26 weeks & babycation

 I'm not going to lie.  Looking at this picture kind of makes me hurt.

ha ha!! Just kidding... well, kind of.

26 weeks into this pregnancy and I am still feeling for the most part good.  I have days where I am more tired than others but overall still feeling good.

I had a growth spurt from 24 week check-up!

Ready for this?  I had my check-up on April 12th and measured 30 cms as I recorded on the last update.  Hubs and I laughed.

I went in to the doctors on April 28th and was measured at.....

ready for this?

......

35 cms.

Wowzahs!!

So in 16 days I grew 5 centimeters.

We still laughed but I laughed a little less harder and had to ask my doctor if she was at all concerned about this.  40 centimeters is like the "ding" on the dinnerbell in my mind.  Ding as in, you're done.  Your turkey has cooked, the thermometer has popped.

So naturally hearing that I was already 35 centimeters and it wasn't even technically May (remember I'm due in August- three months away) kind of made me panic a bit.

My doctor said she wasn't very concerned about it. She said I'd probably go past 40 cms and that all that stretching and growing would, yup, be painful but that it was all going to be okay.

She also reassured me that I had had a growth spurt and wouldn't necessarily see a growth like this again.  Maybe? Maybe not?!

I always wanted a growth spurt but never imagined it would happen to me sideways and not length-wise. *sigh*

Anyway, 26 weeks marks the beginning of what my doctors call "house rest" and what I thought they were calling "house ar-rest".  They had a good laugh about that one when they heard me call it that.  Now I like to call it my babycation as in a "baby vacation".... or my rest for my babies.  So what do I plan on doing during my babycation?

Finishing the nursery, prepping for babies, reading, cooking, and if I can, find a nice pool to jump into (well, not so much jump more like clumsily climb into) and swim around this summer.

Ah, babycation sounds nice. And right in time for summer!!

Please pray that the girls get as close to August as the Lord wills!!

sometimes i drool

Sometimes when I have a minute or two I like to peruse blogs and recently I've gotten into home decorating blogs or DIY or just crafty blogs in general.

I like to read about the projects and see the transformations that many of these bloggers do themselves.  And while I would consider myself a beginning crafty person I still look to a lot of these blogs for daydreams and inspiration... and then I drool.

I mean, how can you not drool over the yellow accents and the ingenuis idea this blogger had to use a barn door as her bedroom door.

That's right I said a barn door.

Be still my beating heart!

Photo Credit and Blog Credit

 And if that weren't enough her headboard is literally lovely! 

I can't stop staring at this.

Photo and Blog Credit

 This blogger had the nerve to do an awesome pantry.  If this is this lady's pantry I would love to see the rest of her house.  I love the paint choice. I love the chalkboard labeling. I love that she has shelves and shelves set aside just for her entertaining/decorating purposes. Who has that many cake stands and glass vases?!?!?! *sigh*  I actually just recently found this blog and love love LOVE that she loves colors!! I think we will have a beautiful blog friendship.... the kind of friendship where she doesn't know I exist and I stalk her blog to watch for updates.

Oh internet... thank you!

 She EVEN has a *sigh* baking station!! How fun!!

Photo and Blog Credit

 And let's not forget the blog that helped me get started with my drooling.

Jones. Sweet Jones!  Her tutorials and diy information is so easy I've done a couple of her projects already and loved them. I have a beautiful canvas art piece that I did from her blog above my bed but unfortunately I'm not happy enough with it to post a picture.  I think it's because I need more color to help it stand out.  So it's a project in process for now.

I love this project of hers and want to do a woven fabric pin board for my girls' room.  But again, I love her colors. That blue is so beautiful and really makes the fabric board stand out. Not sure if I could do this with beige fabric.... might just bleed into my wall. Hmmm....

Photo and Blog Credit

And finally for today. I love Holly Mathis interiors because she seems to be a gal after my own heart.  I love her rustic almost country charm.  Love this table!! And if I can say this about someone else's table I love how "beat up" it looks.  It looks loved and lived in.

*sigh*

What are some ideas/blogs or projects that inspire you or make you drool?

moods and memorization

 

Either I have writers block or I am not as interesting as I like to think that I am but gosh, I just cannot sit down to write a blog that I think would be entertaining.

Is it me or do pregnant people have slower minds? Seriously.

To top things off today I'm mood swinging, so I am actually feeling a bit weepy about the whole not being able to write a decent blog issue and wish I could just blow some steam.

Pffffft!!

Moods are an interesting thing, aren't they?  As a woman I have had to learn and relearn and relearn and discipline myself to follow through on the fact that feelings and moods and emotions are fleeting.  They feel very real because well, it's how I'm feeling.  But the truth is that they are not always Truth.  Emotions can be mean to me. And moods, well, those are always (as of lately) swinging.

So what is stable in life?  What grounds me?

And that is SCRIPTURE!

More and more I'm finding how wonderful it is to be slowly memorizing scripture in my life.  It's so important for me to speak Truth to myself when I'm not necessarily feeling it. 

Recently, Hubs and I were caught in some nasty turbulence.  I'd like to say I handled it like a champ but to be honest I fuh-reaked out and was crying like a baby.  Probably like two babies with all the hormones I got going on.  I was feeling vulnerable and seriously imagining my death.  We were in a small commuter plane and bouncing around like popcorn being popped.  I was sobbing and telling Hubs, "I can't do this. I can't do this."

And then I thought of Isaiah 26:3 which I had memorized which says, "He will keep in perfect peace, him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in You."

And I repeated that to myself over and over and over again.

Naturally I freaked out the lady next to me who pulled out her barf bag and stared at me until we landed but it brought me so much comfort to know that not only could I ask God to give me peace but He actually promises to give me peace.

I realized memorizing scripture helps us to connect to God in more than just a "feel good" way.  It also helps His word to come alive for us.

If I can encourage you in any way, I would definitely say memorizing scripture is useful for us to connect and be "in step" with our Father.  It helps us to keep in mind the things that are on God's mind and reminds us of the Truth when our emotions tell us otherwise.

So today, although I am feeling somewhat emotional about life I can recall to mind the promises God has given to me through His word and bank on the Truth of what He says.

What verses have you memorized that have later come to mind? (scary situation or not)

24 weeks

I always look so tired in these photos, don't I?

Well, here we are, week 24.  I'm in my 6th month and feeling relatively good for the most part.

Hubs is pointing to my belly... just in case you missed it.

Here's some fun facts about life in the 24 week...

our babies are each a pound and a half.

they measure at about 12 inches

and they're both growing steadily.

Right now they are just developing their more intricate parts like the delicate vessels of the lungs and more brain developments.  They're also focusing on getting fatter as right now they are still pretty thin and even transparent.  Poor things.  Maybe I should eat more cake. :P

Baby A is head down (way to go girlfriend!!) with her legs up around my belly button.

Baby B is still laying right up under my ribs.  Her head is now at my right side and she moves around like crazy!!

They are both really active little girls and usually wake me up in the middle of the night.

So here is the latest news that made Hubs and I laugh... 

our doctors routinely measure my "fundal height" and in case you didn't know the fundal height is

the distance from my pubic bone to the top of my uterus (thank you babycenter.com for the accurate defintion).  Generally this measurement should equal the weeks I'm at in my pregnancy.  So at 24 weeks a person (with a single baby) would probably measure between 23-25 centimeters or so.

My doctor told me I'm measuring at 30 weeks!

Wow!!

This just made Hubs and I laugh.  We are so blessed and it's so fun and interesting to be growing.

Seriously, this news wasn't hard to hear at all it was just so much fun to hear how fast I've been growing!!

I'm trying to think of what else there is to tell you.... still having interesting dreams... took my glucose test.... chose our names but not our middle names yet.... nope, we're not telling anyone!

oh yeah and if the background of our picture looks weird, it's cause we're in NORMAL!!!

Woo hoo!! We surprised my Dad for his birthday and flew back to my home yesterday!! I was hoping to "show off" the midwest in springtime to Hubs this weekend but in true midwest springtime fashion it'll be rainy and 50's all weekend.

Boo.

But who cares. I am totally living it up with my family this weekend!!

Hope you have a good weekend too!!

crafty time

 I was feeling a bit crafty today.  So I tackled a project that I was hesitant to do at first.  My mama had brought me these beautiful aqua curtains but something. was. missing.

I couldn't quite put my finger on it until I started a different project and then it hit me.

Embellishments and applique.

Do I know how to applique? No, I'm not even sure that's how you spell it but it looks right.

So with a pattern to look at it (but wasn't using since I already had my curtains) I just kind of "winged" it.  No pun intended.

So here you go, a sneaky peaky at the nursery decor.

 See? Beautiful curtains but I wanted just a little bit more!

 Not the straightest or best stitching but cest le vie! The curtains came together!!!

 These are not E.T. hands but actually tree branches.

 This little darling is my favorite!!! Even though the pattern didn't have a flying bird I wanted one.  So I made one flying.

ta-da!! My birds, the wind blowing the leaves and a little friend, coming to join them.

How fun and cute for my sweet little daughters!!!

tradition (to be sung to the tune of the Fiddler on the Roof song)

 Is there anything more fun than traditions?  Traditions are usually kept to special ocassions like Christmas, Easter and birthdays.  I am all about my Christmas traditions.  I have a hard time with people who want to sleep in on Christmas morning and have had to learn to be flexible getting a household full of children and adults up and going when all I want is for everyone to run down the stairs at 6am, the smell of cinnamon rolls wafting in from the kitchen, and Santa Claus quietly slipping out the door- not quite fast enough to not get caught by my nieces and nephews.  Lord help my sweet children if they prefer to sleep in because I will not allow for it on Christmas morning. Sorry sweet babies doing cartwheels in my uterus as I type.

While I am all for my Christmas traditions and developing birthday and Easter traditions, I am also intrigued by those who have traditions for non-holidays.

My friend Jin posted a picture of chocolate chip pancakes and a caption that read, "Saturday Morning tradition"....

and it made me think, "Why can't you have a tradition and a fun special treat for normal days like Saturday?"

 So today, Hubs and I enjoyed chocolate chip pancakes and. they. were. heavenly.  Really amazing.  I mean, are you surprised by that comment? That they were delicious.  It's your basic comfort food food groups; carbs and chocolate.  So really, there shouldn't be any surprise that chocolate pancakes are amazing.

And drool worthy.

And because it was Saturday and I had time to make them and then take about two billion pictures, I did and now you can enjoy the pictures.

But first.... a couple questions.

1. Can you just make a tradition or how do they begin?  Can I call this a tradition or do I have to have chocolate chip pancakes for the next ten years before they are tradition worthy?

and 2. did you have any traditional foods that you eat for Christmas, birthdays or a plain ol' day of the week?  If so, what was it and do you keep it up?

 Enjoy the pictures and don't forget to hum Fiddler on the Rood while scrolling through them.  It'll make the experience more enjoyable.  Oh I heart Tevye!

 don't hesitate to lick the spatula.  well, your own!! You shouldn't be licking mine or it'll only sadly be the taste of dusty computer screen.

 

Hubs put syrup on his. I did not. I preferred the simple butter and melted chocolate taste.  Try any topping and let me know what works!

The Twinkies gave the chocolate chip pancakes two flips!  I think that means they loved 'em!!

overrun... with a thought

We've been overrun recently with some friendly visitors.  With spring in the air, we've had an affluence of caterpillars making their way towards our home which will provide warmth and shelter for their sweet little cocoons.

For the most part we are not bothered by them except when they tried to make their cocoon on our open door (oops, I left it that way so I could sit inside but feel like I was outside).

I'm excited to see their cocoons change and for them to spread their little wings and take flight eventually.

Caterpillars remind me of an analogy that the authors used in the book, "TrueFaced" which I read last semester.  They said that if the DNA was taken from a caterpillar and looked at, you could essentially say, "This is the DNA of a butterfly" and they related this to how we are changed and made into our righteous selves through Christ.  Even though we may feel like we are the same ol' person with the same ol' sin and mistakes that bog us down.

How encouraging is that? That though I struggle with sin and wonder if I will ever become the person I was made to be, it's imperative for me to know and believe and claim for my life that I am actually already that person in Christ.  God never expects perfection from us.  Even after we've reconciled our hearts with Christ, we're still not expected to be perfect.  We're expected to rely and cling to Christ.  And His perfection works in us. Although you may look like the same ol' caterpillar, God no longer sees a caterpillar when He looks at you through Christ.

He sees a butterfly.

If anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.

2 Corinthians 5:17

sweetness

Guess who got new goggles for her swimming class?

shocked my mama

My Mama's in town.  I couldn't be any happier.  I'm loving our time together and only wish I could see my Dad too.  We love you Dad!!

Today I showed my mom my sequence of pictures

(click here for weeks 6, 10 & 14)

and I think she was a little surprised.

"I popped... I think.... don't you... think I popped between 18 and 20" I asked.

"Yeah, you popped." she said.

She's been quick to love on me and remind me that I'm beautiful.  The love of a mother.

Here I am.

22 weeks in.

Feeling good.

Still semi-active.

Eating whatever I want (no aversions).

No big cravings.

Babies are just about one pound.

And the cutest thing they're doing this week (according to my baby books and online) is developing their tooth buds.

How cute is that?! Little tooth buds!!

In other news, Mikey and I are registering for cloth diapers.  We're super excited to try out diapers for the newborn stage and see if this is something we want to do.  Cloth diapering would save us a ton of money and seems like a good plan.  So we're taking the first step and trying out the newborn size.  If we like them, we'll get the next size, when the Twinkies need them.  If we don't, we'll go to Plan B.

We registered for the diapers with a friend on her blog:

Calicloth Diapers 

If you're interested take a peek.  We're pretty excited.

Getting a lot of baby prep down and sewing for most of tomorrow. Woo hoo!!

Don't worry Dad, we'll send you some In-n-Out. ;)