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September 27, 2007

crafty mood

I think the good experience earlier today put me into a celebratory mood. And I wanted to do something for our big babies!

Inspired by a couple of crafty friends, I decided to make a couple of onesies for our babies. (also, for a long time, I've wanted some cute twin clothes for them, but they're soooo expensive everywhere I've looked online)

I went to the dinky local craft store and got some fabric paints, and dug out a letter stamp kit that someone had given me, and went to work

On the first one, I tried to be really careful with lining up the stamps. On the second, I freehanded it a little bit more to give it a homemade look (anyone guess which was which?)

Teehee! I know they're a little over-the-top cute, but I like them! I think I'll pack them in the going-to-the-hospital bag. Heee!!!!

Any other ideas for cute twin onesies or bibs? I'd like to make a he did it/she did it set, too.

Posted by Tim and Jo at 4:36 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack

Our big little babies

I got to see my little peeps today--it was the scheduled visit with the high-tech ultrasound. Hurrah! I hadn't seen the babies for a couple of months.

They're doing great!! The boy is measuring 3 lbs. 11 oz., and the girl is 3 lbs. 8 oz. My cousin was only 2 lbs. when he was born, so that makes me feel really great that they're so big already (week 30).

Our boy is breech, though...he's sitting on my bladder. Still hoping he'll turn!!!! Their little heads are right by each other, the girl is still sprawled out across the top of my belly (and yes, I wasn't imagining things when I felt feet under my ribs). So I bet they're really aware of each other, and that they probably do play with each other (sometimes I'll feel a huge flurry of movement right at that part of my stomach).

And they both were moving a lot, and had good blood flow, strong heartbeats, big bellies, nice brains. The tech said that it looks like our girl will be a gymnast (no kidding!)--for awhile she had her arms and both her legs curled up over her head. But finally she turned and looked at us, and she has the sweetest little face! She looks like a little angel, with big eyes and a sweet little mouth. Our boy was facing my back the whole time, and her head kind of covered his anyways, so we didn't see his face.

I'm so happy!!! I try not to worry, but it's been so long since I've seen them that I sometimes get the "what if" thing going on.

What big little babies! That means I'm carrying the equivalent--or probably more than that counting the extra weight of the placentas and fluid--of a large full-term baby already. I'm so happy, if they were born today, they'd probably get healthy pretty quickly, but it looks like they won't be born for awhile, so that's even better.

I'm so proud of my little guys for growing so big. The printer wasn't working, so we didn't get pics, but they saved them on the hard drive, so hopefully they'll send them to us later (and if they do, I'll post some).

Posted by Tim and Jo at 10:22 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 24, 2007

Real research!

Last Monday, I did some real research like a real grad student! I found that Emory University about an hour and a half away had several of the very old hymnals that I needed to see for my dissertation. They have an incredible British and American hymnal collection--over 16,000 volumes!

Tim took part of the day off to come with me, and I spent a couple of hours poring over old shape-note hymnals from the 1830s and 1860s. It was rather awe-inspiring, touching the first edition of the Southern Harmony (1835), and wondering about its provenance--whether it had been carried to the frontier by some itinerant preacher, or had been treasured by a local family.

The librarian was incredibly helpful, and even made photocopies of some of the hymns. I *heart* librarians. I would never have gotten this far in my research if it weren't for librarians who have gone out of their way to help me get the information that I need.

So, hopefully this last big research field trip (at least for awhile!) will inspire me to keep plugging away over the next few weeks.

My current goals? Maybe posting it up here will help keep me on track

1) Finish revising the chapter that's had me tearing my hair out for months. I finally found the way I need to restructure it, it's just mainly a process of revising the chapter to fit the new structure, doing more in-depth analysis, and creating musical examples to illustrate the analysis

2) Have the materials together enough for the next chapter and putting-the-dissertation-all-together steps (introduction, conclusion, appendices) that I can do most of my work at home after the babies are born

3) Getting materials and process organized enough that I can break down the process into small chunks (15 minute tasks, 1 hour tasks, half-day tasks) after the babies reorganize my world.

Posted by Tim and Jo at 11:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

30 weeks!

So, I've been meaning to write for awhile. My energy, well, it's not terrible for this point in the pregnancy, but I think I'm getting a little more inwardly focused, trying to get ready for the big changes up ahead. At this point, I've been more thinking about trying to get to the end of the pregnancy with everyone safe and sound. Now I'm starting to think about the realities of parenting these completely dependent beings sometime in the next two months (probably in the next month and a half!)

Anyway, here are some factoids about life these days....

*I'm at 30 weeks, and still going strong with the pregnancy, one of my big goals! Next goal? 33 weeks. They'll have better lung development, and be much more prepared to face the outside world. At this point, every week further I get in the pregnancy, the less time the little boogers would have to spend in NICU, if they were to come early.

*Our little girl is working on her sense of humor. At each appointment, a nurse checks for their heartbeats using a doppler. Our boy is very cooperative, and they pick up his heartbeat right away. Our girl, however, squirms away almost every time, making it very difficult to locate her. At first, it used to scare me when they couldn't find her heartbeat, but now I realize it's a game she plays (in utero hide and seek?). At my appointment last week, the nurse finally gave up and went to get the doctor to find the heartbeat. As soon as the nurse left the room, our little angel kicked my belly so hard that the friend I had with me could see it across the room. It was like she was saying, "Ha! Beat the grown-up again!!" The doctor came in and after our girl finally stopped swimming away said that the girl appears to be the dominant twin. No kidding!! As long as our boy can play soccer every once in awhile, he's pretty content to just hang out.

*On Thursday, we get to see the babies again! Since twins are a bit higher risk, we get to go to the local maternal-fetal specialist for a super-high tech ultrasound--not 3-D or 4-D, that would be *really* cool--but one that shows a ton of detail. It should tell us whether our boy has turned head-down, and also how big they are.

*It will be fun to see exactly how they're positioned, because I feel like they're playing with each other sometimes. I'll feel kicks and bounces nearly simultaneously at different corners of my belly.

*We have both our carseats now, since we won't be allowed to leave the hospital without them (were the babies to come early). Tim likes the one we just bought using a gift certificate from our sweet church in Pittsburgh, a jungle print with a cute canopy. With the canopy up, he thinks it looks like a little baby house.

*It's weird how at this point I have to think about all of the things that used to be instinctive--standing up, turning over in bed, walking, sleeping. Sleeping is the biggest battle at this point. If I get a good night's sleep, I can deal with everything else. If I don't--which is happening with increasing frequency--I have trouble facing even little teeny tasks.

*Baby hiccups are hilarious!!!

Posted by Tim and Jo at 10:59 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 13, 2007

bad influence

So, I was watching an episode of the Simpsons today, and our girl got super excited when she heard the theme song.

Not quite the Mozart effect, hehehe. Hope I haven't ruined her for life!

Posted by Tim and Jo at 1:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A good use for those extra pregnancy hormones...

I've developed a brand new attitude of assertiveness! Over the past few days, I've had to deal with some "not our fault" bank issues. I'm not mean, but I'm having a much easier time in telling the customer service agents it exactly how it is, and making sure things get fixed.

Sweet!

Posted by Tim and Jo at 11:23 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 10, 2007

Shakespeare and Insomnia

Recently, we've discovered that our local library--the one I made fun of at first, but am now learning to appreciate--has the complete BBC produced series of Shakespeare plays.

In the past, I haven't appreciated Shakespeare the way that I knew I should. I love to read, but for some reason, I can't seem to get the rhythm and sense of Shakespeare just from reading alone. But when I hear it out loud, it's beautiful, and even if I don't consciously understand every metaphor layered upon metaphor, my subconscious fills in the sense of it. Tim prefers reading Shakespeare to watching his plays, but since the BBC productions are so well-made and preserve the plays word-by-word, he's having a great time with these as well. Right now, we're working through some of the history plays--Richard II through Henry V (which we're currently watching).

A couple of recent intersections of pregnancy-induced insomnia and Shakespeare...

1) "How I sometimes feel these days, only Shakespeare says it so much better"

O sleep, O gentle sleep, Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down And steep my senses in forgetfulness?

--Henry IV, Henry IV, Part II

(Tim couldn't figure out why I was laughing during this incredibly stirring speech-it was just so true!)

2) "When Shakespeare and insomnia don't mix"

After watching the beginning of Henry the Fifth last night, I fell asleep only to halfway wake up an hour or two later. I was convinced that King Henry thought that I was plotting to steal his crown. I knew that whatever I did--whether I fell back asleep or kept myself awake--he would read it as evidence that I was planning a coup. I was awake enough to question my logic, but not quite awake enough to undelude myself

I finally woke up my ever-enduring husband.

Tim: "What's wrong, honey?"
Joanna: "I don't know, I think it's the king."
Tim: "What king?!?!?!?"
Joanna: "King Henry. He thinks I want to take over his kingdom."

Instead of laughing at me, Tim helped to soothe me back to sleep. Meanwhile, I tried to reason with myself that being such a lowly minion, it would be a delusion of grandeur to think that Henry would be worried about me stealing his kingdom.

Posted by Tim and Jo at 11:50 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack