They're Here!

It really happened...the twins are here!

Introducing Caden David and Brooklyn Marie.

Arrived the morning of February 20th, 2014.

Caden (Twin A): Born at 6:47 am.  5 pounds, 3 ounces.  18 1/2 inches long.  Cuddly. Particular.  And oh so handsome.

Brooklyn (Twin B): Born at 6:49 am.  5 pounds, 4 ounces.  Also 18 1/2 inches long.  Calm. Adorable.  Very alert.

Proud daddy and his cuddle buddy Caden.

Sweet mama with her bundle of cuteness.

We are absolutely smitten with them.  There is no other word for it.  We are smitten and oh so blessed.

Coming soon: their birth story.  For now we are resting, recovering, and enjoying time meeting these new little people of ours.

The Twins' Nursery

Since we live in an apartment, I knew that we weren't going to be doing any major overhauls to create a nursery, i.e. no painting, new flooring, heavy-duty wall shelving, etc. I decided early on to roll with it, and keep the neutral theme running.  And then one day it came to me-to use gold as an accent.  I fell in love with the idea as soon as I thought of it, and love that the gold adds variation in sheen and texture, while still being relatively neutral.  This room has quickly become my favorite in our entire apartment, possibly because it's the only one I have done completely from scratch (as in no existing furniture or anything to work with).  It gets just enough soft light from the skylight, and feels so calming and soothing even to me.  Hopefully the twins will feel the same way!

Cribs: Babyletto Modo 3-in-1

Gold decals: Made with gold contact paper and this circle cutter.

Glider: Babyletto Madison Swivel Glider.  I LOVE this thing.  It is so soft and comfortable, and glides so easily.  Sometimes I just sit up here and take deep breaths and relax...this really is my favorite spot in our entire place!

Pouf: Moroccan Embroidered Pouf

We live in an apartment with a loft, so daddy's desk is visible and just on the other side from the nursery.  He can keep an eye on those kiddos while he is up late working on graduating. ;)

Bookcase: Target Threshold Carson Horizontal Bookcase.  I swear these kids have more books already than I do...and I haven't bought a single one!  I guess that's what comes from having a librarian as a grandma.

Storage bins and gold lamp both from Target, though I couldn't find links for them online.

Both these wooden toys and gold trays were made by my dear friend Crystal.  I love them all!

I actually knew I wanted to do something with giraffes in the nursery even before becoming pregnant.  I don't know what it is about them, but I love giraffes, and I thought it would be fun for a boy or a girl.  But THEN we found out that our one baby was actually not just one baby at all, so I chose to pair an elephant with the giraffe as part of the theme.  

Elephant print: Animal Print Shop Baby Elephant

Giraffe print: Animal Print Shop Baby Giraffe No. 3 Horizontal

Frames: Target Threshold Frame with Mat-Walnut

Changing Table/Dresser: Babyletto Modo 3 Drawer Changer Dresser

Changing Pad Cover: Aden + Anais Up, Up & Away (also have the Aden + Anais Jungle Jam Giraffe)

I plan to keep expanding this wall with more frames and pictures once the twins are born, as we get more and more photos taken of them and our little family.

Artwork: Shower gift.

Frames: Target Room Essentials

Stuffed animals: Shower gift

Elephant/Star Sheets: Aden + Anais Up, Up & Away

Giraffe Sheets: Aden + Anais Jungle Jam Giraffe

This is still a work in progress as there are some other things I would still like to do but can't until these little guys are born and we find out just who they are!  Obviously the photo wall which I mentioned above will be a continuous project, but I also want to get one of these banners with their names on it and one (or both, as the case may be) of these cute prints.  

Can't wait for these little ones to get here (36 weeks and counting...)!

Maternity Photos

I wasn't sure if I wanted to do maternity photos or not.  Well, I wanted to, but my mind went back and forth...I mean, aren't they kind of cheesy?  Cheesy or not wouldn't I be sad if I didn't have them down the road?  Yeah but isn't all that documenting of your baby bump kind of overdone and lame?  BUT this is kind of killing two birds with one stone since it is maternity photos for our first TWO kids...etc., etc., etc.  In the end, I decided that I would definitely rather have them than not, and we found a fantastic, yet very reasonably priced photographer, who offered a newborn/maternity package.  At something like fifty extra dollars, it seemed well worth it.  And seeing the results, I am SO glad we did.

I mean, let's be honest, there is still a certain cheesiness factor.  Really, there are only so many ways you can hold and gaze adoringly at your protruding stomach.  However I'm fully clothed and all, so that helps to downgrade the tackiness factor.

I have a cheeky look on my face here...though I feel like this could just be my trademark facial expression.

See, once you add the hubby in, this is where the cheesiness factor starts to go up.

It was f-ing FREEZING and WINDY by this time.  Definitely questioning the intelligence of the "outside in the snow (because it will be so PRETTY!) with no coat" look.  Though to be fair, I don't really have a jacket that buttons or zips all the way anyway, so it's kind of a moot point.

You can tell from my fake smile here that I'm about at my breaking point.  Tyson, on the other hand, looks fresh and warm and normal since he got to wear normal winter attire pretty much this whole time and just had to jump in for a few shots.

And, in the end, it IS pretty to be outside in the cold and the snow.  Unless the weather is like it is today.

Ain't nothin pretty about any weather report that includes the description "Bitterly cold".

Post-Weekend

This was the perfect weekend to camp in.  Seriously, who ordered in two+ weeks of these arctic temperatures?  Windchill of 45 below?  That shouldn't even be allowed.  It felt like a long weekend since I worked from home today...as of now I have been in our apartment for 30 hours and counting.  I'm about ready to go stir-crazy, but not quite yet...

Finished up some thank-you notes from the previous weekend's shower in the Twin Cities. And drank coffee (decaf, of course).

Cookie dough...

Baked cookies...

Cooling cookies.  

Also, I have never owned a cooling rack.  Just doubled-up paper towels.  It's probably something that would make my life easier but that I never think of buying until I am in the middle of baking cookies.  Another also, I just read the most interesting article about the science of chocolate chip cookie making.  I want to try out his recipe and some of his findings some day, but yesterday pregnant me just said, "Warm chocolate chip cookies. Now."  So I obeyed.

What's that?  Ain't no thang...just my new DSLR camera (and a 30-week pregnant-with-twins belly).  Christmas/b-day present courtesy of the in-laws.  I'd been wanting one for awhile but had only mildly delved into researching the specs and options out there.  I'm pretty happy with it.  Let's be honest, I'm mostly going to use it to take photos of food, our place, hubby, and babies, so I don't need anything super fancy.  Too many options would just be unnecessary and confusing.  I've had fun playing with it a bit, and so far, so good.

Christmas Break

It was definitely hard to go back to work on Thursday and Friday this past week after having 12 straight days off (the benefit of actually taking four work days off, interspersed with weekends and holidays).  At least I was able to ease back in with a short week.

Everyone kept saying to enjoy our last "quiet Christmas" before the babies come.  No.  I felt like this was our ONLY quiet Christmas.  Tyson and I went to the Twin Cities and stayed there with my family for the entire twelve days.  All of our other Christmases together (all seven of 'em...including when we were dating) consisted of driving to the Twin Cities and Sioux City from either Ames or Madison and then being only a few days in each place with full driving days in between.  Not exactly relaxing when you're packing, unpacking, re-packing, packing more, driving, holiday celebrations, and seeing (or trying to see) approximately 34,897 different people that you don't usually see and/or are also home for the holidays...

Quiet, minimalist Christmas tree.  Pre-lit tree + ribbon = done.

Tyson before his Christmas straight shave/haircut (he's totally rocking what us Minnesotans term "hockey hair")...

...and after.  From bum to respectable citizen people.  Or actually from bum to looking like a 12-year old.  He's still cute.  :)

New Year's Eve Wild game.  Meh...we lost.  Scored our only goal in the last 8 seconds...not exactly what I would call a riveting game.

But the biggest excitement of going home was seeing mom and dad's new digs!  Designed by yours truly.  Remodeled kitchen, plus addition.  It's not quite done yet...and excuse the messes in each of the photos, which are a combination of Christmas things/Baby Shower Stuff/items not unpacked or put away into the cabinets quite yet.  I should have better ones when we are back in April and things are more complete!

Hard to believe this space used to be both the kitchen AND dining room.  Yeesh.

Sparkly countertop.

Two-way fireplace!

Dad chillaxin in the new space.  I think my mom has told me about three dozen times how much she loves her new place, and that it should be "featured in a magazine"...we'll see what we can do about that.

And now that we're on THIS side of the holidays, babies sure seem like they are coming soon.  Only 4-8 weeks to go!  We've gone from saying that the twins are coming "sometime in February" to saying that they are coming "sometime next month".  Plus having babies in 2014 sounded all far away when it was still 2013...but now that it is 2014...well, that's this year!