hint # 2

okay it's time for your next hint....this one focuses specifically on first names, most of you are finding the middle ones pretty easily.

... We do not personally know anyone with these names, nor are they on the top 100 lists of names from 2008. ....

happy guessing!

29 week update

Well here i am at 29 weeks. Not too many changes except maybe for those shoes you can sorta see on my feet. They really don't fit, and i kick them off as soon as i get where i am going...and i don't just mean those particular shoes, i mean all my shoes that aren't "rubbah slippahs"--for this reason i am glad to be in Hawaii. Although i am also very envious of the fall weather in NC--i think the heat here may kill me--its definitely showing in our electric bill!


We went for our monthly growth scan on Monday for an extensive look at the babies. They are still growing well and getting stronger. Their estimated weights are around 3.5 pounds, the boy is slightly bigger. This puts them right on track with singleton's around the 60th percentile. Baby girl is still in her hiding place--which is good as far as positioning for delivery, but we never get to see her anymore.

Here's a pic of Baby Boy's face and new chubby cheeks.

same but illustrated

Mike and I actually woke up late for this appointment and only had about 10 minutes to get out the door to allow for our 1-1.5 hour commute to the hospital during morning rush hour. What does a pregnant lady do when she only has 10 minutes to get out the door? Throw on yesterday's clothes, which happen to be laying in the floor beside her and rush down to the kitchen to make cheese toast so she won't starve all morning long. Mike actually managed to shower, shave and get dressed in his 10 minutes...but he did complain about being hungry for the next few hours....like i told him, it's all about priorities!

Also last Friday my good friend and college roommate, Dee, gave birth to her baby boy, Braxton Timothy. Congrats to the Belvin Family--can't wait to see you guys!!

HINT #1

So, we've had some good guesses and then we have had some very "interesting" guesses! Thanks to everyone who was participated so far.

I would like to make an addendum to the official game rules....upon further thought, and after some complaining from our "pushy participants" we are going to lift the 3-guess limit. So your guesses are unlimited... just don't send me an email with a TON of names on it. You are much less likely to get feedback that way!

okay...for the hint---and i think this will make most people happy!

Baby Girl's initials are NGB

and

Baby Boy's initials are HRB

Happy Guessing and have a good week!

Honolulu Century Ride

So, finally got a few of the the pictures from Mike's ride so we could post-- It's been almost a month now.

If you didn't know this about Mike, when we first met he was an avid rider. He even participated in the Cycle North Carolina--a ride that takes about a week and is over 450 miles from Boone to Wilmington. He sold his bike right before his 1st deployment in '02 and then--you know the story, he's been gone so much since he just never picked it up again. When he got back from this last deployment we agreed to get a starter bike so he could start back up riding.



The Honolulu Century Ride (HCR) is a 100 mile race along the windward portion of the island, there is a map below showing the route. The red line is 50 miles--and then they turned around and rode the 50 back to the starting point. About 3800 riders participated.




Mike and some of his friends/coworkers formed a team and they rode the race together. Because it was a team effort, the HCR wasn't so much of a "race" as it was just to get everyone to the finish. There were 6 guys on the team, all at different riding levels. This is a pic of the team in their 25th Infantry Division jerseys before they started the race. It took them about 6.5 hours to finish--which is a bit slow, but everyone did finish together and Mike was very proud of them all. --that's Mike in the middle if you can't tell!



Here is Mike after the race...still looking good. He actually came home and we went out to run errands and doing things to the house. You wouldn't really have even known he had rode at all that day the way he was acting!

Because they guys were representing the ARMY, they got a bit more coverage. This is a pic of an article about the guys and their ride in the base paper. Mike is on the far right in this pic. I have been watching the newspaper website for them to post the article online...but the website runs about 2 months behind, so this pic will have to do.

Next on Mike's agenda is a team triathlon in a couple of weeks. There were a couple of guys who needed a strong biker, so they asked Mike. It's only a 12 mile bike course, not even half of what he rides most days but this one is for time so we'll see how he does!

Well, we can't call them Baby Boy and Baby Girl forever!

Okay. So Mike and I gave ourselves a deadline to decide on baby names and that seems to have worked. We've also been debating on whether to reveal them or not--i mean it's nice to have a surprise once in a while!


But while having lunch with Mike's co-workers at Boston's Pizza they begged with no avail for us to tell them our chosen names. In an attempt to get them to leave us alone we agreed to at least share the initials so they could guess. Thus, the birth of our new blog game---

WHO CAN GUESS THE BURNS TWINS NAMES??

There will be a friends and family winner and a SPO office winner. Of course, as happened with the last blog game, there is a prize to be won--so please play!

Here are the Rules and Regulations:

1. You will have up to 3 guesses with each initial. If you want feedback in between each guess please email us your guesses at jessi.burns@gmail.com. If you do not care for feedback feel free to leave your guesses as a comment on the blog.

2. Spelling is not important unless more than one person has guessed the correct name. In that case, the one with the most correct spelling will win.

3. The first person to correctly guess the name will be the winner. So yes there could be two winners since there are two names.

4. A hint will be posted each week on our blog--so check back!

5. All guesses must be submitted by midnight HST on November 8th.

6. The winners and the baby names will be revealed soon after.

...and the initals are....

Good Luck!

A Heavenly Surprise!

These are the best brownies on the face of the planet, in my opinion. They are so deliciously rich, each brownie is cut into thirds and when you buy a dozen it looks like you only got 4. They come from a bakery near Mikes base. So, because he loves me so much he brought me home a surprise on Thursday--and it made my weekend. My husband is the best!

Addition...

NO, not to the number of babies in my belly, don't be ridiculous.... but i would like to add a #5 story to my last blog, so here it is.

5. Yesterday Mike and I were on our way to a birthday party at the beach and we stopped by Sports Authority on the way because we needed some new beach chairs because our last ones rusted out and broke.

Because football season is back in and tailgating is the thing to do, they had a big section of folding chairs already out and i was sitting in them to try and find the most comfortable one since i would be spending most of my day sitting in it. Anyway a sales associate came over, and may i add this is a prolly 6'3" BIG Samoan dude, and he said " if i were you i would get the quarter ton chair, you definitely wouldn't have a problem with that". WHAT????? A QUARTER TON????? DO I LOOK LIKE I AM 500 POUNDS OR EVEN CLOSE TO IT??????????? He figured out what he said after a second and tried to correct himself by saying something about his own pregnant wife, but at this point he was just digging himself into a deeper hole..... Seriously? A QUARTER TON?

a just for your information, NO, I did NOT buy that chair!

Apparently it's EVERYONE'S Business!

Mike and I had some errands to run today and had a few funny/irritating encounters and those reminded me of a few more i have had over the past few weeks, so i thought i would share.


AND NO THAT IS NOT MY BELLY!


1. I had my first "You Look Like You're About To Pop" encounter about 2 weeks ago. Mike and I were at Home Depot, it was near the end of the shopping day and i was getting pretty worn out and i am sure that my pain was written all over my face. Anyway, i am standing in the middle of an aisle, holding random home improvement stuff in my arms waiting for Mike to come back when i notice this elderly lady smiling brightly at me from about 20 feet away. Next thing i know she is right in front of me with her hand on my belly and wants says, "you must be due any time now". Being this seemed to be a nice old lady, i did my best to smile and not respond the way i really wanted, and simply told her that in fact i was not due to give birth until Christmastime and that I was having twins. Then, though i didn't think it was even possible, her smile got even bigger and she flat out hugged me in the middle of the aisle to congratulate me and then wanted to know all the details.



2. The same day, Mike and I were in Target and it was super busy in the baby section as is the case most of the time. There was this lady with her 27 children all running around her cart (okay, maybe it was just 4, but whatever my patience wears thin these days). She was holding a registry print out obviously trying to find the items on the list and she even had enlisted the help of an employee. Mike and I had tried our best to skillfully dodge this family a few times. But then before i could waddle myself out of the way, the employee followed by half the lady's kids are on our aisle and I look down to the end and see the lady with her big shopping cart and the rest of her kids are coming my way. There's nowhere for me to go so I back myself up as best i can--i am literally pressed against the shelves-- and instead of leaving her cart to the side and just walking by me, she is trying to squeeze her cart through the space left. Then if i didn't think this was going to get any worse she stops, literally with her cart right in front of me actually pressing against my belly like she just noticed i was there, she reaches out, pats my stomach and says, "hey honey, you gotta watch that belly". Flabbergasted, with her inches from my face, i asked her what exactly she thinks i should DO with it, it's not like i can suck it in". She just chuckles, replies "well of course not" and shoves herself on through. I am left stunned standing in the middle of the aisle wondering, did that really just happen?



3. Today, Mike and I were coming out of the commissary to go to our car. If you have not had the commissary experience, there are separate people who bag and carry your groceries to your car for you. They are not employees of the commissary, they just work for the tips. So, anyway this is a small installation with a very small parking lot, Mike has run ahead to get the car open and i am standing back with our bagger and groceries waiting for a car to pull out of its spot so we can get by. It's hot and I am tired and this car isn't moving... so, impatiently, i squeeze around it and hear someone yelling, i look over and discover the reason this driver has stopped in mid pull-out-- to roll down her window and obnoxiously yell out her window " wow! your about ready to pop". Seriously?



4. And i will leave you with this one, but i would first like to point out that i love my church family and am not implying anything mean, i just think this is super funny. So apparently, being pregnant has given permission to the sweet and caring church women to talk to me while i am trying to go to the bathroom. Some follow me in, some talk to me while i am standing in the stall trying to shut the door the whole time silently praying i won't pee all over myself before i can get their questions answered, and then some just keep talking away while i am actually USING the bathroom. I'll be the first to admit, i have had a few talks over the stall with a friend, but usually this happens when the bathroom is empty and it's a pretty close friend. I must have missed the part in my What to Expect While You Are Expecting book that says all bathroom etiquette and privacy is invalid for the remainder of my gestation period.

It's all beginning to feel VERY real!

Here's my 27 week pic--wearing my new shirt mom sent me. Thanks mom, i got quite a few compliments at church this week!


I feel like i am being a little deceiving with these pics--we take them every other Sunday morning before church. Reason being...because that is the only time during the week that I actually look this good. I don't really leave the house much on the weekdays because of how quickly i get tired out....and too its way TOO HOT to be drying my hair everyday. On Sunday's the only way i bear it, is by making a seat for myself on the counter and having the big fan blowing full speed right in front of my face.

It's really been a quiet few weeks for us, besides Mike's Century Ride, which i am waiting on pictures so i can post them for ya'll.


On the baby front all us well--we had a diabetes scare, but all turned out well and it's a darn good thing considering my silly pregnancy cravings are ALL sugar related. Speaking of...i have exactly 4 minutes till my strawberry cheesecake muffins are out of the oven, so i will leave you with this...


The 27 week mark has been a milestone for us. It's similar to everyone else's 30 week mark, considering twins are considered full term at 37 weeks. It's the FINAL COUNTDOWN! When you start thinking, wow, only 10 weeks..it's creates a bit of a panic in making sure everything is done and ready. I know...countless people have said, "jess, it will be okay if not everything is in order and you don't have all the things you need yet". And here's my reply--"no, it won't". In my opinion, life is about to get super hectic and i don't want the added stresses of still having things to buy, finding places for things in the house, finishing the nursery, etc, etc. And heck, i am usually the world's worst procrastinator--so this is a good thing. And on that note (i'm not sure why i think blogs give me the right to start 3 sentences in a row with the word "And"--what would my Meredith professors say?) ...the oven is beeping and my muffins are ready. Happy Weekend Everyone! --