The Name Says it All

Wicked. That's what they are. Last month Lee brought home a couple of these Wicked Whoopies that the family he works for had ordered all the way from Maine. They were so good and I loved them, so the next week he brought home about a dozen for me, compliments of his bosses. Well, those didn't take long to be eaten, so this week he brought home a whole case of them for me!

How can something that is packaged so cute be so bad for you?

I think I'm going to miss this "trying to gain weight for the babies" thing. I guess I will still need all those calories while I am nursing two babies...right?

Tooth Drama!

Emma has had a loose tooth for several months that the orthodontist has been waiting to fall out so he could move some teeth around it. He has been trying to convince Emma to let him pull it, but she always refused. He kept making deals with her and telling her to wiggle it so many times a day, but it never came out. Finally, at her last appointment he told her that if it hadn't fallen out by the next appointment, he would have to pull it. He explained to her that it was loose enough that he would only have to numb it with gel (no shot) and then it would come out really easily and she woudln't even feel it. Well, that next appointment finally came this week. Emma was so worried about it, but not worried enough to let us pull it for her or to wiggle it out herself. It was literally just dangling there! So, when Lee took her to her ortho appointment, he said that her eyes were as big as saucers when Dr. Sessions was coming at her with the pliers, but one second later the tooth was out and she said "it's already out?". It's so funny to me how kids can make such a big deal out of nothing! She was thrilled with the "tooth coffin" that Dr. Sessions gave her to take the tooth home in. She has lost so many other teeth that the enticement of the Tooth Fairy coming to visit wasn't enough to get her to pull the tooth, so I was surprised when that night she showed me a long, detailed letter that she had written to the Tooth Fairy. It described how the orthodontist had pulled the tooth and asked the Tooth Fairy lots of questions. I was so glad that I saw that note and could pass it on to the Tooth Fairy! She was happy the next morning with the reply from the Tooth Fairy as well as the gum and the gold dollar coin. I wonder how much longer the Tooth Fairy will be coming to visit her, but for now I am happy she still believes in the magic of it all! Now we have to start gearing up for the next appointment because the orthodontist said he is going to pull another tooth if it isn't out by then. Oh boy, more drama...

Walking on the Wild Side

I am well into my 36th week, and I am still amazed that I have made it this far. At this point these babies can come whenever they want to. They have made it to the safety zone AND my doctor is in town. So, I have started trying to do more again and trying to bring on more contractions instead of prevent them. I'll be ok if I make it to the 21st, but I won't complain if they come earlier! Although, I keep telling myself that I need to enjoy this next week and a half. I need to enjoy the quiet, enjoy Emma, and enjoy our little family of three as it is now. I think we are totally ready for them to be here now. Their room is completely organized and put together. The last week or so we got several things done that I am excited about. A couple weeks ago I started refinishing a dresser/changing table that used to be Emma's. Actually, it was the changing table that my parents used for me when I was a baby and I refinished for Emma's room. It didn't turn out quite the way I wanted it to for Emma, but this time we stained it really dark and it turned out the perfect color. I say "we" because quickly after I started the project I realized it was more than I could do right then, so Lee finished it up. He did a great job! It looks black in the picture, but it is really a dark brown.

We got an amazing double stroller as a gift from the awesome family that Lee works for. It is top of the line and pretty dang nice. They even got us all the little fun extras that go with it. It steers like a dream and I can't wait to use it!

I got the diaper bag I wanted in the mail this week. Oh boy, this is getting real!

I also got the twin nursing pillow that I needed in the mail. Isn't it HUGE! It will make nursing two babies at once a whole lot easier (I hope!). It was actually part of the group gift from my shower (along with the diaper bag and carseats).

Finally, look at the free gift that came with the nursing pillow:

I am trying to convince Lee to put it on his car, but for some reason he won't. So although I have nothing fun or exciting to blog about since the only thing we are doing at our house right now is getting ready for babies, we are walking on the wild side!

Conference Tent

We read a story in the Friend about a family who made a tent to sit in while they watched General Conference. We have talked many times before conference about how the people of King Benjamin's time pitched their tents toward the temple so they could hear him speak, so this time we made our own tent. Emma reminded me about it all this past week. She and Lee made the tent this morning and she worked on her Conference packet and ate her cinnamon roll in the tent. She had so much fun that she asked if we could make it one of our family traditions for General Conference each year. Anything that gets her excited about listening to our Prophet and other leaders is fine by me! I can't wait for our traditional Conference brunch at my parents house tomorrow, and playing "Don't Eat the Prophet" and Conference BINGO. Oh, and listening and learning too...=-)

Harley REALLY wanted some of that cinnamon roll!

Baby Shower

Last weekend my wonderful visiting teachers, Catherine & Colleen, and my good friends Susie & Shannon threw a baby shower for me. It was great and I was touched by the generosity of so many people. Thank you to all who went!
Two of my favorite gifts were the hats that Emma made. She used her knitting loom to knit a hat for each baby. She worked hard on them and she was excited to get them done. They turned out really cute!

Putting all the gifts away made me realize how close we are to bringing these babies home. Only a few more weeks!

34 Weeks

Well, we have made it another two weeks since I last posted a twins update, actually more like 2 1/2 weeks. I went to the doctor for my 34 week appointment last Thursday. He did a growth ultrasound which I was really anxious about. I wanted to be sure that the babies had grown and had gained some weight. The estimate from the ultrasound was that they both weighed about 4.9 pounds. Perfect! My doctor thought that the boy is even bigger than that, he was having a hard time getting a good measurement of his femur which threw the estimate off a bit. I was just glad to hear that they have grown an appropriate amount. As usual it was so fun and reassuring to see them on that screen! The big surprise was that I am 80% effaced already. He told me that I need to do less than I was already doing (which is hard because I am doing very little as it is, my life is pretty much stuck on the couch now). I ended up in the hospital that night, but thankfully it was a false alarm. The exam probably started up a lot of contractions and cramping, but things settled down and they sent me home. I am determined to not do much of anything this week because my doctor is out of town and I really want him to do my c-section. He said the same thing, that I better keep these babies in until he gets home! So, my goal is to make it to 36 weeks. Then the babies will be safe, my doctor will be able to deliver them, and the hospital we go to will be able to take care of them. If I make it until October 21st, the scheduled c-section date, all the better! Actually, I don't know if I can hold out that long...

Fall is here!

Today was the first day that felt like fall. It was cool, a little windy, and it rained this afternoon and evening. I was surprised at how much I liked it. Earlier last week it was in the 90's, and it just didn't feel like September. It's been sunny and in the 70's since, but today just felt different. I think I'm ready for it. We'll see if I feel the same after it has rained for weeks on end! Actually, I hear it's supposed to be nice again next week, so we'll see. The only problem with this kind of weather is how Emma comes home from soccer practice...

...DRENCHED!!

Consumed by Soccer

Soccer is now in full swing. Emma has already had 5 games and many practices. With two practices a week and two games a week, soccer has definitely consumed our calendar! She is in a whole new level this year, with lots of new things to get used to: a much bigger field, regular sized goals, goalies, real referees, official uniforms, weekend AND weekday games, keeping score...just to name a few. Emma has taken to it all really well. She is still a great defender (she doesn't like to run so much, so she does better playing half the field!). She has also found herself in the position of goalie many times. It is very nerve-wracking for mom, but she has done a great job. She loves her team and her coaches and it looks like it will be a good year. So far the Cougars are 3-1-1. This weekend is the annual Canby Fall Classic tournament, but most of our games are on Sunday so Emma won't be playing them. She was just fine with that and is looking forward to the one game she gets to play on Saturday. Fun times!

Manny the Praying Mantis

A few weeks ago we came home to find a praying mantis on our garage door. We don't see many praying mantis' around here, in fact I don't think I've ever seen one just sitting outside before. Of course, Emma was extremely excited to see it and even more excited to catch it. We put it in a jar, named it Manny, and then Emma immediately called Brother Langford aka Brother Bugs (he's the resident bug expert in our ward). He was kind enough to spend quite a bit of time telling her all about praying mantis' and what they like to eat. He told her that they like live bugs, especially grasshoppers. Emma went outside and found a grasshopper right away! We put the grasshopper in the jar and we all gathered around to watch the gruesome sight of the grasshopper begin devoured by Manny. It was really cool!
Emma asked her teacher if she could take Manny to school, so he spent a day in her 3rd grade classroom. One of the 1st grade teachers saw Manny and asked if he could spend the day in her classroom the next day. Turns out her class just happened to be studying praying mantis'. So, Manny was quite a hit at the school. Emma kept Manny alive the last few weeks by catching lots of bugs (especially mosquito hawks) and we were always amazed to watch how he pounced on the bugs and then quickly ate them. Sounds gross I know, but it was really cool! Today we decided it was time to let Manny go. So we said goodbye and let him hop off to find his own bugs.

32 weeks!!

I am so excited that we have made it to 32 weeks. I had an appointment with the doctor today and he did an ultrasound. He got some fun pictures of Baby Boy, I will post those, but not really any good ones of Baby Girl. Everything still looks good, which I was thrilled to hear. He said to keep doing what I am doing because it's working. He also said that I'm at a pretty low risk of delivering before 35 weeks, he emphasized that it could still happen, but right now the signs aren't there. If I were to go into labor on my own before 35 weeks, they would try to stop it. If I go into labor after 35 weeks then he would go ahead and do the c-section. Best news of all---we have a date! I will be scheduled for a c-section on October 21st unless something happens before then. I can't believe we actually have a date, 5 1/2 more weeks. Wow!

Above is the profile of Baby Boy. You can see his eye, nose, mouth & chin.

In the upper middle section of the picture you can see his lips and mouth. We watched it open and close several times. My doctor thought it looked like candy lips! =-)

Fun and Labor over Labor Day Weekend

We didn't do anything spectacular over Labor Day weekend, but as I was thinking back on what we did do, I realized that we had a lot of fun AND got a lot accomplished. It was a good weekend! Here's what we did:

Karaoke and Campfire with the Sunderland's
On Friday night we barbequed at the Sunderland's house. Then we enjoyed watching the kids and Lee and Peter do karaoke. Peter can really belt it! Then we made s'mores around the campfire. We had a great time and the kids enjoyed running around the yard. They ended up setting their tent up in their family room and Emma stayed and spent the night. It was fun!



Pregnancy Pics
On Saturday morning Lee went target shooting, and then picked up Emma. Lee and Emma spent most of the rest of the day working in the yard (yeah, I feel a little guilty not being able to help them!). Later that evening we had some pregnancy pictures taken. A friend of ours from our ward had a new camera and wanted to do some experimenting so asked if we would mind being her guinea pigs. We did some casual pictures and had a good time on a beautiful evening at Molalla River State Park. She took some good pictures and they will be fun to have. Then we treated ourselves to ice cream at Dairy Queen!



Peaches!
On Sunday night we had a super yummy dinner at my parents house. Then, we went to my Grandma Dorothy's house to pick up the peaches she canned for me. Several years ago she taught me how to can peaches and I have done it every year since up until last year. I was still recovering from surgery last year when the peaches were ripe, so my Grandma did them for me. This year I didn't have the time (it's amazing how little of the day is left when you have to rest most of it), or the energy to do it, so she offered again to can for me. So, the weekend before Lee and Emma picked the peaches at a local orchard, and my Grandma canned them throughout the week. Oh, did I mention that she is almost 83 and had open heart surgery back in May?? She also came to my house this week and cleaned my fridge, vacuumed my entire house, even the stairs and the wood floors. I hope I am that spry when I am 83! I love my Grandma Dorothy! To add to our canned food storage, my wonderful Relief Society President brought over several quarts of applesauce that she canned for me. We are well taken care of and very blessed.

A New Front Door and Dirt Pile Sliding at the Gibb's
On Monday morning Lee got to go golfing with some friends (lest you think I make him work all the time!). Emma had two friends over all day so while she was occupied Lee painted our front door. I was so excited because I have been wanting to get that done since we moved in. Our white door was always ugly and dirty, and Harley (our sweet but not very smart pug) had scratched up a good portion of the door and the weatherstripping last fall. Now we have a pretty red door. Much improved! We bought all new hardware for the door, but that ended up being much more of a job than we had planned on, and we had to put the yucky brass stuff back on for now. Oh well, hopefully we will be able to put the nicer hardware on sometime soon, and it still looks much better than it did!

That evening we went to the Gibb's house for some dirt pile sliding fun. They have a huge dirt pile on their property that they love to invite kids over to slide down. So we went with a few other friends to let the kids get filthy on the dirt pile. They had a blast and were of course covered in dirt. The best part is after the sliding when Shannon gets them all clean with the air compressor hose. They love that and it actually does a good job in getting all the loose dirt off. Then we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows around the campfire and had a good dinner.

Emma got to lead the Gibb's horse, Belle, which was her favorite part of the night!

So, we didn't do anything amazing for Labor Day, but we had a perfect end to the summer and got ready for school starting the next day.

First day of 3rd Grade

Today was Emma's first day of school. I can't believe she is in third grade. It seems like just yesterday that it was her first day of kindergarten. She wasn't too excited about school starting until the end of last week. She isn't much of a morning person and wasn't looking forward to getting up and having a morning schedule again. But, when she found out last week that she got Mrs. Johnson, the teacher she has been hoping for all summer, she started getting a little excited. Then, on the day of the Meet and Greet, her teacher from last year asked Emma and her friend Lacey to help set up her classroom so she was at the school all day going between her old teacher's classroom, to her new teacher's classroom. By the time I got there for the Meet and Greet she was definitely more excited. A lot of her friends ended up in her class and she couldn't be happier. She woke up easily and happily this morning, and was thrilled to find out that daddy was still home. Lee usually leaves for work by 6:00 and since Emma's school doesn't start until 9:00, she doesn't usually get to see him on school mornings. He had given her a blessing last night and wished her good luck already, so she wasn't expecting to see him in the morning (the upside of his car not working and needing a new battery!). Lee made waffles which was what Emma requested for her first day breakfast, and he was also able to go to school with us. Right before we left she said that her stomach was starting to hurt a little because of "nervousation". =-)


I always have mixed emotions about the first day of school. It's sad for me to have her gone all day, especially now when I can't really get out much and do things to take advantage of the time she is at school. I miss her! But, I was glad that she was excited and I left her in the good hands of a great teacher.

Best of all, she got off the bus with a huge smile and said she had a really good day. I know she will do great this year.