Week 20 - Sarasota Memorial Hospital

Week 20 has been very quiet except for the OB Tour at the hospital.  We’ll be using Sarasota Memorial which is only a few minutes from the house.  The tour last night was a little talking and a lot of walking,  but it undoubtedly gave us both a sense of reassurance teamed with a dose of reality. We’ve spent the last 20 weeks being excited and hearing how “cute” Julija’s bump is... All that ends when you see little 4 hr old kids in the nursery at the hospital right after the Lactation Expert shows you the stirrups and birthing bar.  Shoot -- she kept talking about “birth balls”... I sure got that one wrong :)  

Fathers Day 2012

Check out this cup -- given to me by my precious wife on Father's Day this year.  I think it says it all.  There is a whirlwind coming in a few months that I don't think either of us have really embraced yet.  Last night we just sat in the nursery and talked about how it was going to morph from quiet, vanilla and pristine to a living creating room filled with emotion and mostly love.  We are so excited and terrified :)

Some great things happening this last week [besides the ultrasound] are that the twins have official names now (Zander & Zella) and they have been active.  There is no doubt that these kids are alive and well, bouncing, kicking and poking all the time.  I can even feel them :)

Last night we were watching TV and I looked over at Julija.  She was grinning ear-to-ear because they were jumping around so much.  We watched the rest of the show with me feeling them from the outside, and her from the inside. How cool and what a blessing from God.  AMAZING!

Father's Day will only get better over time,  but this year was fantastic.  I am so proud of all my children and couldn't live without my wife.  A family we are. Thank you God.

Week 19 - Ultrasound Twins

One little Girl... One little Boy....

Little girl profile

Julija's daughter

Beautiful Girl

Girl Stuff

Boy and his Thumb

Boy Foot

Dan's son

More Boy Proof

Week 18 - Cleanwater, Munchkin & more...

One new outfit - beautiful!

Lot's going on this week although no trips to the doc or ultrasound.

We were so happy about the mamaRoos from 4Moms that we decided to try their Cleanwater Infant Tub.  [see here] It arrived yesterday from Amazon and we were immediately disappointed.  It all started with a beat-up package and a scuffed up tub.  This thing looked like it was a year old right out of the box.  Julija kept telling me it was so flimsy and cheap.  She tried to fit it in three different sinks (kitchen double sink; kitchen island single sink; laundry room wide sink) and it didn't even fit!!  Wow.  Last straw for me was that the electronics looked like walmart digital watches.... cheap.  So -- it's boxed up and heading back to Amazon.

Baby gate #1

We also installed two new baby gates in the play room after months of engineering.  The goal is initially to keep the dogs out,  but ultimately it will be to keep the kids in too :)  We ended up with the gate from Munchkin [click here and watch the video]. They installed easily and look great.  We like the one-handed operation and that they open both ways.  Very cool.

Today was the big day though.  I tool Julija to Destination Maternity at the International Mall in Tampa for some much needed clothes.  I'll post a pic of one of her new outfits.  She was very excited but really they are required :)  Isn't she cool.

Finally her belly is getting big.  No doubt now that she's pregnant and lots of kid movements too.  Yay. Monday morning will be our trip to the long 3d/4d ultrasound doc so we are very excited.  Can't wait to see the babies.


That's about it for this week.

4Moms mamaRoo in the house

side by side

OK - I have to admit a few things... First,  I've been pining for the mamRoos since we started the IVF process last year.  I told Julija [light hearted] that if we had twins,  my stipulation was two mamaRoos in the house. It was all very funny in 2011 and soon forgotten (so she thought).  My twisted brain could only see the two seats, moving in synchronized fashion with the new babies... ahhhhh

Now here we are walking in BuyBuyBaby yesterday and I spot the seats :)  I challenged the store manager to make us a deal and 20% later they were in the car heading home.  20% on two $239 chars comes out to about $100 off so we had to do it.

From a more practical note,  I can't stand baby swings just because they use up so much space and don't look "cool".  I've been researching, checking posts and listening to what Moms have said about the mamaRoo and it is [on paper] the quintessential combination of bouncy seat, swing and vibrating thing all in one hi-tech package.  We'll see how that works out won't we :)  No the cool thing about 4Moms is that they are users, designers and don't rest on their laurels.  In this case,  we bought the second generation seats that have a lot of items addressed that moms complained about.  Very cool, right?

In case you're wondering,  we bought these at BuyBuyBaby.  You can text the word "offer" to 42229 and they instantly send you a 20% coupon to your phone.  Julija and I both did it -- $100 off.. Yay.

More to come after the babies arrive....