Busy busy busy

A few things going on

• I have just 2.5 months to finish the class I've been working on for the last year for BYU's BGS program. It is Psychology of Gender, and very interesting, but difficult to find time to work on.
• I've been reading the same book (for pleasure) for the last 6 or 7 months. I finally finished it last night. The last 2 pages blew my mind. In a good way.
  
• I got called to serve in the Primary as a the chorister. It is way fun to be with the kids again, but a crazy time with the twins in tow. Everyone helps me out though, so it's all good. Plus I'm sharing the calling with another woman, so it's not every week, which is a good fit.
• Work is good and busy. Busy busy busy.
• Judah and Asher are busy busy busy little guys, which keeps me and Nick busy busy busy.
  

Alone with my thoughts

Kids are asleep. Nick is at school. Work is done for the day. I am enjoying a few blissful moments of silence, which are few and far between these days. I can actually hear myself think.

Asher is pulling himself up on any and all things 24" or less in height. But his balance is still not that stellar so he's been falling over a lot too. He goes into the "ugly cry" at least 2 times daily. But he gets over it quickly, and goes about exploring the floor (and cords and shoes and bits of paper) with his mouth. I think he might be part puppy. He has started sticking out his tongue again a lot, which I am a big fan of.

Judah is not very motivated when it comes to mobility. He's saving all his energy to grow teeth and flirt with women. He has 2 bottom teeth, and a top tooth is about to pop out any day now. He is a social little guy and loves to be around people, loves attention, and does this thing where he lowers his head but keeps his eyes trained on his object of affection - which is pretty much any woman. I sometimes worry about what this means for his future - especially the teenage years, but mostly I'm just jealous that I'm not the only one he flirts with.

Nick started his last year of grad school today. There was much rejoicing. He will be shooting his thesis film this Fall. It will not be shot in my house. When I learned this fact there was much rejoicing. You should check out his fundraising site and kick a few bucks our way: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nickreddoch/space-garden-graduate-film-thesis

I love being a work-at-home mom. Even though I'm still working with Nick to establish what I believe to be a fair distribution of labor on the home-front, I think I've struck a pretty sweet balance between work life and home life. I enjoy my job tremendously, and I think I'm pretty good at it. I am challenged by new things thrown in my path, and I am able to handle them well. I really like and respect my coworkers and managers. Every time I think about my company I feel a swell of pride and it's pretty much a constant love-fest whenever I get to talk about my telecommuting arrangement or almost anything at all to do with where I work and with whom I work, not to mention our products. I hope I get to work there forevers.

Lately I've been noticing that my babies aren't little babies anymore. They're turning into little boys slowly but surely. I'm torn between wanting them to stay little forever and wanting to speed up time to skip to the next thing and the next. Sometimes I think about having another baby (or babies) and it scares me because my kids are in reality still infants. I have two stinking babies at the same time. And they are still babies. Even though they aren't the little peanuts I brought home from the NICU lo those many months ago. Mostly I just don't want to wait too long to have additional kid or kids. Nick and I are no spring chickens over here. I would love to be done having babies by age 35. That kind of limits my window. Also I don't want to have too much of a gap between kids because if my next kid is a singleton then they might be spoiled or have last child syndrome (you'll have to ask Nick about that one). And if it's twins again, might as well be full crazy for a few years instead of spacing out the madness. Then again, maybe I won't be able to have more kids. If I learned one thing from my pregnancy it is this: I am not the one in charge. I did not get to control the timing of that pregnancy (not to mention the fetal count), so I expect I won't be able to control the timing of any additional pregnancies - if I am lucky enough to have any more.

For the record, twins are the best. I love having twins and I feel so blessed to be entrusted with two beautiful and perfect little boys. Sometimes I try to imagine what it would be like to have just one baby. Then I do the mental equivalent of biting my tongue because I don't want to know what it would be like to have just one baby. I am in love with having two babies. Sometimes I feel like everything in my life up until this point has prepared me for having these kids. They are my blessing, my retribution, my make-up-for-lost-time, my everything. And I'm pretty sure Nick agrees.

Anyway, it's getting late. And I have to fold the clean laundry that is on my bed so I can get into it. Ah, bed, I love you.

Let's talk about sex, baby!

A big congrats to Tyler, Dean, Alex, Kristine, Rachel, Todd and my subconscious for guessing the correct gender combo for the Nitsy Twins. That's right kids, we found out at our detailed ultrasound today that Twin A is a boy, and Twin B is... another boy! Sorry LC, we're all snips and snails and puppy dog tails over here. It did not come as a huge shock to me as I had a dream very early on in my pregnancy when I first knew about the twins that they were both boys. I was hoping for one girl, but I guess I'll have to try again for my girl.

Both babies are developing well, and still have healthy heartbeats and growth. Twin A weighs 13 oz, and Twin B weighs 14oz. For those keeping tabs, my cervix is still long and strong.

I also took the dreaded gestational diabetes test this last week... and failed. So I have to go in for a more extensive 3 hour test. Yuck!

In other fun news, I joined a podcast called Pregtastic. It's an online radio show where pregnant moms from the area get together to discuss different pregnancy topics. I have recorded 3 episodes so far, and the first came out today! If you're interested, check it out here: http://www.pregtastic.com/category/podcasts/ or just search for "pregtastic" on itunes.

Vital Stats:

How Far Along? 20.5 weeks - over half way there!

Maternity Clothes? I still fit in a few of my larger regular shirts and stretchy pants, but I'm wearing mainly maternity clothes now.

Weight Gain? 12-ish pounds, but I haven't been weighed at the doctor in a few weeks.

Stretch Marks? Oh yes. Though I think they might have been there pre-pregnancy... but I'll just go ahead and blame the twins from here on out.

Feeling Movement? Only a few times each day, but we saw that both twins were quite active during their ultrasound.

Sleep? I am sleeping 9-10 hours per night. I discovered the wonders of the body pillow, and now I'm loving my sleep again.

Belly Button In or Out? Still in. I have a belly button aversion, so we'll see how I feel if/when it pops out.

Cravings? Hotdogs and rootbeer. Weird, right?

Best Moment of the Week? Finally learning the genders of my little guys!

Genders? Boys

What I Miss? Sushi! Also, walking and taking stairs comfortably. I feel mildly disabled.

What I Love? Looking at baby clothes. Deciding on nursery decor. Feeling the babies move.

What I'm Looking Forward To? Reaching 24 weeks (viability).

Milestones? Over half way there!!!

Other Thoughts? Nick and I both feel so blessed to have such a mild and healthy pregnancy so far. Keep growing babies!

Lots of love to you all!

Nitsy

Fun Game!

We will be finding out the genders of the Nitsy Twins in the next few weeks (so long as they're not modestly hiding the goods). We've started a game to get your Nitsy Twins gender guesses. To enter, simply leave a comment below. Boy/Boy, Girl/Girl or Boy/Girl. The prize for guessing correctly is bragging rights, pride, and big props for being so intuitive.

Happy guessing!