AngelaLollar.com

Why Not Shake It Up Even More!!

I've never been one to shy away from a challenge, nor am I one that is known for SLOWING DOWN.  In fact, my sister-in-laws mother just told me to sit my ass down and take a nap and she's probably right.  Instead, I'm writing a blog about how I don't stop and take naps!  It's just who I am.  It's somewhat by accident, but I'm one of the busiest people I know.  And I have no intention on stopping.

Our baby girls are only three weeks old and for most people just the idea of having twins is overwhelming.  But not for us!  We've hit the ground running and we already have figured out how to make our routine easy and have adapted to our new lifestyle.  So why not shake it up just a little bit more...BY SELLING OUR HOUSE AND TRYING TO MOVE!!!

Phill and I just signed the paperwork to build our suburban dream home.  I say suburban dream home because our actual dream house has a little more than an acre and a shop for Phill to play in, but for now we have to settle on getting into something that can provide the space to grow that our girls need while still allowing our savings to grow for the actual dream house that will come in the future.  For a suburban dream house, this thing is pretty sweet though!

It's actually just a couple of blocks away from our current house south east of Brighton and in the Buffalo Run East community.  The biggest selling point for me was the very large three car garage that also had additional space for Phill's tools and the fact that it was a four bedroom with a basement that we can eventually build out.  We've opted for the gourmet kitchen, granite counter tops, the deluxe master bath and upgraded cabinets throughout.  Other than that, the house is being built pretty bare bones with the intentions that Phill and I will upgrade the flooring and tile as we grow into the house.  It does have stairs which are going to be a bit of a challenge for me and my knee but ultimately it will probably provide me with great physical therapy and hopefully help me build back my strength in my knee.  It DOES let me cheat in the best way by having the laundry room upstairs, so that's a huge selling point for us as well.

SO...I'm hoping that I have been valuable enough for TGIWF to realize how much he misses me and that when I go back to work I have a job to help pay for this new place and that our current house sells quickly so we can be homeless as long as possible while the new house is being built.  We just listed our current house yesterday and already had our first showing today so my fingers are crossed.  We are fortunate to have a very good realtor who has hit the ground running on getting our house sold and I'm confident she can make this happen for us.  Diane Wildrick of Remax has quite a reputation for making things happen.

You can see the listing of our current house HERE and if you know anyone looking for a great deal on a ranch house with tons of upgrades, steer them to Diane! 

Three Weeks...

WOW!  What a difference delivery makes - and breastfeeding I suppose.  I did a very good job eating healthy and drinking alot of water during my pregnancy and I think I'm seeing the rewards of that hard work post pregnancy with how quickly I'm starting to see my figure come back.

I would say that I was about 10 lbs over weight when I first got pregnant, but during my pregnancy I gained a total of 39 lbs.  For any woman with one baby, I'd say that was a healthy weight gain.  For twins, it's remarkable!  Yet when you look at my pictures, it's hard to believe that's all I gained!  I was HUGE!

So I've slowly been noticing the loss of my belly over the past three weeks and I've been feeling it with my pants getting looser and today I felt comfortable enough to take a comparison picture!  For looking at myself side by side from the week before I delivered to three weeks after delivery, I'd have to say I'm pretty impressed with how quickly I'm bouncing back!  (I was only sucking in a little!) I certainly still have some weight to lose which is to be expected, but I'm well on my way to fitting back into my pre-preggo jeans!  Today I tried them on and I was about 2" away from buttoning them!  That's pretty good!!

I'd like to get back into my preggie swim class next week after the holiday because it really seemed to help with my joints and I have a new PREGGIE work out partner to join Stacey and I so I'd love to help keep her motivated to doing it since I swear by that class helping me to stay healthy during my pregnancy.  I know it's those last 10 lbs. that are the hardest to lose, but I'm already making a dent since I'm now 5 lbs. over my starting weight.  I'd still like to lose 10 lbs, or just get back to where I look good and feel comfortable in my NON-preggie jeans! 

Already Two Weeks!

Our little girls are already two weeks old and I'm realizing that the time is going to fly by so quickly, just like everyone says it does.  We made it through our first week just mommy and babies home alone all day and we weren't really home alone alot.  We had an extremely busy week and seemed to constantly be on the go somewhere, which is how I'd always expected their lives to go anyway.  I always said about having kids, they will come in to our world and they'll have to adapt to our way of life and so far they are.  Next week we are planning to go meet daddy for lunch one day and we're getting lots of face time with Big Daddy in addition to a visit from Aunt-Mi. 

We broke the rules and went to Kohl's and Target.  I fed them in the dressing room at both places and I've decided that isn't that big of a deal, though the gal at Target gave me a look like I was out of my mind when I came rolling out of the dressing room.  She wasn't there when I had gone in and looked annoyed at my choice to use her facility for breastfeeding.  I WORK in Boulder, I don't live there and my only other option was to just whip it out right there in the middle of the store!  I thought she would have appreciated my need for privacy!  I have been at lunch in Boulder and looked over at the table next to me to see a "whip it out" mom and no matter what you say, it was still shocking!!

This part of the post is going to piss alot of people off, but I'm totally ok with that!  Yesterday I had a follow-up appointment with my doctor and I'm happy to report that I am 8lbs. above my original starting weight!  I've already cleaned out most of my maternity clothes and while I'm still wearing maternity jeans, I am back in my normal tops - not that I really invested alot of money in maternity tops anyway.  Most of my clothes were normal shirts and outfits that I knew I could wear post-preggo.  BUT I'm back in the smaller maternity jeans, so that's a good thing.  I haven't even started working to lose the weight yet and I'm already within that last 10lbs. zone that seems to knock everyone on their butts.  I'm determined to get myself back in better shape than I was before and I'm well on my way!

Today we worked on trying to get some pictures for birth announcements.  I'm not completely happy with these, but they are still cute and they show how quickly they have already started to change!

Doing Really Great!

We've been home for over a week now and the girls are 13 days old today, one day shy of two weeks.  Phill went back to work this past Monday so I'm starting day 3 of being a stay at home mom.  So far in their short little life time they've had three baths, seen the pediatrician twice, lost both of their umbilical cords, seen mommy cry four or five times, got on a great 3a, 6a, 9a, noon...STRICT feeding schedule (Hello...I'M their mom!!) and we've snuck out of the house for our first shopping trip to Kohl's.  I had them covered and stayed far away from anyone who could breath on them so I think we're ok. We've also made a few trips to Gigi and Big Daddy's house, watched Up! and Wall-E on family movie night (they loved them...really!) we've met a bunch of people - aunts, uncles, great-grandma, and we've already found our fashion sense since daddy made them such cute outfits.

So far I've done really well my first two days home alone, but Phill was smart and made sure I had some projects to keep me from going insane.  Monday and yesterday it was cleaning out the maternity clothes from my closet since I've already lost all but 10 lbs from my starting weight and today I'm due to go through all the paperwork from the hospital and work on pages for their baby book.  I LOVE my girls but my CFO at work better start balancing his wallet to lose his bet because I would not want to be a stay at home mom full-time.  One day a week is fine, but I enjoy my adult world way too much.  So TGIWF will be very happy to read this post and know that there is an end in sight and that I will be back.  I'm certainly enjoying my mommy experience and I plan to take my full vacation and time available to me, but there are only so many projects that I can do to keep me going in between nap and feeding time, and once I get the all clear to get them out of the house, I may bankrupt us by going shopping too much! 

So I've got a great start on today's mommy project which is working on the pages with information from the hospital.  We got alot of really great pictures, thanks to the anesthesiologist who grabbed the camera out of Phill's back pocket.  But Phill took one of my favorite pictures, which is of my dad, Big Daddy peering into the nursery at the hospital with a beaming look on his face as he watched them poke and prod Bree.  I sent the picture off to TGIWF to do a little work on it and the results are amazing!  Thanks TGIWF! 

 

They're Finally Here!

I am very happy to introduce the world to our two little Sea Monkeys, Ashley Renee and Brianna Reese!  It's been a long road but we finally made it on Thursday, October 29, 2009!  With as much as I struggled these last few weeks holding them in there, I'm so happy that we did.  They are still very little but good sized for twins and I was pleased to have take home babies!  Any mother of a preemie or twin can understand that phrase.  They are both considered preemies based on their birth weight, but they skipped a trip to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) and came home with mommy on Saturday, October Halloween 31st!  That in itself is truly incredible!

Ashley Renee was 6 lbs. 0 oz. and 20 inches long

Brianna Reese was 5 lbs. 1 oz. and 19 inches long

Both are very strong and healthy!  I avoided a c-section and am feeling GREAT!  My feet are still swollen but I can breath again, have no heartburn and have actually slept more in the last few days since their birth than I did the last month of pregnancy!  I'm bouncing back quickly and remaining as active as I possibly can.

Phill is a TREMENDOUS help!  I knew he'd be great, but WOW!  Talk about a hands on daddy!  From the second they came out, he went running with both in hand to show family and hasn't stopped taking care of them since, which has enabled me to recover much quicker and avoid the overwhelming feeling of stress that not only comes with any newborn, but also with twins.  We have had to supplement donor breast milk to keep their weight up until my own breast milk comes in and once I'm done, I literally pass them off to Phill for their bottle feedings.  We've already got them on a feeding schedule that is working out very nicely and are settling in to out new family of four!

Below are the girls first round of pictures.  Enjoy!