19 Weeks: Sometimes...

Sometimes I fall into the trap that I shouldn't post any pictures unless I can get good pictures (as far as lighting, composition, etc goes). Today was not a good picture day. It is rainy and gross and my indoor photo spaces are quite limited. I tried some on my stairs but this is all I ended up with:

 Not exactly what I was envisioning. ;)

 

So I stood by my open door and got at least one decent belly shot. Days like today I will fully admit my temptation is to wear yoga pants all day long and just be lazy. Something about rainy days makes me just want to stay in bed! But, alas, today is not a lazy day. I have have several little tasks to do today, but one I am making a priority for is making no bake cookies. Just seems like it would be rather tasty. ;) Other things I needed to get done today: finish up stuff for garage sale (which is tomorrow!), grocery shop, and make some stuff for my brother's graduation party. I'm thinking the grad crafts will wait until Sunday when Brad is working on refinishing some furniture.

In other news, our AC went out last Sunday. Thankfully it's been a pretty mild week as far as weather (in fact, as previously mentioned, it's 66 degrees and raining right now) and our gracious landlords brought us some window AC units to put in our bedroom. Overall it hasn't been terrible. I am very thankful, though, that someone will be here Monday morning at 8am to replace the system.

And just because I feel like I've been pretty wordy I'll do a bullet point bump update:

• Babies are approximately the size of mangoes and are approximately 6 inches from crown to rump this week. I think that's pretty big!
• Next week is the big ultrasound! I'll probably wait a few days to post it here, but I won't make you wait until my normal "bump" update. :) We are getting very excited to know who is growing in there. We're ready to start the projects, that's for sure. 
• I've been feeling the babies moving around more and more which is an odd mixture of awesome and very weird. We can't feel them from the outside just yet.
• It's getting harder and harder to bend at the waist (wait? what waist??). 
• Settling into bed is more of a process.
•  I officially can't see my feet if I stand up straight and look straight down my belly. I've also officially hit the stage where I get full pretty fast but am hungry every couple of hours (sometimes only after an hour and a half!). 
• Cravings this week: ice cream (I may or may not have eaten an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's Cookies and Milk ice cream in one sitting. Don't judge me. At least it doesn't have corn syrup in it), bean and cheese frozen burritos, and berries.
• I also have a much more difficult time getting out of couches that sink when you sit on them. I feel like it's too soon for some of this...but... I am carrying twins so I'm bound to grow a little faster.
• We bought our first two cloth diapers. Brad picked the print out. ;)

Time to get back at my To Do list! Come to our garage sale tomorrow!!!

Style File: 18 Weeks

 This week is 18 weeks! Whew! This week it warmed up and gave us the first taste of summer. Let me tell you... I was not a huge fan of the 90 degree days. Yes, I know it's just going to get worse. Such is the life of a pregnant woman in Virginia Beach, I guess.

 I am getting antsy to know the sexes of the babies. I want to pick paint colors and start imagining the babies' room beyond a theoretical. We have secured a dresser from a good friend of ours and I have Big Plans for it. I might even post about it when we get around to it.

 I don't think I've mentioned here yet that we plan to cloth diaper. I'm not going to do a big old defense of why we want to cloth diaper, but I will tell you it comes down to two things for me. 1.) I do think it's better for the babies. Disposables are full of gross chemicals that I wouldn't want to put on my butt for an extended amount of time. I try to live as naturally as possible in other areas of my life, so this one is no different. 2.) Cost. While cloth diapers do have a bigger up front cost, over your child's lifetime it will save you a ton of money. Assuming you spend 50 bucks a month on diapers (which I actually think is lowballing it, especially in those early months when you're changing a poopy diaper every three seconds) and assuming you potty train at 2 years old (which, again, I don't know very many kids who potty train at exactly two years of age. Usually it's closer to three), that means you're spending $1,200 from birth to potty training. Depending on what diapers you get and how long your kid is in diapers it can be much much more. So for us, with twins, that cost would be closer to $3000. Now, cloth diapers you can invest in 18-24 diapers for a very good stash (for one baby) for $400-$800 depending on what kind of diapers you get. Most diapers go from about 8lbs to 35lbs, which is really for a lot of babies from birth to potty training. Added bonuses: kids in cloth diapers tend to potty train sooner AND you can reuse diapers for future children. So for 1600 buckeroos (for a stellar stash, I could get by on less probably) I can diaper the babies that are on their way, plus our future children, for a lot LESS money than disposables would cost.  Even with the increased amount of money spent on water for laundry and special soaps, you will still come out ahead. Ok, so that "not a defense" got a bit longer than I anticipated. There are a lot of other reasons we decided to cloth diaper, but these are the main ones. NOTE: I am not judging anyone for using disposable diapers. I will use them for the first little bit as we adjust to being home with twins until the babies are big enough to fit into the one size diapers (which aren't the best on new borns and I don't see the cost savings in newborn diapers that only fit for a very short time). I am just sharing what we plan on doing. :) Any choice you make is your choice and I'm glad we have the ability to make those choices!

Overall, I've been feeling pretty good minus this cold/sinus crap I have at the moment. I'm looking forward to continuing to clean up the house (Garage Sale is in one week from tomorrow!) and making room for the babies. I'm also getting crafty for a few decorations for my little brother's graduation party (Part of me can't believe he's graduating high school and going to college this year. Say what?!). I'll be headed up to MI on June 4th to help with the party and celebrate with my little brother. I'm super proud of his academic accomplishments: He graduated in the top 14 of his class, will be headed to college with multiple scholarships, and will be part of the honor's program. He's really worked hard through wrestling, working a job, being involved in youth group, AND still managed to knock his grades out of the park. Way to go Sean! I'm so proud of you!

Style File: 17 Weeks

Man...17 weeks. I had the realization if the babies come before 37 weeks I am pretty much half way through right now! I mean, obviously we hope they stay inside longer than 34 weeks, but they could come that early. My doctors would be pleased if we made it to 34. I am hoping for closer to 38 weeks just to try to mitigate any issues that might come with coming earlier than that.

 Thankfully, I seem to be regaining some energy this week. I have days where I am tired and I do get tired more easily than I did before I got pregnant, but that's just part of it. I don't feel like I need to sleep for 12 hours a day any more and I can manage to do things like clean out my closet and do the laundry again! Brad and I have been busy getting ready for a garage sale so we've been purging a lot of things. Mostly it's in preparation of trying to make room for the babies! Essentially, we are collapsing the office into a corner in our bedroom. That means anything in there that's not needed has to go! Once it's emptied out we can start putting baby stuff in there and start putting together a nursery. Of course a lot of that won't happen right away. We still need to paint and figure out what we're going to do with it and all of that will be determined after we know sexes.

 So far I haven't really had any cravings. I've been digging Annie's Macaroni and Cheese a lot, but part of that is just because it's easy and I'm not interested in cooking big meals these days. I am less restricted with what I eat. There is a big correlation between maternal weight gain before 20 weeks and how long twins stay in there. Basically, I'm "supposed" to eat a ton of calories per day with a lot of those calories coming from protein and fat sources. So things like milkshakes aren't off limits (unless I develop blood sugar issues). I've been eating full fat cheeses, veggies with veggie dip, peanut butter, lots of chicken and beef, beans... I mean, it is a bit of a challenge to meet my protein and calorie goals on 100% healthy foods. I have indulged in Chick Fil A a couple times (ok more than a couple...) but for the most part I try to stick to real foods: I like to be able to pronounce everything on the label. Oh, I did think of a craving. Pizza rolls. Yes, I did buy some. No, they are not a "whole food" by any stretch of the imagination. But they tasted just as good as I remembered them tasting from childhood.

Clothes these days...well we have a bit of a love hate relationship. I dislike being so limited in my wardrobe. I'm used to having lots of choices and different outfit combinations. I just packed up all my pre-pregnancy clothes (because I can't wear them anymore) and it left my closet a bit sparse. I'm not complaining. I just haven't invested in a ton of maternity clothes for a few reasons. 1.) they're over priced. There is no reason to spend 80 bucks on a pair of pants I know I'm going to out grow in a few weeks. 2.) I'm very picky. I don't like 50% of what is marketed to pregnant ladies. I refuse to embrace crappy fitting jeans just because they have a stretchy waist band. 3.) My belly is expanding at quite the rate. Things I buy now will not fit as I progress. I know this is true of a singleton pregnancy, but I will probably outgrow things a bit faster. I'm super grateful to a friend who has let me borrow a few pieces for now. I did invest in a few dresses for work (turns out, pregnant or not yoga pants and t-shirts are still against the dress code ;). This is one of them. Throw a sweater over it and I'm good to go!

Outfit run down:
Head Band: Old- H and M
Dress: Motherhood Maternity
Sandals: Target

Graduation Style File (and 16 Weeks)

 I had a photobomber in this pic! ha!  Anyway, it's true, I am graduating with my Master's in Education at the end of the summer. Even though my degree won't post until August, I get to participate in all of the graduation activities right now (Regent only does one grad ceremony a year!). I will not be walking in our Commencement ceremony, but I will be participating in the School of Education's commissioning ceremony. Tonight is when they give me my Master's hood and commission us into the big wide world. I am pretty excited. More excited to be done with school though. ;)

 I am also 16 weeks this week! I feel like the belly exploded a little bit this week. More people are noticing and it's kind of fun. Babies are looking good. Next appointment is at 20 weeks and they'll be able to determine sexes then. I'm pretty excited for that because it means we can finalize some registry items, pick out names, and start scheming up the babies' room!

 I am feeling grateful at this point in time that I will be done with school before the babies get here. My final project for the summer is a professional portfolio and I hope to get it done well before August, that way I can concentrate on getting ready for the babies. Essentially, once September hits I'll be on labor watch.

So what do I plan to do with my Master's? Well, that's a very good question. I think eventually I would like to finish out my credentials to get certified to teach and then end up in the classroom. That, of course, is on hold for a while. For the immediate future, I am focusing on the babies and learning how to be a mom. Perhaps in a couple years I'll try to be a student again.