Craft Project---Name Canvases & Other Nursery Progress

This weekend I have been busy working on a project for the nursery, I wanted to see if I could make Name canvases to put above the cribs. I have seen a lot of different examples and designs and so I decided to give it a try. Chad was skeptical and to be honest, so was I. After a trip to Michaels and most of the weekend afternoons working on them, here is the end result:



This is Chloe's up close.



And Chloe's above her crib.



This is Brady's up close.



And Brady's above his crib.

In other nursery progress, we received the second curtain panel for the window:



We also received as a gift from Chad's mom Kathy the rug that matches the bedding:



I think it looks so cute in the room! Thank you Kathy! We love the rug!

We are so lucky to have such wonderful families that love our babies so much already! Kathy and my mom Lisa also sent the babies their carseats and we are so thankful!

Things are going well with me and the babies, they are growing at the proper rate and I seem to be growing more and more everyday too! I can feel them kick every day now and sometimes they wake me up in the middle of the night with their kicking! I love these little reminders of the precious lives I am so blessed to be carrying right now.

That is all for now, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

Zing Zang Zoom...Progress for the Ringley Circus!

Sorry we have been out of touch in blog land. Lots has happenned since September. We had our anatomy scan on 11 October and we were thrilled to find out we are having a Boy and a Girl! Both babies are doing great. Jessie will be 23 weeks on Wednesday and we have a follow-up appointment tomorrow that includes finishing up some items on the anatomy scan.

We have made big progress on the baby preparations and the nursery, here's what we've done....

--Traded in Chad's truck for a family sedan...a 2011 Ford Fusion!

--Ordered and put on our crib bedding and started the decorating process!

--Put up a new curtain rod for our matching window panel and realized we need a second one.

--Received several boxes of clothes from family and friends, and cleaned and organized the closet. We are so lucky to have such generous friends and family!

--Received our back-ordered changing table (thanks to Dustin for helping me get it up the stairs!) and assembled and installed the hutch.

So as you can see, we've gotten pretty far with our preparations. All of the nursery furniture is in and ready now. We'll be accumulating baby supplies and finishing decorating over the next few months.

We'll be revealing our names after we receive a second confirmation on the babies sexes at tomorrow's ultrasound!!!

Nursery Update

A few weeks ago, Jessie and I did some more work on the nursery. After getting the cribs assembled, the next item was to take off the closet doors and replace with a curtain. Then, we went in search of a glider.

For the curtain, we decided to go with a gender neutral solution that matched the green walls in the nursery. We found a great curtain at Pottery Barn Kids, and we picked up a rail at Target. After taking off the doors and some jockeying with the rod and the alignment, we got the curtain up! The polka-dot color matched the wall even better than we thought in the store. Should allow for easy access to the closet while not interfering with the 2nd crib.

We then went in search of a glider. We didn't want the "traditional" glider style (with the cushions on the wooden frame), but one that is like a normal chair that we could re-use. We went to several stores (Babies R Us, Kids 1st, etc.) and landed back at Star Furniture, a traditional furniture store.

A side note, when your wife is pregnant, she lets you know exactly what she likes, in a very emphatic manner. In this case, Jessie let me know exactly why she loved this particular beige glider at Star Furniture. She nearly fell asleep in it while in the store. While being priced a bit higher than we wanted to pay, I decided it was worth it since Jessie liked it so much!

Naturally, the glider came fully assembled, so I had to fight to get it up three flights of stairs and into the nursery. Minimal structural damage to our house was sustained!

The glider is very comfortable and swivels, so it makes great addition to our nursery! Next steps are assembly of the hutch/drawers (sometime in late November) and cleaning out the closet to get ready for the baby clothes.

15 Weeks, 2 days OB Appt. Update

Baby A & B together at our 15-week U/S.

Yesterday we had our first appointment where we met our actual doctor for the first time. It was also a very important appointment because we had an ultrasound to determine if each baby had their own placenta or if they were sharing one. The ideal situation is for each baby to have their own, because if they share it is a higher risk situation.

We felt very fortunate after the ultrasound revealed each baby had its own placenta. We were also very happy to receive a lot of other great news health-wise for me and for the babies. The babies continue to grow right on schedule, in fact, Baby A was measuring exactly to the day (15 weeks, 2 days) and Baby B was measuring 14 weeks, 6 days. Their heartbeats continue to be strong, Baby A: 163 bpm, Baby B: 155 bpm, so there was less of a difference compared to last time.

As for me, my blood pressure was "excellent" and my pulse was great. I have also lost a total of 12 pounds since I have been pregnant. The doctor said it is very common for this to happen in the first 14 weeks because of morning sickness and lack of appetite. I have felt much better recently and my appetite has returned so for the first time in my life I can actually say that I hope I gain some weight next time.

We did have a little bit of a scare when a test came back saying I had some Glucose present, which can be an indicator of Gestational Diabetes. The doctor said since I am carrying twins I am at higher risk. So, I had to drink a very sugary drink and wait an hour to have my blood tested. Chad and I were both nervous and concerned. We were THRILLED to find out today that my test came back negative and I do not have GD. I will still have to re-take this test later in the pregnancy, but for now we are in the clear.

Overall it was a very eventful appointment but all looks well. We were so happy to see our babies moving their arms and legs and we couldn't help but exclaim at any little movement they made while we watched. This experience is incredible and we are so grateful for it.

I will leave you with a few ultrasound pictures from this time. Next appointment is October 11th and we should find out the genders then!

A great shot of Baby A.

3D U/S showing both babies.

Nursery Evolution, Labor Day Edition

By Chad

Labor Day weekend provided a great opportunity for us to work on the nursery. I decided to mix in putting together the cribs between football games on Saturday.

Everyone told us we should expect a multi-hour, all-day affair when it comes to assembling the cribs. I had prepared myself for this; I thought I'd work on them slowly over the three-day weekend.

So, I unboxed the cribs and hauled the parts upstairs and staged them in the nursery.

Armed with three steps of directions, 14 screws, and an allen wrench, I was off. I could tell this would be easy, so I asked Jessie to time it. Jessie was great adding in strategic help in aligning things. Trying to be careful not to scratch anything and making sure everything was super secure, I took my time and got crib #1 assembled in 45 minutes.

Now knowing the procedure, I assembled crib #2 in 21 minutes.

Both fit perfectly along the wall in the nursery with room in between. As expected, we'll have to remove our closet doors for the crib up against it, which is Monday's project.

Funny side note, it took me 40 minutes to break down and crush all the crib boxes and haul off the packing material, almost as much time as it took me to assemble it!

We got the new curtain to replace the closet doors today at Pottery Barn Kids and tomorrow I plan on taking off the doors, hauling those to the attic, and installing the new curtain.

Nursery is Painted!

Chad and I have been very busy preparing for the babies. This week I passed the 12 week mark of my pregnancy, a milestone I have been looking forward to for some time!

It may seem a little early to be making any major plans, but our reasoning is that it is better to do it now in case I have to go on bedrest later, etc. God willing, in less than 6 months we will have 2 newborns to care for. When you think of it that way, it doesn't seem very far away at all!
Here are a few of the major changes we have undertaken:

* Broke down the old bed in the 1st floor guest bedroom and took it to the dump

* Moved the guest bed from the 3rd floor nursery to the 1st floor guest bedroom (Note: We couldn't have done this without the help of our awesome neighbor Dustin, who came over and helped Chad move the mattress, box springs, and headboard down three flights of stairs! Thank you Dustin and Carlea for being such great friends and neighbors!)

*Rearranged the living room to create a baby equipment/play space

* Ordered the nursery furniture

*Hired painters to paint the nursery

Without further ado, I have included a few pictures below:

This wall is where we plan to put the two cribs.

The hutch/changing table will go on this wall.

This is their closet.

We plan to put a glider/rocker in front of this window, but we haven't picked one out yet.

There is also a full bathroom in here, convenient for bath time!

I hope you all like how it turned out. I picked this color 2 years ago when we first moved in and only painted an "accent wall" this color. I liked it so much I decided to paint the whole nursery this color. Also it is gender-neutral and I think would be nice for boys, girls, or both!

I mentioned above that we also ordered the nursery furniture. Most of it is already in at the local JCPenney store, we just have to go pick it up. The only thing we are missing is the changing tower and that won't be in until November.

Below are pictures of the nursery furniture we ordered but you just have to picture it in WHITE because that is what we actually ordered:

We ordered two of these cribs in white.

This is the changing tower/hutch (also ordered in white)

Finally, here is a picture of the baby equipment/play area we have cleared out in our living room, it doesn't look like much but when you have a three story townhouse space is at a premium so it seems like a lot of space to us!

We are so excited about the babies and we love being able to plan and prepare for them!

11 Weeks, 1 Day OB Appointment Update

Today was my first appointment at the "regular" doctor's office. I was told that I would meet with a nurse practitioner and watch an "instructional video". I told Chad that there wasn't any need to come to this appointment since we wouldn't be having an ultrasound or doing anything directly related to the babies. Boy was I wrong!

I did watch an instructional video, it was very standard, "don't smoke and don't drink", etc. They also had me fill out a couple of questionaires and I had to have some labwork done.

Then they told me I would be having an ultrasound. I was not expecting that, and I was very sad that Chad was going to miss it, but I was also excited to see how the babies were doing. The very first thing we saw was "Baby A" at the bottom actively kicking at "Baby B" at the top. Sibling rivalry has already started!

"Baby A" was very active throughout the ultrasound, often moving its arms and legs and flipping around while we were trying to do measurements. Initially "Baby B" was much more sedate but eventually they were both moving around like crazy. Even the nurse practioner and the resident kept remarking on how much they were moving around. They are measuring perfect, both look great and their heartbeats are very strong. I am not sure whose heartbeat was whose but one baby was 168 bpm and the other was 142 bpm.

I also scheduled my next couple of appointments. My next appointment is on September 15th at 14 weeks. My anatomy scan appointment (where we find out the genders) is on October 11th---my birthday! I am so excited!

Overall a wonderful appointment, although I wish Chad could have been there too! I will leave you with a pretty good picture of "Baby A". Chad and I affectionately call him/her our "troublemaker" because this baby always seems to be the first to move, etc.

The Story of Us

Welcome to our family blog, The Ringley Family Circus! We'll be posting about our daily lives and we hope you enjoy. Thought we'd start out with a little background with the story of us.

Chad and Jessie met in Raleigh, NC in June 2006 through E-Harmony. Chad was Jessie's first match and that's all she needed ;)

Chad proposed in November 2006. Chad got a job with a wind energy company in Texas in June 2007 so we moved to Texas that summer. Jessie got a job with a financial trust company shortly after we moved and we came back for our wedding in Gibsonville, NC on September 2nd, 2007.

We rescued our wonderful dog Sadie from a shelter in November 2007 and she and our lovely cat Sabrina have been ruling the roost ever since!

We got our first house in July 2008.

We started trying to have kids in early fall last year, and after help from the Baylor Clinic, we got pregnant! And boy did we ever...It's double the fun and double the trouble! We're expecting our new additions in March 2011!

We've seen them go from dots...

to blobs...

to babies!

We're obviously very excited. Stay tuned as we chronicle our adventures preparing for our new additions!