baby room

After a few months of fun, the nursery is finally ready! I had so much fun preparing this room, and sweet Andrew went along with all of my crazy ideas. We wanted something sweet, classic, simple and peaceful...I didn't want it to get busy with all the boy/girl stuff. We ended up focusing on white and gray, with touches of blue, pink, and green. I am so excited about the result and cannot wait to see our little ones grow in their very own room.

View from the doorway...baby girl is on the left, baby boy is on the right, and the dresser and changing table are separating the cribs. If you look towards baby girl's crib, you can see a little corner of the gray and cream rug we finally found.

Baby girl's crib, which is next to the most comfy glider ever and the sweet piece of art we found for the twins. I certainly hope they hold fast to their dreams!

Baby boy's crib. These mobiles are probably my favorite things in the nursery.

Chandelier, which Andrew hung himself. He's so handy!

4Bookshelf between the doorway and closet with lots of toys and goodies.


The fabric for the sheets and changing pad cover...which was on backorder for months! Worth the wait, though.


A final look at the whole room.

backward and forward

This weekend, Andrew and I went on our very last pre-baby trip--a mini anniversary get-away to Chattanooga (it's a short distance and has a good neonatal hospital). In honor of my father-in-law, we took the twins on a little "roots tour" and showed them the place where it all began. The Fertility Center in Chattanooga is where our little miracles were conceived, and where they spent their first 5 days of life. It's where they had their first photos made, and where we had the privilege of meeting them for the first time. It was special to take them back and show them a bit of their history.


While we looked back over the weekend, this week is all about looking forward. We started our childbirth class last week, and will continue that one night per week for the next four weeks. This week we are also taking a breastfeeding class and a child & infant CPR class. Pretty sure Andrew and I will be on information overload, but our pre-birth days are numbered at this point and we feel like there is so much we need to learn. Classes, of course, will not truly prepare us for these twins, but at least they make us feel better as we wait.

preview

On Thursday, we had some maternity photos done by Ashley Hoskins, a local photographer who is great at using light and creating beautiful images. I wanted to go ahead and take pictures before I too closely resembled a whale. She posted one on her facebook page...a little preview with more to come.

five years

Five years ago today, Andrew and I entered into the sacrament of marriage. A sacrament points us towards what is sacred and significant. Through the sacraments, we are able to experience God's saving presence and grace. During the past five years of trying to love Andrew well and attempting to allow him to love me back, my understanding of what is good and right has grown immensely.

On July 15, 2006, we pledged our lives to each other with childlike excitement about what the future held. We anticipated a life full of love, excitement, passion, fun, children (eventually), and happiness. We knew, of course, that there would be less than great times, but as we said our vows we were more focused on the "for better" than the "for worse." Thankfully, we have had more good times than bad. We have had the opportunity to travel together, to experience new things together, to ride our bikes 100 miles though wine country together. We have enjoyed exciting moments, driving down roads too narrow to hold two cars in northern Italy, and quiet moments, reading together on the porch on Sunday mornings. While the good days have been innumerable, today I am thankful for the hard days in our marriage.

The past year, this fifth year of our lives together, was the hardest year of my life. It was not, however, the hardest year of our marriage. With every failed treatment, every loss, every doctor's appointment, we banded together more strongly than before. Andrew saw me at my very worst, and loved me anyway. When it was unclear whether I could ever give him biological children, Andrew, a man who has known he wanted kids for as long as he can remember, told me he would marry me a thousand times over. Today, as we prepare for our twins' arrival in less than ten weeks, we are more closely bonded than we ever imagined five years ago. For that, I am eternally grateful.

Happy Fifth Anniversary, Andrew. I love you so much always.

showered with love

Last weekend, we had our fourth and final baby shower--a fabulous way to begin the third trimester! Barbeque, strawberry cake, and lots of new baby things...all of my favorites! Three of my college friends and one of Andrew's friend's wife hosted the party (isn't it great when your friends marry people you love), which was an amazing act of generosity considering that three of the four live out of town. This was our only party in Knoxville, and it was so wonderful to celebrate with our local friends and family. We are so grateful to our hosts and guests, and can't wait for the little ones to meet each of you!

sweet hostesses--Mollie, Ellie, me, Ann-Haley, and Lacy

dining room decorations

more decorations

my mom and dad with Andrew and me--both of our families were able to come

Lacy and Mollie...I have to watch these two when the get together...

homestretch

We made it...we're in the third trimester! At 28 weeks, we have no more than 10 to go before we meet these little munchkins. As my doctor said yesterday, 28 weeks is a big milestone for twins. Even if born today, their long-term prognosis would be really good (not that we want to test that).

Yesterday's appointment left us with much information to absorb. On the positive side, I passed my glucose test, so no gestational diabetes, and I am not yet showing signs of pre-term labor. On the less positive side, at our last growth appointment the babies were 21% apart, which is just 1 percentage point within the normal range. If this disparity gets bigger over the next few weeks, we may have to deliver earlier than we would like. We will be keeping a close eye on their sizes and praying that baby girl catches up a bit, as I would really like to make it past the 34 week mark. Andrew and I are trying not to worry too much, as difficult as that is, since there is truly nothing we can do to direct nutrition to baby girl. Hopefully our petite little princess will be much larger by our appointment next Thursday!

yawns and hiccups

We are getting close to the homestretch, and these babies are developing more personality every day. Baby girl loves the morning, and she especially likes her morning couch time. She has been going crazy for the past hour, poking, prodding, and dancing around. This morning when I woke up she had the hiccups, which was the first time I had felt this phenomenon. Luckily I discovered these little jolts before Andrew left for work, so Daddy got to feel his baby girl hiccuping as well.

Baby boy, on the other hand, prefers nighttime. I can count count on him to put on a show most every night, though he tends to move a bit throughout the day. He is definitely the more active twin, or at least the one I can feel the most. At our Thursday ultrasound, the tech turned on the 3d feature and we actually saw him yawn. It's amazing to think that our little son is already doing things like yawning--that he is already doing many of the things he will do when he joins us this fall.

Watching and feeling these little ones move never loses its excitement. Their growing bodies, however, are starting to take their toll on me. Sleep is becoming very difficult, and by about 2:00 every afternoon the excruciating back pain begins. Yesterday for the first time I had trouble putting on my own socks, and I almost couldn't bend over to take the dogs' leashes off. It's hard to believe that my belly still has 10 weeks of growth to go...but it's also hard to believe that our babies will be joining us in such a short time. Whatever permanent (or not so permanent) damage it does to my body, I just pray that these pumpkins will stay put at least 8 more weeks.