25 Things

The "25 Things About Me" list has been making the rounds on Facebook, and although I haven't posted mine on there yet, I thought I would do it here on my blog. Here goes:

1. I am a bit of a grammar freak. I automatically correct everything I read, particularly books and newspaper or magazine articles. If there is a pen close by, I might even make the correction marks.
2. Partly because of #1, I think the perfect job for me is probably as some type of editor. I think I would love to work for a major publishing company.
3. I might eventually start a serious search for a job in that field.
4. I could have been happy with a major in many, many fields in college. Obviously English was a front-runner, but I chose political science.
5. I absolutely loved most of my college courses, and it always felt like class consisted of a big discussion or debate, rather than a lecture. Graduate school was full of even more intense and involved debates.
6. I still like to debate on almost any subject, especially political or ethical issues. I often find myself unintentionally playing devil's advocate and making arguments against the other person's case, even if I actually agree with what they're saying. I think I picked this habit up from a favorite college professor, and it's fun to now use it on my own students.
7. I love tv marathons (see my New Year's recap for a recent example). I also get sucked into tv on dvd very easily, and I have been known to watch almost an entire season in one sitting. I am sure this habit will be one of the first to go when the babies get here!
8. I would much rather eat fruit than most other sweets or desserts.
9. I love Slush Puppies-the original gas-station slushies. They are replacing most of these machines with a new kind, and it's becoming very hard to find the original anymore. The icees from the Icee Truck in Scottsboro are pretty close, and make a good substitute in summer. They also remind me of hot summer days at band camp.
10. I hate to clean, and I am a terrible housekeeper. We are about to hire someone to come in once or twice a month and do the floors, bathrooms, and dusting. Those seem to be my biggest problem areas. Hey, I ought to get something fun out of the extra money from teaching, right?
11. I do not like when people just "drop by" my house. Certain people I don't mind, as they know me and know what to expect when they do come by to visit(see #8!). Generally, though, I don't like surprise visitors.
12. I have very little tolerance for stereotypes, or judgmental people who refuse to try and understand anyone else's point of view.
13. Our dogs are our first "babies," and no, they will not automatically be banished to the backyard when the girls arrive. We made a commitment when we brought them home, and we will try to make the transition to life with babies as easy as possible for them (and for us!).
14. I never, ever thought I would have kids at this age. I planned to wait until I was at least 29-30. Plans change!
15. I am pretty much amazed by my body every single day during this pregnancy. I am proud of how strong it has been and well it has provided for these girls.
16. I love to travel, and I will go pretty much anywhere at anytime, particularly if I've never been there.
17. I might be slightly obsessive-compulsive. I count things, most notably my steps, without even meaning to do it.
18. I used to be a major perfectionist, and would stress about the smallest things.
19. Working as an event planner at Talk of the Town was the best thing in the world to cure me of some of those perfectionist tendencies. I've learned to let the small things go, and that everything will all work out just fine in the end, even if it's not as originally planned.
20. I am also a wonderful procrastinator (goes well with the perfectionist tendencies, right?).
21. I work best under pressure with a tight deadline to meet. Perhaps because it doesn't allow me the time to worry if it's done just right? Hmmm...
22. I never wanted to be a teacher, even when I was little. I still don't believe I could teach anything other than college.
23. Working with the youth at our church and teaching Sunday school have been a huge challenge for me. It has definitely caused me to step out of my comfort zone. (Teenage girls are alternately wonderful and extremely trying!)
24. I have an excellent memory, and I can remember some of the smallest details of events that others quickly forget. Phone numbers are my specialty...I am virtually a walking phone book.
25. I truly believe that God has worked miracles with our baby girls. First, there was the finding of the membrane that meant our monoamniotic diagnosis was incorrect. Then, despite the increased risk, there has been no sign of TTTS. We have had an amazingly healthy and problem-free pregnancy up to this point. I have felt God's hand in every step of this pregnancy, and I will forever rejoice in these blessings He has poured out on us!

A little random, and a little harder than I thought, but those are my 25 random facts! Aren't you glad you know? : )

Good Friday!!

Yes, that would be Good Friday as in the Friday before Easter, which just happens to be April 10 this year. It also happens to be the day that we are now scheduled to have our baby girls!! I had a great appointment yesterday, except for a shot in my behind, which I have not had in many, many years. : )

The girls are both weighing over 2 lbs. now. In fact, as Dr. C. put it, we have "one big baby and one monster baby." That's encouraging, if a little scary! We decided to for sure proceed with a scheduled c-section, since Baby B (Mackenzie) is still breech and is the "monster baby," which decreases the likelihood she would turn after Baby A is born. Jeremy and I are good with this decision, and the doctor fully supports it, so we are good to go in that department (as long as I don't go into labor and arrive at the hospital 9cm dilated, that is!). So we are all penciled in for April 10. The scary thing about that is that it's 10 WEEKS away!! Thinking about that has made a lot of things hit home for us, including how incredibly much we have left to do.

We are attending a Marvelous Multiples class at the hospital all weekend, but the nursery conversion should be in full swing by next weekend. Pictures to come soon!

25 weeks

I am 25 weeks pregnant this week (though the picture is from last week), and I am beginning to feel every bit of it. I don't have too terribly much to complain about yet, but life is definitely getting more difficult. I am having trouble sleeping...I spend most of the night going back and forth from my left side to the right, then usually wake up starving sometime around 4:00 a.m. Sometimes I can grab a snack and get back to sleep, but sometimes I have to give up and read or otherwise entertain myself until it's time to get up. Because I have a short torso, things have been pretty crowded in my midsection for quite awhile now. The babies aren't kicking me in the ribs or anything, but it is very hard to get a deep breath most of the time, and sitting up straight is quite a challenge. At my last appointment, my belly measured 35 cm. from top to bottom, meaning I'm about the size of someone 32-33 weeks pregnant with a single baby! Scary to imagine what that means for the next few months!! Occasional leg cramps and sciatic nerve pain are my only other physical complaints at the moment, so it could be much, much worse. : )
Our appointment last week went well, and the babies weighed in at 1lb., 9oz. each! They are really beginning to feel like substantial little beings now, and their kicks are getting stronger to prove it. I can see my belly move when I happen to look at the right time, and Jeremy has been able to feel them too. So many new and wonderful things going on!
We are getting to work on the nursery as well. The bedding and a few accessories I ordered have arrived, and we are starting to clean out the bedroom to prepare it to be painted. I haven't decided on just the right paint color yet...such a hard decision! I have started registering and have a couple of showers coming up in the next month or so. It's getting exciting to think about the completed nursery waiting for our two little girls to fill it with life and love (and diapers by the dozens, but that's a whole different story!).
So that's my baby update for the moment. Believe it or not, there are other things going on in our lives...the girls are just taking center stage already!
Tomorrow is a big day for our nation, as President Obama takes office. I can't deny that I would love to be in the midst of it all in Washington, DC, but maybe another year. I must admit I have already teared up a time or two watching the festivities so far, and I'm sure I will again tomorrow. To me, it's not so much the significance of the first black president, but seeing the hope and desire to make this country a better place that Obama inspires in so many people. (That was a really convoluted sentence, but maybe I conveyed my point!) I love to see Obama's devotion to his family, and to watch them proudly standing beside him at such an amazing time. I pray that the new administration can live up to the big hopes that so many in our country have for it. Either way, it seems change is coming!

Lazy Days

I have pretty much been worthless so far in 2009. On New Year's Day, I literally stayed in my pajamas all day. It was great, actually! I got sucked into a Bones marathon, and I think I watched about 14 of the 16 episodes. Sad, huh? I read one of the books that inspired the Bones series awhile back, so I thought I would give the series a try also. It's similar to the CSI-genre, but there is a lot more interaction between the characters, which makes it a little more fun.

I did at least venture out of the house on Friday, to Babies R Us and Target. Other than that, I watched a lot of Gilmore Girls and did a whole lot of online browsing for baby items. I have chosen bedding, which I plan to order in the next few days, most likely from ebay, where I can find the best prices and matching accessories. We hope to have the nursery painted and furniture ordered by the end of the month...we'll see how that goes. I received a few new books on life with twins, which I am looking forward to diving into, even if it's a little scary!

So far, Saturday looks to shape up about like Thursday and Friday. Jeremy's shift has changed, and this is his first Saturday off in a very long time, so he's still sleeping. Our big plans for the day include a trip to Costco and possibly dinner out at Mikato, our favorite. : )

I realize this post has been insanely boring and mundane, so here's a few belly pictures to embellish a little:

Early this past week, at 22 weeks. (I was also experimenting with the timer feature on my new camera to take the picture myself.)

And, because my clothes make it hard to see exactly how much I am expanding, here's one shot of the actual belly before it gets too weird. Seeing it in a picture made it feel a little more real!

Bringing in the New Year in Style

Jeremy has to work tonight, so it's me and all the girls (babies in the belly, dogs in their bed) hanging out tonight. It's seriously doubtful I will last until midnight, since I don't think that has happened since I've been pregnant. So far, however, the night looks promising.
When I got home, I took a long bubble bath using my new sleepy time bath lotion (which is amazing, by the way...it was a Christmas gift from Bath & Body Works). I even shaved my legs, which is no easy feat anymore, and getting harder all the time! : ) Now I'm sitting here in my snuggly and warm pajamas, enjoying the lights from the Christmas tree one last time, watching season 6 of Gilmore Girls. And I plan to stay here all night, and quite possibly most of the day tomorrow! This might actually be a great New Year's Eve...I'm taking full advantage of all this downtime before April gets here and my world is completely rearranged. I even took off work Friday, in order to extend the holiday spirit a little longer. Actually, I'm planning to start cleaning out the spare bedroom that will become the babies' room, but it feels so good to have a four-day, work-free stretch to do whatever I decide to do.
I don't do New Year's resolutions very well, either making them or keeping them, but I do actually have a couple in mind this year. First, I want to stop wasting so much food. Lots of things I buy when grocery shopping only gets half-eaten, then eventually thrown in the trash. So I'm making a resolve to stop buying so much stuff, and focus on the things I know we'll eat consistently. Jeremy is going to have to help me a little with this one, whether he knows it yet or not. Next, I intend to become a little better housekeeper than I am now. I won't say I will ever be very good at this homemaking stuff, and I will never have a house with everything in its place all the time...that's just not our lifestyle. But I can do better than I do now. For awhile, I've been thinking about hiring someone to come in once a month or so to clean, intending to use that Northeast check I put in so many extra hours to earn. That prospect is still definitely a good possibility once the girls are here, but at least until I go back to work after maternity leave I can make an effort to do a little better at my housekeeping.
So there it is...my plan for 2009. Nothing too major, and all quite within reach. In a year that's going to be full of wild and crazy changes anyway, maybe I can make a little progress.
Here's to a fabulous New Year!

December Whirlwind

Where has December gone?? I cannot believe Christmas has come and gone already, and by this time next week it will be 2009. Christmas was good, except that Jeremy had to work, which threw off our normal holiday schedule. We opened our gifts to each other on the 23rd, knowing it was the last chance we would have to really sit down together. Plus, Jeremy can't stand surprises, so the suspense of Christmas nearly kills him! He got me a digital video camera, which we are both very excited about learning to use. We'll have to practice on the dogs until the newest subjects arrive. I think the gifts I wrapped for our stockings may have been close to being Jeremy's favorites:

Our house is most definitely a "house divided" when it comes to football, so I guess it's lucky we'll have two kids to display our team spirit! I got each of us a pink onesie and a pacifier clip, Alabama for me, Auburn for him. I think Jeremy already has visions of at least one of his little girls in head-to-toe Auburn wear.

We had Christmas with Jeremy's family the weekend before Christmas, which was nice because everything was not so rushed on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. On Christmas Eve, Jeremy had to have his truck fixed (an electronic part we'd been waiting for came in that day), and the mechanic came to our house to fix it! How nice was that? We didn't make it to his grandparents as planned that morning, but the truck is now fixed and the horn no longer beeps every thirty seconds, so that's definitely a good thing. I headed to Scottsboro for the evening, where my sister and I had Christmas with our dad, then watched a movie at home. I came back home so I could see Jeremy for at least a little while on Christmas morning. My family does breakfast on Christmas morning, although this year we pushed it back to brunch time since I would not have to rush off to get to the celebration with Jeremy's family. Jeremy and I spent a little time together, then he headed to his grandparents' before work and I headed to Scottsboro again. While packing up the presents, I noticed I had a box to his grandfather, which I thought he'd taken. A quick phone call later, we discovered he had my mom's present instead. We quickly met halfway in between the house and his grandparents' to exchange...luckily they only live about 10 minutes away! The rest of my Christmas was spent in Scottsboro, hanging out with my family. We all stayed in our pajamas all day, but Laura did model some new clothes for me:

We tend to get a little restless by the end of the evening on holidays, since staying home so much is a rare occasion for us. We watched Casablanca, snacked, and napped most of the afternoon. Around 9:00, we ventured out to Talk of the Town, where Bruce was having a Pajama Party....we were, quite literally, in our pajamas, of course! We visited with friends and family who had gathered down there for a couple of hours, and I picked up a few things for my tree next year, at 50% off, naturally. After that, we rode through town a little while, letting Laura try out her new GPS. It finally navigated us back home, and this pregnant lady hit the bed. All in all, a great holiday.

Lately I've been telling myself that as soon as Christmas is over, I am really going to get started on baby preparations, so now the time is here! We did confirm at our last ultrasound that they are definitely little ladies. They are growing right on track, actually toward the upper part of the size range right now (yikes!). They are also staying close to the same size, with only about 2 oz. difference, which is a good sign we are hopefully avoiding the complications of TTTS. I am gaining weight a little more quickly now, and I was up ten pounds total at the last visit. All in all, I think the doctor is very pleased with how well we are all progressing, despite our potential for complications. Praise the Lord! Hopefully we can continue this way for a couple more months. I am getting bigger by the day, which is normal of course, but sometimes I wonder if my belly can grow enough to contain these girls for another three and a half months! I am feeling them move now, but still just when I am sitting or lying still. They are definitely getting stronger though, and I'm hoping their daddy can feel them soon! We had a DVD made at our last ultrasound, and it's so fun to watch those little arms and legs flailing around. Hard to believe all that is going on in my abdomen. My favorite point on the video is when she was switching from baby A to baby B...baby B's bottom is right in front of baby A's face, then B starts kicking her little legs right at A's head! It is so funny to watch...I wish I knew how to isolate it and upload it here. I can, however, introduce my girls from their latest ultrasound pictures. Here they are, in all their fuzzy, grainy, black-and-white glory:

Baby A: Mary Addison Hughes (she'll be called Addison)
I think her arm is folded across her chest.

Baby B: Mackenzie Ross Hughes

And finally, my belly at 21 weeks, alongside my new Christmas ornament:

'Tis the Season

I really cannot believe Christmas is now less than two weeks away. I have done NO shopping yet, either! Well, I did order two small things for Jeremy online, but still, there are no presents under our Christmas tree at the moment. I try not to over-commit during this time of year, so we are not nearly as busy as many people (which I am quite sure will change once we have children). However, since last Saturday I have done the following: ridden in a Christmas parade, given a final exam, graded most of the said final exam, started on Christmas cards, and attended the office Christmas party. When you're a lazy pregnant lady with a bedtime of roughly 9:00 pm, that's a lot! Today, my aunt and I are going to see The Nutcracker and have dinner at Red Lobster (her favorite, since today is my Christmas gift to her...guess I don't have to shop for that one!). I also hope to squeeze in some of that shopping after we finish, though it depends on how tired I am at that point. Tomorrow, we are having a dinner honoring our choir director, who is leaving, then the youth Christmas party tomorrow night. Busy day! Like I said, 'tis the season....

For the first time in the seven Christmases we've spent together, Jeremy has to work this year. That's just the way it falls sometimes...and better this year than next! This will introduce a little change to our normal Christmas routine (which, again, I'm sure will completely change next year). We normally go to Scottsboro for breakfast with my family, then on to Eva for Jeremy's LARGE family gathering. Christmas Eve is spent with his grandparents and my dad. This year, we are doing Christmas with his parents the weekend before, and I will spend Christmas day in Scottsboro. We have long said that when we have children, our parents can all come to our house to celebrate. Next year they will still be too young to really understand, but by the next I expect we will implement the new routine. I'm curious...how do you with children manage your Christmas traditions, while also letting your children be at home to enjoy the day?

At any rate, the season is here, whether I'm prepared or not! I sometimes have to stop and remind myself that it's not the decorations on the tree or the quality of the wrapping and bows (or lack thereof) that matters. It's family and love, and celebrating the miracle that is our Savior...that part I can do!!