White Christmas

Well, the blog posts have slowed down as the holidays got busy and there isn't too much baby news. So, I am finally getting around to posting about the amazing holidays we had. While everyone loves a White Christmas, we really thought it was going to ruin all of our plans! It only put us off schedule a bit, and we were still able to spend Christmas here with my family and head to Parsons with the Schmidts. I'll just skip to some of the fun pictures.

Uncle Justin playing with Lola's coloring toy from us. Quite the hit!

The Schmidt kids in Parsons

The only picture that shows my baby bump at all

The double jogging stroller! Isn't it great!!?

Throughout the holidays, we kept discussing how Christmas will be different for us next year! But, spending time with Lola this year just reminds us how fun the holidays are with a little one around, so I am sure they will be double the fun with two little ones running around!

While I have been feeling a little uncomfortable lately, mostly I am doing great. I have definitely started the twin weight gain, but have yet to hit the nesting phase (which I hope is soon, there is a lot to do around here). We get to see the babies again next week, so we are looking forward to that.

On a sad last note, our dog Patty has made her way to heaven this week. We adopted Patty shortly after we got married and she was such a sweet dog. Unfortunately, she has had health problem after health problem and this week they just caught up with her. I have no doubts that Patty is asleep on a very comfy couch in heaven right now.

Hope everyone had a Happy Holiday and wish everyone a great New Year!

Genders!

Friday was our 16 week appointment and sonogram. We were hopeful that we'd be able to find out the babies genders, but I was trying not to get my hopes up. The tech started by waking up Baby A, who was not very cooperative at first. But, then she was immediately able to identify that Baby A is a boy! Justin and I were both excited! Truly, I have always pictured myself with a boy. The tech also had no problems identifying that Baby B is a girl! It is so perfect! We are both thrilled to get one of each! Baby girl was much more active than Baby boy - she was having a party in there!


Thank goodness the tech determined this first, because the rest of the sonogram took quite awhile. Both babies had great heartbeats (Boy - 160, Girl -150), and we were able to see that the brains, hearts, stomachs, and kidneys all looked good. Both babies measured 15 weeks, 6 days, which was exactly correct according to my due date. We were glad to see they are about the same size as that is something the doctor really watches for with twins.

Overall, I am feeling much better, the babies are doing great, and we are starting to work on the nursery and shopping! I made my first clothing purchases at Janie and Jack. Next on my list - find coordinating twin bedding so I can start decorating!



I hope everyone is having a fantastic holiday season!

Handy, man 2

Ok, we're making some progress here

A nice shot from above. As you can see the basic framework is in place. I was starting to worry about the size of the room versus the size of two cribs and a dresser.

Almost there, just need some walls.

Success!!!!!! Our baby jail number one is complete. We still have a lot of work to do though. Feel free to drop by anytime to lend a hand.

Handy, man

So the cribs arrived this week. Our garage has been the temporary home, but hey, today was Saturday, time to get to work. I hauled one of the boxes up to the soon to be nusery and got to work.

I carefully study the contents

Searching for instructions

Lindsay had a few concerns, I kicked her out shortly after this photo was taken.

You'll shoot your eye out

Guns or no guns:

Today we went to see A Christmas Story: The Musical.  It was pretty entertaining.  Lindsay and I had an interesting discussion at intermission.  Should we have a child interested in owning a BB gun, would he or she get one.  I think yes.  I had a few BB guns growing up, and still have both eyes.  Seems amazing sometimes, I'm sure I broke the rules of safety several times. (Don't tell my mom)

I didn't really get a straight answer on Lindsay's BB gun policy.  I think this is most likely because a gun is something that never came up in a house with no little boys.  (This is also yet another reason I'm hoping there's at least one boy in Lindsay's belly; should two girls be in there, this post will be deleted ASAP and everyone who reads it must be sworn to secrecy, lest my children automatically assume I hate them, which I probably won't, at least not until they're 12, when they will undoubtedly develop quite the attitude, I'm assuming this will come from their cousin Lola who is 2 years their elder)

But who knows, maybe I'll have a daughter who wants nothing more than to become a sharpshooter.  These are the things I think about.

In summary, my kids get to play with guns.

On a side note, Lindsay is feeling much much better over the last month.  The IV is out, she's battling indigestion and actually starting to show a little more. According to some baby book the feti are the size of oranges now, so that's fun.

Turkey day

We hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. We had two giant turkey dinners, which should be good for someone eating for three. Maybe now we'll start to see some belly on Lindsay.

Lindsay's additions: Wow, that little dog looks mean. Oh, and is that our 50 lb dog running away?

And Justin forgot, that I actually had 3 large thanksgiving dinners, thanks to some great friends that hosted the week before! And I loved eating every bit of all three!

Maternity

We're maternity clothes shopping right now. Obviously I'm a huge help as I'm blogging. Hey at least I made the effort to come out.

We started stock piling diapers. Lindsay estimates this box will last for five days. We'll see.

We're stimulating the economy

The dresser/changing table (in cherry)

The crib (in cherry)

The pregnant lady (note the iv)

The crib (as pictured) x2 of course!

The trimester sale. What a wonderful thing.  Lindsay lasted 2.5 hrs out of bed, which could be a record.  We went to a few different shops, then settled on the cribs and dresser pictured above.  It's starting to sink in that eventually there will be kids in these things.  Hope they like them.

I just used a "cost to raise your child" calculator, it said we'd spend $321,000 raising a kid.  First thought, seems low.  Second thought, we got a good jump on it today, thank God for Marriott reward points.  Third thought, surely there's a discount for twins.  We've found that lots of places have deals for multiples, if you see  one, please post a comment, we'd love to hear about it.

My parents took off Saturday afternoon so Dad could get home to watch the Nebraska game. (At least they won)  It was good to see them and show them the sonogram pictures.  Hopefully we'll have some new ones soon.  As soon as we figure out a way to post a good copy on here, we'll do that.

Happy Friday

Nice shirt

No bump yet, well maybe a little one

My dad took a nap

Mom read baby books

It's Friday,  my parents are in town and they got to see the first ultrasound pictures in person.  Lindsay also got her new 2 peas in this pod tshirt.  She's doing better everyday it seems like.  Yesterday she made it out of the house twice,  passed out once,  and didn't hurl at all.  Today we went to Pickerings for a great lunch.   Dry healthy too,  I mean fried pork is healthy right? Who am I kidding,  as long as Lindsay keeps it down and starts gaining weight,  we're happy.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.  Go KU.

Another doctor’s appointment down. I am almost 11 weeks and feeling slightly better this week. I even made it to work yesterday! The doctor said everything looks good. We got to hear the heartbeats and they sounded great! It would have been a very productive appointment had I not almost passed out while checking out and had to lie on the floor for 5 minutes. Ah, I will always be sickly! My IV fluids are getting cut back so that should help my ability to get up and around. I know Justin will appreciate that! My appetite is definitely back. As soon as I finish one meal I am considering what the next will be.

It has been fun announcing our news to people in the last week or so! I love to see people’s reaction when we tell them its twins! There are still a few more people we want to tell in person, but in a few weeks, the whole world should know.

According to the internet, the babies are the size of limes right now. It’s still shocking to me that I am carrying two! It’s pretty much all I think about!

Happy Halloween. Lindsay ventured out of bed for the second time in two weeks. We went over to the cul-de-sac for some bbq. Lola was dressed up as a fairy for a bit, but then just ran around naked. We obviously had to spill the beans about the pregnancy to the neighbors because Lindsay's arm had an iv hanging out of it. The doctor said everything still looks great with the feti, so we've decided it's time to unleash the news of little Schmidts on the world. Lindsay still hasn't told everyone she's planning, so don't paste it all over facebook just yet.

So after a trip to the doctors office, and another round of trying some nausea medication that didn't work, Lindsay's now on an iv drip.  Luckily it works at home,and only needs a nurse to come by once every three days.

It occurs to me people have been having babies for thousands of years.  After just 9 weeks of pregnancy, I'm wondering how.

Modern pregnancy

The Cider Mill

Lola and Lindsay resting on some hay bales. Getting the cider was a very difficult task considering the craziness of the shop. (not pictured) It was a short but fun trip.  Lindsay didn't last too long, but at least we got out of the house for a bit.


The rest of the pictures are here.

Suprise (sic) mom and dad

Surprise surprise, Lindsay and I learned this week that we'll be the proud parents of twins in about 7 months.  We knew she was pregnant about 6 weeks ago, but during the first ultrasound, we saw two little blueberries growing in her belly.

Here's how it went down: On Wednesday we went to our second OB appointment, but the first where we'd get proof beyond the pee stick, that a baby was actually there.  We went straight into a small ultrasound room. The walls were completely covered in with pictures of newborns, they all looked so happy.  The goo was applied, which was warmed much to the delight of my wife, who is terrified of cold liquids touching her skin.  The tech started moving the wand around Lindsay's abdomen and we found the fetus.  It was there, what a relief that was.  It had a heartbeat, awesome.  Then, an audible.  "I think we have a twin pregnancy," said the technician.  Huh? Silence.  The way she phrased it, it took at least 30 seconds for either one of us to respond.  "I wish I could see his face," Lindsay said after it sunk in.  I was sitting behind her, but even if I was in view, my face was buried in my hands, not knowing what else to do.  "1% chance of multiples, my ass," I exclaimed.  I know, hardly appropriate, but that's what happened.

I looked up on the wall of baby pictures, and I could see nothing but twins.  Seriously now, every picture I saw had proud parents with an infant in each arm.  What happened to the singles I saw before?  They vanished.

I stood up and grabbed Lindsay's hand, and we breathed.

Back to work.  The tech found a view clearly showing both feti (or fetuses) and labeled them "A" and "B."  Then she wrote, "Suprise Mom and Dad," along the bottom, it wasn't until after she printed them that I noticed the spelling error. Editing wasn't the first thing on my mind obviously.  My first thought was, can we just cut the naming battle and call them A and B? Maybe we just use those for the first letter of each name.

Based on the crown to rump measurement, A and B as they're known now, are about a day apart.  Both have good heartbeats. Those are the only two we found.  Although we've gotten several opinions from family that claim to see a third, I'm going to go with the professional here, sorry Bakalar.


As we wrapped up with the ultrasound, thousands of thoughts are racing through my mind.  The first being, maybe we should have gone to the "Mothers of Multiples" yard sale we saw last weekend.  The second being, 2 crib$, 2 car $eat$, 2 $troller$, 2 high chair$,  holy $hit!

We rushed out of the doctors office and down the the car and started the calls.  "You know how you're going to be grandparents and all, well, there's two in there, so get ready."  "Surprise, surprise, it's twins."

So here we are, Lindsay's sick, tired, and happy as hell that we've been blessed with this task.  We've got our baby books, have started the double shopping, and every thought I have is of the future of our doubling family.

Take care, take care.