Pregnancy Update 29 Weeks

The babies are growing and so am I. Went to the Dr. this week and at 28 weeks I had a belly measurement of 38/39 cm (equivalent to 39 weeks pregnant with a singleton). The babies heartbeats are good and they are quite active. I have noticed the more relaxed I am the more active they are. The Dr. expressed doubts of me making it to July (that's the goal 36+ weeks) and my Mom was here this week and she doesn't think I'll make it either.  I am really hoping we make it to July; decreased NICU time, insurance changes July 1st, they will be healthier.... but perhaps I will explode by then. My mother had my brother and I when she was about 35 weeks and she measured at 52cm.
I think I have only gained about 38lbs, so that's good. Surprising since it seems like I am always hungry and eating, but I will be happy if I can keep it under 50lbs :)

A few months ago I was unable to sleep because our mattress was so hard, so I had Rich take off our box springs and put on a memory foam topper- this was great for a few months. Then this past week I quit sleeping pretty much all together, I laid around, walked around the house until 2am would sleep an hour, wake up and sleep an hour wake up and then at 6am I'd just get up- not good, I was so exhausted. It finally dawned on me that the problem was that now our mattress was too soft and I was sinking in three inches and getting stuck (literally stuck, like I needed a crane to get out). I'd get one knee on the bed, then the other leg and then be stuck there unable to move to lay down, so I'd just fall over, then once I was down I couldn't get up, scoot down or scoot over, nothing. So now we took the Memory foam topper off and now I am sleeping wonderfully. Other than getting up to pee at 1am and 4am I am sleeping through the night.
My hip pain is gone but has moved to my inner pelvis and I feel like these little ones are cracking me open like an egg. I literally can hear my bones cracking when I move sometimes. Today I was giving Ethan a hair cut and my foot barely caught on the highchair and I nearly fell over in pain- I cannot step over anything or kick anything.... I pretty much have to stick to a shuffling waddling kind of movement and that mostly helps. Even still going from a sitting to a standing is quite painful, especially in the mornings.
We are in the home stretch! We've got to keep them cooking atleast 6 more weeks, but hoping for 8. That sounds terrifyingly close. Yikes! What are we going to do with TWO newborns.

A Little of This and a Little of That

Our life seems pretty mundane these days- Mom lays on the couch while the kids do whatever and friends stop by every few days and pick up the pieces....
I was looking through the camera and I guess there are a few things to blog about, not only is Mom growing (more on that later) but so are all these little kiddos.
Here's the quick recap of the month of May so far.

1. Remember a few years ago when Rich was getting 45mpg, well he was equally as excited when THIS came in the mail a few days ago. 

2. My kids are awesome; cleaning bathrooms, sorting and rotating laundry, sweeping the kitchen, feeding themselves breakfast. The kids even take turns being Ethan's buddy and they feed him, clean him up after meals and keep him out of trouble.

3. We celebrated Afton's 6th birthday. Wow! On one hand I can't believe that she's already that old and the other hand she's so mature it's hard to remember she's only six. (my friend Kiirsten made her cake) Afton wore a princess dress the entire day- because it was her Birthday.

4. Ethan played in the bathtub! This is HUGE. Normally he screams his head off, cries, did I mention screams and tries (and succeeds) at climbing out. He avoids water - doesn't like getting his hands or feet washed, took him 4 days to go near the water table. So when he was happily with Ben in the bathtub we were so happy.

5. Grandpa and Grandma Ginos came to visit and they brought Aunt Logan to live with us. They were a great help; snuggled with a sick baby, played with the other kids, built shelves in our garage and did some much needed shopping.
We are also excited to have Aunt Logan around.

6. We got out some new to us blocks- these colored blocks came from Great Grandma Montierth's house.

That's about what we've been up to the past few weeks.

Pregnancy 27 Weeks

So we are 27 weeks now! We are 10 weeks away.
These babies are growing well, at their 26 week ultrasound the girl was 1 lb 14 oz and the little boy was 1 lb 13 oz, so they are measuring right on, about the 38% percentile. I would love if they stayed in that percentile.
I am huge! I feel like a hippopotamus these days waddling around. My husband just said "honey, you don't look that big, I think you were bigger with some of the others". I am pretty sure I am bigger this time around.
Here's a comparison:
I was pregnant with Ben at 29 weeks-

And Here I am today with the twins at 27 weeks-

I usually carry big anyways, so now it is just multiplied. I think pretty soon I won't be able to go out any further and will have to get wider.  I've gained about 35lbs, most of it early on and now I have leveled off. That is about right for me, I usually gain early and then level off.
At my 22 week appointment I measured at 31 weeks, so about 9 weeks ahead. 
I am tired and grumpy and I am sorry for anyone that has to be around me. I tried to take the kids to the library today, after Ben's speech, and I lasted about 5 minutes when I had to tell the kids that I was just too tired and I needed to go lay down.

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Other random news:
Ben got his cast put on this past week, it's green. It turned out that he broke both of the bones in his forearm so he had to be casted from above his elbow down to his wrist. He has to wear it for 6 weeks and hope that it heals perfectly so they won't have to do anything else to it. The last appointment the Dr. had to set the bone, the poor guy didn't even cry he just winced.

The Story of the World: Volume 1 Ancient Times

I have started reading The Story of the World with my kids, I put it on my Kindle and it's great to have it on there so compactly and searchable. This will be part of our first grade curriculum, but as we are year round homeschoolers we just start things whenever we want. I am learning so much about history. This first volume covers from the beginning Hunter/Gatherers until the Fall of Rome, so about 7000 B.C. until Christ's Birth.

I want to do a Timeline of the events, with a small printable picture that we can glue into a book with the idea that as we study the Gospel, particularly the Old Testament this year that we can include those happenings and people as well. I have a hard time blending the religious and secular histories- I just now realized that Moses was about the time of the Pyramids.

In searching to Time Line Pictures here's is what I was able to find: (If you know where I can fine the correlated Timeline figures let me know, as for now I coming up with my own)

Story of the World Activities for each chapter: Coloring Pages, books, DVD's, crafts, internet links, art projects and lots more. Some of the activities are free links, some come from the SOTW activity book and others you would need to find at the library or purchase.
It was fun to Prepare a Mummy for Burial! Check it out, we learned so much.
Details and Pictures about the development of writing from a British museum. Ancient Egypt.


Timeline Cards: Large cards for each of the periods

Our "Story of the World" Journey- blog with links and activity ideas from Ch.1- 15

The Curious Story of Our World- more links and activities, looks to have all the chapters from SOTW vol. I and parts of vol. II

Creekside Learning- ideas to go along with SOTW, most of these look SIMPLE

Lap Book- tons of reading, writing, coloring  activities that you can add into a notebook


I am working on coming up with Time Line Figures for Vol. 1- if you want a copy email me or write a note with your email address.

And the Winner is....

I guess I knew it would happen sooner or later.... the winner of the first broken bone is...  Benjamin! Not the kid I would have expected. Ben fell funny on our floor (carpet/cement) and broke his arm. Daddy and him just got home from urgent care.

He was crying and Dad was sure it was broken, Mom wasn't so sure. In the end after a few minutes Daddy took him to Urgent Care. Ben said he saw a girl and a boy (I guess Dr and Nurse) and they were very nice. Rich said he had the most worried look on his face when they laid him on the X-Ray table, but he laid very still and was such a good little boy.

He broke his Ulna (the smaller bone) and he'll wear the sling for five days and then go back in 5 days for a cast.

You know it's interesting, this doesn't really phase me much I am totally okay with this and in a way I guess it's just part of having little kids. Daddy on the other hand feels terrible and feels so sorry for him.

Ben is fine, in fact he's great. He came home from the Dr.'s and was excited to call his Moma and tell her all about it. Then we got the girls out of bed and he told them all about his grand adventure.

So ya, this was pretty much the most exciting thing that has happened at out house in a long time.  I am sure over the years we will have many more visits, let's just hope they are all as mild as this one.

Maternity Dress #2

Here's the second maternity dress that I've made, the first one is fine, but I really like this one and it was really easy.
Supplies: t-shirt (doesn't need to be maternity), 2 yards of fabric, 1/2 yard for the accent fabric

I didn't need to line this one since the fabric has more color in it. The pattern can be found here.
The short of it:
Step One: take a shirt, cut it off around the high waist area (leave room for the seam allowance)
Step Two: sew fabric to the bodice
Step 3: Make the tie really long and wrap around

My favorite Little People

I love these guys! Even when they are happy, sad, grumpy, disobedient, excited, loud.... and messy.
Do I wish Ben would potty train himself, oh yes.
Do I wish that Ethan would stop making this super high pitched scream when he's excited, kind of.
Do I wish that Mei would be perfectly obedient to all my commands, oh please yes.
Do I wish that Afton would love reading, definitely.
But really, all I wish is that I could pause time and just keep them little for a whole lot longer. I love the 16 month stage that Ethan is in right now- so exploratory and the babbling that never ends. I love that my big kids love playing "pretend life" with one another and that they really watch out for one another. I love that they get so excited for the simple things in life like a day at the zoo or free play in the bathtub (who needs a swimming pool when you have a bathtub). I love that they love each other!

Afton (age 5 and 11 months)

Madelyn Mei (age 4 and 3 months)

 Benjamin (age 3 and 3 months)

 Ethan (age 16 months)