merry christmas 2009!

Christmas baby! We celebrated a little late since we were in LA on actual Christmas. Here's all the present opening fun!

Someone's a little excited...


Juls LOVES animals, especially birds and puppies, so we go her a little stuffed puppy!



Cuteness!


Surveying the loot:


Jas got some band t-shirts that he thought were cool!



Fun!




The fam...


Playing with the toys:


We had a really nice Christmas with our little family! It's so fun to see the girls get excited!

merry christmas eve!

One of our Christmas traditions is to give the girls pajamas on Christmas Eve. Since we were in LA for actual Christmas Eve and Christmas day, we did things a little late. Here's them opening their Christmas Eve jammies:





Cuteness!

winter wonderland

We went to Town Square last week to see the snow fall! It was really fun! The girls didn't really know what to make of it at first. See? :




Julia's face cracks me up:




Dada and Kate with Santa's house in the background:



Family photo:



Julia warmed up (haha) to the snow eventually:



So cute:


Once Kate noticed other kids having fun, she warmed up too. She danced in the snow for a while!


After the snow we took them to the outdoor playground to let them play for a little bit. They really liked the unicorn!

baby girls update!

I had another ultrasound yesterday. I am currently 24 weeks, 3 days pregnant with two very active little girls! During the ultrasound, the tech asked me if I could feel all of that...to which I replied, "uh huh." Oh I can feel it alright! I'm just wondering what it's going to be like in another month or two...?!

Anyway, everything looked great! Really great! Everything that the doctors have been even remotely concerned with have turned out to be nothing...! I feel so extremely blessed! My fluid levels were great, my cervix was great (Dr. M even told me I should rent my cervix out...HAHAHA! Have I mentioned how much I like Dr. M?!).

The girls are both 1 lb., 6 oz! The fact that they are the same size is really a big deal! That means there's no sign of Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome! Praise God!

I am so incredibly thankful for the good news! Every time I go to an appointment...I lay there hearing good news after good news...and I can't help but wonder "why me?" So many women suffer such heartache during their pregnancies...and here I am, with my dream of having twins coming true...along with a HEALTHY pregnancy! It's amazing...and I don't take it for granted! Every week that the twins continue to be healthy I am just so grateful! God is truly good to us!

relient k IS educational!

The last week or so, Katey has started counting backwards. She's really good at it. She does it just about as quickly as she counts forward...it kind of amazes us! How in the world?!

Then last night we were listening to Relient K--12 Days of Christmas, and during a part of the song they count backwards from 12. Hmmm....could it be?! Did Kate learn to count backwards from a Relient K song? Possibly! Either that or she's just a genius....which we've wondered sometimes....

feeling blessed!

I had another ultrasound today. And the babies are doing great! Dr. Masaki is thrilled with my fluid levels and cervix size (sorry for TMI!). I left the doctor feeling so blessed. While my pregnancy is higher risk due to carrying identical twins that share one placenta, I have had a relatively easy time so far!

And I feel so blessed by that! I know there are women who experience complication after complication during their pregnancies...and I'm just so thankful for the healthy babies so far! I do NOT take it for granted!

hugs, kisses and more please!

Julia is getting so big! Every day she's getting more confident in her walking. She comes walking toward you with this gigantic grin!

She knows how to blow kisses and give hugs. When you tell her to lay down she finds a spot and lays down on the ground! We've taught her to ask for more milk/juice--she used to just shriek when she wanted more but we were able to teach her pretty quickly to sign "more" when she wanted more. It makes for more peaceful meal times!

Today while we were waiting for the doctor, she reached over and playfully hit Kate on the head. I told her, "no, Juls, be gentle." I rubbed Kate's head to show her how and told her again to be gentle, to which she leaned over and gave a hug! Ahhh! Just precious!

smarty pants!

This girl is one smart cookie! A couple days ago she counted to 30...well, actually 29. When she got to 30 it sounded something like this:

"Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, twenty-ten..."

So not quite, but close!

She really is quite brilliant! She remembers details that normal people don't remember, even grown-ups! She recently related to us a morning at Chuck E. Cheese that had happened a couple months before. She remembered what we ate for breakfast before we went, who met us there, that they didn't eat at Chuck E. Cheese but instead ate at McDonalds, that their mom hadn't been there because she was getting her hair done... what kid pays attention to that stuff and remembers it?!

She is constantly shocking Jason and I with the things she remembers and knows. She even knows my doctor's name (Dr. Masaki) and asks if I'm going to see him.

She sure keeps us on our toes!

babies update

Yesterday I had the "big" ultrasound, ya know, the one where they check all the anatomy, the brain, the heart, etc (or should I say--the brainS, the heartS!).

And everything looks great! They are both right on track for where they should be! Both weight 11 oz and are measuring in at 19 weeks 6 days and 19 weeks 5 days! Oh and yes, they're both STILL girls!

I didn't know this until the END of the appointment (which I'm thankful for) but I guess my doctor was pretty concerned about something called Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS). Because I only have one placenta for both babies I have a 15-20% chance of this happening. What happens is that one baby starts receiving all the nutrients and the other baby doesn't get any (or not near enough). This can obviously cause big problems! There isn't a whole lot that doctors can do about it either. There are a couple things, but nothing definitive.

My doctor even told me that in a lot of cases, if a bad case of TTTS is seen by the 20th week, they'll advise the mom's to abort the babies. How sad! There is a 30% chance with TTTS that the babies will have Cerebral Palsy. A 30% chance. And they advise mom's to abort. *sigh* This made me really sad.

BUT, no sign of ANYTHING wrong was found yesterday. Doc said that if I had a bad case they would have seen something by my last appointment (2 weeks ago) and definitely by yesterday. He was absolutely THRILLED with the water levels around each baby and with their growth! THRILLED! Of course I was too, I just didn't know I needed to be until the end--which actually I'm thankful for. I don't want to know how concerned a doctor is about something until there's a reason to actually be concerned! I asked him if he's ever seen a case like mine where everything looks great at week 20 and then it changes and TTTS develops. He said it's possible but he's only seen it ONCE in his entire career. So we're really hopeful that we don't have to worry about this at all now!

This doesn't really have much to do with the health of the babies but I thought these facts were interesting--he said that I'm his only twin patient (out of a "gazillion") that is monochorionic (one placenta). He also said that of his gazillions of twin patients only me and one other mom are natural twins--the rest are in vitro. Weird hah?

So anyway, we've made it to week 20 and so far everything looks great! Praise God! I feel extremely blessed!

love!

Jason always meets me and the girls for lunch on Mondays. He's in the office on that day and so he's close to home, the perfect time for us to meet for lunch!

He told me the other day that the guys at work always give him a hard time for not going to lunch with them. They said, "it's because he loves his wife."

What a compliment! I love Jason so much and am so thankful for the husband and dad that he is. And I'm so glad that it's obvious to others how much he loves us too! The girls and I cherish our Monday lunches with Dada!

Today, Jason decided to eat with the guys. Boy did we miss him! But I'm glad he was able to go with the guys too...relationship building is important too!

Next week though...he's all ours!

sweet big sister

This precious girl is such a sweetheart! Julia has had a little bit of a runny nose the last few days. Today I was suctioning her nose (something ALL babies love!) and she was, well, let's just say, NOT happy! When I was done, Julia was still crying pretty hard and Katey, sweet big sister that she is, ran to the fridge and brought back her juice for her and also got her a tissue for her nose. She has been just precious to her little sister today!

halloween

We had a fun Halloween this year! We found this really cute doctor costume for Kate and Juls was a little lamb!

Dr. Kate:



Little lamb:


Sisters:



Ready for some candy:


We went to an outdoor promenade called The District where all the stores had candy for the kids to go trick-or-treating. The girls look pretty thrilled here, don't ya think?!:



Me and the hubs:


Dada and his little doctor:


There were also some brand new cars for the kids to trunk-or-treat from:



There were a lot of people, see?:



Mama and the girlies:



Back at home, someone found the candy and was caught red-handed:




Fun, fun, fun!

it's TWINS!...and they're GIRLS!

Ok, so I know I'm really behind in posting this! But we found out about 12 weeks ago that we were pregnant. Then, about 6 weeks ago, we found out that we're having TWINS! Identical twins to be exact! It's pretty crazy! THEN, about two weeks ago we found out that they're girls! We are going to be one hormone filled house!

So how do we feel about the fact that we're having twins? We're thrilled. Elated. Ecstatic. AMAZED! I have wanted identical twins since I was a little girl. And I've always said, I would love to have two at once! You know what this means? One less pregnancy! Hallelujah! So, I'm really, really excited! I'm not sure how everything is going to work out as far as after they come out...we're going to have four kids three and under. It's going to be busy busy-ness! We're going to have a lot of "learn as you go" learning to do!

The hardest part of having twin girls so far has been deciding on names. It's hard! So any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

feverish

Yesterday and today this pretty girl has had a fever. Yesterday she was feverish and didn't really want to do anything. She didn't eat or drink much, was content to just be held and slept a lot. Today she's much better, thought not quite 100%.

I hate it when the girls are sick. I really hate it. It makes me nervous. I'm not one to just rush them to the doctor so sometimes I worry that maybe I wait too long. I'm glad to have Jason to give his feedback though! It's especially hard when it's baby who's sick. They can't tell us how they're feeling or where they hurt...we just have to guess! I was telling Jason the other day that I wish they had little sensors that would go off when it's time to take them to the doctor! Wouldn't that be nice?!

mountain tops and valleys

I'm at the peak of one of the tallest mountain tops right now. I'm elated. I'm ecstatic! My heart is bursting with joy!

Why you ask? We found out yesterday that our baby is not just one baby, but TWO! We're having identical twins. And I couldn't be happier!

As I ponder how happy I am, I can't help but think of the so many Christians who are going through valleys right now. I follow three blogs really closely that are written by Christian moms who have suffered terrible heartache. Patrice lost her first baby at birth and her second baby was born with EB. Cari lost her baby girl (10 months old I think) almost a year ago to SIDS. And Lindsay lost her only child to SIDS about three weeks ago (he was only four months old). It's heartbreaking to read these stories. And yet I go back day after day. These three women struggle to continue believing. They grasp to any small truth about God that they can. Yet in the midst of their heartache they TRUST what He's doing in their lives.

It's a reminder to me that things don't always happen at the top of mountains. Many times we walk through valleys, clinging to the truth of God's Word. I, myself have been through some of those valleys. We lost a baby to miscarriage almost two years ago. We THOUGHT we had lost this baby a couple months ago. Those are difficult valleys to walk through. Yet in the midst of it God brings His peace and comfort.

So, right now I'll rejoice on this mountain top! I'll cherish these moments of utter joy! But I'll remember that the valleys will come. And when they do, I pray that I will be able to continue to worship and praise God for what He's doing!

julia's 1st birthday!

Juls turned ONE on Sunday! Happy Birthday baby girl! Here are some pictures from her little party we had with just us! Her big party is this coming Saturday! (sorry the pics loaded backwards):

Opening presents, baby! And enjoying the paper more than the presents, of course!

Yeah, she liked it. She ate the WHOLE piece of cake (and then got a bath)!

"I just CAN'T wait, guys!"

Happy Birthday to you!

Pretty birthday dress!

learning to walk...sorta

This seriously just makes me laugh. Hard!

one of those moments

I have always been dreading the day when one of my kids would comment on the appearance of a complete stranger.

It happened.

Yesterday.

At Target.

*sigh*

We were approaching the checkout lane and as we pull up Kate says this,

"Look at the big lady."

Holy shmoley!

Thank GOODNESS the *rather large* cashier was helping the customer in front of us and didn't hear. Phew!

But that was a little too close!

a pretty birthday

Kate is having her 3rd birthday party on Saturday. Some of the decorations that I've been working on were sitting on the table. Kate saw them as she was eating a snack at the table and then she said this,

"Mama? That's a pretty birthday for me."

Me--"Oh baby! I love you so much!"

That makes all the hard work WORTH IT!

she IS having fun!

Megan was playing with Juls at the Freedom Festival on the 4th. I snapped this picture and look at the action! She really IS having fun! That's a big smile of glee and an airful of waving arms!

happy 4th!

On the 4th we went to our good friends, the Jones', house. And THIS was Julia's favorite activity of the day:


They have this totally fantastic little pool on their back patio that the girls had a blast in and Katey froze in. She's totally a desert baby!



Aren't we cute?! And patriotic?!


On the way to Freedom Festival (at Nellis Air Force Base), Julia managed to grab Kate's hair and pull it out of her ponytail. Kate decided riding on Dada's shoulders would be safer!


Isn't this cool?!


And cooler?!


Here's Juls in her "Free to be Daddy's Girl" shirt. It was Kate's last year.


The Mama and Juls!


The Dada and Juls!


We met our other Jones family friends at Freedom Festival and this is their daughter Megan. Isn't she cute?!


Kate tried my sunglasses on and I think it's hilarious! Look at her little eyes!


Mama's turn!


It was a really fantastic 4th and I'm so thankful for our freedoms in this great country!