Week 26 In Review

Hey Everyone,

Sorry I have missed for the last few weeks. I know my pups helped me out last week by taking up the slack. They’re good dogs. You'll be happy to know that both got an extra treat for that help.

Since last week, we have had two showers. One was given by the Christ UMC Choir. It was really great. I can’t believe how wonderful everyone in the choir is and how much they care for us. Our choir is filled with special people and Kristi and I both feel very fortunate to be a part of such a wonderful group.

The other shower was given by friends locally and it too was wonderful. Our friends brought many things for the kids, had a delicious cake there and made a cake out of diapers. Here are a few pictures from that shower.

 Also, Kristi’s cousins Katy and Nicole and her mom came in for this shower. It was a wonderful surprise for Nicole to be here and really nice that both she and Katy made the trip down from Ft. Worth for the day. Here is a picture of Kristi and her mom at the shower.

The babies’ room has also come together. I have the room painted, all the furniture built and we have even started moving stuff into the bookshelf. I think the dogs showed you pictures of the room already but here are a few from better angles.

We also went to the doctor last week and Kristi and the kids are doing great. The doctor said she was very pleased with the way everything looks so we couldn’t be happier. We go tomorrow to get another measurement ultrasound. Hopefully everything will continue to be perfect. Last time both babies were above average in weight and length with the boy being a lot bigger. I’ll let you know where they are this time.

At home, the babies are moving often and Kristi and I have no problems feeling and even seeing them move. The boy is easier to feel since he’s on top but I finally got to feel the girl this weekend. Apparently they love music because they really start kicking anytime Kristi sings, she’s at a concert or when I play music for them. It’s a good thing they like music because look at what Kristi’s cousin Katy bought the children.

It’s obvious Katy loves the children very much already and wants them to be happy.

That’s about it for this week. I’ll let you know what the ultrasound shows next time and probably put up some new ultrasound pictures. Until then, I hope you have a great week.

Dr. Daddy

From a Poodle’s Perspective

Hello Everyone,

I’m Mojo.

And I’m Ozzy.

Our Dad, Dr. Daddy, has been really busy lately painting rooms, building furniture, cleaning the house, etc. in preparation for our new brother and sister. Unfortunately this means he hasn’t done the blog for awhile. I know many of you have been wondering what his problem is so we thought we would help out and write one for him.

We know that you always want to see what Mom looks like these days so we’ll go ahead and show you.

Isn’t she pretty!  There is no doubt that she has our brother and sister in there. She went to get her nails done the other day and while there the man doing her toes asked when she was due. She told him July and he just stared in disbelief. When Mom told him that she was carrying twins he said, “Oh, that’s why you’re so big.”  We don’t know what happened to that guy but we would have been spanked and sent to the back yard for a crack like that.

Our grandmother, Nonni, is here this weekend also. You can see where our mom gets her good looks.

As we said, Dad’s been hard at work in our brother and sister’s room. Here is what it looks like after the paint and building furniture. This is the new bookshelf. Notice all the books. These are Mom's (or Kristi as most of you know her) books from when she was a little girl. Isn't that cool.

Here's the chair that Boyd and Nicole gave us. We tried jumping on it but the darn thing glides back and forth and Ozzy fell on his butt. It was funny.

 Here's one of the cribs.

Here's the other one. Notice all the diapers in this crib.

Mom and Dad’s church choir had a shower for them last Wednesday and boy were people nice to them. Mom and Dad couldn’t believe that people in their choir cared that much for them. Our parents' were very appreciative of all the nice things the choir brought for our brother and sister, especially the diapers. Check out this stack.

Boy, we can't wait to get into those and tear them to shreds. Dad loves it when we play "tear things up." I'm sure he'll really love it when they're full of poop and we get into one. FUN!!!!

In addition to last Wednesday’s shower, friends threw another shower for Mom today. We’re sure Dad will show you those pictures on the next post.

That’s about it right now. Tuesday, Mom and Dad go back to the doctor so we’re sure Dad will post a lot more after that.

We hope you have a good week.

Mojo and Ozzy

Big Stuff This Week

Hey Everyone,

Welcome to another week of posts by yours truly. It has been a very busy week so let’s get to it. Most important, Kristi and I went to the doctor yesterday to do a second ultrasound where they measure the babies to make sure things are going well. Indeed, things are going very well. Both kids look great and are a good weight and length. The girl is now 1 pound 2 ounces which is exactly where she is supposed to be for her gestational age. The boy, who was smaller at the last ultrasound, is now the bigger of the two, coming in at a whopping 1 pound 10 ounces. This puts him above the 70^th percentile of babies his gestational age. It looks like the little chunk is going to have to go to the gym with me when he arrives. The best news is that both babies are at a perfect size for their age and things are looking great. The boy didn't have a good profile picture from last time so here is his most recent picture.

Here is another picture of his face with him looking at you. I like to call this “Skeletor” baby. The doctor says he has on his Halloween face.

No matter how cute you want to think it is, it’s just a little creepy.

Here is the latest of the girl.

And I know Kristi doesn’t think feet are cute, but I do. I think this little girl’s foot is very cute.

In addition to the doctor’s visit, we have also started to make the nursery somewhere both kids and parents will enjoy being. Right now, it’s just a place where I go to work in the evenings. Even still, it is quite fun to work on the room. Here is a picture of the worker bee busily preparing the nest.

And another of the room half finished. What do you think of the color?

Also, we received the stroller that Dad and Sandi lovingly purchased for the kids. Kristi and I are very thankful and look forward to taking the kids on lots of walks in it.  But…HOLY CRAP THIS THING IS HUGE! I measured it against my piano and it is almost as long as the piano is wide. When I put it in the back of the Pilot, there was no more room for…well…anything. I think we’re going to have to build a ramp to roll this thing up into the cargo hold of my car. Then I’ll just strap it down, kids and all, like they do with tanks on transport ships and airplanes. I can’t really think of a better idea. The other option is to have Kristi in the car with the kids and all the stuff they need and me follow in a chase vehicle with the stroller and the poodles. I guess I could just put it all on top of the car and look like the Clampett’s rolling down the highway but I’m not sure the poodles wouldn’t jump off. Looks like I’m going to have to teach them a new trick: “STAY” on top of a moving vehicle.

Anyway, here’s a picture of the BTV (Baby Transport Vehicle) with Sandi.

I guess that’s about it for this week. I hope to finish painting the room by next posting and hopefully have some, if not all, of the furniture built and in the room. I’ll certainly let you know when it’s completed.

I hope you have a good weekend.

Dr. Daddy

Week 21

Hey Everyone,

I'm sorry I skipped a week. It was spring break in College Station therefore I spent some time with my brother while Kristi's mom came for a visit. I got home on Thursday and boy did we have an exciting few days before school started again. First, we went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago and everything is great. Kristi is right on track with weight gain, the babies were moving about and everything looks just wonderful.

When I returned home, Kristi said, "I'm so happy you're home...here is the six page list of things we need to do." So we got started. First was take her picture for week 21. She's really looking good. There's no doubt there are two kids in there.

After this, I did just regular stuff around the house and while working, the cribs came. Here's what they look like right now.

I'm sure they'll look better soon. First we have to get the room together. We spent every bit of a day and a half working to clear out one bedroom, move everything in the guest bedroom to the new guest room and start getting ready to paint the new babies room. This is me rehanging the pictures in the new guest room.

As part of the room remodeling, we also started putting all the clothes we've received already from friends and family, most of them from Kristi's mom, into the babies' closet. "We're going to need a bigger boat"...I mean house.

We also went to Houston to do some shopping and register at Babies R Us in preparation of baby showers. While in Houston we picked out the stroller. The stroller reminds me of a song..."His baby's car crib is bigger than his!" The thing is big, heavy and perfect for two kids. I'm not so sure it's perfect for two parents but it is the best all things considered. It turns out all double strollers are heavy.

Best of all, Sunday afternoon, Kristi went to lay down after working very hard. While laying still, she said, "I think maybe they're moving." Of course I ran in to the bedroom because this is the first time she's felt them move, or at least the first time she knew is was them and not gas. I put my hand on her belly and sure enough, the boy kicked my hand. At least I think it was the boy because it was relatively high and the boy is on top. It was so cool. Shortly thereafter Kristi felt them having a party or that's what she likes to think. Being an only child she would think nice things like that. I, however, having siblings, know what was really going on...."Get on your side!"...."Stop touching me!"..."Don't make that face at me"..."I'm going to tell"...and so on, and so on, and so on.

It was a really great and busy two weeks. In addition to all the other stuff, Kristi, Kristi's mom and my brother all painted artwork that is going on the wall in the nursery. The plan is to have the family paint frames from the rug and hang them on the walls so they match the room and the kids are surrounded by artwork created by the people who love them. These are not completely done but it gives you an idea of what we're doing. Compare these with pictures of the rug from last week.

I guess that's enough for this week. I wanted to give you a bit more since I missed last week. As always, we enjoy your comments so feel free to post comments as they come to you. We also love all the well wishes and smart ass comments you send our way (Jim and Dan!). Keep them coming. Until next time, have a great week.

Dr. Daddy

Visitor

Hey Everyone,

This is just a quick post to show you pictures Kristi at week 19. My brother is in from out of town. This is the first time he has ever visited us so we're pretty excited he's here.

Tomorrow, we go to the baby doctor in the afternoon so I will have more to post then. In the meantime, here's Kristi with The Belly and my brother Jim showing off his version of The Belly.

Here is a good picture of the two of them.

Finally, here is a picture of the rug Kristi ordered for the babies' room. Kristi is so good.

I hope you guys have a great week. I'll post more this week after we visit the doctor.

Dr. Daddy



Week 18

Can you imagine that we're already at week 18?  Kristi is doing great. Her back hurts, she's tired and can't sleep, but she's still very upbeat, positive and lots of fun to be around. I'm not just saying that because she's going to read this. (really honey!)

I actually don't have too much news to share since last time. We've been busy with work and shopping for all the stuff two babies are going to need. We walked up and down the baby aisles at Target just to see what they had and holy cow there is a lot of stuff to buy. I guess I never really thought about buying stuff once we had kids. I just thought of all the wonderful times we could have with them, like cleaning the house, sweeping the garage or mowing the yard.

Here are pictures of Kristi from week 18.

Note the smile still on her face. Here's one that you can see the smile better.

She also wanted me to show you her toes, which she had done before her trip to Houston to play in a hand bell festival last weekend.

 NICE!!!!

We go back to the doctor a in a week to get an update. We're expecting to have a good report. Kristi still hasn't felt the babies move but we expect her to any day now. I'll be sure to let you know when she feels them.

Until next week...

Dr. Daddy

A Great Day

Well, we had a great Thursday last week. We had two doctor's appointments, a chocolate disaster averted and a close call with a policeman. I'll start with the policeman.

Driving into Temple, Kristi had to go to the bathroom, which of course is a very common occurrence these days. While looking for a place to pull over, a policeman pulled up behind us with his lights on. "Crap! I have to go to the bathroom," was Kristi's reaction, obviously not interested at all in why I was being pulled over. Knowing Kristi's predicament, I drove as long as I felt I could with this policeman behind me until finally I pulled into the parking lot of Erwin's Chicken.  As soon as the car was stopped, Kristi jumped out of the car…well, actually, that's really not what she did now that I think about it. Kristi…uh…got out of the car and ran…no, that's not it either. Kristi…uh…moved as fast as she could into Erwin's Chicken. The policeman wasn't even out of the car yet before she was in the chicken place peeing. Apparently I was pulled over for doing 40 mph one block after the speed limit had turned to 30 mph. I guess the policeman saw Kristi and figured I was in a hurry to get her to a bathroom. He must have felt sorry for me because he did something no policeman has ever done for me; he gave me a warning. For those of you who have known me a long time, you know I have met a lot of policemen and that this was a totally new experience for me. It was just a sign of the great things to come that day.

After my warning and Kristi’s pee stop, we went to lunch and had a very nice and healthy lunch, which was topped off with chocolate, after-dinner mints. We left the restaurant to go the hospital and Kristi dropped part of her mint in the seat. Why this is bad is that Kristi pretty much has the seat warmer on all the time these days.  Chocolate may melt in your mouth and not in your hands, but it for sure melts on a seat warmer. When we got to the hospital, Kristi got out of the car with a big chocolate stain down her rear. She had to go to the restroom holding a book to her rear so people wouldn’t think she had a poop stain. I parked the car and came in to meet her. She told me that she couldn’t wipe it out because it was white (the mint side of course) and so had to suck it out…without taking off her pants. Now, I’m not sure how a pregnant girl was able to suck a chocolate stain out of her pants without taking them off, but I was both amused and impressed. It was just another sign of how much fun the day was going to be.

The best part of the day of course was both doctors’ appointments. The first doctor was local and she used words like “great” and “wonderful” to describe how Kristi and the babies were doing. We were delighted while looking at the ultrasound to see one of the babies kick the other in the head. Apparently, it starts early. The second doctor’s appointment was not as much fun but provided the best part of the whole day. The doctor and his team did a 2 hour and 10 minute ultrasound on Kristi measuring every single part of each baby’s body looking for problems and comparing them to “normal” babies. This was especially hard for Kristi because they push HARD when using the ultrasound. But at the end of the day, the doctor told us that everything looks great. Both kids are slightly above average in weight and length and neither shows any signs of problems. In short, it looks like we have two healthy babies right now.  This was the best part of the whole day and again, made me tear up just a bit. The good thing is the room was dark so nobody saw. Here is a picture of what they are calling Twin A.

I think everyone will have no problem seeing this is a kid. We didn’t get a profile picture of Twin B unfortunately. We did however get a picture of other parts of Twin B. Here’s the most interesting.

Let me explain it to you because it’s hard to see. Basically what you’re looking at is the baby’s rear with its two legs. That thing in the middle with the arrow pointed at it, that’s his boy part. Yep, one of them is a boy!!!!

We got the same basic picture of Twin A. Here it is.

Notice the tiny rear and little bit of the legs. That blank space where the arrow is pointed. There are no boy parts. That means the other twin is a girl!!!!

As I said, we are happy to simply have two healthy babies and that was for sure the best news of the day. But the fact we’re having both a girl and a boy really makes everything just perfect. We both feel very blessed. Now comes the fun part, picking out names. If any of you have suggestions, send them our way.

As for Kristi, her belly finally stopped hurting Saturday. Other than the belly workout on Thursday, she’s doing great.

I know this was a long post. We just had so much happen Thursday, I wanted to share it with all of you. Thanks for the wonderful comments, ideas and thoughts you send to us. We love them all. Have a great week and I’ll let you know what’s going on next weekend.

Dr. Daddy