Wednesday, December 14, 2016

{L&L's First Flights}

We survived Luke & Livy's first airplane rides! 

Our family of 4 flew to Charlotte, North Carolina (and went on to Taylorsville, NC) to visit Ben's Aunt Paula who is nearing the end of her fight with Cancer. Not a happy trip, but we made happy memories.

You should see the look on people's faces when you board an airplane with two infants. It's a mixture of admiring their cuteness to the realization that we might be sitting near them. 

I plucked this idea from Pinterest and it worked like a charm:



How did it go, you ask? 

Believe it or not they did AWESOME. 

4 flights and ZERO meltdowns...some temporary fussiness, but they held it together!

We had a really nice visit and the twins received lots and lots of snuggles, kisses and playtime.  Aunt Paula loved on the babies and it was really special to see the joy the three of them had together. 

My cousin, Jason and his fiancee Kelsey happened to live 2 hours away. They made the trip to come and spend a day with all of us as well. Here again, another blessing for all of us. I will always be grateful to Aunt Paula and Miss Ava for the gift of last weekend.

We got home last night. I received a call just a little bit ago that they were taking Aunt Paula to the hospital. She is taking a turn for the worst. I asked to speak with her on speaker phone and told her how honored we are to be part of her family. I told her how much we all loved her and if she is allowed to, to please come visit us from time to time. She liked that I think. I also told her that we'd be praying for her and she asked that if we do to please pray she is released quickly. She also said that she is ready to go. 

*sigh*

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

{33 Weeks}



The center picture is from today at 33 weeks. I tried to get these in order but I didn't, so I'll just live with it :)

This last week has been harder than the week before. I feel like I say that weekly now. I am uncomfortable a lot, but I still feel like this has been a breeze of a pregnancy. 

Three weeks ago Olivia weighed in at 3.6 pounds and Luke in at 4.1 pounds. My next scan is in 6 days. I am very anxious to get an update and see them again.

At the last one, we weren't able to see Olivia as she was laying low in the back behind Luke and the doctors said that may be the case from here on out. She will make a grand debut when she's born I'm sure.

I sleep on the recliner for a few hours each night now. After getting a pregnancy pillow, it allowed me to sleep in the bed as well, but not the whole night. 

The nursery is nearly complete thanks to my mom. She's been over a few times organizing and moving things around because I just can't do it. I should've started that project a long time ago!

We finally sold my little Scion TC and Ben's dad traded him one of his cars for Ben's truck. We now have older models of Jeeps and they will work for now. The two car seats went into my car last week. That was one of those milestones for me.


Time is flying by though! I just can't wait to meet these little loves. We are just about ready...but I still need to work on my overnight bag. Still procrastinating that one.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

{22 Weeks}

Luke's 4D photo (left) - Olivia's 3D profile (right)

The days are passing by and we are now at week 22. The angel babies are growing and the good news keeps coming. I know I shouldn't be so surprised, but when one of your life mottos has been along the lines of - expect the worst and then hope to be pleasantly surprised later, I guess sometimes it's hard to move past the...uh, past.

BUT...let me also say that I am learning and changing and don't really find a place for that motto in my life anymore. I see that finally. This infertility/IVF experience is teaching me that there is wisdom in the trials and that it's good and sweet, sometimes bitter, but I get to choose how to handle it and how I'm going to let it affect me. 

I feel more than lucky to have a husband that completely adores me and these babies. We've been married just over 4 years now and marriage for us didn't start off that way, but we've both changed for the better I think. Ben is the ever-doting husband and daddy-to-be. He talks to my belly daily and it just completely melts me. 

I wore my first maternity outfit today. I'm having trouble squishing this belly into regular clothes...but I still try. 

Tonight we met with a friend of ours who is also now our doula. I have a doula. I have babies and I have a doula. Life is so funny to me right now.




Monday, March 21, 2016

{It's a ...}


Becoming parents became very real today. We have a son and a daughter on the way and we can't stop smiling!

{18 Weeks}


I'm having trouble focusing at work today, but for two very good reasons :)

Saturday, March 5, 2016

{15 Weeks}

We are approaching our 16 week mark and at this point I’m ready to celebrate absolutely anything that gets me away from the 1st trimester nausea. Although I’ve been fortunate enough not to miss any work, I have been dealing  with incredible food aversions and heart burn. The nausea is mostly gone now, but the heartburn rages on.

On top of the symptoms, I started a new job at the end of January (I still work for the Church…just a different department). I wasn’t able to continue classes this semester due to all of pregnancy woes (I think Ben thought I was being dramatic, but he’s on board now and realizes that pregnancy is REALLY hard)! J

These babies are growing, as is my waistline, plus my heart—thank goodness! I love them and worry about them all of the time. We’ve been really lucky to see them on ultrasound at least 5 times now and each time I cry, almost like I am still in disbelief they are there, happy and thriving. But they are!

A few weeks ago I met with the team at Maternal Fetal Medicine at LDS Hospital. We did a lot of screenings and genetic testing since I am considered “high risk”. Again, absolutely healthy little babes! We got the blood test results a few days later and they confirmed one more time their good health and then asked me if I wanted to know any gender information…OF COURSE I DID!!! So…they gave me a little insight and I called Ben and we did Facetime so I could tell him and SEE his face, since we were both at work. He couldn’t decide if I should tell him, but he REALLY wanted me to. Once I did, we were both so darn happy and a little in shock. It was such a sweet moment for me to see his reaction J

I know you want me to reveal what we found out, but we don’t have both baby genders confirmed yet. What??? I know….haha. Hopefully we’ll find out SOON though! I promise I’ll post a lot quicker than I did last time. Until then, just know I’m fat, happy and healthy over here!


{Thoughts on Christmas}

I began this post on Christmas and never finished it due to various things, mostly nausea I’m sure J . I thought about completely starting over, but decided to go ahead and post and then carry on from there.

I posted the good news yesterday on Christmas Eve, but I am only writing a little something today on Christmas.

I am still amazed at our perfectly wonderful news and how we found out on eve of the most beautiful day of the year, which is a day celebrated with anticipation and gratitude all over the world. The day of our Savior’s birth is the most recognized birthday and I can’t help but feel a connection to not only celebrating him and his birth and what that means to all of us, but the day we found out about our two little babes that will join our family and also change our personal lives forever. His birth means salvation for all, and that I might understand eternity better and love others better.

I knew we would get the opportunity to have children someday. Yes, there were times I doubted, and of course I wasn’t sure how it would happen, but those times of heartache, were necessary for me personally to know how much I wanted these children and to grow my faith and trust Him.

I’m guessing I will always go through times of necessary growth and the doubt may creep in here and there. I don’t know that I will always react in faith. I hope that I do, because as of right now, I KNOW that God is mindful of each of us. Our blessings don’t always come when we are ready for them, but He knows the best timing I think. I am not going to pretend the answer is as simple as I’ve just outlined, because it’s not. It takes faith on our part to keep moving forward. Faith is definitely an action and a choice and it can be very difficult. I wish I had more to say on that right now, but I don’t. That’s the lesson.

…and that’s where I left it. I’m not sure why I couldn’t get past that thought, but there you go!


Monday, January 4, 2016

{We Have 2 Heartbeats}

January 2, 2016 - 6wks 5days

We have 2 heartbeats and couldn’t be happier!