Our baby shower

On Saturday, March 10th, we had a lovely, lovely baby shower at our house with about 25 friends and family. It was an amazing time, filled with love and phenomenal generosity! Thanks to all who made it such a special day for us! Above is us outside of our house before folks started to arrive. Many thanks to Sarah Heath, our shower hostess with the mostess, for all her hard work, planning, and decorating!
Chris' mom supplied this super yummy cake, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. Chocolate cake with whipped cream frosting! YUM! What's not to enjoy?
Here we are with some adorable stuffed animals from Aimee and Jean. Penny is especially loving the Piglet, and I will probably have to wrestle it away from her so that the babies can enjoy it! These guys are SO SOFT!
Check out this super cute outfit and the beaming mama-to-be. Is it possible that in only about 6 weeks there will be two babies here who can wear this little number? UNREAL!!

Sarah had a great idea for a shower activity that had many of us in tears. Each of the jars above is for one of the babies. Each shower guest got a stone, and then we went around the room and each person shared their wishes and intentions for the babies and the new family, before placing the stones in the jars. After all the stones were placed, a candle was put into each jar on top of the stones. On the first night that our new family is all home together from the hospital, we will light the candles so that we are literally and figuratively surrounded by all the love and support of our community. Isn't that amazing? Needless to say, it was an amazingly touching ritual! Thanks so much, Sarah!

Here are some of our friends enjoying the shower. We never knew our little house could hold so many people. It was so amazing to be surrounded by so much love and support for our new family!

Here's Chris' family members in attendance. From left is my mom (a SURPRISE shower guest all the way from Florida. She said, "How could I miss my only daughter's baby shower?" Love you, mom!), my dad's brother, Rob, and my aunt Cecilia. Uncle Rob was in on the surprise guest appearance. Thanks for providing the airport shuttle, Uncle Rob!

Another amazing part of the shower was that friends all signed up to bring the new mamas yummy dinners once the bambinos have arrived. Wow! Such generosity. This is a picture of Emily (from my knitting group) taking part in the "Welcome Home!" meals program. Thanks, Emily and everyone else. We can't wait to see what you all have in store for us! Thanks to Aimee for arranging this part of the shower for us! Love ya, Aim!

Here's Kelly and Penny showing off the amazing and generous pile of gifts that everyone brought. Thank you so much to all of our friends and family who came to the shower. The gifts are fantastic and the company was superb. We can't wait for all of you to meet our litttle darlings in just a few more weeks. You all are going to be such special people in their lives and, frankly, they are very, very lucky to have each and every one of you!!

Our last weekend away before babies!!

Our second and final babymoon weekend was spent in Carmel, CA. We stayed at the Carmel River Inn, where I won a free 2 night weekend stay after entering an online contest. Above is a picture of the Carmel Mission that we visited one day during our stay. It was lovely and full of history. Right up Penny's alley!
We also took a drive along the "17-mile drive" along the coast. It was very pretty, but imagine our surprise when we were required to pay $9 to drive along this 17 miles of scenic loveliness! We got a map and there were lots of little places to pull off and take pictures. If we were golfers, we would have been very impressed by being able to stop at the Pebble Beach golf course. We passed!
Here is a picture of our little cabin at the Carmel River Inn. Not bad for free, ey?
And here is a picture of the great soaking tub inside our cabin. Between this and our 1st babymoon weekend, are you sensing a theme? Since being pregnant, I am all about the big bathtubs and soaking my cares away. Calgon, take me away!
And, last but not least, another belly picture. These pics were all taken the weekend of March 3rd and 4th. Getting bigger all the time, no? Babies are getting bigger and stronger with each passing day. Of this I am sure...due to the force of their kicks and punches. Thanks, little ones!

We have arrived in the 3rd trimester!

As of today, I am 27 weeks and 0 days pregnant. It is the first day of the 3rd trimester and I am so excited and thrilled to have made it here.

We had a growth ultrasound yesterday and all went well. Baby A (our girl) weighed in at 2 lbs, 5 ounces. She is in the 51st percentile. Baby B (our boy) weighed in at 2 lbs, 11 ounces. He is in the 53rd percentile. The ultrasound tech and radiologist are very happy with these numbers. They are only concerned when babies are below the 10th percentile or above the 90th percentile.

The babies were both head down, which was amazing to see. They were totally kicking each other! We were able to see some hair on Baby A's head. The tech pointed it out to us. Otherwise, we would not have had a clue! After all these ultrasounds, we are good, but not that good!

Each time we have an ultrasound, we continue to get confirmation that our boy is still a boy and our girl is still a girl. We are not anticipating any surprises at delivery time!

So, I will continue to work for about 6 more weeks. My OB will put me off of work then, if everything continues to go well, and I don't need to go off of work before then. We are anticipating that the babies will be here in about 9 weeks or so. Holy cow! We are down to the single digits of weeks. WOW!

Penny and I are going away this weekend for our last little get-a-way before the babies arrive. We are spending the weekend in Carmel, CA at an Inn and staying in a cottage with a huge soaking tub that I am really looking forward to! We plan on relaxing, eating yummy food, and getting in some good reading time. I am also bringing my knitting with me, as I am desperately trying to complete the ONE blanket that I am working on, before the babies actually arrive. The babies will be small, so they can share one blanket, right? LOL! But, they will have to cherish it together, as mama is a slow and lazy knitter and two blankets will never be done before they arrive...unless I have to go on bedrest. What, me? Wanting to get out of work sooner than 6 weeks from now? Nah!