Lindsey' Bridal Shower, Sissa's Birthday, and Hospital Visit #1
 
    Yes, you read correctly, Hospital visit, #1, insinuating there was a second and there was but that's for another post.
   Saturday started early for us because we had to drive to Katy, TX for Lindsey's bridal shower!  We left home about 7:45 and 4 uncomfortable hours later we arrived in Katy and were at a McDonalds grabbing some lunch before the shower started at 1.  The people who threw this shower for Lindsey were her "Sealy Family" with her friend Sherri from college.  Sherri found an adorable little cottage and it was perfect for the shower.  We played cute games and watched Linds get a bunch of good stuff.
 

           

The lovely Verm Ladies

 
 

   

 

 
           
                     The Bride!
 
                         
 
 

 

Mom, Linds, Me, McKenna & Owen (oy)

 

     After a beautiful shower we hopped back in the car to head to Fort Worth.  Melissa's birthday is on Monday the 1st so this was our only day to celebrate.  She wanted to go to Fort Worth and barhop and walk around so we said we would meet everyone down there.  Mason was a TROOPER and drove us to Katy and to Fort Worth and he didn't even complain when I had to go to the bathroom or when we hit traffic.  We arrived at the hotel in Fort Worth after I had to shift 349509 times in the car trying to get comfortable (and I was also hot as could be) where we changed and grabbed the shuttle to meet everyone at the Stockyards.  We got there and everyone was so happy to see us and was having a good ol' time!  We found a lady singing karaoke outside and we ordered pizza and cheesesticks and danced to some country karaoke music! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   We headed to a nearby place called Neon Moon and everyone got a beverage.  We were laughing and watching people dance etc. when we realized Harris was missing a part of her earring.  We decided to go back and trace our steps from the outdoor dancing location and as we came out of the bar I saw something shiny so I went towards it and BAM there was a giant curb that I missed COMPLETELY and I went face down; first on my knees, then on my hands and I guess they were not able to support my weight so then I landed on the belly and I quickly rolled to my left side.  But the damage had been done, belly met pavement, my hands were skinned and knees were throbbing.  I was in tears and a lady came running and asked if we wanted to call an ambulance.  I thought that was a little extreme but I asked Melissa what she would do and she said she would go have them checked so that's what we decided to do. 

 

 

The knees...Pretty, right?

 



   She went and got Mason who came running out and I know I scared him to death.  We convinced Justin to keep Melissa there and that we were only doing this as a precaution.  We went back to the hotel and checked out, I got in the car with Melissa and Mason followed in our car.  I called Presby on the way and my doctor was on call and he got on the phone and told us to come to labor and delivery.  Good thing I took that tour cause I knew where to go!  We got inside, checked in, filled out 383929 pieces of paperwork and they slapped the bracelets on me.  Now, I had yet to feel any pain or have any cramping or anything...this was truly for peace of mind. They got us back into the triage room (I remembered it from the tour too!) and I got in a gown.  The nurse, Heather, came in and asked me lots of questions, what happened etc.  We told her we were 20 weeks and 4 days with twins and she told us some good stuff and bad stuff. She said in her 3 years there she had never seen any mama have an issue related to a fall that was life threatening to their baby, even from bad car wrecks, because they are so cushioned and protected.  But she also told us that with twins and how small they were there was little they could do to really "monitor" them besides check for heart tones and make sure I wasn't contracting. They could call for an ultrasound if the doctor felt it necessary but since I wasn't bleeding or in any pain there wasn't a lot of need for one.  She put the doplar wand on my belly and there was one strong heartbeat and she moved the wand to the other side and there was another.  I was balling...I was so tired, we had been in the car for so long, and I was so mad at myself for doing this.  She hooked me up to a contraction machine and observed me for 30 minutes or so...no activity which is good.  She told us all the warming signs to look for and to come back if I experienced any and then she discharged us.  After ANOTHER drive and a trip through Jack in the Box we were home...by 2am we were in bed, thankful things turned out how they did.  I told Mason I had no intention of getting out of bed the next day and I just wanted to rest.  I am so thankful it wasn't worse and that I got to hear their sweet heartbeats again...we just keep praying for healthy, full term babies!

Thanksgiving 2014

    Thanksgiving 2014 came and went and it was a wonderful day! My awesome mom took the pressure off of me by offering to host Thanksgiving!  I LOVE hosting things at my house, Thanksgiving especially, and I probably could have done it but it would have been exhausting.  Mason and I headed over to mom and dads early so I could help with any last minute details but my wonderful aunts had been over the night before to help her so there was really very little for us to do.  We ate cinnamon rolls and watched a little of the parade and dad and Mason peeled potatoes for me. We got dressed as everyone was arriving and then for the next hour Mason and I were in the kitchen helping mom, drying dishes, and making the mashed potatoes.  Mason took over in that department and I have to say he did an awesome job!
   We ate around 12:30 and after we ate I was spent.  All the standing caught up to me and the mass amounts of food and I had to lay down. I took a quick nap, first on the couch, then in mom and dads bed and then I was awake again and ready for pie!!!!
    After we finished at mom and dads we headed home to let the dogs out and gather our contributions for Thanksgiving with Mason's family.  We opted to do a "snacky" evening since we all ate Thanksgiving food during the day.  The spread we had out was INSANE and, of course, we were all still pretty full from our respective lunches but we managed to put away some snacks.  Pam bought the game Rotten Apples and we sat for a few hours and played that game and it was HILARIOUS!  I laughed so hard my side hurt!  It really was a wonderful day and I cannot believe next year we will have two little 8-month-olds to celebrate the holidays with!!  Makes me so happy just thinking about it! We are so very blessed everyday of the year, even before God blessed us with the babies, and it makes me overwhelmed to think of all God has given us.  Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

CHAIR Update and Hospital Tour

    After the hysterics of yesterday I pulled myself together today for us to go out on some errands.  Maria was coming to clean for us at 8am so we headed over to grab Justin and we ran some errands for Christmas.  While we were in Allen we happened to drive by a Buy Buy Baby and I asked if we could stop in.  I wasn't hopeful since I had looked at their stock online and was not impressed. We headed in and the employee pointed us to the back and holy moly...it was like Babes in Toyland...except for toys it was gliders and rockers and recliners EVERYWHERE!  We started our sitting and relaxing routine again and Mason called me over to one he liked.  I liked it too, except that it was navy blue and tan so I assumed we were out of luck AGAIN. However, the angel salesman in the department came over with a STACK I TELL YOU of swatches the chair came in.  And lo and behold we found one we loved!!  THEN, the sales guy tells us that if I can go online and sign up for their emails I can get a 20% off coupon, which I did.  So our chair cost us HALF of what the one at Lazy Boy would have and we LOVE IT and the pattern is perfect!!

 

This is the pattern/color swatch the chair will come in.

 

This is the pattern we chose but in navy...our swatch is in the chair!

 

 

   I could have SKIPPED out of there and throughout the day Mason would look at me and I was just smiling away. How can a person get this happy over some furniture?????  It has been ordered and we pick it up in several weeks...yippee!!

    As IF this day wasn't already awesome we were set to tour the Labor and Delivery area of the hospital at 3pm.  People asked me why this was important to me and I can only say I just like to know stuff. I wanted to see where we would check in, the rooms we would be delivering in etc.  I began the tour on my own because Mason was on his way back with Justin from his doctors appointment.  They took us to the admitting desk, back to the triage waiting area, the prep room and an actual delivery room.  We didn't get to see an OR which I wish we had because I am set for a C-Section at this point, but I got to ask several questions and I especially liked knowing where we needed to check in because that hospital is GIANT.  Next, she took us upstairs to postpartum to show us the different types of rooms we can opt for.  The basic, private room is RIDICULOUSLY SMALL for one baby, let alone two baby isolettes and visitors. The next two steps up will hold a roll away bed and the suite comes with a gift basket...I like me some freebies. The last part of the tour we went to the nursery.  Presby has never lost a baby (knock on wood) due to theft and they told us that the babies and mom and dad will wear little tags that sing a lullaby when placed nearby each other and set an alarm off if they get too far apart.  The hospital is very pro "keep mom with baby as much as possible" and they will only be taken for a few medical tests, circumcisions, and of course, if we want them to go to the nursery.  After it was all over I just enjoyed seeing where we will be in the next 3.5 months.  We go back for a Drs. appointment on the 5th and they gave us a phone number to call so we can tour the NICU...which is very important to me.

   After the tour, it was time to sit in traffic go home and get a few things together for Thanksgiving.  It was so nice to come home to a clean house and know we HAVE A CHAIR!!!!

Hormones...

     I have read the books, I have the APPs, and I daily send Mason little blurbs and tidbits about how the babies are forming and what that is doing to their mom etc.  I have read about these crazy hormones a lot.  I have read they are responsible for my horrific morning sickness in the beginning, the pains I constantly feel in my back and belly as they are helping to "relax" my ligaments (well if that's relaxing I would hate to see exerting because that crap ain't fun or relaxing at all) and  my food aversions and cravings.  I have also read these stories about women losing it over silly things and thought psssssshhhhhhh, that won't be me.  I am too informed and too together for that.  Well, ladies and gentleman...I am now officially THAT woman.  
    Sooooo, the nursery is beautifully painted, the cribs and dresser are up, the bedding is here, ironed and tucked neatly in their cribs, the baby shower invite list is completed, the boxes of diapers we are hoarding and buying on sale are stacked neatly in the office and guest room and I have even washed a couple of loads of boy clothes Melissa gave me and separated them into months of wear.  However, I have decided that the thing that matters most to me in the WORLD at this moment is a chair for the nursery.  See, to me its not just a chair, its where I will spend countless hours bonding with my babies, where I will fall asleep gently holding them, where we will finally get the rhythm of tandem feeding down, and my list goes on.  To Mason, "it needs to recline so I can sleep comfortably" to which I always respond with how much time he really intends to spend in that chair, in that room, and SLEEPING? Really?  Needless to say, we have gone round and round.  We went to Babies R' Us and looked like homeless people one Saturday night because we just hopped from chair to chair reclining and relaxing trying to decide what we liked. Every time we would find one we liked it didn't come in the right color, or the back wasn't high enough for me to be able to lay my head back while I was sitting up right, or it had the little lever on the side and Mason (while pretending to hold two fake babies) would demonstrate to me how difficult it will be for him to recline into the sleeping position with two infants in his arms.  So we got online and found a chair we liked at Costco and sent off for a swatch...well their definition of "ash" resembles some sort of barf brown so that was a no go.  We got online again and looked at buy buy baby, looked up the chairs we found at Babies R' Us that we DID like and tried to find out if they came in a color we liked and we went to Pottery Barn online only to find out they want a semesters college tuition for a chair there.  So I began to PANIC, do you hear me PANICKING...until I thought we had found the answer.  We went to Lazy Boy and I found one I LOVED, except it didn't come in the fabric we needed but that's ok we can choose the custom fabric we want and then it had that pesky lever but we can add power reclining for a few extra hundred dollars and the next thing I knew we were looking at an $1100 chair...BUT IT WAS ON SALE AND THAT IS S STEAL FOR A LAZY BOY CHAIR. We left with the guys card fully intending to bring my sister-in-law/decorator back to help pick out the fabric.  And then I went to Hobby Lobby and something happened.  Well it might have been that when I told sister-in-law/decorator she asked me a few questions that got me thinking like, 1) where will you put this chair in a year when it needs to come out of the nursery, nothing else in your house is grey? 2) If you were to try to sell it later you would never get anywhere near what you paid for it etc.  Now don't get me wrong, she was gung ho to help me come pick out fabric and order that puppy on the spot...but she was right.  We have spent so much of this pregnancy trying to do things as frugally as possible knowing the financial future we have in front of us.  Certain things we can't scrimp on like medical care etc. but we have bought our cribs on sale, opted out of custom bedding, and have taken ANY hand me downs people have offered us.  And here I was, ready to drop over a GRAND on a chair that I had no idea what I would do with when the kids are done with it.  So as I walked to the car where Mason was waiting the tears started. When I got in the front seat he looked horrified and asked me what happened and I was sobbing so hard and so uncontrollably I couldn't even tell him. When I finally squeaked out the words he confessed that he agreed, that he thought that was very steep but that I "seemed so happy to have found something" and then I started screeching out an apology like a howler monkey and crying at the same time.  So, being the man I know and love he offered to feed me because that ALWAYS makes me better!  So I drove over to the Whataburger and I was still sobbing UNCONTROLLABLY because we are NEVER going to find anything and I will have to rock my babies on a stool or something and he kept telling me "babe, we have time, we will find something" but it didn't matter...I was inconsolable.  I ordered his food at the drive thru between sobs and as we were pulling up he told me to stop and "get it together before these people think I beat you".  I tried, I dabbed at my face and my eyes and then the tears just poured again.  We got up to the window and they handed me his drink and it sort of subsided a bit so I was just breathing hard and kind of gasping for breath when they opened the window and handed me the bag.  The sweet girl said "we gave you some apple pies because you seem like you are having a rough day"....well, WATERWORLD again.  And I gasped and choked out, "I'm sorry, I'm preggggggnnnnnaaaannnntttt, not ccccrrrraaazzzzyyyy" and she just kind of stared at me.  I flung the food at Mason and pulled over in the parking lot and told him he had to drive and he said "babe..would it help if I took you to Olive Garden" and I choked out "uh huh". So, on the way to the Olive Garden I did finally get it together but I didn't think to look at myself in a mirror before entering the restaurant.  We went in and I ordered and the lady asks me if I would like a complimentary beverage while I wait and as they bring out my order the other lady says "we put some extra breadsticks in there for ya" and she winks at me.  So I start crying again, this time not as forcefully, but when we got to the car and I looked in the mirror NO WONDER they offered me free stuff.  I was a hot mess. I looked like I had been punched in the face repeatedly.  Red, swollen, makeup everywhere.  Mason said he was going to take me over to the car dealership and see if they would give him some free stuff too. 
   So the moral of the story is, I lost it at two different eating establishments OVER A CHAIR. I have joined the club and I am now one of those women and ya know what, I HOPE I run into a pregnant lady crying at some point in my life cause I am gonna buy her dinner, give her cash, or wash her car because this creating people business is HARD.  

Has it really already been a year?
 
  I cannot believe that this time a year ago Mason and I were a few hours away from getting married!  And now, a year later we are a few months away from becoming parents...so surreal!  Our wedding was truly one of the best days of my life.  Our friends and family were a huge part of the day and we went to great pains to make the day a reflection of us.  Nothing went the way we wanted it to at first...the wedding was supposed to be on the beautiful patio of the clubhouse with the beautiful French doors opening to the patio with the lanterns lit...out of a magazine I tell ya.  Wellllll we woke up the day before to subzero temperatures and rain...sideways, tornado producing rain, predicted for the next day.  We had to make a call and we decided to move the ceremony indoors. It was not as beautiful as the vision I had originally but looking back, I could have cared less.  I will forever remember walking down that aisle to Mason, hearing all my bridesmaids sniffling and dabbing at their eyes with tissues...that's what I remember.  The feelings and the emotions of the day which just kept on coming until we drove away for the night.  Our pastor told us in counseling that the day was simply that, a day. That the most important thing was at the end of the day you will be MARRIED and partners for life and he was so right.  But to me, it was a perfect day...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

     I love looking through all these pictures...takes me back there and it was wonderful!  Afterwards, we spent 5 days driving to Salado and Fredericksburg and just being together. I came back with the flu but it was all totally worth it.  I think the best gift parents can give their children is staying in love and I think Mason and I do a pretty great job of that.

   In baby news, we are taking a tour of the labor and delivery floor at Presby on Tuesday. I also want us to tour the NICU but that one isn't available until January. I am trying to get as much done while Mason is in his slow season because once February comes he will be at work during the day and working afternoons/nights getting ready for spring.  Still haven't felt any movement and we hit 20 weeks this Wednesday so I am READY! Here's a 19 weeks and a few days belly shot from our sweet Harper's birthday party on Saturday...

 

 

19 weeks and 3 days

 

   It was such a cute party and Brooke did such a great job.  Harper had a blast but it was hilarious that as we were leaving it seemed that every child there hit their breaking point or needed their nap because all of a sudden EVERY kid was crying it seemed.  One was being dragged out the front door, Dalton was crying because his picture got "RUINED", Harper was melting down...it was HILARIOUS!  I guess we looked horrified so everyone kept looking at us and saying "oh just wait...your time is coming"!!!  Here are a few pics from Little Miss's big second birthday....

 

 

The Birthday Girl...and her markers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

  We are so lucky to have the friends we have and that they share their babies with us!  Can't wait for Owen and McKenna to come along and make friends with them.

  

 So to sum up, Happy Anniversary to this guy...

 





      Thank you for always making me laugh (whether I want to or not) and making life interesting to say the least.  I know how much you love me and what an amazing dad you will be and I feel so blessed for both of those things.  I promise not to lose myself in my role as your wife once our babies are born and to always love and cherish you as my partner and the father of my children.  Thank you for being my second chance at life and the best gift God has ever given me.  Here's to 50 more years together!

  

19 weeks and a Nursery Update...

    We are officially HALFWAY DONE!!!  March 26th is 37 weeks and 1 day and 19 x 2 is 38 so you get the drift. We have been busy busy around our house.  On Friday of last week we got new carpet!  Brooklyn had eaten the carpet in the dog room so it was down to bare concrete but the carpet in the other bedrooms was shot too so we decided to replace it all at once.  So Mason took the day off work and supervised the carpet install at the house.  I loved getting to come home and see it and it was even more beautiful than I remember when we selected it!  Well, once the carpet was in I was ready to have the furniture and bedding in...the next day.  Sooooo, I may have gone ahead and ordered their bedding and had it overnighted BUT I justify this expense by finding it $25 cheaper PER SET on Amazon so I came out under budget. That same night Justin and Melissa came over to help us assemble furniture.  Justin and Mason decided to start with the dresser which was a 3 hour BEATING I tell you.  Melissa and I did the drawers and their were 3490834508 screws and tools and it still makes my head spin.  After the dresser they said the cribs were a breeze and sure enough...much quicker!  Here is a timeline of the process...

 

 

 

   By Sunday, Owen's bedding had arrived and we ran and got some Dreft so we could get it washed and put on.  It looks ADORABLE!

 

By Monday, McKenna's bedding arrived so I washed it and got it put on...ADORABLE!

 

   So we officially have a dresser, two cribs, and two sets of bedding!  I am getting antsy to do some decorating now and will probably do the majority of it over the Christmas break.  We have been on a quest for the perfect glider and its not going well.  Every time we find one we both like (high back for me, recliner for Mason) it doesn't ever come in the color we need! So we will keep searching!  Lots of fun stuff coming up these next few weeks and the holidays...so exciting!