Hows it going?

Life is going well. The boys are both on a 2 week vacation. Alex is taking next week off, hopefully we can find a farm to go pick some pumpkins and go on a hayride. Yesterday we went to the pool and today Justin is having a friend over. Nic is playing live on the xbox and hanging out with his friend Spencer. William is getting into everything! He got his 1st black eye last night falling on a block. Poor baby!

We are doing lots of cleaning in between having fun. The whole house is done being fall cleaned including defrosting the freezer :).The to do list is getting a little shorter. As of now we have to clean the garage, do the backyard, and move the weight bench down and finish the nursery. Not bad! The boys have been super helpful, pinching in with little complaining. Nic moved furniture and did some vacuuming. Justin loves polishing with the murphey's - I think it was the spray bottle :). Today we worked a little more on our front tree trimming and trimmed and weeded Grandma and Grandpa's. I have spaghetti sauce and meatballs in the crockpot - leftover sauce will be the start of my freezer meals for when the babies come or I need to rest.

I have started 1 of the babies crib quilts. I have it all tied and just need to bind it. I have made 4 bibs, 2 burb cloths and 2 receiving blankets. I love all the soft material and am so excited to get it all put away in the nursery.

I went to the Dr's Monday and my blood pressure was way down. :) I came off the metphormin on Friday and did the 1 hour glucose test Monday too. I'm still waiting on the results. I go back to the specialist next Friday. But so far we are doing well.

The Distructonator! :)

This is why all my cabinets are locked except for the 2 tupperware ones. What a crazy boy!

Specialist

Yesterday was my 2nd visit to the specialist. I loved seeing the babies! Alex was a little freaked by the 3d, but I love it! First we did the scan and they are just so cute! Baby A wouldn't stay still, but baby B was all tucked up and more quiet, just chillin. They were able to tell us with pretty good accuracy what they are - but I'm keeping it a secret for just a little bit.
The Specialist is pretty happy where my sugars are, I have been so careful with food counting carbs like a crazy person! Alex and I stopped for a quick burger on the way home and I got mine as a carb special with lettuce leaves for a bun :). The Specialist wants me to go off the metphormin on the date the IVF protocol calls for, a few days later we will do the sugar drink test and see how I do. The blood pressure meds are working, hopefully my body will adjust to them and I'll start to feel better. I go back on Oct 6th for another scan and a check in.
The Twins - Cuddled together :)

Baby A in 3d

Baby B in regular ultrasound.

Yuck

That about sums up how I feel.

I think it may be the blood pressure meds. I am exhausted and just feeling like I can't get out of my own way. Luckily I have an appointment Thurs with the specialist. Plus some of my meds are making me gag when I try and take them - that's not concerning just normal. The tiredness is concerning considering I have a 13 month to run after. I also seem to be up every hour to 2 hours at night. Just crazy...

I did manage last weekend to get the front room fall cleaned and this weekend managed the family and dining room, the laundry room and hallway. I swept ceiling and walls, dusted, cleaned baseboards, window blinds, cleaned curtains, took down and cleaned light fixtures, vacuumed furniture and cleaned nic nacks. I really wanted to tackle the kitchen but just wasn't up to it. We are hoping to rent a steam cleaner and do the carpets this weekend...hoping this will still be in the plans but Alex's work just got crazy and he will be working really long hours the next 2 weeks and also working the next 2 Saturdays :(.

Nic and I also got the bush's trimmed and he and Alex tried to tackle the awful tree. I think the tree is winning. We still probably have 2 more weekends of tackling that awful thing as we have to wait for out garbage can to empty out again.

What is best

It's hard to know what is best and then when you do know, sometimes, it is hard to do it.

We made the decision to pull Justin out of his school and put him in the neighborhood school. This was a hard decision because I really like the amount of parent involvement at Justin's school, I think it makes a HUGE difference. But you can find good and bad in every school. There are good and bad teachers in every school, good and bad kids in every school and good and bad family's in every school. We have greatly enjoyed his K and 1st grade experience at his old school but I know we will find good things at his new school and I am hoping he will meet many new friends in our neighborhood to ride bikes with and play with.

There were a number of reasons for our decision.

I don't work so I've always limited myself to 1 fill up of gas per paycheck. I have been filling up a lot more than that so much that the $160 - $200 I spent last year is now up to $500. Spending this much on gas is just too hard for us financially.

William is not taking naps at home. He takes them in the car for the 50 mins it takes me to drive to and from school. Since he is not in a carrier carseat nap ends as soon as I take him out of the car. This leaves me little quiet sanity time.

I am pregnant with twins. I won't have room to carpool when they are born. Getting Justin to and from school will be much easier when they are born if he is in the neighborhood. Plus if I need to start restricting what I do Nic can pick Justin up at school after he gets home.

It would be hard to drive to play dates. So it will be great for him to have friends in the neighborhoon that are close and not 20 mins + away.

There is no way I will make my 80 hours of volunteer time at Justin's school this year.

Justin's not having a great classroom experience this year. As a matter of fact when his teacher responded to my email last night. She said she was sorry to see him leave and that he must be getting more comfortable because he smiled for the 1st time in class yesterday. Now that is so very sad and breaks my heart because Justin is such a happy boy. To take well over a month to smile???? Now this is not the main reason for leaving as I could def. ask to switch his class however, it did make the decision easier knowing he has not been happy.

We've been over to his new school 2x. They seem very sweet. His teacher said she has a really wonderful class this year, no discipline problems and the kids are all very caring. She has 2 buddy's she will be putting with Justin to show him the ropes and for the 1st 2 days she will be taking her lunch with Justin and the other kids so she makes sure he is being included and meeting everyone. How sweet is that? Monday morning I will walk Justin to the office and we will go together to his classroom. I'll stay for a few minutes and then let him get started on his day. His teacher even called me last night just to make sure that all my questions were answered and to reassure me that she would be there to help Justin transition smoothly. This has just reassured me that we are making the best decision for our family.

Justin already seems excited for morning, lunch time and afternoon recess. Right now he just gets 1 short one as his day ends at 12:20, now he will go to school till 3:30. He is excited that he gets to bring a lunch to school and sometimes gets to get hot lunch because his new school has a cafeteria. He is very excited that when it cools down we will be able to walk to school and ride his bike. I know there will be some other wonderful things he will find to be excited about too.

I'm praying for a wonderful 1st day of school for Justin on Monday.

I love Fall

The crisp air.
The smell of leaves and fireplaces.
The crunch of leaves underfoot.
The glorious colors of patchwork trees.
Finding the best and brightest leaf on the ground.
Ironing leaves in wax paper for placemats.
Raking and jumping into a huge pile of leaves.
Apple cider.
Apples eaten off of trees.
Homemade Appleasauce with cinnamon.
Fresh Apple Pie.
Fresh Apple crisp.
Hay rides.
Picking the perfect pumpkin in the patch.
Scarecrows.
Hay mazes.
Connecticut is so beautiful this time of year! I wish I was home...

Specialist Again

Back to the specialist to monitor my morning sugar #'s and my high blood pressure - where that came from I have no idea! I'm on meds for both so hope we can keep them controlled and get these babies to 36 weeks and healthy. The good thing though is next Thursday I get to see my babies again. I wonder if we will be able to tell what they are? I'll be a day short of 15 weeks...I hope so!

Life

Life feels a little crazy...

I'm not really liking Justin's teacher so much this year. I don't agree with some of her classroom policies like - going to the bathroom at an unscheduled time results in loss of treasure box. Who the heck does that to a 2nd grader? I'm surprised she didn't have a ton of accidents because the kids were trying to hold it in! I am also very disappointed with the use of the ipads. I sure hope that improves as time goes on or that was a huge waste of $200.00 this year. He also doesn't seem as self-assured as last year in class. He's not really connecting to the other kids - or the teacher. I'm still waiting it out to see if it improves but my mom senses are on alert - something just doesn't seem right...

Not sure what we are doing next year for school yet. In my current car I can't carpool and this month driving both ways to school plus my Dr trips I have spent $500.00 - which we so can not afford! Especially with the 300+ electric bill! So either we look into a 4th row seat and then I can still carpool or we look at a caravan so my gas will be cheaper. We thought about a 10 passenger van but the gas mileage is worse than the suburban! Decisions, Decisions... We can also put Justin into the school in our community, but he wouldn't get home everyday until almost 4 - that's sad!

The specialist said that the twins each having their own cord was good - less stress on them for nutrients, etc. But, it is more stessful on my body and that the gestational diabetes would be worse. How true that was. I am struggling to keep my sugars under control and my blood pressure was high at my OB appt on Wed. So I had to do a 24 hr urine collection and bring it to the lab today and have blood drawn again. I go back into the OB this Weds and hopefully it was just a fluke - maybe the heat. The good thing is these will resolve themselves after the babies are born. The worrisome part is controlling it until the babies are born. I have also lost 5 lbs which is ok and the OB is not concerned if I don't gain weight, even with twins - since I have so much to lose and I'm on the gestational diabetes diet. They also found out that I have strep B in my tests. I know I didn't with Nic and Justin. Not sure with William as the test hadn't come back prior to his birth and they gave me antibiotics just in case. I know it's not a big deal and it's cured with antibiotics at delivery but UG! The Dr said if your water breaks get to the hospital right away so we can start them, don't sit home for 6 hours. Ummm - c-section thank you. That's enough recovery pain that I certainly don't want to experience contractions - I'll be there as fast as I can! Plus it's almost an hour to get to the hospital from here!

My results came back from my 12 week ultrasound and bloodwork from the specialists. The babies look perfect! I wasn't really worried, the measurements that they took came back great in the office, but I love the official relief - from what was sent to the lab - that the twins don't have any abnormalities that could be detected. I can't wait for the 18 week scan to see them again! And of course to see if they are girl - boy, boys, or girls.

My house! UG! I am so not motivated! I really need this heat to go away! I need to fall clean so... bad. THere are dust bunnies on light fixtures behind the beds, the refridge - you name it! My yard is a mess - just awful! But with this heat it's way too much to fall clean and I don't want to start too early because with the babies there is no way that I am going to get a good spring cleaning done! So the fall cleaning will have to be good enough to last for both fall and spring! And yes I have a husband and children that will be helping, but 109 degrees is way too hot for me to ask them to start fall cleaning now. I just have to exercise a little patience - this heat can't last forever!

Sleep - is just about non-existant. I fall asleep ok and do my normal up every few hours to use the bathroom. But in-between 3 and 4 am I am up for good. It's crazy!

Alex's work is undergoing some changes. The next 90 days he will be on a project. I hope all goes well and works out! Please oh Please!!!

Nic is busy with open mat and getting ready for wrestling. He seems to be really enjoying it and has got quite a few boys from church to join. The only problem now is that there is only 1 mom that can pick them all up, noone else has a big enough car - well I do, but with William and Justin in tow not enough seats. UG! He is really enjoying his classes and teachers this year. His 2 favorites are psychology and History.