Pop Goes The... Mommy?!?!

T spent this past week traveling to Michigan for work. K & E stayed home to play and around Wednesday I noticed something mysterious was happening. My belly popped! Overnight. I have no idea what happened, but suddenly I'm realizing that this is just the beginning of what I can expect from my pregnancy with Baby A and Baby M.

I never took pregnancy pictures when I was expecting E. Quite frankly, I struggled to be putting on weight that I feared would never come off. And let's be honest, donning elastiband pants does nothing to make a girl feel good about herself. But this time around I feel more secure, likely due to the fact that I lost my E pregnancy weight. I think it's fun to see people's reactions when I tell them I'm 5 months pregnant with twins. Their responsive look is one of sympathy/shock/enthusiasm. I can't wait to see their faces in another 3 months!

Front view. Nothing too obvious from the picture.

Ha ha! Think again!

Side view #2. A better angle.

Double Trouble. Triple Threat.

Since T got his new job way we've been without health insurance. No big deal, really. We're healthy people and the only time I ever go to the doctor is when I'm pregnant. But, wait... I am pregnant. And so it happened that I was 21 weeks along and having my first OB appointment last Wednesday. Everything was great and normal and healthy and then the nurse/midwife rolled in the ultrasound machine and put it on my belly. We saw an image of a baby's head and spine and then... I saw another head. I looked up at the nurse/midwife and saw her squinting at the screen. Fifteen minutes later, the doctor and nurse were in the room looking over my belly and confirming that there were, indeed, two babies growing in my belly. Two babies!! I laughed, I prayed, I cried. Two babies!!!!

I went to the appointment hoping to find the sex of the baby, though they told me I'd for sure find out at my in-depth ultrasound 4 days later, and left knowing I was having two babies! I called T, who I'd told not to take work off to come to a standard first OB appointment, and said, "Honey, are you sitting down?" I delivered the news and he was completely thrilled! I then proceeded to call my mom and brothers and sisters and share the surprising, joyful news.

My mom miscarried my twin about two months into her pregnancy. It was her sixth miscarriage and she was both sad and elated when the doctor told her that she was indeed miscarrying, but she was still pregnant. I grew up knowing I had a twin. In sixth grade when the book mobile came to our school I bought a cheesy novel called Double Trouble about twins with telekinetic powers who eventually learned to teleport themselves to one another. I followed their methods and tried really hard to "mind speak" to my twin in heaven. It didn't work. Consequently, when I was a teenager I used to think it would be neat if I had twins so I could see what it would have been like.

I think my daydreams of having twins ended in teenagehood, too. Probably around the time that I took Health 101 and realized what was really involved in birthing two kids. T and I have been making little preparations for us and E to get ready for baby #2 and then we learned it's baby #2 and baby #3. On Saturday we went to our ultrasound appointment and learned that babies #2 and #3 are little girls. We're 97% certain we have their names picked out, but to keep the suspense mounting I'll refer to them only as Baby A and Baby M. (3% uncertain because when they're born we could feel one, or both, of the names aren't right.)

We're all reeling from this paradigm shift, but are more happy than anything else. I have so many questions, thoughts, fears, and joys, but I keep coming back to the comfort I feel that Heavenly Father trusts us to raise these beautiful girls.

After I told T our twin news he text messaged me shortly thereafter: "I just realized we're about to be outnumbered." The first thing I thought was, "Double Trouble. Triple Threat."

I have a feeling we're in for an awesome ride!

This N' That

To answer the burning question on everyone's minds, yes, we are still alive. And quite well. I'll give the brief picture summary of the past two months that I haven't posted.

We all stayed with Grandma and Grandpa F for a month and E made sure to squeeze in all the tractor rides that he could...

...and all the play-doh with Grandma time that he could.

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Somewhere in that month T, E and I went to the Mandarin Festival (the oranges not the culture) and bought E a guitar. He plays for us all the time, insisting that he sounds just like Uncle Steve.

E and I surprised my mom and flew back to UT for Thanksgiving. Too many fun times to list, but Oreo parties, a Nana specialty, were had by all.

On our flight back to Sacramento we scheduled a day-long layover in Long Beach and spent time with GG Milt, GG Grace, and GAunt Carolyn. E loved the castle park and lunch at Elephant Bar.

I had to include this picture because of the expression on E's face.
Charming.

We moved into our new house in Lincoln, CA on Dec. 18! Yahoo! Since then I've been doing everything in my power to break in the kitchen and E has willingly helped. Check out his pita rolling skills.

E watched a Santa movie at Nana's and the whole concept really stuck with him. My sister mailed me a darling "Cookies for Santa" plate and E insisted we follow through. Santa devoured the fudge mint crinkles.

Somewhere in there Lexie went crazy. Seriously. She's been incessantly licking one spot on her right front paw until it turned into an open wound. I took her to the vet on New Year's Eve only to have the vet gently break it to me that she's neurotic. Great. Now, cone-dog, as I affectionately call her, is having outside forces attempt to stop her self mutilation. Wish us luck because she's already outwitted the cone and continues attacking her paw.

T decided he'd had it with feeling out of shape and struggling to find time to exercise. Overnight he became a dedicated, near obsessed, outdoor runner and signed-up for a marathon in May. He's religiously training and E and I went to support his New Year's Day Resolution Run 10 Miler. He ran the entire time and we are so proud of him!
(E helping him warm up)

Post-run elation/fatigue. Go honey!

Our next door neighbor is a substitute bus driver and E always asks her where her school bus is. Yesterday she surprised him by having her friend bring the little school bus to our house. E was so genuinely thrilled that when the bus left he said, "Thank you, Robin, for bringing me the school bus. I loved it!" We all melted.

Having his turn at the wheel.

• In other news, we're pregnant! According to my calculations I'm due around June 10, but I still haven't seen a doctor because of the wait with new insurance and all that jazz. Hopefully in the next couple weeks I'll be seen and we'll know what we're having. :)
  
• Down the road I'll post pictures of the house and give you a little tour. I can't say exactly when because I'm now on my sixth paint sample and still can't find the right color for our great room. It could be a while.
• My mom is coming to visit and see our new home tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited! E can't quit talking about it and I think it'll be great to see her enjoy the 65 degrees and sunny weather we're basking in.
• Our house in UT hasn't sold and the economy has everyone, including us, a little freaked out.

That's all for now, but I'll let you know more when I know more! Thanks for being patient with us through all the craziness!

I Am A Californian

We made the big leap and E & I have moved out to California to be with T. Our UT house is now listed with a realtor, our CA house still isn't finished and won't be for another month, but we're enjoying being together again. I'm still adjusting to living somewhere new and all that entails. It seems that for every bit of excitement and adventure there's an equal measure of uncertainty and loneliness. A little bit of yin and yang for the whole thing.

Good:

• Quality stores and restaurants (including the amazing Sacramento tapas restaurant T took me to last Saturday *sigh*)
• Warmth. It's over 80 today and I'm wearing capris and a t shirt.
• Living in the mountains of Northern CA that remind me of my home state, OR
• T.
  

Not So Good:

• Printing a Google map before I go anywhere. And I do mean anywhere. I'm so lost.
• Missing my UT family.
  
• Not having any friends for me or E.
  
• A weird, directionless feeling I have while we wait to really settle in CA.

Everything seems to get better with time. Soon I'll be giving out directions to other people, taking E to a play date and sewing curtains for our home. I don't expect myself to get over missing my family. I know myself well enough to know that will never happen. But, luckily, we live close to airport and major highways and train stations and a little distance isn't an insurmountable obstacle. I think right now I just need time to get used to everything that so... new.

It Takes Two

After four weeks apart, T flew home this weekend and we got to feel like a normal, or as close to normal as we've ever been, family for two days! It was marvelously, gloriously euphoric and now I'm going through withdrawals again. Kind of unfortunate considering I'd just gotten to the point that I thought, "Actually, I can handle this. It's a little tough, but we're hacking it well."

Sigh.

Over the weekend, the little man absolutely couldn't soak in enough Daddy-time. He was overjoyed to be with his idol. I realized how different it is when T is here verses when he's gone and starting compiling a mental list. It looked like this:

1. The house is messier. I'm not sure if it's because I'm more likely to be playing or relaxing than picking up, or if it's because T is like a mild Tasmanian devil, but I couldn't stay on top of it.
   
2. The leftovers were eaten. Finally. I always thought I liked leftovers until he who usually consumes the leftovers left and now they sit in the fridge for....ev......er.
3. E seemed much happier and the mild diarrhea he's had since T left finally ceased. Is he a Bean or what?
   
4. I realized how much E needs both me and T. Further details provided below.
   

Exhibit A
Sunday, T broke out the playdoh for E, and I went downstairs to load some pictures on the computer. When I came back up I noticed all the playdoh was out on the table and E was really having a ball. E exclaimed, "Mama, I made a pizza!" When I looked down I saw him creating this beauty:
Amazingly creative! He pointed out the "pizza", "sauce", and "cheese" and I marveled at the fun he was having. When I break out the playdoh with E I let him pick three colors at a time. I started doing this when he was little so I could make sure not to much went in his mouth, and I could limit the mess. I never thought to let E have free reign with all the playdoh. I simply didn't. And look at what he was able to do!

"Cooking" the pizza

Exhibit B
The boys were in E's room playing with the door shut and I heard T say, "The tiger is flying over....." while making sound effects and E squeeled and said, "You're funny, Daddy." You want to know what I say when we play with safari toys? Usually something informative and dull like, "I'm a tiger. I prowl in the jungle looking for prey. Rrrroar!!" My tigers don't fly. I never even thought of making my tiger fly, unless he were to be in a cage in a cargo airplane.

In summary, I'm boring. Yikes! I kept thinking about how lucky E is that he has both T and me. If he had only me, he'd be anal and process minded. If he had only T, he'd be crazy and, most likely, messy. With both of us, hopefully he'll fall somewhere in the middle as a normal, functionally human. All in all, it made me reflect on the complimentary differences a father and mother bring to a child and just how much I love and need T.