Baby Store Redemption

Zac and I have decided that a) all this baby gear makes us otherwise pretty intelligent people feel really stupid and b) Babies R Us might just be the best company we have encountered when it comes to returns.

Three examples:
1. Zac's aunt and cousins gifted us with our twin bassinet pack n play for the shower which they thoughtfully got delivered directly to our house. Zac put it together before I got home this weekend and admittedly did so without reading the directions. Somewhere in the process of making part J snap into part Q, it broke. I packed it back up and dragged it back to BRU  truly dreading the complicated explanation (and perhaps white lie) as to why I needed to return it, where they exchanged it with no problem.

2. A few months ago, we thought we'd get ahead of the game and buy our car seats early. After the sticker shock that ensued at BRU, we went for two economical seats that seemed to fit our needs. We brought them home where Zac did the first-time dad ritual of trying to install the car seat base by jamming his knee in the middle of it, pushing down on it until his face turned red, then pulling on the straps with all his might. We weren't real satisfied with the fit but figured it was due to our own stupidity and put them away to be figured out later. Last week, we decided we better make sure we could make it work and after numerous Youtube videos, we realized we had done everything in our power to get them to fit and they just weren't going to work. The dilemma: we had two car seats with no boxes as well as a double stroller that matched the car seats with no box. What kind of store is going to take all that back after three months? Babies R Us!!

We loaded it all up into two shopping carts, pranced right in and emerged with $400 in BRU store credit which we then used towards two more highly reviewed car seats. We ended up buying the double stroller at this consignment shop today, and , thanks to my BRU coupon revelation (see below), were left with a nice size chunk of change. All is well that ends well!

3. Mom and I realized the other day that BRU will let you stack coupons. This was quite an epiphany because those mile long receipts and loads of coupon mailers from BRU I had been loathing and promptly throwing into the junk pile soon became quite valuable. Getting 20% off virtually every product in the store took BRU from being over-priced to actually being cheaper than Walmart. Who knew?!

Dr. Update

This week, we had our bi-weekly doctor's appointment coupled with an ultrasound. The babies are growing perfectly with Caroline at 2 lbs. 14 oz. and Nolan surpassing his sister at 3 lbs. 2 oz. It's hard to believe there are 6 pounds of baby in my belly! The babies are both breech so we're hoping they do some major somersaulting before they start running out of room. Our midwife said I am the picture of good health and that if anybody could carry twins to full term, it would be me!

Last night I thought that idea was coming to an end. Zac decided to treat me to a dinner at PF Changs with his credit card reward points since we've tried to cut our budget down in preparation for the expense of daycare. I started having contractions one right after another on the way there so we started counting them. The rule is if I have 6 contractions per hour for two hours in a row, then it's something to be concerned about. Well, after I had 5 within 25 minutes we really started worrying. We got seated at the restaurant (quickly--thanks to reservations) where I had 3 more within the hour. I chugged four glasses of water and attempted to eat my honey shrimp, although my belly was too tight to really consume much. I think the water must have been what I needed because the contractions pretty much stopped by the time we left the restaurant. A few laps around Babies R Us later, I was feeling back to normal! Let's hope not too many more of those evenings happen in the next six weeks.

Flower Power

It has come to our attention that the flowers we thought were a gift from the local florist in town for Zac's grand opening were actually from my awesome Charlotte-dwelling family and Zac's co-workers at Marietta Health and Witness. The flowers' tags didn't label who they were from so we were quite perplexed by the mysterious gifts of support. So...we have one more unclaimed floral gift! If you so thoughtfully sent us some flowers but have been wondering why we were rude in not acknowledging them, then let us know! Or if you feel like you just need some recognition and appreciation, you can say you sent them even if you didn't. :)

Mego Prego Week 30

It's been a busy week in prego world. I spent all last week travelling back and forth from Louisville for AP teacher training. It was a good test to my endurance level at this point in my pregnancy--and I must say it was a far cry from where I thought I'd be this late into it. I gained a few (understatement) extra pounds and went back to the realm of swollen feet after 3 hours in the car everyday, 8 hours sitting in uncomfortable college seminar chairs, a less than healthy diet filled with unlimited cans of pop, Doritos, student center lunch food, and dinner at various interstate restaurants. But after my bedrest scare, I thought I would be a little more down and out at this point. So as I enter into the last 6-8 weeks (fingers-crossed) of my pregnancy, I'm feeling pretty thankful that I have stayed this healthy and that the babies are doing so well.

On Saturday, my family gifted me with a baby shower. It was such affirmation to know that I am surrounded by so many supportive, loving, talented, giving people. These babies are lucky! You can view the shower pictures graciously photographed by my cousin Erin here.

Mom came back with me on Sunday to help me wash, organize, and sort through all the gifts. I'll be honest...up to this point, I really haven't done a whole lot with the nursery. The clothes that have been flowing in from day one have really just accumulated in the closet with no rhyme or reason. I have lots of ideas but just haven't taken the time to actually do them with the thought that I would have the whole month of July to get everything ready. Well...it's almost July. So here. we. go. We removed tags, washed, folded, hung, and organized three loads of laundry (and let me tell ya...baby clothes are not easy to hang up!), went on a shopping spree for everything else we needed, washed, folded, hung, and organized another two loads of laundry, toured the two possible delivery hospitals, and applied the tree wall decal to the nursery wall. We did find that, thanks to all the thoughtful gifts, Nolan and Caroline are definitely set for the first 3 months of life.

It's crunch time. Time moves quickly and babies grow fast. I'm feeling the pressure but I'm also feeling the excitement that will come with Nolan and Caroline's arrival :)

Open for Business

Last week was Natural Bridge Chiropractic's Grand Opening! It has been a whirlwind getting all the ducks in a row for this day. I certainly can't say it's been easy but we didn't go into it thinking it would be. Sometimes, though, we just sit back and are amazed at how our lives have played out so far. I think if you would have asked Zac on our wedding day what our life would be like in 5 years, this would be pretty close to that picture. That is such a testament to his focus and no-fear attitude. Anybody willing to embark in something like this has to know that it requires a lot of faith as well--God kept opening the doors and (despite my fears) we kept following. Zac truly amazes me everyday with his ability to stay focused on his goals despite the daily grind of setbacks, expenditures, paperwork, phone calls, and a never-ending to-do list. So here are some highlights from an exciting first week of being open for business :)

Thanks for the professional pictures, Cassie!

Mego Prego Week 27

A list of things this clueless mom is learning:

• Babies prefer to move and kick and turn and headbutt the most at night--this leads to some restless nights for me as well
• Babies hiccup and it feels exactly like kicking except to the beat of a drum
• Zac also likes to get in on the kicking fun which means he is constantly tapping, tickling, whistling, singing, anything to get those babies to respond with a swift kick...and they do!
• One twin can kick the other twin in the face, making a good ultrasound picture next to impossible...unless your idea of a good profile pic substitutes a foot in place of a nose
• Eating a hot brown, sitting out in the hot sun, and travelling in the car equals balloon feet for a few days...which leads to mom freaking out at 5 a.m. when the swelling doesn't go down...which leads to dad running to Walgreens at 5 a.m. to get a blood pressure cuff to make sure mom doesn't have pre-eclampsia...which she doesn't :)
• Sleeping almost exclusively on my left side is really too much to ask
• Reading 25 "twin pregnancy" blogs a day to compare belly size, dissect birth stories, and search for a day in the life breakdown of how to survive the first few weeks probably doesn't really help my anxiety much--Google should probably be blocked now that I'm home all day. It can be dangerous
• Decorating a nursery for a boy and a girl is quite the conundrum...it's a fine balance between too masculine and too feminine

Didn't everybody know I've been working on this room just for him?