Traditions & Celebrations

When you work on a college campus there are certain weeks you love (the first week of classes, Homecoming, etc) and weeks you dread (mid-terms, finals, etc), because you are surrounded by students all day who get stressed according to the time of year and your workload correlates with their stress. Well last week was the last week of classes at Ball State. Since it also was the week we found out we were expecting girls, my students were VERY excited.

We have a Friday tradition we started this year called Friday Fun Lunch. FFL usually means we order food out and enjoy a little TGIF. We also get a visit from Happy Friday Guy. Happy Friday Guy has been cruising Ball State's campus by scooter every Friday for the last 3 years in his costume shouting HAPPY FRIDAY. We've become his favorite office because we typically feed him FFL leftovers. So, last week a few students surprised me with a FFL Baby Shower, complete with balloons, pizza, cupcakes and a visit from Happy Friday Guy (shown in the picture). So, thank you to all who helped arrange the surprise and stay tuned to the blog as you go home for the semester--you will be missed!

Jeremy & I leave for England tomorrow, so I won't post again until next Wednesday when we get back. Keep your fingers crossed that the babies behave on this trip.

Girls!

We just finished a really good doctors appointment and found out we have 2 healthy baby girls growing! We met with a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist, which is standard for twins at mid-term and he was very pleased. Each baby is in it's own sac and has it's own placenta, which is a VERY good sign, so they are both getting the nutrients they need. One weighed in at 8 ounces, the other 9 ounces, so they are little, but seemed big to us since we last saw them. The ultrasound was 3-D--we could count 20 fingers and 20 toes...what a relief to get such a clean bill of health at the halfway point. All the prayers and positive affirmations seem to be working--keep them coming!

Immediate reactions were funny, Jeremy fast-forwarded in his mind and I think he saw not only 2 college educations, but 2 weddings and 2 wardrobes the size of mine (it was like I could see the cartoon bubble above his head). Let's just say, I think he went home to change his shirt before he returned to work! I had to laugh on my way to work as I imagined prom night 17 years from now when Grandpa Dave & Grandpa Ian inform the girls and their dates that their chaperones for the night are Daddy Jeremy and Uncle Joe, Jonathan and Chris--to say these girls will be overprotected might be an understatement!

Anyway, we have a long way to go before this I realize, and in the meantime I'm afraid with my sister, mom and Jody on the loose, the stores in Indy, DC, and Pittsburgh will be bought out of everything pink, so watch out.

*Pictures to the right are from the 3-D ultrasound, yes, we realize they look like aliens, but really cute aliens, right. The one at the top was flashing us the peace sign (she's going to be our activist) and the one below is them spooning. You can see their arms are shielding their faces.

Spring has Sprung!

I know I'll probably regret saying this in a couple months when it is 100 degrees and I'm as big as a hot air balloon, but I'm so thankful spring has sprung in Indiana. The babies are happier, and since they are happier, I am happier. The weather was beginning to get depressing and all the maternity clothes I've bought are spring/summer, so I was having a wardrobe crisis on a daily basis.

This is setting up to be an exciting week. Thursday is our next doctor's appointment, so if all goes well, we should be able to post boys, girls or one of each by the end of the week! For those of you who know how much of a planner I am, this is a huge milestone! Once we get by this, we'll be able to paint the nursery, pick out names and register--all very exciting. If you want to take a guess as to what they are, leave a comment...

I attended my first pre-natal yoga class with Megan Cahill last week. To re-phrase, it was actually my first yoga class ever (sorry Mike) apart from Jenny's weird DVD's in grad school. It was fun, I was able to get a little bit of a self-esteem booster as I think I was one of the smallest in the class (probably the least far along, but whatever, it was a good feeling). I'm pretty sure most of the pregnant women in Hamilton County were there and that felt weird, however after an hour of stretches & relaxation, Thursday night was the first night I didn't wake up with horrendous back pain, so maybe there is something to this...I'll keep you posted.

16/17 Weeks...4 months

Here I am at 16/17 weeks along. I'm trying not to get held up on dates as our doc has told us that with multiples my due date will likely change a couple times and even then be more of an estimate. Yes, I'm wearing the same outfit at 12 weeks, but it gives you a point of comparison. But don't worry, I won't wear it again because by the end of the night it was digging into my ribcage and uncomforatable for me and the babies.

We had a good weekend, the babies are beginning to move around a bit. This is an odd sensation and even more difficult to explain. I told Jeremy it felt like they had the hiccups, but I didn't have the hiccups. I can see how a lot of people would mistaken it for heartburn or indigestion as well, but I'm going to go with movements, it's much more positive. Jeremy recieved an incentive at work that allowed us to do dinner with another couple at a steakhouse downtown and spend last night in a hotel. He said it was an inner-city Babymoon, a term I think he got from the Cahill's, another couple that is expecting this summer. Either way, it was nice to have a night out. We even ordered breakfast in bed this morning and after eating the $24 meal, I got sick. Needless to say, I'm done with eggs until these babies are born. Eggs & Brocolli.

We also accomplished another milestone--we ordered nursery furniture. This was a feat all by itself as Jeremy and I do not shop well together. It is true in a lot of facets, but definately in the area of finances that I married my father. If he had it his way, his brothers and dad would come over one day and build furniture for the babies ("who needs to spend all that money, they won't be old enough to appreciate furniture for years"). So after a mid-week breakdown on my part in the baby furniture store, I went back today with his mother and pulled the trigger after the saleswoman told me I was already close to a mid-July furniture delivery date. Apparently furniture takes a whole trimester from order to delivery.

I did read in my pregnancy calendar that this is the week that fingerprints, toe prints and their little ears are developing--pretty wild. It's no wonder I'm tired all the time :-)

The Babies first trip to Disney...

Okay, so we didn't actually make it to Disney, but we did make it to Downtown Disney and this is me and the babies in the Disney store, does that count? I honestly couldn't justify paying to go into an amusement park when I can't ride any of the fun rides (we are saving for diapers, right). And, I actually was there for work...

I attended the NASPA/ACPA annual conference, for those of you outside of my field, it is a joint conference between our 2 professional associations. So, it was 9,500 people who all work in higher education, in one capacity or another. Here were the highlights:
-Al Gore was our opening speaker, so the babies got their first taste of politics. At this rate they will both be Democrats and very Eco-Friendly, Catherine & the McColly side of the family will be very happy about this.
-There was a lot of standing in line, waiting, shuttling, waiting, etc, (I expected this with +9K people). I wasn't a very patient person pre-pregnancy and I'm not now. So, for those of you who were at the conference with me, I'll use this as a public apology for my complaining. The good certainly outweighed the bad and it was wonderful to connect with old friends!
-The trip made me appreciate the price of things in Indiana. We were pretty isolated on this huge resort and didn't have many options for food and beverage. Let's just say that I'm supposed to be drinking 8 glasses of milk a day, but each was $3.25, so I was spending on average $15 on milk each day...again not helping the diaper cause. They also don't offer free refills at their restaurants, so without realizing it and the waitress never informing me, I spent $37 on a hamburger and 6 lemonades...ridiculous.

Anyway, the trip ended last night, out with about 5 old friends and 4 new, all of them pretty hammered and me posted up at an Irish Pub in downtown Disney eating a hot fudge sundae at 1 in the morning. This is a great example of something you can only get away with when pregnant! **22 days till our next doctors appointment & hopefully we can report what the genders are!
***The belly is growing everyday, Jeremy can't believe how much bigger I got in the 6 days I've been gone! I'll take a side pic this weekend :-)