changing my mind....

A pregnant girls allowed to do such things right???
I mean I do it when I order at a restaurant. I'm all set with with a chicken salad and then I see something shiny like mozzarella sticks!
Or I start trying to figure out dinner and all the sudden pizza is the only answer that really makes sense!
So I originally thought I was having one boy and one girl. And I'm going to now say I think it's two girls.
This could be from a variety of reasons leading me in this direction. First, I have my two girl names ready to go and can't for the life of me think of a single boy name. Second, I have a teenage boy at home so I'm seeing boys a little differently right now! Ok, yes people, I have not done teenage girls yet and I know that has to be worse than this but for now this is the only crazy I know! And third, I have all of Makenna's girl clothes still so that would sure be helpful since the double diaper thing is going to break us :)
I'll let you know in 10 days!!! Can't wait!! :)

pregnancy bliss...

I was so sad to think that we could officially be done having babies. To think that I would never feel a baby kick inside of me again or nurse a baby in the wee hours of the morning made my heart hurt. 

So what God did was give me a double dose of all the other things I forgot about :)

Pregnancy Bliss 101...

*the 'morning' sickness that was SO not just in the morning lasting a wonderful 15 weeks 

*the peeing every hour all night long because I'm already as big as I was at 8 months pregnant!

*feeling like everyday I ran a marathon that I was not prepared or conditioned for!

*12 hours of sleep being just not quite enough

*the burping and other air based activity that took over the entire 1st trimester

*the heartburn that left me last week wishing God had skipped the whole 'creating fish day' 

*the pillow that is already wedged between my legs to sleep to keep the stabbing pains in my girl parts to a low roar :)

*packing emergency underwear with me everywhere I go in case I sneeze, laugh, or cough

*being hungry ALL of the time. So hungry that last week I woke up at 4am craving hash browns, thought about them all day, went to Denny's for dinner just for hash browns, and then hovered over the toilet for the rest of the evening. Needless to say I'm over the hash brown thing!

*hemorrhoids.....enough said!

I say all of that to say this...I would do it a hundred times over! 

God is giving me 2 beautiful babies and it's just alot of work helping make 20 fingers and 20 toes :)

I want to remember ALL of it this time with it being the last time I'll experience it. 

That means documenting the good, bad, and ugly so not for a moment will I forget this miracle!

Me at 14 weeks....

It was during this week that we had a huge scare. I started bleeding a lot for 5 very long days. I was sure something was terribly wrong and my heart was in pure anguish. 

Finally after the nurse telling me each and every day 'there is nothing we can do at this point' she finally scheduled me an ultrasound to atleast see what was taking place. 

Oh the joy and relief to see both our beautiful babies doing so amazingly well!

They did find the source to the bleeding. A blood clot that formed next to one of the babies from where the placenta pulled away slightly from the wall of my uterus. 

So lots of rest, no lifting, and pelvic rest for atleast a couple of weeks were the orders. And pray that it didn't remain a continual bleed for the rest of the pregnancy,

 which would put me at all sorts of other risks.

Since then I'm thankful to say we've had no more bleeding, thank you Lord!

Me at 16 weeks...

Yes I'm huge and yes it's alarming. Oh the faces I get when I say I'm 16 weeks... with twins. Which then starts all sorts of questions like "do twins run in your family", "wow..." I get that one a lot, "are these your first" to which ensues all sorts of other questions when I say that I have 3 at home. So I now see why my twin book says it's ok to just lie and say your 7 months along to strangers. So I think it's the way I will go. These strangers don't care and they don't know I've told the story 5 times already. So I will simply grin and say 7 months from here on out :)

April 7th is the magical day that we find out the sexes so stayed tuned for that!!

mind blowing....over the top....crazy....exciting....blessed....NEWS!!!

Sometimes when something is so BIG you have to skip over things and arrive to current news. And our news is this.....

We are having TWINS!!

So I was not shocked because I just knew. Had this crazy gut feeling. All my dreams were with two babies, I would slip and say 'babies', I'm SO sick and tired this time around, and I'm freakin huge for 12 weeks! I only told those closest to me that I had these feelings about twins because I didn't want to appear too crazy!

Here is baby 'A' who is closest to the exit and the one I think is a girl :) The harder one to get good pictures of but the one who kicks Baby 'B' in the back on the head when he invades her space lol. 

Here is baby 'B' who I think is a boy! Isn't he sweet? :) We won't know the sexes until next ultrasound. I am currently 13 weeks and they can't tell until atleast 16. 

My sweetie sucking 'his' thumb! Amazing!!

And me at 12 weeks. When I was reading that my uterus was only the size of a grapefruit at this point it raised some red flags because I look and feel about 5 months along! I sent a picture to my mom and asked if this is just what happens when you've had 4 pregnancies and things are already stretched out! She just replied 'wow you look really pregnant'. 

So there you have it... our BIG NEWS!!
Please send wine, diapers, and cash donations to....

31 Horseshoe Cir 

-kidding of course except for the wine :)

Our too short of visit with the Branch Family!

Our much too short of a visit with the Branch family! They all came up to Washington to welcome the newest member of the family, Jacque's little girl Neah! So we took the chance to go see all of them! They've got babies popping out all over the place so we were in heaven! Megan had her baby Liam with her who was 2 weeks old and Ashley had Max along who was 2 months old :) And Lyndee who was finally kid free had her time consumed with little people lol

Lyndee and Makenna

Uncle Tom and the boys watching football!

Makenna and adorable Max!

Ashley was so good about letting Makenna take over on her sweet boy!

Lyndee, Sandy, Makenna, and Max

Ben and Max. My boys were just as excited over this little bundle as me and Makenna were!

Isn't he just sweet?

Max is saying here, "Sooo...just throwing this out there...but when is the chick in the pink shirt giving me back to my momma???"

Makenna turns 5!

Not sure how we got here but my sweet girl is 5!

Our gift to her was horse riding lessons....

She was a natural! Enjoyed each and every moment! I've never seen someone more in their element than she was this day!

A fairy birthday party

Makenna and her bestest friend Haylee!

The most beautiful fairies in the world!

Happy Birthday Makenna!

Oh what an amazing girl we have to celebrate! I love your generous heart and the piles of pictures you draw for your dad and me each day. You are such a gift from the Lord! I love how you nurture each of us when we are sad or sick. You are the first one to help and the first one to tell me I'm beautiful when I'm having a rough day. You are the beautiful one sweetie...inside and out! God sees the beauty within our hearts and thats the love and beauty that shines through you each and every day Makenna!

Happy Birthday to my favorite little girl! xoxox 

Our 'stay'cation and BIG news....

My mom kept our kids after our Portland trip. We came home completely kid-free which we found is fun for about 2 days and then what??? lol.

Drinks and appetizers with a view of the ocean... it was splendid!

A walk at the boardwalk

A very relaxing week for us! But we missed our kids like crazy!! It made us realize that we need to take up some hobbies when the kids leave the house because right now they are our hobby! It also made us realize that we need to take time to reconnect more often. It had been 9 years since we last had a kid free weekend! Surprising enough I did not end up pregnant with all our alone time...

 that ended up taking place in November instead :)

Yep we're pregnant :)

party in Portland....

Came to Portland to celebrate these two amazing people....Seriously such an amazing weekend!

Made our way to downtown to Nike Town...

Lots of posing and pictures taking place....

Shortly after this posing picture was taken is when we were told by an employee it is illegal to take pictures in Nike Town! Who knew??? Kids first broke the law under my supervision!

Lunch in downtown

Grandma with kiddos

For the wedding the attire was to wear a hat, boa, wig. So this is what I was able to get the boys to do other than a baseball hat!

Scott embraced the wig idea to the fullest! And here was born the Jamaican accent that lasted the entire weekend!

Sometimes it's better to just not ask lol

As amazing as Portland and all the activities that we did were, I have to say that the family time we had was priceless. With my mom, brothers, new sister, and my cousins. We never really have uninterrupted time and I found this to be the best part. I hadn't had the time I'd wanted with Brooke, my new sister. And I so enjoyed just being able to hang out from breakfast to the late hours making memories with her! It was a great trip and such a wonderful reason to come together to celebrate!