Hormones, Friends quotes, and church ladies.

Pregnancy has a way of turning you into a bipolar lunatic. There's no rhyme or reason to when it will hit you and you will absolutely lose it. So far this pregnancy, I don't think I've had one break-down-and-cry moment. I think that's pretty incredible. But the way my hormones come out is probably worse.

My poor husband has gotten some of the dirtiest looks he's ever gotten from his loving wife. I don't know why, but the stupidest things can make me so mad. Like how I buy the expensive toothpaste and half of it ends up in the sink. Ok, maybe that one would irritate me even if I wasn't pregnant. Or take last night for instance. He tells me he's going to go to bed and tries to give me a kiss. UGH.  I'M COMING TO BED TOO. LEAVE ME ALONE! Poor guy. I don't even know what to say, other than hormones. Hormones make you crazy. Sorry, babe!

I think it all stemmed from the fact that I didn't have any ice cream in the freezer. I ate all of the good cookie dough and I missed the buy one, get one free sale last week. In the words of Ross during the infamous shampoo explosion of '03... "Why do bad things happen to good people?!?!"

(courtesy of... um... a google search)

I don't know if hormones affect energy, but that's been so up and down too. One minute I'm mopping the floors and scrubbing the trim in the bathroom... the next minute I'm laying on the couch like a beached whale praying that my son sleeps for a little while longer. Yesterday was one of the first really nice days of spring and we went to visit my sister's family. We took the kids outside and I wanted to hold the baby. After like two minutes I'm thinking to myself, my goodness, what does this kid weigh? He's six weeks old, so its safe to say he doesn't weigh very much. But it felt like I was holding a cinder block or two. In my defense, I'm also carrying two other kids. And goshdarn it, I'm exhausted!

The fact that I'm already exhausted scares me just a little bit. I'm not even to 23 weeks, and that means I have around 13-17 weeks to go depending on when these little boys decide to come.  And you should see the pile of things I have left to do! The nursery is far from being done, baby clothes need to be washed and put away in the dresser that's not painted yet, my gardens have to be cleaned out and planted soon... the list goes on and on!

I'm praying I get a second wind before I get too big. Which will be soon. This sweet old lady came up to me in church yesterday and said "You're getting pretty big, soon we'll have to roll you in and roll you out!" The Christian in me laughed politely while the raging hormones thought lady, if you had any teeth left, I'd knock them out right now. Then another lady at church told me that her and another girl were just saying how beautiful I look when I'm pregnant. Now that is how you treat a pregnant lady. You tell her she's beautiful, glowing, etc. You don't judge her when her toddler is throwing a temper tantrum during church service. You don't get in her way when she has to pee. You sure as heck don't say, "You eating again? or still?" ESPECIALLY, when you are a man. (Yes, I had a coworker say that to me. He is still alive but he better watch his back.) When I went to that youth convention a few weeks back, I even had a teenage boy say "WOAAHH, don't want to mess with that" and quickly move out of my way.  No, you little snot, you do not want to mess with "that". I let that one live too.  If this kind of stuff happens at 30, 35 weeks I can't promise I'll be so nice.

Ok, I'm done. See? Those hormones just flare up out of nowhere. I'm all fired up now, so I think it's a good time to wrap this up.

On a totally unrelated note, if you're viewing this on a computer you will notice that I have a new little icon. I'm now listed on the Top Mommy Blogs site under the multiples category. If you have a split second, click on the icon! It will count as a vote for me and will move my blog up the ranks. If you're on the mobile version, just hit "view web version" and you'll see it. You can vote once a day, and all you have to do is click the icon which takes you to the top mommy blog homepage. I appreciate any votes!

Over the Hill

Well, the halfway mark is in the rear view mirror and we're counting it down. Eighteen weeks, one day, if I were to go full term. My belly is huge, my babies are moving, and my energy is dwindling! Yesterday was the first day I kind of wanted to say, "Being pregnant sucks!" I'm very careful to say anything like that, though. So many people aren't able to experience the miracle of pregnancy and it would be so very inconsiderate to whine about my pregnancy aches. The joy of carrying a child far outweighs the aches and pains that come along with it.  But if we're honest, it's not always fun.

I had it in my mind to have everything done by 30 weeks. Painting, nursery decor, baby clothes washed and put away, deep house clean, gardens planted. I figured that by 30 weeks I would be starting to slow down. I don't know if it's the fact that I just spent the weekend at a youth convention with our church youth group, or if it's just starting earlier than I expected, but I am definitely starting to slow down.  Did I mention this belly is huge? I mean, I'm already looking like I am 30+ weeks (compared to my first pregnancy). By the time I hit 30 weeks, I'll need a crane to help me out of bed.

So now I feel like I need to get a lot done very quickly. Do you know what it is like to get something done with an almost 2 year old??? Nearly impossible. (Especially when he is this cute!)

I can hardly keep up with cleaning and laundry, let alone try and get painting and projects done! I'm sorry, I'm whining again. Whatever gets done will get done, and everything else will have to wait!

We're coming along with names. Picking two names is twice as hard, go figure. Jer and I can't seem to agree on anything. My names are too trendy, his names are too boring. And of course someone always knows SOMEONE with that name that you don't like. We have some front runners, though. Hopefully we can decide soon. I know we have time, but I hate calling my children A and B!

Here's a quick synopsis of my pregnancy this week:

How far along? 21 Weeks, 6 Days
How big are the peanuts? The size of papayas! Baby A weighs 13 oz and Baby B weighs 12 oz (as of last week's ultrasound)
Total weight gain/loss? Um yeah, no. I'll just say this... when I weighed in last week I almost cried.
Maternity clothes? Of course. Even those are getting snug! Don't they make twin maternity clothes?!
Sleep? Is a beautiful thing. We're averaging 10 hours at night, with the occasional midnight bathroom run.
Best moment this week? Coming up with a name that just fits. Now I just have to convince Jer.
Symptoms? Low energy is pretty much it right now. I am blessed!
Food cravings? Loaded cheese fries with ranch. Ice cream. 
Food aversions? None right now.
Gender? Two Boys, baby!
Labor signs? Nope, thank you Jesus!
Belly button in or out? It's getting frighteningly close to out...
What I miss? A bigger wardrobe.
What I'm looking forward to? Baby shower in a few weeks!
Bump? Absolutely. This pic is from Sunday:

Twenty week Twins!

Do you ever get ready in the morning, head out the door, and just feel like it's going to be a great day? Today was one of those days. Coffee in hand, birds chirping, it's already over 30 degrees at 9am, and today I'm 20 WEEKS!

I am officially halfway!! Hopefully, I'm over halfway. I for sure don't want those twinsies coming too early but I think if I was still pregnant at 40 weeks I might just die. The babies are the size of bananas! They are 6.5 inches crown-to-rump, or 10 inches total, and about 10 ounces! My sister pointed out to me that if they were laying feet to feet they would be the length of a full term baby already! That's a lot of baby.

We had our mid-pregnancy ultrasound last week and it looks like the babies are doing wonderfully. Their heartbeats are strong and they are measuring right on time. We couldn't get all the measurements because they were moving so much so I have to go back next week for another ultrasound (oh, darn!). Here's some shots of the babes!

I am in love already! And beyond excited. I found a forum yesterday for twin moms and a bunch of the ladies would post their pictures of their newborns and excitedly post, "they're here!" (ok, some of them would say "their here!" but I'm sure in their after birth haze they weren't thinking about grammar). Anyway, to see those precious little miracles made me tear up. I still sometimes can't get over the fact that I'm going to have two babies at once. Is it too soon to pack my hospital bag???

As far as pregnancy goes, I'm doing great. The babies are getting much stronger and I'm starting to feel them way more often.  I don't really have any annoying pregnancy symptoms right now other than low energy. I am starting to notice my limits though. Monday night I came home from work and cleaned/cooked for hours... Tuesday I woke up with back pain and was exhausted all day. Oh well. I am so grateful for a smooth first half of this pregnancy. I assume the second half won't be a breeze, but I'm ready for it! 

The picture on the right is from over the weekend, a few days before 20 weeks. I had to compare it to a picture from my pregnancy with Easton, so that's the pic on the left. How far along was I there, you ask? Ummmm.... well.... 30 weeks. Yikes, I know. In my defense, I had just eaten a huge lunch in the pic on the right! I know I will have a much bigger belly than before, but if I'm showing about 10 weeks ahead, what am I going to do at week 35? 38? I will be looking full term so soon! Oh, how uncomfortable. 

I don't mean to whine, I wouldn't trade this for the world. How many people can say they are growing two little lives inside of them? It's amazing. I am so blessed that God gave me the chance to do this. So I'm going to suck it up, and be grateful! I do appreciate your prayers as I start off on the second half of pregnancy.  There are a lot of risks that show up in the second half, but I'm going to take it one day at a time. 

As always, thanks for reading!