27 Months

Dear Lily,

How is your 3rd year flying by so fast?! I feel like I just wrote you're 24 months letter, and here we are, another 3 months! Before I know it, you're going to be starting school! I know the next few months are going to fly by with all the excitement of becoming a big sister too!

The last 2 months have sort of mushed into one, so for this month, I'm just going to give some bullet points on how you've been growing and learning!

- Probably the most exciting thing you've learned recently is how to jump! You had been trying to get this figured out for the better half of this past year! Before you would bend your knees and gear up to jump, but would only be able to get onto your tip toes. Over the last 2 months though, you figured out actually getting your feet off the ground! I've never seen you be so proud of yourself before! Once you figured it out you exclaimed at the top of your lungs "I DID IT!!!" Since then, you've been a jumping maniac! You jump everywhere all over the house!


- As it has been for the past few months, singing is still a really big thing in your life right now. You love singing along to any song, even if you've never heard it before! You just make up your own words! You were doing this yesterday while we were listening to the music from the Charlie Brown Christmas special. (You're favorite movie right now, and you love the music to. You ask for it all the time, and then say " I love Charlie Brown music!") When "Hark the Harold Angel Sings" (sung by the Charlie Brown characters) came on, I heard you singing along to the tone with the words "Charlie Brown Christmas, and Mommy and Daddy" and a lot of other random words! It's so funny when you make up words to songs! Your favorite songs at the moment are "Old McDonald Had a Farm" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". I'll sometimes find you sitting quietly reading a book while humming "Twinkle Twinkle"! You have the tone to that one down perfectly!



-You never cease to amaze us with how smart you are. In addition to knowing all your colors and numbers, you have now shown us you know almost all your shapes too! We had been working on them a bit over the summer, when I could still sit with you on the driveway and play with the side walk chalk, but we haven't been working on them a lot lately because I can't get down to your level as easily anymore. So when you exclaimed that you had "triangle grilled cheese" several weeks ago, we were very surprised! We had no idea that you could identify a triangle! You hadn't really been showing any interest when I was trying to show you your shapes outside in side walk chalk a couple months ago. After we discovered that you knew about triangles, we tested it to see what other shapes you knew, and you were able to identify circle, star, and heart as well. Since then you have also learned square. Now we are working on rectangle, and after that we'll move on to the more difficult shapes, like octagon! :)



-Your favorite toys have continued to be babies. You love carrying them around, giving them hugs, feeding them, washing them, and changing their diapers. Over the last week you've started this new thing where almost every night you like to pull the cushions and pillows off the couch, and making little beds for your babies on the floor. You'll lie the baby down on the pillow, cover it with a blanket, pat it's belly and give it several kisses and say goodnight. It's the sweetest thing to watch! You are such a good mommy to your babies! You also love putting them in their stroller and talking them for walks around the house. I really can not wait to see how you react to having real babies in the house!

One night Lily lined all her dolls up in a row:



- Little gym continues to be going great! You are Ms. Lori's star pupil! Yesterday you got up on the low beam all by yourself and walked across the whole thing taking tiny careful side steps the whole way, without holding onto Daddy's or my hand for balance. I couldn't believe you walked across the whole thing all by yourself! You listened well too when I told you to hold your arms for balance. We were so proud! I really wish we had had our video camera with us! You also got up on the high bars with Ms. Lori, and walked across that moving your hands and feet at the same time (it can be difficult at this age to remember to move both hands and feet at the same time) without anyone holding onto you to balance you! You're doing so great! I'm so sad that yesterday may have been the last time we get to go to Little gym as just a family of 3...but I'm so glad you showed off for me yesterday, if it was to be my last class going with you and Daddy for a long while! Hopefully I'll be able to make it to at least one more class though!



We are so looking forward to this next month with you. Sometime in this next month, you'll be entering a whole new role, as big sister!! I can not wait to see how you act with 2 little babies in the house. I'm hopeful you will be very helpful, and want to be involved with the babies. I really think you are going to love being a big sister! I hope so at least! This next month is going to be an exciting one!

As always, Daddy and I are so proud of how far you've come, and how much you've grown and learned! We couldn't have asked for a more wonderful daughter! We love you more and more each day!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

34 Weeks

Baby’s senses are continuing to improve -- when light peeks in through your (extremely) stretched belly, those tiny eyelids and irises blink and dilate. And, baby can now recognize and react to simple songs… time to start practicing your lullabies! Growth (at least inside your womb) is starting to slow, and you may notice baby descend into your pelvis at the end of this month.

I'm 34 weeks and one day pregnant today with the twins! And we have now entered the time of crazy doctor appointments! Since last Monday I have been to 5 appointments at various different places! 1 regular ob appointment, 1 ultra sound, and 3 non stress tests (from here on out, called NST). Time to give an update on all!

My OB appointment last week was uneventful. Same as it always is. Everything is good with the babies, and I am now measuring 40-41 weeks! She got us set up to start going to my nst's twice a week, starting immediately after that appointment. Bad news was she told us that our hospital is now restricting visitors during the flu season, and anyone under the age of 18 is not allowed in unless they are a patient themselves. This mean's that Sean has to take care of Lily at all these nst's that I now have to go to alone. And of course means Lily wont be able to come to the hospital to meet the babies after they are born. So very very sad about that. We knew it was coming, as other hospitals in the area already had similar policies in effect. I was hoping we would luck out with our smaller hospital though. No such luck!

So directly after that appointment we headed off to the hospital for my first nst. Once there I have to go through the ER to get admitted. I'm not going to get started on how upsetting that is to me, that they are putting all these restrictions in place to keep their patients and staff healthy, but yet they make us pregnant women, who are among those at the most risk if H1N1 is contracted, walk right through the ER, where all the sick people are going! Twice a week I have to go through the ER, and sit in the same room as these people who may be sick, just to get admitted each time! Anyway, while getting admitted, I notice a piece of paper taped to the desk further detailing the visitor restrictions at the hospital, and learn that on the family first wing (where I'll be having the babies) they are limiting their visitor to the spouse or significant other only (if spouse is sick though, he can't come in either, and I can have one support person). So it looks like the whole time at the hospital it will be just Sean and me. This whole h1n1 thing is making a big mess of this birth! It's kind of depressing!

Anyway, back to the NST itself. Each time they hook me up to two heart beat monitors and a contraction monitor, and give me a button to push when I feel the babies move. The goal I believe is to get a certain number of movements in a set time, and for the babies heart rates to respond appropriately to these movements. (I believe the heart rate is suppose to increase with the movement, and then go back to normal. I could be wrong about that though!) I think they are also watching for how the baby responds to a contraction. This first nst went well. Both babies were a little lazy at first, so we had to wake them up with some soda, but they got moving after that, and both passed easily. And I had no contractions at all during the test. I unfortunately was very uncomfortable the whole test. At the beginning when the took my blood pressure it was low (90/74) and I was dizzy. The soda was suppose to help with that too. I was dizzy the whole test, most likely from the pressure of the babies on my back. My BP did go up some by the end before I left though, and the dizziness ended once I was off my back.

Last Friday I had my second NST. This one also went very well. I ate a piece of chocolate right before we left, which got both the babies moving around like crazy! No dizziness and bp was fine this time too. I had one contraction during the test, but it was no biggie. Good appointment!

Monday was my 34 week u/s. I was concerned about this one because of the weight discordance we had last time. Sean wasn't able to come into this one either because he had to watch Lily, so I was dreading getting bad news about baby B's weight all by myself. Luckily, this was a GREAT u/s! Baby B is doing great in size, and closing in on baby A! Baby A weighed in at 5lbs 1oz, and baby B at 4lbs 13oz. I'm so happy to see that they are much closer in size now! And wow is that a lot of baby to be carrying around all at once. Almost 10 pounds combined! And they are still growing!! The doctor said they are right on track for 34 weeks. Baby A's heart beat was 156bpm and B's was 160bpm (first time B's heart rate has been faster!) And the best news we got...they were both head down!!!!

Yesterday was my 3rd NST. This one did not go as easily as the first two. Baby B was difficult to find. Since I had just had my u/s the day before, I was able to tell the nurse that they were both head down, so we found heart beats at where they should be for 2 head down babies, but the beats were very similar and were following each other. We couldn't be certain we were monitoring both babies, or the same baby twice. I believe it was both babies at first, but B must have flipped during the test, and we were just recording A. After search for B for quite a while, she pulled in the u/s to get a quick look to see where each heart was...and sure enough, B has flipped...no longer head down (well that excitement of them both being in the ideal position for birth was short lived!). Then we sat for a while waiting for B to move so we could get the reading needed so I could go home. B just did not want to move for us! In total I was there for just over 2 hours trying to get B to respond. These test are only suppose to take 30 minutes. It wasn't until the nurse had my OB come in to check on things (who was already at the hospital with another patient) that B started moving around. Literally as soon as she came in the room, B started moving like crazy! Figures. Mean while, the whole test I was having regular contractions, with some that were painful. My doctor didn't seem to pay much attention to those though, and said I was finally free to go home! Let's hope my next nst isn't that difficult!

As for how I'm doing, as well as can be expected for 34 weeks pregnant with twins. I'm starting to get nervous about how little time there is left before they are here. They literally could be here any day now! The doctor at my u/s said they would expect me to deliver within the next 1-2 weeks. I'm hoping to get to at least 37 weeks though, and I think my body can do it. I don't have another regular OB appointment until next Thursday, and I expect to get my cervix checked then. I wouldn't be surprised if I was dilating already. The contractions I get every night have been getting stronger, and I can now feel the weight of baby A on my cervix every time I stand up. But I also know I could be walking around 4cm dilated for weeks and then have to be induced! All I can do in the mean time is try to get our house as prepared as possible, so we're ready for their arrival at any time. I think it's time to pack that hospital bag!

And as for the babies, here's what I'm starting to learn about their personalities. Baby A is my mover and shaker. This baby moves around a lot more than it's sibling. B is my laid back baby! They both love chocolate though, and will bounce around whenever I eat any! Baby A also gets the hiccups almost every day now. I don't feel them with B hardly ever, but usually at least once a day I feel that A has them. This reminds me of Lily, because she had them every day before and after she was born! It's fun feeling that sensation again!

Ok, this is getting terribly long, so I'll end with another baby belly picture of me and Becky. I'm 33 weeks and 3 days pregnant, and Becky is 26 weeks pregnant.


Picture stolen from Becky.

Wish me luck for my next NST on Friday! I hope this one goes more like my first two!

What, When and How Big?!?!

I've started a baby pool to see what everyone thinks we're having, and when! Please play along with us and enter your own guess!! Click the banner below to get to our game!



We look forward to seeing everyone's guesses!

Halloween Happenings Part 2

I left of my last post promising I'd share our time pumpkin carving and Lily's first time trick or treating! I finally have time to do just that!

The weekend before Halloween, we carved our pumpkins. This has always been a favorite tradition for Sean and me, and we were so excited this year that Lily would be able to participate for the first time. Now of course we couldn't let her attack her pumpkin with a knife herself, but it was perfectly safe for her to paint her pumpkin! So we turned up the spooky music, set her up with paint, and let her go to town!



Lily of course had a lot of fun painting her pumpkin! Here was her final project:


Unfortunately at some point she decided she wanted to "clean up" the pumpkin, and wiped most of the paint off with a paper towel, and then painted a second masterpiece. Also unfortunately the pumpkin didn't dry in time to come inside for the night, and the rain we got later that night washed away all her hard work! At least we have the pictures to remember our fun time by though!

After she had finished her first masterpiece, Lily wanted to help us scoop out the seeds from our own pumpkins. At first she ws a little leary about sticking her hand in the pumpkin and touching slimy inside. She would only use a spoon to help pull out some of the seeds. I think she got into it after a while though!

Helping out with Daddy's pumpkin:



She really loved our finished projects...which unfortunately I have yet to get a picture of. She kept laughing at the faces we had carved and saying "silly pumpkin!!" She also, being really into spooky stuff lately, was really into the music we were listening to (we just set up a pandora radio station of movie music from movies like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Not all that spooky, but somehow still Halloweeny) She kept dancing around and pretending to be a spooky monster. Hopefully we'll get the video of this editted soon, but here's a picture of her dancing "spooky":

The Monday before Halloween we took Lily trick or treating for the first time. One of the shopping centers near us had a night where all the stores gave out candy, s we decided this was a good way to indroduce Lily to the idea of trick or treating. She had such a fun time walking around with her little pumpkin basket, in her lady bug costume. It was a great way to get her use to seeing other people dressed up. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera that night, so there are no pictures. But of course I have some from our actual Halloween night!


All the fun activities we had done in the weeks leading up to Halloween had really gotten Lily excited for the actual day. From the moment she woke up on Halloween, till bed, she was excited and running around saying "Happy Halloween!!" and "Trick or Treat!!". She waited not to pateintly all day to put her costume on and to go out trick or treating once it got dark. She was beside herself with excitement when we told her it was time to put on her tutu and wings!


She was not hesitant at all going up to the first house and waiting for the door to open. We had been coaching her the whole day to say "Trick or Treat" when the door opened...but as soon as that first door opened, she clammed up! We couldn't get her to say thank you or happy Halloween either! This happened at house after house...every time the door would open, she would go silent and take her candy! Then as soon as the door was closed again, she would shout "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!" or "TRICK OR TREAT!!" Every single house we went to, it was the same thing...she'd get shy in front of people...but as soon as it was just Mommy and Daddy again, she'd let loose! It was pretty funny! We all had so much fun though, even with the rain that started when we were at the farthest point from the car! (It let up after not to long though, luckily...and was never to heavy!) Lily actually filled her pumpkin bucket right up to the top before we had gotten back to the car, and we had to send Daddy to get it so we could call it an evening! She was so possessive of the bucket too. If we offered to help her carry it because it was getting heavy, she'd pull it away saying "No!" We had to let her ride home with it in her lap!

Lily and Daddy walking to our first house:



Walking by herself up to another house:


Everyone we talked to thought she was the cutest lady bug ever. She was the hit of the neighborhood!
At one house getting her candy:

After our long night out we came home and let her have a couple pieces while we watched "The Nightmare Before Christmas", which she was totally in to (it's so funny how she loves everything "spooky" right now!)
Here she is right before she got cleaned up and teeth brushed for bed, sporting her chocolate face:


I'm so glad she really got into the fun of the season this year, Every Halloween is always fun, but this one was really special, as it was the first one she was an active participant of! Every day since she keeps asking to put on her costume and go trick or treating again. She carries her little pumpkin bucket (which is now empty, as we've put away the rest of the candy) around all the time gleefully saying Happy Halloween. It's been tough trying to get her to understand that Halloween only happens once a year, and that we have to wait till next year to go trick or treating again. I wouldn't have it any other way though! And next year will be doubly fun with two more babies...and Mommy wont be 25 months pregnant with twins trying to do all our fun activities!

Halloween Happenings

Halloween and fall harvest time is one of our favorite times of year in the Burke household. We love the colors, smells, tastes and entertainment of the season. It's really no wonder to us that Lily has embraced this season with open arms too. It's become a favorite game of hers to look for and point out pumpkins and spooky decorations any time we are out driving with her. "Mommy, pumpkins!! Mommy, spooky ghost!" It seems she really to young right now to understand when things are suppose to be scary. We took her into one of those Halloween stores that pop up all over the place this time of year, in search of her costume, and she had a blast looking at all the spooky displays. She kept pointing at all the scary stuff, and laughing, saying it was silly. Clearly she hasn't figured out yet that it's suppose to scare her! She's also developed a real love for "spooky" programing on tv. She loves to watch all the classic Halloween specials like "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and the Berenstain Bear's Trick or Treat. She's always asking for "more spooky, more Halloween!"

We always try to do a lot of outdoor activities this time of year, like apple picking, and going to the pumpkin patch. A couple weeks ago we did just that, for the second time this year! We were mainly going for the pumpkin patch, but ended up picking apples as well. Luckily I was looking for more apples to make a pie, because this late in the season, there wasn't must left to pick from. We ended up taking home a small bag full of apples that i will need to cut off bad parts. Luckily that wont cause any problems for making a pie! Here are the pictures from our trip to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch:

"Is this a good one Mommy?"

Showing off her (empty) bag of apples:


Still empty, no apples over here!


Finally and apple to pick! With Daddy's help!



We had better luck over in the cortland trees, or maybe it was just at that point when we gave up and started picking with only the pie in mind, and not eating apples! Lily was the prefect size to get under the trees and pick the hard to get hidden ones!


And onto the pumpkin patch, which was equally as underwhelming as the apple trees, but Lily still had fun running around the pumpkin!


And we did find one really good pumpkin, not this one though! Lily was testing out her strength!

So it wasn't the perfect farm we were hoping for when I found their website, but we all still had a lot of fun, and that's all that matters!

Our next fun fall activity was Lily's Little Gym Halloween party, which she got to go to in costume to this year! For Halloween this year Lily is being a ladybug, or as she affectionately calls it "Lilybug". This is the first year I've put some real work into her costume, which was a lot of fun. I made the tutu she's wearing.

She's so proud of her tutu , and wants to wear it all the time now! Here are a few more pre-party pictures of Lily in costume:


She loves throwing leaves:


And Kicking them too!


Demonstrating how a ladybug flies:


At the party, we all had a lot of fun seeing everyone dressed up, and of course Lily loved getting an extra day in the gym this week! The tutu and wings did make it hard to do all the stuff she normally does though!

Hanging out on the beam:


Flying through the air like the ladybug she is:

Singing "The Wheels On The Bus" With the big parachute:


"Reach!!!"


"I did it!"


On the way home we let Lily eat the cupcake treat that she was given as we were leaving the party. This is her messy face, which she took much delight in showing it off to my camera!

The funniest part of her costume this year is the day after this party, I was showing her a ladybug in the house (because we have them in all our windows this year!) And she was terrified! She screamed and climbed up into Sean's lap repeating in a worried tone "Bug...Bug!!" I don't know when she became afraid of bugs...but I find it pretty ironic that she's scared of the very thing she is dressing up as for Halloween this year!

Well this post is getting pretty long already, and it's very late (see below post about pregnancy insomnia), so I'll save pumpkin carving and Lily's first time trick or treating for another post. Time to try and get an hour of sleep before I have to wake Sean up for work!

32 Weeks

Baby’s energy is surging, thanks to the formation of white fat deposits beneath the skin. (Have those kicks and jabs to the ribs tipped you off yet?) Baby is also settling into sleep and waking cycles, though -- as you’ve also probably noticed -- they don’t necessarily coincide with your own. Also this month, all five senses are finally functional, and the brain and nervous system are going through major developments.

This morning I am 32 weeks and 2 days pregnant with the twins, and am up in the middle of the night, giving me a chance to update the blog! Pregnancy insomnia has been a real problem for me lately. I find many nights during the week I'm up at some point for several hours. I don't remember having this at all with Lily. But then again, I didn't have this horrible heart burn with Lily either (maybe one of the babies actually has hair!!). The heart burn has been one of the key factors keeping me up. At least this night it is!

Things just aren't as easy once you get to this stage with twins. I'm starting to set into panic mode about getting everything done, considering I've only got a few weeks left. The average twins are born at 35 weeks....that's only 3 weeks away! Hopefully with my history of going over due with Lily, I'll be able to keep these babies in until at least 37 weeks, but there are no guaranties. It's hard to prepare for them though when any sort of shopping or cleaning for to long makes my whole body scream at me in pain for being on my feet for to long! It's come to the point where if we go out, we have to limit it to one or two stores...or I'll be paying for it the next day in the form of a achy back, belly and legs, all with tons of contractions to boot!

It's not all bad though. I still really enjoy being pregnant, and love feeling the babies move around. Their movements are so big now it makes my whole belly shake when the move. It's funny to watch. I can often identify knees and elbows moving about now. These are my favorite movements.

Last week I had 2 appointments. The first, my regular OB appointment, went really well. I told her about losing my plug a couple weeks ago, so she checked me, and all is good! My cervix is long, closed and soft! Very relieved to hear that I wasn't dilating! I'm now measuring 34.5 weeks, which is smaller than my last appointment, when I measured 35 weeks. More confirmation that I've dropped some. Everything else was pretty standard. It's a good thing that these appointments have stayed a bit boring so far!

My second appointment last week was my monthly u/s to check on the babies growth, which didn't go a great. (Not horrible, just not great) Baby A is doing great, as always. Heart beat was 153bpm, and is now weighting in at 3lbs 12 oz. A whole pound gain since last month! Unfortunately baby A is now Breech. Hopefully there is still time to turn. Baby B hopefully seems to be doing great too. Heart beat was 144bpm, and is now weighing in at 3lbs 1 oz. Another one pound gain! B is still transverse, with the head to the left, right next to A's head. They're plotting their escape! Now the not so good news is that baby B is measuring a little behind. There is a 22% size discordance between both babies. They like to see nothing more than 20%, so the doctor seems concerned. It was particularly the belly measurement that had fallen off it's own curve for baby B. Baby B has always been the smaller of the two, so I'm hoping it's just the natural growth rate for that baby, but it still worries you as a mother to hear that one of your babies may not be doing as great as it should. They want to see me again in 2 weeks to check on B, as opposed to the regular 4 weeks. Please cross your figures for us that it was just a case of the baby being to smooshed to be able to get accurate measurements. I'm trying not to worry about it until then, and hopefully we'll see that B is still growing at a great rate.
Other than that I should be starting twice a week non-stress tests as early as next week. (this is not related to the growth difference at all. All twin moms to be at my doctors office start twice weekly NST's between 32-34 weeks) I'm really hoping my contractions register on those monitors, because they've been picking up again lately, and are getting more painful (I've had several painful ones while writing this blog tonight!) I'm hoping we can get to the bottom of why I get them so often, and that I can be reassured they are doing nothing to change my cervix!
In the mean time I'll be running around trying to get as many things done as possible to prepare ourselves for the babies arrivals. This next weeks tasks that I'm tackling- cooking lots of food to freeze for after the babies are here, and ordering a crib!

I've been so bad about taking consistant belly pictures. Here's a picture of me at 30 weeks 4 days:


And the one picture I got from the last u/s, of the tops of both their heads. Picture of the print out, so not that great, sorry:

First Snow!!

I know I've already posted a blog today...but we've got snow!!! I can't believe it's the middle of October and we are getting snow, and it's sticking to the grass! Lily was really excited to go out and play in the snow. So excited in fact that she dressed herself, and put her pants on backwards, and her rain boots on the wrong feet! We had a lot of fun playing in the snow for a bit! Guess it's time to go out and buy her snow boots and mittens!




"It's SNOWING!!!"


Even more is on the ground now. Our whole yard is white! I guess winter is starting a little early this year!