Cloth vs. Disposable

I'm having a bit of a dilemma, I can't decide whether I want to use cloth or disposable diapers. A few months ago, I started looking into cloth diapers. Brandon really wanted to use cloth because a family from church uses them and the mom washes them herself and they save a fortune. He's totally up for anything free :-)

However, I quickly crushed his dreams of saving hundreds on cloth diapers by refusing to wash the cloth diapers myself. For one thing, I think it's disgusting. But my main reasons are that we live in an apartment and have to share a laundry room with 5 other families and pay to wash laundry anyways. The laundry room is also across the hall from us, so I'd have to physically leave the apartment and the twins in order to wash them. I don't think this is too safe or practical so I told him I couldn't wash the diapers myself. And he wasn't quite as excited about washing our cloth diapers when I told him he'd have to do a load of poopy diapers every single night after work.

However, I am still considering cloth diapers if we used a diaper service. I found one called Modern Diaper Service in Virginia. The deliver to our area and seem to have great customer service. I think it would only cost us about $20-30 in start-up costs (for the diaper covers and other supplies). Then it would cost $24 a week after that. I did the math and it averaged out to nearly exactly the same cost as using disposable diapers. I have heard some benefits for using them, such as less risk of diaper rash and easier potty-training, however these seem to be pretty questionable. I haven't read or heard anywhere that these benefits are undisputed.

So I guess it comes down to the fact that my main opposition to disposable diapers is the thought that I'd be putting thousands of chemical-filled diapers each year into a landfill and that they could take hundreds of years to actually break down. However, a diaper service obviously uses tons of energy and probably lots of chemicals to wash all these diapers as well. I'd really like to give it a try, but I can't see any clear benefit to using cloth diapers. I've never met or heard of any twin mom who has used cloth diapers. The convenience factor would make it alot easier to just use disposable diapers. But still, I'm torn and I don't know which is best.

Does anybody have any advice on this? Do you know anybody who's used cloth diapers (recently, Mom, not 20 years ago)? Do you know any pros and cons I haven't thought of? I'd definitely trust a personal experience over an article I happened across online. If anybody has any light to shed on this for me, I'd be really appreciative!

I can't wait any longer

I just loaded up my Netflix qeue with all my favorite Christmas movies! And I am officially breaking out the Christmas music today. Only a few more days and then I can decorate!!

This is my favorite time of year!! Since I can't travel and we'll be spending Christmas all alone this year, I have to make it extra special so I don't get depressed. Brandon doesn't know what he's in for... I'm going to go Christmas crazy!

Only 6 more hours...

until Twilight!!


This morning on the way to work:

Me - "How excited are you for Twilight tonight?"

Brandon - "Very. I'm pumped. This is my pumped face."

Flashes me a fake smile.


Oh well, at least he agreed to come with me right?

Surprise Baby Shower #3!

My wonderful co-workers threw me another baby shower yesterday! They surprised me in the conference room with lots of cookies and cakes and balloons. And my sweet co-worker Jackie even invited Brandon! We got some wonderful gifts including maternity and baby professional photo sessions with a local photographer, a high chair, and Nordstrom's gift certificates (which I have a feeling will end up going towards my post-maternity wardrobe, not the twins already extensive wardrobe).

The Senator and his wife even got us the cutest little Ralph Lauren onesies and snowsuits. Senator Smith is known for his love of designer suits and ties. Ralph Lauren himself even decorated our front office many years ago. Now, our boys can look just like miniature versions of Senator Smith- they'll be the best dressed babies in all of DC!

Things to be excited about

1. Rachel's coming for Thanksgiving!
2. I get to see Twilight tomorrow!
3. I'll hit 32 weeks tomorrow which is a good pregnancy milestone. Even if something goes wrong and the twins are born this early, their chances of surviving and having normal, healthy lives go up dramatically at 32 weeks.
4. I'll hit 32 weeks, which means that there's only 5 weeks left of being pregnant! YESSSS!!
5. After tomorrow, I only have to work for 12 more days!!
6. Even though it sucks that My Boss lost re-election, there is a pretty awesome silver lining for me personally. I will continue to get paid until the beginning of March! How many people lose their jobs but still get paid maternity leave? This is obviously a HUGE blessing for Brandon and I right now as we weren't counting on me getting a paycheck after December.

Baby Shower #2

First of all, I'm sorry if you've called me this week and I haven't called you back yet. My life has gone like this: wake up, eat a bowl of cereal, work for 12 hours, eat another bowl of cereal, sleep for 12 hours. I promise to call soon though!

Secondly, my friends from church threw another baby shower for me last Saturday. It was alot of fun, the food was delicious, we got some wonderful gifts, and I got tons of good advice! Three other moms of twins came to the shower so we all got to ask them anything and everything we wanted to know about twins. I think we're all set now with the absolute essentials, people have been so generous with us!

There's only a few pictures; I deleted all the rest because I looked incredibly fat in all of them. My face has swelled up like a balloon recently. These are still pretty awful, but I'm practicing humility and posting them anyways.

A girl hand embroidered these elephants, aren't they adorable?

matchy-matchy

Brandon's been gone since Wednesday. This is the first time I've been left alone in our apartment since the terrifying incident I had when we first moved in. I know I shouldn't be scared, but I still had trouble sleeping. The slightest noises would wake me up and those darn cats make alot of noise playing at night. This morning I woke up at 4:30 and couldn't fall back asleep until 8 - so I called in sick today ;-)

Brandon's at a conference in Atlanta and he insists that he told me about it a while ago, but I'm pretty positive he didn't. Last weekend, he was giving me a backrub and he randomly says, "Hey, remember that I'm going to Georgia on Wednesday?" I rolled over (well, flopped over actually), "What? No you never mentioned that!" Brandon: "Yes I did." Me: "No you didn't."

It went on like that for a while. He seems to remember telling me, but I have no memory of it - and I have a much better memory than him. Anways, other than the sleepless nights, it hasn't been so bad though. I've eaten lots of sweets and watched girly movies and gotten to snuggle with my kitties. And the best part about him being gone is that he comes home today!! :-)

Our Apartment

Here's some pictures of our apartment. I am almost done decorating it (we had to fill 2 extra rooms when we moved here) and we actually cleaned it on Saturday, so I took some pictures. Literally everything you see is from either 1) Ikea 2) Target or 3) Craigslist. Here's Brandon on the couch, those curtains behind him are my great find from last month :-)

Our living room, Brandon's in his usual spot - in front of his Mac

Our dining room. The hutch is so shiny because I had begged Brandon to paint it dark brown last summer and he graciously did, but he decided not to sand it first. He literally had to put on about 8 coats and it's still pretty awful looking.. the paint peels off. I think I'll get rid of it next time we move.

The separate dining room with the brick wall was probably the main reason (for me at least) that we decided to move here. I love it! The last thing our house needs is dining room curtains. I've been looking for 3 months now but can't seem to find the perfect ones. I want them to be sage green- let me know if you see some on sale anywhere!

Our bathroom, the entire thing is covered in yellow tiles straight out of the 70's... walls, floors, everything. It's absolutely hideous but I think I did a pretty darn good job of distracting the eye from that fact.

And here's the kitchen. It's pretty ugly too with the plywood and plastic cabinets and vinyl floors but it's fairly large and has that cute brick wall again, so I like it :-)

I already posted pictures of the boys' room so the only room you haven't seen yet is our bedroom. But that was the one room we didn't clean last weekend though, so you 'll have to wait :-)

Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day and I just wanted to write something that would remind all of you to be praying for our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. A little over a month ago, my brother-in-law Jon was deployed to Iraq for the second time. The first time was right before his engagement to my sister, this second time they've only been married for 4 months. I can't imagine what they're going through right now but I admire them greatly. They're both so young but already so seasoned in life's hard experiences. Renee and Jon, I pray that your marriage grows as a result of all the difficulties it will undergo during this deployment.

Also, I pray for Jon every day. He, along with many other brave young men and women, is risking his life and fighting for our country every single day. This requires enormous amounts of courage, sacrifice, maturity, and passion. I pray that you return safely, Jon, and that your relationship with Christ grows and deepens while you're in Iraq.

Let us all remember to be grateful to our soldiers who are fighting for us this very minute. They are certainly heroes and deserve to be appreciated for their service to their country. Thank you Jon. You already know you're Renee's hero, but you're mine too! We can't wait for you to come home in the spring!!

This is what Jon drives in Iraq, pretty "macho" as my Mom says

I just love this picture of Renee and Jon, it was taken a few hours before he was deployed.

This cheers me up!

We just bought our tickets to Twilight!! Whoop Whoop!!

Thanks Grandpa & Grandma O'Malley!

We received the most beautiful quilts for our babies last week! Brandon's grandparents handmade them for the boys! They're the perfect size and are so adorable. My sister still sleeps and travels with her baby blanket and she's 21, maybe our boys will do the same with these blankets? Thanks so much soon-to-be great grandpa and great grandma O'Malley!

Well, We Lost

Needless to say, our office is pretty depressing right about now. Everybody is sitting around re-analyzing the election and crying. The only time we stopped crying was when we all went to lunch yesterday and had some margaritas (not me of course).

The nice thing, though, is that we all kind of trickle in around noon and go home early too. Still sucks though...

President Obama

Here's my two cents on the presidential election last night, feel free to skip this post if you like:

While I voted for John McCain, I'm not devastated that he lost. I think that he really shot himself in the foot when he went so hard right over the past couple months. Plus he's a terrible communicator and didn't run a great campaign. Obama on the other hand is an amazing communicator and ran a practically flawless campaign. While I think John McCain would have made a better president, I also think Obama deserved to win after that hard-fought campaign.

I don't think he's a terrible person or that he'll run our country into the ground. I don't think he'll go back to his far-left liberal policies that he held in the Senate. I think/hope he'll actually make good on his promise to be a President of all Americans and work with both parties to find common ground. But, I definitely don't think he'll be able to go through with his plans for health care, education, tax credits, Medicare/Medicaid, and other federal programs, etc. without drastically raising taxes. I'm very interested to see how he reconciles his promised plans with the federal budget.I think he has alot to learn about and deal with and I'll definitely be praying for our new President.

Also, I thought John McCain gave a very classy, unifying concession speech last night. I wouldn't have expected anything else from him, though. He truly talks the talk and walks the walk.

I am very excited and grateful to God that I will bring my children into a world with a black American President. Living in DC, I've been extremely saddened to see how prevalent racism still is. Our nation's capitol is still shockingly and dishearteningly segregated. Living in a black suburb and working on the predominantly-white Capitol Hill, Brandon and I experience this segregation first hand everyday on our drive to work. It's fascinating and awful at the same time.

For the first time, all American citizens can justifiably feel like they have a stake in elections and can affect the outcome. The surge of first-time voter registration among minorities proves this. All American children can believe that they can go anywhere in life with hard work and perseverance. I'm proud that our country's taken a giant step forward in terms of racism and sexism and all other types of prejudice. Regardless of how we might feel about Obama's policies, we can all be thankful and proud of our first African-American President.

And finally, we should all be reminded that God alone is sovereign over our nation and it's leaders. Our hope is not founded in the American government or any President, it's founded in Jesus Christ. The government will not save us from anything and every human leader will ultimately fail us. The church of Christ will bring about much more tangible change than any President ever would. We as individuals can love our neighbors and help to provide for their needs far better than the American government can. I don't place my hope in Obama or McCain or anybody else. I place my hope in my Savior Jesus Christ and trust Him alone to guide our nation.

First Nursery Pics

Here are some pictures of our work-in-progress nursery. We have all of the furniture so far, a crib skirt & bumper for the first crib, curtains, and a lamp! We're not even going to set up the other crib until they're old enough to sleep separately. Brandon's Mom is currently recovering the rocking chair cushions in a brown linen fabric for us - Thanks Sari!! And, we just got our carseats! Aren't they adorable? I love paisley print! Thanks again Gary and Sari!!

All of the boys' clothes are pre-washed and put away in the dresser. But they have so many clothes that they won't all fit! I only put the 0-3 month clothes in there for now (and those barely fit), the other clothes are in plastic bins in the closet until they grow into them. Thanks everybody for being so generous!

One of the carseats

Our changing table and dresser

The dresser and bare rocking chair

Our crib bedding, it's just a plain sage green gingham pattern

Our crib and some cute fabric wall hangings I found last weekend, they match the curtains :-)

And yes, we realize that everything is white, however someday (hopefully soon) I hope to move to a place where we're allowed to paint the walls. Then I'll paint them some shade of brown and the white furniture will look awesome! For now, I don't mind all the white because I have a picture in my head of how cute it will be soon.

It's here! It's finally here!!

AHHH! I can't believe it's finally Election Day! My whole life feels like it's been building up to this day for the past year! I'm so nervous, I have butterflies in my stomach! Since I'm on the East Coast, I'll have to wait until 11 pm tonight to get the initial results for my Boss. That's 13 hours away, I don't know how I'm going to wait that long!

Brandon's voting right now, he's been waiting in line for almost 2 hours! We totally should have moved to Virginia instead of Maryland, how exciting would that be to live in a swing state?!?!? Well, regardless, we've both voted. (I thought I'd be out West, so I voted absentee).

I'll be making calls all day trying to get out the last minute vote. Then Brandon and I are going to our friends' house to watch as the returns come in. What an exciting day this will be! If you haven't already done so, get out there and VOTE!

And then go to Starbucks/Krispy Kreme/Ben & Jerry's and get your free treat! :-)

Childbirth Class

As the title suggests, yesterday Brandon and I went to a childbirth class offered by our doctor's office. The class was 6 hours long and jam-packed with information. It was taught by one of the labor and delivery nurses at our hospital and covered everything under the sun. We learned alot (probably alot more than we ever wanted to learn) but came away feeling much better prepared about what to expect and do when the time comes. We also got a tour of the delivery rooms and post-partum recovery rooms. They told us that since we have twins, we'll probably be delivering in the operating room for safety/space reasons, even if I'm lucky enough to have a vaginal birth. We didn't get to see that room, but oh well, we'll see it soon enough.

The only really awful part was when they showed rather graphic birth videos. I kept looking over and seeing poor Brandon looking into his lap and figdeting with his phone :-) A few were of vaginal births that pretty much terrified me and one was of a c-section which was also pretty bloody but didn't look nearly as traumatizing. Neither looked like a whole lot of fun. However, the nurse went over the risks and recovery times of vaginal vs. c-sections and there's no comparison. I really hope both babies end up head-down so I won't need a c-section.

I actually wish I could somehow skip the entire labor/delivery process altogether. I'm not a big fan of gross stuff, pain, or hard work so I have a feeling I'm going to really hate the birth process. I plan on getting an epidural either way but it still seems pretty uncomfortable and difficult. Basically, I'm terrified of actually having to give birth to these babies, but I'm also really sick of being pregnant already. I wish I could just fast-forward the next 7-8 weeks and skip right to the newborn babies. *Sigh* only in my dreams...

Halloween

Oh and yes, we're totally lame and didn't do anything for Halloween. We went to our friends' house for dinner and a movie (which I accidentally slept through). Yep, I'm already turning into a Mom... yikes!

Next year though- watch out! We're going to have the two cutest trick-or-treaters ever! I'm already thinking of costume ideas :-)

The 2006 Election

This week marks the 2-year anniversary of when Brandon and I rekindled our romance for good. We'd broken up in May, right after my birthday. His last words were "I'll call you soon." Well, 6 months went by with no call or email. I was just beginning to date somebody else, when Brandon e-mailed me out of the blue. He was coming to town for a couple weeks for the 2006 election and wanted to meet up for coffee and "closure." I was so mad at him that I almost refused but deep down I thought it would be a good idea so I could finally move on.

So we met in the lobby of his hotel (you'd better believe I looked my darn best that night!) and ended up talking for 4+ hours. A lot of confession and forgiveness took place for all the ways we'd been selfish and hurt each other in the past. We both fessed up to being Facebook stalkers of each other ;-)

At the end of it, he invited me to hang out with he and his friends the next night to go bowling. I guess I was a glutton for punishment, but I went along. Then he continued to ask me to "hang out" every single night for 2 weeks straight. He even invited me to his boss' election night party, where he ditched me for a while in a roomful of people I didn't know, but then came back just in time to see me handing my phone number to some random guy. Haha, I didn't give him my real number of course, but that couldn't have gone better if I had planned it myself!

After the election, he flew back to DC but continued to call and email me. I started to become really angry and frustrated since it seemed to me that he wanted the best of both worlds. It seemed that wanted to be single and in DC but to have a long distance "friendship" with me and keep me hanging around on the back burner in case he didn't find anybody better out there. We had already broken up half a dozen times in the past and I decided that this awful cycle had to end. So, he passed through town a few weeks later around Thanksgiving on his way back from China. We met for drinks and he brought me some sweet little presents. I held my ground though and, at the end of the night, told him that it had been nice to see him so much lately and have him back in my life but that our on-again-off-again relationship had to end. I basically ended up telling him "Marry me or else don't ever call me again."

Well, I left that night thinking that I would never hear from him again and that surely he must think I had lost my mind (maybe I did a little). Over a month passed without a peep from him, I continued to go on dates with that other guy and I continued to make plans to travel with my roommates after graduation. But then, a few days before Christmas, Brandon surprised me with a red rose, a huge bag of presents from he and his family, and an invitation to visit him in DC a couple months later. And the rest is history!

Anyways, I wrote out that whole story because I was just thinking yesterday how funny it is that God uses such ordinary things, like elections, to work in our lives. If it hadn't been an election year, I would have graduated and probably moved back to Seattle or California and never seen or heard from Brandon ever again. Funny how it was such a bad night for the GOP (although this year is sure to be worse) but it was such a great night for Brandon and I. Funny how perfect God's timing is. And funny how he works in our hearts to bring reconciliation, forgiveness, and revive love again. It was all so oddly coordinated that without God's guidance over the situation, nothing ever would have come with it. But God's plans are truly better than our own for our lives. Praise God for bringing Brandon and I together in marriage after such a long, painful journey to get there. And praise him for the lessons we learned along the way!

Here's a picture from that first night of bowling. Can you believe how young we both look!?!?!?

November 21st can't come fast enough!

There's a new extended Twilight preview out, you must watch it! I'm not gonna lie, I just watched it 4 times in a row!

Ok Mom, you can stop freaking out now. I've decided not to fly West for the election. A few weeks ago I talked my doctor into letting me go (although she wasn't exactly happy about it) and have been going back and forth with a decision ever since. Yesterday at the doctor appointment they said everything looks perfectly healthy and that I am at extremely low risk for preterm labor.

But then I started thinking... I already work 50 hours a week, do I really want to up that to 85 hours next week and spend two whole days traveling while I have a sinus infection? Ummm, I decided no. The thought of working 12 hours a day for an entire week is exhausting. The thought of going home after work to my own bed and not having to travel sounds really, really wonderful.

I'm a little bummed out, though, because my best friend Renee was going to drive down and spend a night with me while I was out west. Now I won't get to see her until January :-( *Sigh*

Well, at least I will have a (somewhat) restful week here. I'll get to the doctor and get some antibiotics, go to bed early, eat healthy non-fast food meals... and do my best to get out the vote from here!

Baby Update

So I went in for another sonogram and dr. appointment this morning. Unfortunately there aren't really any good pictures. As they get bigger, there's less fluid and it becomes harder and harder to see the babies.

However, they have grown like wildfire in the last 4 weeks! The last time I got a sonogram they weren't quite 2 pounds each. Now they're 3 pounds, 2 ounces each! They've almost doubled in size in just 4 weeks! I'm currently 28 weeks and 3 days and they're measuring 29 weeks and 4 days. More than a week ahead of schedule! The doctor said this is good for singleton babies and exceptional for twins. Their growth is definitely expected to slow down alot in the coming weeks, (they won't ever be doubling in size again, thank goodness) but they're on track to be healthy, normal sized babies. They should weigh in between 6-7 pounds each at birth.

More good news: I only gained 4 pounds in 4 weeks and almost 3 of that is pure baby weight! Oh yeah! I'm pretty stoked about that! So far, I've gained 30 pounds and am right on track to gain the recommended amount of 40 pounds total. (Although I am pretty sure I've gained a few more pounds than that because I didn't see my doctor until 12 weeks along. I definitely put on some bloat weight during those 12 weeks. I'm not telling my doctor though, I'll just continue to let her think I'm a model patient.)

Last week I was tested for gestational diabetes and you'll all be glad to know that I do not have any signs of it. The test was pretty awful as you have to drink about 12 ounces of pure sugar water and then sit around for 2 hours until they draw your blood. The stuff was terrible and made me gag and they had no good magazines in the waiting room so I was quite bored for those 2 hours. But it was worth it to know that I haven't developed diabetes during pregnancy and wasn't even close to the danger zone. Apparently, if you are on the border of dangerous glucose levels you have to stay for 6-8 hours and drink the nasty sugar water and have your blood drawn every hour! Thank goodness I wasn't anywhere near a dangerous level!

Oh and remember how I mentioned feeling kicks on my bladder and rib cage? Well that's because Baby A is now head-up and jumping around on my bladder and cervix. Baby B is head-down and kicking me in the ribs. They're both getting bigger and bigger everyday and taking up more space. Hopefully in the next few weeks Baby A will flip to a head-down position and stay there. Otherwise, I'm doomed for a c-section :-(

Is it almost over yet?

Yesterday was not a good day pregnancy-wise. I walked a little too much on Thursday so I was way sore. The back and pelvic pain were terrible, I winced everytime I had to stand up. I got a free flu shot but the walk to the nurse's office 2 buildings away was not fun. The babies kept kicking my bladder and insides all day long sending sharp little pains through my abdomen.

And I ate Mexican food for lunch and had awful heartburn. I remember the first time I had a touch of heartburn a few months ago. I freaked out because I had no idea what it was and wondered why my throat felt like it was burning. I used WebMd to look up the symptoms and realized that it was heartburn, which I had read that pregnant women often suffer from. Back then it wasn't very bad and hasn't really caused me any problems at all... until yesterday. I don't know why it chose to show up yesterday because I didn't even eat anything spicy but it did. AHHH!! I was on the verge of tears all afternoon and 8 hours later, when I tried to go to sleep, I couldn't because it got worse when I laid down. Altogether it lasted for over 12 hours. I looked on my doctor's website for safe medications to treat heartburn with. Of course we didn't have any in the house, but you better believe I'm gonna buy some today!

Anyways, I feel much better this morning. So good that I made myself some french toast and a homemade "mocha." (We don't have an espresso machine so I just mix hot chocolate and a little coffee together, yum!). I love Saturday mornings when I can sit in my bathrobe for hours, make breakfast, and drink my little mochas. Today's a rainy day so I just might do this all day long. It feels so good to relax!

Another pregnancy update...

So, I've hit 28 weeks and am now officially in the last trimester! YESS! Almost done!! And since twins are born early, I will hopefully only be pregnant for another 9 weeks or less... 9 1/2 weeks tops or else I'm asking to be induced!

The boys are at 2 1/2 pounds each and approximately 16 inches tall from head to toe. They feel much bigger than that though. They are vigorous little kickers and have begun kicking my bladder recently (extremely uncomfortable... and potentially embarassing!). Other times, they crawl up under my rib cage and lodge themselves there so that I can hardly breathe. And other times I swear they're having a kickboxing match in there because they're both going at it so intensely. I've heard that babies' temperaments in the womb indicate their personalities outside the womb... if that's the case, then Brandon and I will have two very active, non-mellow babies on our hands.

The back and pelvic pain hasn't really gotten any worse thankfully, though it certainly hasn't gotten any better either. But my heating pad seems to help alot and, after November 4th, my life will get a lot easier and I'll get to rest more.

Oh, and at my last doctor's appointment I had only gained 1 pound in 2 weeks! So I rewarded myself with a shopping trip and a Cinnabon! I have another appointment on Monday and I'm sure I've gained a couple more pounds in the last couple weeks though.

Our funny, funny cats

Oh how we love these two! They never cease to make us laugh.
They always bathe each other and it just melts my heart
Huck can usually be found lounging around like this... sometimes he falls off :-)
I guess he's impersonating a bunny here?

It's Official

As of today, my parents are officially divorced.


I know that some really great things have happened this year (like getting pregnant with twins), but I still can't help but think that it's been a really shitty year. Pardon my language, but that's really the only word for it. Two of my grandparents died, my Grandma Sue was diagnosed with a terminal disease and is dying, my parents got divorced, my brother-in-law was deployed to Iraq last week, and to top it all off, I'm living 3,000 miles away from every single person I care about.

Please pray for my parents and for me. I really need to remember that God is sovereign and works all things for our good. I also need to remember that I have everything I need and that He has blessed me beyond what I deserve, which is often extremely hard to remember. It's so easy to see everything that's wrong with your life, and so hard to see all the blessings sometimes. Also, please pray that I will know how to be a support to both of my parents and all of my sisters at this difficult time. It's hard to know how I could best help and support everybody when I am so far away.

The Ortiz Girls in DC

Well, they came and went and we had a fantastic time. I swear, thanks to Rachel, the "Nazi tour guide," they must have seen every single tourist site in the entire city. I got to tag along to a few places like the White House, to the top of the Washington Monument, and to see a Supreme Court case (which was super awesome, I can't believe I waited this long to do that). Most nights, we hung out at our apartment and cooked, played games, or watched a movie. All of us were exhausted by the evening so we usually just took it easy.

Also, can I just say that I have the most wonderful sisters in the entire world. Not only did they come all the way from California to visit me, but while they were here they cooked for me, cleaned my house, rubbed my back, feet and hands, gave me a pedicure, did my hair, went shopping for maternity clothes with me, brought me baby clothes, and just generally waited on me hand and foot. I was in heaven!!

Poor Brandon was invaded by the girls, but I know he enjoyed having them there too... except for maybe in the mornings when he couldn't get a shower because all four of us were hogging the bathroom.

In front of the White House, right after our tour

I took them to the spot where Brandon and I got engaged

We went to Annapolis on Saturday to see the Naval Academy and walk around the town. Here we are on the harbor

On Saturday night, we met up with our great aunt and uncle in Georgetown. The girls hadn't seem them for over 8 years

The girls also got to feel their nephews kick which was really exciting for me. I have been really sad thinking that none of our family members will get to feel the boys kicking or see me when I'm truly pregnant. I'm so glad that my sisters at least got the chance to feel. The next time you all come back, you'll get to hold your new nephews!

Another pregnancy update...

So I had a doctor's appointment last Friday and it went well. It was the first time I didn't get a scolding for anything and my weight gain was right on target again. Everything looks great I'm told. The babies are about 9 inches long and 2 pounds each right now. And they move all the time!! I can feel them kicking, flipping, jumping, and stretching constantly. They certainly are active little boys! My sisters are all so excited to feel their little kicks, they all gather around and fight over who gets to touch my belly.

Next week is the start of the 3rd trimester, I can't believe how quickly the second one flew by! Also, my 3rd trimester will be shorter than normal because twins are born 3-4 weeks earlier than singleton babies. It's impossible to believe that in about 2 1/2 months Brandon and I will be parents! Unfathomable! I've finally gotten used to pregnancy I guess, but it hasn't quite sunk in that my own actual, human babies come at the end of pregnancy. I usually can't think about it because it freaks me out.

Anyways, I've been really sore lately in my lower abs and pelvic region. I asked the doctor about this and she told me that it's because my pelvic bone is stretching out! What?!?! I had never heard that before and I don't see how an entire bone could stretch, but she explained that there's a little piece of cartiledge that holds your pelvis together and it stretches out during the last few months of pregnancy. She also told me that currently both my babies heads are down there putting even more pressure on my pelvic bone and that explains why I'm so incredibly sore all of the time. I have a difficult time rolling over at night or going from sitting to standing because sharp pains shoot through that region whenever I try these moves. I'm also experiencing round ligament pain which is the stretching of your abdominal ligaments... also pretty painful. There's apparently nothing I can do to soothe either of these things.

However I have begun to see a chirpractor again for my generic back pain. I hope this at least improves so I am not in so much pain from sitting at my desk all day. I bought a heating pad too and have plugged it in next to my desk. I'm using it right now and it seems to lessen the back pain significantly. Anyways, enough complaining, here are some pictures from last Friday:

Profile of Baby A

Profile of Baby B

This one is somewhat difficult to make out. If you ignore the large blob in the upper left corner, you can see Baby B rubbing his face. His hand is in a fist over his eye but you can see his little nose and mouth.

These are the feet of Baby B. Also somewhat difficult to see, but if you focus you can see his little legs and that his feet are crossed.

Happy now, Mom?

My sisters are coming TODAY!!!

Whoop Whoop!!

They won't get in until almost midnight tonight, but technically they're still coming today :) I also had another doctor's appointment yesterday but I'll wait to blog about that until I scan in the ultrasound pictures. We finally got some good ones!! I'll try to post them later today.

Well, we've got a lot of cleaning to do and errands to run before tonight, so I better get started!

Late Nights

I am so over working late and running errands every single night. I just want to go home at night like we used to be able to. We honestly have not been home before 9 or 9:30 in almost 2 weeks. I even had to drag myself into the office on Saturday for a few hours. We have so much to do at home, but no time to do it.

Tonight was supposed to be our first night at home, but I just found out that we're expecting votes late this evening so I'll be stuck here again. And we will be gone tomorrow and Friday night too... Ugh, this is exhausting! At this point, I think I'd welcome bed rest...


Update: Just now leaving the office - at 9:40

Happy 22nd Birthday Rachel!!

I miss you and can't wait to see you on Saturday!! Love you!

(sorry the post is a day late, but at least I called you yesterday)