Harrison, my model/doctor

Harrison was being such a little model in these pictures. He likes to pose and then immediately look at the picture on the digital camera. Biggest update on Harrison: He totally knows his ABC's! Probably has for some time now! We have always read ABC books and done puzzles and occasionally I will sing the ABC song to him. He points out most of the letters and knows them so I assumed he had a good grasp of the alphabet and he even told me the other day that he wanted to learn ALL the letters. But he has NEVER sang the ABC song. He doesn't sing really at all. He likes us to do the singing. So at dinner the other night when he just busted out and sang the entire ABC song flawlessy out of the blue, we were floored! Right after he finished he covered up his face like he was super embarassed. He didn't even screw up the "LMNOP" part. He sings it whenever we ask now. I can't describe how exciting this is for a mommy and daddy! We think he can count to 20 too, but the 11 - 20 often gets a little jumbled up. He also tells us entire stories. I think they are supposed to be able to say 2 and 3 word sentences at this point and Harrison does these big run on sentences. Its so fun. He always keeps us laughing.

I had a doctor's appointment scheduled for tomorrow morning but I was paranoid that I was leaking fluid and I am all of a sudden having the menstrual like cramps so I thought it was smart to go in early. All I can do to protect the babies at this point is be super cautious and call the doctor for every little thing. We are at 36 weeks today and the babies should weigh in the neighborhood of 5 lbs, 9 oz and 6 lbs, 1 oz. I took my last Procardia at 10:30 last night. That alone is going to increase my contractions. And of course we have a full moon tonight so who knows how that will affect me! The doctor checked me out and I am still at 4 cm, 90% effaced. My contractions were every 6 minutes. She was nervous to send me home, but set up on appointment for Wednesday at 4pm. She told me to make sure my bags are packed. She said if there is any change, she will admit me to the hospital and she might admit me even if there isn't a change. Once you are at 4cm and you move past that, things can move very fast, especially with twins. Her biggest concern and definitely mine too, is that things will happen so fast that I won't get to the hospital in time. And I not only want to get to the hospital in time, I WANT THE EPIDURAL!!! So if I was admitted on Wednesday, they still wouldn't induce me until Monday. But I would be at the hospital if anything were to happen before then. The thought of spending a week plus in the hospital is miserable, but its certainly better than the alternative of endangering all of us and not getting there in time. I will spend the next few days taking it easy and enduring these contractions. Unless something happens, I will update after my next appointment!

Smoke-it and Rooster

With all this pregnancy talk, I haven't updated on Harrison lately! And he is still keeping us as busy and entertained as ever. Last Friday night (a week ago), around 8 in the evening, we decided to take a little "vacation". Harrison LOVES hotels and room service. We realized it could be awhile until we can do one of these last minute getaways again. We did a search on priceline.com and ended up at the Renaissance Hotel right down the road within an hour with our bags! The whole way there, Harrison yelled, arms flailing "Going to the Hotel!". They had an amazing aquarium in the middle of the lobby that could have entertained Harrison for hours. He asked Adam what it was and Adam told him it was a fish tank. Harrison said "No Daddy, thats an aquarium". Then later he asked what some vases and odds and ends were that were on a table. Adam said "Those are pretty things that we look at and don't touch". Harrison responded with "No Daddy, those are decorations". Harrison didn't actually roll his eyes, but that's definitely the attitude he had. He cracks us up! We are constantly being quizzed. 3 blonde sisters came up to the fish tank and Harrison was just hugging them all, he was a weakness for blondes. He calls them princesses. He loved the glass elevators and of course the giant bed. The next morning he was so excited to eat breakfast in bed: mini pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Can't beat that!

His obsession with Christmas continues. He ran into our room around 5:30 am this morning and immediately started talking about what he wanted for Christmas. He also told me he was on Santa's bad list. I am officially using "Santa" as blackmail to get him to behave. Are there parents who don't do this??? Because they all should. I ordered him a chore list that hangs on the wall. Yes, I realize the kid is only 2 and that might make me seem like a slave driver. But Harrison has a lot of people who love him and love to spoil him and he probably has a thousand toys at this point. Literally over a thousand. I need to at least start teaching him responsibility! If he learns about chores now, it will always be a way of life for him. Of course at this age the chores will be watering plants, sweeping the deck, helping put up groceries, etc. These are things he already loves to do and it makes him feel so good to help. But slowly I will work in some "not so fun" ones. I think it will be great for his self esteem. Not that he really needs the help! He seems to be a pretty confident little guy!

No matter how precious your little 2 year old angel is, there will be tantrums. Daily tantrums. Whats funny to me is the reasons for the tantrums. He doesn't have them because we ask him to eat his veggies, or its naptime, or he has to go to a timeout for a bad behavior. Let me give you some examples of recent tantrums.

1) He is playing with a sticker book and decides he needs a cucumber sticker. Well, there is no cucumber sticker. And....TANTRUM! Spinning around on the ground. I am wondering if we should call an exorcist. Adam and I just look at each other and try not to laugh at what's happening in front of us.

2) He sees a commercial for the Little Einstein's show on TV. He wants to see it NOW. Typically I can grant requests for certain cartoons because of this magical thing called DVR (can you believe when I was little I only got to watch cartoons on Saturday morning?!). But this particular show is not on DVR. And....whining commences and then out of nowhere he turns into a little wild animal and bites me on my armpit skin. Yeah, that hurts! And then of course TANTRUM.

3) One of his favorite all time cartoons is the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I love this cartoon because its totally G rated and its about problem solving. It always teaches him something. On each episode they are given 3 or 4 tools (Mouseketools) to help solve their problem. On this one particular show, an elephant was one of the "tools". Harrison FREAKED out at the thought of an elephant being used as a tool. He wasn't having it and TANTRUM!

I could go on and on but you get what I am saying. These things just come out of nowhere! He also can be very dramatic in a sweet way. He met Minnie Mouse at Disneyworld when he was 18 months old and it was one of the best moments of his life. He tore across the park and leapt into her arms. He told me the other day with so much sadness in his voice "I want to hug Minnie. I miss her so so so so much". He even gave a fake sniffle.

We had an ultrasound at the perinatologist today and brought Harrison along. He told us he wanted to see Charlie first. We asked him this morning what the babies' names were and he replied "Smoke-it and Rooster". Just out of nowhere, thats what he came up with! So silly. He has mixed feelings about what is about to happen but overall seems happy. I can't wait to be able to pick him up and throw him around and have him climb all over me again. Its hard to have a little boy and be so physically limited when I am with him.

There are no new updates with the babies except I feel like Henry has dropped even more! Every night I make sure that I have showered and everything is ready to go. I still worry that Henry is going to come so fast I won't have time to get the epidural. But what can I do? Next big apppointment with the dr is Tuesday if I make it that far! My estimate on weights at this point is 5 lbs, 6 oz and 5 lbs, 14 oz.

The house projects are ALMOST finished. The deck guys have really disappointed us. It was going so well but then they took a 6 week siesta. The deck itself is beautiful and everything we could have hoped for. The timeline has just gotten out of hand as we are now approaching 3 months. They are telling us it will be done by July 27 but we are expecting at least a week after that. We are still waiting on the new doors for Adam's office and then we are all done!

Adam isn't working today, except for a little bit downstairs in the office. I am glad to have him here. It gets lonely during the day. I also am glad to have a driver in case the worst happens and a baby tries to pop out! Although I am on bed rest I still drove a few times but officially cut that out. I have contractions non stop when I drive!

I posted a pic above of Harrison on his new motorcycle rocker. Our sweet neighbors are moving to California and couldn't take it with them. Its handmade solid wood and one of the most beautiful toys I have ever seen. We are so thankful to them! I also attached pics of me at 10 weeks and me at 35 weeks. Its amazing how big a belly can expand when you are having twins!!!

Hanging in There

Still pregnant! Yay! It would be wonderful to make it to 36 weeks (Monday). Its a full moon that night and also the day they will take me off the medicine. So if it doesn't happen before then, I say Monday or Tuesday is a good bet!

We are still sticking with our No Visitors Policy at the hospital (except Kim and Gary will be coming with Harrison). As a good mama, I have to set my priorities and teaching the babies to breastfeed is number 1! And as anyone who has been there can tell you, that task is all consuming. If there is any time leftover that will be spent sleeping or spending some time with the new Big Brother! And of course we are not out of the woods yet with a possible NICU stay but I get more optimistic every day! We can't wait to introduce our babies to everyone but it will have to be after we are settled at home and they have the breastfeeding down. Its just not something I want to do with an audience!

I forgot to mention yesterday that my fundal height was 44! Which basically means my belly is the size of someone 44 weeks pregnant! (Or a month overdue). Yikes! I hope that means big healthy babies!

Tick Tock!

I am going to get to hold my babies any day now! At my doctor's appointment, she told me that I am 3 centimeters dilated and 90% effaced. To put that into perspective, when my water broke with Harrison and my contractions were 2 - 3 minutes apart, I was only 3 centimeters by the time we got to the hospital. 90% effaced means that my cervix has thinned to the point there is only 10% left keeping the babies in! However, many women can go several more weeks at 3cm and 90%! So it doesn't necessarily mean we will be rushing to the hospital tomorrow. Because Henry is SO incredibly low, I do worry about not getting to the hospital in time to get the epidural. And my doctor said that was a genuine concern. But there isn't much I can do but hope for the best scenario! I am going to really take my bedrest seriously this week. Next Monday if I haven't delivered yet (I will be 36 weeks), they will ask me to stop taking my Procardia. After that I think they will come quickly! They scheduled me to be induced with Pitocin on Aug. 2 at 7am, but she doesn't seem to think I will make it til then!

New goal is 36 weeks!

I had another uneventful doctor's appointment today. Adam is in Marble Falls for work for the day so this was my first solo appointment. The doctor and nurses were so glad that I have made it to 34 weeks and 1 day! I estimate their weights to be about 4 lbs, 12 oz and 5 lbs, 4 oz. The doctor put the heart and contraction monitors on me for about 45 minutes and said everything sounded fine! At this point, if I were to go into labor, they wouldn't stop it with any drugs. They will take me off of the Procardia at 36 weeks. The Procardia calms my uterus so the contractions would probably increase when I stop taking it. She asked if I would like to try to deliver naturally (vs. C-section) and I said yes. Since they are both head down, she said there is no reason not to try, although most women opt for the C-section. The only real risk of this is once Henry comes out, Charlie could change positions because of all the room he will suddenly have. If he moves to a breech or transverse position, they will have to do a c-section. Then I will have to recover from both natural AND a c-section, which would be no fun. She said the chances of this happening are about 1/3. So I think its worth the risk. It would be much better to let things happen as nature intended them to happen! The last thing I want to do is recover from major surgery with 3 little ones to take care of! Either way, I will delivery in a surgical room. If I am able to try natural (which I should), they will be set up for natural and a c-section.

I am up to 158 pounds now, which means I have gained 37 total. Most books and sites I have seen recommend gaining 37 - 54 lbs, so I feel good about being on that low end so far! I am thinking I should lose at least 20 - 25 lbs right off the bat just from baby and all that other stuff that comes out during delivery! Breastfeeding twins burns about 1000 calories per day so I am optimistic I will be back in my skinny jeans within 6 months without working out or dieting. Lord knows that 3 boys will be a workout in itself!

Harrison has been using his adjectives and adverbs very well. "That's cool...That's awesome.....This is going to be fun" He is such a little boy. He spends a lot of time flying his planes around the house and zipping his trucks around. He has been coloring a lot more too. He bosses us around a lot and makes us drive backhoes, cranes, and dump trucks until we just can't take it anymore. He watches us very carefully and guides us in how to draw them. He is going to be such a good brother to the boys, a bossy one, but a good one!

No News is Good News!

Twins Update: Well there isn't much to say which is wonderful! Both of my doctors are out of town this week so I have been nervous about this time period. I thought with my luck, this would be the week the twins came! My doctor wanted me to see one of her associates on Tuesday (there are 6 doctors in the practice - if my doctor is not working the day the babies are born, then one of these doctors would deliver the twins). It was kind of a waste of an appointment because all she did was measure my fundal height, which is basically measuring my belly with a tape measurer. The scale showed I had gained 3 lbs. I was happy about that because the two weeks before I had lost weight. I only eat from about 8am - 2pm and am forced to fast the remaining 18 hours of the day because of my reflux. But I have been trying to eat all I can in that 6 hours. Lots of protein bars and shakes! The good news is that this "fasting" results in me being able to sleep quite decently every night. And that is priceless! We went in for an ultrasound at the perinatologist office today. I was expecting to get the usual weight estimation, but not today. I was disappointed but I have a good idea of what they are. At this point, Henry should be up to 5 lbs and Charlie should be around 4 lbs, 8 oz. They each gain at least an ounce per day. That means I gain around a pound of baby every week! I have a note of what the babies' weights should be everyday in my phone. It helps me get through the day to be thankful of every ounce gained! Once they are past 5.5 lbs, they won't even be considered low birth weight (and 60% of twins are considered LBW). We are right around the corner from Henry hitting that mark and around a week and a half to 2 weeks for Charlie. So I would say we are doing very well! On Monday I will be 34 weeks. The chance of a NICU stay are much much lower when you reach 35 or 36 weeks.

Harrison: Harrison's love for planes continues to grow. He asks to watch Top Gun (AKA the plane show) every single day. He told Adam that Top Gun was so so so so perfect. He makes us fast forward to the good plane parts only. He has been having fun playing at MeeMee's house while I rest at home. He is now eating in a booster seat and using plates so its time for the high chair to be put in the basement until we need it for the twins! He is doing really well with it as well as the toddler bed. In fact, we have discussed removing the mesh rail. I don't know if I have mentioned it, but his favorite color is pink. We have bath capsules that turn his water different colors and his usual request is pink. When I presented him with his green booster seat, he wanted to know why it wasn't pink. I love this and would totally be okay if he didn't grow out of it! :) I noticed that he got out a 9 piece puzzle the other day that he doesn't play with often. He put it together instantly. So I guess its time for bigger puzzles! After my online Christmas shopping spree, packages have been arriving daily. One of those packages was a set of 4 balls for Blaine. Harrison saw them and I explained they were for Blaine. And he wanted them so badly, he talked me into giving them to HIM instead. (Sorry Blaine, Aunt Jen will buy you some more!) He was walking around with all 4 of them saying "These are not Blaine's...) Ahhhh, the jealousy continues.

Adam: Poor Adam. I just don't update on him enough. He is loving his new home office. Its going to be a life saver in the first few weeks or months when the babies are here. I haven't taken a picture of it yet and I need to. Its really beautiful. He has been doing a wonderful job of taking over on laundry/dishes/AND Harrison duty in the evenings. Work is going really well and he is in a really good place now where he has more flexibility, has a lot of help at work, and can do a lot of work from his Blackberry. He very rarely misses one of my countless doctor's appointments and usually makes it home from work before or not long after Harrison wakes up from his afternoon nap.

Me: I haven't lost my mind yet from being on bed rest. I get emotional sometimes because I can't be around Harrison as much but thats to be expected. It would be weird if that didn't affect me! I know at this point in the pregnancy that this is the way it has to be. I know Harrison understands and I know he is happy and well taken care of. So I have to do whats best for all my boys! I have an amazingly cozy bed, an awesome TV with hundreds of channels and DVR, and a laptop. So it could be a heck of a lot worse! :) I thank God everyday I am not in the hospital on bed rest. I don't know how those people do it. My three days and nights were just miserable. I took a chance yesterday and left my cave to get my hair done. I was in dire need of highlights and a haircut and I know that it could be a few more months until I could break away from the babies for such a long appointment. And 4 months without highlights?!? Well thats just unacceptable. Everything was fine though. Not the most comfortable experience sitting in a chair for that long, but it was no big deal. I started asking her about this fabulous "Brazilian Blowout" that has recently been brought to my attention. For hair like mine, it makes it super smooth and shiny for up to 4 months. There is a stronger formula if you have super frizzy hair and an even stronger one for really curly hair. Even though it added another hour and a half to my stay at the salon, I told her I had to go for it. Low maintenance hair sounds good to me! I won't see the true results until tomorrow after I wash my hair, but seems great so far! And I chopped my hair off to above my shoulders so its going to be healthier overall. We are STILL waiting on our deck to be finished. They won't come out and put in the staircase until there is zero chance of rain which probably won't happen until next week. I have a new obsession and its the Taga Stroller Bike. They have just arrived in the states from the Netherlands. I am convinced we need two, one with two seats for the twins and one with a seat for Harrison. Of course, something this cool is a FORTUNE, so for now its a dream. But I have been busy trying to convince Adam what a good investment it would be and the years of fun it would provide!

That's the update for now! Hopefully I will be giving you another uneventful update on Tuesday after my doctor's appointment!

Friday Appointment Update

Quick Update! The ultrasound estimates the babies to be 4 lbs, 9 oz and 4 lbs, 1 oz, give or take 3 or 4 oz. The babies should gain at least 1 oz per day each at this point. He expects me to make it another 3 weeks! I hope so because that could mean no NICU time for Henry and Charlie and thats the ultimate goal!

A blog thats not pregnancy related! (well not really....)

This morning Adam made Harrison breakfast and we set him up at the table in a big chair so that I could sit with him and not have to worry about getting him in and out of the high chair. I was enjoying our morning conversation so much that there was no way I could let him out of my sight today. I knew that I had to take care of him today and get in some good one-on-one time and there was no talking me out of it! He has been so sweet to me - "Mommy is beautiful", "Mommy is a princess", "Mommy is OK" (he says that one with relief). He has been giving me tons of hugs and kisses and picking flowers for me. Little boys are so sweet to thier mamas, which is great since I will have 3 soon!

This morning he dragged his pillow and blanket off his bed and laid it on the ground, shut his bedroom door, turned on his air purifier, ordered me to lay down and then he laid down beside me and said "Camping in the forest". Ok, thats a fun game because I can't wait to take him camping! I know, I know, I am on bedrest. How can I take care of Harrison?!? But it was really no big deal. We laid on the couch and watched a movie, read books, played with trucks on the floor, and I laid on the bed upstairs while he played with his train (what used to be my "hobby room" has now become the "Train room" afer his birthday! He threw a little fit at lunch when he didn't want to eat but after that he chilled out and I got him down for a nap after singing The Christmas Song only 9 times.

While he was asleep, I made it my mission to finally settle on some furniture for the deck. I have been shopping forever. Patio furniture is the worst thing to shop for. I hate it! Its either junky looking or the price is astronomical. We have not had much luck with finding anything in between. I got some catalogs in the mail with great July 4 sales on outdoor stuff. I knew it would take awhile to ship so I figured that if we ordered now, we would have it beautiful and ready for company by the time the intense heat was gone. I am so looking forward to sunset dinners outside, setting the babies up in their swings, and having a nice glass of wine out there (you have NO idea how much I am looking forward to that last one!!!!) We have a love seat and two chairs on our balcony right now that we are going to move to the bottom deck. I ordered a double chaise for the bottom deck too. I picked out a red sectional and a wooden dining table for the upstairs deck. They are both made from Eucalyptus which is supposed to weather beautifully. We'll see!

We have been teaching Harrison lessons about whining lately. He is learning very well. After coming back from Kim's house the other day and hanging out with Blaine, he let me know that Blaine was whining. It was kinda cute that he was "tattling". He loves his cousin Blaine, but because he has to share his MeeMee and PopPop with him, he is a little apprehensive about him. When we were teaching a whining lesson the other day, Harrison pointed out that although Daddy didn't like whining, he DOES like WINE. Just more proof of his brilliance! :)

We have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. We get a sonogram and find out the weights. Yay! I am looking forward to good news! Also today marked 10 days since my first positive fetal fibronectin test. Which officially makes it a FALSE POSITIVE! Let's hope my second test will prove to be a false positive as well!

I have attached pix of the new deck furniture and of my BELLY! Might as well show the world! My belly is most definitely bigger than a basketball, bigger than a beach ball. Not sure if there is a ball out there as big as my belly right now!