Boys!

Well, for those of you who have not heard, Tim and I found out on Wednesday that we are expecting boys! Well, actually the way the babies are laying, the 2nd baby played hard to get, so we know for sure that we are having one boy. However, the doctor assured me he was very certain we are having identical twings, so as long as we could tell with one, (which he could), we know we are having two boys. :) Very exciting! I have included a few ultrasound pictures and one a baby bump pic or two. It looks like on the pics, the estimated weight of each baby is about 8 and 9 oz., and based on measurements they are very close in size, with one being slightly smaller than the other. We should get another ultrasound in a few weeks, so I'll probably keep posting pics as they come!

Birds' Eye View of the tops of their heads

One baby looking right at us!
Side view of one baby - you can see the spine very good in this one
19 Weeks - right after we found out what we were having! 18 Weeks

Urban Garden

So, this is year #3 at attempting to garden here in Minerva Park. It seems to be going pretty well so far, so my fingers are crossed. I was a little worried because we were gone on vacation for a whole week and didn't have anyone water our plants, but I guess I didn't have to worry, as things looked great when we got back. Not to mention I spent quite a while weeding the garden, it was full of them! I have pictures below. Check out what we are growing!

The Whole Garden!

Zucchini plants

Itty Bitty yellow squash

Peppers

Tomatos (with cages)

Onions, Red Beet, Lettuce

Herbs (chives, basil, dill, cilantro & mint)

Suprise!

So, I’m pretty sure you have all heard by now, but Tim and I are expecting not one, but two babies this fall! We were both quite surprised by the news, but are getting pretty excited for them! Since we are having twins I thought I would share some information about twins with you all. Also, I have included a few pictures of our first two sonograms. Here are the details so far:

Due: December 7, 2011 (40 week due date)

Actual Due Date: Sometime in November, most likely. The doctor will deliver at 38 weeks, as he considers this full term for twins. However, on average, mothers of twins deliver sometime between 35 and 36 weeks, which would be sometime around the beginning to middle of November.

First Sonogram- Taken at about 8 weeks on 4/26/2011. We could see two little beans and two little heartbeats which told us that yes, it looked like we were going to have 2!

Second Sonogram: Taken on 5/11/2011. Taken when the babies were about 10 weeks old. You can see both their arms and the heads and bodies. One of the babies was super active and squirming all over and the doctor let us listen to their heartbeats as well! It was pretty cool.

Baby A

Heartbeat!

Baby B

Info about twins!
The doctor said based on how the babies looked that he is 99% sure we are having identical twins, which means two boys or two girls. We will be able to find out the sex (if we so choose) in late July. Here is some info that I researched about identical twins in case anybody wants to know more:

What are identical/monozygotic multiples?
Identical/Monozygotic multiples come from a single fertilized egg and are genetically identical. Monozygotic multiples are often referred to as identical twins/multiples. These multiples would all be the same gender and look alike.

How do identical/monozygotic multiples occur?
The occurrence of identical multiples is considered a random event and is not influenced by age, race, or heredity. Identical multiples occur in 3 to 4 of every 1,000 live births.

The correct term for identical twinning is monozygotic. Monozygotic twins form from a single (mono) fertilized egg (zygote). The zygote splits into two parts after conception, resulting in the development of two individual embryos. Because the two embryos are the result of a single egg/sperm combination, they have the same genetic origins. They have the same DNA.

Some interesting facts about identical twins:
-The causes of monozygotic twinning are generally unknown and unidentified. No one really knows why an egg splits; technically it's a malfunction of the normal development process.

-There's no hereditary trait that influences a predisposition to having identical twins. Identical twins do not run in families. Although there are families with a high incidence of identical twins, it is due to chance, coincidence or plain good luck.

-Identical twins represent about a third of all twins. Dizygotic twins are twice as common as monozygotic.

-Birth rate statistics for identical twinning have remained stable over the years, despite the overall increase in twins and multiples since the late 1980's. The odds of having identical twins is about 3 in 1,000, whereas the birthrate for all twins is about 32.2 in 1,000.

-Identical twinning is not generally influenced by fertility-enhancing treatments like drugs or in vitro, although monozygotic twins have been produced in pregnancies that were the result of such treatments.

-Birth rates for identical twins are consistent across populations; it is the same regardless of race, geography or maternal age.

Tim's Birthday

Tim had his 26th birthday on December 5th. For his birthday we went out with some friends for bowling and a few drinks. The next day we relaxed, had carry-out and I made him some very yummy chocolate raspberry cheesecake cupcakes. I did not use an exact recipe, but found the idea online. They have chocolate cake, choclate cheesecake, raspberry preserves, chocolate ganache and rasberry cream cheese frosting. They turned out pretty tasty and I thought they looked pretty cute too!

I’m back, hopefully…

I decided to try and post on the blog again! I know you are all so very excited :) Anyways, just to give an update, it is now December 2010, almost a year and half after the last posting. I don’t think I’ll go back through and detail out everything that has happened in the last year and half, however I will give a quick update. I recently took a new job at Cardinal Health and am enjoying having a little more free time in the evenings to work on some new projects. Tim has been as busy as ever with work and has even had to work in the evenings to get some of his projects done. Eddie (our dog) is still doing well, and while he does get into occasional mischief, he is a very good little dog and keeps me company when Tim is working out of town. We took the picture that is on the blog at my parents house over Thanksgiving weekend right as Tim and I celebrated our two-year anniversary. Of course, we have been together for almost 7 years now, but we are very happy to be through our second year of marriage and really are feeling settled into our house in Columbus and our life together.

As it is now approaching Christmas I thought I would post some pictures of one of my sewing projects. I have not sewed a real item really for at least 10 or 12 years since I worked on sewing projects in 4-H. So, needless to say this was a big learning experience for me. I definitely had to rip out my seams numerous times and ended up altering the pattern a bit when I could not sew scalloped edges! However, I was able to put together basically two different apron patterns and came up with the combined apron below. I made this for my niece, Michaela for Christmas. She is 3 ½ and I know she likes to play kitchen, so hopefully she’ll wear this at least a time or two. I’ll try to add more pictures and blogs in 2011!

The Schreiner's visit Columbus!

A few weeks ago the Schreiner's (Tanna, Emma and Jack) stopped in Columbus on their way up to New Riegel to have dinner and stop by Sonya and Chris's new house and the Clouse house. We had dinner at Cap City and then hung out at our house. I realized once the kids got there that we don't have many toys for children, so we had to scrape up a few random toys, like the exercise ball, laundry shoot (bunny hole :) ) and an old barn and house that Tim built in High School. We also got into my shoe closet and walked around in some high heels. It was a lot fun hanging out together!

Tim had some time off....

Tim recently had a little break between jobs at work, so he took off almost 2 weeks and worked hard to complete several projects around the house. He decided to put in a small 12 x 12 building in the back yard to help out our poor garage. We are currently trying to store lawn mowers, bikes, tools, etc in the garage and there is no room for a car or truck. So, this was on the top of Tim's home improvement list. It looks great and we are finally able to fit a his truck in the garage!

During the rainy days when he wasn't working outside, Tim decided to also replace the bath tub/shower in our one and only bathroom. The previous shower had very old, small tile on the walls, a cast iron tub, and glass doors. We opted for a new shower/tub combo with no glass door. Tim had to replace some dry wall, so we have also decided to paint the walls a new color. Here is the old and new bathroom!