Yay!

I don't particularly want to get political on this blog, but today I just have to for a minute. The flood of relief I felt at seeing that the Supreme Court has upheld the health care reform was extraordinary.

You see, I have lupus. This isn't something I've talked about on here yet because, thankfully (miraculously), my pregnancy thus far hasn't been affected by my condition. But it's an everyday fact of my life as I creak my joints out of bed in the morning, take medication to keep fluid from building around my heart and lungs, and head to doctor's appointments galore. I was a high-risk pregnancy before I even found out I had twins. When I first got diagnosed when I was fourteen, I figured I'd have to adopt because of my illness. I would have been totally fine with adoption, although I would have been angry that my illness took away the experience of pregnancy from me. Great strides have been made, and women with lupus are no longer discouraged from having kids, and here I am today.

In any event, every time I've switched jobs I've had to get certification of prior insurance because of my illness. I've had to argue to have them cover me and and my medications. And I've been terrified that if I ever ended up unemployed, I'd wind up spending all my money on Cobra just so my health insurance didn't lapse so I could get it again with my next employer. Luckily that fear abated somewhat when I got married, because I can always go on Blue's insurance, but it's still a fear I should never have had to have. And thanks to the health care law, no one will have to feel that fear again.

I don't like that I am a burden on the health care system. I don't like that other, healthy people pay premiums that end up covering my care. But hey, I don't like that I've got lupus, either. But it wasn't my choice, and I shouldn't have to go broke just to be able to live my life. We should take care of each other, and I'm so glad the Supreme Court agreed.

I know there are a lot of other aspects of the law that I am less familiar with, and that there are people who disagree with it. I just wanted to share my relief and joy at hearing the decision today.

CNN had a major faux-pas, by the way. Today's Dewey-Truman moment:

Whoops. Someone's getting fired.

A Busy Day

So yesterday I had yet another ultrasound to check for pre-term labor (got another all-clear on that one!) and to take a quick look at the babies. I got there early, and for the first time in the history of doctors, they took me early. Which was upsetting, because Blue wasn't there yet! I stalled as much as possible, taking a good long time in the bathroom, which time I spent texting Blue to drive faster.

But alas, the ultrasound took a whopping five minutes and Blue missed it (for the record, he was exactly on time. So not his fault). So I pulled a pity-me preggo lady face and got the doctor to take another look when she came in.

And one of the babies looked right at us. We could see the corneas. It was so freaking cool. Of course, it then turned into an alien-skeletor thing that Blue says reminded him of Halo. Awesome.

We only got a picture of Baby B, which is kind of a bummer, but they both looked healthy and active. Baby B even had the hiccups, just like thebump.com said they might!! It was so cute.

Baby B, 18 weeks

They didn't measure the babies at this appointment, so I can't tell you how big they are. At my Level II ultrasound in two weeks they will measure every little bit of them and I'll have a lot more cool info on their growth rate and everything. Plus it'll be like two hours of staring at our kiddos, which will be pretty sweet, I imagine.

Then we went to dinner to escape the monsoon that decided to unleash itself upon us. I let the babies choose my meal.

Loaded baked potato, broccoli and cheese soup, and an Oreo milkshake. Heaven.

Then I cajoled Blue into going to Babies R Us to start our registry. It was in the same plaza as the restaurant so it seemed silly to just drive past it. He wasn't thrilled about it, but was still sweet enough to drop me at the door so I didn't get soaking wet. Love that guy.

As we were filling out the registry paperwork and learning how to use the snazzy gun, I looked over and saw this:

One of these does not belong...

It cracked me up. I guess Mommy might need that book after reading all the others ad nauseum.

So we picked a stroller (the Chicco Cortina Together) and carseats (Chicco Keyfit 30) and some other fun stuff. We also decided to try out some gliders. We each sat in one and fell in love. So we decided to switch to see if we liked the other one too, when we realized they were the same one in different colors. We might just buy it since it's being discontinued and is on clearance (but is still wicked expensive). But I think it's worth it, since we can move it to the living room after we don't need it for babies (and once we have a bigger house that would fit it in the living room) and it can be a forever chair. It was just so, so comfortable. And it reclined a bit!

Then we got home and the power went out. For the sixth or seventh time since last Thursday. Neighbor wasn't kidding when he told us our street was terrible for power outages...

Storage Wars tonight! Woo! If the power stays on, that is...

Probably Halfway There

Eighteen weeks. INSANE! Given that the average delivery for twins happens at 36 weeks (though I hope to hit 38, for their sake), I am very likely halfway through my pregnancy.

And so far, it's been surprisingly easy and awesome (knock wood). I know as I get larger I'll get achier and sleep less and pee more (if that's possible), but I'll take that as it comes. One week at a time. That's what's gotten me this far so quickly (it seems).

Check out that baby bump:

And a front-view of my countdown shirt (and super comfy skirt):

Skirt: Old Navy, $19.94

This week, the babies are supposedly the size of sweet potatoes! This should make Blue happy, as he loves sweet potatoes. I don't really get the fascination, as I much prefer a classic baked potato with butter, salt, sour cream, cheese and bacon. Although that might just be the babies talking...

From thebump.com

I think our babies might be a bit bigger than this based on our last ultrasound, but since I have another one tonight, I'll try to get more accurate measurements.

I'm highly amused by the fact that they might get the hiccups. I keep picturing jumping beans. Or popcorn popping. I'm still a little sad I don't feel them yet, but I suppose I should count my blessings that they aren't distracting me from work more than I already am.

So there you go. Sweet potato babies!

Faith in Humanity

You may have seen the link to Buzzfeeds "21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity" in your emails or on your Facebook News Feeds. If not, go here. It's pretty much awesome, and got me all teary eyed. Many of my friends also felt weepy, and they're not pregnant, so it's not just the hormones talking.

Well, I'd like to add to the list. I don't have photo evidence, however. Every day this week, someone on the subway has offered me their seat within seconds of me boarding the train. I didn't even try to make myself look pathetic, just started reading my magazine, and whomever I was standing in front of would offer. I turned one woman down because I felt odd about it, and tried to turn another woman down again today. But she insisted, so I took it.

One trend I am noticing: It's more often women than men offering me their seat. I'm not sure what this means, but I'm going to pay attention to it as a sort of social experiment. Maybe men are afraid of offending me if I'm not actually pregnant?

The next step is to see if this advertising campaign was effective:

I'm a little nervous to try this one out, since I pretty much fear wearing Red Sox gear in the city. But I hope no one follows this advice. That would destroy just a bit of my faith in New Yorkers that has so recently been built up.

And I guess this means I finally look definitively pregnant, at least to women!

Hot

I believe "misery" can best be defined as "being pregnant in Manhattan on a 100+ degree day."

Everything requires more energy. Iced coffees don't come big enough (half-caf, don't worry). And my pool is much too far away.

I'm just grateful it's functional again this year after a no-go last year. I was in it last night, and you bet your you-know-what I'll be back in it tonight. Four hours until I'm cool and refreshed...

Things to Appreciate While I Still Can

1. My feet. Soon they will be in the realm of "believing without seeing." Which I'm actually fairly okay with, because feet are ugly.

Image: http://www.darekandstacie.com. Not my feet!

2. Sleeping in. Sleeping at all. I can see the highlight of my day after I return to work next spring being the naps on the train in and out of the city. And getting back home to the babies, of course!

3. Doing anything quickly. Going to the store, grabbing a bite to eat, going for a walk. Everything will be a production with twins, unless I leave them home with Blue. But the two of us spontaneously going out for pizza? Not so much.

4. My bed. Our bathroom is downstairs, our bedroom is upstairs. I don't see myself safely making the trip down to the bathroom several times a night once I hit a certain size, so I'm thinking me and the couch are going to be great friends. I have joked that the dining room will be moving up to the bedroom and our bedroom will be moving to the dining room. I doubt that will happen, though.

5. Air. I'm already getting more winded when walking around to lunch or to my car. It's sad. I'm usually a pretty speedy walker, but it's getting less and less doable.

6. Long nails and my engagement ring. I figure both will be hazardous to babies and will have to go. Plus, supposedly my hands are going to swell and I won't be able to wear ANY rings soon. Which makes me really sad. I guess I could wear them around my neck until babies get graspy.

I know I'm missing stuff, so feel free to let me know what else to appreciate this summer!

Week 17

Another week has flown by already. I feel like I just did my 16 weeks post!

This week the babies are the size of onions, although based on my ultrasound last week I think they are a little bigger than onions. Thebump.com says they'll be about 5 inches long head-to-rump and 5.9 ounces each, but last week Baby B was over 6oz, so I guess he/she is ahead of the curve a bit.

I'm honestly quite shocked I'm not fatter than I am. I guess I can thank my long torso for that! They at least have some room to grow up before they really grow out!

This week their skeletons are turning from cartilage to bone (this means we cannot bounce them after all, Blue, sorry) and they may start to be able to sweat. It being summer in the city, I certainly understand why they would.

On my end, apparently I'm going to get even MORE klutzy as my center of gravity shifts. Awesome. Just what a pregnant woman needs. My mom has sarcastically called me Princess Grace pretty much from birth, so you can just imagine how I'm looking forward to being even more off-balance. Just put me in a bouncy suit. Maybe one like this:

Happy (Belated) Father's Day!

And it was a happy day indeed!

I wore my twins t-shirt, which elicited reactions ranging from "Really?" (my grandmother) to outright shrieking (Aunt S) from various family members. It was pretty awesome and fun. Totally worth waiting until Father's Day, as hard as it was not to ruin the secret, so we could see people's reactions in person. Blue got lots of hugs too, of course!

At some point in the afternoon I put this photo up on Facebook.

Some people thought I was referencing my boobs, but luckily others caught on quickly and got the ball rolling. At this point I think we have 75 congratulatory and/or disbelieving comments and around that many "likes." We're totally feeling loved today. You guys are all available to babysit, right?

Blue was wearing this t-shirt, but I couldn't catch him in a photo. He did get comments when we went to the grocery store!

It mirrored the one my parents got him that he wore to our wedding afterparty quite nicely:

So, other than the traffic we hit driving back to our house last night, yesterday was a pretty amazing day! A good first Father's Day for Blue!

16 Week Ultrasound

Today I got to see the babies again! They were both very active and wouldn't sit still for their measurements, but the tech eventually got them all. Baby A is 5.8oz and had a heart rate of 162, and measured in the 9th percentile. Baby B is 6.3oz and had a heart rate of 150, and measured in the 25th percentile. So there's a small difference in size that will be monitored at each ultrasound. Hopefully Baby A catches up to his/her sibling!! But they are both still in range for their "age."

It was kind of an odd ultrasound, as they were measuring parts of the babies, and it was pretty hard to tell what was what because she wasn't looking at the traditional side view (seen below). But it was kind of cool to see their feet close up, and see the individual finger bones. No alien sightings this time around!

The good news is that there is no sign of pre-term labor (yay, no bed rest!), but I'll be checked every two weeks for that from now until 30 weeks. And it turns out Baby B has an anterior placenta (at the front of my uterus as opposed to side or back... there's only so much space, I guess!), so it will probably take longer for me to feel that baby kicking me. So far, nothing from either. So all in all a good appointment!

Now, for some pictures!

Baby A, chilling. Looks like Baby B is sneaking into the photo.

Baby B, antsy as ever.

An attempt at a two-shot. Blue thinks Baby B (I labelled it wrong, sorry) looks like a duck. Baby A is on the bottom.

So there we go! Two healthy babies!

After the appointment, I met up with Blue for dinner. We ended up at a table next to a guy with his two older kids and his set of twins (what are the chances?). He saw me showing Blue the latest ultrasound photos (he couldn't get off work this time) and talking about Baby A and Baby B and chimed in that it all sounded familiar. His twins just turned a year old, and he assured us that if we can survive to a year, we'll start sleeping again and having fun with the babies. Which pretty much confirms what I've heard elsewhere: The first year with twins is hell. But an adorable hell, at least! And I know we'll have friends and family willing to give us a break now and then so we can get a few consecutive hours of sleep (right, guys?). I also got a stroller recommendation from him (the City Mini Jogger, once they are sitting up on their own), and a hearty "Good luck!" as he left.

We'll need it!

Gender Combos

I don't know why this didn't occur to me earlier, but apparently here's how it breaks down:

25% chance of girl-girl twins

25% chance of boy-boy twins

50% chance of boy-girl twins!

Seeing as ideally we'd want boy-girl, this is very encouraging! That said, we'd be super psyched to have two boys or two girls, too!

Week Sixteen!

Week sixteen means I am getting ever larger. But still feeling cute!

Not so bad from the front

Definite baby bump from the side. Shirt: Motherhood, $26.98

Sorry for the wrinkles. I'm terrible at putting laundry away and just pulled this out of the bottom of a laundry basket this morning.

This week, the babies are the size of avocados. Which is pretty cool, because I love avocados. Especially when wrapped in bacon. But I digress...

Together, they weigh about a half a pound. This explains why I seem to be gaining weight this week (finally)! I think I'm up nearly 10 pounds now. Phew. And today I actually feel hungry, rather than apathetic. Progress!

So, this week the babies' ears are developed enough that they can start to hear my voice. I imagine I sound like the adults on the Peanuts cartoons.

They say (whoever "they" are) that if I read them a book repeatedly throughout the rest of pregnancy, that after they are born, they will recognize the book when I read it to them and it can be comforting to them because it is familiar. They obviously won't understand the words, but they will recognize the ebb and flow of it as long as I read it the same way. I think I'm going to pick this book:

I used to love when my mom read it to me as a kid (and, not going to lie, even when I was sick in high school). She would quack and honk and it made me laugh every time. My copy is old and falling apart, but I'm hoping my kids will love it too. And sadly they don't print it anymore.

The babies are also developing their scalp patterns, even though they might not be growing hair quite yet. So if one of them is going to have a cowlick, it's being set in stone this week. Both Blue and I have cowlicks, so I think our kids are pretty much doomed. They are also growing their teeny tiny toenails. Which we are going to color code with nail polish to tell them apart, if they look super alike as babies.

Speaking of nail polish, I did my own toenails in bright pink Monday night. I figure soon I won't be able to reach (or see) my feet, so I might as well do it while I can!

I Must Look Preggo!

Today at lunch I got my first "Congrats" from a stranger! I was at the Container Store buying some bins for the nursery (which admittedly are marketed as being for a nursery or kid's room) and the clerk congratulated me.

Clerk: Congratulations!

Me: Thanks! (huge smile)

Clerk: How far along are you?

Me: Four months!

Clerk: (looks me up and down again)

Me: It's twins!

Clerk: Oh wow! Because I was going to say...

And we then proceeded to talk about twins while she finished checking me out. All of this was said very nicely and she just totally made my day. And she approved of my baskets.

Green is our third "accent" color that will appear in little pops around the room.

Most of the baskets will still be yellow, though.

I think these are my first physical purchase for the nursery. Very exciting! I ordered some art yesterday but I won't have those in my hands for a few more days, at least.

Wish List

I wish that I can go this whole pregnancy without having to go on bed rest. Or, if bed rest is required, that it's only for a week or two and not months on end. Although, at least if I do go on bed rest, I have a stack of magazines to catch up on. (note to self: cancel magazine subscriptions)

I wish that these babies make it to 38 weeks. If they must come earlier, no earlier than 36 weeks. I still want to throw a Halloween party, kiddos. It's Mommy's favorite holiday. (Poll: What is a good Halloween costume for a super pregnant woman? Pumpkin? Donut? Violet Beauregarde as a blueberry? Other ideas?)

I wish that they don't have to stay in the NICU. Happy and healthy. Mainly healthy. Happy can come later.

I wish that I continue feeling as great as I have been (occasional migraines excluded, of course). I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop on me. It'll probably be a stiletto.

I wish that our cats adjust well to having two babies in the house and don't start peeing on everything out of anger. We will still love you, kitties! Who else will bring mangled bird-shaped toys into our bed at 5am wanting to play?

I wish that our house would magically have a basement (this one is a long shot), because we have zero storage, and babies tend to accumulate stuff. Lots of stuff. (side note: If you want to buy us a gift, and it's not on the registry, it must be a small gift. A very very small gift. No bigger than a shoe box. Please. Otherwise it's staying at YOUR house. [I learned this rule from my sister-in-law. It's a good rule.])

I wish I had a Twix bar.

Oh wait, I do! Nom nom nom.

Need Opinions

It just occurred to me that the "You are my sunshine" art that I wanted might not be right for twins, because it is singular (only sunshine). But it would be dumb to have them change it to "sunshines" right? Or am I just overthinking this?

Here's the art again.

Let me know what you think.

Paintapalooza

So this weekend was paintapalooza weekend, which basically means my stepdad painted while the rest of us attempted to make sense of the pile of crap my office vomited into my bedroom (me and my mom) and/or tended to yardwork (Blue).

As a refresher, a few "before" shots, of the room nearly empty:

Again, the cribs will be over on that side.

Goodbye, beautiful teal wall. I painted it all by myself three years ago!

There's actually space for a glider once you take out the huge filing cabinet!

And now, a few "after" shots! Keep in mind, this is after painting the walls grey (we went back and got the darker, Sterling color, after all), hours of my mother's life taping stripes on the ceiling, and then painting said stripes.

That bookcase was in the wall, which turns out to have a lot of storage space. We're still trying to figure out the best way to use that space and have shelving for babies.

Stripes!

More stripes!

I think it's very cool.

Black cat agrees.

Blue, however, is still iffy. I think it'll be hard to see how it'll all come together until we get it set up. I think it's going to be beautiful. No, I know it's going to be beautiful.

One downside of the weekend was finding that our discovered hardwood floors under the carpet turned out to be linoleum, which was covered in paint splatters. Looks like we'll be heading to Lowe's or Home Depot to price out hardwood after all. Since it's a small room, it still won't be crazy pricey. Just another part of the project we need to do now.

And now it's time to go. I'm home from work today with a migraine. Headaches were a major problem earlier in my pregnancy, but the addition of benadryl to my regimen had been helping. No major headaches in about a month. Until this morning. I'm wondering if moving everything out of my office introduced a TON of dust into our bedroom and really kicked up my allergies... In any event, computers aren't places for people with crazy headaches, so off I go.

Oh yeah, one more thing: I'm sixteen weeks today! Sixteen! That's four whole months! Where the heck is this year going? I'll do a post on what that means for the babies either later or tomorrow. I know you love seeing what size fruit they are now!

We Bought Paint!

I'm far too excited about the fact that we have a gallon of grey and a quart of yellow paint sitting at home waiting to go up on the walls and ceiling in the nursery. A lot remains to be done before we can tackle painting on Saturday (namely, emptying the room), but the paint is ready and waiting!

Stripes on the ceiling will be Frosted Lemon and white.

Walls will be Sterling.

The paint blob on the top of the can for the grey is almost white, but I'm hoping it shows up darker on the walls. (edit: We were going to go with Full Moon, and bought that paint, but ended up deciding it wouldn't be dark enough. So the day of painting we went back and bought Sterling, after all.) And I'm totally psyched about the Frosted Lemon. It's just such a sweet, soft color.

Yay, paint! And the best part is I can't help actually do it because of the fumes! I just get to supervise! Win-win!

Do I Have to Eat?

Right now, I'm eating three slices of cheddar cheese. Am I enjoying them? Eh. They're okay. Which is bizarre, because cheese is one of my top five favorite foods EVER.

Number one is popcorn. I used to house a bag a day no problem, every day, year round (and we wonder why I was on Weight Watchers yet could never lose those last ten pounds...). I have allowed myself to have popcorn on a daily basis again, but I don't really want it. It's yummy, but I just don't care. I just feel eh about it.

My number one favorite food. Number two is probably cheese, followed by potatoes, pot roast, and mac 'n' cheese.

What is wrong with me? For the past decade I've been counting points and carefully planning meals and having daily battles over what to have for breakfast that will be tasty and low-points. Food was always on my mind, and I could never get enough of it.

Now I basically have the green light to eat, eat, eat, and I'm sick of food.

There. I said it. I'm sick of food. I'm sick of eating. I am eating constantly, searching for high-protein foods to help my babies grow. I'm supposed to get up to 120 g of protein a day. Tally your protein intake for a day and see how you do. I've had to more than double what I used to eat, as far as protein goes. And it's exhausting.

Breakfast is okay. Three-egg omlette with cheese and veggies gets me nearly 30 g. Then I have an Instant Breakfast with whole milk, which gets me another 12g. Then some cheese (7g). Then lunch, which is always the hardest meal for me. Even if I'm hungry, nothing EVER sounds good. Except maybe cream of tomato soup with brie melted into it, my go-to favorite lunch, but one I can't have at work because I'm not allowed to use the microwave (long story). So my options are basically soup from Hale N Hearty, a Subway sandwich, McDonalds, or a protein-packed salad from the deli. I'm a pretty picky eater, and these are the options I can at least tolerate most days. I was bringing in PB&J sandwiches, but they were making me nauseous. No idea why. So maybe I get 20g at lunch.

Then after lunch I have more cheese and a handful of almonds for another 10g or so. And then dinner, where I try to squeeze in 30g. And then popcorn, which has 8g in a bag. And then a glass of milk before bed for another 8g. And in between all that I do eat some fruits and veggies.

Most days I average between 2500 and 3000 calories, and around 100g of protein. I'm honestly not sure how to get more and not explode. It doesn't help that I get fuller faster because the babies are taking up more space and squishing my stomach. (To see an awesome interactive graphic from the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry of where your insides actually go during pregnancy, go here.)

I know this is all very "woe is me, I have to eat." I'm just so apathetic about food lately. But I keep chowing down, because the more I gain, the longer the babies will stay in (or so I'm told). And I've gained a whopping five pounds. I think I'm supposed to gain around 25 pounds by week 25, which gives me less than 10 weeks to gain 20 pounds. Ummm... not really sure that's going to happen.

But we don't want preemies if we can avoid it. And if eating is the main thing I can do, that I have control over, to make them grow and be healthy and incubate until at least 36 weeks, then I'll keep doing it.

Doesn't mean I won't bitch about it though.

Nursery Mockups

Today in my aimless online browsing (another slow day), I found a really pretty crib that's of a bit more interest than the Ikea one I had been planning on getting. First, the Ikea one:

A simple crib to save space; Sniglar, Ikea, $69.99

I found this other crib, which is more expensive but also more visually interesting. As Blue put it, "It's not a cage." I'd thought Blue only wanted Natural color cribs, but it turns out he's open to darker colors too, just not white. So that opened our options up a bit (and makes it MUCH easier to find a coordinating changing table/dresser unit). So this is our new favorite crib, and it has a similar footprint to the Ikea one, so two will fit in the space we have.

DaVinci Alpha 3-in-1 Convertible Crib in Cherry; $150, multiple sites

I love it because it has a bit of the vintage flair that I love in the Jenny Lind crib (which Blue vetoed, which is fine, since it's longer than this one and space is precious) and is more interesting than the "cage" one. Just for comparison, the Jenny Lind:

Beautiful DaVinci Jenny Lind crib, various sites, around $200

So there were our main options, but I still wasn't sure about the cherry color with the yellow and grey. So I asked my artistic, graphic artist, awesome mom her opinion. And rather than saying, "Yes, looks great!" she popped into Photoshop and did some mockups, using my inspiration photos and using a photo she'd taken of the room, along with the crib (set as a toddler bed -- how cute!). Looks pretty awesome!

Looks nice in a greyer room.

Good with a splash of yellow!

Yes, this is the general plan for the room. Can't wait for stripes!

She switched out the colors just for fun.

And of course there will be another, identical crib right next to it. And two probably crying babies in them. Can't wait to see it all come together in real life! Thanks, Mom!

Nursery "Before" Shots

Currently, the room that will become the nursery doubles as my office and the guest room. Basically, it looks like my bedroom did when I lived alone. Bed with a black and white comforter, a brightly painted accent wall, my computer, and lots and lots (and lots) of books.

It's a small room, maybe 10 x 11, with some odd angles and niches. Fitting nursery furniture was going to be tight with one baby, but now with two, we'll be lucky to fit two cribs!

We'll somehow squeeze two cribs between the window and the back wall.

A changing table will go on the other side of the window.

And I'm hoping to find room somewhere for a rocker of some sort. A very small sort.

Luckily there are some built in shelving units that will store baby clothes, toys, and extra diapers. Because lord knows we'll be buying stock in diapers with twins.

One of our cats models the spaciousness of one of the built-ins.

This past weekend I whittled down my books from about 200 to about 100. Now I just need to find a place in our bedroom for a bookshelf to store them on. And I need to start reading them, stat, because I know I won't have time to read once the babies arrive!

Countdown Continues

I hit 15 weeks tomorrow. Crazy!

Front shot

Definitely a bump there now!
   

This week they are the size of navel oranges. Here's a cute graphic from thebump.com.

Totally crazy how big they are getting! I'm kind of shocked I'm not bigger than I am, with eight inches of babies! Within the next few weeks I should be feeling some flutters from their movements, although they are moving around a lot right now, testing out their tiny muscles.

Sorry I don't have more today. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some nursery "before" shots for you. Get ready for a messy office/guest room. I can't wait to get it cleaned up and organized as a nursery!