18 Weeks!!

I am a little late on this week's post, but since I'm not 19 weeks yet I figure that it still counts as being mostly on time!!

Week 18 has been pretty good overall! I really don't have any complaints at all to be honest. I went out shopping to look for maternity clothes over the weekend so that I'd have something cute to wear to Easter with Nathan's family. I must say that I HATE shopping for maternity clothes. Most places don't have any at all and the places that do  have maternity clothes only have 3 racks of overpriced clothes that just aren't me. I will admit that I'm kind of cheap about clothes though. There is no way that I'm going to spend $30 or more on a shirt that I will only wear for a couple of months when I would normally only spend $40-50 on a pair of jeans that I'd expect to wear for several years. I also generally prefer simple clothes. Jeans and a plain colored short sleeved shirt or tank top.  I ended up finding a shirt at Target that looked ok and bought it, but really it's completely not me at all and I still spent $20. Luckily I already bought a few pairs of jeans at Zulily for really cheap. Their maternity clothes are hit and miss. Normally they are still above my price range, but every once in awhile they have sales that fit my style and budget. With twins on the way I feel like I need to be extra careful about spending money! After that fiasco of a shopping trip, I ended up on just buying a handful of maternity shirts online at Old Navy since our store in town doesn't carry maternity. They had a good 25% off sale, so I felt pretty good about it in the end.

In other much more exciting news, we found out the genders of the babies!!! We decided to spend $50 and have an elective gender ultrasound done so that we could find out the genders before Easter  Unfortunately, I can't spill the beans yet because I know my mom reads the blog and she's not allowed to find out until this weekend. I promise to share with you guys once our immediate families know though. Here is a little preview of what my mom will be getting in the mail though to hold you over.

That's right Mom, you are getting two Easter eggs in the mail and you are forbidden to open that package until we are on Skype together!

Here is a picture of my twins' heads next to each other. Don't ask me about angles though cause it was really hard to even get a shot with both  babies in it. I am assuming that it's the top or back of their heads though since you can't see any facial features. Ultrasounds are really quite baffling though!

Here is my weekly survey and belly pics to wrap things up:

Weight: 142 (+6 lbs overall)
Due Date: August 22, 2013
Baby is the size of: A Bell Pepper! (note: all sizes are comparing the length of baby to a fruit)

Maternity Clothes?: Maternity pants all the time! I haven't even attempted to wear my regular jeans in a couple of weeks. I don't NEED maternity shirts yet, but anything that was originally form fitting definitely doesn't fit anymore. Looking forward to getting my shirts that I ordered online sometime soon.
Symptoms: Doing pretty well this week. My back is still sore, but much better than last week. There have been some less than exciting other symptoms that ended up requiring a t-shirt change as well. I am really kind of bummed that I only gained one pound this week. Honestly, it seems impossible. I am eating all the time! One night I ate a one pound steak plus potatoes and vegetables for dinner...yet here we are only one pound heavier than last week. 
Emotions: Happy!
Notable News or Events: Elective Gender Scan!

Movement?: Still really not sure. I think that whatever I was feeling before wasn't the babies though since they were still fairly low at the ultrasound. Last night I felt some weird thumps that might have been them...but it might have been gas too!! Ugh...who knows! I do know that one of the babies has an anterior placenta which acts like a pillow between their movement and me. 

Stretch Marks?: Just the one on my boobs so far. I have been trying to make myself use cocoa butter on my belly, but I only end up doing it 3 or 4 times a week because I hate the feeling of my shirt sticking to my belly. 

Upcoming Appointments: March 27 - So today! I switched so that I would have an appointment with my regular OB instead of the nurse practitioner since I have some questions and concerns I want to talk about.

What People are Saying: Nathan and I finalized our name choices last night!! I am sure that I will have much more to post next week after the big reveal!