A Big Wave Hello

Here is a little picture of Baby B waving hello.  It is so amazing to me that you can see every bone in every finger individually.  What an incredible and creative God we have!  We had a great ultrasound this morning at 19 weeks.  Both babies look great and are measuring right on target.  Baby A (Spud as he/she is better known around here) is weighing in at 10 oz and baby B (Sprout) is a close second at 9 oz.  (If you don't like the nick-names, you will just have to appreciate how much better they are than little Irby's.  He was known as 'Ricky Bobby' before he was born(and the funny thing is he often says 'I want to go fast!'.)  I couldn't argue with Irby about these, I was just glad he isn't calling them Will Ferrel characters.)  I just can't tell you how thankful we are that they look so healthy and are measuring the same size.  This is of more concern because now they are saying 'with certainty' that the babies are identical.  I know they could always be wrong and they could turn out to be fraternal, but that is the most recent verdict.  Anyway, apparently there are more complications with identical twins, so they are doing a lot of extra screening.  We were SO thankful for a good report today, and continue to pray for healthy growth and development of our adorable little babies!

I hope to have some more pictures up of little Irbs soon.  He has been up to some pretty hilarious things (I'll keep you in suspense, but one of them includes big-boy underwear).  My camera wire is still lost....it's first on Irby's to-do list, find me a new wire in the tangled mess in his massive box of wires down in the basement...

We've Been Busy

We've done a bit of traveling and also a lot of sightseeing in DC.  We've decided to really take advantage of all the fun things DC has to offer as a family before I'm on bed-rest and before it gets too hot to go outside!  Below are a few pictures of us on the airplane and at the beach.

At Gravelly Point, a great place to go and watch the planes land at Reagan Airport.  It is literally right next to the airport, so they fly right over your head.  Even I was impressed.  Hmmm....airplanes are becoming a theme here.  The second picture is down by the Potomac River.  Great place to ride your bikes and have a picnic, throw sticks in the water and chase ducks

We also went to an airshow and got to see the Thunderbirds, 

I'm not sure which Irby had more fun...

This past weekend we went to a National's baseball game.  We had a great time, even though the Nats lost, which was kind of sad...Can't wait till they play the Braves later this summer!  Little Irbs got a little tired near the end, here he is napping on Irby's head.

I also had a good Dr. appointment last week.  It wasn't my big 20 week appointment which is coming up, it was just my initial appointment with the Maternal Fetal Medicine Dr.  I really liked him, and he said everything was looking good, although he is still trying to figure out if the babies are identical or fraternal.  He did say he could see the genders of both clearly, and that wasn't enough to determine which type of twins they are, so I am concluding that we are either going to have 2 girls or 2 boys!  What fun!!

In other news, we are FINALLY moving into our house next Monday!  We cannot wait to finally be settled here in DC, and to get our stuff which we haven't seen since Sept 23 last year!  

A Piece of News (or two...)

If you're like me, you can't tell what you see in this picture.  I kind of felt like Rachel on Friends when she's having an ultra-sound and starts crying and saying "I'm such a bad mom, I can't see my baby!"  Well in this case, I couldn't see my babies (yes there are TWO!?)  but with the help of the doctor I could kind of see what she was talking about.  In this picture you see baby #1's head on the bottom right and its body on the lower left with the little arm going up from the shoulder to the ear.  The circle on the top is the body of baby #2, and you can't see its head in this picture because it's tucked down and the ultrasound is only 2-D so you don't get depth.  Sorry to bore you, this is for those medial types out there (mom & dad:)

I am 15 weeks now, due Nov. 6th, but praying they don't come before October.  And no, we're not going to find out what they are...sorry Mom!  They are probably identical based on the fact that the doctors think they share a placenta, but they can't be certain.  It would make more sense if they were fraternal though as those kind of twins run in my family (I could be wrong, but I think fraternal twins are genetic and identical twins are totally random).  My grandmother had a twin brother, and they also had 2 sets of other twin brothers, who I never knew because one set died in infancy, and the other set died when they were younger.  Anyway, here they are!  We're getting over the shock (I've had 4 ultrasounds now, and am just now really starting to believe that there actually are 2) and getting really excited!

Little Irby is also very excited;  if you ask him:

"Irby, where are the babies?" He says, "In Mamma's bew-wey."  

"Irby, how many babies are in Mamma's belly?"  He says, "Lots of babies, two babies."  It is too funny, I'll try to get that one on video.  I've never posted a video on this blog, but maybe that will be my first attempt.  I'm kind of think he answers this question just like he does 'How old are you?'  or 'What color is the grass?'  He knows the answer so he says it, but I hope he'll understand what all that talk meant come this fall.

I lost my camera wire...

It sure makes it hard to update when you lose your camera wire for the computer!  I came across this picture that my mom sent from when she was in town.  Makes me realize I have so few pictures of me and little Irbs.  Sad, I've got to fix that!

Random Pics

Birthday roller skates, all he wanted for his birthday ("Irby happy birthday, Irby roller skates!" was common every night dinner table conversation), and yes, the box said 2+!? I was shocked, and even more surprised that he can actually use them.

Mr. Potato head glasses.

Although it doesn't seem like it in this picture, Irby doesn't love his potty. He will sit on it sometimes, but the closest he's come to actually using it is the bathroom floor...we're working on that. I hear it's hard with boys, especially if you're a little boy who isn't phased by a dirty diaper.

Matt and Emily came to see us, I think it's been 2 months, but I'm glad to see I took a few pictures! We had a great time, little Irbs loves his Matt and Em, and we all really can't wait to meet his little boy cousin M.

Just found these on my camera. I am going to try to post current events after this. I just thought these were a few funny and memorable ones I wanted to put up.

Cherry Blossoms

We had a big weekend this past weekend, not only did we have a birthday party, but we went for a long bike ride down to the Tidal Basin (Jefferson Memorial) to see the Cherry Blossoms. We borrowed some friends bikes and trailer for Irby since ours are still in storage. Irby loved riding behind the bikes, in fact, we stopped down by the river to let him run around and watch the airplanes, and he wanted to get back in the trailer! It was great weather for bike riding, cool and sunny, not hot...We even decided to be responsible parents and wear helmets, since of course we made little Irbs wear one.

Happy Birthday Irby!

We had Irby's birthday today (a little late because I was sick with a terrible virus last Sunday, his birthday.  I didn't think Irby would make his friends(or their parents) happy if everyone got sick at his party, so we postponed it until today.  It turned out to be great because the sun was out and the cherry blossoms were in bloom!)  We had a little get together at the park because our little apartment is soooo teeny and doesn't really hold more than 4 adults.  I figured 10 kids in here would be even worse.  The park was PERFECT, and I was so happy to see Irby having so much fun!  (I was feeling kind of sad having his birthday party in this new place where we're just making new friends and with family so far away, after having so many dear friends and family come celebrate Irby last year.  But Irby's new little friends and their parents came and celebrated with him like he was their oldest and best friend.  He (and we) felt so loved!)   The park near our house is called Lincoln Park, it has 2 playgrounds an lots of dogs running around to look at; loads of fun.  Of course, I didn't get everyone's picture, and I didn't take as many as I would have liked, but here are a few pictures from the big afternoon.

Singing Happy Birthday to Irby.  Ellie, Ansley, Camille and

Loic chowing down on train cake with Irby.

Irby's friends Ellie, Addis and Ansley Mills in their 'triple' stroller.

Irby's friend Luke and his parents, Mary and Joel.  Irby with his buddy Trinity and Ms. Amy.  

Irby and Mr. Jim.  SLIDE!!!!!!