It take TWO to make a thing go right

Well, after 37 weeks of waiting to meet our babies, they have finally arrived!  Two weeks ago today Bradyn Oscar (5 lbs 9 oz)  and Brody Louis (6lbs 12oz) were born!  It was love at first sight and we have been enjoying every minute of the last 2 weeks getting to know our boys.

Before I post some pictures from the last 2 weeks, I have one last official doorknob picture.  This was taken the day we went to the hospital to have the babies.

The official verdict: I did not reach the knob!  I came very close though, closer than I thought I would when this all started.

Things have been non-stop since the boys have been born.  Chris and I are sleep deprived and totally delirious, but we are having so much fun.  This post may be a little less witty than usual.  I blame sleep deprivation!  My goal was to post something by the time the twins were 2 weeks old, so in an effort to avert failure, here we go!

Facts about Bradyn (Aka Brady):

This little man may be less than 6 lbs, but he has the personality of a big baby.  He is tough, strong-willed, and seems to have many traits in common with his Dad.  Though only 1 minute older, Brady is the true older brother.  He has done every developmental thing first, with Brody following about 24 hrs behind.

Nicknames: A, A-bops, Brady-bear, Peanut, Little Man, Bird Man

Brady seems to look more like Chris with some of my features sprinkled in.  He hates light shining in his face and mumbles to himself for periods of time as he sleeps.  He is a little love bug and a wonderful cuddlier!  We can't wait to see what next week brings Brady!

Facts about Brody:

Compared to Brady, Brody seems so big.  Weighing in at 6 lbs 12 oz, he looks bigger than his brother when laying next to him and feels so huge in our arms.  Brody too is tough and strong willed, a little more of a crier than his brother and a more demanding eater.  He attacks his food like a little gremlin and makes me laugh every time I see him do this.  Brody loves to lay on his belly on top of my chest and snuggle in for a long nap.  He is happiest in our arms, but tolerates snuggling up with his brother.  His least favorite position is to be alone in his crib.

Nicknames: B, B-bops, Brody-bear, Pecan, B-B guns, B-B-the guns

 I was never able to imagine what it would be like to be able to see your own traits in your kids face, but after a few hours of knowing Brody and seeing him cry, I declared "oh my god, he looks like me when he makes that face!".  Both boys are a mix of Chris and I, but I can see images of myself when Brody is crying or sleeping with his mouth open (TMI maybe, oh well!).  We can't wait to see what next week brings Brody!

Having 2 babies is totally surreal.  Someone always needs to be fed, held, changed, or rocked.  There is no rest for the weary. I can't wait to see what the boy's relationship looks like in the coming months, but for right now, I can say two babies is double the work and double the fun.

(Quilts handmade by Grandma Great and my Mom.  They are so cute!)

My parents were here this week and were a huge help.  It was so great to see them interacting with their first grandchildren.

(we nicknamed my mom the Twinja (the twins ninja!)

I had heard that the love you feel for your spouse grows exponentially when you have your first child.  I never really understood that sentiment until now.  In the words of Stephanie Mills, "I have never known love like this before".  Chris has been Super Dad and Super Husband all rolled into one.  It has been so much fun hanging out with him for the last 2 weeks taking care of our babies.  I am actually dreading having him go back to work. We are enjoying this time so much, I hate to see it fly by.  

Last, we want to wish all of our friends and family Happy Holidays and a very Happy and Healthy New Year.  From our family to yours, we look forward to seeing and communicating more in 2012!

Doorknob checkin

 I know I have gone a long time without updating the blog, but that is because everyday things seem change around here!  It is hard to keep up!

I am 35weeks and 1 day along.  A and B are doing well.  Two weeks ago, I started to have some pre-term labor and was put on bed rest.  Without going into too many medical details, I figured I would give you an update on what is going on here and some pictures that speak 1000 words.

First, let's check in on the doorknob progress.

As you can see, I have grown quite a bit and I am only inches from the doorknob.  If I make it a couple more weeks, we may have a doorknob eclipse.  Or, this may be it, only time will tell!

Like I said, I am on bed rest until these babies are ready to come out.  I am pretty happy I made it to 33 weeks without any other sort of intervention.  From the way the doctors were taking in the beginning, I was thinking bed rest was something that was going to happen much earlier.

Some other pregnancy facts:

1.  A and B are both breach so a C-section is in my future.  We have a date for our C-section at 37 weeks (I am not going to give out the exact date on the internet!).  If you are interested, feel free to email me.  I have had several weeks to digest the fact that a C -section is going to happen and I have come to terms with it.  In case you were wondering, we do not regret taking our natural childbirth class ;)

2.  I have gained 40 lbs.  That is way less than I thought I would gain and it is on the lower end of what I was told I would gain with twins.  For the last 9 months, I have eaten WHATEVER I wanted.  My consumption has been tempered by a small stomach and bad heartburn, but honestly, it has been a dream.  I doubt it would have been like this if I had one baby cooking in my belly.  I am thankful that for once, I know what it feels like to be able to eat whatever you want.  I asked Chris to remind me of this time when I am older and can't even look at food without gaining weight.  FYI- at one point when I stopped gaining weight, Chris bought me a sheet cake.  I never had my own cake for an occasion other than a birthday.  Although I did not eat the whole thing, I did enjoy a few pieces of this cake over the course of a week and it was all mine.  What a memory!!!!

3.  I think the babies have dropped.  I can see it in the last picture in the collage and today when I was driving to the doctor, I noticed I had to lift my belly out of my lap to get comfortable.  

4.  I found out today I started having regular contraction again, but I do not feel them.  I am hoping this is evidence that I am not as big of a wimp as I think I am.

5.  I know at some point soon we are going to be bringing home 2 baby boys, but I feel like I am going to be pregnant forever.  I feel like I am kind of used to having a big belly.

6.  I can still wear my wedding rings and watch.  I am happy about this, even though I no longer go out of the house. 

7.   I drink a minimum of 120oz of water a day.  It is almost a full time job drinking that much.  

8.  The only legitimate cravings I have had during this pregnancy occurred in the first trimester.  The foods I craved were watermelon, corn and hotdogs.  I am still in disbelief I craved hotdogs.  

9.  We had a virtual shower with Chris's side of the family.  It was the coolest, most thoughtful idea.  Thanks to everyone who participated!

10.  I have enjoyed wearing shirts with horizontal strips the last few months, despite the fact that strips are a fashion no-no if you are trying to look slimmer.  It really does make me chuckle that there are so many striped shirt options for pregnant ladies.  

Ok, ten items is enough for now!  If we make it another week, I promise to post another picture of me and the knob.  

Baby Love

Pictures were on the "to do" list today and pictures we did.  These were taken by Chris and his use of a sleazy french accent during the entire photo shoot made the whole thing a lot more fun!

As you can see, my belly is growing and I look very round!  These babies take up my whole torso.  Too bad you don't carry babies in your legs, I have more than enough room there!

I have felt really good this last month.  Just this week though, I started to get pretty tired again and nauseous at night.  My appetite has come back to full strength and I am hungry (for small meals) much  more often.

This picture would have been so cute if the color weren't so weird!  Oh well, my french photographer says "se la vie!".

I am inching closer to the knob, but not there yet.  For all of those who guessed no, I am thinking you may be right!  However, I still have a lot of growing to do, so we shall see.

We call this one "bowl full of jelly".  This must be how Santa feels.  I realized today that I can't see my feet.  I wondered what that would be like, and it's weird!

All in all, things here are great.  I am going to make a conscience effort to take it easy from here on out.  All signs indicate that we are in good shape to keep these babies inside my belly as long as possible, but you never know.

We took our hospital tour today and were very pleased with the facilities and the staff.

We have been working hard on the babies' room trying to squeeze lots of stuff into a little space.  We have all the furniture in, mattresses for the cribs, car seats, and diapers (we are cloth diapering).  Last night Chris and I organized everything and he practiced diapering.  Seriously, this was his idea and I could not stop laughing.

Next, I need to wash everything and we need to set up the beds and decorate (nothing too over the top for us I am not that creative!).  Little by little we are getting closer to being ready!

Baby got back

My public has requested more belly pictures and I am here to please!  Actually, I know I have been slacking and I apologize, but I have lots of pictures for this post to make up for it.  So here we go.

1.  Baby update.
I had a checkup ultrasound last week (23wks gestation) to check on the growth of the babies.  We were pleasantly surprised to find that the babies at both in the 87th percentile for size.  The sonogram tech seemed a little shocked when she told me this number, perhaps she did not notice that I was a foot taller than her?  I was great to see the babies moving around and get a better idea of who is kicking me where!  We did not get a ton of pictures this time, but we did get this one.  Too funny!

2.  Carrie Update.

I had a birthday yesterday!  I have to say, this was one of the easiest birthdays to have.  I can't think of a year where I had more exciting prospects on the horizon.  All my years have been good ones, don't get me wrong,  but this one seems extra special!  Thanks again for all the birthday wishes!  Nothing makes me happier than to hear from friends and family!

Two years ago I took a birthday picture with our pets.  Last year I did the same.  Since this tradition began (3 years make tradition I think!), our family has grown, and this year it took 3 pictures to really capture all of us!

2009

2010

Doggies 2011

Kitties 2011

Babies 2011

3.  Nursery update.
Chris painted the nursery and had it carpeted about 12 weeks ago.  Then last week we got our cribs.  It really was not too hard to pick out cribs for these guys (once we narrowed down a company) because we had to go the the ones with the smallest footprint in order to get 2 cribs into this room.    When I walked into the room after they were assembled, I could do nothing but laugh.  There is a wall of cribs!  I will post some more pictures as the room comes together.

4.  Doorknob check.
A check on my doorknob progress!  I am 24weeks this week and about half way to the knob I would say :)

5.  Other funny/fun things.
-My lab coat no longer fits without busting open at random times.  I may have to look into maternity lab gear, how weird!
-When I drop things on the floor, I contemplate leaving them there.  Then I decide it is a good excuse to practice squatting and I pick them up.  We will see how many more weeks that lasts.
-The temperature has dropped a bit in PHX, a welcome change from the 110+ temps that have been on us for the last 3 months.  As the temp. falls, I feel better and better.
-We started birthing classes last week (the Bradley Method).  It has been a really fun going to these classes with Chris, but I swear, if we were in college together I would have failed out, all I do is laugh at him the whole time.
-My boss said having 2 babies in the 87th percentile is like having one baby in the 174th percentile.  I found this hysterical.  It must be the hormones.

Shower the people you love with love

A few weeks ago Chris and I spent a week in Ohio with our families.  We originally planed this trip so that both of us could participate in the Ohio MS ride. As it turns out, the twins and I did not end up riding but Chris did!

Cheryl's Crew, Day 1 (the biggest bunch to date, so impressive)

Cheryl and Tim, the hosts with the mosts!

My sister, also a first time rider this year!

Many of us were there to cheer the riders in at the end of day 1!

Day 2 of riding was done in torrential rain. Such great smiles at the end of a grueling day!

 In addition to the bike ride, Chris's parents came down from Michigan to spend 4 days with us and my Mom organized a surprise shower.  The shower was so nice.  My mom creatively strung all the baby gifts onto a clothes line and Chris and I were able to ohhhh and ahhhh over everything without having to unwrap gifts!  It was genius!

(this is genuine excitement from Chris after seeing these newborn University of Michigan onesies, not staged at all!)

And then we took some family photos afterwards.

Chris and I and the excited grandparents-to-be

We had a great time and were so sad to leave our families after such a nice visit.  Thank you to everyone for the wonderful gifts and the helpful advice shared by the great mothers in my family!  

Carrie Carrie Quite Contrary, How does your Garden Grow?

Well, the last 6 weeks have flown by!  I am just over 18 weeks along and feeling really good.  Despite the fact that I am starting to move slower and slower, things in our house have been moving at breakneck speed!   Chris sent me to NY to visit my family and painted the nursery (green) and put carpeting in the master bedroom and the nursery.  We have been cleaning and organizing closets, bedrooms and anything else that crosses our path.  It feels good to get ride of unused stuff, but I know we will soon have a house full of new items to take up the newly cleared space.


My belly is growing.  Some mornings I get up and I swear it is bigger than the night before.  Let's see, have I hit the door knob yet. . . .

Not yet!  We will keep checking in on that!


We had our 18 week sonogram today.  I was full of nerves before the appointment but I was quickly soothed by our great sonogram tech.  Everything looked great.  A and B and growing and seem to have all of their Lever 2000 parts.  They are positioned kind of on top of each other, like they are laying in little baby bunk beds inside my belly.  They were moving all about and seemed to be quite content inside.   Oh yes, I am leaving out an important detail. . . .we found of the sexes!  Ready. . .  A and B are both boys!  Watch out world!  Chris could not stop grinning and I am off the charts happy as well!  Though my predictions were wrong (I thought we would end up with one of each), this is a good reminder that even though these are our babies, we do not know everything.    :)


Chris continues to be an outstanding partner and the keeper of my sanity.  He is enjoying this time as much as I am despite working long hours and feeling responsible for getting the household ready to accept 2 more McLeans.  His positive energy has really made the last few weeks lots of fun and it helps that he is pretty darn funny!  He has had some one liners that have cracked me up for weeks.  Example 1: We were at the doctor for the 16 week appointment.  I was going on and on about all the things I needed to remember to ask.  He looked and me, shook his head and said "Ok, the first trimester is sick, the second is crazy, wonder what the third one is called?"  I guess he calls it like he sees it!  Example 2: Today after finding out that we are having 2 boys, he leaves me a voice mail.  Start evil laugh : "the tides have officially shifted in the McLean household.  All toilet seats will remain up forevermore!" 

Ode to a 'stang

I feel like this post would be more appropriate coming from a 50 + year old man who has been forced to part with his beloved sports car (for whatever reason), a car that he owned for X number of years, drove X00,000 miles, and was only getting ride of it because his wife was sick of it sitting in the garage taking up valuable space. Instead, this ode is coming from a 32 year old woman who only owned her car for 3 years and only drove it only about 18,000 miles and in the end, was willing, though sad, to part with her sports car.

When I graduated from college, my parents gave me brand new 2000 Hyundai Elentra for graduation.  It was my first new car and I loved it.  I drove it for 8 years while I lived in Massachusetts, put over 190,000 miles on it, and bought countless sets of tires for that car. My parents wanted to get me a car that would last me through graduate school, and it did, though at the end I was putting more and more money into it to keep it running.  In the spring of 2008, I was ready to defend my dissertation and planning to move across country in that car. The car itself was ok, but it had some quirks that made me nervous about driving it across county.  First, I had been driving that car for 4 years without a functioning drivers side window (which means that for the 2 years I commuted to Boston, I had to open my door to pay the 8 tolls that I encountered, yeah, toll people loved me).  In addition, during the previous summer, my car would mysteriously not start on really hot days, which means that I was a tad nervous about what was going to happen in the 110 degree desert. All this being said, the bottom line was that I did not have any money to put towards a new car, so driving my old car and praying a lot was really my only plan.  That plan held up well until I got rear ended 14 days before I was set to leave town.  This accident meant that in addition to finishing a Ph.D. and packing up my life to move across country, I had to buy a new car!  I had never bought a new car and I was a car salesman’s worst nightmare (ok, actually a car salesman’s worst nightmares is my husband, but that is another story).  I really did not want any of the cars they were showing me and I was very distracted when shopping.  When they would ask what kind of car I really wanted, I would say “I want a mustang convertible, but I cannot afford one, so I am looking for something more reasonable”.  They would then show me  nonconvertible mustangs and I would quickly tell them that I had no interest in a mustang if it was not a convertible.  I was a pain and I had no idea what I was going to buy. 

With only 10 or so days left to go before I needed to leave town, my mom and my cousin Leslie (more like an Uncle) got involved.  They started looking for cars and Leslie found a mustang convertible in NY that was perfect.  Everything about this car was perfect: the price, the color, the car payments, everything.  He wheeled and dealed, annoyed the salespeople until he got the price he wanted for me, he test drove it, picked it over and decided this was the car for me.  The day I turned in my dissertation to my committee members, I drove down to NY to buy that car.  The whole thing was relatively painless.  I had amassed some money from insurance payments and graduation gifts and was able to drive away in a car that was so far beyond what I had been driving, it blew my mind.  When people would ask if I liked that the top went down I would say “The top, I am just happy the windows go down!”.  The car had leather interior, a 6 CD changer, was super powerful, . . . and did I mention it was a convertible??!  The only reason I was able to get that car was because of the leg work Leslie did.  He wanted me to have that car; he wanted me to drive across country with the top down and cruise into the Wild West in a vehicle that was fun and made the driver carefree. 

Anyone who has attained a graduate degree knows how much sacrifice it takes.  You sacrifice time and money, not to mention other intangible things that are hard to put into words, all for a degree that you put your heart and soul into.  I bought that car on the day that I had effectively finished my Ph.D., a real and figurative turning point in my life.  A day that I felt turned me from a perennial student into a real live person.  

I drove that car across the country with my friend Kirsten.  I packed only what would fit in the trunk, the back seat, and loaded 2 bikes on the trunk.  We drove with the top down everyday (except for the last leg through New Mexico and AZ) and I showed up in AZ red like a lobster, with seat belt tan lines, but I did not care.  I had just driven across country with one of my best friends -with all of my worldly possessions- in a mustang convertible.  I was breezy!

Once I got to AZ, the use of my car went down a bit, but its sentimental value continued to grow.  Leslie passed away soon after I moved to AZ and that car was the biggest piece of him I had. I thought AZ would be the ideal place for a convertible but honestly, it is too hot most of the time to have the top down!  After moving here, I started riding my bike to work and my car would sit for long periods of time in the driveway, unused, but I would smile every time I saw it out my window. I would get immense pleasure from picking up people at the airport in the convertible and the dogs loved the convertible!  It was like having one giant window!

Yesterday we sold the mustang.  As you know, our pack is growing and it is time to get a vehicle that can fit more than me and my purse.  Though I was ready to move onto a bigger vehicle, parting with my car was still bittersweet.  After yesterday, it is so easy to see how good that car has been to me.  It got me across country safely, I have not had to take the car in for a single repair in 3 years, and yesterday the dealership made me an outstanding/unreal trade in offer on my 'stang.  In my mind, this is all still Leslie working his magic and I am forever grateful.  

Bye bye mustang.  I will miss driving you and knowing you are waiting for me outside for our next adventure!