The Days of our Lives (leading up to Christmas)

I have a lot to cover as I have once again been slacking on getting my blog updated.  John's mom came out for a visit the week before Christmas and along with entertaining O while I worked she got to go to the zoo with O and J.  O loves all animals and had a really fun time.  She especially enjoyed the petting zoo area.  I enjoyed it too because I got to spend some quiet time alone at home which NEVER happens.  So it was a good day all around.

O is a very good helper, sometimes.  In this case she stayed out of my hair while I wrapped some gifts because she was so fascinated by the wrapping paper and the wrapping paper roll.

One semi-tradition I remember while growing up in Colorado was the day that one of our neighbors had a bunch of kids over to decorate Christmas cookies.  I had a lot of fun doing that and would like to start the same sort of tradition with my family.  So the week before Christmas I invited a couple of friends and their kids over to decorate cookies.  There was O, at 2 1/2 and two 1 1/2 year olds so you can imagine how it all went.

The before shot of the decorating table and cookies (I had some issues with the cookies so it is kind of difficult to tell what the shapes are supposed to be - they are supposed to be trees, snowflakes, stars and snowmen).

  A mint chip related accident

 The sort of after - they were more interested in eating the toppings and sticking their hands in the frosting tubs

 After decorating we headed outside to run off some of the sugar

 The following day John, Olivia and I sat down and decorated some of the remaining cookies.

 John's designs

 This is supposed to say "Romo 9".  Lame.

 Once again, more interested in eating the icing and toppings (she LOVED the gumdrops)

Our Christmas was very nice and I hope that all of yours were too.  On Christmas Eve we went to the children's Mass at church and Santa paid a visit which O loved.  After that we went to dinner and decided that it was going to be a long time before we were going to be able to do that again.  O was all over the booth dancing on the seats and all around just misbehaving.  She also told us she had to go to the bathroom at least 3 different times (as she did at church too).  Now with 2 little ones on the way we're going to have to figure out different dinner arrangements for Christmas Eve.  I don't know if I can do it with 3!

Christmas morning John and I were up before Olivia.  She didn't roll out of bed until 9 and that was with us going in there to get her.  It took her close to 2 hours to open all her presents because she'd want to stop and play with everything as she opened them.  Our little girlie girl loved her tutu from Bobcat Busha and Dadu as well as the heels she got from Uncle David and Aunt Shae and the princess mirror from Aunt Erin and Uncle Ryan.  The "Olivia" books from Uncle Danny were a hit too.  We had to read them all right away.

The princess mirror and our stockings

  She has really liked this easel.  There is a dry erase board on the other side and some good storage for her chalk and markers.

 Her "Angelina Ballerina" movie and Minnie panties.  We couldn't get her to put on any clothes so in most of these shots she's almost nude.  Oh well.

 Her purse from Granny that came with a phone, sunglasses, barrettes and lipstick.

 Her tutu, tiara and one pair of her three pairs of heels

 Checking herself out in her mirror

 We've been having problems getting her to sleep at night so we've kind of cut out naps.  Christmas wiped her out though and she fell asleep watching a Muppets movie on our bed.

As for John and I we relaxed as much as we could after opening all our gifts.  We were very lucky this year.  Is it bad that one of my favorite gifts is the pots and pans set that J got me?  I was so excited!

Big Girl Room!

I am finally getting around to posting about O's big girl room.  She absolutely loves it!  She had been saying over and over again that she wants a purple room (just like the one in the twins book we got her).  So I got online and found some cute purple bedding (that is also reversible - there are flowers on the other side - and I didn't realize it!) along with a couple of accessories to get her started.  She was so excited that she had me take it out of the packaging immediately and she went and laid on J and my bed with it.

No she's not naked, you just can't see her diaper.  Plus, check out her pretty red nails.  She LOVES having her fingers and toes painted.  Such a girlie-girl.

We had a bookcase in the guest room but wanted to include in O's new room so we decided to paint it purple to go with the bedding and the curtain and rug that she helped us pick out.  Here are some before and after shots.

I was wondering how transitioning her to her new room would go but it was very smooth.  She fell out of bed only a couple of times and has never gotten up and come to our room in the middle of the night.  She is constantly surprising us.

Children's Museum

Being a government employee I had Veteran's Day off so a couple of my mommy friends and I took the kids to the Children's Museum.  It was really a lot of fun (but exhausting for me) and I was glad to get O out of the house for the day.  She enjoyed running around and playing with all the neat things they had for the kids.

This was a lot like "Plinko" on The Price is Right.  Of course my child was more interested in organizing the "chips" and putting them into the same two bins at the bottom.

Being her mother's child, one of O's favorite areas was the reading corner.  That makes me so happy.  I was fairly surprised though considering how many cool things there were to do.

Lunch time is always a favorite for her

With her friends who we went with.  Who knew that water and a squeegie (sp?) could provide so much entertainment?  They loved it!

She did not want to leave.

Week 28 Update

On Wednesday I hit the 28 week mark.  This was a big deal to me because most babies born at this point have a very good chance of surviving.  We had an ultrasound check-up yesterday and everything still looks really good.  Baby A had a heart rate of 154 and is estimated to weigh 3 lbs 3 ounces and Baby B's heart rate was 140 and he came in around 2 lb 11 ounces.  A is in the about 95th percentile and B is in the 52nd.  But they weren't concerned about the weight difference because they are only about 15% apart, or something.  Plus, since both babies have their own placenta they aren't stealing anything from each other and are really like "two kids on the same bus".

Our last ultrasound was 5 weeks ago (the boys were 1 lb 8 oz and 1 lb 7 oz), which is when I did my last belly shot update.  Just by looking at me it is very obvious that the boys grew significantly.  So here you go.  I know.  I'm ginormous.

Week 24

 Week 25

 Week 26

 Week 27 (I don't know why I look drunk here.  Maybe I was wishing.)

 Week 28 (and some comparisons at week 27 with O)

I still don't know how long I will continue to work.  I am still feeling really good but have been put on iron supplements and had to do a 3 hour glucose tolerance test for gestational diabetes on Monday.  I haven't heard anything from my doctor's office on the results of that so I'm assuming no news is good news.  Thank goodness.  Part of me wants to be on some sort of bedrest just so I can rest because I know once the boys get here any sort of me time is going to go out the window.  I think what I am going to do is try to work out with my supervisor more work from home days as I get further and further along.  I don't want to burn much leave time so that I have it available for when I really do go out when the boys are born.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!  Enjoy your turkey, pumpkin pie, football and/or any other family traditions you have for the day.  I will be cooking this year and missing my (almost) entire maternal family who will be at my parents' house for the big day.  I probably could have made the trip but didn't want to push it.  I'm disappointed that we won't be there to celebrate with all of them.

We had our 26 week check-up last week and everything continues to go well with the exception that my glucose test numbers were "elevated" so I have to do the 3 hour glucose tolerance test on Monday.  Keep your fingers crossed that I do not have gestational diabetes.

Also, please wish us luck as we prepare to potty train O this weekend.  She is ready and J and I are so done with diapers (at least during the day) so we're going for it.  I'll keep everyone updated on how that goes.  Hopefully I won't have to clean up too many accidents!

Randomness

This is just a big amalgam of random pictures that don't really have a home in other posts so I thought I'd just throw them together in one.

John was trying to take pictures of O and she just said "butt" and turned around.  Apparently she wanted him to take a picture of her butt.  Whatever.

I found a Barbie I had kept and my Joey McIntyre doll.  They are now O's.  She wasn't big on the Joey doll but loves the Barbie.

My daughter is slightly OCD.  I guess she gets that from me.  She lines up all her dolls (or "guys") and covers them with a blanket to keep them warm.

This is our orange tree.  It grows out of control but for whatever reason hasn't given us any fruit yet.  Maybe next year.  John is very proud of how tall it gets (J is 6' 3" to give you an idea of the height of the top branches).

I went through a ton of stuff for our garage sale and had one big box and a half full of trophies.  But we don't have room for them anymore and my mom suggested that I take a picture of all of them so that it is documented that I had them and then get rid of them.  Done, though I did keep some that were more important to me (not pictured).