk about (though I did know the correct answers to the questions in the article).

I wonder a lot if I’m being a good parent. Am I introducing them to things to help them grow and learn? Am I introducing them to new foods as often as I should? Am I being too paranoid on when to introduce new foods? Yesterday, I gave them pieces of grape and watermelon. They’ve had grapes before in the baby food, but not like this before. They seemed to enjoy them. In fact, Ella kept asking for more and tried to grab my plate several times to get the bigger pieces. I guess I kept thinking they should have more teeth before I give them this stuff, but I guess if they are in small enough pieces, it should be o.k.

Anyway, it seemed the others were giving their children a lot more foods than we have. One gave their child pieces of cheese quesadilla. I guess that just seemed too much for them when Ella only has two teeth (though it seems she’s working on a couple up top) and Benjamin doesn’t have any, but her children have the same teeth situation Ella has. I may have to try it though. And another suggested hummus – why hadn’t I thought of that before? It’s already pretty much in baby food form. We also gave them some of the Zwieback toast that they both were enjoying (Benjamin actually put some food in his own mouth!), but then Ella started to gag on it as she gnawed on the toast with her two teeth.

An update on Benjamin – he is doing the twitching thing occasionally still. I asked my doctor friend from my support group and she agreed with what our pediatrician said. That’s good news.

Fun in the Sun & Baby Update

Well, Friday night I went off to the library book sale and got myself a few books – a lot of them were on my amazon wish list and I got them for $1.00 each!

Saturday morning, I went to the sale the Eastside multiples group has every 6 months and got my children some summer clothes – and Benjamin some 18 month (yes, 18 months) shirts that will go over his head. Some 12 month stuff works o.k. if it has a lot of buttons – like the button down shirts – but even the onesies or other shirts are getting a little too snug to get on him in that size. That afternoon, we took advantage of the nice weather (supposedly, it got up to around 78 degrees or so) and had a picnic at Magnuson Park and wandered around there for a bit. Here are some pictures that a friend of mine took while were there. I have to point out this one with all four of us though. :-D



Ella had fun climbing all over Kaylee, another friend’s German shepherd, but she did not think the grass was all that fun. It was almost like there was an invisible barrier where the blanket ended and the grass begun. She went on the grass for a little bit, but soon made it clear that she did not like the grass. She did, however, enjoy eating a daisy. I thought she was chewing on a puff, but no, it was a daisy. I should have known it was something besides a puff when she had this disgusted look on her face.

Benjamin had a fun time in the grass - he kicked his legs, pulled up on the grass and stared at the daisies. He enjoyed walking around too. There was a time there he was upset because he was hungry, but I think he had a good time. He even took a little nap (he hadn’t taken a good nap all day, so he was due anyway).

Sunday morning, we took a walk to a park nearby our house - both babies enjoyed swinging in the infant swings, but it started to get too cold so we headed back home. Later that day, Ella went to a few different places with Jon while Benjamin and I hung out at home. We started this plan of on even days, if one of us has to go somewhere, we take the same sex baby, but if it is an odd day, then we take the opposite sex baby. It seems to be working out o.k. Though I didn’t take them to the book sale (near bedtime for them) or to the sale on Saturday (way too crowded to take a baby – though some people did).

In other news – Ella is so funny. I don’t think she likes her knees on the hardwoods so much or she really wants to walk already, but her new way of transportation is to crawl on her hands and feet. I took a few pictures, so hopefully, I’ll upload soon.

Benjamin is also developing a new skill. He’s starting to get up on his hands and knees! He’s pushing that butt up to get up there, so maybe soon, we’ll have two mobile babies! That’ll be interesting times, I’m sure.

Anyway, that’s about all it for now!

Easter Weekend

After I got home from my acupuncture appointment and we packed up everything in the car, all four of us went on our way to Spokane. It was Benjamin & Ella's first trip to Spokane and my first trip since last April.

It took a long time to get there. Benjamin & Ella were good most of the way, but the last 2 hours were not fun because the sun was in their eyes and we didn't have anything we could do to help with that except stop every so often to relieve them. So it took us 7 hours to get there. 7 HOURS!

Once we got there, they were o.k. though since they hadn't seen my family in 6 months, my family was like strangers to them so they weren't too happy to be held by anyone but Jon and I. Eventually, they warmed up to them though but still they liked it when one of their parents was in the room. It is always fun to have two babies who don't know how to stand quite yet on their own pull themselves up on you.

Friday night, we didn't do too much. Saturday was a busy day. My aunt and grandmother come over to visit for a little while. When they left, we went over to my sister's house. We were going to go to my other grandmother's place, but the WSU basketball game was on at that time, so she had to watch it and didn't want visitors. A basketball game is more important than meeting your great grandchildren. I have to say I was a little hurt by that. So instead of going over to my grandmother's, we went to go get something to eat and then off to Babies 'R Us to buy some shades for the car (we bought these shades that supposedly stick to the windows, but they don't). After that, we went back to my sister's for a bit before getting the o.k. to go over to my grandmother's. I was a little nervous about going over there because I knew my babies were getting tired and ready to go to bed for the night, but we went over anyway so my grandmother and my aunt (whose house it is) can meet them. My aunt's grandchild was there at the time - I don't know if I had ever met her before or if I have, it was a long time ago.

Sunday, we spent the entire day at my parent's house. My sister and her kids came over (but not her husband). Benjamin & Ella had their first Easter egg hunt - I don't think they were too excited about that. ;-D They also got some cool toys from the Easter Bunny. Later on, my aunt and her husband came over along with her husband's sister. It was funny while my aunt was holding Benjamin, Benjamin was super excited by everything that his cousins were doing. Ella liked them but wasn't nearly as excited by them as Benjamin. It was really cute to see. At another point in the day, Ella played cards with my dad. I have pictures of both things, so eventually I'll post them to flickr.

After everyone had left and the babies were in bed, I watched Children of Men. What a bad adaptation that was. It was NOTHING like the book. There were a few things that were the same, but they changed A LOT.

On Monday, we made our goodbyes to both my grandmothers and my sister, then we went on our way. Things were much better on the way home for the babies since the sun was in our eyes and not theirs, but about 30-40 minutes left in the trip, Benjamin cried the whole way. I thought it was just because he was hungry, but I think he might have gotten a bit of heat rash. His rash seems better, but his voice is still a little hoarse. Poor guy.

Surprisingly, neither baby was put off by the fact that they were sleeping in a different bed or in a different place. In fact, I think Ella enjoyed having her parents in the same room as her. Both babies slept the entire night and didn't cry at all when we put them in their beds.

Well, that's about all I can remember of the weekend. We had a good time (except for the car rides to and from - luckly, the pass was great). I'll hopefully get those pictures uploaded soon and onto flickr.

Weekend, Cute Stories, and a Question

This weekend we were quite busy – at least, it felt like it. On Saturday, we went to our caucus to place our vote for the presidential candidate. I had voted many times sine I turned 18, but this was the first time I had actually gone to a caucus. Since the caucus vote was the only vote the Democrats were using to select delegates, we thought it was important to go. I had thought about being a delegate but there was some confusion as to what dates the delegates had to be available for the next step. It’s a good thing I didn’t end up being a delegate because I forgot we’re going to a wedding that day!

Anyway, a lady there took some pictures of us at the caucus that I put onto my flickr site if you’d like to see them. Benjamin and Ella were well-behaved, as usual. Benjamin fell asleep. Ella did not because the caucus is just like a big party! After the caucus, we really didn’t do much other than play with the babies and do some chores.

On Sunday, a friend of ours was singing with a church choir up in Edmonds, so we went to the church service, then we went out to brunch. Benjamin and Ella were again well-behaved and again, Benjamin fell asleep. Ella played with her toys. She would get bored with one, then move onto the other. It’s unfortunate that we only had 4 toys that we brought with us, but she still was a good girl throughout the service. She eventually fell asleep at the restaurant, as did Benjamin.

Some cute stories to share – Ella is now copying Jon with “peek-a-boo”. Last night, she saw her papa put a blanket in front of himself and say “where’s papa?”, then pull down the blanket to say “there he is!” She then got the blanket, pulled it up over her head while we said “where’s ella?”, then she pulled it down and we said “there she is!” and she laughed. SO CUTE. She did that many times.

Jon also told me that they were copying him when he was banging two of their toys together. Oh, and both of them will dance sometimes when we sing songs. Ella will sway side to side while Benjamin will go back and forth. Benjamin also has been saying a lot of different “words” lately. I so wish I knew what he was saying, especially when he’s all fussy and saying his new words. I just say in a sympathetic tone, “I know sweetie.”

I think that’s all the news I have…I do have one question though – when did your child first get his or her first tooth? Benjamin and Ella are 8 months tomorrow but they still don’t have any teeth – they drool like crazy and have been for some time now so I thought they would have had teeth by now.

Glucose, OB, PT and more (27 weeks 4 days)

Well, I just found out the results today for my first glucose test…I failed. So next Tuesday at 8 a.m., I will have to go through the fasting 3-hour test. It shall be a fun time (so much sarcasm in that statement). Not sure what I will do with myself in between the blood draws – bring a good book? Ask a friend to join me in that boredom, as I’m sure Jon won’t be able to come? Probably shouldn’t do that last one – it will be too boring – I wouldn’t subject someone on purpose to that amount of boredom.

I also have an OB appointment that afternoon, so I’m taking the whole day off work. I’m hoping nothing has changed in my cervix length since last week - otherwise, the OB may just push for bedrest. Not that I love going to work, but I’d like to be able to go at least one more month before I have to leave work. I’ll do whatever the OB says, of course.

Last night, Jon and I went to another class. This one was all about coping with labor pains in different ways including with breathing, food, and smells. The teacher tortured us (both of us – the husbands weren’t getting off that easy) with trying out these coping techniques by making us hold ice in our hands for the length of a contraction. I found that what worked the best for me (though didn’t necessarily work all that well) were hard candies and really strong perfume smells – those I found somewhat distracting. The others not at all.

Today’s PT appointment went really well – she showed me some more exercises, and then came the best part – a massage. She seemed to know exactly where I needed the pressure – it felt so incredibly good.

This weekend isn’t nearly as busy as prior weekends, thank goodness. We have our tour of the hospital tonight. Tomorrow, I have nothing planned, but I may go to the Seattle Public Library sale to see I can find some children’s books (I have enough books for myself though I doubt I’ll be able to resist looking for books for me – we’ll see how I feel). On Sunday, we are going to a preparing for postpartum class at the hospital – luckily, it is just for 2 hours. I may go to the book sale this day rather than Saturday since books are ½ off the already cheap price.

Sometime this weekend, we need to clean up a couple of our rooms for our guests coming into town next weekend for my shower so they have a place to sleep. Up until now, those two rooms have been places to put things until I found a permanent place to put them. My brother is also coming to live with us in early May so we need one of the rooms cleaned for him too.

Wow, that makes it seem busy, but it doesn’t seem that bad considering what the past weekends have been like. Anyway, have a great weekend everyone!

Ultrasound Appointment (27 weeks)

I got back from my ultrasound appointment this morning about an hour ago. Both babies are doing really well (the boy is at 2 lbs 15 ounces - 96th percentile - and the girl is at 2 lbs 9 ounces - 69th percentile).

The only possible problem right now is that my cervix is at 2 cm when it was at 3.5 just 3 1/2 weeks ago. The radiologist called my doctor's office and he was told that they wanted to see me right away, so I went to go see my OB for an emergency visit. She told me not to panic and said that this is within normal but she would have rather liked it to happen at 30 weeks as opposed to 27 weeks. I am freaked out despite being told not to panic. She checked my cervix and she said had she not known of the ultrasound, she would think everything is alright. However, she is going to do some test (can't remember what she called it) tomorrow to determine if I will possibly go into preterm labor in the next couple weeks. She said there is a possibility I will be put on bedrest, but we will find out for sure tomorrow after the test results come back. I also have the glucose test tomorrow too. My husband can't go with me tomorrow, and I really wish he could.

I'll blog tomorrow when I know more. I came into work
today just to get things ready in case I am put on bedrest soon.

The shower this weekend was really fun. There were so many people there and I got to see a support group buddy I haven't seen in 5 months. I'm looking forward to seeing them again in a little less than a couple weeks. The rest of the weekend was good. We got some stuff at the multiples sale and some stuff from my brother-in-law and his wife. We hung out with them, then went to Tacoma to hang out with the rest of the family there was my mother-in-law was involved in a car accident earlier that morning - she's doing fine. Sunday, I spent cleaning up the house and then going out to dinner with some friends. It was a good weekend.

Baby Shower Weekend (26 Weeks 1 Day)

And now the post about my weekend that included my first baby shower – in all its ‘boring’ detail!!!

My husband and I drove over to Spokane on Friday. When we got there, we spent some time with my sister and her family before heading out to my parents’ house for dinner. My sister had some clothes to give to us for the babies, as well as some bedding. My mom also had some stuff too at her house. Our car was so completely full on the way back as it was on our way there (I gave my sister some of my old clothes that either didn’t fit me anymore or I just didn’t want anymore for whatever reason).

On Saturday, we had the baby shower at my parents’ house. My grandmothers and several aunts were there along with my sister and her two daughters and my ex-cousin-in-law, Kim. We started out with a couple games, and then we moved on to eating some grub. After that, we played another couple games including one that we won’t know the winner of until the babies come as it was a guessing game as to when the their birthday will be. I had a good time playing the games even though I am not very good at them at all (games included finding names for the babies out of mine and my husband’s names (including last name); naming two animals that started with each letter; and the game where if you said the word “baby” and someone caught you, you had to give up a sticker to that person and whoever had the most at the end of the party won – I believe the winners were my sister, Kim, and my 11-year-old niece in that order of the games mentioned).

After the game playing, we had some present opening time …my youngest niece (she’s 4, almost 5) was my present opening helper while my other niece (11) was my picture taker. I got quite a few cute clothes for the babies and some nice homemade blankets. My sister also stitched some patterns onto some burp towels that were quite cute. I got a few other items as well – including photo frames and a diaper organizer to attach to the side of the crib or changing table (though at this moment, we aren’t getting a changing table). Kim also gave me a couple clothing items for myself. I think that was about it.

It was funny that during the party, my youngest niece kept telling me that I had two babies inside of me –she is so cute! At one point, during the present opening, she asked me how the babies got inside there. Umm…well, I told her the truthful answer that in my case, the doctors put them in there. She didn’t ask any more questions so I guess that was a good enough answer for her.

After the present opening, we had some yummy cake and just sat around and chatted until everyone decided it was time to go. I think everyone had a good time. It was funny that one of my aunts told me that I didn’t look that big and yet, everyone at work thinks I look big.

On Sunday, we went out to lunch to celebrate my brother’s 21st birthday before my husband and I drove back to Seattle. My brother said he was going to go out that night and have a huge celebration (bigger than what he did the night before or rather that morning). It took us way too long to get home – I was so exhausted by the time we got back, but I was really happy to see my kitties and they seemed to be happy to see us. The next morning, both kitties were following me everywhere around the house. I don’t think they were too happy when I left to go enjoy my day off away from the house.

The first thing I did yesterday morning after leaving my house was to go look at the day care just a couple minutes away. I got a really good impression from this place, so it is a possibility. We will need to look at several others before making a decision, but she did say that she will have room in November and our twins will be the only two infants she will have at that time. My husband still needs to look at this place too before the decision is made.

After that, I went to go have lunch with a friend and do some shopping for the baby shower I’m going to this Saturday for another twin momma (she’s having twin girls). Looking forward to yet another shower for another support group buddy!

When I got back home, I rested for a bit, but then I went to work on the babies’ room which is one reason I think I had quite a painful contraction this morning. Luckily, it was just one even though it lasted for quite a while. The on-call doctor wasn’t too concerned. They said to call back if there were more than 4 in an hour or if the contraction intensified. So far, so good. Tonight, Jon and I are going to our first of a six week long childbirth prep class. I’m looking forward to it.

Oh, and the entire weekend, it seemed the babies were trying to stretch or push their way out of my tummy. At several times, my tummy looked lopsided. I’m sure it was an odd sight to see one side of my belly bigger than the other!

Well, that’s all for today. I’ll upload the baby shower pictures soon, I hope!

Emotional Today (well, everyday) (25 weeks)

For those of who are still trying to conceive – this probably isn’t the post for you…

I’m sitting here at work crying. I can’t stop the tears from coming down, which sucks since I’m at work!!! I am seriously freaked out about finding a good day care for a price that we can afford and now someone is basically telling me we’re selfish for having to go to a day care. We want these children so badly. We would love to stay home with them, but that just isn’t a realistic option for us. Did we make the wrong decision to go forward with IVF and go forward with having twins or even one baby at all? Some people think we're bad people for using IVF when I could “just adopt” or live child-free and now we're bad people for having to put my infants into a day care? I hope that everyone realizes how hard this will be for me. What if I make the wrong decision and place them in a day care that will be bad for them emotionally or physically? I’ve already made several poor decisions in my life (there are only a few good ones), including going to law school and taking out loans to pay for it all, so it is all too likely I will make another poor decision.

I’m already freaked out about having everything done for these babies for when they come and freaked out about taking care of them especially when I’m at home alone, do I need something else to be freaked out about?



Well, maybe if I write about something positive, then maybe I stop being so emotional. Over the weekend, I went to a friend’s baby shower and her cutie pie son was there (he’s about 7 weeks old). Holding him in my arms was so wonderful. Another friend brought her almost 3-week-old son with her and he is such a cutie pie too. It was a really fun baby shower. I look forward to going to another friend’s shower on the 14th. I have my first shower this coming weekend that I’m looking forward to – though my body is not so much looking forward to the drive over to Spokane.

The visit with Jon’s parents on Saturday was good too. Jon and his dad put together the other crib. Now we just need the rest of the room done and we’ll be set. There is no way I’m getting the house ready by 30 weeks as people have suggested we do. I’m at 25 weeks now and most weekends this month will be busy, as will the weekdays. Luckily, even though Jon is back in class as of tonight, he’s only in class 2 nights a week. Sunday’s CPR class was good – though scary. The safety part of the class was good too in that she told us what things aren’t needed so I took some things off my registry. We also picked up some things from a professor at Jon’s work – some girl clothes and some other things (we haven’t looked through everything yet) – so that was really nice. Then after that, we went and played some Wii games at a friend’s house. My favorite was bowling and cow racing. :-)

I just felt one of the babies move… still love that feeling so much – I just hope I can be a good mom to them.

Busy...(24 weeks 1 day)

Busy times here at work, but I wanted to take a moment to blog before my lunch break is over.

Things are going well with me – we’ve made it to 24 weeks, which I’ve read is the point of which babies are considered viable. So yay! Hopefully though, it will be another 12-13 weeks before these babies make their appearance outside the womb.

I’m feeling the babies move from time to time – usually when I’m laying down and relaxing, but this morning I felt them move while sitting here at my desk. It felt like a wave of movement – such a weird and wonderful feeling.

I made an appointment with a physical therapist, but the earliest I could get in is April 13th – Friday the 13th! They had an appointment on the 5th, but I’ve already made plans to meet some college friends for dinner and since it took us forever to get a date set, I didn’t want to have to reschedule with them – it might have been impossible.

This past weekend was a bit busy though not too much. I finally got around to getting a haircut. People at work say it looks cute, but I don’t know. It’s just nice to have it shorter (a lot shorter it feels like – it almost makes me feel like I got a “mom haircut”). I wish we had done our weekly belly shot on Saturday after my appointment when it was looking really cute, but we waited until Sunday. I will try to upload those pictures tonight (as well as those from the past few weeks) so you can see the new do and the growing belly. It’s funny how people are saying I look “so round”.

After the haircut, I went back home to clean our place as Jon invited over his classmates for a BBQ but since it was rainy, we decided to get pizza instead. Although…one of the guys brought some veggies to grill so Jon started up the BBQ and attempted to burn down our deck in the process. Luckily, he didn’t succeed.

Then on Sunday, I met with a couple fellow bloggers for some lunch – it was really nice to see them! I can’t wait for our next meeting!

These next few weekends are going to be quite busy though since I’m about to start on the month of baby showers or Jon and I will be busy going to classes at our hospital. After I came back home, Jon and I put together one of the cribs. Hopefully, the other one will be put together this weekend but we’ll see – I need more hours in the day and days in the week.

Well, I should end here and start working again!

Weekend & Dad Update

Well, today I’ve been feeling a little down. I have no idea why. I just know that I have plenty to do – this weekend is going to be a busy one. I’m picking up the crib (and maybe changing table) that are both be given to me for free on Saturday (thankfully, a friend with a bigger car than mine is willing to help out) – I wasn’t sure how I felt about a changing table, but it’s free! I can’t pass up free barely used baby furniture!

After that, I need to drop off my tax information at a friend’s place who graciously offered to look it over to make sure I didn’t make any mistakes (which is entirely possible) – I’m a little anxious about the medical expenses part (and for some reason, I forgot about the cost of the two IUIs that we did last year that could be included with the IVF expenses). I need to put a few things together for that, but there is a draft that’s done. Then after that, it’s time for my mom-to-be massage – yay!!! Finally, after my massage,, Jon and I may go out to celebrate our 11 years of being a couple (11 years on Sunday – 9 years ago he proposed to me) and to celebrate Valentine’s Day a bit early as we always do. We’ll see how I feel after that massage!

Then on Sunday, I believe I’m getting together with a couple fellow bloggers – plans have yet to be finalized. I had thought about going to IKEA this weekend, but that looks like it will need to wait until next Saturday – this weekend just got too full. After the Sunday afternoon time with the fellow bloggers, I’m going to a friend’s birthday party.

Somehow this weekend I need to remember to buy a baby shower gift for the baby shower I’m going to next weekend for a friend from my support group, and get that 6 inch piece of fabric for the quilt for another friend from my support group who’s adopting (I am so anxious to hear from the latter friend as any day now her baby will be born – I’m also anxious about the first friend as she chose to keep the sex of her baby a surprise so I can’t wait to see what she’ll have – she’s due in March).

Last night’s class was interesting. We watched another video. This time, thankfully, there was no delivery of the placenta shown and this time it was a twin birth. It was an o.k. video. The teacher also talked about some things that she already went over last week, so I’m not sure why the two classes were split like they were other than to get more money from people. I can’t really remember anything interesting about the class last night except for there will be many, many people in the delivery room with a twin birth. So many people – which really shouldn’t surprise me, but it did a little. Next week is all about preventing pre term labor and birth.

Yay – I just got news that my dad gets to come home today!!! Hopefully, for good this time and there will be no more hospital stays!!!

Well, that’s all for today! I probably won’t write again on this blog this weekend, but we’ll see how the weekend goes. This coming Monday at 8 a.m. is my ultrasound – have I mentioned that before? ;-D
I can’t wait!!!

Oh, I forgot to mention that when I was talking to my dad earlier, he mentioned he had a dream that I gave birth to my twins and there was one boy and one girl, but then he went on to say that in a 1 ½ years, I will give birth to yet another baby. Yikes! That’s great that I could get pregnant on my own without any medical intervention, but that would too many kids under 2!

Start of the 16th week

Today marks the 16th week of my pregnancy - wow!!!

Weekends go by way too fast. Saturday, we went out to breakfast with a couple friends who were trying to fatten me up (since I need to start gaining more weight - this will be the only time I actually want to gain weight). After that, my husband and I went to go visit my sister-in-law on Saturday in Tacoma. We came back and moved the bed out of our "guest room" to make room for furniture we will be purchasing sometime soon for the nursery. The bed is now downstairs ready for whenever my brother comes to live with us.

Then on Sunday, we were lazy, but eventually, my husband went to the school to study with his class buddies while I went shopping. I didn't go to any consignment stores this weekend like I had planned. I just went to Target and bought these cute little onesies that were on sale. I don't know what I'm having, but the supposed boy ones could be unisex in my opinion and well, the girl ones, if we don't end up having a girl, I have a support group buddy who I know is having twin girls. The onesies are so cute! However, the smallest size they had was for a 6 month old. I assume we'll use them eventually.

I also recycled a bunch of magazines this weekend - our recycle bin will be quite full when it comes to recycling day.

In other news, I've been having some pelvic pain in the vaginal area. I've been told this is normal by my coworkers who have been pregnant, but I'm kinda freaked by it. It hurts more when I'm walking around which is unfortunate since I need to be walking around. I walked over to the pet store for lunch today and things seemed o.k. then, but it hurt quite a bit this morning. I'm going to be calling my doctor to see what she has to say.

I'm officially not wearing my wedding ring anymore - my fingers are too bloated. I was looking for a "fake" ring that I could wear, but the smallest sizes I could find were a size 7 and well, that's too big for me so I guess I will be going ringless for a while. My finger feels so naked!

And finally, I received some sad news last night from my husband's friend from college of whom I've been e-mailing - she found out last Friday that she had miscarried. She seems to be handling it well, but I know this has got to be a very hard thing to go through.

Pictures!!!

Hi everyone! I finally got around to scanning those ultrasound pictures - you can look them over here.

Also, my weekend was busy, but good. I didn't have that much nausea over the weekend. I had some yesterday, but today, has been nausea filled unfortunately.

I had a good time on the Toys for Tots thing that my friend does every year (though that toy store is way too crazy on a weekend). The homemade pizza afterwards, as always, was really good.

Also, I had a good time on Sunday with Nickie shopping and grabbing a bit to eat! We got some cute things at this maternity store we went to. It is really nice to meet fellow bloggers in person! I can't wait to get together with Alli!Hopefully, after the holidays!

OB & Weekend

I made our first OB appointment for 12/26 at 8:30. So much for taking the day off to sleep in, but that's o.k. I probably won't be able to sleep anyway because I'll be anxious for the appointment.

I am still in shock that I am actually pregnant. Most of the time, it doesn't feel real, then I think about the ultrasound pictures and realize that yes, there are 2 heartbeats - there are 2 babies growing inside of me. Such a strange and wonderful feeling to finally be in this position.

This weekend is going to be a busy one. Tomorrow, I'm going to a Toys for Tots thing that a friend of mine does every year. It is such a fun time. A bunch of us get together and pool together some money and buy a bunch of toys at Toys 'R Us and then the Marines come and pick up the toys. Afterwards, my friend makes pizza for everyone. I try to go every year.

Then on Sunday, I'm meeting a fellow blogger - Nickie - to do some shopping and to eat some lunch. I'm looking forward to it. I wish Alli could have joined us! Hopefully, next time!

And hopefully, I'll be able to get to my friend's house to scan the pictures this weekend. I'd really like to show them off. :-)