Handy Man.

I am proud to say that I have a live in handyman. Not only is he handy, but he is good at being handy. While I have been resting my bottom on the couch or in bed for over a month now, Eric has been completing a large amount of projects in and outside our house in order to get ready for these twins. When we moved into our house we planned our rooms set ups with the idea of having another child or two in the future. We knew that with a third child we would probably have to rearrange some rooms, but we had time. Or so we thought. We never thought that we would have to change around 3 bedrooms so soon in order to accommodate two babies at once. Let me just say that our house has been turned upside down with these tasks. Tyler had the second biggest bedroom in the house. The guest bedroom was the next smallest and the office was a lot smaller. We had planned this so that when another child came along, they would share the bedroom with Tyler. Well now that two babies are coming, that has all changed. We decided that Tyler would have to move into the smallest bedroom, the guest bed and office would be combined into the Tyler's old room and the Twins would get the middle size bedroom or the old guest bedroom. I know that it sounds a little confusing. Well trying to move everything has been just as confusing.
Our main goal first was to get Tyler into his new bedroom ASAP. We did not want him to have too many changes all at once so we needed him to get used to his new room before the babies came. The most exciting part of this new room was that he was going to have Bunk beds. Can you see our minds looking towards the future of these twins also using them. For right now, it also provided a more beds for cousins to come stay the night. Tyler was really excited about his new room and had no problems with getting accustomed to it. I even like to go lay down on his bed and look up at his really cute sky ceiling. Ty's new room before it was set up. Its a pretty small room.
His cute bunk beds, new dresser, and bedding were all extremely discounted from a pretty high end kids store. We love their warehouse sales. His toys also fit really well in the room. Good use of a small space.

Next Eric worked on the new guest bedroom and office. The major upgrade was that this room used to be bright blue(Micky Sailor Blue). When we first picked out the color for Ty's room, we had in mind to paint the ceiling white, but when we closed on Escrow so late, we only had 3 days to paint the entire house so the ceiling was also painted the same color as the walls. I have to say that I have loathed this bright blue ever since. Well now the walls are the same neutral Haze color as the rest of the house and the room has taken on a more serene feel. Eric took more time with this room, but it was finished in a total of 3 days. Decorating it will have to come later after all the rooms are set up.
The next project that Eric did was to build custom shelving in our master bedroom closet. I have a lot of sewing and craft supplies. Since we had to condense the office and guest bedroom into one room, we also had to condense the closets so I decided that I would put my stuff in my closet. My sewing desk and sewing machine was also moved into the Master bedroom. I told Eric how I wanted to organize my stuff and he went to work and did a fantastic job. This project took a lot longer than Eric wanted it to because of all the cutting of the wood, painting, and installing. Now I just need to put my supplies on the shelves in my own organized way. It is going to be a slow project right now since I can't be on my feet for too long, but I am so excited about it.Before shot. It was very hard to keep my clothes and fabric in nice piles.
The finished project.
The very last project is yet to be finished and that is the nursery. I have worked hard on organizing the closet and putting all the clothes in the drawers by size and with outfits already put together so that we can just go and grab one without looking for a shirt that matches a pair of pants. This weekend we will set up the cribs with the help of my parents. And then we will just clean up and organize the rest of the house.

Getting ready for these babies has been quite an ordeal. We have procrastinated a lot because of a lot of unknown events and circumstances in our lives, but I am so glad to be able to still have some time to get these projects done before the boys arrive. Eric has also had a huge weight lifted from his shoulders as he has completed each project and he is so proud of his work. I am so proud of Eric for his hard work and dedication to make our home more comfortable and I am love having a handy man in the house. Can't wait for all our sons to help their father with projects in the future.

My cup runneth over.

Today was one of those days that I have truly felt the love of God. I have been given the strength to endure and I have so strongly felt the spirit.

It has been hard the last couple of weeks being on bed rest. I keep thinking to myself that I should not complain. I bet there are many people out there who would love to just take a break from life and responsibilities and be on bed rest. Overall, my life has become a little easier, but at times it's so hard when I can't pick up my son and hold him when he is tired or hurt and that he now goes to his father for this comfort. It has been hard to have to stay laying down or sitting when Eric is working on the house and he is so tired and at the same time has to attend to Tyler's needs because I can't. It has been especially hard not being able to go to church for the last couple of weeks. I have felt that I had lost some of that spiritual rejuvenation that I got after attending church each week. I also hadn't taken the sacrament in 2 weeks.

This week I decided that I just could not stay away from church. I know Heavenly Father wanted me to attend and I felt that I just needed to feel the spirit to help me through life right now. Oh boy, did I feel the spirit. I happened to pick a great day to come. Today our wonderful Bishopric was released and we learned who our new Bishopric was to be. I can't say enough wonderful words about the Bishopric who had been serving our ward. For Eric, as ward executive secretary, he has come a lot closer to them and I have seen an extraordinary increase in blessings in our family because of this calling so I was very emotional when they were released. I could not stop crying. In fact, I was tearful from the moment I stepped into the church building this morning. Then they called the new Bishop and 2nd counselor and the spirit became even stronger because I knew that these two men were called specifically by God. I was just a cry baby through out the entire meeting. This whole week there has been a lot of discussions within our ward on who would be our new Bishop and we have been praying for a smooth transition. I know that Eric will be blessed for working with these people and I have so much love already for them and so much love for the Bishopric that we had.

So it has been a very emotional and spiritual day and I knew that I was supposed to be at church today. What was even greater was that even with all the crying, I did not have one contraction in that 1 1/2 hours of sacrament meeting. I don't remember the last time that I had felt relief for that long. I also remember feeling so much happiness in taking the sacrament and felt that it had a new meaning for me. It's so strange how life experiences change your feelings and perspectives on activities that have become a sort of routine in your life. I hope that I don't take this for granted again. I also know that as long as I am up to it, I am going to go to sacrament meetings from now until these boys are born because I need to fill my spiritual cup every week.

He has been preparing me.

With the change in circumstances in the last 2 weeks, I have had the opportunity to just sit and sit and sit and contemplate my life. I thought a lot about how this pregnancy has changed my life, but more importantly how my life, my families lives, will change dramatically change within just 5 weeks. The biggest question I have had has been, "How am I prepared to have 3 children?" More importantly, "How am I prepared to have 2 babies?" I have to admit, I am scared to death! What has prepared me for this moment that Heavenly Father feels he can trust me with 3 of his precious children and twins for that matter. This last week as I was contemplating all of this and trying to make list of things we need to do before these babies arrive, I was hit hard in the heart with my answer. Heavenly Father has been preparing me and blessing me.

He has been preparing me by giving me the opportunity to have a long Maternity leave from work. The time that I have been away from work has relaxed me so much. It has given me the much needed time to concentrate on my family, to enjoy visits from so many family and friends, and it has helped me to think about the really important things in my life. Being on bed rest these last 2 weeks has forced me to slow down and take care of myself and accept services from others. I have been blessed so much with wonderful support from family and friends and the out pour of love from them has been humbling. It's really hard to accept service when you are used to giving it. It is even harder to say I do need some help. Not being able to take care of Tyler on my own these last 2 weeks has been the hardest thing for me. I feel like I have failed as a mother. Eric has picked up my job and become the mother and father. My brother's family has taken care of Tyler when Eric has needed to get work done on the house before the arrival of the twins. Of course, I get to do all the fun stuff with Ty and I enjoy nothing more than just sitting with him and holding with and reading a book with him, but I miss all the other parenting stuff that I was able to do.

Heavenly Father has been preparing me for twins by helping to me get a job as a nurse in Labor and Delivery. I have had the most wonderful experiences helping women during their pregnancies and deliveries. I have had the opportunity to see the complications that are associated with a twin pregnancy and to help many families deliver twins. I feel my experiences and knowledge have helped me to prepare for this time and not freak out about every little thing that has happened during this pregnancy or that may come in the future. Let me just say that everything about this pregnancy was way different then my pregnancy with Tyler. This delivery is going to be even more different because I am going to have an epidural instead of going natural, I am also going to have a c/section instead of a vaginal birth, and I know that these boys are going to come early, 37 weeks being the latest scheduled time for their delivery.

Heavenly Father has been preparing me for twins by giving me a wonderful family to look to as examples of great parents and a wonderful husband who is so great at being a dad. I get asked all the time, "Does twins run in your family or your husbands family?" The answer is "No, not really....But...." Eric has been blessed with a big family. His mother was remarried to a wonderful man when Eric was a teenager and with this wonderful man came a large wonderful family. Eric has 3 biological sibling and 5 step siblings not including their spouses. We have 24 nieces and nephews just on that side of our family. On his step family side there are 3 sets of twins. Eric's step brothers are identical twins and we have two sets of nieces and nephew who are twins. I have the best resources right in my own family to refer to for parenting advice. I have to say that I absolutely love my large family. I love all my sisters and brother-in-laws and my brother, of course. We have so much fun when we visit with each other and I love being an aunt to all my these wonderful kids.

There are a lot more ways that Heavenly Father has been preparing me for this time in my life and I could write forever. The most important thing I realized was that we are not given more than we can handle and we are being prepared for what we are given even if we do not recognize it. Heavenly Father blesses us in so many ways and I feel I need to recognize these blessings more in my life instead of complaining.

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.