Carter and Catie

With all these Christmas posts and birthday posts, you'd think I forgot all about the twins? Oh - but I have not, and with their increasing (hard) kicks and jamming limbs into my ribs, they definitely make sure I do not forget who they are! Here are some belly shots of me at 24 weeks (with Will - he wanted to pose with me).

(Balancing a cup on my belly was always a big joke between Ellis and I when I was pregnant with Will. I carry babies very high, evidently, because it holds true with the girls too - that I can balance cups on my belly.) Sometimes I swear I'm already just as big already as I ever was with Will, but other times I'm not too sure. So, for comparison, here are almost the same shots (in the same shirt) of me about 3 days before Will was born 3 years ago.

In bigger news than belly shots -- Over the holidays, Ellis and I agreed upon names for the girls. Carter Ellis and Catherine (Catie) Margaret. Carter was Ellis's grandmother's maiden name, a woman of great importance in his life, and Ellis, obviously, is his name. Margaret is my mom's middle name and a name from her side of the family. Catherine is sort of a name on Ellis's side but really we just loved the name and Catie for short.

Carter and Catie have grown a whole lot since my last post about them. I went for my 24 week check-up last week and they measured wonderfully. Both of them were 1 pound 3 ounces, so Catie finally started to catch up with her sister.

And, yes, I do know which baby is which. Baby A, the baby closer to my cervix and on the left side of my tummy is Carter. Baby B, the baby further away from my cervix and on the right side of my tummy is Catie. (Carter - Baby A - will be delivered first.) To me, they already have particular personalities, and I wonder if they will hold true after we meet them and as they grow up. Carter has always been the bigger, stronger one, and I picture that she is going to be much more like her brother - more of the tom-boy of the two. Catie is the smaller one who was in trouble at the very beginning of the pregnancy. She can definitely hold her own, but I picture her more petite - the girly-girl of the two. :-)

Other great news at the appointment last week is that my body was doing very well in keeping the babies in. No sign at all of my cervix thinning yet, so no talk of cutting back on work or being put on bed rest. Whew! I now go to the doctor every 2 weeks - going every week around 30 or 32 weeks. Things are speeding along!

The ultrasound tech got us a couple of 4-D pictures this time. (Twins are packed in there so much that its hard to get a 4-D at the usual time of about 28 weeks.) Carter was all squished up against my uterus so her picture isn't the best (okay - she doesn't look exactly human in it...) but you can kind of make her out:

Catie, though, had her sweet little hand up by her face and gave us a great little picture of her nose and eyes. So sweet. (All of the stuff underneath her face that looks a little strange is the umbilical cord.)