Nursery Sneak Peek!

Coming up with a theme that worked for opposite sex babies was a little challenging for me. I looked through a lot of options but in the end I couldn't find anything that I was really excited about. That's when I found CozybyJess on Etsy. She is a wonderfully talented lady who not only makes custom baby bedding, but she actually designs her own fabrics. These aren't fabrics she purchases at her local craft store - she actually designs the fabrics herself. This was amazing because she could coordinate fabrics for the babies without them being to similar - just what I was looking for. With her ability to create fabrics I could "girl up" Lawton's bedding while still coordinating with Anderson's slightly more masculine bedding. 

Anyway, here are some sneak peek pictures from our nursery... It isn't completely done but we are really close! Hope you like it as much as we do...

This is the door to the nursery - that chevron framed thing is a cork board where my plan is to put our first family picture of the 5 of us. You can see our deer head laying on the changing pad- he's hung up now and looks great! This room isn't very big and we are cramped for space so we utilize the closet a lot.

Also I should mention - with two babies on the way we are on a budget! So both the dresser and the cribs came from IKEA! I absolutely love this dresser - it's a white laqer finish and is very sturdy! The price - just $149. I wish we had the room for the 8 drawer dresser in this same style but it was to big for our space.

Next up - Lawton's crib!

Ok so - you can see some imperfections on the wall - those are currently awaiting Mike's handywork to patch and touch up paint. It's a little hard to see but her sheet  is little fawns in light pink, tan, mint, and navy. Her bed skirt is an Aztec looking geometric printin the same light pink and white, and her blanket in the corner is in the same coordinating colors in an arrow pattern. The only thing missing are her teething guards which will go at the top of the side rails and will be in the same arrow print as her blanket. There is a navy pillow in the crib that says "I'll love you forever" it came from Homegoods and I love it! The artwork I made - the frames are from IKEA. The mobile I made as well after seeing one similar on Etsy. The Etsy mobile was $65 - and I was sure I could make it cheaper. Especially since I needed two! All in all I got everything I needed to make two mobiles for about $40 from JoAnn's. Thanks to coupons and doing it myself I saved $90!!

Here is Anderson's crib...

Similar story on his! His pillow says "hello there handsome" ;). Again I made his artwork - the little green one is metal arrows I found in the scrapbook section. His sheets are bucks (since he's way to manly for fawns 😉) the stuffed baby deer in his crib was $7 at IKEA. His blanket is the same arrow pattern as hers but in his colors - we are also waiting on his coordinating teething guards to come in! The cribs, by the way, $69 at IKEA - if you've ever crib shopped you know what a DEAL that is! We choose to leave them natural wood - but the possibilities are endless - you can paint or finish them anyway you want!

I love how their little areas turned out! I wish you could see it in person - it's even cuter! The next time I post a picture hopefully the cribs will have something even cuter in them!! 😍

30 week update...

How far along? 30 weeks today! 

Total weight gain: Lost another pound this week. The doctor still doesn't seem concerned. She said creating two humans is tough and my body is doing well enough. She did encourage me to take in more calories... Im trying. So far I've gained a total of 16 lbs.

Sleep: I've been sleeping like a baby. A newborn that sleeps for a few hours at a time and wakes up constantly... Although last night I had a 5 hour stretch so that was good!

How big are the twins this week? I didn't get measurements at my appointment yesterday. :( the growth scan will be in early April. Hopefully they are both 3 pounds or better!

Peak of the week: Getting a lot of the nursery done. We hung a bunch of art, did some organizing - put a bunch of baby gear together. I say "we" it was really Mike with my direction. Bless him. 

Pit of the week: I had a bit of a breakdown yesterday. I don't know how else to explain it but that I'm frustrated... I'm frustrated with the way I feel, my doctors office, just anything really. I'm at this weird point where I selfishly want the babies now but I know that's not what's best. I'm over the appointments and worrying and waiting but I know the best thing is to keep them right where they are for at least 4 more weeks. Don't get me wrong - I know without a doubt what's best for the babies and that it's only a few more weeks. I also know how uncomfortable these last few weeks have been and will be. All of that said I'm more than happy to wait. I don't know how else to explain it. I just want our babies. 😔

Miss Anything? Nothing new.

Cravings: no - sometimes I will have a random craving but not the same thing over and over again. This weeks I've really been wanting Cheesecake Factory.

Symptoms/Labor signs: Contractions (Braxton Hicks) - swelling, numbness in my feet, all of the typical last trimester stuff

Looking forward to: My mom is coming next week! I can't wait. She will help to perk me up and get some things finished around here!

So I've been on bed rest for about a week now. I'm allowed to be "on my feet" for about 2 hours per day. This is also Jake's spring break week so he has been home with me. Overall he's done really well and been very good about understanding my new limitations. Thankfully, my 2 sister-in-laws took him for a day to the water park and that helped tremendously. He also had a friend over to spend the night which was nice because they kept each other entertained. Aside from that he has become extremely protective over me and is constantly checking on his momma. He really has been so sweet. A few times he's even told me it's time for me to lay down! Ha. Anyway, he and I took the dogs for a little walk and the only time he would allow me to have them is when I asked him to take my 30 week picture. When we came inside he told me I needed to go lay down. He's taking the doctor's orders very seriously! So here's my pic of the week courtesy of my sweet boy! I'm feeling H U G E!

29 weeks...

How far along? 29 weeks 1 day.

Total weight gain: I'm not sure but I would guess I've gained about 3 more pounds.

Sleep: It's been hard. I'm really uncomfortable, the babies move like crazy when I lay down, I wake up a bunch either sweating or having to go to the bathroom. I'm over the need for all the pillows... wahhh! 

How big are the twins this week? The size of a pineapple (x2) apparently. I would guess Anderson has hit the 3lb mark and Lawton has hopefully gotten close to it herself. I'll know next week!

Peak of the week: Our Orlando baby shower! I didn't get any pictures - :( but it was really nice. Mike's mom and sisters made it really nice and the food was wonderful. We got one of our car seats, diapers, and my big item - our stroller! Not to mention some cute outfits, bottles, feeding stuff, etc. Our house is exploding with baby items.

Pit of the week: I think just my attitude in general. I am exhausted. The bad sleep is catching up and my anxiety is increasing. So much to do and honestly - not much time left. There is a good chance that our babies will be here in the next 2 to 6 weeks! Oy vey! 

Miss Anything? A lot of things. I love being pregnant but I miss the control of my body.

Cravings: meh. Still not much other than sweets.

Symptoms/Labor signs: Contractions (Braxton Hicks) - swelling, numbness in my feet, all of the typical last trimester stuff

Looking forward to: bitter sweetly leaving work for a while. Starting Monday, I am officially on limited bed rest. No more than a couple of hours a day on my feet. Between my anxiety of getting things ready and the boredom of laying around I'm not sure how I will cope. I keep telling myself it's what's best for the babies.

my last at-work bathroom selfie! ha!

28 week update...

How far along? 28 weeks today!

Total weight gain: I lost 2 pounds so I'm up a total of 20 now. My doctor wasn't concerned - between water retention and my body burning more calories daily it isn't abnormal.

Sleep: It's been slightly better. I have been taking a warm bath each night which is helping still.

How big are the twins this week? I have their weights this week! My doctor appointment was Tuesday and at the ultrasound Lawton weighed in at 2lbs 4oz while Anderson is at a chunky 2lbs 11oz. 5lbs of baby in this belly!

In all black today - mourning the loss of my belly button ;)

Peak of the week: Seeing the babies again. :) I am so spoiled with my ultrasounds every appointment. It's been a month since I saw them last and they are so much bigger! Jake also had his first baseball game of the season. He caught a pop fly for an out at 2nd base and got on base every time at bat!

Pit of the week: I had my glucose test and two shots at the doctor this week. My arm is still SO sore. You'd think I'd be better about needles after IVF - nah.

Miss Anything? The ability to see my lower body without a mirror. Picking things up off the ground - shaving my legs with ease...

Cravings: Nope - it's getting more and more difficult to eat.

Symptoms/Labor signs: I swear each twin has grabbed a hip and pulled this week. When they aren't yanking on my hips they are using my bladder as a spring board. My contractions are getting increasingly harder to ignore and I'll get into it more below, but my cervix is beginning to shorten some. Oh and my poor feet and ankles cankles... I am starting to swell.

Looking forward to: Jake's first soccer game of the season this weekend, followed by my baby shower on Sunday. Although finding something to wear may be the "pit" next week. It's getting harder to keep this bump under clothing!

28 Week Doctor's Appointment Update:  This was the first time I have gone to the doctor alone for a check up. Mike has been at every appointment, but due to his new job I told him to not worry about getting to this one. He didn't like missing the ultrasound but I brought him some pictures and honestly, the ultrasounds are more about checking measurements, my cervix, etc rather than watching the babies move. Anyway, the babies look great. Both are right on track and measuring pretty closely. Anderson has 7 ounces on his sister, which doesn't sounds like much to us, but when you think that he only weighs 43 total ounces it is a large increase over Lawton. The doctor told me they will continue to monitor the weights but that they aren't concerned with anything until the gap in weights gets larger (like over a pound). Anderson did flip to head down from breech and Lawton is more head down and less transverse now - giving us a much stronger chance at a natural birth. That being said the doctor would like to see baby A (Lawton) be the "bigger" baby. She said it doesn't rule out natural birth but it does make it harder. At this point I'm just leaving it up to God and trying not to think to much about the birth or stress about it. I will do whats best for the babies - period. My cervix was measuring (width wise not dilation) at a 5 and had dropped to a 4 in the last month. A 4 is still considered good but once it drops to a 3 or lower things get a little more risky. For this reason and my swelling, the weight of the babies, etc I have been given my date of "bed rest". March 24th will be my last day working and from the 25th on I have to take it easy and stay off of my feet as much as possible. We need these babies to stay put until at least April 30th to give us the best chance at them coming home with us from the hospital.

Tea for Two!

Last weekend 2 of my amazing friends from back home (Charleston, SC) threw us the most amazing baby shower!

It started with this gorgeous invitation and went from there. Every detail, every handmade decoration, the food - it was all way more than I could have ever imagined.

My friends, Chelsea and Amanda, not only were wonderful to us in the weeks leading up to the shower but have been so supportive of our journey to babies from the beginning. They both were always praying, texting, emailing, calling and checking on us through out our entire IVF process and have been keeping up with every detail ever since.

When they asked if they could host a shower for the babies I had no idea what an amazing job they would do. The girls spent more time and effort than I will every know, all just to make us smile. Here are some of the pictures from Saturday...

opening the presents for Lawton & Anderson

My boys dropped by!

Some of the beautiful decorations

The sweet gowns and shirt for Jake - my 3 will be wearing this in the hospital ;)

Opening more gifts! I love anything monogrammed!

Me giving out my hostess presents - which weren't nearly enough to thank these two!

The pregnant ladies at the shower Amber ( in purple) is about a month behind me and Emily is about a month behind Amber!

The photo guest book!

Some of my out-of-town family that came just to support us!

The coffee/tea station. No detail got overlooked!

The spread of delicious food!

Each baby had their own cake!

Me :) 27 weeks 2 days

More of the gorgeous decorations

Amanda, Me, & Chelsea - my shower hostess who blew me away!
 

I seriously can't say enough how wonderful it was. I wanted the shower to feel like home and to represent where I'm from and the girls nailed it. It was perfectly southern. The weather was gorgeous, the food was great and the company was even better. Special thank you to my mom and Tom for letting us crash Tom's beautiful home as our venue.

Of course, it was also just on time because I am officially on travel restriction. The next time we make a trip back to Charleston we will be a family of 5! C-R-A-Z-Y

I also want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who came and made our day that much more incredible. It was all around perfection and we feel so loved. God has blessed us with the most amazing family and friends and that doesn't every go unnoticed. We had several wonderful people who couldn't make the shower but took the time to send notes, gifts, and well wishes and that was so incredibly thoughtful!

I can't wait to meet the babies and I can't wait for all of these wonderful people to meet them too!

27(ish) week update...

How far along? I am way late on my weekly post but today I am 27 weeks 4 days.

Total weight gain: I had to go to the doctor last week so I know I am officially up 22lbs. I couldn't believe what I saw when I got on the scale. Not that 22lbs is a lot of gain with twins but that it all happened in the last 2 months!

Sleep: Oh sleep. How I miss thee. Falling to sleep has become a miserable task. Most nights I lay in bed until about 1 am moving, adjusting, trying to crack my knees or hips. It really has become a fight. There have been a lot of midnight baths to try and relax and help me to fall asleep. I honestly think it's a mix of the inability to get comfortable and my racing brain.

How big are the twins this week? Big. Or at least they feel that way. I will get a weight on them at my normal check up appointment tomorrow but according to my app they are probably around 2.5 lbs each.

I forgot to take my weekly picture but here is a picture of me (in the mint dress) from the shower with my friend Amber who is about 3-4 weeks behind me with her 3rd.

Peak of the week: My baby shower in Charleston. I will do a post for it soon. It was incredible.

Pit of the week: Last week I wasn't feeling "right" and decided to give my doctor a call. Since we were going out of town I just needed to know everything was ok. I ran through my symptoms and was told by the nurse I needed to come in right away. (Never a good feeling) When I got there I saw a doctor I hadn't seen before and he ran a series of tests. Long story short I have an antibody in my blood that can become harmful to me and the babies if the levels get to high. I knew about this a few months ago but after monitoring it for a while it seemed to be nearly gone. Well it came back. After testing, meds, and stress the 3 of us are fine and will just be kept under watch. It became stressful but I am confident that it will be ok so I'm not going to worry to much. That's that.

Miss Anything? full lungs, sleep, laying on my back. :)

Cravings: Eating has become a chore, so I haven't been craving much. I think in the last week I've had 3 PBJ smoothies from Planet Smoothie so I guess we can call that a craving. :)

Symptoms/Labor signs: Nothing new. Same stuff.

Looking forward to: The weekend and our Orlando baby shower - we are really just overwhelmed with all of the support people have given us and the babies. The nursery is filling up!

26 week update...

Just call me big momma, ha!
 

How far along? 26 weeks 1 day!

Total weight gain: I honestly would rather not know this week. If you ask my back it would tell you my stomach weighs 1000 pounds.

Sleep: It's been up and down - rough at the start but last night I slept like a champ! 

How big are the twins this week? About the size of a butternut squash apparently. I have somewhere between 5 & 6 pounds of baby in there. They are growing and I am feeling it! By the way, if you're pregnant and looking for a good app for your phone I really love the OviaPregnancy App. It has so many great resources and helpful information. The twins are beginning to open their eyes this week and all major organs are developed and working at this stage of pregnancy. From here on out my body is just working to fatten them up for strength and immunity. I can't believe it.

Peak of the week: Our shower thrown by one of my super awesome friends/co-worker. It was for all of my co-workers and we had a great time. Not to mention all of the awesome baby gifts! Here is a quick group shot (although a bunch of people had left already)...

Thank you Denise for a wonderful evening!

Pit of the week: So far in this pregnancy I have been able to pretty much eat whatever I felt like without any issue. Tuesday night, after the work shower, I woke up at about 2 am in misery. What I thought must be heartburn quickly turned into a full on war on my stomach. It was a rough 12-14 hours but I managed. Since then I have had heartburn off and on but with watching what I eat and some pregnancy approved heartburn meds I am feeling MUCH better.

Miss Anything? Flexibility - I'm not asking to do a split but at this point I can't touch (or see) my toes. Simple everyday tasks are becoming impossible. When I drop something on the ground I just stare at it for while. Putting on pants requires a post game nap. Shaving my legs is a job I have to mentally prepare for.

Cravings: This week it has become a little harder to eat. Things are feeling so full in there. It's a strange thing to feel both starving and full at the same time. I haven't really had any particular cravings. By dinner time I typically have to force myself to eat.

Symptoms/Labor signs: Contractions are back. My stomach gets crazy hard and you can see it tighten up! My back has been really bad this week again - I need to give in and go get a belly band support thing.

Looking forward to: Getting the nursery substantially complete this weekend *hopefully* - I made a to do list of tasks that need to be done before I hit 30 weeks and I want to try to knock some of that off this week. I am also looking forward to our trip to Charleston next weekend! It's our Charleston baby shower and my last weekend where I am allowed to travel! It's crazy to think this will be my last trip home before I am a mom of 3. I can't believe how quickly the last few months have gone. Of course I also can't wait to see everyone and celebrate the babies next weekend. <3