19 week update

How far along? 19 weeks!

Baby size: TW1 was 194g and TW2 was 221g at last weeks scan

Total weight gain/loss: 55.2kg's at last weeks check up. Although I sat on Josh's lap  last night and he said I was HEAVY. I think he's just imagining it :)

Maternity clothes? Wore my first maternity top on Monday and oh my gosh, it was so comfy! no more riding up my belly! But today I'm back in my skinny jeans, thanks to a trick my mum showed me with a rubber band. Woohoo! Love my skinny jeans!

Stretch marks? Nothing yet.

Sleep: Sleeping well except for the occasional need to get up and pee. And I seem to wake up every morning with a damn headache. Not a bad one though, so no need for pills.

Best moment this week: Hanging out with the fam bam in Sydney! And changing a diaper for the first time and realising its not that hard. And water walking. I feel so good after a bit of a stretch/walk in the water, and I always end it with a quick float on my belly. Ahhh bliss.

Movement: Feeling a couple of tap taps and last night Josh says he felt something when he put his hand on my belly! Normally I'd say he's imagining it, but I felt a tap from the inside at the same time, so I guess he really did feel it! Still doesn't feel like a proper kick though, like the other preggie girls have described.

Food cravings:  I was craving tuna with avocado and pasta last night. Had it and it was yum!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Just brushing my teeth. Not the taste or smell. Rather, I think it's the whole position of leaning over a sink. Makes me gag but only lasts a couple of seconds.

Have you started to show yet: Yes! No hiding it. Love the shape/size I am now :) I must make the most of this "cute bump" stage before i get MASSIVE. Only downside is that my boobs are huge (compared to what I've had all my life), but they don't look that impressive cos of my big belly. Damn.

Gender: It's going to be a surprise!  But my uncle Steve has predicted girls. And he has a gift apparently, and has never gotten it wrong thus far.

Symptoms: Need to pee alot. Wake up with a slight headache everyday. And butt gets sore just from sitting on it. And slight achiness in the hip/leg area.  But generally feeling great :)

Labor Signs: No signs yet 

Things I miss:  sushi, blue cheese, feta, ham, alchohol. Drinking as much tea as I want. Sleeping on my belly.

Belly Button in or out? Well, I say its flat or flush or whatever you call it. But mum and Sharen both said it's an outy now. I think it was just TW2's belly pushing it out, cos I'm sure it has gone down a little bit now

Wedding rings on or off? On
Looking forward to:  Getting my house back! Currently got a bathroom vanity in the dining room, a big ass desk and office chair in there too, double buggy and a suitcase full of maternity clothes that we need to find space for. Arggghhhh! Give me my house back! 

Gender prediction

my lovely fam bam are a bunch of superstitious, irish women. and they informed me that my uncle has a "gift" for being able to tell the sex of an unborn baby just by looking at the expectant mother. they believe this so much that they didn't want my uncle to tell me as they don't want him to ruin my surprise haha.

i told him to go ahead and tell me and he said we better get the shotguns ready to chase away the boys as we'll be having girls. (just writing that sounds really wrong. I don't condone violence at all and would never use a gun as a threatening weapon. actually, would never use one full stop as we don't own one. that's just how my uncle talks and he really is a sweet, gentle man!)

anyway, so there is his prediction. he has a 50% chance of being right, but only time will tell.

my cousin's little boy (3 years old) also predicted girls, although he started off by saying "it's a boy!".
then we explained that there are 2 babies in my tummy, so he said "boy/girl!". and so we explained again that they have to be the same as they are identical twins, so that's when he yelled "girl and girl" and then proceeded to say "girl and girl and girl and girl and girl" for about 2 minutes.

No one else offered up any guesses as they all believe in my uncles prediction too much hahaha.

boys or girls, we will be delighted as long as they don't come too early and are healthy x

Visitng the Fam Bam

We had a whirlwind trip to Sydney/aus to visit my fam bam.  caught the red eye early on Fri morning and got back home around midnight on Sunday.

Absolutely brilliant weekend! stayed with my gorgeous sister and her husband and got spoilt rotten. yummy food, snack packs and lots of trips to different baby stores. and ikea. (on a side note - i. love. ikea. so.much.   why oh why haven't they opened a store in Auckland)

mum hung out with us as well all weekend and my niece came shopping with us on the Sat. and managed to squeeze her 17 year old body into one of the buggies. she's a strange one!

had a family dinner at my aunty's house and my tummy popped out just in time for the trip, so got a few belly rubs. This was the first time i've had people rubbing my belly, and i thought i would hate it. but i guess cos it was my family, it didn't matter at all. it was public property for the night!

my cousin had a baby boy about 3 weeks ago, so they let both josh and i have a go at changing his pooey nappy. First time for both of us! it was a lot easier than what i thought it would be, even when he cried through the whole change. maybe cos my cousin and her husband were so relaxed, i felt relaxed. i did constantly apologise to the poor wee bubba though, especially when i felt like i was fumbling and taking longer than normal. Josh was an absolute natural and the bubby didn't even make a peep through the whole change when it was his turn.

Got loads of baby stuff and maternity wear from my sister, mum, cousin and some $$ from my brother. All felt a bit like christmas, especially with the feast that my aunty made.

it's good to be back home now, but i do really wish i lived closer to my family. there's just so much support and the family get togethers are so loud and fun and relaxed. hopefully we'll be able to take the twins over to sydney next year for a few weeks.

18 week update

How far along? 18 weeks (well, really 17 weeks, 6 days but I'll be travelling tomorrow)

Baby size: They didn't give us measurements this time, which was strange. But apparently TW1 is 194g and TW2 is 221g

Total weight gain/loss: close to 2 kg agin! 55.2

Maternity clothes? Still living in my leggings!  And I really need to find some maternity skinny jeans.

Stretch marks? Nothing yet.

Sleep: Sleeping well except for the occasional need to get up and pee. And now use a pillow between by knees if i sleep on my side.

Best moment this week: The scan today. Babies were lying facing each other, so cute. Didn't get a photo though :( And then heard Ed Sheeran's new song on the way back to work. A song about a baby and how he's just a bump now but in 4 months he'll be in his arms. and i was bawling my eyes out. And then I think the baby died at the end of the song! Nooooooo! Too much to take in within 2 minutes of listening to a song and just after a scan.   Oh oh oh and a really good friend of mine just told me she is 5 weeks pregnant!!! Squeeeeeee!

Movement: Feeling lots of strange movements, but i can't tell the difference between my stomach digesting food and the babies kicking :(

Food cravings:  nothing really. All food is good with me.

Anything making you queasy or sick: So damn sick of water. Hot, icy cold, whatever. OVER IT.

Have you started to show yet: Yes, have now had 2 people comment on my bump :) I love it! I must make the most of this "cute bump" stage before i get MASSIVE.

Gender: It's going to be a surprise!  But we are guessing boys for now.

Symptoms: Need to pee alot, HUNGRY all the time. Tired. Wake up with a slight headache everyday. But generally feeling great :)

Labor Signs: No signs yet 

Things I miss:  sushi, blue cheese, feta, ham, alchohol. Drinking as much tea as I want.

Belly Button in or out? In but looking weird! I think it will pop out pretty early on.
Wedding rings on or off? On
Looking forward to:  Getting the bathroom reno's sorted. And sorting out a dryer and laundry

Road Trippin'!

Last Friday, Ivy, Julia and I loaded up the car and headed to the National Park (about 4 hours away) to join some other members of the photography group. 

I was both excited and nervous about this trip, as it would be the first time I would be going out of town without my husband whilst pregnant. And i was worried about getting hungry with no food at hand, or needing the bathroom or feeling sick, and not having my own car to get around. But as usual, my fears were totally unnecessary.

I had a brilliant time and actually had food supplies left over!  I got to sit in the back seat on the way there and slept for about 2 hours. so felt great by the time we arrived at the backpackers and met up with the others.

we all got up at about 5:20am the next morning and headed out to try and get some sunrise shots. unfortunately, the sky didn't really co-operate so i wasn't too impressed with my shots. but next up (after breakfast) was a 20 min walk to the tauwhai falls. this was a beautiful spot, and as the group had split up, it wasn't too crowded. talked to some of the more expert photographers that were on site and managed to get my first "long exposure" shot of the falls and the river flowing over the rocks. awesome!

next up, we headed to the Chateau for a bit of a nosey as Ivy and co had not been inside. I've been lucky enough to have stayed here with Josh some time last year as he played there for a wedding. but was still nice to sit in there lounge and enjoy the spectacular view of the snow capped mountains. and use their bathroom :)

after meeting up with the rest of the crew for lunch, we all split up again and headed up to the mountain to get some snow shots. my fave thing about winter in nz is the snow, so i've been a bit gutted about not being able to snowboard this year. but it was so good to just walk in the snow and then sit down and watch all the other snowboarders/skiers. love, love, love the snow!

in the arvo, 5 of us did the silica rapids walk, which is about 2 hours return. gave us great views of the surrounding areas, so we decided to stay up there for the sunset. again, the skies just weren't being co-operative, and so eventually we headed back to the backpackers to meet up for dinner.

dinner was at the Shcnapps bar, which was packed as for some rugby finals game. great atmosphere and great food as usual.  Everyone decided to have a party afterwards, and the whiskey came out. always a dangerous move! i slipped away before midnight and decided to sleep in the next morning whilst everyone got up for a 2 hour hike at about 6:30am. had such a nice, relaxing morning before our drive home.

awesome, awesome weekend with some like-minded people!

17 week update

How far along? 17 weeks

Baby size: Measured 125 mm and 134 mm at latest check up. Will be measured again on the 9th August!

Total weight gain/loss: 2 kg! Back up to 53.65

Maternity clothes? Still living in my leggings!  And I really need to find some maternity stretch jeans.

Stretch marks? Nothing yet.

Sleep: Sleeping well except for the occasional need to get up and pee.

Best moment this week: Water walking and seeing all the baby clothes that Shaz sent over. So, so cute!

Movement: Nothing since the 2 or 3 flutters that I felt around the 14 week mark :(

Food cravings:  Just pita's :) And Chocolate milk.
Anything making you queasy or sick: OATS! These babies really  do not like oats. And my water needs to be icy cold. Drinking a gallon a day is HARD
Have you started to show yet: Yup. For sure. 

Gender: It's going to be a surprise!  But we are guessing boys for now.

Symptoms: Need to pee alot, HUNGRY all the time. Tired.But generally feeling great

Labor Signs: No signs yet 

Things I miss:  sushi, blue cheese, feta, ham, alchohol

Belly Button in or out? In but looking weird! I think it will pop out pretty early on.
Wedding rings on or off? On
Looking forward to:  Getting the bathroom reno's sorted. And sorting out a dryer and laundry.

Scans

Fortnightly scans have started! yippeee!

 just got a letter from the hospital today saying i have a scan next week to check their growth.  hoping they are doing well as they were both measuring on the small side at the last scan (still within normal range though). but then again, both J and i are little people, so makes sense. anyway, i now say to my tummy on a regular basis "grow little ones, grow!" Hopefully they listen to their mummy x