Little Known Facts

Christopher loves to swing: the higher-the better.  He loved swinging with Jacob and kept trying to lean back to keep things interesting.  I think I found my roller coaster partner!  

Steven can now put his flip flops on by himself, though they most likely are put on the wrong feet.

Jacob cleaned, organized, and child proofed out apartment.  We took a LOT of things we don't use to a storage unit and put everything else higher.  Yesterday Jacob cleaned it all up and it will look good without much help from me probably until Thursday.  He's amazing.

Steven went to visit my parents and sister in Soda Springs for 5 days all by himself.  I took him to Salt Lake where he caught a ride with my uncle the rest of the way.  He had a blast riding on the lawn mower (a tractor to him), seeing the geyser, playing at the park, and watching his cousins piano recital and dance performances.  He loved it!  My favorite quote from when he was there?  "Aunt Melanie, do you have a duck pond here?"  Melanie: "No"  "Do you have a Macey's?"  "No"  "Do you have a D.I.?"  "No"  "Why not?"  I'm glad we're raising him right.

Not only was it a good deal for Steven to have the one on one time, but Christopher also benefited.  While Steven was gone he started talking a lot more.  Not that Steven necessarily talks for Christopher, but Steven talks so much that Christopher figured he didn't need to talk also.  His vocabulary seems to be growing each day I can't tell you how many words he knows.  We love when he says, "Hi Daddy!" and  "Love you!"  Christopher's favorite phrase?  "No, no, no"  Sometimes it's cute when he says it, because he's teasing us.  Most other times, he's showing his new independence through the word.  

Christopher also started walking all the time now.  Which means his leg will not be like this when we play outside.

Christopher is now is a toddler bed, due to the fact that I won't be able to lift him up in 2 weeks.  He also shares a room with Steven.  This has been a struggle we are still trying to figure out and would appreciate any ideas.  But they are starting to be good friends, which I adore!  The other day we opened the door and found this.  Priceless.  Usually when we check on them at night, Steven's on his bed and Christopher's sleeping in the closet.  Poor kid sleeps mostly on the floor, I guess he's being prepared for a mission to Japan.

Let's go fly a kite!

We recently flew the first kite of the season, and both the boys were able to get in on the action this time.  Christopher actually had it stay up the whole time!  It was adorable.

Pickle-nade

A month ago, Jacob and I had a night to ourselves and the next day before we got the boys from Grandma and Grandpa's house we went to the nicklecade.  Once you pay an entrance fee you are good for the day, and the boys were free, so we took the family after nap time.  The boys had a blast! Unfortunately most of the games were too tall for Steven to play but they sure had fun on these rides.  

Now whenever we pass by there Steven asks to go to the picklenade.  

As a side note:   He also calls Subway, Cowboy.  I love to see Steven make connections with new information and the old information he already knows.

Family Pictures

We had a friend in the ward take some family pictures of us a week and a half ago.  She's from Brazil and wants to start up her portfolio, so we graciously accepted her services.  She said she doesn't know how to edit, but will learn in June, when she'll give us the edited versions.  I was surprised she got any shots with the boys wanting to run around everywhere, that's way there's only 2 good family pictures.  One day they'll be old enough to sit nicely for pictures...one day.  

23 weeks along

 I love these next two, they are priceless!

Jacob with 2 boys and me with 2 boys!

Probably my favorite family photo

Seen and Unforeseen

A week or so ago, I visited my ob/gyn for the first time since we found out we are having twins.  He answered a lot of my questions and in case you were interested I'll share them here.  I am treated like a regular pregnant woman until week 28, when I'll be put on house arrest and have an ultrasound once a month.  This is due to the size of the babies; at this week most babies are 2 1/2 lbs.  Well, I have two in there, so my body will most likely read 5 lbs and think it's time to start contracting and getting ready for labor.  This is bad as we need them to stay in there for at least 8 more weeks.  At 36 weeks, my babies will come home with me, anytime before that and they'll be put in the NICU regardless.  Our real goal is 38 weeks, that would be the equivalent of 40 weeks for a singleton. (Notice I'm already picking up the lingo that mothers of multiples use.)

Anyway come June 15, I can putter around the house all I want, but I cannot go on walks, go to the store, pick up my boys, or anything in the like.  Which I can be ok with as long as the babies come full term and I don't have to be put on bed rest exclusively.  My doctor actually said I'm prime for having twins since I had my first two around 40 weeks, give or take 5 days.  My body knows what it's doing, it's done it before.  And that's pretty much the most of it.  I now have about 5 weeks of normal life before I will be home bound for hopefully 8 to 10 weeks. 

Something I do know, I'll be big and uncomfortable and probably won't feel like doing much anyway.  I feel like I'm about 35 weeks now, as far as my energy level and aches and pains.  My doctor also mentioned that we will try to have a vaginal delivery, but due to all the things that could go wrong.  One baby could be in place, but the other could be sideways.  There is no way of knowing, and we'll just have to see.

Which brings us to the unknown.

You may recall my need for control I shared here.  Well either I need more practice at it, or I graduated to the next level of control free personality - I'm going with the second, it makes me feel better.  Lately we have been met with multiple items that are unknown in the future for us now. 

First comes with the twins.
Will they come early and need to stay in the NICU and require a whole lot of savings to pay for?
Will they come later in August and be able to come home with us and alleviate all the worry and financial stress?
Will I be able to nurse them both?  I hope so.
Will I have to be placed on bed rest? I hope not.
How will I deliver them?

There is no way to know any of these, so for now I'm just doing what I can control.  Making them quilts, finishing Christopher's first year scrapbook, I'd like to make matching ties for all the boys, and suspenders for when they are blessed.  I recognize I might not get it all done, but I feel it's good to have a good list for when I'm on house arrest.

The second big issue we can't control is with a home.  We'd like to buy a home.  We put a bid on one we loved, but were outbid by out-of-staters with more cash on their hands.  Now everything we see doesn't compare.  So the big concern here is when we buy a home.  We are not ones to just jump into a HUGE financial strain unless we absolutely love the home.  So until that home or homes come on the market, we sit and wait.  Luckily we love our neighbors and ward, and our townhouse is big enough to hold the new additions with a little tweaking.

Our newest tactic for this is to prepare our home as if we are staying.  Most likely renting a storage unit to put all the items that just take up space and try to organize as well as we can to make room for the twins here.  We also think it will be easy to move from this point as well, as most of the things we don't really need will be packed and out of the way.  A win win idea we feel.

Last Monday we had a pleasant surprise on our doorstep.  A brand new (adorable!) pack n' play, something we needed to buy.  We don't know who gave it to us, it just said from friends.  We started thinking of who it might be, but we couldn't.  There were so many people we thought of, and we feel so blessed to have so many friends and support in this area.  If we did stay here when the babies are born, we would be surrounded with friends.  What a great thought! 

Sorry for the ramblings of a pregnant woman, but it's been quite the past couple of weeks and it's good to get it all written where I won't forget.

Emotions

The first couple of days after we found out we were having twins was a roller coaster of emotions.  Thursday afternoon we first saw their two little heads, hands, feet, and we were elated.  I was giddy, and shocked, but happily saying, "I'm having twins! This is so bazaar!" It was truly a surreal experience.  I talked to many family members that afternoon; then while the boys and I were waiting for Jacob to come home for dinner, it hit me.  The doubt and fear of having twin boys to raise along side my other two boys.  Steven, Christopher, and I sat down and watched Mormon Messages.  I love these so much!  Anyway I watched this one and this one, both about the priesthood and I felt a comforting Spirit reminding me this was a great privilege to raise boys, and I wouldn't be alone in the experience.  I felt oh so much better, then the evening was spent telling more family and friends.

Days two and three were the drop in the roller coaster.  There were  a lot of worried thoughts rummaging through my head and tears shed.  But yet there were bright points as well.  I read an article in the ensign by Elder Bednar about the enabling power of the Atonement.  He gives many stories from the scriptures that really touched me specifically.  He mentioned the people of Ammon who were persecuted by Amulon.  The Lord told them:

“I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs. …

“And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord” (Mosiah 24:14–15).

My situation is not going to change, nor would I want it to, but it's so comforting to know that through the Atonement and my faith, I will have help.  I'm not sure if I will be able to cheerfully submit all my will the the Lord, but through time maybe that's what it will teach me to do, I sure hope so.  

Elder Bednar also talked of Nephi, when he was bound by his brothers on the way back from Jerusalem.   Nephi asked for the strength to burst the bands that held him.  He didn't ask for his circumstances to be changed automatically, he asked for the strength to change his circumstances.  Elder Bednar goes on to say that the bands probably didn't just magically become unloosed from this hands, but rather that Nephi worked and with the strength of the Lord, was strong enough to break them.  Once again, I'm not strong enough to do this feat alone, but with the help of my Lord, Jesus Christ, and His atonement I can do it.  Will be it be hard?  Absolutely!  But I can do hard things.  And I'm positive this will bring our cute little family just that much closer.

So yes, it's been truly a whirlwind of emotions.  And I suppose it will be for the rest of my life, but doesn't that just come with motherhood?  Anyway, I appreciate all of the wonderful encouragement I've received from friends and family members.  It is a little hard to have so many people talk to me as if I've been diagnosed with cancer or something:  "I'm so sorry."  "Bless your heart, that will be so hard."  But it makes up for it when people are genuinely happy for us and tell us we can do it!  So thank you to all my friends and family for your wonderful support during this "trying time."  

My new motto is from the second Mormon Message I shared called, "Sanctify Yourselves."  by Elder Holland.  I love listening to this man and the fact that the story he's telling comes from Inkom Idaho, 40 miles away from where I grew up, doesn't hurt a bit.

"Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow 

the Lord will do wonders among you." 

Surprise!

Last Thursday, Jacob and I set out to see the ultrasound of our new baby.  This was our first ultrasound and all I wanted to know was that our baby would be ok; I hadn't felt the baby as much as I would have liked.  For all my other kids this ultrasound was meant for us to find out the gender, but with this child I just wanted to make sure they were ok.  Plus I was positive it was a girl.  As we get there I see the woman leave who was in front of us.  You can barely tell she's pregnant and here I am looking like I'm in my 3rd trimester!  I brushed it off and we went in for our turn.  He took our information then started out low, making sure the birthing canal was free and there wasn't any signs of cancer.  He moved the wand up said, "Oh that's a surprise!"  He quickly moved it down and told me to take a deep breath.  I thought maybe I wasn't relaxed enough to get a good reading; so I did so.  Then the words that will forever change my life.

"Did we know there were TWO in there?" 

Jacob and I just looked and smiled at each other, shocked.  No we didn't know there were two in there.  We joked about it plenty, but didn't actually believe there were two there.  Then it all made sense.  That's why I'm so big and uncomfortable.  I've been feeling like I'm in my 3rd trimester not the 2nd.  I have two in there.  TWO!  It didn't take him long to realize they were the same gender, and our BOYS made it clear what that gender was!

The rest of the ultrasound was very surreal.  I was there paying attention to make sure my babies were healthy, which they are.  Both are the same size and as healthy as can be!  It's hard to tell if they'll be identical or not, but it looks that way.  We could only see one placenta and the membrane separating them, but sometimes the two placentas fuse together, which would mean fraternal twins.  We'll have to wait until they are born to actually tell.  I am relieved they are both so healthy, but my mind kept racing: can I do this?, how will we tell everyone?, can I do this?, we'll have to get another crib, car seat and who knows what else, imaging all four boys running in opposite directions at once, I'll have 4 boys under 4 and maybe under 3 if they come really early!  And in between all this was my heart telling my head,

"Heavenly Father wouldn't give them to you if He didn't think you can this."
"It will be ok.  Grandma did it, so can you."

Did you know my sweet Grandma had this same scenario?  Except her oldest was 2 1/2 when the twins were born; my dad was #2 in the line.  And truth being told, I've always wanted to be just like my Grandma when I'm her age, so I guess this is just the next step I need to take!


We are thrilled to welcome these two new additions to our families.  Of course the last few days have been an emotional roller coaster for us, but that's to be expected and will be a different post entirely.  We will go to our regular doctor, this was just an ultrasound technician, on the 1st of May to know how this will change things.  I feel like it's my first pregnancy again, I have so many questions, it's all quite knew to us.  We'll let you know how they, and us, are doing as we find out!