Molly Piper

A couple weeks ago, Abraham got the idea that he wanted to make a little brick pad underneath the hose on the side of the house. There were a few busted-up old bricks there from God-only-knows-when (there have been lots of owners since this house was built in 1900), and so he decided he would try to use them somehow.

Then the idea kinda blossomed. He decided he wanted to do the whole pad with “found brick.” Very artsy, huh?

But where were we going to find enough bricks? I’d like to tell you that this was a very well-thought-out process, but…it wasn’t. But here’s what we did:

1. Choose a fearless leader.

Ours was the unstoppable Abraham Piper, Urban Scavenger. Behind the wheel of a Swagger Wagon, he is a force to be reckoned with.

2. Assemble your crew.

3. Start scavenging.

This might mean that you drive (what will feel like) aimlessly through old industrial areas of town, through abandoned train yards, etc. We also drove along residential alleys to pick up any extra bricks people might have had from ripping out an existing patio, or any they had leftover from building a new one.

4. Don’t be afraid to ask.

After awhile, we started getting bolder. We pulled up into a couple landscaping businesses and just asked them, “Hey, do you have any old bricks left from a job that you’re not going to use?” We didn’t care if they matched, or if some were a little broken.

I was amazed at how generous those folks were! If they order too much brick for a bigger job that they can’t use for another one immediately, they probably don’t want it sitting around taking up space. So they gave some to us!

5. Celebrate success.

Make sure your crew feels like part of the process or they’re gonna start grumbling from the back seat.

6. Play Tetris.

Abraham did all the digging, sand pouring, etc. to prep the area for the bricks. It was a little trickier since many of them were different thicknesses, but since it was a patio area that wasn’t going to be walked on very much, it didn’t really matter if it was absolutely perfect. I think he did a great job keeping it level, though. And then you just have to fit them all together into the space you have.

7. Voila!

I really like the randomness of it. And the best part was, we only paid for some sand!

My next urban scavenging project is to find some old spools and do this with the hose:

[Photo via Design Sponge]

What do-it-yourself projects are you doing this summer?

A week or so ago, my husband posted this hilarious (and very cute) video of a baby gorilla practicing his chest thumping:

Ever since, Morrow’s been practicing his baby gorilla:

Last Wednesday morning, at 8am, our twin pregnancy took another dramatic turn. First, let’s recap:

• First, I wasn’t expecting to be pregnant in the first place.
• Second, I found out I was having twins at an 18 week ultrasound (which actually ended up being changed to 16 weeks when they measured the babies). Most people know they’re having twins before that point in their pregnancy.
• Third, I found out they were two girls.

Ready for the next plot twist?

Well, turns out one of our twins is a boy.

Here’s a little window into how it went down:

Ultrasound tech asked me, “What were you told for gender???”

“Two girls,” I confidently answered.

“Oh no,” she said gently. “Twin B is a boy.”

“Are you SURE????” I asked over and over and over.

Anyway, you get the idea.

I spent the rest of the day in a stupor of confusion and disbelief. Literally, the day before, I had gone to a girl’s house who was getting rid of her twin girl clothes and bought a ridiculous amount of stuff from her. A couple weeks before that, I’d had a baby shower for twin girls. How could this be happening to me????

I lamented through the rest of the week and the weekend, mostly because I’d let myself get attached to the babies (even disciplined myself to attach to them) and now they weren’t what they were “supposed” to be. One of the things that just killed me about the whole thing was that when I had my original ultrasound, and they told me it was twins, then told me that Twin A was a girl, I was almost certain she was going to say Twin B was a boy, and I was totally cool with that. But I’ve spent the last two and a half months making myself slowly embrace these two little girls who I was told were coming into my life.

I went yesterday for my first non-stress test (which will now be a weekly event because of our history with a full-term unexplained stillbirth) and listened to their heartbeats. Then I had a visit with my regular, yet oh-so-amazing doctor. She and I pored over the pictures from my original ultrasound and the ones taken last week.

Now, my doctor has a reputation as pretty much never getting gender wrong–never. She said she didn’t believe the people who told her about my updated ultrasound. And when we looked at the pictures from 16 weeks, she said, “If someone else came in today with that same presentation at 16 weeks, I’d still say girl.” It really was that clear to her then. She and I worked through some of the emotions I’ve been feeling, and she of course was so sensitive and empathetic. It really was a good visit.

For some reason, hearing it from her settled it for me. I don’t feel confused anymore. I don’t think I understand, but I don’t feel confused. I don’t feel cheated anymore. I don’t feel like the butt of some cosmic joke anymore.

Instead, I’m starting to embrace the reality that I am the mother to twins–sister/brother twins. There are some things I’m still digesting and emotions I’m still processing. That’s to be expected. I have a lot of work to do now to get rid of some of these girl clothes and get some things for my son. I have some revisions to make to the grand plan of my life, but I feel confident about one thing:

LOVE.

I feel confident that God, in his love for me, will take me through this change. I feel confident that our son will be embraced just as fully as his sister would have been by the people who love us. I feel confident that, in my love for my son, I won’t always look at him and see “the girl he was supposed to be.” I feel confident that his siblings, in their love for him, will enfold him as just who he’s supposed to be–their brother. I feel confident that we will be in love with him.

So, if you want to greet our son, feel free to leave a comment. I want him to know the most sincere, heartfelt welcome from me as his mother, and I’m trusting God to get me to that place in my heart over the next 8-9 weeks (we’re talking induction at 36 weeks due to my history).

Please pray that this is the end of the drama, pregnancy-wise. My doctor and I even had some energy to joke around yesterday. She said, “I really hope all this drama early in your life means that you’ll just sail through later years, like the teenage years.” And we both laughed, knowing how unlikely that is. But here’s hoping, anyway.

I guess we’re not getting the super-cheesy Hollywood ending to our story. But a story isn’t much of a story without a few plot twists, right?

A few weeks ago Orison and Morrow were playing so well together, I just had to get it on video. Morrow loves to copy the things Orison does (for better or for worse).

So if your weekend promises little entertainment, enjoy the Piper Family Circus! (I’m sure Orison would have come up with a much cleverer name, but you’ve got me on a Friday afternoon.)

A few weeks ago I posted about how I was feeling like I had a lot of stuff to do before twins can arrive in my home. I called it “The Twin-Time Time Crunch.” Well have some updates for you to rejoice with me over!

I told you that we needed to:

• Buy a mini-van: CHECK! Two weeks ago we became the proud owners of a Toyota Sienna! It’s perfect for what we were looking for, and it came at the exact right price. We couldn’t be happier about it! And I’m just glad to have it DONE!
• Get stuff: CHECK! Last week we still needed crib mattresses, a double stroller, crib bedding, and diapers. Well, God seriously provided for those things (and sooo much more) at the baby shower this past weekend. I was blown away: 2 crib mattresses, a gift card for the double stroller (it’s currently sold out at Babies R Us), and TONS of diapers! Also, my friend Carol & I started sewing the crib sheets last Friday, and as her shower gift to me, she’s going to finish them–Alleluia! Oh, aaand I got my double nursing pillow last week too. That thing is like a stinkin’ SHIP it’s so huge!
• Get a bunk bed for the boys’ room: CHECK! Our beautiful new bunk bed came last week! Phil Carlson built it, and it’s amazing (which is pretty typical of all things Phil builds). Orison is now a very eager top-bunk dweller, and Morrow LOVES to run into the room yelling, “Big bed!” He hasn’t slept in there yet, though, because…
• Transition Morrow & Orison to the same room: Not yet. Haven’t done that yet, the main reason being that Morrow sleeps so well that I don’t want Orison waking him up early!
• Set up the cribs and decorate the girls’ room: HALF CHECK! The cribs are assembled, thanks to my awesome husband. My best friend Danielle is visiting this week, so I’m hoping her designer eye will assist me in making the room come together. I don’t really do a “nursery,” but I want things to be situated.

I’m so thankful for God’s provision for us during this crazy time. With twins it feels like there’s twice as much to do, but half the time to do it (since you end up getting so huge and immobile by the end). I had really hoped and prayed that all the “big things” would be accomplished by 28 weeks. I am so in awe of this prayer being answered.

I’m still feeling pretty good, all things considered. I’m 26 weeks, but at the doctor last week I measured to 32 weeks! YIKES! I also need to sleep every day. The afternoons are my sacred time to rest. Orison has gotten really good at giving that time to me by spending time on his bed with books or music, and then sometimes, say, 3 out of 5 days, falling asleep! The afternoons used to be my blogging time. So, you can deduce why things have been so quiet here.

Sometimes I can’t even believe this is happening. Even though I’m 26 weeks into it, I still can’t believe it. It’s usually a good sense of disbelief (like the pinch-me kind), but sometimes it’s an overwhelmed, scared disbelief. Our life is about to get really nuts!

Thank you all for praying for this pregnancy. I appreciate your love and prayers so much. I’m really hoping to get a picture or two up here this week so you can see what’s been going on!

I know it’s kinda late in the week to be posting about Mother’s Day, but I just wanted to share about the weekend. I had a lot of FUN this Mother’s Day!

It started on Friday when Abraham told me he’d been given 2 tickets to the new Target Field (home of the Minnesota Twins) for the Saturday afternoon game. It was supposed to be rainy and cold but we decided to be true Minnesotans and go out to the game anyway! I took my 24-week picture, of course…the twins at the Twins!

By the way, those weren’t our seats. Ours were up in the top deck, but we decided to explore a bit after the game. It was fun to just get to sit together for a couple hours, even if we could see our breath and had to wear winter hats!

Then on Sunday, we had a lovely time at church, went out to lunch with Abraham’s parents and sister, and then went home to lay down!

After naps we went out to Dairy Queen, where I got my favorite Butterfinger Blizzard. Here’s an attempt at a good picture:

After DQ, we went to the cemetery. The kids just run and have fun there, which is kinda cool. I had to bribe them to sit for this one.

I was able to snap a quick one of Morrow while he was on the run:

The only sad part was when we were driving away, Morrow said, completely unprompted, “Bye-bye, dee-dee-dee.” Translation: Bye-bye, Felicity.

Here’s a couple more pictures from recent days, just because I’m crazy about these guys:

I’m so deeply thankful that I get to mother these two characters. And I’m happy to report that this Mother’s Day brought more smiles than tears. That’s a blessed change.

Last week I told you about Abraham’s talented cousin Sunny.

Turns out Abraham’s family brings a lot of talent to the table. This week, I just couldn’t help but share about his cousin Miriam, who is currently working on a Masters in Jewelry & Silversmithing. And she’s doing it in England. How double-cool is that? (And to add to the coolness factor, she gets to spell it “Jewellery” while in England.)

William Morris Necklace by Miriam Rowe

Anyway, she has a blog where she’s asking for quick opinions and impressions on her Masters pieces. I think they’re so creative and beautiful. She’s amazingly talented.

She also has a page for selling her beautiful wares.

If you have a few minutes of browsing time today to check out some amazing art, head on over. Feedback is always valuable for the artiste, I’m told! (Of course, I wouldn’t know, I’m an abominable artist.)

And maybe if enough of us give her traffic, she’ll agree to do a giveaway or something. That’d be cool! Go check her out already!

My husband’s uber-talented cousin Sunny has a very informative step-by-step post about how to make this homemade tent.

I think this is so adorable, and totally want to make one. I was thinking it might have to wait until Christmas, but it’s somewhere on my radar, at least.

I just LOVE this thing!

What crafty projects are on your wish-I-could-do list?

If you jump over to Abraham’s latest post, you’ll see a very short video he edited last night of Morrow doing his latest trick.

Morrow is 20 months tomorrow, which means he’ll be turning two after the twins are born. Lord have mercy…

One of the weird things about expecting twins is not knowing my timetable. When I thought it was a single baby, I was kinda like:

Okay, baby at the end of August. I’ll stop working at the end of May, and then I’ll have the whole summer to hang out with the boys and do fun and productive stuff.

Hmmm…

I get the most stressed out right now by the not knowing. Mostly it’s not knowing when I’m going to be basically incapacitated, or functioning at a very low level.

At my doctor’s appointment last week, she told me to expect to look and feel 40 WEEKS at 28 weeks. WHAT?!?!?

So now the twin-time time crunch is on! In the next couple months I need to:

• Buy a mini-van. We started the process on Saturday, and it was exhausting! I will definitely NOT want to be traipsing waddling around car lots when I feel 40 weeks pregnant.
• Get stuff! We now have our infant car seats, some hand-me-down cribs, and a double Snap & Go stroller (which I hear is an essential for twins).

Little Morrow excitedly checking it all out.

Funny side story: Morrow loves babies. He loves to say baby. He loves to wave his hands in front of babies’ faces and say, “Hi baby!!!” So when he saw Abraham out the back window bringing this loot home, he started yelling, “BABY! BABY!” I think he thought we were actually getting 2 babies, not just 2 car seats.

Anyway, back to my twin-time list:

• Get a bunk bed for the boys’ room. Our friend Phil is going to build one for us! By the way (shameless plug coming), Phil has his own custom woodworking and remodeling company. If you live in the Twin Cities and need anything fix-it related, he’s a trustworthy man who’s great at what he does!
• Transition Morrow and Orison into the same room. This was always the plan (because I don’t think kids need their own rooms), but now the timetable is really moving up!
• Set up the cribs and decorate the girls’ room. My friend Jenna is going to help me make the bedding. These are the fabrics I’m thinking of using:

Right now everything seems kinda moved up on the calendar.

In other news, my stomach issues have improved so much! Thank you for praying for me. I’m able to eat more fatty foods now, though I’m still staying away from pork. I’m able to eat beef, though, and my first cheeseburger over the weekend was glorious! And I can eat regular ice cream, which is simply awesome! I’m very thankful for this change, too, since I actually need a good bit of fat each day to support the development of two babies.

Well, I’m sure this isn’t the last of the news on the preparations we need to make for the twins to come. Thanks for being interested enough to read this!