22 Weeks...A Week Ago

My first trimester exhaustion has kicked back in so blogging has taken a back seat to sleep. Last Thursday I hit the 22 week mark. Today of course I am 23 weeks. I still feel great other than that minor exhaustion issue. I find myself dosing off at school if I sit down long enough to check email or grade some papers. I am also losing more of my mind. I will do or say something crazy to my first graders and they will say, "Mrs. Erbele, Blake and Jack are sucking away your brains again!" It is really cute and really true. :) My kiddos are so excited and get bummed when I have to go to the doctor and don't come back with any pictures.

I went to the doctor this past Monday and after waiting for an hour and a half my doctor said everything looked great. My blood pressure and weight are really good and the boys look great too. Right now the are measuring big, but he said not to expect that for too much longer, it isn't typical for twins to stay large.

I had a list of questions for him including traveling and he said I couldn't go any more than an hour away. So much for a baby moon. I also have this lovely red bump just below my hairline on my back. It is horrible and I want it gone. He said it is a tumor on my blood vessel caused by pregnancy and that I can't get it removed until the boys are here. It is nothing dangerous just ugly and obnoxious. Since it is a blood vessel, if I accidentally nick it, it bleeds like you wouldn't believe. Oh, what we go through for our children. I have already told Garrett that it is top on my priority list come June...maybe July.

Here I am at 22 weeks. I think I am even bigger now. My T-shirts are really starting to get tight and short. People keep telling me that I look too little for carrying twins this far along. I just give them a big hug and say 'thank you' a million times. If they are looking at my belly and saying 'little' they may need their eyes checked. :)

Phase Three

Ok, so I wrote like 4 entries in one day and then have neglected my blog for about 2 weeks. Well, a lot has happened. The nursery is getting closer and closer to it's final stages before furniture can go in. Garrett has painted the walls navy and touched up the white. Now he is waiting for that to dry so he can go back and touch up the navy and the ceiling. This seems like a never ending process. I think he is about ready to kill me for suggesting the wainscoting and the dark navy walls. It took 2 weekends to paint the walls, but 4 coats later they look great! Sorry G!

The carpet cleaners are here as I type so hopefully that means furniture can be assembled and placed in the room this weekend. I just don't want to get my hopes up. It may have to wait until next weekend. I am so excited to get it up so I can see what kind of accessories I need to get. That will be the most fun part. :)

My boys!

So I guess I haven't blogged in a while because this is my 4th post today. I'm playing catch up here.

As I said in an earlier blog, Garrett and I went for our 20 week ultrasound on Thursday. I finally learned how to scan in and edit pictures (I know, welcome to the new decade...9 years late) and so I wanted to show off my babies.

Garrett is insisting that one of the pictures of Blake looks just like C3PO from Star Wars. I have never seen the movie, but can see a resemblance. Take a look for yourself. :)

What do you think?

These are also of Blake.

These are of Jack, he is definately a boy!

Phase Two

Garrett got back into town and started working on the nursery. Phase two was to hang the crown molding in the room and adjoining bathroom. I went to run some errands yesterday as Garrett headed off to Home Depot. As he was loading the molding into the car a man came up to him with a business card and told him that if he needed help to give him a call. Well, in the bedroom we have a valted ceiling where the roof line angles down. Garrett tried and tried to get the correct angle cut and counldn't do it. So, he called Jaime (say it in Spanish). Jaime had the room and bathroom completed with molding and caulk in 3 hours.

This is so out of character for Garrett to pay someone for something he could do himself, but that angle was just too frustrating for him.

Now next weekend comes the paint. All of the crown molding and wainscoting will be painted the same oil based white that is in the rest of the house. Then the walls in the bedroom will be pained navy to match the bedding. The bathroom will be painted the lighter blue that is also in the bedding. I can't wait to see the finished product!!

This is the boys' bathroom.













This is the bedroom with that pesky wall and the doorway leading into the bathroom.















Garrett is caulking over the nails.

20 Weeks!!

Well I am offically half way there. I hit 20 weeks on Thursday and went to the doctor for an ultrasound. Everything looked great and we are still having 2 boys. They both are 10 inches long and weigh about 15 ounces each. They are both laying across my belly, foot to head. Blake is on bottom and Jackson is on top.

Their ultrasound pictures were so cute and they actually look like babies now, not aliens. We saw both of them sucking their thumbs and Jack had the hiccups.

I am getting bigger by the day and amazed at how my body looks. I used to always wonder what I would look like pregnant. Now I know. It is exciting now for strangers to notice. I know this sounds silly, but when you spent almost 3 years trying to get pregnant, it is major when someone that doesn't know you wants to know when you are due.

So, they both look great and are just getting nice and plump now!

Here I am at 20 weeks.

A Very Happy Birthday!!

Last Wednesday was my 27th birthday. I can't believe that I am in my mid-twenties. I still think that high school and college were just a couple of years ago. I had a great day full of lots of surprises. Unfortunately Garrett was in the land of the nuts and the fruits (San Francisco) and unable to celebrate with me.

Tuesday night my dad took me out to dinner to celebrate. For my gift he gave me all of the bedding for the boys' nursery! Including the window valance and rod. I was so excited and immediately called Garrett and told him that he had to get home and finish the nursery. Thanks Dad!!!

My students were so excited that it was my birthday on Wednesday. They all came in with cards they had made at home for me. Then my room mom came with muffins for all of us. One of my students gave me pacifiers for the boys that had their names on them. I was so excited. This is the first thing we have gotten that has their name on it. I love monogrammed things, so hopefully this will just be the first of many items with their names on it.

That evening my two great friends, Mary and Georgia insisted on taking me out to dinner before Bible study. We went to the Olive Garden and froze to death. Why do they keep it so cold in there? It was a great meal and the girls insisted that the waiter sing to me. One cup of ice cream later we were off to Bible study. Thank you Mary and Georgia for the great meal and gift card to get a mani/pedi, y'all are best!!!

Thursday Garrett came home and picked me up for my ultrasound. In the car was my birthday present. He made me open it on the way to the doctor. I was so excited to see that I finally got a fancy camera. That is what I call it. It is technically called a digital SLR camera. The original one he got me was the entry level one, but after much research he decided to take it back and get an even better one. I got an email on Friday that said 'Happy Mother's Day' because this new camera is now a birthday/Mother's Day/Father's Day gift. I am totally fine with that and just excited to have this great camera to take wonderful pictures of our boys. Luckily my friend Kedra is well versed in these kinds of cameras and is very helpful.

All in all it was a great day! I have great family and friends who spoil me way too much!

Here are some of the bedding pieces my dad got me.













Here are the pacifiers from my student.













Here is my fancy camera.