Sonograms & Demolition Day

I'm officially a "bad blogger." I always have great intentions of getting things posted in a timely manner & actually having more than one post every week or so, but somehow I don't get that done. Oh well! We had a sonogram last Monday, & each baby now weighs 1 lb 12 oz. By the size of my belly, you might think they were each several pounds, but they're actually at great weights for their gestational age. Here's Jake posing for the camera. His head is on the right & that's his belly on the left with a hand showing above it. If you tilt your head to the right, you can visualize his little face better.

And here's Mallory. Because of the angle the picture was taken from, she looks like she's exactly opposite from Jake (head on the left), but they were really laying almost side by side in the same direction during the sonogram.

They were both moving around like crazy during the appointment, which has pretty much become the norm lately. I'm loving every minute of it! Feeling them move is so awesome, & it's just great to have a reminder that they're in there & are doing well. I have an appointment with my regular OB on Wednesday, & we should get a date for the C-section. Anyone that knows me at all knows I love to plan, so this is very exciting to me. Before you all comment on how they could come before that date & throw a kink in my plan, let me assure you that I know that. It's just nice to have something to shoot for, & hopefully they'll stay in there until the doctor decides it's time for their arrival. One last pic on the baby topic - here's me at 24 weeks.

On to the demolition! As part of our big flooring project that we're tackling, J & his dad are going to replace the hardwood floors in our entry hall & dining room. These are the before pictures:

They don't look that bad in the pictures, but they have tons of sun damage, & there are lots of weak & brittle boards from some old termite damage. The new floors will be installed when J's parents come for my shower in a few weeks, but J decided to start on the prep work this weekend so that he can have it ready to just put the new stuff down when Gary gets here. Really, I think he just liked having a reason to tear something up!

He's now working on scraping the old glue off of the floor & getting everything smoothed out for the new floor to go down. We also ordered our carpet on Friday, so hopefully that will be installed in the next week or so. Happy Memorial Day tomorrow!

Project Nursery

I'll start with a few more stages of belly pictures. Just when I think there's no way I could get much bigger, the twins prove me wrong! Here's 21 weeks.

And 22 weeks...

And the latest, 23 weeks!

Those very cute new walls behind me in the last 2 pictures are in the nursery, formerly known as J's office. This is the before state...

We thought about repainting it when we moved in since the pale yellow walls definitely still looked like a nursery, which is what the previous owners used it for, but we never got around to that. I decided on chocolate brown walls when we found out we were having a boy & a girl so that I can still use pink & blue bedding. J & I started the project several weeks ago. Please ignore my no make-up, bad hair look.

J decided to tackle the project of putting up wainscoting & chair railing himself, & our good friend Mark Fowler was very, very kind to offer his help (& his dad's fancy tools). J & I went to buy the lumber that Thursday night so everything would be ready to go on Saturday. I know it's cheesy that I took a picture of the lumber, but I wanted to document the whole project.

Hattie & I left for Canton at 7:30 in the morning, & the guys worked all day & did amazing work.

The next step is getting the carpet replaced in most of the house, & then we'll be able to assemble the cribs & changing table, which we picked up tonight. Lots to do!

Young Marrieds' Retreat

Two weekends ago, we went to Camp Deer Run with other couples from our Sunday school class for a weekend retreat. Camp is my favorite place to be, so I'm pretty easy to please when I get to be there. Sarah & I even got one of Scarecrow's great hugs when he stopped in to say hello on Saturday morning. Side hugs are best when hugging two very pregnant women. :)

Here are some of the girls preparing breakfast. Notice the lack of men in the kitchen. They were perfectly content to drink their coffee & try to wake up as they slowly filtered into the mess hall.

Our retreats center mostly around food, so it's always a good time. A few of our members that are parents also got a little break to relax while the kids went to the grandparents' house for the weekend. The other highlight is always the horshoe tournament. I'm really pretty terrible, but it's always fun. Justin did play one game with me as his partner, but he much prefers the other guys who have gotten ringers more than once or twice in their lives.

This picture of Sarah in action is one of my favorites from the weekend. Such a graceful toss!

Haylee, Miranda, Sarah & I played a game together. Haylee attempted to squat for the group pic since the rest of us are vertically challenged, but we probably should've gone for more of a close-up to hide that fact. Oh well!

Saturday night we built a campfire & had hot dogs & s'mores. What was fun when you were twelve is still great as adults! J, Chad & Stephen did a great job leading our small group discussions throughout the weekend. It was a great time of fellowship & strengthening relationships.

It keeps growing and growing...

I've always been excited about being pregnant one day & having a cute little belly. Well, God has a sense of humor sometimes. Little is definitely not the operative word to describe my belly, & we still have three and a half months to go! I guess I never figured multiples into my plan. Even though my profile is beginning to be alarming when I catch sight of myself in the mirror, I really have loved being pregnant so far. Justin & I realize what a huge blessing it is that we're having these little angels, so I've tried not to take any of it for granted. This was my one month picture. I didn't care that there was nothing to really take a picture of; I was just anxious to start doing anything that pertained to the baby! That was when we assumed there was only one. :)

At two months, we still had no idea that there were two of them, but we (& several of you) were wondering why I was already expanding.

We found out we were having twins at 10 weeks, so I was proud of my little belly at three months. At least I knew the reason for it!

At four months, random people began to ask when I was due, since I looked way farther along than I was...

And now they continue to ask and are amazed to hear I'm only 21 weeks. Justin thinks it's funny to not mention that it's twins when I say how far along I am just to see how huge their eyes get. I'll admit, I also get a cruel pleasure out of it every once in a while. This pic is from 20 weeks.

We had a sonogram yesterday, & we were very amused by the fact that Mallory was sitting on Jake's head. That rivalry starts early!

Hello!

Okay, to all of my friends & family who have nagged, I mean gently encouraged, me to blog, you've finally won! I've wanted to start a blog for a long time, but just never got around to it. Now that Justin & I have twins on the way, we think this will be a good way to share the latest news & pictures with everyone.

Speaking of the twins, I am a little over 20 weeks into my pregnancy now & everything has been great so far. Jake Thomas & Mallory Claire should be here around the middle of August, just when it's nice & hot here in Texas. I'll post belly pictures soon for all of those loving the fact that I'm already so huge.

I don't promise to be super exciting or insightful in this blog, but we'll see where it goes!