Cause for multiple exclamation points

I.

AM.


DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




I've decided to watch television tomorrow in the main office during my planning period to celebrate. In the meantime, I'm gonna go have a milkshake.

Re-entrance to Society is Near

I am almost dizzy with excitement. Today should be my last day of writing and then hopefully I can even get this edited today as well. I honestly haven't seen anyone but Dr. J, Mona and Ashley in three weeks.

I am so throwing myself a party ... and getting a pedicure ... and getting my hair done. The only good thing about having to do all this so quickly is that it is due before Spring Break, so I can actually take a break next week when I go to Dallas and hit the Gymboree Outlet (and Off Fifth Ave for me, but don't tell Dr. J).

I am totally going to pee myself.

To Ivanka: My iPhone

If I could remember what a Haiku was, this would be a totally appropriate moment for one. Out of respect to those of you that actually know the syllabic requirements, I'll not dare. In any case...

Ivanka, when I spent those 3 hours today thinking you had been stolen, I barely had the will to live. Thankfully, you were on "silent" in my bookbag ... where I put you, even though I can't remember doing it. I wish I hadn't made myself late to the doctor looking for you. I think he was pretty unhappy with me.

I measured 24 cm today which for singleton pregnancies is supposed to go along with the number of weeks you are pregnant. I'm 20 weeks and 24 cm ... so it looks like Benjamin and Lucas are growing steadily.

Oh yeah, we decided on names :) Benjamin Louis and Joe Lucas. Joe is after my dad and Louis is after Dr. J's granddad. But they'll be called Benjamin and Lucas.

Potty Training Prof. McGonagal

I'm oddly intrigued by this idea, mostly just to see if it really works.

Please indulge yourself in Mingus' Cat Toilet Training Program

The only problem is that Mona is extremely trained, do I really want to mess up a good thing? She did however, vomit all over the office for no apparent reason this morning. She's definitely seen me make it to the toilet, why can't give that a go?

And the results are ...

Well before we tell you the gender, there is a prayer request for one of the babies. Both had all thier appropriate parts and measured appropriately. One baby has a little bit too much fluid in the brain. Not a lot too much, a little, but enough they were concerned and wanted to make us aware. They will check again in 6 weeks and my prayer is that everything will look normal with the fluid at that time. I don't really want to go into a guessing game of what ifs yet, we will wait till the next sonogram.

After the nurse told us the gender my first thought was that I already have one Dallas Cowboy onesie and that should get us through football season, but I will need one more. At least I don't have to worry about hunting down cowboy cheerleader uniforms.

My dad is gonna have these guys welding in no time.

The Surge

In my last post I referred to the fact that I had a months less time to complete a huge amount of work than I thought. This means that it all has to happen in the next few weeks along with house selling, house hunting, parental visit and of course, work and life.

This weekend has been declared the surge and by tomorrow afternoon, I intend to have half of all the writing done that needs to be done. Which amounts to about 25 pages of writing. Of course, I have called in reinforcements for help with editing and so far have three offers. Ok, so offers and a plea. Karolina, you may be hearing from me soon.

And so goes ... my pre-oscar watching activity.

Sayonara. For now, at least

I do promise to post on Monday when we find out the genders. I have a SEVERE amount of work to complete in my very near future and thought I had until the end of April to do it, but as it turns out, I was off by a month. Leaving me THREE WEEKS to finish the work.

Let's hope I come home rested every day from work and be ready to ... well ... work more. UGH.

That combined with the house going on the market this week, house hunting, parents coming into town. YIKES!

Ricky and Lucy

The long awaited sonogram photos from last week:

This photo shows the baby on the right (head is to the left, big tummy on the right, blob underneath). Now that the Septum has been located, doc says that the baby on the left will stay on the left and the baby on the right will stay on the right. To the happiness of my friend who has been dying for me to name the embryos, they are now referred to as Ricky (right) and Lucy (left). Pea, popcorn, bean, etc, just weren't really us. Ricky and Lucy are much more tasteful.

I can definitely feel them now. The Ricardos seem to take turns poking and prodding. In these photos, Ricky is sitting on top of Lucy's butt (and is waiving ... apparently it's pretty awesome to be the topmost embryo). Apparently they can switch the up/down, but not the left right. And so goes the first sibling rivalry. Although I'm not sure whether it's more desirable to be up or down.

Anyway, Lucy is laying underneath Ricky's butt in this photo. Lucy isn't waiving and this profile isn't as clear, but Lucy was still very jumpy during the photo shoot.


Dr. J had some difficulty with the scanner at his work, so this took longer than intended. Sorry mom. And Dad and everyone else that's been "patient".

One more week and we'll find out the gender(s)!! Ricky and Lucy will remain their reference until they get official names, which we haven't worked on yet ... so it'll probably be a while.

Tough Luck Ladies! He's taken.

This weekend, in doing the final preparations to get the house on the market, I asked Dr. J to find something to do with all the random rods and metal scraps that had found their way to the bottom of the office closet. This closet holds pretty random stuff; games, potting soil, folding chairs, pet supplies, vacuum, and of course those random bits of scrap metal. After much trauma to his psyche, Dr. J disposed of the random bits of scrap metal ... we went through a short marital argument that if you can't remember why we have them, we aren't putting them in to storage, etc.

I went on to stage the house, placing decor and tidying and cleaning. At the end of the day, I went to put something up in the closet and noticed that Dr. J had "staged" the office closet as well.

Witness:


The idea behind staging is to show the future owners how they could use the space, what they could place where. Clearly we are demonstrating that they, too, could use this as a vacuum / miniature tripod closet. Enough space, in fact, to keep their tripod open in case they have an emergency photo op.

I hope there is enough room at the next house for a Tripod Closet.

The Septum

Ok so I teach high school, so I can't resist.

A Septum is a ...
a. part of a toilet that "stores" your solid excretions (also something my father fell into when he was a lad)
b. a line of tissue that separates the food supply of multiples in utero
c. a portable tranquilizer that can be used in cases of extreme nausea (e.g., an overrated writer with a tendency towards the "extreme true-life and therefore sad" romance makes a movie)
d. a phrase heard in the country when choosing all but one boy (get it? everyone 'cept him??)

Too much fun. You should see my physics test from today.

The correct answer is B! This was much case for concern as of late because the doctors could not find the Septum at our last visit. Yesterday we had a 16 week sonogram specifically to look for it and there is was! Right down the middle. Hooray!! The babies looked like they were out at recess, all flipping around for the cameras and whatnot. I have some very cool photographs that has a great profile shot and perfect little hands to boot, perhaps my baby daddy will remember to scan them tomorrow.


4 Days to Dear John. Peace!

16 Weeks and Counting!

The good news should be that the sickness has passed, unfortunately it has just been masked by the cold / cough that Dr. J gave me. I expect to make a massive online announcement when I finally see 9:30 pm again and/or not have heartburn for the last 3 hours of my awake time.

I'm trying to make the most of these last moments of sustaining a relationship with my ankles and toes. In celebration of their visibility, I shaved below the knee and painted my toes. Some people would call this good hygiene, but I'm pretty sure I've never shaved in February before. This was also prompted by my friend showing off her toenail polish remnants in public yesterday. She was completely horrified. I of course, do that all the time, should I have shame?

I've always been a flip flop girl to the point that it causes me physical pain to wear actual shoes once its more than 60 degrees out. Without batting an eyelash, I intend to play up the whole pregnant-with-twins thing and wear shoes of my choosing for the rest of the school year. I've even got my eye on those leather Reefs I passed up last year.


Countdown to Dear John: 6 days. Get 'em!

I cannot be trusted

Back in the day, I used to work in front of a computer. It was always difficult to not be distracted by things like reading news, gossip, blogs and the like on the internet. The amount of "interesting" content out there is astounding.

Today I told myself I'd work for a few hours so I could go and see a movie this afternoon. I desperately need to work and truly have no excuse not to but I found one anyway! Somehow I convinced myself that I was way behind in the musing and goings-on of several of my friends and now I can at least say I am caught up.

My accomplished "work" consisted of
1. I discovered the sound is working on the computer (aka I couldn't watch a you tube video)
2. our external hard drive is not communicating properly (aka i couldn't upload some old photos)
3. We did at least meet with a Realtor about listing the house. Step 1. Got a few more phone calls that need to take place in the next few weeks, hopefully we'll be on the market in a couple weeks at the latest!!

Not much point in pretending to be productive now. I don't know how anyone could work from home.

Spreading the love

Anyone that know me well knows that I hate things that are sappy and ridiculously sentimental. In spite of this, I have agreed to go and see Dear John with friends in a couple weeks. With any luck, the reviews will be so bad that the theater manager will pull it and the producer will burn all the reels over a glass of red wine.

Just kidding Shelley, I'm sure it's perfection.

And today I spent most of the day by myself and it really was a nice day. I'm finally feeling better and I watched a
movie on the couch. In spite of myself, I was feeling nostalgic and wanted to blog some very sappy ode to my friends. I think this would be the hormonal equivalent of drunk dialing, I'm sure to regret that in a new light. People might start giving me Nicholas sparks book recommendations and the like.

In any case, I hope that everyone is lucky enough to have a friend that mispronounces half of the English language. It keeps things very fun and interesting and makes me feel like I have a sufficient vocabulary.

And this isn't Dr. J either. He mispronounces things in several languages.

Oblivion

How is it that you can cut off half your hair and your husband doesn't even notice?

It's not like I changed my lipstick color. Or plucked an eyebrow. I mean half of my hair is not on my head.

Oblivion must be a pleasant world.

Double Demolition

Dr. J disarmed upwards of 2 dozen jalapenos today while watching The Hurt Locker.

Both the movie and the peppers are not for the weak of stomach, but I recommend them both. For those of you attending our Superbowl Party, bring some Tums and a hearty appetite.

2010 Oscars

Babies or no babies, there are still Oscars this year. The major dilemma is party or no party? The number one problem is that the Oscars aren't going to be interesting! This may be the year that everyone forgets faster than any other. We could jazz it up with margaritas (accelerating our ability to forget) but then the babies you know .... whatever, I can make them for everyone else. We are about to put the house on the market, so friends, you'll have to try not to damage the dry wall while you are here. Thanks.

I think the focus needs to be on the pregame show. Generally, living in EST forces that simply because who can watch all the awards until past midnight and then get up and teach 17 year olds? ME!

Normally.

The stars had better be out in their finest, that's all I've got to say. Something has to make up for the lame 2009 movie calendar.

The Other Side of the Navel

My baby daddy is confused with the navel linkage. I keep telling him that attempting to speak to my own belly button will allow him to communicate with his mother-in-law, not the babies.

I still love you!

You still make my heart go thumpity thump thump. And I'm still gonna deck my kiddos out in Blue Stars.

Gimp and Lovin' It

Every time we go out of town for any substantial length of time, Mona has this self-depricating behavior of compulsive cleaning. Sounds fake and insignificant, but last year, most of our Christmas money went to vet bills for Mona. This year, we came home to little bloody footprints all over our white bedspread and white desk. She has licked off part of her paw pad, poor little dear. A few days later, we took her to the vet where she got cast #1.



With the cast on, she is milking the attention and acts like her foot is broken and can't hold her weight. The cast / wrapping was switched a couple days later, but she had that one off in less than 24 hours. She works at "cleaning" it with such ferocity - if only she could put that OCD to good use and get the floors mopped!!

Cast #4 and dreading her next dose of antibiotic:


Here she is ashamed of the vet bills. Actually the vet has been really great this time and only charged us the once. Kudos to Rosewood Animal Clinic.

Sonogram Photos

We have two early sets, since we have one from Fertility at 6.5 weeks and one from our OB at 8.5 weeks. It's so amazing how much they developed in two weeks!

To answer the very popular question, how do you know they are identicals? See in the picture the oblong dark area that my brother says looks like an okra (week 6.5 photo)? That's the amniotic sac. There are two circles in there with white smudges at one end. The circles are the babies, the white smudges are the hearts, and the fact that they are in a single amniotic sac makes them identical.


The week 8 photo is when the doctor officially named them Twin A and Twin B, so I guess our work there is done! You can make out their figures in this one.