Okay, so I'm being kind of cheap.

I should be posting something with actual substance since I haven't posted in forever, but I'm not.  Apologies in advance.  I'm blogging about a giveaway.  I love Mindy Gledhill.  She has such a beautiful voice, and I love singing with her music.  You should check her out here and here. 

Between West & Main is having a giveaway, and they're giving four lucky winners Mindy's new Christmas album, Winter Moon.  Gaaah!!  I want to wiiiin!  (Please say that like Nacho Libre in your head).  Anyway, you should head over there and enter.

And just so you're not too disappointed in my cheap post, I will throw you a bone.

Cheap post complete.

Ch-ch-ch-chia

I fully intended to post a lot sooner to prove Chris' comment on my last post wrong, but time gets away from you when you have a couple of hoovers perma-attached to your boobs.  Life now is full of broken sleep, changing diapers, nursing, nursing, nursing, and snuggling two sweet wonderful little newborn babies.  They're growing so fast already.  I'm so lucky. 
They're doing so well.  And so far, in comparison to Ben as a newborn, they're dream babies.  Obviously, I'm still sleep deprived, and it's hard to get anything done.  That's just how it is when you have a newborn or two.  They go back and forth between sleeping well on their own and requiring arms to hold them while they sleep, but I think with practice they'll get better at sleeping on their own.  I love holding them while they sleep, but necessity dictates that they will have to sleep out of arms sometimes.  Ben still needs me very much.  He's kind of a mama's boy.

A two for one special

They're here, folks.  We woke up ridiculously early last Tuesday morning (2/22) and went to the hospital to have us some babies.  It was really weird for me as I sat in triage for a non stress test for the babies and an IV for me as I thought about how I would be leaving there in a few days as a mother of three instead of one.  I didn't really have any anxiety about how the c-section would go, but I did have a bit of anxiety about the babies' health.  Just because that's what a mom tends to do.  Well, I do anyway.  I worry about the unknown.

My surgery started promptly at 7:30 am.  Half of the staff in the room had twin children (or triplets) and one person was a twin.  Everyone was also pretty excited about delivering my twins.  My spinal was administered easily, and it wasn't too painful.  They weren't kidding when they told me how fast it would take effect.  My legs were half numb by the time they pulled them up onto the table.  And then there was all the prep, and everyone chatted and joked.  It was a pretty pleasant atmosphere in spite of being mostly naked and numb on a big table with lots of strangers crowded around me.  And my stomach, of course, was just ridiculously huge.  Chris took his place behind the blue curtain at my head, and things got underway.

Pretty quickly, I heard my doctor proclaim the presence of Baby A's head and very shortly thereafter I heard an angry cry.  And then they pulled him the rest of the way out.  He was so mad about leaving, he started yelling about it before he was even entirely born.  After that, I felt more weird tugging around in my abdomen, and my doctor laughing about how slippery Baby B was.  Pretty quickly, they pulled him out, though.  We heard another angry cry.  I cried, of course.  It all seemed very unreal from the beginning until I heard those babies cry.

Bruce Banner (left) was born at 7:47 am, weighing 7 lbs 6.5 oz.  Logan X was born at 7:49 am, weighing 7 lbs 3.5 oz.  They are amazing and incredible and awesome.  And I'll tell you more about them later when I have slept some. :)

If you could take a nap for me, that'd be great.

I am so utterly tired.  And it's so hard to sleep.  I'm pretty sure I woke up fifty bajillion times last night just to roll my giant belly from one side to the other to keep my hips from having a revolt and killing me.  I felt bad about it because it was my husband's first night home (!!!!!!!!!!) on leave, and I'm sure I disturbed him more than once.  And then Ben came in to get in bed with us very early.  It took him awhile to get back to sleep, and the position he fell asleep in was you know, right up against me because the kid is a pretty snuggly little guy.  I love snuggles, but it's hard to sleep when you have so many kids on top of you.  I'm going to have to cut off his morning routine of coming into my room to go back to sleep.  I don't really know how I'm going to do it, though.  It's one of his favorite things. 
I have 3 days until my babies are born.  I'm 38 weeks pregnant today, and I am astounded that I've made it this far.  I am also just ridiculously huge. 

This is last night before I went out and ate a big delicious steak.  My stomach almost makes my butt look small, which really has just never happened before.  Just for comparison, here's my post at 39 weeks with Ben.  The distance is a lot different, but I think you'll be able to see through that eye trickery.  My belleh is stupidly big. 
I'm so excited!  And so nervous!  Two newborn babies just seems completely insane!  And yet, it will work somehow.  My mother in law managed to have three children who were five and under and successfully gestate twins to 41 weeks (I die.) before having them and subsequently raising them.  So, yes, it will work somehow.  And if I had to go to 41 weeks, I'm convinced I really would die.  A lot.  I also have so many family members and friends who have helped and are willing to continue helping me.  I've been very blessed on that front, for sure.  My mom is a huge help with Ben.  He loves his Nana.  He tells me so, "I yuv Nana," he says.
He is also now obsessed with his Dad, now that he's home.  It's so adorable, and I love it.  We were both afraid that Ben might forget Chris, but that has definitely not been the case.  Ben talks to Chris on the phone, and when he saw him at the airport, he knew exactly who he he was.  I couldn't see Ben's face, but I could see the sides of his cheeks in a huge smile. 
I'm sure I have more I'd like to write here, but I also have a husband with whom to spend my time (finally!).  So that's that.  I'll try to post pictures of the babies as soon as I can after they're born. 

Biggest watermelon ever

I am currently 34 and a half weeks along now.  And also very very tired pretty much all the time.  And also it hurts when I walk.  My pelvic floor is not a happy camper these days.  Let me show you why.

I'm smuggling three hams and a turkey in there.

The kids are growing well.  The last growth scan I had two weeks ago showed them each to be about four and a half lbs each.  I imagine they're easily at least five lbs now.  I'm not having contractions other than the usual Braxton Hicks, and my cervix is pretty sleepy, just like me.  I have four more weeks until my c-section.  I don't have a specific date yet, but I will on Thursday at my next appointment.  I would wish to go a little sooner, but I'm pretty excited to have Chris home for the birth.  I think it will be worth it to do whatever I can to keep them in there until he gets home.  Exciting stuff here, people.  So why am I so sleepy?  Oh yeah, I have a crazy two year old.

My mom is here now!  I'm so glad that she's here for so long.  She's staying until May- my sister Eve is having a baby in May, so she'll be stealing Mom back from me.  Mom's been such a big help already.  She cleans for me and watches Ben.  Also, she's a great friend to have with me.  You get a little crazy when you only have a toddler to talk to all the time.  And man, we can talk.  Mom and I, I mean- not Ben and I.  Although Ben is pretty talkative, too.  But he says stuff like, "Mommy sleeping?  Ben sleeping, too" right before he puts his cold little fingers in my eyes and nose and laughs.  Ben will pretty much never sleep out of choice.  Ever.  He will also repeat everything he hears, like when I was talking to Chris on the phone and telling him that someone was a butthole.  How does Ben know to which word is potentially the most offensive word to repeat?

Baby A is now head down, which doesn't matter much because I'm getting sliced and diced, but Baby B is still transverse.  Baby A's butt is in Baby B's face.  This is a 3d picture of the two of them.  It was difficult getting any 3d pictures of either of them because they weren't very cooperative.  Baby A kept his face hidden, and Baby B kept moving all around.  Every time the tech would try taking a 3d image of his face, he would wiggle around, and it would look all blobby monster baby.  Or maybe that's just what he looks like, but I hope not.  So the only somewhat good picture we have of them is this one, which is kind of sad.  But funny.

I'm almost ready for these babies.  My mom helped me clean out all the junk in my bedroom, and I think we'll be working on my craft room next.  I have a lot of diapers to make.  Yes, I plan on doing cloth with the twinkles.  Cloth diapering Ben hasn't really been all that different then using disposable diapers.  It's actually easier in some ways because I don't have dirty diaper trash to take out, and I also don't have to go to the store to buy diapers.  The laundry isn't a big deal.  It's just one load every other day.  I also just recently installed a sprayer onto my toilet downstairs to spray poop off into the toilet before I wash.  It's wonderful, and my washing machine is kept a lot cleaner.  The only inconvenience I have is when I have to strip the diapers because I still haven't really figured out exactly what works for them.  But once I do, it won't be an issue anymore.  I'm definitely looking forward to saving all that money, though.  Sometimes I still have a hard time adjusting to living on one income even though it's been almost two years since I got laid off.  I still feel guilty for not contributing monetarily to our household, but I try to help out where I can.

I'm getting more and more excited to meet our new babies as the time gets so close, and I'm becoming more ready for them to be here.  I mean, seriously, did you see my belly up there?  I didn't know my skin could stretch so much, and they're not even done growing yet.  But all in good time.  I'm even more excited to have my husband home to greet them with me.

Ringing in the New Year

Thankfully, New Year's is not quite as bad without Chris around.  I'm doing what he and I would be doing anyway.  You know, just sitting around.  Granted, it would be much nicer if we could do this together, but I'm not as sad about it as I was about Christmas.  I'm looking forward to the new year, so I've got that going for me.  We actually had a New Year's party last year.  It was really fun and all, but it was a lot of freakin' work.  And also, a lot of tired kids.  But the food was good.  I made a bunch of southern food.  It's tradition in the south to have collard greens and black eyed peas for good luck for the new year.  Well, I didn't actually make the black eyed peas, but I made collard greens (and they were actually good!) and a bunch of other delicious greasy fattening food.  I'm thinking I might make all of that yummy stuff when my brother comes up to visit with my mom in tow in a couple of weeks.  I have hambones from Christmas that need to be used.  Don't worry, they're frozen.

Speaking of frozen, it's been so incredibly cold here lately.  I think it stayed in the twenties all day today.  It's killing me!  Our house is kind of old.  I mean, not really old, but it was built in the 60's, so it could use a whole lot of upgrades.  Our windows are all original, which means they're crap.  Our furnace is also original, which means it is pretty much the crappiest.  We also have a wood stove in the basement, which is original, but surprisingly not crap at all.  So I heat the house at night with a fire.  Because Idaho is the last frontier, I guess.

I never knew there was anyone left who actually heated their home with a wood stove by choice until I came to Idaho.  My in laws don't even have central heating, but their stove is huge and it heats their house easily.  They also cut down their own wood on their property and pay $5 for electricity in the winter.  Okay, so I'm guessing on their electric bill, but I'm sure it's not the awful amount that shows up on my bill every month.  Although, my sister has since told me her in laws use a wood stove to heat their home in the winter, and they live in Georgia.  But they also used to live in Idaho before they moved there, so maybe they got the idea from their frontier life out in the Idaho sticks.

Hey, look!  I'm huuuuuge!  With hopefully 7 weeks to go!

Anyway, wood heat is pretty nice, but it's getting harder for me to bring wood in from outside.  I only bring in an armful each night, maybe two if I start a fire earlier than usual.  I will probably have to start actually asking people for help soon.  You know, either that or do everything myself and go into labor.  I have such a hard time asking for and accepting help.  I'm not really sure why.  It's not like I'm cold calling folks and asking them to scrub my toilets with their tooth brushes.  So very many people have offered to help me in different ways, and I haven't taken many of the offers yet.  Well, I haven't needed to yet.  But that time is finally coming, and I have anxiety from it.  Like I said, I don't know why.  I really like helping people because I like how it makes me feel.  Why would I want to deny others of that?

Well, I must go tend to a choo choo crisis in the dining room now.

There's a choo choo crisis every five minutes in this house.  I'm not even exaggerating.

Yeah, it was awesome.... not.

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the hut (work with me here)

Nothing was stirring, except for Ben's butt

I had just gone to bed after setting out presents with care

In hopes that peaceful sleep would be the night's fare

Young Benji was sleeping, his bum poking straight up

His toots filled the air as he gripped his water cup

I slept a blissful hour or so, with dreams of delight

Imagining the morning scene after we'd awaken from night

When over in Ben's bed I heard a great splatter

I sprang from a dead sleep to see what was the matter

Away to fetch a diaper, I raced to the boy

Not expecting the explosion his gut had deployed

I lifted him up- I'd just change him as he slept

Unfortunately I discovered his jammies to be quite wet

I carried the sleeping boy at arms length to the bath

Hoping there would be nothing to trip over in my path

Ben woke as I stripped him of a poo filled sleeper

And rinsed him quickly in the tub before the water grew deeper

The middle of the night surprise bath filled him with cheer

I just prayed that more sleep might be near

Poo laundry was washing and the little boy clean

Snuggling me in new pjs with his eyes all agleam

I kissed his face and told him good night

Laid him in his bed and turned off the light

This story has no moral, but I attest to it's truth

Santa brought me nothing this Christmas except a big Benji poop.

Really, when stuff like that happens, you've got to laugh about it to stay sane, am I right?  And this seriously happened to me at about 2 am on Christmas morning in every detail, plus a bunch of other details that had no rhymes to go with them.  

Christmas morning was great.  Ben was happy and excited.  He loved everything he opened and immediately demanded that I remove it from its packaging so that he might play with it right then.  So it took a while to convince him to open all the presents.  I had been planning on hosting Christmas dinner, but seeing as how the plague saw fit to visit our home the night before, I apologetically canceled.  There are a lot of little ones in our family, and I didn't want any of Chris' sisters to have 2 am poosplosions either.  Meaning dealing with their kid's poosplosions, but I guess it would be unpleasant to be the one actually having the poosplosion, too.  Anyway, I digress.  I do that a lot.  I ended up being alone on Christmas, which made me kind of sad, but Ben was super happy and crazy about everything, so that helped.  

I cooked the hams I was planning on making for dinner because they were already thawed and they were from my in laws' farm (yum yum homegrown pig meats).  The ham was pretty much incredible.  Ben also really liked it.  He kept asking for pieces as I was cutting it up.  

I hope everyone had a great holiday.  I'm glad it's over because I don't have to be sad about it anymore.  I can just look forward to the babies being born and Chris being home for a couple of weeks and my mom coming out to stay for a while.  All good things coming up in just a short time.  It will be difficult and sleep depriving, but also doable.  I have lots of knitting I need to do for the babies, so that will be fun in the meantime.  And also decluttering the remaining rooms in my house that I haven't decluttered yet.  Which are three.  Well, maybe two and half is more like it.  I think if I talk about it enough, I might be able to nag myself into actually doing it.  Like, "Holy crap, Bekah, okay, I'll do it, just shut up about it already!"  I'm hoping it works out that way.  Although, I could just end up ignoring myself.  Meh.