Update (including bump pics!)

There's been quite a bit going on since my last update.  Here's a run down of what we've been doing:

• Travel:  Matt spent about 2 weeks traveling for work.  His trips to him to Las Vegas and Dublin, Ireland.  I'm really glad those trips are done!  In the weeks leading up to his trips I really dreaded him leaving.  Thankfully he doesn't have to travel often.  I'm hoping there are no more trips for at least a year. 

• Daycare:  Over the past month, we've toured multiple day cares trying to find the "perfect" place for the girls.  What we've found is there is no perfect place, but we did find a place we really liked that met our requirements and our budget.  Since we need two spots in the same classroom, at the same time we needed to act fairly quickly.  So, as of yesterday our girls now have a spot on the waitlist at our daycare of choice.  

• Nursery:  Our ideas for the nursery are coming together.  We've picked the cribs, paint color, and fabric. We'll probably order the cribs in the next few weeks.  I've become a Craigslist fiend searching for deals on a couple of dressers and a glider.  My hard work paid off last weekend when I found a $600 glider for $150!

• New car:  This past weekend we traded in my 10 year old Honda Accord for a Toyota Highlander.  It was a bit bittersweet because the Accord was the first car I purchased all on my own.  The sadness didn't last too long as I drove off in my shiny new car.  I'm excited for the day when there are two babies in carseats sitting behind me.

• Bump:  I haven't posted any pics of the babies bump on here so I thought it would be fun to show the progress of the bump so far.  I got lazy on picture taking after 16.5 weeks, but I took one last night in an effort to start documenting it again.  The weight gain is a bit scary, but I'm right on track for the recommended weight gain for a twin pregnancy.  

GIRLS!

I know I've already announced this on Twitter, but I thought I would document the "big reveal" a bit more here.  

Say "Hello!" to Baby Girl A 

and Baby Girl B!

We are still in debates about their names.  Our plan is to wait to share names when they are born.  Before we knew their genders, M was calling them Barack and Michelle.  Since Barack isn't a great name for a baby girl, I think we'll have to come up with new nicknames for them.  

Both girls were wiggling all over the place during the ultrasound.  I feel them occasionally, but nothing close to the moving and shaking that is going on in there.  As of Friday, Baby B was positioned so that she was kicking her little sister in the head pretty frequently.  I guess the sibling battles are already beginning in there.  Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come!

Both girls looked absolutely perfect during the ultrasound.  It was so amazing how much we were able to see.  There were several points where I had to ask if the things the ultrasound tech was commenting on was normal.  I had no idea there were actually supposed to be fluid pockets in the brain. Talk about a split second of panic!

As of Friday, Baby A was measuring right on target at 17 weeks 6 days and Baby B was measuring a bit ahead at 18 weeks 5 days.  I'm really happy with those measurements.  We will have monthly growth scans from here on out.  I'm really excited to be able to see them every month and watch them grow and change.  

Now that we know we are going to have two little girls, this all seems more real and even more exciting.  If you follow me on Pinterest, you already know I've gone a bit crazy with nursery ideas.  I can't wait to start painting and decorating.  

In addition to the fun stuff, we've started doing a lot of reading.  Right now, I'm reading Mothering Multiples. It's super informative and I think it's going to be really helpful when it comes to breastfeeding.    

We are so incredibly happy!  M has already started the habit of asking "How are my girls?" every day when we wake up and when he comes home.  It melts my heart every single time.  

Cravings and the less discussed aversions

It seems like the standard questions when someone finds out you are pregnant are:

-Was it a surprise? (ha! hardly!)

-When are you due? (Late March/Early April)

-What are you having? (Puppies! No really, we don't know yet.)

-Have you had any cravings?

I've really been surprised at my lack of cravings.  The only thing that I can think of that I've actually craved is Baba Ghanouj (hummus-like eggplant dip) from Neomonde.  I think I've eaten it at least 3 or 4 times in the past 6 weeks.  Thankfully M likes to eat there too!  I did have a slight sushi craving the other day and was able to satisfy it with a California Roll, but a spicy tuna roll would be divine.

You always hear about pregnancy cravings in movies, books and tv shows.  Something that I've never really heard much about are the aversions.  I'm not a huge meat eater normally, but the pregnancy has made it nearly impossible.  The idea of chicken and pork is completely disgusting to me.  I made a chicken casserole when I was around 8 weeks along that M claims was delicious, but I told him we may never have it again because I was so nauseated while trying to cook it.  It still makes my stomach churn when I think about it.  Thankfully, I do still like burgers, steak, and most seafood.  

I pretty much eat the same two or three green veggies over and over.  Spinach, kale and green beans are about all that sounds good.  You can forget broccoli and asparagus. I can chew it, but can't seem to swallow it.  It's so weird!  Roasted broccoli has been my go to side dish for years. 

Aversions are definitely on the list of pregnancy weirdness that no one ever told me about.  Thankfully I still love ice cream!

Gender Poll

Our anatomy ultrasound is November 9th.  I honestly have no feeling one way or the other.  M really thinks at least one is a boy, but I think that's just wishful thinking on his part :)  First and foremost, we want healthy babies, but a boy/girl combo would be nice considering this is probably our only pregnancy.

What's your guess for Baby A and Baby B?