Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Twin Tuesday: 36 Weeks


How far along: 36 weeks (click here to see 36 weeks with Madi!)

Total Weight Gain: ~25 lbs (and hoping most of it is baby!)

Gender: Baby girls! Here is our gender reveal video.

Twins' Development:  Your babies are shedding most of their downy body hair as well as some of the vernix caseosa, the creamy substance that protects the skin. The Braxton Hicks contractions may be a little more frequent now as well. Source: Baby Center Twins)


Sleep: I've had a couple nights where I've woken up early in the morning and struggled some to get back to sleep, which is unusual for me. I think some of it is the sunlight here in Norway right now (sunrise and sunset are around 4:30 am and 11:00 pm, respectively). I'm still averaging 3 times per night to get up and pee as well.

Movement: Yes - and dear goodness it's a lot sometimes. Movement below my left breast is hard to tell if it's Baby A or Baby B, but I think it's mostly Baby B. Her body is laying across the top of my gigantic stomach and I feel as though she's trying to bust out of jail!

Unglamorous body changes: A lot. Sigh. More stretch marks and my belly button had popped out. That and I am huge!

Maternity Clothes? Yes... and having to wear an undershirt because some of the maternity clothes are starting to get a bit tight... yikes!

Showing: Yes, which is logical since I'm carrying two babies. But it's definitely showing these days!!

Food cravings: Everything - haha. I feel like the past couple of weeks I have been starving and am eating everything in sight. But mostly a lot of fruit and cereal. Oh and I still really want a margarita or glass of wine. :-)

What I miss: Same as last update - freely moving. It's getting hard to get comfortable and I feel like I am waddling although everyone promises I'm not (that or they don't want to cross a pregnant gal!).

It's also getting really hard to do things like change Madi and carry her and play with her... that's really hard for me. I keep having to tell her "Mommy's too big" so naturally she's walking around saying "Mommy too big". Guess I asked for that, hehe!

Strange experiences: I had someone comment about being close to the end based on my size. She was a little surprised to find out I wasn't that close, but rather carrying two babies (this was a couple weeks ago). I also had someone ask me if I was ready to have the babies because my nose and lips were making her think I would have the babies soon. That was last Monday so fortunately no babies yet!

Best moment this month: Finishing up the nursery decorations we've made with our cutter and getting them hung in the girls' room. I'm itching to share the names and pictures of the nursery after they arrive!! :-)

Looking forward to: Seeing our baby girls weekly from now on (although we really don't get to see their faces much anymore). Baby A is very low and engaged so we won't get to see her face anymore until she arrives. We got lucky at the last appointment and finally got to see some of Baby B's face. She's always been hiding, but last week her head was close to my right hip (also very low) and her face was looking outwards so we got the shot below. I go back tomorrow for my next appointment and it's amazing to me to see their movements and heart beats - something I don't think will ever get old.

35 Week Appt: 
As I mentioned above, we are seeing the girls weekly from now on. We saw my regular doctor at 33 weeks, then the hospital at 34 weeks. The hospital appointment did an ultrasound with a full check on their sizes, etc. Baby A was measuring around 4.4 lbs and Baby B around 4.7 lbs. Both within 10% of the average single baby for 34 weeks. I also had to do a non-stress test. Man, that thing is super boring!! But overall, everything looking great!

We also got a chance to talk to the midwife about delivery, etc. They scheduled an induction for me July 8th, but said that if the babies are doing fine and we really don't want to induce, that they will not force us. They will want us to come back every other day for check ups though. Currently, we are not comfortable with the idea of induction so if we make it to that appointment, then we will opt to wait, assuming everything is fine with both babies and me.

My appointment last week with my regular doctor went well. She didn't do size check or internal check since they were done the week before. She checked on the amount of amniotic fluid and their heart beats and both were very good. At my appointment tomorrow she will do measurements on the babies again and an internal check.

We're very grateful to make it to 36 weeks (the average for when twins are born). My mom arrives this Saturday so we are still praying that the girls continue growing so there is less chance of NICU. I would personally love for them to be as close to six pounds as possible, but we are definitely not taking it for granted that they are healthy and doing well.


Thank you everyone for your support and encouragement and love for us and our family and these two precious baby girls that we are excited to meet in the next couple of weeks!!! :-)

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Monday, June 22, 2015

Madi's Marshmallow Mania 2nd Birthday!

Are you ready for picture overload?? ;-) This past weekend we celebrated Madi turning TWO! This little girl is in love with marshmallows and I figured it would be a great theme so I ran with it. :-) We had a great turnout of people and for the second year in a row we got lucky with the weather and had sunshine!

We started the day by singing happy birthday to this cutie and making her Mickey Mouse chocolate chip pancakes. With a side of marshmallows of course. ;-)


We gave this little cutie her birthday gift to help burn some energy... a mini trampoline! She loved it and it was a big hit at her birthday party later in the day.


Then after her nap... it was time to PARTY! Welcome to Madi's Marshmallow Mania! :-)


















And there was lots of fun playing outside with her friends!






And of course her marshmallow-covered birthday cake was a big hit! :-)





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Father's Day Fun!

Jason's Father's Day yesterday was a bit overshadowed by preparations for Madi's birthday on Saturday... in my defense, I picked my own Mother's Day present and ordered it. Fortunately, Jason finally did the same too last night. ;-)

However, I think he did have a good Father's Day. We let Daddy sleep in and made him breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. After church we left Madi with a babysitter and headed to see Clarkson, Hammond, and May Live.

I had bought Jason tickets to Top Gear back in March for his birthday and due to delays with the show and BBC, it was re-franchised and re-scheduled to Father's Day (so that counts as my present for Father's Day, right? ;-) )


We had a great time at the show! Here's a few videos and pictures we took there.



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Saturday, June 20, 2015

Madi: 24 Months

I can't believe this is the last monthly post for Madi! She's TWO!! As cliche as it sounds, it did happen so fast and I can't believe how big she's gotten!

And now, here is the last monthly update for Miss Madi!


- You are counting to 10 in both English and Norwegian! Your teachers heard you counting last week and said you are the first in your class to count to ten in Norwegian. You go girl!
- You love to run, be chased, and chase us. You also love to chase the cats, but the feelings not mutual on their part. ;-)
- You still love being tickled and we are glad to oblige.

- You can "read" five or six different books that we read all the time. It's so fun to turn the pages and have you tell us what's on them.
- You also are spelling... sort of. You say "M D I O N, Madison" anytime you see letters on something. We can't get you to say the other letters though!

- Your favorite food (right now) is by far watermelon. And your parents have been known to bribe you to eat more dinner with the promise of watermelon.
- Jumping is one of your favorite past times - whether it's on the sofa, bed, or your newly gifted mini trampoline for your birthday, you are a jumping machine!
- You have gone potty in the evening before bed twice now. You still aren't ready for potty training, but it sure was exciting for Mommy and Daddy when you did go!

- Your teachers have told us that you now love playing outside regardless of weather. You used to be a bit fussy when it was rainy, but now you love it and are fussy when you have to go inside!
- You also care about your classmates. Apparently you go around telling them to "Be careful", but then you climb like your invincible! Your teacher told us you scare her to death with your climbing every day.

- We had to take you to the doctor to look at a slight skin rash. You grabbed a set of cups and asked for help in pulling them apart. Since the doctor was writing up a prescription, I decided to ask you the names of the colors as we went through them. For the first time ever you got red, blue, green, and yellow correct. The doctor was super impressed and I realized you are a little showoff. ;-)
- Today we spoiled you with chocolate chip Mickey Mouse pancakes. You were in heaven!


- The past few days we've tried to tell you that your birthday was today and tell you how old you are. We said "Madi, on Saturday you turn two" to which she responded "Two babies". It took us a few days, but we finally got you to say "Two old" when we asked you how old you were turning today - just in time for your big party!! :-)

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Thursday, June 18, 2015

Glass Blowing at Mingar Walker

My friend Courtney setup glass blowing last week and I was eager to participate! I've known a lot of people that have gone before and the idea of blowing your own glass bulb sounded really cool. We headed down to Naerbo, the location of the Mingar Walker glass factory. We got a brief introduction and then tackled the hardest part... picking your color and design!

There were lots of different colors and three different patterns you could choose from. I've reached a point where I can't make decisions and fortunately deferred to my husband for input and decided on a teal glass bulb.

Here's some pictures from the process (along with a video) and my bulb! (PS Don't I look huge?? I was a tad bit worried about being able to get back up from the ground - ha!)



My bulb! I love it!! Now to find a good place to hang it. :-)


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Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Life Lately...

We're still here! It seems like all I've had to post lately is about our twin pregnancy or Madi's monthly updates... so here's a catch-all for all the other fun things we've had going on in life lately! :-)


1. Starbucks finally opened in Stavanger!!! My friend Kelly and I visited on opening day - fab!
2. And Jason and Madi had to experience Starbucks... Madi stole Jason's chocolate frap and didn't want to give it back!
3. Madi and Mommy selfie at Starbucks! (I promise we've done more than just go to Starbucks...)
4. Awkward CeCe.
5. Delicious kanelboller after playing at the park!
6. Rough life for Zoey.
7. Fun in the sun after barnehage!
8. We left a friend's birthday party and I made the mistake of leaving the goodie bag within Madi's reach of the car seat... next thing I know I hear wrappers being opened and I arrived home to find Madi's hands and face covered in chocolate. Amazingly enough though, the car seat and her clothes had hardly any at all!
9. Madi is very literal. I told her to "tickle Daddy back" and she listened. ;-)


1. Daddy and Madi giggles!
2. Jason's fraternity brother and good friend Huy came to visit us for the weekend with his friend Melissa. They were fabulous company to have and we braved hiking Maanafossen despite the typical rainy Norwegian weather. The waterfall was larger than we'd ever seen so I was glad we ventured out!
3. After our hike we took a quick trip over to Sverd i Fjell (Three Swords,) a nearby landmark.
4. Madi was super loving during my 34 week picture session. :-)
5. Lazy cats.
6. We got tickets to the the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship tickets. Fortunately the weather was fabulous when we went! Madi loved running across and up/down the bleachers and I enjoyed seeing some fantastic volleyball and the USA beat Australia!
7. Best. Present. Ever. I told my friend Daphne I wanted a beer drinking helmet. I mean, how else am I supposed to drink while tandem breastfeeding, am I right?? And she delivered. Awesome!
8. The past year and a half I have been playing bunco with a fabulous group of ladies. I'm taking a break this fall due to the little ones arrival, but I have had a blast playing with them!
9. :-( Ms Jenny is moving at the end of this week and we are so not ready to lose this precious family. Her and her husband Paul have loved on us and Madi so much this past year and we are so sad to see them go. Worst part of expat life is saying goodbye to fabulous friends. :-(

So see, we are still around? I've got a few other posts to try and catch up on this week, but most likely next since someone is turning two this Saturday and big plans are underway for her marshmallow mania party!! :-)

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Monday, June 15, 2015

ConocoPhillips Family Day

A few weeks ago we heard about the ConocoPhillips Family Day. There were two options - the zoo in Kristiansand (a four hour drive away) or Kongeparken (an amusement park about 30 min away). The zoo would have been a lot of fun, but the drive wasn't something we wanted to do or plan an overnight, so we opted for Kongeparken. We visited it last December for the Baker Hughes Family Day so it was nice to see the park in daylight and all the regular activities they offer.

Madi is too small for most of the rides, but she loved the tractor ride, train, slide, and mini carousel! She also had a blast just running around and playing with Daddy. Mommy walked slowly with them and took an opportunity to get pictures of Madi and Daddy.

It was a fun family day for the three of us! :-)



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Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Twin Tuesday: A Sprinkle for the Twins!

This past weekend my friend Courtney hosted an absolutely wonderful Sprinkle for me! She did a fabulous job with the decorations and some activities for people to do. A huge thank you to her and all of the gals who came to celebrate with us - we were blessed with diapers and some beautiful gifts for our little ones! :-)



Frames for guests to sign and us to hang in the girls' room!



Everyone wrote down date night ideas for us and once a week we have to pick a spoon and do whatever date night suggestion is on there. A creative way for us to take time for ourselves!


Guests wrote hilarious things on diapers like "what did you feed me?!" to keep us entertained during late night diaper changes.


Courtney made sprinkle cups! So cute!







My fabulous host, Courtney! She did an amazing job and I am blessed to have her as a friend!


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