Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Where have you been?


Hello, dearest readers.  Where have I been?  Well, I've been sunk into a morass of crazy wedding season business and personal misery.  (And to top it all off,  I found out just now, as I was going to add photos of some of my newest work, that all of my photos from May have disappeared from my iphoto.  WTF?  Fabulous.  Losing photos is really sucky, especially if they were photos of something new that I've already shipped out.  No way to recover that.)

And what has caused me to be incommunicado for the last month and the shop to be closed for the last week or so?  I should probably start at the beginning!

I think I last left you with a hopeful post about our house hunt?  Well, that is progressing, with all of the normal ups and downs and backs and forths that are typical for the house buying process (at least I assume they are, since I have never bought a house before I wouldn't know otherwise).  We had the inspection, which went well, and then the appraisal which went less well.  It didn't appraise for our agreed upon purchase price, so we had been on pins and needles for a while until we found out just yesterday that they have agreed to sell it to us for what it appraised for.  Yay!  We should be moving in around the 10th of next month.  The first order of business is to get the new studio all ready, so I can move everything home.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  No sooner had we put in an offer on the house, and had it accepted and scheduled the inspection, than a fire broke out in our condo building and burned down half of the place.  Luckily (for us) it wasn't the half that we lived in, but we were driven out by the smoke damage and general unpleasantness of being in a building that is half burned down.  I was at work when the Shop Monkey called me to tell me about it.  The first thing he asked me was if both dogs were at work with me (which, thank god, they were).  I had almost not taken them with me that day.  I can't even imagine what my mental state would have been if I hadn't.  As it was I was in tears, imagining all of my possessions as ashes.  All of my letters, and drawings, and my wedding ring!  But we got really lucky and nothing was ruined (and nobody was hurt!).  We just had to pack up 2 pugs, 2 kitties, and one sickly Bean and ship them over to the in-laws for 2 weeks.


And that leads me to my third piece of news.  I'm pregnant!  And I've been feeling like total SH*T!  Seriously.  Being preggo is not for the faint of heart.  I can't even tell you how hard it has been to scrape myself up off of the bed and slime my way into work.  Things were staring to look up last week, but today has seen a recurrence of ghastly nausea and general I JUST WANT TO DIE horribleness.  Yet, here I am, soldiering on, sipping my anti-nausea fruit smoothie.

And would my pregnancy announcement really be complete without an overly intimate glimpse into my uterus?  I think not!


 (My apologies if you came here looking for jewelery eye candy.  I know that a grainy photo of a creepy alien child isn't exactly shiny diamonds.  But this is my blog, so you'll just have to put up with a few ultrasound pics.)


Yesterday was my first real midwife appointment and in the morning I had scheduled an ultrasound.  There I was, floating in the semi-darkened room, blissfully peering at my baby for the first time.  The tech was clicking away, taking photos and measurements, and I was laughing at the little squirming movements and sweet little squid features.  Then the tech asks me, oh so casually, if this is my first ultrasound with this pregnancy.  Immediately suspicious of the worst horrifying possibilities, I answer yes, and ask why.


Does anyone care to hazard a guess at what the below picture might be?




Then she says, because I think I just saw another baby.  My first reaction?  I KNEW IT!  And then she adds, hold on, let me make sure.  And I was so nervous that it wasn't going to be true!  My heart had in that tiny moment already attached itself to that second baby and it would have broken (broken!) if it had been a mistake.




But no!  She sort of scrolled over to the right, and there it was, plain as day.  A second baby!  So, there you have it, dear readers, I'm having spontaneous twin babies.  Due in December.

16 comments:

EmeraldCut said...

Congratulations! Love your humor.

jonna Collins said...

I love them. I reeeeeeeeeally love them. I loved them before I even knew them.....

Unknown said...

Congratulations!!

SariiCollins said...

LOVE my PPP2 and my Nieces, Nephews, or Niece and Nephew!!! I don't care, just let me squeeze them and kiss them! Sooooo beyond happy for you!
xoxo PPP3

Catherine Chandler said...

Oh my goodness. CONGRATULATIONS!!! Not just one alien baby, but TWO! You will surely have your hands full. My husband is a twin, and I take care of twins once in a while and they're so fun. Just be sure to get lots of rest :D

Anonymous said...

So very excited for you and the shop monkey! Wish you were feeling better but it does pass. Remember, that nausea is a sign that your body is producing the right hormones that your babies need. So much going on in your lives right now, so be sure to take good care of yourself.

Shelly said...

I'm in tears I'm so excited for you! Funny when I read your first post about home buying, I was thinking, yup it sucks having done it 3 times and also thinking, "so glad I'm not moving right now." But no, we somehow have found ourselves under contract and closing in a couple weeks. Yikes. My babe is 15 months so I'm well beyond the ultrasound stage. But oh my, yippeee skippeee for you! I hope the morning sickness abates quickly and that you get to glow in your pregnancy. Huge congrats and big hugs and sloppy kisses (okay, maybe that last one is not so good since you don't know me). Wishing you both all the best!

Katy said...

eee! so much wonderfulness. congratulations!!

Lou Lou Belle said...

Good gravy congratulations! I am a twin and I just about died from the excitement. Justine, seriously, so many congratulations!
wawhoo!!!! two alien babies!!!!

Chrissy said...

Congratulations! I'm an identical twin born in December! You made my lovely illumination ring. My mom talks about pregnancy being the worst time of her life. Hang in there- soon you will have two sweeties to love.

Justine said...

Thanks everyone! Everyone is so nice! The shock is finally starting to wear off and we're starting to get excited now! I'm really looking forward to finding out what combination we are having....b/g? b/b? g/g? Will it be double trouble or twice as nice? Maybe a bit of both? :)

Bean said...

Bean! What updates! I am ELATED for everything you and the shop monkey have to celebrate. I'm sorry you feel cruddy though. Bleh. Please don't apologize for posting pictures of your "alien babies". I think they're precious. :) I can't wait to read more as you two move in and build your nest. I bet it will be super cute! (AHHH! TWINS! AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! HOW EXCITING!!!)

Also, this post was HILARIOUS. Thanks for the laugh! :)

relbare said...

Bean!! Congratulations!! Twins, Wow! You have your work cut out for you. Our Brody was born last Dec. 9th. Haven't seen you on FB...so decided to search you on here to catch up on your well-being. Miss you!
Beck (Elbare)

genie marie said...

I have had a long absence from my blogger feed so excuse the lateness of this enthusiastic CONGRATULATIONS!!! I stalk your site/work, think you are hilarious and am totally excited to see the alien babies when they arrive!! And congrats on the house and studio too!!!

Honey Badger said...

*joy* So happy for you!!!

Honey Badger said...

Awww, look what I just ran into again! It was fun to relive this moment of yours.