As I approach my third trimester it seems like I am either at my doctors office or the ultrasound office at least once a week. It’s crazy to think that from here out we will see either the doctor or the ultrasound tech every week until they get here. It’s so weird to think that the boys are considered high-risk even though I feel great and they are both right on track. High risk equals lots of attention and I will never complain about extra attention!

Last Friday, we had our 23 week growth check for the boys and cervix check for me. I was under the impression that I was done being probed for ultrasounds but apparently the state of your cervix is very important for high risk births and mine will have to be routinely checked from here on out, lucky me! I am happy to report that I have a “beautiful cervix” which basically means it is long and closed which is a good sign that I will not go into early labor. Ideally, they want the cervix to measure at or above 2.5 cm and I measure at 4 so the ultrasound tech was really impressed. I wonder if I could become a cervix model? Prior to this ultrasound, the boys were in kind of yin-yang positioning with one head facing down and the other up in my ribs, but baby B did a complete 180 and now they are both downward facing which explains the extra pressure I feel on my bladder and why I had to get up 6 times in one night to use the restroom. This positioning is a step in the right direction for me to have a natural birth so that is all good news!

After I was done being violated, while my husband watched no less, we got to see the boys! And OMF-ingG they look completely different at 22.5 weeks than they did at 19.5. Not gonna lie, at 19.5 weeks they were a little creepy looking – all skin and bones, no chubby cheeks or distinguishing features. Now they look like little boys with fat cheeks and little button noses. I may actually have a couple little chunkers on my hands as they both measured almost a week ahead in their growth and weight! I love fat babies. Like there is nothing cuter than a baby who’s fat rolls spill over themselves but I would prefer to not have to birth fat babies – you know just get healthy while you’re in me and then blossom into the cutest chunk ever  when you get to the outside world, be nice to your mom’s insides please!

Here’s the two best pictures from the ultrasound. Of course baby B would not sit still so his picture is a little blurry but I promise you he is perfection! Luke thinks baby A looks like a Prudence while baby B looks like a Leonard and I’m just relieved they look like babies!!

 

 

 

 

We go back in 4 weeks for another fancy ultrasound / growth check and I can’t wait to see how much they change between now and then!!

This week Luke has been busy preparing for a big presentation at work. He’s been waking up early to practice, practicing in his car on the way to work and the other night while I was at a happy hour with my girlfriends he made Jak & Zeus listen to his presentation. From the looks on their faces, Zeus thinks there’s room for improvement and Jak thinks it’s a home run! I can’t believe they just sat there without falling asleep while Luke talked about phasing on building an intersection for 15 minutes!

 

Here I am at 21 weeks, that belly is getting huge! I feel lucky that through over half my pregnancy I haven’t really felt pregnant yet. I haven’t had any morning sickness, I am still sleeping well, and for the most part my range of motion is still in tact. At my 20 week appointment my doctor told me that my blood test came back showing that I was borderline anemic so she prescribed me an iron supplement and said that it might help with my energy levels. Lack of energy is the only thing I am full on experiencing so hopefully the iron helps. I am expecting the not-feeling-only-looking-pregnant state I am in to come crashing down when I start my third trimester in April but am going to enjoy it while it lasts and hope it lasts through our vacation to Hawaii in 2 weeks!

I haven’t had any super weird cravings either. I ate an avocado a day the entire month of February and often crave cottage cheese with peaches. Those are both on the healthy side which I happily accept. On the other side of the spectrum, I would happily make my entire diet pizza, vanilla ice cream and potato based but I know that I have to fight the urge! I wish moderation were an option when it comes to these cravings but if there’s a pizza, gallon of ice cream or bag of potatoes in our house I will devour them as soon as they can be prepared.

OMG. I totally forgot (momentarily) that today is Zeus’s third birthday!! The goose and my dad share the same birthday, how cool is that? My dad and mom celebrated my dad’s birthday in Marsall Islands yesterday because they are a day and a half ahead of us, weird right?

I can’t believe that the sweet peanut below:

 

Turned into the wild goose he is today! In dog years, Zeus turns 21 today which explains his recent interest in drinking all things alcoholic. I imagine his 21st birthday will go something like this:

 

Drink until he passes out and then spend the next day recovering in his favorite pillow:

It’s no surprise that Zeus and my dad have a special kinship being born on the same day and all. The first time they met they both fell asleep on the couch. Zeus was woken by my dad’s snoring and instead of moving to a quieter spot he snuggled closer and looked adoringly at my dad like, “you are my soul mate.” Every time my dad is in town they have a snuggle session / snore-off on the couch and subject the rest of us to their concert. I will admit, though, that they are getting pretty close to harmonizing!

 

I’m thinking Friday the 13th can’t be that bad if two of my favorite guys will be celebrating their birthdays! Happy Friday to all of you and I hope you have an amazing weekend, we sure plan to!

 

I posted this dresser in my WIWW post about nurseries stated that it was wayyyyyyyyyyyyy over our budget. Luke had the idea to find one on Craig’s list to refinish so I set out on the search to find the perfect cheap jewel in the rough. In the mean time, Luke went searching for DIY plans online. At about the same time I haggled down a dresser to a reasonable price on CL, Luke had found plans online and called his dad to schedule a build date. When I told Luke I got the CL dresser down to $125 from $250 he got excited but then realized he had gotten himself and his dad way more excited about building their own dresser to change plans. I happily obliged as I wanted to see if the Leonard men were as handy as I heard. On a Friday morning I left for work with nothing but a stack of wood and Rich & Luke strategizing then came home 8 hours later to this:

 

I couldn’t believe they actually did it! And in only a day! I was impressed and so were the neighbors. On a walk with Zeus later that week one neighbor stopped me to introduce himself and then asked me, “so did your husband build or refinish that dresser?” When I told him Luke built it, he was immediately impressed and I was beyond proud. At that moment I realized I had married myself a real life Ron Swanson.

It turns out that building the dresser was the easy part – it took the next month to find time to prime, paint and stain the dresser. One weekend Luke had to work so no progress was made. The next weekend it was supposed to rain so we didn’t want to move the dresser into the open only to get rained on, but of course it didn’t rain at all. Valentines weekend we managed a little bit of work but then my parents came into town so having fun won out over work. Last weekend Luke finally had the time to put all the pieces together and it came out amazing, definitely worth the wait!

Here’s a few pictures from the journey. Let me note, though, that Luke gets all the credit for this masterpiece even though I am the one in the pictures!

 

I spent Valentine’s morning filling and sanding the frame of the dresser getting it ready for paint while Luke stained the drawer fronts. This was the only day and activity I was allowed to partake in because Luke didn’t want me inhaling the fumes from the stain and paint. I don’t know if I’m actually supposed to stay away from that stuff but any time Luke gives me an out I take it! It was a beautiful day so between coats I sat in the grass in the front yard, read a book and watched Luke work. It was splendid!

 

This is proof of me working and also proof of pregnancy brain in full effect. I can’t even put my shirts on right side out. Oh well, at least I could still bend over at this point!

 

There aren’t many things in life that Zeus hates, but the air compressor and impact drill are in the top 5. Luke had to use both to finish painting and attach the drawer fronts to the dresser which is why Zeus looks so terrified. We figured that the boys would be pulling the drawers out in a few years to climb to the top of the dresser so we used Zeus as a tilt test and the dresser passed! Luke built, Zeus approved!

 

It took us a long time to decided on which kind of knobs to use for the dresser but then one magical morning while drinking coffee and trolling the internet in bed, Luke stumbled across these sleeping fox knobs from Anthropologie and we instantly knew they were meant to be. Our nursery theme is woodland so these are the perfect subtle accent to tie the dresser into the rest of the room. Anthropologie, as everyone knows, does not run cheap so Luke made sure to point out that the hardware cost as much as the rest of the raw materials. I made sure to point out that he was the one who found them so it was his fault! Either way, the knobs are the icing on the cake.

The finished product! I still can’t believe Luke and his dad built this, it’s absolutely stunning and exactly what I wanted. What makes it even more special is that someday the boys will appreciate that their dad and grandpa built that dresser with their own hands! However, Luke and Rich have opened a can of worms they may soon regret. Now that the family knows they can build furniture nicer and cheaper than anything found in a store they are going to be really busy fulfilling all of the orders. Luke’s “build the wife stuff” list tripled after this dresser came out so perfectly!

 

 

In this What I Want Wednesday post I listed the pottery barn grey rocker as inspiration for our nursery, but at $1100 (before it went on sale) plus a couple hundred more for the ottoman I couldn’t quite justify the purchase. I kept imagining the twins puking, pooping, peeing and slobbering all over it as babies and then using it as some sort of catapult when they got older. I also had the hubbyboo in my ear insisting I was crazy for even thinking of spending that kind of money on a chair while also insisting he could probably build one for $10. Then one magical day while Luke was trolling the internet he found this rocker on sale for almost half off along with a matching ottoman. At that price we of course had to buy two more swivel gliders for the front room. All in we bought 4 pieces of furniture for less than the original rocker I wanted which is a total steal! I couldn’t argue with that bargain and was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the items when they arrived. Zeus, as you can imagine, thinks we bought him 4 new chairs and can’t decide which one he likes best. We’ve been practicing rocking in the nursery and he has decided that he needs the ottoman more than my legs do. We’ll see how long he sticks around the nursery when crying babies are inserted into the picture.

I don’t know who I am anymore. Usually nothing stands in the way of something that I decide I want. I will lie, cheat and steal (or most likely work really hard and save) to obtain the material possessions I so desire. But then I married Luke, got knocked up and turned into a compromising, bargain hunting, thrifty breeding machine. It’s wild! I am very proud of myself for choosing the bargain over the splurge and have told myself that I have a splurge saved up since I made the practical choice in this situation!