Sunday Morning

Esther tucked herself into her brother's bed.  Perhaps she was
foreshadowing: later in the day we placed an order for a twin bed
for Austin, paving the way for this to be hers.

After Daddy being out of town for three days, there was a lot
of wrestling to catch up on.

This is what the floor around Austin's bed looks like every
morning these days. He asks to open the closet door when he goes
to bed so he has a bit of light for looking at books.  Love my little
bookworms.

21 Week Pictures

One more ultrasound today; having so many has really made this pregnancy zoom by. Today's was just to check bladders, fluid levels, and blood flow through the umbilical cords. Those are the things that would indicate TTTS if it was happening.  But it's not!  Babies look very healthy and quite active.  According to the tech, they were practically wrestling each other.  Funny how they can move around so much and all I feel is a few little taps!

What a clear profile!  Nose, lips...amazing.

Not quite as clear, but theoretically identical to Baby A's profile. :)

And here's me:

So just tonight on FB, I have seen belly pics of two pregnant acquaintances, one 25 weeks along and one 32 weeks along.  I look so much bigger than them, Zach and I couldn't help breaking out in laughter as we looked at the pictures. This twin thing is crazy.

Animal Sounds

In typical one-year-old fashion, Esther has begun learning animal sounds. For a long time her repertoire was limited to "bah bah" and "cak cak" (for sheep and ducks) but recently "mmm" (moo) has been added and occasionally "onk" (oink).  These animal sounds alone would be pretty cute, but you know what I find really adorable?  That this basic collection of sounds can be adapted to so many animals.  All birds say "cak cak," any animal even remotely sheep-like, such as the gorilla or porcupine in one of our animal books, says "bah bah." I love this learning to talk phase, and what is best is that I'm not stressing about it like I did with Austin.  I have absolutely no idea if Esther is saying a "normal" number of words but I'm enjoying every sweet sound that comes out of her mouth.

19 Week Baby Pictures

They're a few days late thanks to all the sickness going around our family, but here are the latest baby pictures that I know Gran and Grandma have been waiting for.  My ultrasound Monday showed two healthy babies!  Baby B is still larger than Baby A by a bit (12 ounces vs. 10 ounces) but with the margin of error for measurements it is not a concern at all.  Their organs (heart and bladder in particular) look perfect so once again no signs of TTTS. I'm so thankful for every sign of health we see.  A higher-risk pregnancy like this has really led me to ponder the awesomeness of God being both the creator and the sustainer of life.

It's getting harder to get a good view of both babies at the same time;
they look so crowded in there already!  So I appreciate the tech
doing this split-screen thing to put them side by side.  They're
watching you!

19 Week Mommy Picture

There you go, that's what approximately-halfway-to-delivery-of-twins looks like.  Sheesh, am I that big already?  But I am right on track with my hoped-for weight gain (about 20 pounds to date) so I guess I'm as big as I should be.

I am starting to be more uncomfortable, although I am thankfully mostly free of pregnancy complaints like heartburn that I hear can be worse with twins.  It's little things like bending over the sink to wash my face at night and feeling like my belly is totally in the way.

The twins have gotten noticeably more active in the last week or so, which I love.  It's so reassuring to feel those little flutters.  I know it should have sunk in by now but it still blows my mind that there are two babies inside!

Rough Night

Last night was perhaps among the most challenging Zach and I have endured as parents.  Let me back up a few days. We arrived home from our massive holiday trip on Saturday night around 8pm.  After two grueling days in the car we were ready to just unload the van and relax. But around 8:30 Austin started throwing up and continued to be sick for most of the night.  The next day he seemed to feel better.

But you know how these things are; rarely does a stomach bug stop with one family member. We just hoped the illness would not hit too many of us at once and be as short-lived as it seemed to be for Austin. Not to be the case as it turns out.  Zach started feeling sick around dinnertime yesterday, Esther threw up for the first time right before her bedtime, and it hit me at 10pm.  So you can imagine the kind of night we had.

These kind of nights (which are thankfully rare in our house) teach me so much. That God's power is made perfect in weakness.  To be thankful for a heavy-sleeping three year old who barely stirred through many pajama and sheet changes across the room for his sister. That my plans (unpacking our suitcases, doing laundry, cooking extra meals to freeze) are not as important as I think. The busy week I had envisioned has turned into a rest and recover kind of week. And everything will be okay.