12 weeks...

Wow!! I'm slacking on blogging!! I blame it on the CONSTANT fatigue :) Luckily there isn't really much to update on really... things are going nice and smooth! The queasiness is letting up, but the fatigue is getting worse. I'm hoping things will pick up again in the second trimester before I get sluggish again in the third. My house is looking pretty bad!! We had our NT scan on Tuesday, and it was really neat to get to see the babies looking so much like babies now. Baby "A" was a stinker, and at first refused to get in the proper position to get the measurement. Then once it did, it started kicking Baby "B" in the back! Baby "B" would wave it's arms and stretch out it's legs every time like it was startled by the kick. The scan went good overall, and the babies look happy and healthy! "A" had a heart rate of 160, "B" had a heart rate of 163. Next week is our first OB appointment, and it should be a pretty quick one just to ask a few questions and for him to look at my records. I'm sort of hoping for an ultrasound again, but I'm not going to get my hopes up since I've had so many already! I just love seeing those little babies moving around in there :)

As for stuff at home, we have figured out what part of P's school problems are! (yay!) His Mom is pregnant! Of course we realize that it's going to be a big adjustment for him being the only child at his mom's house, and he is a VERY big "mama's boy". Now just comes the hard part of deciding how much to let slide... we can't let him think it's ok to slack on school work, but at the same time we have to be a little understanding that a big "life change" like this WILL have a big affect on him. So the fun begins...

25% down....

YAY! 10 weeks down, around 30 to go! Of course with two it'll most likely be less than 30, but I'm going to go as long as possible! Weight gain is up almost 2 lbs. now :) I don't know how I haven't gained more with how much I've been eating! I really haven't thrown up that much at all either. Look at my belly!! (excuse the weird look on my face... concentrating on holding the camera still!) I can't hide it anymore. Of course not too many people have asked me if I'm pregnant, I usually get women at church who say something like "So... how are you feeling?" You can tell they want to ask if I'm pregnant, but of course are afraid of offending me if I'm not :) Today I'll be scheduling our Nuchal Translucency ultrasound at a really great hospital here. I'm excited to get so many ultrasounds! I'm hoping with twins that my OB will do a lot more than the 2-3 that I got with R... and we got more than normal with her because they thought we had a problem with low fluid. Also more BIG news! I SWEAR I felt the first little flutters of movement yesterday. If I held really still at my desk and stared at my belly I could even SEE them! Some felt like muscle twitches at first (can your uterus twitch??) but then I felt the distinct "popping" I remember feeling with R! The best way I can describe it is that it feels like a popcorn kernel popping open while under a pillow... weird, I know... but seriously that's the only way I can think of describing it. I'm going to try to catch it on video for M&D. I don't know if I just got lucky and one of the babies was close to the front of my uterus (which is larger than a grapefruit now, babies are about the size of golf balls, in case you were wondering!) and it was easier to feel, or if one was just really active... either way I know no one believes me that I really felt it, but I KNOW I did :)

R LOVES LOVES LOVES preschool! She just acts like it's not even a big deal... she just takes it in stride! I forgot to download the pics of her on her first day, but I will try to tomorrow. P's back to school night went ok. The teacher gave us a better understanding about what to expect as far as homework goes... which is nice, but at the same time we shouldn't need to check on a 9 year old... if he says his homework is done, he's the one responsible for making sure it is.. not us! As far as the talking in class goes, Mr. L said P is not his worst student (doesn't make me feel any better), and that P just needs to learn to stop procrastinating... since he has until the end of the week to turn in late work he thinks he can talk in class during work time and then do the homework later... Mr. L had no advice on how to teach him that though... so basically we aren't any better off. I want to be completely hard on him (ie: take him out of school for a week and let me home school him, no sports, no fun, lots of chores), but S doesn't... it's so hard not to just throw my hands up in defeat.... my 3 yr old knows not to talk in class!! Why can't a 9 yr old do that??? UGH!! Ok...done with my rant now :)

Teaching Kids Club tonight! Last week we had a new little boy (Tommy) who I believe is Autistic, but I don't think the parents have had him officially tested. It was challenging, but even more rewarding when I could tell he enjoyed (and was focusing on) the crafts we did. During song and story time I pretty much spent the whole time trying to physically stop him from pushing or pinching other kids. Luckily the older kids are used to being pushed a little, so it didn't phase them too much, but I still can't let him just run around doing that... Off to go search the Internet on tips for helping him! Hopefully tonight will be a little easier.

School days....

Well, P has been in school for about 3 weeks and it's not going so well. I'm at a complete loss on how to handle this. He's always had a problem with talking in class, and through a couple years of rewards & punishments, he had gotten quite a bit better. Well this year is apparently much worse. I think the teacher (Let's call him Mr. L) isn't strict enough for him. Mr. L doesn't assign "homework" per say... they have numerous weekly assignments that can either be done during work time in class, or completed at home. Apparently P uses this "work time" as "talk time" instead... then when he doesn't finish his work, and we ask him "have you done your homework" he tells us "yes"... at 9 years old he knows better than to lie about it, and he should be responsible enough that we shouldn't have to check. P was at his mom's house all last week, and she asked him every night "Is your homework done?" to which he always answered "yes". Well come Friday morning, she e-mails his teacher a note saying: "I know you normally give out weekly progress reports the following Monday, but is there any way I can get Preston's today before we leave on vacation for Labor Day? I'd like to know if he's earned his privileges." Simple enough, right? Mr. L e-mails her back... P is missing TWELVE assignments!!!! (WTF?!) So needless to say he did nothing but homework while on vacation, but it didn't even seem to bother him! When he got to our house yesterday afternoon, we had him pack up all his video games, to some extra chores (pulling weeds!) and then I went to a local school supply store and bought workbooks for him. To add insult to injury, he did the workbook pages, but I can tell he completely put ABSOLUTELY NO EFFORT into them. For example on one page there was a sample outline of a Nobel Prize-winners life. One of the assignments was to use the outline to Write out a "biography"... basically making complete sentences straight from the outline. Throughout the 3 paragraphs he wrote, there was over 30 words mis-spelled... given they were words he probably hasn't written much before (like: destruction, Oregon, Chemistry), but the words were ALL typed out in the sample outline!!! He obviously had to look at the outline to get the information, but he wasn't paying enough attention to actually look at the SPELLING of the words. UGH!

How do you get a 9 year old to take school seriously?? His mom is a teacher, you'd think she'd know, but obviously whatever she's tried hasn't worked either. He doesn't seem to be bothered by losing privileges, toys, etc.... I can't figure out what WOULD motivate him?!? I've thought about taking a day off work and spending it watching him in class... maybe some good ol' embarrassment in front of these friends he's talking to would do the trick. Or maybe I could make him a shirt that says "IF I'M TALKING PLEASE IGNORE ME" and make him wear that. Maybe I should try making a rule for the rest of the week that if he has anything to say he needs to raise his hand and wait for us to acknowledge him?? Anyone think that would work?? Could I ask the school to send him around with the janitors and make sure he knows that if he doesn't do well in school he will be doing something like that for the rest of his life? Back-to-School night is tonight, so you can bet I'm going to be drilling his teacher on what he thinks we should do with P...

Well, on a much happier note, S just dropped R off at her first day of Pre-school!!! WOOOO HOOO! My baby is getting so big :) He said she was a little nervous at first, but then the teacher got her and another girl to help her fold a blanket and she was fine after that. I can't wait to pick her up today and hear lots of stories about what she did!