Babies:: 22 & 23 Weeks

22 weeks started off with that scare with brother that Tuesday. That Friday we had our third and what we hoped was our last appointment with the Maternal Fetal Specialists at Shawnee Mission Medical Center. We had our 12 week screening, 18 week anatomy and now our 22 week ultrasounds all done there since we are having twins and they have top of the line ultrasound machines. As long as this appointment went as well as the others we would be fully released back to our regular obgyn Dr Piquard for the remainder of my pregnancy unless something changes with the babies. And thankfully all went well and we have been released! The only change noted was that my cervix went from 4cm to 3.4cm but I am still well above the normal range so no one is worried. Sister is once again head down and brother is now head up. So they are in the yin & yang positions in my belly. The babies were moving all around putting on quite a show for us. It is so crazy to watch them interact with each other. At one point we saw brother grab sisters feet!

Baby A (sister)

Baby B (brother)

Brother grabbing Sisters feet

Today we had our 23rd weeks checkup with Dr P. All looks great except my blood pressure was running a bit higher than usual 132/70 and the start of my appointment and then 139/70 when they rechecked it before we left. Nothing very alarming just something to be watched closely baring my history with pre-eclampsia. This appointment we learned that it is the start of weekly appointments from here on out with ultrasounds every month for now.

Tuesday we will hit our 3rd goal of this pregnancy...24 weeks. 24 weeks is viability-meaning they have a fighting chance of surviving if they were born now. Our next goal after that is 28 weeks which gives them an even stronger chance of survival without any lasting effects.

Tis The Season 2013

Sunday Ben & I decorated our traditional gingerbread house but I must admit that I only piped the white icing...Ben did all the rest himself. He decided where all the candy pieces went, where to put the special green frosting and gingerbread men. He was having such a great time and was so proud of himself! 

Christmas Eve::

We went to Vince's moms choirs mass at 1:30pm at St Thomas More. Ben had a great time sitting up in the choir loft listening to everyone sing during mass! Since mass was so early this year we had a little time to kill and and had time for a quick visit from Jaclyn! It was great to catch up in person and she had a very sweet gift for Ben! After that it was off to Vince's Dad & Marq's house. Grandma Marq & Papa White Truck sure know how to make a kid happy and they gave him a big black remote control monster truck! His eyes got HUGE when he saw it! And it took him all of about 1 minute to figure out how to drive it! 

Then is was off to Uncle Stan's House for the traditional Rupp Christmas Eve! This year we had quite a few people missing for various reason but it was still a great night! Ben had a blast playing with his cousins and second cousins. I failed and never took my camera out once but I did snap a iPhone pic as Ben was saying goodbye to one of his new favorite people to play with...Tommy! 

We didn't get home until after 10pm and Ben hadn't had a nap so he was a bit cranky but we still needed to get things ready for Santa & his reindeer! While Ben had told GG that he wanted to leave peanut butter kiss cookies & wine for Santa he told me last minute that peanut clusters and an apple juice box was what we should leave. This was a good thing because while we had plenty of wine we had eaten all the peanut butter kiss cookies! We also decided that the reindeer may like to snack on some carrots while Santa was hard at work. After we set it out we had a rerun of last year and Ben got upset because we wouldn't let him eat the peanut clusters or drink the juice. Then it was off to bed...

Christmas Day::

Vince and I woke up about 8am and we kept waiting for Ben to wake up but he was just snoozing away. We finally woke him up about 8:30am and after we finally got him to wake up he was so excited to go see what Santa had brought! 

Santa didn't disappoint he got everything he asked Santa for...monster trucks, an umbrella, a sleeping bag and something he hadn't asked for a Jeep! Next it was off to my parents house for round 2! Mom made breakfast casseroles and banana nut bread! I think everyone had a great morning especially Ben! 

The babies even had a few special gifts! Uncle Matt even got them some new toys-such a sweet guy! GG & Bapa gave them special blankets, new toys and matching newborn KU hats!

Soon it was obvious that someone was in need of a serious snoozer (note to self even on Christmas morning do not wake your sleeping toddler up)! Vince & I started dinner prep and soon it was time for our traditional Christmas dinner gathering! I think the thing I like best about this tradition is that each year the table has different people at it. Sometimes its a lot of people sometimes its not but I love that it is always different faces! This year we had my parents, Matt and Vince's Uncle John who was in town from San Francisco! It was a nice treat to have John all to ourselves for a night!

We still have a few more celebrations this weekend before we close the book on Christmas 2013 but so far this has been a great holiday season spend with dear family & friends! 

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Tape

The following took place a few weeks back but I want to make sure I never forget it because it was a classic toddler Ben moment...

Ben had seen a commercial for a holiday special of one of his most favorite shows...Paw Patrol. It was a good 4 days before this special was set to air but of course Ben doesn't fully understand the concept of what 4 days means. I told him that we could tape it when it came on that Thursday at 7pm meaning I would record it on our dvr box. A few minutes later he came into the dining room where I had our present wrapping station all set up and asked for a piece of tape. This was nothing out of the ordinary as he always asks for pieces of scotch tape when he sees the tape out and he likes to stick it on  paper or himself. But this morning he took the pieces I gave him and grabbed his step stool and headed back into the playroom. About a minute later he came running back to me saying "ok mommy I taped it-I taped it-now can we watch Christmas Paw Patrol?!?!?". I walked into the playroom and this is what I saw...

He had literally taped the tv! Poor guy just didn't understand why he couldn't watch Christmas Paw Patrol since he had taped it. I'm starting to realize just how complicated the English language is to learn and to teach!

Brother.

We have been pretty lucky up until now to have had only one scare this pregnancy and that was early on at about 5 1/2 weeks pregnant and that scare led us to find out we were having twins. Things have been relatively quiet since then. But yesterday brother (baby b) gave us our second scare of this pregnancy. I had not felt him move since Sunday afternoon but sister had been active as usual. When it comes to brother and feeling movement it has always been less than sister because of where his placenta is situated. Early on we learned that he has an anterior placenta and sister has a posterior placenta. Meaning that brothers placenta is at the front of my uterus while sisters is at the back. It doesn't mean anything as far as the health or safety of the babies just that its harder for me to feel brother moving since the placenta serves as a cushion between him and my tummy. So needless to say I'm use to feeling more action on my left side but I always feel brother at least once or twice a day. So Tuesday morning when I woke up and sister was going crazy like usual but I still wasn't feeling brother I was a bit concerned. So I ate a big bowl of fruit loops hoping to give them a sugar rush and I texted Vince and Natalie both of which said to call the doctor. So after I dropped Ben off at school I called and fully expected the nurse to tell me it wasn't a big deal but instead she said I need to come in for an ultrasound. This is when I got really scared. I called Vince and we were off to the doctor. Luckily as soon as the tech started the ultrasound she saw brother and he was alive & well just moving all around without a care in the world. My scared tears turned to happy tears and Vince finally could breathe! Since I was on the table already the tech did a once over on both babies and they both got clean bills of health. Sister is now breech-that girl has been head down since 12 weeks but now at 22 weeks she decided to flip. Fingers and toes crossed she resumes her vertex position soon. Brother was head down but that doesn't matter as far as delivery goes and that kids flip flops all the time. So between the anterior placenta and him being head down we think that is why I wasn't feeling him. So brother is now grounded until further notice for scaring us to death!
                                                                   Brother

                                                                  Sister

                                                               Both Babies

                                       Sisters Profile               Brothers Profile

Ben & "Ho Ho"

We were a little late going to see Santa this year as Ben had been sick all last week. Some virus got a hold of him and he had a nasty cough, high fever and a lot of snot. Poor kid didn't get to go to school and missed bringing snack which also meant he missed his turn being line leader. He was not happy about that and we are still hearing about it a week later!

Here is a peek of what my week looked like...

We decided to wait to until Ben was feeling better to make our visit to "Ho Ho's House" as Ben calls it. This year we kept talking about how we were going to go and how he needed to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. We went on Monday and were fully prepared for a repeat of years past...

But much to our disappointment surprise he didn't shed a tear. He gave Santa a high five, got on his lap and told him that he wanted a "big black monster truck" and an "umbrella" and then promptly asked us if we could please go home now. I know so many  people were waiting on the iconic Ben & Santa pic and I really still can't believe we don't have it! But maybe the babies will follow in their big brothers fear of Jolly Old St Nick.

Gobble Gobble 2013

We have so much to be thankful for this year....

family: friends: ben: the babies: our house: our health: miles: kc: ipads: dvr:

I could go on and on and on and on but those are my top 10 this year.

This year we had two small Thanksgivings and they were just perfect! On Thanksgiving we went to my parents for dinner. It was nice to have a smaller group as it allowed us to eat at the table which I don't ever remember doing in the past. My mom outdid herself as usual with a huge yummy spread of food. I wish I could have eaten more of it but these days I seem to be running low on space ! While it was a bit more quiet this year than past years it was made up for this past weekend with a nice Smith Family Christmas Gathering! So all the family still got to get together!

Our second Thanksgiving was over at Vince's Mom's house the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We had a special visitor in town from California...Vince's Uncle John! Ben had so much fun with his cousins-he cried all the way home because he missed them already! Carol outdid herself as well with a great spread of food! And Vince made his first ever green bean casserole and it was a hit!

P.O.T.T.Y. T.R.A.I.N.I.N.G

I had good intentions of potty training Ben in August before school started back up. But I hadn't planned on becoming pregnant with twins, having severe morning sickness or Ben breaking his arm. So needless to say I didn't accomplish my goal. So after Ben's cast came off and we were done with his birthday celebrations we got right down to it. We started last Saturday morning and haven't looked back. All in all I must say he did/is doing great! Saturday we turned up the heat and had a pant less toddler drinking anything he wanted and eating as many salty snacks as he wanted. We set the timer for every 15 minutes to make a trip to the potty. Going pee-pee scored him a mini m&m, poop scored him a gummy worm and going to the potty before the timer goes off scored him a marshmallow. I had no idea how fast 15 minutes can go by-I felt like all we did was run to the potty. Sunday we pushed it to 20 minutes and Monday 30 minutes. Ben has only had a handful of accidents which make us so proud of him! I am so glad to be done with that damn timer! I put a potty in my truck so when we are out and about he can go and we don't have to worry about making it to a public bathroom if there is not one near. Tuesday will be his first day diaper free at school as I didn't send him last week since we were only on day 4 of training. Hopefully it goes well! He is in pull-ups for nap time which are almost always dry! And a nighttime diaper at night which is normally a little wet by morning but he runs to the bathroom as soon as he wakes up! I must admit I am kinda excited to have a diaper free house for a few months before we are on double diaper duty!

Ben. Our 3 Year Old.

In some ways it seems surreal that we have a 3 year old and it others doesn't. I feel like Ben has been with us forever but really 3 years isn't that long especially when you think that Vince & I have been together for 10 years. He is the most talkative kid I know and he loves to make people laugh! He is by no means shy and has the best manners! He melts my heart every time he tells me he loves me or that I'm his "bestest" favorite person ever. He tests my patience daily which I think is good for me. He loves his family so much and talks about them all daily! He is a structure freak and likes things the way he knows them to be-if you move something he will go move it back to its old spot. He is a picky picky little bird of an eater. He still loves fruit, meatballs, yogurt, cereal and nuts. We have recently started the "no thank you bite" which means we put something he doesn't like or hasn't tried on his plate and he has to take 1 bite. Bubble Guppies are his new favorite show and he can't get enough! He loves to help us cook even if its just making toast. He controls the radio in my truck at all times which can be a bit annoying when we don't agree on a song. He is a total bookworm. He is so stubborn and very opinionated. Monster trucks are his favorite cars right now! I could go on and on but I won't! I can't wait to see what this year has in store for our Benny Boo!

We had Ben's 3 year check up a few weeks back and he got a clean bill of health! Dr Slaymaker said he is right on track and doing great! Not that we had any doubts!

We also had what we hope is Ben's last ortho appointment at Children's Mercy. His x-rays look great and its healing just as it should be. We have to work a bit on getting full motion back in his wrist otherwise we have to go to physical therapy. So we have been playing a lot of catch and stretching it out.