

No longer simply ME but my whole family.
The cool thing is that the top folds out to be a changing table! And, I only paid $40 for it.
We rearranged the living room so that 1) the RCA cables would reach from all the electrical/entertainment components to the receiver (and) 2) we have room for both the pack-n-play and the new dresser. The corner where all the misc "stuff" is right now is where the pack-n-play will go when the babies come. The pic is a little dark and the room is still a little messy, but you get the idea.
We actually picked up the dresser in Charlestown, got all of the speaker wire run and speakers hung for the surround sound, hooked up all of the components, and got the cable internet and phone back up and running all before 2pm. Then we ate some lunch and watched disk 5 of Lost: Season 2 before putting the books back on the bookshelf, setting up the pack-n-play to be sure it would fit in the space we saved for it, and unpacked newborn and 0-3 month clothes into the dresser. What a day! My feet and ankles are huge from all the work we did, but it was worth it. We still have a long ways to go to get completely settled in but we made a lot of progress yesterday and we are both really pleased with how it turned out.
Pregnancy update: I'm trying to keep positive despite the physical difficulty of being pregnant in the 3rd trimester with twins. I wake up in the morning with hand, knee, and foot pain. I'm waking up more during the night not because I have to use the bathroom but because I'm uncomfortable with pain (rib pain last night) that wakes me up. Granted, I don't get the rib pain if I sleep on my huge pregnancy body pillow, but it is huge and sometimes I just want the opportunity to cuddle up to my husband before I fall asleep. Anyway, the babies seem to be doing great, they are kicking me all the time and moving around. It is so strange when they move into a certain position where either their head or their butt is pressing against the outside of my belly and that one spot is so hard and even raised up a bit. Aliens, I tell you.. Aliens :)
Tm and I are having a little bit of a reality check thinking that these kids will likely be here within 10 more weeks. I really should get all of my Christmas shopping done early this year, cause you know I'm not going to be doing any shopping in November or December! We do want to put the babies on our Christmas cards this year, so that will have to wait at least.
We recently got new cell phones, complete with a camera (and flash!) Here's some of the pics I've taken with it in the past few weeks, just for entertainment sake.
Last week I just made two of the Chocolate Pistachio Bundt Cakes (CPBC for short) - one for a work party, and another I brought to community group. Well, tonight is the party at PJ&DJ's place for KW's going away party. How could I bring another CPBC to a community group / church gatering less than a week later? The answer is, I couldn't. Well I could, but Tm and I have been wanting a taste of the Fuzzy Navel cake ever since I rediscovered half a bottle of Peach Schnapps when we were unpacking. This is left over from the last time I made this cake.
Now, don't worry here - the alcohol bakes out of the cake, so I'm not going to be getting the babies liquored up by having a piece of cake. But - I am looking forward to cutting into this beauty, and I hope everyone else likes it as well.
I must note, that my dear husband put a lot of work into this cake too. The recipe calls for fresh orange juice, which usually I just replace with some from the carton (store bought). But it also says for a more flavorful cake, to add the zest of 1 orange. Well, if I was going to buy an orange for zest, I might as well just buy 3 oranges to make make fresh orange juice. Which, in our household, juicing citrus is Tm's job. (He also had to juice limes in the same day for our dinner, Pan Seared Pork Tenderloin with Garlicy Lime Cilantro sauce, YUM).
All that said, we didn't get as much done around the apartment (unpacking) that we would have liked to yesterday, but we did get a lot accomplished:
1) I found a Sesame Street mobile on craigslist the day before, we arranged a meeting time and met to exchange the cash for the item. So cute!
2) Went to the Verizon store to check out new phones. I then spent 90 minutes on the phone with Verizon signing up for a new contract (we've been with Sprint for the last 3 years) and following up with paperwork to prove where I work for the awesome corporate discount we got.
3) Tm did the dishes, which doesn't sound like much, but there was about 3 days worth of dishes in there.
4) I unpacked ONE very large box containing towels and linens. We put clean sheets on the bed.
5) Cooked a yummy tasty dinner out of Cook's Illustrated - which, it just so happens that they featured the same recipe on their show "America's Test Kitchen" yesterday, I caught the 2nd half of the show while eating a late lunch. Some of you might be familiar with this recipe, I made it way back when for a Welcome Team event (Spring Thing - Guess Who's Coming To Dinner). Yum!
6) Tm went to the store to pick up the ingredients we would need to make the Fuzzy Navel Cake.
7) I baked some cookies (from a mix) and washed up the dinner dishes.
8) Tm returned with the wrong pudding mix for the cake and without complaint went back out to get the right thing.
9) I did some more dishes.
10) Time to make the cake! Tm got a great arm workout juicing the oranges, I slightly injured myself grating the zest, but we got the cake into the oven then relaxed the rest of the night. So you know there's a lot of love put into this cake!
When I put it that way, we got a lot done! Time to get ready for church and eat some breakfast.
Hershey found what he thought was a comfortable spot to rest - in the sunshine, on top of miscellaneous odds-and-ends that weren't packed at moving time.
Yes, these are my feet and ankles (what's left of them) resting on my carry on luggage on our way to Seattle, during our extended layover in Dallas. Yes, we had to fly to Dallas to then fly to Seattle. I resolved 1) never to fly that pattern again (and) 2) never to fly pregnant again. It took about 3 days for my ankles to return and for any of my shoes to fit.
The day after our arrival, we spent the afternoon with some friends and had some professional black and white "pregnancy" photos taken. This one was particularly fun to do, although I somewhat resent Tm for having a bigger pregnant belly than me!
These are my parents! It just so happened that the timing of our trip was perfect so that we could attend my cousin's wedding. It was a great opportunity to see a lot of my extended family and to see my parents get dressed up. Don't they look cute?
Here I am at my very first baby shower. The chocolate brown outfit was a gift from my mother-in-law - she thought I should have something sexy to wear while pregnant. The top probably won't fit for very long, as these aren't actually "maternity" clothes, but the pants are super comfy (gauchos) and I think I'll be able to wear for a long time, during and after the pregnancy. We had a great time with everyone, and got lots of cute outfits and baby stuff. It was a lot of fun.
"The Farmboy" is a little restaurant just south of where Tm's parents live that serves GREAT breakfast. We actually went there twice with his Dad for breakfast in the 3 days we spent with Tm's family. The first time I had eggs, hashbrowns, biscuits & sausage country gravy. The second time I had a huge malted waffle with strawberries and whipped cream, and scrambled eggs. Mmmm... Yum! And, the coffee was always hot (more on this later).
I'm lounging at the in-laws place with Isabelle, who is a Devon Rex, just like Hershey. She is an old lady (18 years old!) but she still gets around alright, despite her cataracts and partial vision loss. Just like any other Devon, she loves to spend time on your shoulder. She has always been very skiddish, so it is an honor that she chose to sleep on me. She does interact with us more each time we visit.
This picture was taken at IHOP: International House of Pancakes - which USED to be my favorite breakfast spot. It is tradition that I look forward to every time we go home to visit, that we have a breakfast date at IHOP with our friends JB & DB. This visit was no different. I ordered (decaf) coffee, and of course IHOP brings out a cup and a "hot pot" of coffee. First off, the first cup was cold. So I asked for new coffee - which came out piping hot. By the time I drank the first cup and attempted to refill from the "hot pot" the coffee inside was certainly NOT "very hot coffee". I was inspired enough by the experience (and, I must say it is ALWAYS like this) that I wrote a comment card to our good friend Dave (the IHOP guy). I even included my address, I wonder if he'll write me back..
This is just prior to our leaving Tm's family to head back up north to prepare to fly back to Boston. I thought it would be a great idea to get a picture of the babies with their Grandpa Y while we were there.
That's all the pictures (and time) I have for now. Thanks for looking and take care!
This is "Twin A"
And this is "Twin A"s boy parts. Can you see it?
This is "Twin B"
And this is "Twin B"s boy parts. This one has an arrow to help you find it.
I'm sure our sons will really appreciate their mother posting ultrasound pictures of their penises for the world to see. I can just hear it now, "How embarrassing, Mom!"
If you'd like to view this page full size, check it out at my Online Scrapbooking Gallery. At this link, if you click on the smaller picture, you'll get a full size view of the page. :) Thanks for looking!