30 weeks!

I'm so happy that we hit 30 weeks yesterday!  Being in the 30s sounds so much better than the 20s, right?  :)  The countdown is officially on...if everything goes well in the next two weeks, the babies are scheduled to arrive on March 2nd at 1:30pm.  Sounds like a great day to have babies to me!  So far they are looking really good.  Two times, baby A has had some decelerations during monitoring {decelerations are what we're watching for - they are when baby's heartrate decreases temporarily, which could signal distress if it becomes a pattern or she doesn't recover right away.}  Luckily, both times it has been isolated and she has recovered very quickly, so my nurses have said that because she is head down and very low, she might just be laying on her own cord every so often, meaning it may not even be related to the ginormous knot in their cords.  I guess it's normal for babies to have them, just not normal if it becomes repetitive.  {but those 2 monitorings when it happened really made me glad to be here!}  Both babies are having plenty of accelerations during monitoring {which we want - it shows that they are responsive} and I can feel when they get the hiccups now.  It's so funny because earlier today, they both had them at the same time.  Lots going on in there!

Here's the baby belly at 30 weeks:

This week at my Thursday ultrasound, I was the only patient in the office, and my awesome tech had a few extra minutes, so she switched the machine over to the 3D view!  SUCH. FUN.  We never did one of these with Will, and it was super cool to see baby B in 3D!  She was easier to see when we were looking live...the picture is sort of like one of those pictures that you have to stare at for awhile before it suddenly becomes clear what you're looking at.  ;)  But here it is...it sort of helps if you pretend she has a head full of black hair. {and I promise she doesn't - that's where the machine was only getting the front of her face}  So can you see her?  Nose is in the middle, far left of the picture.  The little bulge to the right of her nose is her eye, which is closed...and then you can see her cute chubby cheek below!  {seriously...pretend the black part is her hairline...it helps, and sort of makes her look like a young Michael Jackson...}

Just 13 more days to behave in there, sweet babies...we can do it!!!

two!

Lately the blog has been focused on the twins a lot, but Saturday was ALL ABOUT WILL!  Our sweet boy turned TWO years old!  It seems so unreal to me that he is not a baby anymore.  The past two years have truly been the best of our lives.  Will is such a blessing to our family, and I can't wait to see him continue to grow and become a big brother!  

Just a few words that describe Will at two years old:  hilarious, curious, determined, smart, loving, talkative {except around new people}, and absolutely so LOVED.  I love that we can have conversations now.  It is so amazing to get to hear what's going on inside his mind...he is constantly surprising us!  A few of my favorite "Will" phrases right now include..."that noise?!" {said when he wants to know what a noise is}, "where'd he go?" {pretty much anytime he wonders where something or someone went...and usually said while shrugging with both hands up in the air}, "love you mama" and "goodnight mama!"  And I should mention that Will's favorite thing to say is "keys please!!"  He will ask anyone for their keys, and good luck trying to get them back if you surrender them!  His other favorite is "hold it!!" - said emphatically anytime he wants something.  He also loves singing the ABCs and counting, and he's pretty darn good at both.  I could go on for days listing things I want to remember about this age.  Seriously.  So fun!

Since I'm in the hospital, instead of throwing a big party, we just had a small family get together in my room. I won't lie....the morning of Will's birthday was the hardest time at the hospital for me so far.  I skyped in with Will and Matt for their birthday pancake breakfast, and I was just so bummed that I wasn't there to celebrate.  {and it really didn't help that the tricycle I ordered in PLENTY of time had been delivered damaged, and the replacement got delayed in shipping out of the warehouse, so although it had been promised that it would arrive in time...it did not.  Toys R Us FAIL.}  BUT....then my mom came up with decorations, Sesame Street plates, and an awesome cake, and we turned my room into a party.  Then after naptime, Will and Matt came up, along with Mimi & Duke, Nana, Aunt Ryan, Uncle Alex, Uncle Jonathan, and Jordan.  Will had a blast, and I honestly think that he had more fun with it just being our small group because all eyes were on him the entire time, and he loved hamming it up for everyone.  Here are some pictures and videos.

We started the party with some squeezable applesauce...perhaps Will's favorite thing in the world right now. 

We read some cards {sitting at Will's fun new picnic table from Mimi and Duke!}

We even wore party hats for about 2 seconds before Will ripped his off.

Awesome Elmo cake!  Thanks Mimi!!!

Lighting the candle!

After blowing out the candle, Will immediately leaned over and took a bite out of the cake!

mmmmmmm....icing!

While he was taking his first bite, I made a comment about letting him do it because it was his cake, so he sat up, looked at me, and said, "let him do it!"  Then he went in for another bite!  Total power move.

After a few bites from the whole cake, we traded for a piece.  He loved spooning the icing into his mouth!

And then he remembered that it's easier to just jam your face into the cake! Ha!

Here's a little cake eating video.  Please excuse all of our background conversations...I really wanted to post this to remember Will eating the cake with no utensils and saying, "delicious cake!"

Then we opened some more presents...Nana got Will a Spiderman themed gift, complete with his very first suitcase!  {Not sure if I've mentioned this on the blog before, but Will and Matt have a hilarious game that they play where Will stands up on the bed and yells "SPIDERMAN" as he collapses into Matt's arms.  Love these guys!}

Kind of a random picture, but I love how the light hits Will's sweet little profile.  Melt my heart.

Will definitely put some balled up wrapping paper inside his shirt and declared, "babies in there!"

I got in as many hugs and snuggles as possible!

Will used the baby belly as a nice little seat, and I loved it.  Unfortunately this was my last day of holding Will for awhile...I ended up having enough contractions that night after the party that I had to have a shot of terbutaline to stop them. {don't worry...they weren't productive, but the doctors still weren't loving them considering our situation}  Soooo....no more lifting this sweet 28 pound boy until after babies {and after c-section recovery!}

After a fun party day on Saturday, it was back to reality for Will today.  He had to visit Dr. Denison for his 2 year checkup.  Considering his disposition at his last few well visits, he actually did great today!  My mom and Matt took him, and I hear that the weight and height checks were a bit rough, but it sounds like he held it together pretty well for the actual visit with the doctor.  He got a great report, and here are his stats:

Weight: 28 lbs, 2 oz {50%}

Height: 34 1/4 inches {45%}

Head: 19 3/4 inches {80%...big brain?}

And I'm ending this post with a video from Saturday of Will singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  He had to be bribed with the promise of getting to play with Uncle Alex's keys in order to get a repeat performance for the camera, but I'm so glad we got this on video.  Priceless!

Happy birthday, sweet Will!  We love you SO much!

twenty-nine!

Today = 29 weeks!!  I can't believe that we will get to meet our sweet girls in 3 weeks or less!  {hopefully not sooner than three weeks, girls...don't get any ideas!}  This week has been nice and uneventful, except for a few contractions Tuesday, but everything is just fine.  My doctor thinks the babies are probably just having a growth spurt that may have caused those.  

Babies are growing!!

We got to see the babies on Monday AND Thursday this week, and we did measurements on Thursday.  One baby was measuring 3 lbs, 1 oz, and the other was around 2 lbs, 15 oz.  Hooray for 3 pounds!  

here is baby B!

And here are a couple of pictures of Will playing with the Ernie and Elmo balloons that Jennie brought him.  He LOVES them.  His favorite game is to hold them and let one {or both} go, and then say, "Come back, Elmo/Ernie!"  So fun.

He sometimes just carries Ernie around while he plays with other toys.  And by toys, of course I mean the buttons that control my bed, the buttons on the monitor, or someone's keys.

 I can't believe that our baby turns TWO tomorrow.  Where did the time go?

twenty eight!!!

Today is 28 weeks!!  Hooray!  Of course, we ultimately want to make it to 32 weeks before meeting these sweet girls, but 28 is a big milestone in terms of their ability to do well if they had to be delivered, so getting to today with two healthy babies is such a blessing!  

Here's my awkward bathroom mirror cameraphone belly pic...

{how fun is my pink "28 week" balloon from my sweet mom!?!}

And here's a profile picture of Baby B from our Wednesday ultrasound...she's sorta kissing baby A!

 And I have to document Will's new favorite part of visiting me in the hospital...dinnertime!  As I've mentioned before, dinner is served anywhere from 5 to 5:45 here at Hotel Presby, so Will is usually visiting when my tray arrives.  He LOVES it.  It's really pretty amazing, because he will try {and enjoy} things from the hospital tray that he would never eat at home.  {And I can personally vouch that the food at home is better in every possible way.} Maybe it's the novelty of eating while sitting on a bed?  Yesterday before dinner had even been delivered, Will jumped up on my bed, settled in, and said "Dinner please!"  Love him!

Happy Friday to everyone, and happy 28 weeks to the babies!!

pictures!

Oh what a fun surprise I got today!  My friend and fabulous photographer, Kristin {check out Kristin Dunn Photography} recently took some family/maternity pictures for us, and she sent them to me this afternoon!!  I was totally going to pick a few favorites and only post those, but I can't pick.  And since I print the blog as a scrapbook, I want them all in!  =)  

Ok, this next one needs a bit of explanation.  So we took the pictures in Deep Ellum, and Kristin planned ahead and brought a few dollars in case anyone stopped us to ask for help.  And someone did.  And then he maybe misunderstood her donation and thought we were sort of paying him to join us and entertain Will...or something along those lines.  Unfortunately Will wasn't impressed...but clearly I thought he was hilarious!  ;)

I just love this one.  It probably perfectly sums up Will's feelings about all of this...a bit bewildered, and completely clueless about what is coming!

Were you wondering what he's putting in that pocket in the picture above?  Such a boy...

Mr. Blue Eyes!

Thank you, Kristin, for capturing these precious memories for us!!!