The Evolution of a Twin Nursery - Part 1: The Before!

This will theoretically (I make no promises) be a multi-part series on how we turn our empty extra bedroom into the boys' nursery.

Here's a little background information on our house and the room that we're turning  into the nursery. We bought the house last July after looking at what seemed like a million houses. Our last house was within Lansing's city limits and we wanted something that was outside of the city. We were also hoping to lower our mortgage payments by taking advantage of the current market, which was risky since we had to sell our old house as well. We technically took a loss on the house we sold, but we were able to pay off the mortgage just fine. One of the biggest challenges that we found was that we were used to living in a large house. Our last home was a 2,000 square foot ranch home and we just didn't want to give up much square footage. Ultimately we found the house that we're in now, a large and open cape cod style house about 20 miles outside of the city. The house was built in 2002, so it's a nice, newer home...but we bought it as a foreclosure and it was definitely not taken care of. We spent about 2 months of hard work making the house livable before we moved in. The tile in the kitchen and bathrooms was still good, but we ended up replacing all the rest of the flooring in the house. Nathan installed hardwood throughout the first and second story. Many of  the walls were riddled with holes as well, so Nathan and his cousin Tony did a ridiculous amount of drywall work and repair as well. I pretty much painted for a month straight!

This is what the nursery looked like after we took out the revolting carpets that were in it when we bought it.

My cousin Kerry rented the room that is currently our nursery from us for a few months while she was  working a temp job in the area and picked a bright blue for the walls.

The room after the drywall was repaired, it was painted blue, and the floors were done (trim is missing in these pictures but they are the only ones I have of the room in this incarnation).

As you can tell, the room is a very interesting shape due to it being a Cape Cod style home with the dormer windows. The room is roughly shaped like this:

After Kerry left, the room was pretty much just sitting empty since it had been our plan to turn it into a nursery. We ended up painting it last month and spent this weekend working on a special project that I can't wait to share with you! Hopefully I will get around to writing part 2 in the next several days since I am really excited about the progress we have made so far!!

[As I share the evolution of our nursery, please keep in mind that we are not artistic or fancy decorators. We are not "chic" people and while I can appreciate the beauty of a fancy nursery, that's just not us! We will be doing everything that we can ourselves and our budget is super low. I have little to no experience at decorating a home and it was never really my mom's thing either, so I have been making it up as we go ever since we got married. We are just focusing on turning this blank canvas of a room into a fun and playful space for the boys, so expect lots of improvisation, cutesy little touches, and a modest result in the end. ]

19 Weeks!!

Whoa...am I actually posting a blog post two days in a row?!?! Craziness!! Haha! I really have great intentions and lots of ideas about all the baby and family related thins that I want to post about. Unfortunately, I just seem to lack energy and motivation these days. We could blame it on the boys...but I think that would be pretty unfair. So, let's just say that I will do my best with this  blog and whatever comes out of it is great. I would love to be able to document my little guys growing up, but there's the time and energy issue along with the privacy issue. I suppose I will have to come up with a watermark of some sort if I intend to post a bunch of pictures of the twins (which I hope to) so that the photos don't get stolen. Anyways, these are all questions for a different day since today is about week 19!

Week 19 has been pretty great to be honest! We did the gender reveal with my mom and sister on Friday evening over Skype and it turned out great! They each opened up one of the eggs at the same time and announced what "their baby" was. It was so exciting to see their reactions in real time rather than trying to gauge their responses on the phone. They were both excited to finally know what genders the babies were and have already started talking about going shopping! It was a little bit of a relief to know that they were still excited since they both had hopes of girls. There have always been mostly girls in my family, so I think that's just what everyone expects. However, once they found out we had boys, they were just as excited which made me really happy!

Nathan and I also enjoyed the lovely weather on Friday. It was 50 degrees outside and sunny! Nathan came home from work early and we spent several hours outside throwing Thor's ball and had a little fire in the backyard. It is so nice not living in the city anymore so that we can sit around a fire whenever we want. I feel obligated to post a couple pictures of my "first baby," Thor. He was thrilled to have us outside playing fetch with him and he ran for hours!

We spent Easter Sunday with Nathan's extended family. We had lunch up at his grandparents' place with his parents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. It is the first time that we have been around most of them since we've been pregnant and it was actually kind of nice to be the center of attention. I don't have a fantastic relationship with my in-laws. It's not terrible, but we have had our ups and downs...so it was a relief to see everyone so excited about the twins. We got to surprise them by telling them that we knew the genders of the twins and that they would get to find out that day! 

I had originally made two yummy "strawberry shortcake cakes" as my gender reveal plan. We used food coloring to dye the cakes blue and planned to have his mom and grandma cut into them at the same time to announce the genders. Unfortunately, about 5 minutes after leaving our house, we went around a sharp corner and a large box fell on the cakes and they were smashed. Oh my goodness did I cry! It was an ugly cry too, with sobbing and wailing. The cakes were still edible since they had been covered in foil, but there was no hiding the fact that they were blue. In a last ditch effort we ran to Meijer (a local super store) and bought a basket, two yellow eggs, and some candy. The Easter section was very bare at this point in time, but we made do. I made up the eggs in the car on the way there and we went with an egg reveal like we did with my family. 

Our cakes before they were ruined. They had blue cake with strawberry filling, whipped cream frosting, and fruit on top. I don't have a picture of the cakes after the disaster, but I promise that they still tasted good.

Haha...Nathan handing the basket to his mom and grandma.

The reactions to seeing blue candy in the eggs!

Our egg reveal went well and everyone was really happy. Nathan's dad kept telling us that he KNEW it was twin boys. He had predicted it from the very beginning! 

We spent most of the day with his family eating, talking, and playing cards. Nathan's mom is giving us a great rocking recliner that they don't need anymore to put in the babies' room since a traditional glider won't work very well for breastfeeding two babies at once. There was also some talk of a family get together/baby shower to celebrate the babies in early July!! After the drive home (a little over an hour), Nathan and I sat down to enjoy the season finale of The Walking Dead followed by the season premiere of A Game of Thrones. 

WEEK 19

Weight: 145 (+9 lbs overall)
Due Date: August 22, 2013
Baby is the size of: A Large Heirloom Tomato (note: all sizes are comparing the length of baby to a fruit)

Maternity Clothes?: Definitely wearing maternity pants all the time and I have been wearing some maternity shirts as well this past week! I can still fit into some of my pre-pregnancy shirts, but it won't be long before they are too short. 
Symptoms: Doing good for the most part, but definitely suffering from some soreness and general abdominal pain. I think it's from all the muscles stretching. My back is also quite sore by the end of the day. 
Emotions: Happy!
Notable News or Events: Telling everyone that we are having BOYS!!

Movement?: I think so!!! I'm still not 100% sure, but I have been feeling little popcorn popping feelings and some nudges that make me think I'm really feeling them. I guess it could still technically be gas, but I'm starting to feel pretty confident that what I'm feeling is babies!

Stretch Marks?: Just the one on my breasts so far. Not sure how long my tummy will hold out, but it's looking ok as of right now.

Upcoming Appointments: Anatomy Scan and follow up appointment on April 10th. 

What People are Saying: We got lots of congratulations and excitement from everyone when we told them that we were having boys!! We were also told "You're going to have your hands full!" about 50 times. I am sure  that this is true, but I think we'd have our hands just as full no matter what genders the babies were. My sister was thrilled to call the babies her nephews and there was lots of talk about dinosaurs and camo by some of our friends. 

Twin Gender Reveal!!!

The twins are.....

BOYS!!!!

We are very, very happy to officially announce that we are expecting twin  BOYS! I never pictured myself as a "boy mom" and both my husband and I were hoping for at least one girl, but honestly as soon as we found out that they were both boys, everything changed. I know it sounds corny, but all of a sudden I couldn't picture it any other way. Of course they are boys and they are exactly who we were meant to have as our children. Everything feels so much more real now. I can imagine what life with them will be like now! I have also really enjoyed calling the babies by their first names.  Follow my blog with Bloglovin

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!

17 Weeks and Growing!

We've made it to 17 weeks!! Honestly, every week feels like a little miracle. These babies are such an amazing gift and I feel so blessed to still be pregnant. I think that too many women take their pregnancies for granted. Mind you, I wish that I was still naive about the things that can go wrong.  I had my own early loss and through that I have met so many women who have dealt with late miscarriages and stillbirths. Perhaps that knowledge and those relationships is why I worry so much, but I wouldn't change it. It sounds weird, but I know that without that first heartbreaking loss, I wouldn't have my twins. I still mourn the what ifs of that baby, but I know that I am on the path that I was meant to be on.

I had no intention of this becoming a sappy post, but there it is...I am completely in awe of this pregnancy and the little lives growing inside me. I am not really sure, but in the last couple of days I have started feeling odd sensations in my stomach. They have been a little higher than where I've been finding babies' heartbeats though...so I am not getting my hopes too high yet. The babies are growing, growing, growing and should now measure approximately 5 inches long from crown to rump (which means head to butt, so that doesn't count their little legs), so it's entirely possible that it really is the first sign of movement in there. If it's not, I know it should happen within the next several weeks. I am so eager to feel them moving and know that it will make me feel even more connected to the pregnancy than I already am! I will say that having the doppler and being able to find and listen to their heartbeats (one on each side of my belly now!) is the most amazing thing in the world. I normally wait to listen for the day until Nathan gets home so that I can share the moment with him. It makes me feel even closer and more connected to the babies and I hope that it does the same for him.

We also started working on the nursery this weekend!! We picked out our primary paint color and Nathan primed and painted the room. I intended to help paint since we purposely bought low VOC paint, but honestly the smell of the paint was just too much. I've always had a strong sense of smell, but now it's crazy! I will post some pictures soon to share our nursery progress with you.

I also have a post planned to share some of my craftier baby projects with everyone. I don't have a ton done yet, but I'm suddenly in the mood to make things for the babies and am really happy with how things are turning out. It's so exciting to actually be able to start doing things for these little ones, it definitely makes it seem more real that we will have two babies this summer!

Now, onto my weekly pregnancy update:
17 Weeks!!

Weight: 141 (+5 lbs overall)
Due Date: August 22, 2013
Baby is the size of: A turnip (note: all sizes are comparing the length of baby to a fruit)

Maternity Clothes?: I got my second pair of maternity jeans in the mail at the end of last week and they fit much better than the first pair. I also got a pair of capris for the spring and summer even though it's WAY too cold to wear them now. I tried on my first maternity shirt and I think it will still be a week or two before it fits quite right. I am small busted, so that's actually where most of the fit problem is at. Luckily most of my shirts are made of stretchy cotton and will fit for awhile longer. 
Symptoms: Tired and achy mostly, but overall doing alright! Sleeping is fairly uncomfortable and so is staying in any position for a long time, but as long as I can readjust every 15 minutes or so I am doing ok! I have also had a pretty big appetite this last week as evidenced by gaining 3 whole pounds in a week! I'm honestly not concerned at all about weight gain, especially since I know that I should have gained a lot more than I have by now with twins. So hopefully that trend of 2-3 pounds per week will continue for awhile. 
Emotions: Optimistic and thankful! 
Notable News or Events: Painting the nursery!

Movement?: Not sure. Nothing that I can be certain is fetal movement, but some new unique sensations that have me wondering!

Stretch Marks?: I got my first stretch mark this week and it's on my breasts of course. I have always been very small busted and have only gone up MAYBE one cup size, but apparently that was enough. 

Upcoming Appointments: March 26

What People are Saying: People are mostly excited about the fact that we should be finding out the genders of the babies in the next several weeks! 

15 And 16 Weeks

So I failed to get a blog post up for 15 weeks, but I did take my picture and still remember what was going on...so it's probably not too late!

Week 15 was pretty uneventful for the most part. Not a lot new happened. My belly grew some and I continued to be able to hear my little ones on my doppler at home.

Week 16 on the other hand, was stressful. The week was mostly good...but on Sunday I ended up having to go to OB Triage at the hospital due to spotting. Now, I know that spotting in pregnancy can be very normal, but with my past miscarriage I was terrified. I called the after hours line for my OB's office and the doctor on call said that she thought it was probably ok, but since she could tell how worried I was that I should head to the hospital and have things checked out. It ended up being a sensitive, irritated cervix and the spotting has stopped since then. While we were there we did get to see the twins on a quick ultrasound (sorry, no pics since it was an emergency sort of scan). Both babies were moving around like crazy in there. We could see them kicking each other and even punching at my stomach. It was so surreal to see a baby hitting me and not be able to feel it! So, the week has been rather stressful overall, but the babies are still looking ok and I am hoping that we won't have any repeat episodes.

Week 15

Weight: 137 (+ 1 lbs overall)
Due Date: August 22, 2013
Baby is the size of: An Apple (note: all sizes are comparing the length of baby to a fruit)

Maternity Clothes?: Same as before, just maternity jeans.
Symptoms: Sore breasts and random cravings.
Emotions: Felt alright this week. Time sure seems to be dragging though.
Notable News or Events: Honestly, not a lot happened.

Movement?: Not yet.

Stretch Marks?: Still too early.

Upcoming Appointments: March 26

What People are Saying: Not too much. My mom is always very interested in how I am feeling though.

Week 16

Weight: 138 (+ 2   lbs overall)
Due Date: August 22, 2013
Baby is the size of: An avocado (note: all sizes are comparing the length of baby to a fruit)

Maternity Clothes?: Just maternity jeans for now. My regular shirts still fit, but I expect I will have to switch to maternity shirts in the next several weeks. The belly just isn't growing very fast yet.
Symptoms: Tired and generally speaking uncomfortable. There was the unfortunate spotting incident. I also had my first middle of the night, pregnancy leg cramp and that was a little rough. 
Emotions: It's been a roller coaster of a week. Everything from being terrified, to relieved, as well as starting to feel excited about the emerging baby bump.
Notable News or Events: Saw the babies at the ultrasound in the hospital. It was quick, but such a relief!

Movement?: Not yet.

Stretch Marks?: Still too early.

Upcoming Appointments: March 26

What People are Saying: My mom and sister have been great this past week. They have both dedicated lots of phone time to raising my spirits and talking about the babies in general. 

14 Weeks!

Well, I'm technically 15 weeks now...but I have been good about taking my weekly photos at least. My 14th week was actually pretty painful overall. I guess everything is stretching or growing, because I have been having lots of random sharp pains. I ended up going to my doctor's appointment on Monday just to make sure everything was ok instead of waiting until Friday and heartbeats were good on the doppler and these sorts of pains are completely normal according to the doctor I saw. Other than that, the week was rather uneventful.
14 Weeks!!

Weight: 136 (+ 0 lbs overall)
Due Date: August 22, 2013
Baby is the size of: A lemon (note: all sizes are comparing the length of baby to a fruit)

Maternity Clothes?: Same as before. I did order another pair of maternity jeans, some maternity capris for when it gets warm, and my first maternity shirt because Zulily was having a maternity sale and I am way too cheap to pay full price for clothes that I'll only wear for a few months!
Symptoms: Fatigue, sore breasts, and lots and lots of random aches and pains this week.
Emotions: Feeling ok. It's been a few weeks since I saw the babies last and it will be 5 more until I see them again...so the worry is coming back a little. Still feeling positive overall, but it's so hard not knowing what's going on in there!
Notable News or Events: Both babies had heart rates in the low 150s at my OB appointment on Monday.

Movement?: Not yet.

Stretch Marks?: Still too early.

Upcoming Appointments: End of March.

What People are Saying: Just general "how are things going?" sorts of questions this week.