Feelin' the love

When little c was just over a year old, I was shocked to see him come home from daycare with Valentine's Day cards from his classmates. He was only 1, afterall. But that's just how those 1 year olds roll these days.

This year I decided I would not be the only parent who did not send V Day cards along with their child to distribute. In fact, I was going to MAKE them myself. I had seen an idea in a Disney magazine at the midwife's office and decided to go for it.

I armed myself with some bags of plastic animals from the dollar store, some animal print paper,  cardstock, and some glue, and got to work at 9:00 the night of February 13th.


I was pretty pleased with the end result. I mean, it wasn't my original idea (who has original ideas these days now that Pinterest exists?), but I thought they turned out pretty well. C told me I was putting far too much time and effort into something for a 2 year old, which I couldn't argue with, especially as I was still up making them at 11:00. But I just can't give store-bought cards. It's just not in me, even if it is for a bunch of unaware, ungrateful 2 year olds. 

But it turns out it wasn't all in vain. Last week Cohen received a thank you card (not a note, an actual card) from one of his classmates and his family thanking him for the "thoughtful, creative, and most delightful Valentine's card we have ever seen."

I will have to remember this a year from now when I have two 8 month olds and a 3 year old. I will probably think back upon how easy life was just a year before as I drive to the drugstore at 11:00 on Valentine's Day eve and purchase a box of store-bought V Day cards and quickly scrawl Cohen's name on them as he's walking out the door for "school."

Spring forward by falling back

So the nerds have really done a number on me.

The other night it was Daylight Savings Time. I fell asleep watching a movie and woke up at midnight. Crawled to bed (literally crawled as my back was hurting something fierce) and set my clock back, so instead of going to bed at midnight, I was in bed by 11:00. I even asked C to change his clock too when he came to bed.

According to my clock, Cohen woke up at 6:00 the next morning. Far too early for me, pregnant or not pregnant. This kid usually wakes up at 8:00 on weekends. C got up with him while I fell in and out of consciousness. I decided to get up at 7:00 and make some tea.

It wasn't until a little while later, when I was checking my e-mail on my phone, that I saw what the actual time was. I complained to C that my phone had updated the time the wrong way. Didn't it know it was 7:30, not 9:30 as it was claiming? I was so confused when C said his phone did the same thing.

And then it finally dawned on me.

Let's chalk this up to a major case of baby brain brought on by two fetuses. They're already out to get me!

Pretty packages

A few weeks ago I attended the baby shower for my friend, S. She wasn't due for a few weeks but guess who decided to come early? Her baby girl, Eva. Unfortunately, the one we were celebrating was still in the hospital, but we did get to celebrate with the woman who carried her for almost 8 months, which was a real treat.

If you know me, like really know me, you know I'm one of the world's biggest procrastinators, second only to my mom (sorry Mom, but you know it's true. Decorating the Christmas tree the day before Christmas seems to seal the deal for all of us that know and love you). My usual M.O. when invited to a birthday party, shower, or wedding, is to go out the night before or morning of said event, stress myself out and buy something I haven't put a lot of thought into. Then I rush home to wrap it and kick myself for not spending enough time thinking through everything. Well, let me tell you something. I actually did things for this baby shower the way I imagine normal people do things. I thought carefully about the recipient (at this point, we didn't know if the baby was a boy or girl) and it's parents and then started to plan. This was 3 weeks before the shower. Crazy! I started shopping and planning and had everything in hand 24 hours before the shower. A first for me. Seriously. 

The night before the baby shower, C was studying and I thought, why not start wrapping the gifts? I have a couple of hours before bedtime. People, I have never had this thought enter my head before!
And here is the end result. Feast your eyes because this may never, ever, EVER, happen again!


And here are a couple of shots of what was contained within some of these pretty packages.

(Eva was conceived in Australia and I couldn't resist)

It's official

Cohen and I both have outties (outies?).

It popped out, with my belly, a few days ago. My belly has popped so much that I've already had strangers asking me when I'm due. That makes me feel FANTASTIC!

Maybe you've seen your last belly shot at 20 weeks. I'll leave the next 18 to your imagination.

It's my party

...and I'll cry if I want to.

At this point, we didn't realize the birthday boy had an ear infection. Poor little birthday boy had to leave his party early to go wait at the insta-care clinic for 2.5 hours and didn't get to blow out his candles or open his gifts. Instead, everyone else ate the cake and then helped clean up so I could go relieve Daddy, who had an important deadline looming for school.

But we still have the "Cohen" banner up on the mirror and I'm sure it will be up until Easter, seeing as it remained for Valentine's Day. And he still insists on forcing us to sing Happy Birthday to him every now and then. Maybe next year's birthday will be a little less painful for the little guy.

And now, some images from this low-key party. And yes, it was low-key like I promised myself it would be; hotdogs, condiments, chips and dip, veggies, and cake. Oh, and if anyone needs rainbow bunting, it's yours for the taking! I'd love to see all of that late night sewing go to good use for someone else.

Cohenisms

Me: Are you Mummy's Coco Bear?

Cohen: NO! I not Mummy's Coco Bear. I Cohey Gray Hancock!

Oh maaaannnn! - said whenever he drops something.

Uh-oh pedi-ohs - Uh-oh spaghettios.

I live on Bryan Avenue in Salt Lake City, Ooootah.

Me: Hey Cohen, what should we name the babies?

Cohen: Ummmmm, Baby Ava and Gordon.

Watch this, Mummy & Daddy - he then proceeds to do something which he wants us to watch. This occurs every minute or so at dinner and every couple of minutes the rest of the morning and evening.

And his latest "trick" is to ask me a lot of why questions. When I finally get to the point where I have no more answers, I tell him "because." So now when I ask him a question, like "what would you like for breakfast today, Cohen?" he answers "Because!" Smart kid.

Trying to show off his four new two-year molars.

Twenty weeks

Well, I'm officially beyond the half-way mark. I cannot believe it. I haven't even started obsessing over nursery colours yet (nor even started thinking about anything beyond today).

I had my 19 week ultrasound on Valentine's Day. It was a lovely treat to see Alex and Bobbi-Jo. They were both measuring almost to the day of gestation and each weighed 10 oz. All of their measurements were great and I learned that Alex's placenta is posterior and Bobbi-Jo's is anterior, which means all the movement I feel is Alex. At this point, I don't feel like he's (yes, I'm still convinced it's two boys) as active as Cohen was at this point, but maybe I just can't remember all that well--or he's a lazy slacker.

Yesterday I met with my midwife for my 20 week appointment. I've gained 3 lbs since my last appointment 5 weeks ago for a grand total of 10 lbs so far. And I finally found out how much weight I should gain as people have asked me and I had to confess that I had no clue. I was pleased to hear my midwife say only 35 lbs. I was expecting her to say 45 or 50. If the babies start to measure smaller, then we'll talk about putting some extra weight on, but at this point, it's business as usual since they are measuring to their gestational age. The big shocker was when she measured my uterus. I'm currently measuring at 27 weeks! That's one large and in charge uterus I have. My appointments will now be every 2 weeks and I'll start meeting with the high-risk doc who will be performing my c-section. Ultrasounds will still be every 4 weeks at this point since everything is going so well.


And now for my 20 week photo. I couldn't decide which one to post so you've got your choice to gawk at. Enjoy!