WARNING! Belly shot below....

So I've never been into the belly shots, but I figured I better document this one. I should have taken it a week or so ago before it all dropped lower - then it was really straight out. And frankly, a bit cuter. Not just gross! But I figure this will all give you something to be thankful for.... that you're not me. :) And in a few weeks when I'm sleep deprived and delirious I can look back and have something to be thankful for too.

In other preparations - everyone has asked me if Cash has a clue what's coming. Pretty much no. Everytime we try the baby in mommy's tummy thing it's met by blank stares. In fact, the first time he's even acknowledged my stomach was a week or two ago when he discoverd it made a great mountain to drive his hot wheels cars over. We've tried to "practice" a bit with two baby dolls we have. The first time we showed him the "babies" in the crib we'd put up, he reached through the slats and kept ramming them into the sides of the crib as he yanked on their legs trying to pull them out through the slats. Oh boy. But he seems to be getting better:

I thought we were making some progress last week when he came to the ultrasound with us and saw them doing something to my stomach and we showed him the babies on the screen (since the 3D actually is somewhat distinguishable). But then yesterday I was laying down and he was sitting next to me. He finally scrutinized the contour of my stomach, rolled his hand over the mound, thought about it, and then said, "Turtle!" Hmmm......

I guess this picture today answered the question of if I've had these babies yet. NO. And in fact, I'm currently mad at them because they are late for their birthday! Ok, not for their due date, but I really wanted them today: 2-22 - such a good day for two! I tried to talk them into inducing me today but no go. Yeah, leave it to my body to be the exception to the "twins always come early" rule that I've been hearing for 9 months. So alas, here I sit, consoling myself with a bowl of chocolate peanut butter ice cream. Although I shouldn't because I still hope to get these babies out before I get up to the 50lb mark!

Cooped up

We realized yesterday just how cooped up Cash has been this winter! Our playgroup went to open gym time for toddlers at a local gymnastics place and Cash had such a good time. There were all these fun activities, as you can see, but really his favorite was just to run and run and run. We were laughing just realizing he must just feel so cooped up! If any of you have any of these in your area, they're so fun, you should definitely go. It may be our new favorite winter activity.

Best guess

So last week I asked Brooke if she was surprised at what her boys looked like when they came out, because I had been with Cash. She said that they weren't really surprised because they'd had so many 3D ultrasounds that they were sort of like, "Yeah, we've seen those faces before." So we had one last week, and I put it next to some of Cash's baby pictures from when he was first born (pictured below), and - what do you think? My best guess says yep- they'll look like Cash. (And thus, just like Ryan, surprise, surprise!) That would be just fine though because we think Cash is stinking cute. But then I sort of wonder if I put this next to some other baby's pictures if it would look like them too since it's mostly just mouth and nose. Possibly. Sorry, I really try not to just blog baby and pregnancy stuff all the time, but there's not much else on my mind this week. Besides my discomfort. And I'll spare you that this time.

The big reveal

Ok, ok. So I don't know how I feel that so many of you guessed RIGHT!! Usually people look at the picture, point to about 6 different people while I answer "no" and then they finally give it a "Nooooooo....that's not you, is it????" So yes, for all of you who guessed that little beauty in the hot pink jumper in the back row - you are CORRECT! Although I shouldn't say little. Or beauty for that matter! Seriously, I had a rough few years as a kid!




So here's the wondrous progression starting with first grade. Still top row in the middle. Not too bad yet.





















But woah baby! By third grade I was sure a looker! (still top row, middle)




















Luckily in 4th grade I was in a split 4th/5th class so there were actually a few people taller than me. I'm the third from the right on the back row - with the lovely side pony tail and panda sweater-vest.




Now 5th grade was a little bit of a tricky one. I guess the guy was tired of me usually being the steeple, so he tried to camouflage me in the second row. AWESOME idea. Totally looks WAY better having me in the middle of the short people. Don't look out of place at all. (HA!)


Even sadder is look at all those tiny cute petite girls in the front row - those are all my good friends!





Then in 6th grade (sorry it's so crooked), it was back to being the steeple. And so funny that my mom every year would tell me to wear hot pink or something in the class photo so I would stand out. As if I needed any help!!! I was already a foot taller and twice as wide as everyone else in the class! And that was being moved up a grade in kindergarten. Can you imagine if I had stayed behind???


Anyway, I'm glad that it's actually just really funny to me now. For a while I was so embarrassed that that used to be me. I had a friend bring his elementary school pictures to high school one time, and everyone died when they saw me. People would crowd around trying to look at it and just die laughing that it was me! I was a little traumatized by that for a few weeks, but then luckily I got over it and realized how dang funny it was because I didn't look like that by the time I went to high school. I think I started to stretch out a little, and then also went to Diet Center with my mom when I was in about 7th grade - then it was all smooth sailing after that.

To make myself feel a little better, at least I wasn't the only one! While Ryan usually looked like this skeletor photo for most of his years, I did manage to come across a few awkward moments of his own!










I always think about girls growing up now though - they will NEVER have such horrid and embarrassing pictures as those of us who grew up in the 80s. They will never have pictures of them with plastered bangs, half curled up, half curled down, wearing neon colors and all the other nasty fashions of the 80s!

Anyhow, good times, good times. Hope I gave you a good reason to chuckle today!

Brooke's boys

Austin: 7lb 3.5 oz













Isaac 5lb 11oz


















This is classic. I'm pretty sure this is a fair representation of the next few months of my life!

Reality sinks in

Wow! Brooke, my best friend who is also having twin boys and is due a week before me, just had her babies last night! She was 36.5 weeks along. They'd been a little concerned about twin-to-twin transfusion for a while, which is why she was put on modified bed rest, but she went in for an appointment yesterday and there was a big enough difference in their fluid levels that they wanted to induce her that day. Yikes! My first reaction was to clean my house. Funny, but seriously, you never know - she went in for a doctor's appointment and will come home with two babies! So yeah, seeing as she was due exactly a week before me, it's definitely becoming more real now.

It was funny talking to her though. She called me two hours after and I guess the thing that struck me was that she just sounded so good. I guess she's the only person I actually know well that had a c-section (the second baby was breech). It seems you don't have quite the war stories that you do with vaginal births (for planned c-sections at least). Not that it's any picnic to recover from, but you walk in, they cut you open, and minutes later you have a baby. Or babies. I guess I'm so used to women sharing their stories of 24 hours in labor, epidurals not working or not getting them in time, pushing for hours, having to use forceps, tearing from here to there... you know. My husband thinks it's so funny how women always must talk about it, but seriously, it's almost like pinching yourself to make sure that's really what your body went through. I totally understand those war veterans now. So anyway, it was just funny how good she sounded, and I sure bet it makes those immediate post-delivery pictures look a heck of a lot better. I sure looked like a drowned rat by the time I had mine. Actually I looked like a really stoned drowned rat. But of course I mentioned that even though she sounded so good, she may wake up tomorrow feeling like she was hit by a bus.

Anyway, I'm starting to realize this whole going into labor on your own thing may be over-rated. With Cash that was all I wanted - to go into labor on my own. And I tried everything possible to make that happen (except castor oil - knowing me, I'd just be a pooping mess and still have no baby). But it was to no avail, and I got induced. This time it's like I'm going into a slow and agonizing labor. For a few weeks I was having 15-30 contractions a day. Now it's up to about 30-60 contractions a day. And just recently I've started just feeling super crampy all the time. (It's all fine - I'm in the doctor's office twice a week). So now I'm starting to think, hmm, that getting induced thing wasn't such a bad gig. You walk in the hospital still feeling ok, you know you're within arms reach of medications as soon as things get going, they crank out the pitocin and the drugs and wham - your body does it's thing in a matter of hours. And I really do mean wham, because man that pitocin is rough. Anyway, I was mad it turned out like that last time, but heck, it sounds way better than these weeks of feeling like I'm slowly going into labor. And even though I really don't want a c-section (and both babies are head down anyway), even that's starting to sound better than this drawn out agony. Although my uterus has been practicing so hard, I guess I'd better give it it's chance to shine.

Well, Brooke, congratulations! You're a champ. You made it to 36 weeks - that was our goal. And I'm sure glad that if one of us had to go through this, God let us at least do it together.

Now send me a dang picture so I can see those babies!

Fun little game

I'm in desperate need of a little pick-me-up today, so we're going to play a fun little game: pick me out of my second grade picture. If you know already (like you were in my class or you know from me telling you about it), then don't guess, or at least don't give it away. I'll put an answer up next week sometime to give everyone a chance at guessing. I'd offer a prize, but I think if you guess it right, you'll feel rewarded enough. :) Happy guessing!

Train exhibit

I've reached the breaking point of this staying in the house all the time, after Cash being sick and my midwife telling me not to do much. So I was very happy that Ryan didn't have to go into work until noon on Monday and could come with us to the Domes - a horticultural observatory place where they have this great train exhibit set up. Cash loved it and I was amazed at how fascinated he was just watching. He could have stayed for hours. He just sat there in awe pointing every time a train came by.

We also got some cute pictures with his best little friend, Harrison. I know kids don't typically really "play" together much at this age, or really care who they're playing with, but these two do. It's too cute. We have to code-name Harrison "H" around our house because as soon as Cash hears his name, he starts running for the door.

Brilliant

Brilliant find, Chy Ayn, brilliant. (She read my post about Ryan's mutated cold.)

New products

So I saw a couple new products on the Today Show this morning that I thought looked like they might be worth trying. I've mentioned before my love for dry shampoos for those who feel they can't go without washing their hair. Well, this one seems a little less weird (the dry shampoos are seriously like spraying deodorant on your head), although it's more expensive (and the others still work great). It's the same idea though, you spray it at your roots and sort of work it around to combat the grease. They said that the other products can sometimes build up on your hair but this one can be used a few times a day if you want.

Then they mentioned this Fiberwig mascara. I really want to try it. They say it's the number one mascara in Japan, and is just coming to the U.S. but it's supposed to have these fibers that cling to your lashes and extend them, and then you can keep adding coats and extending even a little more. I've always wanted celebrity lashes, I'll admit. I even bought fake ones a while ago thinking it would be fun to bust them out once in a while. Yeah, I was apparently not quite dextrous enough - it looked like you would imagine if a 4 year-old was trying to put them on or something. So yeah, they definitely never made it out in public.

Has anyone tried or heard anything about either of these?

By the way, you guys are way too nice, I didn't put that picture of me on here looking for compliments! I didn't even think it was a good picture - I just thought it was more funny than anything. I was just expecting you to all chime in with your pregnancy woes!