The New Crib!

As Kasey blogged a few days ago, Tim and I bought a condo!  We are so excited to have a room for the babies and I'm very proud of us for being homeowners!  The condo is in the same place we live now, Parsons Village, but is a two bedroom.. and we OWN it!  Yay!


It looks to me like the previous owner bought the place just to "flip" it.  All the appliances are brand new, the cabinets are new, the lighting fixtures are new, everything is new!  We looked at a lot of condos, and I had my heart set on one before (Tim didn't like it) but this was the only one that we agreed on!  We know we love the complex so as soon as we saw a 2 bedroom come on the market we went to see it right away and the next day, we made an offer.  I still can't believe it.  Anyways, my head is overflowing with ideas for the nursery and the whole condo in general, but we won't close until the end of June, so I have a while to plan.   Here are some pictures of how it looks now!

 Anyways, I've been working like crazy and I'm exhausted so that's all for now!  I'm leaving for LA in 2 days and I am SOOOOO EXCITED to spend some time with my sisters. 

The Lawrence Genes

How cute is this baby? Well you guessed it - this is a picture of Tim when he was a baby. I have to say - I have never seen him with hair so I was a little concerned - I mean, picture Tim with a boatload of curly black hair - it just seems odd! But this - this is a gorgeous baby. Tim's baby picture almost reminds me a bit of Meg when she was a baby - these are going to be some gorgeous twins!

This is Tim at age 5 - how cute is he. I love the sweet little smile - at one time he didn't mind pictures so much from what I can tell. Now it's like pulling teeth to get a smile when there is a camera around!

Mom Lawrence was kind enough to indulge me in lots of family pictures via FaceBook - she is so hip!

This is Tim's brother Danny - you can't really see it in the pictures but Tim and his brother both have gorgeous blue eyes so I'm thinking that Babies Lawrence are destined for dreamy blue eyes!

Tim's sister, Sarah - I love the funky sweater and the pig tails. I can't believe how much she looks like Tim in these pictures - I have to say the resemblance is hard to see now that they are adults.

This one is my favorite - the three kids all dressed up for pictures! Is that Tim in a suit?

So as you can see the babies have some pretty great genetics on both sides - what I should have checked into was what kind of sleepers they all were because that is what is going to be important soon!

Baby development update

Lungs

At 23 weeks pregnant, each baby's lungs are preparing to breathe. The babies produces surfactant, which allows the air sacs in the lungs to inflate. It also keeps their lungs from sticking together or collapsing when they deflate.

Appearance

Brendan and Lila's skin is still wrinkly and red by the end of 23 weeks. Their skin will become less translucent and fat is produced increasingly this week also. The babies weigh approximately one pound and are approximately eight to eleven inches long.

Hearing

Brendan and Lila will be able to hear better and better and at 23 weeks will be able to hear loud noises. They will probably react to loud noises like the vacuum or car horns. The Mayo clinic recommends singing and talking to the babies so they recognize voices of people close to them when they are born. We want them to actually want to come out so certain people may be asked to refrain from singing to them for safety reasons! You know who you are!
 
That's it for now - We love you, Babies!

Brendan and Lila have a new home!

Big news for the Lawrence Family - Meg and Tim put a bid in on a condo in Parsons Village and tonight they heard from the seller that their bid was accepted. Brendan and Lila will have their own room in a beautiful condo with brand new appliances and freshly painted walls. Meg is taking suggestions for decorating the nursery so if you have a good idea on how to blend the beautiful blue and pink bedding into one peaceful room let us know. I am doing the blogging again for a while because frankly - the preggo is a major slacker these days and there are lots of exciting things going on!

Meg and Tim celebrating their bid acceptance on the new condo!

I can't wait to see the beautiful new floors covered with baby blankets, swings and bouncy seats! I also can't wait to see the nursery where our 2 beautiful bundles will sleep! Congratulations to Meg and Tim! Goodnight, Sweet Babies - We love you!

A Quick Note!

Every week I google "fetus at (# of weeks I am)".  I love to see pictures of what the babies probably look like and it makes me feel more connected to them to see how they're developing.  Anyways, this week this very famous picture of a fetus grabbing a surgeon's hand came up.  Apparently this baby was just as far along as my babies are right now!  It melted my heart!  I can't believe that they already have such tiny, perfect little fingers! I hope they stay in my belly for as long as they need to, but I cannot wait to meet them!!!

 

I'm taking over!

Apparently Kasey felt like she was stepping on my toes with the blog, so I'm going to have to take over and do this myself! I'm not a picture taker, and even if I was our computer's memory card reader is broken, but I'll try to live up to Kasey's high standards. I love Kasey's "blog philosophy", if you will. She thinks of her blog as a way to chronicle her children's life for them. She has the blogs bound into a beautiful book that they will have when they're older. I hope my kids will look back on this blog the same way someday!


So as I said, I don't have any pictures right now to make this an interesting entry, so I'll keep it short. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and the babies are finally big enough to be able to clearly distinguish the one heartbeat from the other! This is exciting because for a while it was hard for them to tell what they were hearing, and often had a hard time finding Baby A's heartbeat, so it was an emotionally draining experience every time I went to the doctor's! This time, it took no more than 30 seconds to get 2 very distinct, strong, healthy heartbeats to reassure this very nervous mother to be!

They also let me know that my belly is measuring 30 weeks, which is perfect for twins even though I'm only 20 weeks. In the beginning of the pregnancy, given my high blood pressure and the likelihood of preterm labor with a twin pregnancy, they told me that I'd most likely be on bed rest by 20 weeks, but I'm still going strong and doing just fine at work! In fact, I'm in that wonderful 2nd trimester where sometimes I could even forget I was pregnant if not for the constant movement I can feel in my belly... and believe me, it's constant! I think they coordinate so that one of them is always awake and kicking, and at this point there is nothing more exciting to me! I don't feel that big, but sometimes I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, or look at pictures and do a double take! I'm HUGE!



So I said I'd keep this short and I've now rambled on for 3 paragraphs! Tim and I are going to look for condos tomorrow night, I can't wait to start getting a nursery ready, so say a prayer that we find something!!


P.S. I noticed that the poll has closed and it looks like the favored name for Baby Girl is Charlotte. I don't think I ever agreed to the results being binding, but I do like it a lot!

Who will they look like?

I love a little blast from the past so I thought that I would upload some pictures along the way so that we can see what the babies might look like. I asked Tim's mom for some pictures of him and his siblings so hopefully I will get to post those soon! I also have some REALLY old pictures of the babies' great aunts and uncles to post another time! This could get interesting!

Beth Lynn Kelly (Meg's Sister)

How did we not know that she was going to grow up to be an actress? She was even gorgeous as a teenager!
Eileen Marie Kelly (Meg's Sister)
I'm pretty sure she was on a sugar high after a trip to Amenta's in this one!

Karen Ann Kelly (Meg's Sister)
You could always count on KK to give us a good laugh and be in fashion!

Brendan Mack Kelly (Meg's Brother)

This was Brendan's 1st Communion and he was resisting all temptation to act the least bit holy! Big shock!

Meghan Mary Kelly (Mommy to the Babies)

Meg is sitting next to Auntie Mary who inevitably has a big smile on her face - just as all of us did when Meg was around!

Colin Edward Mack Kelly (Meg's Brother)

If you can look past the sailor suit you will see a happy, smiley, sweet little guy that Auntie Kate gave birth to JUST for me! I said that if she had another baby after Meg I would buy her an outfit to bring him home in - a few months later there he was! And I went to the hospital with a very cute little Santa outfit for him to come home in! (He was born on December 20th)

Goodnight, Sweet Babies! We Love You!

Week 20 - more beautiful everyday!

I may not be objective but I truly think that Meg gets more beautiful every single day as her belly gets bigger and her smile gets wider. The belly is halfway to 40 weeks (a full pregnancy) and the twins are making themselves known. I underestimated the time it would take to keep 2 blogs up and get ready for Easter so the posts have not been as frequent as I had hoped! That being said this is a 2 post day so enjoy!

Meg was in her scrubs so I lent her a shirt to take some belly pictures. I love belly pictures in black and white and even after an eight hour shift Meg looked gorgeous!
The Baby Belly - 20 weeks.
The twins now weigh roughly around 9 - 13 ounces and are 6 1/2 inches head to rump. If you stretched them out they would each be around 10 inches - the size of a banana.
The babies swallow alot to prepare for digestion and are starting to produce Merconium. It will build up in their intestines until they have
their first bowel movement within 8 hours of birth.


Molly is not a kid who loves to touch baby bellies. She is thrilled about the babies - just as she was about her sisters but she just does not love touching bellies and feeling the babies kick. She did take a minute to say hi to the babies and bond with them.


Molly girl hugging the babies!

Peter, on the other hand, loves baby bellies! He always had his hands on my belly when I was pregnant and when given the chance to feel Auntie Meg's babies he jumped at it! He rubbed it all over and talked to the babies so that they will know him. He says everyday that he can't wait to get to hold a boy baby! Peter wrote a letter to the babies so he is going to be my first guest blogger some time this week! Very sweet how much he loves his new little cousins.

Peter bonding with the babies!

I'm pretty sure that someday Meg will thank me for documenting these months carrying the twins. It is pretty amazing to see them grow and change from the outside - it will be even better when we can see them grow in person.

Goodnight, Sweet babies! We love you!