Double Take

Sorry friends, I didn't mean to cause a panic. EJ was just fooling around with some fun program on his computer. He hooks his laptop up to the TV and we can make silly videos, etc. Normally the boys are the stars, but we thought I looked funny as twins, so he snapped a still shot of it. Hence the terrible resolution and blurriness.

Surprise

It's twins!

High fives for 31 weeks!

Blessings

I would never have imagined my 7th week of bed rest being one of the easiest. I have received more cards, care packages, calls, visits and meals than any other week! Not to mention the good news at my appt on Wed. So right now, I am flying high. It's been even tougher to stay put. Hopefully I don't rejoice myself right back to strict bed rest ;)

Thank you to each of you who have loved me and my family so well. I am honored to have such thoughtful friends and a God who knows exactly what we need, when we need it.

I suddenly became curious of what life was like this time last year and I stumbled upon this entry.
This time a year ago, I was facing jaw surgery for a displaced jaw joint.

This experience will definitely go in my "Treasure box".

On the Mend

Whatever the bug, Mason is much better today. Last night wasn't too fun. I think he napped a little too much yesterday. The fever seems to be gone and he is laughing and playing again.

Mom and Dad are down for half a day and EJ's mom (Mim) arrives via train this afternoon. She will be here all of next week to keep our family and house afloat and allow EJ to attend a men's retreat at our church tonight and tomorrow. I am so glad he will have a break from us. He has been working so hard and without a single complaint!

Tomorrow we have cleaners coming to deep clean our house. Doesn't that sound like a dream come true! They will return every other week for awhile. Although I am afraid once they start it's going to be very hard to let them go. It's such a relief knowing I won't feel months behind with housework when bringing home baby.

31 weeks today!

There were 2 . . .

in the bed.

SAD! Mason started running a fever this morning. No other symptoms, although he did complain of at breakfast which he hardly touched. I am just holding my breath. He is definitely not himself.

Great news!

The bed rest has totally worked. The Dr. was amazed at the ultrasound results. It also might have something to do with the fact that baby is now breech and his head is no longer causing additional pressure. We won't panic yet, he can still turn around at this point. For the time being I am just going to enjoy the relief I feel.
The Dr. is not lifting my bed rest, but said I can do a little more and she will not order another ultrasound to check cervix length! I may have one at 34 weeks to see if the baby is still breech.

I don't know what all this means for my day to day, but I am excited nonetheless. We aren't totally out of the woods yet, both Owen and Mason put me in the hospital for a day with preterm contractions. Owen at 34 weeks and Mason at 33 weeks. It would certainly be nice to avoid that. For now, we will just celebrate God's goodness and take it one day at a time.

Our K Star

The Kindergarten classes at Owen's school held their first performance last night.
It was quite a show. Yes, I went! This time last year I went for K orientation and saw the same performance with the 2008-09 Kindergartners. It's hard to believe it is now my son up there.

uv you

Instead of "I love you so much, mom" Mason says, "I uv you too much, mom"

And I can't hear it enough.

In Training

If anyone is sad by the probable retirement of Apolo Ohno, you need not be.
We have his protege in training.

Perhaps he was more inspired by his mom's set of wheels (seen in the background).

Fun in the Sun

Thank goodness for daddy and warmer weather. Mason has slept 2 afternoons in a row. He is such a sweeter boy!

My boys! Soon there will be one more!

Racing

The vitamin D did me some good too. Thank goodness for the zoom on my camera. My view from the front stoop was a little far.

Spending $

I thought being on the couch would save us some money. Seeing as I haven't been to target in 7 weeks :) Yes, can you imagine the with drawl?
Well, the internet is possibly more dangerous. I have made several purchases from the couch with a personal shopper on cell phone. The boys dressers, I mentioned awhile ago were purchased with me on the couch and EJ in the store. I looked online as he was examined in person. Today, my mom did some spring clothes shopping for the boys while I approved via web page.
Oh and then there are purchases I can make online myself. Good grief, the options are endless :) Etsy should be outlawed! Wait until you see the small update to the baby nursery. And I mangaged to find some rug runners online for the hallway upstairs. Perhaps my 5 yr old and 2 year old elephant stomping won't wake the baby if we have carpet. A girl can dream, can't she? At least it will feel better on my feet for those lovely middle of the night feedings.

None of this tops the purchase made while I was on bed rest with Mason... our mini van. Once you give something like that over to your husband, furniture buying doesn't even seem scary :)

Getting Around

If you haven't been to our house lately you haven't seen our newest chair. That's right, a lovely walker! It's all the rage and everyone who visits has a lot to say about it :) This particular piece was passed down to me from my grandparents. It's not yet an antique, but it does hold sentimental value. You do need a license to operate while sitting down and I have yet to pass. The boys are constantly giving me advice about steering as I bump into cabinets, corners and walls. It's not as easy as it looks and could quite possibly be using more stomach muscles than just walking around. Don't worry, I have not been seen in it in public, well until now. I only use it in the kitchen if I am helping with breakfast or dinner. I did however, have the humbling experience of being pushed in a wheelchair through a store to buy a few things for the baby. I really wanted to pick out the items myself. I suppose it could have been just as humbling for my mom too. Now, I know why my grandmother hated to be pushed around in a wheelchair. Not to mention it can make you dizzy.

30 weeks, hooray!

Real Neighbors

I am the first to admit I am not a good neighbor. We don't really do anything special for our neighbors aside from collecting their mail or newspaper if they ask. I wave and say "hi", but don't necessarily strike up a long conversation unless they initiate. We are by far the youngest family on the caul- de sac. Out of ten houses, we are the only ones with children living at home (unless you count the 30 something son, across the street who still lives at home). So we don't have a ton in common. Being neighbors with someone isn't like it use to be. It's very rare to have that kind of drop-in anytime or borrow an egg kind of relationship. If the weather isn't nice I don't even see these people.
In fact, most of them don't even know I am pregnant, much less on bed rest.
Since the fall, we have been slowly getting to know one of the couples. They are Christians and use to be very involved in their church's youth group when their girls were in high school. They love seeing and talking with our boys. Sadly, even they didn't know I was pregnant until about 5 weeks ago.
Now they are loving us!
The wife just called and asked if we needed dinner tonight. This would have been our 4th meal from them in 4 weeks. I told her we did have a friend coming with dinner (her second meal to help us) and so she offered to bring it tomorrow.
Right before her call, I was crying on the phone with EJ b/c Mason is not sleeping for his nap. It's very rare these days for him to sleep and very frustrating to deal with a tired and cranky toddler the rest of the day.
It doesn't take much to put me over the edge, and then I get her call.
Why do I even doubt this will work for another 5 weeks? Why am I so slow to trust and be okay with where God has me?

The Cheers

If only you could be in our family room while the Olympics skiing or snowboarding reruns are on T.V. Owen might possibly be a louder cheerleader than the athlete's mothers.

Published

Mason's baby book arrived today. He loved it and so do we. Here's a small glimpse. I am very happy with how it turned out. Especially since it's the first one I have ever done. Well, aside from being on the High School Yearbook staff. I actually ended up with 2 copies. Mixbook sent me a promo coupon since it was my first purchase. Buy 1 get 1 free. Now I don't have to hold my breath when someone wants to look at it :)




The whole process was very therapeutic for me. Re-mincing over his early years helped me remember why I am laying on the couch for 3 months. And it distracted my mind from constantly feeling sorry for myself.
I really really must start the blog book, a much bigger project to undertake, but I don't plan on getting so fancy.

Simply Pleased

Ever since Kindergarten began Owen has had a hard time "just playing" at home. I don't know if it's partly his age and the toys we have or b/c he is at school most of the day and his playtime is just a transition between homework and dinner. He doesn't transition well. If he gets bored for the slightest bit of time he starts picking on his brother. Or perhaps it's b/c I am constantly comparing him to Mason who can pick anything up and start playing all on his own.

Yesterday was the first day Mason and I have been together alone in 10 days. And I realized why he is so much easier to have around (while on bed rest). You would think he would be harder b/c he can do less for himself. The reason is b/c he is happy with the simplest things. It doesn't take much AT ALL. Today he read to himself for almost 30 minutes, played with a few trucks and blocks for another 30 minutes by himself. He is content to push a car up and down the back of the couch with me, or race 2 balls down the back of the couch, or make a terribly cheesy "ramp" with legos that are really too bumpy to actually drive a car over it. The ramp doesn't even have to be long enough, wide enough or smooth enough.

When Owen came home from school we showed him our ramp. He said, "that's not a ramp." How is it so much harder to entertain my (almost) 6 year old? Seems backwards to me. What are we going to do this summer when I also had a newborn to the mix?

29 weeks

Another week of bed rest complete, 6 more to go! Can you tell Friday's are a big deal around here and for more than the usual reasons?

Chin Up

As my Nerna always said, "keep your chin up" and that's what we are attempting to do around here. Some moments more successful than others.

The following fun was made possible by my sweet mom who just left after 5 days with our crazy family. Owen had another day off from a unexpected blizzard this morning.

making snow cream

"picnic" lunch

getting the energy out

Mom, as always, we owe you big time!

Oh, how could I forget? For the sake of my sanity we tackled the nursery closet this morning while the boys enjoyed some t.v. time. All of Mason's stuff is officially out and the baby's toys and books are wiped clean and put away. Granted it was mostly mom, but I contributed by giving orders and cleaning toys.

Bowl Time

At least 3 bowls all with yummy dips and chips. Oh, yes and a football game.

Our Superbowl party shrunk at the very last minute when EJ's dad decided to head back to the winter wonderland of NJ. EJ's grandmother's house has been without power since Sat and isn't expected to get it back until tomorrow at the earliest. His grandmother is staying with a friend, but Ed was very concerned about the house and pipes, etc. So he got to experience 95 like it's never been seen before. Parts of 95 were worse than our Cul-de-sac. He was driving 20 miles an hour b/c there was so much snow still on 95. Can you imagine? Parts of MD got 40 inches of snow and could possibly get another foot tomorrow.
Anyway, the 4 of us and my mom had no problem polishing off the snacks. It was so nice to be home and back with my guys even if it was on the dreaded couch.

the infamous couch, my current best friend

Knee Deep

While I was gone the boys had some fun too. PopPop even took some pictures. Unfortunately PopPop got my nasty cold, that EJ passed down to me, that he got from Owen who got it from Mason. I sure hope Grandma and Lissa stay healthy.


Evidently Mason disappeared for a little while. After a moment of panic they found him sitting behind Pop Pop's car knocking off icicles and eating them. YUM!

Celebration

This weekend I celebrated 28 weeks and the start of my 3rd trimester with a little vacation. (since we are having a record winter of the snow, I figured I'd pose outside, the snow started Friday morning and continued through 5 p.m. on Sat.)

Before the snow entered the forecast, I actually had weekend plans. So you can imagine my disappointment on Thurs night when it looked like all plans would be cancelled. I was not the only disappointed one. EJ, his dad and Owen had planned to go skiing for the weekend with my dad and brother in-law, Alex. My mom, my sister, Mason and I were going to hang out in Richmond.
My mom drove down, but when the snow started falling Friday morning and they announced the ski area would be receiving 2 feet of snow, the guys decided not to go. I will admit I was not happy. Mean and nasty might better describe my attitude, plus I had a terrible head cold.
Well, my mom kidnapped me and she and I got snowed in at my sister's incredibly quiet house!
I felt guilty leaving the men alone for the weekend (Ed has been working so hard to help us) but I am really not much help anyway and at least they had 1 less to take care of.
It's amazing what sitting on a different couch in a different house will do for the spirits of one who has been trapped for 35 days. They waited on me hand and foot. My only real contribution was clipping coupons :) We watched lots of HGTV, the movie "Whip It," played Scrabble and talked and talked.
I may as well have been on a 3 day cruise. I feel like a completely different woman.

Just a Glance

A calm moment in our house yesterday. PopPop fixing a delicious stir fry dinner and the boys playing with play-doh. For most of the day PopPop and I divided and conquered. The boys have forgotten how to play nice, actually how to even coexist in the same room. It's ugly around here, but we survived another day. Owen's school had a delayed opening this morning, but he is there now, at least for today, not sure what the weather will do tomorrow.
I took the following 2 pictures primarily for entertainment. Please take careful notice of their outfits and hair length. Yes, Owen is wearing a cameo hooded zipped up sweatshirt under a t-shirt with cameo pants. I promise he has not seen eminem in concert. Both desperately need haircuts, and I do too for that matter. They have however, still been bathed regularly and their clothes are clean (thanks to grandma).

Overcast

I should probably not even start writing. 29 days of laying on the couch and day 5 of 2 kids trapped inside, is not bringing out the best in me. Thankfully EJ's dad is here to help. God's timing is so perfect. Ed was suppose be here last week, but a death in the family pushed his visit back. Little did we know Owen would be out of school possibly this entire week from our big snow storm. I have no idea what we would have done otherwise. The boys are showing signs of distress and the lack of discipline is adding up.

A little sunshine would probably help! Jan and Feb are my hardest months regardless. I really do want to be a snowbird in retirement. EJ thinks I am joking, but I am not!

Another snow storm is expected to hit Friday night. I guess it's better than missing spring! Although that's a possiblity too.

Told you I shouldn't have started writing. Just keeping it real!

Waiting

EJ set up the crib this weekend. It still catches me off guard when I walk past the room. My heart speeds up quite a bit. Mostly from excitement but some degree of what the heck!

I am not looking forward to the sleepless nights again, constantly wondering what this little guy with be like and anxious to be done with bed rest.

Today, Owen used a toy telescope and our digital camera to take a picture of "baby" through my belly button. Boy was he excited to see a small dot of yellow and reds (I let a little light in) it almost looked like we were seeing inside my stomach. I didn't have the heart to tell him it was still my belly button.

Mason calls the baby "munchkin" and I think understands a little better now that we set up the crib.