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!