Hi Baby!!

Here's Baby D'Agostini at 13 weeks, 2 days:

Profile:



Face (still looks like an alien!):

They couldn't tell the gender yet, but they said the baby is measuring right on schedule and there is nothing to indicate concern of any kind. YAHOO!!!

The docs did decide to put me on a daily regimen of Lovenox again. Fun - daily injections into my tummy fat that leaves nasty-looking bruises. Yay. Oh well, it will keep me from developing blood clots, which could put me and the baby at risk.

The docs also decided that I'm NOT high-risk for preterm labor again, since last time it was a multiple pregnancy and the preterm birth was caused by water breaking, not preterm contractions. So, no weekly progesterone shots and no bedrest! YAY!

The morning sickness (which was getting pretty bad) finally let up last weekend and I started feeling 90% normal again by Monday! I still have some pretty strong food aversions, but at least I'm not running to the bathroom whenever I think of them, lol. The nausea let up just a few days shy of the end of the 1st trimester - right on schedule!

The twins are doing amazing. They talk all the time. Boogie says very matter of fact things that we can't understand sometimes, lol. Roman tries so hard to get us to understand him when he has a hard time getting his meaning out.

Both kids are so imaginative, too - they put towels over their heads and run around after each other saying they are Batman, lol! They like to crawl around and pretend they are puppies and kitties, they stir imaginary food and say "I cook" and they always have the funniest answers when I ask what they're cooking. Often it's soup, or cookies. Sometimes it's something totally random, like popcorn, or jellybeans. Or blueberry pancakes. Crazy kids!

Giovanna's potty training is moving right along. She poops in the potty almost every time, and she's getting good at telling us RIGHT before she has to go, instead of having to sit on the potty for 20 minutes before pooping. The problem is she still hates pooping, so she'll say (slightly panicky) "POOP ON THE POTTY!" and when we get up to help her, she says "NO! POOP IN DIAPER!! POOP IN DIAPER!!" We have to guide her into the bathroom and convince her to take off her pants and diaper and sit on the potty sometimes. Once she sits down, she's usually pretty good, though she whines when she actually poops, then afterward she says happily, "ALL DONE!" and gets up to get a tattoo, lol. Roman sometimes asks to pee or poop on the potty, but doesn't actually want to do it once he's there. He'll be ready eventually. As long as one of them is at least day-trained by the time the new one is born, I'll be happy. :)

My mommy came to visit us last weekend and we had a BLAST!!! The kids got some wonderful grammy-time, which gave Kyle and I some interacting-without-being-constantly-hounded-for-attention time! Temi and Matt came to visit for most of Sunday, too, so we had some great family fun time. Much game-playing and drawing ensued. Giovanna threw a fit when Grammy had to leave, but Grammy called the next day and they got to have a nice follow-up chat. :)

That's all the news I have for now!

I heart promethazine.

I am so ready for the morning sickness to be over. The doc gave me a prescription for promethazine (Phenergan), in case it got bad, and I had to start taking it last week. I was just feeling rotten all day and had absolutely no appetite. And if I didn’t eat, the nausea was worse! One day I threw up 3 times, and thought “I’m done!”

While the promethazine (which I take every 6 hours, though it wears off every 4.5-5 hours) does not fully take the nausea away, it does give me mostly-puke-free days, and allows me to eat healthier foods that were beyond my capability a week ago (fruits, veggies, meat…). Without the meds, all I feel like eating is candy and chips. Not so good for me or the baby! Thank goodness for prenatal vitamins. Random cravings have been hitting me. Right now I would kill for some French Onion Soup, but by the time I get home, I probably won’t want it anymore, lol. I have leftover pizza for lunch and it sounds pretty good right now!

My stomach is certainly changing already. It’s a bit firmer and less roll-y (if that makes sense). My pants are terribly uncomfortable without modifications (rubber bands or paperclips, lol) and don’t stay up well with said modifications. But I’m not nearly ready for maternity pants yet. I remember this transition time last pregnancy – so frustrating! The baby is the size of a kumquat - about an inch or an inch and a half. My weekly pregnancy email says that abdominal thickening at this point is probably due to weight gain or bloating, but I stepped on the scale on Sunday and had lost 2 more pounds (grand total of 3 lbs lost) with clothes on! They say you “show” much earlier with subsequent pregnancies.

We started taking the kids swimming last week at the Southwest Community Center! We’ve been 3 times already. We got them some swimsuits with foam floaties built in so we don’t have to use lifejackets. The first time, Giovanna refused to be in the water – she would only sit on the side and kick her feet. Roman, however, had a great time, as long as Kyle and I kept our chests and heads above water – the second we got deeper, he started to fuss. The second trip was more successful – we floated Giovanna around on a big foam pad that we called her boat. Yesterday was the most successful – we got both kids out where they couldn’t touch the bottom, holding on to us or the bar on the side of the pool! They are great kickers! They both laugh when they see other kids jumping to their parents, but neither want to do it themselves yet (well, Roman did the first day, but hasn’t since then!). I wish we could get pictures, but apparently cameras aren’t allowed in the pool area. ::(

Kyle had to get some unexpectedly painful dental work done last week, and has more coming up later this month. Poor guy!!

Otherwise, we’re all doing great!

One grape-sized baby

It's official - I am only carrying ONE baby this time! YAHOO!! As of last Friday, the baby was measuring perfectly (it's about the size of a grape) and it's heart was beating strongly. It was so neat to see the ultrasound this early! Not much to see but a pulsing blob, but it sure brings home the fact that there is a living being in there. :)

I'm 9 weeks and 1 day pregnant today. Morning sickness and fatigue have been kicking my butt a bit, but nowhere near as extreme as when I was pregnant with the twins. I've been craving sweets like crazy, especially chocolate, which I don't normally crave.

The twins are doing awesome, as always! Ahead of the curve, according to the doc, in speech, comprehension, and motor skills! YAY! Go Giovanna and Roman! And go daddy and mommy! They charmed the heck out of the doc and nurses in the ob/gyn office where I got my exam last Friday. :) Both of them pretty much say any words or phrases (usually a bit modified for toddler-speak) and they are using 3-4 word sentences. They are doing pretty well at taking turns (unless they are really tired) and often make sure that their sibling gets their fair turns! "Boogie turn?" "Roman turn?" Roman has been singing the Batman song ("da-na-na-na-na-BATDAT!"), which we got on video (see below link) along with the kids talking like a rooster ("caw-doodle-doo!") and Giovanna twirling in her new dress.

They are both really exerting their 2-year-old independence. If we try to help them with something (like putting on pants), they say "No! My help!" and try to do it themsleves. If they get frustrated, they do ask for our assistance, though. One of their new games involves one of them pretending to fall or be stuck, then reaching their hand out and asking for the other's help, then the other holds their hand and "helps" them out of their predicament. Much giggling ensues.

They're still into being artsy, which makes a mama proud!! Some of their recent work (and other adorable pics and video) can be found at:
http://s132.photobucket.com/albums/q8/Brieshon/2009/2009-02-18/?start=all

Long time no post

Sorry everyone - I know it's been a bit since my last post.

Me and the new family addition:
As of today (2/3/09) I am 7 weeks pregnant. Morning sickness increases a bit each day, and I tossed cookies for the first time this morning. Much better than when I was pregnant with the twins, but it makes for unpleasant bus rides. :( My other main symptoms are fatigue and sore breasts - normal for this stage! Otherwise I'm feeling pretty good. Should be getting an ultrasound in 10 days to determine if there is just one baby in there this time.

The twins:
Giovanna and Roman are doing great! They are doing so well with their letters, numbers, and colors, and stringing together sentences like crazy. Giovanna almost always uses the potty to poop, and Roman is being a bit more consistant with the peeing (though I think he'll be content in diapers for awhile yet). They are certainly entering the "terrible twos" stage, including tantrums, random screaming, and being obstinate. Fun fun fun! :) We try to have a "and this too shall pass" mentality when they are going nutso, and time outs are often the result. Sigh... Still, when the Giovanna flings her arms around my neck or Roman snuggles up in my chest, and they say "I love you!" it makes everything else seem trivial. Happy mama! Kyle gave the kids AWESOME new haircuts (note the return of the 'hawk and a new do for Boogie!):






Kyle:
Doing great, too! As always, teaching the kids new stuff every day! I love coming home and seeing everything new they've been working on that day. They're doing numbers now. The kids seem to like the number 7 best, following both of their parents love of prime numbers. Haha!

Here are the rest of our pics from the last month:
http://s132.photobucket.com/albums/q8/Brieshon/2009/2009-02-03/

First doctor's appointment scheduled? CHECK!

I scheduled my first doc appt: Feb 13! I will be 8 weeks 3 days, and they will do a scan right then and there to see how many hearts are beating in there. YAY! (Yes, that's Friday the 13th, lol - good thing I'm not superstitious!) They said it would be a long appt - like 1.5 hours to do my physical and everything.

More good news - my doc office has midwives on staff! Normally, my first appt would be with a midwife or nurse practioner, but with my history of fraternal twins, severe morning sickness, premature labor, and a blood clot, they decided to get me in to see a doctor first instead. I will still ask to have a midwife assigned to me, though - I really wanted one last time but they didn't do that at my old doc office.

The next 3 weeks and 3 days are going to draaaaaaaaag... I can't wait to see the little bean!!!

Otherwise, I'm feeling ok. Heartburn is kicking my butt. Had a little mild nausea this morning but it was gone pretty quick. My coworker told me I looked pale this morning, even though I felt ok. Coffee tastes funny to me today, even though it's the same as always. In general, I haven't wanted sweets and I've been craving Chinese food, especially dumplings, somen noodles, stir fried broccoli, and soy sauce! I'm drinking water like crazy. I seem to have blank parts of my memory - I totally forgot what preggo brain can be like!

I keep having thoughts and dreams of a little girl. This is contrary to the old wives tales (craving salt = boy, lack of nausea = boy), Chinese gender predictor (boy), and Kyle saying "he" the night we found out we were pregnant. I'm awful at predicting gender for others (I don't remember ever guessing right!) so we'll see!

Oh, and pants are uncomfortable already. Is it bad to want maternity pants at 5 weeks?!?!? LMAO! I have plenty of room (usually I need a belt, which I put away last week), but I can't stand ANY pressure on my abdomen right now. I think it would be unprofessional to unbutton my pants at work, lol!

The twins are doing great! Giovanna had a cold 2 weekends ago, and it was Roman's turn this last weekend. I've been fighting it off since early last week. Mostly congestion and coughing - nothing alarming, but it interferes with sleep something fierce!

The kids identify all the letters by sight now (and sometimes they call them by the image that's on the puzzle - i.e. if I say "Where's the M?" they say "M for Monkey!" and grab the M!). Kyle is doing GREAT at teaching them letters and colors. Roman is 99% on yellow, orange, and purple, and about 75% on the other colors. Giovanna's drawing style is getting very deliberate. Instead of huge circles, lines, and scribbles, she slowly draws tiny circles, lines, and dots, then she identifies them as a specific object (heart, monkey, baby, balloon...). I've noticed a few times where Roman watches her, and when she identifies a drawing as a specific item, he nods and says "uh-huh! Monkey!" They both do that to each other when they identify animals, colors, and letters, too. Kyle is planning to start working on numbers with them this week (they are still counting to two, and can identify the number 7 for some reason), so that should be exciting! I love this stage so much.

Oh, and the sweetest recent moment... they were both dancing wildly to music (they are developing some amazing new moves, lol) and Roman got right in Giovanna's face and said "I LOVE OH!" and she giggled loudly and tried to hug/kiss him, at which point he turned away and kept dancing, lol!!

I'll try to get some pictures posted in the next few days - we haven't got many recent ones with us all feeling like poo the last couple weeks.

Well, it's official!

We're officially PREGNANT! Just got the results back from the lab. No question now!

As of today (1/17):

• I am 4 weeks, 4 days pregnant (248 days to go!)
• I'm due September 22
• Feeling fine, other than tired and bloated (I already can't wear a belt - the pressure is too uncomfortable!).

As for the likelihood of twins again, my chances are 5% (as opposed to 2.5%, which is the normal statistic). I will be pushing for an early ultrasound to see how many hearts are beating in there!

I did my Yoga Mama video I bought last time I was preggo - boy it's a nice workout! Not too strenuous, but I feel relaxed and positive afterward.

You might notice I added my pregnancy ticker to the top of my blog for easy reference. (If you are reading this in an email, click the "The Art of Monkey" link at the very bottom of the email). I had to fudge the code a bit to make the ticker appear, so hopefully it will work! It appears to be a day off, but that's close enough for me. ;)

As for the twins, they don't really understand yet. They had a lot of questions about the ladies' tummies on my Yoga Mama video, and seemed interested when I said there was a baby in there! We know they love babies (especially Boogie!) so I'm not too worried at the moment. It will sure be interesting to see them as older siblings, instead of peer siblings!

The night we got our positive home pregnancy test I went in to tuck the kids in. I thought they were asleep and I was just going to put their blankets over them. I tucked Roman in, and when I turned around, Giovanna was awake! Her back was to me and I don't think she knew I was there. I watched her put her stuffed puppy and monkey on her pillow next to her, then pull her blanket on top of them, pat them sweetly, then lay down, arm across them in a big hug. It. Was. So. Freaking. Cute.

Roman's big thing lately is to be independent. Just a few weeks ago, if we asked "do you want help?" he'd say "help" and nod. Now, he says "NO! MY HELP!" and refuses any assistance. It's kind of funny and cute, but not terribly convenient when it takes an hour to get dressed instead of 5 minutes!

Oh, the next 7.5 months or so will be interesting... ;)

Happy New Year!

I took Dec 31 and Jan 2 off, so I had a 5-day minivacation! Tory and Laura were in town, and we spent a lot of time with friends and family at the Children's Museum. We also went out and spent some of the kids' Christmas money on some new toys and clothes, and we got a few new movies and new-to-us games.

We opened Grammy's Christmas presents for the kids - a ton of books! The kids were tremendously excited to find "pwesents!!" in the living room after their nap, and they opened the whole stack in about 5 minutes! There are a few that they bring us repeatedly so we can "wread pease" to them, lol.

Grandpa and Grandma J got them toddler trikes and a couple wooden food sets where the pieces are held together by velcro so the kids can "cut" it apart with their very dull wooden knives. The kids looooove the food toys - they cut it apart over and over again, shouting "I DID IT!" every time! They are very excited about the trikes, and are learning how to use them - so far a lot of scooting and pushing has occurred, not so much pedaling...

Tory and Laura got them coloring books (already very decorated) and natural wax crayons that are holding up VERY well to the kids' art time. Their favorite thing to color in the books are the dogs ("puppies!") so it's a good thing one is a dog coloring book! They are currently very obsessed with the tee-wa-wa (chihuahua) lol.

We also got the kids a wooden letters puzzle (they LOVE LOVE LOVE the ones Auntie Dawn gave them!) and they are doing sooooo well at learning their letters! We can dump them out and ask them to find a specific letter, and they are right 95% of the time! I'm INCREDIBLY impressed by this, of course!

Our house is full of so many fun things for the kids to create, read, and play with! This makes mommy and daddy very happy (and busy!)!

Potty training is going slowly but surely. Usually 2-3 times a day, and only pee so far. Stickers and temp tattoos are proving to be great incentive for using the potty. Woe be unto us when we run out of car stickers, though - they seem to be the favorite...

Giovanna will pretty much always pee within 5 seconds of sitting on the potty. Then again a few minutes later. Then again a few minutes after that... She asks to go potty a couple times a day, and she likes to wipe herself, and will let me know if she has "more pee" or if she's "done" (usually accompanied by the slamming of the potty lid, lol). She pooped on the potty once last week, and was soooooo proud!

Roman wants to be part of the potty activity, and will let me take off his pants/diaper about 90% of the time. And he'll actually pee on the potty about 80% of the time. He doesn't usually ask to go, but gets excited if someone else (i.e. me or Giovanna) brings it up. He won't pee sitting down anymore - only standing/squatting backwards, which is a bit messy, but whatever. Nothing a little 409 or Lysol can't fix.

I think they key so far has been asking them if they want to go potty at least once in the morning and once in the afternoon (if Giovanna hasn't already asked), and keeping them occupied once we get in there. We usually have a few board books (ones I don't care if they get peed on) and we play with squares of toilet paper, or bath letters, or whatever keeps them busy so they don't want to get up and run their nekkid butts around the house, lol. Also, after I give them their stickers, I ask if the want to go show them off to daddy, which they get VERY excited and proud about!

They pretty much say anything, now. If they are upset, they have a hard time telling us why, but we can usually get a few key words out of them ("table ow!" or "Roman/Boogie push"). They give us smooches ('moochees) and hugs (uuuughs) and say I love you (I luv oh) spontaneously a lot now! It's the best thing ever. They also give us (and each other) mooches when we get hurt. And they say sorry (sozzee) and give each other hugs if they hurt each other or snatch stuff from each other! They are starting to use conjunctions and other filler words to create complete sentences (i.e. "car is loud" instead of "car loud"). They are also saying longer words like butterfly (buh-luh-lye) and dinosaur (die-no-soh), too!

Their color recognition continues to improve, especially Roman's! And both of them count to two (or count to two over and over if there are more than two of something). A big step from "one...one...one...one..." lol!

Pictures and videos:
http://s132.photobucket.com/albums/q8/Brieshon/2009/2009-01-02/?start=all

http://s132.photobucket.com/albums/q8/Brieshon/2009/2009-01-05/?start=all

Note: sorry about the blank photos in previous Art of Monkey posts. I had to reorganize my folders a bit on Photobucket and it broke all the links. I will try to get them fixed, if I can find the time!