Merry Christmas to all...

Countdown...

To Grandma and Grandpa from Australia!!!

We're very excited...

Gobble Gobble

I love Thanksgiving. Many reasons are the same for Halloween - but it's also a great time to see family. This year was no exception - and it was also exciting because we got to spend it with our amazing daughters for the first time. They, as with most things, weren't as excited as we were. When I think about Holidays, I get excited as to what they will wear. I was one of those twin moms that was so against dressing them alike...until I saw matching outfits. It took one look to change my mind completely...and now I LOVE dressing them alike. It's so darn cute. So the search began for Thanksgiving dresses.

It didn't go well.

Everywhere we looked the dresses either a) weren't cute b) weren't in their size or c) didn't have TWO in the right size. I was getting frustrated until we went to a local store and she had the idea to have them made! Brilliant. So we talked to the dress maker and conceptualized the dresses. When I went to pick them up - I was thrilled! I rushed home immediately and Olivia got to be the guinea pig. We excitedly put the dress on her to see how it looked....She was less thrilled than we were.





Ok, but seriously look how cute these dresses are. It's a jumper made of orange gingham. The turkey is furry and it's feathers are ribbons! And look at the bows on the shoulders! This dress was adorable. A bit snug on Olivia, but adorable all the same.


We got to have a test run on the dresses that weekend when we went to Mattie's TUTU party. She was turning two! Get it? We were so excited to get dressed up. The vision I had was a long sleeve turtleneck, white tights and little mary janes. Getting the girls dressed was a WORK OUT. I wanted pictures of me with both of them - but that wasn't going to happen. Olivia was mad again that I had put her BACK in the dress....Matilda took a different approach. (oh and yeah, the tights didn't work out - too big. I improvised with socks!)




At the party, every girl got a tutu to decorate and my girls were no exception....While the turkey dress wasn't an issue, Matilda was not thrilled with the tutu as we later found out.






Anyway, that was the week before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving day was busy busy. We started out by running the now "annual" Outback distance classic. It is a half marathon, or a 6K. We walked the 6K. It was their first race ever! They were the cutest twins there!



At lunch, the girls had fun - but were a bit fussy the whole day. We even tried to give them a nap, but that didn't take well. My whole goal was to get a "family" photo of Stew and I with the girls. Fussiness and food got in the way and when we got home, this was the best I could do.


Notice I completely abandonned the tights and shirt and shoes... Anyway it was a long day so the next morning we slept in and played :)



The good/bad news is - those dresses are reversable for Christmas....to be continued.

Halloween

Halloween is one of my favorite times of year. Not only is it sort of getting cooler, but it's the start of Fall for me. Usually it's when I start coaching soccer...candy corn hits the shelves...College football is in full swing....and I love the concept of Trick or Treating. This was Stewart's first REAL Halloween. Sure, he's been here for more than one, but we never did anything for the event until this year.

From about the day they were born, I started getting excited about taking the girls to the pumpkin patch. Sure they are too young to know what's going on - but I love the idea of taking them to pick out their pumpkin. It's a tradition that I couldn't wait to start - so I started in on the pumpkin patch idea early on. After much nagging and reminding, we went! Obviously the girls were less enthusiastic about than I was!

There were tons of pumpkins to choose from!

The girls even had some pupkins their size, but they were still unmoved.

We couldn't wake them up!

We chose an excellent pumpkin!

Then we got invited to go trick or treating with some of the girls friends. The other girls were a bit older, but O and M watched to find out what they needed to do in a few years. We had adorable costumes and had a blast until the girls got too hungry to trick or treat anymore. Sadly, mommy decided to wait until the END of the evening for the family photo - so grumpy babies are pictured. They were the cutest ladybugs I've ever seen!

Not to be outdone....

Matilda is lifting her head - but not as much as Olivia. Not to be outdone, however, Matilda has decided to smile first!!

Olivia is lifting her head....

Granted it's only about 2 cm off the floor - but I'm proud of her. It takes a lot of effort (As you can see!)

First Bath

Ok, ok...so this really wasn't their FIRST bath. Technically the first bath was at the hospital. Apparantly they screamed their way through it? I wasn't there to see - but that's what I hear. I was surprised to hear that because it's been a different story here at home. The first week we gave both of them a sponge bath (which you have to do until the cord falls off). We were ready for screaming mayhem...but neither girl even CRIED.

Fast forward to these pictures. The cord was off and it was full on bath time...no sponge baths anymore. Now, surely, we thought the screaming would commence.

Clearly Matilda is VERY concerned....she was so relaxed she dipped her arm in the water to test it out!

Olivia also didn't make a peep! They didn't even cry for a second. This makes me think that they are going to be water babies!!!

Awake and Alert!

So my friend Meg gave us a really neat infant gym type thing. You lay the baby on the floor, and then, above their heads, are lots of fun, bright, colorful toys and rattles to look at and play with. Right now the girls are a little young for most of it - but we thought we'd try it out yesterday. Turns out - they LOVED it. I think it was the bright colors...but they just kept looking around and loving it!

Wide awake and looking all around! It's amazing how much more alert they both are after only a month!!!

Maybe even getting to be aware of eachother?

Loving all the fun colors!!! We kept shaking the rattles, but they wanted to look at other things

Playing together.

The good news was, this playing EXHAUSTED them and they slept the best overnight that they have yet. Granted it's still only about 3 hours at a time...but they did go straight to sleep after each feeding. This new toy was a hit!

Personalities

It's amazing how at only three weeks, the girls have such distinct personalities. They are honestly such good babies. They aren't fussy much, they don't cry a lot, and they are sweet as can be.

.Olivia, the older sister, is a little bigger still. She is a total cuddle bug. She loves to be held - and usually won't go to sleep unless you do hold her. I'm sure we're encouraging bad habits by doing it - but when you see those dimples...how can you not? She is a bit more fussy the Matilda too - but not bad at all. When she sleeps, she constantly murmurs, or coos. She is the "loud" baby. Definitely a bit needy, but we need her too so that works out.

Matilda is younger by a minute - and a bit smaller than her big sis. She is such a sweet girl - not fussy at all. She is MUCH quieter than Olivia. You put her down and she just looks so sweet and goes to sleep. She's eating more and more every day and is catching up in weight to Olivia...and has already surpassed her in length. She so precious when she sleeps too!

Life is good with the girls! No one is getting much sleep, but it's worth it!! Hopefully we'll get them sleeping for 4 hours at night. That will be a start!

Twins Take Over

I am sure Caroline will correct me with the details as I am writing this while I am tired and sickly. I am going to try and take you through the last several days as best I can. Caroline had finally scheduled her C-Section for the 21st of September so we were looking forward to the girls coming then. For some reason Caroline was concerned with her Blood Pressure (Added by Caroline: becaue my BP at my last appt was way higher than normal - like 20-30 points above my usual). She called the doctor to check and they told her to come in and have some tests done. We arrived at the hospital Wednesday night for the tests expecting it to go quickly. I only brought a magazine becasue i thought it would be a quick in and out exercise. They actually checked her into the maternity ward and we spent a couple of hours with Caroline hooked up to monitors to check on her and the babies.

After the doctor came to see us we were sent home with instructions to rest and collect urine for 24hrs and then come back. This was to check the amount of protein being spilled into her urine. That, combined with the increased BP is a sign of pre-eclampsia. Caroline was not excited about collecting urine but did her best and we headed back to the hospital Thursday night. They took our big jug of urine away for tests and we settled in to wait for the doctor again. i had learnt somewhat fromthe night before and brought more school work but still ran out before anything happened. The urine test revealed elevated protein so they told Caroline she would have to stay the night and see the specialists in the morning.

I went home and I think at that stage we both thought this was just the doctors being cautious and we would be back on schedule for the 21st soon enough. I returned in the morning and found they had switched Caroline to another room because there was a hole in the wall of the original room? I had brought all my school work and was trying to work on my ICS presentation. The high risk specialist came in and ran the ultra sound over Carolines stomach. He decided that becasue of the protein and high BP that we should do the C-section that day!

The nurse was telling us that there was already a C-Section scheduled for noon and being that it was already 10:30 we would probably be after that. Caroline talked to her Mum and told her she had plenty of time to get to the hospital and I was thinking of heading to school to hand in my Dose Op homework then coming back. About 10 minutes later the nurse was back to tell us we were going to surgery NOW!

"Now ,Now?" we replied

"Now, Now" was the response

I changed into my scrubs (provided by the hospital) and they whisked Caroline away to prep her for surgery. I then wandered out to the nurses station and asked about faxing my homework.

Stewart hasn't exactly had any free time to finish this: but basically...the girls are here. We are so happy, proud, excited and completely smitten with both of them. We're also exhuasted, tired, overwhelmed, etc!!!

September 10th, 2010

11:29 am: Olivia Delaney

11:30 am: Matilda Jean

More to come once we get some sort of routine going!!!

Long Awaited Nursery Update

Ok - so while the nursery isn't FINISHED - we're pretty close. My mom has ordered some sort of decorative thing to go above the cribs, but besides that - we're done. I have finally takensome pictures from my iphone, so there is no guarantee how good they are...and I can now give you all (4 people who read this blog) a photo tour of the Morris Girls first bedroom. I have to say I'm pretty enamored with it.

This is what you see when you first walk in (you can see the door in the picture). The framed picture has been there since I was a baby (see previous nursery post about this room). The glider was given to me by a friend of a friend, and I am eternally grateful. The quilt is just one of my old quilts

draped over it, and a hand knitted blanket from a colleague

over the top. You can see the two boppy's locked and loaded and for the moment, Scruffy Puppy is using them. I love the

boppy covers I received!!!

Next is the changing station. I love it. The dresser is one of my childhood dressers in white wicker, which is my favorite. The shelf above is from Land of Nod, and installed, expertly, by Stewart. Right now it holds the video monitor (which won't be there), diaper rash cream, two

Essendon Piggy Banks and a picture frame that I think I'm going to move. Close up of the changing station in the next

picture.

Just a changing pad, and a little diaper holder (already stocked with newborn diapers and

wipes) and as you can see, Diaper Genie loaded up and ready to go as well.

Crib one and Crib two - with a view of the insides.

Last but not least- the girl's first closet...stocked thanks to my AMAZING friends and

family.

That's all for now :) Maybe some scary belly pictures soon?

Pregnant or Fat - 6.5 months edition...

My favorite game! High tech iphone photography in the bathroom at work...

The Nursery....

So...the nursery. I feel like I have to get the nursery done sooner than most people because of the "bed rest" situation. Originally I was to quit work at 28 weeks, July 19, and then work from home for a few weeks. The work from home thing didn't appear that it was going to work out...

So I asked my doctor, keeping the girls' safety in mind, could I extend my work just by two weeks. My "sub," as I like to call him, is coming in on August 1, so I didn't think it'd be right to pay two people for the same job...so I thought that July 30th would work just fine. The doctor said as long as things are still going fine, that he was ok with it. Each visit now, I'm given a test called a fetal fibronectin (link included for those of you who want a detailed explanation). Basically as long as I passed that, and continue to pass, it's fine. I just can't imagine wanting to work past 30 weeks considering how big I already feel and look!

SO - having explained all that I feel like I'd like to have the nursery ready by early August. The room that is going to be our nursery, was my nursery. I love it. It's just the right size, with hardword floors, a huge closet, and big shuttered windows overlooking the river! Trust me, the girls want this room. The wallpaper is the same wallpaper that was in MY nursery 32 years ago. I think my parents were shocked that I wanted to keep it - but I love it because:

• It's "vintage"
• It's atypical - it's not pinky pinky
• It was mine!
• It's got lots of fun colors in it!

BUT matching all those fun colors was challenging. It's hard to explain the color (I'll take a picture tonight), but basically it's a dark-ish blue with stripes of green, reddish orange, pink, etc. The best I can do right now is this picture of Stewart putting the cribs together. You can kind of see it in the background - but again better pics soon.

So, I knew I would need simple bedding that wouldn't clash too much with the wallpaper. Enter Meg who is the master at online baby shopping! She found EXACTLY what I was looking for, and amazingly, the color was perfect.
The bedding is from Serena and Lilly.


















So. Bedding? Check. Walls? Check.











On to - CRIBS!! We chose these from the Land of Nod.












Next we needed a rug (I had a glider given to me, and we are using a wicker dresser as a changing table...) We went to Pottery Barn Kids and found two that are in contention. Here they are next to the (wrinkled) finished bedding AND TWO finished cribs because Stewart is a putting-stuff-together genius!! I like the one on the right better, but it gets worse reviews...Oh well!! Sacrifices :)

The Morris Girls

So I know this isn't news to many people who actually read this blog...but we are officially having two little girls! This is the last ultrasound we had. I have another one on Tuesday, the 22nd, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to get another video. I'll get pics no matter what. I was just looking back at my gummy bear post...and I cannot BELIEVE how big the girls have gotten. I know that on Tuesday they'll be even bigger. The movement has picked up - and I feel them throughout the day. Stewart can't wait until he can feel it from the outside - which I'm thinking isn't THAT far away. I'll update the blog on Tuesday (promise) but here's the last u/s in the meantime. XO, Caroline, Stewart, Olivia and Matilda

Living Vicariously

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am obsessed with tennis. I love every single thing about the sport. Being a lifelong soccer player, tennis has now taken over. After the babies, I might not even play soccer anymore (although I do always seem to get sucked back in). Anyway, being pregnant and not being able to play tennis has been very hard.

Despite appearances, I love being active. Before we got pregnant, I was training for a half marathon, playing on two soccer teams and about 4 tennis teams. It was really really hard to drop my level of activity to only swimming or walking. I don’t mind those two things, but for me to really get into an exercise, it needs to be a game. To me, there is no game in walking, which until recently when the weather warmed up, was my only option. Although if I'm being honest, the idea of getting into a bathing suit right now isn't top of my list...

Either way, the bottom line is that I miss tennis. As long as I can remember, the Jacksonville area has hosted a women's tennis tournament. It used to be out in Amelia Island, but last year it moved closer to us at the beach. It's called the MPS Group Championships and can be found here:

www.mpsgroupchamps.net

Last year I volunteered there in player services and had the best time, so I did it again this year. I am so glad I did! While the draw is smaller than most tournaments, and not a lot of the "big name" players come, I love it. I love getting to see the up and comers...and even the girls who are ranked in the 200's in the world are amazing players. So this year, I again volunteered in player services, watched a ton of tennis and had a blast.

I wonder if next year I'll be able to volunteer with two little ones at home?

Ultrasound on Thursday!! Stewart and I are ready to see the babies again!

April Fools COP Style

I had stayed up late last night studying for our PTX exam today. I slept in a little and then eventually went back to school this morning to continue studying. There was nothing else going on at school today so when I arrived in the lab there was no one there. I sat down in the same place I had occupied for most of the night an proceeded to continue reading the review I had downloaded from the message board. I got a text message from Andrew telling me the PBD grades from last week were up. I thought about it for a little while and decided that I wouldn’t look at it. I was not confident of what grade I would get. After reading some more of the review I responded to Andrew by asking what he got on the exam. He said he did well and got a mid nineties score. Figuring that was his usual effort and I would be okay I checked my score - 41.

I have not done that badly in any test in Pharmacy school. I immediately freaked out. I was not sure what I would tell Caroline or whether I could in fact pass the class with that low a score on an exam. The coming exam next Thursday is apparently the most difficult and if I couldn’t get through this then how would I improve? I felt like I did the few times I did talks in high school when I thought I was going to pass out. I texted Andrew and told him I had failed badly, his response was April Fools 41 is a joke.
“What” was my response

“They fooled us Everyone has a 41” he replied
to which I texted "

"Where is the real grade?" not realising that he had made up the fact he got a ninety something

“Not up yet” was his reply

“That is messed up.
How did you know this” I didn't actually use the word messed but you get the idea of what i was conveying

“EVERYONE has a 41” I don't think he realised I had figured it out at this point

“Yeah I am reading the message board now” Which I was finding that everyone had panicked to some degree and I was not the only one that got caught out.

I am not sure that i recovered by this afternoon when we took the PTX exam but lucky for me there were 15 Brand/Generic medicine questions and I got all them right to make up somewhat for the mess I made of the multiple choice.