Crunchy, crunchy Jicama

Karen's made it to 32 weeks with Frick and Frack romping around in her womb. Here is the BabyCenter email we get each Friday:

By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

It cracks me up that they might already have hair. Since I was blessed with a mess of hair, I've always been preoccupied with hair. Will theirs be straight and dark? Curly and red (how cute would that be!)? I am excited to see what they were given in the ol'e genetic lottery.

How cute are these?

I've always thought it was really, eh....interesting that people bought bibs with loving sentiments on them. Why is a piece of cloth that is essentially a food rag the perfect place to tell someone that Baby Loves His Daddy? But, during the last trip to Babies R Us when Keith and I were buying even more baby gear to cram into this little house, we found these-perfect bibs for Cole & Grady! They attracted me from the far end of the diaper bag aisle, and when I saw them, I knew I had to get them. (I'm pretty sure I heard some music that sounded like the beginning of Cold Case indicating I HAD to buy them.) So now I'm a Sentiments Bib convert. Especially when they mention how fabulous big (big as in older, and as in big with huge belly) sister is.

We love Aunt Karen!

And now we wait.

From the time we realized that the sciency part of this process was done, Keith and I kept setting little deadlines for ourselves. First it was if we can just make it to the end of the first trimester. Then it was the date of the ultrasound that showed us the babies' sexes, then the first baby shower, then Christmas, New Year, my birthday, and a few more showers. I had a mental checklist of events that would happen before the boys arrived, and this last week the last event occured. (Thank you again to our great friends Chris and Melissa and Justin and Tracy- you guys host a fantastic party!) So, Sunday night Keith and I realized this is it-we're in the homestrech, we're almost parents! The boys' room is about ready, we're stocked up on diapers and every baby-raising item you can imagine, including the cutest little fishy mobile -- I can stare at it for hours as it plays music and turns, which I guess is good 'cause that's what its used for --and outfits so little it seems inconceivable that the boys will be that small when they arrive. Just a few more weeks now!

Happy Birthday, Mamacita.

Keith: Happy birthday to my lovely wife, who turns 29 today. Since this is her last year of being a 2o-something, I fully expect her to try to talk me into doing something crazy, like skydiving. (I am going to tell her to wait and go with Karen, once Karen has recovered from the pregnancy). She has wacky ideas, but I love her anyway.

Giddy, I am

Thursday's ultrasound was just the coolest thing ever! We got all the necessary measurements done, and also got good looks at the boys' faces. Or, I did, at least, poor Karen couldn't see the ultrasound screen, either the screen was at a bad angle or her belly is just that big...you take a look and decide for yourself. (Yeah, I also think it's because the belly is so big).

To update you on the boys, the email this week from BabyCenter said that the average weight for a 30 week baby is about 3lbs. Welllll....not to brag or anything, but it seems our babies are above average. I know, I'm not surprised either, Keith and I are pretty fabulous, so clearly our kids would be above average, too. Or Karen could just be a great baby grower, we'll give her some credit too. Are you ready? Cole weighed in an an estimated 3 lbs, 14 oz and Grady, aka The Heavyweight, come in at about 4lbs, 1 oz. In other words, BIG. I really wish I had my camera ready when they told us the estimated weights, because Karen's eyes got pretty big when we heard Grady's weight. All joking aside, big is good if they are going to come early like some twins do, and it's also good that both babies are close to each other in weight. That means they are sharing the nutrients and womb-space nicely.

So here are their pics: First, Baby A, Grady. Turn your head sideways towards your left shoulder when you look at this picture and you'll see his face. His little hand is over his mouth, but you can see his eyes, and the round little belly/chest. I think he has Keith's headshape. No Bothma genes has produced a head that thin.

Here is B, Cole. In the actual ultrasound I got a really good look at him, but the picture did not turn out as well. To see him, turn your head towards your right shoulder, and you can see him. He was shielding his face with his arms (Noo, no papparazi!), so only the one side of his face is visible, but if you look closely, you can see his little hand next to his face (bottom of his face). I think he has my nose. The round thing to the left is his chest/belly.

That's it for now! Have a great weekend everyone.