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!