Baby Cheeseburgers in Paradise

The girls attended their first Jimmy Buffett concert this week, and we all had a fantastic time! For those of you who have been there with us in years past, you know the concert probably wasn't quite the same crazy party that it usually is, but we still had a blast! (Maybe Dad more than Mom! :)) It was a long night standing up, but totally worth it. Luckily, the girls got a little bit of dancing time in too...We confirmed that we've got some little Parrot Heads in the making!

Below are the newest ultrasound pictures...we went yesterday for our 21st week visit! Time is flying SO FAST! From what they can tell, the babies are very healthy, and seem to be pretty tall (maybe not a surprise??). One baby is in the 70th percentile, the other at 87! This seems like quite a drastic difference to me, but the doctor assured, when speaking in mere grams, this isn't that much! They're pretty close in size, their heartbeats have stayed around 146 and 150 - 5 beats apart - and they checked out completely healthy! We were able to get both hearts...all 4 chambers, and they measured everything from head to tummy to femur bones!

It's pretty cool now that I've started feeling the babies move, and it was exciting to figure out how they are positioned in my belly! It helped to confirm that I have been feeling their little wiggles (not just indigestion! :)), based on the way they are positioned. There's one baby on the right, upside down, and one on the left, rightside up...seems logical enough, but with all of the pictures you see on the web, I wasn't really sure how they were stacked in there!

Every visit makes this all feel a little more real and close, and we're getting so excited! Mom's been a little stressed with work lately, so it was nice to get confirmation that everything is still going well. Luckily, Mom also likes to eat when she's stressed, so nutrition and weight gain haven't been a problem!! I'm getting big, but seem to be right where the doctor wants me.

The other good news is, as of now, everything is still on for our upcoming trip to Hawaii in May for Sheryl's wedding. We're both eagerly anticipating that much needed vacation!! We'll have some tests done at our next doctor visit right before we go and then we'll be ready to catch our (LONG) flight!!!

The Two Little Girls!!!

And the Verdict Is...

We just got back from our 17 week doctor visit, where we had a Level 2 ultrasound, in which they looked the babies over inside and out. Both babies are close in size, measuring around the 75th percentile for their Gestational Age. Heartbeats are strong at 146 and 154...both right in the middle of the healthy range. They were able to view healthy hearts, brains, lungs, kidneys, and bones! We're thrilled to get such a good report for both mom and babies! Dad's pretty healthy too, from what we can tell! :)
So...the big news of the day is...we're having two baby GIRLS! Gary's thrilled to know he'll soon be sharing a home with 4 females (including our still-new addition, Marley!) Thank goodness he has Max to commiserate with!! (He's really just as thrilled as anyone!!) We'll be back in touch, and will post our newest ultrasound pictures soon!

Hello Everyone!
We've created this new blog so that you can keep track of the new family additions as they develop! We're in week 15 now, and the pictures that are posted are from our ultrasound last week! There wasn't a ton of movement, but good, steady heartbeats and "normal" measurements! I know ultrasounds aren't that easy to "interpret", since I've never been able to decipher them before myself, but hopefully these "narratives" will help! It's amazing what you can see on that screen when you're there!

I haven't been able to feel the babies move yet (hopefully I will in the next couple of weeks), but I can tell that they're growing like crazy, and so is my belly!! Thanks to several friends and family members, I have my first "starter set" of maternity clothes! It's amazing how quick I went from wearing my normal pants to not even getting the buttons close together!! :)

Anyway, things are going well, and we will be going for our next ultrasound in only 2 weeks! This is our "big one", where they'll measure heart, lungs, etc, of each baby, to make sure there are no visible issues, and we'll also get to find out the sex of each baby! While we'll be THRILLED with any combination, we CAN'T WAIT to find out what we've got coming our way! We've put in a poll at the top left side of the site. Give us your vote, and check back on the 25th to see if you were right!

Stay tuned for more updates!

Baby "B" 14 Weeks

This is a graph of our "nervous" baby's heart rate - 155 beats per minute. That's still REALLY fast (mom's is around 75), but much slower than the first time we heard it. The baby is in the picture on the right, but I can't even tell you what you're seeing.


This is the "skeletor" picture. The baby is lying horizontally with its head on the left. You can see its face bones pretty well!


Same position, lying flat with its head on the left side. This is a little bit different angle, so it's not quite as skeletal. You can see its little hand by its face, where it's sucking its thumb. You can also see the little feet on the far right.


Pretty much the same as the picture before.

Baby "A" 14 Weeks

This baby is lying with it's head on the right. You can't see much of its shape, except the little arm and hand, which are very clear!


Again, the baby's head is on the right side, and the other "blob" to the left of that is the body. It's kind of freaky, because you can't see its neck, but it's just the angle of the picture with all of the amniotic fluid in the way.


You can see some face bones, but again, mostly two blobs...the one on the right is the head, the one on the left is the body.


This is the heart rate of our calm baby! This baby's heart rate is 149 beats per minute. The heart rates used to be much farther apart. They are getting closer together now as they get older and slow down!

These pictures are a lot different than the 10 week ultrasound!