Will she or won't she????

We have officially hit week 12.  Although I do not feel any different physically, I am still jubilant that we have hit this milestone!  To celebrate, we took some belly pictures!  These are the first of the lot, and I am already in maternity clothes.  Oiy!

In light of this, I thought we could play a game called 'Will she or won't she????'. 

Will she or won't she what you ask?  Will she or won't she reach the doorknob (my belly that is). 

 It is hard to imagine how big you are going to get when you are pregnant with one baby let alone with twins.  I have only gained 1 lb so far and the doctor was fine with that.  In her words "don't worry, the weight will come" and she followed this by saying I should expect to gain 40-45lbs.  Oiy.  It is so hard to conceptualize gaining this much weight and doing it over just 6 months or so.   In keeping with our moto, go big or go home, I figured I might as well have a benchmark (errr closetmark) to measure myself against.  So cast your votes as to whether or not you think I will be big enough for my belly to hit the door knob.    

In other news, I am getting ready to go to San Diego for the American Diabetes meeting at the end of the week.  I am a little nervous to travel for so may days but I think it will be fine.  I will miss Chris, the pups, the kitties, my bathroom and kitchen. . .  you get the picture.  

Chris and I had a long conversation about all the things I needed to remember to pack.  This is an part of the conversation.  

Chris: “So we have to come up with some snacks you can take with you that are highly appealing, easily eatable, and won’t give you heart burn”

Me: “Yes”

Chris: “Wow, what team of scientists is working on this solution?”

I am still laughing.  :)

CH-CH-CH-CHANGES

It felt so good to be able to share our happy news with friends and family!  We are so blessed in so many ways!

As any veteran parent can tell you, having a baby(ies) initiates a cascade of changes, some you are prepared for, some you are not.  For us, being pregnant meant that starting at week 5, I could not stand to look at the kitchen, let alone cook in it.  Any smell, be it cooking meat, the refrigerator, dog food, cat food, or the garbage would send me running to the bathroom.  Chris took over all of the cooking, all of the dishes and all of the food shopping (while I would wait in the car, occasionally opening the car door to throw up).  He has taken over all of these responsibilities- all the while- still managing to work 12 hour days and pay attention to all the animals and his wife.  What can I say, I am a lucky woman.

Chris is not the only one who has has to roll with some changes.  The dogs were getting regular morning runs 4-5 times a week.  Those outings quickly turned into hikes as running became uncomfortable for me very quickly and the outing number decreased to just a couple of times per week (though it hopefully it will pick up again now that I am feeling better).  Our 100lb black lab Rocco has had to roll with some new behaviors too.  Mostly, I think he wonders why his mom is in the bathroom looking in the toilet ALL- THE-TIME.  Whenever I am standing over the toilet, he comes in, looks at me, looks at the toilet, looks back at me, gives a little whimper, and backs out of the bathroom.  Well, the other day, I think he figured out what to do in there.  I was hitting tennis balls to the dogs in the yard.  Once the Rocco had had enough, he picked up as many tennis balls as he can fit in his mouth (2 or 3 depending) and ran toward the front door.  He was done, the balls were in his mouth, and he ran into the house. . . . . straight to the hall bathroom, straight to the toilet and tossed his tennises right on in.  Rocco figured it out!!! This is where Mom keeps stuff now!  It was utterly hysterical!  He is one smart boy!

A heart filed with love.

There are many titles I could have used for this blog post but this one perfectly describes the way I feel (as well as give tribute to my favorite musical!).  Why am I so filled with love?  Chris and I are excited to announce that we are expecting our first child. . . errrrr children, in January.  Yes, you read that right, we are having twins!  Let the words wash over you, I have had many weeks to let it sink in and to stop laughing nervously every time I make the statement. . . twins - 2 babies, dos bambinos. 

Really, this should not have surprised us as much as it did.  We have 2 dogs, 2 cats, and sometime at the end of 2011, 2 babies.  All is right and still in balance in our world.  In fact, when we first found out I was pregnant, we kept joking that the baby was going to throw off the balance in our household and the universe answered back by having there be 2 babies for us to love.  Touche universe, touche. 

Now the details!  Being pregnant was not a surprise, but the twins were!  There are some twins on Chris’s side, but none on mine.  They do not know for sure if they are fraternal or identical, only time will tell. I am just over 11 weeks along, due on January 4^th, but expecting to see our little ones before the new year (not too much before though please!).  We do not know the sexes yet, but we will find out when we can.  The first trimester has been rough!  I have been sick, perpetually nauseous, had major food aversions, and all around not myself for many weeks.  Things seem to be getting better though.  I can think again and I am not huddled over the toilet all the time anymore.  I take that as a good sign.  I have not gained any weight yet but my clothes are all too tight and I am starting to wear maternity clothes.  

We are super excited and could not wait to share our news with all of our friends and loved ones.  The only sad part for me if that I did not get to tell many of you in person.  If I had, you would have been privy to quite a nervous giggle, it was unique!   In all seriousness though, Chris and I are fully ready for what lies ahead.  I mentioned in a previous post that we have lots of love to give, and we both feel that is true now more than ever!  We can’t wait to expand our clan from 6 to 8 in one fowl swoop!  The only question left is, do you think we will all fit in the mustang?  Perhaps with the top down.

Here is a picture from the 8 wk sonogram.  I have new ones from this week that I will post later but this one really says it all. 

More posts and pictures to come now that the silence has been broken!

<3