14 Weeks

I am now officially in my second trimester today! The website that sends me updates said that at 14 weeks (this is for a singleton) you may start to show. I laughed. My belly looks like I'm about 20 weeks pregnant and growing.

Abby gave another talk in Primary today. Paul helped her and she did a great job. She spoke very clearly and... well, how should I put this... I don't think anyone had a problem hearing her... in the entire building!

Paul was given a half-hour's notice to cover for another Gospel Doctrine teacher... but he did a great job as usual.





I taught a new song in Primary called, "Home" (which I hadn't learned before, of course) and it actually went very well. I had a ton of visuals so that always helps. Afterwards, we took a nice drive past the temple and took turns practicing "listening". We'll see if it helps. All in all, a pretty nice Sabbath day.

Champions of Europe!

I could have entitled this post "champions of the world" like the Americans do after a team wins the superbowl, but i didn't. I mean how stupid is that? A sport played in one country and all of a sudden they're world champions? Don't make me laugh! Manchester United won the European Champions League in Moscow tonight beating another English team Chelsea on a nervy finger nail chewing penalty shootout 6 - 5. It was awesome! Now we are the undisputed champions of Europe and this has been one of the best seasons in the clubs history. I've supported United since the early 1980's when we were rubbish and now it's nice to see them picking up some much deserved silverware. I'm off to celebrate!

We need a new car ...

Now that the doctor has told us we've got a good chance of keeping both babies, we have to seriously think about getting a new car. Sadly, our little two door, four seater escort is not going to cut it for a family of five. Also, no offense to those of you who love (or own) vans, but we hate them so here is the shortlist of 2 (i said it was a short list) vehicles we're considering:
1. A Chrysler Pacifica - It's a six or seven seater depending on the model, but it looks cool or at least very un-van like.
2. A Dodge Journey - Yeah, it's a wagon, but we like wagons! It's also a seven seater and has all of thos crazy storage features that Dodge seem to like to cram into their vehicles.

Back Home Again

Abby and I just got back from a week in California for a Connolly Family Reunion and a nice visit with my parents. The reunion was high in the Sierra Nevadas and was just beautiful! I saw cousins I hadn't seen in 15 and 20 years! (Am I even that old enough to say things like that? That was rhetorical... don't answer). On that side, I guess twins run in the family so I got lots of advice and here is pretty much what I learned: Each set is different and what works for one, won't work for the other. Let's see... oh, and because they are 2 separate individuals, you really can't plan for much until you meet them and then you can try to mesh everything into one big schedule... which will be broken at every available opportunity. I can't wait.When we got back to my parents house, one evening we all went fishing at the creek behind their place. It was one of the most memorable experiences I have had in a long time out in the natural world. On the way back on tiny dirt country lanes, we saw doves, mallard ducks, snowy egrets, a ring-necked pheasant, quail, a raccoon and a cottontail bunny.When we got to the fishing hole (about a half a mile away as a crow flies), we were greeted by a pair of lovely turkey vultures (yikes!). The fish were biting like crazy despite the fact that Dad's hooks were too big and Abby's too small. In all, Abby caught 2 fish: a small perch and a steelhead trout (she called it a spinner because when she was holding it up for a photo, it started spinning and flipping around); Grandpa caught "a monster" catfish and Grandma caught a perch. I only fished for about two minutes and got a ton of bites, but didn't hook anything. I think Abby felt sorry for me, but then again, she won the day! Of course, we threw all the fish back... but only after the pictures were taken.On the drive home, we saw deer in two different places, a skunk, and an owl... oh and some bats. I was so happy to give my little girl such a great experience of the outdoors. It is where I used to ride my horse as a girl and I explored every facet of those river bottoms, but it changed every season and there was always more to see and more surprises to encounter every time. And all so close to my parents home. I really had a happy childhood and am glad Abby will get the chance to learn and explore as I did.

A Baynes Family Dilemma

This is a post for all those who are (in)sane enough to read our blog because we need opinions on possible future pets. I really don't like the average house cat because they're lazy and think they're better than me. Dogs are cool, but Bethany and I have a hard time agreeing on what breed to go with ... this is a real dilemma! Here are my proposals for family pets:
Ocelot - despite what you might think it is perfectly legal to own an Ocelot and they are great at getting rid of vermin, other stupid cats and coyotes!
Wolf - or as I have occasionally heard them referred to as "Woofs" I think they're cool animals and would be good for protecting the house. I can imagine the look of horror on an intruders face when confronted by a fully grown, highly trained, Wolf.

Manchester United are the Champions ... Again!

For those of you who don't know (or don't care) I LOVE Manchester United and am therefore pleased to announce that they are the champions of England again. We're talking REAL football here that is played with the use of one's feet ... not that pretender sport that American's call football. In England we call America's version of football "rugby for girls". Anyway, enough of that and more of the congratulating on a job well done for Manchester United!

2 Babies + 2 Heartbeats = 1 Happy Family

We had our Nuchal Translucency scan at the hospital today. We took Abigail with us as she wanted to see the babies "on the TV" so badly last time and we didn't get to. Well, we weren't disappointed. They were both there and had strong heartbeats and they look like little humans this time! Baby A was 4.6 cm and Baby B was 4.76 cm so they're really close in size and development. We loved watching them kick and twist and flip around and it was so strange seeing these two living beings inside of me moving around so much and yet, I couldn't feel a thing... it did weird things to my brain, logically. Luckily, the one that had been active when we first got there (Baby A) decided to take a nap when the doctor needed a measurement so we stayed there a lot longer than usual trying to get him/her to move (Mum said that one must be a boy because when he was done, he was DONE). When he did finally wake up, he waved a little hand like he wanted us to just leave him alone, but Abby interpreted it as, "Look! The baby is waving at me... how cute!" We heard the term "cute" come out of her mouth more than just a few times today. Baby B was upside down (to our point of view) and sleeping for his/her photo, but woke up for the measurements. They're so funny already! We couldn't get a photo together that was good at all because one was right on top of the other... I guess that explains why my belly is poking out so much already! We were so glad we brought Abby. It was such a magical experience for the whole family and she was just so good! She behaved exactly perfectly... so now that we know she can; no more excuses for bad behavior! We will find out their sexes at the next scan... the first week in July!