First coat of drywall plaster is done!

This weekend, Jim finished the first coat of drywall plaster and is now working on sanding it down before starting the second coat. The entryway between the kitchen and living room also finally got the first coat of plaster and is looking good!

Kitchen/Living Room doorway

Exercise Room

Exercise Room

Bathroom

Bedroom

Jim sanding in the stairwell

And Daddy's little basement buddy...

31 week belly

So, I have been slack on posting belly pictures lately...maybe because it is getting so big!! Here is a picture from today of my belly at exactly 31 weeks:

Growth Ultrasound

We went today to the ultrasound technician for our growth ultrasound. In the three weeks since our last appt, the babies have each grown nearly a pound! Baby A weighs 3 lbs, 8 oz and Baby B was 3 lbs, 9 oz. Both are in the 50 percentile range. It's great that they are growing at the same rate and everything looks good. Again, they weren't cooperative for ultrasound pictures. It's hard to get any good 4-D shots because their heads are so close together! Oh, well. Maybe next time...

Drywall Progress

Last weekend, Blair was kind enough to come up and spend the full day (and I mean, the full day--over 12 hours!) helping Jim in the basement. They were able to finish hanging the last few small pieces of drywall, haul off all of the trash, purchase all of the drywall tools at Lowe's, put up all of the corner bead, clean out all of the stuff from the basement, and tape all of the seams. Thanks, Blair!! Jim started the first coat of plaster and has been able to get over half of the walls done so far. It looks great!

Living Room

Kitchen/Pool Table Room

(and the accomplished stilt-walker)
Hallway

The Daddy-Mobile

A couple of weeks ago, Jim got his new work vehicle--a 2010 Dodge Caravan! It's the perfect car for our new family since there will be plenty of room for two car seats plus strollers and all of the other stuff that the babies will need. I am so grateful that Jim is willing to drive around a mini-van for the sake of our fast expanding family!

Work Baby Shower

On Thursday, I had my third and final baby shower. My generous co-workers put together quite a spread of food and showered our baby boys with gifts. Again, I say that we are so blessed!

Dr Appt

We went back to Dr. Roberts yesterday for a check-up. A quick ultrasound showed that the boys are doing great! They are both still head down, with Baby B's head right under Baby A's chin :) Their heartrates were strong and their fluid levels were normal. They have certainly become more active the past couple of weeks! Sometimes it seems that they are playing/fighting with each other. So cute (although not very comfortable)! It seems I have been growing too. My belly measured 37 cm, which would correspond to 37 weeks for a single pregnancy. Everything gets bigger with twins!

We go next Tuesday (March 23rd) to the ultrasound technician for more growth scans to see how much these big boys weigh. Hopefully they will cooperate so we can get a couple of good pictures. It seems the bigger they grow, the harder it is to capture them on the ultrasound screen.

Circus Act?

Is Jim practicing in anticipation of joining the circus? Nope, he's just testing out his new drywall stilts! I'm sure they will come in handy in the coming weeks as he gets ready to start taping and finishing the drywall in the basement.

Nursery progress

The nursery continues to progress as we prepare for our boys. We have gotten most of our gifts from the showers put away and we finally found a comfy rocker recliner, which we both love! We also left the bed in the nursery. I'm sure we'll be spending a lot of drowsy hours in these spots!

Baby Shower #2

Last weekend was our baby shower at home. It was great to celebrate the upcoming arrival of our baby boys with our families and friends! We are very blessed to be surrounded by so many loving and generous people.

The theme was "2 peas in a pod." Here is our cute (and yummy) cake:

Jen was feeling super creative when she made this diaper cake. Love it!
Our banner

The loot :)

Soon-to-be Mommy & Daddy!

The excited aunties-to-be and gracious hostesses (along with mom, Amy & Deedee)

And a long overdue belly pics...these boys keep growing and growing...and growing!!

More Baby Updates

We went to the ultrasound technician on Thursday for our growth scans. The babies are measuring 2 lbs, 10 oz (A) and 2 lbs, 11 oz (B), both of which are in the 51-53% percentile. Everything looks excellent, including their amniotic fluid levels. She also thinks that Baby B has lots of hair! Unfortunatley, the babies weren't very cooperative for pictures. I guess I should have had some caffeine beforehand! They wouldn't turn correctly for her to get their faces in 4-D. All we left with one pic of both of their heads and some hard to make out 2-D face pics. We did get a DVD of the ultrasound to keep, though.

The results of my blood work came back and showed that I am slightly anemic. I started taking an over-the-counter iron supplement this week, per the doctor's orders. I was thrilled that my blood sugar was okay!

We enjoyed our childbirth class on Wednesday night. There were four other couples in class with us and our instructor is one of the night shift labor & delivery nurses at the hospital. We were able to tour the labor and delivery wing, including one of their biggest patient rooms (which the nurse said that we will likely get since we are having twins). The rooms are very large and private, including a jacuzzi tub in the bathroom. The labor, delivery, and recovery process will all take place in your room unless you have a C-Section. We started watching a few videos, but didn't make it to anything too graphic yet...which means that Jim isn't yet scared about coming back next week!

Growing Boys

We went to the dr this morning and were so pleased that everything looks great! We got a quick ultrasound, which showed that both boys are now head down and will hopefully stay in that position for the rest of the pregnancy. They are so cute and cozy with their little heads side by side! Their heart rates were strong at 137 for Baby A and 145 for Baby B. Dr. Roberts did a quick growth estimate for Baby B, which showed that he was about 2 lbs, 14 oz! He estimates Baby A is about the same size. The head and belly circumference were on track with the term of the pregnancy (about 27 weeks, 4 days) but the femur (upper leg) length measured 30 weeks, 2 days. No surprise that these babies will have long legs :)

They did some blood work today to test for gestational diabetes and iron levels. I will get a call if they are off. Please pray that everything looks okay!

This will be a big week--we get to go back to the ultrasound technician on Thursday for more detailed growth scans. We will do these about every 3 weeks to make sure they are growing at the same rate. This also means that we will hopefully get more ultrasound pics (maybe some more 4-D) to share. We haven't gotten any pics from our last two visits. We have also signed up for a Childbirth class that starts on Wednesday evening. We will go to the class for 2 hours each Wednesday in the month of March (4 weeks total). I am sure this will be an interesting and informative experience!