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.

Dane is 1!

Dane turned 1 a few weeks ago and we were in New York, so I am just getting around to blogging about it. We had such a fun trip and were so happy we got to see family! And so happy for Zack and Vanessa for tying the knot! (Pictures above are from the wedding)

Dane is such a big boy now. I seriously can't consider him a baby anymore because he seems so grown up. He does and says so many funny things that I can just see his personality coming out so much. It's adorable and my favorite age so far!

We got him a cake with a car on it (since that is one of his favorite things) and celebrated with family, balloons and presents! We were going to do a little party for him here when we got back, but with everything going on (moving, trip, house renovations, etc) we don't feel ready to really have anyone over for a party. But he got to party in NY, so that was plenty.

Here are some pictures:

He did not want that hat on (and looks half asleep)

Blowing kisses, with Aunt Hally

When everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to him he got SO excited and started smiling from ear to ear. It was SO cute....About to blow out the candle. 

He got frosting on his hand and was NOT having it. He's never been a neat, clean boy, so this was a surprise. I thought for sure he'd dig in and get crazy messy. Not the case at all. 

Trying to force him to get messy, lol

But he preferred a fork. (With cousin Parker)

Present opening time

More blowing kisses

His other favorite thing... balloons. He loved those things.

It's crazy how fast he is now learning things. You can teach him something that morning and he'll be doing it later that day. He's seriously such a little smartie pants. I mentioned this on facebook, but at his 1 year appointment, his pediatrician told us that Dane was one of the smartest 1 year olds he's seen. He said usually around 1, they hope to have the baby saying around 3-4 words and Dane has a vocabulary over 20-25. If we ask him to say or do something he tries to repeat us.

Here are some other things he's doing at 1:

- If you ask him how old he is, he tries to say "one" and puts up 1 finger

- Again, he has a huge vocabulary. Some of his favorites are, "no, no" while shaking his finger. Especially while doing something he shouldn't like touching plug outlets. (We have covers in them), but he will walk over to them, shaking his finger, saying "no, no" while he tries to touch them. He just doesn't get the "no" concept yet.

- Ways bye and says "bye"

- He follows instructions really well. If I ask him to get me a diaper, he will. If I ask him to give something to daddy, he does. If he has something he shouldn't have, I ask him to give it to me and he will. As of now, he's a great listener.

- Will give us kisses all the time. He's full of love. He blows kisses, gives kisses and hugs, etc. It's so sweet, I love it.

- Will do the motions to songs like, "Itsy Bitsy Spider" "If you're happy and you know it" "Wheels on the Bus" etc.

- Can point out, eyes, nose and mouth

- When you ask him where something is, he holds out his hands and shrugs like saying, "I don't know"

- Can now climb stairs, but not go down them very well... so we still need to be very watchful.

- Love his shoes and socks and says, "Sh" for both. 

- Walks so well and sometimes tries to run. When he does that though, he gets a little caught up and can't keep his balance as well. But I'm chasing him around everywhere and I had my first, "OMG, where is Dane?!?!" moments. Very scary, but he was just around the corner on the other aisle.

- Still loves to dance

- LOVES books, cars, ballons, balls, dogs and slides

- Favorite foods - Bananas (which he calls nanas), apples, applesauce, yogurt. We give him everything we eat. There isn't much he hasn't tried. 

- Has 6 teeth, with a 7th that just popped through a few days ago

- Can unlock the iPhone (he pushes the home button and swipes his finger to unlock - yikes)

- Sleeps almost 12 hours a night (straight) and 2 naps during the day

- Is totally ticklish and will laugh so hard when you tickle him

- Loves to put caps and lids on and off of things

- We don't watch much tv, but to get him to sit still for a diaper change (which is such a challenge) he loves Yo Gabba Gabba. We never got that channel before so he never watched it, but he loves it now.

- Loves to carry heavy things over to me (i.e., boxes, bags of diapers, the diaper bag, etc.)

He is so cute and does so many things and I love that we can interact and play together. He's such a big, fun, and lovable 1 year old and we're so lucky to have him. I can't believe he's going to be a big brother in just a few months. 

And a few pictures from the wedding:

Happy Birthday!

To our little baby Dane

Happy Birthday!

We are in NY right now for our brother's wedding (yay!), but we will do a small celebration for Dane here for his 1 year birthday!!

He has been blessing our lives for 1 year now! What an amazing year it has been. 2 years ago, I would have never thought we would be where we are now. A beautiful little boy and 2 sweet girls on the way. Heavenly Father really knows what's going on, even if we don't.

Dane is honestly the cutest, most lovable little guy ever. In the mornings, daddy gets him out of his crib and brings him to bed with us. He lays down, rolls into me and spoons with me for a little while. I love my morning snuggles with him. He's the smartest and quickest learning 1 year old I know too. He does so many cute things and has this personality, that I didn't know a 1 year old could have. We ask him how old he is and he tries to say "1"! It's so funny.

When we get back from our trip, I will post more about all of the fun things he does and says, but for now, just know that my heart is full with love for this little guy and I honestly couldn't be happier. It's definitely hard, being a mom isn't easy, but boy is it worth every second.

I love you my sweet Dane! Happy birthday!

We are having...

I've sure everyone already knows... but for those of you without facebook, we are having....

TWO GIRLS

We were totally shocked, but EXTREMELY excited! Two little sisters that can be best friends and a sweet older brother to look after them. From the beginning we thought we would have more boys, then our ultrasound tech at 15 weeks thought one of them looked like a girl, so then we were thinking 1 of each. But to our surprise, there are too little daughters that I get to take to get mani/pedis, talk boy talk, get them ready for dates, dress them in the cutest dresses, and that daddy gets to spoil and love those sweet daughters of his. 

I can't say enough what a blessing this is for us. We can't wait for the journey ahead! And for a few details, the babies measured exactly on target and are looking as beautiful as ever. When we get back from NY I'll have to scan some of the pictures they took because they are so cute. Especially this one, where you can see all 4 of their feet right next to each other. I love it. Also, the dr. said since they are the same sex, they can still be identical depending on when the egg split. So, there is a 25-30% chance of them being identical. I think that would be totally fun, but of course we don't care if they look the same or not, we're just happen we have 2 new blessings to welcome into our home. 

Caramel Apples

I will first apologize to my friend Jen, because I told her I wanted to make these with her, but I was dying to make them yesterday, so I did it without her. (Don't be mad, lol) But they turned out AMAZING. I love the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory apples and decided to make most of them like the apple pie kind. I did a few others as well, but none were as delicious as the apple pie. It was really easy and really fun and got me excited for fall!

And I will tell you this... they actually tasted better than Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. No more spending $5 for an apple when I can just make it myself. This could get dangerous :)

Recipe:

Caramel Apples

I was able to dip 9 medium size granny smith apples and still had enough caramel left to fill an 8x8 greased pan with some delicious caramel.

Ingredients:

2 C Brown sugar

1 C Corn syrup

1/2 C Butter

1 Can sweetened condensed milk

1 t. vanilla

Directions:

Combine the first 3 ingredients and after the butter is melted stir in the can of milk.

Cook to soft ball (230 degrees with a candy thermometer). Stir constantly.

Stir in the 1 t. vanilla.

Remove from heat. Dip apples into the caramel, then if you aren't using chocolate, roll in nuts, or candy.

I dipped them in caramel, placed them on a greased cookie sheet and let them cool completely. You can put them in the fridge if you want to speed up the process. Once cooled, drizzle with chocolate and cover with toppings.

I melted semi-sweet chocolate chips and some white chocolate chips.

For the apple pie apple, I used melted white chocolate, then sprinkled on a cinnamon and sugar mixture. I used on the other apples, crushed Skor bar for the toffee flavor and M&Ms (which melted down because they were too heavy).

Other suggestions: Sprinkles, crushed Oreos, mim M&Ms, mini chocolate chips, chopped nuts, crushed candy bars.

Also, you can use popsicle sticks or any wooden stick to hold the apples. I just found some sticks in the craft section at Smiths. Worked beautifully.

Week 16

We've made it to week 16 and I'm feeling back to normal. I wasn't totally sick before, but mainly exhausted. Now, I'm feeling really good. I saw the babies last week and they were wiggling around and so cute. One was facing the camera and one had it's back to us. Only 2 more weeks until we get to know what we've got!

On a couple of side notes... we bought a house that we close on this week (hurray!) and Dane is a walking machine. He was walking before, but he was always nervous to go on the hardwood. Now he just walks around everywhere and hardly even wants us to hold his hand anymore. It's so cute to hear the little pitter patter of his feet coming around the corner. He just follows us around all over the house.

Now for the bump pics.

16 Weeks with Dane

16 Weeks with Twins

Gender Guesses

We find out what we're having on October 3 and if you have any desire to guess, there is a poll on the right of the blog.

I'll tell you what we know so you can have a little bit more of an educated guess... we are still unsure if they are fraternal or identical. The doctor's are guessing fraternal, but that could mean any combination of gender. I'm telling you this because obviously if they were identical, then boy/girl wouldn't be an option, but we just don't know! Leave a comment with your guess too so I know who thinks what.

I'm dying to find out, but we only have 2 1/2 weeks left! Just in time for our trip to NYC so we can share the news with family. Yay!

11 Month Update

I love this age. Everyday Dane just gets more and more cute and fun. He is really growing and learning so much. I can't believe how much he changes from day to day. Here are a few of the new things.

- He's walking!! I would definitely say he's walking now. He will walk on his own all over the carpet, but step onto the hardwood floor and if he doesn't have your hand, he's not going anywhere. He will walk everywhere holding our hands, but if I let him go on his own on the carpet he will walk wherever he needs to go. He's taken 20 steps in a row on his own, so I would definitely consider him walking now. And again, he never crawled, lol.

- Saying more words! He says, "Ka" for car and makes a noise for the car (it sounds like gargling). He points at them outside and his toy cars and just LOVES cars. He says, "Ch" for "lunch." He says, "Duh" for duck. He says, "Pah" for pig. Says "tar" for guitar. My favorite is when we say prayers and say "Amen" he says (all by himself without us asking) "men!" So adorable. Those are the new ones that I can think of at the moment. And it's funny because he's getting good at signing now, but he can say the words, so it's kind of funny. He will sign "ball" and say "ball" at the same time.

- He finally started standing up in his crib. He's been able to pull himself to standing for awhile, but just recently realized he can do this in his crib now.

- He learned how to drink from a straw. Hurray! It's makes it easier than trying to get him to drink from a cup and then he grabs it and spills it on himself :) It's also the cutest thing ever to see him drinking from a straw.

- He's generally a VERY happy baby. You can get him to smile so easily and he loves to wave at everyone. He gets mad when he falls down walking and can't get back up. Since he can't crawl to somewhere to stand up, I need to help him sometimes.

- He is in this biting stage where he thinks it's funny to bite you. Mainly just me though, so don't be worried. He will come over, grab my leg and just go at it. And it doesn't feel good when he's got 6 teeth in there.

- Another funny thing he does, he LOVES to have you smell his feet. He will either just stick his foot in your face, or you can say, "Can I smell your feet?" and he will gladly offer them up to you. And once you start, he can do this for a long time.

- Loves the DVD "Baby Signing Time" As soon as he hears the music he just smiles. It never fails. (yet)

I love watching him grow and learn and explore the things around him. He is just such a smart, loving boy and his personality is really blossoming. I am excited to plan a birthday party for him too! We will be in New York for his actual birthday, so we will get to celebrate with family. I'm excited about that. We may do something low key at home so that I can make a cake and not have to bring his presents out to NY, but we'll see. He LOVES balloons and it'll be fun to have those around for him to play with. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful, sweet spirit that I can teach and love and have with me forever.

These are taken from my phone, so not the best quality.

His first sucker

He LOVES to "play" the guitar. He actually strums it.

Eating a pear (one of his favorites, and mine), probably watching Super Why or Signing Time

First little electronic ride at the store

Meeting a mini horse

Wanting me to smell his feet :)