Happy Halloween!

So my Uncle...the super picky eater, guy I stole the ding dong from a few months ago, UPS Man...carves pumpkins every year for Halloween. This year, my aunt sent me pictures and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what the one was...I thought it was maybe my belly with belly button and hands on belly carved out...it wasn't.

After learning what it was, I showed the picture to Striker (who is my uncle's protege and heir to his Challenger) figuring he'd be as lost as I was. Nope! He knew what it was right away, thus proving why he is the heir to my uncle's most prized possession. Sigh. I still say he should have got a wider pumpkin and carved out the crack...but what do I know?

I so can't wait for him to corrupt the boys...

Friday Night Project

After feeding Striker, KFuj, and Brooklyn chili and cornbread, it only took Striker and I about an hour to assemble the crib and put in all the bedding (that we're supposed to remove when the boys are actually in the crib....seriously? How are any of us still alive?!) Striker is now in bed asleep because he stayed up too late watching hockey the last 2 nights. He has a honey do list tomorrow morning before he goes bowling in his Halloween shirt, so he's resting up. I'm ruthless, I know.

31 Weeks

No, I am not smuggling a basketball under my shirt. ;)

Oskar has been super weird and annoying the last few days. Instead of snuggling and sticking to our routine, he's been super whiney and not wanting anything to do with me, but wanting my constant attention at the same time. Whenever someone else is around he wants to love them and ignores me. We have 2 theories: 1) he's somehow gotten the hint that life as he knows it is about to be over and there are going to be 2 new mama's boys in the house or 2) the cats (fraternal twins) have started to snuggle with me on the couch and no longer ignore me on a regular basis. It's rather odd, but has been going on for several days now. Regardless, Oskar pretty much demanded being in the picture with me....it's his plea to his grandparents to not forget that he was their first grandchild and to please remember to give him lots of treats. He's a good boy (even if he is driving mommy crazy!)

Something the Queen will appreciate: Striker said tonight "everytime I see something that says Evenflo, I think of Pearl Jam....thanks to Guitar Hero." You know that commercial where the dad is the 4th triplet? I'm going to have a 3rd twin! ;)

Progress is being made and I just might reach my goal of being (mostly) ready for the boys arrival by November 1st. I'm extending that deadline by a week so that I don't completely wear Striker out. The poor guy is a trooper-he came home tonight to a rather long honey do list and has an even longer one for the weekend. We should have their room and necessary equipment ready to go and in the proper locations no later than November 8th so that we can just sit around and wait for their arrival without scrambling at the last minute. And so that I can maximize my napping before the sleep deprivation begins. :)

There are times when I feel like my belly is going to rip open because the boys stretch in opposite directions simultaneously. The belly regularly takes on new and random shapes, which unfortunately do not photograph well. Striker rather enjoys the freak show each night when he lotions the belly. I also earned major sympathy points when he felt the gymnastics going on against my ribs last night at our class. He's going to be such a great dad and is already taking great care of us!

I am extremely grateful to our families for helping us prep the house last Sunday and doing all of the things that I just can't do so easily anymore. Striker has resumed dishwasher loading/unloading activity, and food has become much less fancy this week. I'm stocking the freezer with frozen food because I'm exhausted from growing 2 humans and don't have energy for much else.

BTW, I've noticed that holding Oskar makes the belly look even bigger...and look! There's a butt!!! LOVE those sweat pants!

Amused...and Sort of an Apology

One of the few highlights (and frustrations) in my life is the Target.com orders that are delivered by my friends at UPS. Tuesday I received my order but only received half of the number of items I'd ordered. The packing slip did not indicate that any items were on backorder and it appeared that all items should have been in the package. I decided to wait to see if the remainder were delivered on Wednesday since I know that sometimes orders are split and might just be arriving separately for some reason and not actually noted on the website...or maybe the package got left on the UPS truck or at the dock...it happens.

Nothing was delivered yesterday, so I checked the website today to verify that all the items showed that they were delivered. It appeared that they were and so I called Target.com's Customer Service.

After the very nice lady read to me everything that I told her I'd just saw on the website, she reordered the missing items for me and "expedited" the shipping so that I'd receive them no later than next Thursday...good thing she "expedited" the order!

I LITERALLY hung up the phone and heard a package drop on my porch (but the doorbell did not ring). There was only one thing it could possibly be...

I was quick to the door, the UPS man saw me open it, saw the belly and then offered to pick up the package for me. Internally laughing, I told it that it was okay, I could get it since it was small ;)

I brought the package inside, figuring that it was the missing items...NOPE! It was my entire order!!!! So now, I'm waiting until next Thursday to see what shows up, and what I'm actually charged for. Maybe UPS and Target are just trying to give me something to do?

I LOVE My Crock Pot!!!

Or "Channeling My Inner Andrea Braun"...

Last week I made Andrea Braun's Apple Butter and after the extreme easiness of it, decided that I'd make another crock pot dish for one of the families in my MOMs Club - the mom just had surgery - yes, I joined a Moms of Multiples Club.

I have strict requirements that whatever I cook right now be super easy because I get tired doing just about anything for more than half an hour. I consider browning ground beef and dumping everything else into the crock pot to be pretty easy...chopping 1 green pepper and 3 stalks of celery wasn't too difficult either...though Queen B should avoid doing so since a sharp knife was used ;)

Striker was extremely concerned that the entire pot would be going to them since they have a large family and he wouldn't get to have any of the tasty goodness. Luckily, I planned accordingly and got double everything so that I can make a pot for us on Friday. My house smells heavenly at the moment and the small bit that I sampled was SUPER tasty.

For the recipe with my notes (in a Google Doc) click here.

Easily Amused?

What does it say about Striker and I that we noticed, and were amused by, the glue pattern when we opened the pack n play? BTW, our house is starting to look like Babies R Us...

In Case You Missed Them...

In case you missed my Facebook status updates this weekend...

Saturday @ 3:56 PM:
Dear B, Thank you for finding a position that allowed my ribs to not be abused while sitting upright. Dear A, a little less jabbing of mommy's internal organs would help...go ahead and kick your brother ;)


Sunday @ 6:48 PM:
Dear B, the sharp stabbing pain that Mommy just experienced wasn't necessary....please feel free to kick your brother back...not the Mama!

It's probably a good thing that I'm having boys right? ;)

Lazy Ride

Must read! It's super funny...did you read it? No really, you've got to!

I totally want a motorized recliner!! It'd come in really handy for the rare occasions that I get to leave the house...and make sitting through classes at the hospital WAY more comfortable!

Thank you to Lil Dahl for the find!

30 Weeks

It's official, poor little B is fighting for space. He's been wedged against my ribs in some form or another for the last few days. It's really cozy when I'm trying to sleep. Sigh.

While waddling down the hall of the hospital last night I noticed that while I still can't find my rear end, I've got some serious hips going on...of course I don't have a "before" picture, but all of a sudden, my hips are wider.

I'm tired all the time, and running out of room for food, so I'm back to grazing on small meals and snacks all day (in between naps of course). I've been reading various twin sites for ideas and tips in preparation for the little guys upcoming arrival. Finally seem to be making progress on the boys' room almost have all of the gear we'll need for the first 6 months. We started the childbirth classes at the hospital and that's making everything seem so real.

We're in the home stretch, so, perhaps now would be a good time to ask for your birthday predictions and weights? In the comments, please leave the birthday, time of the first born's arrival, and the birth weight of both A and B. I collected this info from everyone at my October shower, and it was rather amusing. I can't wait to see who guesses closest!

These People Are Reproducing?!

Questions asked/statements made by others at our Childbirth Class tonight:
1) Mom: How is the epidural administered?
2) Dad: Oh, you deliver in the LDR too?
3) Mom: I found out I was pg 2 weeks after my period.
4) Several moms: I don't know how many weeks I am or what my blood type is.
5) Dad: You go to the hospital when she's dilated to 3 cm. RN: how do you know? Dad: With a ruler?
6) Mom: (can't use direct quote, but kept referring to doctor artificially rupturing membranes as "induction of labor") Her husband is in the medical field (came wearing scrubs) and she asked several questions that should be on this list.
7) There were 12 couples in the class and at least half who were all due before mid December (aka 32 weeks+) had not yet discussed whether or not they'd be receiving pain medication, and if so, what type. No clue on whether they wanted anyone else in the delivery room, or even visitors.
8) It was also fun to watch the looks of shock and horror when some of the moms found out for the first time that their babies would be in the room with them until discharge unless they asked for them to be placed in the nursery from 11 PM - 6 AM.

And my favorite (said within earshot of me by many pg women):
"She's (referring to me) really small for having twins."

If this continues to be a trend, I may be pushed to reply "maybe your just big for 1?" I blame the boobs for this illusion though so I typically just reply with a smile and a thank you and then if they continue with some story about some other twin mom they know, add that the boys are bigger than the norm for 1. Love my overachievers!

In Hate With Target

Historically I never return things. If you go back to my very first month of blogging this is elaborated on and demonstrated thoroughly involving a sewing machine and Walmart.

We received 2 rather large and expensive baby gifts that necessitated my returning them for both space and monetary reasons, so I took back a few of the smaller items that we had duplicates of as well.

Tomorrow is cleaning lady Tuesday, so I figured tonight would be a good night to return the items with Striker's slave labor, I mean help/heavy lifting.

We went to Babies R Us first since I was afraid they might close earlier and I knew Target was open until 10. Checking out at BRU is usually a long process so I was prepared for the worst. It went so smoothly that we were holding our gift card for the returned items in under 5 minutes from getting out of the car. I had a 15% off coupon that expired Thursday, so Striker and I went to check out the strollers. We test drove them around the aisles and practiced moving the various components around, fell in love with what we now call the Cadillac, and made our purchase. We also checked out playards because I am still in a debate with myself over what will best suit the needs of twin infants.

We headed off to Target which I'd figured would be a snap since their online return/gift receipt printing process was super easy.

To summarize the experience:
-It took just as long to make our return of 5 items on 2 gift receipts as it did for the entire BRU visit.
-The returns girl was training someone else and was unable to multitask.
-It took 4 transactions to return all of the 5 items on 2 separate online order receipts.
-I had to provide my drivers license twice despite having gift receipts for all items (I did not have them for one at BRU - no driver's license required, they just pulled it off my registry).
-I tried to casually help the chick when she repeatedly got stuck and didn't know how to process the return of the various item. She unsuccessfully tried to pretend she knew better and blew me off...multiple times.

I suggested that Striker go take this picture while I was watching the lead girl try to work HER company's website for me. She gave up and let me take over so that I could prove to her that I had in fact printed the gift receipt correctly and that both items I was returning were on the same receipt (she'd just entered them wrong repeatedly).

In the event that you ever want to work at Target and process returns, here is what you need to do:

Scan gift receipt.

Scan item being returned.

Enter the code on the right of the gift receipt which corresponds to the price paid.

Put balance due to customer on gift card by scanning gift card.

If you are unable to scan the item being returned, enter the code on the left of the gift receipt next to the corresponding items description. You can be sure that it's the correct item by looking at the flipping shipping label on the box that has the SAME ORDER NUMBER as the gift receipt you are holding. Just saying...

And when the customer is patiently waiting while you spend HALF AN HOUR processing her return for 5 items on 2 orders and she kindly states that when she went to verify in store that she had printed the gift receipt correctly that it only lists the item once despite having multiple quantities on the order, DO NOT TAKE YOUR TRAINEE WITH YOU TO MAKE HER PROVE IT TO YOU!!!!!! Otherwise, understand that you'll become fodder for her blog :)

Garage Organization

Or yet another reason my cat is lacking a few brain cells...

Commentary by Felix...

"Ooh, look! I bet I can see out the window if I can just get up on that shelf!"
















"How do I get up there? Why are you taking pictures of me Mom?"
















"This might work..."

"Why is it so lumpy and what are all these obstacles? Maybe if I just keep going, they'll go away". (It's a foosball table under a sheet, and yes, he walked all the way across in the wrong direction, before heading back to jump up on the shelf).

"SUCCESS! Why'd I get up here again? How do I get back down?"

Cat Stroller

No, I did not buy a stroller for my cats! The furries are just very curious about all the new things that are coming out of various sized boxes around the house lately. I'm not sure if they like the boxes or the things that come out of them more.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

I made super easy and YUMMY cupcakes and promised Tina that I'd post the recipe. Thank you Real Simple! I made them even easier by using Pilsbury Cream Cheese frosting...I exclusively use Pilsbury mix and frosting for my cupcakes because they are so moist, and the pumpkin puree makes them even better...I actually baked them a few minutes longer than normal.

29 Weeks

Not much to report this week...at Monday's appointment, the boys' heartbeats were so close together that it took her forever to decide that she was in fact getting two different readings on her doppler...I also blame the fact that B is pretty much covering A and that I didn't have lemonade before the appointment to get B to move around a bunch.

I started to make some progress with writing thank you notes and organizing the boys' room...still a LONG way to go on that one.

Trying to figure out a new sleeping position because the kicking against the mattress isn't something I'm able to sleep through too well anymore...

22 Names

I promise I won't highlight every gift we receive for the boys, but the one that we received from Kim and Jane is still amusing me. Jane (along with many others) has expressed her frustration that we refuse to share the boys' names until they are born because she does embroidered gifts. And so, we now have 11 sets of onesies and t-shirts in names that are highly likely not to be their real names ;) We are however big fans of Striker II & Striker Jr, and Bauer & Almeda.

Crafty Sistor and KFuj

Lil Dahl and KFuj made the cutest centerpieces and favors for my shower and I felt they deserved a feature on my blog. All of the centerpieces were nursery rhymes and were super cute!

The favors contained peanut M&Ms...you know, cuz they're boys ;)I can't even guess the number of hours KFuj and crew spent making these and the bear pins...which I unfortunately don't have a picture of :(

Twin Size Thank You!!!

Saturday was my baby shower extravaganza with about 60 people in attendance! A super duper big thank you to my family (including the KFuj family) for planning, organizing, and working their tails off for a super nice shower while I sat around and grew 2 humans, talked to people, and opened a mountain of gifts! :) Highlights to come...

First Hot Dog in 28 Weeks

Der-licious!

Overheard...

Someone (who is not Striker or I) overheard this conversation between their coworkers:

Participant A: Did you hear that Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize?
Participant B: Yes. Is that his first name or his last name?
Participant A: I don't know.

Gasp!

I've said that when I reached 28 weeks I would allow myself a hot dog. Shockingly, I did not have one yesterday, despite being out and about for the ultrasound. Now at 3:33 AM I would totally get out of bed and drive to Weinerschnitzel...if they were open at this hour. There is a chili cheese dog with my name on it and I must have it soon!

28 Weeks

Lots to report today:

Glucose test was normal. YAY!!!!!!!! I get to continue enjoying my ice cream...oh happy day! And no more nasty lemon lime stuff or 3 hour glucose test - YIPPEE!!!

Iron levels were a little low, which is normal with twins, so I've started an iron supplement with bonus doses of Vitamin C, Folic Acid and something else I'm not remembering right now. Going to try taking it before bed tonight since I have to take it 2 hours after eating (hard to do when you eat every two hours) and then have heart burn for several hours after taking it. Hoping I can sleep through the heart burn.

We had our 28 week ultrasound today and, no joke, the first thing she said was "These guys are overachievers". Striker and I burst out laughing. Apparently A has a big head like his parents (hey, at least we know he's ours) and both are weighing above average for singletons. Apparently no one told them they were twins. :) "Average" is 2 pounds 4 ounces at 28 weeks. A is 2 pounds 14 ounces (yes, almost 3 pounds!) and B is 2 pounds 7 ounces. Holy 5 1/2 pounds of baby!!!! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think average weight gain for the baby each week in the third trimester is just under half a pound? I'll let you do that math on that one ;)Size wise, A is measuring at 30 weeks and B is 29ish.

A is still head down and very happy in his position...when she tried to push him up he adamantly refused and kicked violently against my diaphragm. B is sort of at a 45 degree angle...in between the 7 & 11 formations. Sigh. He's the one most likely to be seen and felt since he's closest to my belly button...A is wedged behind him and the one most likely to be doing headstands on my bladder. These kids definitely have personalities of their own!




And finally, here's the belly:

My big maternity shirts all fit now. Some of the smaller ones barely cover the belly. The XL t-shirts that I wear most of the time (you know, since I'm on house arrest with the furries and they prefer me not to get dressed up for them so that we can snuggle) are also starting to provide a bit of a draft at the bottom.

RUDE!!!

All of these able bodied individuals continued to sit there (including their purse, bag and box) while I stood against the wall. No one offered to move anything or let me sit. How Rude!!!!

Busted!

Paula sent me my shower gift a little early and then expected me not to open it until my shower. Of course, Striker opened it as soon as it arrived. :) Totally my fault because I didn't tell him to wait, but hey, shouldn't he get to open some of the baby gifts? ;)

Today Paula sent me a text message to make sure the package had arrived, and my guilty conscience confessed. If she hadn't asked, I totally would have played it off ;)

Let's hope the boys get someone else's patience!

Thanks again Paula!

Brotherly Love

Pretty much all day today Oskar and Felix laid on the snuggie on the couch together. They were either enjoying the fall weather, or recovering from their wild party last night. ;)