16 weeks and a word from Aunt Karen

As of today, we are sixteen weeks along and the babies are now the size of avocado. Ole!

A word from Aunt Karen: "Feeling really good, just starting to notice the bump when bending down or trying to get up. There has been a definitely a growth spurt this week, belly has def. grown some this week, little more itching going on. That's about it, should start feeling them soon, if I haven't already, when I'm leaning on my belly too much when laying down. "

Ultrasound Countdown: 20 days!

Countdown!

From today we only have three weeks until the next ultrasound! And if you've not been paying attention, that is when we will hopefully learn the sexes of Jellybeans A & B. We are so excited!

Countdown with me, now...21 days...

...and one more makes it 15 weeks!

It's become a weekly ritual for us-we await the email with bated breath from Babycenter to see what food item Thing 1 & Thing 2 are resembling this week. Then we put a picture of said fruit, no wait, a picture of TWO pieces of said fruit, on our computer screen's background. A tad bit goofy, we concede, but it's become our fun preparing for babies ritual. If we lived closer to Karen we would measure her belly each week and post her waist measurement here, so I'm sure she appreciates us obsessing about this instead. But, I digress-back to the weekly email. We got the email, and low and behold, no mention of fruit! Really. No fruit. Here is the first few lines of our email, my comments in blue. The email refers to the babies as "he", and no, don't get excited, does not mean we are having two boys.

At around 4 inches long, crown to rump, your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 ounces. Cool, what fruit do they look like? He's busy inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid, which will help develop the air sacs in his lungs. No mention of a food item yet...maybe it's coming soon. I'll read on. His legs are growing longer than his arms now, and he can move all his joints and limbs. Y'all don't be kicking
each other now, play nicely. That means his hands are more functional, too. Functional and looking like a fruit maybe? Sweat glands are appearing, (and if he takes after mommy, there will be many of those) and although his eyelids are fused
shut, he can sense light. Fruit? If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, he's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but his taste buds are beginning to form. And if you have an ultrasound, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or girl! Not that we're not excited about finding out sexes (c'mon October 18!), but after 13 weeks of reading about babies being a fruit size, we're hooked.

I was curious to see if we would be getting a fruit update next week, so I checked next week, and there is mention of a fruit. Phew. So for this week Keith and I decided to pick up the slack for Babycenter and we will refer to the babies as pears. So here is the picture currently on the background: I call it twin pears, transverse/transverse.

Field Trip!

The last few weeks Aunt Karen & family have been entertaining and educating the babies about all sorts of things. They took a trip to the Science Museum (check out the pic of Cousin Greg riding some type of military looking something or the other) and the Children's museum. I'm not sure if the babies are able to hear or sense anything other than the swoosh-swoosh of the fluid around them and each other's heartbeats, but if they can I'm sure they are thoroughly entertained.

And if anyone is entertaining them, it's probably talkative Sara, pictured here going to school at Miss Janey's. Sara LOVES school, mostly because she can play with other girls. Little Rhett is on the left.

When life gives you lemons...

Today marks the 14th week! Whoooohoooo! Babycenter dutifully sent the email that tells us what food item the babies currently resemble, and we're now lemons! Very exciting.

Don't Know Yet

A few people have asked if we know the sexes of the babies yet, and the answer is no. Pending babies' cooperation, we will find out at the next ultrasound on October 16. Keith and I will both go along as the ultrasound technician pokes Aunt Karen's belly. Until then, we are entertaining ourselves by guessing the sexes. Here's what people think so far:

Keith-two boys

Aunt Karen, Nephew Greg, Niece Sara, & almost everyone else- boy/girl

And for the sake of playing devil's advocate, I'll say two girls. We are eager to hear what Grandpa Bothma thinks, since he was right about each of Karen's children. What do you think, Oupa?

UPDATE: Oupa (Grandpa) Bothma thinks its a combo package, one boy, one girl.

ANOTHER UPDATE: New date for the ultrasound is the 18th.

12 week ultrasound

New site!

This will be the new site for updates on Aunt Karen & babies! More to come later. For now, enjoy the pics of Baby A and Baby B taken about two weeks ago.