Obeying Parents should starts in the womb.

The expression, "When it rains, it pours," does not even start to describe what the last week has been like for us and these twins have not been obeying my instructions.

Let me first start off by saying that I have all these pictures and events that I want to blog about, but with all the recent events I am not sure that I am going to have the time, energy, or mind set to do it, but I will try in the near future before blogging becomes impossible.

Now where do I start. Let me say that this twin pregnancy has been going well up until now considering that I am carrying twins. I had pretty bad morning sickness the first 4 months and did not even start to gain weight until 16 weeks gestation. I had the normal tiredness, soreness, and irritability. We did find out at about my 20 week ultrasound appt that Twin B had an enlarged bladder and stomach probably caused by a small obstruction that caused fluid to build up. They could tell that he was able to swallow and urinate, but it is just a waiting game for him and making sure that it does not worsen, which it has not. He will get evaluated after he is born. My only real problem physically with this pregnancy was an umbilical hernia that I had found after being pregnant with Tyler. During this pregnancy, it caused a lot of pain and started to get larger so at 24 weeks, I was put on maternity leave for this reason and because I was having twins. Being a nurse is very labor intensive and it is not uncommon that nurses go into preterm labor, even with one baby.

I went on maternity leave at just the right time, because the very next weekend, I started to have some contractions and my feet swelled like elephant feet. Well my schedule just kept getting busy. I had Activity Days camp to attend, dr's appt, family visiting, and about 2 weeks ago two birthday parties to put on for Tyler and his cousins. Through it all, I was really enjoying not having to work, and having the flexibility to do these things while pregnant and still feeling good. But, I think all these events probably helped contribute to the predicament that I am in now.

A week ago at my scheduled ultrasound, they found that Twin B also had a 3cm cyst on his kidney. This was more concerning for me because my father had renal cancer and I have had over 20 kidney stones. We are not sure if this is contributed to the enlarged bladder and stomach or if it is entirely something else, but I was more stressed about it. My contractions had also start becoming more frequent over the weekend, but not too frequent that I knew that I needed to go to Labor and Delivery. I did call my dr to make sure and she just said to stay off my feet and rest and for the most part, I did this.

On Tuesday at 30 weeks gestation, I went for my first Antepartum test where they put the babies on the monitor and look at my contractions. They look to see the at the babies heart rate was good. I was visiting with someone in the Mothers of Multiples programs when I felt a contraction. I looked over at the nurse and asked her if it was showing up on the monitor. She told me that I had been having contractions about 2-5 min apart. I wasn't really feeling them or paying attention. I was only feeling them every 10-15 min. So once the babies passed their heart rate test, the nurse called the dr and I was sent over to Labor and Delivery because my contractions were too close together to let me go home. Once I got there, my contractions were more like 2-3 min apart. I was given a muscle relaxer to see if it would help my contractions slow down and it did. The did a test called fetal fibronectin to see if I could possibly go into labor with in 2 weeks and it came back positive. This test does have false positive and is a better indicator if the result is negative because then we know for sure that the pt will not deliver. And many people have positive test and still delivery at full term. If it is positive, it just means that I need to be watched more closely.
They also checked my dilation and I was closed and my cervix had not thinned out any more than it had from the previous week. So I ended up going home.

Then yesterday( Wed), I woke up at 4:15am with pretty painful contractions in my back and bottom occurring about every 2-5 min. I decided to start drinking a lot of water and try to go back to bed, but they did not go away. I ended up calling my on-call dr and going into L&D at about 9:30am. I was contracting about every 5 min and now my cervix was dilated 1.5cm. So they gave me some lovely drugs with side effects to stop my contractions. I stayed in the hospital until about 1:30pm when they discharged me under the conditions that if my contractions returned even while on medications at home, that I had to come back and I would be admitted to the hospital and also that I was to be on strict bed rest. Meaning only getting up to go to the bathroom and to my appts. I agreed.

Did I mention that yesterday was also Tyler's birthday. Thankfully he was in preschool during this time and had no clue what was going on when he got home.

The day only got worse from there. When I got up for my allowed bathroom privilege at about 6:30pm, somehow I stubbed my small toe and felt this painful crunching. I looked down to see my little toe sticking out from the side of my foot. Very freaky. I hollered for Eric, but didn't know what to do next. I help people deliver babies, not fixed toes. I knew it had to be yanked back into place, but I was in a little shock and I had just gotten out of the hospital. I just kept saying,"i can't believe all this is happening today." We tried calling all the medical people we knew including my mother to try and figure out exactly the course we should take, but we could not get a hold of one person. So Eric yanked on it and put it back into place.That was the worst pain that it kind of took the breath out of me and of course next came a huge contractions, but only one. The only problem for me was that it still did not feel like it was in place and it was still sticking out a little from my foot, so I felt we needed to go in and have it checked out to make sure. After getting the go around with talking to dr and urgent care about where to go, we ended up going to an extended hours urgent care. Let me just say that when you are pregnant, especially with twins, places that do not specialize in pregnant women really do not want to see you even if it is for a non pregnancy issue. I think they are afraid that you might go into labor at their office. And OBGYNs don't want to see you because they deal with only pregnancy related issues. Anyways to make this story shorter, my toes was in place, but there was a nice fracture on it. So in the end, my toe was taped to the toe right next too it and ice was put on it. Eric did a great job at fixing it and I do feel a little bad for questioning his skills.Before Eric yanked back into place.

Overall this was probably the worse day I had had in a very long time, and I hope these twins are listening when I talk to them because I tell them to obey their mother and stay in for another 6 weeks, then they can come out to play.

Ty's 3rd Birthday-Part 1

This year for Tyler's birthday we wanted it to be as low key as possible. We wanted to celebrate with just family, some good food, yummy cupcakes, and a pinata. What we got was two birthday parties with two different themes and two sides of our family to celebrate with and all in one week. We were pretty busy people, but this year was the funnest one of them all and mainly because of being around all our family.

Tyler's first birthday party was with my family. We had a Toy Story theme because Tyler is all about Buzz and Woody these days.
The cupcakes were fun to make and the display turned out really cute.Tyler received so many gifts. It was hard for him to appreciate them all. He was a trooper with opening up his gifts and did not really need help. The best part was that he was so serious concentrating on each gift. Last year he opened one and just wanted to play with it so he did not want to open up any more. He finally had a chance to play with each gift individually after the party.
The biggest gift was a Kitchen set given to him by his grandparents. The pool was a big hit for these cousins.


A great action shot of our niece.And of course we couldn't end a party without a pinata filled with candy.
What a fun day with family.

Happy Father's Day!

Have you ever had one of those days that feel like it just can't get any better. Well Father's Day was that sort of day.It started out kind of rough. Eric was asked to give a talk in church. Being Father's Day and that Eric had lost his father when he was 9 years old, this was a very hard talk for him to prepare, but what an inspired and beautiful talk he gave. I, of course was not able to hear it. Tyler decided moments before Eric was to give his talk that he wanted Daddy. So I had to take a crying child out of the chapel and deal with tantrums for the rest of the meeting. When Sacrament meeting was over, people started to come out of the chapel tearful and sniffling and telling me what a "tear jerker" and beautiful talk Eric gave. I was very sad and to the point of tears that I had missed it, but I put on a smile and took Ty to see his Daddy. When he saw him they hugged each other. Ty did not want to let go of his Daddy and Eric did not want to let go of Ty. It was a very sweet moment. The church meetings were so good and during the morning, people were tearful especially as Fatherhood came up.

When we arrived at home, Ty and I were able to give Daddy his Father's Day gift. Ty had picked out a wooden train to paint with Daddy. I had made a fun four pack of bottles filled with candy for Eric along with all the cards that were he received. Tyler has been singing the "Happy Birthday" song a lot lately so we made it a "Happy Father's Day to you"song and he sang it to Daddy. We had a fun lunch of four different cheeses, crackers, and salami. One of our favorite Sunday lunch snacks.A very special moment came after putting Ty down for a nap, I was able to hear Eric's talk. He had recorded it while he was giving his talk so that he could send it to his mother. It was such a beautiful talk and filled with love for his Father, his step-father, and all the men who had played a special role in Eric's life. After listening to the talk, I felt this was such a great day.

We'll it got better. After our naps, we had a BBQ with a picnic in the backyard. Ty also spent time painting his train for Daddy and we topped the night off with a movie and brownies.
I am so thankful for the wonderful husband that I married. I love him so much. I am thankful for the wonderful father he has become to Tyler and am excited to see him with the two baby boys who will meet him in a couple of months. I know that fatherhood is a very sacred thing for Eric because of his life experience he had loosing his father at such an important age. It has impacted him so much and he strives to be the type of person his father was. I am also very thankful for Eric's father that in the short time he spent with Eric, that he could teach Eric so much about the importance of family, love, and a love for life.
I am also so thankful for my own father who I love very much. I am thankful for all his support, in teaching me about the importance of getting a good education and helping me through that time, and the importance of hard work.

Happy Father's Day to all you special men who have made an impact in our lives.

Words of wisdom from Mom.

I love this idea. I might have to do the same or at least put it above my toilet on the wall.

Found at
http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/

Preschool.

One month ago today, Tyler started Preschool. It was an exciting and nervous time for me. I knew he needed the social interaction. He was refusing to talk, count, ect. I felt that if he was around other children more often, he would voluntarily interact more.

When I picked up Ty on his 1st day of school, he wanted his sippy cup. I asked him to say the words and he did. No fussing, no hand in the face. On the way home, he threw a tantrum because we passed another school and he wanted to go there for some more fun. When we got home, out of the blue, he started counting on his fingers. He refused to do this before preschool. All I can say is that nothing but greatness has come from Tyler after attending preschool. His schedule is also more structured, naps are earlier again, and I have some free time in the mornings for myself; at least for the next 5 months.Tyler's first day of Preschool.

Today I was the spring celebration at Ty's school. They had an Easter Egg hunt and a special lunch for the kids. Parents were invited to come so I decided this would be the time to see how Tyler acts at school. I am told everyday that he is a great kid and interacts and does well with taking naps.
What I did not realize was that my presence at school with him would be a hindering factor. When I arrived, the kids had just had their Easter egg hunt and I think Ty was a little upset because he had to put his basket away for singing time. He wasn't really into it. When he saw me he came to me and grabbed my hand. We danced with the other kids but he kept wanting me to hold him. I refused of course.
Next the kids washed their hands and sat down to eat lunch. Ty would not let go of me. I had to kneel on the floor behind him and hold his hand. He was on the verge of tears because he thought I would leave. The table was decorated so cute and the kids were wearing Easter hats so I left for a short moment to get my camera and Ty lost it. He broke out into his almost-can't-breathe sobs and really did not get into the party spirit after that. Nap time came after lunch and I knew he was not going to let me leave then come back at 3pm so I took the stinker home for his nap.

I have decided that until Ty is older, I will have to fore go the fun parties that the kids have at school. Sad for me, but even sadder for Ty if I am there.Tyler's trying to eat while sniffing away because mom left for a moment.

Happy Easter!

The best day of the week.

Sundays are ultimately the best day of the week, unless it is my weekend to work. Its the one day that our family is together all day.

We get up at 7 am, cuddle in bed first, eat, shower and rush to get ready. At 8:40 we are off to church looking smashing in our Sunday attire. We listen and absorb all the wonderful teachings of the gospel that we need to live by in this sometimes crazy world and, of course, feel the spirit and maybe even cry a little. At 12p, church ends and we head home after a little mingling.

Once at home we eat a yummy lunch and just relax and enjoy the rest of the afternoon together.
Together is the key word.
I am not a hermit crab, but I treasure the time I have at home or away from home with my wonderful husband and my adorable son. If I had the choice to go to a party or spend a nice evening with my family, there is no question that I would choose my family. I can't get enough of them.
We don't have a lot of nights that we can say that we spend together as a family. We have a very crazy schedule and sometimes there are people who need to be visited, families that need to move, and meetings that need to be attended. The days we do get to spend together are precious and I can always count on Sunday as those days for our family. Of course, If it is not my weekend to work.

I feel even more now then ever why Heavenly Father has asked that we don't go shopping or go to parties on Sunday. It's a day of spiritual learning, a day of rest, and a day for family.

Getting ready for Church is always a very special experience, especially if Tyler is involved.
Ha, Ha!
Look at these two Handsome men.

12 Week Belly Shots.

Here is my belly shot at 12 weeks gestation with twins. I am pretty much only wearing Maternity Clothes because Regular pants feel like they cut into my stomach and tops are getting too short. My belly only gets bigger from here.

It's time to finally announce...

Ok, so now that mostly everyone knows. I think it is time to finally announce that We Are Expecting Twins! That's right, two little babies are growing inside my uterus. No, I was not on fertility meds and no, twins does not run in our family. You may be thinking that it must have been a really big shock to us to when we found out, but instead it was a very peaceful feeling that we had. This last year has been a very long and trying year for us. When we found out that we were expecting two babies, we knew that there were two little ones waiting to meet us.

So, I don't have any ultrasound pics to show you yet because our scanner is not working, and I do not have any pregnancy pics to show you yet because I am so uncomfortable in everything that I wear that I refuse to take any.

The Logistics is I am 12 weeks along and due 10/3 though I will not actually be delivering in October. The average length of a twin pregnancy is 35-36 weeks,but I think it would be great to make it to 38 weeks. We will have to see.It took me 3 test to believe that I was pregnant. The 2nd line was so light on the first two that I couldn't believe it.

It's been a while, but we will soon update!

I am such a slacker and sometimes there is really no excuse. Right now there is a lot going on: sicknesses, work, a 2 1/2 year old, etc. So wait just a little longer. Soon I will be blogging away about all the adventures we have been on in the last couple of months and let me tell you, there are some really exciting ones.

Cutting down a Christmas Tree.

This year we decided to finally make a trip to Apple Hill and cut down a Christmas tree. If you have never heard of Apple Hill, well you should have, it is this amazing area East of Sacramento. It's an area that has numerous orchard, shops, and Christmas tree lots. In the last 1o years that we have been in Northern California, we have never made the trip to Apple Hill. Boy, have we been missing out on some fun. One of the best part of the trip for me was stopping at a farmers market and having some apple donuts and apple cider. The donuts were so crispy with a cinnamon and sugar coating. I have never had a donut so good before in my life. We also picked up some apple upon Tyler's persistent request and they were also the best apples I have ever had. We decided that we needed to make more trips to this destination.

We went to a pretty big Christmas tree farm and thought it was going to be great because we could spend time picking out the "perfect" Christmas tree. Little did we know how overwhelming it was to actually pick one out. The more we looked, the more overwhelming it became to the point we could not remember where all the trees were that we liked.

Tyler was in his element on this farm. He leaded us in between the thickest trees and when we struggled to get by some of the trees, he would laugh because he was small and had no trouble. He especially liked when we encountered a very muddy spot. When he saw a stump where a tree had been cut down or some dead branches, he would get sad and say, "Awww," because he thought they were hurt.
Tyler became tired from all the walking so he decided to take a rest and play in the mud.
We finally settled on a tree that we liked and had it cut down and taken to the front of the lot. We had no idea how heavy this tree was until we got it home and Eric had to trim the bottom and get the tree into the house. We should have had some clue when earlier the tree broke the chain on the machine that was trying to wrap it up at the farm.
This is the tree stuck while they were repairing the chain. It did not look that big to us while it was around all the other Christmas trees.

We also realized that this was the fattest tree we ever had when it took up almost the entire width of our wall in our living room. We were so concerned about the height of the tree when we were picking it out that we did not figure in the width of it. Thank goodness it fit.It sure did smell good.