"What Eva!"

It's been a long week.

Matt has been in Costa Rica since last Saturday. I did not plan on missing him this much!  Apparently in my emotional, pregnant state, I not only want my husband around, I really need him around. It makes me shutter to think what our military wives go through. My best friend Nicole's husband has recently been deployed and will be gone for 7 months. 7 months and I'm fretting over 7 days right now! Now that's a perspective.

Matt will be returning home tomorrow night. I hadn't realized how much I would miss the routine of our everyday life.  I've had my brother and sister staying with me multiple times this week. My mom stayed with me last Sunday night. I stayed with Anna Thursday night (which was a lot of fun!). I find myself ready to have some simple nights alone with my husband; sitting together, eating together, watching the news in bed together. Just being together. I really love that guy.

Matt catching a wave in Costa Rica

My Ridiculously-Photogenic-Husband

My appointment went really well on Monday! I can now say I have just about two pounds of baby in me! Baby A, Alex-although Alex could become Baby B if they switch places-, weighed 15 ounces, while Mason weighed 14 ounces. Dr. Wilder says they are growing beautifully and at a really great pace. Check out some awesome photos of their faces!

First Column: Baby A, Second Column: Baby B

I uploaded Matt two videos from my appointment onto YouTube. I was in a bit of a hurry to have it be available for him and so they are not edited at all. Some of it is kind of funny, for example in the first video, my mom kind of blinds me with the flash from the camera. A lot of time is spent on measurements. They are still really awesome though...I just love getting to see them!

My fatigue has come back with full force. Days seem longer and nights seem shorter. My heartburn comes and goes lately, no matter what foods I try to avoid. The sciatic nerve pains in my lower back have been especially brutal this week. All and all however, I believe I have still had it pretty easy, and I feel fortunate for that.  I start yoga on Monday next week and will be going three times a week. Hopefully this will ease some of my struggles. It should be fun!

People say the strangest things to me. Actually, pretty inappropriate things regarding my pregnancy and the twins. Here are just a few that I heard this week:

~while in a prenatal massage after telling how Baby B moves often~

"At least you know which one the evil one is. There's always an evil twin."

~Seriously?!?!~

~while checking out at Motherhood~

"So do you know what you're having?"

(very disappointed face after I tell her two boys)

"Oh, really? Not one boy and one girl?"

~Why do some people assume that having two boys is a disappointment-in front of my face? Yes, having one boy and one girl would have been fun, but definitely not a disappointment! These baby boys are both wanted and we are so blessed to be having them.~

~after going over a contract in my office with customers~

"Twins?! Omg! We have friends who have twin girls and we can hardly stand hanging out with them. Wow, you have your hands full. My friend called me crying when she found out she was having twins and I was like, I'm so glad it's her and not me!"

~Yes. This really happened today.~

~random lady that was shopping near me~

"Well, good luck. There's no way I could do that."

~Hmm. Well, what would you do, drop them off in a box on the street?~

One of my best traits is that I don't outwardly appear that things get to me. I smile, nod, and I'm polite. Internally, there is a Jersey girl that is begging to get out and throw a drink and yell while swaying my head and shoulders back and forth. At the least, doing what this little girl does:

Oh..watching that a few times already has me feeling better.

Here are a couple of shots I snapped with my phone today of my growing baby bump:

21 weeks

21 weeks

It feels the way it looks...huge! :)

I wish you all a wonderful weekend! ...and if you're reading this, and it's not the weekend, a wonderful week!

GTL (Just kidding, I never do laundry. ;) -Natalie

Life is good

How can one heart take so much??

On Wednesday, we found out that one of our best friends is pregnant with a baby girl. We are so thrilled! Only being 5 days apart makes this icing on the most enormous happy cake.



Wednesday, we also finally received our furniture-after ordering it six weeks ago mind you.  Aside from an error-we received two love seats and one recliner instead of one love seat, one sofa and one recliner- I am sooo happy that we at least have the love seat. Between the two cushions on it is a console with two cup holders-perfect for two bottles-and each seat not only reclines, but rocks when in non-recline position! Matt and I can be rocking our twins at our own pace, side by side! Another awesome thing is that all of the seats in all of the furniture that we purchased have power recliners, so if I am reclined with a sleeping baby, coming out of the reclined position is as easy as pressing a button! So cool!!  I'll post pictures once we have our complete set.

Tomorrow Matt leaves for Costa Rica for 9 days for a bachelor party, surf trip style. The thought of him being gone has made me go from excited for him, to excited for me and some alone/girl time, to last night being in tears.  He is the best man in his best friend Chris's wedding. The two of them have gone before-last time it was for 3 weeks.

Matt and Chris-Costa Rica 2006

This time, Matt and Chris are bringing along their fathers and 4 more friends along for the fun. Regardless of having a little separation anxiety, I know they're going to have a great time and I'm really happy for them.

I'm not sure if it was the crazy weather we had today....

...but these babies have been kicking up a storm! :) Today, for only the second time ever, I saw Baby B's kick! I loved it! 

There are so many things that need to be done for the babies! On Monday, we finally finished our registry.  Registering is not as easy and fun as one would think... It takes a lot of time and research to find the best in value and rating. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with everything we chose.  We registered at this awesome site called MyRegistry that another twin-mommy-to-be recommended.  It's kind of like a Pinterest registry-you add a button to your favorites bar and then as you look at things you like online, you just click your button and it adds it to your registry! We have registered for items from Pottery Barn Kids, JC Penny, Amazon, etc., and they are all found on our MyRegistry list! Before we started our MyRegistry list, we went to Babies R Us and registered for a few things-which we were able to sync with our MyRegistry list on their site! If you'd like to see some of the things we picked out, and the MyRegistry set up, you can check out ours: here The Babies R Us link is at the bottom of the page.

On Sunday, my MIL is going to help me do some decorating along the tops of our kitchen cabinets and a book shelf we have by the fireplace! We thought it would be best if I get this done while my sweet husband is gone (muah ha ha ha....). I can't wait to see how it's going to turn out-we picked out some really pretty things at Hobby Lobby a couple days ago. Sunday night my mom is going to stay with me so that she can go with me to my next ultrasound appt! I don't think my mom has ever seen an ultrasound in real life-it should be lots of fun! Plus, since this is the first ever appt that Matt is missing, she is going to record it for him!

Ok, so I nearly missed my "weekly post deadline" that I set for myself, but I did it!

Winning, -Natalie

Oh boy, oh boy!!

That's right! We're having two boys!!

I can't believe it has been 2 weeks since we found out that we will be having baby boys...and now 4 weeks since I have written my blog! To make up for it...I'm going to pack this post with everything that has been going on!

Knowing that I will now have two sons to call my own is amazing.  It feels so much more real! My heart swells just typing this.  Want to know their names....?

We put a lot of thought into our babies names and we can't wait to welcome John Alexander, "Alex", and Mason Christofer into our life.  John Alexander is a combination of two of Matt and my most favorite people in the world; our grandfathers - John Franklin Rayburn (mine) and Theodore Alexander Werkhoven (Matt's). Matt really liked the name Mason, and Christofer is Matt's middle name - it's spelled the Dutch way, we weren't purposely trying to switch the more normal "ph" for the "f". Matt and Mason will share the same initials - MCW.  We love these names.

It was one whole agonizing week after we found out their genders before I got to shop for our baby boys...and "boy", did we!

First shopping spree for Mason and Alex!

I have been growing soooooooooooooooooooooooo much! It is crazy-amazing-sometimes painful-wonderful that I can hold my stomach in two hands as if it's a basketball! I'm facinated by myself! For so long before I was pregnant, I would imagine what it would be like to feel and look this way...and now it's happening! I don't take this for granted. I am so thankful for it.

17 weeks pregnant

19 weeks pregnant - Easter afternoon at MIL and FIL's

Yes, I am 19 weeks pregnant this week and our babies are the size of mangos.

We can feel them moving from the outside of my stomach now! So far, Matt, my mom, Andrea, Betsy, and my MIL have been able to feel a little kick or movement. Last night, while I lay on my side, I could feel so much going on! It doesn't always feel good - yesterday it felt like one of the babies was playing cowboys and indians with my bladder. Nonetheless, I love it and so very much enjoy feeling their presence!

Life for us has been crazy lately!! It addition to being in the busiest season at work, we have been making huge changes to the house that are hopefully on track to be completed before the babies come.

We painted the outside of our house...

Before

After

Before

After

...and we have painted three of our bathrooms.  They are still a work in progress.  I'm trying to get all of the decorations together before I share the after pictures.  Matt is a little leery of the color I chose for our downstairs bathroom, it's a light lavender color, but I have promised him that I'm going to make it look good once it's finished. Hey, I am about to be the only girl among three boys, I have to make my femininity mark now.

A few weekends ago, we also had Liz's wedding in Huntsville. It was beautiful and we had a really great time!

********My take on having a healthy pregnancy********

Back in my first trimester, when I was getting sick from brushing my teeth and spitting toothpaste out (this was the extent of my morning sickness) I stopped taking the vitamins that I had initially first really liked.  I would definitely recommend these vitamins to anyone TTC or those who are pregnant and are able to swallow pills:

I really liked that these were "raw". They gave me great energy and helped to make me feel good.

These do a great job keeping your system regulated and also help to ward off icky pregnancy woes such as a y.e.a.s.t. infection.

I also took a calcium supplement twice a day.  They were the size of the Eiffel Tower.

I took all of these while we were TTC and also probably up to two months of being pregnant.  It's a good idea if you are TTC to start storing the folate and other nutrients to prepare for the growth of your baby, or in my case babies.  At about two months into my pregnancy, I had to stop taking all of these vitamins, unfortunately.  I just could not swallow them.

My friend Anna turned me on to some chewable vitamins that I have really enjoyed taking since then- and not just because they are delicious.

Together they have plenty of DHA, Folic Acid, Calcium, and Vitamin D, and I'll say it again, they are flipping delicious.  Matt even likes taking them, even the prenatals! Ha ha...

I recently discovered that I like root beer. I haven't had the taste of my beloved soda, Diet Coke since December, and while I used to not like root beer-once I had a taste of that brown bubbly on my tongue, I've been hooked! It's caffeine free and is the only soda taste I'm allowing myself to have.  Done deal.  I will warn you though, not all root beer is pregnancy friendly. Beware of Barq's, it has caffeine.

I have increased my water drinking by a lot compared to what it used to be. It hasn't even been difficult, I'm thirsty allll of the time! I only drink root beer maybe once a day. The rest of the time, it's good 'ol H2O.  I also continue to eat tons of spinach and vegetables, salmon and the safe kinds of fish, and I have been drinking yogurt smoothies for an extra calcium boost in addition to yummy snacks of Greek yogurt.

The one thing I really need to improve on is my stretching. I have had several prenatal massages now and have increased going to my chiropractor, but I know that some good stretching would do me wonders.  My excuse is this: I'm so tired once I get off of work. Maybe I'll cook dinner. Thankfully Matt has been really great at picking up my slack in the kitchen. I generally just want to either lay on the couch, get in the bathtub, or go to bed.  Somehow I'll have to make myself incorporate some stretching.

****************

Last but certainly not least, I wanted to share a video of our gender reveal sonogram.  It starts out with Matt filming us on the way to our appointment. I don't seem as excited as I actually was in the video. I was so nervous! Some of the best baby movements are in the second half of the video.

If I have forgotten anything, I'll be sure to remember it for next weeks post-which I fully intend on writing! :)

I'm going to have 2 sons!!, -Natalie