Happy New Year!

As 2007 draws to a close most of us sit around thinking of some ridiculous New Year's Resolution that we'll abandon in a few weeks. In the past I have always tried to think optimistically about some facet of my life I could improve, and Keith by proxy would be forced into the same resolution. This year we're older and wiser, and we are going to use that wisdom to avoid repeating a few things we did in '07:

Keith: We will not be signing up for another half-marathon. Not even after Trudi has a glass of wine at a party & someone convinces her it's a great idea, or after Trudi runs a half-marathon with someone else and then talks me into it because she thinks me running with her will improve her race time. It backfired on her, FYI, our race time in the VA Beach Half Marathon was pretty crappy. In my defense, the UGA/Oklahoma State game was on the night before, and who can watch a game without having a drink or two?
Disclaimer: Trudi is pretty good at getting her way. If, by any chance she gives me the pouting puppydog face and does talk me into the Thanksgiving day half marathon, then we'll never speak of this resolution again.

Trudi: No more house projects. If there is one thing worse than a grumpy Keith, it's the guy I like to call Project Keith. Project Keith did a great job in the kitchen and bathrooms, but he's bossy and demanding, and if anyone is going to be like that it our house, it's me.

Cole & Grady: No more sleepfilled nights, relaxing weekend mornings reading the paper, or spontaneous date nights for our parents. Good times.

Happy New Year everyone! My first post of '08 will have new ultrasound pics and a belly shot of Karen. I'm heading up see Karen and family on Wednesday, you'll hear from me when we hit 30 weeks on Friday.

29

It really feels like yesterday that I wrote about the 28 week mark, and here we are again, another week down. In the past, I've tried to think of something clever to say about the boys' development stage and what fruit/vegetable they are resembling or weighing as much as, but all that comes to mind today is "Holy sh*t, it's really happening, we're having kids".

Yes, some days its still a bit of a shock that the whole process worked and we'll get to have kids.

And soon.

Who's a big girl?

Keith and I are slowly being introduced to the baby/children world. Karen, my beloved sister and babygrower, and her husband have three kids, so every few months we get to see Rhett, Sara or the Greggers for a birthday, a random holiday or a quick visit at my parents house. We love these visits, but they never feel long enough. So while we feel like we get lots of family baby (and yes, these three will be "the babies" for forever to me, even when they are old and married) time, it's never enough.

Well, lucky for us our good, no, great friends Justin and Tracy brought a little partier into the world last New Year's Eve-Ms. Piper Anne! This little family is but a 5 minute drive from us, so Keith and I have been fortunate to see Piper grow from a little slobbering mess (I mean that in the nicest way) to the adorable ball of happiness she is now. She's not quite had her first birthday, (soon enough, right Tracy?), but she had her first party this past weekend. It was a blast! In true Trudi style, here are some pictures with my thoughts:

Above. It's the birthday girl! She looks semi-happy-sceptical/weary here, and that's pretty much how she looks when she sees Keith. We're all just happy she stopped screaming her head off when she saw him. You'd think she'd love a fellow redhead, but no. Here is Piper with cousin Logan. She's currently trying to decide if she should cry or smile-and she ended up by smiling and pointing at Keith. Either the benevolent Piper gave Keith a pass for the day, or the two of them had a breakthrough and can now coexist. We'll see.

Cake face. It's not a 1st birthday party without cake-face picture. Busted, Piper Anne!

Birthday girl got to sit with her Papi to go a spin while the rest of us slaved away at pulling the parachute along. I don't want to point any fingers, but I don't think the 4 year old walking in front me was pulling his weight...I'm just saying... Does anyone else think of Dr. Seuss' Oh, The Places You'll Go book when they see this? Now any other dad would sit there clutching their child, but what does Justin do? Props her up on his legs, naturally. What else would a dad do?











Now, you childless folks are looking at this and you're thinking, "holy sh*t, Trudi and Keith have crossed over to the other side because birthday parties are only fun for kids, not for adults". For some people maybe, but we're fairly easily entertained, and here is a picture to prove Keith had a good time.

Yep, that's my husband. Good times.

Happy Birthday, Piper! We wish you many, many more and we hope we are there to celebrate each one of the next 17 or so right along side your mom and dad.

28 already

Technically, 28 weeks and 3 days, since today is Sunday already. Where did the time go?

At the 28 week mark the boys are about the weight of a Chinese cabbage. All I can think of are those big-headed Cabbage Patch dolls, so here is a picture of what I imagine they look like, except maybe with red hair.


More later, right now I have to prepare the house for our impending holiday guests.

Once upon a time...

(Us, we're so cute)

Years ago, Keith and his roommates (originally just Keith and his roommate Rusty, then the following year Matt and Nate) hosted a raging party that later became known as the Hewitt Christmas party. It was good times- a bunch of {mostly} single folks, getting together. Most people knew each other from work (Hewitt), so the party was a chance to let the hair down and relax. And relax they did-some wore cowboy shirts, others passed out in chairs, some wore Jaguar jerseys two sizes too small because of a bet, others ogled girls with low-cut shirts. Like I said, it was good times. NOTE: I have pictures to prove all of the above, and am not afraid to put anyone to shame if need be.







(The Roddas, Wistricks)

Fast forward 7 or so years, and the party is significantly tamer. A core group of now-married or almost married (and Pate and Kate, the token anti-establishment couple) couples came, and it was still good times. But, perhaps our definition of "good times" has changed. If by good times, you mean a good meal, a glass of wine and some boardgames, then Whoot!Whoot!, we had good times. A few years ago we would all have laughed at ourselves when we were all stifling yawns at 10:15PM, but I guess this is what happens when we get older. Keith and I love hosting a get-together for two reasons 1) we really enjoy getting the house ready for a party-and despite his objections, I really think Keith likes being given a long list of "to-do" items before a party, and 2)no driving home, just stumble towards bed.

I've forgotten the most important part of the party- the White Elephant, or more appropriately, the Dirty Santa game. The object is to think of the most useless/raunchy/funny/drinkable present, bring it to the party, and fight over who gets to take it home. I personally think this year was one of the best in terms of gifts. As I've mentioned above, I like to document everything with pictures, so here are some of my favorite pictures from this year's party, with comments:

• Pete LOVES the "Thumbs Up". And he's good at it. Even the double Thumbs-Up doesn't faze him.
  

• Daniel. First picture shows Daniel drawing his number for the Dirty Santa game. Notice how genuinely happy he appears in the first picture, and then how his expression changes to "*#^*!, a fruitcake??" in the second picture once he opens his fabulous fruitcake gift. You can always use it as a paperweight, Daniel.
• 

• Poo. I'm not sure how I became so intimately involved with a spouse and friends who embrace the subject of poo, but it happened. One of the funnier gifts opened was the "What your poo is telling you" book. I first thought Keith would be stuck with it, but thankfully (and disturbingly?) Melissa stole it from him. Eagerly stole it from him, I should say.
• 
• Footie pajamas-who doesn't miss them? Pete won't be missing them anymore, thanks to this year's Christmas party. Notice how effortlessly Kate stepped in to help him. Some might say that it's her medical school training, others might say she has to help Pete get dressed all the time. Who's to know?
• Keith stole this present (a Sex-Every Day in Every Way calendar) from Sharon. Thanks a lot to the person who brought this present to the game, Keith ended up with it at the end of the night. After I finish this blog entry I'll have to sit and think of other excuses besides "I have a headache" and "The dogs really want to get in bed with us now".
• Our friend Chris is a lawyer, and everytime I see him, I can't help but think of the plot of the newest John Grisham law-related novel. Doesn't he look like he's discussing tort reform in GA?
• And finally, for the 7th or so year in a row, the Hamburgler strikes again! This present has been in circulation since the original Christmas party and this year Mike was the one to have to fake being excited about getting it. He does an impressive job of looking excited when we all know he's thinking "there is no way my wife will let me hang this on our Christmas tree". Hold on to 'Burglar, Mike, we expect to see it next year.

NOTE TO THE INGRAHAMS: We'll let you get by this year since your second son is due any day now, but next year we expect to see the Jones Soda back in circulation! We missed you this year.

That's it for now from me. Thanks to everyone that made it to the party, we loved getting to catch up with everyone! Next year in lieau of a Christmas party, we'll let each couple babysit the twins for a night. HAHA, just kidding. Kinda...

Come to think of it, we'll probably re-gift the Sex calendar, along with some editorial notes on what works and what does not, and a safety helmit, 'cause it appears most of the suggestions given in the calendar will be needing some safety gear.

Whoa, I'm late with this post

I know, I know, I didn't post on Friday. I thought I'd keep you waiting to build the suspense a bit.

We made it to 27 weeks! Babycenter sent us our weekly update and according to them, the boys should each be about 2lbs, the weight of a head of cauliflower. I don't think that is exactly accurate, since that is what the boys' estimated weight was 3 weeks ago. I'm thinking that maybe Karen is growing us two little linebackers. I have to admit that I chuckled when I read the first line of our Week 27 email: Your baby is really starting to get big. I could almost hear Karen say "Yeah, no sh*t, my belly is pretty big."

Despite her continuously growing belly, Karen is still doing great. She's a little more tired in the evenings and she said she's been putting her feet up at night after she gets her kids to bed, and I've noticed she sounds a little more out of breath when we talk on the phone, but I can't tell if it's because of the twins or her own three kids running around. Probably both. The craziest thing is that other than her belly, she still doesn't look pregnant at all, she looks great!

It gets stranger by the week.

Last week when we hit 25 weeks the weekly fruit the boys resembled was a rutabaga-a fairly obscure produce item, I think we can all agree. This week tops rutabaga by far-the boys are now the lenght of English Hothouse cucumbers. Long, long cucumbers. I'm sure I've seen these before, I just never knew the name. But anyways, we're at 26 weeks, and the boys are about 14 inches long. Which means they're approaching half the height of the average Bothma male, right?

Just kidding, Dad.

C'mon Christmas, the Ellermans are getting ready.

We spend much of this weekend getting the house Christmas-ready. That's right, that means we are about to hang as many white lights on the outside as our house can weight-bear. If you live in or near Avondale Estates and your power flickers in and out each night just after dark, that would be Keith plugging in our lights. The man loves him some outdoor lights. My territory is inside the house- and this year I decided if it doesn't move, it's getting decorated with garland, ribbon or both. 'Tis the season, baby!

Keith is also practicing pretending to be Santa, but has put in a request that Grady & Cole leave Santa cookies & beer (instead of cookies & milk) in the future. I predict at some point I'll have to explain this to the boys' teacher, but I'm OK with that.


Here we are. Notice how Keith is wearing the Santa hat to prepare for his future role as Santa. Practice, he says.

Thankful--this is a long one!

We are a week late for the proper Thanksgiving holiday, but Keith and I decided to post a few things we are thankful for this year.

1. Pretty obvious-but you guessed, it, Karen and her family. I would have to think long and hard to find someone else who would be willing to give almost an entire year of her life to help another family expand theirs. Since I was almost 16 Karen has insisted that she wanted to carry a pregnancy for me, and despite the difficulties along the way, she has never, not even once, indicated that she has been inconvenienced in any way. Karen is doing this with no complaint or comments on how much trouble the experience has been for her. We know it has tough, though-from implantation, to the 10 weeks of daily inter-muscular shots (OUCH!), to carrying two 2 lbs babies (so far), Karen has never made us feel like we were placing a burden on her. We are eternally thankful that she is the giving person that she is! Other than my parents and in-laws, I will probably never meet a person who amazes me as much as she does. Altruistic beyond anything I've experienced, in layman's terms, she is just amazing. I should also note-her husband Scott has been doing a great job of teaching 6 yr. old Greg about being a good citizen (surely that gets absorbed through the womb to our two boys?), and Sara has been teaching both 2 yr. old Rhett and Cole and Grady the colors and counting 1-10. Their Aunt Janelle has also been very generous with her time when she watches Rhett and Sara when Karen goes to the doctor. Thank you Janelle! And thank you Karen, for being so generous in bringing our babies into this world in the healthiest way you can!

2. Grandparents. From the Bothma parents to the Ellermans, we are thankful to have two sets of grandparents we know will be great for our kids! We hope our kids benefit from Nanny Estelle's kind, generous, and understanding spirit, Grandma GG's sassy attitude and loving heart, Grandpa Louren's tenderness and consideration of others' feelings and Grampie Ellerman's knowledge and affections.

There are more people on list, but you'll have to check back tomorrow b/c I am going to bed! Before I forget though, a quick update: We've made it to 25 weeks! According to the doctors office, today is 25 weeks and 5 days, but I don't believe them for a second! Since we know the exact date of (petri dish) conception of Frick and Frac, we know they hit 25 weeks of development today. The doctor's office keeps marking their gestational age as 5 days ahead of our official count, so I say Poo on them for not properly keeping track. For our official records, we're exactly at 25 days today.

And that means they are the size of a rutabaga! I know, you're thinking, "what the h*ll does a rutabaga look like? So, if you're vegetable-ly challenged, here you go: Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. His weight — a pound and a half (Note: our babies are 1.8 and 1.9 lbs apiece at this point)— isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but he's beginning to exchange his long, lean look for some baby fat. As he does, his wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and he'll start to look more and more like a newborn. His hair is probably recognizable now (in color and texture), although both may change after he's born. (Second note: my hair didn't turn curly until about 9 months, but Keith's hair was copper-ish red right away)
Cuter than a random vegetable picture, of course, are actual pictures (ultrasound) of the boys, taken Nov 30. Here is Baby A (Grady).Cute frontal picture- he was not very willing to give up this shot, he kept turning and hiding from the ultrasound probe. Eventually he gave in and let us get this great picture! My apologies to those of you only able to view the picture online, it's much clearer in person.

The second picture is a profile shot of Cole. Look at his cute little button nose and mouth and little round noggin'. During the ultrasound we could see him swallow some fluid, very cute!

24=Ears of Corn

24 weeks today, and Grady and Cole are each approximately the length of an ear of corn. And one more week for me until I get to go along with Karen to another doctor's visit and ultrasound! Very exciting.


Update! I finally remembered to get a sideways shot of Karen & the boys. Here they are: the picture was taken at 24 weeks exactly.

If the house is a rockin'...

...that means Nana is throwing a shower! As I mentioned before, my mom Estelle, aka Nana, threw us a fabulous shower this past Saturday. As usual, she outdid herself with the food and decor, it was all excellent! It was so nice to be surrounded by many friends and family members as we celebrated the upcoming phase of our life. Enjoy a few pictures from the shower.

First picture- the "pass the pacifier on the chopstick race" pictured here are my team's members Aunt Karen and Nanny (Keith's maternal grandmother), and their personal cheering squad consisting of Rhett. My team won the first round, but the other team consisted of a bunch of whiners, so we had a do-over. In the second picture you will see Grandma GG's cheating strategy, which allowed her team to win the second round. Third picture is of the cutest player in this game, Ms. Piper Anne, being held by our great friend Sara.

Next up are the three munchkins, Greg, Sara and Rhett. They checked in on all the ladies periodically to make sure we were all behaving ourselves. And we did, for the most part.

Of course, Aunt Karen was not the only pregnant woman present, here is Aunt Angela (right). She is due April 8 with Evan William. On the left are cousin Kalyn and Aunt Ava.

Karen & Trudi (& boys)

I felt the babies move! Very, very cool. Nana (Estelle to some of you) hosted a wonderful baby shower for us this past weekend. More on that later! For now, enjoy the pictures below of my sister, my boys and myself. I managed to control myself for the first picture, but then couldn't resist rubbing the belly in the second picture. It's like a Budda belly, you rub it for good luck.

23 Weeks

Here is the email we got to update us on the on-goings of our boys since they hit 23 weeks today. My comments in blue.

Your babies are more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango-Aunt Karen's favorite fruit! ). Their skin is red and wrinkled-kind of like their papa?. Blood vessels in their lungs are developing to prepare them for breathing. They can swallow, but they normally won't pass his first stool (called meconium) until after birth(Keith and I are looking forward that ;-)). Loud noises heard often in utero — such as your dog barking or the roar of a vacuum cleaner or the shrieking of cousin Sara as Rhett tries to grab her toys— probably won't faze your baby when he hears them outside the womb. Ooh, that is good news. Note to self: Ask Karen to go near barking dogs so they can get used to Elvis and Madam's barking.

Pretty Leaves Make Me Happy and Other Random Thoughts

I love the Fall! Why? The weather is fantastic-cool in the afternoon enough to go on long walks and chilly at night to cuddle under the covers. And, the deciduous trees in the Southeast US are spectacular during this time of year. I was worried that this summer's drought would mean the fall foliage would be disappointing, but behold the splendor I captured here in Avondale Estates!

This is new favorite tree, the Sugar Maple. Acer saccharum. (Thank you to my Plant Geography professor who required us to memorize 50 tree genus and species names. I knew that would come in handy at some point).

This time of year also means that our house falls under siege-the squirrels in the oak trees in our yard launch acorns at the house in retaliation for all the times we shoo'd them away from the bird feeders. I just realized that the White Oak in the front yard drops twin acorns! How cute! It's literally raining twins at our house. Very appropriate, I think. I could only find a twin-set with one acorn, though, and I feel certain that some greedy squirrel took the other acorn out of spite. They are really crafty, these Avondale Estates squirrels...

The house projects are coming along. Slowly. We've hung the shelf in the laundry room, and the fabulous 1950's blue bathroom is now being painted a more neutral off-white. I panicked at first because the "off-white" seemed the be a light bright yellow, not at all what I wanted. I've overcome the urge to run back to the hardware store to get a new can of paint, but Keith has mentioned several times that I probably should consult with Tracy before I pick another paint color. Tracy and her husband Justin are great friends of ours, and Tracy has a gift for interior decorating. For a small management fee, I'll be happy to lend her out to anyone renovating their home.

On Monday I start charging the 15 cents.

See? Not so bad, that yellow. Right?



Only a few days until we get see Aunt Karen, her kids and her belly again! Check back after Saturday to see a few pics of her and the belly. (You can't avoid it forever, Karen! ha!). We can't wait!

Another boy! & beer.

Our brother in law Ken is busy building a fence around their backyard, so Keith offered to go help this past Friday evening and Saturday morning. Keith had ulterior motives, though, since he wanted to borrow some of Ken's tools and he wanted a lesson in beer-making. I was eager to see Angela's developing belly, so off we went! I am pleased to report that Angela's little belly is growing, so baby Evan must be growing. And yes, I realized I did not post what the sex of their baby is yet, it's a boy. Evan William will be a great playmate for Cole and Grady! Angela and I watched their ultrasound video, and aside from the alien-baby face all babies in utero seem to have, he is a cutie.

I mentioned there was beer-making going on, and while I was not present in the garage during the lessons, here is an outline of Keith's beer-making process (from my perspective):

1. Hope that your sister marries a man that has a detailed interest in beer. He should be interested in all things beer: drinking of, learning about, and most importantly, the making and sharing of said beer.

2. Drop heavy hints that you would also like to learn about beer making.

3. Add "beer-making tools" to your annual Wish List to Santa. 'cc your brother in law on the letter.

4. Receive beer-making materials for Christmas '06. Ignore your wife's eye-rolling when you ask if you can store the materials somewhere in your already crowded house.

5. 11 months later, when brother in law has home improvement you can help with, go to brother-in-law's house for lesson.

6. Open a beer, and start drinking. To learn about beer, one must consume some first.

7. Sterilize equipment. Put barley in water, bring to 155F for 30 minutes.

8. Get another beer, add malt syrup. To the barley mixture, not the beer in your hand.

10. Raise solution to a boil, allow it to boil for 60 minutes. Go inside to check on the woman-folk, get another beer.

11. Start cooling the mixture.

12. Realize that while you were chatting, you forgot to add the hops. Return liquid to boil, add hops. Boil for 30 minutes.

13. Go check on the woman-folk again. (they were looking at catalogs earlier, and you are concerned that money is being spent). Woman-folk are party poopers and head to bed.
(Editor's Note: the rest of this is pure speculation since I went to bed)

14. Cool and strain mixture. As you watch the liquid flow through the sieve, marvel at the easy of making beer when your brother in law does most of the work.

15. Add yeast. For good measure, you drink another beer.

16. Allow yeast to do it's thing for about 2-3 weeks. Make plans to return to brother in law's to bottle beer, drink a few and discuss the progress of the infamous fence.

17. Head to bed and dream of the possibility of you and brother in law starting an award winning brewery and work involved nothing but making and tasting beer.

Verdict on the outcome of the beer coming later. Pictures are also coming later.

Fridays=New Food Item

If you have lost count of the count, we hit 22 weeks today (and shame on you for losing track, mark it on your calendar, already!) The boys are approximately the length of a spaghetti squash. I am not very familiar with spaghetti squash, but apparently they are about 10-11 inches. They're mini babies already! According to the email, the lips, eyes and pancreas are busy developing.

I would write more, but right now Madam and Elvis (our babies with fur) are taking turns jumping on and off my lap, indicating that it is time to go for a W-A-L-K. They have me so well trained.

Halloween '07

Karen and Scott's gang on Halloween included an Astronaut (Greg), a ballerina (Sara) and a fireman (Rhett). I love Sara's tutu! I'd wear it everyday if I were her.



Here is a sneak peak of Cole and Grady's costumes for next year. What's that? You want to know what Keith and I will be? Farmers, of course. Who else would walk around with two red chili peppers?

---Uh-oh, having trouble uploading the image. Working on it, check back later!

Another week down, that makes 21.

Yet another week has passed, which leaves me and Keith staring at each other with a bit of panic. We are in the process of completing the last few house-fixer-upper projects before we try to put Little Green House on the market, and while we are excited to be another week closer to babies, it also means we are a week closer to our house project deadline. Yikes. So we will spend this weekend getting covered in paint and wallpaper remnants. Good times.
My sister, meanwhile, is busy growing us carrot-sized babies! Carrots! I can't think of carrots without thinking about a babysitting incident involving a messy (imploding) diaper and carrot baby food. For fear of grossing out the weak-stomached, I won't go into too many details, but it is interesting how the carrot color, flavor and smell remains intact as it passes through the baby's digestive tract. It also seemed to have interesting anti-gravity properties as it traveled out of the diaper and made it onto the top of that poor baby's head. Anyways, enough about that.

We hope everyone is doing well!