Disney on Ice

We saw Disney on Ice on Friday. It was a semi-field trip with Carter's school. It was completely optional, and was on a school holiday. So the group had tickets that were kind of together, but not like the block we had for the circus. Nana came along to help with the kids this time. I thought it was really good. The princesses accounted for only about 1/3 of he show, which also featured Peter Pan, The Incredibles, The Lion King and Aladdin (which focused more on Aladdin than Princess Jasmine, so I don't count that one with the princesses). Anyway, the kids both really liked it, too. Ellyson started to get fussy about 3/4 through the show, so Nana took her to the back and rocked her to sleep.

20 Weeks

We are officially past the half-way point, since this pregnancy will be a max of 38 weeks. And thank goodness! My belly is huge. I'm already having trouble leaning over Ellyson's crib and the kitchen sink.

Weight change (total): +12

Exercise: I'm doing two days on, one day off, since I've had to scale back. I'm still running some. I use the word "running" loosely. My pace has slowed. Over the course of a 30-minute workout, I run two 1/2-mile stints (or three 1/3-mile stretches), walking the rest ... which lands me at about 2-1/3 miles in 28-30 minutes. This is basically where my workouts stood during the last weeks of my first two pregnancies. I'm able to push Ellyson at the park sometimes for my workout, which is a nice break from the treadmill. And I haven't gotten any funny looks yet (that I could see), since my belly is hidden behind the jogging stroller.

Signs of fatigue: I could complain some more about the fact that my feet start to swell if I'm on them all morning ... or the fact that taking Ellyson shopping is becoming cumbersome because she screams in the cart (unless it's one of the racecar carts at the grocery store - those she likes), and I just don't have the endurance to carry a squirmy toddler and push a shopping cart for more than a few minutes. (Thank God for Amazon!) I'm also still taking a nap (or at least resting my eyes) for a good hour every afternoon, just to make it past the kids' 7:30 bed time.

Nesting: I started clearing out the guest room, which will be converted to the twins' room for the next five or six years (at which point the playroom will cease to exist, and Carter will move into the fifth bedroom so that the twins can have their own rooms ... at least that's the plan). I washed all of Carter's newborn and three-month clothes. Yep, both sleepers, both pairs of pants and the six onesies that were in his newborn wardrobe ... gotta do some shopping. Since Carter was born big enough to wear 3M clothes, I didn't want to "waste" money on newborn sizes that he'd only wear for a week or so, so I just bought 3M clothes that would fit him longer (in his case, a whopping month). I also broke down and bought one preemie-sized outfit for each twin, for their Easter baskets. I had to order those online, though. I tried to buy them in the store. I really did. I picked them up, looked at how tiny they were, and put them back. But after talking to some other moms at preschool (ones who actually had babies in the 5-7 pounds range), I learned those babies wore preemie clothes until they reached about seven pounds. And since the twins aren't likely to be born weighing much more than that, I caved. But Carter's (the store, not my son) has a one-year return policy, so we'll just keep the tags on them until the boys arrive.

That's about it for this month.

Easter Eggs

Carter dyed Easter eggs this year for the first time. He really enjoyed it, and the mess wasn't too bad.

A Look At My Future ... Through My Rearview Mirror

Carter's friends Ashlyn (Carter's age) and Chloe (13 months younger) are hanging with us in the mornings a little bit right now. Their mom and I have been sharing afternoon preschool carpool duty this year. But she - a former teacher - jumped on a rare part-time opening at a school near our houses, and has gone back to work. Our preschool offers "aftercare" so that she can just keep the girls at school for an extra hour in the afternoon, but the "beforecare" doesn't start early enough for her to drop them off on her way to work. So she's bringing them to my house for an hour, and then I'm taking all the kids to school in the morning. It really isn't bad; the three older kids eat and then just play together, so it's very little extra effort for me. I wish I could help her out by doing it next year, too, but despite the fact my van seats eight, I don't think six carseats will fit.

Anyway, so I was driving the kids to school ... ages three (almost four), three (almost four), two (almost three) and one ... and the three older kids were each singing a different song, trying to sing louder than the others. All I could do was laugh. This is my future, isn't it?

Rejected Boy Names: #6

Franklin and Theodor

T-Ball

Carter started t-ball this week. I grew up playing softball, and was at times very serious about it. But three-year-old t-ball is a new adventure for me. When I was a kid, we had to be eight years old (or seven, with a summer birthday) before playing team sports. All the leagues started at age eight ... though by the time my youngest sister was five-ish, there was an indoor t-ball team that she was able to play on. So I have no experience with this "we-don't-keep-score-and-there-are-as-many-parents-on-the-field-as-there-are-players" style.

But I think it will be a good learning experience for Carter. It'll give him an outlet for some of his energy, and his BFF/intended future wife (Ashlyn) is on his team. It's hard to tell since his back is to me, but he is wearing the royal blue t-shirt - in the middle of the first picture, and the one batting in the second.

Rejected Boy Names: #5

Gale and Peeta

Minivan Mom

We've joined the Minivan Nation. I wanted to keep my Pilot. I thought by the time we had a third baby, Carter would be five and Ellyson would be two or three ... and since I normally keep three car seats in the second row anyway (I share carpool duty with a friend), there would be plenty of room to carry three kids. Then baby #3 came sooner than expected. That was fine ... An infant seat and two convertible car seats ... no problem; I already had those seats installed. When we found out it was twins, Jack told me I was going to need a van. But I hung on to my hopes for the Pilot. I mean, it had third-row seating. Not much leg room, but Carter has short legs. He could sit back there in a booster seat. Then Jack asked how I planned to get him in and out of the car five days a week, for preschool. Access to the third row came through: a) folding a second-row seat foward (not an option since all three seats would have carseats); b) climbing over the second row (not an option when there are children in those car seats); c) through the lift-gate in back (not convenient when I'm in a carpool line, having to pack groceries, etc ... not to mention, he can't reliably unbuckle himself quite yet.

Jack had a point. The Pilot wouldn't do. I won't lie: I shed some tears at the thought of driving a minivan (I wish I were being dramatic here, but I honestly did). We spent two months researching and keeping a watch on used and new inventory at some area dealers. We decided on a Honda Odyssey (guess I'm a Honda mom). But we had dragged our feet long enough. Getting the kids in and out of the Pilot was becoming uncomfortable for me, and would only get worse in the coming months.

The buying process actually wasn't bad. We did almost all the negotiations in advance, so that when we walked onto the lot (not for the first time ... the first time we went, we were just looking - not driving, not negotiating, nothing like that). But when we were ready to buy, we walked onto the lot with a really good offer already in hand - and a reasonable estimate on trade-in for the Pilot. In the end, we got a new van for a little less than what we were looking to spend on a comparably equipped two-year-old van. I'm still in denial that I drive a van. But at least it's a nice one.

Rejected Boy Names: #4

Statler and Waldorff

Word of the Week: Ella

As in Cinderella - or even Belle, though she seems to say it more when pointing to Cinderella.

Night Owl-to-Be?

After my 3:30 am potty break this morning, baby a was having a dance party. It's the most I have ever felt him move. Considering his brother seemed to be sleeping, let's hope he's not going to be a night owl. Fingers are crossed; we've never had a night owl baby.

Rejected Boy Names: #3

Harry and Draco

(hmmm, favoritism at all?)

Belly Update

For the record, I'm pretty sure my belly is going to grow out of my maternity clothes.

Here we are at 18 weeks with twins:

And here we were at 28 and 30 weeks with Carter:

Don't get me wrong - at least I'm still "all belly". But I'm roughly the size I was at 30 weeks the first time around. I am appreciating all the "you're still so little; you don't look like you're having twins" comments (it's better than "you don't look pregnant!" - which always makes me think I just look fat ...). But my, oh my, where are those babies going to grow??

It makes me wonder a) how Jessica Simpson could possibly be carrying only one baby, and b) how big I'm going to be, if she in fact only has one in there. I mean, wow.

Ellyson's Aunt Alecia

I have been meaning to post this photo comparison for a while. When my sister Alecia got married last fall, I happened to see a picture of her (in their photo slideshow) from around the time she turned one. I stopped in my tracks because the picture looked so much like Ellyson. So while I will say, E seems to have her daddy's eyes, hair and ears ... and essentially looks a whole lot like her daddy ... at the same time, she somehow, looks almost exactly like her Aunt Alecia. She even makes a squishy face that looks very close to this one.

Funny Boy Names: #2

I will start posting multiple times per week. Apparently we have a lot of them to post, and we seem to be closing in on the names we're going to actually use (barring anyone shattering the glass on one or both of those picks). :)


Lewis and Clark

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Then Ellyson thought she wanted the headband.

Maybe this is fun??

 Okay, maybe not.

Word of the Week: Lorax

Carter went to see The Lorax last weekend, with Jack and my dad. He was familiar with the story and character ... having read the book a hundred times, and having a stuffed Lorax in his room. But he isn't obsessed with the story the way he was obsessed with Lightning McQueen and Mater when we saw Cars 2 last summer.

Still, he really enjoyed the movie. Jack said he sat through the whole thing, including the 40 minutes of previews. And when asked his favorite part of the movie, he said "all of it" and has been carrying his stuffed Lorax with him all week.

Prayers from the Heart

Carter has started insisting on saying a blessing each time we sit down for a meal - so on non-school days, that's three times a day. He also has started praying for whatever he wants to talk to God about, though, which is really cute. One day, he thanked God for letting us play at the park. Another day, he asked God to keep our family not sick. But most days, during at least one blessing, he asks God to keep alligators, hippopotamuses and other bad things out of our house.

Wordless Wednesday

Funny Boy Names

Jack and I have gone back to the drawing board on names for the babies. We thought we had one solid pick, but now we're undecided on whether we want to use it. So we are brainstorming solo names to go with that one, as well as pairs of names should we decide to scrap the top contender.

In the process, we've thrown around some funny pairings. Jack suggested that I post them on the blog, just for a little weekly humor. None of these are serious choices.

Bert and Ernie

(which I think will be their nicknames, regardless of their real names)

Word of the Week: Boys!!

It'll be two more of them for this family ... with three brothers, poor Ellyson will never get a date. ;-) As long as we can keep her brothers' friends away ...

Carter's been talking about his brothers, and it looks like he was right. Again.

Baby Boy A

Baby Boy B

 

By the way, I had a 6.5-pound weight gain since my last appointment (four weeks ago). It was a little startling to see, but with twins, it's actually spot-on for my target weight gain. My mind is just engrained with the "one pound a week" recommendation for a singleton. It's a little hard to re-train the brain.

Stairs

She may not be walking yet, but she has mastered the stairs. And she gets mad at anyone who tries to tear her away from them. I usually let her climb, and just follow a stair behind in case she stumbles (so far she hasn't). But try to pull her off, and you'll meet the wrath of a determined little girl.

Wordless Wednesday

Miss Independent

Ellyson has decided she doesn't want to be spoon-fed anymore. She pitches a fit whenever I try to feed her yogurt, oatmeal or applesauce (pretty much everything else, she self-feeds by now). She wants to hold the spoon herself! I've given her a few tries, but she hasn't quite figured out how to get it in her mouth without spilling it all.

What'll Ya Have??

She sure is enjoying playing with her new kitchen!

16 Weeks

Total weight change: +5

Symptoms: Can not seem to shake this darn fatique exhaustion. With Ellyson, by 16 weeks, I was back to running 5-6 miles in a day, and I felt like I had a constant burst of energy. This time around, I'm still taking a 60-90 minute nap every day, just to make it to the kids' bed time. And then I'm dead to the world by about 9 p.m. Which is okay, since Jack's new work schedule leaves him passed out around the same time as me. I'm feeling some of the third-trimester discomforts, though. I feel like such a wimp this time. Heartburn, slow digestion, easily winded, legs worn out, back pain ... I promise not to complain again for the next four weeks, I swear. But these two babies are kicking my rear. Oh, and I almost forgot! I have felt both babies move now. Baby B (higher up), I could feel last weekend. It was a few more days before I felt Baby A (lying lower). I still feel B more often, but have felt them both.

Work outs: Still running. I've had to start using my maternity support belt (which I used with Ellyson beginning around 20-24 weeks). I'm able to run 10-12 minutes, walk 3-5, then repeat the run and walk. It puts me at 2.5 miles running and about 1/3 mile walking, in 30 minutes. It seems I have to make slight adjustments about once a week, so it's constantly changing. I know that as long as mybody doesn't complain, I have about 2-3 weeks left before I need to start making walking my primary workout.

Below is a side-by-side of my 20W photo with E (left), and my 16W photo with the twins (right). I think the bellies look pretty comparable ... maybe sticking out a little more now.

Word of the Week: Wa-wa

Ellyson definitely is asking for "wa-wa" (water) these days. It's the first vocabulary word I've picked up from her, that isn't a person (brother, mama, dada, Carter, Nana) or pet (dog, Marley). The first inanimate object, I guess. And she definitely was asking for some after enjoying her first Bruster's ice cream cone yesterday.

By the way ... does this child look ready to walk, or what?

Because, after standing there for 10-15 seconds, she would beg to differ. "Just kidding, mama!" (Please excuse the fact that she's flashing the camera. Crawling in a dress has its obstacles.)