It feels like forever...

OK it feels like forever since I've made a post here.  The kids are now 2 months old.  I'm surviving the days when James isn't around.  It's a challenge but the kids are growing gaining weight and still alive, that says something I think.

The cats feel a bit left out but nothing right now we can do about it we only have so many pairs of hands.

Lessons learned include never go to the Dr's on your own, it's a nightmare!  Way to much stress to cope with.  Oh and inoculations suck!  Seeing your child going from happy smiling to crying her eyes out breaks your heart.

My children have the most amazing smiles, I melt when they beam at me.  I even cried this morning when I was looking at my youngest daughter grinning at me.  Oh I know this is going to be hard work and it is, but there is nothing like holding your child in your hands having her look directly into your eyes and smiling.

Getting bigger and paying attention...

So we finally switched Abi to soy formula and she seems to do much better.  Isabel is starting to focus on things and I even had her bouncing in time to some rock music that was playing.  It's nice to see her getting so animated.

I'm settling into a routine of sleep feed sleep feed...and trying to keep them awake a little during the day so they might sleep at night.

Trying to find the tricks of the parent trade...

Ok so I need learner signs or something.  It's hard work trying to get the kids to sleep in something other than our arms and to stay asleep.  I may have actually had a slight breakthrough this morning but we shall see...right now both of the bubas are asleep in their car seats and I've had more than 5 minutes with my hands free which is a miracle in itself.  The question is how long will it stay that way.  I honestly prefer the car seats right now given their tendency to spit because of the angle of the car seats (as I write one of the Abigail just provided me good reason for this).  Plus I have a good line of sight at the twins and can easily jump and take care of either of them, and it's a safe place for them to be sitting.  I also think they prefer the car seats as they are a little more enclosed.  I do plan eventually on moving them to the crib but for now the car seats seem to suffice and work better than most things we have tried.

5 weeks and Thanksgiving

Babies are getting older, Mum an Dad more tired.  But  the same time we are coping.  I took the girls for a walk today, I'm a little sore but healing well.

The top picture is Isabel the other Abigail.  Both are gaining weight, starting to follow objects, and gripe about gas.  Oh and I've finally figured out how to breast feed them at the same time!  That has been so hard trying to get them latched and supported without having 2 sets of hands.  Breast feeding and getting them to sleep at night has been some of the most trying experiences of our lives.  I swear they are gassy in the evenings and can take forever to settle down.

Given I'm not working the way we are doing things right now is Jagr takes the least fussy child with him to bed and I take the problem child of the evening and try to settle them.  That way he gets some sleep and I'm not worrying about him falling asleep at the wheel on the way to work in the morning, I can always cat nap during the day.

I was surprised by a phone call today by my girlfriend, she got to Portland midnight last night had Thanksgiving with her husbands family and yet still called us today as she had been thinking about us.  I can honestly say at this point she has and her family have been a huge support to us, I can't thank her enough and we love their company!  I think our girls are going to be thoroughly spoiled rotten by them :)

When to sleep

Well I find myself most of the time sleeping now on the sofa or in the recliner with a baby or two in my arms...not the most comfortable but at least I can manage an hour or two at a time and it adds up.  I knew we were in for a trying time but I don't think anything could have prepared us for this.

We think we have finally figured out the sleeping problems at night tho...overheating of baby.  After we got the apartment cooled down a bit and the babies in a layer less it worked like a charm.

Found out some disturbing news a couple of days about my ex-mother in law.  I couldn't stop crying all night.  She has deserved better in life, I know a lot of it was her decision but I can't help thinking the last few years she has taken care of others and has little cared for herself.  Myself included in that list of people she has helped.  I wish she had had some true happiness tho instead of having people mooching off of her have some genuine happiness and contentedness.  /sigh

Our first successful night!

Finally! We actually managed to get the kids to sleep in the crib last night...and get a fair amount of rest ourselves! Not sure why I don't think we did anything different, other than maybe hold the kids a bit longer till we tried to put them down. Even with my snoring we still managed to get some sleep. Got to figure out how we are going to do this when Jagr goes back to work tho. Not sure he can sleep too well in the bedroom, and I'm still half afraid we are going to miss the kids fussing in the night. A lot of that is to do with how tired and just falling into a pure exhausted sleep from which it would be hard to wake even the dead.

Otherwise it's hard to imagine that the girls are now a week and 1 day old and I really would have spent today just fretting and thinking about tomorrow when I should have had a scheduled c section. I kind of miss the feeling of them moving in my stomach...

Oh and I jumped on our scales at home and was shocked! I was around 286 the last time I was weighed at the Dr's office would have been the Thursday before the birth. My scales are trying to tell me I'm 245lbs... now I know I didn't put on that much weight but damn that seems off...not that I'm going to complain if it isn't a complete lie but sheesh! My starting weight was 272 so em yeah. If the scales aren't lying that's a good start for me towards getting back into shape and some reasonable weight. I'm determined to loose a lot of the excess weight and I'm motivated. The girls are just so wonderful and I want them to be proud of their Mum and I want to be active with them and carrying this much weight now I know that's not possible.

Right now I'm just busying myself doing little bits of housework here and there. Not that I'm saying we are untidy we aren't particularly but we have the areas we don't clean as well as we should. So I'm actually trying to get into better habits, like emptying the draining tray of items and trying to let it dry properly, specially now as I have to worry about baby bottles and hygiene more.

Learning curve for both us and the babies and cats

So we have been home now just over 24 hours...managed our first Dr's apt where of course we have to fill out duplicate forms for everyone /sigh first of many I'm sure.  The babies are still somewhat yellow in colour so they want us back on Saturday to do a weight and colour check again.  The Dr wasn't too worried tho as neither of them have really lost any weight and are eating pretty well.

Dad discovered that its a good idea to check to see if the nipple is properly tightened onto the bottle...after sitting there thinking to himself that wow Abigail was doing a great job of taking the expressed breast milk he then discovered that really most of what she thought she had drunk was now all down her instead of in her...ooops.

It's amazing how quickly time flies by!  We had a Dr's apt at 3:20 didn't get home until 5:30 then fed the babies again and it's already 6:30!  Where has the time gone?  Now time for Mum and Dad to get something to eat before the next round...

Twins!

Due to some unforseen circumstances with blood pressure, I had to take Lanari to the hospital on Saturday afternoon, and the twins were delivered that afternoon around 2:18pm Saturday.

Abigail Rose came first at 5 lbs, 3oz, and Isabel Katherine came in at 6 lbs

Sorry I have not had much time to get to an internet connection but here are some pictures of the twins. Twins are very demanding!

Mother and twins are doing fine, and Father is happy and tired

There is a picture of both of them in the crib- Abigail is on the left, and Isabel is on the right.

There is also some closeup shots of them also.

We will be posting more pictures and stuff online when we get a chance later this week. Also, grandparents will get photos emailed to them also

Been busy...

Glad I'm not working at this point. I think the babies have dropped a little and are sitting hard on my hips making it painful to stand/walk etc. but I'll survive.

Had a totally awesome baby shower over the weekend thank you to my girlfriend...sick as she was. We have most of the pieces now I think we need for the arrival of these two. My hospital visits and Dr appointments keep me busy enough and prevent me from going stir crazy. It's hard to think that in just over 2 weeks, if not sooner I will have 2 new additions to our family. I'm glad that James wasn't didn't rule out having a family :) I think if I was still working I would be cursing a lot now. Instead I am just enjoying my time off sleeping when I can. Enjoying the peace and quiet before the storm. The one thing I can't wait for right now tho are the storage draws I ordered earlier this week so I can actually get the rest of the clothes washed and bedding, but right now I have nowhere to put some of this stuff hehe.

Done with work

That was a sad day I loved my job /sniffle. Ah well 4 weeks of rest and then all hell will break loose I'm sure. Received some lovely flowers, a gift card, and an orchid. I know I need to put my feet up but still.

Jagr's car had some issues again on Friday...oddly enough he was on his way to the garage to get the problem fixed anyway. So it cost $8 in towing to get it to the garage and we have it back already and running a lot better than it was.

We finally took the car seats out of the boxes and he's planning on installing them in the car tomorrow. We also picked up a bunch of useful items at the TVMOTC sale, including a breast pump, nursing pillow, swing and bouncer...oh and a baby monitor as well.

Jagr is working graveyard this weekend which always just messes us both up but not like I have to worry about getting up and going to work Monday morning :)

Babies are nice and active I'm dealing with heartburn and so far so good. I hope I can get a few things done while I'm home without overdoing it too much I know I'm supposed to rest a lot. This week at least I have a few things going on so I shouldn't get too bored.

C Section Has been Scheduled...

So found out Monday C-Section has been scheduled for Nov 3rd at 7:30 am...babies are doing just fine! I've had no leaking/bleeding/contractions so everything is looking a ok as they say.

Apparently both babies are head down but I think we will still decide with the OBGYN to go ahead with the c section. I'm kind of in two minds now that I know they are in a position to be born naturally where as before Isabel has been in breach and would have had to have been delivered by the C Section.

However, I think I messed with Jagr's head when I called him and said honey you want to know when your kids will be born...for some reason he got the idea I was in labor then dropped the phone and went as white as a sheet (according to the contractor that was there at the time). Work apparently didn't stop teasing him about it all day.

Useful class, tired as hell, 8 more days to go...

8 more working days left yay! I need the rest specially after a busy week this week with evening classes. Seems that my feet want to swell up every night now that I've noticed they are doing that. However, my blood pressure is staying stable so I'm not overly worried, long as that doesn't go haywire I should be fine.

Class last night was useful we were lucky in that the nurse giving it has twin girls of her own so we were able to ask a few specific questions on raising twins as opposed to singletons. I put my first diaper on too! Ok so it was a doll but still :) And we got to learn to swaddle and how to take care of the umbilical cord. Tonight we get to learn infant CPR which I do feel is important and a useful skill even tho I hope we never have to use it.

I seem to be getting more and more congested I wonder if that's a sign of me getting closer to the end of the pregnancy or just a general lack thereof of sleep. Did have another NST last night as well, and I swear I caught myself snoring a couple of times I was that tired. The girls were troopers and were nice and active for the test which helped so I was out of there pretty quick. I think I might feel like I'm living at the hospital tho this week with going back for the class last night and again tonight and again to the Dr's on Thursday for an apt with her.

I'm just so looking forward to not having to work and making the most of getting some rest before these two arrive more than anything. I know I'm still not going to be getting a good night sleep but at least I can nap! And I know I'm going to be busy after the 12th doing the final nesting preparations for the arrival and picking up the stuff that will be missing.

Oh the other thing about last night was it really did hit home how there is no way we could really afford day care in our area for two. I would be spending nearly all my paycheck just on that alone. The low end for a newborn is $1500 and that's a single! An aupair is the most affordable option but we have nowhere for that person to sleep so it's not even an option. So we are stuck. Ah well we will manage by hook or by crook and hopefully my children and I will have a nice healthy relationship.

Reality settling in a bit...

Well my food cravings were happily satisfied this week with honey walnut shrimp midweek, and dim sum on the weekened. I should be set for another months now :)

I think this weekend it's really started to sink in the iminent arrival of the girls. Both of them were pretty active this weekend and my shirt was visibly moving when one of them was kicking or elbowing me. Course movement is good as it means hopefully healthy babies. We have about 5 weeks left of freedom and the ability to sleep (sort of). I mean heck I've not been sleeping well for a long time now I'm constantly tossing and turning trying to get comfy or tying to clear a nostril out so I can actually breath. I think of all things regaining the ability to breathe properly again during the night I'm most looking forward to.

Ooops there goes Abby moving as I type this letting me know she is there. We have classes this week so we can learn a bit about taking care of these two. I'm trying not to be too much of a stress case and figure eventually my instincts will just kick in and I will be just fine. I worry a little about how much stuff I still need before the due date but given the baby shower and the sale I've been having to remind myself wait just a little longer you will still have a couple of weeks where you can get to the store for the essentials you are still missing. I don't think I'm in a position to have to worry about my Dr putting me on bed rest as long as I just take it fairly easy so I do think I will still be able to do to a mad dash around Walmart to pick up bedding for example of we still need it. Heck even if I have to do multiple short trips one in the morning one in the evening, and James can just bring the stuff in when he gets home from work. At least I have a list of the things we really must get before they make their arrival.

I'm starting to wonder what day of the week my Dr wants to deliver me on as well. I'm sort of hoping the later part of the week then that means James can be around more to visit us in the hospital, plus it will be easier on the girls as they will be that little bit older too. I get a stress test again this week on Tuesday and a follow up with the OBGYN on Thursday, then next Thursday am probably one of the last ultra sounds. I do believe tho the last consensus was they are in breach and I know my Dr will be definately doing a c-section if that is the case.

Car lives to see a few more trips

Well the car wasn't such a big deal as we were fearing and only cost us $279 so we got the repairs done.  We only need to keep it going 2 more weeks on a regular basis then we can switch them over.  It just gives us a bit more freedom to have them both,  emergencies etc and we can swap when I want to take the kids out for a day.  I'm almost wondering with the reduction in daily use if we might be able to make it last until my car is paid off which would be totally ideal!  Then we can get rid of it and upgrade to a larger more family friendly car.  I'm somewhat relieved would be so much easier if I had one if we had an emergency specially as James doesn't work just down the road as it were.

Course if we end up with a big expensive repair at some point we are still getting rid of it!  It's just not worth it.

May loose Jagr's car...

Ok, so Jagr's car is sick again, and it's probably gonna be a pricey fix.  At this point we are thinking of cutting our losses with it.  After all I have 2 more weeks of work then I don't need a car for commuting.  Worst case if I need the car for Drs apt etc I can drop Jagr off at the bart station in the morning and then drive home again and pick him up.  We also have a bike option but that also depends on his knee and the weather for a lot of it.  Either way I think we need to say goodbye and farewell.

Once my car is paid off we can perhaps get another at that point and use mine as a replacement until I get back to work again.  I guess all another reason for me quitting work sooner rather than later.  At least we have one good car in decent condition.  But at this stage with 168k on the clock it's seen better days for sure.  And on the other positive side hey we get to reduce our insurance payments a bit.

Urgh!

I hope we hire someone soon! This is getting to be too much. I feel like I'm juggling too many balls half the time, and I'm starting to get upset about some of my co workers not pulling their weight. There is something wrong when you are 7 1/2 mths pregnant with twins and pullin more hours than anyone else in the office. But then again I keep reminding myself that I don't have much longer to go. Honestly he could use a receptionist that tracks the time of the people or a clock.

Ah well, hopefully today will be a little smoother. Although the mistakes that have happened lately well it's not a huge deal as they will learn by them hopefully.

I'm still craving honey walnut shrimp...and my other craving of all things is for Dim Sum, I think I'm going to be dragging Jagr with me on the weekend to a place for some. Might as well do it now while I can it will be some time I think before we will get a chance to do something like that. I just can't see kids with Dim Sum until they are a bit older if ever, although my hope is they will be somewhat adventurous with their food.

Another week...

Jagr got the bookcase out of the nursery so it's starting to come together in there, got a few more bits on the floor that need a home, and a couple more bits of furniture to help keep us organized once the bundles of joy arrive and we should be good to go (I hope).

I'm kind of holding off on buying newborn diapers until closer to the delivery as they really need to only be in those until the umbilical cord bit drops off and that should be 2 or 3 weeks after birth. That is also assuming I got far along enough (I think I will but you never know) to be able to bring the babies home rather than them having to spend some time in the NICU.

I will confess to struggling with staying awake at the moment tho. It gets worse as the week goes by the stuffier I get and the less sleep I have. So much fun, not.

Stoping working sooner most likely

My Dr. is pushing to have me stop working in 3 weeks, I was hoping to go for 5 but I need to keep in mind the welfare of the babies and not just my sanity. I'm also now being asked to do a weekly NST (no stress test), yay yet more appointments.

Ah well, after this week and having to split my time between orders and what I do I'm mentally frazzled anyway. Maybe leaving a bit earlier won't be such a bad idea. I can honestly say right now I'm exhausted. It's been a lot to keep up with. Three more weeks does seem more appealing. I was hoping to work longer mostly because of the financial strain of loosing my income but oh well. We will survive I'm sure. When you add the commute onto my day it just kills me and I've been working longer hours when I can to try to help fill in gaps. This really was a bad idea as I'm putting more strain on myself when I should be trying to take better care of myself. My job isn't going to care if I suddenly go into labor...

Least this weekend will be pretty much a time to put my feet up and rest. James is only working like Sat afternoon for 4 hours so will make a change to have him around most of the time too. Maybe we might get a few more items out of the nursery that need to go. I was thinking of doing some light housework.

The wonders of sleep!

Amazing what having more than 1 hour sleep at a stretch can do for you. I spent most of the Labor Day weekend struggling with not being able to breath due to congestion and unable to take anything to relieve it. Consequently three nights of tossing and turning either from lack of air or pain in the hips from the babies had me feeling exhausted. I went to work put in 6 hours and left when other people came back from lunch so there was phone coverage.

Unfortunately! Jagr had a spot of bother with his bike, in trying to save some gas money, and so I found out yesterday the car is acting up again... Now, he does carry 2 spare inner tubes just in case of a flat. However, he ended up with three! I think he barely made it halfway home. So I had to go out and rescue him. I'll be glad when I give up work and he can use my car more often to try to save some of the wear and tear on his. I think we will need to invest in some spare bases for his car just in case of emergencies...but for the most part if I need to take the kids somewhere we can plan around that so I have my car for those trips as it will be so much easier with the four doors rather than his two.

Baby registry

I've finally set up a baby registry if anyone is interested at Walmart, it's under both our names. There were more product reviews available which aided the choices we've made plus the prices are a bit more reasonable than some of the other stores. Anyone that purchases anything for us let it be known we are extremely grateful. Got to admit just coming up with the list of the essentials was eye opening! Be aware tho coming up in October there is a TVMOTC sale going on so a lot of the items like the bouncers etc we can probably pick up on the cheap from there. I'm not adverse to getting 2nd hand items as they go through them so quickly!

Clothes to be honest at the point shouldn't be too much of an issue as we were gifted a large box of gently used girl clothes from a friend recently.

I hate advertising the fact that and promoting the registry on my blog but I'm going to admit that this endeavour of having twins is not the cheapest thing in the world and any savings we can make will help our pocket specially as I will be having to give up work to be a stay at home Mum. The daycare costs just simply don't make working a possibility on my income, so it's more efficient if I become the carer. And I will admit I would rather be a home and bond with my kids than have someone else raise them.

On the other side of things the nursery is now starting to look like a nursery, Jagr got the 2nd crib up this weekend and I got some stickers for the room to make it a little more em inviting rather than just having white walls. I've also been busy washing a lot of the clothes so I can put them away in the dresser rather than having them sitting around in bags and boxes.

Hoping we can do a trip to Costco next weekend and pick up our first diapers, cotton balls, wipes and cotton buds! Oh I can't wait...(not) I might as well try to start out organized, I know it won't last for long but might as well start out properly, even if it only lasts for the first week or so it will be less of a mess that way.

Pushed and pulled in 10 directions at once

Gadzooks one of those mornings I feel like I've been through a mental ringer! I keep trying to get one thing done then being interrupted and having to do 3 other things first then get back to what I was doing. Oddly enough I'm making mistakes at this point go figure.

I'm going to be very happy when I get to take a lunch break. Trouble is IM has been killing me this morning between one person and another I'm like a jumping jack and it's been hard to concentrate. Ah well I had a break last week I guess I needed payback today to make up for it.

Stephanie is feeling contractions today...every 20 min so far and only on one side, although she still doesn't think she will give birth for another 2 weeks yet. I think I will almost be glad to say goodbye with sadness but some happiness at no more of this madness! Although I suspect I'm still going to be helping them out even when I'm in the maternity ward in the hospital.

An oddity does it mean something when both you and your husband dream about being part of a rock / metal band? Jagr dreamt of jamming on the guitar with Metallica and I was dreaming of strumming the bass guitar and singing for Heart. Little weird if you ask me to have similarly themed dreams.

No GD! Yay one less thing to be worried about

I called the Dr yesterday and they told me no diabetes. Yay! One less thing to worry about. I have to admit I was concerned given my weight that if I did end up with Gestational Diabetes that it would probably would not have gone away after the birth. So I'm more than happy with that result.

Work is slow and tedious because I'm trying to very hard not to do my own work so that the person replacing me gets to do it and learn. So I'm more or less sitting twiddling my thumbs and letting her get on with it :) Makes it a bit of a long day tho. So I'm starting to work on lists of things we will need for the nursery etc.

I think I'm going to not buy much in the way of crib sets. It seems a waste and from what I hear half the time the kids don't really use it. All we really need is a sheet and the receiving blankets to keep them warm. I will probably get a couple of bumpers for the cribs but a whole set just seems a tad excessive and lets face it they are a bit young to really appreciate anything too pretty anyway! Does it all really need to match I ask myself?

So my thoughts so far are probably 4 sheets (2 for each crib one for the crib one for the wash) 3 waterproof matress covers 1 for each crib and one spare in case they wet one. I don't think I really need 4. Then I'm like ok...diaper pail, bottle warmer, bottle sterilizer, bottles...even tho I plan on breast feeding I think I am going to need the bottles for when I pump. Hmm, some kind of bouncer and some kind of swing I am thinking one of each. I think I also would like some baskets to hold some of the essentials in on the changer. Clothes aren't so much of an issue after that box from my girlfriend :) However ooo yes we will need a baby monitor. Oh and a baby changing mat...baby bath seat probably more comfortable than trying to do wash them in the sinks without one.

I've decided to go with disposable diapers...mostly because I don't think I'll be able to cope with the washing load for the diapers for twins. It's going to be hard enough as it is just keeping up with washing the baby clothes. I do think I'm going to want some receiving blankets. Wash clothes I think 2 per baby is more than enough, course different colours will be required so I can tell them apart! If I need more I can always buy more later.

I'm not so worried about high chairs we can wait on getting those till they are a bit older I think same with the baby gates. I would like however some kind of floor activity thing and a mobile for the crib. Anyone think of anything I'm missing? Er probably will need pads for nursing for me I guess provided I can nurse. Oh and covers for the electrical outlets, although those won't be too necessary until they start to crawl around. Diaper bag....

Guys are whimps...

I've decided that half the guys I work with in the office are whimps. Specially the younger ones...here I am 6mths pregnant with twins and I've only had a few days off right at the beginning with the flu. I've managed to get to work every day with morning sickness and be on time and now I'm maybe starting to say when I've had enough. I even managed to do all the shipping on my own without any help and yes it did hurt my back after awhile. Yet it seems the slightest cough or hangover and these guys are calling in or not showing up. In fact one goes on vacation then needs several days off after to recover from illness gained will on vacation. Pretty sad really, yet the other girl and I will drag ourselves out of our sick beds to get in and do stuff. Would like to see how some of these guys do with half a nights disturbed sleep with someone drumming on your pelvis bone! Heck even my husband seems more responsible than some of the people I work with sometimes.

It seems sometimes really unfair, I try not to take advantage of things I rarely take a day off vacation or sickness and I'm dead tired most of the time but I make the effort I really do. Maybe it's an age thing or something. Ah well weekend after next is a long weekend planning on taking a looong rest, unlike my husband who is working all hours he can get...but hey I get to sleep :)

I was talking with my OBGYN last week and she is looking at possibly scheduling me for a c-section the last week in October. She is also willing to sign me off of work the first of that month, me I'm hoping I can work another 2 weeks. We shall see as it will all depend a lot on my health and the health of the babies.

Hump Day...

Must enjoy today and tomorrow then I get to be on my own for a couple of days...yay! Not looking forward to that but meh we shall see.

Did go to a TVMOTC meeting last night, was good to talk with mothers who already have twins, and with others that are also expecting. Funny thing was most of us expectant mothers have a similar due date go figure.

I'm feeling the babies moving around this morning :) Still really only feeling butterflys no real kicks. Unfortunately I'm pretty uncomfortable still between my legs but something tells me Abigail is not likely to move too much so I'm going to have to live with it.

One of our friends is hopefully going to help us out on the weekend to pick up the cribs and mattresses before they go back to the warehouse. Not easy for me to help James with that at this point unfortunately. However we really need to try to make a bit of a dent on the mess in the nursery. I did a few bits last weekend but it seems like there is a never ending pile!

My friends cousin gave birth a week and a half ago finally. She actually was induced because her baby's heartbeat wasn't as strong as they wanted it to be. So 2 days of labour Caleb was introduced to the world at 7lbs 13oz's. She is tiny and his feet are huge! She also gave us a couple of sleepers for the babies as well :)

I still wonder if I will go through a vaginal birth or if it will just be a c section. My gut tells me right now a c section but we shall see.

It was good to hear from other parent's of twins about their experiences. It sort of adds to the comfort feelings. I do want to try to breastfeed but I also want to pump as well so that Jagr will be able to help feed the little cherubs and also to bond with them.

Hehe I think the biggest piece of advice tho was if people offer help don't turn it down! We also got a few tips etc on where to go for help. All in all nice people and was good to meet others in the same boat as it were.

Weird Dreams

I think I had the weirdest dream last night...it involved President Bush, the Queen of England, a beach with a stone stand/water breaker, tornados and light aircraft bombers, and it more or less involved trying to get as far away as possible from all the of the above and being about 8 mths pregnant. Not quite sure what that one was trying to tell me, but odd indeed.

We did the tour last night, not too bad the rooms are pretty nice and given that we are expecting twins we are most likely to end up in a larger room for obvious reasons. I've also signed up for the rest of the classes that I wanted to take, all of them are evening classes so Jagr has no excuse, by hook or crook he's going to learn about these things too :) all we need now is a doll for class practice. Mind you a doll isn't such a bad thing because it can eventually go to one of the girls.

Trying to work out a plan with my boss for when I'm going to start working from home. It's such a hard call at this point I feel fine still but there are still a lot of unknowns. But next week I reach my 3rd trimester and even if I were to go into labor now there is a good chance of survival for both of the twins although obviously the longer I can keep on going the better for all of us. Not sure how we would cope if they had to be in hospital for 3 mths! I think I'd rather carry them.

Tentatively we are thinking I can work until Mid October although the contingency plan is I may reduce hours or work from home for a bit if need be.

Working from home...

I actually got to work from home for 2 days last week what a relief! The not having to get up at 5 am was wonderful and luxurious! We also ordered the dresser/changer and well we are trying to get the chair / ottoman. Little stocking problem but with a but of luck /crosses fingers.

Tonight we do the tour of the hospital, I hope Jagr will cope he's just not one for those kind of places. But well choices and lack there of of options means he will have to suck it in.

His car is currently in the shop...another nice paycheck spent on it /sigh. I honestly think he will have to start driving my car to work when I stop working just to save on the wear and tear it's really taking a chunk out of things, from what we have spent on his car this year we could have bought a 2nd hand one!

Starting to work more on aquiring baby stuffs...

We are slowly starting to accumulate and order stuff for the nursery. Over the weekened I ordered 2 cribs and the mattresses. I'm kind of reluctant to spend too much mostly because I want to hit up the TVMOTC sale at the Barn in October, I'm not going to turn down a bargain. I am also going to be scouring craigs list closer to the time for more items I think.

I might struggle at work this week tho, it's only Tuesday and I feel drained already! Normally by the time the work week starts I'm fairly set till about Wed or Thursday then the tossing and turning at night catches up, this week it's early!

Jagr is working a lot at the moment. Due to some people on vacation, retiring early, and wife's having surgery they are down a lot of their Aces leaving them with few to cover the shifts. It's nice in that it's all money for us but sheesh thinking about the hours he's doing makes me feel tired! I'm almost hopeful at the rate we are going by the time I will have to stop working we will be able to get all the debt paid off and still have a bit left over. That would really help just reduce our monthly payments by over $1,000 which will make a difference. Ok I know I won't be having as much of an income but not having to spend out so much on that, less on gas as well will probably make a world of difference. It's still not going to be easy but life likes to throw out curve balls.

Our first real piece of baby equipment...

Weird is what excites me sometimes these days. We picked up our first real piece of baby equipment yesterday found through Craigslist...a double snap and go stroller! Yay, in really great condition from a family with twins of their own a bargain at $40 brand new they cost $90 so we made a bit of a saving there. I think this is going to be a must during the first few months. Course now we need the car seats to go with it but it's a start...no really it is.

We have picked out a lot of the nursery furniture as well, we are going for cherry wood cribs etc, mostly because our room is white and well yes who wants white on white in a nursery? We will probably order those over the weekend. I need to go out and test chairs on the weekend tho for nursing I think. I don't want anything too small as I'm going to need to be able to handle both babies at once so it needs to be roomie enough for three. Only downer I had was the dresser/changing table is going to cost us more than the cribs! Every review I've seen on the cheaper ones is that they lack durability and they are awful to construct, so we are going to bite the bullet and get a better one with the functionaility we want for now and for the future as we want it to be a dresser as they get older I don't want one that's going to look beaten up before the kids even arrive! The complaints often are that they get damaged just putting them together. I know the furniture is going to get beaten up that's a fact of life with kids...but if we are doing the damage and we are careful imagine what they will look like once the kids get a hold of it and start chewing on the corners?

I do need to figure out the diaper business tho and what we will need in terms of disposal. If we go for a diaper service I will call and get pricings I think, and compare that to the cost of disposables, I will have to find out how I need to handle them for pick up. Bah way to much to think about!

Oh and I'm doing one of the prenatal classes on the weekend lets see if I can make it through without passing out...as most of these are on the weekend I'm wondering just how many I'm going to be going to solo. Ah well we shall try to make sure Jagr makes the really important ones. I'm more concerned he gets to go to the infant care than the one where we learn all about the birthing proceedure. Given that I suspect he's either just going to be trying to ignore most of what is going on during that or passed out it's probably not so useful for him anyway :)

Oh and of course the Dr is now oh and do you have a pediatrican...argh! Too much information I have only just gotten over the shock of being pregnant! Trying to digest all of this and keep a sane head work and go through the process of carrying these two I'm exhausted mentally and physically and I know it's only going to get worse!

A sad day...

We have been doing bits and pieces in order to clear out what was our office and start making it into a nursery for the impending bundles of joy, all the computer equipment that we use has been moved into the living room and set up in the dinning area now it's just a case of tidying up the place and finding homes for some of the stuff in there.

Last night Jagr made a start on things before I got home and moved some of his computer games into the entertainment cabinet in the living room, I will need to find the padlock and chain for the doors before these two start crawling :)

So in inspiration I started working on the bookshelves /sigh. It was brutal, I went through the books on the two shelves in our bedroom discarding things left right and center, anything I had read and was unlikely to read again went into the discard pile. Some of the old books from my childhood into a keep pile. I am keeping most of the reference books but a lot of the computer books need to go at this point. Ah I hate parting with books I really do but at the same time this had to be done we need the space. We are going to be getting plenty of clutter from the kids without adding our own to it. Painful and brutal was the culling...Anne Rice how I shall miss thee, but I'm sorry I don't think your stuff is suitable for children :)

A strange day

Ok today was strange. I had an apointment with the nuerologist this morning that went well. He checked to see if I had had any issues since becoming pregnant as sometimes that can exacerbate the systems of MS but so far so good so he won't need to see me again until I finish breast feeding. The medication I've been taking is more a preventative for long term than anything short term so it's not really necessary that I get back onto it as soon as possible.

The only bad part about today was that overnight my computer at work reset itself so I was unable to log in remotely to check email etc before running off to the Dr's which sucked! Meant by the time I got in I was backed up I hate that!

Ah well such is life I guess at times.

Also I guess small worlds collide turns out his wife uses the same OBGYN. Not a bad recommendation I guess.

Hot weather, pregnant = lack of sleep...

Just could not get enough sleep last night...couldn't get comfy kept tossing and turning and couldn't get the right temperature either. Too cold with the fan on too hot with it off. Had trouble breathing again and hip bothering me a little again. Do I really have another 4 mths to go?! This seems like it's now starting to drag. Oh well I'm just cranky coz I'm tired I think.

Having a hard time concentrating at work this morning and easily distracted, reality is all I want to do is stick my head on my desk and sleep.

Did buy my first baby clothes over the weekend and did some more window shopping at cribs, I haven't really decided on anything yet but hey a little bit here and there doesn't go amiss. I also got stuck into rearranging funiture and computer equipment before I get too big to go anything. The office now is mostly a shell that needs the junk in there sold / thrown out. We will probably want some gates and things to keep the kids out of the kitchen and dinning room areas once they start to crawl around.

Oh yeah and saw Wanted over the weekend with Angelina Jolie. I must admit to enjoying it although the seat could have been a bit more comfy...I fidgeted through most of the movie. I have a liking for Angelina's movies, I'm not sure why but I am drawn to her so I'm a bit biased and tend to like most of the stuff she does even if it's junk.

Blah!

Ok things did not get a whole lot better, boss was needing me to do some stuff like last week that he only told me about yesterday afternoon and he was under the gun, here I am trying to get out a little early so I can get the car into the shop and wondering if it's a good idea to still be driving...

I'm still waiting for my bday card from my husband...it's in the draw at work. I cooked dinner, got a rental car and was just generally stressed, unhappy and bitchy last night. Sorry dear. Bad day at work compounded with all the other crud going on does not make for a happy pregnant wife.

I am not sure if today is going to be much better for that matter either...didn't sleep too well last night kept running over the days events. Was woken up out of a nice finally deep sleep a bit earlier than I needed to be, but oh well...then em oh left for work in the rental forgot my ipod. That wouldn't have been so bad but it took forever to get into work thanks to a 6 car accident on the San Mateo bridge. All the damn idiots pulling over for emergency vehicles then pulling out right behind them only to have another emergency vehicle almost right behind that! Man some people need to pay attention to their mirrors! Then some asshole as cut me off as I was trying to get into the only open lane right at the accident.../mutters. Problem with accidents on the bridge at the high rise portion is it's commute traffic and you have no emergency corridors over that piece so you have to watch for the emergency crews and pull over...some people clearly need to read their handbooks also about tailgating emergency vehicles!

Suckage!

Well so far today has not really gone to plan. On my way to work yesterday I hit what looked like plating debris in the road, at first I didn't think I had done any damage...the tyres were fine, and I did a quick check when I got to work. However, it when I was driving home from work and to work again this morning I kept hearing what sounded like a window left open, and I double checked them all and I know they were closed...so I took another look when I got to work and saw some damage to the bumper and em the lower molding. Not sure how much damage it's done but I can hear a difference when I'm driving. /Sighs not the best way to start my birthday.

Rest of the day has been trying to get my name changed and putting out fires. Did stop by the bank only to find the guy ended up misspelling my last name so I had to call them back again...fortunately they didn't make me go back to the bank and the woman kindly changed it there for me.

Ah well, just one of those days perhaps things will perk up later when we do the cake thing.

Twin Girls

So we had the scan done last week, long tedious thing that it was, but we got to see the hearts, bladders, spines, hands, fingers, toes and the all important sex.

It seems we are expecting girls (so much for mother's instincts I thought they were a boy girl!).

So far everything is fine. I'm still not really gaining any weight (go figure). I look like I'm 6mths pregnant instead of 4 1/2 I don't even want to know what I'll be like when I get to 8 mths!

Only thing they are concerned about at the moment is that the twins don't grow any further apart in size, right now they are both good but they are right at the borderline of that so they will be keeping an eye on things that means another scan in 3 weeks (well 2 now) just to be safe.

Otherwise I'm doing fine, sleeping better this week than last so far (yay!). Eating I'm still trying to be good but not worrying too much about it. Although I do permit myself to enjoy a nice cup of tea now and then. I don't drink that much but the occasional cup I don't think will hurt too much.

Counting down the days...

4 more days and I'm hoping we will know more about what is going on inside my belly and we might learn the sex of these two :) I'm hoping all is well but we won't know really until they do they detailed scan. Can't begin to say how much I want to know what sex they are even if it's to go out and buy my first onsies...

Other than that it's cooled off again (yay!) can't say I like temperatures in the high 90's and low 100's for long. But thank goodness for air conditioning and still being able to sleep well (provided I can get comfortable).

Had a stress free weekend, was strange to have Jagr working Sunday instead of Saturday this weekend but well as he says the extra money now won't go amiss. Anything we can save now and put in the bank to help pay for the babies or other expenses now is a good thing.

Other than that right now life just ticks along. Keep watching the news about the wildfires around here tho, it's been so dry so far this year, and the last few days every time I walk out of the apartment I'm smelling wood smoke. You know it's going to be a bad year when it's burning like this this early on. Yet on the other side of things you have all that midwest flooding!

Getting out of jury service on a long trial...

Sheesh, I don't know what they think sometimes about being able to find people to sit on class action law suits with trials that take 2 mths! Jagr's work will only pay him for 20 days after that he would have gone on unpaid leave, lost his benefits etc. That's insane! Fortunately with his wife (moi) expecting twins and that little thing called MS (ok so MS isn't a factor right now) but loosing his income for a month ouch with the limited support mothers get... and given the current state of the economy man not a pleasant thought at all. Thank goodness for common sense and they excused him /cheers.

Does make me wonder tho...it's like it's a privilege to serve on a jury, and your public duty, but is it fair to put someone in a position where they can end up in debt just to serve?! Wow, how can anyone really afford to do it and keep living. We aren't badly off we really aren't but we have to watch our pennies I couldn't keep paying the rent on what I earn plus even think about saving money in that time to try and cope with the impending arrivals. Not like we have family to lean back on. The women that say I coped make me hoping mad honestly and pro rights as well. I mean it's heartbreaking I want these children but man we didn't plan on this pregnancy, we have debt to clear up, we have no support really who can babysit for us at the drop of a hat and unfortunately we are deemed to 'rich' to be considered poor enough for us to get government assistance.

You can't tell me that raising twins is going to be easy financially and emotionally. It's not like we were squirreling away money for this moment, and how can you plan for unexpected twins?! Oh I think we will be fine don't get me wrong but I consider ourselves somewhat fortunate, but! It only takes something happening to one of us and we could be in some serious trouble and then what? /Shiver meh I try not to think to hard or I would really get depressed :)

Bruised tired and working on patience...

After the blood draws of the 2nd glucose test I look like a druggie with track marks and bruises on one arm...man I hope I don't have to do it again any time soon!

I did book an apointment at the DMV for 7/1 to get my driver's license changed yay! Finally, unfortunately I will have to wait until that's done before I can get anything else done, bummer. Seems like the bank will require a changed SS and DMV license before doing a name change...what a pain in the ass. Once that's done I can get the bank sorted out then I will have to worry about the loans and credit cards (yay for that why can't you just do it all in one go!).

But eventually before the birth of these two I will be all set so they won't be wondering why Mummy has a different last name from Daddy.

Bah more time to be wasted sitting in the lab

So last weekend I spent an hour sitting in the lab doing a glucose tolerance test, not so bad just a pitty the drink they give you is like ultra sweet and you can't eat anything after to try and take the taste away. Unfortunately the test came back yesterday and my sugar level is a little high so this coming weekend I'm going to have to do a 3 hour test...oh fun indeed. Going to try not to stress too much over it but phooey.

Other than that weekend was quiet and peaceful weather was perfect course James working a graveyard shift on the Saturday always puts a crimper on enjoying things. But then again we do have cribs and car seats and diapers to spend on in the not so distant future.

I do have to say my Dr's tho seem to be great, they are taking it seems every precaution to make sure both myself and the babies are taken care of. I know this is a fairly high risk pregnancy so it feels good to have such a good team.

Almost end of week 16...

Well so far so good, both babies are doing just fine, I'm doing great not really gained any weight yet and I'm still down from my starting weight. The Dr isn't too worried about that yet, it's funny but the last few weeks I feel like I've been eating like a pig I'm honestly surprised I haven't gained.

She does want me to do the glucose tolerance test in the next few days, that's going to be fun as I will have to sit in the lab for an hour to do that...guess that's going to be my Saturday morning taken care of.

Course this week my blood pressure was kind of high again, not surprisingly really...I hate being late for apointments I really do, I get aggravated when I'm kept waiting and I hate it even more if I am the one doing the keeping. I'm also dreading my commute over the next few months. I was finally getting used to the idea that my commute had gone from bad to worse thanks to the changes at the 92/880 interchange but I was getting used to it. Avoiding the worst of the traffic there on Friday's...and just trying to relax and just listen to my ipod and concentrate on that rather than that I was just sitting there. I was also thinking yesterday oh it's 2:30 shouldn't be a problem at all with the traffic this time of day, like it's going to be sorta bleah but generally at that time even then I would arrive with plenty of time.

But I guess the gods or something was against it yesterday. Not only did I have to endure the nightmare of the first set of road works and the awful road patterns they have there, oh no they went and changed the interchange at 880/238 overnight! At that time of day it was pure hell and I dread to think what it's going to be like when I leave at my normal time! /cries to self. I do believe I will just eat up the extra miles and do the alternate commute to try to avoid that whole mess. Thank goodness I will be going on maternity leave in a few more months and won't have to deal with that...that...that...wow someone on the road planning committee should really try and do my commute seriously...

Breakfast clearly will have to wait...

I think my discovery is that I can't eat breakfast in the mornings until I get to work /sigh how annoying, otherwise it just comes right back up again while I'm driving. You would have thought by now I would be over the morning sickness I managed to go all last week!

Weekend was neat, not to hot again, went out saw the Indiana Jones movie. Yes I did enjoy it, I decided I wouldn't be too critical and just enjoy it for what it is, gave me some chuckles and it passed a nice afternoon. Also rented Golden Compass over the weekend and enjoyed that as well.

Have been enjoying the transition from normal clothes to maternity wear. I've decided comfort at this point is far greater than fashion (not that I've been into that much either over the years).

Enjoyed talking with my family over the weekend, still a little worried about Dad, but well hopefully he will feel better with time. Sounds like his Dr tho needs to pay more attention...panic attack indeed specially when told a patient has a heart condition.

My Dad's Bday

Well today is my Dad's birthday, and hopefully (fingers crossed) his present for the day is a succseful pacemaker implantation. Here's wishing you a fairly stress free Dad and here's hoping you will have a good recovery, and that it will give you a better quality of life with fewer of your attacks.

I think this is one of the harder moments not being able to give him a call and wish him a happy birthday more than anything especially when I know he's in hospital. Unfortunately there isn't a lot I can to other than say a prayer and send my love.

Had a lovely weekend. Took a walk around the gardens at the Golden Gate Park on Sunday, was a beautiful day for it...sun was out not too hot, flowers in bloom but just missed most of the rhodedendrons, even Jagr enjoyed the change of scenery. Other than that enjoyed the first holiday weekend off together in I don't remember how long. Weather is supposed to warm up this week but couldn't have asked for more perfect for this weekened.

Managed to wait until I got to work this morning...

Week 14, had to buy some maternity clothes this weekend, stores don't have a lot of options for maternity wear for larger women, so ordered from JC Penny on line, they have a decent selection including some PJs. Some of my pants are getting a little bit tight around the old waist now, and I'm limited a little to some of my tops. One of my biggest problems is due to the necklines of plus size clothing, they always seem too big and well if I am not careful show my bra off depending on how I'm sitting.

I was hoping by week 14 the morning sickness would be leaving me alone, but I guess not I was feeling a bit queezy when I got to work so tried to put my head down on the desk but well yep ended up with the head down the toilet again /sigh.

Argh this week is going to be a long week. They are doing construction in our office bang bang crash whoomp /cry. Ah well my consolation is I'm not working in the office a full week this week.

Good week so far...

Spent Mother's Day with friends hanging out eating and gnerally having a good time. Jagr did a lot of the chores thank you, I wasn't feeling too energetic thanks to a restless night. I guess next year will be a little different :)

And just when I thought I was over the worst of the morning sickness for now, I found myself almost pulling over on my way to work yesterday to throw up over the San Mateo bridge...I kept praying I would be able to make it to the office, fortunately it did pass and I managed to keep my banana down but sheesh I can't wait to feel normal again!

Had a Dr's appointment yesterday, both babies heartbeats are going strong, my blood pressure is still a bit of a concern but definitely down, so she is upping the dosage a bit more. Oh I've not really gained any weight so the belly I'm starting to get is all baby. Dr isn't too worried about the lack of weight gain at the moment seeing as I've had a lot of morning sickness and well I've plenty of meat on my bones anyway and the kids are doing just fine right now. She did say if the morning sickness continues much more she can prescribe something to help, right now seeing as it's a lot less than what I was having I think I can manage but we shall see. Next appointment is in three weeks so that's not too bad. I have an appointment with the consultant she has me seeing next week. She wants them involved just in case....

Hambuger or hot dog?

So this week I'm finally feeling more human again and starting to get my appetite back again yay! I'm also back to drinking my one cup of tea again...now that I'm out of the 12 week thing I feel more comfortable allowing myself some caffeine back into my diet. I can honestly say the last few months I've not even been tempted but this week yep I've been hankering for tea again, nice to know some things are back to normal.

So my belly is starting to expand some and Jagr is starting to notice the subtle changes in my body. I am feeling more energized for the most part although by the end of the week I'm dragging my feet at work and dying for the weekend and a lie in. I know I know this will all change once these two are born but I might as well enjoy this part of it.

My work colleague is currently off to as her Dr puts it found out if her baby has a hot dog or hamburger. Got to say that that image is almost enough to put me off of hamburgers for life! I've got 8 more weeks before I can find out unless I end up with another ultra sound before then. Must say I'm rather glad my husband changed his mind about not knowing the sex.

We have also decided that we probably won't worry about the rest of the genetic testings. I honestly don't feel there is anything wrong with either of the babies and the further along we have been progressing the more I'm getting attached to the idea of bringing them into the world and just let nature take it's course. More or less the same idea as to how I ended up getting pregnant in the first place. That we have been blessed with the prospect of having a family that we get 2 in one go (and I'm so not doing this again!). I know I'm getting drawn into the excitement of planning or at least starting to wrap my brain about planning for the arrivals.

Mother's day is Sunday and there are lots of news articles on the web celebrating motherhood. It's funny to be approaching this one and thinking next year it will have a whole new meaning. I hope I can be a good parent I really do. I hope I can bring up my children to become good people. I worry a little about drugs and gangs, although we do live in a fairly affluent neighbourhood so that tends to be minimized to an extent. Drugs and sex I'm already worrying about (go figure). I hope I can educate my children well enough that they are strong enough and sensible enough to make their own decisions and can look after themselves. I want strong independent children that can also love, I don't want to shelter them too much as I believe over sheltering is the same sometimes as neglecting them to allow them to be themselves to find their way yet help them when they need it.

Gone wireless...

Well we went wireless over the weekend...with the prospect of turning our current office / computer room into a nursery in the coming months we needed to come up with a plan to be a bit more flexible with the computers. I'd been toying with the idea of going wireless for awhile, but seeing as we had a perfectly good set up with the wires it wasn't really necessary. But now it's time for change. So we opened up the purse strings a little and invested in some new hardware, including a wireless network laser jet printer (more cost effective than the desk jet). Got everything working eventually, (printer took a little bit of effort as we were overlooking the obvious, Jagr got that problem solved so we could connect).

I may have the need towards the end of the pregnancy to be on bed rest but still need internet availability so this gives us the option of working pretty much anywhere in the apartment. I wanted to get this done before I started getting too big and cranky :) We also started planning a little bit about what we need to get rid of in terms of furniture and how to reorganize things a little better so that we have more room. For example the large coffee table in the living room will have to go it takes up so much space and the corners are a bit dangerous. The cat tree will also probably go it's not really been used by the cats since we moved and it will give us yet more space in the living room for the kids to play. My desktop computer and the old printer we are going to put into storage for when they are older...there isn't really anything wrong with it and it will be perfectly adequate for what they need, I also probably won't put it onto the internet for a long time, as it doesn't have a wireless connection I would feel safer as I don't want them to be unsafe and I do want to monitor what they do on line, sorry kids your Mum isn't a computer novice...

Ah Friday...

That means a weekend of recharging my batteries for next week :) Nothing of major note happened the last few days nausea not as bad today fortunately but still can get bouts of it from time to time, been finding taking a nap in the morning for 15 min helps a lot (well sometimes). Next week I'll be in week 12 and out of the first trimester so I run a lower risk of miscarrying at least now.

Jagr is being a brick which is just as well as I'm pretty miserable most of the time right now, mostly I'm either tired or struggling to get up an appetite. I have been walking most lunch times tho as it's starting to get warmer now I'm not sure I can continue doing that I might have to just walk on the treadmill at the community in the a/c.

Tuesday's curse maybe???

Well I was feeling a little blah when I woke up this morning, managed to eat a banana and get some milk down with the pills...got to work and then everything came back up again. Seems last time I was worshiping the toilet was last Tuesday as well so maybe there is something with that?

Man will this morning sickness ever start to subside?! Very tired this morning so that doesn't help, woke up at 3:30 am and had a really hard time going back to sleep then it was time to get up /sigh. I probably should have just stayed in bed longer...but well hard to justify it when the only thing really wrong with me is I'm pregnant...

Another week another bout of nausea

Week 11 and starting off the same as the last few weeks with the same old feeling first thing in the morning. Man I really hope next week when I hit week 12 I might start to feel a bit more normal again. I'm also wishing at this point I could skip ahead the next 5 mths so I can finally take vacation! In an attempt to not loose out too much income I'm saving up all my vacation till my maternity leave. It kinda sucks tho as other than a day off this year so far and a few sick days I won't have had any time off again for almost another full year.

But the more vacation I can save up for the maternity leave the easier it will be financially. I think I'm owed almost three weeks vacation anyway as I really have taken much time off in the last well it will be three years almost by the time I do go on vacation. I'm hoping I can convince my boss that really I am owed about three weeks at the moment vacation...two this year and at least one more weeks worth which I haven't taken in the last 2 years I've worked here. Family leave is pretty brutal you have to have worked at a company for at least 5 years before you get an extra week...then again China you have even less perks than the US.

Ah well I can wish at least.

Week 10 and worshiping the porcelain god...

Just entered week 10, had some spotting blood over the weekend which had me a little concerned so I moved up the OBGYN visit to Monday from Wednesday. Dr took a good look at each of the little bundles of joy...heartbeats are strong, both babies are right on target for size at 10 weeks and she couldn't find any obvious reason for the spotting no tears etc. She did say it was 'old' blood which I had noticed being that it was a lot darker and said really not to worry too much and was possibly from when the placentas attached to the womb, since I've been there the spotting has more or less stopped now.

Course this morning was going just great until after my shower and when I promptly ended up over the toilet not that there was anything in my stomach but I guess it wanted to heave anyway. After which I actually felt somewhat better so I shared an apple with James took my pills and left for work. Got to work and the apple promptly ended coming back up again.../sigh. Stomach has been feeling unsettled ever since but I did manage to eat some bread and hold it down.

Bit of advice I've learnt from today tho, keep a spare pare of undies handy, lets just say vomiting can have some unforeseen effects.

I'm less worried these days and the effects of the MS medication I was taking during the very early stages of this pregnancy. There is so little information and research out there on the effects of rebiff on the fetus that I'm more or less in no man's land, although from everything I've seen I think it's going to be ok.

I have a perinatal consultation this week, and week after next I look forward to the first trimester screenings.

I can also say I am not really enjoying being pregnant a whole lot...the tiredness, the nausea...the vomitting. Thank goodness I probably won't carry full term! I guess having twins can be a small blessing :)

Yuck will I ever feel normal again?!

Ok so the nausea continues.../sigh it's not as bad as it was but it's certainly still there. Definitely starting to get more than a bit tired of it. I guess I'm into my 9th week now, crazy...I'm doing what I can to watch the sugar and salt intake going to try to do some exercise this week.

Oh James's car didn't start this morning just to make Monday morning's fun he thinks it's a dead battery so with a bit of luck he can take care of that today. Taxes were finished yesterday (man I hope it's not as bad next year, then again we should have 2 kids to help hehe).

For some reason I'm extremely tired this morning, shame I can't have a cup of tea to help, but the less caffiene I can consume the better, not just because of the risk of miscarriage but also because of the hypertension. It sucks! Bring back mah tea /sob.

3 more weeks and I'm out of the first trimester and over the worst of the high risk period for a miscarriage although something tells me I don't think that's likely to happen anyway.

I've been slacking...

I know I haven't made a post here in awhile but it seemed about time. So the last few months have been a crazy ride. I've had the flu, recovered from the flu, then well found out I am pregnant. Then to top it all we had the first ultra sound scan yesterday and well it seems at the moment I'm expecting twins! Holy moly! Just when we were getting used to the idea of having a new addition to the family and along comes another curve ball.

The little ones were conceived pretty much on Valentine's day. Due date is November 15th, although something tells me that will change.

So right now I'm 8 weeks and 3 days. I've had almost a month of constant nausea (not fun I can tell you). This is going to be a high risk pregnancy so we have a long ways to go. I am overweight, I have hypertension and now I have twins.

Oh boy!

Bad News, Good News

Bad news, the cats are going to have to get used to having noone home again during the day. Good news Jagr got his promotion and will be working 7am to 3pm Mon - Fri! Not sure how we will cope with us both being on the same schedule! But yay! I'm so proud of him, barely a year at this current job and he's moved up to assistant chief that's some achievement. I understand that he will have more responsibility and therefore if things go wrong I expect him sometimes to have to run off in the middle of the night. But if it at least can give us a full weekend once a month I'll be happy. Not sure when he will get on the new schedule but it's all good news. I just hope the cats can cope to not having someone in bed for 16 hours a day (giggles). Josie will be fine but Lani well she is a little be of an attention freak, more so for me than him but she likes to have her people around.

/Does a little dance of joy. Oh it's a tiny bit more money not really enough to make a huge difference as he looses the shift differential but we aren't going to complain about that.

Old toys, New Toys

So couple of weeks ago it was my niece's birthday. And my parent's got out my sister and I's old dolls and toys for her that we used to play with when we were kids. Mind you our Mum and Dad were wondering who was more excited and fascinated my sister or my niece. I will confess tho seeing the pictures does bring back memories. And I might add reminds me we avoided Barbie like the plague back then it was all about Sindy! Then again Barbie clothes would most likely fit these dolls anyway. Worst case we could probably buy her a Barbie a lot of the other stuff that we had would work with the horses and things that we had.

Ah fond memories...I just had to share.

Oh and boy is my little niece growing up fast! She impressed me last weekend by asking where the kitty was, and even called her by her name Josie! We don't talk that often but I was amazed she remembered our cat's name and obviously associates us with the cat. Soooo sweet, course I should probably make the most of it now while she is still interested give her a few more years and I'm sure she will be more interested in boys (watch out Lil' Sis that's going to be fun).

A Quiet Day...

So the router was down in our main office, meaning that we had no web page, and no email...I think 90% of my job is now through email making it a quiet morning.

Jagr isn't feeling well and may not work tonight. Not looking good for the job tho looks like they are going to post elsewhere I guess they didn't like any of the applications. I think they just wish they had told them that a week ago, so I guess he will be on the graveyard for awhile longer. Not the end of the world but would have been nice. Then again we just have to be happy sometimes we have decent paying jobs and quality time together, and we still have some vacation days to look forward to together. I'm just happy being with him so I'm not going to complain.

Had a great night's sleep last night so actually feel awake today. Will try again for an early night tonight but with him sick I'm sure I'm going to be just sitting around being quiet again which means I'll be asleep early I'm sure.

Sorry:(

Been a long while since my last blog sorry...work got crazy the last week or so. Then well last weekend we managed a night away and they we had a party, and then we had another evening with a friend, and /sigh I've been real tired this week trying to catch up.

Was relieved today when finally a large order at work sorted itself out. I was half afraid I was going to be blamed for loosing it when really I didn't do anything to cause that. I'm still wondering how I ended up in the middle of that mess when I was trying to get the audit resolved and licensing...next thing I knew I was being slammed by people wanting to know where things were that were shipped. Ah well such is life.

Jagr is currently still waiting to hear if anyone's got the promotion at work. We are still both hoping he will get it as it will mean him finally having something akin to normal work hours, not to mention it will be the first time ever that hours will pretty much match. Yep folks this promotion would mean getting Saturday and Sundays off! Course with the promotion would be more responsibility so if things go wrong he would be running back to work, but how bad can that really be? Ah well the possibility is still there until they make the announcement.

Farewell Mr Ledger

So we already have waaay too much gossip around but I was actually saddened to hear of the loss today of Heath Ledger. I admired him as an actor, thought he was pretty cool and all that, and a little bit cute. Gonna miss ya, gone way too young. Shame these guys can't keep away from drugs. Also shame your daughter is going to miss out on a father as she grows older. What a waste of good talent, maybe his death might serve as a lesson to others to get help /sigh.

Enough of that, so anything new happening? Em no..although did enjoy playing Rockstar the other day with my gfriend and her family, seems I do fairly well singing even if off key :) Forget the drums or guitar but definitely fun. End of the month is fast upon us as well? Didn't we just have Xmas and New Year?

Grateful at the moment to have a job...looking at the economy and what's going on things just aren't looking so peachy right now. Dunno at this point if there is even a fix to be had, I think it's a case of weathering the storm.

Drugs still giving me some trouble at night sleeping. I'll get it right eventually I think, but last night I just didn't wear enough when going to bed. I was warm enough when I went to sleep initially but after awhile I started getting colder and colder, hot water bottle helped some as did the cat, but I just tensed up shivering after awhile. Got to admit I was stupid not to get up earlier and put more clothes on if I had of done I would have gone to sleep again a lot sooner instead of lying there shivering not wanting to get out from the warmth of the covers.

Busy Busy Busy

Busy at work auditor giving us a hard time, and it's frustrating as heck and at the end of the day I can only do so much they all need to talk with each other instead of through me.

Oh rant of the week, why is it people insist on holding their private conversations in the public bathroom stalls at work? I really don't want the person they are talking to hearing me pee and I'm sure they aren't interested in hearing that either, and er can't be none to hygienic either especially that phone. Oh and nor do I want to hear the conversation, not like I can go far when I'm sitting on the throne. The stair well is right next door and 100 times more private if you really want to go somewhere to talk outside of the office I think men and young women are the worst culprits, surely there has to be some kind of phone etiquette somewhere.

Ah and I'm wire free at the office and loving it! I can actually get up walk around forget the phone be away from my desk and still answer. I can turn around and not yank the headset out of my ear. Freedom. And so far everyone has been able to actually hear me which is better than the last one I had. The lifter isn't entirely great with this headset but I can make it work but it won't automatically lower as the hand set tends to slip but all in all it's an improvement.

Compliments from a customer

Had a nice compliment from a customer, it's nice to hear that from time to time. Actually I'll be honest it made my day and I did blush for awhile. /sighs happily and this is why I like my job. No really I do. The good days outnumber the bad stressful ones so I'm a happy campier.

On the downer tho seems recently the drugs I'm taking for MS are giving me one side effect, I think. Currently working on testing this theory but the last couple of times I've taken it I've been shivering forever at night, even had to resort to a hotwater bottle. Now that I've worked that one out I'm going to pay closer attention to it. If I have to take Tylenol that's fine but I need to take it a bit earlier than I did last night waay groggy when I got up this morning and finally dragged my ass out of bed at 6am. Least I still made it to work on time.

Been looking at options for Xmas with my Mum on line, seen some nice places that might work well for the family.

Already half way through January

Hard to believe but we are already halfway through January. Yeesh time is just flying by at an incredible rate. Saw the neuro yesterday, and I won't have to see him now for another 6mths, kidney and liver were doing just fine so he's comfortable with a long bit in between. Jagr's paycheck mess should be resolved today, not sure if anyone's going to get O/D fees refunded but man what a mess they short paid the staff in total something like $19k that's insane, and they wondered why people were upset.

Kinda tired as per normal for me in the mornings. I think a lot of that is I was cold when I went to bed last night, actually got up changed the bed covers and got a hot water bottle I just couldn't warm up. Course woke up this morning sweeting /sigh just can't seem to get a good temperature hehe.

Negotiated my way through some very thick fog this morning, I think that's the worst I've had to drive in yet since I've lived here.

Fog

Well I can't see anything out of the office window right now other than a wall of fog, San Mateo bridge has completely disappeared. Turns out the problem with the leak was the high winds blowing the rain into the chimney and well it was very windy and very wet. They are going to take a look at it but not sure they will be able to do much, long as we don't have to pay the damages for that when we move out I'm fine.

Jagr got a bit of a shock this week he didn't get all of his wages thanks to a lovely new system his company is implementing on their pay system. Apparently another office in the area had problems and they wonder why people are upset..you don't tell people you aren't open to change when you are suddenly docking them money! At least he got some of it but it's way screwed up. He's going to file a grievance, someone should really take a bit of responsibility for it and be able to issue some of these guys emergency checks instead of telling them that they aren't open to change. Well excuse me but when you skip 2k of someone's wages because you are changing the system that they have no control over they should have every right to be upset! Fortunately we will be fine till the next pay period unless they make a similar cock up. Oh and thank you his company for the tax we will get charged on that one when it comes!

Eeep it's been a week!

Alright it's belated I know:( Just been tired and busy lately, work been kinda mad, then when I get home all I want to do is veg. Not really interested much in logging on to the computer. Anyway taking 5 minutes to jot something down and seeing as a lot of lunches this week seem to be spent at my desk I'm not going to feel too guilty about it.

Managed to get the Xmas tree down finally. Got my Xmas present from my husband a glorious magnifying lamp, now I can get to figuring out the mess I've made on the needle work and work much more comfortably.

I have spent the rest of my time listening to an awesome podcast and I'm totally addicted. I am even managing to find some time whilst working to continue listening it's just that good. It's easy enough I can follow without loosing track, important when I have to work at the same time :) But the day is just flying by. Oh yes, time to shamelessy plug this gem it's by Nathan Lowell /sigh so beautifully read sorry JC...all I'm going to say is love it love it love it. I think I'm even going to add it as a permanent link at the bottom! There aren't many that get that honour.

MS is just ticking along, I'm a bit red in spots but I generally heal up enough by the time I get back to that spot. Nothing like 2 red blotches on my belly but then again the only person other than myself that gets to see em is Jagr so I'm not all that worried :)

Got a leak on our roof that the management people are going to be working on over the next few days. Hopefully Jagr will still get enough sleep. Anyway, feeling tired like the weather just grey blah and wet. Then again we do need the rain, and on the bright side I have good hair days.

Happy 2008

Had a pretty cool Xmas if somewhat unconventional dinner. Then went out to the wilds near Yosemite with a friend and his family to celebrate New Year. Downside is Jagr had to work it so couldn't join us. But was a good break, no TV no cell phone service, no city streets just some R&R. Friends made a baby snowman.

Course back at work and going slightly nuts with calls and emails. Guess it will slow down again eventually. Bit worried about the weather tomorrow and the commute the are saying if you don't have to drive tomorrow don't do it...that bothers me a little as there was a nasty accident this morning and that was without the rain!

Lots of wind tonight too but looking forward to a stormy weekend curled up with the PC and playing games mwhahaha!