The PREGNANCY Post

I'm pregnant! Ok, so you've probably gathered at least that much. But since I am nearing the end of this whole thing and about to jump off of a cliff into the depths of parenthood, I thought it might be kinda fun to look back on the past several months and do a quick recap of this whole bad boy.

Here I am, all 36.5 weeks pregnant of me.

So, as far as questions I've commonly been asked:

• Do twins run in the family?
• They do now!
• Are they identical?
• They are diamniotic dichorionic (separate amniotic sacs and separate placentas), so there's a 70% chance they are fraternal. We won't know for sure until after they are born!
• What are their sexes?
• We both guessed a boy and a girl from the beginning, but David is going to be surrounded by girls (and Vader)! We couldn't be more excited!
• Do you have names picked out?
• Yes, but we aren't committing to an official announcement until their births. 
• Are you going to dress them alike?
• Yes and no. From the beginning, I didn't want to dress them alike, but I do like coordinating outfits. But let's be real here: They will probably be lucky to end up in clothing that matches itself. Ain't nobody got time for that! So moral of the story? They will wear clothing.
• What kinds of symptoms have you had?
• First of all, I just want to say that I have had an amazingly smooth pregnancy with no problems whatsoever, which makes me feel bad for complaining sometimes because I've had many friends and family who have suffered through every week of their pregnancies, and I super feel for them! So my complaints are mostly lighthearted. Mostly.
•  We found out I was pregnant pretty early on (around 4 weeks, as it turns out), and I had just started my masters program. Within a week, morning sickness and raging hormones hit, and I was basically a mess. I came home crying everyday because I was overwhelmed with school and work and it was a pretty crazy period. So I quit school, lost 10 pounds, and rode that B out.
• The second trimester was great. Morning sickness left at exactly 15 weeks, I could eat again, and I finally started "showing" a bit, so I could justify buying maternity clothes (basically a million maxi skirts). The weird things that developed were that my hands and feet maintained (and still do) a constant temperature of about 140 degrees Fahrenheit, my right knee sometimes goes numb, and I had pain in my upper right back. The doctor said all of those things were normal, so that was comforting. Also, thy knee and back thing have gone away. But the hands and feet leave me constantly wondering if I will EVER feel cold again? I seriously cannot wait for winter. *Note to self: NEVER be this pregnant in the Summer again, k?
• The third trimester has been great! I've been on "light bed rest" from the beginning as a precaution (carrying multiples is considered a high-risk pregnancy). I quit my job at the end of the Summer school program in mid-July, and have been nesting like crazy ever since. Oh, and I have tree stumps for feet.
• Have you had any food cravings?
• BEEF, french fries, fruit, particularly watermelon, pineapple, and bananas (I promise I have been trying to eat healthy).
• How much weight have you gained/ how have you measured?
• As of 36 weeks, the girls are each just under 6 pounds, I am measuring over full-term for a singleton, and I've gained 30 pounds. My wedding ring still fits most of the time, my shoes, however... I've resorted to flip flops at all times, including at church on Sundays (which bothers me, but hey-- a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!).
•  And here's a mod podge of other information that people have asked about (and often results in my receiving unsolicited advice, but hey, I consider it a warm welcome into parenthood):
• We are very excited to be trying out cloth diapering.
• And Parent Directed Feeding/ Babywise/ putting our kids on a "schedule" (I plan on sleeping again at some point in my life, ok?).
• We are scheduled for a c-section on September 11th and will likely have one unless these girls flip into head-down position. And either way, I'm really rooting for going into labor before then if only so that they won't be born on September 11th. It just seems... kinda wrong.
• We have been planning on a "corner nursery" in our bedroom due to constrained space. Recently, Tyler and Karina have decided to move out (don't worry, all is well and everyone is on good terms) and will be moving probably a few weeks after the girls have been born, so we will keep them in our room for the first month or so and then start putting together their actual nursery.
• We are in for one wild and bumpy ride!

That's about all I got for you. So yeah, wish us luck! We'll see you on the other side!!

There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man...

Yesterday officially marked the beginning of my graduate studies, and I was fortunate enough to get a position as a TA for the Math department.  So I get to teach 2 algebra classes this semester at Fresno State (today was my first day of teaching, and it went pretty well).  Anyway, it's an interesting change, going from undergraduate to graduate student, but it's a change that's very difficult to put into words.  I think the best way that I can explain it would be to describe my office to you.  Some of the things that follow are going to sound pretty negative, so just know that I mean them in the most endearing way possible.

First of all, let's talk location.  My room is in the Industrial Technology building.  I went there for the first time yesterday, and as I approached the building, I noticed that there was a man there directing traffic (turns out he is a faculty member who had a break in his schedule, so he decided to help students find their classes).  So I asked him how to get to room 103 and he had no idea.  He had never heard of a room 103 in the IT building in all the years that he had lectured in there!  But we finally found the room on the map, and after walking through a labyrinth of doors, hallways, and courtyards, there I stood in front of my office.  It even had my name on it (along with the names of 4 other people, but more on that later).

I unlocked the door (which took 3 complete rotations of the key for some reason) and flicked the switch to turn on the light, but nothing happened (there is a sensor in the room, so the light only comes on when it detects movement).  I had walked beyond the center of the room before the light finally came on, revealing this:

The Southwest corner

The Northwest corner

The Northeast corner

The Southeast corner

Notice the stained, mismatched tiles.  The empty crates blocking the whiteboards.  The ancient chalkboard.  The filing cabinets (mostly empty except for 25-year-old-exams and large boxes of paper clips).  The mismatched chairs (no two are alike!)  It's beautiful.  Really, it is.  It has a 30-year-old microwave (that works):

and a 3-year-old fridge (that only kinda sorta works):

Everything a man could want.

I get no wifi signal in the room, and the thermostat does absolutely nothing to control the temperature (it was a...uh...cozy 85 degrees in there yesterday).  There are random signs on the walls like "This tray is not a trash can" where there is no tray present.  Some of them probably date back to the early 80s.  And what did I find in the drawers of the desk?  A plethora of old floppy disks with notes on them like "delete these files."  The thin walls give rise to the feint echoes of passionate lectures (past or present? who knows!)  I mean really, the aura of the room could best be described as spooky.  And the fact that the light turns itself off every 5 minutes unless there's a straight up dance party going on in there doesn't help things.  For these reasons, none of the other TAs use this room.  The only person who does, apparently, is Paul Kryder, a full-time lecturer on campus (you can see that he's pretty much set himself up in the southwest corner of the room) whom I have yet to meet.  I have been told that he is not well-liked, so we'll see how things go.

So here's the thing.  It's an old, crappy, uncomfortable, nearly-impossible-to-find, spooky room.  But I would have it no other way.  You see, to me it signifies that I am at the bottom of the totem pole, hanging on desperately to the lowest rung of the ladder.  But at least my face is etched on that dadgum totem pole.  At least I have hold of the ladder.  And that is what it feels like to be a grad student.  I fell in love instantly.

The Reveal (and by reveal, I mean I'm revealing how much work we have left)

Our house is DEFINITELY a work in progress, and we still have several projects to do, but I owe you some current pictures. None of the rooms are 100% complete, and a few still need throw pillows/ area rugs/ etc. I didn't even take pics of the front of the house or Tyler and Karina's room. But, I've posted several posts with updates on where we're at so far, with before pictures as well as lists of what we've completed and what we still have left to do. Enjoy!

The Front and Back Yards

The Front Yard:
(Picture unavailable)

DONE!
- Remove plants from center of the yard
- Plant trees
- Paint front door
- Plant shrubs around perimeter of yard

To Do:
- Fix sprinkler system
- Make a pathway to the door
- Remove weird tree-bush by the garage
- Paint the trim and bricks (anything but baby blue and salmon)
- New outdoor light fixtures
- Fix doorbell
- Update house number
- Remove security door
- Possibly remove prison bars bars on windows or repaint them
- Plant flowers under the windows
- Grind concrete on doorstep

The Backyard:

Before

During

Notice the heaping pile of crap on the concrete slab... THAT was all buried in the backyard. Thank goodness we found no bodies.

This is after we had been slowly getting rid of it. Most of it was gone at this point. But still.

Currently

DONE!
- Wooden patio extension removed (done prior to moving in)
- Install new fence (done prior to moving in)
- Remove ELEVEN tree stumps (literally)
- Remove THREE non-working sprinkler systems
- Remove massive amounts of concrete. From under the ground. As in it was burried.
- Remove black plastic buried 8-12 inches under the soil throughout the entire backyard.
- Remove electrical outlet posts from the middle of the yard
- Remove copious amounts of garbage, tile (what did I tell you? The woman LOVED her some tile!!), and toys buried in the soil.
- Plant grass seed
- Plant vines along the perimeter of the fence
- Relocate the bougainvillea plant from a random place to a purposeful place
- Haul off concrete/ PVC pipe/ rubbish to the dump

To Do:
- New outdoor lighting
- Install sprinkler system
- Reseed the yard
- Build raised garden area in the back with a brick border
- Build a toolshed on concrete slab
- Paint the fence
- Install decorative border around vines
- Paint patio cover
- Pressure wash patio
- Figure out what to do with awkward side yard
- Plant flower garden under the window

The Living Room (Ty and Nina's living room)

The Living Room:

Before

Before

Before

During

During

Polly and Vader were exhausted from watching us work.

Currently

DONE!
- Remove nasty tile
- Sand down wood floors
- Varnish the floors
- Install baseboards
- Paint the ceiling, walls, trim, and inside of the front door

To Do:
- Re-sand, stain, and re-varnish the wood floors
- New light fixture
- Possibly spruce up fireplace and/or mantle (potentially add built-in bookshelves on either side?)



The Hallway:

Before

Currently

DONE!
- Remove nasty tile
- Sand down wood floors
- Varnish the floors
- Install baseboards
- Paint the ceiling, walls, and trim
- Paint closet
- Paint doors
- New hardware on doors

To Do:
- Re-sand, stain, and re-varnish the wood floors
- New light fixtures
- Remove old smoke detector (we have a surplus of smoke detectors in our house...)
- Add molding to the bedroom/bathroom doors
- New hardware for closet

Questions: What are some of your suggestions for the fireplace area? What do you think about adding built-ins?