Our first home!

I am not sure when this picture was taken. It does not show the big tree we took down in front of the house this past spring. We have done some painting and more landscaping. After 4 years of nagging, we also now have shutters on the house. It really brings some color in and Garvin (Andrew's dad) and Andrew have also painted the trim so it looks like a new house.

As far as our pregnancy, we are still pregnant. We are 37 1/2 weeks. We have an ultrasound Friday so we are anxious to see how big they are. We are even more anxious to meet them. We never thought they would stay in there this long and we are ready to see what they look like and discover their personalities. I am ready to meet who has been kicking and stretching me. They have been moving a lot and I have had a lot of contractions, but nothing regular and at last check I was not dialated at all. I know they have dropped a lot but I have stopped gaining weight so we are hoping they will set an ending point on Friday. We are ready to meet them and move on to the next phase of our lives as parents.

Mother's Day

This is Mother's Day . (An Andrew blog, not a Denise blog) 6yrs ago on this day we planted a tree to remember my sister Meredith. The picture from that day has my sister Michelle standing behind the tree. The view is a little different now, with Denise and Harper too. It's amazing how much things can change in that amount of time. I wouldn't trade a thing that I have now, but how I miss Meredith. 6yrs.

34 weeks!

We made it to 34 weeks. The doctor informed me today that if I go into labor they are not going to stop it. I have not shown signs of labor yet so all is going well. They are still pretty high and their heads seem to be in my ribs most of the time but they are active and growing so we are getting close. Of course Andrew says they have to wait because he doesn't want them to have to share his birthday next week since they have to share with each other already. I would also like to attend the awards program at school next Friday because I promised my homeroom I would be there unless I was in labor or had already had the boys. So, after next weekend all is clear as far as we are concerned. I guess we will have to see what they have in mind.

We had an ultrasound last Friday and a NST (non-stress test). One of the pictures of baby b is great but baby a was not as co-operative as he has been in the past. He would not turn his head so we did not get a profile of him. Then when I went to have the NST he kept pushing the heart monitor off. I think he was through with doctors. I think I may have found out which one is going to have the temper. He was fine today although he did kick off the monitor just once. I think they are getting used to the monitors. They fell asleep today so the nurse took this think that buzzed and vibrated just a little and put it on my stomach. They did not like that at all. They squirmed and kicked for a good 5 minutes after that. I guess now I know how to get them to move, but I think I spend most of my time trying to get them not to move because things are getting pretty tight.

I am now sleeping in my recliner at night. I have had some swelling in my hands that has led to a great deal of pain, but the recliner has helped tremendously. I think it is God's way of preparing us for getting up several times at night. Andrew sleeps on the couch next to me so he is in heaven, he loves to sleep on the couch. Here are the ultrasound pictures. The first one is of baby B and the other is of their two heads.

Okay, here it is!

My family and Sue have requested to see a side view so here it is. Andrew got a new camera so we have been playing around with it. Second picture is in honor of my mother who gave the peace sign when she was walking down the isle to marry Dad and then I realized it also had a double meaning(no pun intended, just two buns).

The pictures are of the boys' room. This has been my craft/guest room and when we found out we were having boys I realized I did not have to repaint. All of the furniture has been handed down and somehow all the woods happened to match. They have enough toys and books to last them a lifetime! I guess that is what you get when you have a Mommy who likes to read and a Daddy who likes to play!

I was hoping to put some more pictures up above the changing table and the night stand. I was hoping their Daddy would do some artwork for them, but I guess I will have to settle for some scrapbooking pages since I already have the frames.

I guess I need to put the diaper genie together also because I have a feeling we will be using it often soon. I am 33 weeks yesterday and had a non-stress test again today. Things are going well and we have another ultrasound Friday. I hear my scrapbooking and baby books calling. It is sad isn't it? I am truly blessed because I know I will not have this "free time" again in my life or a doctor's order to put my feet up as much as possible. It is truly awesome to see what God has planned for us especially when it is even greater than we could have imagined. For instance, I would have never imagined twins or the possibility of taking time off to prepare for them. God is so good!

To answer some questions . . . .

after my email update to all of my contacts I realized that I must have confused some people. I have not had the boys yet. We are at 32 weeks. We are due on June 18th, but as with most twins they will probably arrive early. In fact, I am now seeing the doctor twice a week. I had a non-stress test today and I actually had a mild contraction. I had no clue. I still don't know what they really feel like. The doctor said that is perfectly normal. The boys are almost 4 pounds a piece. That is already 8 pounds of just baby and I still have a month to go(hopefully)! 32 weeks was a big milestone, their lungs are developed more now so although there would be some premature issues they could be safely delivered. Speaking of, they are still head up and running out of room please continue to pray that they will somehow both flip. What I meant by retirement was that Andrew and I and the doctors felt that it was best for the boys and I to take it easy and middle school is not the place to relax. So, I am on leave for the rest of the school year and at least next year.
This picture was taken this past weekend at Andrew's parents' house. We went to celebrate his mom's birthday. It is tomorrow- Happy Birthday Sandee. Harper's eyes never show up very well in pictures and this weekend we had to take him to the vet because he had scratched his eye. The poor thing looks so sad because the medicine dilates his eye so they are two different colors. He is a trooper though, I think he likes me putting the medicine in his eye. I would guess it feels better and he likes the attention. Not that he doesn't get enough already.
Thank you for reading and I hope to have some more pictures of the boys' room and my new ride so stay tuned! Have a blessed day!

Finally catching up to the times

Okay, so we are finally catching up with the rest of the world. This is a picture of us in Hawaii in 2005. It is one of my favorite pictures of us. We hiked to this beach and it was so beautiful. I can't imagine making that hike now. Why you may ask? Well, due to the twins the doctors have restricted me from exercise since like month 4. I am ready to get back to these days. Don't get me wrong, I love feeling the boys kick and squirm which they do a lot but I feel so much better with exercise. Okay, I am blabbering already. I want to thank you for checking us out and I hope to write often since I am in retirement from teaching and anxiously awaiting the birth of the boys. We had an appointment Tuesday and unfortunately they are still both head up so we are meeting with the anesthesiologist tomorrow to talk about a c-section. I have to be honest, that is the issue I have been most afraid of. The only surgery I have had was with my wisdom teeth and that went fairly well, but we have found that I am ultra sensitive to drugs. So, the whole epidural thing scares me and will my ab muscles be the same? I know that is vain and I will do what is best for the boys but I am still afraid. Please pray that they flip soon because the womb is getting full (they are almost 4 pounds each now) and the longer they wait the harder it will be. Well, we are going to Knoxville for Andrew's mom's birthday this weekend so I will try to post some more up to date pictures next week.