Back to Work...

Week: 10 (Post-Pregnancy)

Weight: 133 (Pre-pregnancy weight=125 and Peak pregnancy weight=195)
Cravings: I'm not pregnant anymore, but unfortunately my ice cream craving kind of stuck with me post pregnancy. Calories in ice cream don't count when it's 100 degrees or more, right?!
Body changes: Luckily, my body snapped back fairly quickly. Within one week of labor, I had dropped 40 lbs. It appeared that a majority of my rapid weight gain towards the end of pregnancy was water weight. I do now have a nice flab of loose skin and stretch marks left, but I haven't done much toning work so I'm hopeful that I can at least tighten it up a little bit more. If not, it's worth the trade off for sweet little babies.

Rose (good thing) and thorn (bad thing):
Rose-I was blessed with two amazing boys. I love my life.
Thorn-I have a serious lack of sleep and acne like a teenager.

Tomorrow, I return to my job at Prime after I've spent the past 10 weeks with my new baby boys. I am choosing to go back to work 2 weeks early but part-time (Mon/Wed/Fri) for the first 5 weeks to help transition back into things. I'm excited to get back to the adult world of work life, but I thought I should finally get a blog written to catch up since my last one I wrote in June.

My 2 bundles of joy!

On June 13th, my whole life was changed forever as two sweet little boys joined us. Lucas and Logan were born about 10 mins apart via vaginal delivery, and I immediately fell in love with them. It was the most amazing feeling to bring two new souls into this world with my husband Josh. I felt like watching my husband look into our children's eyes and cry tears of joy over them intensified the love that already existed between us. We were so blessed to have two boys with no health issues except a mild case of jaundice. (Unfortunately, I had excessive bleeding  post delivery and was sent back to the operating room to have an emergency DNC. This is what caused extra time for the boys and I in the hospital. The loss of blood on top of the pre-eclampsia that I had (that caused my admittance into the hospital for labor) created the need for more healing time.) 

Proud daddy with his boys

Just as everyone says, time flies with kids. When I was pregnant, time seemed to stand still. I just couldn't wait for the boys to get here. The babies finally arrived, and it all seems like a blur already. The past 10 weeks have been filled with literal sleepless nights, multiple meltdowns, bouts of crying (from both myself AND Josh), getting pooped on, puked on, and peed on, learning to breathe, learning to tune out crying (as much as possible), learning to let others help, learning to sleep 10 mins at a time, discovering what a hemorrhoid is (in case you're wondering, they suck), finding out that I'm talented at balancing two babies in one arm, and falling more in love with my husband.

Cousins...Luke, Logan, Alistair, Emerick, and Thomas

Being a mother is the most wonderful and most difficult job I've ever had. When I was in the hospital, I had a huge hormonal meltdown on day 3 or 4, and I loudly told my husband to "CALL MY MOM!" as I uncontrollably sobbed. I am so grateful to my mom (and to my sister Amanda) for coming to my aide when I was overwhelmed by motherhood on that day and helping me feel better. It was so comforting to have my mom be there for me knowing that she had been right where I was.  It's amazing how you can feel so many emotions when you're responsible for a human. You can feel on top of the world when you look into their eyes and know you created that little, precious baby and quickly go to feeling like the world's biggest failure when you hear that little, precious baby crying at the top of his lungs and not knowing what you're doing wrong. I'm happy that Josh and I are getting better as each week passes at figuring out how to keep the babies happy, and there is less crying going on for everybody involved.

I will admit I thought stay at home moms probably had it pretty easy. Well, after doing this stay at home mom gig for the past 10 weeks, I can now say that I was very wrong. It's a lot of work, and it is a job that never stops. Even when I got a break from them, I still was thinking about the babies the whole time (next feeding, do we need more diapers, will they sleep tonight, do they even like me...). Major props to stay at home moms (my mom did it for many years when I was growing up and my sister Ash and sister in law Jessica both do it now)! I totally support those who do it and can afford to do it. As for me, at this time, I want to try to balance the work/family life because I truly love my position at Prime. We'll see...maybe someday I'll change my mind or find it too hard or who knows...but for now, I'm giving it a whirl. My sister Ashley is braving the possible chaos and taking on watching my twins (along with her set of twins Alistair and Emerick and her older son Thomas) until the daycare at Prime can get them in. Tentatively, that will happen in late Nov/early Dec. I'm thinking she'll be needing some extra caffeine and chocolate, but I am excited that my sons will get to spend time with her and their cousins. Or worst case scenario, we can look back and laugh about the time we thought the idea of 5 kids under 5 under Ash's care was a good one.

Lucas enjoying one of our walks...sleepy little man!

I've really enjoyed my time at home with Lucas and Logan. I did quickly become stir crazy though so we have had many outings together this summer. My favorite part of being with them these past weeks has been our morning walks. Initially, I started walking a mile here or there to get some fresh air and try to shake some of the extra weight I put on. I've worked my way up to 3 miles at a time. We walked over 85 miles this summer between Phelps, Nathanial Greene, Sequiota, and our neighborhood. We've walked with Josh, my sister and her kids, and my friend Courtney and her twins. I found it to be very therapeutic to make myself get out and get some exercise. I definitely would recommend walking (when possible) to new moms. The boys really seemed to like the walks, too...as in they just sleep through the whole outing.

As of last week, Lucas was weighing in at 10 lbs 9 oz, and Logan was 9 lbs 10 oz. They are both getting so strong and can smile and coo at us. They are becoming little chunks with chubby cheeks and fat thighs, and I love it. Their expressions are hilarious right now. They are getting easier and more fun each week. I am still looking forward to the day when they stop crying/fussing so much, but it's much better lately than it was in the beginning. The last week, they have had a few nights where they only woke up once to feed...which was AwEsOmE! 

There's way too much that has happened since June 13th to squeeze into one blog...well without writing a novel or boring you to death, but I can sum it all up by saying I am incredibly happy with my life right now. Yeah, it's a LOT of work. Yeah, I would love to get a full night's sleep. Yeah, Josh and I have changed over 1000 diapers so far. But I wouldn't change my life for anything else. I love getting to experience the highs and the lows and watch my boys grow and change every day. Children are such a beautiful miracle, and I feel blessed to have been able to become pregnant and receive not one but two little boys.

I love my little studs

I want to give a shout out to everyone who has visited us, helped us, given us gifts for the boys, and shared advice with us so far. I think I probably would have lost my mind without the support and love we got from so many people especially during those first few weeks. A very special shout out to my husband who has made it possible for me to stay at home these past weeks as well as helping out so much with the twins (feedings, diaper changes, etc)! I love you Josh Mueller!

Tomorrow will be interesting. If you see me and I look like a hot mess, don't judge me. I'll probably be running on 6 or less hours of sleep and be on my 3rd or 4th Red Bull by noon. lol

Hope everyone has a wonderful week and stays cool! God bless. 

Week 30, 31, 32, and 33: Are We There Yet?

Week:33

Swollen feet/ankles. Blah.

Weight:175 (Pre-pregnancy weight=125)
Cravings:You know what I'm really craving? The ability to wear shorts and tanks and have my thighs not rub together and sweat like a fiery inferno and be able to lay on my stomach. I'm craving my old body. Currently sitting on the couch as one of the twins protrudes from the right side of my stomach making it uncomfortable to sit on the couch. How does it become uncomfortable to sit on a COUCH?! Who knew that was possible.
Body changes: Well as you can see, I've gained a fabulous 50 lbs so that's fun. I have a wide ring of stretch marks around my belly button. Coming to terms that they may never go away, but I'll have 2 kids to make them worth it. :) Feet and ankles getting very swollen last couple weeks. Annoying because I can only fit in flip flops now.

Rose (good thing that happened) and thorn (bad thing) of the week:
Rose-Over the last 4 weeks, there have been many awesome things that have happened: 2nd baby shower, gift from my coworkers in my dept, gift from some very sweet Prime Drivers, and much much more.
Thorn-I only get up around 6 to 7 times per night to pee and adjust my baby bump from one side to the next. I mean...who needs sleep anyway? I guess this is just prep for my future.

31 weeks

30 weeks

32 weeks

33 weeks

It's funny how time can seem to go so slow and so quickly at the same time. I can't believe I missed 4 weeks of blogging. I know you all were sitting on the edge of your seats, refreshing your webpage over and over, hoping that I would post something. lol. I figured it was time to sit and get at least one more blog out before my bundles of joy arrive.

Cute & creepy baby game

My sisters Ashley and Amanda put together a really great baby shower for me a few weeks ago. I loved the cute detail they put into the shower, and it was so nice to sit with my friends and family and get more excited about the Mueller boys coming into the world. My favorite part had to be the game we played with miniature babies in ice cubes only because it was cute and wildly creepy at the same time. Everybody got a cube with 2 babies, and when the ice cube melted, you exclaim "my water broke".

Delicious punch

Amanda's adorable diaper cake

Coworkers threw me a SWEET food day at work! :)

The nursery is starting to really come together. We put away all of the gifts from our baby showers and that we've received from our coworkers into the closet. These boys are definitely lucky to have so many wonderful, generous people in their lives. We bought 2 matching comforter sets for their buy one get one free beds, and I think it makes the room really look like it's ready for the boys. It's gonna be a whale of a good time...or lack of sleep! Whatever. :)

During the last few weeks, for some reason, I kept thinking "oh it's gonna happen" pretty much everyday. 3 Fridays ago I had my first Braxton Hicks at work. I was walking to the bathroom and had to lean against a pole and stop. I had a few more that day, and then they went away. The next Friday, Josh and I went out to eat and as soon as we got seated, I started having Braxton Hicks again. They lasted about an hour and then moved to my back. We were like "oh THIS is it". And then the pains went away. Since then, I really haven't had any signs or pains at all. Don't get me wrong...I'm so happy that I made it to this point with no issues. I just assumed that I would go early with twins or have some issues or something. God has blessed me with one heck of a body that can grow 2 humans at once. Pretty amazing what the human body can do.

Last week, my mom sent me the birth notes from my birth. I didn't know that she did this, but she had 5 pages of typed up birth notes on her experience with me. I went from crying to laughing back to crying as I read them. I loved getting to read her thoughts about the experience, and it made me way more excited about my birthing experience to come. Most of the laughter came from her talking about my dad's multiple trips to go eat food or sneak food or snacks while she couldn't eat at all during her 18-hour labor with me. Now, every time I eat a meal, I think to myself "this could be my last supper so I better eat a lot just in case". That could explain my nonstop weight gain. Ha.

We had an ultrasound last Thursday and the boys are weighing 5 lbs 2 ounces and 5 lbs 3 ounces. THAT'S TEN LBS of BABY in there. No wonder why it's a bit uncomfortable. Both babies are still head down which is great because it mean I can try to have them naturally (well non C section). That could change with any complications, but it's great that I can at least try. My doctor said everything looks great and that I was doing a good job. That was pretty much all he said. It almost makes me more nervous because of how laid back he is. I guess he knows what he is doing so I'll trust his laidbackness.

My sister's set of identical twins turn 1 on June 6th!  Would be pretty crazy if our sets were both born on the same day a year apart.

Today marks the 34 week mark which my doctor said was the goal for twins for their organs and especially their lungs to be developed. Obviously, every day extra in there is better, but we are in the home stretch! I am so ready to meet these boys. Josh is anxious to meet them as well. I can't wait to see him hold them in his arms. We've started taking walks around the neighborhood this weekend, and I'm back to taking the stairs at work instead of waiting for the slow elevator. Doctor said he will schedule an induction if we make it to 36 weeks. I don't feel like my body can stretch that much more without bursting. I told Josh I was informed that sex can bring on labor. I think he got a little too excited about the chance of that when I mentioned it. Hopefully, they'll make their appearance so we don't have to resort to that. I mean...I don't exactly feel like a sex goddess right now. LOL

COME ON OUT BOYS!

I'm so excited to raise kids with this guy!

 Hope you have a wonderful week! Thanks for reading.

Week 28 and 29: Ice Ice Baby

Week: 29

Weight:166 (Pre-pregnancy weight=125)
Cravings: Anything cold. Ice water. Ice cream. Shaved ice.
SnoBiz-Finally was able to satisfy this craving last night with a scrumptious Bahama Mama sno cone. I want one every day now until the end of my pregnancy. It is so refreshing with this warmer weather as my pregnant body seems to have turned into a hotbox.
Ice cream-Today, I had a small moment of sadness thinking that in a matter of weeks it may no longer be acceptable to eat ice cream everyday...I mean not that I've been doing that or anything.
Body changes: Swelling. Stretch marks. Each morning, I wake up and see just a little more of a ring of stretch marks around my belly button. Past the point of no return. Might as well keep eating the ice cream now.

Rose (good thing that happened) and thorn (bad thing) of the week:
Rose-My mom held a baby shower for me this past weekend. Great times and lots of gifts!
Thorn-I officially trumped Josh on the scale. I weigh more than him. I know I know...I have 2 humans inside me so it's okay; it's just weird.

28 weeks

29 weeks

2 more weeks in the books! We have officially made it to week 30. I am so grateful to have reached this point in the pregnancy and can breathe a small sigh of relief to have made it this far. Obviously, we want them to stay in there for several more weeks, but they are getting stronger and healthier each day that God blesses us with them in there.

Ultrasound at 29 weeks

We went to our ultrasound last Thursday, and we found out that Baby A weighs 3 lbs and 15 ounces and Baby B weighs 3 lbs and 13 ounces. Holy cow! That's almost 8 lbs of baby hanging out in my womb. No wonder it is feeling so cramped down there and that I have to pee every hour...or when I hear running water...or just think about water. Seriously...I think I went to the bathroom 10 times today. The doctor said "yeah these are some big babies". He was very impressed with their size and said everything seemed great with my pregnancy so far and to continue like normal with work and life. Oh and they are both HEAD DOWN! This is great news. However, I resigned myself to thinking I was having a c-section, and now, I'm getting a little scared about the thought of having them naturally. I'm sure I can get through it just like the rest of the pregnancy. It's just....TWO babies out of ONE hole?! Oh boy. Oh boy. lol. We will start having an appointment every week on out though to keep an eye on the twins.Now, that we are at 30 weeks I'm starting to realize I need to get my butt in gear to get everything ready for the arrival of the boys at work and at home. So much to do, so little time. I literally could have to go on bedrest at any time.

Me and Erin

We went back home this weekend for my baby shower. On Saturday, I was able to attend my cousin Erin's baby shower. It is pretty awesome that we get to share in the whole pregnancy experience at the same time. She is expecting with a boy due in July, and I am expecting with 2 boys in July (which will come in May or June). Her friends threw her an adorable baseball-themed baby shower with some delicious baseball theme food and a margarita mocktail that totally temporarily satisfied my craving for margaritas.

My mom threw together an awesome baby shower on Sunday. In her usual Mary Havin style, she had the full food spread and those famous Mary Havin cookies. Ashley also contributed with some delicious homemade salsa and snickerdoodles, and Josh even did his part with the bacon wrapped weenies. My favorite part was probably the cake though. It was so good I had a slice for each of the boys. ha. It turned out to be a beautiful, hot day for the shower, and there was a great turnout of family and friends that made me feel super special. We feel so blessed to know so many awesome people and to have received such great gifts. Thanks again mom and everyone who helped make the day special for Josh and I and the twins. We are looking forward to unpacking all the gifts this week and filling up the near-empty nursery.

Twice as much to love, Two blessings from above!

So many gifts! :)

Love my parents!

Let's see....besides that stuff....I can't really remember too much from the last 2 weeks. My feet/ankles/legs have started to swell starting this past week. Josh is being an amazing husband as usually and forcing me to prop up my feet on the couch while he cleans and does chores. As I type, he is folding laundry. He is a true blessing. He is getting very antsy to meet the boys and start playing with them.

Well...I need to go to bed. Have a blessed week!

Week 26 and 27: Getting closer!

Week: 27

Weight:161 (Pre-pregnancy weight=125)

Body changes: Getting really tired of the weight gain. Last night, I noticed the first stages of stretch marks around my belly button. Nooooooo. I've been religiously using Burt's Bees belly butter once a day but am upping that to twice a day. Although, I've heard mixed reviews on whether that stuff actually helps at all. Worth the effort if it at least helps reduce their appearance just a bit. Bring on the BUTTER!
Rose (good thing that happened) and thorn (bad thing) of the week:
Rose-Babies are moving like crazy. It's such a cool experience to see and feel them move. Josh loves feeling them move, and I love watching him feel them and see his eyes light up. :)
Thorn-Back pain and acne everywhere (back, neck, stomach, face). Ugh.

26 weeks

27 weeks

The past 2 weeks went by pretty quickly which is great! This pregnancy has felt like it has been lasting forever, but the closer we get to that 30 weeks mark the faster time seems to go. At this point, we have a goal of 6 more weeks to reach 34 weeks and a max of 10 more weeks to reach 38. How exciting!

Had a check up visit last week, and everything looks good according to the charts. Great news is that I passed my glucola test with flying colors. I was relieved to hear that because that is one less thing to worry about. I was worried that I was going to fail the test and then not only be restricted from sex but also from sugar. That would be pretty dang awful. lol. Next Thursday, we have another ultrasound, and then doc said that we will probably start having weekly visits after that. 

The nursery is finally starting to come together! We ordered 2 cribs from BabiesRUs about 3 weeks ago. When we initially purchased them, the store employee accidentally charged us $57 for the 2nd crib instead of taking $57 (10% twin discount) off the 2nd crib. It was after a long workday, and I thought the total price seemed too cheap but went ahead and paid for it because the employee even repeated the total price when I questioned what she told us it was. Then, Josh and I went to the car, and I looked over the receipt because the math didn't seem right. I caught the employee's $200+ mistake, and Josh and I thought we would do the right thing and bring it back in to be fixed. We thought our honesty would be rewarded with at least like a package of free diapers or something, but instead, we got a weak "sorry" and an additional 20 minutes of having to wait for them to fix the mistake and charge us the additional $200+ for the 2nd crib. The employee actually acted almost annoyed about it.

The cribs are ready for 2 adorable boys to sleep in them!

Fast forward a couple weeks. I called to check in on the status of the cribs. They put me on hold for 10 or so minutes. Let me tell you (in case you have never had to experience ToysRUs hold music) that ToysRUs has the most horrible hold music loop that I've ever heard, and I have heard a lot of hold music. They gave me a vague response saying the cribs were still not ready. I checked back a week later, more hold music, vague answer, more hold music, was told that the cribs were at the warehouse, and that there was this glitch in their system that keeps happening to orders and that they would email the warehouse and get it fixed. I called back the next day to make sure that "email" was sent. More hold music. No one knew about an email. That's when I pulled out some skills I learned from my mother and asked to speak straight to a manager and get these dang cribs figured out. I was polite but firm and reiterated that my experience with these dang cribs was very frustrating and becoming time-consuming. That's when the manager apologized and stated she would give us 50% off the cribs. I thanked her, hung up the phone, and high fived Josh. Despite the annoying runaround with the company, buy-one-get-one-free cribs are AWESOME! We got them on Friday night, and Josh had them assembled by Saturday. Now, this whole twin deal feels really real. Eek. 

Josh is ready to rock some boys to sleep!

We also got in our new navy striped rocking/swivel chair and ottoman that we ordered from Walmart online. We are pretty happy with the quality and comfort of the chair. I was nervous since we didn't get to see it in person first and based the purchase on online reviews. I'm looking forward to rocking my little babes to sleep in that chair.

 
 Last weekend, Josh made his second appearance as Mr. Easter Bunny at the Prime Easter Egg Hunt. He somehow transforms into character very well...hopping around and hanging out with dozens of kids and not complaining at all. Love him! This year, we had over 100 kids attend the hunt and get photos with E.B. Shout out to my little sister Amanda who also helped hide the 1000+ eggs for the hunt with me and Josh. I couldn't have done it without them because I found out I wasn't a very fast egg-hider with my pregnant waddle.




Other than those things...I don't have too much to share. Nothing too exciting or funny or crazy right now...which is probably a good thing. I kind of finally feel like we made it to that "honeymoon" phase of pregnancy. Besides being quite large, I feel pretty good overall and happy to be pregnant. I'll enjoy this phase while it lasts because I'm sure it won't last too long. Have a great week everyone! 

Happy Easter from the Mueller's!

Week 24 and 25: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Week: 25

Weight:155 (Pre-pregnancy weight=125)

Body changes: My "innie" belly button is no more. It's kind of a half outie, half just weird.
Rose (good thing that happened) and thorn (bad thing) of the week:
Rose-Babies are healthy and 2 lbs a pop!
Thorn-Babies are only 2 lbs a pop! Where is all this other weight coming from?? Oh wait, I think I know...

Week 24

Week 25

During week 24 of my pregnancy, I went on a work trip to Louisville, KY for the Mid-America Trucking Show for 4 days. I had gotten permission to fly from my doctor, but he was hesitant about it. I didn't understand why it seemed like maybe not such a good idea until after the fact. Yeah. Umm. It was basically like one of my worst ideas to date. During the trucking show, we have a company booth where all we have to do is stand and represent Prime and answer questions and recruit drivers. Seems simple enough, right??! Well, it turns out the convention center was the size of my hometown, and it is possible to get so lost inside the convention center that one could walk for a continuous 20 minutes and still be lost.  I mean...so I've heard. But really, I did get lost and ended up sitting on a random bench in the middle of some wing of the center for 15 minutes just to catch my breath. I knew if I took one more step, I would either pop out a baby or pass out. After that, my body basically felt like it had been run over for the rest of the convention. My back, my boobs, my chest, my legs, my belly. Every part of my pregnant body hurt.

Mid-America Trucking Show-Louisville, KY

 Planes: I was scared of flying to Louisville because the month before when I flew I ended up with a week full of charlie horses at night. Doctor said to drink lots of water and get up and walk during flight this time. I drank a little water because I feared having to pee in the tiny toilets in the sky and was too intimidated to get up at all during the flight to walk in the aisle. Plus, come on. Those planes that fly out of Springfield, MO are only like 20 feet in length anyhow. Luckily, on the flights back to MO, I somehow got first class on one flight which was awesome. I've never appreciated legroom so much in my life.

Trains: In prior trips, I thought the "plane trains" or trams that run you from concourse to concourse at the airports were pretty cool. When I rode it, I imagined myself on the monorail at DisneyWorld (instead of the reality which was standing next to stinky, stressed out, exhausted frequent flyers). However, this trip I was a little nervous to step on the plane train because the day before the plane train at the Chicago Airport derailed and injured 32 people. (Chicago Train Derails) Normally, I would try to look like a frequent flyer and not hold too tightly to those poles on the train, but I said screw that and clung to the pole like it was my new night job. Luckily, we survived the 30 second train ride from concourse to concourse.

Automobiles: For the convention, we somehow ended up at a hotel/casino not even in the state of Kentucky. Our hotel was in Elizabeth, IN which gave us a good 30 minute car ride to and from the convention each day. I hadn't had much hope that I would have too much fun on the trip as I knew I was pregnant and couldn't enjoy drinks with coworkers at the end of the work days. (Standing up at these conventions and talking with hundreds of people makes for long days and turns out to be very exhausting.) Despite the body pains, I ended up having a blast with my coworkers. We all agreed that there must have been a gas leak in our rental car because every time we got in the car, it turned into a non-stop laughter fest. There were times when we all just started laughing without even saying anything. (There were also a couple times I was dangerously close to peeing my pants.) I think my cheeks finally just stopped hurting from all of the laughter. Oh yeah...and we almost got hit like 3 times. Good times!

Needless to say, I will be avoiding any more extensive traveling including planes, trains, or automobiles for the rest of the pregnancy.

On Thursday, Josh and I attended a doctor appointment and 2nd ultrasound. I was actually pretty nervous because I worried that I overdid it at the convention and with all the traveling. I hadn't felt an overwhelming amount of movement the few days before the appointment so I was imagining the worst. Fortunately, we had our ultrasound and both boys were found to be healthy and moving and a whopping TWO POUNDS each. I was so happy to hear that news. My doctor was very positive about the babies' progress and my own. He didn't even bring up my weight gain...which I was a bit worried about. It's just so hard to resist the ice cream...and brownies...and cereal...and pb&js. Ha. Josh brought up that I climb a set of stairs at work since I work in the basement and asked the doc if he thought I should use the elevator. Thanks to Josh, I now get to wait for the world's slowest elevator. It seriously takes at least 2 minutes or more each time to go up or down ONE FLOOR. The good news is that the doc also said that I can't mow the lawn (or do other intense chores). Darn! Unfortunately, the doctor also told us that there should be no more sex as it could risk premature labor. Of course, now I want it more than ever. Ha. I'll just have to settle for brownies to fill that void for now. ;)

Took our nephew to the Shrine Circus this past weekend. Not sure who enjoyed it more, but I'm pretty sure it would be Amanda and me. Human canon ball was the best part. Slightly terrifying but very cool...especially since he didn't die.

Had my glucola test this morning. I actually bought my routine McDonald's breakfast burrito and remembered the test as I grabbed the McD's bag from the drive-through employee. Man was that painful to throw away the  burrito and have to wait to eat for hours. I found the glucose drink to be pretty delicious. Maybe it was because I was just hungry, but it tasted like an orange soda. Hopefully, my results come back good. We'll find out in a couple weeks.

Anyway, babies are kicking me a lot, and we are getting more and more eager to meet them. Life is good.

Have a blessed week! 

Week 22 and 23: Hungry hungry hippo

Week: 23 

Weight:149 (Pre-pregnancy weight=125)

Body changes: 1st tub of Burt's Bees belly butter empty and onto 2nd bottle. Morning routine: pee, shower, butter up like a Thanksgiving turkey, makeup, squeeze into whatever clothes that I can fit into, cry over a pint of ice cream, and go.
Rose (good thing that happened) and thorn (bad thing) of the week:
Rose-Last weekend, we joined my family at Silver Dollar City for their opening weekend. It was a wonderful day.

Thorn-Belly pain and having to slow down my pace. Having to pee 2 or 3 times during the night now instead of just once. 

22 Weeks

23 Weeks

So...pregnancy is exhausting. I told myself I would attempt to update my blog each Sunday. Well last Sunday rolled around, and I fell asleep on the couch before I even squeezed out a sentence. lol

Here's an update on the last two weeks. Not too much crazy has happened in the last 14 days, but one thing that I've definitely noticed is how freaking hungry I am ALL THE TIME. If I see a commercial or a billboard for food or someone mentions anything about food, I feel like I'm on a mission and have to go get that item. I would like to say that I have the willpower to resist and eat fruits and veggies and blah blah blah but let's be real, what pregnant lady wants, pregnant lady gets. It's not such a good thing for my scale though. This week I finally reached 149 which is the highest weight I've ever been. I know, I know. I have two humans growing inside of me. I just worked so hard to go from 148 to 125 in college. And umm...we still have at least 10 weeks to go and that's a lot of cupcake calories to consume. Going to try to do what I can to tame my inner hungry, hungry hippo the next few weeks. --Running to the kitchen to whip up some brownies....be right back. Jk jk Well, if I had brownie mix, I would be making some but too lazy to go to the grocery store. :)

Before

After

We got the nursery painted by a local painter (All About Paint) last last Monday and love how it turned out. It took the painter only 5 hours to finish the job. It would have taken Josh weeks to get it done, and we don't even own a ladder so we found the cost to be well worth it. The color we chose was Sherwin Williams Network Gray. We are going to do white and navy blue/turquoise accents for the nursery. Still have everything to buy...cribs, dresser, rocker, etc. Luckily, we still have around 10 weeks to get it done. 

I got a pickle, I got a pickle, hey hey hey hey!

Last weekend, my family came down to Branson for some good old fashioned family fun at the opening weekend of Silver Dollar City. The Spring weather was near perfect. It was a little cool but great for walking those hills and rockin' a comfy hoodie and yoga pants. I wasn't sure how much fun I could have as a pregnant lady since I'm a thrill ride addict, but I shifted by excitement from rides to FOOD. Luckily, one thing Silver Dollar City knows about is greasy, pregnancy craving-friendly foods. And you know what they definitely have? PICKLES. The most delicious pickles in the Midwest. The problem is that now I want more, and I don't have a SDC season pass. Is it bad that I contemplated buying a season pass just to go back and enjoy another pickle?! I know...I'm signing up for Pickle Lovers Anonymous as soon as I finish this blog post.

My beautiful mom and me

I had a blast just watching my family and nephews enjoy the rides while I relaxed and consumed a sad amount of calories. Dip n Dots, funnel cake, frozen lemonade, skillet dinner, jerky, kettle corn, chocolate/peanut butter fudge (that Amanda scored for me for FREE), and probably some other stuff that I've already forgotten about. It was fun to watch my brother Mark and nephew Thomas get so pumped about the rides. It made me happy thinking about watching my two sons run around in the near future. Still can't fully wrap my mind around the fact that I'm a mom, but the more it sinks in, the more excited I get.

The Great Shoot Out...the only ride they could let the prego lady on :)

The Contraption

 The last thing I'll tell you about to wrap up this week's blog is the "contraption". We bought this belly and back support band ($30 at BabiesRUs) the night before we went to Silver Dollar City. I had started noticing some additional stress on my body and back so I thought I would give this deal a try. I give facility tours every Friday at Prime to our new drivers which take about an hour of walking around. I'm not ready to give that up yet so hoping the belly band can help out.

Thank God we brought it with us to Silver Dollar City because without it I don't think I would have survived more than a couple hours of climbing those hills (and carrying the frozen lemonade, popcorn, etc). Plus, the "contraption", as we've coined it, is sexy as hell. I  mean I basically have to tell Josh to take a hike because I mean it's just so flattering. Ha. At our last appointment, the doctor did mention that pretty soon there will be no more of "that" stuff anyway because it is too risky and can cause premature labor. Sorry Josh. :)

Josh and Harper

Well that's all I got for this blog. Gonna go back to watching My Five Wives on TLC and appreciate the fact that I don't have to share my man with any other women and have him all to myself to jump up and grab whatever I'm craving. But in all seriousness, Josh is such a great husband. He has been so supportive and cute during this whole pregnancy. I'm looking forward to him being a dad to our 2 sons. We babysat our friend's adorable daughter Harper for a couple hours last night, and he was so cute with her. He's already got the "baby talk" down. He's going to be a great father.



Have a great week everybody! This week my goal is to complain less and enjoy this new, growing body more. It truly is a blessing to be able to grow a human (well two in my case) inside my body.

Week 21: Pickles and Relish

Presents from Kevin and Melissa :)

Week: 21
Weight:145 (Pre-pregnancy weight=125)
Waist size: 38 inches (Pre-pregnancy waist size=32...I think)
Body changes: Faint stretch marks on boobs. Belly button on the cusp of not being an "innie". Belly butter is my best friend.
Rose (good thing that happened) and thorn (bad thing) of the week:
Rose-Finding a surprise gift on my desk from 2 Prime Drivers Melissa and Kevin on Monday morning. 2 adorable boy outfits x 2 plus cute blankets.
Thorn- Charlie horses. 5 in the past week in the middle of the night.


Monday marked the start of Week 21 of the Mueller twin pregnancy. The first half of pregnancy seemed to go by at a turtle's pace, and now, the second half seems to be flying by as we keep thinking of all the things to get done before they arrive. I thought I would use this blog to look back (briefly) on the first half of pregnancy: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

But first...pickles and relish. Friday night, I woke up with a horrendous charlie horse in my right calf. (I had gotten a few charlie horses when I flew on a couple trips last month, but I was hopeful it was just tied to flying.) I sat up punching my leg, sharing some curse words, and screaming in pain. Josh shot up in bed, ran into the kitchen, and came back with a jar of relish. I looked at him (while still yelling in pain) and asked what I was supposed to do with that. He said it would help the pain. He didn't bring a fork or spoon and acted like I could just scoop some in my mouth. We started laughing which started to ease the pain. Umm..yeah I might barf if I scoop relish straight into my mouth Josh. lol. He returned the jar to the fridge and came back to bed. Saturday morning, we woke up and Josh did his normal routine: cuddle up to me, kiss my belly, and say something to the boys. Life was good and then BAM another charlie horse. I started screaming again as each time they get worse. Josh jumped out of bed, ran to the kitchen, and this time came back with a jar of...pickles. I look up and he's pushing a pickle into my mouth. I took a few bites and burst into laughter. I don't know what exactly what it was but seeing Josh running back and forth with pickle products trying to help my pain just made me want to laugh. Who knows if the pickles actually help as he keeps swearing they do, but the comic relief definitely helps reduce the suckiness of the charlie horse outbreaks. :)

21 Weeks

The good. Let's roll back to the beginning... It was a rough Monday at work, and for the first time in my working adult history, I swung by a liquor store on the way home. I picked up a 6 pack of my favorite apple wheat cider, kicked off my shoes at home, and went to the tv to watch some cheap reality show drama. I downed 2 bottles of cider as Josh was in the next room playing Xbox. (I'm not too proud that I had drank alcohol this night, but it's just part of my story. We had been trying to get pregnant for around 3 months, and I had honestly thought it might not ever happen.) For some reason, I felt compelled to pee on yet another pregnancy test (thinking it would not be positive of course). I set it on the back of the toilet and went back to the tv watching. At the commercial, I headed back to see what I thought would be a negative result. I glanced down. Glanced back. Umm...JOSH???!!! Josh was ecstatic about the news. I burst into tears as I started thinking "Oh my gosh. a) I just drank alcohol. b) I now have to grow up. c) We are PREGNANT." and every other thought that goes through a pregnant woman's head. After Josh calmed me down, the news sunk in and we were both happy to know we were going to bring a little Mueller into the world and start our family.

The bad. The first few weeks after finding out we were expecting were great. We wanted to wait a while to tell our friends and family because we wanted to let the news sink in as well as give the baby more time to grow, go to a doctor appointment to confirm, and didn't want to jump into announcing a baby when I was scared of the possibility of miscarriage. I didn't really feel any change in my body at first, but I did feel more tired. I began falling asleep each night around 7 to 8 pm on the couch and getting sleepy at work. I took a couple more pregnancy tests those first couple weeks because I was doubting that I actually could be pregnant. Then, the changes started happening. My senses hit full throttle. Every breeze that blew a smell past my nose made me sick to my stomach. I came home from work each night and just felt icky. Didn't throw up for another few weeks but had just a general bad feeling in my stomach all the time. My boobs had a growth spurt overnight that my husband was quick to notice (that wasn't really a bad thing ;))

The ugly. "Pregnancy is a beautiful thing." I have heard so many women talk about the great parts of being pregnant. Maybe I just wasn't paying close enough attention when they were talking about all the not so great parts, but I have experienced a lot of not so great parts in this pregnancy.
Morning sickness (never threw up in the morning...just after noon and at night) for 3 months, bloody nose (still happening as of today), 2 fever blisters, diarrhea (daily for first month or so), charlie horses, uncontrollable acne breakouts, dysgeusia (metallic taste in mouth 24/7. still happening just not as bad as beginning by far), pinched nerves in back, blurred vision/dizziness (only happened once for about 30 minutes where I couldn't see anything clearly), and horrible memory. And then there's the weight gain. At first, you just feel awkward because you feel bloated and gross, but it isn't obvious to the public that you're pregnant. Pants stop fitting as nicely, and you get to take advantage of the hairband trick to keep pants usable. Classy. For sure.

Went to workout at work and discovered my tshirts are wee bit small now. Oops. :)

Don't get me wrong. I'm really happy to be pregnant and receive this blessing in my life. I'm just saying that it can be a bit rough! I have no idea how single moms do it. I have relied so much on Josh for help. He has been amazing...doing laundry, dishes, cooking, driving me places, picking up stuff for me because I'm too tired to move sometimes. Props to those women that breeze through it and look amazing without complaining. You have my praise. I just wanted to share my experience so far because I will probably forget all of it within minutes of the Mueller twins arrival to the world....as I've been told happens. Plus, someday I want to say "LOOK BOYS...I did all this crap for you!" :)

I'm much more enjoying the second half of pregnancy so far. I haven't thrown up in 3 weeks, and my senses feel much more toned down. Plus, the fact that the babies arrival is getting closer brings much more excitement to blur out the rough parts of pregnancy. Tomorrow, the painter comes to paint the boys' nursery. I can't wait until it's done so we can start decorating their room and buying more stuff for them.

Thanks for reading. Have a great week everyone!

Oh boy. Oh boy. The Surprising Reveal.

I never thought  I would want to create a blog, but I have realized that the longer I have been pregnant, the less and less I can remember things. I want to have a record of my pregnancy so that I don't forget all of this someday when my kids actually might want to know. Thought about a journal but didn't think hand cramps on top of body aches and sickness and exhaustion would encourage too much writing. Even if no one actually reads my blog, I'm just hoping that it can one day be enjoyed by the Mueller children. So, here we go...

On Wednesday, February 26th, Josh and I took off a half day of work to attend our first ultrasound to see if Baby Mueller was a girl or a boy. The previous week waiting for the appointment was torture in itself because we hadn't had even one ultrasound. I was anxious to be able to just see the baby and make sure it was, in fact, a baby...and not a dinosaur or dog or something. Around the 10 week mark, our doctor let Josh and I hear the heartbeat of the baby. I told the doctor that my older sister had twins and how she didn't find out until her ultrasound, and I asked him to make sure he didn't hear two heartbeats in my belly. He asked, "You don't want twins do you?" Of course, I said no but that I was just nervous about it. He laughed, said he only heard one, and removed the device after only hearing our baby's heartbeat for less than 30 seconds.

At my next appointment around 14 weeks, he again let me hear the baby's heartbeat and only noticed one. He talked about scheduling my first ultrasound around 19 weeks. Having seen multiple pregnant friends bragging about their ultrasounds around 8 to 9 weeks and again around 15 or 16 weeks, I asked him if he was sure that I would have to wait that long for my first ultrasound. He told me that he liked waiting until the 19 week mark so that everything was more clearly developed and viewable in the ultrasound. Although I wanted to argue with him and unleash my pregnancy hormones on him to let me have an ultrasound earlier, I bit my tongue figuring that I probably couldn't win against a professional OBGYN. So, we waited.

Josh and I had planned on eating a nice celebratory lunch prior to our ultrasound, but of course, I worked past the time I had originally planned which left only about 30 minutes for lunch. So, McAlister's it was as it's located right next to the doctor's office. By the time we got our food, we had about 15 minutes to enjoy it so I scarfed it down and immediately felt sick. My stomach, for the second time, had this intense stretching feeling and pressure. After a few minutes, it calmed down and we headed over to the doctor's office.

This is our "oh my gosh we're having twins selfie"

The ultrasound tech was sitting behind the receptionist and didn't even let us sit down before we were taken back to the ultrasound room. We sat down, she explained the process, and plopped some warm gloop on my stomach. She laid the scanner thing (not sure of its technical name) on my stomach. Josh and I had our eyes glued to the screen with anticipation. Umm...wait a sec. What the...

Baby A and Baby B

The ultrasound tech ( I think her name was Amanda but due to circumstances I can't remember too many details) looked at the screen and then to us and said something to the effect of "So...umm...guess what?" Before she could even speak, Josh and I looked at each other and said, "Shut Up". She then said, "I had a feeling that you were carrying twins when I saw you walking in here." The next few minutes consisted of me going into a panic attack of laughter and Josh saying "Oh my gosh" "No way" "This is crazy" through smiles and teary eyes. I think I apologized to the ultrasound tech about 5 times during my laughter fit. I literally couldn't stop laughing. My mind was in literal shock. I had dreams about having twins, but I had convinced myself that it would be impossible for two sisters to both have twins. Plus, why didn't our doctor catch the other heartbeat before?? The next hour of the ultrasound were filled with questions, tears, smiling, laughing, and more shock. The ultrasound tech was so sweet about everything we asked and said. Thank God for her patience as we couldn't really focus. The ultrasound revealed TWO identical boys...which seems even more crazy since that is what my sister had in June of 2013. The ultrasound also revealed that they appeared completely healthy, had all of their limbs, and weighed 12 ounces each. I shed some tears just knowing that they were healthy. It is a scary feeling not knowing if the human you are growing inside of you is healthy up until that point. My due date was pushed up a week from July 22nd to July 14th (as the previous due date was a guess and the measurements showed 20 weeks and 2 days instead of the guessed 19 weeks).  So much news in such a short period of time.

The first calls we made were of course to our family members. Moms first. Every single family member we told had a similar response along the line of "What? Is this a joke? Are you playing a prank on us?". Then, after we convinced them that we were being honest, a scream or shout of disbelief followed. lol. We swung by Target and picked up 2 baby boys outfits so we can go show the news to my sister and my nephew. We placed the two outfits in a bag and made it appear that there was only one. My nephew Thomas pulled out one of the outfits and said "oh a boy" and then got up from his chair. My sister said something to the effect of "I'm sorry I know this is dumb, but I'm just paranoid and have to make sure there's not another outfit in the bag because you know..with me there was." She peeked in the bag and didn't see anything and acted relieved. Josh and I stared back at her and back to the bag. She looked back in the bag and, seeing the 2nd oufit, shrieked in disbelief. This photo was taken while she was pacing around the room and having trouble breathing. ha. Josh and spent the night notifying friends, family, and of course, Facebook. The response was pretty overwhelming but made us a little more happy about our news. The shock still hasn't worn off, but thanks to Pinterest and prayers, we're starting to get on to the excitement stage.

Josh showing the ultrasound pics to nephew Thomas and my sister Ashley

Welp. That's all I got for this post...mostly because I'm exhausted and might pass out at any second.