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!)

Yellowstone!

Last Friday we decided to go to Yellowstone for Tiffany's birthday and for a little vacation. Here are a few of the highlights:
Lower Falls: beautiful!
Tiffany with Owen hiking down to Lower Falls. I chose not to do the hike as it seemed pretty intense and it was hot.
Buffalo (or bison as Matt insists :P) We saw hundreds of them and about 20 right next to the road.
Us in front of a boiling pool
Owen exploring
Us in front of the lake
I love this pic of Matt and Owen!
Owen ran right up to the water!
Owen had a great time once we got his shoes and shorts off!

And for all you Owen fans: here are a couple videos of Owen entertaining in the car!




note: all photos/videos are copyright Tiffany Mumma. You may order photos from her directly for a small fee.

Quote

Eric Davis sent this to us through email today and it encouraged me so much that I thought I'd post it:


" It is impossible for a believer, no matter what his experience, to keep right with God if he will not take the trouble to spend time with God. Spend plenty of time with him; let other things go, but don't neglect Him." -J. Oswald Sanders

Funny, Funny- you have to watch!

A little (captured) unseen work :)

I was reading another mom talk about how much of the work that she does is "unseen" (of course the Lord sees all we do) but necessary nonetheless. I was kind of laughing as I read her relay this truth with her own sense of humor. Well, this was a little of my unseen work the other day and I was laughing for a long time as I watched and then recalled what had just happened. Becky asked, "You just let this happen?" when she watched this video and my answer is that by the time I caught it there wasn't much more damage that could have happened and it wasn't a discipline issue (he's too little to understand why this might not be best and has never been told not to before) so I enjoyed the few moments of childishness with him.



However, there are some natural consequences to all our actions and his was that he needed to be confined in his jumper for 30 min. while I wiped everything down and scrubbed the carpet.


You might never have known after the fact...

Fuzzi Bunz

I feel kind of funny putting this video up but this is the workings of the new Fuzzi Bunz diapers. I currently use Bum Genius 3.0 for Owen but am thinking of getting the Fuzzi's for the twins. I bought one to try on Owen and to put on my baby doll to see if it would fit a newborn well (ha ha) and it seems to be good. The benefits of the Fuzzi Bunz over the Bum Genius is that it has snaps which won't wear out like velcro and the elastic is easy to replace- therefore making everything that could wear out in the diaper (or that does wear out in the Bum Genius after a while) not a problem. I'm still not for sure- but perhaps :).

I did some quick calculations on disposables and it kind of reinforced my desire to cloth diaper the twins. In the first couple months babies go through 10-12 diapers a day translating into about 310 diapers a month per baby totaling about 1240 diapers for twins in two months. At about 23-25 cents a diaper that turns into about $300 in two months! I could buy 30 Fuzzi Bunz or Bum Genius cloth diapers for about $500 and never have to buy diapers again! I use cloth wipes also so I would save even more on wipes. I may not even need to buy that many diapers as some people have offered to give me some free classic folding diapers. I have preferred to use the diapers on Owen more than disposables despite the savings because his multiple blow-outs a day have turned into none. This saves me a lot of time in the end and money on outfits that are not ruined! His room also smells much better as I wash every other day and disposables aren't just sitting in the can stinking. Just a few thoughts and a video if you are curious :)

Little Updates

Just a few little updates

Owen liked his pasta and sauce- and the bath that resulted afterwards.

Roland and Elaine took us to "Periodic Springs" which is a spring that literally comes right out of the mountain! It was beautiful and amazing to see! They did some work on it so people couldn't crawl into the hole where it comes out of (it is a geyser that turns on and off periodically).

Us standing at the foot of the spring.

Owen had fun in the backpack. It really was cold enough that he needed his beanie!

Roland, Matt, and Owen. Roland and his wife Elaine are wonderful, amazing, and awesome- and thankfully for us they come to our church!

Fun videos of Owen playing outside- his favorite thing to do.

California Time

Owen and I had a great time going to California for Amy's wedding and to see family a few weeks back. I have been bad about updating so here is a brief (or not so brief) overview in pictures!!

Tehachapi (my parents): I realized that with having so much fun I didn't actually take pics with everyone- so sorry!
Visiting with Great Grandma Flagler (my mom's mom) from whom Owen's blue eyes originated.
Telling her all about it.
First time in the pool with Uncles Logan and Andre
Trying to keep him better balanced... it kind of worked :)
Having a great time with Grandma
Everyone having a great time in the bath (and I had a great time getting wet outside of the bath)!!
Andre being very protective and nurturing with Owen (which he was our entire visit).

Amy and Greg's wedding: beautiful, encouraging, and so Christ-centered! I am so excited for them!
The cute couple!
The beautiful bride!
Waiting for Amy!

Oxnard: (Matt's parents)

Owen wasn't into the ocean one bit in the beginning (the waves come quick, are big, and loud)! I was trying to show him it wasn't scary- still hesitant.
Getting used to the sand- he wasn't super into the feel of it at first
Still getting used to the whole idea
Owen starting to hink that the ocean is great, wonderful, and exciting!!
My pregnant belly- 15 weeks! I grew!
He loved the elephants. This is one of the only pictures we got where he wasn't turned all the way around looking at them and we could get a picture!!
Grandma Mumma helping him ride an elephant!
Hanging out with Grandpa Mumma!
Hanging out with Great Grandpa and Grandma Mumma!
Hanging out with Great Grandpa and Grandma Black!
Playing fetch (or more like keep-away) with the dogs!

The Contest

Owen has officially been entered into a photo contest. Interestingly enough it is a cloth diaper photo contest that they are doing to make a cloth diaper baby calendar. The top three winners get prizes like gift certificates to cloth diaper online stores and such and all 12 winners get a free calendar. I'm trying to enter into as many "freebie" things as I can to build up my cloth diaper stash for the twins. So far I've won a Divacup (funny, funny, funny- I'll let you look that one up) but this may help. If nothing else, a cute pic of Owen has been entered. You can view the pic and vote if you'd like at realdiaperevents.org. The blog hasn't been updated just as of yet (I just put it up) but this is the pic I entered:

16 weeks

Here is a picture of fraternal twins in the womb at 16 weeks! I am 16 weeks as of this last Thursday. The pic is from http://www.babycenter.com/fetal-development-twins-images-16-weeks.