The week before Christmas

We have had so much fun playing with Becca, Katy and Ruby. My camera cord must be packed in a box somewhere in my garage, so unfortunately all the great pics I'm capturing wont be accessible until we unpack-and I have no idea when that will actually be. Thankfully we've snapped a couple with Mom's camera. This week we fed Ruby, changed Ruby, made Ruby smile and smooched her all over:

How adorable is that child? I swear she is the prettiest baby I have ever seen-the pics don't do her justice. She is also an incredibly easy baby. She plays and coos and eventually squeaks because she's hungry.  We adore her. Lucy has loved having a baby around. She has told us that she is Ruby's big sister. When I explained that they were cousins she told me that they had to be sisters because she has a big sister shirt (I got her when we got pregnant) and she loved Ruby sooooo much.  Lucy is a great helper with the baby. She is always there to help us get burp clothes, toys etc and loves putting Ruby's binkie in. She also likes reading her stories and stroking her head-she'd stroke and kiss her face, eyeballs and everything else if I'd let her! I'm very glad she is getting some practice before we have two babies around here.

This week Lucy also got to spend a lot of time in Grandma Karen's kindergarten classroom. I think we were there three times this week and Lucy now has her own spot on the carpet and a desk to work at! She used to be tentative around the big kindergardeners-but she looks like one of them now! She listened to stories during carpet time, made her own gingerbread house, did her math worksheets and read a story as a group during reading time. She likes to participate and raises her hand as she shouts out what she thinks is interesting information to the class and grandma. It is really cute to watch her interact with the big kids on that level-but also kind of sad-she acts/looks so grown up! Thankfully she has a whole year of preschool before she leaves me for school.

I have loved standing up for this week! It has completely changed how I look at events and do things.  My next appointment is Wednesday and I am really hoping I can be normal for a little bit longer.  I feel really good-so that has been nice. People tell me I'm not that big too-although at barely 20 weeks I should hope not! I feel big though and am in that awkward stage where I bump my stomach into things because I forget how big it is-or maybe thats because I've hardly walked around with a tummy yet!  I am feeling the girls move a lot more-so this whole thing is feeling pretty real now. Guess I should start looking for twin books and figure out how this is actually going to work! Anyway, cross your fingers for me. 

Moving

I wonder how many of my posts are titled Moving? Yes, we have moved again! We have had a wild couple of months. We enjoyed our short time in Irvine, but after my two weeks of strict bedrest we decided that we wanted to come "home".  Danny was not enjoying his program and decided that it wasn't taking him where he wanted to go professionally.  We toyed with sticking around southern CA and some job options there, but decided that given our situation, it would be a lot easier to be by family.  After Thanksgiving we drove home and packed everything up in one week (and when I say "we" I mean "Danny").  Last Saturday my parents came out and helped us clean and pack the truck and then Sunday we drove back here and unpacked. We have rented a cute little house in Pleasant Hill that we really like. This week we are painting and then we'll take our time moving in. We'll stay at my house through Christmas to be closer to the fun when Becca, Katy and Ruby arrive. We can't wait!

In pregnancy news, I am 18 weeks! Last week I had the big ultrasound and we learned we are having two girls! We are very excited. When I told Lucy she said "Of course!" like there was really no other option.  Coming from a family of three girls, I think it will be awesome. My practical side is ecstatic because I already have a ton of girl clothes all in the perfect season (Lucy's birthday is in April too).  These babies will get some wonderful hand-me-downs which will save me a ton.  At 15 weeks I saw my perinatologist and she put me on moderate bedrest earlier then I had expected-so for the last weeks I have been laying down a few hours in the morning and then most of the afternoon and evening.  Danny has done a great job taking care of me and everything else. The bedrest hasn't been too bad because I can get up for meals-which was one of the hardest things about my last pregnancy-it is hard to digest laying down!  One thing I have missed is my appetite-I have to force myself to eat and drink because things are still tasting gross and without much activity I am simply not hungry.

I can whine now because I received some awesome news today. I've transferred my care up to Northern CA again, so I met with a new perinatologist today. After looking at my cervix (freakishly long today-go me!) he said that he thought my previous doctor was a little conservative and wants me to stay up for the next two weeks as a kind of experiment. I have an appointment right before Christmas and we'll see how the standing/activity/sitting affected me. I am beyond thrilled. It felt like a huge burden was lifted off my shoulders. I have been pretty good at making good choices about what I can and can't do during this period of bedrest-but to not have to think about it at all is such a relief! I can be a mostly normal pregnant-with-twins mom now! To celebrate I took Lucy to the Disney store to look around and think about what she wants to ask Santa for-something frivolous I would never have done before! She thinks she's going to ask for a Rapunzel doll. If Santa had any cash he would want to get her a lot more then that-they had so many fun things! I love spoiling my cute girl.  Anyway, those are the current events. I need to find my camera amongst all of our bags and start taking pics again so I can share our fun Christmas activities. Until then!