some photos from the weekend

Unfortunately, since we didn't really do much for our girls weekend, I don't have any fun action shots. But I did want to post a few additional photos from the weekend. The first is a thank you shout out to Hillary who brought me my favorite popcorn from her layover in Chicago. If you haven't tried the combo cheddar cheese/caramel popcorn from Nuts on Clark (or the more famous but in my opinion not as good Garretts popcorn), I highly highly recommend! You can now buy it at both Midway and O'Hare so you don't even need to visit the actual city, just its airports.
The next photo is of a scanned card that the girls gave me along with some baby gifts. I loved it -especially the personalization on the mountain highlighting my journey on bed rest. Look how far I've already come! And finally, a new photo of Emma. Yes, there she is inside my beloved crystal bowl which I keep on my dining room table. Apparently she thought it was a good place for a nap. Not sure I agree, but we all thought it was hilarious to see her in there. Even though I do not post as many photos of my other cat Addy -- I swear I love them equally (it has been good practice for mothering twins). Addy just doesn't seem to end up in photo worthy positions as frequently and usually ends up looking annoyed whenever I flash a camera in front of her. :-)
BR day 41
27wks5d

Fun weekend with the ladies

This weekend my six best college friends came for a visit from all over the country. We had a great lazy weekend with most of our time spent chilling on the couch catching up and reminiscing. The girls ended up getting quite the taste of the spoiling I've gotten since going on bed rest as Kevin was a mega host preparing breakfast both mornings and an appetizer feast for Saturday night's dinner. Saturday's dinner was completed with a visit from my father to provide additional entertainment and even more appetizers. Overall it was the perfect lazy weekend. I was thrilled to get the spend the weekend with all of them to celebrate the upcoming arrival of our twins.

Hillary didn't leave until this afternoon so my weekend fun continued through Monday. We watched the Academy Awards last night after all filling out ballots with our predictions. Kevin surprised both Hill and me kicking our butts by having the most correct award picks. Oh well, there is always next year! As the perfect end to a great weekend, Hill and I went out to breakfast this morning and then went to get mani/pedis as a special treat. YAY!

Overall, I am feeling great. I spent quite a bit of the weekend hanging out downstairs on the couch which was a nice change from all the time in my bedroom. However I tried to take it easy and let everyone wait on me. Even though I went to bed earlier than the rest of the ladies and didn't get to partake in the multiple bottles of red wine/champagne consumed, I still don't feel like I missed out on too much. :-)

BR day 39
27wks3d

Girls weekend here we come!

This will be a short post as I am on my way to do my glucose challenge test (checks for gestational diabetes), but wanted to send out an update since I've had nothing to report all week. Six of my Colby gals are coming for the weekend! It is the first time we have all been together since my wedding 2.5 years ago so it should be fantastic. I have seen everyone individually or in smaller groups since then, just not all of us at once. I am honored that they've all decided to come despite my bed rest limitations. It should be a pretty lazy weekend of catching up, movies and relaxing - since I am not allowed to do much else! Kevin is going out tonight for a very well deserved boys night in the city. But he and my father plan to add a little masculinity to our fun tomorrow so that they can catch up with everyone as well.

Today I am 27 weeks - 5 weeks of being on bed rest. So far so good. My doctor's appointment this week showed that my cervix is staying closed and I am doing fine so I guess I will just keep doing what I've been doing and see how long we can keep these babies growing in me.

Happy weekend everyone.

BR day 36
27 wks

Busy busy weekend

As has been my habit lately, I have been a little lax with my blog posts. Usually my excuse is that I have nothing new to report as my life relaxing is kinda boring. But this weekend was pretty busy for me and I didn't have time to sit back and reflect for all of you.

Kevin had another snow day on Friday, but luckily for us, the storm was less than originally predicted for the Philadelphia area and we only got a few inches. It worked out perfectly as he was able to get me to my ultrasound appointment on Friday morning with no problems (and out to breakfast after as well!).

The appointment went well. My cervix is still nicely closed and a good length. The babies are doing fine and are currently in a sort of yin yang position. They are still small enough to flip around quite a bit so no one is worried yet about the actual position they are in. Unfortunately, they opted not to do the measurements in order to estimates their weights so we don't have any updates on that, but I hope they will do it at our next appointment in two weeks. Overall the doctor was really pleased and didn't seem to think that my increased activity around my house was causing any detriment.

Saturday, we had a fun visit from our friends Nick and Melissa and their son Jake (17 months). Jake kindly pointed out to us all the places that will need to be baby-proofed before our twins become mobile. Melissa, who is due with their 2nd child in about a month, kindly pointed out to me how far my belly still needs to grow. After making the comparison between our respective bellies, I am a little worried about how large I will be at 36 weeks with our two babies inside me (instead of just one like Mel - who looks great by the way, just very preggers). But since it is my plan to keep these kiddos inside for as long as possible, I am up for the challenge - bring it on, belly!.

Sunday, Kevin's brother Jim and family stopped by for a early afternoon visit which was wonderful and then my dad, brother Ben, and Aunt Barbara came over for dinner. My father impressed us all with his preparation of shrimp and rice (an old recipe of his grandmother who grew up in Panama) which he brought from home. Kevin and I were thrilled to have a home cooked dinner brought to us and even more thrilled to get to spend time with some of our family members. Thanks!

Needless to say, I spent a lot of Saturday and Sunday downstairs hanging out with our guests. I did my best to not move around too much (not as easy as it may seem) and tried to keep my feet elevated. However, I am pretty worn out and my lower back is throbbing so I plan to spend as much of my day today as possible lying down. I need to get in a lot of rest this week as I have another big weekend coming up - all of my dearest college friends are all flying (or driving) in for the weekend to see me. I cannot wait as we always have so much fun together and the opportunities for all of us to be together (esp. when one of us is not wearing a poofy white dress and rather busy) are so rare. YAY!!!

BR day 32
26wks3days

Why no post?

I just got an email from Kevin pointing out that I haven't posted any updates since Saturday. You would think that at least he would be aware of the fact that my life is not terribly exciting right now. Let's see, here are the big things I've accomplished in the last few days:

1) I watched the entire mini-series of Pride and Prejudice (BBC version?) with Colin Firth. For P&P lovers, it is fabulous and I'm probably the only true fan out there who hasn't already seen it. According to my friend Hill, there is a new PBS miniseries on Emma which she highly recommends and I am on the lookout for.

2) I finished book 4 of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series - "Drums of Autumn" I also credit the reading of this series to Hill and we are both addicted to these books which came out in the early 90s. They are an interesting mix of historical fiction, romance, and a little fantasy time travel mixed in.

3) I swapped my PJ/yoga pants for khakis in order to go to my weekly doctor's visit yesterday. The report was good. Next ultrasound is on Friday so more updates after that.

4) On the way home from the doctor, we stopped quickly at a paint store in order to pick out the color for the babies' room. It will either be Lime Granita or Dancing Green - not that will help you picture the color at all (basically a pale warm green).

5) I hung out with my cats and noticed yesterday that they followed me from room to room. When I was upstairs, they were sleeping somewhere in my bedroom. When I was downstairs, they found a place to sleep in our family room. They like having me around. Granted Addy is currently MIA so my theory is already debunked.

6) I watched the rain fall yesterday out my windows hoping that the snow would finally get washed off my azalea bushes which are still weighed down from the blizzard of 2010 - only to find out that it is supposed to snow again tonight/tomorrow. I think we have gotten more snow this winter in Philadelphia than what fell in total the six years I lived in Chicago. Crazy.

That's all for now. :-)

BR day 27 (can you believe it?)
25wks5d

Photos from Bed Rest Central

I couldn't resist snapping a couple photos of as it is a rare occurrence for both of our cats to coexist on my bed together at once! Perhaps we are finally making some progress in their relationship. You will notice they like to spread out and don't always leave much room for me (let alone Kevin!). Plus, I thought I would share a glimpse into bed rest central and how I have almost everything I need within arms reach. You cannot see the mini fridge we have set up in the room as well. All I would need is a microwave to truly return to dorm room life, though I am quite content going down the stairs to heat up any meals/snacks for now. If you look closely, you will see my latest copy of US Weekly on the bed. I finally caved and got myself a subscription in December and what a treat it is each week in the mail!
Also, here is a shot of my retro TV tray courtesy of Kevin's mom which has brought back many memories of Saturday morning cartoons and eating cereal.
BR day 22
25wks

21 days down!

For me, it is hard to believe that it has been 3 weeks on bed rest already. Shockingly, the days have flown by. I really hope that this keeps up. Granted, I have had many bored moments as there is only so much I can do within the confines of my bedroom and my new found limited trips downstairs. Thank goodness for Netflix and the Winter Olympics. Today I watched My Sister's Keeper on DVD. For anyone who read the book and resisted seeing the movie due to the tragic, surprising and very depressing ending, it was completely changed around in the movie so it is quite different. Still a sad movie, but sort of a different take on it. So if you liked the book, it is worth checking out, if for nothing else than to see the new ending and Cameron Diaz cast as the mother. As for the Olympics, I have become a big fan of curling (often aired during the day on cNBC) which I am finding a lot more interesting this time around with an appreciation for how much strategy is involved in the game - granted the US women have yet to win a match so it might not be on for much longer. I heard an interesting interview today on public radio criticizing NBC's coverage of the Olympics and how they only feature American athletes and jump from sport to sport with a lot of wasted time spent with fluff interviews. I totally agree and wish they would just show more events with less talking and commercials.

I'll end with a photo from my father. He keeps talking about this comic strip of twin fetuses Eggbert and Eggberta which I've now learned is from the 1960s and thus why I've never heard of them.
BR day 21
24wks6dy