Miscellaneous Informational Tidbits.

I know, I know: I haven't been keeping up with this like I should and so some of you think I've dropped off the side of the planet. The good news is that I haven't! So, Yay!

So, let's see... what don't you know? I'm officially 29.5 weeks. Saturday will make 30 weeks. That's a huge milestone - one that fills me with hope for the Bambinos. I know I need to post some pictures. The babes are already starting to drop, so my belly (while still humongous) doesn't look as big as it has. I'll post pictures soon.

Tomorrow we'll go see Dr. Korotkin for our monthly visit with him. Hopefully the ultrasound pictures will be worth posting! They haven't been that good lately. Well, what I mean is that they aren't something we're willing to post. Perhaps you'll get a double dose of pictures this week!

I have been so grateful for all the people who've come to visit me - Momma has been here at least once (sometimes twice!) a week since I got in the bed, Cathy has been a frequent visitor, Mimso has come and sat with me and played cards for hours, Andre took such good care of me when she babysat me while B was out of town... I'm beyond grateful to those who are taking time to come see me and sit with me even for 30 minutes!

I knew, when I was extolling the virtues of bed rest in October, that I would be singing a different tune when December came. What's funny is that I didn't expect my new tune to start on December 1!!! I have hit the point where I'm starting to get a little loopy. I think part of what has killed the allure of bed rest is that for almost 2 weeks I had someone here with me constantly - first Andre and then Barbarosa was home for 5 straight days. Then this week, I've been kinda on my own. Kinda. I've been reading voraciously - like I did as a kid - but that's starting to lose it's glitter and glitz. I'm thrilled that I have Christmas packages to wrap and Christmas crafts to complete. Sounds fun! Anyway, it's not all bad. I had a few papers that were due while I've been on bed rest, so that gave me things to do - though now they're all done. Daddy has promised that he'll come play cribbage with me some and I'm really excited about that! And really and truly, I'm never alone! These babes keep me in stitches while they kick and turn and tickle me from the inside. They're beginning to run out of room!

We're hoping to go at least 6 more weeks before they come. I can do 6 more weeks, right? Right???

Anyway, just thought I'd let you know that I'm still here, Things 1 & 2 are both still here (Praise God!) and we're all doing well.

Hope you are, too!

You Know I Get More Thoughtful This Time of Year

It's traditional in my Family of Origin (what a term, right?) to bring out the Christmas music on Thanksgiving. I follow that tradition in my own family (of two for now, well four counting Lucy & Pasqua) to some extent, but I get restless and round about my birthday (which was Monday) or a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, I pull out the music. I don't subject B to it until Thanksgiving, because he'll be patient with me enough to listen to it nonstop until December 25. Then it gets lovingly packed away and he makes a HUGE deal of putting in secular music and listening to it with an all-too-pleased look on his face.

Anyway, this year, I brought out the Christmas music two weeks ago. I've been listening to it while I have visitors, while I'm reading and while I'm just lying about being the Woman of Leisure that I am these days (hah hah hah hah ahhhhhh). The following is a Christmas song with which I have bonded this year. I am particularly fond of the lyrics, and Frank Sinatra sang it - which makes it even better in my mind. So, I looked up the lyrics and realized that it is a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow! Imagine my delight to find that this song that I've listened to over and over again is actually a poem by one of the best poets in the world!

I particularly love the second to last stanza, so pay attention! Enjoy your Christmas or Hanukkah Season (or both). And I hope that your Season is as hopeful and joyous and blessed as ours is!

I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day

(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), 1867)

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

Till, ringing singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Alas, No Video

I wish I could show you what I look down and see all the time. These babies are getting so big and so active all the time that my belly is constantly changing direction. Andre is in town for November and is babysitting me while B is out of town. She has been absolutely fabulous! Andre has cooked meals three times a day - and three snacks - and generally taken wonderful care of me. I'm very very lucky to have someone so nice doing nice things! I'm getting a little spoiled! But that's not what I'm writing about.

Andre is here. Andre has a voice like no other voice in the world. For being right at 6 feet tall, Andre has a very high voice. She was reading to me about something on Monday night and the strangest thing started happening. The babies started shifting my belly all around! When Andre starts talking, they start kicking and playing. I truly believe that they like her! A Lot! Andre kept reading and Barbarosa (who was in town for this occasion) and I just sat there and watched them kick and turn and play. The Boy (for that's what we've named him) has a crush on Andre, we've decided. He's the one that starts all the kicking and then The Girl (for that's what we've named her) joins in after. He's an instigator.

I wish I had video of the belly to share. Perhaps Someday I might share some. But in the meantime, Go Team Beaker!

What happens when B starts nesting

When we started, Brett had a Man Room. The walls were dark blue (not our choice, but we left them when we moved in) and covered in posters of concerts he'd attended. He had a desk made of pieces of plywood that had been hot glued together. His room was a catch-all for anything that wasn't in the playroom (which has since become our shared office and guest room). Note the stain on the carpet.

We let my oldest big brother have his way with the closet and the floors and this is what happened! We have gorgeous hardwood floors in there now and an expanded closet to fit all the baby clothes and supplies.

After getting the office done, and taking a break for a week, B started painting. The new color is a beautiful spring green that is cool and soothing for our little Beans.

Then came the construction of the cribs. CribSSSSS. Two. Brett obviously had help in the form of The Little Blond Bombshell. She was really more management than anything. B built the cribs in under three hours, there was minimal amounts of cussing and he only lost patience with Management (Lucy & Pasqualina) two or three times. He's really good at putting together cribs. I might be willing to hire him out.

And there's the first one finished! He did a great job! He's very handy with an Alan Wrench. Allen Wrench? Cribs, check!!

And here's the almost finished product! The bumpers are in(ish), though they won't be staying once the Babes arrive due to SIDS and my terror of that awful tragedy. We'll put them back once they've outgrown the risk of SIDS and we lower the mattresses to past infant size.

Didn't he do an amazing job? He's so Smart!!

Now we just need some babies to go in those cribs!

GROW TEAM BEAKER!!!

Bed Rest.

I went to see the OB today (we'll see the specialist tomorrow) and he has officially put me on bed rest starting today. Part of me is relieved - the extra weight has been really making me knees and feet hurt and I get really tired really quickly. But part of me realizes that I'm going to be stuck in bed for a long long time! I have lots of activities to keep me busy: books, scrapbooking, crossword puzzles, magazines, movies... I'm so happy that there are lots of people who want to come visit while I'm resting also. That will help kill the boredom. Some.

I'm happy though! The Babes have been kicking and playing and having a good old time in there! It's so nice when I get to feel them on a regular basis. I enjoy feeling them - it's nice to know that ultimately, I'm not alone!

My Little Beaker Team. GROW TEAM BEAKER!

A Ghost Appearance

It all started when I was in high school. Momma & I would put this fly in various places and try to startle each other. Once under the covers, once in the laundry basket, once in her medicine cabinet. It was a lot of healthy tom-foolery and it was kinda fun to know that she was going to come upon the plastic fly and get startled. Then the fly disappeared and we found other things

with which to annoy each other: a rubber snake (which we wisely abandoned after Daddy got bit, though a new one made an appearance when Daddy got well and we could laugh about the Snake Bite some), an eyeball (which I believe made some appearances in my lunch), a lizard and then random little things.

When Brett & I got married, he upped the ante some. Brett got into really random things to do to the mother - he'd change the sounds on her computer to make chicken noises or leave a Clinging Koala with Al Sharpton's head in her art room. There was a parrot that made a few back & forths and Brett's favorite must be the coconut husk baboon with his parachute. Momma got Brett back by almost sending me to the grave with a chicken hanging in our refrigerator by a noose. She employed one of my brothers to plant that one.

One of my favorite pranks, though, was a few years ago - 2006 - when we had Kamber come to town. Kamber, Brett & I went Pumpkin Picking in Ellijay and found some really fantastic pumpkins. We plotted. We knew what we were doing! We knew that this would be fantastic! We practiced at home, we worked tirelessly for ages to set the thing up. We knew who would have what job when we made the drop. It was going to be flawless! We created Seymour. Seymour Butts.

We created him in our driveway, practiced the set up, then took him down. Seymour Butts was going to Moon the parents' house! He was designed and we would set him up to be looking up at the mother's art room. We drove over to their house after we knew they would be in bed. Stealthy as ninjas, and swiftly as a finely tuned machine, we set up Seymour and then ran like maniacs, laughing all the time. Believe me when I tell you, it was a little startling to get home and the parents had already called to tell us they knew we'd done that! They'd been at the symphony and came home maybe 5 minutes

after we left!!! We were almost caught! But we weren't and it was perfect.

The next year, Billy helped me create Scarlett O'Furin. I lost all the pictures, for some reason, but I'll find some and put them up someday. It was a great scarecrow parody on my mom - including raised pinky finger, gloopy jewels and wine glass. It was truly remarkable.

We skipped last year. But this year, we knew they weren't suspecting anything! My "condition" doesn't allow me to do much, but this I insisted on. I'd seen the pictures on the internet somewhere (google "chicken wire ghost") in February, and I knew that that MUST happen this year. So last night, Billy & Emmalee came over and we set to creating this ghost. We shaped and molded and shaped some more. Then, under cover of darkness, we took him over there and set him up in the jungle. He appears to be pointing to something in the ground. He's truly spooky.

Here's a great picture of him set up:

Halloween Cracks me up and I can't wait to introduce Thing 1 and Thing 2 to the fun of Gentle Jokes and Pranks!

Aaaaannd I'm done.

I didn't get to this yesterday, like I thought I would, so I will today!

B & I really like Dr. Smith. He (Barbarosa) is coming around on the idea that Dr. Smith is the positive version of someone else we know. Dr. Smith comes booming into the room every visit "So!!" He booms, "I hear you got yourself knocked up!" Somehow, though we've heard it a million times (it's our own private joke as well), when Dr. Smith barges in announcing himself like that, it cracks me up! He bustles around telling us stories of his Days of Yore and cracking jokes about "Frick" and "Frack" as he calls the Babes and my inability to not be pregnant. Hah hah hah hah.

Then, as suddenly as he enters, he leaves with, "Put your shoes on and we'll talk!"

The Babes, he reports, are doing fine. I'm growing. According to the nurse's eyeballing, I measure the same as a woman who's 35 weeks pregnant would. I'm only 23 weeks pregnant. No wonder my back hurts so badly! My stats are good.

We will go in on Monday the 2nd for the Dreaded Gestational Diabetes Test. A neighborhood friend of mine said she was borderline for hers. I'm a little terrified of mine. Heavens knows, I don't want to be on Bed Rest AND have "The Diabetis" as a sister-in-law calls it. But the biggest part of our visit (besides our "Definition of the Day" [mixed emotions]), was that Dr. Smith is going to move up my bed rest by almost 3 weeks. I'm going on bed rest at the very start of November. He told me to go ahead and tell my professor that I'm done with class, to quit work (hah hah hah) and grab a ton of books from the Library, 'cause I'm done. So, November 1st-ISH will be when I get sent to bed.

Please come visit me.