So in love!!

Today we had our 13 week appointment. Because this pregnancy is considered high risk, we will have an ultrasound every month to monitor the babies, make sure they are both growing properly, make sure I am not showing any signs of pre-term labor, etc.

Here are today's snap shots:

Baby A

Baby B

Both Babies!

It was so much fun to see them again, and both David and I were in awe of how much they had grown! They are both measuring right on track, and we got to see pictures of their arms, legs, heads, brains, stomachs, and heartbeats...everything looked great!

Thanks be to God!!!!


Today their heart rates were both in the 150's, which is much higher than they were at 6 1/2 weeks (115 and 124 at that time).

Baby A was soooo active! Dave was watching the baby move all over the place and he asked me "you really can't feel that??" Nope. It's too early for me to feel movement. But man that baby was sure having fun! Baby B was much more calm and only moved around a little, then pretty much chilled out the rest of the time. I wonder if that's indicative of their personalities....??

We will go back in Nov 2nd for our next appointment, and since we will be 17 weeks at that point, the ultrasound tech said they should be able to determine their genders at that time....hooray!!!!

We honestly don't care if we have 2 boys, 2 girls, or one of each. Whatever God gives us will be perfect. I am going to put a little poll up on the side of my blog (once I figure out how!) for you all to vote what you think they are...it's so fun for me to hear peoples guesses! I have NO INSTINCT what-so-ever. Dave thinks it's 2 girls. Guess we will see in a month!!

Thanks again for all your prayers! We can feel them!!!!

Thank you!!!

Thank you so much for all your wonderful and loving comments to our last post!! I cried at every single one of them (especially yours Uncle David!). And I cry every single time I watch the video...which is probably about 1,248 times by now =).

Needless to say, we are OVERJOYED!!!

This is such a miracle, such a blessing, and words cannot properly express how very grateful we are.

I am in the process of writing an epic post about how we got here. The problem is, it's been an over 3 year long journey, and so there is a lot to write about. Also, I so want to glorify God in what I say, so it is a matter of a lot of prayer.

After all, it is His story, not mine.

Thank you to all of you who are continuing to lift us up in prayer, I am so grateful for that. Things have been going perfectly so far (thank you Jesus!), but because this pregnancy is with twins, it is automatically a high risk pregnancy. We will take all the prayer we can get!

I have been doing pretty good most of the time at remaining peaceful and hopeful...but every once in awhile fear sneaks in and just grips me. It is so hard not to be afraid. I know this is just satan, as God did not give us a spirit of fear. But sometimes it feels overwhelming. I am afraid we are going to lose one or both of them, afraid something is going to be wrong with them, and most often, afraid they are going to come too early. As most of you know, my niece was born at 26 weeks, and although God has been so gracious and she is doing wonderful today, I have seen what a hard road it has been for their family. I worry so much that I wouldn't be able to handle it with the strength and faith my sister has.

My doctor is very positive and hopeful about these little twinkies staying in until they are full term. To quote her, they will have me under "tight surveillance" to watch for any signs of pre-term labor. We trust our doctor, and we trust our Jesus, so we will just keep praying both babies grow healthy and strong and stay put until they are at least 36 weeks.

Will you please join us in praying for this? THANK YOU!!!!

I believe very much in the power of prayer!!


And speaking of the power of prayer, I want you to know I prayed so hard when making that little annoucement video. I wanted so much for God to get all the glory in this, and also I prayed for peace for those viewing it. I know there are so many women -many of you whom I consider dear friends- who are waiting still. Women who would be happy for us, but sad for them. I know that feeling so well, and it breaks my heart. I know what it is like to see someone make their pregnancy annoucement and although you have joy for them, your heart just aches with hopelessness and worry that you will never be making an annoucement like that yourself.

I want you to know I am praying for you, harder than ever. If you are on this blog, I am praying for you. And if you are not, but you would like me to be praying, please email me and let me know. Or if you have any specific prayer requests that you don't feel like sharing in a comment, please email me. I know I have emailed so many of you who are on the other side of infertility while I was going through so much and it provided AMAZING encouragement for me!! I would be honored to do the same for someone. Truly.



And lastly, I need some advice from all of you. Mom's, aunts, grandma's, or anyone who has ever changed a diaper =). What kind do you recommend? We want to start stocking up now by buying some diapers each paycheck, so that we aren't completely overwhelmed when the babies come. Do the Kirkland (Costco brand) work well? Do we HAVE to buy Huggies??? (they are just so expensive!!).

Thank you!!!

Sing with us!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Hil-larious!!

Oh my goodness, if you didn't catch this on Thursday night, you are missing out! I laughed so hard I almost peed.

Click HERE and go watch.

You can thank me later.

Really.

Hooray for Fall TV!!

What are you all up to tonight?

Dave and I will be cozy on the couch watching Fall TV Premiers!

Like our very favorite, The Office...


And I am excited to see what "Community" is all about, it looks funny!


I am looking forward to "Parks and Rec" as well, I think Amy Poehler is hilarious!


Can't wait!

Labor Day Getaway

For the past four years the Hoffman family has gone on a Labor Day Getaway. I am hoping we have another 40 years in us, because it is so much fun! I look forward to it every year. Dave's parents rent a big ol' house and all three boys and their wives and kids come to spend the long weekend. Three out of the four years we have gone to the beach, and that's where we went this year as well.

This year Tony and Risa weren't able to come along, and we sure missed them! But, we did manage to have some fun despite their absence =).

This year's house had a loft, which would have provided countless hours of entertainment for the children, if it weren't for the countless near heart attacks it provided for the adults.

David and his dad on a foggy Oregon morning.

James and his daddy making sand castles...



"That's amazing!!"



Uncle Davey helps with the construction.


I made James this super cool track for his jeep, it included a bridge and a ramp...and it kept him busy for approximately 3 minutes.


Poppa and his grandkids.


As always, we played games. This one was "Loaded Questions"...always good for some laughs!


And we watched cartoons in the morning.



And ate plenty of delicious meals!!

Hope your Labor day weekend was as fun as mine!

What we've been up to...

Just in case you'd thought I'd fallen off the face of the earth, I thought I'd post real quick and let you know that I am in fact still alive =).

Things have been sooooo busy lately and blogging (and emailing- so sorry if you've emailed and I haven't read it yet!) have taken a backseat.

Last weekend my best friend Tara and her two kiddos came up for a visit.

David and Isaac playing legos =)


Little Miss Sierra sitting still for her pedicure from Auntie Kendra.


Enjoying some Burgerville...yummmmm...


Me, Tara, Sierra, Jenney

Aren't Sierra's curls just to die for!? Mine on the other hand, not-so-much. I am in desperate need of a cut, and Tara and I had spent the entire morning watching Friends on DVD and procrastinating instead of getting ready. So I decided to just go curly for the day and came up with a new nickname for such a hairstyle...The Moppet. It's a cross between Muppet (think Animal from the Muppets) and a Mop. Right???


We've also ventured into the foreign territory of house hunting. Eek. We are not sure if now is a good time for us to take the leap or not, but it's been interesting to look.

We found an AMAZING house that we both loved, but there is one fatal problem...

The Lone Bathroom.

Lone as in ONE. One bathroom. Uno Bano .

We have been very spoiled in that the last two places we have rented have had one and 1/2 baths. I don't know if we can go back...

But then I was watching 18 Kids and Counting the other day and they were helping another large family with some home remodeling, and they said they had 52 people sharing ONE bathroom.

That kind of convicted me a little bit.

But not much.

Also, you will notice that the ONE bathroom in this otherwise dream house only has a shower. No tub. Not only do I relish a good bath, but what about when babies come?? I know you can bathe them in the sink for awhile, but is that really gonna work forever? I don't think so.

So, the hunt continues.

Anyways, enough about me. Hope everyone out there in blogland has a fantastic holiday weekend!!!

Love,