Week 8 Appointment

Today I had an 8 week check up with the doctor. Everything still looks great. Baby "B" scared me for a minute. You can see on the video that it looks very different from "A" and appeared very small at first. However, it turns out it was just hiding from us. Once we got a view of it, it measured exactly the same as Baby "A"--which is perfect! :-) YAY, what a relief!




They have grown SO MUCH in just a week! It is absolutley amazing to witness this change. I know the pictures and video don't do it much justice...but it's better than nothing. Baby A was so big when we first saw it. You could see the heartbeat, the head defined, arm buds, and the spine!! Last week it looked like a piece of rice!! It's soo miraculous!

My mom-instinct is telling me that I'm having two BOYS! I'll claim it now. haha. However, Elliot is pretty insistent that it's two girls...and her intuition has been pretty good so far. We'll see. Just had to throw my guess out there.




BABY A (I know this probably looks like a blob to you-but the top is the head, the arch the spine along the right side, and the little bump in the center-left is the arm!!)




















BABY B

"WHY?"

Apparently we have now entered the "WHY" stage of life. Here is a sample of one of the many conversations we had at the grocery store today:

El: I wanna hold those peanuts
Me: Okay
El: Why these peanuts?
Me: umm, Because God made them peanuts.
El: Why'd God make them peanuts
Me: Well, to give us a source of protein other than meat.

*I think once you go beyond their level of understanding they move on to a new subject! :-) haha!

Skate Park & Lowes

This morning we ventured to the skate park for a little scooter/skateboard session. I think Elliot has a lot more fun when I'm not there. Usually she wants to ride, but today she just wanted to sit around with Mom. I got a cute video though. I was a little scared watching her and Wes, but they had a blast.

It was project day at Lowes again. Today she made a Tetherball game. She's quite amused with it...although I dont' quite understand the point in it! haha.

Playing

I was laying on the couch not feeling so hot today, when Elliot decided the babies needed to play. She was running out of the playroom with these puzzle pieces yelling, "The babies are going to love these letters!" It was so cute. She then proceeded to put them up my shirt where the babies could play with them.

She also said, "The babies need to come out and play cars." :-) I guess she's ready for some permanent playmates around here. It's so sweet. When were taking my 7 week belly picture, she decided to hop in on the action and give the babies a kiss.

Baby "A" and Baby "B"

Today I had another appointment. Okay, it wasn't exactly a scheduled appointment. I thought there was a problem, I guess I'm just crazy and paranoid after the miscarriages. Anyways, I'd rather be safe than sorry and the doctors I see feel that way too. I got in this morning and everything was fine and the babies both look great on the ultrasound. The heartbeats were very easy to see this time (sorry, no video--but Wes was there so that was great!) They are already much bigger than last week and are measuring right on schedule! It's amazing to seem them grow this way.

Wes does not like labeling them "A" and "B" because he thinks it makes one inferior. His alternative is "A" and "1." It's a nice thought, but probably not gonna happen. So for now, they are "A" and "B."

Elliot is really excited about being a Big Sister. She woke up from her nap yesterday and I went into her room and sat with her. We just talked about random things for a minute then she said, "Can I give the babies a hug?!" It was the sweetest thing! Everynight before bed she likes to give the babies kisses.

Here's the pictures. When I was taking the pictures of the sonograms Elliot wanted me to take one of her, so that cute little boogie is on here too! :-)

THE PROUD BIG SIS: (For those of you that know Elliot--you know this is how you usually find her-1/2 clothed, if clothed at all! :-)

THE TWINS (most of the white "blob" you see inside the black circles are the babies yolk sacs which will eventually become part of the placenta. The baby is attached to this and is very hard to distinguish in the picture)

BABY "A" (it's not real clear--but it's there. The baby is at the top and the round part is the yolk sac)

BABY "B" (the bigger cicle is "B" up close)

TWINS!

On July 3rd we found out that we were expecting again! What great news. We told Elliot there was a baby in Mommy's belly, and she kept telling me, "There are 2 pink babies in your belly, Mommy!"  Well, this past Thursday, July 17th, I had my 6 week appointment and first ultrasound and indeed Elliot was right, there were TWO precious little heartbeats!! WOW!! We are amazed at what God has done (and a little overwhelmed at His goodness).

The picture to the left is of the TWO gestational sacs. Once the ultrasound zoomd in, you could see the baby in each one. Below, are 2 videos I took while having the ultrasound done (Wes wasn't able to be with me--so I had to have something to show him!) In the first, you can see each baby and the heartbeats (you have to look very closely) but you can hear them being pointed out. In the 2nd video it's easier to see the 2 sacs.

I'm already feeling VERY different than I did with Elliot. I actually felt great with her, and now I'm pretty much nauseous ALL day long and NO food sounds good. It's not too fun, but I count my blessings that I'm "feeling" pregnant and that we are being twice blessed.

I'll be sure to keep this updated. My next appt. and ultrasound are on July 31st. I thought the 2nd pregnancy would be a breeze since we'd know what to expect--but things are already changing. I was planning a home or birth center birth, and neither of those are possible with twins. I will be starting the search for a good doctor who is supportive of a family-centered (Elliot present), unmedicated, vaginal twin birth!! I understand there are new risks with multiples, but am still hoping for the birth experience we want.

I guess that's about all I can think of for now. I'm going to put a link to on the right side of the page later or "Belly Pic's" like I did with Elliot. I've already got my 5 and 6 week pictures :-)

Last thing: we have NO intentions of finding out the sex of these little one's!! So, we'll know in about 7.5 months! Only problem with this; we gotta come up with FOUR names that we like! This should be fun. haha

"I Want Daddy to Fix it"

We went to Lowe's this morning to do another project. (When we were getting ready Elliot decided she needed "A bunch of ponytails," so that is why there are four!) Today was DUNE BUGGY day! Elliot was not to into hammering today, so that got to be my special job. All she wanted to do was play with the wheels and stick nails in them with her hands.

Okay, so I'm doing my special job of hammering and I nail the first two pieces together (w/ 4 nails) completely upside down!! OOPS! I bang them apart and we're back at square one. Project is going well, then it's time to assemble the wheels. Even though we're now doing the exciting wheels, Elliot's getting over it. So, I get one wheel on, put the axle through and as I'm hammering the other wheel on--I split the thing in half!! Another, OOPS! Elliot looks at it and said, "you broke my car!" with the most pitiful voice. I felt pretty bad. We talked about how we would fix it at Daddy's work bench once we got home. She thought about it for a bit and said, " I want Daddy to fix it!" I guess I had messed up enough of her project.

Here's a few pictures of our project time.

One more thing:  at 9:30 last night we were driving home from a friends house and Elliot was STILL talking about our traumatic event at Lowes!  We passed the store and she said, "You do it funny Mommy.  Me and Daddy will fix it together."  haha

Reading

Elliot has a set of Pooh books her great Nana got her for her first Christmas. Anyways, she's into reading them all the time and has practically memorized them now. Of course, she's not into performing when I turn the camera on...but it's still cute.

Elliot's FIRST Haircut!!

Elliot had her first haircut July 9th. At first she said she wasn't going to get it cut, then she finally gave in. I was getting mine cut first and she watched. Then, she said "That girls gonna cut my hair!" It was cute. She chose to sit in Mimi's lap and she did great. We had to give her some Sweet Tarts to entertain her, but it worked! Her hair looks SOO much better! Here are some pictures of the big event.

Church & Wineries

THE WINE DRINKERS! "CHEERS"

This morning we went to church. Nothing out of the ordinary except our child refused to wear clothes!! We let her wait to get dressed until we were in the church parking lot and then she screamed. I looked over at her during church and she was stading there in her panties!! They bring the kids up from for prayer time before their classes so I took Elliot up. She didn't want to get on stage, so she just stood next to me. Before you know it, her dress was on the floor! :-) Silly girl. I made her a deal, if she left her clothes on a didn't push anyone she could get a treat. We got a good report from the teacher and she was dressed, so she got a little treat.

In the afternoon we went to Elgin & Sonoita to the vineyards/wineries. Mom and Wes had fun tasting wines while Dad and I hung out with El. They must have been good since we came home with 6 bottles of wine from 4 different wineries.

PLAYING OUTSIDE IN HER "Church Clothes" BEFORE LEAVING:

CHECKING OUT THE GRAPEVINES AT A VINEYARD: