We're having TWINS!!!

Most of our "loyal readers" know this already, but we are pregnant with twins, a boy and a girl, due July 10, 2010. We found out relatively early that we were having not one, but two, bundles of joy-- even before Thanksgiving. We've been, by turns, a little shocked, cautious, shocked, excited, shocked, apprehensive, shocked, and elated (you get the picture...). Now that we know what having one baby at a time is like, we're a tad nervous about handling two infants at the same time, much less with a toddler clambering about. Wouldn't it have been easier if we had twins the first time around, that way we didn't know any different? On the other hand, now that we are "seasoned parents," we know how to handle a baby (up to age 2, at least), and should be better equipped to deal with two babies at once. Argh! It's a moot point now---and beyond our control, so we're going with the "seasoned parents" being better off theory.

One of the risks of being pregnant with twins is delivering early. With my history of pre-term labor with Hayes, I'm at an even higher risk of delivering early this go round. The doctors are monitoring me very closely with appointments every two weeks. Please cross your fingers for us that I can carry these babies to full term (36 weeks for twins)!

One of the benefits (if you can call it that) of having a complicated pregnancy with Hayes is that I get to have ultrasounds and see the babies every two weeks. Here are the most recent of the bazillion ultrasound pictures we have:

Twin A's profile:

Twin B's profile:

Twin A's BOY!!!! parts:


Twin B's GIRL!!! parts:

One of the "fun" parts of being pregnant with twins is getting pretty big pretty quickly. Caution!!!! For those of you with weak stomachs, skip past this next section and go to the bottom of the post. For those of you who want to brave it, I'm going to swallow my modesty (and pride) and show you one of the weekly belly pics we take. Here is a picture of how huge I am:

OK, just kidding. The above pic was taken 1/24/10. I'm really a lot bigger than that---I think about as big as I was when I delivered Hayes! So, the most recent pic was taken yesterday at 22 weeks. My question is---how in the world will I look 10 weeks from now???? I'll need my own zip code!

Here is one of the pitfalls of being pregnant with twins, the new (used) minivan we purchased:

We were planning on buying Kyle a nice SUV in the somewhat near future. However, the need for three carseats to fit in a car at any given time overrode our desire for a manly car for Kyle. We (especially me) fought the idea of getting a minivan, but soon realized that the only way around it would have been a humongous SUV that got 9 miles per gallon. So, the convenience of the minivan and the better gas mileage brought us (me) to our senses and we are now the proud (?) owners of a minivan. Yay. And now we're selling our Sonata---so if you know anyone interested in a 2002 Hyundai that runs great and is in excellent condition, let us know!!!!