31 week check up

I met with Dr. Judd yesterday and I just have to say I love this man. I am so happy Joel was so insistent on having him as our doctor. First off, the babies are doing fine. I will have my next ultrasound next week so we'll get to see for sure how our little ones are doing but their heart rates are 142 for Scarlett and 136 for Isaac. Dr. Judd said he felt a head down at the bottom of my belly so for now I don't think "baby A" is breech anymore. I told Dr. Judd that the one thing I am not interested in is delivering one baby and then having a c-section for the second and he said, "me either. And after delivering 750+ sets of twins I have never had to do that and don't plan on doing it now." What a relief! That was my biggest fear and now I don't really have a fear. We're pretty much getting past the danger zone and the contractions have decreased significantly since I was put on the Niphedipine. Dr. Judd also said that water is mostly likely to break with twins and since that is how I went into labor with Miles, we can guess pretty well that around 35-37 weeks my water will break and that is how this pregnancy will end. Joel and I feel so blessed that we've been able to do so much and that in the mean time our babies have stayed in and healthy. They're both very active and I don't think a day goes by when we don't see or feel these little ones bouncing around in my tummy. We're anxious to meet them and have them to play with!
One more piece of awesome news. I think I blogged that earlier this month when my contractions were pretty strong the advice was to take a really hot bath to help control the contractions. No problem! I do it at least once a week now whenever I have a couple of contractions...just to be safe. ;D It's a nice little bonus since I don't get to go in the "hot tub". Well, yesterday Joel thought he was gonna tell on me for eating the little orange fish eggs the last time we went out for sushi. (I, of course, just had tempura and rice and a few fish eggs). Well, to both of our surprise the dr said, "Oh sure, that's no big deal. That's just basically salt. In fact, as far as I'm concerned having sushi once in a while is fine too. Just don't do it every day." My eyes popped wide open and I was happier than a child on Christmas morning. Seriously, having the knowledge that I can have sushi once in awhile and don't have to abstain for 9 months is so awesome. Needless to say, we're going out for sushi this week!

The picture above is from Body Worlds. It is a 31 week old fetus and apparently when Miles saw it he said, "that's in my mama's tummy."

Christmas Dinner

I got this picture off of my sil's blog. I thought it looked so funny! It just looks like everyone is trying to dodge the camera (including my sil who didn't want to be in the picture at all). Em's kinda hiding behind Joel; I'm behind him on the other side; My hubby Joel is behind me; Dana is behind my mom and Michael is making this weird head ducking down face. It's slightly awkward. But the food was awesome. Weedle definitely knows how to cook! Merry Christmas.

The Worth of a Soul

Last night my husband and I went to my dad's house for boxing day. My grandfather and two of his three siblings were there including most of their children. There were a lot of people I had never met before (or at least don't remember meeting) and it was fun getting to learn something new about all of these distant-ish relatives. One in particular really touched me. My dad's cousin Phillip was there with his new wife. He kinda stood out because he had long hair and a scruffy beard which is unusual for this family of mostly bald men with no facial hair. When it was his turn to introduce himself and give an update he said something to the effect of: he was living a new life, with a new wife and found peace in an old religion. He looked very happy and we were ready to move on to the next person. My grandfather interrupted and asked if he would share a little more about what had happened to him these past few years. What a beautiful story! Basically he was approached by one of Liz Lemon Swindle's associates to possibly be a new model for the Savior for her. He agreed and this eventually led to him taking a trip out to Africa to do some work.

From a Website featuring the art piece above: When Mothers Without Borders approached me about going to Africa, I told them I was not interested. For me Africa was a world away, “and besides,” I thought, “I am too busy.” Imagine my surprise when I found myself on a plane to Zambia in June 2007.
One of the first children I met was Kennedy, the little boy you see in the painting. At three years old he has lost both of his parents to AIDS and was found living alone with his six year old brother and ten year old sister. When I thought of those three children struggling to survive and the millions of others across Africa in similar circumstances, I felt an overwhelming hopelessness and said to myself, “No amount of money can fix this.”
Later that day while we were filming, Kennedy jumped into the arms of the man portraying the Savior. As I stood watching them, Kennedy turned towards me and our eyes met. At that moment I knew it wasn’t hopeless. I realized that the Savior can fix not only the problems of Africa, but of the whole world…and we can be His hands to do it.
Looking back I realize that my reasons for not wanting to go to Africa are likely the same as yours. We are busy and feel like we cannot make a difference, but I know now that neither is true. We are never too busy to lift another and every good work is known to Him who said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of…these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” - Liz Lemon Swindle

Tears came to my eyes as I looked at this man who had portrayed the Savior. He shared how being in Africa dressed in these robes had changed his life. Many people there recognized him as the Savior and some actually thought he was Jesus Christ. He said he found new strength in his faith as so many looked into his eyes or sought to touch him in sincere faith that he could make them whole. He said he realized then that Christ does make us whole and decided to return to the faith that gave him that knowledge.

How grateful I am for my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ! I believe Christ. I believe in the Atonement. I enjoy partaking of the sacrament to renew my baptismal covenants with the Lord. This has been a wonderful Christmas for our family. We have been blessed in so many ways and look forward to the coming year. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our two little children and also hope to be sealed together as a family in early 2009.

henna tummy

Long time no blog! We are all moved in and I retook the fetal fibernectum (sp??) test and it's a negative. We are not going into labor within the next two weeks! Two pieces of good news. But we do not have internet set up yet so I haven't had time to blog at all...so sad. Anyway, I just wanted to show you how cute my tummy turned out. Jaylin did this free hand just by looking at a picture online and it lasted about a week and a half. I loved it. The boys loved it and always would ask to see my tattoo. I did have a little talk with them about how it is fake and we don't get real tattoos and it will wash off, etc. I will try to blog some more when I get to my brother's for Christmas!

A couple of updates and such

So my babies are both 2 lbs 10 oz and in the 35th percentile. They told me with twins they HOPE for anything between 20-40th percentile so ours are doing really well. Also it's very rare that both babies have the exact same weight but ours do. I'm still on my prescription and have been off my feet ALMOST completely so I haven't had anymore contractions in a couple of days: more good news. And finally, Scarlett is breech and has moved to the right side and her brother has dropped down on the left head first. So the big hope now is that she'll either turn around OR he'll just shove her out of the way and get into baby A position. As long as "baby A" (closest to the cervix) is head down we're good to go. If baby A is breech they will do a c-section no matter what.

Joel and Emily have worked so hard on our new place and it's almost ready to be moved into. I owe them both big time. We're so excited about our place and it's been such a huge blessing for us. The extra space is definitely much needed but we are soooo sad to leave this ward that we love so much. We will definitely be back for a visit with our babes.

LeDawn is still awesome. She's doing the curtains for the kids rooms, reupholstering my glider, making one more "hooter hider" (i like to call it that) and since I've decided I'm NOT gonna do a Christmas card this year AND a change of address card AND a baby announcement probably sometime in early January, she's going to help me make custom baby announcements. If it wasn't for her I would say, "Don't expect much" but she is just amazing at what she does so I think they're gonna be pretty dang cute! And it will probably be a family picture and not just one of the babies. That way you can tell me who you think these kids look like. :D

Ok, sorry no pictures but I'll get some up soon of the tummy & new place! OH! and Jaylin is gonna give me a henna tattoo on my belly since I'm on "bedrest" and sitting around doing nothing. I've been really excited about this ever since my mom read that article about water taking on the characteristics of its container. For a while she wrote LOVE on all her glasses so when we drank our water it would be better and it was! So since my body is mostly water I want my babies swimming around in good, positive water. Does that sound weird? It sounds more weird now that I'm writing it but I'm really excited so yeah!

A little baby/hospital news

So Wednesday Joel, Landyn and I drive all day back to Utah. The drive was easy and we had a great time. Miles stayed back with grandma for a couple more days of disney and park and grandma's big house fun! ;D Joel is once again the biggest trooper of all and took the second leg of the drive (Mesquite to Pleasant Grove) knowing that he'd have to get up and leave for work around 4a. When we got home he had roses and rose petals and yummy truffles and sparkling cider set out for our anniversary. There's nothing this guy doesn't do. As Joel is kissing me good-bye for the day I realize I'm having a pretty strong contraction. We wait a moment and within 5-10 minutes, I'm having another one. We discuss whether I should go to the hospital, Joel should stay home, what to do with Landyn and I have another one. I get up and get dressed, Joel grabs Landyn and I have another one. We go to the hospital and get hooked up to 4 monitors: one for Scarlett, one for the little guy one for the contractions and one for me. I get 3 shots of terbutaline and a huge shot of steroids to help with lung development just in case I'm going into labor. (And I'm such an idiot cause I'm so afraid of shots that the nurse says, "this one goes in your hip" and I say "NO!" She says, "I can do it in your other arm if you want." I opt for that and lose the use of my arm for the rest of the day and it's still slightly tender. I didn't realize until my OB came in that hip means butt!) At this point I'm bawling cause that shot hurt so bad and my arm has much less fat on it that my BUTT and my heart is racing like crazy from the terbutaline and I'm all jittery. They check my cervix and say "you're at a one." I freak out even more cause now I'm thinking I'm going into labor. We stay at the hospital for over 4 hours and they finally send me home with a prescription for a pill form of the terbutaline, at this point cause my contractions subside. I have one more scare thursday afternoon around 4:30p cause I start having contractions every 10 minutes. I call Dr Judd and he says take an extra pill and a "hot, hot bath & make sure my tummy is completely under the water." NO PROBLEM. I've been dying for a hot bath for about 6 months now and that was no chore for me. The contractions spread out to 30 minutes apart and then eventually none so we saved ourselves another trip to the hospital. One more huge blessing is that we have amazing insurance! I got a statement the other day for over $1000 dollars for my first emergency trip to labor and delivery cause of contractions and we pay $0 of that out of pocket.

I'm so grateful for a wonderful doctor, the most amazing husband, good timing, our medical benefits (and thankfully Joel getting laid off last April so he could find this amazing job with awesome benefits) healthy growing babies, my sister who has been sooooo much help these past two days, and all of my great friends who send love, support and do much much more.

Before my doctor said if I'm still pregnant by February I can get induced. Now his tune is "try and keep these babies in till mid-january. You're a much better incubator than the one down the hall. And if [I] can hold out till 34 weeks they most likely won't have to go to the NICU. So happy my mom will be here tonight until indefinitely. :D

Baby Shower Fun

So my mom, who is beyond amazing, threw me a baby shower while we were in California. It was so great to see everyone and even though I don't always believe it I love to hear everyone say how I'm all belly and I still don't look that big! A huge thanks to everyone for all of the gifts. They are too adorable. I love how a lot of them are matching boy and girl outfits. And I can't believe how little the diapers are. And seriously a huge thanks to my mom for all the food prep and home rearranging. (She even made the Russian Cream I blogged about and it was fabulous!)

I was gently reminded this would be me in a few months!!! yikes!
Angela & Dalon, Sachia & Sienna

teeny, tiny diapers thanks to stacey and cute little bottle holders from my mama!

a couple of the fun matching outfits: thanks to angela, mom, melanie

kelsi, heather delhoyo (who was too sick to come but still sent a wonderful gift) & shellie

Heather, Angela, me, Lori, Shellie, Stacey, Andrea, Melanie, Belinda & Lara (in the next pic)

Jane, Kiersten, Vanessa, Sarinna, me, Stacey, Kim, Melanie

It's a small world after all...

A little bit of a disappointment cause I heard a rumor that they were changing it to be all disney characters but it's basically exactly the same. But that's not the disappointment. The disappointment is that they took out all the "Merry Christmas"'s. That's right. It's only Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings. They do have Feliz Navidad and Mele Kalikimaka but no Merry Christmas. LAME!!! Of course the boys didn't care and they loved the two days we spent at disneyland. Landyn is our fearless child and went on all the rides he was tall enough for. Miles stuck to his favorites and refused to do splash mountain, pirates of the caribbean, soaring of CA, the roaring rapids ride, mulholland drive, storybook land, pinocchio, snow white, haunted mansion...oh well. He did tell me when he gets bigger he can go on them.

New Family Photos

One of Miles favorite things to do is get his picture taken at the mall. (I know, strange kid right?) Well, Picture People always has their free 8x10 or 10x13 so why not. This is what we ended up with. Pretty cute I think. They forced me to take maternity shots but i kept telling them I wasn't ready to take pictures and that I would come back when I was. They kept saying no, you look great, let's do it. Well my fingernail polish was all chipped and I had a little pirate tattoo on my hand and scrape on my tummy and of course it's all I can see when the pictures got developed so I didn't buy any of them. (Which I think bothered them but please, I'm not gonna spend all that money on pictures I would want to redo.) Enjoy!

a little about joel

1. Where did you meet your husband? At his place in PG. I was in town bringing Miles out to see his dad and Emily knew him. We had a big idea to get our boys together but we ran late and by the time we got there Landyn was already on his way back to his mom's.

2. How long did you date before you got married? It was eight months from the time we met, and we probably officially started dating long distance in April??? Which would make it 7 months (i think).

3. How long have you been married? 1 year next week! Happy anniversary baby.

4.What does he do that surprises you? Joel does the nicest things all of the time and most of the time it's something little that I totally LOVE and had no idea he had picked up on it. Plus he washes my car or puts new music on my ipod or rents a movie I've been wanting to see. He also gets my favorite treats and occasionally he'll sing me a song.

5.What is your favorite feature? ditto: "I love all of him - I mean look at the picture - he's hot, right?" But if I have to pick one, I'll go with his gorgeous eyes.

6. What is your favorite quality? He is honest. I remember when we were dating and talking on the phone (all the time). I could literally feel the spirit when he spoke, and not necessarily about things that are deep and spiritual but just in general. He is just honest and the spirit couldn't help but confirm the truth.

7. Does he have a nickname for you? Just one but not one that he calls me in public. I'm the one who calls everyone sweetie, and honey, and babe, and pumpkin....

8. What is his favorite food? Sushi

9. What is his favorite sport? UFC for sure to watch and he wishes to play (I won't have it). He loves fishing and hunting and is amazing at basketball and bowling.

10. When and where was your first kiss? My mom's kitchen in Valencia.

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Make sweet, sweet sandwiches. Yeah, we love each other so much as long as we're together it's a good time.

12. Do you have any children? We each brought one to this marriage and we're about to have 2 more!

13. Does he have any hidden talents? Joel can pretty much do anything and because he's so generous not many of this talents are hidden. He's always teaching people how to do something like juggle or spin a basketball on his fingertip or do the rubik's cube (with his eyes closed). He can figure out basically any puzzle or brainteaser. He cuts hair really well. He even builds me things that I can't find. BUT he can make the best pancakes ever! and he does almost every Sunday.

14. How old is he? 27

15. Who said "I love you" first? me :D

16. What is his favorite music? Joel is really versatile just like me and has a number of favorites. Right now he's into Jason Mraz. Last year at this time he was only listening to Wicked.

17. What do you admire most about him? He is an amazing husband and father and he really does love the Lord. He gives service to many but especially to me and our boys and is always willing to help when called upon.

18. What is his favorite color? Red

19. Will he read this? Yes.

getting to know you christmas style

i've gotten this a couple times already so i'm just gonna post my answers here.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping Paper is more fun to open

2. Real tree or Artificial? we've got an artificial tree. i don't like vacuuming up the messy needles. but i miss the smell and going to the lot to pick a tree out. we'll do that when the kids are a little older.

3. When do you put up the tree? we'll do it after we move & before we say bye to the boys for christmas

4. When do you take the tree down? Whenever we get around to it. the boys love it so much.

5. Do you like eggnog? Oh yes! but not the non-fat or low fat.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? as a child i got this really great barbie house. i LOVED everything barbie. and when i was 16 i got a CAR!!!
7. Hardest person to buy for? michael
8. Easiest person to buy for? miles and emily
9. Do you have a nativity scene? yes and it looks really fragile. a gift from joel's mom last year.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? i love sending mail & pics of my cute family

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? i got these things you put on your car so you know when you're too close to the curb and don't scrape your hubcaps. (i had a real problem with that as a teen.) i thought it was a lame present until i got a new car!!!!
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Better Off Dead, ELF and Love Actually

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? i can't start too soon otherwise i end up giving that person the gift.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? not that i can think of
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Egg Nog, Chocolate and all the other sweets (ps. i passed my 3 hr glucose test!)
16. Lights on the tree? who doesn't put lights on the tree? i usually do white BUT last year at disney they had this gorgeous blue/purple that i would love to do one year.

17. Favorite Christmas song? all i want for christmas is you by mariah carey AND last christmas by george michael
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? either. i'm a flexible girl.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? yep!
20. Angel on the tree-top or a star? Star

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning!!! We always got to open rike's parent's gift on Christmas Eve though and I think we usually open one on Christmas Eve at mom's
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? the fact that everyone is taking Christ out of Christmas and it's now just "the Holidays"
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? last year and the first year i ever decorated a tree as a married couple (eddie and i were ALWAYS out of town) we did red, dark green and light green ornaments. we don't have the money change it up every year but maybe every 5 years. we also only have a mini tree.
24. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? the last couple of years we've had alaskan king crab legs courtesy of uncle tomas!!
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? we're taking the boys to disneyland as an early christmas gift since it's not our year (we also went last year.) maybe this can be our tradition?

I'm a WHO?!?

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

this is so weird cause i couldn't relate to her at all when i read the books. i LOVED alice and was on the same page as her 100% of the time. whatever, the internet is never wrong! ;D

can you turn the fireplace on?

couple of things: 1st this is me as big as a house with 10 weeks to go until my dr thinks i'll have these babes, 14 weeks till my actual due date!!! but honestly if they're estimating they'll be 5 1/2 lbs each by 36 weeks i don't think they'll fit till 40 weeks. my next appt is dec 10th. we'll see how big they are then. :D

2nd, we've been running the humidifier for the boys every night and the first night they were pretty congested so they needed it and no one said anything. the second night both of the boys seemed scared to death about it and kept telling us not to turn it on. when i asked why they said "cause the fire will get us!" so we explained it's not a fire, it's WATER and it's not gonna get anyone. they were so afraid to come close enough to feel for themselves that it's just water, but we finally convinced them and then couldn't get them away from it cause it was way too much fun to get misted in the face. fast forward a month or so and miles is coming up with a million excuses to not go to bed yet...he has to pee, he has to poop (obviously can't say no to that), he's too hot, he wants a kiss, he needs a hug, we need to say another prayer...finally he comes up with, "can you turn the fireplace on?" joel and i are exhausted and i turn to him and ask, "fireplace?" obviously we don't have a fireplace and even if we did we definitely don't have one in the boys room. turns out miles was referring to the humidifier once again. what a silly boy!

3rd, my new favorite disney movie is hercules. i don't ever remember seeing it when i was younger and whenever i thought about it it was completely unappealing. but miles always talks about it and when my neighbor signed up for the disney movie club i got a free video so i gave in and got hercules. turns out i LOVE the music and it's a pretty cute story. so if you haven't seen it (in a while) i recommend it.

the boys votes

Both of the boys seem fine with the name Scarlett. (One T or two?) And when it comes to Isaac or Zachary, they both say Zachary. Joel and I aren't decided but it's interesting to get their little opinions. :D

I want this but too lazy to make it

Russian Cream

Heat 3 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup brown sugar till dissolved

Empty 1 package 1 oz. gelatine in 1 cup boiling water.
Cool until warm

When warm mix with cream mixture

Cool until warm

Fold in 1/3 cup Sour Cream
3 tsp. vanilla
Blend well

Refrigerate up to 6 hours or over night.

Serve with raspberries or chocolate sauce or whatever fruit your heart desires.
Great for the Holidays!
Makes about ten 9 oz. cups

*Make sure there isn't any strong smells in your fridge. Tends to absorb them.

Playing Tag too

I am: BIG and pregnant.
I know: that my husband loves me.
I want: someone else to pack and move us. (Not gonna happen.)
I have: great family & friends.
I dislike: driving in the snow.
I miss: weekly trips to disneyland with miles jacob.
I feel: two babies kicking around.
I hear: Hercules going the distant.
I smell: sweettarts on miles breath.
I crave: chocolate almost daily.
I cry: during well prepared church talks.
I search: ksl.com for used baby things and ebay for nursing bras.
I wonder: what these kids will look like.
I regret: very little.
I love: my man, my boys and my girlie so much!
I worry: about stretchmarks.
I remember: staying on the phone all night long with Joel.
I dance: not as good as my hubby.
I don't: bend over very easily.
I argue: because it's in my blood.
I write: thank you cards regularly-but sadly I'm behind. (I owe thanks to Angela, Charity, LeDawn, Rike, Tammy Anderson...I know I'm forgetting someone.)
I win: spider solitaire every time.
I lose: sleep due to kicking babies.
I wish: Joel was done with school.
I listen: to the little einsteins and the pirate song when the boys are in the car.
I can usually be found: in the kitchen, online.
I am scared: of pushing out one baby only to have to have a c-section for the second one.
I need: to pee every hour or as soon as I stand up from sitting for a while.
I forget: things that are not written on the calendar.
I tag: anyone who needs a post for their blog. ;D

Baby Names

So I'm pretty sure Joel and I have decided on some names but we're torn between two boy names. Most of you know that I love Biblical names and coming from a family with names such as Naomi, Joel, Michael, Sara, Mark, Eve, Tomas, Faith, and Jacob I'm sure you can see why. :D Our boy names are down to Isaac & Zachary.

Isaac means laughter. He is the son of Sarah in the Old Testament. This name was definitely on my list last time but got nixed (but I didn't care cause I really wanted Luke anyway-turns out I didn't get that either BUT Miles is a Miles so all's well.)

Zachary means the Lord remembers. Zacharias in the New Testament is the father of John the Baptist. Plus I love Saved by the Bell so that reference does not bother me.

Joel and I both loved these names the first time we brought them up. Then when we picked our girl name we weren't sure if one went with it better than the other. Her name will be Scarlett. It means red. No biblical reference BUT she will get either Grace or Eve as a middle name. Also we've got Landyn Joel and Miles Jacob.

So my poll is listed. Give me your feed back. Which do you like better? Keeping in mind these are the names we've picked so don't tell me that you don't like the names or give me a completely new name. Save those for when YOU have more children. :D

Sunday afternoon

So Landyn just learned how to whistle. He won't stop now. While he was watching this video he said "YEAH BABY!"

What we do for fun

So Landyn, Miles and I have been practicing certain UFC submissions (ones that will make you cry from pain, no choking) and it has been really fun! I plan on living vicariously through my children. I had a 5 month window (the time between my divorce and meeting Sara) to fulfill my dreams of doing a ufc type fight, but I never got around to doing it. I guess its because the amount of work it would have taken to get in shape for a fight wasn't worth the beating I would have taken in a fight, though I probably would have won!

Twins update

23 weeks

Once again the perinatologist & Dr Judd couldn't be happier with the progress of our little ones. Joel and I feel so blessed to have such a healthy and low risk pregnancy. Of course over the last couple of weeks I've talked to a million people who have had twins, know someone who had twins or are a twin them self and more often than not they've got some horror story to tell. Fortunately for us this pregnancy has been nothing but good news. Our little girl is 1 lb 8 oz and our little boy is right up there at 1 lb 6 oz. Everyone is pleased with this. My doctor is guestimating 5 lb + a few oz babies. That is so small but I guess pretty good for twins. So each month they check and measure all kinds of things like their arms and legs and brain and the space behind their brains and bladder and kidneys and spine and lips. I think that's the most interesting. They check everytime very carefully to make sure they don't have a cleft lip. They never did that for Miles. I wonder if it's more common among twins. The little girl is still "presenting" which means she's closest to the cervix and still baby A. The most common comment we hear about our twins is how wiggley they are. Apparently it's difficult to get any kind of read on the twins cause they're constantly kicking each other or just kicking in general. (Don't I know it!) :D A side note is during the ultrasound both of them had their fists in front of their faces hiding their eyes. I wonder if they'll sleep like that after they're born.
Not much else to report except we will now be delivering at Orem Community instead of Timpanogoes and EVERYONE is happy about that. (Joel's company is dropping CIGNA and picking up SelectMed and Timp takes CIGNA and Orem takes SelectMed.) I am still gaining tons of weight (this past month I gained 1 1/2-2 lbs a week!!!) but still no stretch marks so I'm fine with that. Weight I can lose, stretch marks are a bit of a permanent reminder. I'm pretty much in all maternity pants except for the size 4's I squeezed into for this picture ;D. I'm sure that night was the last night I'll get those on. OH! And Dr Judd said I'm "practically the poster child for carrying twins." Apparently being 5'8 and the twins being in separate sacs makes for ideal conditions for twin making. And as uncomfortable as I'm getting I can see how the extra height is quite the advantage.
Ps the pictures are a little blurry because they wouldn't stop moving AND her chin is right up against her chest so not the best pics but no biggie. Get to do it again in a month. :D

Editorial Cartoon

the boy with too much clothes

So I am beginning to realize that my son is slightly obsessed with clothes. Honestly I have no idea where he gets it from. 8-l The first thing he wants to do when he wakes up is not eat breakfast or play a game or watch a show, it's change his clothes. And I don't even get to help him pick out his outfit. I have to go through practically every item in his closet to find something suitable for him to wear (usually a pirate or spider man shirt). And as soon as we get home from doing something, he wants to change his clothes. This time it's lounge pants or basketball shorts and a new t-shirt. And when it's time for bed he is very particular about which pajamas he wears. Most recently he wants to wear either the batman or power ranger pj's which he inherited from his cousins Johnny & Vance. My only bargaining chips are telling him something is in the laundry, showing him that I have two shirts on and he needs to wear two shirts (which I end up having to show him at least two more times during the day), vetoing shorts for pants cause it's too cold or just lying to him and telling him something is "pirates" or "spiderman" because it has X's on it or it's red and blue. Other than that, this kid is soooo picky. I know his dad feels my pain because twice Miles has come over in totally adorable t-shirts, one a black beatles shirt and the other a blue shirt with red letters and Miles informed me they were black spiderman and spiderman shirts. Landyn on the other hand will pretty much wear whatever I pull out for him but with Miles as a step-brother he is starting to be a little more fashion conscious and wants to pick out his own shirts & pj's as well. In addition, both of their favorite items come from hand-me-downs from Johnny & Vance so I have stopped shopping for either of them. This could just be a huge blessing considering I now have 2 more children to shop for. Well, technically just one cause I will just pull out all of Miles' and Landyn's old stuff for baby boy. (Still no names.)

Saucy Creations!

The company I work for (very part-time) just launched their new website! They have THE cutest little blankets and bracelets and shoes, etc. Anyway, they're having a contest to win a $50, 30 or 20 gift card to their website. I know lots of you have, will be having or know someone having a baby soon so check out their stuff. And everything is priced really well. Many of their items I've thought (because I've recently gotten crafty with my neighbor LeDawn) it's cheaper to buy this than to make it. And when the deals are that good I can't pass it up. :D Hope you find something you like! Buying something from the website gets you the most entries & when you register on-line you get a coupon code for free shipping! This is a "win, win, win situation".

And April, if you take a picture of little Jarem in the blanket I got you for your baby shower and send it to gallery@saucycreations.com that'll earn you 25 entries to the contest!

Good luck! Hope someone I know wins.

Excellence Award

So I can officially say that this is my first blog entry ever...My wife will be so PROUD! I showed up to work today excited to be off the phones for an hour and a half for our quarterly "Excellence" meeting. It is a lot of fun and was created to be a peer nominated award for people that stand out and go above and beyond. so it turns out that I was nominated by one of my team members and apparently he is a very convincing writer cuz I won. They read his entry, and though all of it was true, I was not expecting to win (hence the jeans, t-shirt, hoodie and Gel-less mission side part). It was given to me by my department manager and then I was congratulated by all of the top management. I guess I didn't really know what a big deal this was until one of the trainers afterwards came up to me and said that they had been with discover for 7 years and had never won this award. This was a good boost for me especially having recently felt like the hard work that I was doing was not appreciated. So the best thing about this is that I won $200 for winning this award and now have a chance to be awarded the "Pinnacle of Excellence," which would earn Sara and I an all expense paid trip to Chicago to be wined and dined by Discover for a week. So that's what is going on with me. Enjoy this cuz "blogging" isn't really my thing.

21 weeks & Randumfancy

This is my belly at 21 weeks. It's pretty fun watching it grow, as well as a little overwhelming to think that I'm most likely gonna double in size between now and the end. Good news is I feel fine most of the time. The bad news is my back is killing me and because one of these kids has found pure bliss camping out near my bladder I have to pee every 10-15 minutes. (Not a joke, we are running out of toilet paper fast around here.) I also have a hard time rolling myself out of bed. But these babies are healthy and both growing so that's all we can really ask for.
Joel is amazing. He is working full time, going to school full time, and still has time to spend with me and the boys and quite often take care of me and the boys. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful, amazing husband who is willing to do so much for our ever growing family. I feel so blessed to have so many wonderful people around me and 3 of them being my sweetheart husband, beautiful son and loving step-son. We're also anxious to have grandma back in town next week. The boys just love when grandma comes to visit. They had an amazing time with grandma and can't wait to go to her big house and see the bike in the garage.

Second, a HUGE thanks to my talented and amazing friend and neighbor LeDawn and her mad skills. She made a hooter hider aka nursing apron and matching burp cloth for me & my babies!! She is amazing beyond belief and quite the perfectionist. This turned out just as good as the ones I've seen on ebay and at other shops if not better! AND good news for all you nursing moms who are interested in one of these, she is going to be selling them at her etsy shop "randumfancy". You can email her if you have any questions: randumfancy@yahoo.com. Not sure on pricing but when she fills me in I'll let you know. Her patterns are so cute. I'll have to post pictures of her other ones. She sells them either with or without the matching burp cloths! I'm so in love with it, I can't even tell you how excited I am to nurse in public without having a way too heavy (and hot) blanket wrapped around us OR to nurse at home while we have company without having to leave the room for 20-30 minutes (x2). Plus she added a little pocket so I won't misplace my nursing pad. :D What a friend!

Mollie Jane Photography

I love, love, love this photographer. If you haven't had family pictures in a while or are ready to do your Christmas Card photos and gifts for the grandparents she's totally worth it!!! She is amazing. Check out her blog. This lady has talent! She services most of SoCal. So for you cali people who can't be in redlands on the 29th call her for more info. Also I think the Utah pricing is higher cause she's got to make the trip out here but if you book before Oct 22nd the sitting fee is $75 AND if you refer a friend it's 1/2 the sitting fee. I've got an email with all the details which I sent to some of you but if you want it, just let me know.

Love you (everyone) & Miss you (if you're in Cali)!

Sara

Luck Has Arrived

I just found this picture on one of my friend's facebook photos. (Hope I don't get in trouble for posting it.) But I just thought it was soooo beautiful. The rest of this guy's stuff is very japanese inspired but also a little racy. (View at your own risk.) Anywho, I just like this kind of art work. I wish I could do it.

2007 Halloween

Here are some of our Halloween pictures from last year. Miles spent his first 3 Halloweens with me and this year it's daddy's turn. His dad bought him a Batman costume and of course Miles is determined to be Fire Man aka Iron Man. So we'll see how accommodating dad is. Last year Miles wanted to be Buzz Lightyear and I didn't want to spend the $45 it was going to cost to get the outfit. So I waited and waited and asked to borrow Kyle Thompson's just in case. Turns out a week before Halloween he wanted to be a pirate. We had so much fun trick or treating with Kiersten & Henry at Canary Cove. We miss you all in Valencia. (PS that is a Pocahontas costume turned Tiger Lily by Miles' request. I'm pretty sure it won't fit this year. And I did spend $45 on that one!)