This last week has been longer than 7 days. I know it has, there’s something messed up somewhere with Father Time, but I can’t prove it yet.

Last Thursday, my work friends threw me a surprise shower. It was so sweet, and fun since there were many people there who I don’t get to see since our schedules are all different based on grade level. Even a few friends who used to work with me came. I was really touched. They all kicked in to get us some of the bigger items we needed – infant carseats, bouncy seat, baskets for the nursery, and so much more. It barely fit in my car, and Don and I were so excited to go through it all when I got home.

Friday, Colby had leg surgery to repair a torn ligament. This was part one of his Intro to Parenting crash course – Lesson One – you worry more about your sick kids than you do about yourself. We worried about him all day, but he was okay when we picked him up that night. He was pretty doped up, and his leg had an 8 inch incision that looked scary, but he was alive and happy to eat, so we knew our boy would be okay.

Here’s a shot of his scar and a link to a few other pictures of him all gimped up.

Saturday, my best friends hosted a huge shower for me for all my friends and family. It was unbelieveable – these babies will be very well dressed and again it was just so neat to see how many people already love them and care for all of us. It was also nice to see people I haven’t seen in quite some time. It seems like too often, we only see certain people for weddings and funerals, and I wish that wasn’t the case. Family is family, and that’s an important thing.

Monday was Colby’s first day home alone. He conducted the second part of his parenting course that day: Lesson 2 – Children will mess up your house. He had been doing really well with not bothering his stitches, and he was back to his normal energy. Don and I were stuck trying to keep him calm when he clearly is feeling ready to run a marathon. His incision had opened a little, but when I called the vet, they said it wasn’t a problem because there were internal stitches too. So, of course, I got home Monday to find bloodstains all over the basement carpet. Who knows if he licked it all day or if the fact that he is dumb enough to lay on that leg and crawl/drag it along behind him if he wants to move a few inches, but it was a mess. So Don drove all the way to Frederick to Petsmart to get a lampshade collar while I cleaned the carpet. We called the vet at 7, and they said they’d staple it closed aain if we got there by 8. We live an hour away, and he wasn’t actively bleeding, so we decided not to bother with it. At 11, Don has Colby stand to go outside one last time, and his leg started gushing blood like he’s been stabbed. Lesson 3 – Be sure to know the location of the nearest emergency room. So we piled into the truck and headed to the emergency vet. $125. later, Colby was drunk and stapled, equipped with a new bottle of pain pills, and I was dead tired, and Don was too. Colby slept like a rock thanks to the drugs.

Tuesday night, Colby woke me up three times. Seems the lampshade collar he wears at night and when we aren’t home makes it hard for him to sleep and/or roll over. Parenthood Lesson 4: If the kid can’t sleep, neither can mom.

Wednesday, Colby bled all over the carpet again, though there was no gaping wound. Don had to rent a steam cleaner and spent the entire evening cleaning the basement. Lesson 5: Children are expensive. I stayed upstairs and had a ton of Braxton Hicks. I think the long week’s stress was coming through.

So, here it is Thursday again and I am still worried about being ready to be finished working in ONE WEEK but I am soooooo ready for it to be the weekend. Next week has to be better / shorter, right?

Here’s the 27 week belly picture:

Another week, another bigger belly picture!

I had a doctor appointment today and everything looks great. I have officially gained 24 pounds and I measure 34 weeks, which the dr. said was fine for twins. She laughed when I said I look like I swallowed a beach ball – most people say basketball. Mine long ago ceased looking like a basketball, though! I scheduled appointments for things like my glucose test (for diabetes) and bloodwork and I go to get checked every two weeks now instead of once a month. The sonograms will keep happening monthly. She also said if they don’t come before then, they would schedule me at 38 weeks, which is around June 14. I cannot imagine still being pregnant then – I will explode! Whether I have a c-section or not depends on if they decide to behave and turn upside down by then.

These little ones are either renovating or throwing a hell of a party inside me. They move around ALL the time, and leave me with strange lumps that make me wonder what body part they are sticking out. She likes to hang from my ribs on the right side, too. It’s the neatest thing, even when it is uncomfortable. Don regularly can see it from across the room.

Here’s the 25 week photo:

She’s still moving right along. The babies are now so active that I was able to see them moving from across the couch the other night. I’m still waiting for a hand to push out and give me five.

We’ve both been pretty busy with stuff lately.  Jen’s only got a few weeks of school left before she stops working.  I’ve been trying to get all our financials together so that we can get our taxes squared away.

Still no word on getting our computer back yet. The company that I sent it back to for warranty repair doesn’t seem too big on actually knowing what’s going on or how long things will take.

I’ve now officially had 3 different plumbers out to the house to get estimates on some work in our basement bathroom and have yet to get one to do the work.  The last guy came out this past Saturday and assured me he would send me the estimate later that night.  Here we are at Friday, about a week later, and I’ve yet to get anything from him.  I guess being a plumber means that you have so much business that you can ignore new potential customers. (Sorry for the complaints, I just had to vent for a minute).

It seems that our dog Colby (5 year old male yellow lab) may need to get surgery on a torn ACL.  We’re taking him in next Friday for the official “knock him out, give him x-rays, and go from there” appointment.  If they find what they and we think they’ll find, he’ll be getting a procedure to repair his ACL.  The procedure itself isn’t that difficult, the recovery is what we’re dreading.  Jen’s concerned that he’s going to be like a little boy with a broken leg when spring and summer are approaching, watching all the other kids run and play from the window inside the house.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see how things turn out.

All is well again this week. We got to see the babies again yesterday thanks to our monthly sonogram appointment. They were moving around a ton and being very active. We still haven’t been able to get a good side profile picture of Baby B (the girl). I’ll try to scan the many sonogram pictures that we got this week. While I’m glad that they’re growing so much and getting big, the sonogram appointments are a lot different because we can’t see shots showing the entire baby on one screen or the two of them together like we used to see before. It’s still the coolest thing I’ve ever seen anyway and I’m happy that they’re doing great! I can’t believe they’re over a pound and a half each at this point.

Here is this week’s belly picture. Again, I think it’s gotten much bigger just since last week’s picture. If it keeps up at this pace who knows what we’re going to see when we hit the 30′s.

Wow, time flies when you’re pregnant and have lots to get done. I’ve only got about 5 more weeks of work left, and I am feeling the stress of trying to keep up my responsibilities and get ready to be out for the rest of the year. I’m actually sad to be leaving – I absolutely love my students this year and it’s hard to just turn them over to someone else for the rest of the year. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an easy decision and keeping these little ones inside and healthy is the number one prioroty, but it’s weird to think of not finishing out the school year. And it’s hard to know that I need to get all the work stuff done when what I really want to do is go through the baby clothes we have so far and sort them and wash them and just sit in the nursery and daydream!

I’m 23 weeks now and these babies grow every day. My belly is huge and gets in the way of little things like putting on socks and shoes, and trying to get comfortable in bed is a joke. I like the look of the belly, but I think my body is protesting carrying around 20 extra pounds with aches and occasional insomnia. Luckily, most people tell me I am all belly, which is good, except that the people who make maternity clothes apparently think your butt and thighs also house the babies. So my belly has outgrown some of my clothes, but nowhere else has, which makes me look kinda funny in many pants and shirts. I’ve heard the time will come when I’ll wish I had anything at all that fit, though, so I’m not complaining!

The babies’ kicks and punches and flops are easily felt from the outside now. I know we can’t be too far away from actually seeing them through the skin. (A few minutes after typing that sentence, I actually DID see some outside thumps! Another milestone!) Sometimes it feels like they are wrestling eachother in there, and they definitely like to wiggle when mommy is most tired. I’ve already told them to “settle down, it’s bedtime” a few times, and the poor kids aren’t even born yet!

All of this is so exciting and such an amazing time. No matter how uncomfortable I am at times, I can always look down and rub my belly and smile at the miracle of our twins and what’s to come.

Sorry we missed last week’s picture post and were late on this week’s (for those of you that do follow). Here they are…

22 weeks:

23 weeks:

You can see some of the other belly shots that we take by visiting the belly album directly.

Yes we’re still here!  Sorry it’s been almost 2 weeks since the last post.  We’re still without our main computer at home so it hasn’t been as easy to get pictures and posts up.  We have been taking pictures though and will probably put them up this weekend.

Jen’s still doing well and getting bigger.  She’s starting to get to the point now where she’s getting pretty uncomfortable during the day.  Her doctor said he’d suggest that she not work after the 28 week mark.  I have a feeling that between now (23) and then she’s going to definitely be ready to take it easy.

Last night we hit Babies R Us after work to get the mattresses for the cribs.  It’s definitely easier getting crib mattresses than it is normal ones (which we did a few months ago).  Hopefully the stiff mattresses we got will help our babies have strong backs and sleep all through the night right from the start (yeah right).

I’m in “get all my home projects done” mode now and have given myself a busy schedule with stuff around the house.  I’m hoping to have everything done by the time the little ones arrive so that I’m not trying to juggle even more at once.  Unfortunately I’m finding that trying to get professional service people to come out to the house is almost impossible.  I’ve had two plumbers come out to the house in the past month to give quotes and can’t get either of them to send me any of the official estimates or to call me back.  What gives?

I’ll try to get Jen to throw up a post this weekend with the recent belly pictures.  Check back soon!