Whew!

Why the Whew! you ask?

I went to the doctor today. 30 weeks and 3 days. I measured the equivalent of a 36 week singleton pregnancy. Blood pressure good.

The girl's heart rates were 144 and 145. We're fairly sure they are both head down right now, but next to each other instead of one in front of the other. That's a blessing!

The weight you ask...how about I lost 2 whole pounds! Lost! I think the scales must have been off or misread two weeks ago. That brings my total weight gain to 23 pounds. I am not complaining...nor am I bragging! I really should have gained a little more by now. (like 28-30lbs). I did eat most of a bag of M and M's on the way home. Yes, they were delicious, and no I don't feel guilty!  :)

Will I be attempting to eating low carb anymore? I think not! I've worried for the last 2 weeks about what I ate. First it was that I couldn't eat (weeks 10-16). Then I gradually started eating again. After that, I truly started loving food. Not in a bad way...but it just finally tasted so good! I even quit thanking God for my food and instead thanking him that food tasted SO good!!! And then to move to having to worry about not eating so many carbs?

Bottom line, the girls are doing great. There are no signs of them coming anytime soon...and I'm so thankful. Please continue to pray that they hold on until at least 35 weeks. That's only a little over 4 weeks away!

There are a couple of basic scenarios that could play out here: (clearly, there are a dozen more, but these are some basics)
-I go into labor naturally and deliver without a c-section.
-I go into labor naturally and require a c-section due to the babies' positions.
-I have to schedule an induction or c-section.
-I have to be induced and both babies are delivered without a c-section.
-I deliver Baby A but have to have a c-section for Baby B.
-I have to have a scheduled c-section.

If I do go into labor, please pray that the perfect doctor for my situation will be on-call. I think they are all pretty good at c-sections, but I'm specifically praying for one that can turn babies. If Baby A is head down, I can try to deliver; but Baby B might have to be turned. There are a couple of doctors in this practice that are known for their ability to turn babies. If that's what is needed, then I'm praying one of them will be on-call.

There are 2 verses that keep coming to mind for me. I know I've used both of them in several blog posts, but they are a constant source of comfort to me:

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. 

Philippians 4:19

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

Philippians 4:7

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday Addie...Part 1B

As I said here, we had a little birthday party for Addie last weekend. Jungle themed of course, complete with a birthday cake with a giraffe on it!

I'm having an increasingly harder time taking pictures because I just can't move (or squat or kneel and then get back up in any graceful (or even ungraceful) form or fashion). So I relied on Paul and a few friends to take some pictures for us.

Here are few that were taken on my camera. The ones I regret not taking were when the bubble machine got pulled out. The kids had a BLAST playing with the bubbles, but I'll just have to wait until I get copies of those to post them :)

There were 5 of Addie's sweet friends who came to play and celebrate along with several sweet families. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and the kids really enjoyed playing out on the deck.  I had a little make your own snack mix set up with animal crackers, cheerios, goldfish, raisins, marshmallows, and m and m candies. The kids enjoyed making their own, and of course Addie loved the chocolate!

Then we sang Happy Birthday...

(i wish i could have captured her face when she first saw the cake...priceless!)

(she had a little difficulty understanding how to blow the candles out. once she figured it out, she just couldn't blow hard enough. so we asked Thomas to help her! you can see his mom's post on Addie's birthday here. so thankful for good friends!)

...and we ate cake,

(you think she likes it?)

(Addie's sitting in my rocking chair that my Maw Maw gave me when I was little at the table that was my mom's and aunt's and later mine and my brother's! Sweet memories!)

...and then we opened presents!

(which takes a lot of concentration!)

(and she loved her hat from Reagan!)

(and her giraffe from Kat Kat!!!)

She became a tad overwhelmed with opening presents in front of everyone and was starting to pitch a fit. So I pulled out her gift from Diane and Tim. She stopped whining, stopped being frustrated, and stopped being overwhelmed...and just stared at the Little People castle. It was hilarious how quiet she got as she took it all in! Perfect timing!

Addie had a wonderful birthday (part 1)! She showed everyone her giraffes on her dress, was as sweet as she could be, and thanked each of her guests for coming to her party (in her words: Thank you for coming my party!)

Happy Birthday Addie-boo!

Happy Birthday Addie...Part 1A

We will be celebrating Addie's birthday for about 2 weeks:

This past weekend: her party.

This next weekend: a family party.

March 19th: her actual 2nd birthday!

Addie loves animals. One of her 1st words was actually cat.  She quickly moved to other animals and sounds (as you may remember here at 15 months and here at 17 months).

One day a few months ago, we started talking about giraffes. Our totally random converstation went something like this:

Addie: giraffe

Mommy: that's right, giraffes. Giraffes are very tall. And do you know why God made giraffes very tall? So they can eat leaves off the tall trees.

Addie: eat leaves

...end of discussion.

A few hours later when Daddy got home from work, totally unprovoked:

Addie: GIRAFFES!!!!!

Daddy: rather puzzled

Mommy: tell Daddy what you know about giraffes.

Addie: VERY TALL!

Mommy: and why did God make them very tall?

Addie: eat leaves trees!

And that was one of many, many conversations we've had about giraffes.  A week or so ago, we went to the bank and the firefighters across the street were testing out their equipment, extending the ladder as far up and out as it could go.  We pulled over in the parking lot to watch. We talked about the ladder being tall and going up and down. Addie busts out with: Ladder very tall like a giraffe!

Seriously. A simile at 23 months. Yes, I'm bragging just a little :)

So when we decided to do a little party for Addie, some sort of animal theme was an obvious pick. I'd have loved to do ladybugs or something really girly, but it is her party! So we went with a jungle theme and pinked it up a little.

And what do you think she wanted on her birthday cake:

A GIRAFFE!

Knowing that I could in no way create a giraffe, I found someone on etsy.com to make some fondant animals for her cake. I've made a fondant cake before, but not for my own child and at the same time being pregnant with child (i mean children!).  Paul quickly got on board and agreed to mix all the fondant and color it for me. Amazing husband! So after baking one tier twice (bc the first one i did fell apart), the cake was baked, iced, covered, stacked, and decorated...all by 11:30pm the night before. Success!

You'll have to excuse the wrinkles and bubbles in the fondant. We're no professionals...but we had fun, and Addie's reaction to her cake with a giraffe on it was priceless and made it worth every minute (hour) we spent on it!

Happy Birthday Addie! More pictures to come!

Super Quick Update

What a few days...

I always try to find the balance between rushing to the doctor and not going at all.  A cold...wait it out. A fever...give it a day or so if it's low grade. It just all depends.

This time I decided that if the fever was still hanging on by Wednesday, we'd call and go in on Thursday. After Addie got up (and refused to go back to sleep without being held) at 3:30am and her fever returned Wednesday afternoon, I'd had enough. She'd had enough!

So we went to the doctor this morning.

Still running a low grade fever (100.9). Snotty nose. Coughing some. Watery eyes. Not eating much. Me still thinking it's just a cold or sinuses or at the most an ear infection...and she falls asleep in my lap while waiting for the doctor! Now that hasn't happened since she was itty bitty!

Diagnosis: double ear infection! According to the doctor, she could see a ring of infection (except she used another word) in her ear. 1.) poor baby. 2.) ewwwwww!

Prognosis: antibiotic and should be better for her birthday party on Saturday! Wait...I didn't mention that? Yeah...that'd be why this week's been even more challenging.


More posts with lots of pictures of a well almost 2 year old to come!

100 Weeks and Not So Wordless Wednesday

So apparently last week marked 100 weeks of Addie's life. I received an email from one of those what's your baby doing or should be doing around this time in their life stating that it was her 100th week.  Given that she'll be 2 in two and a half weeks, we hit 100 weeks at some point during the last month.

When pregnant, everything is measured in weeks. When babies are first born, at least the first few weeks are tallied. After that, weeks turn into months and months turn into years. But 100 weeks...wow!

Right now I'm trying to measure things in days, even hours and minutes. I cannot explain the eagerness I feel about meeting the little girls. I could simply burst with anticipation. When will they make their appearance? What will they look like? How big will they be? Which one will we name which? Will they be easy babies like Addie or will we be plagued with colic?

But I think my number one question is: How will Addie react? Her almost 2 year old self can tell me that she wants to hold the babies when they are born but that they haven't been born yet because they are still growing bigger in Mommy's tummy. Who knows what her almost 2 year old brain understands though! And that's where I start measuring things in hours, even minutes. Her days of being an only child are ticking away. As I held her today, hot with fever and coughing, all I could think of was how will I do this with three. Instead, I pushed that out of my mind and thanked God that I could hold Addie, without interruptions, and give her undivided attention right that minute.

Yup, you read it right; we're sick around here again. Not an ideal week for Addie to be sick. We're having a little birthday party for her this weekend. It's early (she won't be 2 until March 19th), but we have spring break and an ever growing pregnant Mommy to finagle around.

But as I thought back over the past 5 months, with the exception of Paul being sick right after my surgery; we made it until mid January without any of us being sick (ok, ok. i'm not counting the 6 weeks straight after my surgery when I threw up ). Granted, it's been 2 stomach bugs each for Paul and me, a sinus infection for me, pink eye for Addie, and now whatever this is for Addie...but we went over 3 months with nothing, during the peak of winter illnesses. I guess it just goes to show that God knows what we can handle and when we can handle it...and He's not going to give us more than we can handle. I guess we can handle being sick on and off for 6 weeks after not being sick for almost 15 weeks. So we praise Him for that!

And we continue to work to live in the present, while eagerly awaiting the future, yet all the while cherishing each moment we have!

So after a Not So Wordless Wednesday post, here's a picture I grabbed of her last week:

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19