Fear

When we went to our 20 week ultrasound and found out that we were having a boy and a girl, we were thrilled!! Granted, we would have been thrilled no matter the outcome! The doctor seemed quite certain (though there was still a 20% that he could have been wrong due to it still being relatively early and girl/boy bits were still developing) and did a great job explaining how he was quite confident we were having one of each.

We enjoyed 5 weeks in Minnesota over the summer, announced the genders and the names of our little ones. We had two WONDERFUL baby showers for Emma and Owen in MN, in which they were thoroughly loved upon (as well as Mike and me), receiving quite the haul. We managed to pack pretty much all of their booty in four 50 pound suitcases. Upon arriving back in Thailand, I looked again at the ultrasound pictures, and I was suddenly filled with fear... the girl and boy bits pictures looked exactly the same to me! Suddenly, I thought that we were having two boys... and all I could think about was how many pink, girly items we had received at those showers. And how I spent so much time picking out "the perfect" paper to modge podge onto the wood letters to spell their names that we had already hung in the nursery. I even had dreams that we had two boys!

Then to augment my fears a little bit more, my Bangkok friends had a third shower for Owen and Emma before we had another ultrasound at the hospital to confirm that their names were indeed going to be Owen and Emma. Again, we were showered with so many generous gifts, words of wisdom, and lots of love... and many precious pink, girly, ruffley items. (More on shower #3, including pics in another post...)

Needless to say, I was a little bit of a nervous mess this morning when we had our 3rd trimester ultrasound. The doctor checked for boy and girl bits right away, for which I was grateful. He found Owen first, and then I literally held my breath as he checked Baby #2...

...Yes, she is indeed sweet little Emma Caroline.  [Sigh of relief] Their name letters can stay, the pink, fru-fru can stay, and I can still call them Emma and Owen.

They are doing well, wiggling and rolling around like CRAZY... Emma is head down and kicks my ribs constantly, while Owen is breach and is busy kicking my pelvis area. My stomach will ripple from their womb acrobatics and often I will have a head or a butt poke out, making me quite lop-sided. I can't help but laugh at how busy they are, how many times they get the hiccups a day, and the foods they react to each day.

Both babes are just shy of 4 pounds (hooray!!). I sure hope they stay in there another 6 weeks to grow and hopefully reach a good 5+ pounds, but man, I am anxious to meet these precious little gifts!!

More growth

Remember this picture? Yeah me too... the picture where I BARELY look pregnant, but thought I was REALLY starting to show. (Granted, if you compare my 16 week photo to my 6 week photo, there is a DRASTIC difference).

Well... I've definitely grown in the past 11 weeks. This is probably one of my last belly pics that you are privy to, as I will soon get embarrassingly huge with the twinks.

It's been fun to look back at the weekly pictures we've taken (we've taken a weekly pic starting from 6 weeks to now) and see how the twins have grown! I write this post at nearly 29 weeks and I can hardly believe how much growth has already happened in the last 2 weeks!

I'm slowing down more and more these days. The 5 minute walk to school, now takes me a good 15 minutes, I tire easily, and even just putting away a few dishes in various cupboards can make me a little out of breath. Mike is getting used to my pace &  has been gracious through it all... walking at a snail's pace, carrying ALL the grocery bags, helping me out of bed in the morning, massaging my swollen arthritic feeling fingers (did I mention I had to get a fake wedding ring since my rings stopped fitting me about 5 weeks ago?) & going-to-cramp-up-at-any-minute calves, etc. I'm so grateful for a hubby that serves me and is attentive to my needs.

Not that I personally have anything else to compare it to, but I would say that I've had a remarkably easy pregnancy. I think God is being gracious to me, as it's definitely going to get harder in these last weeks, and perhaps a bit chaotic with the arrival of the twins as well. However, despite the relative ease of it all, I think I'm at that tipping point where I'm about ready to be done. I'm comparable in size to a woman who would give birth any day now, which always provokes a lot of awkward stares, random belling touching, and extra tips (walk slowly! be careful! don't do that! eat more! don't eat so much! etc.)  I think there are a few people out there that would wrap me in bubble wrap, if I'd let them... people are funny around pregnant women.

Anyway, more updates (probably sans picture) to come, I'm sure...

Awkwardly lost

I've reached that awkward point now where I'm that childless soon-to-be mom/stay-at-home wife/homemaker that is becoming a shut-in increasingly immobile as my belly grows in size with 2 babies. Suddenly, I have all this time on my hands. It shouldn't feel that different from summer vacation in a lot of ways, but since Mike has been at back to school meetings all of last week, open house is later this afternoon, school starts tomorrow, and I just can't physically do as much, it does feel drastically different from summer vacation. Part of me is in withdrawal mode from Mike, after having spent all summer with him, and part of me is unsure of how to really be productive now that I am not teaching and am still twin-less. Or perhaps it is withdrawal from an institution of some sort... pre-K through grade 12... undergrad... 8 years of teaching & going to grad school... there really has never been a point where I've been out of the school system once I entered it at 4 years old. And suddenly, there's a part of me that feels a little lost because what was once such a large part of life is no longer playing an essential & major role.

Sure, there are things to do: baby clothing and cloth diapers to wash, MN teaching license to renew, card orders to fill, quiet books to make, books to read, friends to visit, Olympics to watch, and time to rest and rest some more. However, the lack of structure and an actual to-do list  (I think of all the scrambling to get photocopies made, lesson plans complete, e-mails sent, research and create activities) has left me feeling... well, like a fish out of water.

I know, I know... I'm supposed to ENJOY this time; it's the last time I'll actually have time for myself for a very long time. It's not that I'm not trying to enjoy it or make the most of it, it's just that I'm still transitioning and feel a little lost at the moment as I navigate new territory. Now if only I could stock up on hours of sleep & acquire a sleep reserve before the twinks made their debut!

Quiet

I've dived into the world of felt, and I'm pretty sure I've found my third calling (aside from teaching and card making): quiet book sewing. Now, by no means can I take credit for all of these shenanigans, as I have found many ideas (and patterns) on-line. I have tweaked where I've seen fit and have come up with some of these ideas on my own as I have plunged into this new world of I'm not teaching and I need to occupy myself in these 2 months that I am still baby-less creativity. Here's hoping that I can have at least 7-10 quiet book pages done before Owen and Emma make their appearance.

Page 1:
Circus train, complete with velcro wheels, 3 finger puppets, and puffy steam.

Page 2:
Cooking breakfast, complete with eggs, bacon, toast (and jam), pancakes (with syrup and butter), fruit (that you can cut open/peel), milk & orange juice, frying pan, burner and temperature gauge, utensils.

Page 3 & 4 in progress:
Zipper dinosaur (inside will probably contain dinosaur eggs or baby dinosaurs or something ridiculous)

Felt dress up dolls (yes, that's a MN Twins jersey...)

People have been asking me if I have a sewing machine; I do not. I have been hand sewing everything with embroidery floss, which sure can take a while, but it's been good for my arthritic feeling fingers (a pregnancy-related symptom) and I like the imperfect look that it gives as well.

Anyway, more updates to follow, I'm sure.

Go?

My little 2-year-old friend, Ian, is in a time of deep discovery and learning. One of his favorite things is to either hide something or have someone hide something from him, and he throws up his hands and asks, “Go?” which is really short for, “Where’d it go?”

 So in the words of my little amigo, “Go?” AKA: Where did June (and July) go?

Here’s a little re-cap:

June:

June 1: School was officially out as of 11 AM.

June 4: Celebrated 7 years of marriage! The most exciting part of the day was our ultrasound, finding out that we’re having a boy & and a girl!

June 5: headed our looooong trek back to America to spend 5 weeks in MN. The 2 flights were incident free & we even got bumped to economy plus bulkhead seats, which made the long flight from Japan to MN much more bearable. I made sure I had plenty of snacks to make it home. I think I over calculated...

June 7: had a little reveal party with the families. I ordered two cakes from a friend from church. She colored one cake pink and the other one blue, and then frosted & decorated them with MN Twins jerseys (more pictures forthcoming). We had the two “grandmas” cut into the cakes to reveal the gender of the twinks. We also had printed out the letters for their first and middle names & had our family members work together in groups to unscramble the letters to discover what their names are. (I know, we’re such teachers!!) It was such a fun way to share with our families!

*This was also the night that we met our little nephew for the first time. What a little pumpkin!

June 9 & 10: 2 baby showers where little Owen and Emma received so much love from family and friends. We are so blessed by the generosity of so many. These little ones (and us) are dearly loved despite the fact that half a world separates us.

The rest of June and into early July was spent shopping, eating, visiting with friends and family & probably more shopping (or at least wandering around Target with baby gift cards in hand).

July:

July 4: best & longest childhood friend (from 3^rd grade) got ENGAGED!!!!!! We got to celebrate with her downtown at the stone arch bridge for some great fireworks

We weigh the same...

July 5: Not the most momentous day ever, but an incredibly fun and memorable one… out at Lord Fletcher’s for an Oake on the Water concert, meeting new friends, being asked to be the Matron of Honor in my bestie’s wedding, cruising around and swimming in Lake Minnetonka (never thought that the lake would feel like bath water in early July!), & being afraid that I would never be able to get back in the boat with my big preggo belly! (Miraculously, my friends managed to pull me back into the boat 2X).

3 of the 4 bridesmaids

July 7: Seeing the twinks move for the first time from the outside… my belly was “rippling”… SO CRAZY!

July 10: Left to head back to Thailand. It was a little bit stressful leading up to this because we were trying to bring back a second stroller that didn’t fit into a duffle. We had to borrow a hockey bag from Krissy & hope that they wouldn’t give us any trouble for it (especially since there wasn’t any hockey equipment in it). Thankfully, we had no problems and were able to bring back just about everything that we had hoped. There were a few things that we had to pawn off on people that are coming later (my parents in November, my brother & his fiancé in December, and a friend from church in February), but not essentials that we need for the twinks anytime soon.

Other favorite things:

Emily & me taking Tracy (the soon-to-be newest married in Aust girl) out for hazing. JK. We just told her every deep, dark and dirty family secret we knew (mua-ha-ha-ha-ha), which makes us glad that there never were any TRUE Aust girls in the family… just the married in ones, as it’s definitely more fun that way!

Look at B's little cheeser face. <3

Meeting Jed’s (Mike’s friend from college) parents down in Red Wing and Maurice (I can’t say/type his name without thinking of the line from Beauty and the Beast… “Maurice! The Baguettes!”) calling me a “gall darn cottin’ pickin’ woman” when I didn’t believe him that the cornbread we were eating was from corn that he grew and picked. Additionally, we played quite the rousing game of “bounce the grape”. It was a couple hours of non-stop laughter. I can only imagine the things that he will say/do to our children in the future… I can’t wait. HA!

Watching Mike interact with so many of our friend’s kids and seeing how great of Papa he’s going to be.

Having maternity pictures taken by Mike’s brother, Pete (more pictures forthcoming).

Getting to go to a Twins game.

Spending time with the nephew.

B sitting on the cousins

Teaching B how to properly wai.

Going down to the stone arch bridge for an art festival

Did you miss it?

Looks like we have a short stop and a gymnast on our hands... can't wait to introduce you all to Owen and Emma this fall. :)

Momentous

Today was my last day teaching. I'm officially "unemployed".

Oh, the things they do and say...

First graders are so funny. I was fortunate to witness these events, and they honestly just make me belly laugh...

#1. Some parents are talking to Mike in the parking lot as we head home from school in the afternoon. I am waiting... the child is waiting too. Child suddenly rolls up his shorts as far as they possibly can go without seeing his undies and starts grabbing his thigh with his two hands and squeezing... then flexing his thigh and squeezing. It was entertaining to watch and I had to stifle my giggles. However, the best part was when Mike was finishing up his conversation, the child looks up at him, gives his thigh a big squeeze while proclaiming triumphantly, "LOOK at that!"

#2. One afternoon, after finals, I popped by Mike's domain to drop some things off for him. He was just beginning class with one of his first grade classes. Mike introduced me to his class as his wife and the echoing response was, "THAT'S your wife?" One little girl asked if I spoke Thai, which then turned into a guessing game of where I am from & where I was born. When guessing where I was born I got everything from Mexican to Spanish to Hawaiian to Thai. Pretty logical thinking, if you ask me! They were also very confused as to why Mike and I taught at different levels. "But Mr. Mike teaches elementary!" (Translation: you should therefore teach in the elementary because you are married to each other). Mike explained that he wouldn't be a very good Spanish teacher, and I told them that if I were the PE teacher, I would make them run. "We just got done running one lap!" they yelled. "Well, if I were the PE teacher, I'd make you run 20!" I said. {GASPS} all around. I think they were glad to see me leave.

Gullible...
9th grader on the day of the final, before the exam: I forgot my book in my locker. Can I turn it in after the exam?
Me: Minus 50 bazillion points. Guess you'll be failing your final.
9th grader: {look of despair}

Seriously? 50 bazillion points?? You believe me when I say you'll lose 50 bazillion points? I know it's finals, but man... loosen up!

EPG's EGD

We've had geckos roaming around our abode since the second we stepped foot in Thailand. When we moved to our current apartment, we had tons of them around... I have no idea why!? We ended up catching about 4 of them right away, and over the past 2 years, we've caught at least 2 more. One of the gecko dwellers has been an obnoxious house guest though, leaving droppings on the walls, ceilings, floor, etc. Sometimes they were like explosive gecko diarrhea (EGD), which was beyond annoying to me.

In the past month, I've been on the prowl to capture this elusive poopy gecko (EPG). I thought we had gotten him when we turned on our air con unit and saw him hanging on to dear life as the fan oscillated. Poor thing was practically frozen to death and could not figure out how to get off the oscillating blades. Mike was able to get him on the end of the broom and put him outside. We thought that was the end of EPG and that we had won... however, a few days later, as I was up for my midnight snack, I saw EPG scampering around on the wall.

At 2 in the morning, you don't really think straight though and all I could think about was EPG's blood splattered all over the wall (just as bad as EGD, right?) if I gave him a good thunk with the broom. So... waking Mike up at 2 in the morning seemed like the most logical thing to do, of course! By the time poor Mike was awake enough to understand what was going on, pulled his groggy self out of bed and came out of the bedroom, EPG was nowhere to be seen (surprised?). UG! So it was back to being on the hunt for him.

Two days later, I woke up for my middle of the night meal and once again saw EPG. This time I knew that waking Mike up was probably no the best option, and figured I probably had to take things into my own hands. But the thought of EPG blood over the walls was not very exciting to me. So this tired and hungry pregnant lady got out the broom and chased the rascal all over the apartment, finally cornering him in the bathroom. I did the only thing that I could think of to exterminate him... spray him with as much all purpose cleaner as possible to avoid any blood shed. I don't know if it's worst to die by chemical death or squish death... but needless to say, EPG is no longer. I felt killer's remorse afterwards, but the next day when Mike told me he had cleaned up EPG's EGD off the couch, I didn't feel quite as guilty.


Hopefully the saga is over...

Growth

I'm getting harassed for pictures, so here we are... all 3 of us.

My students always ask me, "Mrs. Karly, how are your babies?" My response is always, "Well, I'm growing, so they're growing!" And it's true... I am certainly looking a little bit more pregnant these days, which is kind of fun because it makes it seem a little bit more real to Mike and me. I'm also starting to feel more consistent flutters and tiny punches/kicks that feel like a gentle flick.

One student asked me the other day, "If your babies are only this big [holding up two fingers about  4-5 inches apart], then how come you're so big?!" I had to explain to her that not only are there two, but liquid that they are swimming in, and my body is also storing up fat reserves too for when they squish me so much that it will be hard to eat. However, later, I had a Thai co-worker tell me, "You don't even look pregnant... you're not even showing!"

Well, showing or not, I'm definitely eating like crazy (I've completely ruined our food budget) and gaining weight like a champ. I'm starting to really feel the effects of that weight gain, as well as increased blood volume, which has definitely started slowing me down more and force me to sit a lot to alleviate the pressure from my feet. My students have been so gracious, helpful & sweet during this time of transition, which has made it all the more easier.

All is going well though; I really feel quite fantastic. We are still so in awe of God's goodness to us and how He has so lavishly blessed us!