IT"S A GIRL!! and A ???

Hello everyone! We had the 3D ultrasound done today. Well we finally know at least one of our babies is definitely a girl. She gave us a very clear shot of her little bottom side. We are very sure that baby B (the one on the left) is a girl. I can't wait to start collecting little pink things. :) We can also start narrowing down our list of girl names. The other little darling would not cooperate today. "He" (wishful thinking) was all curled up. His legs were pulled up tight and an arm was covering his face and he was turned away. One picture shows his whole back and legs and feet crossed and the side of his face. We also got a couple decent shots of one face and an ear. Luckily, they have scheduled me to come back in a few weeks for a free session since the images weren't very clear and they couldn't get both genders. The appointment is on Dec. 8th. Look for another update then. We also found out why I am feeling kicks mostly on the right side, it is because all 4 legs are in the same area. Both heads are down right now (let's all pray they will stay that way so I can avoid a c-section) and all the feet are a little to the right of my belly button. It was amazing to see them again. They have grown so much. Jim and his mom (Tutu) were able to come too. It was wonderful to see them see the babies for the first time. Jim was not sure what he was seeing at first. I was trying to point things out to him. He saw the little heartbeat. The place was amazing. It was like a spa. Nice leather couches, soft music and lighting. The ladies were so nice. It was a great experience. I can't wait to go back again and get some better images. She recorded a couple short videos too, but they are kind of hard to see whats what.

6 months

Here is a new picture of the belly. Look how much it's grown! I know it is not the best picture, but I thought this dress really showed the belly. Click on the picture to make it bigger and you can see it better. I am 26 weeks now. I am really only about 10 or so weeks away from having them. We are having a 4D/3D ultrasound on Saturday. We will be getting a CD and DVD of them. I will post some pictures on Sat. We will be able to tell if they are boys or girls too. I can't wait to see which one has been kicking me so much on the right side. :) I have to go for now. Look for another update on Saturday!

Sorry Everyone!! I still don't know.

I was hoping that I would be able to tell you tonight what we are having. I thought for sure my doctor would do an ultrasound today. Especially since I haven't been to the doctor at all and I am 25 weeks pregnant. I guess I thought he would care to see how my babies are doing as much as Jim and I are wanting to know how they are. But I was wrong. My appointment was at 3:30 and I arrived early to fill out papers. Jim left his conference early so he could come to our first appointment too. We were both so excited. However, once we got called in the room, the doctor had to go deliver a baby. The nurse said, "Oh she is pushing already, it should only be 15 minutes." Yeah right! We waited an hour in that room. Then when he finally got back, he was in such a hurry to go home I guess, that he really didn't even tell me anything about how I am or the babies. He listened to their hearts for a couple seconds, did a few "other" tests and then said , "OK see you in 2 weeks" and left. He didn't take any time to really talk to me about things, answer any questions(that I have been thinking about for 2 months). It really was the most inefficient doctor's office I have ever been to. The restroom was also filthy. Jim didn't even get to hear or see the babies. That is what I was most looking forward to. It was a real let down and disappointment. I will have to find another doctor. I was just picking one that took my insurance(now I finally have insurance) and who was close to the house. I have a nightmare that I will have the twins in the car on the way to the hospital. So I wanted to go to someone close to our house. I am going to call some more doctors tomorrow and see if I can get another appointment soon. I am also going to find out about getting a 4D ultrasound at a place that does them hear in town. If they take my insurance. Maybe we can at least see them and find out what they are and then I will go to another doctor.
I am really sorry to let everyone down. Sorry I got you all excited too. I hope I will have good news to share the next time I have an appointment. Hopefully I will have a better experience next time. Check back soon. :)

I have a Doctor's appointment!

I just wanted to let everyone know I have an appointment on November 7th finally. Because I switched counties, I had to sign up for new insurance and they had a 63 day waiting period. So I was without insurance for 2 months. I hated not going to the doctor, but I had to wait until I had insurance coverage. It is very expensive to pay out of pocket. We prayed everyday I would be healthy and the babies would continue to grow and thrive. Heavenly Father has really blessed us with answered prayers. I have felt really good and have had no problems. I feel the babies move everyday and that gives me assurance that they are growing. Their kicks are getting stronger too. Jim actually felt one last night. You can even see my belly move a little when they kick sometimes. What a wonderful and miraculous feeling. :) Hopefully at my appointment the doctor will do an ultrasound and if the babies cooperate, we can find out if they are boys or girls or one of each. I can't wait to know. Everyone at school is also asking me if I have found out yet. Even a student that I don't know came up to me at dismissal and asked me "What is it?" I said I don't know, I just know it is two babies. She said, "wow" and went home. Somehow it is getting around the school that I am having twins. While I was walking through the cafeteria, I saw a girl looking at me and she leaned to her friend and said, "She's having twins." It is amazing that the kids seem to get to know a new teacher before even some of the staff gets to know each other.
Look for an update on the 7th about the outcome of the doctor's appointment.

Where did my mind go?

I have heard that you forget things when you are pregnant. :) It really is true! I have been so forgetful lately. I go to the pantry to get something I need and by the time I walk the 3 steps over to it, I have completely forgotten what I was getting. I usually am really good at remembering where I put things, but not right now. I have to write things down if I am going to remember to do it. I may have to resort to sticking Post-it Notes directly to my head. I also am writing on my hand a lot more lately.
The funniest thing I forgot so far just happened tonight. I was fixing dinner and I didn't see (or hear) Gidget so I started calling for her. Usually she is up to no good if I don't see her. I called and called and she didn't come. So I went looking for her. I didn't see her on the bottom floor, so I hiked upstairs (which is becoming more difficult). I looked in our room, the closet, all the bedrooms even if the doors were closed in case I had accidentally shut her in earlier. I didn't find her. I was starting to get worried. When I came back down stairs I realized I had put her outside. :) I felt so silly looking everywhere and calling for her over and over. Hopefully, my memory will go back to normal after the babies are born.

Gidget - a.k.a Needy Princess

Gidget is starting to become more clingy and more needy these days. I think she senses that something is changing. She is one me all the time. Even when she is sitting on me she whines if I am not touching her. She has been barking more and very demanding. She has been our baby for over a year. I think she is going to enjoy the babies, but I wonder how she will respond the first few days.

She is really a great dog and is very friendly to everyone who comes over or we run into on our walks. I am sure she will be fine. I wanted to make sure she was included on the blog too. She is definitely a part of our family. We love her!

Swollen feet

My belly is not the only swelling part of me. My feet have been swelling lately. I thought I would share with everyone. :) The top half of my feet are pretty normal where I had my shoes on, but the bottom and my ankles are not normal. Usually you can see the ligaments and veins in my feet. I was told by a nurse to wear better shoes and hose to keep my feet compressed, but I didn't listen. It is just too hot here to wear hose. So, I have swollen feet. I try to sit down some during the day at work, but that is not always easy to do. At home, I try to put them up for a little while so they will go down. I have heard that this is just the beginning. It will probably get worse. I am not complaining, just sharing. :)

The Rocking Chair

Jim is SO sweet! He came home one day with this really nice rocking chair for me and the babies. He really surprised me with it. It is really comfortable. I can't wait to rock the babies in it. The picture with me in the chair is not very clear. Our camera is not very good. It had trouble focusing and about 9 out of 10 pictures are very blurry. And it is so S-L-O-W. I will need to get a better one before the babies come. I will want to take tons of pictures of them. I have already been planning the baby pages I will do in the scrapbooks. I wanted to buy some baby scrapbook goodies, but I want to wait until we find out if they are boys or girls. I will have an appointment the first week in November. I am sure we will find out then. Watch for an update!

At school

Here I am in my classroom. Look how big my belly is getting! I am loving it! I really like this classroom too. It is nice and new and has a lot of technology. I have 4 computers for the kids to use and one on my desk that is for me to use. I also have a document camera. It is like an overhead projector, but better. You can put anything on it and it will show through the projector on the ceiling to the big screen. We watch our morning announcements up on the big screen. It is really neat. I am enjoying working with first grade. They are a little more independent and have the routine of school down a little better. They have so much to learn though. We are so busy. Not much time for playing.

The kids are aware that I am having twins. They are really starting to notice my belly growing too. Today one boy said, "Are you having a baby?" Even though I had told them before, now it is more visible. Other people at school are starting to ask more now too. It is becoming more real to me too.

I guess it is my turn to add something to our blog page. I would like to say that I am extremely excited about the upcoming birth of our TWINS. I am also in freak out mode. I think about the fact that I am 48 and when the kids are 21 I will be 70. On the other hand I am so excited about the opportunity to have these kids with my eternal bride. As she shows more and more it is becoming more evident that this is really going to happen. Ten years of praying and fasting has worked and I can not be more pleased with the outcome. I have always known that Tawnya would be a great and loving mother. No one will ever know how long and hard I prayed that the lord would not penalize her for falling in love with a man that is older by 14 years and have to forgo the miracle or birth because of my past bad decisions. I can not tell you how cute and excited Tawnya is about these babies. I know that she will be the best mother and mommy. If she is half the mother that she is a wife, she will be the greatest mommy ever. As you can tell I am not much of a writer, but I do want our friends and family to know how very much I love and adore Tawnya, and how very much I am looking forward to loving her and our Twins for all time and Eternity.

I felt them move!

I was wondering when I would feel them move around in there. I would lay in bed every night and wait to see if I could feel something. Last week, I was sitting in the car waiting for Jim. I had the music playing and I was singing along. I felt a little kick, kick, kick. It happened several times in a row. I knew for sure it was a baby kick and not just my digestion. :) It is a wonderful feeling knowing that they are OK and growing in there. I am getting bigger every week. Along with some kicking, I am feeling a lot of stretching. I am looking forward to getting bigger, but I am also a little scared about just how big I will get. I was looking at another mom of twins blog and she was really surprisingly big by week 37. It is amazing how your body can grow to accommodate two babies (even just one baby). I hope all will go well and I will be healthy and strong enough to carry them to term.

Our move to Orlando

I just realized that some of you may not know that we have moved to Orlando. We are in a subburb of Orlando called Windermere. It is very close to Disney. We are so close that we can see and hear the fireworks they shoot every night when I walk the dog down by the lake. It is a really nice area. We are really enjoying it. Everything is so close. Jim's job brought us over here. He is still with the Boy Scouts, just a different council. This council is much bigger and has greater opportunity for promotion. He is very busy right now recruiting new boys and leaders. He loves his job, as do I. I have gone with him to some school nights to help him. I love watching him talk so passionaltely about the Scouting program that he loves so dearly. I also love the fact that he will be able to share this with our children. I can't wait until they can go camping with Daddy. :) I am doing great in my new school too. I really like the team I am working with. I am teaching first grade. I love their enthusiasm for learning.

If anyone comes to Disney for vacation, please let me know and we would love to have you over.

They are growing!

Here they are. There's no doubt I am pregnant now. Someone today at church said, "Beautiful belly!" I thought that was sweet and it is nice to know that people are starting to recognize that I am pregnant and not just gaining weight. :)

Don't I look cute?

It is so great to finally be showing. Until now, when I told people I was pregnant they looked at my belly and then looked back at me with a look of disbelief. It is frustrating when people don't believe you. Now people believe me. I love wearing maternity clothes. Jim likes it too. He thinks I look cute. All the teachers at school like to watch my belly get bigger. I check it out in the mirror every morning too. Now I am 18 weeks and really starting to grow more. I should start feeling them move around in there. I can't wait to feel that. Some times at night when I am sitting or lying down, I think I feel some flutters, but it is hard to be sure.

I have been feeling really good. I only get a little out of breath going upstairs and some times I feel dizzy when I am first getting up in the morning. My feet have been swelling too. I try to lay down and put them up once I get home. I have been blessed with health so far and hope that will continue.

More ultrasound pics

Here are a couple more pics of baby A and B. We are still discussing names for them. We will be able to make them final once we know if they are boys or girls.

12 weeks

We are moving along! August 9, 2007 - I am now 12 weeks pregnant. We are a little relieved from our worrying now that we have made it past this point. Up till now I was a little freaked out everyday wondering and hoping that I would stay pregnant. It is scary when you have lost a baby before. I wondered everyday if something I might do would end this beautiful dream. I felt like I was changing some each week, but I still wasn't sure. I was not fitting into my pants around week 10, but I thought maybe I was just gaining weight. I needed some assurance that it was real. I was scheduled for a second ultrasound on August 9th. With moving over to Orlando I was able to keep my mind busy a little. Jim was busy working so I had to go again by myself. This time they looked like real babies. Last time they looked like little peanuts. It was so cool to see all them this time. I saw their profile and heartbeats. I could even hear the heartbeats. They are sitting like they are looking at each other and talking to each other. The tech said they were measuring just right and their heartrates were just right. Seeing them on the screen is better than the pictures. It was too early to tell if they are boys or girls or both. Hopefully next time we can find out. We want to find out so we can get things ready for them. I will let you know as soon as I can.

We're Pregnant!!!

The day that we have waited for has finally arrived. We have waited 10 long years to finally see this blessing come to be. We are so greatful to our Heavenly Father for putting us in the right place at the right time. He helped us find the right people, who lead us to the right doctors who could help us finally realize this dream. We didn't know at first why we would need to move to the Tampa area. We just knew we needed to go, so we went. We know that our prayers and the prayers of our family and friends have been answered. They weren't answered when we wanted them to be answered, but when it was the right time for us. We are so excited and a little overwhelmed, but so ready to have this great miracle in our lives.
The day of the pregnancy test was nerve wracking. I went to the doctor's office to do the blood test early in the morning and then had to wait till later that afternoon to find out. Jim was so sweet and took me out all day to keep me busy. We went to several baby stores to look at cribs and baby stuff. Finally around 1:30 or so we got the call we were waiting for while we were driving around. The nurse said "Girl you're pregnant!" I smiled so big and looked at Jim and he smiled so big. She said my number (whatever hormone it is they look for) was very high. There was no doubt that I am definitly pregnant. I felt like I must be because I had been feeling a little queasy in the mornings. It is sure nice to have that confirmation though. Then I had to go in for more blood tests a couple more times. They wanted to make sure my number continued to go up, and it did.
Then I was scheduled for an ultrasound to see if we were having 1 or 2 babies. That was another exciting day. Jim had to report to his new position in Orlando already and I was finishing teaching summer school in New Port Richey so I had to go by myself. Once they were ready to tell me, I said "Wait!" I called Jim and put him on the speaker phone so we could find out together. The doctor said to Jim, "Are you sitting down?" and Jim said he was. Then the doctor said, "You're having 2 babies!" Wow! What a wonderful blessing to bring two beautiful babies into our family. We think it is going to be wonderful to have 2 babies at the same time. It is a little scary, but we are so ready to be parents.
We wanted to share this experience with our family and friends. So I am creating this blog to keep everyone updated as we go along. Right now I don't have much to put on, but it will get better as the time draws closer. I hope you enjoy it and will check in from time to time.