Ultrasound

We had an ultrasound today and it was super fascinating (as always). Both babies look great and are measuring perfectly! The u/s guy let us push on my belly where a baby was and you could see it move in response to the pressure! Isn't that crazy?! One is very low ("A") and it's head is at the top of my cervix. It was in an akward position so it was hard to get pictures of that we could understand. "B" is a bit higher up and right under my belly button. It was very photogenic today. Baby B's butt is in A's face!! :-) It was funny! The guy gave Elliot a picture of each baby and she was so excited. She wants to hang them on the wall in her room. She kept saying "this one's the girl, and this one's the boy." (Which we really don't know...she just says this all the time!) You could also see the blood flowing from the umbilical cord to the baby and apparently everything looked as it should! For what it's worth they said 1 baby was 6oz. and the other was 5oz. I totally do not trust u/s for determining weight, but my only experience is much later in pregnancy.

I scanned some of the pic's in and will describe them below. I hope you can see them as clearly as we were able to.

BABY A's WHOLE BODY! (feet on the left, then long legs, spine bends around, and it's head is on the bottom. You can see one little hand next to it's face too)

BABY B (It was looking at us in this shot...kinda alien looking, huh? It's chest/body is the white oval toward the bottom and it's arm and and are there too)
























BABY B PROFILE (head is on the left, body in middle, and you can see it's knees bent up on the right.





















BABY B's FOOT (Now isn't that precious? Do you see all it's little toes pointing down?)

Apple Annie's Orchard/Pumpkin Patch

We had such a great day today! I had this idea to go explore this place thinking it was only like 30 minutes away. Well, turns out it was more like 1 hr. 15 min. drive. :-) We decided to go anyways and our main objective was to go to the pumpkin patch and let Elliot pick a pumpkin, but we got to do so much more!! There was a whole u-pick farm that we got to enjoy. You can get a little wheel barrow-like cart and buckets and go out to the fields. Elliot thought this was GREAT! Every vegetable we went to, she wanted to find a "baby-sized" one. We have the tiniest red peppers I've ever seen! Most of the squash were HUGE, so we got the smallest we could find-and the same with the cucumbers.

Picking a pumpkin was hilarious! Elliot had to have just the right one, and wanted it to be small. We thought we had one, but then it got rejected. We searched and searched and she finally found a miniature one that made her extremely happy! After I pulled it off for her, she ran toward Wes saying, "I got the perfect one Daddy." (which is cool, because lately she feels the need to call him Wes or Uncle Wes! haha)

OH...and they had caramel kettle corn which was probably one of the highlights of her day! I think that was pretty much her dinner tonight. oops!

Then, we headed down the road to the Apple Orchard. Here we had some apple smoked hamburgers and picnicked under the pear trees (or apple's...I dunno?) It was nice. Then we got a bucket and an apple picker and headed out to the orchard. It was super slim pickin's so we had to walk far to even find one apple (it's the end of the season). Elliot had a blast and loves carrying her own bucket around. A child's expressions are the most wonderful thing! I can't imagine this being nearly as fun as it was without her! It's so neat to see her explore, learn new things, and get so excited about things we think are mundane.

At the end of the day we got a slice of homemade apple pie and it was SOOOo good! Elliot said, "This place has apple pie?" with the biggest eyes I've ever seen! For dinner we enjoyed most of our pickings: fresh corn on the cob, green beans, tomatoes, and apple and it was delicious. So much for my protein intake, but it was great! To see more pictures of all the fun CLICK HERE.

Okay, so we totally got carried away with pictures....and here are 2 videos! Enjoy!

ELLIOT PUSHING HER WHEEL BARROW WITH VEGGIES!

WES and ELLIOT JUGGLING!

Pic's

Yesterday Elliot got to stay with our friends, The Hersman's, while Wes and I went to training for The Truth Project (http://www.truthproject.org/). She loves going over there and playing with all the kids. Tracy took some pic's of her and they are so cute! They were just playing around, but Elliot cooperated a little bit. You'll have to check out the photos HERE.

16 weeks/Wes felt a baby!

Okay, so we're now at 16 weeks....crazy how time passes by so quickly! Last night I was laying in bed with my hand on my belly and all of a sudden felt this bulge pop out! It felt like the top of a ping pong ball! I grabbed Wes' hand and he got to feel it too! WOW--I had no idea you could feel babies this early!! It would go away and then push back out a few minutes later after it moved over a little. I'm pretty sure it was showing us it's "hot biscuits!" It must be inspired by the Big Sis! haha. It's so just neat that all this movement is happening and people still say they can't tell I'm pregnant! They must just think I got some chub. :-)

Some more good news--I walked past Rotisserie chicken at the commissary today and didn't feel sick! This is a first. Before, I had to do the last 1/2 of my grocery shopping with my nose plugged so I wouldn't get a wiff of those chickens! YAH!

I had a funny story to tell about Elliot, and I can't seem to remember what it was. She's been super sweet (for the most part) lately. Maybe I just can't concentrate b/c she has our keyboard on DEMO mode and it's playing the Star Wars theme at a rediculously loud volume. Then, she gets her drum sticks and pounds the congas as loud as she can! AHH! She just brought me a rattle for the babies. It's now resting comfortable up my shirt. haha. I posted a 16 week pic.

It's an hour or so later: but I remembered the story and had to come to the computer to type it. We were sitting in the living room earlier and Elliot starts to pick her nose and says, "What's in my nose?" I tell her, "Probably a booger-that's usually what's in there!" She non-schlantly replies, "No, a bead." I pick her up and look in her nose, and sure enough there's a bead up it! haha. We got her to blow it a whole bunch of times and it finally shot out. ;-)

Haystacks

Elliot and I made haystacks the other night. She has a blast! The night before we had stir fry for dinner and she loved the crunchy noodles, so I told her we'd make a special treat with them. We talked about Little Boy Blue and his haystack while we made them. How could anyone fall asleep under a haystack?!?! She was so excited! I tried to get her to wait to eat them, but as you can see from her face I was unsuccessful! :-)

Spelling

I was just checking my email and Elliot was on the floor "Spelling her name." She was coloring on little strips of paper and saying random letters. When I looked down she said "D" and it REALLY looked like the letter "D" on her paper. Check out the video and tell me if I'm crazy!

Zoo Day

Today Elliot and I went to Tucson to go to the zoo with Beth, Lola, and Chip. (Wes is in FL hanging out with the family for the weekend. They got to fly there for some training. He hasn't been there since December, so everyone, esp. our nephews we're super glad to spend a day and a half with him!) I didn't take too many pic's, but there are a few below.


Two buddies walking around the zoo

















Elliot and Lola watching all the other kids have fun in the water area (which they weren't going in!)


















Near the lions...looking kinda serious & then with the Galapogos turtles.

15 weeks

It's crazy how quickly these weeks are passing now. I think I've felt good for almost a week now--so that's been wonderful! I feel like a new person! Elliot and I have been getting out, going to parks, and having fun with our friends. We love sitting in the driveway and playing with chalk in the afternoons. What a difference a few days can make! whew!

These little one's are really starting to move around. Yesterday I felt one for probably 1/2 an hr just wiggling around. Then, when I was going to bed I felt it again--and this time I started feeling the other baby moving on the other side!!! WOAH!!! It was the first time I've noticed there are DEFINITELY TWO BABIES IN THERE!! I obviously knew it from the ultrasounds, but how miraculous to actually feel both and know 100% that they are in there. It's so crazy. Eating lunch today one of them kept moving around right below my belly button. I'm really hoping we'll be able to see them moving on the outside in the next 3 weeks so Wes can feel them before we leave for our month-long trip to FL. We'll see. They sure are active so far.

Nanny's Sunshine

Elliot's Nanny (Wes' mom) sent her a picture frame in the mail today and Elliot was SOOO excited. Candy sings "You Are My Sunshine" to Elliot and after they left Elliot kept singing, "I'm Nanny's Sunshine." The frame has a button Elliot can push and hear her Nanny sing to her. She has pushed it about 100 times in 20 minutes. I'm afraid the batteries might go dead after just one night. Anyways, here's a little video of her with her new frame.

Dry Skin

Elliot has this little patch of dry skin next to her mouth. I made the mistake of telling her about it and she insisted she needed a bandaid on it! Totally cracked me up. At first, she pulled out this HUGE bandage, probably 2x3 inches, and was begging for it. It would have covered her entire face! :-)

Felt Baby Move!

I felt some baby movement for the first time today! Just over 14 weeks now. It was FABULOUS!! Exactly how I remembered it feeling with Elliot. I laid down to take a little rest and then felt this flutter in my lower abdomen. I thought it was a baby, then realized I definiltey didn't have gas--so it was! YAH! I'm so excited. It totally made my day! I can't wait for it to happen again :-)

Ballerina and Baby Stuff

I feel like the Blogging Queen lately! haha. So much to share. Elliot decided to go through her closet today and found her Elmo slippers and this Tutu! She's so excited about both of them :-)

Also, the other day I bought the first thing for the babies! I'm totally NOT into dressing my children alike, but I couldn't buy pink or blue since we don't know the sexes. So, here's a picture of my first purchase: 2 adorable, white, organic cotton layettes! Ahh, I just can't wait to see the babes in them.

13+ weeks

I had an appt. with a new doc. today. Minus the rediculous wait (I was there for 2 hrs. and spent about 1o min. with the doc.) it went pretty well. After over an hr. they called me back to do an ultrasound. The nurse that did it was super nice and seemed intrigued with two! It truly is fascinating to see both of them. She spent more time doing the ultrasound than anyone I've had so far! It was so cool to see. The picture to the LEFT is both babies heads along with one hand! I love it!

I may be changing my guess on the sexes though! 1 heartrate was 162 and the other 163. Elliot's was ALWAYS in the 150's-160's. I'm scared! haha. What if it's 2 girls? Or, maybe all my babies just have high heartrates regardless of their sex. Oh, the wanting to know.

Doc. said if I was just having one baby he'd say my uterus was around 15 weeks (2 week bigger than I actually am!) Guess that means I'm definitely growing. Also, I've gained back 3 of the 7 lbs. I lost...so that is good. Progress I guess. This doc. still says I must deliver in the Operating Room and pretty much implied to me that I will be continuously monitored. Just not sure I can find a way around that. He did, however, say he'd deliver "B" breech if necessary, so that was promising. We'll see.

Here's some pic's:




BABY B (head is on the right side with arms up by the face. long oval is body and you can't really see the legs):

BABY A (head is on the left. all the bright white is bone. You can see the eye sockets and facial skeleton. Hands up by the head)

Our Girl

Elliot was being hilarious tonight after dinner asking us if we could see her "Hot Biscuits?" (that's her butt!) Of course we could since she was stark naked! :-) Then she started singing and stuff so we caught some on video.

Just now, we were playing in the playroom and she found this toy from an old cereal box and said, "This is junk Mama." I replied with, "yah." Then, Elliot said, "Is this cool junk I play with?" I thought it was so funny. I don't recall ever calling that specific toy "junk." She also just got done tearing apart the lego robot Daddy built a few days ago. She named it Johnson! I have no idea where she ever heard that name. She wants to name our babies Doggy and can actually think of a name for a toy.

Okay, one more thing: this morning Elliot was eating breakfast and said, "John does this." and moved her spoon to her mouth in a certain position. I said, "John? Who is John?" Then smarty-pants said "John is Papa's name!" She has talked about him feeding her cereal milk a certain way a few months ago...but I've never heard her refer to him as John! So funny!

Happenings....

Well, I've made it to 13 weeks now and still start the morning off with a nice vomit!  Man, I sure thought this would be over by now.  Maybe by 14 weeks?!  haha.

Elliot is pretty into Jesus and God right now.  They go hand-in-hand.  "Jesus and God made the crescent moon, Mommy."  She tells me stuff like this all the time.  (I figure it's a little over her head to tell her God made the world, then Jesus was born of Emmaculate conception, Christ crucified, Trinity, etc. :-)  So, the other morning I was getting sick and I hear this sweet little voice say, "Mommy, Jesus and God made your puke, Mommy!"  It was so funny and sweet.  All I could say was, "Thank you."  

She's also really into her body and figuring it out.  She gets really excited when she finds a new vein these days.  It's super funny how thrilled she is with her veins.  One morning we were sitting around and she points to her butt and says, "I got a hole there, why I got a hole?"  Hilarious!   A few week ago we were at the doctor and I was at the counter filling out papers while she was sitting in a chair and proceeded to talk about "GINA's" real loud!  I tried to get her to quite down, but everyone already knew what she was talking about.  Well, plenty more stories like that...but I'm sure you don't want to hear them all.

Not much else going on around here.  I am starting to feel a bit better in general.   We've been going out a lot more and spending afternoons outside with popsicles, chalk, bubbles, and neighborhood friends.  Wes has been working like crazy so that kinda stinks.  We sure are excited to end our Army life in April!  :-)  Not sure how we'll be feeding 5 mouths, but we have faith it'll all work out.

On a little political side note: I MUST have some serious crazy hormones because I got a little chocked up watching John McCain's speech tonight.  The last few times I've seen him on T.V. all I can look at is his arms and how there's something not quite right with them.  When he was telling his whole POW story, it was just heart-wrenching.  Man, he's been through a lot.  Okay, vote for who you want...I just thought it was a neat speech and a pretty spectacular life he's had! :-)