Day 363: Another baby shower

Tonight was Brenda's baby shower. It was a fun change-up of a regular Friday Night Group get together, and nice that the guys took charge of the kiddos, for the most part. Brenda's due in September, so we'll have 3 little ones joining the FNG soon. I had quite a few contractions during the shower and actually ended up going to the hospital in the middle of the night, right before our moving day.

Day 350: Baby shower for X and Y

My sister-in-law Naomi put on a fabulous shower for me today. It was very fun, and I now have at least a small stockpile of diapers and some cute things for the twins when they're born. It was also a good turn out for being a little last-minute. A lot of relatives were out of town, but quite a few FNG gals came, along with my mom and grandma and a couple of others. Thank you ladies!

Day 347: Children's hospital construction

I had another OB appointment today. Both X and Y are doing great, 3 lbs 1 oz and 3 lbs 3 oz, approximately, so just above the 50% percentile for their gestational age. Today I toured the Children's Hospital NICU and was walking slow enough that it made sense for the tour guide to wheel me around in a wheelchair. That was so nice! I haven't had mobility that fast in a long time. Also, it was encouraging to see viable babies in the NICU that were younger and smaller than X and Y.

The above photo is the new addition they're building for the Children's Hospital. I still haven't felt the need to park in the ramp, but with construction and decreased mobility, I may be doing that soon.

Day 323: Tossing sleep

It's a habit of mine to check in on Zaria before I go to sleep, and I'm usually amused at how much she moves around in her sleep. She takes after me in this, although I probably don't move as much in my sleep right now since it usually wakes up the twins. I've actually gotten more used to their movements and can get back to sleep with them moving, as long as they're not pushing painfully. Now as I watch Zaria sleep, I've been imagining little X and Y sleeping alongside each other in the crib as tiny little peanuts. Zaria's gotten so much bigger, but I'm still glad she's in a crib with all her nightly locomotion-- I think she'd fall out of a bed pretty quickly.

Day 276: Family ultrasound

Jamin, Mom and Zaria all came with for the big Level II ultrasound I had today. It was a long one-- definitely over an hour, but it looks like we have two healthy little boys on the way! Yup, it turns out X and Y both have both of their nick-namesake chromosomes. I still am not sure if we'll name each with a name that has an X or a Y in it, but we'll give it a shot. I've had trouble finding names with X that I like, but I'm open for suggestions. Anyhow, they're both about 9 inches long today and I'm feeling them move a whole lot more often. I also can tell which one is moving after all that time today determining where each sac is located and where their placentas are attached. X is in my lower left quadrant and Y is somewhat in the middle upper abdomen, and will be poking into my ribs more than his brother. I am a little scared about two little Jamins running around, but I'm trying to get used to the idea.

Day 260: Little talkin mama

She loves babies and loves phones -- I guess she's a born multi-tasker. Her typical conversation on the phone:
"Hello. Ahhhhhhh. (Insert other random noises) Bye."
If she's talking to Grandma Joy on the phone, she'll ask about Boo Boo (the nickname for their dog).
We met with our real estate agent this evening, took another look at one of the houses we saw last Friday, and have officially put out an offer! It is bank-owned and already had one offer, so now I'm hoping that we'll hear back sooner than later whether or not they'll accept our offer so we can keep looking if we need to. We walked around the neighborhood over the weekend and really liked what we saw. I could imagine pulling the wagon train around by this place. (=
Happy birthday to Dawn today!

Day 189: Doubly big news

Yes, this image is rather obscure, but I went in for an ultrasound this morning to find out that . . . I'm carrying twins!! This is very exciting and overwhelming. If you can figure out how to read these ultrasound pictures, there are two separate sacs, which means they won't be identical. That also means we could be having a girl and a boy, but we won't know about that for some time.

Day 129: Alphabet

This alphabet floor puzzle/pad was a birthday gift to Zaria that I put together recently. It said ages 3+ which I somewhat discounted since just about EVERYthing says that so that the manufacturers can save their hides in any lawsuit. Just to be on the safe side, I did take out the nasty smaller pieces that were inside letters like the P, B, and R. And Zaria has been chewing on the pieces, so I guess it was needed. The pad is also nice because Zaria can walk on it with socks without slipping, like she does on the wood floor.

Day 124: Christmas for ACTS group

It's January 5th, and we just had our small group Christmas party. I grabbed a couple of nice action shots. The one above has a couple of individuals that weren't around last Christmas party, and one that missed this Christmas, but is due soon. Standing are Angela and Barry (the expecting parents), grabbing a present is Scott, with Gia-Hue holding their little Claire, then we have Pat holding our youngest groupie present, Violet, little Grace enjoying some food, Emily, and just a bit of our hostess with the mostest, Mandy.

Below is Asher, who is just a week older than Zaria and very cute in his pajamas, his mom Chloe, and Janet and Rick. Last year I didn't make it to the small group Christmas party because I had just given birth to Zaria and was still recovering in the hospital. I had visits from a few of these folks, though, some on their way to the party.

Day 79: Violet and Grace

I had the pleasure of meeting little baby Violet today, held by her proud mother, Emily. She is just over 2 weeks old today, and wearing her namesake color. (= Pat came home just as I was leaving, so I got a photo of him and their older daughter Grace as I went out the door.

Day 75: Friday Night Group

Friday Night Group was down in the southern suburbs tonight, at Brian & Jill's place. There were a few kids that ran around, and we enjoyed some apple crisp that I'd brought along with some cider that Jill warmed up for everyone. Zaria is officially 11 months old today.

Day 50: Making dessert with Zaria

I imagine Zaria will actually be able to help soon, in a few months or so. Today as I was making a Jello Cheesecake as a going-away treat for Jamin's brother Bill, Zaria was helping by being cute and getting under my feet. She also sang to me, so that helped. She's been teething this week, so it's been difficult. She clung to me when I got over to Jamin's folks' place and wouldn't have anything to do with Bill. I was surprised, she usually does much better with strangers and she's seen those family members fairly recently. It was probably a combination of being tired, hungry, teething and being woken up from just barely getting to sleep in the car after running around to do errands with me.

Day 46: Small group babies

This Thursday at small group there were two adorable babies joining us to listen in to a discussion about God's attribute of omnipotence, chapter 11 in Tozer's "The Knowledge of the Holy." Below is Claire, held by Sara. Claire's mom and dad are in the bottom left corner. Actually, only mom's socked foot is there. And this is Sydney, a very special 9 1/2 month old puppy, just a little older than baby Claire. She was named after a certain character on Alias (her owners were a bit addicted to the show). Jamin and I were also addicted to the show, but alas, it is now completed.