Pretend play

My little girl has taken pretending to new levels. She will howl like a dog, and not just when she's playing. Randomly, in the car, at the store, eating at a restaurant. Sometimes she gets someone to play along with her. She'll say, I'll be the cat and you be the dog. Then there will be chorus of mews and woofs. At the end, she pats me and says good boy.
In the bathtub, she is a little fish, and I am a fish. She does not and will not refer to me as mama during this time.

I'm putting myself on modified bed rest. This Texas heat is doing a huge number on me. We took Adi to the park this morning, and just walking up a small hill caused a pretty nasty contraction that brought about a lot of pressure down there. I haven't had one that involved that kind of pressure. Usually my belly just tightens. So that scared me and I'll now be spending as much time onthe couch that I can handle. In other pregnant news, heartburn is currently winning against my body. I waddle too much. And I'm having mild swelling in my ankles. All in all, not bad for a pregnant woman carrying twins in the awful Texas heat.

Wedding Blues

Went to my cousin's wedding last night. It didn't start until 7pm so I was already nervous about how Adi would act. We got there a half hour early, and she did alright for about ten minutes. Then she would randomly end up sprawled out on thefloor. We took our seats farthest from the exit (big mistake) but we did situate ourselves in front of a couple with a little girl, maybe 2 yrs old. Adi played with her for a good while. Then her parents wised up, right before the ceremony and took her out, knowing very well how a toddler acts. I was not so wise. I decided to stick it out. We made it through the procession, prayer, and all of the scripture readings. Then it went downhill fast. The iPhone she was playing with wasn't equipped with kid friendly games, and was working super slow, then she dropped her paper fan ( the wedding was elegant, black and white, with oriental paper fans) and when I went to pick it up, she flipped out because she wanted to pick it up, only to stomp on the floor and hear her shoes make an echo though the building. So anyways, the pastor started talking about how in marriage there are sacrifices, just as Adi threw her fit. He played it off really well talking about the sacrifices made to one another and when having children ( case in point me). As I was hastily exiting,she started screaming that she wanted to be a listener. Poor thing, she tries to be good, but the toddler just takes over sometimes. We waited just outside of the ceremony room, and received countless pity looks from each person leaving.
She did better during the reception. She actually ate the mac and cheese the caterer made specially for her. There were a few other kids there, but they were allolder or younger than her. Poor thing always seems to be stuck in the middle. Since the wedding started late, by the time the reception really started going it was late. Adi ended up rollingon the floor and pretending to be a frog. But to give her credit, she did last until 10pm. I was exhausted.
We went to bed late, Adi tossed and turned, head butted me in the nose, and mumbled allnight. Then woke up promptly at 6:45am.
Oh my goodness.

Texas Road Trip

Today we drove from Dallas to Houston for my cousin's wedding and this is one way Adi entertained herself. She also played the 'throw things at you and yell BAM' game. For a toddler she did amazing on a four hour car trip.
We stopped in Corsicana and ate at an old school sandwich and cookie place. Great food besides the fact that they put pecans in everything.
I did great on the trip too. No swelling until after the car ride and after encountering Houston's 103 degrees with insane humidity. Now my large lady feet look tiny compared to my ankle, leg combo that is grossly huge and covered in mosquito bites that have also grown larger than a half dollar. There's something wrong with this picture. Don't worry, I have my feet up, Adi is in bed, and my parents are watching the USA Japan softball game on ESPN2.
Speaking of interesting television programming, I've missed Spanish channels. Today we found the Univision version of Supermarket Sweep. It was awesome.
Headed to a wedding tomorrow. Found a maternity dress that doesn't make me look like a hot air balloon. I'll let you all know how it all works out.

Texas

Adi and I made it to Texas yesterday. Both of us did better on the flight than expected. She didn't sleep but kept herself entertained, and I only got dizzy on the descent. We ended up having an hour to kill before boarding, and I have to say that moving sidewalks, escalators, etc, are a mom's best friend. We rode the sidewalk countless times. But that only took up a half an hour. The rest of the time I let Adi play the kid apps on my tablet, which I will have to find some that don't need the internet to work. Only a handful of the games I had as my safety net with Adi worked. Any suggestions?
My feet didn't swell on the flight, which I was worried about. I was crazy hungry and thirsty. Adi's nose got a little bloody on the flight. I don't think it had anything to do with flying itself, but the dry air. She woke up this morning with thesme thing, and it's happened a few other times.
It's a shame that airlines don't feed you anymore. I remember the days when you would get a meal if your flight was during breakfast, lunch,or dinner. They didn't even hand out peanuts this time. I'll have to either pack a cooler for the trip up to Alaska or buy the inflight food. I'll need a good pregnancy food strategy.

We went swimming to beat this Texas heat. Guess what, my maternity bathing suit,does not, I repeat, does not cover my belly. Yay

Everyone who has little kids knows how stressful it is to get your littleone to sleep in a new place. Adi and I are sharing a bed, and with lots of family around, we have tofind other ways to get in our bedtime routine. At home we have a bath, then read books on the couch and go to bed. With so many people here the couch isn't the quietest place. So we read onthe bed. Adi thought I was trying to make her go to sleep without reading first, so tgat took some coaxing. Then she wanted me to lay down and sleep with her after book time. But eventually, she laid down and fell asleep. There wasn't as much of a struggle as I thought there'd be. Fingers crossed tonight goes the same.

Toddler Sleep Habits

My two and a half year old does sleep through the night, for the most part. Who knows the reason, could be because of our big Alaska move tomorrow, but Adi has been waking up only a few hours after being down. Thats perfect timing for my bladder. I usually have to pee around then. The only problem is, a few hours after that I need to go again, then a few hours again. Can you believe that I am so afraid that me getting up and walking on our squeaky floors will wake her up. Now I bet you're skeptical about that theory, but I do have a little proof. Twenty five percent of the time, if I wake up to pee, and yes our floors are ridiculously squeaky, Adi will wake up fifteen minutes later. So unless it gets unbearably uncomfortable, I wait it out.

The few nights that I've beenable to hold it, and Adi's slept, I've had a full uninterrupted nights sleep. Ah bliss. But when she does wake up, after I get her to go back to sleep, I struggle to fall asleep myself. You see, nighttime is when the twins are most active. So now I'm trying to relax into the blanket and all I can focus on is the cage match happening in my belly. Fingers crossed, they don't have this same sleep schedule when they arrive.

Here is a twin pregnancy-ism. Or tmi, I'm not sure of the boundaries. When i sit on the toilet, my feet and legs get tingly, like they're falling asleep. I'm not in there for long even. Strange.

Today is my last day in North Carolina. Yesterday we packed like mad, and I had contractions to match. I will do my part today, but work at a largely pregnant womans pace.

Hats and Flickers

I haven't felt the twins move much today. A few flicks here and there, butnot the Royal Rumble that I'm used to. Granted I've not really given myself the time to sit still and do kick counts or anything until now. I'll let you know what I feel while I'm writing, so far,nothing. Maybe a bit more water, though I cannot imagine drinking any more water or peeing any more for that matter.

My stomach is also the size of, I don't know, something really small. Breakfast seems to be the only meal where I'm super limited. Oh there's the boy, little kicks up high. But like I was saying, breakfast and I ( or me not sure ) don't get along anymore. One egg is about all that I can stomach. Wait a half hour and have one piece of toast. But I have to start with the eggs, anything else makes me nauseous. Weird huh? Oh there's the boy again, twice, three times, again. wow looks like he either really likes breakfast talk or he hates me resting the tablet on my belly. Mmm I think I'll make breakfast for dinner tonight. Eggs and sausage and pancakes. Maybe put some blueberries in those.

And the girl chimes in followed immediately by the boy. That is what I'm used to. Ok looks like they're just fine in there.
My good friend from Keeperz (follow their blog) made the twins and Adi winter hats. I was excited, felt loved, and then the reality of the two heads filling those tiny hats and the big head filling the other. Two newborns and an all too independent toddler.


Can I do this? Yes, I know I can, I'll be a complete wreck for the most part, but I can do this.

Last Visit

Day
In five days I will be on a plane with my two year old heading to Texas. Family, wedding, shopping in real stores, swimming, eating real mexican food. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that a freak cold front will move through while I'm there. Well here's to hoping.

Today I had my last appointment here in North Carolina. I drank my glucose drink early this morning. It tasted like a flat orange soda. Finger prick for iron - good. Weight - good. Blood pressure - good. Cervix is high, long, and closed. I'll find out the results of the glucose test on Monday. I'll also have the rest of my medical records sent to Alaska then. Fingers crossed that all of my numbers are good. The doctor is extremely confident that I'll have a nice, long, and healthy twin pregnancy. She said that with this being my second pregnancy, and that Adi was such a large baby, not to mention the fact that she was a week late, that my uterus can handle these twins no problem.

Here's to the next twelve or fourteen weeks!


Night
We had an early dinner at Amos Howards, and I mean early, 4:30 early. Adi ordered for herself, " umm I would like to have a water please". There was also a lot of " oh boy that is yummy" and " wow this is delicious" coming from that two year old's mouth.
We've been potty training for a little while now. She does great here at home, usually stays dry during naps, but out in public, well she's generally too distracted to remember. But tonight, she asked to go potty. Nothing new there, she likes sitting on toilets, but she never goes. Until tonight. She went, she actually went to the potty!
This is a super proud momma.
On the car ride home, you would have thought that it was Adi who had been drinking and not the beer aficionado husband. She began shouting good luck out of the window to everything she saw, and then started singing happy birthday to ice cream and tacos.

Yes that is my child, and I am proud.