Even Bigger! - 27 weeks, 5 days

22 weeks, 3 days vs. 27 weeks, 5 days
Clearly, the babies are growing!

Ben's first baseball practice

Ben was so excited about his first baseball practice. I think most of the excitement came from the new baseball pants and shoes. He pulled out his cool muscle shirt and batman hat to wear for the occasion. Mommy was just a little sad that I couldn't be there for all the fun.
When he came home, he was so dirty that Daddy had him take his clothes off in the garage. Evidently, one boy on his team discovered that if he dove for the ball on his knees, he could stir up a huge cloud of dust! Soooo, all the boys had to try it. Brian said there were dust clouds a-flyin'. Ben had a great time!
I don't think it was a mistake that Ben ended up on the Pirates team. He came home with his new shirt, socks, and hat --- all in black and gold. The hat has a big gold "P" on it. Daddy will have to pull out his Purdue-wear for Ben's games.

Maggie's 3rd Birthday

We allowed Maggie to have her first non-family birthday "party" this year. Mommy is in no shape to host an actual party, so she was allowed to invite two friends to go bowling. She chose her best friend from school (Kate) and our neighbor (Gaby).

Ben invited his friend, Nolan, who is Kate's older brother.

Maggie wanted pink cupcakes with cherries on top, just like Pinkalicious. She also managed to coat her face in pizza sauce and orange soda. Quite a look for a 3-year-old!

The kids had a ball!

Easter Sunday 2010

We had such a great time hunting for eggs on Easter Morning. Ben was good big brother and shared most of the eggs he found with his sister. Here, he is stuffing a yellow Peep into his mouth. One candy-filled plastic egg had been discovered by ants, and Ben picked it up saying, "This one is for the ants!" There were about 30 ants swarming on the outside of the egg. Brian said that when he cracked it open, there were at least another 60 ants feasting on the jelly beans inside. YUK!!!!!

Once they found their baskets in the living room, they didn't even care to hunt for anymore eggs. They just wanted to check out all their loot!

They survived the 90+ minute Mass at 9:30am, but by the time we went outside of church for the egg hunt, they were both in tears. Neither of them wanted to participate. Maggie, did, however, find one "patterned egg" which awarded her the lovely stuffed duck she is holding in these pictures.

It was such a struggle to get a good picture of them after Mass. I should have tried to take the photo before we left for church. I think their expressions in this picture are priceless. They were so "over" Easter Morning by this point!

"Seriously, Mom. Do we HAVE to take any more pictures!?"

ICA Egg Hunt

Went to Oldenburg for the ICA Alumni Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday. I think the highlight, for Ben and Maggie, was the visit we paid to the Oldenburg park with Aunt Janna before the egg hunt started.

I think there were about a million kids from the Oldenburg area racing to find the plastic eggs. Maggie ended up with two, and Ben found four - and that was with the help of Mary and Rachel!

Good Friday: Egg-Coloring

Ben and Maggs had a great time coloring eggs at GramLinda's house with Mary, Rachel, and Aunt Janna.

The speckle-painting kit was the biggest hit with Maggie. Ben felt it was too messy.

Our results!

After we colored eggs, Aunt Janna took Maggie for a ride.

Thursday mornings with Nathaniel

We have been spending the last several Thursday mornings with Uncle Jim and his little buddy, Nathaniel. Jim's friend, Simeon's wife is expecting another child, and she is more than happy to have Jim stop by their house every Thursday morning to pick Nathaniel up for a few hours at our house. Jim makes a great nanny, playing race cars and Little People in the bonus room with the kids. They have gone from building snow castles on the deck a few weeks ago to sand castles in the sandbox today.

St. Patrick's Day 2010

We went to the annual St. Pat's Day dinner at Seton again this year. Love the corned beef and cabbage! Just like last year, the weather was beautiful. So sunny that Ben and Maggie could hardly look up at the camera. They really enjoyed some time on the church playground after dinner.

The Howards

We had a nice play-date with the Howards today. It has been so long since we have seen them that it took Becca a little bit of time to warm up to our house/kids again. Once the lemonade and popcorn came out, she was right at home!

How big is baby?

(22 weeks pregnant)

Some of you who don't see me regularly have asked me to post some pictures of my giant-ness.
Although I really don't want to remember how big I am, I do agree that it's good to document.
Let me remember this the next time I get baby-fever!

Little Spring Teaser

The weather got up into the low 50s this weekend. Felt like summer. The kids hit the sand-box hard! There was still snow on the ground.

Ultrasound: 3/3/10

Here are the latest ultrasound images. The babies have really filled out, and they actually look more like little kids now. I love that I could see their faces today! Baby "A" actually seemed to smile in the photo on the left.

They are both measuring exactly the same size: 1 lb. 1 oz., and 16.5 cm from crown to rump (6.5 inches). The ultrasound tech told me that they are measuring slightly larger than the average SINGLE baby at this stage... She said I'm well on my way to delivering at least 7 & 1/2-lb twins! YIKES! I'm not going to be able to walk by the end of this pregnancy!

Because Brian is on a business trip to Arizona this week, I asked my mom if she wanted to come to the ultrasound with me. She was so excited because she has never seen an ultrasound before. She thinks both babies look just like Maggie. I'm not so sure of that, but they certainly look like Martin-children! I'm wondering if they are identical because everything about them seems so much the same.

Ultrasound #4: 2/3/2010

Okay, Okay, so we really wouldn't want to see them ouside of the womb yet. At this point, I think that Baby B looks almost like a cat. Nonetheless, everything is well-formed. Each of them weigh exactly 7 oz. All the parts, internal and external, are in place. Two little girls! Look out, Martin Family!