Happiness Was Born A Twin: PCA 22 Weeks

Here I am at 22 weeks. I had on a cute pair of black leggings, but was told that I looked like pregnancy on a stick ... so I took them off.

PCA:

A really good week with PCA, not much to report! I'm feeling pretty good. The usual stuffiness and heartburn, but nothing major. NO SWELLING!

So I've mentioned before that I'm a tummy sleeper ... so pregnancy is really rough on me in terms of sleep positions. It is recommended that you sleep on your left side anyway because it optimizes blood flow, etc... but that gets old. Not to mention a crick in my neck (am I getting old or what??). Plus, my belly is getting heavier so that I need some support underneath so things don't pull... wow, complain much? Anyway, I came up with a solution to sleep on my tummy! I'm sure it looks ridiculous, but it is pretty comfy! So I make a nest of pillows and make a hole for the belly - voila! I can sleep on my tummy! I liken it to a prenatal massage table. You know the kind with the hole in the middle? With the twins, I had a snoogle, but I loaned it out and have no idea where it is. I'm too cheap to go out and buy another one.

Names -- I think we've pretty much settled on Caroline. We've been referring to her as Caroline for about two weeks now. We need a middle name. Of course, nothing is set in stone and we haven't made up our minds 100% yet. Allen calls her Caroline more than I do! But, last night he was a little apprehensive... so who knows what we're going to end up calling this baby.

Emma and Olivia:

Here are a few cute pictures of Livi. She was helping me bake chocolate chip pumpkin muffins:

Here are a couple cute ones of Emma from the week. She LOVES the necklaces that Grandma brought her:

About the picture below... so my parents used to call me the bag lady when I was about her age, maybe a little older. I would put every single outfit on and what I couldn't fit on my person, I would carry it around in a bag. My mom brought the girls a few gifts and Emma was so tickled that she wanted to carry them around in the bag. Bag Lady 2.0?

Daddy and his daughters on a Sunday morning:

My mom is so talented! Look at the dresses she made the girls:

And look at the matching fall aprons she made us:

About our week:

Grandma and Granddad Ware came to visit this weekend and we had a blast. We welcome any opportunity to visit with family, especially since we live so far away. I've said it a million times, I think it is so important for our kids to know and love their grandparents. I treasure --and so does Allen-- my memories of my grandparents. I fully believe that they can teach our children things that we can't. They help fill in the gaps.

Anyway, as I've mentioned before, I am a creature of habit. I rely heavily on my routine. I'm pretty sure I have OCD. I make lists for lists. I like order and rules. I pick up my kids toys probably at least 6 times a day. I may not have the cleanest house in the world, but everything has a place. Heaven forbid a pillow on the couch not be in its place. I make my bed when I get up. I like things neat and tidy. Which is hard to do when you have a small house filled to the brim with crap. Anyway, when things get out of balance -- ie visitors -- my world gets rocked. (paging Rainman!) So when I talk about how our world gets out of whack -- it is not to imply that we don't love visitors or that they are an interruption to our everyday lives. That would be silly and I think I would go insane if we didn't have some touchpoint with our families ... it is just that it takes us awhile to get back in our groove. For example, after my parents left, the girls took a 4 hour nap and then went to bed at 6:45 p.m. and didn't make a peep until 8:30 a.m. They were tired! So anyway, my point is, not that we don't want to sound ungrateful or that we don't love company, we do. Simple as that.

Okay, so back to our weekend. My folks came into town Friday afternoon. The girls were napping. Remember how I keep telling you about how my kids LOVE people? Well, I think I might have found Emma's kryptonite. Unfortunately for him, it comes in the form of Granddad Ware. Just his mere presence can send Emma into a turtle-like coma, clinging to me. I have never seen her do this before. I know it must break Granddad's heart, it certainly took me by surprise. She eventually warmed up to him and was all smiles and hugs.

Then after we opened gifts -- totally spoiled -- and played around for a bit, it was time for me to pick up Edgar from the airport after being gone for 9 days for a cardiology review course. IT WAS ABOUT DAMN TIME. 9 days is a long time to be gone from the family. So I picked him up from the airport and it was so special to see the girls' faces light up when they first caught sight of their daddy.

The next morning, we loaded the girls up and went shopping, something we Ware-Atchley women do best. Those girls are the best shopping buddies and were so good for us as we strolled around. The guys watched football. Sunday we made beans, greens and cornbread... a yummy southern affair.

Monday: I have been dying to get to the pumpkin patch. I think the only person more game for outings than me is my mother ... so it wasn't hard to talk her into going. We had a BLAST!! It was a chilly day, but beautiful for a pumpkin patch visit.

We went to Ganyard Hill Farm in Durham. The girls first went to the corn pit... like a ball pit but with corn. It was pretty funny watching the girls trying to get around in the mess. Speaking of mess, of course I was armed with lots o hand sanitizer. You know how I am. Anyway, so at the corn pit, there were bunny rabbits and chicks. The girls kept saying "hop hop hop" for bunny rabbit. Really cute. So we didn't know that the bunnies could bite... um, yeah. The girls were all about sticking their fingers in the cage until my mom did and the bunny bit her! Sooo, we quickly moved on from there. Next were the chicks, but remembering how nasty chickens are from Spence's Farm, I opted not to let them pet the chicks. Next we went to the maze which was cute. Emma and Olivia are very curious these days and love to explore, so it was fun to watch them move around the hay. After that, we went on a hayride. The girls LOVED it and felt pretty special to sit on their grandparent's laps. After that, and where we spent the bulk of our time, was with the goats and rooster. I'm pretty sure we weren't supposed to do this, but we did anyway -- fed the goats goldfish. The girls were enthralled. After that, and thoroughly sanitized, we went to the pumpkin patch. After selecting 3 pumpkins -- one for Em, Liv and Caroline, it was getting chillier so we decided to leave. I talked the parents into eating at a diner -- it was disgustingly-oh-so-good-diner food. Comfort food.

After we got home, the girls pooped out for 4 hours! They were tired puppies! We had such a good time.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the pumpkin patch: