{haiku}

I know I’ve been a little spacey on posting lately. Sorry for that. Things are going well – busy and crazy at times. I’ve even been working a little. Just last weekend I got to do a shoot for the cutest 4 month old twins! It was a lot of fun, and my friend Megan even got to come along as my assistant. The next day, she went to the hospital to her baby. Yep, that’s right. The day of the shoot she was almost a week overdue. She was a trooper and really wanted to be along for the shoot. I guess hearing babies helped her’s decided to join us here on the outside. She’s the cutest little girl ever and I couldn’t be happier for her and her husband. She was just over 7 lbs born early on Monday morning. Kinley Reece is her name.

Another one of my good friends, Anina, is going in to have her baby tomorrow. I so look up to her. I’m not even done gestating the first two and she’s already having her third! She had twins 2 years ago and is now going to be taking care of two toddlers and a newborn. Talk about an amazing women! I know she can do it, though, and I’m so excited for them! Can’t wait to find out what they are having – a Wyatt or an Amelia??? Good luck tomorrow!

Darren and I also have a big day tomorrow. At 8:15 we get to go in for our 20 week ultrasound. Even though I’m only 19 weeks, I sweet talked my OB into doing it a week early. I mean, it’s been over two months since our last ultrasound and 5 weeks since my last appointment. I’m so ready to see how these babies are doing! We’ll get to see each of them, organ by organ. And hopefully they will cooperate enough to let us found out their gender! I’ll post results and (hopefully) an ultrasound picture as soon as I can. In honor of this occasion, Darren also wrote a haiku. I thought I would share it with you all.

Nineteen weeks pregnant
Ultrasound is not that loud
Show us your privates

Couldn’t have said it better myself! I’m feeling them move more and more, too, and it’s a feeling that I’m loving more each time. They aren’t quite strong enough for Darren to feel yet, but soon!

{roller coaster}

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. We’ve had friends in for two weekends in the last three weeks. Fun, but crazy! And we have more coming this weekend. We’re stoked, but it is a little funny that a lot of our friends booked trips to come see us as soon as they found out we were expecting. I guess we all just wanted that one more weekend without the kidlets. It’s been a roller coaster of busy, not busy, healthy, not healthy, life.

I’m very excited about this weekend, though. It’s a couple of friends from Denver that have been to Oregon, but not in years. And they’ve never been to Tillamook – which is a must when coming to see us. For those of you who don’t know the awesomeness that is Tillamook, it’s a small town by the coast that houses the Tillamook Creamery. They make cheese (which they ship nationally; we actually used to buy it in Denver and then got really excited when we found out we could get it fresh here!), but for this area, they make so much more; including sour cream, butter, milk, and ICE CREAM. Tons of flavors. Oh, and squeaky cheese, which is what they call their cheese curds that they sell only at the factory. And just down the road from there is the Tillamook Country Smoker. Yep – all the beef jerky you could dream of. Between the two, the area is now a pregnant woman’s paradise.

But other than friends, we are still trying to get ready for these little munchkins to join us. Yesterday, I was able to score a snap n go double stroller. I was so excited! If you don’t know what that is, it’s just a metal frame that you can snap your car seats into to become an instant stroller. Now I’ll have something to use instead of carrying two car seats. It’ll be great to have until they are ready for a big stroller.

When we get the car seats, I’ll take another picture and it might make more sense.

Here are some pregnancy updates:

1 – Today, while I was out running errands, for the first time, I was recognized as a pregnant women. Strange, because I’ve been showing for a while, and if I knew it, everyone should right? Well, we can officially say that I’ve surpassed the ‘maybe she just eats a lot’ phase into full blown pregnancy. I was picking a few things up from the store today and the cashier asked me if something was for the ‘baby’s daddy.” It was odd, but I was delighted! Someone knew I was pregnant without me saying anything. WooHoo! It’s actually been that way for a couple of weeks, at least, I think, but it was disconcerting that last week I had a cashier tell me “oh, I didn’t know you were pregnant!” Ouch. Way to boost a pregnant lady’s ego.

2 – I felt the babies move! Well, one of them at least. And a little butterfly motion here and there, though I can’t tell them apart yet, which is which. This was undeniably a baby kick. Right below my belly button. I felt in as I was trying to go to sleep one night – I was 16 weeks and 4 days. So exciting!!

3 – I’m back on anti-nausea meds. I’d been having a great week and a half. It was wonderful! Bliss! I was still taking one dose a day, just to be safe. Then, last Saturday, I ran out. Sunday was good, which I was worried about. But Monday was awful. So, they refilled my prescription and, of course, I’m doing much better again. We’ll re-evaluate at my next appointment to see if I can try to go off of them again.

4 – My next appointment. In case you forgot, only two more weeks until we find out how the babies are doing and what we’re having! We are so excited!! March 1st is the day we go in for our big ultra sound.

And now that I’ve ‘typed’ your ears off, I leave you with another treat. This is last weeks picture, so it was taken at 16 weeks. Happy Valentine’s Day!

{around the corner}

Not to jinx anything, but I think we did it! We made it to what I like to call ‘Happyland.’

Don’t know where ‘Happyland’ is? Well, it’s a place where you can eat whatever you want without worry. It’s a place where you can be productive, active, and feel like a contributing member of society. That’s right – ‘Happyland’ is a place with no (or at least very little) morning sickness, lots of energy and a large appetite!

I really would have to say that this is the first week (well, the first week since about week 6) that I haven’t hated – hate: that’s a harsh word… maybe the first week I haven’t disliked the symptoms of – being pregnant! I’ve had energy (which was a wonderful thing, since we had a couple of friends in town last weekend – and we had a blast!) and I can actually eat! I’m pretty sure that’s the best part. Feel like a BLT? Sure – bacon is no problem! Yeah, that’s definitely what I’m having for lunch…

I’ve actually been able to feel pretty productive, too. My house is finally clean, I’m not so far behind on responsibilities for a couple of organizations I’m in, I’ve joined a couple of bible studies and a yoga class, and I’m getting work! Actually, I’m super excited about the last part. I’m shooting for my first national client this week! But that’s a whole other story.

I’ve joined two bible studies – well, one bible study and a prayer group. Both for mothers. It’s been great to get to meet other women who are pregnant, or already have babies. I feel like I’m learning a ton from them! I also started a prenatal yoga class this week, and I’m absolutely loving it. It’s a little strange that I’m only 15 weeks and the only person there bigger than me was a woman who was 33 weeks… Gotta love having two babies in there!  And I know that you’re all wanting a belly picture… so I’ll leave you all with a rare treat.