The Downstairs Is Overrated

Remember a few weeks ago I was so excited that my doctor decided to let me go downstairs once a day? Well, last night I decided going downstairs ain't all what it's cracked up to be.

I'm not sure if I'm getting too wide for my couch or what, but I'm way too uncomfortable down there to spend any amount of time downstairs. Did you ever see those shows on The Discovery Channel about the 1000 lb woman? The one who has to have a crane to get her out of her bed? That's me every night. I literally have to start rocking back and forth to get up enough steam to get out of the couch. Once I'm out, it takes about 5 solid minutes to get my balance and to take the few steps back upstairs. Plus there's a whole bunch of heavy breathing going on to that makes this process both a visual and audio spectacular. So, that's it. I'm done going downstairs for a while --- unless I have a large group of visitors coming at once (which will probably be tomorrow night - my sister, brother in law and nieces are coming over for pizza).

One of our mattresses arrived today. Mark's mom and dad bought us one from Babies R Us and a friend from work is giving us one his sons' had used. Which brought up a question -- which one of the babies gets the new one and which one gets the used? I wanted to flip a coin --- I thought that would be the only fair way, but Mark insisted the girl get the new one. He said the boy needs to learn to be tough. First, I'm sure we won't even be able to tell the difference between the new and the used mattress. Second, I think Mark thinks that just because we're having a boy, he's going to come out ready to suit up for the Denver Broncos. Third, and what worries me the most, are we going to raise a princess?

Now, contrary to what many of my co-workers may think (those that affectionately - I hope - termed me "princess" early in my career at the agency), I don't believe that little girls should grow up thinking they're princesses. They just turn into women who think they're princesses and there's nothing worse than a 30-year old woman who pouts to get her way with her boyfriend, husband or - worse yet - her daddy. I'd rather have a daughter who knows how to work hard and fight for what she wants and doesn't think the world should be handed to her on a silver platter just for the simple fact that she's a girl.

A Life I Could Get Used To?

So I'm starting week 3 of my mandated bed rest, and now I'm really worried. Worried that this is a life I could get used to. What happens if after I'm cleared of bed rest (ie after the babies are born), I don't feel like doing anything? What if all I want to do is lie around in bed? And have food brought to me? And have someone do my cleaning? My cooking? My laundry? My shopping?

And I'm worried that I'll forget how to do all those things. Is driving really like riding a bike? What about fixing my hair or putting on my makeup? What about putting on normal clothes and shoes? Will I have a sense for what's in style?

On another note, our nursery is coming together quite nicely. We put some of the bedding on and Mark finished setting up the closet. The closet in the nursery is a nice sized space, considering this house is almost 100 years old and most homes this age don't have big closets. Anyway, Mark (with some help from my dad) added an extra pipe to hang the babies' clothes on --- Mark painted one of the pipes pink and the other pipe blue and we bought pink hangers and green hangers(we didn't like the blue ones) to separate the clothes. Mark washed some of the baby clothes we do have and my mom and I spent some time folding them and sorting them by sex and size and started to put some of them in drawers. I can't believe how many sleepers and onesies we have already. All mostly hand-me-downs from a friend and my sister (how ironic, the poor thing spent her life getting all my seconds).

The babies remain very active -- which I just love. I was reading a book earlier today and was resting it on my stomach and the kicks were so strong (I think it was Max's) that it actually moved the book off my stomach. And, the movements I'm feeling are actual movements and not just kicks. If I keep my hand on my stomach, I can actually feel them flipping around or moving positions. It's such an odd feeling. Mark will keep his hand on my stomach enough to feel a kick but then he gets freaked out by the alien-ness of it all that he removes his hand quickly. I think hearing me talk about the kicks and movements is enough to satisfy him.

An Early Arrival (of furniture, that is)

The cribs are here! The cribs are here!

Early this morning (6:45AM), we awoke to the sounds of a diesel truck perched outside our bedroom window, signaling the arrival of our furniture for the nursery. We ordered the pieces - two cribs, a five drawer high dresser and a dresser/changing table - from Rock A Bye Baby in Lebanon. (We negotiated for free delivery if we had someone here to help unload the furniture, so Mark took a few hours off this morning to help the process).

This delivery guy was awesome --- he was so careful with all of the pieces (you know how sometimes you get a delivery guy that nicks up the walls and just throws the pieces into the room). He worked with me on my indeciveness on where the pieces should go. And, he put the cribs together for us for just $15 each --- a bargain when we considered the headache it would have been for Mark, my dad and my father in law to figure out how to put them together.

These cribs are massive. They're so big I think they could both sleep in the same one for at least a year. But, we wanted to get two and put them in their separate cribs right away so there's one less habit we have to break them of when they're bigger. Here's a link to the site and a pdf of the cribs. We went for the darker pieces on the left. http://www.bonavita-cribs.com/downloads/cabana.pdf

We think the dark wood looks great with the bedding we picked out. Here's a link to the bedding: http://ww2.potterybarnkids.com/index.cfm?src=rmsaa%7Ccromnur%7Cda%7Crrooms%2Fhme&cid=romnurlux&area=rms&age=a (Sorry, you may have to cut and paste that into your browser --- in case it doesn't work, it is the Diamond Matelasse collection). We ordered one with the pink trim and one with a brown.

So, we're getting there. It's nice to walk in there and see the cribs (sans the mattresses and the bedding) but to know that really soon that room is going to be a hub of activity!

Family, Friends and Food

Well, one thing I know for sure...no one wants these babies to go hungry.

Our weekend was filled with visits by family and friends --- and they all brought us plenty of food!

Friday night, our friends E & T (I'm using their initials because I think E shares the same paranoia that Mark does with being "public" on a blog) along with their 15-month old twin daughters came by for a visit. It's always fun seeing them, and they're great for pregnancy and twin advice especially since T was on bedrest with her twins for a majority of her pregnancy (I think from week 17 on!). And, did they ever know what to bring to hit the spot ---- a McDonald's vanilla milkshake and some fries. If I weren't annoyed with Rachael Ray, I'd shout out a big YUMO. That treat sure did hit the spot. As an added bonus, with their twins exploring our house, we got a good idea of what needs to be baby-proofed (everything!).

Saturday, my mom came by, and after spending an hour in my bedroom sorting through all the baby clothes I bought and my sister gave me, spent the rest of her day in my kitchen cooking us meals for the week. Homemade chicken pot-pie (which, sadly, did not make it through the weekend --- it was so good, Mark even had some for breakfast this morning), hamburgers in sauce, chicken breasts and a beef roast...I don't do that much cooking in a month and she made all those meals in an afternoon. Needless to say, we're set for the week.

Then, a nice surprise -- our friends Tammy and Jim (who won't remain nameless) and their 21-month old daughter came by Saturday night bringing meals and treats as well. Tammy is 9 months pregnant herself - due any minute now (for her sake, hopefully soon!) - and still had the ability to cook us some fantastic meals --- a macaroni and cheese and ham dish (which also did not make it through the weekend --- we mopped that up as well!) and some baked manicotti (can't wait to try that!). Plus, they brought this fabulous cheese spread from a place called Tony's deli which goes on everything --- today I had it on graham crackers and grapes. They brought some fresh baked cookies and a month's worth of US Weekly magazines too!

On another more fun, competitive note....our "Great Freeze Out" is on. Mark and I have a competition every year to see who has to be the first one to turn the heat on in the house. Let's just say, I win every year and this year will be no different. And, for anyone who knows my husband, you know that it takes a lot for him to get cold...he sweats - a lot (so much so that we ordered him two extra shirts to go with his tux on our wedding day so he could be "fresh" throughout the day). He was so cold on Friday night that he slept in a thermal shirt, a t-shirt and a hooded sweatshirt as well as flannel pajama bottoms. I think he's going to break soon. In fact, tonight might be the night.

Buddah Babies

That's what we're growing, according to our doctor. Big Buddah Babies. And, anyone who's ever been pregnant --- and especially anyone who's been pregnant with twins --- knows that the larger your babies are in these stages of pregnancy the better. So we're thrilled with our Buddahs.

At our 24 week appointment today (and after the doctor proclaimed both my hugeness and the babies'), we learned that we already have some overachievers in the Kehler household. We were told at our last appointment to expect that Max may soon outpace his sister Jillian. Well, not true today. While the two have been pretty similar at all of our appointments (similar weight, heartbeat and measurements), Jillian took the past four weeks to buckle down and suck up all the protein I've been eating. She measured in at 1 lb 14 ounces; which puts her at 1 week and 2 days ahead of where she should be.

Max is doing well too. Although he fielded some pretty tough kicks to the face courtesy of his sister during the ultrasound, he is measuring ahead of the curve as well. Max weighs 1 lb 10 ounces, just a few days ahead of where he should be.

The only sad part for Mark is the linebacker he had been hoping for may turn out to be his daughter and not his son.

And, always the negotiator, I talked the doc into letting me do a few things that he wouldn't allow before.

1. I can now lay on either my left OR my right side. I know, exciting stuff, huh? (Hey, I warned you this wasn't going to be the most exciting blog). At first, he only wanted me on my left (some sort of vein/artery type reason). Additionally (and this is a big one), I can also spend some time propped up in bed. This option helps the typing issues I had before.

2. I can do steps once per day. He actually met me more than halfway on this. I started with just wanting to come down the steps on Saturday and Sunday and now he's letting me come down once per day. (I did have to promise Mark that I wouldn't come down when no one is here - that I'd only venture downstairs when someone is available to catch me).

3. I can have a baby shower. At first, he said I could only have one if it was held at my house and I laid down during the shower, but I got him to ease up on that one as well as long as I promised that it wouldn't be far and that I wouldn't lift anything and I'd stay seated the entire time.

We also had a good talk on his thoughts on a "natural" delivery versus a C-section. Luckily, we were both on the same page (and saying the same thing). His thought is why put yourself through 18-24 hours worth of labor if both babies aren't in the best position for a "natural" delivery. There's a chance that one could come out the natural way and the second would have to be delivered via C-section. Doesn't make sense to me to put your body through that, so I'm glad we're seeing eye to eye on that as well.

We go back in four more weeks. Can't wait to see how much bigger they've gotten.

Rachael Ray is obnoxious (and other facts about daytime TV)

It's hard sitting in a bedroom with a TV and not having it on as background noise. So, since today was my first official day of working from my bed, it felt only natural to have it on...(and I always can argue that because of my job it is important to know what is on TV). I hadn't seen any of the new fall daytime lineup so today was my chance to catch a glimpse or two.

First, I finally got a chance to see Meredith on The Today Show. She interviewed a slimmed-down Ruben Studdard from American Idol - who, by the way is now a vegeterian (I was curious to hear if he still smoked pot but Meredith didn't ask the pressing question). The new set is odd. It's hard for me to describe but it felt like more of a daytime fluff show than the place I should turn for my morning news.

Another show I got a chance to see was The View --- the first time I got to see that with Loud and Proud Lesbian Rosie. I pretty much had the show on mute because who can stand all those chatterboxes talking over each other. The times I did have the sound even faintly on, Rosie was talking about her lesbianism and her girlfriend and her girlfriend's mother. At one point, she even made an "L" with her finger and thumb (you know, the loser, L) and held it up and mouthed lesbian. And, poor, frail Elisabeth Hasselback. All she ever wanted to do was marry a pro-football player and win a reality TV show and now she's stuck on this show, trying to get a conservative word in and everyone just jumps all over her. You know she goes back to her dressing room during the commercials and has a mini-breakdown. When she comes back out, they're all hugging and kissing and cuddling with her blood-shot eyes.

And then there's Rachael Ray. I'll admit, I've seen plenty of her shows on The Food Network. I never really made any of the dishes I've seen on her show, but I've been sucked in plenty of times by the thought of domestication and the opportunity to cook a healthy 30-minute meal. Well, her new show (which according to the trades is doing just fine) is a disaster. At least this episode was. All of a sudden, Rachael became a gumbata. She had on Johnny Sack and Bobby Bacala from the Sopranos and they had a "Soprano Sauce Off". While the "Sauce Off" is boring for us viewers who can't smell or taste the product, I stuck with it because I wanted to see who would win (and I just rented Season 5 of the Sopranos from Netflix, so I'm in Soprano mode). Rachael's husband was the judge...however, the most annoying part was Rachael's sudden Brooklyn-Italian accent she grew just for the show. She was yelling and had her arms swaying around the entire show (even more exaggerated than her usual movements). She was saying things like "wo" and "gonna get wacked" and "i'll cut your legs off". It was a train wreck but I couldn't look away.

And, Oprah. Poor little rich girl Oprah. Her show was about embarrassing bodily functions. Guess what, everyone? Oprah poops. Yep. I know you thought she didn't, but I heard it right on her show. She poops just like everyone else.

I've had my fill of daytime TV. Even as background, the shows are hideous (feel free to add any one of these women to the hideous list, my Touchpoints counterparts). How do people watch these shows day in and day out?

Breakfast (and lunch and dinner) in Bed

Well, it's officially begun. My bedroom is now transformed into a dorm room - complete with dorm-sized refrigerator and microwave. The only real difference is now I don't have to hide my hot plate in my closet from the RA.

Mark helped me start my day with breakfast in bed --- I asked for eggs so I'd get the protein in --- and he came up with 4 scrambled eggs! 4! What non-body building human could eat four eggs in one sitting (I guess one could argue that I am building bodies, huh?). And, my mom and dad were over last night and prepared some meals for us --- so we had lunch in bed too....luckily Mark bought us some Noticables air fresheners today so the bedroom doesn't start smelling like a dorm room anytime soon.

From my view, today looks like it was one beautiful day --- I would have loved to get out in the fresh air just for a little bit but didn't dare hit the stairs. Instead I watched 4 hours of Two A Days on MTV (and admittedly, logged on to the aftershows online as well) and a few hours of Laguna Beach.

Carrie on Sex and The City made typing on her laptop in bed look so glamorous (and comfortable) didn't she? I'm here to tell you it ain't either. It's very awkward and hard to type a sentence without a typo. But, at least tomorrow is a work day so I should be kept plenty busy and I bet soon enough my typing-on-my-side skills will be perfected.