On the eve of Week 24

And your mother still asks, "Do I look pregnant?"   What do you think?

March Madness

Hi cherubs, sorry for neglecting you!  This past month has been crazy busy!  Two offsites at work for me, three weekend trips in a row, and three doctor's appointments for you two, and maybe buying you two a house to grow up in...About those doctors appointments, two of them were over two hours in duration because your cheeky selves would not cooperate with the ultrasound tech!  All she wanted to do was make sure that you had all your parts and everything was going gangbusters, but nooooo.  All you to wanted to do was thrash about and moon us and hide your face with your hands.  Troublemakers.  Everything they did see seemed a-okay so perhaps you are not in as much trouble as you would have otherwise been.  See below for shots of your adorable selves at almost 23 weeks:

You two were over a pound each at the last scan.  So weird when I remember you were the size of a sesame seed each.  And now you weigh more than the boxes of pasta you will be eating with regularity when you are older.  

Okay, I really should be getting dressed for work.  I just want you to know that my current obsession is ricotta pancakes with blueberry compote that I saw Curtis Stone make on television last night.  And also, your love of bell peppers continues on.  I ate every bell pepper (fished them out even) of the green beef curry I had for lunch yesterday.  More pictures and updates later!

Hello Heartburn

Well cherubs, as of last week, you are apparently each the length of a banana and the weight of a can of cola.  You both have giant heads and are growing ahead of schedule, which is not a huge shock given that I have a huge head and I was a 10lb+ baby.  Your poor grandmother gave birth to both me and your Uncle Duck vaginally, and he was over 11lb!  Your Aunt Jeannie was the first baby, so she was like 7lb8oz or something normal like that.

Your dad and I signed up for prenatal classes - we have nary a clue about what to do with you.  And up until now, I have blanked it all out.  Just been concentrating on keeping you guys healthy in there, healthy enough to kick me in the belly button apparently.  I haven't bought a single thing for you (but don't worry, your Grandma Fran is making up for it in spades) because I've been so nervous about how you guys are doing.  I don't think I will yet.

At work, your Aunt Shay is feeling inspired by gross baby cakes (imagine pictures of faces peeping out from between buttercream legs) so who knows what she might come up with for the baby shower.  She once made this awesome bunny cake, see below, inspired by the killer rabbit from Monty Python, so she is totally capable of figuring out a creepy cake to welcome you guys to the world...

Anyhow, so Mommy's boss, Cheesesteak, wanted Mommy to go to China for work.  Thankfully, your doctor said, um, no.  And we appreciate that because you, like the rest of the family, are a pair of Taiwanese nationalists.  Also, we appreciate that we don't have to breathe in some disgusting smoggy air that has been leading to the creation of cancer villages in China.

Finally, I read that you can now taste things that I eat.  Or maybe you can taste the amniotic fluid.  Whatever it is, you are no longer in Mexican food phase.  Nor are you enjoying Mommy's true love of spicy foods.  (You are, however, still enjoying the bell peppers).  And in return for Mommy eating these things, you have decided to reward me with some terrible terrible heartburn.  Even from a croissant this morning!  That's just mean.  Very mean.

That's all I got kiddos.  Be good in there.  I have taken to calling you Agatha and Bertha.  Aggie and Bertie.  Don't worry, you know now that they are decoy names while we keep your names secret from the world.

Millions of Eggs

Hi cherubs, you had your anatomy scan today.  I lay on my back for the longest time in months, and a very nice sonographer stared at all parts of you guys. Your brain, your spine, your little feet, your kidneys, your stomach, your hands, your nose, your lip, your palate, your heart, etc.  Then she looked between your legs.  I thought I saw a pouch of skin suggesting testicle, but apparently I am terrible at this.  There were no penises to be found, on either of you, and so congrats, you're girls!

You probably knew this already by this point.  You know, since you have no Y chromosome but it's sort of a surprise to me.  I'd been saying you two were girls for weeks now, but deep down I still expected a boy.  Your super mathematical dad figured a girl/boy was the most common occurrence.  But you followed the tradition of the Tsai women and you're ladies.  As I told your Uncle Quinns, girls are way less likely to be murderers, so we're glad you're girls!  Your Auntie Shay said she could hear you two gossiping to each other when she listened to my belly yesterday, and apparently she was right.

Apparently by this time in your development, you each have 6 million eggs or thereabouts!  Crazy!  So along with my own, I am a walking egg bank right now!

Anyhow, your father also took a belly picture for our enjoyment.  Behold how giant you are making your mama (you are each 12 oz today!)...

Mommy has been looking at pictures of celebrities who are due the same time as me to see who is more pregnant.  And wtf.  Here are your comparisons (to be fair, they are all carrying just one apparently):

Duchess Cambridge, who is carrying the Royal Heir to Great Britain.  Doesn't she look SUPER pregnant?!?

Jenna Dewan-Tatum, wife of the super hot Channing Tatum, at the Oscars.  Doesn't she look gorgeous?

Kim Kardashian, carrying the baby of Kanye West, and dude, look at that butt.

So It's Official

I apparently like bell peppers.  And by "I," I mean me being controlled by you two, the puppet masters.  Keep in mind that for years, I hated bell peppers. All bell peppers.  Some people say, they are fine with red, but not with green.  I never liked any of them.  It's one of the things that your father and I had in common.  (And also Grandma, who doesn't like them either).

But then on Monday this week, I was at lunch having tempura at Caffe Macs (yes, the food is fancy here).  And it was a mixed tempura so true to form, I ate the salmon, the scallops, the shrimp, the broccoli and the squash first.  Then there were two.  A carrot and a red bell pepper.  I ate the carrot because I thought you guys might need some beta carotene for night vision.  And then I was in the middle of a lunch meeting and couldn't leave, so I snapped off a little piece of tempura batter from the bell pepper.  And it tasted so good that I devoured the whole thing.  I was shocked.  I am a woman who has told everyone across the land that bell peppers are terrible because the flavor of them contaminates anything they are in.  And there I was, eating a bell pepper.

Then today, at lunch, I ordered mongolian beef and it had three colors of bell peppers.  And sure enough, once again, they were delicious.  WTF cherubs, wtf?!?

Your Auntie Shay was very happy.  As is your Uncle Gerg no doubt.  Me, I am confused.  And I blame you.