Yep, I Did!

It was hot and my sister was making fun of me for waddling earlier.

Permanent Baby/Furry Gate

Due to our destructive cats, we've had a totally tacky and difficult to use gate at the bottom of our stairs for awhile now. I was able to find one that almost perfectly matches our wood, so with the exception of the moderately tacky banister adapter thingie, it looks way better. The white plastic is oh so tacky, but at least we didn't have to drill into the banister. The bonus is that I can now open it one handed and it's even easier to close....no bending required - yay! The really funny part is that it's roughly 35 inches high and my huge cats don't think they can jump it. They have both stuck their heads through, but their super sized bodies wouldn't squeeze through. They then gave up and walked away. Love my stupid cats!

22 Weeks

Ankles have started swelling if I don't keep them up. I'm also blaming it on the heat. I'm including a "before" version of the ankles for comparison purposes, as I fear that cankles will be here before too long.

Belly button is reaching a critical point. Another few weeks and I'll have an outie.

As a result of the ridiculous heat and smoke from multiple fires, we've been keeping the AC on all night which I think is helping me sleep a little better. I've been averaging two 3 hour stretches per night, woo hoo!

Next doctor's appointment is on Monday.

Competitive Napping x 4

Striker is having neck issues, so he came home from work early today before going to the chiropractor at 5:30. He decided to competitively nap with the furries.

Slow News Day?

http://mobile.sfgate.com/topic/3787-Business%20&%20Technology/articles/193108063

This was one of the top news links on Google.

Boys' Room - In Progress

The Watch has Arrived!

And had 3 links removed. Apparently I have small wrists. Despite the weird reflection of light, it's all silver. :)

Boys' Room Before

Dresser Make Over

Unfortunately I do not have a before picture of the dresser we're putting in the boys' room. It was Striker's for the last 15 years and then lived in the guest bedroom once we got grown up furniture. The original shade is something like this:


First Striker primed and painted it white. Then I painted the blue lines to match the wall color...

Then I made my sister paint the outline on the knobs because I am too much of a perfectionist and would have started over 400 times...per drawer.




The inside of the drawers used to look like this:

Now they look like this:

21 Weeks and counting...

Here's the belly!

Highlights from this week:
-Daddy felt A kicking on Tuesday night, when I thought for sure he'd feel B again. Any surprise that B didn't cooperate?
-My doctor decided to keep me off work for the duration of my pregnancy.
-B kept moving around at our doctor's appointment so that it took FOREVER to get his heart rate...again, is this any surprise?
-My aunt painted the boys' room in record time. About 12 hours from starting prep to finishing clean up! Daddy finished painting the dresser. My glider and ottoman arrived. Pictures coming soon.
-The boys are carrot sized this week and I've made an allowance in my weekly ban...baby carrots don't count since they are WAY smaller than regular carrots (and thus do not represent the boys). I only eat baby carrots and I eat them often...does anyone still peel regular carrots and eat them?

I'd better start planning my outfit for 22 weeks...green shirt?

Dill Pickle

Striker stopped to get some sunflower seeds before his softball game and came out of the mini mart with these. He insisted that they were good as he'd tried some before. Sounds like pickles and ice cream to me....yuck!

Office Supply Nightmare

It took every ounce of my being not to organize Striker's briefcase for him. And yes, paper clips had escaped from the box.

Wheel of Fortune

Alternative career: Game Show Contestant

Specifically, The Price is Right or Wheel of Fortune. I'd never be fast enough on the Fastest Finger questions or Striker would insist that I go on Millionaire too. Anyhow, while watching tonight, Striker noticed Pat Sajak's official title ;)

20 Week Bananas, Belly, Boys, and a Bonus Fashion Tip

Why Bananas? Because there are 2 left in my kitchen and I refuse to eat them because the boys are banana sized this week. Twin bananas...I mean really, how could I eat them? :)
















Today was their 20 week ultrasound...I am sticking to a 4 week schedule for at least the next two. Four weeks between ultrasounds seems so long, but it means we're lookin' good!

Baby A was well behaved for his photo shoot and gave us a nice profile shot...isn't his nose cute? :)















Baby B is our little trouble maker. He was always the hardest to get pictures of in our early ultrasounds, then he was the guy with the hematoma, and now he's back to being stubborn for pictures. He refused to turn over so we could get a profile shot despite our attempts at maneuvering...so technically this is a shot of his face, but you really can't make out a whole lot. (If it helps, the top of his head is to the right.)
















As you know, I've been Julie Chen's maternity fashion police. I received the following picture from Queen B tonight (because Julie Chen's fashion faux paus doesn't count as a spoiler):
















What you can't see in Julie's picture is that the bottom of her skirt is a bubble skirt giving the dress the appearance of a circus tent. From the belly up, I'd almost consider this an acceptable outfit, despite the Queen's dismay that it appears Julie's chest is in the same place as my rear end. I don't think she has much of a chest anyway, so I'm letting that part slide.

As soon as I saw Julie's outfit, I was inspired to wear this outfit for my 20 week belly shot. I mean really, how could I not?

Two Times...

My father-in-law (aka Grandpa to be) mentioned that we'd need two of just about everything for the twins this weekend....well in my first issue of Parents magazine they had a "Babies by the Numbers" section for totals in the first year (love these types of stats!). The highlights:
156 baths given x 2 - not so bad
2,460 bottles filled x 2 - let's hope breast feeding works out....
3,120 diapers changed x 2 - any volunteers?

The OCD in me wants to keep track of the # of diapers we go through...if I just keep a tally each time I open a package I should be good to go right? I can hear you laughing at me....

Rare Post

There is a very select few people that will understand why this question was so funny to me that I had to post it...and it's work related! I never post work stuff unless it's pictures of my office....which I need to review to make sure I can find my office when I finally go back to work! Anyhow, "Hold Me Closer, Tony Danza"!

19 Weeks (+1 day)

Just for Jane I'm wearing something besides my uniform....a dress! Of course my rear is invisible. Sigh. We took a picture without me pushing the dress against my thighs and....well let's just say it was tent like!

I'm definitely starting to feel the weight on the front of me....still haven't gained more than the 10 pounds back that I lost in the first trimester, but slowly gaining nonetheless. The belly is definitely growing, so that's all that really matters. I can't wait for the 20 week ultrasound next Thursday!

My hips are starting to snap, crackle, pop when I shift positions. It's getting awkward to bend over and pick stuff up and were it not for keeping my feet up most of the time, I wouldn't know how badly I need a pedicure.

Happy 5th Anniversary!

In keeping with last year's tradition of anniversary posts, here are the things that need to be added to that list:

• Sports - hockey and golfing have been added
• Striker & the Hot Chicks...definitely fun while it lasted...
  
• A year full of too many doctor's appointments, medical procedures, and worry
• Too many injections too count
• 2 little miracles on the way - definitely our best accomplishment to date!
• Weekly belly pictures on both Mr. Pearl and the regular camera
• Several rounds of bed rest requiring a super patient and loving hubby to wait on the wife hand and foot
• A few random food runs to feed the belly - the "worst" was the Ruffles run at 10:30 at night
• 3 scary episodes - not everything needs to happen in 3's!!
  
• Not nearly enough pictures of the 2 of us together...most are of the belly and ultrasounds...we'll have to work on that the rest of the year
  

The traditional gift for the 5th wedding anniversary is wood...so it seems semi appropriate that hubby got hockey gear (hey the sticks are wood even if we didn't actually buy those - thanks Scott!) and I am getting a rocker/glider and ottoman for the boys' room (which is really for me anyhow). Sometimes we surprise each other...sometimes we're just practical!

I love you Striker!!!!

BBB: The Return of the Banana Suit

Seriously Julie Chen? I'm not sure how well this picture will come out, but, it's banana yellow with gold panels on the sides and a beige addition on the bottom. Basically it looks like they took a yellow tunic then added fabric to make it maternity wear. Did I mention that the "pants" are actually Bermuda shorts? Thanks to my Tammy Twin for giving me a heads up so my camera was ready! :)

C Update

Because I know you are all wondering... ;)

C's eye is doing better. He generally takes the ointment application like a champ. His eye is almost 100% open now and the goop is gone. Maybe another day or two of treatment and he'll be as good as new. The last few days he's hid out in the garage knowing that I wouldn't be able to run him down and trap him unless he were inside and cornered. Luckily, he can't tell time and strolled in close to the time he was supposed to get his midday application. :)

Halfway!

At least I'm hoping we make it to 37 weeks (and 2 days). I'm a day late on the half way picture....I didn't put real clothes on yesterday.

I'm also just about forced to wear maternity shirts 100% of the time (assuming I wear actual clothes and not just the hubby's t-shirts). There are only one or two of my regular shirts that are long enough to cover my belly still. The positive is that I'm going to get a lot of wear out of my maternity clothes...good thing since this is most likely my only time to be pregnant.

Choices, Choices...

A decade with my company yesterday, and I received an email today with instructions for selecting my gift - woo hoo! There are 104 choices for the 10 year gift and 60 of them are various framed prints. Um, no.

The other 44 items are watches, some jewelry, luggage type items, and desk crap. Oh, and a random selection of kitchen items. The jewelry is all stuff I'd never wear (read not practical enough for every day or pink stones). But I need a new watch, so here are the best choices offered for women:





I am soliciting your opinions for which one I should choose. I like the mesh band, but the face of the one with the black band better, but not sure how I feel about the black band. The third one seems a little industrial, but I like that it's all silver and practical for daily wear. The mesh one is a Skagen, the other two are Bulovas. I feel like I should get one of the Bulovas, because I'd never buy one for myself. Like jeans, there is a maximum amount I'm willing to pay for a watch.

C, the Ostrich

Thursday morning, the cat known as C, had goop in his eye, but by afternoon was looking better. Friday morning, his eye was shut, got a little better by afternoon, then got goopy again last night.

Off we went to the vet this morning since our carrier was loaned to the KFujs to transport Ed and we'd managed to forget to bring it home the 3 times we'd been over there since. I mean really, how often do you actually use one of those things? Anyhow, Striker had to carry/hold the 17.5 pound beast, which meant I got to drive to PetSmart -woo! C is actually a really good traveler/patient. He hid his head in daddy's armpit for protection on the way over. Forget the other 16 pounds that were exposed. ;)

When we arrived, I purchased a cardboard carrier and then proceeded to sit next to it once Striker shoved the beast in there. C tolerated the exam well and was diagnosed with an eye infection $117 later. We now get to put ointment in his eye 3 times a day.

The first application went well, he just sat there while Striker held him in place and I put the ointment on like eyeliner then smushed his eye open and closed several times. No meowing, no fighting. If only Oskar had been that good when he was Puff Doggy and I had to give him Benadryl!