The boys' first catch

The boys and Brian took a trip to the farm a few weeks ago. I wasn't able to go because it was the weekend after the hospital scare and my doctor wanted me to stay home. While they were there, Brian took them fishing. We went fishing last summer, once, but Stan was too little to enter in, and Jacob nor Brian caught a single thing.
They had better success this time!!

The Nursery is Finished - Part 2

I wanted to show a picture of one of the quilts, as well as the mobile my husband made for me. The quilt is absolutely the most comforting quilt ever made. It is just perfect. Thank you, Mom, for making all this for us! You are so awesome!! The mobiles, like I said were made by Brian - he did an amazing job of bending wire and connecting it all together. He insisted on spray painting the metal which makes them look so much more "finished" in my opinion. They are really neat and different from any other mobiles I've seen and I really love the way they hang and are always moving around in the breeze. Brian is so great about doing this kind of thing for me - I'm so blessed!

A shot of the changing table (woo-hoo) - but I did want to show the cute red gingham basket liners made my MIL.

And this is a shelf above the changing table - my sister Mel, gave me that "Cat in the Hat" hat and I just love it there. It gives a little dimension to that shelf.

Well, that is the nursery.

On a more serious note, I had a doctor's visit today. They monitored the babies heartbeats and did an ultrasound. Both babies, are you ready for this? - weighed in at 5.3 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you say "WHOA NELLIE!" :-) HA My doctor was completely amazed - he commented that that was big for a singleton at this far along. I am so thankful!! I want these babies to be big and healthy. I say 'big' in a relative sense here. :-) Both babies looked great - one is breech at this point, with little chance of turning, but still a chance. Their heartrates were great - no problems. So it seems like everything is going along well. God is keeping us and we are SO happy of that.

The Nursery is Finished - Part 1

This nursery is just the cutest thing in our house right now. It is so bright and cheery and I totally love it. I got the idea for a Dr. Suess themed nursery - I was thinking "Thing 1 and Thing 2" here, so I googled that and Pottery Barn Kids had Dr. Suess nursery bedding. What in the world??? Well, as with most of their stuff, I loved it. I then googled "red gingham crib skirt" and there were 2 Pottery Barn red gingham crib skirts being sold on Craiglist in Kirkland, WA. (When we lived in Seattle, the church we attended met in Kirkland - pretty wild, hu?) The lady selling them had twins and she had decided she didn't like them, so was getting rid of them. They were basically brand new. Well, here is where this gets even more amazing - I call my MIL, who can sew ANYTHING, and who has made every window treatment in our current house and lots of pillows, and I asked her if she thought she could make the Pottery Barn bumper pads and a red valance. She agreed immediately and also loved the set from Pottery Barn. We have similar tastes, which makes decorating with her that much more fun. She also offered to make me the quilts AND the liners for my baskets. I was really overwhelmed at her genorosity. So this is a picture of the crib skirt and the bumper pad.



So, the names are out, I guess!! :-) Yes, we are naming one of the boys Michael after my dad. The middle name is not decided on yet, but we're thinking Lloyd.

The other baby is going to be named Martyn Lesley. Lesley is Brian's middle name, and I have been wanting to give that middle name to a son since our first, but have only now prevailed upon Brian to allow it.

This is a picture of
a.) the red valance Brian's mom sewed for us,
b.) the lamp I had quite a time finding, and
c.) the Lazy Boy my parents bought us after Jacob was born - they took us to the furniture store and said "pick whatever chair you want", and this is what I picked. I picked it for comfort and neutrality of color. It is the perfect fit for me - a little bigger than many b/c I am on the tall side. Anyway, I have rocked both of our other babies in that chair and am looking forward to rocking these two (however I'm really not sure how all that is going to work out at this point)

Kindergarten Graduation

Jacob and his wonderful teacher, Mrs. Kuntz. This was taken the day before graduation. I'm so glad Mrs. Kuntz thought to do this, because the picture I took of him with his diploma is totally blurry! I can't believe it, but oh well.

A collage of photos from the year. One of the moms from the class put together an amazing slideshow presentation for the graduation, and then made it available to all of us. It was very precious!

They sang some of the songs they learned through the year during the informal ceremony.

Stan and I before leaving for the graduation.

32 weeks

Here is the much requested photo of me pregnant with twins. This is last Friday - I was 32 weeks. I'll try to post a couple more as I get closer to my due date.

A Trip to the Hospital

Brian insists I put this picture up, so here I am in the hospital bed, AFTER finding out everything was looking okay and the contractions had stopped. Today, I am 31 weeks along. On Wednesday, I ended up in the hospital at about 7:30 PM having contractions one right after another. The Lord worked everything out in such an amazing way, I will tell you the whole story. I had a busy previous few days, and went to bed Tuesday night after having contractions off and on all evening. I awoke Wednesday, and immediately had a contraction and was feeling so completely exhausted I didn't think I could get out of bed. Brian was going into work late, so he helped get Jake off to school and I called my sister (in-law, but who's keeping track), Amanda to ask if she could watch Stan and keep him overnight, so I could relax and try to get my strength back. She said yes, and even offered to come get Stan, which I did not allow her to do, but it was so sweet and over the top for her to offer. So I basically rested all day, and then decided to go out and get a massage that evening. Brian was home and he and Jake went out bike riding to the park to play catch and then they were going to go to Taco Bell.
Well, by the time I got to the massage therapist's I was having these contractions that wouldn't stop. I was pretty scared, so I didn't even get out of the car; I started back home. On the way, I called my sis, Laura, expecting her to calm me down and help me get on home. However, she told me to "PULL OVER IMMEDIATELY!!" There's no use arguing with her, and I figured she was probably right so I did. I am so glad she insisted on my pulling over, because otherwise I would have gone home to an empty house, waiting for Brian to get home and panicking even more OR I would have went out looking for Brian myself also in a panic. So ultimately she DID calm me down and did exactly the right thing. She is always helping me through my crisies and I am SO thankful for her! Well, so then she called our brother John who came and got me and brought me to their house right up the street from where I had pulled over. I went in and put my feet up, and drank some water, hoping that would help, but it did not help at all, and the contractions were getting stronger.
I hadn't been able to get ahold of Brian since he didn't have a cell phone with him. I was beginning to panic. John left (foregoing his dinner)to go find Brian - I told him to try Taco Bell or the park. Sarah did all the figuring out the fastest way to get to the hospital, finding out where in the hospital the Women's Evaluation Unit was. She was getting ready to start calling Taco Bell's when John called saying he had found them - they were on the tandem bicycle on their way home - he was driving slowly behind b/c he didn't want to scare them. Sarah tells him that this is an EMERGENCY and that he needs to get up there and tell Brian to get over here!!! I don't know if it sounds funny but looking back it is funny to me. John is so sweet - driving all over creation, first picking me up and then to find my husband, with all of us women in the background telling him to do it faster, faster. First, Laura calls him in a panic, asking him to go get me, then right as he's getting ready to eat, I tell him I think he has to go right away and find Brian! He did it all without complaining.
Well, anyway, Brian made it to John and Sarah's. They kept Jake for us overnight and got him to school in the morning. Oh, I forgot to mention that while I was at Sarah's waiting for the word that John had found Brian, Sarah was so calming for me and prayed with me, and really helped me keep from panicking. She is a precious sister (also in-law, but again, who's keeping track!).
Okay, so to summarize, God worked it all out that Stanley was already at Tim and Manda's house for the night, and John and Sarah were home and ready and willing to drive all over creation and then to keep Jacob. Thank you guys!
Back to the hospital. Here's the low down on that: I got a shot of something that made me very jittery and stopped the contractions right away. I got a pill to keep the contractions from coming back. My cervix is completely closed (hooray! - no pre-term labor here!). The babies heartbeats were both strong and healthy sounding. After the third try I got a huge nasty IV put in the back of my hand, which was the worst part of the whole experience. It was in long enough for me to get about 30 cc's of whatever that clear fluid is. Then they took it out and said I could go home. We were there about 4 hours or so. I am now on a prescription to keep the contractions at bay.
Brian was super great the whole time - well, except afterwards when he took me to Jack in the Box's drive-thru which was packed out at 11 PM (COME ON!! - WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND EATS JACK IN THE BOX THAT LATE? - APPARANTLY LOTS OF PEOPLE -INCLUDING ME!) and I was getting hysterical thinking I might starve to death (yeah right). He maybe could have told me I was being a big baby in a slightly calmer way. JOKING HERE HON - I WAS being a baby!! :-) Anyway, he was great, very supportive and sweet. He drove like a maniac just like I was hoping he would, to get me to the hospital as quick as possible. He didn't tell me I was crazy or get upset that I had decided to go get a massage (!) after having contractions off and on all day AND he didn't complain about taking me to Jack in the Box at 11 PM. He is so wonderful!
Okay, yes there's more. The next day, Amanda kept Stan the whole day till around 3 in the afternoon, and Sarah picked up Jake from school, so all I had to do all day was rest. Then my other sis, Melanie, came over at the exact same time the kids were dropped off and helped me get them dinner and ready for bed.
I am so thankful for my family - you are all great. I should give a shout out here to my sister (in-law, but you know...) Lorri, who watches Stan for me whenever I go to the specialist's - which was a lot there for a while.
Praise to my heavenly Father who has blessed me with such a wonderful husband and family.