A Fun-Filled Fourth

For the 4th I met up with my parents and we headed to the scenic little town of Salado, Texas.  What a fun little place it was!  Lots of cute little shops, big beautiful trees and a fantastic park.  We set up under a massive pecan tree and let the kids head to the creek.  They had such a fun time.  At first Peter was being a bit moody, saying he was too hot, etc.  He did have a late night the night before.  After eating lunch, and more importantly, roasting marshmallows, he commented, "I feel so much better now after eating marshmallows!"  A little sugar can go a long way!  I still can't figure out how to get the pics in order.  Oh well.  And I forgot to get one of my sweet babies in their 4th of July dresses!  Shame on me!  But they did look adorable though, just for the record!  

Matthew all tuckered out after playing all day.  He rested his head on my lap and fell dead asleep within a few minutes. 
Here's Hannah making a splash.  
Hannah tried and tried to catch a minnow to no avail.  I did manage to catch her a polliwog though. 

Peter enjoyed Matthew's water shooter as Matthew spent most of the time under the water. 
Coming up from a swim. 
This is how my boy spends most of the time in the water.  He really is a fish.  He could swim when he was 1.  Seriously.  He has always known how to hold his breath under water and how to get around.  It's so fun to watch!

After the park we were all so hot and needed a treat.  So off to ice-cream we went!
Hannah enjoyed strawberry ice-cream with blue sprinkles. 
I rarely let the kids get a double-dipper but in honor of the holiday I let Peter partake.  He wore out at the end and shared with his mom.  :)

We headed to Papa and Grandma's for awhile to relax, then off to the fireworks display in the town my parents live in, Georgetown.  We did not get home until 10:45.  Jordan is out of town currently (Leah is with him, hence the lack of Leah-lou pics- they are in Utah for Jordan's Grandfather's burial services) so I manned getting everyone in and in bed alone.  No small task with the twins!  Matthew was so out of it he stood in the garage and peed his pants in a sleepy stupor.  As I cleaned him up both babies woke up and were MAD.  They started screaming as I got everyone in their beds.  Crazy, crazy but overall a wonderful day.  God Bless America, my home sweet home!!

Rub-a-Dub-Dub, Two Babes in a Tub

A couple of days after bringing the babies home from the hospital Jordan and I had a wonferful time bathing the babies.  It was so adorable to see their reactions to the water.  So much fun! 

Miss Elizabeth after her bath, happy to be done with that ordeal.  
Can you see the sad little pout on Lizzie's face?  
Not sure what to think...
Lizzie
Miss Emmi curled up and hiding in her towel after a traumatic experience.  She DID NOT like it!!  
Please STOP!!  
Do I have to take a bath?!

We are loving these little peas.  They are so much fun.  

The Twins Have Arrived!

We are so thrilled to announce here on our blog the long-anticipated birth of our twin daughters, Emmeline and Elizabeth, on April 22, 2009.  I (Andrea) can't seem to get the pics in the order that I want but oh well, here they are anyway!  So I will share a bit of the birth story...

I went in to the OB Tuesday, April 21st in the morning to find out I was dilated to a 3, 75% effaced.  The OB told me if I wanted to she could break my water the next morning.  After discussing it with Jordan we decided to make the appt and get the show on the road.  I was much relieved though to go into labor on my own that night at about 11:00 PM.  With each kid my labors get longer so I was not worried about getting to the hospital anytime soon.  My contractions continued all night and we went in at 8:30 AM where I learned I was dilated to a 4.  I kept laboring as they hooked me up to the monitors and IV, etc, then learned I was at a 6 and 100% effaced.  At that point they broke my water and I got an epidural (only my second one with all the kids I have had).  It was great!  Before long I was ready to have these babies and was wheeled to the OR in case they had to do an emergency C-section.  The nurses were so intrigued I was opting for a vaginal birth with twins they called in their buddies, thus bringing in an audience of 15 people to watch the birth!  By this point I could care less though, anxious to meet the babies.  They came easily, 4 minutes apart and beautiful.  Let me introduce them...

Tired MamaBorn first...Emmeline Sue, 5 lbs, 7 oz 19.5 inches, born at 4:58 PM.  Elizabeth Anne, 6 lbs, 3 oz, 19 inches long, born at 5:02 PM.  

Pic taken before getting into the car to go to the hospital.  Ahhh, what a relief it is not to be pregnant anymore!

The ladies all bundled up. Lizzy on the right, Emmi on the left. 
Proud Daddy, already in love with his ladies. 
The nurses let Jordan bathe the babes in the nursery.  He loved it!

I stayed at the hospital for 2 days after the babies came.  My mom stayed with me both nights to help with the babies while I tried (quite unsuccessfully) to get some sleep.  It is so wonderful to have my family here!!  We are so thrilled to have these babies here and are absolutely in love with them, as are the other children.  What a blessing it is to have them.  

Some Prego Pics

Jordan snapped a couple pics of me while getting birthday stuff ready for Leah.  They are not great pics- I think I look half asleep (which I usually am these days) in the second one.  But you get the general idea of my big pregnant tummy.  I am happy to report the babies are doing so well.  They really are very healthy- no complications at all.  And although I am super-duper uncomfortable I still get around a lot and live life pretty normally.  I am slowing down though and really just get so tired and sore by the end of the day.  I have ultrasounds every week now and my perinatologist says by next week they are on track to weigh 6 pounds a piece.  They are growing at a rate of 1 oz a day each.  They have also said I have the body for holding these babies in pretty close to 40 weeks so I may end up with big babies!!  I am 35 weeks Monday so things are moving along.  I have had such a fun time getting their cute little things washed and ready for them.  Still struggling with the name decision but one way or another they will have names!!  Thanks all for the very nice comments and name suggestions!!  I really appreciate it.  

Me and Matthew getting the cake ready (he almost always pulls the stool over to "help" me whenever I make anything in the kitchen.

Me and the babies, almost 35 weeks pregnant.  Don't I look like I am about to fall asleep?  Oh well.  Not the best pic but then again I am not looking my best right now!!  

Happy Birthday Leah

Yesterday was my Lovely Leah's 8th birthday.  I can hardly believe I have two kids over the age of 8 now.  Where does the time go?  She had a really fun day doing all the things she wanted to do.  It started off with a yummy breakfast made my my awesome husband.  She really wanted a fruit salad with a special sauce to go over it.  So that's what she got!  Jordan got up at 5:15 to make it since the kids are out the door at 7 AM for school.  For lunch Jordan and I both went to her school and brought her lunch.  It was so fun to be with her, despite all the gawking children admiring (or being horrified by) my enormous tummy!  After school Leah went to a friend's house to play, then came home to her favorite dinner of chicken enchiladas, Mexican rice and salad.  Then onto the cake- I did a homemade white cake with blue frosting since it's her favorite.  I did some of the batter into cones too for a little extra fun.  My parents came for the festivities.  It's so nice to have them so close!!  Then on to present time.  I put together a sewing kit for Leah as well as a pot-holder making kit, a paper-doll set and some blue crocs.  She loved all her presents and has been busy making bean-bags today.  So overall a success!  I love this girl and am so grateful to have her in my home.  She is the peace-maker of the household, trying to smooth things over for everyone.  She is very, very affectionate and sweet and wants to please.  She really is a good girl.  Anyway, here are some pics of the big day...

Opening presents
My pretty Mom and Leah all snuggled up

Leah's breakfast, fruit salad

Happy Birthday! Doesn't she look big??!

Big Ol' Mama!

So we moved to Austin! We have been here for five weeks and so far, so good. Moving is always hard and we have of course had some rough spots with kids adjusting and all. We have really enjoyed the new area. Lots of really nice people, beautiful scenery and enjoying the new house. Best of all I am by my parents and sister. I LOVE IT!! It's so fun to be able to call up my sister or mom and actually be able to get together with them. And the kids have loved being closer to their Papa and Grandma and cousins. Good times!!
Many people have asked for prego pictures. It's amazing to me that during the craziness of moving and all I have gotten HUGE!! I am now 30 weeks but am bigger than I ever have been in any pregnancy. Really wierd. For me being pregnant with twins has been quite an adventure. I feel very, very blessed to have this choice experience (although when my ribs feel they are going to crack I may not think so!). Basically I am just bigger faster, hurt more, eat a lot more and get pummelled by babies a lot more!! Really they move so much! It feels like they are doing constant somersaults. It's really crazy how hungry I am! The docs have said I have to gain between 40-56 pounds (YIKES) and so far I am doing just fine. Almost to 30 pounds. Hopefully I will stay on the low end not pass up 40 pounds. The babies are doing great- growing at the same rate with healthy heart-rates and all. If only we could get their names down! I have lost many hours of sleep trying to figure this out. Any great suggestions anyone??

So the pics are to make a point...The one on the bottom was taken two weeks ago, the one on top just two days ago. Look closely and you can see how much bigger I am in the top pic. I am growing really fast!! What an adventure!!

My goal is to get more updates on here so keep watching. We finally got a new camera so I have some fun pics to add on here.

Change in the Air

So it's been awhile, a long while, since I have posted anything. I think I will now. There is so much going on right now and our lives are about to take yet another major turn. In less than two weeks from now we are loading up and heading to our new home in Cedar Park , TX. For those of you who don't know Texas, that's a suburb of Austin. Jordan will be working at the same firm he has been at, Fish and Richardson, in their Austin office. Although life has been very stressful of late as we prepare for this big change we feel so very blessed right now. I mentioned to my mom recently I feel Heavenly Father sometimes rolls out the red carpet for us (not just us, I mean us all, His children) and just makes things happen. For example, several months ago we knew we wanted to move to Austin and found a home we likes in SW Austin. We even put money on it. We got our house on the market and waited for it to sell. Six weeks went by and nothing. In the meantime we learned we were expecting what we thought would be our fifth child. I got more sick than I have ever been in a pregnancy and just had a really hard time staying on top of the house showings, kids, etc so we decided to let the house down there go and take our home off the market until I felt better. At the beginning of November we decided to try again with the house-selling thing. In the time we had the house off the market we found out some things. First of all, we found out where my parents decided to move to: Georgetown which would have been quite a drive from SW Austin. Next we learned we are having not one but two babies! This time when we put the house on the market it sold in two and a half weeks and we were able to quickly find a home we love in Austin. I am starting to get really big now (at least I feel l look huge).. I commented to Jordan I really think this is how I normally look at 7 months and I am only 5 1/2 months along. That's what twins will do I suppose. Anyway we will be all moved and hopefully unpacked long before the last weeks of pregnancy are here. We feel very well taken care of and just very grateful. We are excited to see what Cedar Park and Austin hold for our family. Today we took down all the Christmas decor, cleaned, packed, etc and took some time off from work to enjoy each other. We took the kids bowling (I won!), grilled some burgers, then took a nice soak in the hottub. As we sat there we asked the kids their favorite memories of our time in this home and what they came up with was very sweet. We have definitely made some very special memories here we will never forget and feel this has been the right place for us at this time in life. But change does happen and it's time to move on to the next stage of our lives. New home, two more children, living close to my parents and sister. I can't wait to see what lies in store!!! On to the next adventure!!