Family pictures

We wanted to have our family pictures taken in November but I didn't call and schedule in time to get a November date. My friend, Laura, is an amazing photographer and I need to keep that in mind next year when I want to schedule our family pictures - her calendar fills up too fast!

Luckily we were able to have our pictures taken the first Saturday in December - barely in time to get Christmas cards out before Christmas and before Jacob got pneumonia.

It is hard for me to pick my favorites, but here are some of them. I posted all of the pictures on facebook.

Some of my cute little man:

Love this one of my two guys together:

Not sure if you can tell, but I'm pretty pale in this last one. This was snapped right before I realized that I was done. I had no energy left and had to call it quits on our photo session and actually lay down for a few minutes. Being pregnant with twins is hard!

Jacob as a 2-year-old

Jacob has grown up so much in the last year.

Talking: Jacob doesn't have any words that he says, but that kid loves to babble at times. He doesn't even have a name for me or Justin.

Eating: A year ago we couldn't get Jacob to eat solids at all and he lived off of formula. Now he eats 3 meals a day and drinks less than 20 ounces of milk a day (as the pediatrician recommended) but he is seriously one of the pickiest eaters ever. He won't touch a fruit or vegetable - we even tried to give him freeze-dried apple crisps that looked like the baked chips he loves and he wouldn't even put it in his mouth. He has about 3 different things that we rotate feeding him for dinner.

Understanding: We can tell that even though Jacob doesn't talk, most of the time he understands what we say to him or at least a majority of what we say to him. A year ago, it seemed that he didn't understand anything we said to him.

Watching: For a long time Jacob has liked having the They Might Be Giants kids' DVDs on in the background, but now he has a few shows that he really loves and will actually watch them. He loves to watch Thomas and Friends that comes on PBS and he loves the movie Bolt. He also really likes Cars and Monsters, Inc.

Playing: Jacob really isn't much for playing with other kids right now, but he loves for adults to play with him. He also loves to be outside and play on the slide, swing or just wonder around and stick grass through the holes in the fence. He loves bubbles and is really happy about the bubble machine he got for his birthday.

Things Jacob likes: Jacob loves to "help" in the kitchen and will get upset if he isn't allowed up on a stool or chair to help or if he didn't get to help enough. Jacob loves books and will have me read him the same books over and over. He has been known to request me to read the same book to him 10 times in 1 day, even with other books sitting nearby.
Jacob and my pregnant belly

Jacob is 2!

Justin and I decided a few months ago that we would keep Jacob's birthday really low-key this year. He didn't understand it was his birthday and we had a big party for him last year. We decided we would just have cake as a little family and give him a couple birthday presents. Because of my lack of energy and terrible carpal tunnel we were going to pick up a cake at the store. My parents wanted to come down and see Jacob to wish him a happy birthday and my mom offered to help me make a cake for Jacob, so we celebrated his birthday the Saturday before his birthday (3 days early).

The bad news is that Jacob started getting sick a week before his birthday and was diagnosed with a mild case of pneumonia on Thursday the 9th. So on Saturday he was still feeling pretty miserable. He was able to enjoy part of opening his presents, but he didn't enjoy his cake at all. Which made me a little sad because I think it turned out really cute.

Here is Jacob while we were singing happy birthday to him. Our singing must have been really bad.

The next night he was feeling a lot better and was able to enjoy his cake a little.

On Jacob's actual birthday (Tuesday the 14th), we sang to him again and let him try to blow out his candle. Instead he tried to grab the flame.

We also tried to take a picture of him with his elephant. He thought it was a big game.

Good thing we won't be attempting another picture with Jacob and his elephant for another year!

Halloween

I know I'm quite a bit behind, but thought I would post some pictures of the cutest turtle ever.

And some of Jacob's other Halloween clothes.

This pregnancy

Since we use our blog as a journal for our lives, I thought I would jot down a few things about this pregnancy.

First off I want to say that when I was unable to get pregnant (I almost said infertile, but we're still infertile - we just know what we have to do to get pregnant now) one of the things that I really hated was when people would say "I'm so ready to not be pregnant" or anything along those lines. It was infuriating to me because I wanted to be pregnant so badly. In fact up until this point I haven't really written about this pregnancy because I don't want to complain about being pregnant. So, I hope that as people read this, you keep in mind that I'm not trying to complain but keep a record for myself.

I think when I was pregnant with Jacob, I never loved it (I have heard of people who just love being pregnant and feel so great the whole time), but it wasn't terrible. I had morning sickness, but really only when I woke up at 6:30 to go teach class so on those mornings I took Zofran and felt fine. About half-way through the pregnancy I started experiencing a little heartburn and had to deal with carpal tunnel while I slept but each were easily remedied - Tums and wrist braces. It was a pain when I was told I had gestational diabetes, but I learned to deal with it and was able to always keep my blood sugar under control. We have no idea why I started leaking amniotic fluid at 32.5 weeks, but Jacob was able to hold out until 34 weeks to be born and although he was in the NICU for 10 days, he never had any problems.

This time around:

I started having really bad morning sickness around 5 - 6 weeks along. And I'm not sure if it is me or because I'm carrying twins but even though I felt so sick most of the time I was almost never able to throw up so I did plenty of dry heaving. Doesn't that sound lovely? Even once my doctor put me on Zofran, it only helped with the nausea but didn't totally take it away like last time. And last time I craved things like cheeseburgers and tex-mex food even in the first trimester. This time I still haven't had any cravings but especially up until around 15 weeks along I had a lot of trouble finding things I felt like I could eat and I would gag a lot while trying to fix food for Jacob. (I know a lot of people have worse morning sickness than that and I'm not sure how they survive.)

This time around my heartburn started right as my nausea was getting bad and the heartburn this time was a killer. It doesn't matter what I eat, or how slowly I eat so I am on prescription-strength Prevacid to take care of it. And if I forget to take the medicine in the morning, oh do I ever feel it in the afternoon/evening.

This time around the carpal tunnel started around week 9 or 10 and it is seriously about 10 times worse than last time. Some nights I am fine wearing the braces, but some nights I wake up without feeling in my hands and my wrists are killing me. The first time it happened I thought the braces weren't helping me anymore and I took them off for the rest of the night which proved to be a huge mistake, because by morning my hands and wrists were both so sore and numb that I could hardly grip anything and had trouble getting Jacob out of his crib and dressed. Last time I never had problems with carpal tunnel while I was awake, this time I have trouble grading papers, chopping things (in the kitchen), sometimes just trying to eat my hands start tinging and going numb. A friend who works as an occupational therapist showed me some stretches that are supposed to help carpal tunnel, but anytime I have done them I have the worst nights of all - maybe gestational carpal tunnel is totally different from regular carpal tunnel? Yesterday was by far the worst day so far with aching hands and wrists but today they are feeling quite a bit better (but still not totally fine).

I have really felt this time like I went from the feeling-awful-first-trimester to the uncomfortable-third-trimester with no wonderful 2nd trimester in between. I had almost no energy up until a couple weeks ago, but even now that I have some energy back I have to be super careful not to over-do it. When I over-do it I start feeling like I could pass out if I don't lie down and I have lower back pain later in the day (I never had back pain with Jacob).

I hope to carry the twins for another 3 and a half months before they are born, and I hope that I have the strength to make it through all of this because I know it isn't going to miraculously get better anytime before they are born.

At the end of September when I went in for my OB visit, they did an ultrasound and told us that Baby A looked like a boy. Baby B was being especially modest. By the way, the nice thing about being a high risk pregnancy is how often I get the see the babies and make sure they are ok. I'm pretty sure I've already had a dozen ultrasounds and I just hit 20 weeks 2 days ago.

I was actually a bit disappointed because Justin and I had our hearts set on having at least one girl this time around. We had really hoped for a girl when we had Jacob, and since we don't think we plan on having any more this was the last chance. But we were hopeful that Baby B would be a girl.

Monday of last week we went in again and learned that both Baby A and Baby B are boys.

I have to admit, I had a tough week last week. I think just about everyone hopes for at least one girl and one boy when they have more than 1 child. You know if I had gotten news that I felt was exciting it would have been up here later that day, not 10 days later. But the fact that I am posting it now should say wonders about how much better I feel about our news.

I have chosen to not allow comments on this post because even though I know that people are trying to be encouraging and helpful, too many things have already been said to me that definitely don't make me feel any better. But in case you were wondering - I am grateful that we are having babies and they look to be healthy; we don't think there will be a next time so this is it; and to tell me that boys are easier and girls are just drama queens also doesn't help.

Here are our babies last week - the top picture is Baby Boy B and the bottom picture is Baby Boy A.

At least we will save some money because we won't have to redecorate the nursery at all.

CyFest

A couple weekends ago the college that I work at threw their annual give-back-to-the-community-free-festival they call CyFest. Justin and I went a few years ago and thought that it would be a lot neater if we had kids.

This year we took Jacob, but a lot of things they had there would still be better for him once he is older. That and word has really spread and it was super super crowded.

Jacob's favorite part was the moonwalk, or bounce house. And they actually had 2 bounce houses - one for kids 3 and under, the other for older kids. He played in it for about 10 minutes right after we got there, and then for another 10 minutes before we headed home.

We thought Jacob would really enjoy the petting zoo, because he really likes animals, but he seemed not to care so much. In fact, all he wanted to do was play with the animals' feed. Strange kid.

I think he actually has feed in his fists which is why they are clinched so tight.

Our big little boy

About a month ago, Jacob wouldn't eat very well while sitting in his high chair. But once we got him out, he wanted to be at the table with us eating. One morning for breakfast we decided to forgo the high chair completely and just stuck him in one of the chairs at the table.

We went out later that day and bought him a little booster seat instead - he is growing up so fast!

Mommy's Little Helper

For as long as I can remember now, Jacob has been entranced by things that make loud noise that I might be using. Especially one of the three mixers in the kitchen, but when my mom was here using the sewing machine, he was equally entranced. He really wants to be up so he can see what is making the noise and what it is doing.

I used to start the mixer and then pick him up so he could see, but as he has gotten heavier and I have gotten more and more exhausted with pregnancy I can't really do that any more. So instead I pull a chair over for him to stand on and see what is going on.

Today I am making bread for the first time in a few months and as soon as the mixer started kneading, of course Jacob needed to see what was going on. Here is my little man, completely captivated by the mixer and "helping". I had to bust out the camera at how cute he is!

Our new ride

The biggest item on our need-to-purchase-before-the-twins-arrive list was a bigger vehicle. Seriously - compact cars really weren't made for anyone with kids and the last 21 months have been tough anytime we wanted to go out of town. Especially when the entire backseat is taken up by a dog and a baby and the trunk really doesn't hold much more than 2 carry-on sized bags and a pack and play.

I know some people feel like they don't want to drive a minivan, as if it gives off a certain impression or something. Justin and I have never felt that way. Maybe we are just too practical, but we always knew that one day after we started having kids we would get a minivan.

We planned to get a minivan by the end of the year and we had been checking prices for the last few months and just getting an idea of what was out there, what we could afford, etc. Then just over a week ago, we were trying to attach a new sun shade to Jacob's window in the back of the Focus and the motor on the window gave out. The window kept sliding down as we drove and we kept having to push it up and closed every time we stopped.

We decided that it just didn't make sense to pay to fix the window on a car we were planning to replace in the next couple months anyway. And yes - we replaced the Focus and not the Civic, even though the Focus was younger and had fewer miles. We bought the Focus 6 years ago because we could afford it and it got good reviews online, but for a number of years now we have hated that car and all the problems we had with it. So we stepped up our search for a minivan.

Justin took the day off work on Thursday, and even though it was a long day (just ask Jacob how long the day was), we came home with what Justin has referred to as our "Seminole van" because of its color.

It is a 2007 Honda Odyssey EX-L with just over 47K miles. We got a really good deal on it and even though it doesn't have some features that would be nice (like a back-up camera), it has every feature we were wanting - including a warranty on the engine and transmission for as long as we own it (which will be a long, long time).

We have already taken a day trip to Austin and we are still in love with it!

Gearing up

When Texas had its back-to-school tax-free weekend, there was one thing that I knew we needed. Lots of diapers. We hadn't announced it to the world yet, but we knew we were expecting twins which means we would be going through lots and lots of diapers.

We ended up spending about $300 on diapers that weekend (so we saved about $24 in taxes plus I had about $25 worth of coupons - I am always of the opinion that if it is something you know you need and not just want then spending money to save money is always smart). We got about 3-4 months worth for Jacob. But for the twins we came away with only about a month's worth. When Jacob was newborn, he went through about 10-12 diapers a day, so we are guessing that a box of 84 newborn diapers will only last us about 4 days.

We got 4 boxes of newborn diapers, 4 boxes of size 1, and a thing of 2's and 3's in addition to all the size 4's we got for Jacob.

We know we have lots more diapers to buy in addition to other things like a second high chair, second pack and play, triple stroller, second infant car seat. There's probably more. Maybe I should make a list.

Privacy

It has been a couple years, so just a reminder that we are attempting to stay a little private without having a private blog. When leaving comments or linking to our blog from yours, please do not use our last name.

Thanks!

This summer

Since classes started yesterday and my summer is now officially over I thought I would write a little something about what my summer was like.

This summer I did not:

• take Jacob out to play as much as I thought I would or as much as I should have
• work on making my curtains
• keep my house as clean as it should be
• organize any of the things I planned to organize around the house
• bake much bread
• work out after July 1st
• pretty much do anything productive
  

This summer I did:

• have about 15 doctor appointments
• spend much of the last 8 weeks laying on the couch
• spend the 4th of July weekend in bed
• take medications from almost the beginning of my summer break until last week
  

What has been going on around here this summer?

Here are pictures of our two little embryos on July 2 - just minutes before embryo transfer.

And here are our two beautiful babies just yesterday. Top picture is Baby B and bottom picture is a profile shot of Baby A as well as the top of Baby B's head.

Our twins are officially due March 22, 2011. We are hoping they don't try to make an appearance any time before February 15th (35 weeks).

Jacob is a nut

Over the last month or so, I've been taking pictures of the strange things our son does.

He loves to put these Rubbermaid containers on his head and walk around. There is one that is too small to fit on his head, so if he picks that one up and it won't go over his big noggin, he starts crying.

He loves to push Colby's big container of dog food all around the kitchen.

We think he likes cake, but he has really only had cake at his birthday and then he got a cupcake leftover from a baby shower I helped throw. What a waste of a cupcake, Jacob.

Lately when we give him his bath, he likes to lay down on his tummy in the tub. It would be much better if he would lay back on his back and let us rinse the shampoo from his hair.

Back in May we moved the coffee table in the living room out from the center of the room to right under the front window make room for tables. Then we decided to just leave it so the room was more open. But when Jacob started doing this recently, Justin moved the table back to the center of the room.

We loaned Jacob's Bumbo to a friend and recently got it back. Ever since getting it back, Jacob loves to sit in it.

And this is when he realized I was taking his picture so he made a cheesy face for the camera.

Jacob has learned how to pull himself up on the piano bench and he loves to play the piano. Let's hope that continues and he doesn't fight too much when I want him to take lessons.

Jacob loves playing with wheels, so someone taught him that if you tip the stroller over, you can play with the wheels. I can pick the stroller up and about 10 minutes later, I hear it crashing back to the floor again.

Jacob is such a nut!