TWD Pays Off

While texting while driving today, I saw twins dressed identically. What was amusing? They were likely about 60 years old. Their shoes matched even!

In n Out

Having wanted In n Out since Jane's post, I finally got my grub on today. Animal style fries and a cheeseburger....yum-MY!

I sent an email to my mom letting her know that "her" babies had In n Out for lunch. She asked if they had a double double. I found this completely hysterical...hence my Facebook status. Is it just me?

Baker Barbie

On Friday, my mom baked 75 cupcakes and 2 8 inch round cakes. She does not typically bake, but I have such complete faith and trust in Pilsbury cake mix, that I knew this wouldn't be a problem. Seriously. People at work rave about my cupcakes, but it's really the mix that makes them tasty. Try it. You will not be disappointed!

At about 8:30 on Friday night, after pizza, cream puffs, a few glasses of wine for some of us, and a long day of flower arranging for the rest, we got down to business frosting the cupcakes and cake. Pickle, KFuj, and Sistor went to town on the cupcakes, but they left the cake for me. I'd never assembled a 2 layer cake before, much less had to transport one and place it precariously on top of a cupcake cake stand. My creative juices were spent, or I was just flat out exhausted, or both. In retrospect, I should have used green ribbon around each tier. Oh well, I think it still worked out ok.

In case you're wondering, we used: Pilsbury Whipped Supreme white frosting (super light and fluffy), white ball sprinkles, light green sugar crystal sprinkles, and pre-made white frosting roses (thank you Michaels).

We survived!

Super duper thank you to: the hubby, mom, aunt, Sistor, Pickle, and Mr and Mrs KFuj!!! I couldn't have pulled this off without you! Should I ever be crazy enough to make this a career, I will have to hire all of you. :)

This is the only picture that Striker and I took together all day. And it was when we went to dinner at Chili's after everything was done. And we were exhausted. This was however before I completely crashed and almost fell asleep in my food.

I am currently in bed and far too tired to get my laptop and card reader to upload the pictures of my creations. You'll have to wait until tomorrow for pictures of the flowers and cupcakes. :)

Twins - 13 Weeks

Seriously, where did my butt go?!

Co-workers today said "you're barely showing!" I said "for 13 weeks?" Their response? "Oh..."

The little suckers (yes mom, I'm bringing that name back) are literally sucking the life out of me! I still haven't gained a pound, despite eating every 2 - 3 hours except when I'm sleeping. I'm drinking water like crazy and still have super dry skin. I'm putting lotion on multiple times per day. Obviously, they're sucking all my energy...and I love every minute of it!

Yesterday I achieved normal prego status and I won't go back to my doctor for a month! Next ultrasound will be in 3 weeks.

Today the limes graduated to medium shrimp. This seems odd, since I'd have put them in the opposite order. I've decided that they'd be Bubba and Gump this week (official dining location of the HCBC).

KT asked what I thought their gender would be. I'm thinking boy and girl. KT thinks both boys. What do you think?

Alternative Careers?

I'm dabbling in being a florist and baker this week. The boat load (ok, 40 pounds) of roses, carnations, baby's breath, and leather leaf (not pictured) arrived today. Striker did all of the heavy lifting and cutting requiring excessive force while I once again provided instructions. We got all of the stems cut and put into water so that they can drink until Friday morning when I begin dividing and conquering. I need to create: 1 brides bouquet, a toss bouquet, 5 bridesmaids bouquets, 6 men's coursages (Mr Pearl cannot spell the correct word, and neither can I), 9 centerpieces, and 7 cocktail table mini centerpieces. I have assistants (family and friends) coming, but they will likely be put to work baking and frosting cupcakes, for the cupcake cake. I've never created this stuff on my own before (I had a teacher and I was the direction follower), so I'm not confident in my instruction giving.
I am making 75ish cupcakes and a 8 inch round cake for the top of the cupcake cake. White cake, green/lime/kiwi frosting to match the wedding colors with little pearl sprinkles or frosting roses depending on the tier and my mood/ability.

Yes, there will be pictures, and yes, I am taking the entire day off on Friday. :)

Ode to the Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Is there any better comfort food than a grilled cheese sandwich? Especially one that is so nutritionally balanced?

Other comfort foods come to mind: mashed potatoes, "sick soup" (broth with those tiny noodles), Jello pudding. None are as good for you as the grilled cheese, especially when it's on whole wheat bread. You get your dairy, calcium, protein, whole grains, and fiber. Throw in a fruit or veggie and it's quite the nutritious meal!

I have consumed more grilled cheese sandwiches in the last 12 weeks than probably in any year of my childhood, and my grandma made them for me on a very regular basis-cut into squares of course. Does anyone else love them as much as I do? I encourage you to comment your love in a grilled cheese haiku. :) There might be a prize for the best haiku ;)

Ultimate in Patheticness

If you followed my Facebook Status Updates this evening, you saw that I was so tired and generally crappy feeling while driving home this evening, that I stopped at my mom's house 2/3 of the way home to lay on her couch and nap. It was a pretty crappy day. I worried too much (the trifecta of work/friends/family). I did too much. Then my body made me pay for it with a headache (exhaustion/tension/hormonal/definitely not the Chiari headaches I used to have-no need to worry) and general feeling of nausea (though I did not tell my sister this when I arrived at her house). I flattened myself on the couch, drank some water, and napped. There is a picture of me on the couch, but it further proves that my butt has disappeared and Thursday will get here soon enough. :)

When I woke up, mom made me a grilled cheese and cut up some fruit. I continued to lay on the couch until 8:45 when I finally gathered enough energy to make the 15 minute drive home. Of course I immediately went to bed. How is it possible to be this tired? Yes, I realize I am pathetic, but at least I can admit it.

Now Boycotting Stater Bros

This was my front porch after the idiot bagger put 4 jars of Prego in 1 bag. He also put a gallon of milk and a bottle of oj in 1 bag. Of course it was the jar of tomato sauce in the glass jar that broke all over my porch (and splattered my freshly painted toes). Sigh.

This led to the hubby and I sweeping and hosing the mess. This involved lots of supervision on my part and manual labor on the part of dear hubby. We keep the hose in the backyard since the front of the house is maintained by the association and we've used the hose in the front yard about a half dozen times in 2 years. Striker brought the hose around and once the porch and walkway were desauced, I suggested that he hose off the front window since it was rather dusty (still lots of construction going on and the front of the house gets hit with all the wind), and sure, why not the rest of the windows in the front of the house. Ew, and make sure to hose down the wall under the window (white hose + dirt trail = nasty). And since we're headed towards the master bedroom, why not hose down BirdVision (aka the cats TV, aka large window that overlooks lots of birds in the alley). And of course since we'll be hosting the second annual July 4th Fireworks Extravaganza, why not hose off around the garage (again, white house + lots of dirt = nasty!) and since you've got the hose out and need to put it back in the backyard, how about hosing off the patio furniture and windows in the back of the house so we can start using them since the sun is finally coming out now that June Gloom might be over?

The best part? Striker blames the bagger at Stater Bros for all the spring (or summer) cleaning. :)

I sorta feel the same way about Stater Bros as I do Walmart. If only they weren't the closest grocery store, I would boycott them altogether.

Bloggers love....

Contests with prizes and getting stuff in the mail! Does anyone else find the fact that we love snail mail amusing given that we're so technologically advanced?

For winning (or correctly guessing) where Princess got the idea to stick gum behind her ear, Paula sent me a lovely prize! A Longaberger pie plate, wrist rattles for the little limes (and of course they're a cow and pig!), and of course a pack of bubble gum (with instructions to not stick it behind my ear!)

Love it! Thanks Paula!!!! BTW, red is my preferred color of stone/pottery bakeware....have you been snooping in my kitchen?!

Drumroll please...

I'm 12 weeks prego today, and if you recall, that means it's...belly picture time!














Things I noticed about this picture:

1. My butt has completely disappeared. Apparently it's being pregnant that causes the rear ends in my family to go MIA.
   
2. Belly is quickly catching up to boobs. Will pregnancy make my boobs appear smaller (relatively speaking of course)?
3. If this is 12 weeks, I'll need to be standing against the wall by the time I get to 36 weeks!
4. The hubby is sorta anal...I suggested that he stand in the same spot every week for consistency...he then lined up the bottom of the door and carefully cut off my head so I wouldn't feel obligated to do hair or makeup...this will be vitally important when I'm huge and off work!
5. I will not be eating dinner before next week's picture to ensure that I don't have a larger upper belly due to it being full :)
6. For not having gained a pound, I am certainly larger!

Today I had my 12 week ultrasound...aren't they cute?














According to our weekly email, they are the size of limes this week. This prompted the Queen to dub them Bud and Miller since they both have lime flavors. Striker votes for Corona and Corona Light. :) Other notable mentions: Ace & Base (Ruth), Venti & Grande (Paula), Almeda and Bauer (KT), and Kramer & Cosmo (Grandpa to be). For some reason I can't commit to a temporary set of names...I do like the beer names for this week though. Let's hope naming them is easier!

We're going to have to wait 4 weeks for the next ultrasound :(

Not Quite Utopia

This is the view from my desk. See the light from the window at the end of the tunnel? Ah, daylight!

The parking situation requires careful planning of OB appointments. I returned back from my appointment this morning around 10:30 and there were zero spots left except for several compact spots. We have very strict parking lot police and large cars and SUVs are strictly prohibited! When the large lot is full, the only other option is 2 hour parking on the street. Our side was full. This meant that I had to park across the street and hike back down to move my car back to the lot when people left for lunch, resulting in 3 round trips from my office to the parking lot. Sigh. Of course parking in a compact spot was not an option since I am a rule follower. I did however Google info on temporary handicap parking when I returned to my office. :)

I was able to move my car to a spot roughly in the middle of the parking lot after following my counterpart down when she left for lunch and making her stay in her spot until I was in position. Some people just pity a prego. The spot was approximately 325 steps from the door of my car to the door of my office, including 2 flights of stairs. To put this in proper perspective, I used to walk approximately 25 to "my" (unofficial) parking spot. Everyone is whining about this hike, not just this lazy prego.

Pictures of my office will follow once I've decorated a bit. It's sort of bare right now.

New Office

Things that make me happy about my new office:

1. My furniture is light, so the whole office is brighter.
2. Through my interior window I can see down a long hallway to an exterior window. I now know whether or not the sun is shining!!
3. There is a thermostat in my office. It will be permanently set at 65, which feels like 70 in my house. Happiness!!!
4. There is a lot more storage space, so there is less clutter everywhere. The filtered water dispenser is 3 offices down...let me go count how many steps from my desk...27 leisurely sized steps! In the last office it was approximately a quarter of a mile round trip and I don't think I am exaggerating.
5. Bathrooms have automatic everything - flush, water, soap, paper towels. The paper towel dispensers dispense the exact right amount in one wave.
6. Phone comes complete with Caller ID and a working speaker phone! (I spent almost 4 years in my last office without a working speaker phone.)
7. There is a cafeteria that is not only reasonably priced, but has tasty food with a variety of healthy choices. They're a little light on the fruit selection, but they do have the basics.
8. My chair has excellent padding! The color is a little odd - I'm calling it rust, but it's so comfy I don't care.
9. There are IT and facilities people here that do all sorts of nice things like: connect computers, headsets, and phones; troubleshoot and fix things that don't work; hang and install whiteboards, keyboard trays, and the like. We just get to work - what a concept!

In the City....

The City of Compton. (That's a song in head for ABBA).

Tonight while driving home from Alpine Village in Torrance (where we had fantastic German food - schnitzel and beef goulash and celebrated Art's birthday), I was just settling in for a nice car nap when we saw that the freeway was closed in both directions in Compton. Our only option was to exit the freeway in Compton (something that my now husband and father in law screamed at me for doing when I was a 21 year old geographically challenged girl driving home from her boyfriend's house) and make a u-turn to take a detour. If you're local, the 91 was closed in both directions so we took the 110 to the 105.

The really bad picture is of the Welcome to Compton sign. We were off the freeway for about 30 seconds before we were back on the on ramp. This is the best I could do without spending more time there than needed.

Nap time!

Celebrity Baby

http://m.people.com/detail.jsp?key=1758606&rc=newsnow&cm=true1

You have to read the article. Back when we first wanted to get pregnant a bunch of "cool" celebrity babies were being born- Shiloh and Suri anyone? Then when we started IVF- the twin boom: whatever the heck the Jolie-Pitts are named, Marcia Cross' girls, and Julia Roberts twins. Now? My poor children are going to be part of the baby boom that includes Kendra's kid. Isn't Nicole Ritchie pg again? At least Harlow is cute and made her mommy clean up her life. Maybe there's hope for Kendra?

Queen B, somehow I have a feeling that you'll have a lot to comment since celebrity gossip and celeb/baby pairings are one of your specialties. :)

Anything is Better than A and B

Last week, the Queen suggested that we come up with unisex names for the twins until we knew their gender. It was A-something and Blair.

Today, KT suggested Fred and Frederica, since "it" doesn't work like it did for Sydney.

My sister has been calling them fatty fatty fat fat and B. My aunt calls them the little yabbers. Ever since my mom saw them Monday, they've been "her" babies or A and B. Before Monday, they were little dudes.

Pickle just suggested spud and spudnick.

So of course, I'm turning to my faithful readers to help me out. Offer your creative suggestions and earn a spot in the baby book ;)

Warning Label

Given the royal pain in the rear that I've been since marrying my loving husband, particularly on the medical front, I feel that I should have come with a warning label. Things that should have been included:

WARNING!
This individual contains a brain that is too large for her (already large) head. While you might find this attractive, it will cause her much pain and suffering until it is diagnosed, and thus it will also cause you great pain and suffering. Until she eventually has surgery a few years after your wedding, you will be subject to mood swings, and required to perform manual labor as often as she feels is necessary (when she wants stuff carried in from the car or heavy stuff lifted). Let's not forget to mention that you will move 4 times in 4 years.

WARNING!
After surgery is performed, you will continue being her slave until she is completely healed. If you're lucky, mood swings will be gone and she might do some things for herself.

WARNING!
Post surgery, she will then be subjected to fertility treatments for an entire year. You will be required to endure the process with her and will be called upon to give her daily injections with really big needles. You will be on call and need to miss work depending on how her body decides to act that particular day.

WARNING!
When she does get pregnant finally, it'll be twins. Of course, her body does nothing the easy way. Expect the unexpected!

WARNING!
This individual will be able to out drink you and thus will require that you be her personal DD...until she's pregnant of course, then it's payback time!

WARNING!
She will love your dog as though it's a child and if said dog is curled up against her cuddling or sleeping, you will be required to fetch whatever she needs that isn't within reach.

WARNING!
She will work full time at a job that is significantly farther away than yours. During this time, the odds of her cooking you dinner are slim to none. The odds of you cooking? Pretty darn high!

Despite all of the above warnings, she will love you unconditionally and will one day (hopefully) get to repay you for putting up with her.

I love you Bunny!

Twins Update - 10 Weeks

It's been an eventful week! Actually Monday & Tuesday were eventful!

Monday-
We had our last appointment with my infertility doctor, had an ultrasound, and officially graduated to OB care. Since the hubby saw them last Wednesday, Grandma Barbie got to go to Monday's ultrasound. Baby A even waved at her! Baby B is camera shy and the best we were able to get was a profile shot (the one on the left). Grandma Barbie agrees that the pictures don't do them justice!

As I think everyone knew via Facebook, we had a repeat of last week's middle of the night scare, but I'm pretty sure that I know the cause, and it shouldn't happen again. (details = TMI)

Tuesday-
Monday's scare carried over to Tuesday and I got a bonus visit to my OB and got to hear their heartbeats. I solved the mystery with RuthAnne's help (thanks again!) and managed to avoid another round of bed rest. No, I'm not just being stubborn, it really wouldn't have been necessary this time. Trust me, I'll stand on my head for 6 months if the babies need me to!

Thursday I will be 11 weeks and will be tapering off all my medications. By next Thursday (12 weeks) I will only be taking a prenatal vitamin! Anyone want my pill case and cutter?

Race for the Cure Donation

As promised to Queen B, if she FFSU'd during the Race for the Cure on Saturday, I would donate accordingly.

Here were her status updates:
6:08am ...is prepping for ffsu race for the cure

6:52am ...is in pink from head to toe

6:59am ...ironed my race T-shirt

7:59am ...is on her marks

8:04am ...is inching ahead

8:36am ...is walking

8:46am ...finished and is rehydrated

8:58am ...is videoing the water girl

9:11am ...is raiding the snack tents

Since there were 9 updates (3x3), I multiplied by 3, and thus donated $27. I am sure the nice people at Susan G. Komen are perplexed by the odd donation amount, but what's better than 3 cubed?! I know I know, 22, but I couldn't figure out a way to explain that mathematically.

Quote of the Day

Me: The smell of alcohol will forever make me think of shots.

Striker: Alcohol makes me think of shots too. (insert huge grin here)

Me: I like your type of shots better! (insert pouty face here)

"Real" Clothes

I had a debate with one of my friends today on Facebook. We were discussing which destinations required wearing "real" clothes, and which you could get away with whatever covered the necessary body parts.

We agreed that drive-thrus did not require real clothes. We disagreed on gas stations and Walmart. I have never gone to a gas station in anything but real clothes. She says gas stations do not require that effort. I say that you never know who is going to drive by, and real people stop at gas stations so I wouldn't want to be the bum in sweats. However, I would stop at the gas station in gym clothes and I don't consider those real clothes. Hmmm, she might have something there.

We all know I loathe Walmart. I think almost every trip I've made there in the last 2.5 years has been documented on this blog. However, today I needed cheap vases, soda, and mass quantities of Pilsbury Whipped Supreme frosting (there is no better frosting!). All items are for my uncle's wedding and I'm working with a very tight budget. That led me to Walmart. As usual, I had to dodge rude and inconsiderate shoppers (yes, I realize that my mom and I chose what is probably one of the worst times to go to Walmart-Sunday afternoon). My attire for the outing was sweatpants and a fitted T-shirt with flip flops, hair in pony tail, no make up. Not real clothes. Real clothes would be jeans, or shorts, or something I wouldn't lay around the house in. For Target, I'd wear real clothes. However, sweatpants are the standard dress code for Walmart.
What other places is it acceptable to not wear real clothes?

Team JOKOLOCO

This morning was the 1st Annual Biathlon at Striker's work. The biathlon consisted of a walker walking 1 lap, a biker riding 4 laps, another walker walking 1 lap, and then a runner running 2 laps. The course was pretty lengthy and included lots of hills and inclines.

Will got suckered in to being the biker on a team of desk dwellers. Keep in mind that they were competing against guys on the maintenance crew and a former Olympic runner! I got to be a Volunteer with a stopwatch (no clipboard though)!

It was lots of fun and very well organized. They had a very good turnout - about 50 participants, 20 volunteers, and lots of kids and spectators! And they only have 130 employees including their board members who also participated. I have a work event tonight and I guarantee we won't have a similar turnout.

4 AM Club

If you've ever been pregnant, you are familiar with your bladders desire to wake you up in the middle of the night. If not, welcome to my world. Typically I wake up around 3ish, but I stayed up later last night, so I woke up around 4ish. I may need to talk my bladder into making this a permanent time slot since I had several people to "talk" to.

First, the Queen randomly BBM'd me in response to something I sent her last night after she went to bed. It was 6 AM her time, but she's almost never up this early! :)

I continued my routine of checking facebook, the blogs, and Google and People news. I commented on both Ruth's and Jane's posts, and low and behold Ruth replied to my comment! Another 4 AM buddy! (This also left me wondering if and when Ruth ever sleeps???)

Then, what do you know? Bianka commented on my Facebook status. No real surprise there since she's nocturnal. I wonder what will happen now that she's on maternity leave?

Anyone else want to join our 4 AM club? Paula? Andrea? You guys can get away pretty easy since it's 7 your time ;)

2 Out of 3 Furries...

...approve of our new bedding. There are lots of pillows to match, but it was bedtime when we finally got it all put together. The furries jumped right on as soon as the comforter was in place. Heaven forbid it be free of fur a second longer than necessary!

Yes, the huge mound is The Pillow, which is why the furries have moved to daddy's side of the bed. Hey, there's 3 of us on my side too! Of course 2 of us are only 1.5 inches long. :)

Oskar Goes to the Groomer

Today marked Oskar's first trip to the groomer. Yes, he's almost 5 years old, but until today I had always done the haircut. He was in need of a bath, haircut, nail clipping, teeth brushing, and ear cleaning - in other words, the works. That was far too big of a task for the hubby and I, so off he went to PetSmart.

The hubby dropped him off and came home to tell me that they were going to give him a buzz cut. I raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Striker went to pick him up and BBM'd me "Oskar is a little short...." If I can manage to get a picture of his poor little chicken legs, you'll understand how naked he feels.

Probability Lesson

I may have blogged before that the hubby and I met in Statistics in college. He got an A, I got a C.

Tonight at dinner (Olive Garden, woo hoo!), they hubby mentioned that we had a 50/50 chance of having a boy and a girl, and only a 25% chance of having 2 boys or 2 girls. As he watched the wheels turning in my head, he explained the odds until I eventually nodded, reminding him that I barely passed Stats.

Daddy will definitely be helping the kids with their Statistics homework!

Brown and Furry

Oskar hates my new body pillow because he can't snuggle against me like he prefers. He prefers to curl up against my belly or thighs. The body pillow prevents this. His solution? Lay on top of it and conquer the monster!

Octo Mom

Last week, while discussing Jon & Kate plus 8 at work, we came up with the idea that Octo Mom and Kate should move in together and tape a reality show with their 22 children. The series could end with a Celebrity Deathmatch between the moms.

Apparently Octo Mom would rather fly solo. The best part? Jon & Kate started out with just a 2 hour special. It's only a matter of time before there's 24 hour coverage - the good news is that at least she won't continue to help bankrupt CA.
http://m.people.com/detail.jsp?key=1714686&rc=newsnow&cm=false