7 Quick Takes Friday: Vol. 2

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First of all, I'd like to thank Jen at Conversion Diary for hosting, you all for stopping by to read, and also for bearing with me while I work on some longer posts that should be up in the next few days! I know I haven't been posting much this week, but I promise these will be worth the wait :)

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And while we're talking posts, I highly recommend stopping by and checking out other 7 Quick Takes posts!

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Dan and I spent most of today (3 hours anyway) at the doctor's office, but we received so much good news while we were there, I think every minute was worth it. We're almost to 34 weeks, and our girls are weighing in at an estimated 5 lbs, 5 oz. for Miss Emily and 5 lbs, 8 oz. for Miss Erin. Almost 11 lbs of babies - I couldn't be more proud! Everything the doctor checked for me came back clear as well, so she was very pleased with our progress. So pleased, in fact, that she said I'm allowed to go out for ice cream or coffee or even dinner once or twice a week, as long as I don't overdo it the rest of the time at home. I know bed rest was, and still is, absolutely necessary to help our girls get big and healthy, but I am still excited for a couple mini-outings with Dan over the next few weeks.

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The nursery's done! I'm so grateful for all the help we had getting things together. Our parents, Dan's aunt, and some of our friends all played a big part in making it look as nice as it does now. Thanks everyone for your help! I can't wait until our baby girls can enjoy it too.

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On a slightly more serious note, we took a step that was a bit scary this week; I received two steroid injections to help speed up the girls' lung maturity. These are given, from what I've read/heard, under a few different circumstances - preterm labor, expected preterm delivery, and really any other time the doctor feels it is in the best interests of mom and baby(s) to be prepared for life on the outside before 36/37 weeks. Although I'm not in active preterm labor at this point, we still decided it was the best thing to do since it's likely I will deliver early. Just how early, we don't know - could be another 2 weeks, could be another 4 weeks, could be the next few days. It's really up to the babies. But I really feel better knowing I've done one more thing to help get them ready - even if it took some courage, prayer, and a little pain on my part to get us there.

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Earlier this week, Dan asked me to find an old snapshot. In a rare moment of organization, it was easy for me to tell him where ALL our family pictures were: under the bed in a clear plastic bin labeled "photos." How logical. And this from the girl whose half-finished knitting project resides in her sock drawer, who thanks Facebook for keeping her digital pictures safe and organized, who is convinced the kitchen won't stay organized until she acquires a label-maker . . . you get the picture. I'm shocked that they were still there. In the same bin, the one that resided under my bed when I lived with my parents. But I digress. I got to flip through several albums of pictures (we'll ignore the fact that I found the sought-after picture in about 3 minutes, in a frame on the wall) and found some gems from days past:

This is a picture of me with my younger brother, his freshman year of high school and my senior year.

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Finally, I wanted to share how thankful I am for the women of #CathSorority, fellow Catholic bloggers that I've been getting to know recently. The faith, fellowship, and prayers they have shared over the past few weeks has really helped me through the final weeks of my journey toward motherhood. Even though some of the topics we discuss would be cause for heated debate elsewhere, all of our conversations are thoughtful, respectful, and encouraging - and no, we don't all agree. These ladies are fantastic writers, and I encourage you to check out their blogs! I will have a link up to make it easy in the next few days. That's all I've got for this week! I hope you enjoyed, and please stop by this weekend and early next week for more on retro-style grocery budgeting and a mini pregnancy journal! Enjoy your weekend!