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.

A slight disappearing act...

I may need to be on here a little bit less for a short while. I am feeling a little overwhelmed with life lately =). Between working full time, growing twins, holiday plans, and attempting a move...life is busy! I am terribly behind on emails and phone calls, and also on just being. My mind is racing these days, and I need to sit back and slow it down.

One of the bigger things on my mind is our pending move. We put in an offer on a house and had it accepted within 24 hours. This was in the end of September. Since then we have been given THREE closing dates, and all three times something has impeded our closing. Three times we have lined up friends and family to help us move, only to call them 48 hours before hand and say "just kidding". We feel awful about it. Our house has been almost entirely packed for weeks now, and we just are so tired of living out of boxes. We are SO ready to be moved!

We have been given another timeline of closing end of this week, early next week. Would you all mind joining us in prayer that this ACTUALLY happens?

It's been really stressful waiting. We are trying to trust the Lord with the timing of it all, but I figured some extra prayers couldn't hurt =).

I feel very ready to start preparing for these sweet babies I am growing, and it bothers me that every time I purchase something or someone gives us something, we have to just put it in the garage knowing it just has to wait there until we can move. I will be honest and tell you that the frustration over all this has brought me to tears on more than one occasion.

So, with high hopes (and your prayers!) that we will be moving next week, I am going to do my best to sit back and try and finish up some minor projects, and also be still before the Lord. I would like a quiet soul for a bit, and I would feel better knowing my sweet babies have an emotionally rested Momma.

Thank you SO much for your prayers...feel free to still comment or email me any prayer requests you have!!

Be back soon!

Love,

Saturday

I know, another fascinating blog post title.

My creativity amazes even me sometimes.


Today we attended our first of 2 "Feeding and care of multiples" class at the hospital. It was really interesting and informative. There were 3 other couples expecting twins about the same time as us, and 2 other couples expecting triplets...wow, triplets.

We learned all about feeding two babies at a time, bathing them, the difference between co-sleeping the twins vs separate beds, etc.

And we practiced swaddling them. I must say, David is a MASTER at this. The guy had never swaddled a baby before in his life, but he swaddled our twin practice dolls like a pro. I was so impressed!

A mom who had 6 week old twins brought them in to be our live "examples". The instructor showed us all kinds of "twin management" tips. At one point she had BOTH babies in one sling and was showing us something else...I honestly was fascinated by it! I could not believe how much she was able to do while still having TWO babies attached to her, yet her hands free. And the babies seemed to love being so close together and "held" so close also.

Good stuff. We have the second class tomorrow evening where we will go over much more, and supposedly I will learn about this "double football hold" I keep reading about. =)

One question for you parents out there...today we went over sleeping and preventing SIDS. The instructor talked to us about a TON of things we can do to reduce the risk of SIDS, and one of those was to not have anything really in the babies' cribs, including bumper pads. I had heard this before, but I thought it was mainly only for the really fluffy types, and that the stiff, thinner types were ok (assuming of course that the ties and bows that hold the bumper pads on were on the outside of the crib only). But she said that the American Academy of Pediatrics were recommending none at all. My question is, how many of you used bumpers in your cribs? Had you heard this advice and decided to use them anyways? I guess I had always thought bumpers were really handy because they prevented the babies from getting their limbs stuck in between the crib rails, and also from constantly dropping their paci's out of the crib too. So...tell me your thoughts please!!




In other exciting news....DAVID FELT LUKE MOVE TODAY!!!! It was SO cool!!!! I have been feeling the babies here and there for some time now, but nothing has been strong or frequent enough yet for him to be able to feel it. But this morning we were eating breakfast and Luke was kicking or punching or tumbling or something, and he seemed to have a rhythm to it. So I whispered to David "give me your hand..." and I gently put it on my belly right where he was moving. Within seconds, POW! It was SOOOOO great.

I had to whisper my request for David's hand because it seems like any time one of the babies is moving a lot I get excited and practically yell "David! The babies are moving!!! Give me your hand!!!!", and they always seem to stop. It's like they know.

This whole pregnancy thing is just so cool. I am loving every minute of it. Even when I can't get comfortable at night and am up from 4am to 6am (like last night), it really doesn't bother me. I am just so happy to be pregnant, and I want to try and enjoy every moment of it...and really take in the special ones, like the first time daddy feels a baby move =)




And speaking of cool things, check out what my sweet friend Anna (http://steinerfam5.blogspot.com/ ) made for me:

It's a beautiful necklace with our babies' initial charms!!

It is SUCH a cool gift and I wore it proudly today =)

(ok, when you look at the above picture, you are gonna have to do like I do and pretend you don't see that massive stack of clean, dry dishes just waiting to be put away on the counter there...)

I actually met Anna forever ago in like 1912. Ok, maybe it wasn't THAT long ago, but it was at least 15 years ago! We met at summer camp when we were kids, and it's so neat to "find" her again!

Thank you so much Anna for the thoughtful gift!

On that note, I better get downstairs, because David just yelled that Greg Oden injured his knee and it doesn't look good....our Blazers are dropping like flies!!!

Babies!!!

Our appointment today went GREAT!! We saw both our little miracles swimming around and playing. They measured their hearts, brains, kidneys, stomachs, spines, etc again to check for appropriate growth, and everything looks just right. They estimate each baby is a little over a pound, and were measuring perfect for 22 weeks.

We feel SO blessed!

Both babies we moving and squirming and they just looked so stinkin' cute. I asked the tech if she could turn on the sound when she was looking at their hearts, and with each baby it made me cry.

It is the by far the most beautiful sound in the world to me.

They checked on a few things and so far I am not showing ANY signs of pre-term labor - thank you Lord!! That is GREAT news! I know that could change at any point, so please keep praying, but for today it was excellent news.


We got confirmation again that baby A is in fact a boy, and baby B is in fact a girl. Hooray! Time to order their bedding now =)

It was just so fun to lay there and watch our children move. Dave and I could have stayed there for hours. Luke again was very busy, and the tech was chasing him all over the place! Abigail was moving and turning plenty, but she seems to be the more relaxed of the two...at least for now.

Here are some pics from today. Sorry for the poor quality, we don't have a scanner, so these are pictures of pictures.


I had asked the tech if she could get a shot of them both together, and because they are so big now this is the best we could get! It's both their heads =)



Little Luke's profile.



His perfect little spine.



Still a boy!! And still not shy about it!



This picture is kind of hard to see, and kinda distorted. But it's a real close up of Luke's face with his arm stretched out above his head.



Our sweet, sweet baby girl.



Her perfect little spine.



Still a girl!! And still pretty modest about it =)



This is another one that's hard to distinguish, it's a real close up of Abbey's face with her arms up over it and her hands covering her eyes.
Our daughter played peek-a-boo with us today!


As if our children hadn't already stolen our hearts, they sure did a number on us today. I can not believe how much I love these babies. I am just so humbled and so very grateful that the Lord is blessing us so richly.

Thank you for all your faithful prayers!

Randomness

I have had a touch of a cold the last few days, and am home today trying to sleep and juice it away. It's not too bad, but I want to keep it that way so I am trying to prevent it from getting any worse.

Along with rest and lots of fluids, I have something else aiding my mission to wellness...

Isn't he cute?

I went to Target yesterday and picked him up off of my own baby registry =) It's a humidifier.
I figured we wanted one for after the babies come anyways, may as well pick it up now. I really think it's helping!


I have been laying in bed and on the couch all day sleeping and watching TV. Much of that TV has included TLC. Have any of you seen the advertisements for the new show "BBQ Pitmasters"? They have been plugging it all day today (maybe they do everyday, but usually I am at work) and they keep having interviews with the contestants, and one lady says "I am in it for the money, and I am in it for the prestige!".

Really?? Is there that much "prestige" in being a pitmaster?

Perhaps. It's a world I admit to knowing nothing about.


Tomorrow we have our monthly doctors appointment, and we are so excited to see how much the babies have grown! It's interesting that they told me I would feel Luke less (due to his placenta placement), because I feel him all the time. Little Miss Abbey Mae is just more chill I guess. Either that or they still aren't big enough for me to tell what's really going on yet! It will be fun to see once they're born how indicative their in utero activities are to their personalities. Any of you mom's out there experience anything interesting in this area?

Well, I guess that's it for the randomness now. Off to drink some more OJ and rest. Please keep us in your prayers for GREAT news about our babies' growth tomorrow, and for NO signs of pre-term labor for momma.

Thanks all!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Happy December 1st all!

I cannot believe it's December already, but I am lovin' it! Yesterday on my way to work I turned on the radio and heard Christmas music, it made me so happy =).

I love, love, love this time of year! We probably won't do any decorating this year, as we are in the process of trying to move, but that doesn't really bother me. I am not a huge holiday decorator anyways...gasp, I know, I will have to get better about that once the babies come!

I love seeing other people's decorations though. I love seeing lights on houses and around town, and when I walked into work they had the whole front desk area and waiting room all covered in garland and lights...so pretty!

Some people (that I'm married to) don't exactly love all the Christmas music, so I don't usually play it here at home, but I listen to it in the car and at work. Haven't heard my favorite song yet this year (Breath of Heaven), but it's early in the season!

We have about 20% of our Christmas shopping done. I am actually one of those people who enjoys Christmas shopping, so I am looking forward to the remaining 80%. Just gotta find the time now.

Perhaps if I put down the laptop...