Maternity Clothes?

Hello Blog Friends! A quick update on my baby boys and preggo. We had a fabulous weekend in Knoxville! Wish we could have stayed longer, but looking forward to being there for several days over Labor Day. The boys and I ate well to say the least. I'm not sure if I mentioned this before or not, but red meat has been one of my big cravings, which is strange because I didn't really eat that much of it before pregnancy (more of a chicken and fish girl). Nothing against it, just wanted other stuff instead. That has changed now, so of course when I go to K-Town I have to hit up the best steak place in America...Ye Olde Steakhouse! I'm telling you, no one can come close to this steak. It's phenomenal! Mom and I found time to fit in some shopping too. Really miss having my mom and sissy to shop with, especially now. We took full advantage while I was in town. Mom and I both were worn out after.

This week has been pretty easy as far as teaching classes. I just have 2 Pumps to teach, which is fine with me. Really trying to take the Dr.'s advice and take it easy on the workouts. The weather has finally started cooling down a bit in the mornings, so I have been able to get out and walk (yes, walk NOT run). I would honestly rather run, but I'll take walking for now. Better than bed rest, right?! Plus the beautiful weather helps. :) My belly has definitely popped out a bit. Finding it harder and harder to fit into my clothes. Hanging onto those non-maternity clothes as long as I can though. I have not crossed the line into maternity clothing world yet. Believe me, I'm trying my hardest not to. I am using the rubber band trick with some jeans/shorts that still fit. Since it's summer, I have a lot of sundresses that have a lot of room in the belly, which is very nice. I also bought some shorts in a bigger size and wear them low on my hips. I am finding it difficult to find cute maternity clothes, so if ya'll have any suggestions or cute boutiques you like, let me know! I know it's going to be any day now when I need those maternity pants, etc. I have gotten a couple of pairs of maternity jeans...a pair of True Religion flairs with the secret fit belly (got on sale thank you very much) and a straight leg J Brand pair (which my sweet sissy was so nice to give me). A girl's gotta have some cute jeans no matter what! ;) I hope these will get me through my whole pregnancy and after when I'm still not back to my normal size. The good thing about the styles right now are that they are very forgiving in the belly area. Ok, so that's my rant about clothing. Oh, and another thing I wasn't prepared for with the clothing situation is that EVERYTHING is starting to fit too tight or small. That means pj's, bras, lounge clothes, workout clothes, etc. So basically if you are preggo or planning on it, not only do you have to worry about the cost of baby stuff, but the cost of a whole new wardrobe as well. Keep in mind you will need in between clothes (when you're not huge yet but still have a little belly) and "Big Mamma" (full blown preggo) clothes as I like to call them. :) This I was not prepared for. I promise I am finished talking about the clothes. Those of ya'll that know me know that I love clothes, so can't help it.

Looking forward to the upcoming weekend. Adam and I are taking our last little trip together to Charleston. I guess you could call it a Babymoon. It will be a long time before it will be just the two of us at the beach again, so we are going to enjoy! Needless to say I am looking forward to some beach duty and some good food! Poe's, Hank's...maybe some Basil...ya know...Hey, maybe I will even come back with a tan. Goodness knows that this year I have not been the sun lover I normally am. Too hot for this preggo and the pool feels like bath water.

18 Weeks Preggo

So, I had my first visit with the High Risk Dr. yesterday. It started with a really long ultrasound. I think it may have been over an hour. The Tech was very thorough, which made me feel very good. She really examined each baby (measuring and looking at bones, organs, etc). However, Baby A was not very cooperative. That may have been why it took a little longer. Apparently he was on his head with his chin tucked into his chest. Doesn't sound comfortable to me, but must have been for him because we could not get him to move (and believe me we tried). The poor nurse kept shaking my belly and even turned the table on a huge decline so he would move, but Baby A is proving to be a little stubborn, ha ha. Both weigh 6 oz. which is great! Baby B is 1 day smaller than Baby A but that is not a big deal. We just keep praying that they will continue to grow equally and be strong and healthy. I was glad I really questioned the Dr. about my working out/class schedule too. My OB told me it was fine to keep running, teaching aerobics (just stay low), and lifting semi-heavy weight in Body Pump, but the high risk Dr. had some different advice. I was advised not to run anymore :( and to lighten up the weight load for Pump. Oh yeah, and stay very low impact on aerobics, which has been hard for me since I teach a high impact class, which may have to go by the wayside for now. Again...:( Oh well, I will be back before I know it I'm sure. It's worth it! I am already looking forward to jogging with my babies in my jogging stroller. For now, I'm gonna take it easy and listen to the doc. It sure isn't worth pre-term labor or bed rest. We want those babies to stay in as long as possible.

I have to go back to high risk doc every 2 weeks until 26 weeks so they can keep an eye on my boys. They are really watching out for twin to twin transfusion syndrome, which we definitely don't want to happen. I don't want to even think about it, so I am praying all will be fine. If I hit the 26 week mark, then my chance decreases tremendously. I would greatly appreciate your prayers for my babies to be healthy.

So enough about that...I am looking forward to going home to Knoxville this weekend to visit my parents. I think they will be surprised by the bump I have now. I definitely look preggo at 18 weeks. Plus I need to see some TN Orange. Speaking of, football season is right around the corner. Can't wait! I am planning on going into K-town for several games, so I hope I will be feeling up to it. :)

Nursery Basics

Hello all! Adam and I had a very productive weekend, which I am paying for now. These days I can only do a few tasks at a time. Not quite the same as I used to be. Plus I had to teach Body Attack Friday, Sunday, and Monday, so that wears me out as well.

We did have a fabulous weekend though. It started off Friday afternoon with a trip to the salon. I always feel better after I get my hair did. :) Saturday I had a lot of energy for some reason, so I took full advantage. I have been dying to get the cribs squared away (or at least ordered). I am so ready to start working on the nursery and that's one of the first steps besides painting. We found the cribs we wanted several weeks ago. It's hard to find a crib that's not the trend right now of the convertible bed (crib to toddler to full) with the huge headboard on the back. The cribs we chose do convert into a toddler bed, so that's perfect. We will worry about "big boy" beds later. Plus, they may not even want to sleep in their "crib" anymore even if it is converted. Since we have to buy 2 and our space is limited, we decided on a traditional crib but it's very classy. We also feel we got a good price for 2. Ya'll would not believe how ridiculously expensive some of these cribs are. We (I) have to keep in mind they won't be in them forever. So, here is a pic of the cribs we selected. The color we chose is Espresso, which is a lot darker wood than what is shown below. They are on order and expect them to be in this week. :)

After we got the cribs squared away, I dove right into figuring out exactly what I want for the crib bedding. The store we purchased the cribs from has the option to design your own custom bedding, which really appeals to me since I am having a terrible time finding exactly what I want. Plus I love doing stuff like that! Everything is so busy with these horrible tacky prints. I want something very simple without a print especially since there will be 2. I don't want the small room to look too cluttered but light and airy. The custom bedding is ridiculously expensive, so I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do that. I have a few options, which I will list below. Any ideas, comments, suggestions would be great! Ideally I would like for the main color of one set to be light green and the other to be blue. I want them to be different but still similar. So here's what I'm thinking...



These are from Serena & Lily. I would have the bumper pads monogrammed with the boys initials (blue and green to match)

Here is the Pottery Barn Pique option. The only drawback is that both sets would have to be in blue since they don't offer it in a green. So, I would have to make it look different with different colored sheets and monograms I guess. Like I said, any suggestions are welcome! :)

In addition to narrowing down the bedding choices, we also went to Lowe's to pick up some paint samples for the room. Seeing that the twins are boys, we have decided to paint the room a light blue shade. We have yet to paint the samples on the wall but will get to that soon.

I had so much energy on Saturday I knew I would pay for it later. After looking for cribs and bedding all day, I was even able to go on a date with the hubs downtown. We had a fabulous sushi dinner at Koji and the weather was so nice we were able to walk around and get ice cream. It's been so hot lately that it's unbearable to be outside. I honestly felt a little like myself Saturday night. :) And yes, I did pay for all my productivity. Sunday I was wiped! It didn't help I had to teach a high impact Body Attack class either. Adam and I tried to go to church, but I just couldn't make it. My body was screaming for rest.

I have my first appointment with the high risk doctor tomorrow morning, so hopefully everything is ok. Crossing my fingers I will get to see my babies again. :)

Oh BOY...

(No, I am not this preggo yet. When my sis was in town, we went maternity clothes shopping. Apparently they have this Velcro belly thing you can put on to see how clothes will fit once you're huge. I thought it was hilarious, and we had fun playing around. BTW, I think this is a dress, but Katie thinks it's too short, ha ha. I miss having my sissy close by.)

Are ya'll shocked that I have posted 2 times in the past week? I am trying my hardest to be better about blogging. I have to post our latest news...

So my 16 weeks doctor's appointment was yesterday. I went in thinking I would get an ultrasound because I am carrying mono/di twins, which could be considered high risk. At first the nurse told me I wasn't scheduled for an ultrasound, but I quickly had them change that. I think there was definitely a lack of communication. They way I understood it was that I am to get an ultrasound at every visit to make sure both babies are growing equally and one is not being a hog basically. However, they quickly got me back into the ultrasound room, which I was very happy about. I honestly wanted to find out the sexes too. They told me I would find out at 20 weeks but was keeping my fingers crossed they would be able to tell at 16 weeks. Well, lo and behold, the first question the nurse asked was, "Do you want to know what they are?" Adam stalled a minute because we had initially discussed we were going to have the nurse write it down for us, and we would find out later on our own. Guess what I said? "Yes, yes!" Those of you who know me well know that I am not a very patient person, so of course I couldn't wait another minute! Plus, I wanted to know what I was looking at on the screen if you know what I mean. So....having said all that, our babies are...BOYS! And for the record, I knew they were boys before we even went in there. I had been feeling like they were boys for several weeks now. I also have to give credit to my dad because he called it from the beginning. He thought they were boys all along. We are very excited about our 2 little boys! My family is mainly girls, so this will definitely be a new experience. I know Adam is happy too. Since he is an only child, there will now be 2 more men to carry on the Vicars name. Our little boys are growing just fine right now. Baby A is 3 days bigger than Baby B (not sure how they can tell that), but that's perfectly normal. We got some awesome 3D pics too. Now, I have to start going to the high risk doctor as well. My first appointment with the high risk is next week, so hoping all goes well. Now, let the shopping begin! I am such a dork but I have already picked out every combo of bedding (depending on genders), so I know exactly what I want now. I am dying to get the cribs and dresser ordered and start painting, etc. I guess that's all for today. I am going to post some pics of our baby boys...

Baby A

Big News!

Clearly I am awesome at keeping up-to-date with my blogging, ha ha. Hilarious, right?! Anyway, a lot has happened in the past few months. I say I am going to be religious about updating this blog but I'm not gonna lie it's very hard for some reason...but... because of our big news I want to document our journey so I promise I will try my hardest to do better. So....for the big news....Adam and I are pregnant with TWINS! Yes! That's right! 2 babies! We definitely got the shock of our lives in that ultrasound room the beginning of June. We had just gotten over the shock of being pregnant then we were faced with 2 babies on the screen. We literally couldn't believe it. I just busted out laughing hysterically. Adam sat very still staring at the screen with his mouth wide open. I'm just glad he didn't pass out. I thought he might, ha. The thought of twins never even crossed either one of our minds. I had never heard of any twins on my side of the family and no, no fertility drugs were being used. It happened naturally. These are the 2 questions I am asked most. I did find out later that my Great Uncle (my Grandma Lovett's half brother) was a twin. His twin died at an early age, so I had never even heard of him. We honestly weren't "trying" that hard to get pregnant. We weren't preventing but weren't adamant about trying. Here's my take...God's timing is perfect. He has a plan, boy does he, and little did we know and still don't know (ha ha) all he has in store for us. How quickly things change. God also won't give us more than we can handle. I keep telling myself this, ha ha. Honestly though, we couldn't be more overjoyed for our 2 little lives growing in my belly. I already can't wait to meet my sweet little babies. We haven't found out the sexes yet (dying to know) but I think they are boys. We go back to the doc Tuesday for our 3rd (planned) visit. I am 16 weeks now, so crossing my fingers we will find out the sexes even though they told us we wouldn't know until 20 weeks.

Here's a little background on my pregnancy so far because I know you are all so interested in the details. Humor me though! Maybe some of ya'll reading this are pregnant too and want to follow my journey. I know I love hearing about other people's pregnancies. Although I have to admit before my pregnancy, all this "pregnancy" talk made me roll my eyes and honestly throw up in my mouth a little bit. My how things change....

So, my journey began on May 12 which was the date of the first preggo test. This is when Adam and I got our first shock. I had no clue I was pregnant. Didn't "feel" pregnant at all. Thought I was late because I had been teaching crazy Body Attack and Body Pump classes at the gym and working out like a maniac. Nope, not the reason. The due date as determined by the doc on my first appointment is January 12, but since I am having twins, it will probably be sometime in December. I have to admit my first trimester was hard! Luckily I never had terrible nausea (just here and there) and some food aversions, but never physically got sick. I was able to eat. This may have been what saved me. Oh my goodness did I eat! I always had something on my tummy. I would be starving all the time too! Probably because I was trying to grow2 babies. The thing that made the first tri so hard was the fatique. I mean there's tired but I'm telling you, this tired doesn't compare. I honestly thought I was on my deathbed. I had no energy at all! Yes, I'm a bit of a drama queen, but trust me coming from someone who is very active, I didn't know what hit me. Well, I did but I had a hard time coming to grips with reality. Yes, I had to say goodbye to my crazy active lifestyle and slow it down a bit. Even if I wanted to keep it up, I couldn't. I would wake up and be tired and go to bed at like 7 or 8 and if I was lucky to have time I would take a nap too. I really didn't want to leave the couch much, so my DVR was my (still is actually) best friend. Real Housewives to be exact, ha ha! :) Other than the terrible fatigue, first trimester was fine.

We did have a little scare after our 2nd Dr. appt. The same week I was abruptly called back in for another ultra sound, which scared me to death. They called me while I was teaching a class at the gym and when I called the nurse back she said to come in today right now. Of course I was so scared. Everything imaginable went through my head. Turns out, they had to find out if the twins were sharing a placenta or not before they got too big. The pics they had gotten earlier that week weren't clear enough. They are sharing a placenta, so it makes my pregnancy a little more high risk. The big long name which I can't even pronounce is Monochorionic Diamniotic (Mono/Di). They are in 2 separate sacs but have one placenta. This could cause a problem if one baby is basically taking all the nutrients, blood supply, etc from the other. We are praying this will not be an issue. The plus side is I get more ultrasounds. :) Now we are up-to-date for the most part.

Here are some pregnancy highlights:

How Far Along: 16 weeks

Size of Babies: The size of an avocado (4.5 inches)

Maternity Clothes: Have bought some maternity items but have not crossed the line into maternity clothing land yet. I have a lot of summery dresses with a lot of room in the belly so I have been wearing those. I did buy a bigger pair of denim shorts that ride low on my hips (not maternity btw, very trendy from Express). A lot of styles right now are baggier, which is good. It won't be long though.

Gender: Hopefully August 2nd but will probably be the end of August at 20 weeks.

Movement: Felt something but not sure if it's gas or not. May be some baby flutters. :)

Sleep: I'm a stomach sleeper, so it has been hard trying to sleep on my side and getting comfortable. I wake up on my stomach though, oops. Probably need to quit that. I also get sooo hot!

What I Miss: WINE!, Sushi (the raw stuff), having energy to workout like a maniac, being able to run at a decent pace (I am a slow ass these days) and not get so out of breath.

Cravings: It differs but red meat, carbs, cheese. Not sugar surprisingly since I had such a sweet tooth pre-pregnancy.

Aversions: I had a bad reaction to some steamed mussels while on vacay, again it varies.

Symptoms: Still tired a lot! It's better but still have to take it easy. I can't do a lot at once. I have good and bad days.

Best Moment of the Week: Well, I hope to find out the genders of my babies on Tuesday. This has honestly been a long, exhausting week between work and teaching classes, so I am looking forward to some downtime this weekend. :)


So, this concludes my book of a blog post. You are all up to date on my pregnancy. I will try to post each week on the happenings of the Vicars Twins.

Baby A

Baby B

P.S. Baby B is sucking his/her thumb. :)

The Best Time of the Year

Gosh, it's been soooo long since I've posted but I am going to try this blogging thing again. Well it's that time of year again...Spring! May is my most favorite month not just because it's my birth month but the weather is absolutely perfect! We are heading to Wild Dunes this coming weekend for a week, and I cannot wait! I'm so ready for a week of relaxing by the ocean and some sea breeze in my face. I promise I will post pics as soon as we get back. Just wanted to get the ball rolling on re-entering the Blogging World again. More to come...

Thanksgiving Already Come and Gone...Right on to Christmas

I can't believe it's less than three weeks until Christmas! Whew! Where did the time go? Thanksgiving was wonderful for the Vicars this year. We completed the Tour of East TN once again starting in Kingsport to be with the Vicars and then headed to Knoxville Friday to be with the Fillingims. It was wonderful to see all the fam and spend some quality time and eat way too much of course! We must remember in this busy time of year that it's relationships and loved ones that are the most important and of course Jesus Christ! It's so easy to get wrapped up in all the "hoop-la" and all the activities we are all involved in that sometimes we forget to focus on the important things. I know I am guilty of losing sight of this. My priority this year is making the most of every minute I have with loved ones.