playtime pics with the dudes

trying on mom's hat. (i accidentally shrunk the crap out of my poor hat in the wash, & now its so small it only fits the boys... sigh...)
val didn't like it much...

but con man did!

playing in the tunnel daddy made for them. i'm not sure whether N or the boys had more fun :)

conrad & a blankie. the kid loves his blankies! he'll play with nothing but a blankie for ages & be perfectly happy.

val pulling books off the shelf. (it's very serious business.)

doing some stand up in val's crib, being cute.
& now i'm off to start packing while they're napping... yay for up north! (yeah, i know you're pry thinking "gee she must be desperate to take a vacation up north, in michigan, in january" & you're right! i'm looking forward to it anyways!!) see you all next sunday!

A Random List (oh how i love lists!)

while i'm waiting for my delicious stouffer's pizza to cook, i thought i'd update with a super fun (for me) list!

• i've found a down side to not telling anyone the sex of 3. bc it's a secret, i can't discuss with anyone how i feel about having a (blank). the only other person who knows is N, & he's always kind of "eh" about any baby until it's actually in his arms. (not that he's not happy or excited, he is. it's just an abstract kind of thing for him right now. i think its just bc he can't really get to know the kid til then. it's not that he doesn't care, he just doesn't have the same kind of attachment that i do, bc he's not the one carrying the kid, you know?) anyways-- i'm SOL here, & it kind of stinks. (but not enough to make me spill. sorry guys!)
• i'm looking forward to going up north on sunday. i'll be gone sun-sun, & it shold be a nice break from the same 4 walls i see every day here. not that there's alot to do with 2 babies in the frozen tundra that is northern MI right now, but at least it will be a change of scene & my mom will be around everyday to hang out with me & the guys, which will be a nice break for me!
• i've decided that i HATE when N works nights. screws up our whole family's rhythym & he turns into a very grouchy zombie. altho the $ is nice, so i put up with it in short doses.
• the boys are super velcro kids the past couple days. like crawling to follow me into the bathroom, hanging on me constantly, crying when i leave the room kind of attached. both are cutting teeth, so i think this has something to do with it. more than that tho, they're both in differing stages of "stand up"-- val wants to practice "walk" & standing up & sitting down, & conrad wants to stand (all the time). neither of them can do these respective skills by themselves yet, so they want to hang on mom to practice. which is fine, it's actually pretty cute & i'm glad they're working on new things. it's just that having 4 little arms & legs clinging to you at all times & another set kicking from the inside (thanks 3!) is a bit exhausting.
• my pizza is now done, so i'm going to go load it up with the spiciest peppers i can find & chow down.
• happy friday kids!

VBAC v. Repeat C-section

recently N & i have been debating the best option for #3. we didn't get an choice with the boys' birth-- i had preeclampsia & my blood pressure was getting to a point where it was too dangerous for the boys to allow me to labor anymore, so we had an emergency c-sec then.
my doc is very supportive, & when i first asked him about it, he said there was no reason why we couldn't try for a VBAC. & then i did some research, & NO ONE i know has had a successful VABC. yeah, i've heard some ok stories from folks i don't know, but i don't *know* them & i tend not to trust hearsay from non-friends. (not that they're lying, i just prefer to know who my info is coming from.) & all the medical literature is pretty mixed... it seems like the success depends more on personal circumstances than anything else.
so i brought up the whole VBAC issue again at my appt today. again, my doc said if i want to try, we can absolutely try. & then i asked for odds on a successful VBAC for me, & he put them at 40-50%, based on the fact that our babies tend to be big, & the positioning of the scar on my uterus. & i have to admit, that totally changed my perspective. i do NOT want to labor & then end up with a surgery anyways. i just don't think 50% is good enough odds for me.... & while i appreciate my doc's honesty & support, i think that a repeat c-sec is the best option for us. of course if i can change my mind right up until the surgery is scheduled, but for now, we have tentatively scheduled a birthday for 3.

i feel good about this decision & N is totally supportive (he'll go along with whatever i decide), as is my doc & family so i'm pretty sure this is a choice that will stick, but i'm open minded if this turns out to be a smaller than anticipated baby, so if you have any VBAC insight or personal stories, please share!

oh-- & 3 looks awesome! we confirmed the sex again (not that there was alot of doubt) & the kid hasn't stopped moving since the u/s :)

my dudes at 10 mos.

bc i haven't devoted a whole post to my dudes lately, here is one jsut for them (with pics!)

val & his sippy (hates juice, loves water & LOVES his sippy!)

con with "moby" the whale :)

• conrad has totally taken off with his crawling lately. he has a totally different appraoch than val & it's really fun to see the different ways they each choose to approach the world. to make the crawling even more awesome, the boys have discovered their own little game of "chase me", in which one of them takes off & the other one follows. usually val is in the lead, & he'll stop every so often to look back at con & giggle, which cracks them both up. when they finally catch each other, a bout of baby wrestling usually ensues, & they both think it's hysterical. i honestly cannot think of anything cuter than watching my boys play together-- to me, it is the single most rewarding part of having twins & really makes me glad #3 will be so close in age to the big brothers.



• both guys have figured out how to turn the pages of board books, & they LOVE it. conrad waits for me to say "turn the page", but val gets really excited & tries to turn the page right away.



• val is working on saying "kitty". there's a definite "keeh" coming from him everytime one of the cats comes by (which is often). & he also says "mama", but only when he's upset & wants me to hold him. so i'm not sure if he means me, or just associates "mama" with comfort.



• conrad is stuck on "baba" & "da", but he does seem to associate "da" with N... there is no "mama" coming from the kid tho. oh well, maybe #3 will say "mama" first! some one has to love me better than the kitties & daddy, right? ;)



• they're both in size 18mo. clothes. which is nuts. i think all the baby clothes manufacturers intentionally make everything too small!



• they both have started banging toys (usually very noisy ones) together, & have an fantastic pincer grip going. it's like in the past week they just took off with all kinds of cool new baby skills, & i love seeing how thrilled they are with each new experience. conrad always works very carefully until he's perfected each new skill, & val just plows ahead with whatever he's doing.

• neither dude likes juice or sweets. they like fruit & veggies & pasta & cheese, but so far have no sweet tooth. they love water tho, & val adores his sippy. he throws his whole head back to chug (he's like a mini-frat boy!). con, however, does not enjoy his sippy & prefers to drink from a cup. (with help) he does great with the cup, but has total disdain for the sippy since we've been letting him drink from a "big boy" cup. funny kid.

so that's a little peek into the lifestyle of the stinky & crawling. :) & since i spent a whole post talking about my little goobers, feel free to share something fun about yours in comments!

how did you know?

how did you know (or will you know) when you're "done"?

N & i had always talked about having 3 kids, but now that we're about to have #3, i still don't feel "done". N is of course ready to rush right out & get a vasectomy, like, yesterday, but i don't want him to.
i'm not sure that that i want #4, i'm just yet not ready to close the door on that posibility forever. intellectually, i know 3 kids is pry where we'll stop. we aren't rich & never will be & we want to be able to give ALL our kids everything that we can, & the more kids we have , obviously the more our resources get stretched. & my head knows that, but my heart keeps saying "just one more"....
& maybe in 2 years i'll change my mind & decide 3 is the perfect number for us, but i'm not ready to say that yet.

i always wanted a big family growing up. my cousins all come from big families (our family of 4 was small) & it always felt a bit lonely with just me & my brother. of course, i would never pressure N into a child he did't want. i think BOTH parents should be on board when you chose to have a child, & i don't want to be unfair to a kid, or to crap on my marriage by guilting N into something he doesn't want. i don't want to have another baby NOW, & i don't know that i ever will. i just know that i'm not ready to close that door yet.

so, my question to you guys is-- how did you know? or how do you think you'll know when you're ready to call it quits? how did you decide?

i'm not ready

i am soooo not ready for another newborn.

val got up at 2 last night (this morning?) & was just miserable. nothing was really wrong with him, it was just one of those nights. (& i think he had to poop. he finally let one go around 6 & seemed to feel better after that.) anyways, i was on my own last night with the guys & usually, despite my b*tching here, i'm pretty patient with them at night when they're fussy, but last night around 4am i just cracked. i couldn't get the boy to stop crying, & was on the verge of tears myself, so i totally gave up on trying to put him back to sleep & just took him into the living room where we watched crappy tv & i let him play with the cats until he was too tired to keep his eyes open anymore.
of course, by that point conrad was up for the day.

the point of this story is that i am tired. very tired. i hate being this tired. i like sleep. newborns don't let you sleep. i am NOT ready for less sleep. i know it's not 3's fault, but we didn't plan on this kiddo right now, & i am so not in the mindset to be ready for another newborn. hopefully i get there in the next few months....

20 week u/s

i accidentally deleted my post while adding pics (sigh...) so here it is again (mostly)--
N won, so we found out the sex, but compromised & decided not to share the info with anyone. so it's staying secret!! hopefully, anyways. my mom took me out to get fabric for the baby's room (she made curtains & a bed skirt & stuff for the boys & is going to for #3 as well), & she kept picking up really girlie or really boy-ish patterns, trying to get me to give it away. sigh... same thing happened with the names last time, & we managed to keep them secret, so hopefully we can keep this a surprise too! (& no, we won't be sharing our name choice!)
btw, if you think i've given it away or you have a guess in the coming months, please keep it to yourself-- we really do want to surprise the family! thanks kids!

& here are some u/s pics of 3. :)

a nice, creepy skeletor face--

& a profile with a big, round belly:

i have cute toe pics too, but thought i'd post the face instead. this kid has the same wonky toes as both the boys & their dad-- 2nd toe is longest. i have nice, normal, evenly descending toes, & all my kids get N's long monkey toes! lol, figures! cracked me up to see it, since we saw the boys' funny toes for the first time at their 20 week u/s too.

oh & we do have the "money shot" photos , but we won't be sharing those! did you really think we'd give it away that easy? come on! ;)

why i don't tell people we used clomid. (or, shut up & mind your own business)

i'm not ashamed or embarassed that we used clomid to concieve our boys. after the loss of our second son, i had a uterine infection from retained tissue, multiple D&C's & drugs to clear things up, & no longer ovulated on my own. you can't get pregnant without ovulating & clomid did that for us. we used it responsibly & under medical supervision, & with full knowledge that it might result in multiples (especially since fraternal twins already run in my family.) i am thrilled that it worked for us, & that it helped bring us our sweet boys.
when i was pregnant, i swore i would never be one of those women who wouldn't discuss her struggles, or who'd mind talking about what we needed to do to get pregnant.

& then we had twins, & the comments started.

my biggest pet peeve is other twin moms, who didn't need help concieving & therefore view their twins as the "real thing". as though somehow i am less of a twin mom bc i was on clomid when we concieved. moms who use IVF, IUI's, or plain old fertilty drugs are no less of a mother, & i hated hearing the smug insinuations of "fertile" moms of multiples. if someone concieves a singleton while using fertility treatments, she doesn't hear "well, MY baby is the real thing bc we concieved him without drugs" so why do those of us lucky enough to have multiples have to be subjected to it?
the other reason i quit talking about clomid is just the plain insensitivity of most people. for me, our need to use clomid will be forever linked to the loss of our son & a very dark time in life. in the time since then, unfortunately i've found that most people are not sensitive to the realities of pregnancy loss. through well-meaning ignorance, or just plain callousness, they make too many cruel comments & my skin just isn't thick enough to brush them off consistently.

so i no longer discuss conception with most people. strangers get a complete brush off, bc frankly, it really is none of their business. (to me a stranger asking how we concieved our boys is akin to asking what sexual position we used. it's intrusive & rude, & will always get a polite "i don't discuss that with people i don't know.") & for most others, unless it's approached with respect, sensitivity & compassion, i simply refuse to discuss it. i NEVER ask other moms how they concieved (with the exception of fertility & TTC forums, etc, where those questions are invited), bc i assume that if they wanted me to know, they would have shared that information with me.
privacy is already too devalued in our society, & i don't understant the need to pry into the most private details of a person's life, such as conception, & then comment on that person's choices. my sons are no less my sons bc we needed help to concieve them. i am their real mom, they ARE real people (all 4 of them, my boys in heaven & my boys here on earth), & if you can't approach a fellow mother with compassion & respect, then shut up & mind your own business.

yup, they're lumberjacks!

their grammy got them these shirts & they crack me up. of course they're cute, but they also make the boys look like they're ready for some log rolling or something. :)

oh, & that's felon lurking in the corner, looking for some baby pats. (more like gentle smacks in teh head, but luckily he's an easy going kitty.)

Unrealistic Expectations

I'm going to ramble a bit here, so forgive me--

A very dear friend just brought home her first baby a little over a week ago, & her struggles to adjust to mommy life took me back about 10 months to when i was a brand new mom, having freak outs of my own. (we've all been there, right?) Two more good friends have also just started TTC for the first time, & called me this week with all kinds of "is being a mom really that hard?" questions, each totally convinced that while life will change a bit, they'll still be working 80 hours a week (lawyers) & hitting the gym, & that they won't really fight with their husbands over who left the wipes open so they all dried up (or who changed the last poopy diaper, or who forgot to pack the diaper bag, & so on.) & while i chose not to bust their bubbles, i have to admit N & i had a good laugh when i got off the phone.
I feel like even those of us more familiar with the new mom situation (from watching family & friends, TTC for years, etc) put unrealistic expectations on ourselves. i got a bit of a break when we first got home, bc i had a c-section (so laundry was out for a while, etc), but once N went back to work, i think both he & i expected that i would be back on top of things relatively quickly. i'd be getting the laundry done & put away, have some sort of dinner ready, & still have fed & cared for the boys. HA. we very quickly found out we were insane to think life would find "normal" that quickly, & i started taking any & all help i could get.
i do think we adjusted our expectations a bit quicker than other families i've seen, but only bc we were forced to-- with twins your resources are already stretched to the limit, so you hit the wall a bit sooner. (yes, we dealt with NICU for the boys & health issues for mom, but i'm going to by-pass all that today in favor of the "normal" new mom experience. )
in all honesty, i think the boys were 6 mos before we had a working rhythym to our lives again. (no the laundry didn't sit for 6 mos, i just mean that it was that long before we really found our new normal & felt in charge or our lives again.)
so why is it that we put such high expectations on ourselves? i personally hate seeing the photos of celebrity moms 2 weeks after birth, out sans baby, hitting the gym & looking better than most of us pre-baby. i think it gives men in particular, a very unrealistic expectation of post-partum life. also, too often i think we disregard the physical part of recovery-- even if you have a "easy" normal delivery, your hormones are still going to be bananas for a couple months. you will be a crying mess, & the sleep deprivation doesn't help. a new mom with her first kid can't be expected to have a full bag of tricks to soothe a fussy baby, & you haven't yet negotiated all the changes in your relationship with your significant other. (no matter how much you may have discussed roles, etc in the months leading up to baby, the real thing always brings changes & stress & arguments you never thought you'd have.)
i think i finally started feeling better when i took my mom's advice to heart-- no one ever died of crying (important to remember when you can't figure out what's wrong with your precious bundle of joy) & when all else fails, let everything fall by the wayside & just love your babies. it was those quiet moments with my new sons, when i first said "screw the laundry!", that really made me feel like a mom & shifted my perspective-- laundry will wait, dinner can be ordered, dust can build up, & life will go on, but it will never be the same.

Down with Socks! (aka project free the baby toes)

so conrad has been super grumpy the past 2 days & we haven't been able to figure out what the problem is. then this morning, totally by chance, i discovered what's been bugging the kid. i was going thru my "cranky for no reason" check list ( you know-- diaper issues, toe caught on string, etc) & took his feet out of his jammies & all of a sudden the smiles came out. literally the minute his toes were free. so i thought "hmmmm.... must be the jammies" & tried a longer pair. out come the grumps, as soon as the toes are covered. so i tried pants & socks. & once again, the socks hit the feet & the grumps came out. so conrad is officially a sockless child today. the man wants his toes to be free. he doesn't even want to chew them or anything. he's playing like usual, scooting around, talking to val, he just wants free-range toes.

of course, val seeing that con's toes are on the loose, wants to chew on them. sigh... so vally is now also a sockless boy so that he can chew on his own toes, rather than his brother's, should the need strike him.


& yeah, i know, the sandwich i mentioned below is healthy (so sue me!!!) but it's also reeeeeeally good! don't let the "healthy" dissuade you from trying it!

a really yummy (healthy) sandwich

i recently discovered how easy it is to roast my own bell peppers, (wash them, seed them, cut them in half & bake on a foil-covered baking sheet at 450 for 20-30 mins, until the skins start to blacken & blister, then throw them in a ziplock for 30 mins & the skins come right off.) anyways, i've been making them & keeping them in the fridge to use all week, & found a really tasty random sandwich this morning.
i toasted bread, spread it with cream cheese, put on some roasted red bell peppers & a little red wine vinegar, salt & pepper & it was soooo good. its also really tasty with some sliced cucs or zucchini, or romaine, & i'm pretty sure it would be good with tomatoes instead of peppers too...

twins v. singleton pics: part III

i still don't feel like posting much, so i'm cheating by posting more pictures! eventually i'll post something of substance again...

here's me at 19 weeks with the boys:

& me at 19 weeks with #3. i think they're close to the same... maybe slightly bigger with the dudes....

a new round of baby pics

i'm feeling kind of blue & stressed about my sick boys today, so rather than post anything of substance, i thought i'd try to cheer myself up with cute baby pictures.
here's the dudes finger painting again-- after val stole conrad's artwork. :)

val making an "evil" face & jumping like a mad man in his exer-gym. he looks like such a stinker here, i think. & he is, & i wouldn't want him any other way!

my con man, showing off his awesome hair. it's not static either, his hair really does that most of the time. i think its pretty much adorable, so i don't bother to try to flatten it out, we just let him look like a wild man. :)

uh-oh...

conrad has a cold, & for him, colds always turn into lots of puking. his tummy just can't tolerate much snot, so up it comes, after every feeding. sigh... i'm switching to smaller amounts & will keep him on nice bland solids today, but if any one has any anti-puke tips to offer, i'm listening. poor baby really hates throwing up.

& this also pry means that val will be sick too shortly. fingers crossed this doesn't turn into more respiratory problems for anyone...

& some brotherly cuteness-- i just put the guys down for their morning nap & con (poor guy) had a big puke as i was laying him down. so up we get to clean everything. val, who had been snoozing in his crib, got up & crawled to where we were, & when i layed conrad down with val to change sheets, val snuggled right up to his bro making little "mamamamama" noises. i swear it was like he was trying to comfort his brother. so, so sweet.

i love those boys.

Labor...

following mandy's labor on fb totally makes me wish for another c-sec. ok, not really, but labor SUCKS. you kind of forget how much after a while, & i'm sort of bummed that i wasn't NOT pregnant long enough to forget how much it sucked. (yeah, i know i had a c-sec, but they did let me labor for a few hrs, until i was 5-6 cm. & it was horrid. if crisis hadn't struck & rushed me into an emergency c-sec, i would have been begging for an epi. or possibly a crow bar to the head. anything not to be in pain anymore.)
which brings me to my next point-- i am in awe of women who go thru labor without any pain meds. personally, i don't see the point-- the baby gets here either way, & drugs don't affect the baby's health, so i'd rather be able to relax a bit & not be as miserable. that said-- i respect those who want to go thru natural labor. i'm not knocking them in any way-- really, i think it's a pretty phenomenal accomplishment. but in my opinion, any labor that gets your kid(s) here & into your arms is a phenomenal accomplishment, whether its with the aid of drugs, or surgery, or 8 docs, or none.
so i'm curious: what was your reasoning behind your labor of choice? (if you had gotten to choose. i know some of us didn't get the option.) did you go for drugs? want natural & change your mind? stuck with natural the whole way?

(i'll answer in comments)

Sock It To Me!

Karianne is doing it so it must be cool! ;)
i decided to get in on Sock it To Me this time around, bc it pretty much looks like fun. being me, i have forgotten how to do the cool hyperlink thing (can i blame this on being preggo? i hope so...) & cannot find the post where dear karianne told me how. (if any one wants to remind my incompetant self, i'd really appreciate it!) so here's the old school ugly link:

http://http://smartone.typepad.com/smartone/2010/01/yes-im-alive-even-though-my-head-is-filled-with-good-things-to-blog-about-since-before-thanksgiving-ive-been-able-to-post.html#tpe-action-posted-6a00e54ff4529488330120a7aa6d60970b

it works, it just looks horrid. or go check out the captain's wife blog & karinanne has a lovely post with much nicer looking links. http://thejeweledcaptainswife.blogspot.com/

anyways, it's a sock (or other warm fuzzy item) exchange with fellow bloggers & i think a good way to get to know more ladies in our little community. go check it out!

all boys all the time? (& a travel update)

travel update first-- i was debating whether to go up north for the weekend, solo, & leave N alone with the boys. it would be nice to have some "just me" time before #3 gets here, but it's not going to be this weekend. i had actually decided to go, since i thought my dad was staying in town, but my dad is going north too (& my mom is already up there) & i just don't feel comfortable leaving N alone with the boys for 3 days without any back-up. it's not that i don't trust the man, it's that he's never been alone with them for more than 3 hrs at a stretch, & i think he underestimates how tough it is. also i think they're coming down with little colds, & with val a little cold can quickly turn into scary asthma situation, & without any one else here, that would mean BOTH boys get dragged to docs/urgent care, etc & i don't like that idea much either. & the weather is supposed to get nasty tomorrow. so all of this combined means that worry-wart mom will be much happier staying home with her guys this weekend.
besides, the house up north isn't going anywhere. N has a long weekend every other week, so i'll get another chance to go up in 2 weeks. & that's that.

in other news, on to boys-- i'm starting to hope #3 is a boy. weird, huh? not that i would be in any way disapointed with a daughter, i've just been having boy leanings lately. (i have no thoughts about what #3 is, i just mean i've been thinking how much fun 3 dudes would be.) people keep telling me that i seem like a "boy" mom recently too. i'm not sure what that means. my best friend said that she just sees me as a mom of all boys, & i've heard it from several others too. i'm not sure what it is about me as a mom that says "boy". what makes a "boy" mom? or a "girl" mom?
i've never really thought of anyone as a mom of a specific gender before. i've thought that a girl or boy would be good for someone (usually i think super-girly women should have a boy, just to balance things out or vice versa) but i don't think of myself as either super-girly or as a tom-boy, so i'm puzzled by the "boy" mom comments. not distressed at all (i love boys) just confused.

& finally-- good luck & lots of ELV to mandy!!! we're really hoping today is the day she finally gets to hold her little n!!

baby names

when we first started talking baby names during our first pregnancy (about 3 years ago... wow, how things change!) we decided to give each other complete veto power over any & all names. so if i had one i loved but N hated, he could veto it outright-- no compromises. & vice versa. we figured that way, when we finally agreed, it would be a name we both loved, instead of one of us feeling so-so about it, or not liking the middle name, etc, etc.
& it worked-- we both love the boys' names.
the downside is that we both have a couple favorite names that we know we'll never get to use. N for instance, loved the name Logan. which to me just sound too much like loogie, so i vetoed it. (plus, it's becomming a really common name, & we try to stick to less common stuff. i'm pretty sure val & conrad will be the only val & conrad in their kindergarten class, for instance.) & i always loved the name henry, but N nix'ed that right away. we both totally agreed on girls' names right away (go figure) so unless #3 is another boy, we don't have any well-loved but never-to-be-used girls' names.

so what was your name-picking process like? do you have any favorite names lurking out there that don't currently belong to your kids?

a post devoted to #3

the past couple days i've really been feeling alot more movement from #3. it's actually making me feel kind of excited about this baby. :)

in a burst of recent optimism, i'm also feeling surprisingly confident that we'll be able to handle 3 kids age 1 & under. i'm not entirely sure where its coming from, but i'll take it.

parents of triplets do it. so why can't i? i didn't know how i'd handle twins, & we figured it out. (mostly i learned that having the kids on a schedule is crucial, as is asking for help when you need it! it's also been important to remember that no one ever died from crying-- when you have multiples, there will be times when everyone is upset & you just can't be everything to everyone all the time.) anyways, i'm assuming that although we'll have days when we want to kill each other & sell the kids to the gypsies, eventually we'll figure things out & life will find a new rhythm. that's what i'm banking on, anyways. i'm sure i'll be singing a different tune once i'm actually dealing with 3 babies, but for now, i'm just going to run with the optimism.


in related news: we're still undecided on whether to find out the sex. our 20 week u/s is on the 19th, & altho i have appts between now & then, both our docs refuse to "guess" or even look before 20 weeks, so we have a little time to decide. we have a girl's name picked out, but none for a boy. no, it's not bc we're hoping for a girl, it's jsut that we "used up" all our boys' names on the dudes so we're starting from scratch with names if it's dude #3.

i've also decided that all we need for #3 is the following:
- a stroller (we're going to get a single to go with our double, rather than spending the really big bucks on a triple.)
- a glider. (i refuse to have another newborn in the house without some sort of rocker.)
- a wrap or sling or some sort. (i want to be able to wear this baby. in my head, that will help me spend the time with #3 & still have some hands free for the dudes. any recomendations guys?)

& that's it. we still have everything baby x2, so it's not a long list, although i'm sure i'll find things to add on as time passes, i think those are the only essentials.

belly pics: twins v. singleton part II

me with #3 at (almost) 18 weeks. the sweater kind of hides the tummy, but trust me, i'm not normally that big!

15 weeks with the boys. yeah, i know this shoudl be an 18 week picture, but thsi is the closest i had. i really suck at remembering to take belly pics, so they're all sporadic. still, i think i'm kind of the same size at 18 weeks with 1 as i was at 15 weeks with 2.