The "twin" bumps

There you have it - Brooke, me and 4 little boys. 30 weeks and counting. We still argue over who is bigger. I grew a ton in the last month (no doubt thanks to the holidays and staying at my mom's house), but I am now officially bigger than I ever was with Cash. Love to see where this goes in the next two months....

The holiday season in photos

One of my favorite pictures. I love baby bed-head.


















Cash really hasn't been too pleased with the snow. I think it's the marshmallow feeling.




































Gingerbread houses and tree decorating.


















The Christmas eve party with Santa. Cash was pretty much a deer in the headlights.




















Christmas morning. It is against my better judgement that I put this enormous belly picture of myself on here. :)






























Cash obviously doesn't get Christmas. We had to fight him all morning to get him to go in to see his presents. He much preferred sitting on the stairs and racing down the hallway. Who knew it would take so little to make Christmas morning a success?

So then we sort of had to force him into it. The many faces of Christmas morning:







































My family (minus a few).






































Good times. We love coming home to Utah for Christmas. It will be hard to live in the real world where we don't get to come home for a good chunk of time around the holidays every year. And then it's always hard going back to reality!

Happy Anniversary!!

Today is our 4 year anniversary. We'll be celebrating starting off the day with a pair of massages, going to the temple later on, and then possibly finishing with a movie. It's pretty nice when your husband has the day off! (The ski medicine month has been as good as we thought it would. Actually better). Here we are though, 4 years, 2 moves and 1 and 2 half babies later! And still enjoying the ride. Love you Ryan!

Deals, deals, deals

My husband is an obsessor. He must have a current obsession to keep him occupied and constantly searching for something. His most common (and current) obsession revolves around getting deals. If anything is ever free - we must have it. Even if we have no use for it. Even if we would have no use for it in seven lifetimes, we still must have it - because it's free.

Take, for example, a few years ago when Ryan decided he should enter every online contest he could find just to get free stuff. Along came an autographed football from someone we'd never heard of. Then some seriously lame hat from an insurance company or something of that nature. The clencher for me was when we got the DVD Shiloh: a movie about a boy and his dog. I put my foot down. No more online contests.

Fast forward a few years and enter slickdeals.net.

Ryan found this website a few months ago, and my how his world has changed. He wakes up eager to go check the computer for the latest find. I hardly get a "Hello, lovely wife," when he gets home as he brushes by me to rush to the computer. The first thing out of his mouth every time he sees me is, "Do you think we should get a...??" His passions have been seriously awakened: he is full of elation as he finds fabulous bargains we can't live without; he feels more strain and stress as he agonizes for hours over whether or not we should get something else; he mourns we we find we were too late and missed the best deal of the century. It's really something else.

BUT. He now has fallen victim to what I call shopping mall syndrome. He has eternally made fun of me and all other women in the world for how we go shopping and buy so much stuff just because it was such a "great deal." He didn't see it happening until I pointed it out - he doesn't really need this stuff, it's just such a great deal that he can't pass it up. It's a hard thing to judge, really. Because this website really does have legitimately good deals. Like one day I came in and he asked if we needed some Calphalon pans that were on a really great deal. So Calphalon really is great, and they were good prices, but I hadn't recently been thinking, hmm, I wish I had more cookware. So what to do?

Well, I think our resolve is that we're pretty ok with getting the free stuff. We try to limit anything that we weren't already wanting or looking for. But if you need another website to regularly check out, you should try it. They've got deals on anything and everything. Toys, clothes, kitchenware, and definitely techy stuff - our most common purchase. Here's a few examples of the great deals Ryan has gotten over the last few months:

-Cordless phone with three handsets and answering machine - $20

-2gb SD card - $4 (memory card for our camera)

-1 gb SD card - free

-Web Camera for our computer - free

-Microphone/speaker for the computer - free

-Victoria's Secret set of scarf/mittens and hat along with 5 lip glosses for my birthday- free

-31-piece screwdriver set - free

- FM radio tuner (not sure if that's what you call it, but basically anything with a headphone jack, like a i-pod, you can plug into your car and it will play through the radio) - free

-Found the deal on our Garmin GPS on there

-Leap Frog ABCs video - $3

-Coupons for Juicy Juice - I'm not sure what it was but you ended up getting a whole bunch of Juicy Juice for free.

Not a bad list.


Then there were deals we missed that we wanted to get:

-Canon SD 1000 digital camera, 1 gb SD card, and case, with free printer after rebate for $132

-Thomas the Tank Aquadoodle set for $16

-Xbox 360 elite with 5 games for $300 (What? He put this on here. I can assure you I was not considering this.)

- Some great deals on clothes.

- A box of 500 condoms. Ok, seriously - I had great plans for this. Had some friends getting married - how funny would that be to open up amidst boxes of toasters and dish towels??? Or, how great would that be for our white elephant gift at the anual friends Christmas party?? I'm still bummed we didn't get it in time.

Anyhow, if you're a deal searcher like us, it's definitely worth checking out. Just don't say I didn't warn you about the potential consequences.

Dream

I had the funniest dream last night.

I was looking at my stomach, post-twin delivery.

In one hand I was gathering up the excess skin.

In the other hand I had a glue stick, which I was using to try to force the skin to go back where it came from.

I have a feeling that was a serious premonition of things to come....

Santa Baby.....

Hmm, what to wish for for Christmas this year? I'm totally in love with this sweater from Anthropologie.





Or I would love to have a nice new camera:












And I already got a Garmin GPS system for "my birthday":


(Ok, truth be told, Ryan made me open it the second it came in the mail - weeks before my birthday claiming that I couldn't live one more minute without it, and honestly, I don't think it was really me he had in mind when he got it! But we do love it.)

Problems with the above wishlish though - can't fit in the sweater. Need to research the camera more to see which one I really want, and I really want a nice one, which means we can't really afford it. (You people with nice cameras - which ones do you have?) And I think our main gifts this year to each other will be getting some 72 hour kits together. Gotta be prepared for moving to hurricaine central next summer. But at least I can think about what I would want if I was rich and skinny, can't I?

Oh boy

I made an unfortunate discovery today.

Cash can unscrew things.

He was playing with my mascara.

Thanksgiving report

So Thanksgiving was, of course, fantastic. It was so fun to catch up with old friends and watch our kids run around together. And so interesting to see the diferences in our kids. Like the fact that there are toddlers in the world who will sit unrestrained and eat for an entire hour at a time! Here's a little video (sorry for the quality, it was dim), funny for those of you who know our kids. Notice how Malcom is the last one left at the table - even the adults have long since finished!

Not to say that Malcom doesn't get into his fair share of predicaments - such as getting both thumbs stuck in a woofle ball. But notice the calm face! He was like this for a good 20 minutes until we had to cut the ball off after unsuccessful crisco-ed, buttered and oiled attempts at removing the thumbs!

But it was a great time. Sarah had all the perfect decorative and homey touches, even putting up a banner for my birthday and making me a birthday cake that was not only delicious, but a work of art, as you can see.

I just noticed that Sarah also blogged about it, so for more info, check it out!

Happy birthday to me!

Ok, serious brownie points for my husband. Since I'm going out of town, I got some early birthday presents. I have to share my pride in the fact that this is Ryan's best year yet. Usually it's Christmas eve or something and he looks at me and says, "We're not getting each other anything this year - are we??" Then he sits there and asks me exactly what I want. I try to tell him to be creative, but he doesn't really like that. So I was so surprised tonight when I opened my first present and what did I get?? Nothing other than my favorite guilty pleasure!!!

Yes - I got a year subscription to US Weekly, my favorite trash magazine. Seriously, spend a couple years in a hair salon and there's no way to resist getting sucked in by these! I used to be so happy when people would leave old copies at the gym that I could confiscate, since I thought Ryan would never let me buy them (and I wasn't sure I could ever justify it myself). But yea for letting me indulge! That's exactly my kind of present - something you would never get yourself, may never even think of getting, but would totally love it if you had it! He told my that way I can have something to do - and maybe it will even encourage me - to lie around trying to keep these babies in the womb as long as possible. How sweet!

He also got me a cute hat/gloves/scarf combo from Victoria's Secret. Wow - cool that my husband thought to shop for me there!

Anyway, nice work, husband. You've redeemed yourself nicely.

Happy Thanksgiving

Not much for this week, only to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving! Cash and I will be spending it with these lovely friends from med school in Cleveland:

We're super excited! And I'm realizing it's one of the last times I can travel unassisted for a very long time - even more reason to take advantage. And I have a turkey day birthday this year too! Anyway, sorry you have to work, Ryan. Hope you find some turkey somewhere.

Update on the boys

- Ryan: Actually busy this month. Gets up at 5:45 to catch the bus, gets home around 6:30-7. Complains that he comes home, goes to bed and does it again six days a week. Ugh. This is how the rest of you live???
Next month will be doing a ski medicine rotation in Utah. Hopefully more fun at least.


- Cash - What can I say? We adore this little boy. He's learning to be a real monkey though! Watch the video if you want. With the sound up you can hear his crazy language - usually a lot of "dig-a-dig-a-dig-a" sounds, among others.


- Twins - Ultrasound yesterday was relieving. After last time when I was telling someone we found out it was twins they said, "Are you sure??" That totally stopped me in my tracks. Yes, I was sure, wasn't I? There weren't three of us in that room seeing double, were there??? Anyhow, yes, there are still two, still boys, and still look to be identical. One is now head down so instead of 4 feet on my bladder, I've got one set of feet on my bladder and one in my ribcage. Don't know which is worse! Very happily, one of them measures at 1lb 4oz and the other is 1lb 6oz.

- As for the girl - Trying to be grateful that this is probably the good part of my pregnancy. Past all the sickness, and not too ridiculously uncomfortable yet. Thank you to the nice ultrasound tech who told me I still have a little belly for twins! That near 20 lbs doesn't make me think so, nor does the fact that I'm at the point I was at 8 months with Cash, but it was nice to hear anyway.

Never say never

Alright, so it was just a mere month or two ago when I confessed my lack of reading. Well, my friend Chy Ayn asked if I'd heard all the rage about "Twilight" - which I had, from multiple sources. So, I went to the library to see if they had a copy.



"Yes," the librarian said. "It's over here in the Young Adult section."

What? Young adult? Oh great - is this some teen angst novel??? Strike one.

"Here it is."

400 something pages? Come on guys, you know I'm a beginner.... Strike two.


Well, I brought it home and watched it move conspicuously around my house for a while seeing if it could tempt me to read it. I finally couldn't think of a strike three, so I picked it up. And put it down two days later when I was finished, of course. Although halfway through I was like - this book is about what??? But of course, it was too late.

I have now succesfully (even having to wait weeks inbetween for a copies to come in to the library) read all three books in the series, and even when I picked up the last one from the library I got back in the car and said to Ryan, "Oh goody - this one is over 600 pages!"

So there you have it. I am a changed woman. Ok, granted, it was a young adult novel, not the finest print (and probably with lots of pictures as Ryan would tease me - actually he still teases me about my obsession with the book - and it's subject, for those of you who know). So yes, it was a nice, easy read, intriguing romance - good starter books for me. We'll see if I keep up my reading. I have a few others in mind now.

(BUT -- if it HAD come out as a movie first, I'm sure I would have still skipped the novels all together. Oh well, can't change all at once now, can we?)

Shopping woes, triumphs, and other nonsense

I'm in love with this crib bedding. Or something like it. Of course it's one I can't find on sale or used anywhere. But everything we have, and I mean really everything, is used or borrowed or found on a street corner waiting for the dumpster. Is it so much to ask for one room in my house to actually look put-together? And if I really meant that, it would mean I would need two bedding sets to make the room look complete. Which would be nearly $600 in this case. Ugh. Oh well, I can imagine.

I do however have plans for this quilt that my mom made to match the wall hanging she made from fabrics I brought back from Africa: I want to use it in a toddler bed for Cash and then make the room all cool and African safari-ish with all the stuff I brought back from Africa - wooden carvings, drums, stools, etc. I think it would be a fun theme for a toddler. And finally get all that junk out of my mom's house. :)

In other wants, I really wanted to get a sling this time around with the baby - I don't know if there's any point now that there's two? But I know everyone seems to love and hate different kinds of slings, so it would be nice to also get those used so I could try some different ones without feeling it was a huge investment if I didn't like it. I'm currently liking this one from hotslings:

But it also looks like a it's new one that doesn't seem to be used or on sale. Anyone have other kinds they love?

But, not to just complain about wants, wants, wants, I got some fabulous deals this week shopping - lots of clearance stuff. I am now ready for Miami with 5 new pairs of summery capris - I seriously don't love summer clothes (which is why I hardly have any), but they were about $5.50 on clearance + 20% discount from Old Navy, so that was a big score - getting 5 pairs of pants for less than $30. Although it was somewhat humorous trying on capris thinking, "Ok, if this actually zipped up, it would look...." Plus I got clearance shirts for $6.97 at Gap Maternity last week. Nice.

Then today I scored a really cute dress from Banana Republic that everyone there couldn't help but comment on how cute it looked with my baby belly. And long story short, they gave me $40 off of it (making about $20 total since it was already on sale) using gift cards that I told them I really thought I'd already used online but wasn't sure, but the girl said, "Aw, who cares..." and gave me all the discounts she could anyway! Made my day! I actually think it even looked cuter on me than this girl in the picture, (I don't love it on her as much). But it's a relief for me to find some dresses since last time around being pregnant I faked it with my regular skirts unzipped and long shirts the whole time - definitely don't think that's going to cut it this time.

Partly I was reminded of this because as I've been doing my scrapbook lately, I found this cute picture of me with my friend Brooke on her wedding day (she's the other one pregnant with twin boys):

Ok - holy cow - I was seven months pregnant here! When I saw this picture I was like - dang! What a cute tiny little belly I have! Because mind you, I am already at the same point I was then, being just less than five months pregnant now. Weight-wise, that is, because I'm really certain my belly already looks bigger than that now. Sigh.

So anyway, there you have the ups and downs of my shopping week. Besides the fact that I've been busy stalking Craig's list every day. Got a baby swing, a bundle me cover for the car seat, and I think I'm going to get another crib tomorrow. All in one week. Now I'm still hunting for a second bundle me, slings, a double stroller, another car seat, another baby monitor, and who knows what else. This bargain shopping sure takes a lot of time.

How can I not love this face???

I love this picture - it seems to sum up the sweet little boy I have - usually. And it seems to always let him be forgiven when he's not (like the past week when he got three big teeth in and he's starting to learn to push the rules).

Tagged X 2

Having never been tagged before, I've been tagged twice in the past couple weeks! So here it goes.

First one - List 6 facts/habits about myself. (Sheesh, why does this feel so hard?)

1. FACT: Once upon a time I hiked to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa (not on my mission, another time).

2. HABIT: I love chocolate and probably eat it every day. For example, I can eat chocolate chips with anything. I always add them to granola cereal first thing in the morning, or to yogurt, or to spoonfulls of peanut butter, or I make up something like frozen raspberries with whip cream and chocolate chips. Although chocolate chips wouldn't be my first choice of chocolate of course (I love dark, and of course I love the more expensive good stuff), it's just usually the most convenient, and since I eat it every day, the good stuff never lasts that long, so I have to go with what's around!

3. HABIT: I love to sleep. Good thing my husband does too. I take naps when Cash does almost every day, even when I wasn't pregnant. The other day I was tired again later in the afternoon and told Ryan I even felt like I wanted a second nap. He told me two babies = two naps. I can handle that.

4. FACT (or habit I guess): I am more likely to watch entertainment news than regular news. Not that I don't want to know regular news, there's just so much disturbing and depressing junk to get through with all the rest of it that I'd rather go for the mindless stuff.

5. FACT: I gained SEVEN POUNDS in the TWO WEEKS since my last appointment with my midwife! She was proud. I was not.

6. FACT: I poop a lot. Sorry, but seriously, anyone who knows me can swear to it. I can't really think of a more blatant fact about myself!

Tagged

MY HUSBAND

What is his name? Ryan Isom.

How long have you been together? 5 1/2 years. Married 4.

How long did you date? 1 1/2 years.

How old is he? 29.

Who said I love you first? Don't remember, I think him.

Who is taller? Ryan, enough for me to wear shoes as tall as I want!

Who sings better? Me. Ryan can sing if he ever tried though. Although wait - he does sing! He is the king of making up little diddies for Cash. Usually they have something to do with food going in his mouth and the last line usually ends with "....and out my bum."

Who is smarter? Ryan. I could be close if I tried. We both graduated high school with a 4.0 I think. I just get dumber as the years go on.

Whose temper is worse? Mine is probably more frequent, his is more severe.

Who does the laundry? We both have done our fair share.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me.

Who pays the bills? Used to be me. Now Ryan made it too complicated, so he does.

Who mows the lawn? Ryan. I think he actually really likes it. He's always anxious to do it again much sooner than I think it needs.

Who does the dishes? Usually Ryan. That was our agreement in the beginning if I did all the cooking. Otherwise dinner is all work, work, work for me and ceases being enjoyable. I do them a lot too though, of course, and especially if he's busy.

Who cooks dinner? Me, thankfully. Otherwise it would be a lot of unidentified foods all mixed together with a load of ketchup.

Who drives when you are together? Ryan, although we used to fight about it a lot. Neither one of us likes to.

Who is more stubborn? He would say me, but truthfully I think we both are.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Me.

Whose parents do you see the most? My Mom.

Who kissed who first? Ryan kissed me, although he was trying not to (I think he was still dating someone else). Guess I was just too tempting.

Who asked who out? I wish Ryan would have asked me out! He just hung out at my apartment all the time or tagged along on camping trips. I'm sure eventually he did. :)

Who proposed? Ryan surprised me and showed up from NY (I was in Utah) on my birthday and proposed to me.

Who is more sensitive? Ha, ha, ha. In my dreams I could say Ryan!

Who has more friends? Me

Who wears the pants in the family? Me. I'm sure Ryan is different when it comes to work and school, but he just likes to coast when he's at home, so I drive most anything that happens. Except the finances - he's obsessed with that.

P.S. Love you Ryan!

I was supposed to tag 6 people for that first one, and one for this one, but I can't think of that many people. Kimi, I'll tag you - you can do one or both if you want. Or none.

Happy Halloween!

Last night was the Halloween party at church - the only Halloween festivity we attended since we missed it over the weekend (nothing going on tonight). Cash was a little apprehensive about the whole thing as you can see, but he was a very dutiful waver as prompted, even during the costume parade. We did manage to crack a few wary smiles.

And since I don't know that I will ever be creative enough or take the time enough to home-make mine or my kids costumes, I must pay homage to those that do. Here's my friend LuAnn with her husband Jeff and their baby Simon as Marge, Homer and Maggie Simpson (they figured the only time they could get away with dressing Simon as a girl without permanently scarring him), and Harrison, Cash's little friend next door as Mr. Peanut, complete with the hanging monacle to go over his eye:

Chicago

So we had another great time in Chicago this weekend. Hit the Magnificent Mile for some good shopping, went to the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Science and Industry, enjoyed some beautiful fall weather, and caught up with old friends. I'm sad to think it may be our last time down to Chicago. Ryan's November is actually busy, believe it or not, and we're going to Utah for all of December. Maybe January, but it would be pretty cold. Then after February life as we know it will be drastically different....

Pictures - eating with my friend LuAnn in a cafe on Michigan Avenue.

"American Gothic" at the Art Museum

The German U-boat captured by the U.S. during WWII in the Museum of Science and Industry

Eating lunch with my old roommate Angela (sorry old friends - I meant to get a picture with her boyfriend in it too (sounds serious!), but he left before I remembered).

Trick or Treat

So we recently found out how Wisconsin does Halloween - everyone will be trick or treating this Sunday afternoon. Huh? Yeah, apparently, (even though it seems to work fine everywhere else in the country) they don't like to do it on a school night or something, so everything happens this Sunday and then there is nothing that goes on on actual Halloween day. I was trying to find some festivities on Halloween, and there was nothing. All celebration goes on this weekend and will be over by Monday. Whatever. And since we're going to Chicago this weekend (need to do some shopping on Michigan Avenue before I'm waddling), and they don't do it the same, I guess we pretty much will miss Halloween this year.

So in lieu of Halloween, here's some pictures to enjoy of our neighbor's front yard. I mentioned them before - the blood and guts decorators. It's so gross! (Seriously, would your kid want to go trick or treating here??)

Visitors

So my friend Tara from New York was here this past week learning how to cut hair. We didn't get many pictures, mainly because we were so busy trying to get everything in that we never even left the house, but if we had taken more pictures you could have seen lots of mannequin heads around the house getting their hair cut, and both Tara and I with our new dos. (Yes, I actually let her do my hair and it turned out fine!) Cash and her little boy, Eli are only about two weeks apart. It's funny to see the differences though - can you tell which one of our kids is the tv junkie? Seriously, it was so funny to watch Eli trying to hand Cash things during a movie and Cash being like, "Seriously dude, don't bug me. Baby Einstein is on."


Thanks to my super nice husband for being the babysitter all weekend. Here's the boys being taken for a bike ride by Ryan.