2015 New Year's Resolutions and Lampshade Reveal

I've always loved New Year's Eve; not just for the excuse to wear sparkly dresses and drink fancy drinks, but for the fresh start it brings. I see New Year's as a clean slate - what can I accomplish in the next year?  What can I change?  I also always get a little fearful. For the most part my years have been amazing, and as we roll into a new year I get scared thinking about all there is for me to lose, particularly family and health. I think that chance to start over and that fearfulness are what make me want to celebrate NYE year after year. This year will be pretty boring - I bet we won't even stay up past 10 or 11!  But I'll still find some way tomorrow to celebrate with Dominic. And maybe we'll even get dressed up!

A little trip down memory lane...

Vi and I, NYE 2005

Our first NYE, ringing in 2007

NYE 2007

Can't remember if this was 2009 or 2008

NYE 2010

NYE 2012

NYE 2013

In 2014, my resolutions were to:

- Have another child - Beat that! We're having two. I'm such an over-achiever.
- Get in shape - I had this through May. I still can't believe that I went from running my high school mile pace to barely being able to slog through a mile to just sitting on the couch with my feet up.
- Work less - I always fail at this one. It's hard not to when we're on the verge of something huge at work!
- Finish projects around the house - Thanks to my frantic nesting and the realization that life is going to be CRAZY in a few weeks time, we were able to check a lot off our list. What's left are odds and ends, like that pile of clothes missing buttons, fixing the screen on the garage door, and hanging the ruler growth chart we got for Christmas last year (whoops).

Speaking of projects, the lampshade for Chloe and William's room is DONE!!!!  I will never embroider a lampshade again because it took way too much time and totally tested my patience. But I'm in love with the finished project and will probably cut whomever ruins it (unless its one of my babies and I'll have to suck it up).

Remember this hanging in their room?

Well, here you go:

The lamp was originally in the guest room with a different, wider shade. Because the side table in the nursery is so small, I switched to the shade from my college dorm lamp (I'm a hoarder). I didn't like it and could not find something small enough that I liked so I decided to Anthropologize the shade.

I printed another copy of the picture, cut out the pieces and laid it on the lamp to position it. Once I had everything laid out, I taped all the pieces together, taped them to the inside of the shade, turned the lamp on, and then traced all the shapes on the front of the shade.

Next I cut some of the larger leaves and the flowers out of felt and used Tack-It Over and Over to attach them to the shade. I used an extremely thin layer, just enough to make it stick in their spots so I could sew them on. For each of the flowers, I stitched around the border; for the leaves, I just used the lighter green to add the veins.

Then came the tedious part - stitching all the little details. I hated working on it because my fingers hurt, the stupid thread kept tangling, and some spots on the inside of the shade cracked. Enter some folded paper to use as a thimble (because I was to lazy to go to the store), slower stitching to avoid tangling and cracking, and super glue to attach any of the little pieces that cracked off. A bajillion weeks later, it's done!

I love this little corner of the room!

Anyway, back to resolutions. For 2015, mine are:
- Lose weight (I feel like I have this one in the bag!).
- Let it go - be okay with things not exactly the way I like them around the house, with mass chaos, and with always feeling a little behind.
- Get back to running and working out, at least 20 min/day 3x a week by the end of the year.

 And the one resolution Brian and I share:
- Survive the year without killing each other, Dominic, the babies, or the kitties or burning down the house.

Happy New Year!  Wishing you a fresh start and happiness in 2015!

Pregnant with Twins: 34 Weeks

All those blogs out there where the husband takes amazing photos - yeah, this isn't one of them.

How far along?  34 weeks. Oh shit. I read somewhere that twins, on average, are born around 34 and 35 weeks. I really don't want that to happen! If I make it to Jan. 21, there are only 23 days left!
Baby Crauns' size:  They should each weigh about 4.5 lbs, which is approximately the size of a cantaloupe or a butternut squash.
Total weight gain/loss:  I'm up 30 total, only +2 in two weeks. I've officially surpassed the amount of weight I gained when I was pregnant with Dominic. I think the last post from Dom's pregnancy said +22 lbs, but during that 41st week I gained a bunch of water weight. I'm pretty swollen all over the place, so that probably accounts for some of the weight now, like before. I noticed that the swelling has finally made it to my face, which happened the last few weeks with Dom.
Maternity clothes:  Yep, and I'm starting to get sick of them.
Stretch marks?  I think I found a few more on the side of my belly. I'm stretched to the max!
Sleep:  Sleep has been worse this last week because the cold I caught from Dominic turned into a massive sinus infection. We always stay at my parents' house on Christmas eve so I slept in the recliner in my dad's office, which helped decrease the amount of coughing I typically do at night. I slept pretty good, but I don't know if I'm fully ready to abandon my bed for a chair. I'm sure I'll get there soon, especially if I don't recover soon.
Movement:  I still feel William move more than Chloe so I panic about twice a day because I'm afraid something has happened to her. Apparently I just need to put one of the cats on my belly because both of the babies start kicking and pushing, especially if Marbles' fatness is laying on them. 
Symptoms:  I have a sinus infection, probably the worst one I've had in a few years, with a nasty cough and constant runny nose. My shoulders, stomach, and back muscles are all killing me because of it, on top of my end-of-pregnancy symptoms. I feel like a no-selling waste of space. I'm praying that the antibiotics start working soon so I can be healthy for their delivery and recovery. The thought of recovering from a c-section with a cough makes me want to stay pregnant forever!
Labor signs?  I've had more contractions this week but I think it's from being dehydrated. It's hard to chug water with so much congestion! I start weekly monitoring at Mercy on Monday afternoon. The two times I had to do this with Dominic (during that final week) took about two hours each because he moved around so much. It's only supposed to take 30 minutes! When I spoke with the nurse to schedule my time on Monday, she wanted to know if the babies are hard to keep on a monitor. With William moving as much as Dominic did, the nurse said I'm in for another long trip. At least I'll get caught up on my bed-side pile of magazines! The scary thing, though, is that I could be admitted during one of these monitorings if something doesn't look right. When I did these with Dom, I was at the clinic by our house so if something didn't look right then, Brian was only five minutes away at work and he could be with me if I needed to be admitted. This time Brian will be twenty-some minutes away, which means I'll probably meltdown because he won't be there to keep me calm.
Food cravings:  Food hasn't been good this week since I'm so congested. I only had ONE popcorn ball on Christmas eve. And my mom makes the best popcorn balls!
Miss anything?  My brain. I'm seriously super forgetful and I say dumb things on a regular basis.
Belly button in or out?  I noticed yesterday that my belly button is no longer sticking out and it's back to being partially indented. I'm supposed to gain about two pounds a week and I didn't the last few times. The babies are doing okay still, at least as of the last appointment, so the doctor wasn't too concerned.
Wedding rings on or off?  I caved and finally took off my wedding band on Friday. My finger still has an indent where the ring was! There's no way that my diamond ring would fit at all!
Nursery progress:  Nothing different from last week. I need to finish that damn lampshade, but every time I work on it I think, "My fingers hurt." And then I think, "Well now your back's gonna hurt cuz you just pulled landscaping duty."
Best moment this week:  This Christmas was one of the best in a long time, and I wish that I could have enjoyed it a little bit more (stupid sinus infection). Adam and Ally came home from Houston for the week, so I finally got to meet Austin. He looks so much like Ally and I loved the little smiles he gave me. Dominic was wonderful with him as well. He's going to be such a good big brother once he gets over the fact that they aren't going anywhere!

On Christmas day, Dom was so excited after opening each of his gifts that he wanted to play with or read each one immediately instead of opening the rest of his presents. Adam, Ally, and Austin got him a mop/broom set (Dom loves to help clean), and after Dom finished opening all his gifts he disappeared into the kitchen for awhile. While the adults opened gifts, Dom was dipping his mop in the dogs' water bowl and cleaning the floor! I have never mopped the floor! We're assuming he saw someone at daycare mopping, but I feel like they have mostly carpet so I don't know if that's true. Either way, the kid is such a fast learner!  

Opening the mop, but I didn't get one of him mopping

Then on Friday, my Grandpa Lyle, Joan, Aunt Pam, and Uncle Ken came to visit. We only got to spend a few hours with them since I needed to rest and I definitely couldn't handle Dominic without Brian's help. Joan had twins, and shared that they didn't find out that they were having twins until their birth - I couldn't even imagine!

Grandpa is using a cane right now because he has to have hip surgery and yesterday Dominic took his M&Ms candy cane and used it like a cane, and said that he liked "that guy". He can't wrap his brain around the fact that "that guy" is my grandpa, but he knows he's a grandpa and he likes him!
Weekly wisdom:  I think I've been experiencing some depression and anxiety this week, on top of the pregnancy hormones. One minute I'll be perfectly fine and happy, then the next I'm crying because I feel like I can't handle this any more and I hurt all over. I also cried on Friday because I'm so out of commission that it was hard to enjoy this Christmas, and then I felt like an asshole because I felt extremely selfish - at least my whole family was alive and there, we weren't missing any of the basic comforts, and we had an abundance of everything. I'm looking forward to this emotional rollercoaster ending, and getting back to my normal self. That being said, this is my official request for those of you closest to me to watch for signs of postpartum depression. Incident rates are higher in multiples pregnancies, as well as pregnancies in which the mother experiences depression during the pregnancy (which I definitely did in the beginning).
Looking forward to:  Feeling better! I've done pretty much nothing the last three days, and that will continue next week. I just have the monitoring at Mercy on Monday, and then I'll be laying on the couch sucking down liquids and filling up on vitamin C. (The me from 5 years ago would be saying that I'm looking forward to New Year's Eve so I can dress up in something sparkly and drink champagne - oh how times have changed!)

I wish you a happy and healthy ending to 2014! And happy New Year's!

Pregnant with Twins: 33 Weeks

How far along?  33 weeks. I'm starting to freak out a little. On average, twins are delivered around 34 weeks. Please don't let that happen! I want to enjoy my week and a half off work!
Baby Crauns' size:  They're the size of durian fruit (that stinky stuff that's always on Bizarre Foods), and should weigh over 4 lbs a piece now. My belly is so heavy!
Total weight gain/loss:  Doc appointment is tomorrow so I'm waiting to weigh myself on their scale. Which is mostly because I can't see the numbers on ours because I am ginormous. My whole core is on fire every time I have change positions, stand up, or bend/squat to pick something up. I seriously have to roll out of bed because I can't sit up. I'm not going to miss this part after I'm healed from the c-section. And I'm incredibly thankful that I was in decent shape from all my 1/2 training before I was knocked up, because I'm able to use my legs a lot to compensate for my nonexistent core. 
Maternity clothes:  I'm still wearing a mix of maternity clothes and regular clothes that are stretchy and longer. I'm wearing my maternity belt almost every day to help with back pain. It's starting to get stretched out, so I wish I would have gotten a size smaller to keep it nice and supportive. I also wish I would have stuck to the weight specifics for the sizes, instead of going off the reviews. In addition, I need to invent a compression sock, um, applicator, I guess. Getting those damn things on is so difficult. It takes about five minutes to get them both on and catch my breath after doing so. How long does it take you to put socks on? Bet it's not five minutes!
Stretch marks?  Yep. They're definitely there. With Dom's pregnancy I just got a couple of the white-ish silvery ones on my hips and you really can't see them. Nope, not this time. This time there are nice red/blue/purple ones around my belly button. Not like I ever thought I'd be in a bikini again, but seriously?! Ugh.
Sleep:  I went 32 1/2 weeks without a cold, and caught Dom's after staying home with him on Thursday. Now I definitely am not sleeping. I've been up every morning this week around 6 or earlier. Last Sunday when Brian's family was here, I was the first one up! Whaaaattt?! Yesterday I even had coffee. Who am I?!?!  (I guess I should mention that the coffee was 60% coffee / 40% peppermint mocha creamer, but that's more coffee than usual.)
Movement:  Lots. I think I feel William move around more than Chloe (like when he kicked my open water bottle off my stomach yesterday). Every morning around 3, I have a minor freak out as I try to remember the last time I felt Chloe move. So then I push my belly lightly in the area she's in and wait for her to move. She wakes up and starts moving, which then must wake up William, and then I can't go back to sleep because the circus is happening in my belly. I'm so thankful we have a video monitor so I won't do this crap when they're here.
Symptoms:  Back aches from carrying around two babies. Sciatic nerve pain. Swollen fingers, feet, and legs. Major congestion (and now a cold - boo). Plus all the issues I have with my hip and pelvic muscles last year are back. I see more physical therapy in my future and I sort of can't wait for it!
Labor signs?  Just two contractions this week. All I know is that if I wasn't going to deliver these babies by a c-section, I'd want Salt N Pepa there singing "Push It".
Food cravings:  A cold turkey sandwich, like the #12 no tomato at Jimmy John's. I'm also craving oatmeal. My favorite is to make some in the microwave, and then top with brown sugar, apple chunks, and a few walnuts. So yummy.
Miss anything?  I feel like this makes me seem like an alchie, but I miss booze! I just want a glass of wine without any worry. I know they say you can have one, but you never know for sure, and I have two children in there to potentially f-up, instead of just one. So no wine at all, and I will greatly miss our annual Christmas eve jello shots!
Belly button in or out?  Same as last week - slightly poking out
Wedding rings on or off?  Still not even trying the diamonds. One of my nails broke so I cut all of them way down, and you can totally tell now how swollen my fingers are. I have Eddie's Jimmy Dean fingers!
Nursery progress:  I spent most of my free time this week working on the lampshade. I'm so close to being done! Whenever I talk to Dominic about Chloe and William being born and coming home, he always says, "No my room." I reassure him that they will stay in their room next to his and he always whines, "noooo." Too bad.
Best moment this week:  I stayed home with Dominic on Thursday because he was sick and of course his cold hit me only a few hours into the day. Thanks, dude. On the plus side, we (sort of, as much as my belly allowed) cuddled on the couch and watched the Grinch and Frosty the Snowman a few times. I love that he likes to watch my favorite Christmas movies and cartoons! We also watched the episode of Spongebob where they get in a snowball fight (how is there snow on the ocean floor?) on Friday.  Dominic recently started engaging in imaginary play without using any toys, so then we got in an imaginary snowball fight.

Taking his medicine like a champ!

Peeling his clementine all by himself in his new Batman jammies

                      
Weekly wisdom:  It's still so hard to comprehend that there are two children in me! Brian even said the same thing. Last night, I realized that my skin is stretched so far over my belly that you can see pretty much every vein there. I feel slightly freak-show-ish with two in there, especially when they move. One second I think, "GET OUT!" because I just want to be comfortable again. Then I think about what's going to happen when they're out, and I think, "STAY IN THERE!" At this point, I can't decide which is worse. However, I do look forward to meeting them, and I'm confident that we'll be okay once we make it through the first few weeks and my incision site has healed.
Looking forward to:  This won't happen for a while, but I'm very much looking forward to watching Dominic, Chloe, and William play together. I love watching Dominic play, mostly because the majority of kids I work with have no clue how to play.  And I can't wait for Christmas! I love Christmas! As an added bonus, I'll finally get to meet my nephew Austin and see some of my extended family!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Pregnant with Twins: 32 Weeks

How far along?  32 weeks - only 37 days left!
Baby Crauns' size:  They each are the size of a squash. At my doctor appointment last week, the doctor said they'd be over 4 lbs each by today. They are so heavy that I have to wear my maternity belt to support my belly every day or else I have major back pain.
Total weight gain/loss:  I'm at +28 overall. Which is 1 lb more than what I gained with Dom and I still have 5 weeks left. I've had lots of people tell me they thought I'd be bigger than I am, and I suppose I thought I would be too. But I always say to check in at 35 weeks and I'm sure I'll be a house.
Maternity clothes:  I bought a cute normal size peasant top from Anthropologie during their huge sale on sale items and was able to wear it Friday with a really long tank. But I definitely wore my maternity jeans with it!
Stretch marks?  I'm just really itchy! No marks that I can see - yet.
Sleep:  AWFUL. Just awful. It got better earlier this week because I added the second body pillow to our bed finally, but sleep has turned to crap again. I can't eat large meals so I'm always starving at 2 am. And I have to choose between being slightly dehydrated all the time and sleeping or being hydrated and going to the bathroom every 2 hours. I guess my body is preparing me for life with two newborns.     
Movement:  With William sideways and Chloe nestled way down low, I feel tons of movement where all their limbs are. Which also happens to be right by my freaking bladder.
Symptoms:  I'm super hot all the time, which means I'm more swollen. I'm emotional so if I'm tired in the least bit, I cry at the drop of a hat. My hips and back hurt more often than they don't hurt. But all of these things are better than spending hours on end with two babies in the NICU.
Labor signs?  I've had three contractions this last week and all of them were after I got upset about something. One was work related (children with significant cognitive disabilities do NOT have to hurt themselves - there's a way to help them, people!) and the other two were on Saturday morning at 5:30 am after I'd been awake since 1:45 and I couldn't fall back asleep.
Food cravings:  I have willingly passed up sweets and baked goods. Willingly. That is how you know I have no room for food.     
Miss anything?  The last two works weeks have been had a few very upsetting / disappointing moments, plus a few sad ones (Jill and Erin, I wish you didn't have to leave me!), that would have necessitated some crap food and alcohol. Crap food gives me heartburn so that's out. And obviously the alcohol is out. I can't wait to drink hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps instead of peppermint marshmallows!
Belly button in or out?  It' starting to poke out. It'll be interesting to see how bad this gets.
Wedding rings on or off?  I'm almost at the point of needing to take off my wedding band. Hopefully it survives to the end!
Nursery progress:  I got a little bit more done on the lamp shade, but I keep choosing to do other things and I seriously need to quit procrastinating. And my plan to keep the cats out of the cribs failed.

Blurry thanks to William karate chopping my arm through my belly

Best moment this week:  We did a few fun things this week: Dom and I made a hand-print Christmas tree with thumb-print lights throughout the week (our pinspiration - next year I think we'll make the feet snowmen). Then Saturday we got to spend time with Brian's family to celebrate Christmas early. And then this afternoon we decorated some sugar cookies.

The awesome tree

At least they love each other now!

So careful with the sprinkles

One of these things is not like the other...

Our final spread

Sweet hair, dude

Weekly wisdom:  I have been seriously overwhelmed by how caring and thoughtful our friends and family are. We have complete meals in our freezer, a fully-stocked closet for Chloe (and hopefully Dom's stuff will fit William!), and plenty of diapers to save us large shopping trips. Plus I have plenty of you all checking in on me and making sure I am taking it easy at work. I cannot thank you enough! THANK YOU!

I somehow managed to fit a year's worth of clothes for each of them in this dinky closet! Dom's changing table was repurposed into the shelves for their blankets, bedding, and bath supplies.

Looking forward to:  I cannot wait for my team's annual white elephant gift exchange at work! Someone always has a hilarious gift and we get a little crazy stealing gifts from each other while wearing our ugly Christmas sweaters. It's guaranteed to be a good time!

Pregnant with Twins: 31 Week Ultrasound

Today's baby status report:
They both are estimated to weigh 3 lbs 13 oz, but William's belly is bigger than Chloe's. We actually got to see William's face for a quick second. He has some chunky cheeks and looks like Dom did! Chloe still has her face pressed against the membrane between them so we only got to see the side of her face. Both are right where they should be on the charts.

William's profile

He moved during the shot so his nose is a little funky looking.

William was sideways with his head under Chloe's legs meaning she's kicking him in the face a lot. He is literally sideways - I have an almost 8 lb baby t in my body! He is still curled up in a ball, with his feet up by his face. We were lucky to even see his face today with all the limbs going on around it.

Chloe is still head down just like she should be. If only this was a sign that she will grow up to be a compliant little girl!

I had to get another whooping cough vaccination today so my arm is f***ing sore. And I somehow lost weight from two weeks ago, but other than that everything is going well!

Only 42 more days until we are parents of THREE children!

Pregnant with Twins: 31 Weeks

How far along?  31 weeks.
Baby Crauns' size:  They are each about the size of a pineapple. Does that mean I can buy the gold pineapple candle from Anthropologie to celebrate?  Brian says no.
Total weight gain/loss:  I'm scared to find out on Tuesday. 
Maternity clothes:  I've been wearing some stretchier normal people dresses this last week. I sort of forgot about a few of the dresses I wore during and right after my pregnancy with Dominic. Time to shop my closet!
Stretch marks?  Nothing crazy.
Sleep:  I'm so exhausted but it's rare for me to get more than 7-8 hours right now, even when I try. I've learned to start the night propped up on pillows sort of on my back/left side and then transition to flopping between my left and right sides. I find that my hips hurt less if I do this.    
Movement:  I posted a video on facebook yesterday of their antics - and that was super mild compared to how they normally are!  On Friday afternoon, I was having a conversation with some of my favorite coworkers and one of them stopped mid-sentence to watch the babies go crazy. It is such a cool feeling, but so creepy and painful at the same time. I don't remember Dominic ever hurting me like they do!
Symptoms:  Major congestion. I fought off a cold earlier this week but I'm worried that it's coming back. Heartburn is instantaneous after anything spicy. And I am super emotional!
Labor signs?  I only had one contraction this week!  We have another ultrasound on Tuesday so hopefully I won't have any other signs show up.
Food cravings:  Water is the best. I chug it all the time. And I'm obsessed with all things peppermint and chocolate.      
Miss anything?  Sleep. I just want to lay on my stomach or my back and be able to sleep a full 8 hours. I'm going to be missing this one for a long time.
Belly button in or out?  Completely flat, like it doesn't exist.
Wedding rings on or off?  Still wearing my wedding band but not the other one.
Nursery progress:  Nothing else done. But Marbs has decided to sleep all the time in Chloe's crib so we put aluminum foil in there - you can kind of see it behind me. I think she experienced it once over night (it's all crinkled) and hasn't been in since.
Best moment this week:  Friday night we had a visit from Megan and Isla. I was so thankful that Megan came over to visit that I started crying when she called me earlier in the day. They both look wonderful and Dom was so excited to see "Baby" (look at that, already calling his future wife by a term of endearment). He had fun tickling her and showing her toys, and didn't seem too phased by any crying. He did get a little jealous at the end of us holding her, though. My other favorite part of the weekend was visiting Santa at the zoo yesterday. Dom didn't seem too scared of Santa and took the best picture!

Telling Santa that he wants a baseball glove and tee ball set

And I bought him some left-handed scissors earlier so he doesn't have to go through a life of tortured cutting

Super excited to see Santa's reindeer

Weekly wisdom:  I'm sort of over the weekly emails I get from thebump.com and that other lady - they're all complaining about not being able to breathe or roll over and I kind of want to tell them to shove it. I'm sure there's someone out there doing a weekly email for twin pregnancies, but I'm too lazy to look.
     Again this week I am incredibly thankful for all our health. Yesterday Dominic painted a Christmas picture to send to a little girl in Utah who is likely celebrating her last Christmas. My heart breaks for this family. Please put little Addie on your Christmas card list (click on the link to get her address)!
Looking forward to:  Next weekend! We'll celebrate Christmas with Brian's family and then on Sunday I think we're going to make sugar cookies (going the slice and bake route, but still using homemade because I hate the store bought dough). I'm excited for Dom to decorate cookies, but it also means I need Brian needs to move all my work stuff off the kitchen table...

Only 17 more days until Christmas!!!