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!

28 Weeks

Got a surprise at our 28-week ultrasound...3D images!  The tech asked if we had any 3D images done of the babies.  I told her that we hadn't and didn't really think anything of it...anyone I know who's had it done has gone to a separate ultrasound lab and paid extra for the images.  I thought it would be cool to see, but we're already having enough ultrasounds done, and they'll be here soon enough, that the cost didn't seem justified to me. A few minutes later the tech switched the machine over and started doing 3D views right there!

Twin A: 2 pounds, 11 ounces.  And cute as a button.  Just look at that profile!

Twin B: 2 pounds, 7 ounces.  Also cute as a button.  B was facing a different way and harder to get images of, but you can still see the cute face.

Tyson and I might be a bit biased, but we think we make pretty cute babies. 

Post Weekend

It was a Christmas-y weekend, which involved:

Making cranberry bars.  These are a must for this time of year.  And they've been my breakfast all week...

Going to see "A Christmas Carol".  One of our good couple friends scored some free tickets (win!), and the husband HAD NEVER SEEN "A CHRISTMAS CAROL" BEFORE.  Like, not even the Disney version.  He had no idea what it was about.   Luckily he enjoyed it, and it really was awesome.  Except when I went to the bathroom at intermission and the old lady behind me decided she had to chat me up because I'm pregnant.  Which wasn't necessarily so bad until she told me "Wow, you're huge already!" after finding out I still had a couple of months to go.  And yes, she knew by this point in our conversation that there are twins in there.  Gee, thanks...

Christmas present wrapping.  This year I used craft paper, burlap, baker's twine, and gift tags.  I already had the craft paper and burlap from last year, so all I had to buy was the twine and tags.  Directions: wrap gift with craft paper.  Cut a small square or length of burlap.  Hold burlap in place by winding around and around and around with baker's twine.  Add gift tag.  The end.  I'm picky with my gift wrapping.  The craft paper's great because it's so heavy, and the roll is so thick it lasts forever, which isn't bad for $4.99 a roll. And you can use it year round by tying with different ribbon, etc., unlike most Christmas paper, which tends toward the cheesy side.  Also clear gift wrap tape is a MUST.  Regular Scotch tape just won't do.