Holiday Update . . .

Eric & I and the belly had a wonderful Christmas in Austin, TX visiting my family.  Eric golfed a ton and I treated myself to my first pre-natal massage.  HEAVEN!  We received some wonderful gifts and the babies made out better than anyone else!  Eric got me (us) the diaper bag I had been wanting, my Gran got us some twin baby dolls to practice with, and my sister got me an adorable maternity t-shirt and gave Eric one that says "DADDY to be X2".  I will post pictures of these soon.  You will all be pretty shocked to see the jump from 15 weeks to 17 weeks - - I have POPPED!!  Unfortunately one night in Austin I got a bad bug / food poisoning or something.  I was so ill which started to make me nervous being pregnant.  After calling my ob/gyn they called in a Rx for Zofran for me, which is safe in pregnancy.  Needless to say - - an awful two days.  There were some awesome sales over the holidays and I was dying to buy some baby stuff.  But since we still don't know the sexes, it was tough.  I did find this adorable NURSERY RHYME onesie set from Janie & Jack.  There are 7 onesies with different nursery rhyme characters on them, so cute.   Anyways, January 9th is the next appointment and its a long one.  This will be a 3D anatomy scan at DUKE that will take over an hour.  We are confident we will know the sexes then.  Stay tuned . . . 

15 weeks -

The babies are as long as four and a half inches right now. Need a better visual? A large navel orange — that's how big my little darlins are at 15 weeks. So what keeps the babies busy all day? Mostly, they are in rehearsals — practice, practice, practicing, and getting ready for that big debut. Babies practice breathing, sucking, and swallowing so that when they leave my comfy womb and move into my comfy house, they'll have the skills necessary to survive. Fetal body movements continue to get practice this week, too. But because the babies weighs so little (a bit over two ounces), I won't feel the calisthenics going on inside my abdominal gym yet. The fetuses are holding daily aerobics classes — kicking, curling toes, and moving those little arms and legs. And with each passing week, the fetuses are looking more and more like little babies! By now, the ears are positioned properly on the sides of the head (they used to be in the neck) and the eyes are moving from the side of the head to the front of the face.

Thank you Aunt Leah & Uncle Andy

for my BABY LEGS! The are like little leg warmers that can also be used on the babies arms. They picked out two gender neutral patterns, which is perfect, since we don't know the sexes yet. These will be a great addition to any onesie when in need of a little extra jazz!

Cream & Crimson

Thank you Zach & Leslie! Aren't these Indiana University onesies adorable?! I cannot stand that they have the IU logo on the booty - - not to mention the little shoes!! Agghh!! Eric & I secretly wish they were our size! Now, next year when IU get's into a bowl game our family of four will be all set!

We have a SECRET SANTA . . .

A few weeks ago Eric & I had some family over to decorate our Christmas Tree. I kept saying that I wanted a "pregnancy" / "expecting" ornament of some sort. Well, we received two seperate packages in the mail this past week that contained Christmas ornaments. The first one was for Eric, it was the adorable round ornament with two babies on it that say "Are we there yet". The other is a girl with blonde hair and a big pregnant belly. Her shirt says "BABY" with an arrow pointing down and on the yellow bag is my name and the year 2008. They are awesome - - I am so excited to have them on our tree. We couldn't figure out who they were from since there was no note for either. After texting the world trying to uncover the mystery - - I finally told my mom the story and guess what - - they were from her! Its not like a crazy gift from my mom or anything, I just didn't know that she knew I wanted them.

So, thanks GRAND Ma-Ma!

ULTRASOUND PICS!!!

Here is Baby A on the top left upside down on its tummy. The spine is visible and you can see his/her face laying face down. On the top right is Baby B - - a nice clear picture just chillin out. You can see its eyes, nose, and mouth. That little white dot above the belly is his/her hand in motion. The bottom right is Baby B's two little legs and feet.

Today was FASCINATING!! We headed to DUKE for a series of tests and with their equipment being so advanced the images were amazing. They looked at every part of both babies. We saw their arms, legs, head, chest, spine, umbilical cord, feet - - you name it we saw it. Even the features on their face were so defined, which is just crazy at 12.5 weeks. Baby A had a heartbeat of 152, while Baby B's heartbeat was at 148. They are a little over 2 1/2 inches long - even though on screen they look like we could deliver tomorrow! Baby A moved around alot - - the technician said that was a busy baby. Baby B was in great position to see its facial features and body structure. Baby B was fascinated with its hands and kept bringing them to his/her face and even put them in his/her mouth. PRECIOUS!!! During the ultrasound if the technician pushed down with a little force the babies would jump and jolt. They looked like little astronaunts floating in space. I can't wait to feel those little jumps!!

12 Weeks - - END OF THE 1ST TRIMESTER!

Thanksgiving Day marked the 12 WEEK mark - - end of the first trimester. We cannot believe 3 months have gone by already! I am feeling SO much better than I have been. I am not nearly as tired as I have been and my nausea has subsided. Here's a shot of how round I am becoming. I will post more information on Monday after our ultrasound.

your indiana HOOOsiers

I got Eric these precious IU socks for his birthday. We would be proud to have our twins follow in our foot-steps by going to IU. We just hope their football and basketball teams are doing better in 18 years!!!

(ps - - I am not sure why some of my pics are going sideways. oh well . . )

TWICE BLESSED

Here is a GORGEOUS picture frame that Taylor, Kurt, Hudson & Lily sent us from Chicago. The bottom of it says TWICE BLESSED. I can't wait to put this frame in their nursery in the months to come. (ps...those are not the twins in the frame!!)

Below you'll see the photos of the wonderful presents we've received. The twins wardrobe is underway!!!!

Dr.'s Appt Today . . .

Today I am 11 weeks along and had a DRs appt this morning. We were meeting with the first of 10 physicians in this practice who could potentially deliver us. I have a good bill of health to report: my iron is not too low and my blood pressure is not too high, and I received my flu shot. I learned that because my blood type is A - I will need a shot of Rhogam both now and again at 28 weeks. This is because it is likey that one or both of the babies will have a + blood type and this is to ensure that my body does not reject the babies. Sounds good to me. Then the fun part - the ultrasound!! We haven't seen them in a while, so it was very nice. They are getting big, we saw their arms & legs, and their strong heartbeats. They are right around 2 inches long - even though on the screen they look huge! Bad news to report - THEY WOULDN'T LET ME KEEP MY ULTRASOUND PHOTO! The nurse / Dr / whoever forgot to put my name on the monitor and accidentally left the name of the patient before me. To avoid any confusion, the DR didn't want to give me my photo. He told me not to worry because there would be plenty of photos in the future. WELL . . . .He needs to write down in that chart - - FIRST TIME MOMMY TO BE AND SHE WANTS ALL OF HER ULTRASOUND PHOTOS!!! I am still mad about this. So, I do not have any to scan, sorry folks. Being that we are having twins, I will be having more frequent ultrasounds. The next one is 2 weeks - - so stay tuned. I WILL HAVE PHOTOS THEN!

THANK YOU!

Eric & I have already received some adorable gifts and want to say thank you! Josh & Alli got us these great "mommy" & "daddy" bibs. Alli - this was our very first gift!! It was weird to hold them up and know that two little people would be wearing them. Also, Spike & Colleen gave us two precious yellow duck outfits and Aunt Trisha (from Arkansas) gave us two Razorback onesies. Our baby turtles will be the littlest fans! Amy & Mike gave me an adorable maternity shirt that I will without a doubt grow into. It says "GOT TWINS" across the top - - very cute. Pictures to come on all these great gifts!

8 weeks 5 days

A little pooch has taken form. All pants are unable to be buttoned and I am currently struggling with keeping the zipper up!!

Let the Belly Begin

The week we found out we were pregnant.....

Drum roll please . . .

HERE THEY ARE!! This is at 7 weeks - - you can see each little guy is in his/her own sac. One is slightly bigger than the other (very common) and will probably continue on that way.

11/13/08 - WELCOME!

With all of my family and friends being many miles away I decided this would be the best format to keep everyone informed of all that'll be going on for the next 7 months. I will post ultra-sounds, pictures of my growing belly (Eric's too if he starts to feel left out), the progression of nursery and more. I think this will help to eliminate all the emails from me - - - instead, check in at your leisure. I have seen some other baby blogs and they were all wonderful and full of great detail. I am going to keep ours nice and simple --- just a nice way to stay in touch and take you along this journey with us. Enjoy!!