12 Weeks!

Okay...here is my first profile post!  Now mind you, I think I had Phil take the picture at least 3 or 4 times.  I am not a selfie girl, I don't have a lot of pictures of me and I am so uncomfortable being the center of attention in this way!  Now, I know most of you would say yeah right, but really I just don't like it!  LOL 

 

As you can see there is a small pooch!  I decided to take the pictures first thing in the morning because that's when it is small.  By the evening it's huge! Symptoms haven't changed much.  This week had a lot more headaches, pressure in my lower back and abdomen.  Otherwise, I am truly trying to just enjoy each moment.  One thing I am amazed by is the amount of people we have run into that have been touched by twins.  We have found a few friends and acquaintances that have twins or are a twin.  We are so excited to continue down this journey!  Thanks for checking in and all of the great responses we have had on Phil's Facebook!

Our first baby project!

I haven't updated you on our house lately but unfortunately we are still in escrow.  We had to start the short sale process over again which has caused a delay but we are patiently waiting. We are thanking God for the journey and the fact that it has not gone back up on the market for someone else to grab. 

But with that said, the planner in me doesn't like the idea of not having a plan for rooms and starting on things!  At this point, if we close when we are supposed to we may be able to move in by Thanksgiving.  Yep, forever away!   I will be HUGE by then and setting up a nursery probably won't be that easy.  Of course, I can do little things now but we don't have the storage at all to buy anything yet.  Hopefully after we close escrow the end of August we can begin buying things and storing in the new garages for now. 

Until then, I wanted to start a project that I will use starting next week when I am officially out of the 1st trimester and start the profile pictures.  I see so many blogs and pictures of chalkboards and dry erase boards used that I knew I wanted something similar yet different.  So here it is.  Mind you at this point, the babies room idea is Nautical, Orange, Navy Blue and Gray, no matter the sex.  I will girlie it up more for girls and if its one of each its a great shared theme. 

 Piece of metal...which can be used as a dry erase if wanted (Thank you Amber for writing on her cookie sheet to figure this our for me!)  Piece of 8 foot wood border that Phil cut and painted orange.

No work bench so he is being creative with a cooler!

Adding the nautical rope!

 

Vinyl numbers for the board.  Hopefully they should peel on and off for me to use with each week.  I was able to cut out number 1 to 7 and the word Weeks, however, I need more vinyl to finish!

 

Last step will be to put it all together and take our first picture.  But you will have to wait until next Friday when I am officially 12 weeks!

Real Babies now!

We finally were able to get to our appointment with our OB.  Now, I absolutely love her so when she walked in very pregnant I was shocked!  Just my luck, I was able to catch her on her last day in the office but unfortunately she is not coming back to that office.  Such a bummer!  But needless to say, the reason I was so excited to see her was the fact that she was so excited to hear we were pregnant!  She knew we were going to go through the IVF process, when she walked in she was just ecstatic. 

We were able to get another ultrasound of the babies and now they actually look like babies.  Arms, legs, fully developed organs, little humans inside of my body!  I am not sure this link will work.  But this day, they were actually moving too.  One of the babies was moving like crazy so we took a video. 

Now don't worry, the other baby is not way smaller.  They are actually measuring only 2 days apart and bigger than average which is good.  The angle of the ultrasound wand is why one looks bigger.  If the video doesn't work sorry! Text me and I can send it to you!

 

 

This journey is so amazing!

Official Anouncement!

On our trip to CO, I was able to take this picture so that we could officially announce the pregnancy!

Fun part...Brielle, Ry and Phil all posted on their accounts, competing to see who could get the most likes and comments.  I think Ry won!

 

 

So our beautiful family will have 2 more added to this!

 

Road Trip!

As if I am not crazy already...I decided to take the kids on a road trip to visit our oldest daughter in CO!  Yep, me and 5 kids, in our little car that doesn't have a DVD player.  Ha Ha!

Can you see the luggage in the back piled on top of the window...oh and that is bags between the girls!

 

 

We drove from our house on Wednesday the 9th to St. George, UT.  This was a quick 6 hour drive and then we stayed the night at a hotel.  The kids did great, the only drove me crazy once we were out of the car....questions, questions, questions!  The next morning, July 10th, my 35th birthday (I'm officially getting older, lol), we got up early had the continental breakfast and off we went for the long 12 hour drive to Denver!  Again, kids were amazing in the car.  The drive was amazingly beautiful and the only downfall was stopping about every 2.5 hours for bathroom breaks!  We met Brielle in Denver for a fun birthday dinner!  We even were treated to dinner by my mom in CA, somehow!  That was fun!  Then off we went for the 2 hours to see Brielle's new house she moved into in Fountain, CO. 

 

The 4 youngest drove that last 2 hours with Brielle, so Ry and I enjoyed to quiet car, ha ha!  We had such an amazing visit with Brielle.  Here are some of the highlights of the week. 

 Zoo near Brielle's house...sorry don't know why my phone did this to this picture!

 Zoo Fun!

 We had dinner and evening fun!  One night the boys wanted their nails painted.  I know crazy boys!

 Yep...these are my boys with painted nails!  Don't worry they took it off first thing in the morning!

This was our stop at the Olympic training center...this place is a free tour and so worth it!  If you are ever in the area stop there!  Brielle worked on Monday so we went while she was at work and the kids really enjoyed it!  We actually got to see people training for the next trials!

 

 This was my favorite part of the trip.  Brielle had moved in a few months prior to our visit but she just didn't finish unpacking or hanging or decorating.  I finally got to be like my mom who has blessed many people many times!  We went shopping galore, Target, Hobby Lobby and a cool store out there called At home!  We bought tons of goodies for her house and turned it into a beautiful home.  The best part was when Belle, who has inherited by frugal attitude told me I didn't need to buy her something.  I turned around in Target and told her shut your mouth, it's not everyday I get to be MOM to you anymore!  Her face was priceless and the kids all laughing at her telling her "Mom, just told you!"  And of course, I meant it in the most loving way.  It was truly so much fun to help her decorate and enjoy the time with her!  

 Guest Bathroom

Kitchen...we added more later in the trip but I didn't take a picture after!

 

 

We stayed for almost a week and truly enjoyed every moment with Brielle.  It was so nice to hang out with the kids all together and see them all interact.  It made me that much more excited to add 2 more kids to our family.  I know some will say we are crazy because of the age differences but to see Brielle at 21 (almost 22) paint the kids nails, snuggle and interact made me think of the memories we have all yet to make with the younger kids now being the older ones one day, or even the amazing years we have ahead with a million grandkids all in one house being crazy when the twins will be teenagers and love playing with them!  Life couldn't be better for us right now and I am excited to share our family with these two new lives!

 

 

PS - the way home was a great ride too!  We even stayed at Phil's brothers house in New Mexico which the kids just loved!  Last 2 hours closest to home were miserable but hey we made it safe and sound that's all that matters!

Weekly Ultrasounds!

From our first ultrasound on the 3rd we moved to one ultrasound a week at our fertility clinic.  We have been fortunate to have these because it puts your mind at such ease.

This is the ultrasound from July 9th, which they measured exactly equal!  They have given me a due date of February 20th...which is an amazing day because that is my cousin an one of my best friend's birthday!  I know I won't make it that far but it's easy to remember.  Funny because you already have a baby A and baby B which we learned are named by which one is closest to the exit!  LOL, A first of course!

I am schedule to see my OB doctor on July 23, so this is a few weeks away and the fertility doctor will continue seeing me until then. 

As far as symptoms, tired, some twangs (which my doctor said is actually my ovaries shrinking because they are still swollen from the egg retrieval), headaches, if I don't eat when I need to I get nauseated, and I can only eat small amounts if anything actually tastes good!  Oh and I forgot peeing...I am already going constantly I can't imagine how that can get any worse as time continues but I know it will.  I do have a tummy by the end of the night but nothing that is really noticeable. 

Catching up!

Okay...it has been months since I have posted anything. We got through all of the procedures and I think the summer along with the pregnancy has just exhausted me!  There is so much to catch you up on.

First off, we went in July 3rd for our first ultrasound.  As far as symptoms those first few weeks, all I really had was extreme fatigue.  Phil has every other Friday off and we had both went to pick the kids up from school one day and I actually fell asleep in the car against the seat belt within minutes and jumped when the door opened and the kids got in!  I thought seriously, if this is not twins this is going to be a crazy pregnancy!  Shortly after at our ultrasound we anxiously waited............then we saw THEM, TWINS!  Two sweet little sacs attached to the inside of my uterine wall.  It has been 9 years since the last time I was pregnant and boy do you forget the excitement that comes!

The babies first ultrasound!  You can't even see the babies but you can see the 2 sacs very clear!

 

 

After this first ultrasound, the pregnancy began to feel a little more real.  I saw a picture of the life growing inside of me.  I truly believe it is one of the most amazing things God allows us women to do in our lives.  Anyone who knows me, knows how obsessed I am with pregnant women and babies.  I am astonished each time I see a big belly and how crazy it is to know the live that is in there.  I think this time knowing and watching the process has made me even more in awe of God's creation.  We saw our babies transferred into my body as cells, here in this picture they have a heartbeat!  A HEARTBEAT!  They are teeny tiny little beings and there's a heartbeat already.

 

 

From here on out we were able to have an ultrasound almost every single week.  We are now into every 3 week appointments but keep reading to see the other things we got to see as we moved forward!