Baby Shower #2

As I mentioned a few posts ago, my mom hosted a baby shower the other weekend in Salem for me.

As I also mentioned, I accidentally deleted ALL my pictures from the shower, so this post is late due to my need to collect pictures from others who were there.

It was an unfortunate error on my part, but honestly one that I (as well as my beloved husband) am surprised hadn't occurred before. I have a nasty habit of trying to edit/delete pictures while they are still on our camera, instead of waiting until they are all safely downloaded on the computer. And, I am impatient, so usually moving quite rapidly while deleting.
Like I said, it's a miracle this was the first time.

Lesson learned.

Moving on...

The shower day was such a special day!! I can't believe how much work my mom and sisters and sisters friends put into this shower. The house was decorated all over with super cute blue and pink decorations, including a sign for my kids...

Isn't that neat?

My sister Natalie and her friends Kaitlynn and Joelle, and my other sisters Vanessa and Emily
went to town preparing the food.

Seriously.

I would show you a picture, but hey I deleted it.

My mom's dinning room table was packed with delicious goodness. I couldn't even be bothered to open presents at first when it was time because I was too busy consuming my second (or fourth or fifth) plate.

Like I said, my mom and my sisters went ALL OUT for this thing!

Here is a picture of the 5 of us:

My older sister Amanda wasn't able to make it, as she lives in another state and not only do they have a toddler, but currently 3 foster children as well.

We missed Amanda very much, but I did get to talk to her on the phone for awhile the night before, which was fun. And I also got to hear this adorable little girl...

...show off her new skill of saying "umbrella". It was really fun to talk to her too, although in addition to "umbrella", she also kept saying "bye!" and trying to hang up on me.

Could be a sign that I was having more fun than her. I am choosing to pretend that wasn't the case though.



My mom's living room quickly filled up with so many friends and family, I felt so loved!! I could not believe how many people came! People from my old Church, my old work, friends I hadn't seen in years, families I used to baby-sit for, and families of preschool students I had taught. It was so much fun to see so many great people at one time.


You may recognize this adorable little thing...



And of course my family...

The great grandmas...

The pastor of my old Church (the Church I grew up in, the same one David & I were married in) surprised us and stopped by to drop off a gift, and lead us all in a prayer. He invited people to come lay hands on me, and he offered up a prayer for protection and blessing over my children and I...I nearly broke down in tears. I was so touched.


There were so many people there, and everyone was so generous that we ended up filling both David's and my car to the brim! We got so many cute outfits, TONS of great books to read to our babies, lots of special homemade burp cloths and blankets, lots of diapers, so many fun hats and bibs and toys and diaper cream and headbands and binkies and stuffed animals and just sooooo much great stuff!(Good thing my aunt was able to catch both my chins in that picture, it would have been a shame to leave one out)




And I have two things to say about this last picture. First, see the carseats in the background? My mom and stepdad generously bought those for us. They offered to take care of one of our "big ticket" purchases for us, and we chose carseats. It feels REALLY good to already own the one thing we need to bring them home from the hospital in.
Thanks mom and Chuck!
And second, yes this is the same dress -same exact outfit actually, down to the boots and the jewelry- that I wore to my Church shower. Judge me if you want, but I only own 4 maternity dresses, and this is the only one that has long sleeves.
And it's winter.
In the Pacific Northwest.
So it's been my dress of choice lately.

Just sayin'.


You may notice another thing that's the same as my last shower....my smile. I am so full of joy and so incredibly thankful to God for this gift in my life.

29 Weeks!

A little late with this post. This picture was actually taken Saturday...hooray for 29 weeks!!

Grow babies, grow!!

Prayer request

Would you all please lift up my sweet friend Monica and her precious family?? They seem to be attacked non -stop lately. Monica is about 23 weeks pregnant with a baby girl, and has been put on bedrest for signs of pre-term labor and elevated blood pressure. PLEASE pray that this baby will stay safe and continue to grow healthy and strong, and that the Lord will allow Monica's body to carry sweet baby girl for much longer.

Also, last night their adorable son Seth had a seizure and the family took an ambulance ride to the hospital.

Today they are looking for answers in regards to the seizure, so please pray for wisdom for all involved. Also, please lift this family up before the Lord, that He may bring peace and protection to them, and allow Monica to get some much needed rest for her body, mind and soul very soon.

Thank you!!!

You win some, you lose some

Monday I had my glucose test to check for gestational diabetes. When I left my appointment that day they said "no news is good news", so basically I would only hear from them if there was a problem.

Tuesday came and went with no word, so I pretty much forgot about it...(it doesn't take much for me to forget things these days)

So imagine my surprise when I get home from work on Wednesday evening and there is a message from the nurse saying "give me a call when you have a moment". My heart just sank. I was so upset all evening. I prayed about it and tried to just be positive and think about all the other things that are going so well, and just decided to take one day at a time and see what the nurse had to say the next day. I did get on BabyCenter.com, and I read that they have a lot of false positives at the initial testing level, and usually recommend further testing to be more conclusive. So, I did relax a lot after reading that.

The next morning when I got to work I called my doctors office and left a message. The nurse called back in the afternoon, and as soon as I knew it was her I blurted out "I flunked, didn't I!!"

Nurse: "Huh?"

Me (sullen): "I failed, didn't I?"

Nurse (confused by strange patients ramblings): "What are you talking about???"

Me: "The glucose test...I failed it right?"

Nurse: "No...you passed it just fine..."

Me (surprised and confused): "REALLY?!? Why are you calling me then?"

Nurse (happy to finally be getting to why she actually called me): "You are anemic"

Me: "Ohhhhh...well what do we do for that?"

Nurse: "You need to take iron supplements"

Me: "Ok, and that's it?"

Nurse: "Yup, and we will check you again soon to make sure that they are enough"

Me (relieved): "Well I can handle that!!!"

She probably has never had someone be so pleasantly surprised to be anemic - HA! But seriously I know it's an important issue and I need to take care of it (my sweet husband already went and picked up my supplements!), but I was SO relieved to find out I do not have gestational diabetes! Hooray!!!

The nurse said the iron supplements may also help with my fatigue.

Try not to laugh too hard at that last statement.

I KNOW that the majority of my fatigue is just being pregnant with twins- which is just fine with me. But I have been just plain bone-dry when it comes to energy lately. I get kicked SO easily these days. A quick trip to Wal-Mart nearly requires a nap after. So although a lot of that is totally normal with pregnancy ( and again- no complaints from me!), I am curious to see if I will notice even the slightest difference with these supplements.

If I don't, that's ok =). I am still just really enjoying being pregnant!

That being said, it's time to call it a night. Gotta get these babies to bed =)

Happy Friday night all!

Notice anything missing?

Yup. It was time to say good-bye to my wedding set for a bit. =(. I probably could have let it go a little longer, but I wanted to be sure and "call it" before it was too late and it had to be cut off or something drastic like that.

There are many times throughout the day that my fingers swell up like Vienna sausages, and although the swelling would always go down and I could take them off, it was happening more and more...so I took them off for good last night. They lasted 7 months, that's pretty good I suppose!

It's been almost 6 years since my ring finger looked this empty =-(. I told Dave I may have to go buy a cheapy little ring just to have on my finger in it's place, so it doesn't look so lonely!


In more exciting news, I did buy Abbey-girl her first set of ruffle-butt tights tonight...


What baby girl's wardrobe is complete with out those?

Hellooooooo 3rd trimester...

...it is so great to see you!!!

We are so, so, so, SO incredibly grateful to have made it to the 3rd trimester this week!! God has been more than gracious to us, and we are just thrilled!!

I had a doctors visit today, and everything is looking great still. My blood pressure was good, no signs of pre-eclampsia, my weight was up 2 pounds (which makes 28 pounds so far this pregnancy), and my favorite stat so far...I am measuring....37 weeks! HA! Isn't that funny?!? Here I am at 28 weeks pregnant (with twins granted), and measuring 37 weeks. My doctor said that is perfectly normal for twins, but it just confirmed that I really am as HUGE as I feel =).

Even feeling huge, I am still just SO happy. I had to take my glucose test today and drink that yucky stuff on an empty stomach, and the nurse was asking me "was it just awful for you?" and I was like "No! It's such a small price to pay for being pregnant!! I will happily drink whatever you need me to!" And I meant it. I wake up in the middle of the night a lot, due to heartburn or just plain discomfort, but honestly it doesn't bother me. I usually smile and think to myself "I have heartburn because I am pregnant..." or "I can't get comfortable because of the son and daughter growing inside of me..." and I just grin from ear to ear and give thanks to God for this amazing gift.

Here is what BabyCenter.com says fraternal twins look like at 28 weeks:



I had another baby shower this past Saturday in Salem that my mom hosted, and I can't wait to post pictures. It was SUCH a special day. Luckily my aunt sent me some pics that she took, because later in the evening I got button-pushing-happy with my camera and proceeded to accidentally delete every. single. picture. Yup. So as soon as I download those (from my aunt) I will post them. But for now I will leave you with a pic from that same night at my sister Vanessa's 21 birthday party. It's me and 3 of my 4 sisters...aren't they supportive??

Baby Shower

My very first baby shower....oh what fun!! I had SUCH an amazing time, and was completely overwhelmed and blessed by everyone's love.

I thought it was so cute that they had both "It's a girl!" AND "It's a boy!" banners =).

We have only been attending this Church for a little over a year and a half, but we absolutely love it there and the people have become like family to us.

My mother in law and sister in law came to the shower. Here is a pic of the two of them, and me and my giant belly:

They had tons of yummy things for us to snack on:
We played games...and ate cake...

And opened gifts galore...One of the ladies made each twin their own quilt and even put their names on them...I got really choked up opening these...



One of the ladies "wrapped" her present in a tote, & then noted in her card how totes were about to become a way of life for me...indeed!!

And how cute is this sock "bow"???...



I can't even begin to express how fun it was to open boy AND girl stuff...I feel so incredibly blessed!!
Little Abbey Mae's first dress...
More homemade blankets....(my face is not disgust here, it's OHMYGOSH-THIS MUST HAVE TAKEN YOU FOREVER!!)

The whole thing was so much fun. I couldn't even sleep in that morning, I woke up so excited! It was like Christmas or something!!

I sat there and just tried to soak it all in...I am finally pregnant...attending my own baby shower...it was surreal...and wonderful.

We feel so loved and so incredibly blessed. I hope each of you out there has a Church family as wonderful as ours!

Oh Happy Day!!

Today was the ending day of my final full-time work week for a long, long time. I officially begin my reduced hours next week, and I am SO ready! My feet are always the size of my calves when I get home in the evening!!

I have worked full time for as long as I can remember...it's going to be so weird to be home so much. But I have a feeling I will get used to it rather quickly =). My doctor wants me to spend more time resting and putting my feet up, and just letting my body grow babies. I may not be working full time at an office, but I do think my new job of growing babies is pretty darn important!!

This week we started our first of four "Preparing for Childbirth" classes. Or as I like to call them, our "hee hee hooooo" classes (Even though we haven't gone over breathing techniques yet, I know it's coming.) It made for a long day heading for a 2 hour evening class after an 8 hour work day, but I think we will be glad we took them should I get to deliver naturally.

AND, tomorrow is my very first BABY SHOWER!!!!!!!!!!!! HOORAY!!!!!!!!! I can not believe after years and years of attending and throwing baby showers, I get to have one of my very own! And actually, I get to have THREE.

I know, can you believe it???

Our Church is hosting one tomorrow, my mom is throwing a big friends & family one in Salem next week, and my work is putting one on the end of the month.

I feel so incredibly loved!!

I am just so giddy at the thought of all of it =).



Well, this evening is already getting away from me, and I have a very busy night planned. David is playing basketball at Church tonight, so I am putting up my giant, swollen feet, and have a little of this:

And a little bit of this:
on the agenda.

So as you can see, I have a lot to accomplish tonight, and I best get to it.

Happy Friday night all!

Has it seriously been a month?!?

Wow...time has FLOWN! I can not believe it's been almost a month since I have blogged.

Well, here is the month in review:

** The wee babes are doing fantastic!!! More on that later in this post.

** Lots of frustrations and delays with the house. We STILL have not closed. Seriously. We have a peace about it for the moment, but I would be lying if I said it hasn't caused a major meltdown on my part at least once since I last blogged. But, in my defense, I was well over-due for a tantrum so it was probably inevitable =).

We have given our broker and realtor a deadline of Feb 1st to have us closed by or we have to walk away from it. That SUCKS as we really love this house, and it would actually be cheaper than the rent we are paying now, plus we would OWN it and qualify for that new home buyers tax credit.

But, we need to start preparing for our babies. I am a control freak and a major planner who likes to feel prepared, and Feb 1st is already pushing it for me!! If we aren't closed by then, we will just unpack all our boxes and stay in our rented townhouse. It's really small (840 sq feet), and it's two story which was something we were hoping to get away from with two newborns. But hey, it's a HOME. And we are just grateful to have a roof over our heads to bring our precious babies home to. We watched "The Nativity Story" around Christmas time, and I was very humbled as I watched Joseph running from door to door trying to find a safe place for Mary to deliver their baby...talk about feeling unprepared.

Also, I see the Lord trying to teach me to relinquish control. Here I'd thought He was moving on to teaching me something else, since He and I visited that issue A LOT during our 3 year wait for a baby. But, I guess He's not quite done with digging that out of me! HA!



** Christmas was fantastic.
My mother in law got a bunch of these Nerf dart guns for Christmas gifts, and rest assured no one enjoyed them more than David and his older brother Peter...

We played games and showed some sisterly love...
And some of us imitated our Christmas presents...


** A lot of food was consumed during the month by all...

** New Years was pretty tame, just the way we like it =) We watched a movie and relaxed on New Years Eve, and slept in and relaxed on New Years Day. I spent a lot of time reflecting on 2009 and all the highs and lows. The Lord has shown us so much this past year, and He has been more than faithful to us...

** We had a doctors appointment today, and it went FANTASTIC!! We had an ultrasound to check the growth of the babies, and they are both doing so good!! They are both estimated to be a little over 2 pounds each (give or take 5 ounces the tech said), and have just changed so much in the last month. We even saw HAIR on their heads!! It made me cry when she pointed it out to us....my babies have hair. Not that I would have cared in the slightest if they are bald, but it was just one more thing about them that we have learned, and it helps me feel like I know them even better. And it helps make it all that more real.

Luke is measuring AHEAD of 26 weeks, and Abbey is measuring right on. We are so, so grateful!!! Luke is head down and Abbey is pretty much sitting on him =). Their positions are obviously subject to change as it is still so early, but it was encouraging to know at least he knows what position to be in for a regular delivery!! I know there is a good chance that I will need to have a c-section, and I am fine with that if that is what we need to do to get them here safely. They can pull them through my nose for all I care, I just want healthy babies out safely. But, I am hoping to be able to avoid the surgery if possible.

They were moving and shakin' today, and it was so fun to watch them. Dave and I could just stay there for hours watching our babies play!! We got the CUTEST picture today of Luke patting Abbey's head...
It's kind of hard to see, and we are the only people in the world without a scanner, so this again is a picture of a picture. But it's little Lucas' profile, and his hand is in the upper right corner, and his fingers are kind of curled around Abbey's head. It was SO CUTE to watch happen on the screen.

Again, I cried.

I cry so many tears of gratefulness during our ultrasounds. Especially when we hear their heartbeats...it's the most beautiful sound in the world to me.

Thanks be to God.

We got more good news when we met with my doctor and confirmed I am still not showing any signs of pre-term labor...YAHOO!!! I ask the Lord everyday to please allow my body to "do" this pregnancy well, and He is answering my prayers abundantly.

Even with the news that everything appears to be going great, she is reducing my work hours to 20 a week (fine by me! HA!) in an effort to KEEP it that way. It will be SO nice to be able to be home and resting more. I get just wiped out so easily now, and I know it's important to listen to my body. And more and more, my body is saying REST.

And lastly, here are my 26 week belly pics:

Yes, for those of you eagle-eyes out there, those are stretch marks on the lower part of my belly.

But you know what? I honestly could. not. care. less.

Do you know why? Look at my face. There is absolute pure joy on my face.

I am so beyond thrilled to be 6 1/2 months pregnant with twins. It is worth every single stretch mark, and then some.