Done, done, done!!!

Today was my last day of class. We really didn't do anything other that take a class picture, fill out surveys, and eat bagels. I am so glad to be finished and not have to worry any more about school or studying or any of that. The only challenge is finding a job, although I am not sure if that will work out right now. I think I will just wait until the girls are born and until I am really ready to get back to work. That way I won't feel pressured to return to work before I feel ready. Also the sleep lab is extremely flexible with me, so if I want to come back and work twice a month (the bare minimum to stay employed) I can do that. We will see.
On another note, Caleb had his farewell (or whatever they are calling it now). It was fun to go back to my old ward and see a lot of acquaintances and friends. Also a lot of family I rarely see came. It is weird to think of my little brother going on a mission, but he will be great.
Things with the girls are going good. We have another ultrasound on Thursday, so expect another update then. This week we got a wonderful phone call from a friend of ours that recently had her third and last baby and they were getting ready to take a load of baby stuff to DI, she graciously thought of us and wanted to know if we wanted to go through the stuff first. One great thing about having twins is that everyone feels sorry for you and we have been able to accumulate a lot of the necessities used and free. Several people as they are offering their free stuff to us think we will refuse because who wants used baby stuff that is blue when we are having girls? Oh, me, me, me! After we knew we would be getting that stuff we called up Melanie who has been saving stuff for us and unloaded her storage room for her as well. At this rate, hopefully we won't need to buy too much, although I know we won't be so lucky not to need anything, we just want to minimize the impact on our wallet.
Also this week I finished my quilts I have been working on. With all the time and energy I have put into them Marc asked me if it was really necessary that I make these "can't we just buy baby quilts" he asked me. Maybe it is because he is a man, but he just doesn't understand.

A quick rant about movies

This weekend Marc and I went and saw Dark Knight. We have been anticipating this for a long time, as I know many other have as well. We got advanced tickets and have read many reviews of the movie. Almost every review I have read of Dark Knight has stated that this is truly a PG-13 movies and children should not see it because it is scary and violent and will give them nightmares. So we show up to the movies and low and behold there are children everywhere. We saw one family with small kids, like 3 and maybe 5 years old. There were also several babies. So here's the thing, I understand that people want to get out and go to the movies, but at what cost? Do people even care about what they are exposing their kids to? I personally was very disturbed at times during the movie, and I know that Marc was as well. I am a firm advocate of the ratings system in that G and PG usually mean family friendly; PG-13 means that no children under 13 should see in; and R means no one under 17 should go. Understandable these are just guidelines, but if people are going to allow their children to see movies that are rated inappropriate for them, the least they could do is go and see it first to justify a younger group viewing it. Most parents just take their kids with them instead of screening the movies first. So in conclusion, I don't think kids should go and see the new Batman movie, even though I think it is great for adults.

I feel huge

This last week I have been feeling particularly squished on the inside and stretched on the outside. Today my doctor confirmed that. As of today, I am officially measuring 9 weeks ahead of schedule (that would be 33 weeks for those who are counting). Also, this week marks the magic date that I am supposed to start taking it easy i.e. no heavy lifting and no exercising. I was a bit dismayed about the no exercise, since I think it is very important and have read that the healthier you are going into labor, the easier and quicker it goes, and recovery time is much shorter. So we compromised. I can still do my yoga, but mostly the mediation and relaxation, but none of the strenuous poses. Prenatal yoga is mostly stretches anyway, so I think I can handle that. I was realizing the other day, that I do not have many pics of myself pregnant. So because I feel so enormous and due to the request of Kristy, I have posted one.

Baby Shower

This Saturday Marc's cousins, the Jensen's put on a baby shower for me. Marc's aunt and uncle have the most amazing yard with a stream and lots of trees, so even though the day was hot, their yard remained quite pleasant. It was fun to see a lot of people that I don't get to see regularly, like my Grandma Cope, aunt Gail and cousin Stephanie who came down from Logan. Also several friends for my work and ward came, even though it was a bit of a distance. I really appreciated that instead of playing games, we did crafts . We tied 3 blankets, embroidered burp cloths and colored some wooden crafts. Speaking of blankets and burp cloths, these were by far the most popular item I recieved and was looking at them thinking it seemed a little excessive, but my visiting teacher informed me that even though I thought there were too many, I would use and need them all. She is probably right, because if you think that the babies will need to be fed every 3 hours, that is 8 times a day, times two. That is 16 burping sessions, per day. I think everything will come in handy.
My friend Jill made the cutest knit hats that I can't wait to use because pink and brown are my favorite color combo and I know they will look so cute with them on. Also Marc's mom Sandy gave us some very beautiful blessing dresses that I am pretty excited about.
After the shower, my mom took us to the Utah Fine Art Museum where they are showing the Monet to Picasso exibit that we had been wanting to go to. It was interesting. All of us agreed that we loved the impressionists stuff, but have a hard time with some of the more modern pieces.
When we were finished with the museum we picked up Lauren and Derrald at the airport and went to get sushi at Ichiban. A little side note here. Marc and I, and apparently Lauren and Derrald, love sushi. It was at their request that we went, and Marc certainly had no objections. Sushi has been the most difficult thing for me to give up during my pregnancy, and since I am suffering, Marc has been suffering also. I have told Marc that after I deliver, he is to get sushi and bring it to me in the hospital. Anyway, so at Ichiban, I tried to figure out a few rolls that would work out for me and my mom wanted something mild but not a California roll, so there were a couple of things that I had without guilt.
All in all, yesterday was a long day. We got home around 8:30 and Marc crashed on the couch and started falling alseep, so we just went to bed around 9:00 and didn't get up until 8:30 this morning.

Finally done with clinicals!!

This last week was exciting since I finished my clinical hours for school. I will probably go down a few more times, but not for the full day. I am going back to full time work at the sleep lab for a few months so that I can maximize my maternity benefits. All in all I think it will be a good thing. I will actually be making more money even though I am "working" less (I put working in quotes since I did not get paid for my clinical hours), and instead of using my built up time off I will get 12 weeks of paid maternity leave at 60%. The best part is that since the 4th, the 24th, and a planned day off for a baby shower are this month, I will only need to work 3 days a week for one week this month.
We had yet another doctor's appointment yesterday and things are good. I am not dehydrated anymore (I actually tried really hard not to be since I was informed that dehydration can lead to contractions and preterm labor) and the babies are growing well. So I am now 22 weeks measuring 27.5 weeks.
I had an interesting conversation with a woman in my ward on Sunday who has identical twin girls. She was telling me that she went full term with her twin pregnancy with her babies weighing 7 lbs and 6.5 lbs and she gained 75 lbs over the course. She is a very thin woman so I had a difficult time imagining her with an extra 75 lbs. She said she weighed more than her 6'3'' husband at the time. I really hope it doesn't get that bad for me. So far my weight gain has been good and I really don't know that I can eat more than I already do. If I eat too much I get nauseated and also feel sick if I don't eat enough. I just try and listen to my body and figure if I feel good I am doing the right things. This same woman also breastfed the twins until they were 11 months old and since I plan on doing that as well I think she will become a valuable resource for me.
As many of you know I (and the rest of my family) love ice cream. Since I have been off sugar I have found some pretty good no sugar added ice creams, but there are no fruit flavors of this variety and I love fruit ice cream in the summer. So I decided to be brave and try and make my own. On Saturday I bought a cheap ice cream maker and yesterday made my first attempt at homemade sugar free ice cream. I wanted to start with something simple and healthy so ultimatly settled on a strawberry frozen yogurt. It turned out SOOO good. I found an incredibly simple recipe and with a few modifications came up with something delicious. I cook quite a bit with plain yogurt and know how tart it can be, so I substituted vanilla Light n' Fit yogurt instead of plain and did splenda instead of sugar. It was perfect and so easy.

Ingredients:
3 cups strawberries (sliced)
1 lemon (juice)
1 cup sugar
2 cups yogurt

Directions:
1. Heat the strawberries, lemon juice and sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Remove from the heat and mash the strawberries.
3. Let cool then mix in the yogurt and test for sweetness.
4. Chill in the fridge for a couple of hours.
5. Freeze according to the instructions for your ice cream machine.