Victory

Hannah has been ready to potty train for probably months now. I didn't want to start it until I was feeling better, but she was starting to train herself on her own. She had a few accidents while somewhat training herself and I wasn't sure if she was going to understand potty training yet. Well, this week I decided that it was time to train her since I've been feeling better. She has done SO well. I started on Monday and she hasn't had a single accident. She even goes by herself, and sometimes I don't even know she is in the bathroom until she comes out and tells me that she's gone potty. Sometimes we do the "pee pee dance" after she goes (thanks to her grandma Julia), which is her victory dance.

I've been worried this week to take her out of the house with her "big girl underwear" on (P.S., don't ever say the word "panties" in front of Scott. That word grosses him out for some reason.), but I did it today. I made sure that I had an extra pair of pants and underwear just in case, but again, no accidents.

I can not believe how lucky I am that it has been this easy for me. I know that many people struggle with potty training their kids. I probably won't get this lucky with my next two children, especially if they are boys. The only problem that I've had with this whole process is cleaning her poop out of her little potty. I have a weak stomach as it is with poop, and it is extremely heightened being pregnant. For some reason this is way worse than cleaning a poopy diaper for me. I might have to buy a different potty that attaches to our toilet and a step stool so that I won't have to deal with her poop. Anyway, I hope that this potty streak continues. I am just so proud of her. I think I'll go do the pee pee dance right now because I'm so excited!!!

16 and a Half Weeks

Some days I don't feel like I've grown much, and then I look at these pictures that I post on this blog and realize that I've grown.....A LOT.....in the past 3 weeks. These babies are growing like little weeds. Today I had my 16 week appointment. I was able to hear their heartbeats again, which was a relief. It took the nurse almost a minute to find the second heartbeat and I about started to panic. But, no worries, she found it. Anyway, here's the picture from today:




Here are some of my fun facts about this pregnancy:

Cravings- To be honest, I really haven't had too many cravings lately. The things that I crave the most are probably popsicles and Icees.

Weight gain to date- 4 pounds

Sickness- I believe the morning sickness is about over. I still feel a bit nauseous when I wake up, but I haven't thrown up for about 4 days. It has been WONDERFUL!! However, I have been feeling a lot of braxton hicks contractions. They happen often and are usually accompanied by dizziness, but that's okay. The nurse told me that I was going to get that a lot more with twins. As long as my babies are safe, I will be happy with whatever I have to go through to get them here.

Movements- I have been feeling the babies a lot over the last few days. Unfortunately it's not hard enough for anyone to be able to feel them on the outside of my tummy, but I feel them on the inside. It feels like tiny little finger flicks from the inside. It's fun!

Mother's Intuition- Well, I'd like to say that I have this awesome intuition about what sex my babies are going to be, but I don't. I was convinced that Hannah was a boy because I had several dreams about a little boy that looked like Scott. So basically my intuition sucks. If I had to make a guess, though, I would say that these babies are two girls. The only reason I am guessing this is because I am basing if off of a couple of myths. The first is that with girls, you tend to get more morning sickness than you do with boys. I have heard this with many women who have had a girl first and then a boy next, but I also know of many women who have gotten just as sick or even more sick when they were pregnant with a boy. Secondly, both of these babies' heartbeats are incredibly fast, and there is a myth out there that states that girls' heartbeats are faster than boys'. So, this is why I am guessing that they are two girls, but I am probably wrong. I really have no clue. My appointment to find out the sex of the babes is scheduled on March 19th at 12pm, but I'm going to call and see if I can change it to the 17th tomorrow. You better believe that the first thing I do when I get home from that appointment is blog:)

Finally, I just wanted to let you all know that I am having a baby shower in Sacramento on April 18th. We are mostly just inviting family and a couple of friends, but if you would like to come to it, please email me and let me know, even if I don't know that you check my blog. The more the merrier! My email is maralar@hotmail.com.

My Life Right Now....

I was just thinking today about how grateful I am for my life right now. My life is good and I am happy. Things are going to change soon, and that scares me. Life is easy right now. I have a daughter who is fun to play with and who sleeps 13 hours through the night. Her life is not very demanding right now. She's not in school or in extra curricular activities and all I have to do is play with her all day. I get time to myself from 7pm on to do whatever I want. I get to see my husband from 4pm until we go to bed (unless he's got a lot of homework). I love my life right now. Not knowing what's coming for me in the next couple of months is terrifying, but after I get accustomed to it, I'm sure I'll love it just as much. It will be different, and I will never have just one child again. I feel like time is going by SO fast and it makes me sad but happy at the same time. I am excited to see what is in store for my family, but I'm afraid that I will miss this time in my life. Anyway, I don't know why I am writing this. I was just watching my daughter dance today and knew that I would miss this time in my life. I am an emotional, pregnant wreck these days, but I am so happy with where we are at.

P.S. I'll post another pregnancy pic next Tuesday...that's my 16 week checkup.

O-U-C-H

Watch this video before reading the rest of this post.

Click To Play

Do you see that Hannah is walking on her toe knuckles? I'm not sure what those bones are called but for the purposes of this post, they will be called "toe knuckles." The first time I saw this was a few years ago at my sister's house. Her son and daughter, Kaden and Hailey, showed us that they could walk on their toe knuckles and I had no idea how anyone could do that. I tried to do it after I saw them and probably would have shattered my toe knuckles into a million pieces if I would have kept going. My toes are not flexible enough to do that and I have too much weight on my body for those bones to hold up. Try it. I dare ya. If you can do it, you're awesome (actually, that's a really funny picture in my head thinking of a bunch of adults walking on their toe knuckles).

A couple of days ago, my daughter started to walk on her toe knuckles on her own. OUCH!
Who knows, maybe all children can do this, but I certainly can't. Ah.......to be young, light, and flexible again. You don't even know what you have when you're young until it's gone.

Another quick example of being a tough young child that I have to add (that has nothing to do with toe knuckles), my daughter and I have had a pretty nasty cold this week. She takes it like a trooper, playing and running around all day, and I just want to sleep all day. How nice it would be to have a child's energy again.

Here I Grow...

My mom asked me to post a picture of my belly every couple of weeks since she won't get to see me until April. So, I plan on doing this for her and also for my own personal records since I'm growing so quickly. I will probably take the picture in this same place because the lighting is better outside than in our apartment, and this is about the only yard we've got that's not still covered in snow. So here you go.....13 and a half weeks:

Yup, that's a maternity shirt that I'm wearing. The first one that was busted out this week. I can fit into most of my smaller maternity shirts, but I pretty much just wear my regular shirts that aren't tight fitting right now. Luckily, I can still fit into all of my jeans, but I must admit that the buttons are starting to get tight. Boo.

I also tried on some of my other maternity clothes today and realized that I look like a tent wearing them. Seriously, if I were kneeling down I think Hannah could make a fort under some of those shirts. Why do they have to make maternity shirts with that shape? They are so unflattering. I will not be wearing those ones for awhile, hopefully, because they make me feel like I'm 8 months pregnant. At the stage that I'm at, it's cute to be pregnant. In about 2 months from now, it won't be so cute anymore. Then the tent clothing will make its appearance.

Hannah wanted to take a picture with me. I love this little girl!

Along with posting pictures, I thought I would also post some fun things about pregnancy for my own records and for your enjoyment.

Cravings: Depends on the day. Today it was crackers with sliced American cheese on them. When I was really sick, all I could get down for days in a row was Cup-O-Noodle. Most of my cravings are foods that have no nutritional value, sadly. Other things I've craved so far- corn dogs, a big jelly donut (which I haven't had yet), french fries with fry sauce, frozen burritos dipped in Pace salsa, Flamin' Hot Cheetos, mashed potatoes with gravy, and Icees.

Turn Offs: All vegetables and big slabs of meat (mostly beef). Even the smell of beef still makes me a bit sick, which is sad because one of my favorite foods is a nice juicy steak with A1. It's also sad that all vegetables are gross to me right now because those good nutrients would be nice for the babies and me. I have to force them down.

Weight Gain: 0 pounds

Movements: I've felt the babies in there, but not quite full on kicks yet. They are still tiny.

Also, I am changing my due date to July 25th. The doctor told me that they take twins via C-section 2 weeks early if they haven't already come. So no matter what, these babies will not be born after July 25th.

My Public Expressions Of Gratitude-

I just need to give a public shout out to these two for putting up with me for the past couple of months. Despite the fact that I have been a lazy, bad mother/wife, they have done their parts to make life pretty easy on me. Above is my hubby painting Hannah's nails. She loves to have her nails painted and because I was unable to do it at that time, Scott took the time out of his busy schedule to help her out. It's seriously a really sweet picture. So thank you to my hubby for being so patient with me. And even though Hannah has been a serious brat toward me this week because her Grandma is in town (please excuse the word "brat," but she truly has been), she has mostly been an angel for me. Well, except for the fact that she rarely takes naps for me anymore (although I got her to take one today, Whippi!!) and she has been getting up around 7:15am when she used to get up around 8:30am. But other than that, she's been a good girl, and I am grateful for her patience with me. I love these guys so much and I could not do this whole pregnancy thing without their patience and love for me, so thank you, thank you.

And finally, I'd also like to thank my mother-in-law for being here this week and deep cleaning my entire apartment, providing dinner for us every night, letting me sleep in until 10:30am, and playing with Hannah. It has truly been a dream come true for me (except for the part about Hannah being a brat toward me this week because she wants nothing to do with me).

Anyway, I just had to publicly thank these people in my life for being there for me. This sickness will be gone soon, and I will be my normal self again. HOORAY HOORAY HOORAY!

I will post another pregnancy picture in a couple of days because I am literally growing every single day, so stay tuned for that!