Name Change

We decided to change the spelling of "Adeline" to "Adelyn" because we realized that the pronunciation of Adeline was not what we thought it was and Adelyn was the right spelling for the pronunciation we wanted. The stress was not supposed to be on the third syllable but the spelling made it seem like it should be and tended to confuse quite a bit of people. We did not want her to have to correct the pronunciation of her name consistently so we decided to make it much easier and just change the spelling. We were able to intercept the birth certificate before it was sent to the State which we are thankful for. Just thought I'd update :).

Elf Dance 2

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Twins have arrived

Adelyn Grace: 6 lbs 4 oz. 18 inches long born at 9:05 am on Dec 23rd
Anabel Hope: 5 lbs 13 oz, 17 1/2 inches long born at 9:16 on Dec 23rd


Anabel


Adelyn


Minutes after birth

Dr. Apt

I had a Dr.'s appointment today and found out that I am 5 centimeters dilated without having any major contractions. My blood pressure is also high as well as I have some protein in my urine (possible signs of preeclampsia). The doctor did a blood test to see if it really is preeclampsia which I will find the results of soon. The most difficult part of my pregnancy right now is an awful, awful rash I've developed that I've come to figure is PUPPP- something only 1% of pregnant women get although it is more common in twin pregnancies. It is basically like hives that started on my belly and now have spread over the majority of my body. The itching is unbearable at times- especially at night- so I'm not sleeping well. It has really made me think about how to think biblically about it and how to count it all joy- except I don't have a lot of clarity in that. I'm just really thankful it is only for a season and it gives me a lot of compassion for those with chronic pain because I think the thought that it might not ever go away would be hard to handle. The only remedy for it is delivery I hear- so I'm thankful it has only developed to be fairly severe at the end of the line. The doctor is concerned about my blood pressure and the fact that I'm already so dilated so he wants to induce me Wednesday morning if I'm still pregnant. It is exciting to know that their arrival is coming and I'm so thankful to have made it to almost 37 weeks (I would be 37 weeks on Thursday). I am a bit anxious about it all but am excited to dig through the scriptures to find truth to dwell on. I'm so thankful God has given us his Word. Hopefully I can share what I've found- this is something that I kind of should have done a long time ago. Anyway, thanks for reading, for caring, and your prayers. Love you all.

P.S. It seems as though the babies are doing well. Their heart rates were in the 150s today and although their movements are not as frequent they are definitely still moving. I can't wait to meet them!

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36 weeks!!

Me and the girls about a week and a half ago.
An illustrated picture of fraternal twins in the womb at 36 weeks. I remember looking at this pic, which is as far as they go, throughout my pregnancy and not able to think much more than, "Wow- that is big!". Now I'm here!

Matt and I on the eve of hitting 36 weeks (last night).

I am so, so incredibly thankful to the Lord for the fact that I made it to this important milestone in my pregnancy. 36 weeks and at least 5 lb. babies was always my goal from the beginning of my pregnancy- two weeks past what my doctor was originally happy with. We are so thankful!

Christmas Message

So... I was reminded of this Christmas message from one of my favorite pastors Jack Hughes from the church I went to in Burbank before Matt and I were engaged. I love it, I love him, and I love this church. Listen to it or something.

http://www.calvarybiblechurch.org/Sermons.aspx/audio/sermon/2004/20041219

Giveaway stuff

There are a lot of giveaways going on right now so I thought I would do a little post to talk about it! At the Happily Domestic blog she has just started an event called the "Blessed Event" which started Nov. 21st. It is free to enter in the giveaways... so give it a shot!

My little goof

As Owen grows up his goofiness is coming out more and more and I just love it. Every new stage brings new challenges but it just seems to be getting more and more fun. He keeps me laughing constantly throughout the day. I thought I'd share a little of his humor and sweetness in some pictures. Here he is :)

He has started a great love for coloring- and playing with the crayons in general. He asks at least once a day to get up on the table to color. He does pretty good about keeping it on the paper and will really concentrate for a good amount of time. He just loves it.

His new favorite thing to do while I do laundry is to sit on our bed and play with the fan. It works out great for both of us- and I think he is just so silly sitting there laughing as he turns it on and off and he gets blown in the face.
He loves, loves, loves to read. I will ask him to get a book and he will just about pull every book off the shelf and hand them to me one by one. He loves to cuddle up as close as he can next to me. He can't hardly sit on my lap comfortably but he loves tucking himself in right under my arm. He is turning into a very sweet cuddle bug.

I purposely have chosen to avoid the spoon and bowl thing mainly because I didn't want to have to clean up a bowl full of yogurt or applesauce off the floor when he decided to throw it. However, he stayed with our neighbors and when we went to pick him up he was happily eating yogurt with spoon and bowl- so I decided we should begin that too. Here's a little snippet of our time :).

Halloween!!

So this year for Halloween we took Owen trick or treating at the Town Square. All the businesses give out candy from like 4-7 pm and the place was pretty packed. It seems like it is just the town thing to do- and I mean, why not? We didn't have to worry really about the candy being bad or anything. Owen was a turtle and I dressed up as pregnant and Matt well, was Matt. We met Tiffany there and a couple from church with their 20 month old daughter and had a lot of fun! Matt dressed up the day before as a flamingo for work. It was the funniest thing and I was so proud of him for proudly sporting the flamingo. The theme for his work was "Jackson wildlife" so we thought the flamingo worked because of all the yard flamingos you see everywhere :). Yes, he really wore that outfit ALL day! I'm just so proud!!

Owen was really proud of his daddy too!

28 weeks!

I am so thankful to have made it to this first milestone in this pregnancy! It means that even if the babies are born now they have a good chance of making it- which I am so thankful for! It looks like things are going well still so I'm so thankful that I will hopefully be able to keep going! My doctor told me he usually tells his twin patients to "take it easy" (not technically bed-rest but more of a don't do much instruction) at this point because they are having a lot of contractions but I haven't been so it doesn't seem like he will tell me that. I will find out more as I have an apt. on the 27th (ultrasound) and the 28th (apt. with my Dr.). It is just amazing how the Lord works- at this point in my pregnancy with Owen I was on bed-rest because of too many contractions but now that I have twins I am doing well. The Lord is good (he would be either way) and is totally sovereign and in control of my contractions. I was sure that I would be having problems by now- but I'm not at least yet.

Here is the illustration update of fraternal twins in the womb at 28 weeks! They look so big in there!

This is Leslie and I posing about a week ago. I am 27 weeks and she is 37 weeks in the picture. The doctor told me that around 28-30 weeks I would be the size of a normal full-term pregnancy. Yikes!

"Parents, Obey Your Children?"

I thought this article was really thought provoking. It helped me to think again about how I view discipline and my role as a parent in light of scripture and how much I've been weakened by the wisdom of the world. We just need to be so careful to only let scripture and scriptural principles instruct us. It also made me consider the books that we have that maybe we should reconsider as well as considering any movies we allow Owen to watch in the future- as to whether or not they promote the disobedience Al Mohler talks about. By the way, Al Mohler is a wonderful, godly man and I love reading his other blog entries. He is the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and thoroughly sound. Read this article and then maybe get hooked on reading his blog :). http://www.albertmohler.com/2009/10/14/parents-obey-your-children/

Grandma & Grandpa Mumma

We had a great time with Mom and Dad (Grandma and Grandpa) Mumma this last week. There was lots of playing- outside, at the park, carving pumpkins, eating too many cookies, and many more fun things. Owen is now in withdrawals from the great time with Grandma and Grandpa (and Matt and I miss them a lot too).

Summer's Gone, Winter's Coming!

Tuesday marked the end of summer and the coming of winter to many of us here in Jackson. It was the first of many coming snowfalls. The sudden drop in temperature was a big shock. Monday was the last of a string of days where the high was 72. Tuesday's high was 37. The mountaintops have a nice dusting, which looks very pretty contrasted to the orange and yellows of the valley floor.

Owen didn't let the cold weather hinder his love for playing outside. He stood at the gate leading downstairs saying "side" and signing "please" like he does often now. We got bundled up and he got to wear his new down jacket for the first time. Coming inside was still a struggle although his nose and little fingers were just about frozen.

We won't have to bundle up everyday for awhile still, but shorts and t-shirts will definitely be replaced with warmer pants and long-sleeves. All in all, I'm excited for the change. I'm ready to take Owen out and throw him in a few feet of snow like I do on our unmade bed now. I know though that once again in April I'll be excited that it is melting. That is one of the great beauties of this place- change of seasons!

Some free diaper giveaways!!

So, upon entering this new cloth diapering world I've come across some ways in which to enter to win free diapers! I finally decided that I would blog about the giveaways periodically because 1) it helps my chances of winning and 2) it will be a good resource for any of my friends who do (or will) cloth diaper their kiddos- because they can enter to win too. Here goes :)

1) Diaper Discussions is giving away a Hybrid Pocket AIO diaper. This diaper looks pretty cool since it is an all-in-one diaper (no stuffing required) but that you can actually add an insert if you need extra absorbency. They come in lots of cool colors too! Click here to get to the giveaway!!

2) The Cloth Diaper Whisperer (Through Kelly's Closet) is giving away two (2) BabyKicks One-Size Bumboo Pocket Diapers with two (2) Joey Bunz Inserts. I hear that the inserts these diapers come with are incredible as they are super absorbent yet trim too (they are made with hemp). The diaper is new to Kelly's Closet but seems like it would be an incredible diaper as it is made with snaps (durable) and one size (cost effective). I'm excited to possibly win and try this diaper!! Click here to get to the giveaway!

3) Cloth Diaper Tips is giving away six (6)!!! bumgenius 3.0 cloth diapers. That is incredible!! These are the diapers that we bought first to use with Owen and which he wears most often (we only have two other kinds that I bought to see if I like for the twins). These diapers are awesome in so many ways and have really held up well. Click here to get to the giveaway!

4) The First Time Around blog is giving away a lot of things. Click on the links to get to the giveaways. 1) See Kai Run: the winner wins a pair of these great shoes of their choice from the See Kai Run website. 2) Wet happened? Wet bag: the winner gets a free travel size wet bag. These are great to put dirty cloth diapers or anything wet in while out on the go. You can also go to the company's website- Let's Go Strolling. 3) Fuzzi Bunz os diapers: the winner receives three of these diapers! Company's website: Fuzzi bunz 4) Snap-Ez Eco diaper: the winner receives one of these diapers! They look pretty cool. Company website: Snap-Ez

Correction #2

My loving husband informed me that photobooth is actually two words. Photo booth. There.

Correction

My loving husband informed me that the last video was not taken on imovie but on photobooth. Apologies to any confused Mac users :P.

Owen on imovie

Aunti T (Tiffany) watched Owen last night and took some pretty cute videos of Owen on imovie (the camera attached to our computer). Thought I'd share one. Shout-outs to Tiffany for watching Owen for us :).

Updates!

I had an appointment with my perinatologist on September 15 and have some fun ultrasounds to show from it! Sorry I didn't get them up earlier ;). The nurse who took these photos was a different nurse than the last two times and this nurse tends to prefer the profile shots over faces, feet, arms, and legs. I find that I do also :). The first two pics are of baby A and the third is baby B. I think you can really tell a difference in their noses and faces in general in these pictures. The doctor said that he couldn't be more pleased with how they look and how they are growing! I was so thankful to hear that! I also am super thankful to have good insurance as I found out that every appointment I have with the perinatologist cost $2500+!!!! I can't hardly even believe it! I am supposed to have that appointment ever 4 weeks or so in addition to regular appointments. The perinatologist (or Paleontologist as Becky calls him) has to fly in from Salt Lake City- so that is a part of it!

As of this Thursday I am 24 weeks!! The time has just flown by! I am starting to feel very, very big (still a long way to go) and more tired- but thankfully good overall! I think my belly looks similar to the 24 week illustration below which is a bit scary because as the illustrations progress it starts getting pretty huge!!

Owen has been growing up so much and it seems like every day he is turning more and more into a little boy. He loves his toy cars which now have life and sound as everything in the house is a possible runway. He crawls into my lap often signing "please" with a book in hand. His understanding has grown a ton and I am amazed at how much he understands.

The little sneaky got a couple tomatoes we picked in the greenhouse when I wasn't looking (okay I admit I was not paying attention while reading the paper) and I felt a little wetness and looked up and he was happily smashing the tomatoes together with juices and seeds squirting everywhere. I laughed.

The tomato video and then just fun video. Ahhh look at how big he is getting!! But he sure is cute!!

Haha when I watch these videos again I realized that I sounded a little grossed out after he threw the tomato in the trash. Well, what you can't really see is that I had just swept and the tomato had hair and dirt all over it which just stuck to his wet hands. It was actually really gross in real life. The second video although he's super cute and happy he keeps pooping- which is funny, but not what I was going for :). Well, here you get to see a little bit of real life!!

There has been a lot of outreach opportunities also with the church which we are really thankful for. Matt has been tag-team teaching a "Strengthening Your Relationships" class on Tuesday nights which has been offered to the community. We advertised in the paper and through fliers. It is a class designed to basically give a biblical foundation for relationships and help people to strengthen them (hence the title :). It is geared to believers and unbelievers alike with a strong gospel focus. It is really exciting as people have been coming and it has been a long anticipated event for our church.

We are also going to have two "community days" in October where on Oct 4 we are offering to do any household chores people may have and on Oct 10 we are passing out free firewood which we will cut and split. A Master's College team is coming out for Outreach Week which we are really thankful and excited for. They will be here from the 3rd through the 10th and help us with community day and with getting the wood to give out.

Happy Birthday Matt!!

Matt said he had a great birthday on Tuesday and we had a lot of fun celebrating. I'm so thankful to have celebrated four of his birthdays with him!! We had a quiet evening- Matt barbecued steak and I made him his favorite cake- crazy cake with buttercream frosting (with a little Oreo crumbles on top)!!



I always forget not to turn the camera when I take video!

Ultrasound Pics!!

Twin B's foot

Twin B's right arm

Twin B's left Arm

Twin B's face

Twin A's face

Twin A's arm

Little Girls!!

So, I'm sure anyone who would read my blog has already heard that we found out that it looks like "most definitely" both little babies are girls! My doctor flew in from Salt Lake City and I was his first appointment and he was a bit late so another lady (I'm not sure exactly what her title would be) who was real sweet started the ultrasound. First things first she wanted to find out the sex. So she went to Twin A and said, "That looks like a girl"; then on to Twin B and, "That looks like a girl too!" She said it so quickly and looked so quickly that I wasn't sure if that was the final call or not. I was so shocked because I just wasn't expecting two girls! I asked again and then maybe another time and she gave me a good look and yep, definitely looks like girls ;)! The doctor arrived and confirmed that judgement and that was that! I really appreciated having such an experienced doctor there who really knows what he is doing. He had dealt with many, many multiples. He confirmed everything that my regular ob/gyn had said which comforted me quite a bit. We were told one of the little girls (Twin A) has part of what goes along with her kidneys (I obviously wasn't quite sure what he was talking about) is more dilated than it should be. I could go away on its own but if not she may need to be on antibiotics when she's born and possibly have surgery. The doctor said that this problem would be the one I would pick if I could pick problems and the it is nothing for me to worry about now. It will not harm her a bit now and will just be something to work on if it is not resolved later. He said everything else looks great!

After the appointment Matt and I went to Hagen Dazs to celebrate and enjoyed our little secret for about 30 min until we started calling friends/family :). As the reality of what we'd been told started to sink in we kept getting more and more excited. We went by a nearby baby store to do our first girl shopping as part 2 of our celebration but stopped short as onesies were $48!! (Welcome to Jackson!) I'm just so thrilled and thankful at the idea of having two sweet little girls and think that it couldn't be any more perfect. Matt also said today that he's sad they are going to grow up and get married. I kind of smiled and asked if he is sad Owen will get married one day (he has always talked about that with excitement) and he said not as much. Something about daddies and little girls!!

I do have ultra-sound pictures but don't have the time now to put them up- but they will come soon!

20 weeks!

I am 20 weeks along today! To celebrate such a joyous occasion I will have an ultrasound where Lord-willing hopefully we will be able to find out the babies sexes!! I have an appointment with a "super doctor" as I call him, or a perinatologist technically, that comes up to town once a month. The ultrasound will serve to get an overall picture of what is going on with the babies which includes many intricate things I'm sure I will never comprehend. I'm very thankful for such expertise on my case! I will also discuss with this doctor and get a second opinion on contractions and what my degree of activity should be (my regular doctor told me to go about normally but also asked that I get a second opinion). However, I read that taking fish oil pills can help to keep pre-term labor at bay and since I started taking them my contractions have pretty much gone away. When I've forgotten for a couple days I can really tell a difference- I guess it has something to do with improved circulation? I'm not totally convinced yet but the omega-3s are good for the babies either way. I'll talk that over with the doc also. I'm feeling the little ones quite often now but can't tell one from the other. I once could tell both were moving at the same time and that was quite exciting! Their movements are getting noticeably stronger.

My guesses for the sexes are in order:
1: 1 boy 1 girl
2: 2 boys
3: 2 girls

I think now is the time to take a stand on your guess!

My first and second guesses are pretty close on my guess scale but #3 of 2 girls seems very unlikely in my mind. Why? I don't know. I'm just so excited I can't hardly wait- I've been anticipating it for like 7 weeks since the appointment was made!! Any combination sounds just absolutely wonderful and exciting to me!

Here is a copy and paste of their development now:

Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he's measured from head to toe.)

He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).


Fraternal Twins in the womb at 20 weeks. This is from the same website that the 16 week picture is from.

20 weeks!

19 weeks (not a whole lot of difference!)