Last Night Out

Saturday night Matt and I had a most lovely last night out. We went down to Vincent's and it was most delicious. I was very much craving their roasted chicken and mashed potatoes and it definitely hit the spot. We decided to do a couple last photo ops too.

And see that little package at the bottom of this picture? It's full of some really great things from my wonderful husband! I wasn't feeling up to going out, but I'm glad he forced--errrr--convinced me to clean up, put something on other than low-rise jammy pants and get out. He surprised me with outfits he picked out himself for the babies to wear home from the hospital. Additionally, hiding underneath the babies' tiny outfits in there is a jewelry box containing one of the most beautiful, special, meaningful, gorgeous rings ever that he designed all on his own in honor of, and just in time for our special additions coming this week. I'm truly the luckiest girl ever to have him as my husband. Not sure what I did to deserve him, he's the absolute best! Planning to show off the pretty ring once the babies are here--Which will be Wednesday unless they decide to want out out today or tomorrow...Stay tuned!

Nora is so cute and I'm kinda big

It was actually a little over a week ago that I got to see Nora and Tom when they came to town for a quick visit. Look how cute she looks. I could never pull off this adorable get up with red cowboy boots, but it's so natural looking on her. And I don't notice it as much in real life--but look at those babies poking out of me! Looking kind of big...

Nora, if only you were wearing your tomato shirt for this picture...

Maternity Pictures Revealed

At long last...

Here's about half of the pictures we came away with. The ones I feel most comfortable putting out there to the world. I love them! Don't get me wrong, ALL of the pictures are gorgeous and wonderful--I'm just a tad out of my comfort zone. So no doubt, I'm definitely treasuring the others too and would be persuaded to send more privately to anyone interested.

A huge special thank you to Melinda and Cristie Reddehase at Silver Image Photography (www.silver-image-photo.com) for their amazing work. We can't wait to bring our babies in for their newborn pics!

My favorite one is the tummy shot with "BABY" in front of it. (5th one down) Well, technically it's of course "BABIES", but I think that picture is so wonderful. And then notice the 2nd picture here--Matt is excitedly calling it his "senior picture", so I put it on here for him. It does look very "senior picture-esque" of him, I guess?!...He had a great time. And he's so incredibly excited for next week, it's a fun atmosphere around here right now.

Happy Birthday to ME!

I love my birthday. I love everything about the day and the date. I love the month of August. I love the numbers 8 and 20. I also love when clocks say 8:20. You get my drift...

The day began with the installation of our new dishwasher (yay!), followed by a relaxing afternoon of reading time inside with the air conditioning in full effect while cuddling up with my Mario. Perfect.

And tonight we had an awesome birthday party. Thanks so much to my family and friends for making me feel so special. Wine was enjoyed by all. Yes, by all! Not only was it my birthday, but I've made it to 34 weeks! A big milestone for twin pregnancies, I believe. So I had a lot to celebrate. I haven't had a single drop of wine or alcohol or anything since Christmas (which is a big deal for this wine lover) so I treated myself to ONE, delicious glass of Caymus wine tonight! I savored every last drop.

Here's some of my wonderful birthday gifts so far. Notice the FLIP that Matt got me. So excited!

Tomorrow I get to celebrate some more with my friend Nora and also with my Mom. What a great day this was and I've still got a fun weekend to go!

Better Together

Jack Johnson

Yep! We got to see Jack Johnson in concert here last night. We've been looking forward to this since the tickets went on sale back in April. We crossed our fingers the whole time hoping we could make it, and we did! I brought a little travel pillow for my back (thank goodness) and we showed up to our wonderful, covered seats that happened to be positioned right below a fan about 15 minutes before he came on. The seats and the timing couldn't have worked out more perfect for us--especially since we dodged the huge "monsoon" thunderstorm that happened a little earlier there that left most everyone drenched and muddy. He sang so many songs we love and had us wishing we could go back to Hawaii!

...It's so much better when we're together....

(Awww)

And I'm officially dilated! Just to 1, but still, kind of exciting. And we officially have our date: Wednesday, September 1st! Now hopefully these sweet babies can just continue to hang out in my tummy until then...

Please, no cankles

Warning: This is a whining, complaining post...

I'm officially uncomfortable now. So achy, so crampy, so tired. Get used to it, right?! All 3 of us are totally crammed into this one little body now. I'm also no longer capable of laying down in any way--So thank goodness for our new, extremely comfy rocking chair. It is my new "bed".

On top of all that, I woke up yesterday feeling puffy all over. I looked down and could not see distinguishable ankles and my hands were definitely in swelling mode as well. I think my immediate intake of tons and tons of extra hydration helped and I've been laying low with my legs propped up ever since. I see defined ankles today, thank goodness. I'm hoping to be able to stick with the same routine of hydration and elevation whenever possible for the remaining weeks.

All that said, I still wouldn't trade any of it for the world! Just about 2 1/2 more weeks to go...

Matt's First Time

...Changing a diaper that is! We took our last baby class tonight, "Newborn Care". I couldn't believe Matt had never changed a diaper before. I'd say he did very well...

I was so happy to finally learn how to swaddle a baby too. Although it's still a bit like origami to me. We're fortunate to have a great hospital here that offers so many wonderful classes. We took a total of 4 this past month: "Preparing for Multiples", "C-Section Birth", "Breast Feeding", and then "Newborn Care". We really did learn a lot from all of these. Well, I say that now--Hopefully we really will have retained everything we learned when I'm headed to the operating table to be sliced up (yikes.) and then when the babies are screaming their heads off at 2 in the morning.

My Babies' Keeper

Often times this is how Mario sits or lays now. And whenever I'm laying in bed this is mostly how we lay. We wondered for a while if Mario really knew all that was going on. I think this is proof that he is aware of something. He's become quite protective of me in general lately too--which is not necessarily a good thing when other dogs are around. (His brother Tiger is, of course, the exception to this!) He also tends to protect "his belly" from Matt too. A lot of times when Matt will reach over to feel the babies move, for example, Mario will curl up on me (really, my tummy) even more and lick Matt's hand away until he backs off. Cesar Milan would probably have serious issues with all of this...but the dog lover in me finds it all completely sweet and dear.

When my tummy isn't available to rest on, the babies' clothes work pretty well too...

Mario loves Visitors

All 3 of us love visitors, actually. We had so much fun with Maggie, Fisher, and Marc here these past 4 days. There was a lot of low-key hanging out, Maggie got to re-live her Clear Lake days and have fun with her old friends, and Mario got to play tons of chase with Fisher and have even more people to play fetch with. We were sad to see them leave for their drive back to Kansas at 5am this morning.