Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Nursery Pictures

Here are a few nursery pictures for those interested...


From the door looking in...That is Caroline's Crib


Elaina's Crib...

Looking out from the closet...

Dresser/Changing Table...

Window/Rocking Chair...

Looking into one of the beds (they are both the same)...

Overall, this nursery is simpler and cheaper than Rosalyn's was (but I think it is just as adorable!).

Bragging on my Momma, AKA Nana...

My mom has recently rediscovered her love of sewing and thankfully has channeled her talent into making beautiful things for my baby girls to wear! Here are few things she has made for them lately...

Cute Bibs for the Babies...


Rosalyn's Easter Dress...


Matching Summer Dress Sets for All Three...







I am so very grateful for her ability to make such gorgeous outfits for Rosalyn, Caroline, and Elaina...I can't wait to dress them up this summer! It would be impossible in a store to find such perfectly coordinated and adorable outfits as these! It also makes me proud to say "Nana made it!" when someone asks about an outfit!


She also made the curtains, pillows, and dust ruffles for the babies' room...stay tuned for nursery pictures!

Thanks, Nana! We love you :)

Monday, April 5, 2010

35 Weeks (tomorrow),,,big baby girls!

Just wanted to give a little update...I will be 35 weeks tomorrow! I had an ultrasound/OB appointment today and everything looks wonderful. The babies are BIG and healthy! Here are the their "stats" with pictures below...


This is Caroline, "Baby A." According to ultrasound today, she weighs 6 lb 6 oz (81%). She is breech on my right. Her HR was in the 140s. She has lots of hair floating around! My mom thinks she looks like me :)

This is Elaina, "Baby B." According to ultrasound today, she weighs 6 lb 2 oz (74%). She is still oblique on my left...not quite vertex/not quite transverse. Her HR was in the 140s. She also appeared to have quite a bit of hair on her sweet little head. She is very cramped...you can see her left leg/foot plastered across her face and forehead in the photo below...you can see all five toes!

As for me, I am doing fine. My BP is good and I have gained 36 lb. No problems so far other than general misery, lol! Still scheduled for c-section on April 27th! I am so very grateful to have made it this far with no complications!

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

A Day at The Park + My Huge Belly :)

I couldn't think of a creative title and I don't really feel like writing, but I wanted to post a few new pictures!

We took Rosalyn to the park yesterday...





And here is a picture of my huge belly! 34 Weeks :)


Tuesday, March 23, 2010

33 Week OB Appointment

I am 33 weeks today...yay! My OB appt went well. BP, Urine, Weight, etc is all good. I have gained 34 lb so far. My belly (fundal height) is measuring 43 weeks...yikes!! It is really big! I am having near constant BH contractions, but my cervix remains long, closed, and firm. I am quite miserable, but otherwise ok and showing no signs of preterm labor. I am very grateful for that. Babies' heartrates were both in the 140's. I will go back for another ultrasound/appt in 2 weeks and then I will start going weekly until the babies are born. My OB sais everything looks perfect right now and she thinks we will make it to 38 weeks :)

Just 5 more weeks to go! We have everything completely, totally ready for Caroline and Elaina...just need the babies now! Hospital bag is packed. I washed all their stuff and arranged it and I made Jason hang the few things left to hang on their wall last night. I even have all of Rosalyn's spring/summer clothes and shoes bought because I know I won't feel like doing it later.

I am officially done with work until August-September. Makes me kinda sad, but I was only working one day a week anyway and I know it is better for me to be resting right now. I stay constantly tired/out of breath and my feet are staying swollen now. It has become very difficult to do much of anything!

Counting down the days until April 27th!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Rodeo :)

Yesterday, Jason and I took Rosalyn to the Houston Rodeo! She had a blast and we had so much fun watching her play and get excited! Here is a run-down of her adventure: ride the bus from our car to the rodeo, visit with all kinds of animals at the petting zoo and inside animal exhibits, take picture with large stuffed cow, ride a pony, eat lunch and play outside, ride the carousel and helicopter ride, color a picture of cowboy boots, play outside in the garden area, eat ice cream, ride bus back to our car, sleep all the way home :)


I did not get a ton of pictures because I wasn't quite close enough...Jason was doing most of the stuff with her while I sat on a bench and watched :(


However, I did get a few less-than-perfect shots...



I love this black and white picture of her on the bus ride...
she wasn't too sure of riding that big bus at first! She looks so serious!

Looking out of the big window


Posing with the cow



The best picture I could get of her riding the pony. She rode it all by herself and was so proud!



Playing outside


Silly Face

My love! She is the sweetest thing in the world :)

Riding the helicoptor ride all by herself!

Enjoying her ice cream as we headed out...


She was asleep before we even got out of the parking lot!


Monday, March 8, 2010

31 Week Update...

First, some pictures of my sweet angel girl...








She has been a little under the weather for the past few days, but she is still such a sweetheart! I love her so much! She is basically totally (daytime) potty trained now, but we have had to use pull-ups yesterday and today due to her uncontrollable "stomach issues"...poor girl!


I will be 31 weeks pregnant with the twins tomorrow. Things are going great! The radiologist and my OB doctor both said "Keep doing whatever you're doing because it's working!" That made me happy to hear and it redeemed some of the misery I've felt over the past few weeks! I am going to the doctor every 2 weeks now. I will switch to weekly visits at 35 weeks and the babies are scheduled to be born at 38 weeks! I can't believe it is only 7 weeks away.


Here are the "stats" from today's visit:
Me: Good BP, Good urine, 30 lb total gained, Cervix long and hard, basically everything is great so far


Caroline (Baby A): 3 lb 12 oz (58%), HR 150s, Breech position on my right side


Elaina (Baby B): 3 lb 13 oz (59%), HR 150s, Oblique position on my left side--Oblique basically means in between sideways and head down


Placentas and Amniotic fluid were good for both babies. The radiologist said the babies looked absolutely perfect and in her words "These babies do not seem to realize that they are twins and not singletons...they are big for twins!" Both babies measured closer to 32 weeks rather than 31 weeks.


I am feeling ok, just incredibly tired. The acid reflux and hip pain are enough to drive me crazy some days, but I am so grateful for two big, healthy babies.


Here is a picture of each baby:


Baby A, my Sweet Caroline, is not in as good position for pictures as her sister. Therefore, we did not get any "3D" photos of her today. All we got was the traditional alien shot, but you can still see those chubby cheeks! The radiologist noted that she has hair :)



Here is precious Elaina, "Baby B." I think she looks like Rosalyn :)


Here are my 31 week photos...just when I think that my belly can't get any bigger, it does!


Saturday, February 27, 2010

Rosalyn :)

Since Rosalyn turns 2 1/2 today, I thought I would make a post of funny/cute things she has said and done lately...

--Recently, our cat (Roger) bit her for the first time ever. I was not surprised that he bit her when she informed me that she was trying to make him jump rope. She just could not understand why our old cat didn't want jump rope with her. Fortunately, the bite did not draw blood, though you would have thought she was mortally wounded the way she was crying. She later informed me that she needed a "wowwipop and stickas" (lollipop and stickers) to help her feel better.

--Yesterday, she randomly called my mom (normally Nana) "Mrs. Case" all day long! She would use this name in a very exaggerated way as in "Mrs. Case, Hello, Mrs. Case. I'm so glad to see you, Mrs. Case. Mrs. Case, you wanna eat supper with me, Mrs. Case?" All we can figure is that she heard one of the students at my mom's school call her Mrs. Case. She informed Jason today "Daddy, I went to Mrs. Case's house yesterday and played with my toys at her house."

--Last night, as I was tucking her in, she said "Momma, when I grow up to be a big girl, I just want to get a green helmet and skate soooo fast on TV....ok, Momma?" It was so cute! Obviously she has been paying attention to the olympics!

--She has become a bit of a hypochondriac at times. She always tells me "My rote hurts...I need some applejuice to make it feel betta." She will use the "rote" (throat) excuse all the time now...if she doesn't like something she will say "dat makes my 'rote' scwatchy, Momma." She also informed me recently that she had a "beva" (fever) and needed medicine. Even though she is perfectly healthy, she makes me put a little dap of Baby Vick's salve on her nose each and every night...she calls it her "booger medicine."

--She loves to play with her baby dolls and pretend to be the mommy. She takes them to the potty all the time....she will hold them over the potty and encourage them to tee-tee in the potty like a big girl!

--Recently, we were discussing the lunches that she and her friends bring to school (her Mother's Day Out program 2x/week). She told me (with an exaggerated, pitiful, disappointed sigh at the end) "Alli drinks co-co milk, Joe drinks juice box, Ros-a-wyn just drinks wata."

--She bursts into my room each and every morning at 7:30 am and says "Good morning, Momma, I SO gwad to see you!" and gives me hugs and kisses. Of course, I am still so sleepy, but who can be grouchy to that sweet greeting!?! I did tell her a couple days ago that I was still so tired and she said "Dat's ok, Momma, just come lay down on da couch...I'll just drink my milk and watch TV."

--Every morning, she insists on shaking my belly and saying "Wake up, baby sisters! Time to wake up! Good morning, baby sisters!" Poor Caroline and Elaina don't know what they are in for! I told her yesterday that the babies were so sleepy right now and they just wanted to rest in Mommy's tummy...she said "Come out, baby sisters, I let you go night-night in my bed and I will wead you a bedtime stowy!"

--She has gotten a little OCD about her pacis, even to the point of naming a couple of them. There is one that is fuschia colored that she has named "Pink." She refers to it by name as in "I need to go find 'Pink'." She refuses to suck a white paci or blue paci...we are not sure why, but she immediately throws them down and says they are yucky. She prefers only pink pacis, but will settle occasionally for green or orange. She will also bursts into tears if I even show her the little newborn pacis I've bought for C and E...she says "Those tiny baby pacis hurt my mouth, Momma."

--Her imagination has developed to the point that she gets worried about things "getting her" especially at bedtime. Every night, we go through a list of things that I have to repeat after her except saying "no" before the item. Each night, the creatures/objects are varied and some of them see pretty harmless! A typical night would be "No Cookie Monster, No owls, No turtles, No fishes, No octopuses, No frogs" Once I just repeat the "no" list back to her, she is perfectly satisfied and will go straight to sleep. Crazy girl!

--Recently, we got in the car and she said "I wanna wisten to some wap music, Momma." I found something with a livelier beat and she was dancing away back there in her carseat!

--She is constantly using big, new words like "dangerous" and "delicious." It is so much fun to hear her saying such big words and actually using them correctly!

--We were reading a book a few nights ago about a squirrel and I asked her what she thought squirrels eat. She looked at me like I was crazy and said "Momma, squills eat pine-corns." I am not sure if she was trying to say pinecones or acorns, but it cracked me up!

--A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to her age appropriately about breast-feeding since we are about to have two new nursing babies in our house. She later informed Jason and my mom "My baby sisters are just gonna eat my Momma's boob!" I about died. I wonder who else she has shared this fact with!

--One day last week, she was devastated when her crayons had to visit time-out because she drew a two-year-old's version of a green hopscotch grid on my kitchen floor (it wiped off, thankfully!). She wailed and said "I was just gonna play hopscotch, Momma. Here, want me to show you how to play it? It IS fun, Momma, I pwomise."

--She will often tell us "keep trying, don't give up" if she thinks we are about to stop doing something. She recently wanted me to make a bunny (of all things) out of her lego blocks and when I told her that I wasn't sure that was possible, she gave me those words of wisdom!

--When she makes a new picture at school or at home, she is SO proud and insists we put it on the "fwidgawata" right away. Every time she sees it, she says "I made dat, Momma!"

--Tonight, when she was getting ready to leave to spend the night with "Mrs. Case aka Nana" she told me "I just going to sleep at Nana's house, Momma, dat's all. I coming back tomorrow, ok? I wuv you, Momma, and I will miss you sooo much. It's ok, Momma, I'll be back lata, don't worry." She said this all with a tone indicating that she thought I was devastated at her departure!

--She loves to make me sing "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and insert everyone she can think of into the song. I have learned to shorten it by combining as many as I can...example: "He's got Nana-Pop-Jas-Laura-Al-Kelsey in His hands..." So far, she doesn't seem to mind this method.

--She is so grateful for the smallest little trinkets and gifts. If I give her a few M&M's she will say "Oh thank you, Momma, thank you, thank you" and kiss those little candies like I had given her a million bucks!

She is just the funniest, sweetest little girl and I am so grateful to call her mine. Her curiosity and eternal optimism keep me entertained & she fills my life with laughter and joy each and every day. I cannot imagine life without her sweet, sassy, sunny personality. She (along with her sisters) are my life's most precious gift!

On a side note....2 months from today (April 27th) we will be holding our new baby girls! I can't wait! So far, pregnancy is progressing normally with no problems other than general misery for me...a price I will gladly pay for two healthy babies! My next ultrasound and appointment is March 8th.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

27 Weeks...

I am 27 weeks pregnant with Caroline and Elaina! Only 11 weeks to go...77 days...I am counting them down! So far, everything is going great and we hope it stays that way. I had an ultrasound and OB appointment yesterday. Here is the info from that visit:


**Baby A (Caroline): 2 lb 6 oz (61%), Breech position (butt down), HR 160's, perfectly healthy :)
**Baby B (Elaina): 2 lb 2 oz (51%), Transverse position (sideways), HR 150's, perfectly healthy :)
**Me: 24 lb gained, urine/BP great, measuring 36 weeks fundal height, passed 3 hour glucose tolerance test, started iron pills a couple weeks ago for anemia and nexium for excessive indigestion, referred to physical therapy for excessive back/hip pain (I wonder why!), overall perfectly healthy :)

Our next appointment is in 2 weeks. Our next ultrasound is in 4 weeks.

Here are a few pictures...

About 27 weeks with Twins!

And just for comparison, about 27 weeks with Rosalyn...
Of course, I can't post without including pictures of my beautiful, sweet princess. She is still a little busybody chatterbox who keeps us on our toes all the time! She is such a joy and I love her more than ever! If you can't tell by the pictures, one of her favorite activities is dress-up!




Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Rosalyn, The Babies, and Life in General :)

I haven't posted in nearly a month, so this may be a long one! I am running low on energy most days and blogging is one of the things that sadly gets put on the back burner :( Anway, just thought I would post some new pictures/updates on us!


Ok, first a jumbled update on Rosalyn!


Rosalyn is 28 months now. She is full of life and energy and brings unimaginable laughter into our lives everyday. We love her so much! She is talking all the time...full conversations and 10+ word sentences. Her vocabulary is easily into the thousands. She is constantly asking me "What's dat, Mommy?" and loves to go, go, go! This morning when I woke her up, she said "Mommy, I wanna go to Wal-Mart!" She is a little procrastinator at times and will often tell us "I'll do dat 'gamorrow' (her pronunciation of the word 'tomorrow'), Momma." She is very active...anyone who knows her can attest to the fact that she never stops moving unless asleep! She can be quite bossy, but I guess she gets it honestly :) She is extremely social and seems to be a leader at this point in her young life. She can name/recognize many shapes and colors now. She can count and sing songs. She recognizes most capital letters and knows the sounds that many make. Her favorite games are "music show," "cooking," "check-up," and "babies." It is so much fun to see her imagination developing! Rosalyn has also definitely hit the "terrible twos!" She is usually sweet and able to be reasoned with, but sometimes she can really surprise us with the intensity of her tantrums! She weighs about 30 lb and is about 35 inches...wearing all 3T clothes now. We are working on potty training and she is doing ok with it so far. Her favorite drink is chocolate milk and her favorite foods are macaroni & cheese and grapes.


Here are some recent pictures of my sweet girl!!


Getting her first hair trim by Aunt Lisa


Being Silly on Christmas Eve

Holding a Sparker on New Year's Eve

My Little Angel and Me :)

Not wanting to participate in the photo-op


One of her favorite perches...standing on a chair at the kitchen counter to "help" me


Smiley Face

My favorite Little Paci Addict



Ok, now an update on the babies and me!


I am 23 weeks pregnant with the baby girls today. We have decided on names..."Baby A" is Caroline Grace and "Baby B" is Elaina Joy. It was very difficult to decide on their names! I had an OB appointment today and everything is perfect so far, thankfully. BP was 100/60 (great), I have gained 16 lb above pre-pregnancy weight (I am "allowed/encouraged" to gain 40-50 lb total), and urine testing was normal. I am measuring (fundul height; uterus size) 30 weeks now. The babies are about 1.25 lb each and about 12 inches head to toe each. Their heartrates were both in the 150's today at my appointment. They are moving so much now that we can see my belly jumping! I have my glucose test for gestational diabetes in 2 weeks. I will have another ultrasound and see my obstetrician again on Monday, February 8th. I was supposed to see her again on January 26th (same day as my glucose test), but she said that the babies and I are doing so great that there is no reason to keep that appointment. I will start every 1-2 week appointments after February 8th! Also, my c-section is officially scheduled!!! Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 at 1 pm! I will be 38 weeks exactly that day. Overall, I am feeling ok and blessed to be healthy, but still very tired most days...it feels like I am about 43 weeks pregnant instead of 23! I am at the point now where it is very difficult to get comfortable, sleep, eat, breathe, etc but I know it will all be worth it to have two big, healthy babies! I am only working 1 day/week now, so that helps a ton. Also, Jason and my parents are wonderful about being at my beck and call to help with Rosalyn, bring food, etc. which I am super grateful for.


Jason has been busy with work. I have the best husband in the world...he is working 60 hours/week so that I can stay home with Rosalyn and grow our babies. I love him so much and I am so thankful for everything he does for me and Rosalyn...we couldn't make it without him! In his spare time, he stays busy helping me prepare the nursery for the two new princesses (we are getting there!) and playing with Ros.
Here are two pictures from today of my belly :)

(Warning: one is a bare belly picture, in case that makes you squeamish!)



Thanks for reading this huge post! I will try to post more often!