Efficiency

I love to be efficient with my time. As a matter of fact I love to see if I can find a more efficient way to do something that I already figured out the most efficient way to do it. That said....I realized this twin thing is another way to be efficient in the long run. One pregnancy results in two children, they'll be on the same schedule (yes, for the moment it'll be crazy but in the long run if you think about it, I'll be saving time), just to name a few!

I've always wanted twins but NEVER thought they'd be in my future. In addition to this I wanted them to be girls & identical. Obviously we don't pray for "wishes" because that's what they are. This journey for me has been crazy & overwelming as I've realized my wish has come true. The week before I found out I was having twins I teased Chris that I was going to find out next week that we were having twins....again, I never expected it to really happen. Chris responded "Kimri, to be honest, I really don't want twins". He's since changed his mind:):):) When I found out and was blabbing to my doctor in complete shock I told him how much I wanted twins & how Chris didn't & his response was "you know who the lords listening too." hehehe, I now hold that over Chris's head since he was scared to have girls & hoped they'd be boys & how he didn't want them to be identical since he was worried about them having their own identity!

Jenna (my sister's) husbands mom is an identical twin & I always thought she'd get the twins I always wanted. Since I've studied more about twins I realize that identical are not genetic & a complete fluke! WOW!!!!! Heavenly father is in complete control!

Now all my excitement aside, I'm getting extremely scared. Yes, I wanted this but can I handle this. With everyone of my childrens births I felts overwelmed right before they were born. I know the countdown is on & that I have very little time before these girls join our family. It hit me last night & I've realized I need to pack my bag & make the arrangements to be away from my boys. I wish I had a crystal ball to know what day & how it'll go. Both girls are currently head down & although I've tried to be open-minded about how they'll have to be delivered I'm getting excited at the possibility of not having to have a c-section and getting to deliver them.

Before the shower below I had another baby shower that was a complete surprise so I have no pictures to share but it was amazing, the food, the decorations, the generous gifts...all of it!

This shower was full of family & friends & hosted by Jenna & my mom. It was fun to see everyone...some I haven't seen in a while. These girls were definately spoiled & I appreciate everything everyone has given. I really felt silly on my third pregnancy to be so spoiled but it was fun too! And I should mention we've gotten fun packages from friends in Washington too and some of those packages have included something for the boys...so thoughtful!!!!

Spring Break!

This week really should have been called Winter Break since it snowed on Monday. Since I really can't travel at this point we were home bound. Before the week began I crossed my fingers for beautiful weather so our days could be full of parks & picnics BUT the weather played a different role & we tried to find an activity to go out and do each day. Sometimes it was something as simple as McDonalds & Pizza Hut but we did do a couple of things this week that were fun.

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On Thursdays a gymnastics place here in town has a two-hour open gym that you can take the kids to. Unfortunately, during a regular week the time is right when I pick up Jaden from school and during Landon's speech so it was a treat for the boys to get to go this week. I really thought it'd be an activity for Landon since he does tricks & somersaults all day long but Jaden thought it was the greatest thing & keeps begging to go back. If it didn't end after two hours I know they would have stayed all day. On Saturday Chris had to work at the dealership so during Saturday conference the boys and I went to the fish hatchery with grandma & grandpa at Henry's Lake. They are spawning right now so there were lots of fish. They had a fountain that sprayed water up & the fish loved to jump into it. Jaden couldn't stop laughing at the fish jumping into the air. Afterwards we were treated to hard ice cream...my favorite!!!!! During priesthood we met my old college roommate and her two kids for dinner. Usually I don't do the whole sit-down-dinner thing with my kids but rather opt for place with play lands so that they can go get their wiggles out while I sit back and eat. Jaden doesn't play with girls as much anymore but really enjoyed her little girl Ella (she's two days older then Landon). He and her had fork wars...probably a little unfair for Ella. Landon does what Jaden does & decided he too needed a fork war with Ella. This was more of an equal match:) This would be one of the many reasons that we don't eat at restaurants with the kids. They got a balloon when we were done eating! Although my boys can be wild it was still fun. It's kind of hard to get back on a schedule next week but it's good too! One of the special privileges Jaden got this week was to sleep in the basement and watch movies each night. This is usually reserved for Friday night ONLY so that was probably his favorite part of the week...it's nice when some of the simplest things are a treat.

St patricks Day & other fun things!

My posts lately are getting crammed full of different things since I'm no longer a super faithful blogger! I chalk it up to being pregnant & forgetting to take pictures.

So this post may be full of some of the randomness at our home.

We took the boys to Utah last week for a quick last minute mini-vacay before I can't travel anymore & of course...no pictures except for them swimming in the tub. That'd be because the camera was right there. When we got home Jaden said his favorite part was Ikea....he can be my new shopping buddy since his daddy HATES that store.

I was going to try to go to Utah this weekend BUT at the doctors today I'm measuring 40 weeks pregnant (for a singleton) so it's probably not a good idea. I'm a little worried my body is going to think it needs to start contracting...my doctor too! So today I got my first steroid shot & I get to go back for another one tomorrow. The good news is I'm not contracting but the bad news is I'm getting so large. I keep thinking I need to take a picture to document but I do find it a little depressing. So maybe I will at some point or maybe I won't....depends on the day probably!

A week and a half ago Jaden's cousin Wyatt came to visit since his mommy just had a little baby girl. With her & Jenna's there'll be my two girls & two girl cousins in the same grade. Won't family gatherings be so much fun for all the cousins. Anyways, Jaden loves Wyatt & they got to go fishing with grandpa. Look what they caught...very pixelly picture since it was taken on a phone. On St Patricks Day I was in charge of our RS Birthday Party Dinner so I did the actual day as simple as possible. The boys got green muffins, green apples, & green milk for breakfast. For lunch they got bread with green peanut butter, green apples, green punch, & raisins. As long as it was green, the boys were happy!!!!

We couldn't forget Jaden's annual green party. We held it this Monday when life wasn't so crazy. We cut down his guest list this year but all of them enjoyed green food, a game of lucky, playing with green play-do, and searching for treasure.

Dr Suess & Baby Shower

On Friday Jaden's school celebrated Dr. Suess's birthday by dressing up. Jaden was "cat in the hat." It's so fun when he gets excited about something & he really had fun dressing up. I kept meowing at him all day:)
This is a baby shower I had in february that was so much fun. I'm realizing that I may not want anymore pictures taken of me since I'm not looking too hot:) I got some really fun outfits, lots of diapers & wipes and then two of these....aren't they the most creative things ever? I'm sure they will be very handy. Thanks ladies for a fun day!!!!
I had another Perintologist appointment on Friday & EVERYTHING looks great. The girls are even measuring full size where they should be. What a blessing....I'm totally amazed how things were looking worrisome & now there really aren't any concerns. They even pushed my next appointment out three weeks (this doesn't include my obgyn appointments). I'm thinking I may actually these babies full-term (for twins anyways.) I was in doubt for awhile.

Miscalculation or Miracle????

As many of you are aware I've had frequent appointments with the perintologists out of Utah. On Friday was one of those appointments & the good news was that the doctor was happy with the size of the babies but the bad news was that one amniotic sac was measuring at 4cm and the other at 7 cm. As the Doctor put it we were seeing the start of twin to twin transfusion. This can be a very serious disease that could have drastically changed my care & the health of the babies. Although I've never been alarmed or too nervous I have tried to be prepared for anything. As a result he said he needed to see my on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week to check the fluids again to see if they had gotten any worse.

The perintologists only come down once in a while so an ultrasound tech here does all the measurements & then transmits that data to Utah. The Doctor will then come on camera to talk to me about the results. Every time I go in it's been a different tech that has taken my measurements.

Yesterday I could tell right away that I had a tech that was confident in what he was doing, whereas on Friday I could tell my tech was getting nervous as the Dr kept instructing him to check different things.

When everything came back as NORMAL I assumed that on friday the measurements had been done incorrectly.

Late last night Chris came home from bishopric meeting & mentioned that to the 2nd counselor (an anesthesiologist) exclaimed that it was a miracle. I assumed that a mistake on friday was made but maybe it wasn't. In addition, another lady I know that had identical twins about 20 years ago with tears in her eyes told me that I need to remember who has ultimate control. So today I'm grateful for healthy babies & the miracle that they are. I do know that there may be more hiccups along the way but I think I need to acknowledge & be grateful for all the good. I personally have had a great pregnancy without any problems to my health and with twins my risks increased.

So today I'm grateful!!!! I am still trying to be prepared for anything because I know that things can change at any time....I'm grateful for each week that I'm able to carry these babies & with each week I know they are stronger & healthier.

"LOVE" day!

I feel like valentines day just snuck up on me. I felt like I was doing a lot of last minute scrambling but it all ended up great & wonderful!

Last Monday (over a week ago) when I was at my Doctors appointment my stomach was measuring at 36 weeks (yikes & completely shocking) and I've really felt it this week. So that's my excuse if this day was less then perfect:):):)

Backing up, the Saturday before Valentines Day we were treated to dinner by my parents. My love/hate relationship with food has been difficult this pregnancy so I was excited when I made a good choice at the restuarant and was very happy with my meal. That said, half way through I lost it all to throwing up but the positive is that it was a HUGE meal and I got to start all over again:) Thanks mom & dad...you guys are the best!

On Valentines Day we decided to invite all the little cousins over so that their parents could go out. This was in trade so that Chris and I could go out last night (two dates in less then a week is a real treat). What a blessing it is for my kids to have so many cousins around; as I watched their interractions I was so grateful for the forever friendships they'll always have. For their party they got heart-shaped hamburgers & rice crispy treats. For an activity they made their parents chocolate dipped strawberries that were delicious!>

Last night I made filet-minon with lobster & cheese cake. I'm not going to lie, by the time we sat down to dinner I was miserable. I was tired & my back was in a lot of pain...I'm a little scared as this pregnancy progresses. Chris encouraged me to go & lay down but it's not often we have time without the kids & I wanted to do a little baby shopping so we did....it was quick but fun to look at little girly things. We did have Jaden take 1 pictures of us together but I was closing my eyes so we have nothing to show of our night except our plates of food:)

And we DECIDED almost 100% on names for the babies! About 2 weeks ago we were showing Jaden the bedding or something in two's (can't remember what) when he replied, is that one for Alecia & that one for Elly. He kept talking about how "We" decided these names. We were confused and didn't think much of it until yesterday when Jaden called them by these names again. Again we asked him where he came up with these names. He then said that in January him & Landon decided that that was their names....I'm going to doubt that Landon really contributed & am guessing that Jaden had a dream about their conversation. Anyways, as Chris and I pondered this we did start to like the names. We do have a niece named Ella although in my family almost every name is taken so we don't have a lot to work with....and thought Eliza (Chris has been voting for this name anyways) would be better & we could call her Elly for short. Today I was playing with spelling and kind of would rather spell Eliza as Elyssa but Chris said that would be said like Allyssa...do you agree???? I also thought we could spell Alecia like Alycia and maybe (this may be too close to Elly) call her Ally for short. They are identical twins after all...would close nicknames be too weird:):):)

Happy, Happy, Birthday Landon!!!!

Our cute little boy had his 3rd birthday on Wednesday. All the sudden it seems like he's growing up and becoming indepedent. He's doing well socially & doesn't get shy nearly as often. He's starting to make little friends, and he's turning into a big mess maker....that said he is good to entertain himself so I try not to get too frustrated with the messes he creates:)

Landon loves playlands...especially since our winters here provide ZERO opportunities to go to parks. So we thought birthday lunch at McDonalds was a must. Both him & Jaden had chocolate milk staches. Funny Boys!

That nights we invited all the cousins over for pizza & cake! He got lots of trains for his birthday & could hardly be rounded up to blow out his candles. He's so funny with his trains & will try to carry a bunch at once sometimes getting himself into a bind. On his birthday night he left all the kids so that he could play his new trains in peace.

Sometimes when we leave in the car he has his arms full of trains & we have to carry them every where we go. Jaden was always one to pick up a different like each month. Landon so far is sticking to his trains and he has a hard time sharing. Yesterday I was so proud of him when a little friend came over to play & he let him play with his trains.

One Saturday a month we give our dealership employee the day off. Today was that day & I had some paperwork I really wanted to get done & organized...I've been negleting the poor place & it really does need a womans eye once in a while...we just notice more things. I told Jaden before we left that he could earn some money today wiping down the cars. He wasn't too excited about being in the cold & I thought for sure he'd pass on the opportunity to make some money. Once we got there he was a fantastic little helper & did a really good job. He said he'd be willing to do this whenever we need him too. Hopefully we can teach him a good ethic through little opportunities like this.

Speaking of the dealership...we have a couple of cars we've been sitting on for a while that we'd be willing to give at our cost to friends or family. They are nothing fancy but if you want a great deal on an inexpensive car, please let us know. We have all repairs done by a fantastic mechanic...we don't cut corners so you know we haven't put a bandaid on a problem...we do our best to offer our customers the best quality at a very fair price....in this case at cost:):):)