Mother's Day 2013

Last year at this time I had two girls!  Last year at this time I had no idea I would be pregnant with TWO more girls!  I feel so very lucky that God choose me to be the mommy to these girls!  I feel so lucky that I will get to show them Jesus each day.  Some days more than others, I'm sure!    For some reason He thinks I'm good at this mom thing and I will try each day to be a Godly Mommy to all four of them!  I hope they will see exactly what I saw in my Momma growing up!  My Dad sent me a text yesterday morning that made me cry.  It made me feel even more lucky and grateful that God choose me!   

Happy Mother's Day!  Who would have known the wonderful Mom that our little Jocelyn Suzanne would grow up to be.  You have done well with Adda and Ella!  You have a great challenge ahead of you, but I know you will do well with Chloe and Claire.  Just acknowledge everyday that you can't, but The Lord can!  Adda, Ella, Chloe, and Claire are blessed to have such a wonderful Mom!

Chloe and Claire-31 weeks pregnant

 Ella Suzanne-15 months old

 Adda Elizabeth-Almost 4 years old

These Naughty Twins!

I went to the doctor on Friday for an ultrasound and found out that in the past four weeks these girls have both flipped and are breech!  I was so shocked and disappointed at the same time.  They were both head down last time and I was so excited and thankful!  More than anything I want to have these two babies vaginally.  If they are not head down (or at least baby A) by 35 weeks they go ahead and schedule a c-section.  Then when you go in on your c-section date they do one more ultrasound to check.  I'm assuming that if they aren't breech at that point they would just induce me and let me do it vaginally instead.  I think once you have had a baby vaginally and know how easy the recovery is you for sure don't want a c-section.  If you talk to someone who has had both, more than likely they will say vaginally all the way!!!  It's a 24 hour recovery rather than a week recovery.  The thought of having to recover from my gut being cut open, with two new babies, learning how to breastfeed two new babies, and having an almost 4 year old and a 17 month old really doesn't sound like a fun plan at all!  So...I'm asking for your prayers!  Please pray with us that these babies will turn back around and be head down.  Please pray that their birth will be a vaginal birth!  Obviously we want what is best for the babies at that moment but my desire is to have them the way I had Adda and Ella!  The doctor said I had plenty of fluid for them to flip back around so I am praying and trusting that God will turn these two naughty little girls around!

 Here they are together.  These are their heads.  Chloe (A) is on top of Claire (B).  They are not exactly breech which would be directly center of your stomach between your two sets of ribs.  They are diagonally breech from the right set of ribs to the left!  Chloe with her feet to my left set of ribs and Claire with her feet to my left hip.  Chloe (A) would hardly let us get any picture of Claire (B)! 

Chloe's profile!  In one month they both doubled their weight and grew in length about 3 inches!  This is fantastic news, but we just want them head down.  Chloe is 4.5 lbs and 17.1 inches long.  

The front of Chloe's face.  

  

Claire's profile!  If you can tell above her forehead is a knee and leg.  That would be her sister on top of her.  She is 4 lbs and 16.4 inches long.  Almost the exact difference between the two of them from 4 weeks ago. 

 The front of Claire's face!

After the sonogram we met with our doctor and he said they are REALLY big for 31 weeks.  I said I was glad that I would rather them be bigger than itty bitty!  He quickly replied that it was good but not for the mommy carrying them!  Ugh!  This totally justifies my hugeness!  He also said there was no need to keep measuring my belly because I was for sure measuring well over full term.  I read today that it's like carrying 4 naval oranges at 31 weeks, so...that means I am carrying 8 naval oranges!

  This looks more like 12 oranges to me!!!  Yikes!

Please pray for Chloe and Claire to turn to the head down position.  I am going to the doctor weekly now and will likely have a sonogram each time.  Let's pray we will see them head down on Friday morning at 8:50 am!  Thanks for praying with us!  We love you all!

Many Changes

We have had many changes around our house since my last post.  Which the last post was so long ago that inevitably there should be lots of changes!!!

Here are some of the changes:
*I'm almost 31 weeks but measuring about 42 weeks.  Last night I woke up at 12:30 to vomit in my mouth because the babies took a wrong turn and started playing tag on my stomach causing my dinner to come right up.  After I coughed and gagged for a few minutes I brushed my teeth and went back to bed laying on my left side this time.  I fell back asleep and woke up a few hours later to sharp pains in my ribs from them playing tag in my rib cage!  I have read where people say they can feel every ounce of the babies towards the end and I totally understand what that means.  I can feel every inch of them in my belly!

The girls feeling the babies kick one morning last week!  My stomach looks like waves in the ocean at times they are moving so much!

 Belly shot last week at almost 30 weeks.  Bathroom is a mess, no judgement!

* Ella is almost 15 months old.  She is so busy and talks up a storm.  Adda talked early but Ella is even ahead of her with some things.  I'm sure it has to do with there being much more conversation going on at all times.  When my parents where here this weekend she told my mom about 50 times "I want phone!"  I try not to let her play with my phone much and my mom was letting her play with hers.  She is pretty good about vocalizing what she wants and following directions.

 Two of her favorite things: milk and the red football.  She goes straight for the red football when she sees the toy box.  She also likes the "baball" but prefers the football.  This morning she had a little trouble deciding what had to be put down to be able to drink the milk!  Such a determined look on her face!

* Adda is becoming an independent woman.  We started a sticker chart for her a few weeks ago.  Most everything on it are things that she can do on her own like: putting shoes on, getting in car seat and buckling, washing herself in the shower, brushing her teeth, helping with chores, etc.  We did have to add to most of them two very important words, "without whining!!!"  Sometimes I tell her she sounds like a puppy with her whining!  It makes me want to shut my head in a freezer door over and over!  I guess it's part of her age and even more part of being a girl!  SOOOO dramatic, and such a short fuse!

Such a cheeser!  Here is the sticker chart!!!  You might notice that one row is already full.  She is a pro at going potty all by herself!  We are working on the flushing!  She is always in such a hurry to finish and wash her hands for 10 minutes that she forgets to flush!  Hey, we'll take what we can get!  For filling the row she was able to go get orange sherbet from Braums!  Anything orange is a great prize for her!

* Gonzo is finished with track!  HALLELUIAH!  It was a very long and very busy track season.  Spring football has started!  There really is not an off season at all!  It's always the same every year that he gets stressed that they aren't very good because they have lost a few really good defensive players to the offensive side of the ball and somehow they manage to make it happen on the defensive side of the ball once the season starts.  I'm always so proud of how hard he works at his job!  He is one of the hardest workers I've ever seen and his efforts don't go unseen!  He has also picked up a second job when he comes home from work.  After cleaning house last week and feeling like I might have two babies soon he told me I am officially done.  No more cleaning!  He comes home and gets dinner situated for everyone and then does the dishes, and then takes the girls outside for a while, and so on!  He is the best there is!  I love him dearly!

* Our house is full of baby things for the twins with no place to put them yet!  I'm nesting like a crazy woman and can't do much because I physically can't do it by myself and we have to do some organizing and moving things around to make it all fit.  This is when I wish we had another room!  We will be a "Full House" literally!

 Do not judge the mess you see in my house!  There are piles of things in most rooms.  Here is the pile in the kitchen corner.  Just working on a place to put it. 

 Letters for their names on the ledge in the kitchen.

 A pile from the shower this weekend on the fireplace in the living room. 

 One car seat in the entry way!

 A pile in Ella's room that has no home yet!

 Diapers galore in Ella's closet (soon to be Chloe and Chair's closet)!

 The second car seat in the sun room!  We also have some stuff in the trunk of Maggie The Minivan.  Ugh!  We have major plans to get some things organized and put away this weekend! 

 The bottom of Ella's closet.  Oh boy!  We need an extra room in this house!!!

* The best change I can think of since my last post is that I am now a "Minivan Momma" and proud of it.  I'm not sure what the big stigma is with having a minivan but people are crazy!  They are amazing!!!!  Any vehicle that has doors and a trunk that open by a push of a button is A+ in my book!  It was such a God thing that it worked out the way it did and we are so proud of it.  So proud that Adda named it Maggie The Minivan!  So poor Gonzo will soon live in a house with a wife, four daughters, a female cat named Sissy, and a female minivan named Maggie.  It's just he and his truck!

At the dealership switching car seats from the old car to the new MINIVAN!  

 Adda in her new Van!  That girls has got Medusa hair in this picture!

 "Maggie" at home in our driveway!  We love it and feel so blessed that The Lord made this happen for our big ol' family!!!

         

Past Two Days...

We have had some serious action around our street the past two days.  On Tuesday morning we were just starting school when we heard about twelve huge loud trucks turn onto our street.  The kids and I all went to the front door to see what was going on.  They were all City of Arlington vehicles and it looked like they were going to redo our street.  So instead of talking about the letter K we decided to go watch the workers!  Now, I must tell you that it has been forever since I have done a specific letter with the kids.  With getting pregnant, and getting bigger by the second, and the youngest little boy I keep changing his nap schedule our mornings have been thrown off for a while.  I haven't been able to get back on track!  Ugh!  So, although I knew they really wanted to go outside to watch the action I was a little disappointed to be stopping "school"!  I figured them watching big tractors and dump trucks in action was a great "real life experience"!  We stayed out there and watched a little over an hour yesterday and about the same today!  They loved it and honestly so did I!  It was very interesting seeing how each step was accomplished with each massive construction vehicle! 

 Day 1: Tearing up the old "trail" according to Adda!

 Very interested!

 Playing with a little sidewalk chalk!

 Day 2: Asphalt is going down!

 These two decided to use the ivy vines to pretend they were monkeys making Tarzan sounds!

 Watching for birds!

 And we are going in now...the asphalt fumes were headed right towards us!

Twins - 27 Weeks

Well, I am getting larger and larger by the day now!  My food is starting to come up at various times of the day because my stomach is getting beat around my two babies!  The muscle above my belly button is almost two inches pulled apart now!  I am really close to having to ask Gonzo to shave my legs!  If Adda or Ella stand in front of me I can't see them when I look down!  I have to stand on my tip toes to reach the faucet at the kitchen sink!  I have to stand on a stool to put Ella in her crib (we are going to put the toddler rail on in the next week)!  The stove makes beeping sounds I have never heard before when I stand in front of it!  My belly is hanging out the bottom of every shirt I own, including Gonzo's!

I went to the doctor today and Chloe and Claire look awesome!  So awesome in fact that they both are measuring ahead of my actual week mark.  This really is such an answer to prayers because I have been worrying about twin to twin transfusion syndrome, which is basically where one baby takes more from the placenta than the other and is thriving more than the other.  I read this on the internet!  Never read stuff on the internet!  I wanted to ask the doctor about it at my last visit but with all the screaming and snot flying around the room I wasted no time asking questions!  I ran to my car with all four of my kids as fast as I could possibly waddle!  So, seeing that they are both growing so much and just a little bit apart in measurements was a relief!  It was so neat to see them both so big and active together.  At one point you could see all four feet and they were kicking each other!  Hopefully it was playful kicking!     

I also had to do my glucose test!  Yuck!  I hate having to drink that syrup!  My head always feels like it's going to explode about two hours after I drink that stuff!  Hopefully that test will come back great!  I haven't had any trouble with the other two pregnancies with gestational diabetes!

Up until this point they have not told me what my stomach is measuring!  I've been interested to know if they go by the normal weekly measurements for twins or if there are different measurements!  Sadly, they do not use a special chart for multiples when measuring that belly!  I am measuring in at a whopping 37 weeks right now!  That's just 10 weeks more than what I really am!  Oh, and that's only 3 weeks away from full term!  No biggie!  I can handle this!  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!  Really it's a little bit funny to me!  I'm a little relieved to know that I am measuring as big as I feel!  You can't imagine the noises I make when I roll over in bed, get out of bed, or get up off the floor!  It's pretty unbelievable!  Randomly at night when I'm moving from one side to another I'll hear Gonzo ask, "Babe, can I do something?"  I just laugh to myself and think, "Yes, please come over and roll me to this other side!  And put your back into it!"

I can't really imagine how much bigger this belly will get!  I know it will but I can't really wrap my mind around the actual end result!  I will say this, if I had been pregnant with twins first, we would have stopped at two babies!!!!

Baby A is Chloe!  I learned that Baby A will be born first and we always say Chloe's name first when we say the pair, so we decided that the first one born will be Chloe!  She is weighing in at 2lbs. 12oz, and 14.3 inches long!  She is always on my left side and is still head down!  Chloe is measuring almost 29 weeks!  

Baby B is Claire!  She is also head down now!  Praise the Lord!  I've been praying specifically for them both to be head down at this point!  She is the smaller of the two and is either on my right side or across the top of my belly!  She is weighing in at 2lbs. 7oz., and 13.5 inches long!  My doctor said this was a perfect distance apart in measurements for twins!  Claire is measuring almost 28 weeks! 

     
I'm so grateful to God for how well they are both doing!  I never really worried with my other pregnancies, but I worry with these two.  I think because there are two and I fall under that "high risk" category, and the fact that I am chasing around an almost 4 years old and 14 month old makes me worry just a little bit!  Ultimately there is no need to worry because He has got it all figured out!  No matter what might happen I have to know that it's His plan!  Just like Gonzo and I having a surprise pregnancy and it ending up being twins was in His plan!

I also learned that the likelihood of one or both of them turning from the head down position at this point is very unlikely!  There just is not enough room for them to make that kind of move!  So please pray with me for these babies to stay head down!  I also, asked about them stopping preterm labor!  Obviously at this point they would try to stop it if I started to show signs.  He did say that when active labor hits there really is no stopping it!  We just need to pray for 36 weeks!  I am starting to have Braxton Hicks contractions but because my belly is measuring where it is this is normal!  Please keep praying for these two babies!     

 

Home, Sweet Home!

We had a very restful week at home with my parents! I needed that break BAD! Probably the girls did too! I didn't have to cook a meal, or clean a house! I did do some laundry, but not too much! My dad was gone for a few of the days at a meeting and I was able to have a little slumber party with my mom like we used to do. Adda was pretty glad about that because she said I had been snoring in the room with her! We are all well and dried up from being in the dry New Mexico weather! We did have to bath ourselves in lotion each night due to cracking skin. My poor belly was begging for lotion hourly! I saw lots of friends at the shower for the twins and around town. I even made it to the court house to prove I was not a Lea County resident and would not be able to serve my jury duty! They thought I drove all the way from Arlington to prove that. I quickly told them we just happened to be there visiting my folks! The best part was we celebrated my birthday with cake! My favorite thing in the world is good ol' birthday cake. I very much looked forward to nap time each day when the house was quiet and I could sit and eat cake in peace! YUMMO!

Blowing out the candle!

Went to the park when Daddy got to town!

Notice the wind! Anyone from Lovington that is reading this blog understand the wind!

Sweet sisters! One looks like her Daddy, and one looks like her Mommy!

Planting seeds with Papa!

So excited to see Daddy!

Fixing to head to the shower for Chloe and Claire! Look at my big girl Adda B! So grown up!

Their first matching outfit!

Two minutes into having the jean jacket on they were both trying to peel them off! Luckily it was a nice day and they didn't need them on!

The girls with NanAnn! Isn't my Momma just beautiful!

The girls and I!

The picture accidentally got snapped while Cammie and I were trying to gather our children to take a picture! This is what I look like wrestling two!!! Ha Ha! Can you even imagine what I'll look like with four! Oh Boy! It's gonna be a wild few years!

Here we are! Cammie is one of my best friends from high school and she lives right down the street from my parents now. She has three and one on the way, and I have two and two on the way! It's so funny to me that between the two of us we will have four kids! Our other best friend we graduated with lives way up north and just so happens to be pregnant right now too! It would have been so fun to have you in the picture with your two boys and your belly Erin!

How many pictures do you take to get a good one!!?? We only took four! That's got to be a record!

Such fun memories and such sweet kiddos!

And...they are over it!

Thanks Cammie and Rhonda for the super fun shower for the twins! That was so incredibly nice of you for putting it together! We are loaded up on all the essentials! So much so that we couldn't get it all home. My parents will have a truck load the next time they head our way! Such an awesome blessing!

After the shower! Me swinging with the four girls!