Twenty Six Week Update!


Likes:  whipped cream on everything.... waffles, berries, ice cream, lemonade, and back massages from my husband

Dislikes:  acid reflux all night long, the return of back pain, feeling the babes getting a little more cramped (and a little less active).

Waist/Weight: 127 lbs./ 36 inches (7 lbs. in 2 weeks!  Holy crap!)

Other happenings: Blood pressure is still good and girls are growing nicely (and quick)!  I gained 4 pounds over Memorial Day Weekend alone!  We had a surprise shower by my team at school and some more surprise gifts from my husband's baseball team.  The girls are so loved by so many already!  


   
      


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MDW 2015

Memorial Day Weekend and things are changing around here!  Wasn't long ago we banked on this weekend being spent at the beach, day drinking our faces off and getting as tan as one can possibly get over the course of 3 days.  Fast forward a year or two and suddenly we're relaxing at home, fixing up the gardens, and watching our little babies cooking in my belly.  I can only imagine how next year will be...

 Saturday we pulled the cover off our pool and for the first time in pool history, the water was clear!  Thank you Jesus!  Hubs did a great job and I guess he finally has the pool thing figured out (fingers crossed for next year).  


We also fit a lot of family time into the weekend.  Between hub's cousin's graduation party and a cookout at his aunt's house, we basically had both sides covered.  
Cousins in law!

With the graduate!
Sunday BBQ.  Getting the canoe ready!

 Monday a few friends came by for a spur of the moment pool day.  I lasted through the entire thing, despite being super swollen by the end of it.  Bed early.  Not a bad little Monday!






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Five Steps to Spring: Home Edition

I probably should have named this "Five Steps to Summer" considering this weekend is the unofficial kickoff, but whatever the weather is like where you are, it's time to say goodbye to your winter home touches and bring the sun in wherever you can.  I'm lucky enough to have a tiny house where a few minor changes can go a long way to changing the look of the season.  Here, I'll share with you my go-to strategy for bringing life to my home each spring! 

 1. Get a new welcome mat.  I refuse to pay more than $12 for one, so I don't feel bad about throwing them out at the end of each season.  I know they're the tiniest little things, but it's something that I see every time I enter or exit the house.  Perhaps that's why I swear a new one makes the biggest difference!  The one I got this year was from Big Lots, an America theme one to go with our America theme patio, but I'm also equally obsessed with this guy from Target.  Dang you Target, get me every time...

2. Flowers.  Weather your planting a few outside or bringing a fresh (or fake) bouquet into the house, a few blooms is certain to lighten the mood and get your feeling beautiful.  You don't need a lot because I know they cost can add up, but placing them in a place where I'll pass them every day really makes me smile inside.


3.  Brighten up.  Just like I'd mentioned in the beauty edition, you have to do the same thing with your home.  Each spring I take the red place mats, chair cushions, towels, and wall art out of my kitchen and replace it with yellow of everything.  It's literally just a few items and fits in one kitchen sized trash bag in the attic, but changes the entire look of the room.  It makes me realize how much I love my home and makes it honestly one of my favorite rooms in the house.

 4.  Replace the candles and soaps.  I'm a sucker for these.  I'm particularly OCD about it too, because even if I love the scent I will not purchase a soap or candle that I do not feel will go well in my room color wise.  It's a constant battle... smell vs. look.  But I am slightly obsessed with this scent from Bath & Body Works and am pretty much dying to try the entire line.  Semi annual sale... wait for it, wait for it... 

 5.  Open a window.  Let the breeze blow in.  Listen to the frogs croak at night and the birds tweet in the morning.  It's got to be one of my favorite things and this one costs nothing!  Now go out and enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend!  See you on Monday!  


More like this on Five on Friday and Friday Favorites!
and Friday Favorites #2 ;)



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The Girls Have Names!

Finishing up 25 weeks and it feels like the right time to publicly announce our name choices!  Of course, we haven't exactly kept it a secret, and everyone who sees us on the regular already knows what the names will be.  We actually chose them very early on, but I've kept it publicly under wraps for the most part, just in case we changed our minds at some point.  It's sort of a big deal, choosing a name for someone and knowing that whatever I pick they're going to be stuck with for the rest of their lives.  I hope they like them because I think they're absolutely beautiful.

All of the names, first and middle, are somehow connected to the family.  Both me and my husband have Irish and Italian backgrounds, so we wanted one of the twins to have an Irish name and the other to have an Italian one.  Rosalia Katherine is our little Italian girl.  We got her first name from my Aunt Rosalie, but my husband heard the name Rosalia and thought it would be a good Italian alternative.  He did not even know that it was my great grandmother's name when he suggested it, so of course I was sold.  Katherine is after his aunt who unexpectedly passed just months before our wedding and would have been ecstatic to meet our little girls and be here for this exciting time in our life.  She was really close to us and actually lived with him and his family for a lot of his life.  We know she is still here with us in spirit and wanted to honor her memory as well.

 Reilly Ellis was all me.  Reilly is my maiden name, and although I'd toiled with this one because it has become so popular, I finally decided that I actually had the name first, and that it would be fitting for my child to have the name too.  Ellis I came to by literally rattling off every other family name I could think of.  It's partially after my late grandmother and her sculptor father, Joseph Bailey Ellis, but to be honest, I just loved the sound of the thing.  Perhaps she'll get the artsy gene that somehow evaded me.  

 We aren't sure which twin is which yet. We want to wait until they come out to decide who looks more like Rosalia and who looks more like Reilly, so at least there will be one element of surprise! 

More about the twins in the weekly updates below.  Be back next week with a new update and an even bigger belly! 

   
      

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When your husband's in Vegas...

Enjoy the outdoors.  It may not be the Vegas sun, but just getting a little taste of the outdoors can make you feel like you're not missing much.  I spent a couple of hours watching his team's baseball game, even though he wasn't able to be there.  The good news... it was a beautiful day and I got to see a great game.  The bad news... they lost.  Super disappointing after last year's excitement, but it was a great season, and certainly one to be proud of. 

Regional Championship game

Go shopping with your mom.  Because that's what we do.  I got a few pairs of maternity shorts because the belly bands that I have are kinda crap.  I can't last very long walking around anymore and my feet start to feel like stubs, but we had a good run overall.  

Stopping to put my feet up... and get a milkshake :)


Meet up with a girlfriend.  I had brunch with one of my best friends, who I haven't had time to meet up with since I told her I was pregnant.  What a difference a few months makes!  It was great to catch up and enjoy some hometown scenery.

Downtown Frederick

Relax.  Not that I have a choice since even walking is becoming somewhat of a strenuous task, but I am really trying to soak up time that I can spend laying down, since it is hard to come by during the week.  Five more weeks of school... I can make it!

Pineapple juice on the patio.... nice little Sunday.

Miss him.  Then remember what a great time he is having and be happy that he has such great friends surrounding him.  I try not to contact him too much when he's with the guys, because I honestly want him to be able to immerse himself in guy time, but I really can't wait to pick him up from the airport.  He's my very, very favorite after all.  






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My Weirdo Cat and Chewy.com!


First of all, I am sorry Chewy.com.  I am sorry that when you approached me about doing this post, you probably thought I would have a gorgeous, model worthy feline to make your products look enticing.  I probably should have disclosed the fact that I have by far the least photogenic cat on the planet.  See...  here we are posing nicely for a mommy daughter portrait!
Those ears... those feet... what's not to love?

 Besides being bad at photos, she is undoubtedly weird.  I should just call her weirdo from now on, and often I do, because her strange tendencies and objects of interest are bizarre to say the least.  Like her favorite toy is a frisbee.  She currently has 3.  She flips them and sits next to them and meows next to them until you fill them with catnip.  Will she eat her treats out of my hand, or off the floor?  Please.  Will she eat them out of the frisbee?  You bet!  Perfectly normal, perfectly natural.  We tried these salmon and cranberry flavor and she absolutely loves them!  She is a little camera shy and refuses to eat them in front of it, but leave her alone and come back and the frisbee is miraculously empty.  Hmmm...
Um, mom... the frisbees are this way...

 Not only was my little walrus spoiled with treats, but thank you Chewy for sending over her new favorite toy!  She now enjoys flipping it up in the air and pouncing around.  I apologize, she did not do this on the day I gave it to her.  Could she graciously accept the toy and carry it nicely in her mouth like a normal cat?  Of course not.  Instead, she must stalk around it with at least a 4 foot radius, occasionally going in for a brief sniff as though attempting to deactivate the bomb that has surely been planted within.  Yes, my cat is afraid of a catnip toy.  Weirdo.  Thankfully a few days later she has been reported having a good old time with it.  I guess she was just being overly cautious.  You never know what in the catnip these days ;) 
Everyone clear the area!  A strange object has landed here!

Anyway, besides showing off my little furry weirdo, I'm asking you to consider chewy.com for your little bundle of fluff's every need.  They definitely took care of mine, and for that we are both grateful! 
Our Three Peas
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Twenty Four Week Update!


Likes: Hot fudge sundaes, naps, feeling my babies' every move!

 Dislikes: swollen feet and ankles and too many naps (yes, it's a love/hate relationship)

 Weight/Waist: 120 lbs./35 inches

 Other happenings: The girls had another fantastic ultrasound!  The sonographer told me that baby A is "chunky"... a whopping 1 lb. 10 oz.!  Baby B is a little behind at 1 lb. 6 oz.  Baby B is also displaying perfect, and I mean perfect pike position for the 2nd time in a row.  I may have a little acrobat after all :)  
  
      


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