Abby, Zoë and Enzo

Abby and Zoë got some more time at home with Daddy today.  I had a doctor's appointment, this time with my primary.  I had told Chris that I wouldn't mind taking the girls with me since it should just be a quick visit, but I was glad that they had stayed home.

Saturday night I felt a little pinch of something biting me on my stomach.  I lifted my shirt to see a litte pin head size welt, where sure enough I'd been bitten by something.  I didn't see a bug, and didn't think much of it.  Over the next couple of days the spot has turned into a red circle that keeps expanding.  So, I went in to the doctor this morning and waited for so long to see her.  I was the only one in the waiting room and got taken in quickly enough, but just had to wait and wait to actually see the doctor.  The nurse even peeked her head in after a while to apologize for the wait.  After my two minutes of actual doctor time, I was sent a couple of buildings over to get my blood drawn to check for a lyme titer.  Hopefully I'll know early next week what the results were and if I'll have to start some pregnancy friendly antibiotics or not.

It has been so wierd lately.  Every day has been one that starts of really overcast and feeling like it will rain any minute, but then the sun comes out for a while.  Then, in an instant, it's all dark outside as if it's been raining all day.  Some days we do get some showers here and there, but others are just tricking us.

This morning I had a doctor's appointment close to lunch time, so the girls just stayed home with Chris.  The sun came and went several times just on my way there, even raining very briefly at one point.  I expected it to be raining when I came out from my appointment, but it was sunny and nice... very ood.

"Overnight Art" is happening in Portsmouth.  It's a project where local artists from the seacoast have come up with sculptures and they are being placed in various places around Portsmouth "overnight"through the end of May.  They will stay up through the end of August.  The first one that we noticed is called "Giant Ant" and it's located in Market Square.  On May 14th one called "History in Liquid Motion" was put up.  On the 16th "Umwelt Bench" was put up.

Yesterday we took a photo by the "History in Liquid Motion" and today we got one at the "Umwelt Bench", we were going to get a photo by the "Giant Ant" but when we passed it, it was missing its head.  We're not sure if it was vandal or construction work related.  The other sculpture we wanted to get a picture by, one that was to be put up today, we couldn't find.  "Umwelt Bench" was set up in the park, so we walked down and got some pictures and then the girls got to have a good time running all over the place.

The other's are set to be out May 21st and May 23rd.

We made our own laundry detergent last night, and tried it out today.  It worked really well, any stains I'd pre-treated and washed had come out, the whites were nice and bright, and the laundry smelled fresh.  Chris and I had seen this on a site called "The Simple Dollar" and decided to try it out.  Here are the ingredients for a batch that does 52 loads of laundry:

1 cup washing soda
1/2 cup borax
1 bar soap
Approximately 3 gallons water

We already had the borax, finding the washing soda was surprisingly difficult (we ended up finding it at a local grocery store), and we bought the cheapest most natural bar soap at Wal-Mart... Ivory.  The way the costs per load of laundry work out, nine loads using the homemade detergent has the same detergent cost as one load of the store bought detergent.  We made half a batch this time around, just to test things out.  When this is gone, we plan to make another batch, probably a full one this time (if we can find a big enough container).  The money we save, plus the fact that we've ommited a bunch of junk in our detergent, and also the fact that it works well, has won us over to home made detergent making.

For full directions (including photos) as well as the full price break down, go here.

It seems we've been at the Valley's a lot lately.  We went over this afternoon and enjoyed the company of Reanna and Corey as well us Uncle Tommy, Liz, and Grampy.  Reanna and I prepared some kabobs to go on the grill as well as some other veggies, while Grampy read story after story to Abby and Zoë.

After dinner there was some more story reading, and then we decided to stop at the ice cream stand down the street.  Given that it was already past 7:00 p.m. we decided to just get the girls in the car and drive over, while everyone else walked.  Abby and Zoë were thrilled when I came back to the car with a 'princess twist' ice cream in a cup for us all to share.  They've actually been talking about this very flavor of ice cream lately, remembering from when we got it one time here last year, and that's without any of us reminding them about it!

We went to Wal-Mart in search of washing soda.  I had called before going to ask specifically for this... not baking soda, not the arm&hammer laundry detergent, but washing soda.  I was told they had it, of course we couldn't find it when we got there, so I was tracking people down to ask about it.  While I was off on my search, Chris had both of the girls.  They had wanted to be in the cart, so they were both sitting in it when he walked five or ten feet away.  At this Zoë shouts at him:

"Hey Dad!  You forgot your kids!"  Laughing, Chris asked "Where?" and Zoë answered, "Right here!  Come and get us!"

Today's appointment was quick.  The woman said that we'd just do the cervical length check instead of also doing all of the measurements on the baby.  The cervical length was 4.4 cm, which is very good.  While doing the length check, we were able to see the baby's head a little bit.  I had asked when the next time they'd look at the baby would be, and she wasn't sure.  When we were done, she asked if I wanted to do a quick peak with the belly ultrasound to see the baby... I didn't hesitate to agree.  We took a quick look, he's looking good and developing so quickly!

Working on picking out a name for this baby has brought up discussions about the choosing of Abby and Zoë's names.  Chris and I go back and forth about this, him saying that he chose the names and me saying that we chose together.  We finally worked it out to where we both agree about how picking the girls' names came about, and I've been asked to write down my agreement about how things happened.  The reason I'm doing this is because there's a certain name Chris just brought up as a choice for this baby that I wasn't in agreement with... Fernando.  He said he wouldn't back down and take this name "off the table" unless I put in writing the agreement we came to this morning.  So here it is...

Chris and I both liked the name Zoë, and that was the first name we agreed on, before we knew the sex of the babies. (As a side note, we just could not agree on any boy names, we had actual agruments over them.  We did have a handful of girls names though.) Chris had the idea then to do an 'A' name and a 'Z' name so we'd have A to Z.  Once we found out both babies were girls, we were agreed on Zoë and had to pick an 'A' name.  I suggested the name Abigail, but Chris didn't like it that much and said just Abby.  I said that maybe we should at least put 'Abigail' on the birth certificate to give her more options, but he said that he'd like to do the names with four letters/characters for the first name, and eight for the middle name.  (Spelled Zoë when the umlaut is available, the acceptable spelling is Zoee, as the letter "e" is used immediately after the umlauted letter, when the umlaut is unavailable.  Thus making Zoë's name fit the 'four character' criteria) The reasoning behind this is that his favorite number is eight, and when you add the first and last name, they equal eight.  The middle names are eight.  When you add those together it's sixteen, which is evenly divisible by eight... any way you work it, it all adds up to the number thing.  For the middle names Chris was suggesting things that ended in a long 'a' sound, but close to what we finally agreed on.  I said that I'd like a 'hard' sounding ending since both first names ended with the short 'e' sound.  So, we agreed on Caitlynn and then Jaquelyn... but the spelling was still up for discussion.  I liked the spelling of 'lynn' for the ending (as apposed to 'lin' or 'lyn') which Chris agreed to for Zoë's middle name, but since it would make Abby's middle name nine letters instead of eight, I agreed to drop an 'n'.  And that is how we agreed on Abby Jaquelyn and Zoë Caitlynn for the names of our baby girls.  We had their names set by week 25 of the pregnancy.

Now for this baby's name.  It's been the opposite issue that we had with the girls as far as boy and girl names.  This whole pregnancy we haven't heard any girl names we really liked, but have thrown around some boy names.  We tried to come up with some names that began with a letter near the middle of the alphabet, so we'd have  beginning and end and one in the middle.  None really grabbed us though.  We've actually just had one name for the first name that was ever truly in the running, the others were just ideas.  When I was pregnant with the girls, one of the boy names Chris suggested was Vincenzo (Vin-chen-zo), a name he'd like since he was a teenager.  I'd never heard the name and looked at him like he was crazy and veto'd it right away.  This time when he brought up 'Enzo' as a choice, it had grown on me and I liked it as a name for our little boy too.  I thought, yet again, that maybe we'd do 'Vincenzo' just on the birth certificate, (it is eight letters after all) but Chris wanted to just do 'Enzo'.  Also, a couple of years ago I'd heard the name 'Giovanni' and really liked it and it has stuck with me.  We talked about some different options such as Giovanni Vincenzo, Vincenzo Giovanni, or Enzo Giovanni.  'Giovanni' isn't Chris' favorite, but he said that he'd agree to it as a middle name.  I lucked out that it's eight letters.  So, before this child is even born, we have it in writing that Chris picked the first name and I picked the middle name, this baby's name will be Enzo Giovanni.

At church on Sunday, Anna Claire had said that she'd like to have a play date with Zoë and Abby.  Abby suggested Monday, but that wouldn't work since Anna Claire has school on Monday mornings.  So Anna Claire suggested Tuesday.  Andrea said that they had kindergarten registration first thing in the morning, but that we could meet up at 11:00.

So, Abby, Zoë, and myself walked over to their house this morning, where Anna Claire was already playing with some toys in the sandbox.  We sat out in the yard for a little while with the girls playing pony's in the sand, then went in for some lunch.  Andrea made some organic macaroni and cheese, with peas mixed in.  Anna Claire calls this "babysitter noodles" because she usually only gets it when she has a babysitter.  The girls also got to have juice boxes, another thing none of them get to have often.  I had brought carrots, raisins, and sandwich triangles. 

After lunch the girls all played dress up for a while, before needing to clean up to have some special applesauce before it was time for the girls and I to walk back home.  Everyone was sad that it was time for us to leave, but they decided that next time we'd like to have Anna Claire and Andrea over to our house and have Anna Claire stay for a slumber party.

We took the swim masks out of the packages this evening and sized them for Abby and Zoë.  The girls wanted to wear them into the shower to try them out.  So we brought them up and got set to use them after the shampooing.  Unfortunately the girls were just being too rowdy and lost the priveledge of being able to try out their goggles.  They'd like to try again next time, but this time they'd like to wait until they get to have a bath and try them out in the tub.

It was time again for the mother's of multiples sale this morning, so off I went a bit early to try and be at the front of the line of people waiting to be let in.  Reanna met me there, but didn't get there until a little bit after everyone had been let in, and unfortunately  couple of things that she'd been hoping to find were already taken as I hadn't known all what she was looking for.  It was much bigger this time than the last couple of times I've gone, both with the amount of people there and the amount of things being sold.  It's always held in the same elementary school, usually just in the cafeteria side, but this time the movable wall was open and the gym side was being used as well.

Once I felt like I was probably done getting items, I looked over at the lines to buy and they were so long, I just couldn't believe it!  By the time Reanna and I made it to the front of the line to buy our items, I'd been gone for about two hours... I never take that long at this sale.  I ended up getting a Boppy Pillow, a double headrest for the infant car seat, some plastic lined bibs, about five summer outfits for 'little brother', and a bikini for each of the girls.  One swimsuit, a really cute one from Old Navy that looked like it had never been worn, was just a dollar.  The other one was from the Gap, and was just fifty cents!  I ended up spending just $13 for all of the stuff.  When I got home and showed Chris and the girls what I'd bought, Abby said to me, "You just got us the two swimsuits and nothing else is for us?".  Ummm, yeah, the effects of having a little brother are apparently already sinking in and he's not even here yet.  I did explain to her that she and her sister didn't need any more summer clothes, and I looked for sandals but there weren't any for them and she seemed content with that.

Zoë and Abby came down this morning and saw their new bikinis sitting on the couch.  Needless to say, they were very excited.  Grandma Cindy had told me that her and Papa Norm would like to buy them for the girls, so she called into the store last night and paid over the phone and then after the girls were in bed, I drove over and picked the suits up.

Abby already has it all figured out, she told me that when it's really warm beach weather she's going to wear her bikini and her pink polka dot flip flops.  The girl has a plan.  Her and Zoë spent the morning drawing pictures of themselves and each other in the swimsuits, at the beach with the swimsuits, anything to do with them wearing the suits.  They also talked a lot about when we're going to be able to go to the beach to use these suits.

Abby and Zoë measure the weather by what clothes they are able to wear.  I'll tell them the degrees and then they'll ask if that means they can wear a dress or at least capri's.  We're working on getting them to understand the degrees, and I guess if figuring it out by what they're able to wear helps them along the way, then that's just fine. 

A little funny about this... the other day Zoë was asking what it was going to be like out for the day and I told her and she said "Wow, that's like,  holy crap warm!"  It was pretty funny, especially since it was actually pretty chilly that day.

Today was a "capri weather" day, but by the afternoon it had cooled off so instead of going to a playground we went to rumble tumble.  Zoë and Abby were happy that Dakota was going to be there to play with.

We trapsed around on the hunt for bikini's for Abby and Zoë.  We tried three different second hand stores in the area.  At each one I would hold whatever I found up to the window, or come show the girls and Chris at the car.  We didn't find what we were looking for at any of the stores, but at the last one I did find a pair of really cute sandals that looked brand new so we went ahead and got those.  We were planning to go ahead and go back to the Gap after nap and purchase the other bikinis, but there were some behavior issues that made that not happen.

We actually didn't do anything festive for the occasion, but we did get out a bit.  This morning we took the bubbles and sidewalk chalk out to the porch and had some fun with those.  Daddy got to use his big bubble wand that we got for $1, quite worth it. 

Later we went to the Gap in Kittery.  While we were there we went to the kids section and looked at swim suits.  Abby and Zoë, for whatever reason, are insistent on having a bikini this summer... no full piece.  I veto'd any bikini with triangle tops, but we found a handful and headed to the dressing room.  This trip marked the first time the girls have had to go to the dressing room to try stuff on.  I know it will be only the first of many, from now on we'll probably have to be trying on clothes before buying.  The girls loved this and loved getting to try on the suits.  The first ones we got in the young girls section and they were the xs 4-5 size.  If they had been full piece that probably would have been fine, but not so for the two piece, the bottoms wouldn't have stayed on long in water.  Then Abby tried a bikini on that just stopped both girls in their tracks.  It was pink with white polka dots, the top had nice coverage and, here's the biggie, the bottoms had a little ruffle skirt attatched.  The first size we got was a little big so Daddy went back and grabbed two size 4T and both girls got to try these on.  They were dancing in front of the mirror, Abby was jogging in place to see the skirt part bounce on her legs... it was so funny.  The price however made us decide to wait and see if we could get something like this elsewhere for cheaper, or see if these would go on sale.  Zoë completely melted down (having had no nap)  and was just in tears over not being able to bring the beloved bikini home with her.  I told her we'd look around tomorrow at a bunch of different places and if we didn't find one like it for less money, then we'd go ahead and go back to get the ones at Gap.

When the girls and I went to church this morning, the rain was coming down.  There was no kids choir practice, and going at the regular time meant not getting our usual close parking spot.  (The one designated for families with young kids)  So, we parked at the far side of the parking lot, which was one big puddle, and trekked carefully inside.  The bottom of Abby's pants were soaked before we even got halfway, luckily they dried out after a while.  Thanks to their ladybug and frog rain coats, the rest of them stayed nice and dry.

Today during Sunday school we watched a video of a production the kids will be doing.  It's a musical called "A Tale of Three Trees", which they will perform June 8th.  We got a booklet and cd to bring home so that Abby and Zoë can learn all of the songs.  I'll be helping teach the kids the movements that go along with the songs.

The girls and I were going to walk in the March for Dimes March for Babies again this year, but walking 3 miles in today's cold and drizzly weather didn't seem like a great idea.  Since the start/ending was at the Middle School right next to the library, the girls and I drove over and hung out for a little bit to say hello to Reanna and some of the other Live and Learn staff who were walking.  Once they were ready to begin, the girls and I went to the library.  We hung out and picked some books to bring home, read some there, and then after checking out we hung out in the car for a few minutes to see if we'd catch Reanna and the others finishing their walk. 

Finally I decided to head home, but as we were pulling out of the street, we saw the group turning the corner, so we looped back around and met them back at the Middle School grounds.  We stood and talked with everyone as they waited in the food line and then once they made it to the tent we got in the car to head home.  After a little bit Reanna came over and hung out until it was time for Zoë and Abby to take a nap.

If you already read the poem, you probably already have the answer you were looking for.  Yes, it appears we're going to have a little BOY!  It was pretty obvious, and actually last time at the 16 week ultrasound I thought it was pretty obvious and told Chris that I was 98% sure, but we didn't want to say until we were sure.  Abby and Zoë are super excited that they're going to have a little brother, and we're very excited too.

The ultrasound took a long time, we had someone in training or still new or something, not to mention the fact that just before we got there, this little one had lodged his head way down in my abdomen, which made it difficult to get the head measurements.  He was moving a ton too, rolling and kicking and moving his arms around.  Finally, after I emptied my bladder and came back so that the 'head' lady could take a look, the baby had moved and it was easier to get a couple of more measurements.

Abby's already a big sister in her mind... to Zoë.  Actually, she acts more like another mother.  Don't get me wrong, Zoë will tell Abby what to do, and be bossy plenty of times, but it's more in that sister bicker kind of a way.  Abby says things to Zoë as if she has the authority of a mother, and as funny as that is, it gets on (the real) Mommy's nerves.  *smile*

Abby was feeling pretty 'big girl' today I think.  In the afternoon I had brought one of the infant car seats down to take out to the car and see how much room we really (didn't ) have in the back seat.  Abby came out on the porch with me, carrying the base piece for me.  She must have asked a million times if I needed any help and kept reminding me not to hurt myself.  She said to me "I thought maybe I could come down there and give you some help... just in case you needed some help."  Later on I was standing at the sink doing the dishes and was feeling the baby move more strongly than usual, so I had Abby come over to see if she'd be able to feel it.  She says she did, though I'm not sure if she actually did or not, but it made her feel very important.  After that she was telling Zoë all about what you have to do to feel the baby move and how it felt her so it moved.  Then she told Daddy and felt even more special when he put his hands on my belly but couldn't feel any movement.

Later on we were at the gas station and I had gotten out to go pay.  Both girls were talking and then trying to say something to me so I opened the door and realized that Abby had been talking up the baby movement again because Zoë asked, "Mom, is the baby moving again?"  She wanted her turn. : )

The girls and I had been downstairs in the living room for a while this morning after waking up, before I remembered to tell them about the chocolate cake Daddy had surprised me with last night.  Abby was drawing and said to me, "Mommy, do you know what I really want, but shouldn't have because it isn't healthy?"  And then I remembered and had both girls go take a look in the kitchen... they asked if they could have some for breakfast.
They did finally get to dig into the cake after lunch, and both told Daddy what a good job he did. 

Later on I went ahead and ordered a couple of things from tgiFridays since we had some money left over on a gift card that Nonna gave us a while back.  We went out to put our laundry in the dryer at the laundromat, but all of the dryers were in use, then to the post office and then to pick up our food.  When I got the food to the car Abby declared that it smelled delicious, Daddy thought it smelled like a skunk.  After dinner Daddy served each of the girls a generous piece of the chocolate cake.