33 week check-up...

This visit to the doctor was most uneventful!
She had nothing to say except that the babies are sounding nice (good heartbeats), and we are all growing nicely (based on Sarah's measurements, weight, and the sonograms from last week).
We will see her again in 2 more weeks for another check-up, and she still says she sees no reason that the babies would be born between now and then. Nothing would make us happier!

Aside from that, we are just awaiting the arrival of our baby furniture.. The diapers are here and washed, ready to go into the dresser/changing table. We called BuyBuyBaby today to inquire the whereabouts of the last of the furniture (the glider) but the special order person was out "due to weather" so we will find out tomorrow. It should all be here soon! We also set up our stroller - incredibly easy to do - and it is hanging out in the apartment waiting for babies to hold.

There's the stroller with the two car-seats - fully assembled and ready to go! We didn't put the car seat bases in the car yet - its a bit early - but we know what to do to install them safely and they are nearby for ease.

Check back soon for another hint as to the names of the babies... We are trying to figure out what kind of hint to give next for you fine folk. :)

32 weeks already?!

Tomorrow (Saturday) will mark 33 weeks into the pregnancy. This past Wednesday we had our most recent growth scan. We didn't get any new pictures because the sonogram machine was all blurry.. However! We did get new weights and the babies are growing very nicely!
Baby A (girl) is weighing in at 4 lbs and Baby B (boy) is in at 3 lbs 14 oz. They are very nicely on track for their gestational age and they are looking wonderfully healthy.
Contrary to popular belief, not all twins are born incredibly early and not all twin pregnancies are induced at 38 weeks. (This seems to be popular belief among society, not our friends and family specifically.) So I (Sarah) am here to tell you that 1. These babies aren't expected at this time to come early and 2. my doctor has no plans to induce labor until 40 weeks and 1 day. The only thing that would change #2 is if a health concern arises - which Doctor doesn't see happening for any reason. The three of us are very healthy and growing nicely, on track, etc, leaving no reason to induce or c-section early. I only am telling you this so that you are aware that the twin-hype that is out there is mostly just that - hype.

That all aside, we are bearing down for Hurricane Irene. We are expecting to be hit - hard - tomorrow (Saturday) evening and all day Sunday. We are prepared and Stefanie is heading to an evac center as a volunteer to work overnight (as requested of many city employees).
Hope you are all staying safe and dry if in the path of what is predicted to be one of the worst storms in decades!

SHOPPING!!!

Yesterday we went to BuyBuyBaby and got our car seats, stroller adapters, second toddler seat for the stroller, and lullaby CD's. (Hear here: http://www.babyblanketmusic.com/baby-elton-john.html?SID=m25v4t0o7rb4sb508uditaig14 - use your back button to come back to our blog!) We got the Elton John and Billy Joel versions. Very soothing and the kids, so far, love them! We also have (from a previous shopping trip) Rockabye Baby which you can hear at this link: http://www.rockabyebabymusic.com/ecom2/index.php/rockabye-baby-lullaby-renditions-of-queen.html (again, use the back button to come back to our blog!). We have Queen and Journey. Yes, our kids will love our music.

This is our car seat (though not our photo since they are still boxed up - too early to open), the Chicco KeyFit 30 in Adventure. We picked the green/grey combo because of its "neutral" coloring, perfect for all genders.  :)

Today we went to one of our favorite stores, Caribou Baby, in Brooklyn and got a whole slew of cloth diapers. We even took pictures to share them with you....

These are some of the pre-folds that we have. These are organic and super duper soft. (Extra bonus: they are purple edged, Stef's favorite!) We also have a bunch at Stef's parents house, non-organic. On top of these, in that package, are "Snappi's" which hold the prefolds on and together - no safety pin = no blood! Yahoooo!

These are the covers we got. These go over the pre-folds (and cotton all-in-ones) for leak-free happiness.

These are some of the AIO - All In One - Diapers. They have a flap on the inside for absorbency, don't require a cover, are quick and easy to put on/take off, etc.

This is another AIO diaper, which doesn't require a cover either.

These AIO diapers are cotton - and should be used with a cover, especially at night!

Before & After:

The photo on the left shows a cotton AIO with a cover, undone. Guess what the one on the right shows?

Correct! Stefanie's arm! Good job! :)

Make sure you keep visiting this blog, following along with us... and following along with our clues as to the kids names. Do we have any guesses yet? Please, share your thoughts.... (about anything! Not just names, or diapers, or the current post...)

A hint to the hint...

A = 1
E = 23
O = 14
U = 18

Wordy friends! Word lovers! Scrabble players!

By golly we are feeling... generous today.
No new baby information except that everyone is refusing to sleep EVER and keeping Sarah up all day and night. No new weights or pictures..
HOWEVER! We've decided to give you a super hard hint as to the names. This one requires a lot of skill. It's a cryptogram. If you don't already know how to do one, the instructions are at the bottom. Once you decode the cryptogram sentence, you should be able to rearrange the letters and get each of the kids' first and middle names. (The names will be individually written, letters may be repeated from first to middle, first to first and middle to first.)
Good luck!!
Please, share what you think the names are in the comments section below (and know that we will not tell you if you are correct, but you will have proof if you are in fact correct.)