Preview of Coming Attractions...

Kristen & I went to a consignment sale hosted by the San Francisco Parents of Multiples club last week. For a mere $5 each, I picked up what will be an instant classic this winter... : )

Baby Shower & Registry Info

Mark your calendars! Our baby shower will be on Saturday June 6th, at our place in San Francisco. My fabulous matron of honor Emilie will be planning the party and I'm sure it will be lots of fun! I'm also hoping that we'll be lucky enough to contract with our personal pastry chef (Amy) for some delicious sweet goodies for the event.

As for registry stuff, we have two real registries:

1. Amazon and


2. Babies R Us

There are also some other things we'd love to have:

1. Gift cards for IKEA to buy cribs, other baby furniture and fixings (can't order online, have to call: 1-800-434-4532)
2. Small Paul White 0-3 mo. size long sleeve Julius Monkey onesie (JUST ONE - long story which I'll explain to whomever finds it cute enough to get us, but we do have another just like it already).
3. Gift cards to Target, Babies R Us or any other stores where we can get the "other" baby items that we've undoubetly left off our request list (as if I have any idea what I really need for this adventure!)
4. Used stuff/hand me downs/re-gifts! We're quite happy to receive anything we need that fits into these categories too! (except maybe the car seats)
5. Anything super cute or fun and otherwise irresistible from local little baby stores. We definitely prefer the practical real gifts from the above lists, but if you just can't help yourself they have so many cute things to buy at these places.

I will keep updating this particular post as things change or if we receive some of individual things listed above so we don't end up with 8 Small Paul onesies.

Easter at the Edmonds

This is really part two of Matt's triathlon post below...following the early morning athletic event we headed over to the Edmond's (Matt's cousins) in Sacramento. We had a great Easter dinner and lot of fun catching up with Liz, Hal, Hal's Sister Susan, Barrett, Amy, Scott and a few neighbors.

Wedding in Indy

This past weekend Kristen & I went to a friend's wedding in Indianapolis. Kristen had the honor of being a "groomswoman" for the groom Justin. Ironically she wasn't the only pregnant woman there - in fact the other woman was in the wedding ceremony, was 38 weeks and was wearing the same dress!

This is Kristen & me in the center of Indianapolis before the wedding.

belly

belly...

Gettting...

BIGGER!!!

: )

Triathlon!

This is somewhat unrelated to the buns, but Dad (aka - me) finished his first triathlon this weekend at the UC Davis Sprint Triathlon! It was a nice, sunny day in Davis (near Sacramento). There was a field of about 180 competitors - many of which were on college triathlon teams.

The swim was 0.5 miles in a pool, followed by a windy 18 mile flat bike course, then a 4 mile run on the campus. My time was 1 hour 53 minutes. I was happy to have 1) finished and 2) broken 2 hours (my goal going in). It was definitely a good time and a confidence builder for the several other races I signed up for this year (including the race in September).

So the moral is ... maybe I can finish my race in September???

Twins on Bessie St

A few weeks ago, I finally signed us up as members of the San Francisco Parents of Multiples Club. They offer lots of online information, posting forums, an annual consignment sale, meeting groups etc etc all focused on people with twins (or triplets or more...and no octomom does not live in northern california).

After joining I scoured through the roster to see if there were any other expectant or new parents remotely close to me that I could befriend...after scrolling through several member listings within the same zip code and finding a few that were on nearby streets, you'll never guess what I found...another expectant mother on Bessie St!

For those of you who don't know where we live, Bessie St is exactly two blocks long. I figured I'd be lucky to find anyone pregnant on our street (or within a few streets) - let alone someone with twins! Natasha & Steve are expecting their set two months before us. We've already met up for dinner and to watch an educational video "The Happiest Baby on the Block"...I guess parenthood is officially starting, luckily we'll have some partners in crime to experience it with!

To Do List

Anyone who has lived with me knows I am a list maker. Here is a list of things to do with my sons / necessary son-raising equipment:

1. BBQ
2. Bikes
3. Big-Wheels
4. The 5 gallon lego set
5. Water balloons
6. Watermelon (in summer)
7. Magnifying glass, paper, (ants optional)
8. Model rockets
9. Science books (how stuff works)
10. Dirt
11. Play clothes
12. Worms
13. Matching outfits at holidays (sorry Kristen, it runs in the family)
14. Tonka trucks
15. Gallons of milk (soy)
16. Otter pops
17. Rain boots
18. Bath toys
19. Toy fire truck (with annoying siren mysteriously broken...)
20. PJs

Dubble Trubble

Today I did what any good expectant father would do - I had some of the guys over and brewed beer in honor of my two twin boys. The beer is a Belgian dubble that I named "Dubble Trubble". The beer went into the primary fermenter this afternoon and should be ready to drink in 3-7 months (conveniently around the time of the twins' birth). The beer will be part celebratory (when they are born) and part self-medicating (after they are born).

All in good fun. Will post a pic or two if I can dig up some good ones.

And The Winner Is...

Well the Gender Lotto results are in, and it's Two Boys! Hard to believe that out of 25 friends/family participants there were only 4 lucky winners: Betsy Burhman [Kristen's Aunt], Liz Edmonds [Matt's Cousin], Claudette MacMillan [Matt/Kristen's former co-worker], Jennifer Hebert [Kristen's Step-Mom]. We owe each of you $1.56...

There have been request by close family for photographic evidence of the pregnancy, so hopefully we've fulfilled that with the picture below. I'm about 18.5 weeks pregnant and the photo is from today.

By the way - welcome to our blog! For those of you who are new here (which should be pretty much everyone except Rian and Jess who got the url early) - you may want to start reading from the bottom of the page upwards. As for how often we might post something here - who knows. I think weekly might be a good goal, but no promises. Also, please definitely post comments for us, we love to read them!

Hunger - All Day, Every Day, And All Night Too

From my last post, you will have noticed that I crave "Food". Ummm, yeah, I pretty much can't get enough of it. The worst is when I wake up in the middle of the night (usually 3 - 5 am) STARVING so bad that I can't sleep at all any more until I get up to eat. My food of choice at this hour is usually yogurt. It's easy, sweet and takes zero preparation other than opening the lid and grabbing a spoon. Second favorite if I think I'm not too hungry is chocolate soy milk.

I generally buy out the entire produce section at Safeway each week - coming home with a huge assortment of fruits mainly, and whatever veggies I need to cook with meals for the week (plus some for snacks too). Right now I'm also enjoying girl scout cookies, mmmmm.

I try to eat a BIG lunch during the week, because I always eat out and can get some good hearty food for my $7 - $10. Dinner is a challenge because I'm often tired from work and can't be bothered to cook...but then of course I get cranky. If I'm hungry, DO NOT STAND IN THE WAY OF ME AND MY FOOD. I might spend 20 min preparing something, but I generally can not carry on a conversation at the same time, I must focus solely on food prep and getting to my destination of tasty food in my belly. I am pretty picky on food at home, lots of vegetarain stuff (sorry, Matt) and very little meat because it just doesn't taste good unless it's smothered in sauce (e.g., taco night, spaghetti, soup, etc.) or if Matt made it on the grill (always good!).

I was worried a while back about not gaining enough weight but I think I'm on track now. I'll know more this week after my next doctor's appointment and 18wk ultrasound.

Here's me all the time:

Cravings? - February 28, 2009

Everyone always asks if I have "any weird cravings". My answer is generally no because nothing bizarre sticks with me enough to want to eat it all the time. What I do crave is:

1. FOOD (more on that in the next post)

2. Anything that sounds good when someone mentions it and I can't let go of the idea (2 - 4 x per week)

3. Fruit

To elaborate on #2, here's a little story of how this shakes out. One fine Saturday morning I was at my favorite pre-natal yoga class and one of the other students mentioned that someone in her office was far along in her pregnancy but was still pretty tiny so that most people didn't know until another person said they had ordered in cupcakes for her baby shower.

At this point I became fixated on the word "cupcakes" - almost like if you looked at my eyes you'd see little images of cupcakes spinning in circles...it was all I could think about. So I went home, showered, had some lunch (well I probably had lunch before I showered) then decided that I needed cupcakes. And, well, living in San Francisco, it's easy to get spoiled on cupcakes and I was aware taht I didn't just need any cupcake, I needed Kara's Cupcakes. So I made Matt drive me accross town to the Marina district to pick up these fabulous creations. Luckily we were having Emilie and Chris over for dinner that night so I could justify buying 8 of them! (don't ask how)...Matt kept the car occupied while I feasted my eyes on the most delicious sugar creations in the world (aside from anything my Grammy bakes of course). I selected the 8 best cupcakes then we headed to Fort Mason to chow down. And yes they were as good as I was hoping!

Baby Shower "#1" - Feb. 21, 2009

Here comes about four posts on everything I've been up to in the last month or two since I don't seem to be any good at doing regular blog posting. My mom came in to town on President's Day weekend to attend the infamous Clothes Swap hosted by my friend Grace. Since she was going to be around that weekend, and probably not again until there are two little squirmy grandkids running around, I decided to kick off my baby shower extravaganza with "Baby Shower Number 1!". Now don't feel bad if you haven't heard about this until now, I'm planning on having several more and you're bound to be on the invite list for one or more of them.

This one was particularly intimate, with three guests: Mom, Emilie and Ami. My party planner and matron of honor extraordinaire, Emilie, planned the afternoon at a lovely little Tea House over near Golden Gate Park. We each had a nice pot of tea and some finger sandwiches and desserts and I learned what I could from the experienced moms at the table.

I was also lucky enough to get a few fun gifts too! Some cute little baby outfits from mom, Lucien the Rabbit from Emilie (stuffed animal), a virtually indestructible copy of Goodnight Moon from Ami and also from the Amin family but suggested by young Arjun - a music cube toy!

Twins - Holy Cow!

People say raising twins can be overwhelming - well I can already tell you that just getting ready for them is overwhelming. Here is a snapshot of some thoughts at week 16:

• Kristen and I have probably read through 5+ pregnancy/child related books to date (with many more in the que). That information will cover us for maybe the rest of the year at best.
• There is a barrage of new things you need to buy or consider buying during pregnancy or for your kids. Onsies, cribs, bassonets (not a word that was in my vocabulary last week), expanding stomach cream (during pregnancy), bela-bands (tube top like thing that holds kristen's pants up these days), boppy (I still don't know what this is). And we haven't gotten around to navigating what feels like dozens of incrementally different nursing bottles, much less given any real thought to early childhood development - like what kind of music, books, stimulation, educational environment, medical, etc. they will need once they are here.
• Speaking of expenses - day care on its own for two pretty much wipes out my entire year of earnings. (And to add insult to injury - tax breaks for kids are a joke). Then add on all other child related expenses - food, health care, new furniture, equipment/toys, etc. Oh, and also realize that to get into a daycare program that is halfway decent, you have to apply many months in advance and hope that you can get admitted for a spot when your child is ready to go. Then cross your fingers that they have two spots.
• Wondering how on earth Kristen is going to 1) learn how to feed the kids 2) teach them how to feed 3) get them on the same feeding schedule 4) do it all soon enough after they get home so she doesn't literally have to feed for 24 hours every day. (12 feedings / day / baby x 1 hr / feeding x 2 babies).
• Realizing that the triathlon I have been training for since summer 2008 falls precisely 1.5 months after our expected arrival of twins. Perfect! If it was, say 2 weeks after they were born, maybe I could get in a few workouts (using 100% adrenaline) and call it a "taper" to the race day. But 1.5 months with sleep deprivation, a needy wife, two new babies and the almost guaranteed lack of exercise does not spell ideal training circumstances. Add to that the fact that this will be a 3 hour triathlon starting with a 1 hr swim in 50 something degree open water - not something you want to hope you can fake your way through.

All is not doom and gloom though. Kristen and I are upbeat. Overwhelm at times, but upbeat.

I really am pregnant!

And welcome to our new blog that just might capture a teeny bit of this whole adventure. By my calculations I'm about um, 14.5 weeks? I think that's right, I don't always keep the best of track of these things, especially since with twins it's all a crap shoot when they'll be born.

This week I think I look like I have a big beer belly. However, not everyone I talk to (well at least last week) saw a lot of "showing". Matt ran across this great comic which really sums it up: