Moving!

We are moving back east!  Maryland, to be precise.  Jay has been waiting patiently for his dream job and he finally got it!  We are excited for him to be working in his field!  Jay leaves a week from today.  As soon as we secure a place to live, the boys and I will follow.  It has been a whirlwind around here the past two weeks trying to get things ready to go.  I am excited for a new adventure.  And really nervous to get there and get settled and find a good doctor.   Anyone know anyone reliable in Maryland that can come watch my boys at a moments notice if I go into labor? 

Speaking of labor, hopefully it is still a long way off.  The babies are doing great!  I had another ultrasound last week to track their growth and the little one has caught up a bit!  They did have a 16% difference in weight and this week it was only 9%!!!  Good news for us!  The doctors don't like it to get beyond a 25% difference.  So, it looks like everyone is doing a good job and they have stabilized in their growth.   They both have their heads up under my ribs, and it feels like 4 legs doing the river dance on my bladder.  So bazaar to be pregnant with two!

My mother in law tried to teach me how to sew.  I have been wanting to learn, so we spent the day making car seat covers for the babies.  If you look closely, you can definitely tell which one I did.  Haha!

Won't they be so cute with matching babies inside?!  I can't wait!

Jack started preschool this week.  I figured since we already paid for September, might as well use it :)  I took his picture outside and then went back in to put my camera away.  When I came out, he was halfway down the street.  I asked him where he was going and he said he was walking to school.  I told him to come back so I could drive him since his school is far.  He said, "Ok mom, you can drive me today, but I have to go to school alone.  You have to let me go."  Haha!  I love his independence. 

He loves school and is going to be heartbroken when we have to move.

My friend Emily did our family pictures last week.  I wanted to get them done while it is still just the 4 of us.  They turned out darling, but next time we do family pictures, I would like to be skinny.

She did an amazing job, and the boys really loved her :)

Most likely you won't hear from us until Maryland, so wish us a smooth move!

5:1

5:1......The new ratio of our family.  I am seriously outnumbered.  There is no coming back from this.  I could try to be like my mom and even it out with 4 girls, but I really don't feel that ambitious right now.  I think 4 little boys is enough to overwhelm me for life :) 

We saw the Dr. this morning and got to stare at the ultrasound screen for 45 minutes.  It was heaven to watch our sweet little boys move around and kick each other in the faces.  They are already so nice to each other :)  They are both really busy babies.  The Dr. had a hard time getting them to hold still long enough to measure everything that he needed to.   They are both healthy, which is wonderful news!  Everything looked good!  Baby A is at the bottom.  And baby B is on the top.  Baby B is measuring about a week smaller than Baby A,  so the Dr. will be monitoring him closely to make sure that the size discrepancy doesn't get bigger between the two of them.  They share a placenta, so one can hog all of the blood and nutrients.  Please keep them in your prayers that they will share nicely :)

Here I am at 20 weeks!  People have started asking me how much longer I have left.  That is never a good sign.  Haha!   Sadly, I don't have any pictures from the ultrasound.  But, they gave me a DVD, so I can watch them whenever I want!  You will just have to imagine what they look like.  Probably just imagine Jack or Luke.  I will have 4 blonde-haired, blue-eyed clones running around in a few months :)

BFF's

 This is where I spent the weekend a few weeks ago.  Are you jealous?  I was able to go visit my best friend, Mandi, in California....all by myself.  It was such a fun weekend!  We went to the beach and the pool and ate and ate and ate.  Pretty much heaven for a pregnant lady :)  I figured this might be my last chance for a girls weekend in a very long time.  Soon I will be too big to fit down the airplane aisles.

Mandi took me to a beach in Malibu.  The weather was perfect and we saw a ton of dolphins!!  I wish my photography skills had been better :)  All you get is a fin.

Mandi took me to a really fun Japanese grill.  I think I may have eaten another baby.  At least that is what it felt like. 

The next weekend, Jay got a fun trip!  Our friend Roy that we knew in Virginia was finally able to bring his family over about 18 months ago from Africa after 6 years of separation.  He spent years and years saving money to be able to get them all here.  It is such a sweet story of love.  Visit this site to see pictures and the story of their reunion.  Make sure you have some Kleenex. 

We were so excited when Roy called to tell Jay that he was getting sealed in the temple to his wife and 5 kids.  Jay flew down to Phoenix to be with them that day.

Aren't they just the most darling family?

Then, Jack got to see his long lost best friends!  Our friends Keith and Jeanene from Virginia were visiting family in Utah and were so wonderful to come visit us!  We were all thrilled to see them and miss them all the time.  They were our parents and the boys' grandparents in Virginia :) In Jack's prayers that night he made sure to thank Heavenly Father over and over that they came to see him :)

Lastly in BFF news,  Jack LOVES to do hair.  He will spend at least 20 minutes in front of the mirror doing his hair.  On Sunday, he wanted to make sure that Luke's hair looked nice for church.  Luke was so patient and let Jack do his hair for at least 3 minutes :)  They are such great friends.

17 weeks - Twinners

Here is my lovely baby bump at 17 weeks.  Good thing it is twins, otherwise I would really be freaking out about the size I am already.  We had a 16 week ultrasound to see the babes.  They are growing well and growing evenly, which is a concern since they share a placenta.  We tried to find out the flavor, but they had their butts strategically in each others faces, so it is still a mystery.  At least we know they will be polite! Ha :)

So far, so good!  Please keep the babies in your prayers!  They still have a very, very long way to go. 

Summertime

The boys and I got to go to Colorado for almost the whole month of June!  It was wonderful!  The boys had a great time and I got to relax and be sick while my mom took care of all of us.  Even with Zofran, I could barely eat, so it was nice not to have to cook and chase kids while I worshiped the toilet :)

The boys loved being out in the country.  Jack caught bugs and Luke tried to eat them.  They both got so dirty every day I wasn't sure how they would ever come clean. But, I loved that they could go outside and I didn't have to worry about them getting kidnapped or run over :)  I love the paranoia's that motherhood brings!

I actually wasn't sure that Luke was going to make it home with us at the end of the month.  The kid about died at least 4 times.  Apparently clumsy in the country is dangerous!   Luckily, he made it, but he did have a fairly hefty bump on his forehead in this picture. 

We got to go up the Keystone to my parents condo for a night on our way back to Utah.  We had fun feeding the fish and swimming with all of the cousins.

Gosh, we make cute kids.

When we got back to Utah, we had lots of fun catching up with daddy.  We missed him a ton while we were gone, but we are glad he stayed behind to work to fund our trip :)

Jay and I took Jack to the Lehi rodeo.  We had no idea how big the rodeo is in Lehi.  People take it very seriously!!  We barely got tickets.  But, we all loved it.  Jack wants to grow up to be a barrel racer.  If he can't compete with the girls, he will be ok with being a rodeo clown.  Ha!

Lehi also has a huge parade.  We took the boys thinking it would be a fun outing.  Little did we know how seriously Lehi takes the parade!  It was 2 1/2 hours long and the floats were amazing!  However, after about an hour in 98 degrees, we were all done....but our car was boxed in so we couldn't leave.  We saw at least 6 marching bands and about a million floats.  I think we are all paraded out for a while.

This was where I spent the parade.  At least the car offered some shade.  I wish it also offered a bathroom.   

The wards in the area each do a float.  Can you believe how elaborate they are?

 

Here are the babies in my bump at 12 weeks. This is the view I get to see.  I am now 14.5 weeks so imagine how big that belly is now! :) 

We spent the 4th at Jay's sisters.  We had a great time being with family and doing fireworks!

What a hunk!  This is how I keep getting myself pregnant. 

Jack and his cousins.  He loves that he is big enough to keep up with them.  Look at all those blondies!  They are his heroes :)

Seeing Double

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We are expecting TWINS!!!  I have never been more scared in my life.  I have never felt so under-qualified.  But, we love them and we are so excited to have them join our crazy little family! Jack has already named them Batman and Spiderman.  We might just stick with that :) 

The Dr. thinks they are identical so it is likely that we will have two girls or two boys.  Jack has told us that he will only like them if they are lady babies.  He doesn't need any more brothers.   Glad we have his full support :) 

Keep us in your prayers!  We will need all of them that we can get!

Jack is 4!

 I can't believe May is almost over.  We are so excited that it is finally warmer!  I had a great Mother's Day.  My boys really spoiled me.  I love being a mom.  Especially when my child flashes gang signs in my Mother's Day picture.

Jack and Luke are starting to play together. (Finally!!)  They have a ton of fun getting into things.  Jack is teaching Luke the ropes.   Luke is unfortunately a very fast learner.

This picture melts my soul.

Jay had a "Decades" party at work that he had to dress up for.  He chose Marty McFly.  He did a pretty good job, don't you think?

Jack turned 4 on the 22nd!  I can't believe how fast four years went.  He has been such a fun kid!  

 

He finally got his bike.  He was so excited and now wants to spend every minute outside on it.  

Jack also had his last day of Speech class for the year.  They had a pirate party and all of the kids looked so great as little pirates!  Jack stood in front of my mirror for at least 30 minutes looking at his mustache saying, "Aaargh.  I'm Captain Jack!"  Hilarious :)

He has such great facial expressions.   This is the same look he gives me when I send him to time out.