Our New House

With two babies on the way, Am and I decided that it was time to put our townhouse behind us and look for something with a bit more space.  We really wanted something that we could keep long term so we started searching for a house with enough space for 3+ kids but also one that we could afford comfortably on just my salary.  Unfortunately that didn't leave a lot of options within the West End area of Richmond where we had been living.

We knew that with two munchkins we were going to need all of the help and support we could get.  We decided the ideal house would be one that was in between Richmond (where my mom lives) and Fredericksburg (where Am's parents live).  We have some friends who live in Lake Caroline in Caroline County.  While on a trip to visit them, I looked at what houses were going for in their community and found the prices were great!  We did some Zillow searching, picked out some houses we wanted to see and contacted a realtor to check them out.

After looking at the 7 that I picked out in Lake Caroline, the realtor took us to a house we hadn't seen in a nearby lake community called Lake Land'or.  We fell in love with that house and put in an offer the very next day.  It was a VERY long road with many delays but we finally moved into the house just over two weeks ago.

Lake Land'or is a gated community which helps keep crime low.  There is a sandy beach on the lake that will be great for the kids as well as a community pool and several tot lots.  The lake is large enough that you can take gas engine boats out but also quiet enough that we will be able to take kayaks out (that is on our purchase list for next summer).

A lot of you have been bugging us to take you on a picture tour, so here goes.  Explanations for each picture are below each shot.

We will start with an outdoor shot from the treeline right by the road.  As you can see, the house has a good size front yard with a little bit of grass and a long driveway (going to be great fun in the winter).  The backyard has a privacy fence surrounding it.  The front yard is surrounded by woods on one side, the backside of our neighbors privacy fence on the other side, and then right behind me in this picture is trees that separate the road from the yard.  We love the privacy and quiet of the property (the loudest noises are the crickets at night).

The backyard is in rough shape.  It is very private but the grass is few and far between.  Dogs, a big playground area, and what we believe was an above ground pool all contributed to the dirt patches.  This needs some serious work.  There is a patio out back that is uneven and really should be torn out and replaced.  This is on our list as a project for the next year.  Overall though the house exterior is in great shape and most of the needs are simply cosmetic.

Here is the view when you come in the front door.  To the right is a half bath and to the left is the office (it is really a dining room but we are making it an office).  The open doorway you can see on the right goes into the kitchen.  The first door on the left is a closet and the second goes to the basement.  At the top of the picture is a banister from the second floor.

Here is that room that we are going to use as an office/sitting room.  What you see in the dead center of the picture is the entrance to the staircase to the upstairs and beyond that an entrance to the living room.

Here's that staircase to the upstairs taken from the living room.

Turning around from that last picture is a shot of the living room.  We fell in love with the open floor plan that flows from the living room to the dining room to the kitchen.

Here is a shot of that living room from the other side.

Here is the dining room looking into the kitchen.  Right behind me is a sliding glass door out onto the deck.

And here is the kitchen.  One of our future projects is to put in a small island to add some counter space and a little more storage.  The previous owners took all of the appliances when they left (the house was a foreclosure).  This worked out well for us as the bank put in a new dishwasher, stove and microwave.  They painted the whole house a nice tan color and put in brand new carpet.

On the other side of the kitchen is a small laundry room.  This is a huge step up from having those items in our kitchen at the townhouse.

The final room on that main floor is a one car garage.  Nothing fancy but we love the high ceilings as it will allow us to put in a loft for storage.

Moving upstairs, this is the view from the top of the stairs.  You are looking at the entrance to our bedroom on your immediate left followed by the kids bathroom, the guest bedroom down the hallway, and the little girls bedroom to your far right.

Shooting from the doorway in our bedroom and looking toward the front of the house, you have the stairway to your immediate right and the banister looking down on the foyer straight ahead.  The door to the right of the banister is the little boy's bedroom and the door to the left goes to the little girl's bedroom.

Here is a shot of the master bedroom.  We love the hardwood floors.

And here is the master bath.  It has a shower to your left followed by a soaking tub, the toilet, our walk-in closet, and the his and her sinks (a must for Am).

Here is the little boy's room.

And here is the little girl's room.  She got the bigger closet...

Here is the kids' bathroom.

For many of you, this is the most important room.  This is what Pappa and Mamma Breen call the FROG (finished room over garage).  This room will be the official guest room once we cough up the money for some furniture.

Downward to the basement.  There is a huge open room with built in bookshelves that will be our den.  We are looking forward to getting some furniture for this room that will allow us to use this for family movie nights and Bible studies.  The door on the right goes to a half bath and guest bedroom.

Here is that second guest bedroom.

And here is the basement half bath.  We are hoping to find a way to squeeze in a shower to this bathroom at some point in the distant future.

That concludes our tour.  The longer we are in this house, the more we love it and the more it feels like home.  Special thanks go out to each of you who have helped us get the house up and running.  You guys rock!!!

Ultrasound @ 27 weeks and 2 days

Am and I went in for our 27 week ultrasound this morning.  As mentioned earlier, we will have ultrasounds every 4 weeks throughout the pregnancy to ensure that both babies are growing the way they should.  The fear is that one baby will begin to move far ahead of the other baby and will hog the majority of the nutrition.  While this is not as big of a concern with fraternal twins, it is still something they like to monitor.

We are very happy to report that both babies are progressing well and are right in line with where they should be in size.  Our baby boy is currently weighing in at exactly 2 pounds and our baby girl is weighing in at 1 pound 15 ounces.  You may remember that our boy weighed 1 pound 4 ounces and our girl 1 pound 3 ounces four weeks ago.  So both babies have gained 12 ounces or an average of 3 ounces per week.

Apparently the babies have been shifting positions some so we have not always been blaming the correct child for sleepless nights and brutal karate chops.  It is still really hard for me to visualize who is where.  Am definitely has a better grasp on that. 

We did get further confirmation that we are looking at a boy and girl and that both appear to be healthy.  We need a little more shifting to occur in order for them to be in position for a natural birth.  Currently they both are more in a feet down position.  But overall it was a very good report as we come down the homestretch that is the third trimester!  Here are a few pictures from the visit (they still don't scan very well but are better than nothing).

The first is the two heads and you can see that they are still right next to each other.  In a lot of the shots from the 3D ultrasound it looks like they are constantly sticking feet and arms in each other's faces.  I didn't quite understand how this was possible considering they are in separate sacks.  But the doctor confirmed today that the sacks are very thin and they definitely can and do mess with each other.  So we already have some sibling bonding going on (or squabbling depending on how you want to look at it).

The second shot is one of the girl's face.  You can't see it very well (especially in the scanned version) but it is a lot better than previous shots of her face.

And the final one is a shot of the girl's feet.  Again, not a fantastic shot but she had her feet together which was quite cute.

3D Ultrasound Video

We just received the 2 minute video of the 3D ultrasound.  Portions of it are kind of cool and portions of it leave you scratching your head on exactly what it is you are looking at.  I guess 3D ultrasounds are kind of like playing the lottery - you may get lucky and have an amazing experience with video of your baby sticking her tongue out or swallowing or smiling at the camera or you may get nothing more than confusing pictures of a what appears to be a squirming alien (or in our case, two squirming aliens).  We were somewhere in between but probably leaning more toward the latter.  We did have a normal 2D ultrasound today - more on that later when I have more time. Until then, here is the video (beware the creepy music):

3D Ultrasound - 26 Weeks

Am and I went back and forth on whether or not it would be worth the money to get a 3D ultrasound done.  The 2D ultrasounds that you get at the doctor are very cool but you can actually see features in the 3D ultrasounds and you can get a DVD and electronic versions of the pictures to share.  We originally decided against it as we didn't feel it would be worth the money.  But then came the constant kicking and moving that Am feels pretty much all day and night.  We decided that would be really cool to see!  We guessed doing it at 26 weeks would be good from the standpoint that the babies still have room to move but bad from the standpoint that they don't have much meat on their bones yet.  We decided the movement was more important to us so 26 weeks it was.

So we did some research online and decided to use Inner Child Imaging in Innsbrook.  We showed up for our appointment this morning and were met by Dave Onesti.  Dave was absolutely fantastic but our babies decided not to cooperate, especially our baby girl.  The babies are literally lying right up against each other which limited the angles available for viewing their faces.  That said, we loved being able to see all of the movement and to realize how close they are to each other.  Their heads are side by side and their legs and arms seemed to be all over each other.  This constant contact probably explains why they are awake and moving so often.  It was also nice to count fingers and toes and to see that both babies appeared to be doing well.

Many of you have already stated that you find 3D ultrasound pictures creepy.  Sorry.  We received around 50 of them but many are hard to make out so I am limiting my post to 3.  Hopefully we will have our video to post online by mid-week but for now the pictures will have to do.

This first one shows a side view of our baby boy's face.  You can see him looking down with one arm in front of his face and his other hand underneath his arm.  Right above his head is the head of his sister.  She was resting her head on her brother's neck for most of the ultrasound.

This next one shows the view looking down on their two heads.  Each of the babies has a hand up by his/her face.  The joke was that they are telling each other secrets.

This final one is just kind of funny.  This is a side profile of our boy and makes it look like he is in a thinking pose.  Our babies will spend the rest of Am's pregnancy fattening up but you can definitely see that they are quite skinny at this point.  One thing we read today that was really cool, though, is that if the babies were to be born this week, they would still have a 95% chance of survival!  Oh, and yep, that is still baby girl's head lying in his neck.

Now we just have to decide if we are going to go back and give it another go in a week or two.  Either way, we will post the video later this week.

Pregnancy Pictures - 25 Weeks

It has been 4 weeks since our last round of pregnancy pictures so, much to Annmarie's displeasure, it was time today to do another set.  We just completed our 25th week so we are nearing the 2/3rds mark.  Our babies are most definitely growing fast in this stage but Am continues to be a trooper. One thing is for sure -  she is still EXTREMELY beautiful!!!!!  Here is my beautiful wife and the mother of my babies:

Ultrasound @ 23 weeks and 2 days

Am and I went in for our second ultrasound this morning.  The twins have upped our classification to a "high risk pregnancy" which means we get to go have these pictures taken on a much more regular basis.  The doctors want to be sure each of the babies is growing at a good healthy rate and that we don't have a situation where one baby is hogging the nutrition.

The ultrasound went great (with the exception of my trying to record a video of the ultrasound on my iPad only to find that somehow I didn't hit "record").  The babies are both growing well and "everything looks perfect".  Am's suspicions about who is hanging out where were confirmed and the babies were very cooperative in terms of positioning.  Here are some shots (not great ones - using the copier at work as a scanner):

 (This one is from the side looking directly down on the two babies' heads.  Baby B is our boy and Baby A is our girl.  Both brains look highly intelligent to me!  Our boy is up high in Am's stomach while our girl is riding very low.)

 (Here is our baby boy looking at the camera - I think they are going to be photogenic like their mother.)

 (And here is our baby girl looking at the camera)

We also had 100% confirmation that our boy is a boy and our girl is a girl (they left no doubt - we have a picture but our boy was being quite the exhibitionist and I wasn't sure it was internet appropriate).  Our baby boy is sitting at 1 pound 4 ounces and our girl at 1 pound 3 ounces which are both right on target.  Next official ultrasound will be 4 weeks from today.  Thanks for your continued prayers!!!

Pregnancy Pictures - 21 Weeks

I have suffered much harrassment thus far for not posting much in the way of pregancy pictures of Am.  It gets worse when I explain that I have not even taken any pregnancy pictures of Am.  How in the world could a guy who fancies himself a photographer not have pictures of his wife's first pregnancy?  As hard as I have tried to come up with a good response, it has escaped me.  We have committed to take pictures every weekend for the past month but something always comes up that gets in the way.

Until today.  We swung by University of Richmond after our Father's Day lunch (Firehouse Subs, yum!) for a few quick shots.  The lighting was awful as we had the mid-day sun glaring down on us but my hope is that these shots will keep the mob at bay.

We are officially at 21 weeks and 1 day pregnant with 18 weeks and 6 days to go.  With twins on the way, chances are that 18 weeks and 6 days will end up shrinking by a week or two.  Am has officially passed the awkward stage where people are unsure whether she is pregant or sneaking a few too many snacks.  People we don't know are now openly comfortable coming up to ask about the baby(ies).  Am's belly growth has really taken off over the past few weeks.  I am guessing the babies just didn't want to spoil the surprise of twins so they held off until the announcement to really hit their growth spurts.  Unfortunately this belly growth also means more back pain, discomfort and trouble getting out of bed.  But Am is still being a trooper and keeps soldiering on.

Our nurse midwife had to bail on us as twin births are considered higher risk so Am and I are meeting with our new doctor this Tuesday.  We are excited to begin building that relationship and start to get some advice on any nuances of being pregnant with twins.

Am is also now far enough along that she can feel the babies move...a lot...all night long, actually!  This morning I received an amazing Father's Day present as, for the very first time, I was able to feel one of the babies kick - twice!!!  It was an AWESOME experience.

Alright, without further ado, here are the "21 weeks" pregnancy pictures (and I promise not to wait another 21 weeks to post more!):

This one is especially fun as Am and I spent countless hours walking around this pond getting to know each other when we first started dating (hard to believe how short a time ago that was - can you believe that at this time two years ago, we didn't even know each other?).

Las Vegas, Nevada

Two weeks ago Am and I headed out to Las Vegas for a food vacation (no, not a vacation from food but a vacation solely dedicated to food).  I had to be in Vegas for a finance conference and it seemed like a good opportunity to head out a few days early and to bring Am with me to check out the city.  Neither of us had been before and Vegas definitely would not have ever made it onto the list of places we would want to go on vacation but they do have one thing that Am and I both love...great restaurants!

I know what happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Vegas but I just can't bring myself to not share our experiences.  Our first stop upon arrival was the hotel that we were staying at for the first two nights.  We cashed in some of our Marriott Rewards points for a great room at the Cosmopolitan.  Our room was incredible!  It had a great bathroom with a huge glass shower (love those!), a jacuzzi (not that we used it), two big flatscreen tvs, and a balcony overlooking some of the strip.  The coolest feature was that you could turn any light in the suite on or off (or dim them) using either the television or the alarm clock!  You could control all of them at once, just the ones in an individual room, or an individual light.  You could also change the temperature in the room and how hard the fan was blowing...all from the comfort of your bed.  I could get used to that pampering!  Here are some pictures of our hotel, our room, Am having roomservice lunch in bed, and us living the high life in our complimentary robes and slippers:

The primary purpose of our trip was, of course, to eat!  We made a list of the restaurants owned by Am's favorite celebrity chefs before leaving but knew that we would only be able to hit a few of them.  Our #1 priority was going to Mesa Grill which is owned by Bobby Flay but we kept being told that they were completely full.  Friday night we decided to give Michael Mina's Seablue (in MGM Grand) a try.  The food was great but VERY expensive and the restaurant requires business casual dress which is a pain when you are walking in very hot weather.  Am went with the salmon and I went with the scallops.  Here we are at Seablue:

The next morning we headed to the Paris Hotel & Casino to find some breakfast.  We ended up at Mon Ami Gabi and ate out on the patio overlooking the Bellagio.  The food was fantastic and very reasonably priced.  We would recommend!

After breakfast we decided to just walk south down the strip to see the sites.  Here are some pictures of us in various places on the strip:

Am with the Bellagio and Caesar's Palace in the background.

Am at the New York New York Casino.

Am at the Luxor Casino.

Next up was shopping and just hanging out at M&M World and the World of Coca Cola.  We bought some really cool M&M souvenirs and tasted coke products from around the world.  Unfortunately we thought we only had one baby on the way so we only bought one M&M baby outfit.  I guess we are going to have to go back to get another!  It was a very fun afternoon.

Am talked to her mom and found out that a lady that she used to work with has a son who works at the Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill in the MGM Grand.  We found out he was working lunchtime on Saturday so we decided to do lunch there.  We ate some great food and had fun meeting Jeremy.  We were treated like royalty and left with very happy stomachs!  Here is our feast and us posing with Jeremy:

We decided that we would go to one show while we were in Vegas.  I gave Am the choice of which one we would attend and she decided on Elton John.  Elton was playing at the Colosseum at Caesar's Palace (the Colosseum was built for Celine Dion).  The concert was okay but not great.  The band overpowered the piano on most of the songs and the sound just wasn't all that fantastic.  If our expectations had been low, it probably would have been good.  But our expectations were high and the concert did not meet them.  Here we are before the concert (I still stink at taking a picture of the two of us without a tripod) and a picture from the concert:

Our final day was Sunday and it was a little more low key than the previous days.  We moved from the Cosmopolitan to Caesar's Palace where my conference was taking place.  We had some breakfast at Starbucks in Caesar's.  We didn't get to the big Las Vegas sign so we had to settle for Am getting her picture taken with the Starbuck's Vegas sign:

Finally for lunch on Sunday we were able to get into Mesa Grill...and it was worth the wait!  When we were in Ireland I had the best hamburger that I have ever had.  Ever since then I have been on a quest to find as good a hamburger in the United States but every place I have tried has come up short.  I didn't know much about Bobby Flay but I kept seeing articles about him and burgers so I decided to give it a try.  And Bobby succeeded!  The burger I had was unbelievably good!  Our appetizer was great too.  We had a great bowl of sweet potato soup.  Here is our awesome soup and a picture of us at Mesa Grill:

After lunch we headed to the movie theater next to MGM.  I know, I know, why would we go to a movie while in Las Vegas?  We were totally and completely beat by this point and were wanting to see the new What to Expect When You're Expecting movie.  The movie was hilarious and it was nice to get off our feet and out of the heat.  After the movie we stopped back by the Paris Hotel & Casino to grab some crepes.  I made the mistake of going the fruit route.  Am went the nutella route and hers was way better!  Here are the crepes:

By the end of Sunday we had hit a point where we were done with Vegas and ready to head back home.  Unfortunately I had to send Am back without me so I could attend the conference.  We can now check Vegas off our list.  Neither of us really has a desire to go back (with the exception of Am's desire to go back with Veronica to see Celine Dion in concert) but now we can say that we have been there.

Carolina Winds - Myrtle Beach, SC

On our recent trip to Myrtle Beach, we stayed at the Carolina Winds condominiums for the first time.  We chose a 3 Bedroom Oceanfront Deluxe condo in hopes that we would end up with great views.  By visiting in May, the prices were still fantastic so the room upgrade was not a big deal...and we were definitely not disappointed!

We stayed in room 1203 on the top floor of the complex and had stunning views of the ocean.  The appliances were modern, there was a great washer and dryer and the balconies were massive.  From our bed in the main bedroom we could look out over the ocean without even lifting our heads off our pillows.  It doesn't get much better than that!

Here is a look at where condo 1203 is located in the Carolina Winds complex from down on the beach:

And here are some views from the balcony:

While visiting, the garbage disposal in our unit stopped working so we called down to the front desk.  Within an hour, maintenance was finishing up installing a brand new disposal.  The service was absolutely fantastic.  Our housekeeping staff was warm and accomodating and made us feel extremely welcome.  I can't say enough for how wonderful our stay was.  We will most definitely be back to stay in the same unit!  Here is a rough video tour of condo 1203:

And the baby is a...

Am and I went in this morning for our very first ultrasound of her pregnancy.  Since she is at the 18 week mark (in her 19th week), we were hoping that they would be able to determine gender at this visit.  Am was convinced she was having a girl and I was convinced she was having a boy so we have had a good competition going.  What we were not expecting was a tie!  Yep, we were both right!  God has blessed us with one of each.  Here they are:

I don't think either of us is over the shock yet.  While we have twice the joy to look forward to there is also the need for two of everything!  But we are definitely overjoyed!  Both babies are 18 weeks and 2 days old and both weigh about 8 oz.  The doctor said they appear to be in perfect health.

Twins also explains why Am has been having such a rough time physically.  That means two babies needing nutrition and her body has had to produce two placentas, etc.  That is a lot of work!!!

So I owe an apology to all of you out there who I have been calling crazy for predicting twins despite the lack of twins on either sides of our family.  You were right!

Correction #1:  My mom just talked to my aunt who talked to my grandmother who told us that her father (my great grandfather) was a twin.  Oops!

Correction #2:  Apparently I am not alone in my lack of knowledge of twins in my family.  Apparently Am's great grandfather on her mother's side was also a twin (and a boy/girl twin).  Pretty amazing that neither of us realized this!  Also pretty crazy that for both of us, it is our great grandfather on our mother's side!!!

Here is our baby boy:

And here is our baby girl: