Siding on the house

Yay the front entry has been fixed...finally! 

They started with the siding this last week. It looks so nice....like a real house (I think I say that every time something happens :)). I love that we were able to do the detailed trim on all of the windows around the entire house. Originally when we got our siding bid it seemed as though we wouldn't even frame the windows on the sides of the house because it's more expensive and a lot of times they just don't do it because you don't really see it) But I love it...so chunky and detailed. :) 

You should see the scaffolding they stand on....scary...glad it's not my job! 

They finished all of the pick of framing in the house.... so we will begin sheet rocking soon. 

This is a picture of the box beams in the dining room....love them. :)

They have been finishing up all of the heating...here are some of the vents going through the wall. The heater is in the lower floor so it comes up through the walls to get to the top floor. The orange pipes are for the sprinklers. 

This is downstairs next to the heater room...wow! They had to frame all of this in so the ceiling will be lower....glad we have this downstairs so this isn't on our main floor. 

The heater. 

Who's in charge of all these controls? Yikes...I think Richie knows what they are for. :)

And the lower floor deck. This is going to be so neat. HUGE!  We don't have a huge yard but we have a lot of deck. The babies will ride their bikes on our deck. :)

Lots of deck...lots of windows. :)

The tub in the kids bath. Testing for leaks. 

Love this open area....can wait to see it with sheet rock. 

And that's it for now. Things are all starting to happen so quickly. I ordered my pot filler and water purifier faucet :) yeeeh. Starting to think about lighting and just making sure we keep everything straight and on track (and Richie is worrying about me and the budget of course). 

20 weeks!

Today I'm 20 weeks and finally feeling like I truly look pregnant. It's no longer possible to hide and people in public even notice. :)

We started our multiples class last week. It was fun to meet other couples having twins. We learned about nutrition and symptoms for pre-term labor. 

Physical Symptoms: Feeling some swelling and aching in my feet after a long weekend on my feet. 

Emotions: Feeling anxious that we will get everything done and not miss anything (with all of the house stuff going on too). I made a list. :)

Cravings: Nothing really although I had to Murger master grilled cheese sandwiches in one week. 

Food Aversions: none

Pregnancy Milestones: Getting closer to a decision on a stroller...I've been obsessed. Started my registries. 

Purchases for babies: None

A roof, windows, doors, plumbing and more!

So many things have been happening at the house. The roof is finally on and looks great. We love the texture and color. Don't mind the arch....this was a mistake and we can't wait for it to be fixed.

The front door arrived and should be installed soon...and look at all of those pipes for plumbing. 

This is where the mud room sink will be. 

This is the kitchen, the two islands and nook. If you look closely you can see the can lights in the ceiling. 

Fireplaces are in. It looks so little in this ginormous room...I was worried when I saw this that I shouldn't have put the fireplace so low but hopefully with the stone, mantle and TV it will all look proportionate. :)

LOVE my french doors....can't wait to entertain in this room and on the deck. 

Some more plumbing in the wall and electrical. 

A look at the master bedroom sitting area. 

And a huge fireplace in the master....yikes this one seems to big and the one downstairs too small...not much we can do now so hopefully it will all work out and look great. 

Master bedroom windows. 

Master bath plumbing. 

The tub. 

Upstairs hall. 

Kids bath plumbing. 

Downstairs rec room. 

Richie had to move all 93 :) of these deck boards down the hill because the water meter was being dug, set and installed and they were in the way. He was a little tired after this hard labor. 

We met with the siding guy...the siding will be dropped tomorrow, we've been working on picking floors (of course the option is love is outrageously priced), are thinking about paint colors, picked out a garage door, are working on getting the cabinet bids in line and hopefully ordered the end of next week, are working on tile this weekend....oh the things. We are just a little busy but it all seems to be going well.

Dr. Seuss Baby Shower

My teammate Allison is pregnant (due any day now) and our team threw a shower for her at school, in our library. We chose a Dr. Seuss theme and it was so fun (and easy) to decorate and plan for. I ordered the invitation on line from etsy that also included a package of paper pieces (the signs, cupcake wraps, toppers, a banner etc.). 

At the welcome table we had a a few cards where guests could write a piece or advice or their wishes for the baby. We also purchased the book, Oh The Places You Will Go, and we all signed it. We wanted Allison to have this book with the idea that she would have all of his teachers and special people sign this book for him through the years and then would give it to him when he is older. 

We had to have green eggs and ham!

Our librarian has a whole bunch of Dr. Seuss hats that we wear on his birthday at school so we borrowed those for our table decoration. It was a perfect addition to the table. :)

Another successful shower!

Gender Reveal

{ 18 weeks }

Such exciting news!  We found out on Monday that we are having a boy and a girl. :) Yay! 

We had our anatomy scan and not only found out the gender but found out both babies are healthy and growing. It was amazing to see the brain, the 4 chambers in the heart, the babies swallowing, their fingers, toes, spines, bellies....etc. 

Both of the babies were very active and a little bit suborn...I had to turn on both sides, and sit up to try and get them in the right positions for the scan. Baby A is the girl, she is head down, on my left side and facing my back. Baby B, the boy,  is head up (breech) and on my right. 

Right now they are about 8 ounces. 

After the scan with the specialist I saw my Dr. and she said things are going great. I was supposed to gain 8 pounds from my last appointment and only gained 4 so I need to gain more weight this month. She said...."don't fill up on carrots and get rid of anything "light", buy the full calorie products". :) Maybe this is going to be harder than I thought to gain as much weight as I need to. 

When we scheduled the appointment for our scan and it was a day after Richie's birthday I knew it would be the perfect opportunity to get together with the family for dinner and do a fun reveal. 

I thought that a cake with the colors of the gender on the inside would be perfect. 

I baked the cakes on Sunday (the day before) because I knew I wouldn't have time to do it all after my appointment. So I baked 2 strawberry cakes and 4 white cakes with blue coloring. I thought I would need 4 cakes and I had to be prepared for 2 pink/2 blue or 4 blue. When I started to assemble the cake I realized that two cakes were plenty, 4 cakes made it very tall....so anyways I ended up with a lot of extra cake (better than not enough). :) 

I thought it turned out very cute. We brought the cake to dinner along with a few straws. I brought 3 pink polka dot straws with pink lips attached and 3 blue polka dot straws with mustaches attached. I had the family pick the straw according to what they thought the other baby would be. 

mom- blue

dad- pink

grandpa- blue

grandma- pink (I think)

Then I made everyone wait until after dinner and it was torture for them. :)

While we were waiting for our food to come, mom gave me a bag of goodies to open. SO many cute baby things...2 of everything. :) Eeee and the clothes are so little. Will they really be that little?!

After dinner we sang happy birthday to Richie and then cut the cake. Everyone was so happy. It was also very delicious!