Very overwhelming

We have been in CA for almost a month now and are starting to adjust to our new life here. We already love it and feel very happy and blessed that everything is working out so well for us.

We did have a tough first couple of weeks. On our drive down from Utah, Holland was coughing a lot and it just didn't seem right. She wasn't eating well either. Since it was a Sunday and nothing was really opened, we stopped at the ER in St. George. After a couple of hours, we found out she had RSV. They told us to have her checked out once we got to CA. So, that Tuesday she seemed to have gotten worse and we took her to the ER again. They admitted her because her oxygen levels were low. She was in the hospital from Tuesday until Saturday. It was so sad and she was hooked up to all of these monitors and had to have breathing treatments and xrays and it was so sad. Josh and I switched off being at the hospital with her, while the other was home with the other two kids. It was a very difficult and tiring week for all of us. After she got, everyone else in the family did, Dane, Harper, Josh, me and Grandma :( But we are all back to normal now, hallelujah! We had all of these fun plans for that week since Josh didn't start work until Monday, but I guess we will have to do them some other time.

Josh loves his new job at Oakley. I'm so happy for him and grateful that he enjoys it so much.

We sold our house and close on Monday. What a blessing it was to have that happen so quickly. We listed the house on a Wednesday and by Saturday we had 3 offers. Everything went through great and it's like it was all meant to be.

Now we are in the stressful time of trying to find a place to live. Which is difficult with three little babies.

Boy, oh boy, are things crazy right now, but we are so blessed and so happy. Even if we have crazy little girls that don't nap very well.

A little update on Holland and Harper. They're a little over 3 1/2 months now. Like I just mentioned, they don't nap. They are exactly as Dane was and sleep 30-45 min. each nap and boy is that totally annoying. If they were awake and happy all the time, it wouldn't be so bad, but since they wake up early from a nap, they are cranky a lot. They are both rolling over now and are no longer little newborns, but babies and boy are they dang cute. I can't even handle it when they smile at us. It's the cutest thing ever and I love it. Holland has been sucking on her hand like crazy lately and the cutest thing happened today. The girls were laying next to each other and Harper is crying and I come over and Holland had Harpers hand and was sucking on it. Man, it was so funny. As hard as it is right now, I love have twin girls who can have each other as they grow up. And of course the best big brother ever.

And a little about my sweet, sweet boy. Dane is the most fun little guy ever. Seriously, I could spend every moment with him and be a happy mom. He gives big squeezes and kisses very generously. He's knows almost all of his letters, learning to count, loves telling me all of his animal sounds, high fives everyone, including his little sisters when they least expect it. He LOVES being outdoors and would stay out there all day if I let him. And as I said earlier, he used to suck at naps, but now he's wonderful and takes 1, 2-3 hour nap a day. He's an awesome eater and eats practically everything we do. And boy, is he funny. He knows when he's funny and does stuff over and over again to make us laugh. Gosh, I love this kid so much.

I wish I had more pictures to show, but they're all practically on my phone. I don't have time to grab my camera, so I usually just use my phone. Here are just a couple that I posted on facebook, so you've probably already seen:

Dane

Holland

 Harper

Going, going, back, back, to Cali, Cali

To say we have been busy these past few months would be an understatement. Now we are throwing a big kink into things and are moving back to California! In the past few months we bought a house, put in a whole new kitchen and many other upgrades, we had twins, we've had family here helping us, Josh lost his job, got another job (was there 2 months) and now accepted an even better job, and lastly we are selling our house and moving to CA.

We have been going non-stop. Here is a little explanation of what happened. Josh was working for Backcountry and out of no where was let go. We were blessed that it only took about a month for him to find another job. At Backcountry (and his previous jobs) he was working in Marketing, a lot with social media, but web design has been his passion. While looking for a job he was offered one with a local start up company as a designer! He didn't go to school for design, but just learned it on his own, which is crazy.

As you know we bought a house about 6 months ago and we absolutely love it. We love the house, we love our neighbors, we love our ward, we love it all. We truly thought and planned on being here for the next 10-15 years.

Well, a friend of Josh's contacted him to see if he knew anyone that would be interested in a design job at Oakley. Josh thought that would be such a sweet job and said he was interested. At first he didn't think much of it and thought it would be a good opportunity to interview with them. They called him, loved him and invited him out the next week to fly down for an interview. They flew him out there and were very impressed. Two days later he was offered the job.

It was so crazy because we weren't even looking for a job, let alone one in California. We both felt right about it and that brings us to now. After only 6 months we are selling our beautiful house to move down to CA. We had 8 showings over the weekend, 3 offers and we are now under contract! Everything is falling into place and I truly believe everything happens for a reason. Josh now has a super sweet job at Oakley doing something that he loves and I get to live in CA near my family and even some of Josh's family. It will be so nice and we are really excited.

A few days ago we also blessed Holland and Harper and it was so beautiful. I couldn't find my camera in the mist of all the craziness, but luckily my mom had hers. That just means I'll have to wait to post them until I get them from her.

More to come from California!

Party of Five

They are here!

Holland Diane Austin

February 6, 2012

1:16 am

5 lbs, 19 inches

Harper Ann Austin

February 6, 2012

1:25 am

5 lbs 13 oz, 19.3 inches

First new family photo

Getting ready to go home

Ignore my face and just look at the sweet little girls

Grandmas

I will post a longer birth story later, but here is the condensed version. My water broke Sunday night at 9:30pm. I was ready to push by 12:30am, but had to wait for the doctor. Holland came first, with just 4 pushes and then Harper flipped around and was born breech 9 minutes later, with only 6 pushes. I was 36 weeks and 1 day pregnant. Harper had to go straight to NICU with some breathing issues, but was out after only 12 hours. She was able to come in our room and we all got to go home together on Wednesday morning Feb. 8. They are amazing and we love them so much. Dane is doing so great with them and we all love them so much. More pictures and more details to come.

32 1/2 weeks and the girls want out

Quick update on things here...

Yesterday I went in for a non-stress test. Totally routine this early for twins, just making sure they are moving around, aren't under stress and they also monitor contractions. Well, during the test I started feeling some contractions that weren't very comfortable and they were happening pretty frequently. But the babies looked great.

After this test, I had my normal Dr appt so they sent me there with the results of the test in hand. My Dr looked at them and noticed the contractions and while I was there I was having a few too. Last week, I was 1cm dilated and 70% effaced. She checked me then and I was about 2cm and 75%. So, just as a precaution she sent me down to labor and delivery to be monitored.

Once down there and after getting hooked up to the monitors, the real fun began. I started having more painful contractions and they were getting closer and closer. They checked me again (a few hours now since my dr checked) and I was at 3cm. The contractions were about 2-4 min apart.

At that point they gave me a shot of steroids to mature the babies' lungs faster in case they made their entrance.

Then they decided to give me some pills to hopefully stop the contractions. They gave me a total of 4 doses, 30 min apart and they didn't phase me. By then, people were telling us they thought this was the real deal and start prepping ourselves for some babies. We talked to the NICU nurses and everything to know what to expect if/when they were born.

Later, they were able to try another medicine to help stop the contractions, which they couldn't try before because my pulse was too high. (Maybe from all the anxiety of thinking these babies were coming, lol). After about 2 hours from getting this shot, they finally slowed down. Hurray! This was late last night around 11pm. They have since gone back to normal, of about 2-4 an hour and they're not really painful.

But, because I am now dilated 3cm, they want me here until Saturday to make sure things are still stable and then when I get home, it's bed rest for me.

Thank goodness, my mother in law is amazing and is coming out here this weekend and will stay with us to help me until the babies are born. Then my incredible mom who has offeredd to drop everything and be there for me anytime I need her is a huge help and makes me so less stressed to know she would do anything for me. We are very, very lucky. Not to mention our other family members and multiple friends who have all said they will drop everything and help if we need it. We are beyond grateful for them.

I got one more steroid shot today for their lungs and as long as my contractions stay down, I can go home soon. My baby shower did get postponed though, since it was tonight :( sad, sad day.

I'll keep you posted on anything else, but hopefully we can keep these girls growing a little longer, so they can come home with us soon after they're born.

30 1/2 weeks

My update from my last dr. appt. is in my previous post. I have another in depth ultrasound on Tuesday and another regular dr. appt. on Wednesday so we will see if we have progressed anymore. Hopefully not yet. We need these girls to get a little bigger before they come out. Here is a picture of me at 30 1/2 weeks with this pregnancy vs. my first pregnancy with Dane. At my 30 week appt I was measuring 36 weeks. Babies are estimated at a little over 3lbs a piece.

   30 1/2 weeks with Dane                         30 1/2 weeks with twins

Christmas

We had a really fun, relaxing Christmas. First, a couple of days before Christmas, I took Dane up to Josh's work in Park City where they had a santa come and these pictures will show you how much he hates santa.

But he loved the candy cane he got

 We were lucky to have Josh's parents come out and spend some time with us. On Christmas Eve we had Josh's uncle and his family over for Christmas Eve dinner. My first time hosting a holiday dinner! Now that we have a kitchen and a bigger house, we can do these things, yay! It was a lot of work, but it was so great to be able to host for once.

On Christmas Eve night, our little family tradition is that we all get a new book. Just a regular book, not a Christmas one. (Except this year he got two, "Yummy Yucky" and "Twas the Night Before Christmas" since we didn't have that book yet) Dane loves books and I want him to continue to enjoy it, so we each get to open our one present on Christmas Eve, which is a new book. Then we can grow our library of books around the house.

I LOVE this first picture. Dane looks so grown up.

Christmas morning we were up around 8 and we brought Dane downstairs. His big gift was his slide, which he really likes. He loves slides at the park and anywhere we go, so I thought he would love this thing. Well, he loves to stand at the top of it and slide his toys down, but doesn't care to go down himself that much, lol. He's already gone down head first twice, good thing I was there both times to catch him, yikes. Then he got a few smaller gifts, which were all a hit. I think his favorite was his little toy tool set. He LOVES to play with Josh's tools (which have been used and around the house for the past few months with all the work we are doing) and he will see Josh use them and copy him. He will use a stud finder correctly, a screwdriver, hammer, measuring tape, etc. all in the correct way because he sees Josh do it. It's so cute. So, he loves to use his little tools to help out.

He loves Yo Gabba Gabba and after he saw his slide, he saw his stocking and went straight for it with a big smile on his face. He loves his little Brobee.

I got Josh some clothes (nothing too exciting, but that's what he wanted) and he got me a really sweet diaper bag that I've wanted, but never wanted to spend the money on :) We really enjoyed spending the day together as a family.

Pictureless update

I don't feel so bad about not updating because I look at other blogs from my friends and it's been over a month since they've done anything either, so I'm just following the trend. It's obviously a busy few months with the holidays, family and such that I think we all have good excuses. I need to do a quick update on Thanksgiving, Dane (who is almost 15 months, yikes) and Christmas. I also need to add a picture of me now at 30 1/2 weeks. Hopefully that picture will be taken today, lol.

But I will do a quick pictureless update:

1. Thanksgiving was great, we spent it with our wonderful friends, The Cliffords.
2. Our kitchen and floors are done, and our house is started to feel like a home.
3. Dane is the sweetest, smartest little guy I know. He talks so much, but he's definitely a mama's boy lately and that's not helping the bigger I get.
4. Christmas was so fun! We have my in laws here, which we are so lucky to spend time with, and Dane loves all of his fun toys. It was definitely a fun Christmas, even though Dane is still young, he loved to open presents.
5. And here is what has been occupying my mind most lately:

The girls are doing great and growing wonderfully. I'm just recently starting to feel the effects of a huge belly this pregnancy. At my appt. on Monday though I was told that I was a finger tip dilated and already 70% effaced. That has me much more nervous and feeling unprepared than before, lol. This whole pregnancy I have been assuming that I shouldn't have any problems and that they will probably come mid-February (that would be full term, 37 weeks). But who are we kidding? Twins on AVERAGE come at 36 weeks, which would be Feb. 4 and that's only average. Half come earlier than that. My dr. didn't put me on bedrest but definitely told me to take it really easy and do the least amount of everything possible. When he checked me he even said, "Woah, one of the girl's heads is RIGHT there." Not what I wanted to hear of course. Not only that, but the last few evenings I've been having contractions. Mostly braxton hicks, but a few that were stronger than normal. I am soooo not ready for these girls to come yet. It's too soon, they need to grow and thrive longer in there and I haven't started setting anything up yet. I could still be really lucky and they may still wait until February to come, but now all I think about is, what if they come soon, what am I going to do? But I know everything will be ok and I just need to relax and not stress about it.

Besides, who can really be prepared for 3 kids under 16 months? Oh boy, what an exciting, exhausting, wonderful experience the next few years will be. Wish us luck :)

Baby bump

Hopefully you're not too sick of the bump pictures. It's just nice to put them here because it's fun for me to look back on them later on down the road. (There is a 1 week difference in the pictures, I have been slacking lately)

       24 1/2 weeks with Dane                          25 1/2 weeks with the girls

 At my last appt. (which was about 2 weeks ago), I was 24 weeks, but measuring 28 weeks if it were a singleton pregnancy. So, that's pretty normal to measure about 4 weeks ahead with twins. Now that I'm almost 26 weeks, who knows what I'm measuring, but now my appts are every 2 weeks, so I'll find out Monday at my next one how big I really am. I also took the gestational diabetes test at my last appt. and got the thumbs up for no diabetes, woohoo! It's more common with multiples so I was nervous this time around. And for the record, I think the sugar drinks taste good, haha. It's pretty much just like watered down orange soda and I love orange soda.

Everything else is going smoothly so far with this pregnancy and I couldn't be more happy. Last pregnancy, it was around 29 weeks that I went into the hospital for contractions that were 2-3 minutes apart. I ended up being able to leave the hospital the same day, but had contractions from then until the end. I also started having extremely bad back pain that also landed me in the hospital and a chiropractor. I'm crossing my fingers that none of that happens this time.

I have a little time this weekend between the holidays and home renovations, that I will try and post a little about Halloween and Thanksgiving, which I really need to do. And maybe throw in a few of the pictures of whats' going on with the construction in our house. But no promises :)

And a picture of Dane, because he's just so cute and because I can:

21 1/2 weeks

With things being so busy lately, I totally spaced taking a 20 week picture to compare with my previous pregnancy. So, the best you will get is a 21 1/2 week shot of the twins vs. a 20 week shot with Dane.

         20 weeks with Dane                       21 1/2 weeks with the girls

I actually think I look pretty similar in these pictures. At my last appointment though, which was just before 20 weeks, I was measuring the same as 23 weeks with a singleton, so just slightly bigger. I'm starting to get the aches in my back that I had last time, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't get as bad as last time. There were days when I would just cry from the pain and I had to keep an ice pack on my back constantly. It was awful. So, let's just hope that doesn't happen this time.

I'm also starting to get Braxton Hicks already. They don't hurt at all, but they're definitely starting. My dr. said that was ok because it does usually happen sooner with each pregnancy as well as sooner with multiples, but just to take it easy. I know what contractions feel like (I got them early with Dane too) so I'll just keep an eye out for those. I'm really sad too because Josh and I had planned to go to Arizona for Thanksgiving to visit family and it may have been our last trip until the babies came. I asked my dr. what she thought and she said it's up in the air and she would tell me at my next appt. whether or not it would be safe to fly. Well, my next appt. would be like 1 1/2 weeks before we would leave, so I didn't want to buy a plane ticket, just to be told that we couldn't go. So, we decided to stay here for Thanksgiving and spend it as a family. I am excited about that though just because we have never spent Thanksgiving with just us before. We are always out of town or with other family members (which is wonderful as well). But hopefully we will have our new kitchen done by then and I can cook a real turkey dinner for the first time!

We still aren't any closer to choosing names at all for these girls. Before we had Dane, I had way more girl names than boy names. Then after Dane came, we had a handful of boy names that we still really liked and thought we could use if these were boys. Well, now I feel like we're starting from square one :) It's fun and we still have plenty of time to think about it, but choosing 2 names is way harder than just 1! I thought it would be nice, but we can't even come up with enough names that we actually love. But we will do what we did last time and come to the hospital with a few names in mind and wait to see their faces before we decide.

I can't believe we're more than half way done. It's so crazy to think about. If we have these babies at the average 36 week delivery time for twins, then we only have about 3 months left. What the heck, I am so not ready this time around :) I feel like there is still so much to be done before they get here, so let's hope and pray for their safety and my sanity, that they stay in there as long as possible.