John's new theme song and 21 week ultrasound

John and I don't do much of interest very often, but here are a few highlights from the last few weeks.

John's new theme song

John loves YouTube. I'll leave it at that, but every so often I'll ask if he's found anything interesting. A few days ago I walked in our room and noticed he was watching this

John would love to live like cookie monster. Last night I dragged him out to help me grocery shop, so of course we came home with a box of sugar cookies, which he had for breakfast with some cookie juice on the side.

21 Week Ultrasound

We had another ultrasound where the doctor took some "4-D" pictures (whatever that means). Everyone seems to talk about baby A first so I want to start with baby B .

Baby B (or, "Xena: Warrior Princess", as we call her) looks like she has my pug nose, and I think she sort of looks like my family from the picture. She is further back and so a bit fuzzier on all the ultrasounds. She's roughly 12 oz., which is about average for someone her age.

This is the pug nose I'm talking about- that's me at about 3 1/2. This picture comes from the compilation of pictures of me as a kid I made to help prepare my mother-in-law for the great likelihood that she will have chubby, unattractive grand-babies.

And Baby A (or "Athena: Goddess of War", as we call her) is pictured here. I think she looks like her daddy, though the doctor pointed out that she has quite the healthy pot belly. Nuts. That comes from me. My belly was so big when I was little that I refused to wear pants until I was maybe 6 or so. She is about 15 oz., which is about average for a someone a week older than she.

The womb names above come from John. He says the babies are wagging war on my belly, so they have war- themed names. Every afternoon and any time I lay down they move and kick like crazy. It's like popcorn popping in my belly. I'm told that mom's can feel twins sooner and more intensely than singletons, so I've been able to feel A since about 9 weeks, and B since about 14 (she's further back and higher). B was the first to give a good kick and she just happened to do this for her daddy.

Weekend Entertainment

Last weekend John and I went into the city to meet with two of his former classmates Sergy and Yu-Im and their spouses Jen and Yao for lunch. Yu-Im and Yao's son Sean also made a cameo appearance. After lunch John and I dropped off Sergy and Jen at the Brooklyn Bridge, then went to the Cloisters museum. I'd given up trying to find maternity clothes to wear, so I borrowed one of John's shirts and we went through the day matchy-matchy with khakis and blue plaid shirts. John only has three different shirts, though he owns about 20 shirts. Dude, why don't they make women's clothes that comfortable?

Yesterday John's coworker Mike took us out on his sailboat for the afternoon. We'd gone with sailing with him last fall, and somehow both days were perfect. When we lived in Boston we had free access to the boat house and sailboats, so John learned to sail a dingy and could help sail the bigger sailboat. My main job was to stay out of the way.

Economics

This past weekend, John and I were in Boston for John's one-year MBA reunion. We've been wanting to visit a few friends up there, so we tried to pack everything into the weekend. I brought the camera, but never took it out of the suit case.

I did, however, steal a picture from the Charles' website of us with Sammy, Ben, William, and Cristie (Steven took the picture). Cristie and I go way back- we went to high school together, both moved to Boston after college, ran into each other on a flight back to Boston after Christmas break, and eventually lived in the same building in Boston for two years while our husbands went to the same school. Ben and Sammy used to come over to play and get John to do magic tricks (I'm surprised by the number of kids who invite John to birthday parties). We taught Ben about why you don't want to put too much salt or pepper on your dinner, no matter how cool the shaker. We really miss them!

We enjoyed spending time with the Bryants (including 6 month-old Layla on the right), who put John through Daddy try-outs, and he passed! Though you can see from his face that it was hard work. We also learned that John rocks at Guitar Hero, but not as much as Bryant. Mona is an amazing resource for baby prep.

My favorite reunion event was the economics lecture on the world recession and the price of food by Roberto Rigobon. I love that John takes me on dates to economics lectures- seriously. Two years ago John took me to Israel where our 30ish person group met with Stanley Fischer for about an hour- that was AWESOME. We discussed Israel's unique economic challenges, with a history of mass immigrations, constant war, political chaos, etc. Bernanke was interesting as well, though I'm still trying to decide what I think about the sub-prime mortgage bailout. It's just cool to hear super smart people talk about stuff I find interesting.

I have always been much more interested in finance and economics than in accounting, but accounting seemed like the right degree to get a job (though I later learned a job is not the same thing as a fun job where you work hard, are treated well, and are paid well. After we were married, I noticed the contrast between the job John had and the job I had, though we each had a BS in accounting from BYU). I'd considered going back to school to study econ for a while, but until I met John, it was pretty tough to find any one who was very supportive of any "non-mom" plans (once I met John, I decided his prospective tuition payments were enough for the both of us). I love that I have a great husband who supports and encourages my crazy ideas and interests- and that our daughters will have him for a daddy.

Week 18

I'm becoming indoctrinated into the mommy world. My life completely revolves around my kids, so that I now even count my time in their age. No big news lately- but we've been getting prepared for the days when I will be gigantic and less mobile. I've bought a few essentials, including a double snap-and-go that we are totally excited about. John noted that the pajamas I found would accommodate even his head- which is great considering that our little ones are each likely inherit genes for a large head from at least one parent. They've recently started another growth spurt (meaning I have too), after staying about the same size for about a month. This is me at 18 weeks and more than that many new pounds, along with some of the mess I need to get cleared away. I hear that 18 weeks is about the time that most single pregancies start to "show."

And John wanted to document my over-sugared breakfast. The berries were a bit tart, but not enough to need the 1/2 cup that exploded everywhere. Still, it was really good!

On the right is my favorite picture from our Bernanke dinner. After dinner we missed the train that John wanted to catch, so we hung out in the Roosevelt Hotel. We also missed the next train. John is starting to realize that a pregnant woman in heels doesn't move too fast through NYC (dude, NYC has more grates than anywhere!).