25 Weeks

We just passed 25 weeks this past Sunday, September 23 :)

I met with Dr. A on Monday and had my weekly shot. I'm finally getting off the cervical check routine, I'll still see him weekly but to monitor the babies fluid levels as the medicine I'm on can reduce the amount of fluid but other than that things look pretty good. Again it's just week by week.

We went to see Katelyn sing at school/church on Sunday, she was precious, just smiled the entire time. Her dad is leaving this coming Sunday for Montana so I've been letting her just stay with him as much as she wants, it's going to be a really hard adjustment when she comes home this weekend and realizes her daddy doesn't live up the street anymore. I'm really worried about how the transition will go, I feel bad for her. But I will be happy to have her home, and able to set up a routine for homework, drama, horses, reading, bath time etc.

24 Weeks and Bored to Tears

Another week down, 6 weeks to go for another big milestone. We are now 24 weeks and had our appointment with Dr. Adashek this past Monday. It was the fun ultrasound of measuring the babies and watching them jump and kick on the big screen. They are growing like little weeds, starting to look less like aliens and more like adorable little children. We have concluded that they have my "non existent" chin as Brent says, and I think they have his nose. The profile pictures of them are priceless, I love staring at their features and dreaming about holding them in my arms.

This has been and still is an emotional roller coaster, filled with moments of joy followed by moments of sheer terror. I'm more uncomfortable than ever, I can't sleep, find a comfortable position or even touch my toes anymore. My weight gain is really great though, for having two babies that each weigh close to 2 pounds in my belly plus all the fluid and their placentas I've only gained 32 pounds :) If I could get out to run off some energy I'm sure I'd feel better and have less trouble sleeping, but that just isn't in the cards, I must take it easy.

While meeting with Dr. A we watched my dynamic cervix open all the way to a 2 and baby A put his foot against my cerclage, there just isn't anything anyone can do, we just have to take it day by day. The biggest fear is my water breaking because of the funneling and pressure of two babies with lots of amniotic fluid. So I must keep my booty in the sitting position most of the time. I'm taking medication now every 8 hours to help with contractions (I can't feel them) and in an effort to keep things going smoothly, Dr. A says 30 weeks is a huge milestone for me given my situation. He will relax a bit once we get there he says, I'm thankful for such a wonderful doctor who sees me weekly and checks on me to make sure I'm ok, he really is a blessing.

I keep trying to focus on exciting things and don't pay much attention to the real possiblility of them being born at any moment, fear and anxiety can't be good, so most of the time I'm busy planning my dream birth, imaginarily dressing them, thinking about feeding them and dreaming about seeing their fathers face the first time he sees them. I can only imagine how he will react, a step-father who finally has his own children, I'm sure the love and joy will overflow from him. It's something I can't wait to witness and something I'm so excited to give him. I'm thankful to be his wife and the mother of his children, I'm blessed beyond measure.

The countdown to the baby shower is on! I can't wait! I'm like a little kid at Christmas, I have amazing women in my life who support me and make me feel special, October 7th will be a wonderful way to have fun and forget about all the craziness going on in my life!

Painted Countertops

After three years of ugly white countertops I took matters into my own hands and decided to paint them. Brent was a little nervous to say the least but I just couldn't take them any longer and new countertops where out of the question.

I primed them with a cheap ($14) all purpose primmer from Lowes. I also had them tint it a nice neutral color, but wish I'd gone darker with my primer choice, something I learned later.

I then went to Michaels the craft store and picked out three acrylic paint colors I liked (all shades of browns and tans) and I grabbed a bottle of metallic brown to add some spunk and shine to my creation. After looking at the sponges I decided on one round synthetic sponge and a package of 4-5 natural sea sponges to give my counters different textures.

Once I started I began to feel sick to my stomach, my counters looked like a speckled puppy. I kept dabbing paint and realized "hey it's paint, I can start over if I don't like it" so I got a little more comfortable with my project and really started laying on the layers and playing with my color pallet. With each layer I became more content with my choices and realized they were in fact looking pretty fabulous!

Once I had the pattern I liked I added some metallic sporadically in the mix to give it an extra flare.

Brent did the research on sealing the countertops, I wanted to use a few coats of minwax or something but he wanted them really shinny he said. We decided to use a pour on sealer called Evirotech Lite, sold at Michaels. The problem with that was the mixture only came in 32oz boxes and cost 32 dollars. The 32 oz box only covered 8 square feet, we knew we'd need at least 4 boxes so I started clipping the 40% coupons so buy the sealer.

Now the sealer was no fun at all to put on and there is a huge learning curve. One it says don't brush it on/out. If we had done this our project would have failed as the mixture doesn't run together as it claims. Using a paint brush I evenly distributed it as Brent poured it on the countertops. If you want to try this, I suggest googling the products helpful tips and there is a great website. If you don't mix it properly it will never cure and you have a failed project and no way to fix it besides buying those new counters you didn't want to pay for. READ THE DIRECTIONS :)

Once it was on we let it sit for about 10 min and Brent took a butane torch to our creation to help get ride of bubbles, be careful not to hold the flame to close or you'll get ripples in the sealer (we have a few because we didn't pay close attention) Again I would read the helpful tips, which I will have a link to at the end of this post.

After 48 hours we put the sink back in and marveled in our work. We couldn't be happier with our countertops and we only spent around 200 dollars for the makeover.

Before

After Primer

When I was worried (First two coats)

After 4-5 coats with different colors

Much Better :)

Ready for Sealer

Sealed!

Complete, love it! What a difference, from cold and sterile to warm and inviting.

22 Weeks

Well folks we've made it to 22 weeks and my belly button is officially an outie!

I'm happy to report things seem to be going smoothly on the baby front, just taking it easy and trying to get these babies to 36 weeks.

We had an amazing week with our family, Brent's parents flew in and helped us for 5 days. My house has never been so clean and organized! We feel blessed to have such sweet and helpful people in our lives.

Top things that have happened this week;

Father -in- law vs. man hole cover with the Jetta-the man hole cover won with 1,500 in damages to the car.

I officially started my masters program.

Brent started back to school, he has three classes this semester including senior seminar.......eeekkk

Appointment with Dr. Adeshek-we observed Mr. Disobedient putting his foot where it shouldn't be, through the small opening of my cervix. I can already tell he's going to be our problem child, lol

My dad's island in the Philippines was hit by a 7.5 earthquake and we are still waiting to hear from him.....:(

On a happy positive note my girlfriend Cara made me feel beautiful by giving me a new haircut in the comfort of my kitchen :)

My friend Megan made me zucchini bread, my favorite

Veronica made us dinner, and so did Erica :)

Finally a faraway friend Heather sent me a bed rest survival package including games, nail polish, bath soaks, magazines and a journal :)



Cara also helped me organize and add things to my baby registry :) Apparently I didn't have enough stuff :) She also helped me find an awesome baby carrier I must have. So cute !
http://www.becobabycarrier.com/cat-17/gemini-LE

Oh and my girlfriend Chelsea Robbins is our birth photographer, I can't wait to see the magical images she captures on our special day. I feel blessed to have a friend with such a talent be a part of my birth, c-section or vbac whatever the case my be.......Check out her work
http://chelsearobbinsphotography.blogspot.com/

New Hair!