Baby Shower

Last weekend our friend Cody hosted a wonderful baby shower for us.  From the delicious food to the beautiful decorations, everything was perfect and we had a great time. 

 

The first activity was to guess the circumference of my belly using a ribbon.  Our friend Erin guessed to within a half an inch!  The second activity was to predict the arrival date of the babies.  Contact Cody if you'd like to add your name and prediction to the list!  The narwhale keychain is the prize for this game, which, of course, is still going on :)

 

The other activity was decorating onesies.  I brought some (dead) fish to use for gyotaku printing and we also had puff paint.  Here is the decorating station.

 

I  LOVE how each and every one of the onesies turned out!

 

Next up was gift time.  Our babies are so lucky to have so many generous friends and family members!

 

We asked our guests to bring books in lieu of cards and we now have quite a collection of wonderful books for the kids.

 

Lastly, cake time!  Our friend Victoria made this sea-themed cake that perfectly matched my dress!

 

One last photo with my former science center coworkers, Chantal, Cody, and Megan.  Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate!

Garden

My garden has been doing very well this year.  I tried to plant all of my veggies as early as possible in order to harvest them while I am still able.  Matthew has been helping a lot as well, especially with things like picking green beans because my belly is too big to allow me to bend over enough!

 

One day's harvest.  So far I've frozen 20 pints of broccoli, 8 packages of corn, and 16 pints of green beans.

 

Of course, that doesn't include all of the veggies we've eaten fresh!  Many of our meals have been completely or mostly homegrown lately. 

 

The corn this year has been especially delicious.  I guess that years of rabbit manure fertilizer have finally paid off!

 

The beans have been quite prolific as well.  It is probably time for me to learn how to pressure can because our freezer is starting to get full.

 

My flower beds are also blooming well and the other day I found these two huge polyphemus moths mating amongst them.

 

Finally, a photo of Matthew and I on the sunset cruise we went on last weekend.  This was perfect for me - all I had to do was sit and enjoy the view!

28 Weeks

It's official, we made it to the third trimester!  All checkups over the last few weeks have gone well and the babies are really growing. We've started our Multiple Blessings class this week and have our Infant Care class on Saturday.  I'm still feeling pretty good and trying to take it easy.  Only eight to ten weeks left!

 

Baby Prep

Matthew and I have been working hard on getting ready for the arrival of our babies.  We took a birth class at one of the hospitals we are considering for delivery.  The two-day course covered lots of good information and we got to practice things like birth positions and diapering a newborn. We will also be taking a Multiple Blessings class, Infant Care class, and a Breastfeeding class at the other hospital. 

 

My parents already sent us gifts from our registry - car seats!  Matthew put them together last weekend and we used an old doll of mine for practice.  We'll have to try installing them in both the car and the truck next.

 

We also bought a new washing machine (thanks Janet for the recommendation!) in order to tackle the hundreds of dirty diapers in our future.

 

Although it's getting harder for me to move around we're also still enjoying a few social events like ballroom dancing and game nights.

New Car

 We bought a new car this weekend on our way to a wedding in Athens, GA.  We settled on a Chevy Volt and after driving it almost 400 miles to finish the trip we are pleased with our choice.  It is also a top safety pick, very important for a growing family!

 

Here we are between our old Echo (almost 200,000 miles), which we traded in, and the new Volt.

 

A better photo of the Volt in the daylight.

 

All plugged in at the house!  We can go about 50 miles on electric before the gas generator kicks in for another 300 miles or so, then we have to fuel up just like a regular car.  Luckily, Matthew can recharge at work and there are many places to plug in around Savannah so we will mostly be using electric.

25 Weeks

Two more weeks have flown by and I'm just starting week 25.  I'm still feeling pretty good although I'm definitely tiring more easily and starting to have difficulty moving around.  The kids have been kicking me regularly and Matthew has been able to feel their movement too!

 

At this week's scan they turned on the 3D imaging to try to get a few photos.  Both babies had things in front of their face (an arm or the cord) so they weren't the best images but you can sort of get an idea.  Here's baby B.

 

Baby A is a little more difficult to see in this one.  They are looking to the left and the face is on the right, with the nose almost in the middle.

 

We also got a few regular ultrasound images.  Here's Baby B's profile.

 

Baby A's profile.  You can see a little bit of the cord above the belly in this one.

 

 

We (ok, mostly me) have also been busy getting ready for the twins' arrival.  I've washed and sorted all of the clothes and linens we've received so far.  We've also been working on a registry and a baby shower is in the works.

Dresser

Some of our readers will recognize this dresser as it is currently in the nursery.  It was my mom's when she was a kid and we also have the matching desk.  There was another dresser and desk set in the family but the second dresser seems to be MIA at the moment.  So, we are on the hunt for a matching dresser to this one  because identical twins should have matching furniture, of course!  It was made in the 1960s by Sears and is classified as a French Provincial style.  Some places call it "vintage" as well.  I have found other styles from this set (low boy, lingerie dresser. etc.) on various local craigslists but have so far been unable to locate one of these that is close enough for us to buy.  Please keep your eye out for one if you are ever in an antique or second hand store! 

 

Apparently there are matching nightstands too, so if you see one of these we are looking for two!  Thank you :)