A Mash-Up of Thoughts - And Pictures.

My brain is frazzled. But in a good way, I think.

I am officially 'stuck' in Dallas until the babies arrive. If you would have asked me how I felt about that about 2 months ago, I would have explained I was already feeling mega-bummed. BUT, now that its here, I'm really not.... And its mostly in part to the great girls I have met through my bible study class, the fact my mom and sister already have several trips up here planned, and a couple of the girls may try to make it up here too. I feel very blessed to have such an amazing support system in Houston, and I feel very optimistic that I am building some strong relationships here as well.

I just re-read that - sounds so 'serious.' But, since moving out of Houston in January 2011, it's been tough to make new friends. My best friends are all in Houston! And I work from home - so how on earth do you make friends at the ripe age of 26?? haha!

On that note.... the Hubs and I are rocking through our To-Do list. Our first piece of furniture for the nursery arrived last night. It's just a simple white shelf, but it was tough to find because the wall we needed it for is so skinny! (Our nursery is right off of our master bedroom; connected by double french doors).

The 'Worker'

The 'Supervisors'





The Shelf



 

The shelf obviously is not decorated, but here is what it holds so far:

- Two vintage Fisher Price toys from Mamais

- Two Sophie giraffes (amazon; gifted)

- A wide range of books (the rest are in their play area downstairs)

- 'K' and 'N' initials (Anthropologie)

- Two Peas in a Pod frame with ultrasound photos

- Vintage wooden blocks with 'K' and 'N'

 

We secured the shelf to the wall for extra safety measures.  There is the sneak peek of the color. I think it comes across pretty true, but with green it's really hard to get a feel for how the heck that looks on all 4 walls. I will share more pictures as the room comes together. :)

 

In addition to nursery bits and pieces, I have been hammering out Thank You notes from my showers. I actually made all of the thank you notes while I was at scrapbooking weekend this year. I love pennants! My goal is to have them all out in the mail by tomorrow!

 

 

And to end this mumbo-jumbo, here are 26 week belly shots. Crazy!

No stretch marks (yet) - HOLLA!

 

 

 





Weekend Happenings!

Phew! What a week. And weekend.

Last week was insane from a work point-of-view. Although I was promoted to the Senior Marketing position at our company about 5 months ago, I still handle a few tasks from my previous role as Direct Marketing/Events Specialist. One of these is our annual incentive trip for sales reps. This year's trip is in Aruba, and although it will be the first one I do not attend (because of the sweet babies in my belly), I still am handling all of the pre-event planning. I don't think any work people know about my blog, so I can share the BIG secret here... We absolutely LOVE the Spazmatics, and hired them for a conference in San Diego last year. Well, we are flying them to Aruba as the surprise entertainment for our huge celebration night! How cool is that? I'll tell you. It's very cool, but its also very time-consuming to secure all of their contracts and the logistics around having their set-up 100% accurate on a tiny island.  I so wish I could be there to see how excited everyone gets when they take the stage!

Friday night the Hubs and I enjoyed date-night at Pappadeaux, and called it a night pretty early. Saturday was crazi-ness. We celebrated our friends Rachel & Josh at a wedding shower, made some Babies R' Us returns, and I must have been a good wife because I even convinced Justin to an IKEA trip. I'm not like a huge fan of IKEA, but I had my eye on this specific arm chair for the nursery (that I read about in 100+ blogs as the best nursing chair if you don't want a glider... which I didn't), and I really wanted to see it in person.

We came home that night with a loaded Babies R Us gift card, an arm chair, and a belly full of mexican food. Oops.

Sunday was just as crazy, but we did not leave our house which was awesome.
I'm leaving a sneak-peek of what we accomplished on Sunday.

 

Basically, we have a back room off our kitchen that we never use, so we decided it would be the perfect 'baby containment area,' since I have clear visibility of the space while cooking, etc. It will also be a great hang-out room for the babies and their nanny during the day while I am upstairs working in the office.  Since the nursery is also upstairs, we needed a 'changing station' to prevent having to climb stairs with infants just to change a diaper. So the play area also has a built in changing station. We got a head start on the space and it is just so cute. I am going to find some fun prints off Etsy to decorate the walls, too!

Double Blessings

Justin and I made the trek back to Dallas on Sunday night after my second shower of the weekend. His truck was loaded. Loaded to the point that our sweet pup, Laila, had just the tiniest inch of space in the backseat to lay down! To say we are 'set' for these babies would be an understatement. Our family and friends showered us with the most amazing presents for Noelle and Keegan that you could imagine. And in addition to all of the necessities, we received 25 pairs of baby shoes. Yea..... 25.

Now, the hubs and I are very particular about how we want their nursery to be set up. We painted it the most amazing green about a month ago, but the room is empty. While we aren't going with a 'theme' per say, we have chosen the color palette for the nursery. Green, turquoise, and orange accents. Like the color blocks, below!

My mom and Mamais gifted us with the cribs - adorable, sleigh style, and white! And, we are refinishing a French Provincial dresser to use in the room as a dresser/changing table combo. We also ordered a slim white bookshelf for one of the smaller walls to hold their books and keepsakes. Speaking of books - they already have quite the library, of course. So, all that we are missing is the glider. And I have been keeping a look-out for the perfect one! The room isn't huge, so I have to keep that in mind, but I also need a chair that is wide enough to nurse two babies in at once. (Which is my goal in order to keep them on the same feeding schedule and prevent nursing for two-times as long per day). 

We are struggling a bit on how to organize their closet. They are sharing a nursery, which means they are sharing one closet. Although it's not tiny, it's definitely not huge. The one bar currently in the closet is already stuffed with clothes... which means we need to re-think the layout! Thanks to Pinterest, we have found some organizing tips, and plan on making a trip to the Container Store and IKEA this weekend to see what we can find.

Since my traveling privileges have now come to an end, we will be spending every weekend in Dallas until the babies arrive. Over the next few weeks we will be putting furniture together and starting the decorating! The fun part! I plan to document it all here, so check back!

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 



Diaper Bag Debacle!

Ahhh.... the question of diaper bags.....
I'm not sure why, but this has been the one decision I have had a hard time making.
Carseats, strollers, cribs... piece of cake. But diaper bag... nearly impossible!

I have it narrowed down to three different bags, and am leaning toward one over the others.

Option 1: Timi & Leslie 'Charlie' Diaper Bag
 
Option 2: Ju Ju Be 'Be Right Back' Bag
 
Option 3: Skip Hop Duo Deluxe
 
Yesterday marked the three month countdown until Baby-Day. (If all goes as currently planned!)  Considering with twins you measure about 6-8 weeks ahead, and my 25 week bump looks like a 31-33 week bump, I am interested to see the size of the belly at that time! Luckily I still feel amazing! Honestly my biggest complaint is a sore back and soaring emotions. I haven't been a crazy pregnant girl, but I have definitely been an over-analyzing pregnant girl. I think waaaaay too much into everything and get my feelings hurt waaaay too easily. I hope I can look back and laugh about the little things that have gotten me really worked up. Because that's what they are, tiny, little things.

Oh, and to anyone who has ever complained about how hard it is to find a wedding shower dress, myself included... Psh. Just try to find a baby shower dress.

24 weeks and 3 days of Twin Cooking!

This past weekend was a big milestone for us -- we made it to 'V-Day,' or Viability Day as the doctors call it. At 24 weeks, baby has a chance of surviving if born. We have plans to cook these minions a whole lot longer, though!! But, it was still sort of a relief.

 

Most days it really doesn't hit me that I am pregnant with two babies. That I will be a mom to two babies at one time. That my WHOLE LIFE is about to change! But some days it hits me hard. This week was one of those weeks that I just sat down and really thought about it.... I am definitely up for this challenge!

 

Before Ash moved to Michigan (boo), we started a Bible study group, and I have been so, so lucky to meet some amazing girls. They all met through a Mom's Group and had babies in 2011. NOW, they are all pregnant with baby number 2. Their insight, encouraging words, and advice is one of the main reasons I am not feeling completly overwhelmed. It is such a blessing to know that I now have friends here in Dallas that I can truly count on to be here for me during this journey.

 

This coming weekend I will be having TWO baby showers in Houston!!! I am seriously so excited. My MIL and two of my besties are throwing me a shower on Saturday, and my Aunt, Sister, Mamais and Robin Jones are throwing me a shower on Sunday. I am a lucky girl to have so much support for Noelle and Keegan already. Because this is my last month I am allowed to travel, the shower is a bit earlier than most people have showers. But, I am OK with that! I will be able to head home to Dallas, set up ther nursery, and relax a bit over the next couple of months. Justin is so excited, too. He already set up a swing we received, and can't wait to get all of the furniture moved into the nursery.

 

So, here is a little update on how everything is rocking and rolling this week:

 

Total weight gain: 17 pounds. Interesting to see that number on the scale, but I don't feel that much bigger. The belly is taking on a life of its own, though.

Maternity clothes: I wear gap maternity leggings about 90% of the time. I have a million pairs now. I can get away with a lot of non-maternity tops, since I mostly wear long cardigans over the leggings.

Stretch marks: Nope! (Not yet, at least). Thank goodness for Trader Joe's Vitamin E oil and Bio Oil.

Sleep: Sleep is hit or miss. I did cave and buy a Boppy pregnancy pillow which has helped a lot, but I get tangled in it when I have to get up to pee 10 times a night which is frustrating.

Best moment of this week: I spent the weekend at Pine Cove in Columbus, TX at my annual girl's scrapbooking weekend. I had an amazing time, and made about 100 custom stationery Thank You cards to use after my showers. They turned out really cute!

Miss anything: Lupe Tortilla.

Food cravings: Cream cheese, milk & cereal, Amy's burritos

Anything making you queasy or sick: TMI, but I randomly threw up the other day for the very first time this pregnancy.

Have you started to show yet: Um, yes. You should see people's faces when I tell them I am technically not due until MAY. HA! Then I pause, tell them its twins, and have to answer a million twin questions.... 'do twins run in your family?' .... 'do you know the genders?'.... and then every.single.person. says 'Awesome, you're done then huh?" Um... I don't know --- these two aren't even here yet!

Gender: One boy and one girl!

Labor signs: Nope

Belly button in or out: Not In, but Not Out entirely

 

Wedding rings on or off: On

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy :)

Looking forward to: Baby showers and seeing my girls!

(SO bad at taking pics. I will take some this week and upload.)