Ready and waiting

Hi everyone, Alan here.

Way back in April when we found out we were expecting we set a goal to be all ready by 32 weeks, just in case we needed to head off to India early. Well, here we are, a few days shy of that, and pretty much ready! The nursery is done, we've had our 3 (amazing) showers, we've got all our supplies for the trip and in general, so now we wait patiently...

We got a great update from Mumbai this morning. Zarina went in for a check up and everything is perfect - babies weights (3.3lbs and 3.5lbs) and heartbeats are normal, and Zarina is doing really well too. Here is the latest photo... she is still smiling which is a good sign!



Other than that, we've spent the last couple of weekends at Target, Costco, and Buy Buy Baby getting everything we need. We had a fantastic shower thrown by our families two weeks ago, and one from my work friends last weekend - a few photos from each below.



As always we're so touched by everyone's love and support. It's made this even more fun, so thank you all as always for everything.

More updates to come as we get closer to the big day.

29 Weeks!

Hi everyone, Alan here...

We realized we've been a bit too quiet on here for the last few weeks, so just a quick update to say things are moving along really well. Today we are officially 29 weeks, and with a scheduled delivery at 37 weeks, not much longer now!

Zarina is doing well, the latest update from Dr. Tandon was a good one: more good weight gain, lots of movements from the babies, and Zarina seems very comfortable.

All is going well in babies-prep world. The nursery at home is pretty much done:

The wall hanging was made by Andrew's grandmother for his nursery and goes really well with our safari theme. The furniture fits nicely, and once Baby A&B come home we can make it a bit more gender specific and not as unisex (unless A & B are different genders :).

We have also been making some progress with our search for an Au Pair and should have a decision by this weekend. The process works well - our agency (www.aupairinamerica.com) does all the vetting, background checks, and interviews to get everything you need to know about possible Au Pairs. Then we go online and search through different criteria (age, experience, etc) and narrow it down. Once you have a few you think could work you do Skype interviews and then make your final decision. We know two people in Atlanta who have worked with this agency and are very happy, so we're confident this is the right thing for us.

And we have dates for our trip now - leaving Atlanta December 4th and returning December 29th. This all assumes the delivery takes place around December 6th or 7th (as planned), that A&B are healthy and happy (lots of prayers for that, please!), and that our paperwork gets taken care of quickly. We may be able to leave earlier or may have to stay longer but we are hoping this timing will work. We also booked our hotel for 25 nights, our home away from home:  http://www.meluhafernhotel.com/. While we liked our first hotel we were looking for a more friendly location (able to walk around, grocery stores, restaurants, etc), and this fits the bill perfectly.

Other than that we have two showers to look forward to (our families are hosting one this weekend, and my work friends are hosting one next weekend), and we can't wait. Always fun to celebrate.

Once we have more updates and photos we'll be sure to post them.  

Well hello there, 3rd trimester!

Absolutely unreal to think that today we are officially into our third trimester! We've come a long way since our trip to India in March, and thankfully all is moving along just perfectly.

Zarina went for a visit to Dr. Tandon yesterday and passed with flying colors: both babies are now around 2 lbs. each (a great weight), Zarina's blood pressure is good, babies heart beats are excellent, and Zarina said she is doing really well (and feeling the babies kick a lot!). Here are some updated 27-week photos of Zarina - enjoy!

 

As for us, life in our new home continues to go well. We're feeling very settled and have mostly everything ready for the December arrivals. Between now and then we have two more showers, a few work trips, a quick beach getaway this coming weekend, and, no doubt, lots and lots of shopping for diapers, wipes, and other supplies!

 

Thanks for following us on our journey - each day is better than the one before and we love getting to experience it with all of you. 



All moved in

Hard to believe tomorrow is one week since we moved - my guess is this coming weekend will be a lot more relaxing than the last one! The move itself went well, at least as well as can be expected. We spent the entire weekend (thankfully a long one due to Labor Day) getting settled, and now we can honestly say it feels like home. All the boxes are unpacked and gone, paintings are up, and Eddie's toys are strewn about everywhere. It's like we've been here forever! Here are some photos as promised:

On the babies front, all is moving along very nicely. We're well into week 25 and the update from India this week was a good one. Zarina is doing well and is comfortable. The next big ultrasound is scheduled for about 3 weeks from now, so we'll have to wait for the next set of photos until then. In the meantime we've got Andrew's work friends throwing us our first shower next weekend, nursery prep, an initial visit from the Au Pair agency (www.aupairinamerica.com), and an open house at a pediatrician's office to keep us nice and busy. Throw in the Jewish Holidays and a much needed weekend out of town for just the two of us, and September will come and go pretty quickly!

Getting Ready for the Move

Our moving day is fast approaching - this coming Saturday, A&A (&E) will be leaving the Mayfair behind and heading 7 miles up the road to Brookhaven.  We're definitely going to miss this place, and have loved our time in Midtown...VERY happy that we had the chance to live down here.  We went over to the new house this evening and brought Eddie with us so that he could be introduced to his new digs.  As you can see below, we're making good progress with the packing effort - yes, that is Eddie's 'couch' (courtesy of his CT grandparents) in front of the window:

Now, the real reason why you are reading this posting - an update on the babies!  We are 23 weeks along today - we received an email from Dr. Tandon this morning to let us know that Zarina (surrogate) is doing great, her blood pressure is perfect, the babies have strong heartbeats, and continue to grow nicely.  We also received another great photo of Zarina looking lovely as always (see below) - since we can't be there in person to watch her grow, we love receiving these photos:

We will be sure to write a post-move posting sometime over the holiday weekend - wish us luck!

Over halfway there...

(Guest blogger again! Alan's turn today)

As we write this, we are 20 1/2 weeks along, and each little one is the size of a banana (according to our 'What to Expect' apps). We have gone from grapes, to olives, to mangoes, and now bananas... considering I hate fruits and vegetables, I've made an exception this time!

All is well around the world in Mumbai. We got treated to a photo of Zarina, who is looking and feeling great:

As for us, we've been very busy getting ourselves ready. We spent hours (definitely plural)  registering today for most of what we need. For those of you who've had the pleasure you can empathize - about 10 minutes in we realized how long the day was going to be, but thankfully we had Lynne and Matt (my sister and brother-in-law) with us for the first part to help with some big decisions. Together with our Baby Bargains book, advice from many of you, and common sense, we think we did pretty well.

For those of you who've been asking, we're registered at Buy Buy Baby: www.buybuybaby.com. In store you can use the 20% off coupons from Bed, Bath & Beyond as long as they haven't expired. It's a great place - but we were happy to leave there this afternoon!

The rest of the month will be extremely busy. Next weekend we're off to San Francisco to see my brother, sister-in-law, and our nephews for just a few days. The weekend after that, we take occupancy of our new place, and then the big move is right after that. No shortage of things to do around here.

Thanks as always for the good thoughts and for all your support. Stay tuned for more updates!

Latest update (with pictures!)

We got another great update yesterday from Mumbai:

Both babies are doing really well according to all the reports - organs, limbs, etc all look great, and they have good cardiac activity and general growth. Naturally this big test (done around 20 weeks) is a worry for expectant parents so we're thrilled with the news.

Below are two shots of our little ones - both sucking their thumbs, seemingly peaceful and comfortable!

Many of you have asked about gender. Unfortunately, Indian law prevents us finding that out during the pregnancy. As much as we would have wanted to know, we are fully aware that we have many surprises in store for us so this will just make two more :)

The surrogate will continue to be monitored by Dr. Tandon every few weeks, but for now we can breathe a sigh of relief with this great news.

Checking Things Off The List!

This Wednesday will be 18 weeks for us - so hard to believe how quickly the time is flying by. We've been hard at work getting things organized and starting to make all our lists... December will be here before we know it.

A major to-do that is almost checked off our list is that we've found a new place to live! A spacious, modern townhouse in Brookhaven, a fun area about 5 miles from where we are right now. It even has a nice fenced-in yard for Edward.  We should have everything signed in the next day or two, and then move prep begins in earnest. We are moving on Friday, August 31st, which gives us about 6 weeks to pack and say goodbye to Midtown. Here is a photo of the front (ours is the one on the left):

We also made great progress yesterday and ordered our baby furniture! Went to a great place called Georgia Baby (www.georgiababy.com) and got two cribs and a nice big dresser:

Other than that, we've been busy with some pre-parenting classes (CPR and Baby Essentials classes will come soon), making appointments to update legal stuff, and generally getting ourselves ready, mentally and otherwise.



Our surrogate is doing very well. She had a check up last week and is feeling great, and the doctor is very happy with her (good weight gain, normal blood pressure, etc). The next big ultrasound will be towards the end of next week, so we'll be sure to post then!  





14 Week Surprise!

The doctor did another ultrasound scan this week (14 weeks), and everything is looking good!  According to our "What to Expect" app, the babies are each about the size of a navel orange now (4.5 inches), and weigh about 2-3 ounces.  We also got an unexpected surprise - two great photos of our surrogate (Zarina), displaying a noticeable baby bump!  Since we didn't meet Zarina when we were in India in April, this was our first time getting to see what she looks like.  This definitely has added a whole new level of 'realness' to this experience...we are actually able to SEE the progress of our babies!  More than anything, it struck us how kind Zarina looks, and that makes us feel so comfortable and confident that the babies are being taken care of by the 'right' person. 

We are actively in house-hunting mode now - we went to see two places this week that didn't meet the mark, so we are going to see a few more places this afternoon with Benjy (Alan's dad).  We'll be sure to keep you posted.  In the meantime, here are the photos of Zarina from this week:

First Trimester Ultrasound Results

We received another very positive report from Mumbai early this morning.  The surrogate had her comprehensive "end of the first trimester" ultrasound, and everything is looking great!  Both babies are the perfect size (5.7 and 5.6cm, respectively) and have strong heartbeats (156 and 150 bpm).  This ultrasound also included screenings for Down's and other scary conditions - we're very pleased to report that both babies are at an extremely low risk for everything.  

The next scan will be in about two months' time, at which point we will (hopefully) be able to determine the genders.  Between now and then, Alan and I are launching into full-scale baby prep mode - luckily for me, Alan is the master of organization and has already started making lists!  We purchased our first baby book yesterday (Baby 411), and I am already diving into it.  We've also sent notice to our current landlord that we'll be moving out at the end of August (small condos in a high rise are not ideal for a large family!), so we've already been calling on the services of Atlanta's most preeminent realtor to help us find a new place.  Let the games begin!

Here is a current snapshot of our two babies resting comfortably after their first trimester exam: