A Sight To Behold

Amanda contends that people stare at her "like I'm a freak show." I think they're merely impressed with her poise and strength as she carries 12 pounds of baby while barely batting an eye (although she does take lots of naps). See for yourself:

She's pretty incredible, no? Five days to go and she's still fabulous. ;-)

PRESENTS! I love me some presents!

Who doesn't love gifts, right? We're very thankful for all of them, and they have been numerous. The generosity of our family and friends has been overwhelming. While I'd love to spend the time spotlighting each and every gift we've received, that wouldn't make for a very interesting post. Instead, we'll make sure to honor each gift-giver with thank you notes and use this space to hit a few fun highlights.

First up is a beautiful wall hanging my mother sent along. Every stitch is done by hand and the love and care is quite evident. I'm glad that she used green; that seems to be a dominant color in the nursery right now.

My mother also sent these wonderful memory/baby books. I absolutely adore them and know that the boys will treasure them years from now. Speaking of which, I really ought to put some stuff from the shower in them soon.

Amanda's cousin Mackenzie is an awesome human being with whom we never get to spend sufficient time. She's just as geeky as we are and her handmade blankets illustrate this in fabulous fashion.

The first blanket is a Fibonacci Sequence (I rotated it so that folks could see the detail, but the proper form is seen in the first photo), while the second blanket is a dream game of Tetris. I rarely get the straight pieces when I need them!

She also gave us this super cute "Young Mad Scientist's First Alphabet Blocks" set. Did I mention that she's a working scientist? ;-)

So, as I said before, there were many awesome gifts...a fact illustrated below.

Our car was stuffed to the gills as we drove from Toledo to Athens, OH. People stared at us with bewildered expressions as we filled the car with more and more things. Having moved (and completed long road trips) as many times as we have, Amanda and I have become absolute expert packers. I wager this will become a vital tool in the coming years.

Again, thanks to everyone for their generosity. These boys are far better equipped than we would have been able to make them on our own!

Next post: The Doctor Says...

Ping Pong, Pinball, etc.

First, a new baby belly shot:

The boys are playing an ongoing game of pinball as their duplex get more crowded. They get especially active, most of the time, when Amanda takes a bath or tries to go to sleep. I came to bed around 2:00 am one night recently because I was up working on a paper. I found Amanda dead asleep and the boys in the middle of what was surely an intense game of bounce on the placenta. I love feeling them move. It makes me giggle and gives me a lump in my throat.

...Shush, it's my blog. I can be a little sappy sometimes.