New Cell Phones Soon!

Just giving you a heads up, both Nathan and I are going to be getting new cell phone numbers. Somehow we've managed to stay with T Mobile for the past two years, even though they don't technically provide service to this area. We've been able to do this because T Mobile, along with other awesomeness, does not charge roaming fees. Well, all that came to an end yesterday when we got a letter from T Mobile saying that they had notice that most (ha ha, ALL) of our calls were being conducted while roaming. As a result, they are terminating our service by June 26th. Not a big deal, we knew this would happen eventually, we're just surprised it took this long. But the good news it that this way our service is cancelled without having to pay cancellation fees. Sweet. So we're going to switch to Unicel, who will let us get new local numbers, keep our current phones, AND pay us to switch to them.

So anyway, this is the heads up that soon you'll be seeing new phone numbers for us. I'll send out another message when that happens, with the numbers themselves.

John & Kate Plus Eight

Nathan and I have recently started watching a show on TLC called John & Kate Plus Eight. This couple started out with a set of twin girls, who are now 7 years old. Four years later, they decided to get pregnant again...and this time had SEXTUPLETS!!! Those six kids are now 3 years old. And the show basically docments the insanity that is John & Kate's life with eight kids!

To be honest, before being pregnant with twins, I HATED this show. It just stressed me out to see how stressed out Kate always was. But now....ah how times have changed. Now, Nathan and I get an almost twisted enjoyment out of watching this show and saying to each other, "Oh honey, thank God we're only having twins!" Because, really, watching these eight kids makes twins seem like it's going to be a cake walk in comparison.

Don't get me wrong, I know twins is going to be hard. But man...EIGHT KIDS! And people wonder why I want to get my tubes tied...pffft.

Names I (We) Love!

Ok, so now we get to pick out two names. But if you think about it, we actually get to pick out at least 4 names. Two girls names, two boys names.

Here's a quick science lesson for you. Remember back in biology when we learned about genetics and what the chances of having a boy vs a girl are. Well, according to scientists, if you are having twins, you have a 50% chance of having a boy/girl combo, 25% of boy/boy, and 25% of girl/girl. How can that be you ask? Well, here are the possible combinations: boy/boy, girl/girl, girl/boy, boy/girl. So yeah, half of the combinations result in having a boy and a girl. Yay!

Anyway, I don't think we're going to really start trying to settle on names until we know what we're having. However, we have been bouncing around names. Here are some that I really like.

Boy Names:
Asher
Levi
Landon
Taylor
Ethan

Girl Names:
Amelia (Mia)
Isabella (Izzie)
Zoe
Sofia
Rose
Ella


My favorite boy name is Asher (thanks Arly!!!). I got a good chuckle out of thinking about the combo of Asher and Zoe...A to Z. Hee hee hee.

For some reason, I really think we're having a girl/boy combo. But maybe that's just because I know that's what both Nathan and I want. Whatever we have, though, I know we'll be happy.

If you have any fun (and realistic...no Edgars!) name suggestions, feel free to chime in! We never would have thought of Asher if Arly hadn't suggested it!

OB Appointment

Today was our (essentially) 13 week OB appointment. As of tomorrow (Thursday) I begin my 2nd Trimester! Wow! I can't believe it's already been over 8 weeks since I found out about being pregnant. Craziness.

The appointment itself was very short and sweet. The first thing we did was listen to the heartbeats with the doppler. I still get chills thinking about it (in the good way). Baby A's heartbeat was at about 160 bpm while Baby B's was at about 150 bpm. I never knew a heartbeat could be cute, but it was! If nothing else, it was wonderful to know that the kiddos' hearts are going strong! I had the biggest goofy grin on my face each time my doctor found the heartbeats. Oh, and evidently my belly is measuring at the same size you would expect to see on a singleton mother at when she's 21 weeks along. Wow. But the doc says that's normal.

Our next appointment will be June 18th, when I'm at 16 weeks 6 days. Then, two or three weeks later, when I'm at about 20 weeks, we'll have the BIG ultrasound. You know, the one where we get to peak up the kiddos' skirts. I'll let you know what day that appointment will be! Pretty soon after that, we will get connected with and meet our perientologist, the doctor who will most likely do the c section on me, especially if I have to get life flighted to boise. And Smithson said that around 24 weeks, I have to get amniocentisis (when they stick a big needle into your tummy in order to take amniotic fluid out to do tests on) done to see how the babies' lungs are developing. If they aren't developing fast enough, I get to have steroid shots to help their lungs develop faster. How...exciting. Big needles. (shudder) But hey, anything for the little squirts.

HOLY CRAP!

Ok, you know you're in trouble when seeing a photo of your own belly, which you're expecting to be growing, surprises you when you see how big you've gotten in just a couple of weeks. So here we go, a couple more bump tracker photos! I honestly can't remember what day I took this first photo on, but it was just a couple of weeks ago. Sorry it's been a little busy around here.


Ok, and now...me today, at 12 weeks 1 day. Only 6 days away from being in my 2nd Trimester. It's crazy how fast it's gone, but then again, I didn't even know I was pregnant for the first 4 weeks. Notice that I'm wearing the exact same shirt. I did that on purpose. And keep in mind that I have gain 5" around my waist and yet have only gained 3 pounds since finding out about being pregnant. And most of that is either the babies or (sorry guys) my boobs. So no, the bump you're about to see is not weight gain...it's ALLLLLL baby...x2. No sucking it in, no pushing it out. PS: please excuse my face, I'm battling a nasty cold right now so I don't exactly look my best.



Yeehaw! I honestly hadn't realized that my tummy had grown that much! Obviously the kiddos aren't having any trouble growing. And I thought I was surprised by Arly's bump! So there we have it. Now just imagine how big I'll be at the end of my 2nd trimester!!!!!!

Quilt Fabrics!

Ok, like I promised, here are some photos of the fabric and pattern for the twins' quilts. The first pic is of the pattern I sketched out. There's going to be a 4" border on the very outside, nine 8" blocks in the center, and 2" sashing between all the blocks and between the blocks and the outer border. The block in the center is going to be the same fabric as the back of the quilts, and then there are going to be two fabrics alternating around the outside blocks in a 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2 pattern clockwise starting in the upper left corner.


Next is the fabric for the quilts. I'm so excited about the fabrics that Dana and I picked out! The fabric on the left are for the first quilt and the fabrics on the right are for the second quilt. The only difference between the two are going to be the two fabrics that are used for the outside blocks. Ok, from bottom to top, the green fabric at the bottom is going to be the back of both quilts, as well as the center block for both quilts. It is also the same fabric I'm going to use to make the bumpers. The first brown fabric is the sashing that is going to go between all of the blocks. The brown fabric with the multi-colored bursts is going to be the border for both quilts. The very top fabric on the left is going to be the block fabric 1 in the first quilt, with the tan star fabric as the block fabric 2. The top fabric on the right is going to be the block fabric 1 and the tan with red and green dots is going to be fabric 2. To go along with this, we're going to get some dark brown fitted sheets to match the green & brown pattern.


The last photo is of the two fabrics I'm going to use to make the window topper valance. I'm going to cut these into 8" x 8" blocks that are going to alternate, starting with the dark brown first. I'm going to use left over scraps of the other fabrics to make the loops that the valance will hang from. I know it's hard to see, but the tan fabric has tiny light green (like the green w/ white dots fabric) and maroon dots. Too cute.


I'm super excited about making these things and decorating the nursery. Yeah, a jungle theme could have been cute, but I honestly wanted something a little more...scrappy, if you know what I mean. A little less "typical". All I can say is that I LOVE the quilt shop here in town. They have the absolute cutest fabrics and the prices are only a little above JoAnn's. The best part is that making these sets myself is going to save us close to $250-300. Sweet.

In other good news, it sound like our idea of consolidating our debt with an equity loan is going to really save us money each month, which is awesome! This makes me so excited, and it sounds like we should find out if we're approved in the next day or so! That means we should be able to start our home remodeling in the next couple of weeks!!! We already have the paint we need for our bedroom and to finish the nursery. The only other paint we will need is for the dining room/kitchen (same paint) and the bathroom. I can't even tell you how much I love the improvement to the living room. It looks like a whole different room. I know that I'm going to absolutely LOVE our house when we get it all finished up.

YAY!

Fresh Painted Living Room

Hello this is Nathan. Here are some pictures of our newly painted living room. Thanks for your help Mom!

A Whirlwind of Activity!

Whew! I am amazed what two people can get done in a day and a half when they put their minds to it...the two people being Nathan and my mother in law, not me. Monday morning, I slept in (8:30 is sleeping in when your alarm usually goes off at 4:45), watched Golden Compass, took a shower, and went to the high school during the lunch hour. Granted, I didn't really get to hang out with any kids, because my high school choir director saw me and snapped me up...he's a new grandpa himself, so he had a ton of questions about the twins, and it was really fun to talk to him.

Later that afternoon, Nathan's mom arrived at our house. We just chatted for about half an hour and then went to the grocery store to get stuff for dinner. When we got back, Jan kept me company while I made chicken capri (yum!) and rice. After dinner, I was off to our last Young Life club of the school year, and Nathan and Jan tackled dismantling and preparing the living room for painting. By the time I got home, the room was ready for the first coat and by the time I went to bed, one wall was mostly done. HOW COOL! I just have to say, Jan is a painting machine! When I got up the next morning (this time sleeping in until 9:30), Jan and Nathan had all three tan walls almost completed...like I said, painting machines. I spent the rest of the morning being the go-fer girl and doing laundry while trying to avoid too many paint fumes.

In the afternoon, my friend Dana and I went to the local quilt shop, Traditions, and had a ton of fun picking out fabric for the twins' cribs. I've discovered that it is next to impossible to find cute bedding for the mini cribs that we're going to order, unless you want to pay about $300 out the nose for a sheet, bumper, dust ruffle, and mini quilt. My friend Arly, who is also going to be buying a mini crib, managed to find a website where you can buy fitted sheets, but I decided that I'm going to make the twins' quilts, bumpter, dust ruffles, and the valance for their window myself. So Dana and I found some adorable green and brown fabrics, and Jan was kind enough to pick up half of the cost. Thanks Mom! I'll take some photos of the fabric and post them on here so you can get an idea of what the cuteness is going to look like.

By the time I got home from Traditions, Nathan had pretty much wrapped up the finishing touches in the living room...oh by the way, we did one accent wall on the east wall in dark green, will post photos of this later also...and Jan had all but finished putting a light tan paint in the hallway. It's amazing how new and clean a room can look after fresh coat of paint!

Since none of us were in the mood to cook, we went out to Barley's for dinner and then Jan and I went to my rehearsal, since she isn't going to have a chance to see an actual performance. We're now rehearsing and performing in the original armory building for the next two weeks. It's a pretty darn big space, and wow does it echo. Which normally wouldn't be a bad thing unless you happen to be singing musical theatre and are trying to listen for your accompaniment. The echo just scrambles all of the sound, which makes things pretty entertaining. But it's great to have a larger playing space...it took us a while to realize that we could actually spread out a little bit!

When Jan and I got home, Nathan had the living room all put back together and it was a ton of fun to get a glimpse of how it's going to look. The room has a very warm, inviting feel to it and it's so earthy and cozy. Now all we have to do is put down carpeting and put up new trim, and then that room will be 100% done! YAY! One room almost down, five to go!

Thanks again Jan for all your help! You're awesome!

Slick Willy Slides Through Baker City.

Hey there everyone! This is Nathan. former President Bill Clinton (A.K.A. Slick Willy) stopped by Baker City to give a speech at the Courthouse on Hillary's behalf promoting her run for President. After it was over he hung around for a while and shook hands with people including mine! Anyway, I got lots of good pictures too. The I like the first one I posted above with the Lady waving the ballots in the air with the secret service in-front of him. No matter how I feel about the guy it was really cool to get to shake hands with a President.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you out there who are already mothers and to those of my friends who are currently mothers-to-be with me! I hope you are getting as pampered as I am going to be. Tonight Nathan is going to make me a pork tenderloin and corn on the cob dinner (I can probably even talk him into make Marla's Mac & Cheese) and he promised me a backrub. Which excites me to no end, because these kiddos have caused my back muscles to ache pretty much non-stop. Now that I think about it...it's kind of strange to be able to celebrate Mother's Day. And don't even try to tell me I'm not a mother yet, believe me, I worry about these two kids I'm carrying enough to be a mom!

Last night was our last night performing in Elgin (hallelujah!!!) and actually, all things considered, both of our performances over there went pretty well. The first night was a little rocky, but not as bad as I expected. Last night we made several mistakes but the awesome part was that everyone in the cast managed to smoothly skip over the mistakes so the audience never even knew they happened. And for those of you who have never acted, that is actually the hardest part of acting on a stage...there are no retakes and you just have to keep going. It made me very proud of everyone in the play especially since this is the first play that some of them have ever been in.

And now...I have tonight and tomorrow night completely off from the play. Monday night is our last Young Life club of the school year and then we rehearse here in Baker Tues-Thurs, with performances here Fri-Sat. I can't even tell you how excited I am about having two nights off from performing or rehearsing the play. I need a couple of days to recharge.

Tomorrow, Nathan's mom comes to visit for a couple of days, which we're both really excited about. I'll be sleeping in tomorrow morning and then hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in a quick visit to the high school during their lunch period before Jan gets here. Nathan is taking Tuesday off and I have no idea what we're doing that day...besides sleeping in!

Now I just have to make it through 9 1/2 more hours of work without falling asleep!

Ode To Maternity Pants

No, really, there's honestly nothing more comfortable than maternity jeans. I wear jeans pretty much every day and was so sad when the waist band of my favorite jeans started getting too tight. And then my BAGGY jeans got too tight. So this Saturday, Nathan and I took a trip to Boise and went to the Old Navy in Eagle, which is the closest Old Navy that carries maternity clothes. Have I ever mentioned that Old Navy jeans are the only ones that consistently fit me? So imagine my joy when I found out that they make maternity wear! The best part...these maternity jeans fit so perfectly, they don't even look like they're maternity pants. Yay for being comfortable AND stylish! I've decided that since this is most likely going to be my only pregnancy, I'm going to look darn cute for the entire thing!

We also made a stop at Babies R Us to pick up a maternity pillow for me...you know, one of those that curls around at the top for a place to put your head and also at the bottom to put between your knees. It's a miracle we got out of that store with only the pillow! The pillow is taking some getting use to, but it's stinkin' comfortable when lounging in bed reading. And at least it's helping keep me from trying to sleep on my stomach, which no longer works because I feel like I have a rock in my tummy.

Speaking of rock in my tummy...I swear my bump is growing noticeably bigger every single day. It probably drives people nuts, but I just love feeling it. This whole being pregnant thing is still pretty surreal, so this hard, round tummy is a constant reality check.

One recent negative side effect of being pregnant: I am having the most crazy, active dreams that keep waking me up every half an hour. And if they don't wake me up, they make my body move, keeping my poor husband awake. Part of that might stem from not being able to sleep on my stomach. Part of it might be the musical I'm in right now...it opens on Friday, we still don't have all the music memorized, and the songs keep looping through my mind even when I'm asleep.

But believe me, I have no problem putting up with all these things in exchange for my lack of morning sickness. Thank you God for sparing me that particular nastiness!

Bump Tracker

Ok, several people have been asking, so here they are! The first pic was on March 30th, when I was at 5 weeks 3 days. I thought I'd give you an example of what I looked like when I was not really showing.



And then here's me today, at 10 weeks 1 day. Talk about a double baby bump! People can already tell I'm pregnant just by looking at my tummy! At 10 weeks! And no, this isn't caused by an increase in eating, I've actually LOST weight since finding out about being pregnant, which is something I'm trying to reverse!


I'm going to try to be better about taking a new photo very two weeks or so. So stay tuned!