happy 4th and good peri report

I had an excellent report at the perinatologist office today! All that worry last night for nothing! Baby A weighs 2 pounds 12 ounces, and Baby B weighs 2 pounds 13 ounces. THEY weigh one pound more (combined) than they did two weeks ago, so while *I* might not be gaining weight, the babies are and thats what counts. Duane went with me, and he enjoyed getting to see how active the little twins are.

From now on I will see the peri and the ob every other week. I am to focus on gaining a little more weight, but am free to travel right now and everything is looking good!

As promised, here are some recent pictures of Lucas and Tilly.

I am making this entry short, I will be visiting my folks with the big twins over the holiday, and we need to get packing!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

bargains for bedroom

For those who aren't a fan of the furniture in most furniture galleries right now- the big bulky pieces that mix irons and fake hardwoods- you can get traditional styled furniture REALLY cheap.

Start with our king sized poster bed. We ended up getting it 50% off retail because the furniture store we normally shop at said that they were now unable to sale traditional styled pieces. I wanted something we could hang onto for sometime, and didn't want to go with anything trendy. I priced it online and couldn't get within 500 dollars of the price of my local gallery!

And this weekend I found something I have been wanting for *years*. I know that highboy dressers aren't in style right now. Nor have them been for about ten years! But, I LOVE them. I have wanted one since the first time I saw one- in my high school best friend's mother's bedroom. I fell in love with the classic styling and the broken pediment top.

So, I have been scouting craig's list trying to find one and this weekend we did. This highboy had been listed for several months- the listing being repeated every 5-6 weeks. I emailed the owner and found out it was still available. She had it listed for 200.00.

It is in good shape- its made by a reputable furniture company (but not high end), and it had been well taken care of. It does need a few touch ups, but its solid wood. She dropped the price fifty dollars before I even had a chance to think about it (In my head I heard Jennifer Lopez saying "Oh no you didn't!"), and I knew at that minute I would leave with it for 75 less. And we did.

So here is my 125.00 highboy dresser, which is storing my husbands things. We can now tell my mom to sale our maple dresser (hubbies) which didn't match a thing we own out of the WV barn. The dresser that I have my things in is in the guest room with its matching queen sized poster bed.

This is a view of our room from the doorway. That rocker is just there in that corner temporarily, it goes on my side of the room, but I keep one of the big twins travel cribs there to help transition them from one room to the other without leaving someone unattended (we have breakfast in my bed every morning).




Here is a close-up of the highboy. It looks like it was made with our bed!



I had a somewhat stressful ob appointment today. I am measuring smaller than I did two weeks ago. She managed to get me worked in to the perinatologists office tomorrow to quickly determine whats going on. I have consistently measured 4 weeks ahead the entire pregnancy (with twins its normal to measure even 8 weeks ahead), and this time I only measured one week ahead, which means a week smaller than I measured two weeks ago. The ob is hoping that one of the babies has went transverse (side lying). That would make my waist wider, but my fundal height- what they measure- smaller. I also hadn't gained weight in two weeks. I bought some protein powder on my way home to add to shakes.

I will post an update tomorrow, as well as come big twin pictures!

the guest bath, the twins, the big preggy lady

I have been hesitant to share pictures because its not technically done. We still need to trim the mirror out, and we need a new faucet. But, as many projects as my husband has been doing around the house- including replacing our central air unit and our coil- he hardly has time for a faucet. Also, I have chosen a wall treatment called "candlelight" by Ralph Lauren, but haven't had the energy to use it.




I can't say enough how much I HATE textured wallpaper. It was foam, and so hard to remove. It took me a full week solid working every day for an hour just to get the foam down, and then afterwards I had to remove the glue.



There was a layer of paper below this one, a country floral. It was hung write ontop the drywall without the walls being sealed or primed!!! I paintd over this layer, rather than wrestle with damaging the drywall as I went.



I removed the vanity doors and puttied all those weird crevices in the doors and drawer. Then, I bought some wood appliqués and glued them on, and finally painted it white. We also added glass door knobs which you can't see here.

The vase came from a yard sale from two weeks back- the home owner was an interior designer and was redecorating her home. Most of her things were overpriced, but this vase and its matching vessel on the back of the toilet were 4 dollars each.

You've seen the shoe and the birdie- here is where their home is. They both came from kirklands.



A Waverly shower curtain from Target that needs ironed. But hey- I don't iron! And here are some of the pictures I hung in the room.

Not the most impressive makeover, because all of these guest baths are teensy and hard to work with- but, I am very happy with the outcome and pleased with how much nicer the room looks.

And now the baby pictures!



This is the two of them watching t.v. ACK! They only get a half hour of Mickey Mouse in the morning, and a half an hour of Mickey Mouse in the evening, but its like CRACK. I try to give them their bottles to drink while they watch, but as soon as they finish, they crawl over to the edge of the playpin and climb up and stand and stare at the t.v. *gasp*



Here is my baby boy being silly. He is normally so serious for the camera, its always fun when he decides to be a goofball. He is in 12 months clothing now, even though he is still a skinny boy, he is long!



Tilly just gets prettier and prettier. I suppose Duane will have to stop calling her "Chris Farley" and saying "I live in a van down by the river!!!" when he holds her as she no longer has those fat baby cheeks. Every one has been telling us lately how pretty she is, and it takes me off guard, because for the longest time she really was so pudgey and her very square jaw made it hard to see what WE saw. They used to just say "My shes a big baby!" Heh. Of course we always thought she was beautiful! She looks so much like her father, taking in his Puerto Rican ancestory.

Grandma watched them Saturday so we could go to a friends wedding and reception dinner. This is AWFUL but it was our first baby free evening since the big twins were born, and we skipped the wedding!!! We went on a "Date" instead. We went to Starbucks and had coffees and sodas and just sat and talked and caught up with eachother. We held hands and whispered. Then, we went to the reception where we danced with one another, too. *sighs* And when we came home, Grandma had folded all the laundry!!! Duane was rushing behind me saying "What are you doing?" because at 15 till 4, and knowing grandma would be here by 5, I was doing laundry instead of getting ready. I said "Its a game we play. I leave laundry in the washer and the dryer, she finishes both, then folds it. Don't argue!" I really appreciate it. This used to make me feel inferior and embarrassed that I had laundry that needed to be folded, but heck, I AM busy and she enjoys feeling useful and goodness knows we are grateful!

As far as the pregnancy, I feel like crud. On days when the big twins nap well, I sleep. Right now I am waiting for them to nap so I can, but they have been playing in their cribs for 45 minutes instead of sleeping. Ugh. I feel like I am not giving anyone my best... my twins, my husband, myself. I am so rundown right now that even taking a bath feels like a chore because I would rather have the free time to sleep! My iron came back anemic, so thats part of it... but basically this is the point in a twin pregnancy where you really feel huge and awkward and ... uncomfortable! Duane continues to do all he can to take somethings off of me, and I struggle with "bad mommy" guilt.

My ob is scheduling my c-section between 36-37 weeks. This means I only have a little more than 7 weeks left. We are a bit concerned about uterine rupture with my conceiving so quickly after my previous c-section... thats why we are scheduling the slightly premature delivery. We have to get the twins to 36 weeks for lung development, but anything after risks severe complications for me.

*edit- at 36 weeks with twins, my uterus will be the size of a singletons pregnancy at 44 weeks! So, though it sounds awful to be planning a premature delivery, I am relieved. Last time I carried until 35 weeks 2 days, then went into labor on my own. Lucas weighed 4 pounds 12 ounces, and Tilly weighed 4 pounds 14 ounces. They were both 18.5 inches long. There is a chance I will go into labor on my own again... we just would like to make it to 35 weeks before anything like that happens, and hope we can make it to 36 as the babies will come home with us in that situation. 35 weekers require a stay in the "step down" nursery (not NICU) to pack on some ounces before they can go home, 36 weeks do not.

Inspiration Friday- china

For my inspirational Friday contribution, I decided to go with china patterns.

I chose patterns that I felt could go with a shabby chic, or a more traditional decor, and where possible, included a dining room example.

This first pattern is "Centura Green" by Noritake. My mothers china is from Noritake. She was handed down a platter from a pattern called "Brenda" from the 1950's from her mother. My mother liked the pattern so much that my dad and I started buying her pieces of it every Christmas from Replacements. What I like about this pattern is the formal styling, but the bright minty green allows it to be used in more casual settings, too.



I collect tea sets, and have been coveting this pattern for a tea set for a couple years now. It has the old fashioned charm and styling of Charles Field Haviland pieces that I adore! I actually have a chocolate pot that looks very similar to this pattern. And, it works well in cottagey rooms, too- as long as they are romantic cottage, not beach cottage. The name of the pattern is "Endearment" and it is by Mikasa.



And either would be pretty on this shabby chic server- don't you think? The patterns are completely different, and yet both have elements that could be used in a cottage decor.




This next pattern I adore! I love toile dinnerware, and this pastoral set has the farmhouse sensibilities that I love in a country setting. I found this on a website called "Aileen Anne's".



Here is a closeup of the pattern on a lovely platter.



Such a casual and yet semi elegant pattern deserves an equally beautiful room- and this one from Southern Accents was perfect. I adore this room, down to the upholstery on the dining chairs.



I am irish-hungarian, so ofcourse I am partial to a pattern from Herend, Hungary. This pattern was originally introduced in the 1920's in blue and pink, and was revived in the 1990's in blue only. Herend's manufacturing process is unmatchable. You can still choose your own finials when you buy serving pieces. This and Rothschild bird are my favorites from Herend.




Here is a closeup of the pattern "Rachel" in the teapot.



This dining room already shines with blue and white dinnerware with pretty blue transferware accent plates on the walls. It was an easy fit for Herends Rachel, which would be very much at home here.



Lenox introduced "Eclipse" in 1972. Its a simple pattern that packs alot of drama.



Here is a dramatic dining room that would benefit from the timeless elegance of a simple Lenox pattern. This dining room is very rich, and I love the wall treatment!



I hope you enjoyed my selections- I tried to find dining rooms and china patterns for several different styles- country, victorian, shabby chic, etc.

dream bedrooms, etc

Sorry for the poor scan on the following picture- I scanned it several years ago at my mothers house on their aging fax/scanner.



I don't know why I still love this bedroom, but I do. It now looks dated to me- a little too "country victorian" and the sisal heart shaped rug looks tacky beside the bed. And yet I still look at it and sigh to myself, about how lovely the pink and white quilt is, and how soft and romantic the lightweight voile window treatments look. It doesn't matter that this magazine is now over 15 years old!

I have a feeling my enjoyment of this bedroom is linked to the year I found it- the same year that I began housekeeping on my own, and a time when I was trying to find my style. This bedroom has a little bit of me in it- from 1994! It is a time capsule, in a way, capturing my growing independence and the style that would eventually be uniquely my own. Do you have a favorite room from years past that you still think of? That helped mold your unique style?

Growing up, we frequently relocated due to my fathers occupation. We moved 9 times before my 16th birthday. Never being too "at home" anywhere we lived, we decorated very sparsely. I remember having lovely quilts and bedspreads, but never nice curtains for an ever changing window size, or a pretty hued paint. My room was dull in contrast to the girls I would befriend. I had one particular friend whose room remains memorable to me. Her name was Angie and her childhood bedroom still is one my favorite all time rooms. I can picture it as though I only just walked out of her room, skipping down the stairs with her on our way to cheerleading practice. Her girlhood room molded my tastes in decorating from that time forward!

Her room was very sweet- she had bright emerald green carpet, and a white wallpaper that was scattered with tiny red rosebuds and the same green leaves that were the color of the carpet. Her bedding was crisp white eyelet lace with mountains of ruffled white toss pillows and dolls. There was just one window in the room, and it had eyelet priscilla curtains adorning it. She had a netted canopy that she liked to envelop her dolls within. With the bright carpet and wallpaper and the summer fresh bedding, this room was pure sunshine. It was the happiest of rooms, and perfect for a little girl to daydream and slumber within. We would sit up for hours giggling in this room, and no matter how sparse the daylight, somehow this room remained lit. The room in many ways actually looked like Angie- a petite strawberry blonde with "Annie" style curls and freckles like Pippy Longstocking. She had dimples and never ceased smiling.

In my mind, a thousand times, I have recreated this bedroom and do still.

At that time, I thought what I loved about her bedroom was that everything coordinated. That her dresser matched her headboard. The wallpaper matched the carpet. The bedding matched the curtains. It has only been in my adulthood that I have come to appreciate what I was really drawn to about this room- the stability of it. This was a room ready to welcome only one little girl. Custom designed to match her tastes and her collections. This room was fully nested and if it had a name, it was "Angela" as if you were quiet, you could hear her name whispered in every corner of the room- an echo of her growing personality and style.

My bedroom by contrast reflected the instability of our life. I was a shy little girl who hated moving. Hated new homes, hated new schools, and hated trying to make new friends every 1.5 years. I had nondescript bedding to match whatever carpet the new home we would be moving into had. And to match my nondescript bedding was a nondescript personality I had forged to try and make transitions into new schools easier.

After each move, I worked on arranging my bedroom furniture to be in the exact position it had been in our prior home. This was my first foray into decorating- and an act of self nurturing. Once my bedroom was a carbon copy of the bedroom before, I felt a little more at ease in my new surroundings. A empty room began to resemble my personality, and I found the ritual of decorating to be soothing. I was nesting.

It was a relief and a comfort when I was in early high school that my father changed careers and we moved onto the outskirts of my grandfathers farm into my great grandmothers 100 year old farmhouse. You will often hear me talk of this home, and the accompanying land. My parents reside there to this day, and it gives me peace to see them settled and nesting themselves.

I do not find it ironic that once we had the stability of "home", I also began to build self confidence and independence. The first thing I did was buy a comforter set that matched the carpet in my new farmhouse bedroom. The carpet was rust orange!!! Oh it was hideous! But, I found a blue and white comforter set that had tiny peach rosebuds on it that perfectly matched the carpet. The blue quieted the strong rust color, and I remember my mom being very pleased with how I decorated the room. I was pleased too. I can remember standing in the doorway, looking upon my new bedroom, and realizing the bed was in a different place than it usually sat in each of our homes, but that it looked "right" in this room. I am sad that I never photographed the room.

And better still, I found a friend who remains a best friend through to this day. We email regular and visit on holidays.

As far as Angela's room- whether it represented something missing in my pscyhe or just a girlhood favorite, I still carry her room with me throughout my life. In my decorating you will frequently see touches of white eyelet. White eyelet to me is eternal, and continues to comfort me. It is also a tribute to my best friend for two years in junior high school, and a reminder to make every home my own, that my home should quietly whisper my name to all who enter, and that you should be able to find me here- secure, content, and uniquely "me".



I am now entering my third trimester with the "little twins". At Mondays appointment, Twin A weighed 2 pounds 1 ounce, and Twin B weighed 2 pounds 2 ounces. One thing I seem to be good at- I grow twins with very little discordance between their weights. However, I am also starting to wind down, and am feeling pretty tired in the evenings. Duane now puts the babies down by himself, and I m retiring to bed quite early.

long suffering gothic romances

Its after midnight and I am tired and need to sleep, but here I am blogging instead.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The Cross of Snow"

In the long, sleepless watches of the night,
A gentle face--the face of one long dead--
Looks at me from the wall, where round its head
The night-lamp casts a halo of pale light.
Here in this room she died, and soul more white
Never through martyrdom of fire was led
To its repose; nor can in books be read
The legend of a life more benedight.
There is a mountain in the distant West
That, sun-defying, in its deep ravines
Displays a cross of snow upon its side.
Such is the cross I wear upon my breast
These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes
And seasons, changeless since the day she died.

This is ultimately what I believe to be the most romantic sonnet ever written. Longfellow didn't compose this poem the year his wife died, nor the next. He wrote it 18 years later. When I first heard this poem on Garrison Kellor's "The writers almanac" I burst into tears, feeling the entire weight of Longfellows sorrow and passion for his wife. This sort of passion is more commonly associated with the grieving widow- not the widower who usually remarries. My maternal grandmother lost my grandfather when she was 56. She never considered dating or remarrying, and still speaks of "Steve" as if he sat upon the same sofa with her, sharing her life- a life she began sharing with him when she was a mere child of 15. She hasn't been lonely, her memories of their life together have somehow given her life alone a fullness I would have not thought possible. My mother and her sisters gave up on trying to get their mother to date years ago. Saying that a woman loves "longest".

After hearing the sonnet and doing some background research on Longfellow, I romanticized this notion myself- the idea of a man loving his wife so deeply, so fiercely, that 18 years after her passing he should feel as if he still wore her love across his chest. And I decided this was the sort of love I wanted in a partner.

So, I used to routinely ask Duane if he would remarry if "something" happened to me. I am quite vague about the "something" because in truth I wish to be immortal and any discussions of death give me the heebie jeebies and incite a ritual hand washing and the mad searching of a bottle germ-x! His answer has always been that it took him a great portion of his life to find me, and that statistically it seemed improbable that he would find someone else (engineers are such passionate people!). I claimed this as a pledge of faith to me forever and ever, and offered up a similar less logically expressed pledge of enduring love as well. Thinking of my grandmothers faithfulness to my grandfather, and of Longfellows enduring passion for his wife.

And then I became pregnant with Lucas and Matilda.

As I was being wheeled into the hospital to be prepped for surgery, I grabbed Duane's hand and asked him to promise me something. I told him to promise me that he would remarry if "something" happened to me. To do so as quickly as he could, to not grieve for me and raise our children without a mother. His response was "Sweetheart, nothing is going to happen to you". "No, no, no. Promise you will remarry!"

In the blink of an eye, the way I viewed Longfellows poem changed. I no longer saw it as a beautiful and lasting tribute of undying love for his late wife, but of a heavy *burden* he carried across his chest for 18 long years. A coldness in his life- a ravine so deep that sunlight could not reach. A soul without warmth or comfort on a winters eve. This was not the way I wanted the father of my children to live. This was not the way I wanted the man I loved to live. A cross that I saw as passionate homage became an empty tattoo.

We now joke about who we will remarry. With four children, we joke that remarriage would be a necessity on either side as neither of us want our parents to have a heavy hand in raising our children. I have given Duane permission to remarry a much younger "hottie", and I have promised to marry for money. :-)

I am not sure what inspired me to share this story with you this evening exactly. But there it is.

Goodnight.

Swaps and naptime tales

I joined my first bloggy swap!



This one sounded like a good way to "wet my feet" with online blog swaps. Natasha Burns is hostessing this one, and the deadline is today if anyone wants to join in.

I didn't know how to find a matchbox, but I found many templates for them online if you want to or have joined the swap and also are unsure of where to find a matchbox. I ended up going with this one which is the exact size of those complimentary style matchboxes you sometimes get in hotels and restaurants- I guess its a standard. The idea is to decorate the matchbox in a shabby chic style, then stuff it with loads of trims and buttons- whatever little tidbits you have that your partner could use for crafting projects. The goal is for it to be a lightweight affordable swap.



I ended up deciding to match two of the boxes because one didn't hold enough loot, and the larger box (pictured) template was the size of a bar of soap, which meant it would be bigger than I could stick in a puffy envelope. Also, they were so much fun to make- why not make several? I loved choosing shabby chic papers and trims to decorate my box, too!

If any of my friends join, I hope we get matched!



Tilly is FINALLY getting her two teeth. At 10.5 months! We had been joking that we could have the twins some dentures made if they didn't get teeth soon. Lucas still doesn't have any! Here is a picture of her teething on a biscuit last night when she was feeling bad. The biscuit did the trick, and we were calling her "Mushie cookie face". She was VERY happy and needed a good soak in the tub to scrub off all of her cookie residue!

I have been asked several times how I possibly find time with TWO babies to craft. Well, I have a confession. My twins are MARATHON NAPPERS. They nap two hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon, and until two weeks ago took a third one hour nap in the evening and then they sleep twelve hours at night!!! What you should be asking is "Whats your excuse for having a disorganized home when your twins sleep a total of 16 hours everyday?" Hee, hee. And even better, when they don't want to nap, they play in their cribs for an hour, then cat nap on and off. They are such happy babies! I usually find them standing up, facing eachother, babbling to one another and jumping up and down. I took these pictures of them during their afternoon nap yesterday.




Thanks for the support about my eating habits! Hee! I made a big batch of dark chocolate brownies last night and had mine warm with vanilla icecream and cherry pie filling. I call it "Black forest brownie sundae". Yum!

I am probably going to edit this and add two more pictures of the twins, but I wanted to share something *sweet*. Yesterday morning Tilly tried to kiss Lucas on the cheek. He was a bit unsure of her and turned away, but it was the most adorable thing. She had been facing him and smiling and babbling to him, and all at once opened her mouth wide and swooped toward his cheek with her hands out for a smooch. She also tries to wipe food off his little mouth if he gets yogurt on it during his snack time. Shes such a sweetie pie girl! And as far as Lucas, he has been making his daddy feel VERY special. When Daddy comes home from work, he jumps up and down in his playpen reaching for Duane and babbling up a storm. His favorite time is when Daddy tosses him up in the air and twirls him above his head. My husband is nearly 6'5, so the only place in our home he can do this is the master bedroom and the living room where we have the 12 foot tray ceiling. *smiles*