Pregnancy "Cravings"

Everyone Pregnant woman gets them...

When I was pregnant with Juliette I went through an INTENSE nesting period. I'm not a huge fan of cleaning, if I still have dishes in the sink when it's time for bed, I definitely won't lose sleep over it. However, when I was nesting, my house was NEVER so spotless. Baseboards, ceiling fans, cleaning behind the furniture...I've never been so thorough with anything in my life. My husband LOVED IT, but of course, my cleaning frenzy went right out the window the second I gave birth.

Anyways, I craved lemons throughout my pregnancy. I would actually buy lemons and eat them whole (you are probably making that sour face right now). I know, it's so weird, and I cringe when I think about it now, but I was obsessed (oddly enough, LO LOVES lemons...funny huh)? Well my hunger for lemons transcended into my cleaning. I cleaned everything I could think of with lemons. I'd use actual lemons in my kitchen to freshen up my garbage disposal, and I'd always have fresh lemons out, so that my kitchen would smell like lemons when you walked in. I got pretty obsessed with lemon-scented cleaning products as well. The clorox wipes, my dish detergent, I even went so far to get those odor blocker lemon-scented trashbags...yes, lemon-scented trashbags. It got so bad, I made my husband go all around town to find me a lemon tree that I could plant in our back yard! I even got lemon-scented plants (I bet you didn't know they had those...they do)!

Anyways, my lemon-loving days are over, although I still harbor a soft spot every time I see a beautiful lemon.

This pregnancy has been so different. The extreme sickness in the beginning was hands-down the worst experience ever, of course now we know why I was sick, twins. As far as cravings go, I don't really have much to report. I've been really in to cucumbers, and I was with LO during my first trimester as well. I have to have Ginger-Ale in the fridge at all times, and I went through a loaded baked potato phase for awhile. My cravings though, have not been for food, but for crafting.

I have about as much talent to do crafts as I do to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Gymnastics Team.

I'm not artistic, I can't draw a straight line, my handwriting leaves much to be desired, I can barely dress myself without clashing, but I have just been so obsessed with making crap during this pregnancy. So, I'm making my husband get me (hold your breath) a sewing machine.

My inner feminist just threw up.

What I really want is an embroidery machine, but since I've never even threaded a needle in my life, I figured I should get a sewing machine to even see if I can handle it before forking over the big bucks for an embroidery machine.

In my fantasy land, I'd love to sew some curtains for my still curtain-less kitchen, maybe some cute outfits for my girls, and headbands.

We'll see. My next post may just be that all I've accomplished is sewing my hand to a fabulous piece of fabric!

Any Suggestions???

So the fact that I am going to be a mother to 3 children under the age of 2 is starting to become less of a surreal shock and more of a reality to me.

Logistically, I am having a hard time wrapping my head around how I am going to carry out the day-to-day activities/responsibilities of raising 3 babies.

Nevermind, the "Do I buy double everything" question?

Vehicle-

We are in the market for a new (rather new to us) car. I currently have a Nissan Xterra, and my husband has a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Great family cars, but not realistic for 3 carseats. The Jeep is paid off, so the Xterra is getting traded in.

Here comes the dreaded dilemma that no, young, hip, totally cool mother should ever have to face...minivan?

I cringe at the thought. We have been looking at Yukon Denali's, I just CAN NOT reconcile myself to the minivan. I CAN'T. Regardless of what car we end up getting, it's going to be hassle getting 3 babies into the car. There is really no "easy" way to do it. Which is my arguement for the Denali.

Sure, the Minivan sits lower to the ground, and has the automatic sliding doors, BUT, if it's going to be a pain-in-the-ass anyway, then I'd rather my painful ass be sitting in a super sweet tricked out Yukon Denali.

What do you guys think?

The other big question...STROLLER?

Strollers, are god-sends, and I absolutely need one for the kids.

If these babies come on their due dates, then LO and the twins will be 17 months apart. A 17 month old, still needs to be strolled.

I've been looking at the Joovy triple- I'll have to post the link later...It's a sit and stand. It has 2 seats (for the twins, which are also compatible with the carseats) and then the "stand" apparatus would be for LO.

Does anyone use a sit and stand??? I'm just wondering how practical it really is, can LO sit on the 'standing' part, if she doesn't want to stand anymore??

Then there's the triple jogger, which is great because it's 3 seats for all 3 kids, BUT I'm not sure if you can stroll a newborn in a jogger...do they have to be a certain weight, or able to hold their neck up or something???

It's all very confusing...if anyone has ANY suggestions, it would be GREATLY appreciated!

Too Smart For Your Own Good

We had biscuits this morning for breakfast! World's greatest intro...I know.

Me and LO enjoyed biscuits with butter and jam, and it was absolutely delicious! Of course I didn't get around to cleaning up my mess until LO went down for her morning nap.

I probably don't talk enough about my furry babies...that is, my dogs.

As much of my life they are a part of, they really deserve a blog just about them.

Oscar is my sweet boy...he is an english bulldog, he's 17 months old and 65 lbs., yes...65 lbs. He is truley a gentle giant, he loves to be loved and is a complete snuggle bug, which, as you can imagine, makes for some interesting situations due to his size. Oscar is my first true dog. I've always had dogs growing up, but they were family pets, not my pet. When I was about 5 months pregnant with LO, the hubs got me Oscar as a Valentine's Day present. He was 8 weeks old, and the cutest thing you have EVER laid your eyes on! He was my baby before my baby. I rocked him, sang to him, cuddled him, and loved, loved, loved on him every second of every day! We have such a connection, and he is the best boy in the world! He is protective of the baby, even to the point where he won't even let our other dog come near her sometimes. He lets her climb on him, pull his hair, ears, tongue, gouge his eyes, and has recently even become her own personal walker...(she holds on to his butt and as he walks she walks behind him, still holding on....so cute)! What I probably love the most though is that whenever I'm rocking the baby or singing to her, he is right by my side, listening...and yes sometimes he falls asleep to my singing also!

Lady is a Boston Terrier. She is about 6 years old, and to her, I am the other woman. My hubs already had Lady when we started dating. She is to him, as Oscar is to me. Except unlike Oscar, Lady is amazingly smart (sorry Oscar, you're still my favorite), Lady is deceptively, eerily smart. Basically too smart for her own good. I have a theory she was in deed a person in her former life. She understands EVERYTHING you tell her. I'm not just talking about commands either, not just "sit" "stay" "outside"-those are things all normal well-trained dogs understand. I'm not shitting you when I say, you can literally have a conversation with this dog, and she understands everything you are saying to her. I'm not crazy, it's the truth. I've met people who swear it's the breed, but there is just something about this dog that makes me sleep with one eye open.

Anyways, back to the biscuits...

So I'm cleaning up my mess, and notice there is 1 biscuit left. I do, what any good mother does, I open it up and give a half to each of my furry babies.

This little ham, devoured his half of the biscuit before it even left my hands....look at that face...an angel, right?

I gave Lady her half, and then went about my merry way, loading the dishwasher, cleaning the highchair, you know the drill.

10 minutes had to have passed...HAD TO, before I spotted Lady out of the corner of my eye...

what was in her mouth?
YES, that is the biscuit from 10 minutes ago. Why is it still in her mouth you ask? Because she is so paranoid about Oscar getting her half, she kept the biscuit in her mouth until she could find a spot in the house where she could eat in peace.

After about 5 more minutes of her not letting go of that biscuit, I let her outside and kept the big man inside. She finally enjoyed eating her biscuit once she was sure he wasn't able to bother her.

Did I say smart, or did I say smart?

I hope all the Mom's out there had a fabulous Mother's Day! My weekend was jam-packed with preparing and planning for LO's big One Year Old Birthday Bash! It was Saturday, and it was fabulous.

About 30 people in all, some with kids, but all close family and friends...it was so much fun, and LO made out great! She got tons of clothes, awesome toys, an adorable pottery barn PINK adirondak chair, a house from mom and dad, AND a car from grandma and grandpa! Not too bad for a One Year old huh??

By the time Mother's Day rolled around, I was dead exhausted! Thankfully I got to sleep in, but in my world "sleeping in" really only means sleeping til about 8:30. Ohhhh how I long for the days when I wouldn't even think about rising from my bed til noon....sigh.

I woke up to cards and gifts and lots of kisses from the hubby and my sweet girl..nothing better!

After lunch at my moms, we had an amazing afternoon playing with LO and all her new birthday toys! It was such a great day, I was genuinely sad when it was over. But to end my Mother's Day, my big One year old girl let me rock and sing her to sleep!

For those Mom's out there who have kids that amazingly like to just be put in their bed to fall asleep to the sound of their mobile, you know how precious that moment was for me. Pictures are below of the fabulous partay....hope you enjoy!

The Cake Table

The FABULOUS Birthday Cake!

The Food Table...yummy

The HOUSE! Our gift to LO!

Her Car! Of course she loved it!

Cake Time!

Her Fab. Pottery Barn Chair

Aaand, she knew just what to do with it!

Notice the monkey PJ's....she's still "driving"

I thought we might have to let her sleep in the house!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my angel!

Juliette Rose turned 1 today, and I can't believe it! My little girl is officially not a baby anymore...as much as I used to shrug it off when people would tell me "The time flies by," I'll admit it...they were right.

All day, I've been misty-eyed and nostalgic, my husband was even sappy! My husband always stays up late doing work on the computer, and at 2 a.m. this morning he lovingly nudged me awake to let me know that exactly a year ago at that time, I had woke him up to let him know I was in labor.

Awwwww, how sweet, right? Although, I was completely incoherent and am pretty sure I just mumbled some undiscernable mumbo jumbo, it really was quite cute.

Sure enough, all day today I was (probably annoyingly so) reliving my labor and delivery story from a year ago....

Awww, it's 6 a.m. that's when we left to head for the hospital.

Ohhhh, yay it's 9:30 a.m. that's when mommy finally got her epidural...thank god!

It's noon, this is when mommy was sure you would be coming any second....(yeah, right)

Oh look it's 2:00, mommy just knew she would be pushing soon...

It's 4:00, mommy was pretty sure you were going to stay in her tummy FOREVER.

It's 5:15, that's when the Dr. decided it was time to do a C-section

It's 5:50 this is when mommy was getting wheeled into the OR

6:25 p.m. (excessive tears) this is when mommy heard you cry for the first time!

Perhaps the fact that I'm pregnant again, with hormones raging only added fuel to the flame of emotions I was feeling today, but I loved everything about this day a year ago, and this year, the day is equally etched in my mind.

My husband and I both went in to LO's room when she woke up, we burst in singing happy birthday! She was so cute bopping around to the tune, and so excited, eventhough she didn't know WHAT was going on, she knew SOMETHING important was happening.

We cuddled all morning, and she actually LET me cuddle her! She's showered with a million kisses everyday, but today she probably recieved 2 million. My favorite moment though, hands down, was just the three of us....mom, dad, and baby embracing eachother at 6:25 p.m. the exact time that sweet angel came into our lives 1 year ago.

It's been a special day for sure, now we look forward to the partay!

We're throwing her big 1 year old birthday bash this Saturday....so excited! It's ladybug themed, and I'm pretty pumped about the whole thing!

I leave you with pictures of Juliette devouring her birthday cupcake from tonight (yes, just a cupcake, her big cake is coming on Saturday)

Enjoy!

We are official

So, we officially made it official!

We have put it "out there" to everyone that we are having TWINS!

As exciting as it is, to not have to keep this exciting news to ourselves, it also scary. I don't like to think about negative things, but twins are high-risk for anyone carrying them, and I just hope that now that the news is public, that we will continue to have good news regarding BOTH babies from now on.

I had my perinatologist appointment Friday (High-Risk OB) and everything was looking good :)

He mentioned that if there were any heart-defects or physical defects we would be able to tell at our next appointment, which is in a month.

I felt like he was trying to prepare me for something by stating that. Why did he have to bring up defects at all, unless he suspected he would see something??? My aunt is a sonographer, and she assured me that he was just doing his job, and that he only told me that because he tells all mothers carrying multiples that.

I hope so, I hope I'm just being over-analytical. I've prayed so hard for these babies, and just continue praying that everything will be okay.

As for the gender.....drum roll please.....

GIRLS!!!!! I will have 3 baby girls! We are very excited. Since the genders are the same, there is still a 30% chance they could be identical, but we won't know for sure until they are born!

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers, and I will keep everyone updated!