Four Weeks to Go!

Ok, it's getting a little uncomfortable! Although we got some rain today (finally) and for the first time in over 2 weeks, it's not supposed to get to triple digits in Austin. But it looks like we'll be back up to 100 degrees (at least) by tomorrow. Honestly, the heat isn't bothering me as much as I was afraid it would. It's just the feet (?? or whatever body part it is) poking into my ribs and the fact that I have a huge watermelon sitting on my midsection that makes it uncomfortable!

5 More Weeks to Go!

Time is definitely ticking away! I saw my OB this morning and we have a date - July 28th! Assuming they don't decide to come early, the twins will share their birthdays not only with each other, but also with my brother :) The babies got measured on Tuesday and they are doing really well! Baby Girl weighs 4 lb 7 oz now and Baby Boy weighs 4 lb 4 oz. Pretty amazing to think that they're already that big!! Of course, I am definitely feeling it these days. It may be the 12 consecutive 100 degree days we've had, or the extra 35 - 40 lbs I'm carrying (but who's counting?!!), but I have definitely slowed down a lot over the last week or so. Chad calls it "couch rest," and I think he thinks I spend all day at it! It's not true, I'm still exercising and running errands and getting things ready, but I do find myself resting (on the couch) quite a bit these days. It's just the most comfortable position right now (not exactly comfortable, but the "most comfortable" one). Of course, I feel pretty lucky - I've talked to so many twin moms who've been on bedrest and/or delivered preemies that had to stay in the neonatal ICU for weeks (sometimes months), so we're not complaining about a little couch rest right now!

Diaper cakes and more

This weekend the girls that I work out with had a baby shower for Chad! Beer & bratz :) And he got gifted more beer and baby bottles and Bill Cosby's book on Parenthood, among other things. We also got a fantastic diaper cake - I think until you're actually having a baby (or two), you don't realize just how handy these things are! I mean, they're diapers, first of all - and by all accounts we are going to go through some incredible number of diapers each month (1,000? 2,000? I think I have blocked it out, but it's a lot!!) And check out all the cute goodies on the cake as well - booties, mittons, "big treat" tethers and hands free bottles (again, all those things you have no idea that you're going to need!).

The second diaper cake came from my book club shower. They threw me a shower to stock the babies' library. So fun to get everyone's favorites - from "Guess How Much I Love You" and "The Hungry Catepillar" to books that I've never read or heard about like "Toot and Puddle" and "Go Dog Go" (a Dr. Seuss book I've never seen!). The bookclub shower was just the girls (like our bookclub) and we all met at a nice restaurant. I can't wait to share all these stories with the twins!!

Cake

Here is a closer shot of the cake! Yes, those are tiny fingers sticking out of the baby carriages doing the "Hook "Em!"

Baby Shower!

We had a huge couples baby shower last weekend! It was thrown by four couples and special thanks to Greg and Ellie Fitzgerald for hosting it! Chad's Uncle Jim and Aunt Beverly Meley came in from Houston, and his cousin Damina and her husband Robb and son Bryce (and Jesse James, their darling little dog) came in from Dallas. I think everyone had a lot of fun. We had bar-B-que and this fantastic cake! Check out the little hands. For those of you that aren't familiar with the University of Texas battle cry and hand signal, that is the sign for "Hook 'Em Horns!" Sadly, the University of Michigan was underrepresented on the cake (just like in the twins' wardrobes) - we Wolverines don't have any hand signals! But it's ok if they are longhorn fans growing up, as long as they go to the University of Michigan :)

Manners and crazy weather

I had my weekly ultrasound yesterday and my dr. announced that Baby Boy has his butt right in Baby Girl's face! I suppose that is just a precursor of things to come :)

We had some crazy weather here in Austin last night. There are pictures of scary clouds that were taken north of Austin last night - the national weather bureau is now deciding whether they are actually tornadoes and just funnel clouds. I didn't know there was a difference! In any case, when they said something scary was spotted less than 5 miles from our house, Chad and I and Shelby and Madison spent about 30 minutes in the closet waiting for the warning to pass! In the end, we lost power for about 5 hours, but that was the worst of it - we got a little rain, but luckily no hail or high winds.

Little Longhorns

You can tell we live in a college town - these are just of a few of the UT outfits the twins will be sporting this fall :) Hand-me-downs from other local fans. At some point, we will have to acquire some maize & blue outfits, too (although maybe only if there is serious improvement in the team this year!)

The Nanny Search (or Will We Ever Get Any Sleep??)

Now that we're getting closer, it's time to start thinking about help once the babies arrive. I've been putting it off since it seems like you can't really hire a nanny until a month or so before you need one. But it's time to start thinking about it and boy, are there some strong opinions for other mothers of twins out there! I have two friends (w/twins) who swear that we ABSOLUTELY need a night nanny, at least 2 or 3 nights a week. Now, I'd never even heard of a night nanny until we had friends with twins - but just like it sounds, these nannies take the night shift, showing up at 10 or 11 pm and leaving first thing in the morning. As great as it sounds, they don't come cheap, and depending on how we end up feeding these babies, it's hard to imagine just how much help one would be, assuming we end up breastfeeding. I mean, I have to wake up regardless...

The other school of thought is that you need someone to help you out during the day. My job, once Chad goes back to work after those first two weeks, will be to take care of the babies. So I need someone around during the day to do laundry, straighten up, watch babies while I shower and nap, and that kind of thing to keep our lives on track during the first couple of months.

Like I said, it's a big divide among the families I've talked to, but the one thing that everyone agrees on is the need for some kind of help early on. And although we have lots of family and friends who are planning to visit us, I think we're going to have to rely on at least some sort of nanny for the first few months.

Which means I need to start searching and interviewing potential helpers now! I'm not really looking forward to it, but I'll keep you posted on how that goes!

29 Weeks

Ok, the new measurements are in - Baby "Abigail" weighs 2 lbs, 13 oz. and Baby "Bartholomew" weighs 3 lb, 2 oz! No wonder my tummy is soooo huge! But all looks good with the babies - it's hard to believe that we are just over 2 months away from meeting them :) Check out this week's view of the tummy - it seems to be growing exponentially these last couple of weeks! It's funny, it took so long for me to grow into my maternity clothes and now I'm wondering if they're going to fit for another two months!