A picture I just had to share

The other night, Nate was playing so nicely by himself while I was puttering around the house. I saw him playing with his toy cars near the water cooler. After that it was bedtime. As I have a cold, I have been drinking alot of cold water and munching on ice. Ice seems to keep the coughs away. Anyways, I went to fill up my cup at my water cooler and this is what I find! I couldn't resist taking a picture. I just smiled at what I saw!



Ahh, having a little boy, who is all boy, in the house is quite the adventure! Don't know what you will find next. I just try and imagine whats going thru his mind when he does things like this. Nate makes me smile!

On the baby front: Nothing still. We were scheduled for a C-section this morning but after much talk, thinking, and prayer, we decided not to have it. After lots of prayer on my part, I felt that we could hold off. This past week I strained a muscle in my back and then on Sat while I was coughing, I felt the muscle snap. I have been in lots of pain since then. I was finally able to talk with my ob last night. She still feels the c-section is the way to go even tho she knows how I feel about it. She isn't pushing me to do the c-section. I do respect her for her thoughts on everything too. She has some valid points. If this was a singleton pregnancy, I have a feeling she would be more than ok with waiting till my due date to decide anything. Being twins, thats a bit more complicated. We are both worried about how big I am getting. Putting extra strain on the uterus. Jason and I still need to talk more about this. I am tempted to get ahold of a doula (birth coach) and see what she has to say. I need some advice from someone who is knowledgeable in the whole birthing process and such. Anyways, after talking with my ob last night, she called in a prescription for some pain medicine. My wonderful husband went out last night at around 10pm and picked up the prescription! I took 2 right away and with in an hour, I was feeling better. My back still hurts, but not like it was. I slept on the couch so I could sleep more upright b/c of the coughing. I actually slept till around 4am and then my coughing started in. My coughing is finally done. Seems to be a pattern where I stay up for an hour and cough and then it's done and I can go back to bed.
I am off to bed. Please continue to pray for us as we make a decision that is right for us concerning the babies. It is not an easy decision. My arms ache to hold my little ones, but they need to stay where they are for a little bit longer.

I hope the next time I post, it will be to introduce the twinkies!

Please pray for me and the babies

Thankfully this post isn't anything bad or urgent. The babies and I are fine. I had an appt today and the heart beats are strong. Last Thursday, Jason went with me to the appt because I was having my last ultrasound. Both boys look great. Baby A has lots of hair so should be interesting to see what it looks like when he is born. Is he going to be blond like his older brother or red like mine? We don't know much about Baby B in the hair dept. so that should be interesting too. I have a feeling they are both going to take after big brother and be blond. Baby A is still head down but his body is more to my right and not up and down so it would allow for an easy delivery. We spoke with my ob and we decided that because of the position he is in it would be safer with a c-section. I am sad. I wanted to go for a normal delivery. I still have time between now and Monday morning to go into labor on my own. We have a date of Monday the 29th at 7:30am for a scheduled c-section. I don't want this. I am not due till the 14th of Jan. but we don't want to go so far that the babies get so big and put stress on the scar that is already there. It could cause an uterine rupture and that is not what I need.
My prayer request is this: The Lord give me peace about our decision or give me some sort of insight on what to do. The Lord gets my body to start labor on it's own. I would love this! Also that Baby A would move his position if need be so I can labor naturally if this is really a problem. Part of me wants to cancel the c-section and just continue on with the pregnancy and see what happens but I am really afraid of the babies getting so big that it causes stress on the scar that is already there from my previous c-section with Nate. I have been praying about all this for some time now. I gave this whole pregnancy up to the Lord back when I was having trouble with my heart. The Lord has been so giving to me and has kept the babies and myself safe through this pregnancy. I am blessed. I just want the Lords will in this situation. I want some peace too.
Please pray for the babies and me. Thank you!

36 weeks!

I am so excited to report that I am 36 weeks pregnant! I feel so blessed to have come this far with twins and not have any type of complications where the babies are concerned. I would like to send them an eviction notice pretty soon tho! I am tired, achy, and whatever else you can be when you are this far along in a pregnancy. Oh, emotional too. Just ask Jason! As of last Thursday at my dr's appt, there is no progress of any sort towards labor. I get to have an ultrasound this Thursday and then a talk with the dr after. This will be my last ultrasound before I get to hold my babies! I am officially down to every week appt now with my dr.

Last Tuesday night, some wonderful ladies gave me some really cute outfits, blankets and burp rags. All has been washed and ready for the boys to come home. 2 other friends took me to lunch at a tea room on Saturday and I recieved some cute things from them too. I was able to do a load of items including the coming home outfits. I just need to add a few more things to my bag and I should be ready to head out the door should I go into labor anytime soon.

I an almost done wrapping gifts. I have 2 more things to wrap for Saturday get together with my family. I can't wait for our nephews to open their gifts this year. Oh, can't wait to pick up the ham on Saturday too. It's a yummy ham! I still have one more or maybe two more things to buy for Jason. One he isn't even expecting and I can't wait to have him open it on Christmas morning.

Ok, time to clean up from supper and then head out to the library and a another place but can't say in case Jason reads this and figures out where I am getting his gift! Nice try hon! I can still fool you yet!

Lynn

Christmas Party

We attended a Christmas party with our Bible study group this evening. It was wonderful! I felt like such an adult tonight! I got to dress up a bit, get out of the house and socialize with other adults, eat w/o helping someone else. The list goes on! It was a child free party and that was nice. We had some wonderful food tonight. We played 2 games after the meal that was lots of fun and there was lots of laughter.

I installed one car seat yesterday to see how the base installs and then added the infant seat into the base. Yeah, no one is going to be able to ride with me now! I had to pull the passenger seat up just to accommodate the seat. Anyone who rides with me is going to have their knees against the dash. My seat will have to move up a bit too. At least it's only for a year. When we move the babies to a bigger seat, I would like to keep them rear facing till at least 18 mos or so, so that means the seats might not fit either. Jason mentioned switching vans. That means I get the Dodge back. I am not sure how I feel about that as I have come to love and appreciate my Mazda. If we had the money, I would love to get a bigger vehicle. When we bought the Mazda, we didn't know we would be having 2 more babies and at the same time. I would like to find a used SUV, like a Suburban or something like it. Probably go foreign. Toyota has the Sequoia but I don't know much about it. We will make do with what we have because it's nice not to have any type of car payment!

I have packed 3/4 of my hospital bag. The baby stuff is in there. I still need to add a few pieces of clothing. I have my bathroom bag packed. There is a list of "Don't Forget" items sitting on the bag. Last minute things like pillow, snacks, and the like. Cameras too. Jason is responsible for that.

Babies are doing fine. They were both moving alot tonight at the party. B had the hiccups that Jason got to feel the movements. It's getting harder to get out of chairs and couches now. I stopped sitting on the floor too. If you want some good laughs, just come over and watch me get out of said couch or off said floor. Pretty funny! By bedtime, I am ready to lay down. I need the rest. I am guessing Nate is getting tired of mommy not sitting on the floor with him. I do sit on the couch, but then I have roll to the side to get off. I don't move very fast either. I have another routine appt on Thursday. I am hoping my blood pressure stays normal as it has in the past. I will be 35 on Tuesday. One more week and I have one month left. My last month with Nate I was put on blood pressure medicine and I am hoping to avoid that this time around. Who knows, I might have these two by 36 weeks and not have to worry about my blood pressure.

Nate is doing well! He is learning daily by asking lots of questions and is very observant. He is totally into Vegie Tales right now. He can sing a few of the songs. Yeah, I hear them daily! He loves to take the cd's in the van to listen too. He loves the Silly Song videos that Vegie Tales put out. One of his gifts for Christmas is The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything! I can't wait to see his face when he opens that on Christmas Day. I can't wait to start making Christmas cookies with him too. He love to roll things out, dump things into the mixing bowl. He's a good baking helper!

Been busy shopping for my guys. I am done shopping for Nate and have most of his gifts wrapped. Jason is 3/4 the way done. He finally gave me a list and I am surprised to see that I have bought lots of things already just by listening to what he wants. Most things I have bought are wrapped for him also. I still need to buy for our niece and nephews. I hope to get those things done this Wed and Thursday. I would like to get going on my baking too.

Time to end for the night. Hope you all have a wonderful week!

The other outfit has been found

Before I posted here last about the coming home outfit, I posted on the message board that I am a member of. I figured there was a mama somewhere that could help me. There was! With in a few minutes of my posting there, a mama spoke up and said that there was an outfit on hold for me at a Babies R Us in Indiana! I called the number she gave me and I was able to buy the item over the phone and for $5 shipping, they would send it to me! It arrived today! It's pretty cool how other mamas help each other out and we don't really know each other but for the message board. My sister-in-law tried to help too but couldn't find anything at the Babies R Us near her. Thank you Tiffani for trying to help! I appreciated that!

The boys are going to look so handsome in their coming home outfits! I can't wait for them to be born and get pictures of them.

In need of some help, please

For the longest time, I was looking for the right outfits to bring the twins home in. I searched so many places on the internet. I couldn't find what I wanted so I ended up with two different outfits. However, last night while at Babies R Us, I found the perfect outfit. Just what I was looking for. They had one newborn size. I picked it up today and called around to 3 other Babies R Us stores to see if they had any newborn size. None of the stores did. My sister-in-law looked at a store in Springfield Ill and couldn't find any there. Here is a picture of the outfit. It is a Koala Baby Boutique piece. It is knitted. Blue, gray and white striped. I could use some help please finding another one.



Here is one close up of the colors:



Thanks!

Picture of the day

I haven't bragged about Nate lately. So I thought I would show you this picture. He is so stinkin' cute here. On Friday, I decided we should make up some cinnamon rolls. Here he is rolling out the dough! Enjoy!

Gettin' antsy for the arrival of my boys

Each day I feel these boys move, I can't wait to meet them! Oh, we haven't shared the names yet. We finally chose another name. Maybe we should wait till they are born to share the names? Would that be too mean of us?!!

So far, the crib is up, the linens are washed, baby clothes are 3/4 of the way washed. I have one more basket of clothes to wash. Thanks to a friend and our neighbor, we have more newborn clothes and more onesies! I think I have a total of 12 onesies and will have 5 more sometime this week when my friend sends them to me. I clean up the diaper bag as best as possible. It doesn't look too bad for me using it for the past 3 years. Thankfully the bottom is black and the main color is dark red so dirt really doesn't show. I have laid out a few outfits, onesies, socks and 2 blankets ready to add to the diaper bag to take to the hospital. I am going to install the bases for the car seats right after Thanksgiving. Nate will be moved to the back of the van then. I still need to pack up a bag for myself and get some snacks ready also. Don't know how much they will let me eat while in labor. Jason needs to make sure the batteries for the camera are ready and I am going to make sure the lap top is ready to go to as I want to take it along. I may load up a couple CD's for the time there. Movies too as they have a dvd player. I am waiting on an order of cloth diapers. Probably won't cloth diaper in the hospital but I need to have them washed and ready to go when we get home. I still need to get some covers too. I also need to buy some preemie and infant prefolds and a couple more snappis for those. I don't pin prefolds. I am pin challenged! Oh, I have someone who will make me some newborn and small covers with some fleece I bought. Just need to get a pattern for her and go see her. Thankfully she lives not far from here.

On Fridays Jason and I attend a bible study at our church. Before we started the study last Friday night, the leader showed us this video. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Check it out!

http://www.timhawkins.net/video-audio.php

It didn't have anything to do with our study, but it was hilarious. The guy is Tim Hawkins. He is from St Louis.

Our wonderful neighbor has a cute little chalkboard with Santa on it and you can right down how many days are left till Christmas. She nicely let me know there are around 45 days left! Yikes! Thankfully, I am almost done with Jason and still need some things for Nate. I have 2 things coming in the mail for him but can't come up with anything else. This is terrible. I should have a whole list of things to spoil my son with. We get enough magazines in the mail to get ideas. Guess I need to look at them again.

Well, guess I don't have much more to say. I have been wanting to get to the library and get some new books.

Another baby update

We had a wonderful baby appt yesterday. Jason said that he would have time to come with me so that was awesome! It may be the last time we see the boys before they are born. The ultrasound was great! Baby A is a little over 4lbs and Baby B is a little over 5lbs. Baby B is now head down. Sometime in the past 2 weeks he decided that being head down is more fun! We have no problems with that. Both heartbeats are great too. I have been feeling pretty good. I can feel I am getting towards the end as I am tired now all day and needing to lay down 2 times in the day. Also, my lower back is popping all the time. Everything is getting loosened up!

Been looking at my huge to buy and to do list and I can cross of a few things thankfully! I changed my mind again with the stroller. We are going to wait till right before Jason goes back to work after the boys are born to buy the Snap n Go frame. We decided that would be the easiest thing to do and when the boys can sit up unassisted, then we will look into a double stroller. That way we have more options of what we want in a stroller not what we need. I was able to sell the stroller we bought on craigslist and get my money back. The only thing I really need is a pack n play with a bassinet. I want the boys in our room not the nursery. I mentioned on my message board that I still needed some onesies and a friend who is also due in Jan said that she had more than what she needed and said that for $3 shipping, I could have as many as I needed. I figured 5 would do fine to add to what I have. She is so sweet! Another friend gave me a tub full of clothes last night and in there were some onesies also! We are so blessed with friends. I finally found 2 coming home/first picture outfits. I found them at JC Penny. They are velour. One is navy blue and the other is a soft kelly green. They are simple but very nice. I also found 2 Baby's First Christmas outfits. They are the same, but I thought it would be fun to have a couple outfits if the boys to make an appearance before Christmas.

I had better stop and figure out what to do for supper. I am just so tired I have no clue what I am going to make. Wish me luck! We have bible study tonight so it needs to be simple and quick.

Change of plans

As my previous post stated, I was looking for a Snap n go frame double stroller. Well, today I had a thought. I realized that when the babies outgrow their infant seats, I would have to get another double stroller with seats. So,I started doing some research to find another stroller that had seats but I can put 2 infant seats in it as well. So this is the stroller I found so far. I am still doing some research to see if there is another stroller out there.


So I don't need help anymore with the snap n go frame after all.


Tomorrow afternoon, Jason and I are going to tour the maternity floor at St Lukes. Then we are going on a date after! We have a friend babysitting for us so we are going to take advantage and have some time to ourselves. I am thinking of taking Jason to Babie R Us so he can see the stroller too. Would like his input.

Tomorrow is grocery shopping and laundry day. Lots to do!

On a mission

I am on a mission to save some money on a stroller that we need to buy. As you all know, we are having twins and I would love to get my hands on this stroller: http://www.babytrend.com/products_detail.php?CategoryID=0002.0004.0000.0000&LampID=932

I posted a ISO on craigslist and someone responded with a EEEUC one for $50! We bought it and found out that our Britax Companion infant seats aren't compatible with this stroller only because it is older. Now, it is only 1 1/2 years old. I thought it was new enough but it isn't. Now, I am going to put it on craigslist and get our $50 back.

My mission: To find this stroller for as cheap as possible. I can go right to Babies R Us and buy it for $99, however, the frugal side of me wants to find it cheaper or buy it with a really good coupon.

Can anyone help us? I can not have a used one as it isn't compatible with our car seats. If anyone knows of a really good coupon to Babies R Us please let me know where I can find it. If anyone knows of a great web site for coupons and can find one for a store that has this stroller, please let me know! If in the end, I can't buy it with a coupon, I will pay full price. It is a need/necessary item for us. I am hoping to find one in the next 4 weeks or so.

Thanks to all who can help! I appreciate it!

Baby to do list

I had a great baby appt today! Both heart beats are great! I am a little over 30 weeks along. My blood pressure was great too! 120 over 83. I am so pleased with that. Dr McDonald and I were talking that these two babes could come in 6 weeks or so! Ok, so not ready to hear that. I am not ready. We have two car seats so thats good. We have one crib and mattress so they have somewhere to sleep. I would prefer them to be in a pack n play in our room at least for the first few weeks. I do have a couple of newborn sleepers. I do need some diapers. I guess if they come in 6 weeks, I am sorta ready but not mentally! The more I feel them kicking and moving, I can't wait to meet them! I can't wait to see their faces and kiss them and love on them.
Tonight, I started making a list of things we still need to get and a list of things to get done by Thanksgiving. Here is the list:
To buy:
crib bumper and skirt- find fabric for my mom to make if possible, doesn't need to be done till March or so.
mattress
mattress cover
2 sheets
pack n play- would like to find used with a bassinet
few more sleepers
new born socks
diapers, KLOs and covers- need to ask a friend for a good deal on these
couple packs of either newborn or preemie huggies
2 towels
snap n go frame- bought a double frame on Craigslist, but it won't work with our car seats. If I bought a brand new one, it would. Will have to put in on craigslist and get my money back.
new born pacies
boppy cover- my boppy is ok, but would like to find a cute, soft cover for it. I am thinking blue minky!
2 packs new born onesies
extra sheet for pack n play
baskets, 4- for diaper storage
breast pump. Found out the insurance company doesn't cover the cost on this. I was hopeful!
Buy blackout curtains
radio with a cd feature for baby cd lullabyes.- another craigslist purchase

Here is the to do list:
Clean out nursery
touch up paint
put together crib
wash clothes
get dresser fixed
bring up changing pads and wash covers, all 4
wash breast pads
fix bumper ties
vacuum and scrub floor
wash windows

I am sure there are other things we need. I need to do a walk thru Babies R Us and make sure we have everything. It's been 3 years since we had a newborn so I need help remembering.

I guess this is it. I am going to take some time tonight and go thru the clothes I put away from when Nate was a newborn and wash them. I am going to wash the other clothes and the blankets I bought too.

Belly pictures!

I didn't get to post pictures of my pregnant belly when I was pregnant with Nate. I think I have maybe 2 pictures all together. Never crossed my mind. Have know clue why?! This time around, I have more pictures. Here is a picture that Jason took today. I am 28 1/2 weeks along.



I have one where my belly is bare, but I won't post that here. You get the idea from the picture I have posted.


Tonight, we went to the local YMCA and watched The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown! We watched it outside on a huge screen. It was a perfect night. Chilly enough to wear hats and mittens for Nate and wrap blankets around us. They had popcorn and hot chocolate there too. I brought cinnamon graham crackers and Jason bought the popcorn and hot chocolate. Nate pigged out on both things. He had so much fun tonight! He has seen this movie/show at least 15 times so far. He loves it!

I wanted to post some pics of the boys. Jason scanned in the latest pictures from the ultrasound from Thursday. I hadn't seen them since August and I was excited! The pics here are 3d. The top one is of the head with an arm across the face. Bashful! The second one you can see the face, eyes, nose and mouth. Very cool.



Enjoy the pictures!

Mission Accomplished

I went through Nate's dresser drawers and closet and cleaned out the summer things and put them in the nursery until I can find a tub to put them in. I also went through all the new fall and winter clothes, washed and put them away. I did go out last night and got him another pj set for the winter and also sleep socks and regular socks. The sleep socks are from Old Navy and they are thick and don't come off easy. I got everything put away and I think he is set for the winter! He also got a pair of church shoes today. Found them at Kohls for $16 instead of $30! I love saving money! Thanks to people giving him things for birthday and last Christmas, and what I found on clearance at the end of winter, he is set!

I am off in about 45 mins to head to a friends house to stamp tonight. She is having a stamping party and I can't wait! I haven't sat down to stamp in a few months and I am hoping Cathy can get me into stamping again. We are stamping cards tonight. It will be a good time! I get the luxury of being in the car for an hour by myself too! I treasure those times. I even went out and bought a Chonda Pierce cd last night. She is a Christian comedian and she is very funny! I also found with the help of a sales associate at Life Way bookstore, a cd of hymns. I have been on the look out for a cd like this. I am particular about what I was looking for. I wanted to hear hymns just you would sing out of a hymnal at church. I don't like when they mess with songs to make them unique. The sales guy let me open the cd and listen to it before I bought it. How nice! He said they can shrink wrap it again after if I didn't like the cd. That was very helpful.

Ok, off to get ready to head out. Have a wonderful weekend!

Babies Update

I went in for a measurement scan today. I couldn't wait to see the boys again. I hadn't seen them since August. Both had grown so much! Baby A is on my right and is head down with his feet in my ribs. He is 2lbs 9oz. Baby B is on my left with his head in my ribs. He is 2lbs 15oz. My ob is very happy with the weight. So am I! I was getting worried because I couldn't feel Baby B very much and didn't know what position he was in. Also, his placenta is between him and my uterus. That is why I can't feel him very much. It is like a cushion. Baby A's placenta is between the baby and my back. I hope this makes sense! Both heart rates are good. My blood pressure is good and I passed my glucose test!! If I can, I will try and scan the pics from the ultrasound. The tech did 2 pics with 3D. One has his arm in front of his face and the other one you can see the eyes, nose and mouth! Not too much longer and I get to see both of these cuties!

Have a wonderful night!

I am super excited!

I want to share an article that I saw in our newspaper today. Here is the link: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/A84E1E46517E025E862574E2001083BE?OpenDocument


I have known Eric and Sierra for 3 years now. I attended the Thursday's nursing group for close to 2 years. They are the owners of Kangaroo Kids. It is a resale shop for kids clothes and equipment and maternity clothes. They also offer nursing support. Every Thursday Sierra holds a nursing group with in the store. She is a lactation consultant. The article is about her husband wanting to be a LC also! I am so excited for him! He knows just as much about nursing as Sierra since he has been exposed to it for so long. They are the sweetest people and are so helpful. I can't wait to start in the nursing group once more once my twins are born!

Onto other news. Nothing really going on here. I am enjoying the cooler weather. The cloudy days kinda match my mood lately. Nate and I have been having fun outside. He is really getting good at riding his scooter. He can go really anywhere with it!

Most of you know that I cloth diaper our son. I am on a message board with other mamas who cloth diaper too. You can buy, sell and trade diapers on this site. We also talk about things pertaining to being a mom, having kids, life. It's a fun and fast moving forum. I have been a member for 1 1/2 years. I have come to learn alot about cloth diapers and all the types of diapers out there. Whats great about this board is that you can buy used diapers. Now that may seem odd to some of you and you might think that it's gross. I must tell you tho, these mamas take special care of their diapers because they know they can sell them and get some of their money back. I have boughten a few used diapers and aside from the fleece being a bit pilly (from normal washing) to the print being a bit faded, these diapers are in excellent condition. You can get a really nice diaper for a nice price. Over the 2 1/2 years of cloth diapering, I have found what works for me and what doesn't. Right now my stash (my diapers) is set. I like what I have and it works for me and Nate. Although, I hope Nate will potty train sometime in the next decade or so :) As I was going through the diapers we have and putting them in a container waiting for the twins to get here, I ran across 2 diaper covers that I had really liked. They are wool. I bought one when I first started cloth diapering Nate and then bought another one used this past summer. However, Nate has outgrown them. I am sad because these covers are bullet proof. Meaning, they are leak proof. I absolutely love them. So, I decided to look today on my forum and see if there are any being sold. The brand is Sugar Peas. Here is the link to their page and the covers you see in the top right corner are the ones I love. www.sugarpeas.com
I have a natural color with teal thread, and older version I believe and a navy one. If I had the money, I would buy one in every color! They have different types of wool. Australian double knit wool and Wool flannel. I am not sure which one I would get, possibly both! I would buy them in mediums since it seemed Nate was in mediums the longest. Oh to have money to get them all. I have entertained the thought of getting them used. I have seen them on my forum for used ones and the prices aren't too bad. Retail they are $25. If I could get them for $15-$18 I would be happy. Well, so far, I cannot find any retailer who sells both types of wool covers. If I had $100, I would buy 4 of the wool flannel diapers. I just can't get enough of looking at the colors for these covers! Ok, enough drooling on my part!

This Friday I am heading out to Wright City to a friends house to attend a stamping party! I haven't been stamping in a long time. I have lots of material and stamps to make pretty cards and such, but I lost the love somewhere. I am hoping that Cathy (hostess) can help me get the love back! I am looking forward to a night of girl talk, laughing and having a good time. Oh, stamping too! It will be a full 5 hours of fun. Oh, and it's an hour drive to get there. Oh, one hour of driving w/o a 3 year olds chatter the whole way. Blissful peace! I better find a cd or 2 to listen to. No bible songs or stories or toddler tunes. Nice break.

Fall is my favorite time of year! I love when it gets chilly. I love the scents that come with fall. Cinnamon, cloves, pumpkin. Anything spicy! I love seeing the colors change. Raking up the leaves for Nate and Jackson to play in. Yes, our outside loving dog loves to roll around in the pile of leaves. I love having to hunt for a jacket to wear. Cozying up to a fire pit. Planting mums in my front yard. Hunting for pumpkins. I can take or leave Halloween. I enjoy watching the younger generation get excited about trick or treating. I will take Nate to Old St Charles on Halloween with a friend and her 4 boys to go trick or treating. Jason will take Nate out that night while I stay home and hand out candy. After we put Nate to bed, we usually head over to the neighbors and sit around their fire pit and chat. It ends up being a fun night. The thing I really look forward to is Thanksgiving. I enjoy getting together with family. Eating yummy food. This year will probably be just the 3 of us. I don't really want to travel when I will be almost 8 1/2 mos pregnant. If I was pregnant with just one, I would but not with twins!

Ok, enough for today. I need to work on laundry and straighten up the kitchen. I need to marinate a couple of pork chops so we can grill them tonight. Yummy!

Some more pictures

I am finally getting brave to show some belly pictures. This picture was taken about 8 weeks ago. I have gotten a bit bigger since then. I don't really like the bare belly look. Those shorts I am wearing, I put on yesterday and they aren't fitting anymore. I am getting too big for them! I am going to see if Jason will take a couple of pics tomorrow night. I am 27weeks today!



Here is another pic of my bare baby belly and Nate trying to kiss the babies! He is so sweet!



Nate will come up and try and hug the babies once in a while. I love him so much! He found out what cow pies were this weekend! He kept talking about them. It was so funny hearing him say "Cow pies". Funny guy. He had Jason and me cracking up laughing!

Have a good night!

Time to add pictures

I didn't get time last night to add pictures like I wanted to. I was in bed and sleeping by 8:45pm. I was tired! I did wake up around 10 or so and couldn't go back to sleep. By then the babies decided it was play time for them and kept me awake for quite some time. I admit, I was getting a bit annoyed but was happy that both were messing around. One of the babies is pretty laid back. Doesn't move a whole lot, but the other baby, watch out! He moves so much and kicks all the time. Makes me wonder what type of temperament he will have.

Here are the pics of the chairs. The first is a before picture. I forgot to take a picture before the chair was disassembled, but you get the idea.



You can see how dingy and yucky the seat covers were, yuck! The next picture is the finished product! My dad did an awesome job sanding and spray painting the chairs. The green is actually darker than it shows in the picture. The material is left over from the curtains my mom made me. The lady at the fabric shop over measured when I went to buy fabric for my curtains. Ended up being ok because I had enough fabric for 5 chairs!



Thats all I have. I need to work on the base of the table. I am going to paint it the same green. I wish I could do something with the top, but it will have to stay the way it is. With this wonderful makeover of the chairs, this should last us till the kids are old enough not to destroy things! My dad put the chairs back together better than they were before.

Time to head off to bed.

A quick post

I haven't posted in a long while. Too many things going on here to have the time to post. Thought I would give a quick update and hopefully tonight add some pictures if I can get them off the camera and onto the computer.

Babies are doing fine. My last appt was the 11th of Sept. Heartbeats were strong. Both my ob and I are happy with the way the pregnancy is going. No problems. I have another appt I believe on the 17th. I guess I better call to find out. I misplaced my appt. notice. I will have a measurement scan to make sure that both babies are growing on schedule. Can't wait to see them in the ultrasound! I have a feeling they have changed positions since my big ultrasound in August. I would like to know where they are laying so that I can keep an eye on their movements. Sometime towards the end of a pregnancy, the doctor wants a mama to monitor movements so they can catch something quickly if something is wrong. I have one baby that moves all the time and the other only a few times a day. Last night they kept me up and I just couldn't fall asleep. I hope they don't try that again tonight. This mama needs her beauty sleep!!

Nate had a good 3rd birthday. He had 2 parties. One on the farm and then one here. I think so far his favorite toy would be the 3 wheeled scooter that daddy and I bought for him. I don't know if we have any pictures of him riding it. I will have to go looking. He is in a new room now. We moved the office to the back room and made a big boy room for him. He has a new big boy bed that he loves! I think he really likes it cause daddy can lay with him at night and read his bed time stories.

This past week, my parents came down for the day to help me get some things done around here before these babies come. My bathroom needed a make over and it got one! It went from heather purple to taupe and beige. I think the names of the colors are Wild Honey and Toasted Marshmellow. I bought a new shower curtain that is black and beige. My mom and I worked in there all day and my dad did a make over on my kitchen chairs! They were so ugly and dirty, yuck! We took the cushions off and then dad sanded the chairs and spray painted them a really pretty green. I had some material leftover from when my mom made my curtains so we recovered the cushions with that. Oh my, what a big difference! I love my table now! It was a cheapy table from the bargain box in the paper. This was before we knew about craigslist. I do need to sand down the base of the table and then spray paint that and we should be done. At Nate's party here, my dad, brother and Jason put in closet organizers in Nate's new room and the nursery. That will help so much when I need to organize. It makes the closet so much more user friendly.
This past weekend, Jason took Nate and went to his folks farm for the weekend. It was my last weekend alone before these twins come. I needed it! I really didn't get anything done, but I did spend some time with a friend Friday night and Saturday night. Michelle and I went thru our cookbooks looking up recipes that can be frozen. We are wanting to put some meals in our freezers for quick and easy suppers. She has 4 boys and we will soon have 3 boys. We need easy in our homes! Nate and Jason had a good time on the farm.

Ok, off to finish supper. I will try to add pics tonight after Nate is in bed and I have loaded the pics from the camera to the computer.

Happy Anniversary!

First I wanted to say again, Happy Birthday to Nate! Also, Happy 10th anniversary to my brother and sister-in-law! I was privileged to be a part of their wedding. Hope you both have a wonderful day and weekend celebrating! We love you both and your two boys!

Happy Birthday Nate!

Happy Birthday Nate! You are 3 years old today! 3 years ago today I was laboring waiting to meet you. At 7:44pm, our little boy made his appearance into the big world. So much has happened since then. We have enjoyed watching you grow and change from an infant to a baby to a toddler and now an almost preschooler! You have made us laugh, cry, grit our teeth and just smile at you. You have been the sunshine in our life! We can't imagine life with out you! We love you so very much.

Nothing much to say

I am going to post today but this will be the last time for a while. I have so much to get done. We are currently working on Nate's big boy room. We cleared it out and I am cutting in with paint so Jason can do the main painting. We have progress so far. I like that the soft white will brighten up the room.
Babies are fine. Kicking and moving alot. I have a feeling they are fighting for room now. I have another appt in 1 week. Just a general check up.
Nate started parents day out today! He gets to join the bigger kids. I enjoy having the time to get appts taken care of, time to myself, work on the house things like that.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Fall! Enjoy the beautiful colors! I know I will be busy putting in mums in my front flower bed possibly next week.
Take care!

Baby Update 2

We had a wonderful appt. The ultrasound tech was a gem! She said that the babies are growing fine. Everything looks good. Here is the news everyone is waiting for! We have 2 BOYS joining our family! We have one name picked out and I am waiting for Jason to pick the other. He did so well with Nate's name that I am sure he will come up with another cool name! When we have 2 names, we will share!

Today is the Day!

I have my big ultrasound at 10am today!!! We have a friend coming with her son to play with Nate. Thank you again Laura!

I can't wait to find out the genders of these two. I do want a little girl, but I need to accept what God gives us because he knows the plan for our family and he will give us what is perfect for our family. I can't wait to put names to these two miracles. I can't wait to know who is going to join our family in 4-5 months. I am still in awe that we are having twins! I am giddy that we are going to be a family of 5 come January. In my mind, there would only be 4 of us when we were done having babies. Not according to Gods plan though!!!

Off do to some things before we have to leave for the appt. Nate is up early this morning. He usually doesn't get up till 8:30 or so. Now it's 6:30am. Too early!

I will update later. Our immediate family will be called first and then we will email friends and family and then I will update here.

Found what I was looking for!

I decided that after we came home from the farm, I would start working on Nate's big boy room. My sister-in-law was so generous to give me a sheet set and a blanket. The sheet set has a transportation theme which is kinda what I was looking for. So with the colors out of that, I decided on an off white base for color for the walls and then 2 colors at chair rail hight. I wanted red and blue stripes. One of each color around the room. How hard would it be to find the colors? I took the pillow case in to match and couldn't find anything remotely close. Today, I decided to try again. With Jason and Nate we took off for Home Depot. Jason and Nate were looking at the Disney colors. Nate picked up brochure with Lightening McQueen on it. As I was looking at it, there was a red that matched the red I need perfectly!! I found a blue that would work too. So excited! The colors are: red:Three Cheers for Pooh and blue: To Infinity and Beyond. Cute names! The guys at the paint counter were very helpful. I didn't pick up the right type of paint for the colors so the guy went to get what I needed. I got a quart of each color and a gallon of the Popcorn white.

Now we need to work on the back room to make room for the computer and the train table. I need to remove a few things and we should be set. After that, we need to tackle the office and get it cleaned out. I will clean the office and the walls. I will cut in with the white and see if Jason will paint the rest. I don't know if I need to be painting so much being pregnant. He will need to mark off the stripes too. After that is all done, we need to look for a head board for the bed and get a mattress set. I will decorate his room little, by little. I need to paint inside the closet in the nursery and the office to get ready for the closet organizers we hope to get before Sept.

Lots to do! Yard work got done yesterday. I am looking forward to all this and getting it done!

What a beautiful day!

The weather is positively beautiful today! The sun is out and the heat is down. There is a nice breeze so I opened up the house.

There isn't a baby update today. Sorry! We have an appt. next Thursday at 10:30am. I am impatiently waiting! The babies have been moving although sporadically. I have one that wiggles like Nate did and one that kicks and punches! The kicking is new to me as Nate never did kick.

I haven't done any type of shopping for baby things. I did do a trade with a friend that needed a pack n play and she had a travel swing that I have been wanting to get. Nice trade! I will have to get another pack n play but I need one that has the double bassinet. I would like to have the twins in our room for at least the first 8 weeks or more if can be. It all really depends when they are born and how big they are. There are 3 pieces of equipment that I will have to buy. We need 2 car seats and a breast pump. Those 3 things I will buy brand new. The last thing I need to get is a Snap-n-go double stroller. I would like to find the stroller used. It's a $100 new but I know I can find them for about $45. I have looked on craigslist but there aren't many listed and if there are, they are the single stroller. So I am asking all who read this, if you know someone or someplace that has one for sale around $45-50 please let me know! I would really appreciate it.

I am glad we find out what the sexes are next week that way I can take advantage of the summer end clearance on clothes! I will be needing it if one of these babies is a girl.

Well, off to fix my hair. Amy and Dave and Nate and I are heading out to the Mills this afternoon. Amy and Dave are taking Nate for a couple of hours there so I can do some shopping and have some mommy time. I may even head across the street and check out Babies R Us.

Have a wonderful day and enjoy the beautiful weather!

Baby Update

I had my 16 week baby update today. My ob was able to find 2 heart beats! One was 159bpm and the other one was 169bpm. I didn't get to peek at the babies today but we have another appt scheduled in 3 weeks for the big ultrasound. We will look at the heart and find out what we are having in terms of gender! The next 3 weeks can't go by fast enough! Jason is going to come with me to the visit.

Another great piece of news is that my mom called today and said that she is officially cancer free. A little bit of background: The week before July 4th, my dad called and said that he wanted a family meeting. That night, Jason, Nate and I headed up to my parents house. My mom announced that she was diagnosed with breast cancer. We were all surprised. My bro and his wife were there too. She had just found out a few weeks before. She said that she was going to have surgery on the 15th of July. They found the lump in the very early stages which was great to hear. Fast forward to the 15th. I went up to my parents the night before to help out that night and the next day and to support. Jason stayed home with Nate so I could focus on my mom. The surgery which was supposed to take 2-2 1/2 hours took 1 1/2 hours. The DR came and talked with my dad and me in the waiting area. She said that the cancer was minimal and contained. They did take some lymph node to see if the cancer had spread anywhere else. They did look at it and it was negative, but they needed to do some more testing and mom and dad would hear the results by today at the latest. Mom was able to come home the same day. Surgery really wiped her out. Dad took the whole week off to help with mom. Their church stepped in to help with meals and my brother and sister-in-law also stepped in to help with whatever needed to be done. Mom called today and said that the lymph node was completely clean and no cancer!!! Praise the Lord.

On Saturday, I watched some friends daughters for the day while they packed up their house getting ready to move that night. They are heading out East for the husbands job. He will be teaching philosophy at a college. Another friend came over with her 3 kids and we all had lots of fun! We ordered pizza, played in the water and watched a movie. There was another mama and her son that came over that I didn't know well from my old church. Her husband was helping the family pack up the truck. I think the whole day went very well! It was a teary goodbye to our friends. We have known them for 5 years now. Thankfully, they will be back next May for the husband to graduate and we can see them then.

Guess thats it. Have a wonderful day!

One "No Thank You" bite

This is what we tell Nate if we want him to try something new. It works! Tonight we had a yummy beef casserole dish. It has rice, beef, red pepper and salsa. When I prepare Nate's plate, I give him only a little bit as not to overwhelm him. He did take a look at it and got upset. We pretty much ignored him and talked about our day. Nate did notice a plate of finger vegies and asked for one. I gave him a small cucumber with a bit of Ranch dip on it. We said of course, one no thank you bite and he ate the whole piece! It was the size of a quarter. After he ate that, he wanted a carrot and he ate the whole thing! He finally dug into the casserole after daddy made a happy face with ketchup! He will eat anything with a ketchup happy face on it! I was so proud of him for eating something new tonight. By the way, we didn't ignore him the rest of supper. I just don't encourage whinyness at the table.

Nothing new with the babies. Last week I felt some movement. Little flutters and some thumps. Nothing since. I am 14 weeks tomorrow. My next appt is the 21st. I hope to hear the heart beats then. I will have to update then.

Last Monday, I went to visit a friend. While we were there, the doula she hired at her last birth came over. When I found out my friend hired a doula, I wanted to meet her. Jayne is her name and she has 10 kids and I think she said 6 of the 10 kids were born at home. I really like her. She asked me about Nates birth so I told her a short version. Most of you know that I had a C-Section after 12 hours of no progress past 2-3 cm. I told her I was not happy with the birth. After I filled her in, I could tell that she was upset about how the birth of Nate turned out. I am going to be calling her again around 20 weeks and interview her. I have one other doula that I will be calling too.

Guess thats it. Had a good 4th of July. Spent time with my family. Caught some fish with my nephew and we had lots of fun. Ethan made sure he "kissed" the fish before we threw them back in. My dad showed him how to hold a fish by the mouth. Ethan didn't want to and dad said that we were done fishing. Well, Ethan stuck his finger in the fish mouth very quickly!! He didn't want to be done fishing. I think Ethan caught 17 fish that day. Most were sunny's and bluegills. He did catch a small mouth bass at the end. Just a baby one tho. Ethan is just like his daddy and grandpa. Has fishing in his blood!

Take care and have a good week!

Just chillin!

Not much has been happening around here. My mom, sister-in-law and her two boys came for a visit on Wednesday. Nate and his cousins had a good time. We had lunch at Culvers and then we perused the shops on Main Street St Charles. My mom was on the look out for a picture to hang above her sofa. She found a really nice one for a good price. There is a shop call Poor Mans Art, I believe. Nice art for nice price.

Not much on the babies update. I will see my baby doctor on Monday for a routine checkup. No ultrasound. I am feeling much better. My energy level is ok. I have been taking naps in the afternoon when Nate goes down for his. I find if I don't get a nap, I am a limp noodle for the rest of the night and I am in bed by 8:30 or 9pm. My nauseousness has gone down too. I have been able to eat better and more. The only thing I have an aversion to is bananas. Yep, love them, but not right now. I sure hope that when I pop these twinkies out that I will be able to eat a banana again. So very sad. I have been drinking water like no bodies business. Even tho I am carrying twins and that usually means I will be sticking out further sooner, I don't think I will be showing much till Nate's birthday is Sept. Being overweight to begin with, doesn't help. I hope I get bigger than with Nate. This time I am taking pics! I have one or two at the end with Nate and I am not that big. I am kinda bummed with that. Oh, well. At least I only have one or 2 stretch marks to show for it!!! The one thing that I can't wait for is feeling these babes moving. I loved, loved loved it with Nate.

Ok, 'nuf about the twinkies. I love that word! My baby doctor calls them that.
Oh, I had my heart recheck after being in the hospital. My heart dr is so nice and he really cares for me. He listened to my heart and lungs and said I sound good. I have had 2 more episodes of my heart racing but I was able to breath thru them and not have to go the the ER. I have another appt in Sept. I think for a couple of weeks after being in the hospital, my body decided to take a rest. I was so tired and down. I am finally coming up out of all that. I am still taking it easy tho. That whole heart thing took a toll on my body. Being pregnant too didn't help.

Need to be done for the day. I am hungry for breakfast and need to get my guy up who is now letting me know he is up and talking. Soon, he will be escaping from his room and asking for juice!

Y'all have a good day!

Smell that Smoke (Bandanas)

So yesterday was Fathers Day so Nate and I took daddy to Bandanas. I had been craving it and suggested it to the guys. It was sooooo good. I pigged out. The beef was so tender, the fries just right and the sweet tea just the right amount of sweet. I know, caffeine in the tea, but I haven't been drinking soda at all so I figured this time I was ok. Its a dangerous thing that Bandanas is right near us. Very tempting to call and order take out. Jason mentioned stopping by Schnucks (grocery store) and picking up some ice cream. After that we headed home and veged in front of the tv watching Snoopy shows. Nate and Daddy went for a walk and then we decided to head to the park. It had cooled off alot and I was ok to head out then. I have been reacting to the heat so I stay in the air conditioned. The park was great. Met a family at the park and come to find out they live 2 streets over and their son is just a month older than Nate! They had lots of fun and the parents were pretty cool too.

Nate has been so funny with his words lately. The other morning, Nate and I were having breakfast. Well, I was having my breakfast, he was on the 2nd half of his breakfast! Anyways, we were just chatting and he said, "I love mommy, I love Nate, I love Jackson (said this 3 times) then he said I love daddy!" He cracks me up! Our conversations are about everything and nothing! He is into singing alot too. I would love to get him to memorize some bible songs. We have plenty of resources and I know quite a few from memory. Thanks to Aunt Amy, we have a whole slew of cassette tapes with kid songs and stories. He loves to listen to these tapes in his cassette players.

2 weeks ago, I had a drs appt and Aunt Amy(Jasons sister) came to watch Nate for me. Since we were low on babysitter friendly diapers (disposables) Nate and I ran to target to pick some up and peruse the toy aisle. I ended up getting Nate a starter set of Playdough. It had some plastic scissors that would be good for Nate for small motor skills. It was perfect toy for Aunt Amy and Nate to play while I was gone. He is officially hooked on playdough! Over the weekend, Aunt Amy found a Bob the Builder and Sesame Streets playdough packs and cutters. He has had so much fun!

It is finally cooling off here. Supposed to be in the 80's this week. Good, I don't want to turn on the air if I don't have to. I love the fresh air.

My mom, sister-in-law and her two boys are coming Wednesday so us ladies can have a day of shopping. My mom wants to peruse St Charles Main street for some art pieces and such. I am going to see if a teen here in the neighborhood would be up to watching all 3 boys. If she is busy, then Jason said he would take the day off. I thought that would be good for the boys to spend time with their uncle and Nate could spend time with daddy.

Supposed to get our new cell phones today! I hope that is. We already have the new phone service on the home phone. I can officially call my mom and not use up her minutes on her phone.

Off to get Nate up. He thought that 5:30am would be a good wake up time. Thankfully, he laid in bed and fell back asleep around 7:30 or so. I was thinking of waking him up around 8 but didn't have the heart to wake a sleeping baby. He played hard yesterday and hopefully will today too. It's too nice to be spending the day indoors. We have 2 errands to run and then we will be done.

Have a wonderful day everyone!!

Ummm, not sure how to respond

After coming back from lunch, there was a comment on my blog. I have no clue who it is. They commented on my experience at the circus. Pretty negative. I want to comment, but don't know what to say. The only thing I can think of is "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." The person mentioned how the elephants are taken from their moms in the wild to be trained and how they will never see their moms again. The person goes on to say more so go ahead and read the comment. Well, at the circus, we received a pretty neat book all about Ringling Bros. It talks about each performance and who the people are. There is a page dedicated to the elephants. They have a Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida. Here is the website they provide if you wish to check it out. www.elephantcenter.com Thats all I have to say about this.

Not up to posting more now. Maybe tomorrow night.

AWESOME NIGHT

Last night was an awesome night! We went to see the Ringling Bros Circus. That was the first time that I know of that I have been to a circus. Ringling Bros outdid themselves! Edward Jones invited all employees to the circus in celebration of opening their 10,000 office in Connecticut. We all had a good night. Nate loved all the animals and the clowns and trapeze people. We had really good seats and could see most of everything.

Well, I need to finish getting ready for church. There are more things I want to blog about so that will have to wait till this evening. Nate woke up around 9:30am so no nap for him this afternoon. Will have to wait till he goes down for bed tonight.

Score!

Jason got me out of bed this morning to go garage saleing. We didn't go out for long since it was getting pretty hot early. We found a nice subdivision sale with quite a few sales. I ended up finding a crib for $10!!! It had all the parts but do need to casters. Our other crib did too so this isn't anything new for us. I also found 2 medium Bumkin cloth diapers at this sale. I was so happy! $2 each. Nice! They were barely used.

Had a rough week. I am so tired and nauseous but I am coming up out of the slump I think. I did go see my baby dr yesterday to voice my concerns and she said that since I was carrying twins, I am going to be more tired. She said that I was 9 1/2 weeks along. So, 2 or so more weeks and I will be into the 2nd trimester. I am looking forward to that. I am also looking at a Twins pregnancy book on half.com that I think I will order this afternoon. My pregnancy book from Dr Sears is good but it really doesn't touch on twins and I know that this pregnancy is different and I want to find out what is going to be different and what to look out for.

Well, off to try and make some lunch for my guys. It's getting pretty hard to get into the kitchen lately. My nose has super smelling powers and I don't like it! Good thing for Lysol!

I am hungry.

For the past few weeks I have been very nauseous b/c of being pregnant. Since being put on progesterone for the babies, it has helped my nauseousness. So, today has been the best of days. I am hungry. But, the thing is, I am hungry for things I had when I was in the Czech Republic. It all started this afternoon when for some reason, I got to thinking about sweet bread. Sweet bread is typically eaten for breakfast. So, I decided to google "sweet bread" and see what I could find. I haven't found a recipe for sweet bread but as I was looking, I was reminded of so many things I used to eat over in the Czech Republic. I tried looking for these other things but can't find just the right one. I have 3 contacts in Czech Republic that I can get a hold of and ask them for recipes.
Here is what I am looking for:
Kolache, but only made by a good friend!
Sweet bread
Tomato and cucumber salad
Open faced sandwiches
Mushroom soup

I know there are more, but that's all I can think of. I know that I can get kolache here in St Louis, but my friend makes the best.
Some of these items I ate at our mission camps so I know things are made differently than others. The open faced sandwiches we ate for supper. Typically, people would eat a nice breakfast, big lunch and then a small supper. Opened face sandwiches were really good. I made them one last time right after we came home in 1995 but I don't remember it all.

Oh, I am craving cinnamon rolls right now too. Jason said he would make them for me! What a sweet guy!

Ok, of to email my mom to get the addresses so I can get the recipes.

Have something to share!

I have been waiting on some important pieces of information before I wrote this post. On Sunday May 4th we found out that we are expecting another baby! I went on the following Wednesday to confirm with the OB. I had blood drawn the next day so that my ob could check my progesterone levels. That following Monday, I called in and talked with the ob and she said that my levels were much better that they were last fall when we miscarried. I was happy to hear that. However, I wasn't quite at a 10 for levels so she has me on progesterone for 30 days. Everything was going well till last Thursday early in the morning. I had woken up at 4:30am to use the restroom and I noticed my heart was beating awful fast. Now, pregnant womens hearts to beat a little faster because the heart is working for 2. I used the restroom and came back to bed, but didn't lay down. Jason woke up to see what was wrong and I had him feel my heart. It took us about 30 secs to decide to head into the ER. Thankfully, our niece was visiting and we let her know we were going to the er so we didnt have to worry about taking Nate since she was there. We got to the ER and told the people at the front desk that I was approx. 7 weeks along and my heart was racing. I was immediately seen by the house ER dr who listened to my heart and said to get me to a room. I was hooked up to a heart machine to check the beats. I went up as high as 180 bpm. I had so many people in the room. It took the nurses a while to get the IV in. Thankfully this whole time I wasn't in any pain or shortness of breath. After they got the IV in they decided to try and slow my heart down and see if it would reset itself. The nurse said right before the drug hit my veins that I would feel weird. Uh, yeah. It was the weirdest feeling. I think I blacked out for a couple of seconds. I felt this wave go from my neck to my feet. Thankfully its a short lived drug and it was out of my system quickly. That didn't work so they tried another. They finally got me a room in the heart hospital. I got to the room at 8:30am and the drugs they were using wasn't working. I saw so many drs and whoever else was there. I finally saw the heart dr. I had an EKG done. Sometime that morning and after a bunch of tests, they finally decided to do an electrical cardio version. What that means is they pretty much shock my heart to get it back to normal. I was drugged up so that it was a conscience sedation although, I don't remember anything. They brought the crash cart in my room to do the version. This happened around 12:15pm. After that my heart rate was back to normal, Praise the Lord!!!
I had the best nurses there. My heart nurse was the best of them all. She was so sweet and was 20 weeks pregnant so of course we had lots in common. She reassured me thru all of this. I came home Friday afternoon. Jasons sister stayed overnight to help with Nate. I felt so sorry for him as his world was turned upside down for 36 hours or so. I think he is much happier with me home.

So, in the er, the house dr did an ultrasound to check on the baby. I was scheduled to have one midmorning at my obs office anyways. The dr looks at us after finding the baby and asks "Are you taking fertility drugs"? We said "No, why"? He said that he thinks there are 2 sacs there! Our jaws dropped. No way. After all that happened Thursday, I called in on Tuesday to my ob and requested an ultrasound to make sure the baby was ok. Also to see if the dr was right about being twins. My ob is not on staff at the hospital we were at so she wasn't able to come see us, but she was notified about what was happening to me last week. As I am in her office getting an ultrasound, she comes rushing in the room cause she just has to know if the house er dr was right. Sure enough, as soon as the tech could get a pic, there are 2 babies and 2 heart beats!!!
Here is a pic of the 2 babies:


If you look at the 2 sacs and see 2 bean shapes, one in each sac, those are our babies!

We still don't know why we are blessed with twins, only knowing it's from God. But genetically, how? Jason doesn't have any twins on his side. My paternal grandfather was a twin although his brother was a stillborn at the time of their birth. It is said that twins skip generations. None of my cousins have had twins and for an exception of myself and my two younger cousins, everyone else is done having kids. My younger cousins may be done to as they already have kids. So, I am the only one left and I get the twins!!

I am excited about this journey for the next 8 months. My ob is very supportive. She and I are going to work together and make this pregnancy wonderful and hopefully the birth also. My edd is January 14th. I may go early as most twin pregnancies do. I am going to take it easy around November and December. I want to get to at least 38 weeks. That way the twins wont have to spend much time in the nicu. It's almost mandatory that twins spend some time there since they usually arrive earlier than single babies. Make sure their lungs are fully developed.

Please pray that the babies grow strong and healthy. I want to be able to hold 2 babies at the end of this journey.

You have to listen to this!

I found this on the message board I am a member of. http://www.chumfm.com/MorningShow/bits/march24.swf Cut and paste. I don't know how to put in a link. Anyways, very funny to listen to. A guy witnesses and accident while leaving a message for his friend on his phone.

Enjoy!

I am off to get my tooth looked at today. Not looking forward to this. I think something happened to the tooth while I was getting my wisdom tooth removed. Thankfully the guy who I am going to see is good. Close the house too.

I will have to add more tonight.

Pictures to show!

I haven't shared pictures of Nate lately so here goes!

The first few pics are of Nate sitting in an old desk. I have no clue how old this desk is. I do remember sitting in it to color too. My parents had it for years and they handed it down to me. I have it sitting in a corner of my kitchen just for looks till recently when Nate discovered it! Here he is coloring.


He is really getting into coloring. Usually I give him blank pages to color on, but he has been asking daddy to draw Peanut characters. If you read my previous post, you will understand his infatuation with Snoopy! As I was watching him, I noticed that he is definitely going to be a lefty! I am so proud as I am a lefty also. Up till now, he didn't really favor that hand, but you can really tell he is set for life. When Nate wants to color, he pulls the desk out of the corner.
Here are two more pics of him coloring:




His favorite color to color with is orange. He is getting his colors down too. He can name about 4 colors now.

The next photo is of 6 prefolds that I embellished with cute material. I sent them off to Tammy of Tinkle Traps. She will take those prefolds, trim them to the measurements I gave her and add elastic to the legs and back and make them into fitted diapers. They are actually called prefitteds since they are made from prefolds. The prefolds I sent her are toddler sized. They are too big for us to use. This is a good option for us. It doesn't hurt to have extra diapers. I will have to post pictures when I get them back.



The prints from left to right are: sock monkey with lite blue background, Retro western(Michael Miller print), Vintage Dick and Jane, Cars, another Vintage Dick and Jane and Thomas.

Here is another photo of Nate. Jason added this to his blog. I thought I would add it to mine too. This is after bath one night. I was being goofy and made a mow hawk of Nate's hair! He looks awful cute!


I need to find out how to add a blog roll to my blog. Guess I will have to go snooping around here. Either that or ask Jason.

Enjoy the pics. I know I get to enjoy the real thing every day :)

I like Linus!

Nate just told me this! He enjoys watching anything Snoopy. We got him hooked on Snoopy back at Halloween. I enjoy watching holiday movies and Snoopy was one of them. We watched the Snoopy Christmas show too. Nate sits there and giggles at the pond scene. Jason found Snoopy Come home. Apparently, Snoopy gets forgotten and decides to leave home. I don't know the rest of the story b/c I don't sit and watch the whole thing. Jason and Nate watch it together. There is a scene in a hospital when Snoopy and Woodstock go to visit a girl Lila. She is sick. There is a sign at the entrance to the hospital, No Dog Allowed. Someone is chasing Snoopy and Woodstock thru the hospital. Think a scene from Scooby Doo. Running from room to room with someone chasing you. Some how they get from one room and then another w/o going into the hallway. Anyways, Nate absolutely loves that scene!!! So back to Linus. We have sometime nick named Nate Linus b/c of the whole blanky thing. Well, I think Nate can relate to Linus so he likes him!

Nate starts swimming lessons today! I hope to get in 2 sessions before he turns 3. Thats when he flies solo with other kids and a teacher. Up to 3 years old, the parents need to be in the pool with the kids. I also want to get him signed up for music and movement at our community center. I am wanting to get a season pass to the Aqua Port too. Lots of fun things to do this summer.

Off to get supper in the crock pot.

A certain intersection

There is a certain intersection on St Charles Rock Rd that I loathe and fear. I have witnessed one accident there and almost another one today. This intersection is close to a fire department and hospital. I know that a few times a day that ambulances and fire trucks go through that intersection. When I witnessed the accident, an ambulance and a fire truck went thru the section with their lights and sirens going. Today, I was at that stop light and I was again the lead car. I heard sirens so I rolled down my window to find out what direction it was coming from since I couldn't see any lights in my mirrors. An ambulance was coming down the hill to my right. He slowed down and turned left onto the Rock Rd. Right after he went thru, a firebird came through the intersection and was half way through before the driver realized the ambulance in front of him had the lights and sirens going. The driver did slow down. I sat there shaking my head in disbelief. Don't you think that if you came upon an intersection and no one was moving that perhaps an emergency vehicle just went thru or was on their way through? Don't you think you should maybe slow down and access the situation to be safe? This is why I do not like this intersection. Thankfully, there are ways I can avoid this area. There are other ways to get to 70 and the other half of the Rock Rd.

Hoping to get out tomorrow. There is a Kids Health and Education expo tomorrow that I want to take Nate to. There are supposed to be some neat things for Nate to do. I do know that Jason's sister and friends are coming over tomorrow night for a game of Buzz. Some trivia game that you play on the Playstation.

I made some yummy snickerdoodles tonight. I didn't bake up all the dough. Oh they are nummy!

Guess thats it for tonight.

Wednesday

I woke up by the telephone ringing at 7:30am. We don't get phone calls this early so it must be important. It was my mom calling to let me know a family friend had been in an accident and was not doing so well. She and 2 other teachers were broadsided by another driver and my friend was in the back with only a lap belt on. The other 2 women are doing ok, but my friend is not. The guy who hit them died. My mom updated me about an hour ago saying that "J" is responding a little bit with a squeeze of a finger and briefly opening her eyes. She will have to go back into surgery this after noon. So far they have given her 35 pints of blood. Please pray that she comes out of this and can go on with life. She is in her early 50's and has 2 wonderful daughters and 2 sweet grandsons. She isn't done living her life. I have known "J" since I was little. Our families started a church in Elkader IA many years ago. "J" and her family are very precious to us.

Discovered something really cool last week. When we travel up to Jason's folks, it's a 4 hour ride. We like to take the lap top to play movies for Nate. I have noticed that the sound isn't that great. I was looking into getting some external speakers to hook up to the lap top to help with the sound. I found some at Target and they were about $25. Didn't buy them. I wanted Jason's opinion b/4 buying something. Jason mentioned something about his work laptop had speakers that we could use. But he found something else instead. Back when my old cars didn't have CD's, just cassettes, I bought an adapter for my personal CD player. I think you all know what I am talking about. Jason had one too. He found them and we decided to see if we could use it with the lap top. Took the adapter and lap top out to the van and hooked it up and now we can hear the movies thru the vans sound system! Rock on! :)

Here is a pic of a custom that a wonderful WAHM (work at home mom) did for us. I love the tee shirt! I haven't figured out how to make it so you can just click on the link. Just copy and paste to see the work.


Nothing else is going on. Maybe I will have more later.

Awful moment in my day

I had a friend watching Nate so I could go to an appointment w/o him. I had just picked him up and was heading home. We were stopped at a red light and off in the distance I could see a firetruck heading towards the stop light we were at. I was talking with Nate about the firetruck and rolled down the window so he could hear the siren. We were still at the red light waiting for the firetruck and one ambulance to pass thru. Just as the 2 trucks were passing thru, a SUV went thru the light right along side of the trucks but the trucks were turning and the SUV wasn't. The SUV was going straight thru the light. Just as the SUV was going thru the intersection, a Mustang came flying thru and hit the SUV hard enough for it to lift off the ground and land on a car 2 cars away from Nate and myself. Talk about shock! Everything was in slow motion. It was the weirdest feeling. I was actually thinking the SUV was going to hit us after it hit the other car. Thankfully it didn't. It took me a few moments to figure everything out and to pull into the gas station to the right of us. Nate was ok but I was shaking. The mustang was sitting right there and the ladies were yelling about the SUV wondering if it had run a red light. I wonder if the SUV driver thought since the firetruck and ambulance was going thru they could make a run for it even though it was a red light. I think the ladies in the mustang knew that the firetruck and ambulance was there or going thru the light or they would have slowed down. They were going pretty fast. Had to be going fast enough so that when they hit the SUV it was lifted off the ground. I sat in the gas station lot for a few minutes and then the police showed up. I have a feeling the firetruck saw it all and called it in right away. I don't think there were any fatalities, but I don't know for sure. I don't know about the driver in the SUV.

Makes me thankful for my life and my family! I am still processing everything. I am very, very grateful and thankful that our van wasn't hit. I am not happy that Nate saw it happen and I hope this is not something he will remember. He did make a comment as we were driving home that a truck was hit. I don't think he understands what all happened.

Give hugs to your kids and families and be thankful everyday for them!

Nate says "Love you"!

Last night as I was saying my goodnight and blowing kisses and saying "Love you" to Nate, he piped up and said "Love you" to me!! First time for him to say that. I think I am in love with my boy :)

Today as I am looking out the window in the office, I spot 2 Robins and then another one comes flying up to the tree! I think Spring is coming pretty soon. I am ready too.

I started my sewing class the 10th of March. Our project is a bag. We can bring our project home and work on it here. I did have to work on my handles here but didn't know how to assemble the bag. The class this past Monday I got alot more done. I brought it home to work some more. It actually looks like a bag now. All I need to do is add bias tape to the top rim of the bag and square off the bottom. I think I can get that done here. I am to find another project to do after this bag is done. It needs to have a pattern so I don't know what I am going to do. I have 4 weeks left of my class. I don't know if I will continue on after for more classes. If the cost isn't too high and Jason is cool with it, I might. I will have to post pics of my bag when I am done. I do have the pattern for it so I might make another one.

Enough for now. I am thinking of taking Nate swimming today to get rid of his energy or take him to the mall to run around. Good thing I don't have cash so I can't spend!!!

Trip to Kansas City

I took Jason to the Kansas City area for his birthday. We were supposed to go the weekend of his birthday but b/c of the bad weather, we chose this past weekend instead. I had a bed and breakfast booked and a few things around the area to see. Our bed and breakfast was in Kearney, MO. It is called Western Way B&B. Bill and Connie Green are the owners. It was out in the country on a small ranch. They have a few horses but I couldn't ride them. Bill is a farrier and is a roper also. Connie is wonderful hostess that enjoys entertaining. She had a wonderful breakfast waiting for us Saturday morning. It consisted of Baked Bacon Twists, French Bread, Potato's O'Brien, mixed fruit and mini blueberry muffins. Yummy! The baked bacon twists were so yummy. She told me how she made them and now I will have to try them.

Some of the places we visited while we were there: Jesse James home, Watkins Woolen Mill, Museum of the Pony Express, the home where Jesse James was killed, and another museum called the Patee House which was a 140 room hotel and now is a museum. After we were done in St Joseph, we decided to head back towards Kirksville and stay in Chillicothe. It is the home of Sliced Bread. They also have murals painted on the sides of old buildings. Very pretty town. We were going to stay over night and then head back to Jasons folks the next day but we were bored and were back to Kirksville that night. We did stop to play 2 games of bowling before heading out of Chillicothe.

I would like to go back to that area next fall and visit a few places in Kansas City since we didn't do that this time around. I hope to stay at the Western Way B&B again too!

Spent some time at Hobby Lobby tonight. I picked up some flannel to make some doublers for Nate's diapers. I have some but they seem a bit rough to the touch. I have some microfiber towels that I am going to cover with the flannel to make the doublers. Should be an easy project.

I am so proud of Nate tonight so a little brag about him. Nate knows all 26 letters of the alphabet!!! I decided not to work with him to much because I figured he's only 2 1/2 and he is a boy. Jason has been playing with the foam letters in the bathtub with Nate when he gives Nate a bath. He makes a game out of it. Thanks to all that, he has learned his letters. If Nate points out a letter, I tell him what it is and I will spell things for him and such. He is getting exposure to the letters at Parents Day out too. Next on the list to learn is numbers and colors. He knows his shapes, but I havent heard him say them.

Have a good evening!

Wordless Wednesday

This is the home of the famous Jesse James.

A day at the Butterfly House

On Saturday, I felt the need to get out of the house and give Jason some quiet time. I called up a friend and we decided to head out to the Butterfly House in Chesterfield. My friend has 2 girls, ages 4 and 1 1/2 years. I took quite a few pics. So I would like to share some with you.





This is my favorite photo. I like the colors on this butterfly.




I love this pic of Nate. He is learning to smile when we ask him to, so this is him smiling! I think he was being goofy too!


After spending time at the Butterfly House, there is the Carousel House. Here is Nate on his horse!


Hope you all enjoy the pics! Please leave a comment if you want!

One for the books

Any body been woken up at 5:45am with your child yelling "SOOOOOORRRRRRYYYYY"? Well, I have been and it's not funny. Nate decided that 5:45am is a great time to wake up and frantically start searching for a toy. Maybe I need to translate the sorry for you. He was saying "SSAAAALLLLLLLLYYY". Sally, if you all know, is the blue car from the movie "Cars". In all reality, it's my fault that he has Sally. You see, we were supposed to go away for the weekend and Jason's parents were going to watch Nate for us. I had a great idea to buy 2 die cast cars from the movie Cars. I bought Doc and Sally and wrapped them up for him to open on Friday and Saturday. He has been asking for those 2 plus sheriff. He bought Sheriff on Monday. Thursday night he opened Doc and was excited. I let him open Sally on Saturday. This kid is hooked! S
So, after running in his room trying to help him look for Sally in the blankets and not finding her, he was content to lay down and try to go back to sleep with just Doc, Sheriff, Lightening McQueen, Mator and Bertie the Bus from Thomas. Well, he hasn't gone back to sleep. We have a crazy day of grocery shopping to do and get the shocks fixed on the van. Maybe he will go done for an early nap and sleep for 3 hours. That would be nice. Oh, yes, and looking for long lost Sally. I could have sworn he had Sally at nap time yesterday so I have no clue where she is. Oh, well.

I will add more when Nate goes down for nap.

Mission Accomplished

When I left my parents old house in Hillsboro, they were on their way to Springfield. They didn't need me to help them on the other end unloading. 3 guys who helped load up the truck went to Springfield to unload. I know there were other people who were there too to help.

Please keep my dad in your prayers. Saturday he woke up with a fever and had chills. Saturday night when they were at supper he had the chills again. Mom and dad were supposed to go back to Hillsboro either yesterday or today to pick up dads truck so he could go back to work but I don't think thats going to happen. I talked with mom last night and said that he was going to see the doctor yesterday.

I got to talk with a old family friend on Saturday. It is my god father, Jim. He is such a good family friend that I call him Uncle Jim! He got remarried on Feb. 2 to Linda. I don't know anything about Linda only that from what mom says, she is a wonderful person! I haven't seen Jim in probably 15 years. I have talked with him on the phone in those years. We both have birthdays on May 19th! It was so good to hear his voice and talk with him.

I am surprising Jason with something good this weekend. He knew nothing of it till last night. All he knows is that we are heading to his folks Thursday night. I didn't want to keep him in the dark about that. He doesn't know whats happening after that. He does know that his folks are keeping Nate for the weekend. I will have to let you all know what we did on Monday.

Well, I have a chicken taco quiche to make up for supper. It makes 2 so I can freeze one! I am off to do that.

Will be gone till Sat.

I am helping my parents move today, tomorrow and Saturday. I finally counted how many times they have moved since I was a baby, so since 1976. Where they live now was move number 13 and this will be move number 14. Now they did move 2 times to the Czech Republic so those were 2 big moves. Of those 14 moves, I moved 10 with my family and then after I moved out of the house, I moved 5 more times. Ha, I have my parents beat by one move!!! Not fun, but crazy!

Ok, off to take Nate to Parents day out and get my rear into Illinois to my folks house.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

Look what came for me today!!

This gorgeous rose bouquet came for me today!!! I was quite surprised. Of course Jason sent it! I am going to be gone on Valentines day so it was sent early. He is such a sweet guy!

Fluffy day for me!!

Ok, fluffy in the cloth diapering world means a cloth diaper! The diapers I buy are so soft and fluffy! So, I received the following 2 covers made from fleece. Fleece is an excellent material for covers for diapers at it repels moisture and pushes it back into the diaper. Also with fleece, I can wash it with normal clothes and put it into the dryer and use a dryer sheet as that helps keep the fleece repel moisture which is what I want. It is a no-no to put a diaper in the dryer with a dryer sheet b/c the dryer sheet will add a layer of stuff and that will make the diaper repel moisture when I want the diaper to absorb.

So, here are the 2 fleece covers/soakers:


The next thing I have to show you is a decal for the car. It goes on my window. It shows how much into cloth diapering I am!! After I posted the blog and looked at it, I noticed that the pics were getting cut off. Too tired to fix, but the decal says "Cloth Diapers Rock".



I still need to take off the protective cover. The letters are blue.

My mom came down yesterday to spend some time with us and then she and I went to the Reba/ Kelly Clarkson concert. It was special for us to see Reba in person. Not that we got to meet her, but at least hear her sing in person. We didn't stay the whole time as it was really loud. I was a bit upset b/c I had hoped Kelly would open and then Reba would sing, but they sang together the whole time. We were surprise to have a special appearance by "Barbara Jean"!!! Melissa Peterman plays Barbara Jean on Reba! She is so funny.
It was so nice to have my mom here for a visit. Nice treat. She and Nate have so much fun together. Next week on Thursday, I will head up to their house and help mom clean and pack as they move to Springfield on Saturday. I will stay at mom and dads till Saturday. Jason has Friday off and he and Nate are going to have daddy and Nate day. On Friday, mom and dad close on the house and then my brother will be there to help pack and pack up the truck. It's going to be just the 4 of us again for the day. Thats going to be weird.

Update on V. Her son called last night and he said that she had some inner ear problems so that's why she got dizzy and fell. I don't know when she will be home. I hope soon.

I have been busy going thru my stash of cloth diapers deciding what I want to sell so I can buy different diapers for Nate. There are a few that I don't like, or they don't fit Nate size wise and just don't fit right on him. There are some other things like books and parental items that I am selling also. I am going to be placing them on diaperswappers. I am hoping to get a little bit of pay pal. That will fund the other diapers. I don't need much, but I do need some things. I will probably list everything the first of March. Too much going on here before then.

Tomorrow is already filled. I am going to a friends house. She is hosting a Party Lite party for her cousin. If I find what I am looking for, I will post a pic of it after I get it. It's too hard to explain what I am looking for. I have a feeling I will find it tomorrow.

As I was busy taking pics of all the items I am selling, I wanted to listen to some music on the computer. Jason told me of Mikes Radio world. He lists alot of radio stations out there. I clicked on Tennessee and found a Bluegrass, Mountain, Old Country station there. Really good music. Not liking the dj at night. Older guy who gets into some political stuff that I have no interests in.

So, back in the beginning of Dec, I posted that I have been seeing this new dr who is holistic. She has helped me so much. I am eating better and the enzymes I am taking helps me to digest and absorb the food I eat alot better. I know I have lost some weight but I have tons more to go. I feel better. I feel healthier since seeing this dr and starting on the enzymes. So I had an appt yesterday with her. She said I am doing great. I brought up that Nate was getting sick again. He had a double ear infection 2 weeks ago and it seems that it didn't clear up completely as he is coughing and has a runny nose again. She mentioned that I need to take him to my chiropractor and get adjusted. She could adjust him too but Dr Gina already knows Nate. She also gave me some herbal supplement to give to him to help get rid of the bacteria in his ears that is causing him to get ear infections. I have to open up the capsule and empty the contents into applesauce or yogurt. I have been doing this for him since Thursday and I am already noticing a difference. Not coughing as much, he feels better. I do have an appt on Monday to see Dr Gina to get him adjusted. I hope she looks at his ears and lets me know how they are. We do have a follow up appt on Tuesday with the ped's to make sure the antibiotics did their job from 2 weeks ago. I think I will make a standing appt with Dr Gina once a month for Nate. He would benefit from it.

Ok, enough of me talking. I need to go do a load of laundry so I have something decent to wear tomorrow morning.

Have a wonderful night!!

Update on V

Jason received a call from V's daughter yesterday and said that they were going to do a CT scan as she did hit her head when she fell. V also has a irregular heartbeat. No broken bones, thank goodness. They checked her in yesterday and kept her overnight. I have a feeling she will be there tonight as well. Hopefully, Jason and I will go see her tonight.

Tomorrow night is going to be exciting around here. My mom and I are going the Reba/ Kelly Clarkson concert!! Whoo-hoo! My mom will be here midmorning and she and I are going to spend the day together. Maybe a little fabric shopping and lunch.

So, I got signed up for this sewing class and the class is on Thursdays. I thought it was on Mondays. Ok, that's fine. Last week was cancelled b/c of the snow. But, I will have to miss tomorrow night and the following 2 Thursday's b/c of things going on that I will not get out of. So, I am hoping they will hold my payment and let me get in on Mondays the next round of classes. Thursday's just don't work out for me. I was looking forward to taking this class. Will have to wait now.

Nothing else is going on.
Lynn