Joys

A list of things I am currently loving:

• I've spent the week with one of my very best friends at their place in Boston.  I haven't seen them but about 3 times since leaving Santa Barbara, and it's been like a balm to my soul.
• I've eaten like a king since I've been here.
• That includes massive amounts of King Cake.
• Monkey has been waddling around their living room with his hands clasped behind his back.  I have no idea where he learned that, but it's so funny to see a teeny tiny person do it.
• Bear is currently in a sunny corner reading a book about dinosaurs, which has a roar button. He actually mimics the roar.  It's fantastic.
• Bear has also taken an interest in sausage, and was enthralled to watch it being made this morning.  I'm really looking forward to being able to include them both in the kitchen and cooking.
• Both boys have started randomly snuggling me throughout the day on their own.

There are more things, but the day is getting away from me.

Mother's Day 2013

Today was so lovely!  I got to sleep in until 10am.  HOLY COW!  Half the time even when DS is home in the mornings giving me the possibility of more sleep, the babes will wake me up with their squalling.  They were so good!

I got my choice of breakfast, which was even offered in bed.  I chose not to eat there though, because I've been insanely clumsy since the babies were born and I rather like my bed dry.  Thankfully that clumsiness seems to not include baby handling.  So far.

The kids got me stuffed representations of themselves, and there was a card from each of them with little notes inside.  DS also got me a card with a gift card to Home Depot for plants for my garden, permission to buy myself a patio lounge, and homemade coupons.  They crack me up, especially the one for breakfast in bed that says around the edges, "OMG! WTF! BBQ!"  He asked if I knew what it was, and I don't, but he never explained.

The weather was gorgeous today.  We went for a walk and got some ice cream and sat on a bench at the train station.  We got the best frozen turkey pot pie I've ever had for dinner.  It was like it was homemade, which is probably why it was a bit pricey.  Those were quality ingredients!  I had my choice of dinners and I wouldn't have expected that's what I'd pick, but I saw it in the store and couldn't resist.  We stopped at the park on the way home to attempt the kids in swings again.  I forgot how necessary extra blankets were to keeping them steady last time, and Bear very quickly knocked his head on the swing when he tipped forward.  Of course there was another mom in the park, and of course she looked at me like, "seriously, you just put your 4 mo old kid in that spacious swing?"  But she graciously said nothing and was nice to us while we were there.

DS got some lovely pictures of me with the boys, which I adore.  I'm rarely in their photos because I'm usually taking them, so I'm happy to have these.  I also have video of DS tickling Monkey and him laughing hysterically.  It's so amazing.  DS was laughing so hard he teared up a bit.

I had a nice long conversation with my own mother, who I'll be seeing in 2 weeks.  DS got to talk to his as well.  There was also a super long bubble bath, my first in the new house.  The tub is smaller than I want, but perhaps one day we'll make improvements and I can fulfill my dream of submerging my whole body at will.  The important thing is that the water was hot, the bubbles were plenty, and I was able to read in peace for as long as I wanted.  It was bliss.  I can't remember the last time I was that pruney, and I'm known for my long showers.

Today was a perfect balance of relaxing, peaceful, indulgent, and fun.  I hope I can provide DS with something just as nice on Father's Day.

6th Anniversary

Wow, I can't believe we've been married for six whole years.  Seems like no time at all.  But it also sort of seems like a lifetime.  It's hard to remember life without him, and honestly, I don't want to.  He is my anchor, and as long as he's with me I feel like I will never be lost.  Life is an adventure that we will face together and always come out okay.  Or even better than okay.  It is more than I ever expected for myself, and I am so thankful.

We spent the day doing fun things.  We went to Linvilla Orchards for the first time.  That place is so insane!  I can't remember the last time I've been among that many people at once.  It was a little overwhelming.  But then, it's the last weekend before Halloween is celebrated for most places.  We thought about apple picking since we didn't get to do that the weekend before, but I think the chaos of the place made us decide against it.  Don't worry, we did get the most important thing, which was apple cider!  They even sell it in these tiny jugs that were perfect for the ride home.

Portable cider!

Tonight we had reservations at City Tavern, which is probably the oldest restaurant in Philly.  You might remember it from when I got to try my first shrub.  This was the first time I've actually eaten there though, and it was DS's first time period.  All the tables are candlelit, which is a nice touch.  The water is served in metal cups.  I had an amazing pot pie.  It was a perfect way to end the day.  Love you babe.

6th Anniversary, at Linvilla Orchards

Babymoon

I had been hearing talk of this babymoon thing early on through my baby app forums.  I'd never heard of such a thing, but the general idea is that you take a romantic vacation, just the two of you, before the baby comes and shakes up everything.  I thought that sounded lovely, especially considering we have two on the way at once.  Some people were talking about big fancy vacations.  One lady even went to Fiji for hers.  I knew we wouldn't be able to do anything like that for several reasons, but that's just fine.  What we decided on instead was our very first bed and breakfast experience, and it was just perfect.

I did some research for B&Bs in the Poconos area.  Neither of us had been there, and we were hoping to go sometime in October in the hopes of catching some lovely foliage.  We chose the Gatehouse Country Inn, which was so amazing.  They have little add on packages you can get, so we did the babymoon package.  It was basically snacks in the room when we got there, but the apple pomegranate sparkling cider was seriously delicious.  It was a really nice way to start the weekend.*

I had been worried about the trip in general because some people are on bedrest by this point.  Thankfully, not only am I still fully mobile, but we were even able to go hiking on Saturday!  We did the Tumbling Waters Trail, which is about 3 miles round trip with a 400ft elevation gain.  I was a bit worried about that last part, but I really wanted to see the waterfall!  The majority of the hike was super easy with lots of big lovely trees and some lakes.  But you had to hike down a big hill to get to the waterfall and then back up up up to leave.  That part took some time.  I had to rest a lot, because it's so hard getting oxygen into my system with all the extra blood.  Plus, the babies steal most of what I do get.  But I managed the whole thing without incident, and DS was super awesome about being patient and waiting for me to inch my way up.  So worth it.

Of course, afterwards I ate a feast and then took a 2 hour nap...

Sunday we found a close farm and pick pumpkins out of a patch.  It feels like it's been forever since I've done that!  We were going to go apple picking too, but it would seem the area had a horrible harvest because of a late frost killing off all the blossoms in the spring :(  That was kind of sad, but I made up for it by getting the world's biggest pumpkin.  Okay, not really, but it is 30lbs!

Oh, and the breakfasts!  Man, so delicious.  I need to learn how to make a sun-dried tomato quiche.  Really a perfect weekend.  So happy we had this time together.

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*Unfortunately, right before we arrived we saw a baby deer cross the road, which was followed by its mother.  I was so excited, and then absolutely crushed when the mom hobbled across the street on 3 legs.  She had recently been hit and her fourth leg was managed.  I bawled like a baby.  I'm tearing up now just thinking about it.  *sigh*

Beautiful Fall Day

The weather today is kind of amazing.  Perhaps a little hotter than I would want in October (the high is 81°F), but slightly breezy with just a few clouds.  I spent the day at the local park with my friend Sarah and her toddler friend, who we've been calling "Mark" here.  The whole place has been decorated for fall.  There are hay bales and cornstalks around the lampposts surrounding the fountain, which are ornamented with various kinds of pumpkins and mums.  The buildings and miniature golf course have fake spiderwebs all over them.  The carousel is playing spooky music.  Perfect.

This may very well have been my last chance to go to the park with this little guy, which is sad.  He's starting school, and Sarah will be moving on to a new family that isn't close enough for us to have this kind of park time.  I will really miss it.  It gets me out of the house, which I'm sure will be something I'm really craving soon.  Plus Mark is tons of fun and adorable.  He's taught me a lot about caring for toddlers that I hope I'll remember by the time my kids are his age.  I'm not even sure when I'll see Sarah once she's working somewhere else.  This was the bulk of our hanging out, and now we'll have to actually try to schedule in time around work :/

But enough sad stuff.  Today was just great.  And it was also completely filled with pumpkin.  I had a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks with their pumpkin scone for breakfast, and then the pumpkin pie milkshake from Square Burger this afternoon.  Seriously, fall is just the absolute best.

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Anatomy Scan!

Today we got to look at the babies for almost an hour and a half.  They're so much bigger than they were before!  About 6 inches, CRAZY.  Baby A weighs about 9 ounces, and Baby B about 8 ounces.  Pretty much every inch of their bodies were measured.  Their skulls, parts of their brains, their kidneys, their stomachs.  Their bones have started calcifying, so we could actually make out every single vertebrae and rib.  The tech had to make sure their hearts were functioning properly, so she watched those in slow mo.  It was really cool to see all 4 chambers working together.

Their nervous systems have started functioning, so they have some controlled movements now.  We watched both of them sucking their thumbs at various points.  They also both got the hiccups.  They had liquid in their stomachs and bladders, which meant they're properly swallowing amniotic fluid and their kidneys are working.  Good job babies!

Baby B, thumb sucking

Baby A, relaxing

Baby A was wiggling all over the place as usual, so finding out the sex took a while with that one.  The tech moved to Baby B hoping we could come back to the other one at the end.  Baby B was not shy.

The tech says, "So now I have to give you my spiel about us not being 100% sure on the sex, but if that's not a boy you'll have to bring him back here for me to see!"  She finished up with the measurements she could get (Baby B was in the wrong spot to get a back of the brain measurement), and then decided to do some of her computer work that she would normally have done at the end when she didn't need us anymore.  Otherwise we would have been back in 2 weeks or so, and we're already going every 4 weeks because we're high risk.  There was about a half hour between that shot of B's legs and when she finished entering our measurements.  I just knew that A would end up being a boy too, because in 19 weeks we've only thought of one name, and it was for a girl.

And sure enough:

Jerks!  I keep calling them my jerk babies, and little things like this are why.  I laughed when we saw him like this, and I said, "he must have heard you saying how good Baby B was being and got jealous!"  The "BOY" type is in his umbilical cord, but the more defined part is his penis.  This shot isn't as easy to read as B's, because you can't really see his legs, so I labeled his butt for you.

So we have all their measurements!  And the doctor came in and did a quick check for herself and told us how happy she was everyone is doing fine.  They both also commented on how easy the scan was to do because I'm so skinny.  :)

Other than the fact that I started getting super hot at one point from the pressure the babies were putting on my blood vessels while lying on my back, this was a great visit.  We'll go back every 4 weeks, but they'll be shorter check ups called growth scans.  Those will be to make sure each baby is growing as they should, and that they're not having issues with things like intrauterine growth restriction or large discrepancies between the two which would be possible reasons to induce early.

Here's one last pic of them both.  It's still super hard to fit them both in one photo.

Baby B on the left, thumb sucking, Baby A's head on the right

Day of Fun

DS is leaving me in the morning for California.  He has a week long conference, and I wasn't able to tag along this time.  Which is really too bad, because it would have been lovely to spend a week with my SB folks.

We decided to make the most of our Saturday together.  For us, this meant we spent the day doing the following:

• Playing video games (Skyrim for me, Dark Souls and Soul Caliber V for DS)
• Rock climbing
• Playing Dominion, of which I lost, both times (freaking SEA HAG!  ugh!)
• Catching up on House
• Eating yummy homemade foods (pizza for me, wings for DS)

Tomato, green olive, and turkey sausage pizza.  Also, Dominion.

Now that DS is sleeping, I'm watching Star Trek and working on a cross stitch project.  I just saw the episode Space Seed, which originally aired Feb 16, 1967.  Apparently in the Star Trek universe, I lived through the last world war for our planet, also known as the Eugenics Wars of the 1990's.  It seems we were creating super humans, and this is where Khan was created.  He led a group of the super humans that, I'm guessing, stole a star ship.  But star flight before 2018 was so slow that everyone on board had to be put to sleep until they arrived at their destination.  And so, due to problems of some kind, the Enterprise came upon this ship 200 years later (so no later than 2200, since the ship left in the 1990's), revived the crew, and met Khan.  I thought he looked familiar, and found out it was for good reason.  He also plays Khan in the second Star Trek movie from 1982, The Wrath of Khan.  Since I recognize this dude, I suspect this was one that got played around my house at some point as a child.

So there you go.  I'm sure that was exciting for you.  A history lesson!