Tick Tock Tick Tock..........

Here's Daddy putting on our rugrat's shoes.
Christmas morning with Jeremy, his mom, and still our only child.

All of Kate's Grandma's hunting paid off - she found a double stroller and two baby dolls to help this little one have her own babies to push around.

As groggy as she looks, she hasn't had any Christmas punch, she's just been playing with so many toys her head is spinning (What would we do without grandparents?). She loves scribbling on the Etch-a-Sketch.

I had to put this picture in because she looks so stinkin cute in that dress.

I'm sure many have been wondering our current family size. Still nothing. We've had two big fake-outs - one two Tuesdays ago and the other just yesterday. For anyone who's really curious - I'm dilated to a 4, 80% effaced, contracting anywhere from every 2-6 minutes to not at all (though I typically can't feel a darned thing), and both babies - last ultrasound anyway - are head down. Miss Sydney is WAY down in my pelvis and Cora is not far behind. Our outlook for a vaginal delivery of both is VERY good. What's the hold up? Wouldn't we all like to know. Yesterday I was told if I was 37 weeks (Tuesday, Jan 5th), they would just break my water. But these little ladies are still premies, so unless my contractions are longer (lasting 60 seconds instead of 30 seconds like they are now), I open up to a 5, or my water breaks, we're all just hanging out until next Tuesday. The funny thing is that my body seemed so ready to deliver them until we passed the 35 week mark (our goal to be able to deliver at the hospital with the docs we want). Suddenly everything has slowed down. Though this may be the best I've felt for the whole pregnancy. I waddle like a duck and getting out of bed is entertaining to say the least, but what a wonderful thing to have made it this far. Thank you everyone for your love, support, and prayers. Hopefully we will have pictures up of the new rugrats a week or so from today. Course, my mom keeps joking one will be born 11:30pm Dec 31 and the other 12:10 Jan 1st. We'll just wait and see I guess.....

Chatterbox

Here's our little small fry dancing away with a white elephant gift her daddy brought home. Jeremy asked me to make a list of everything she says right now (the girl's a parrot) so we don't forget. Here's everything I can remember: Mommy, Daddy, Papa (grandpa), Mama (grandma), Pele (she says it pay-lay-eee), doggie, puppy, meow, moo, piggy, night night, eat, please, more, tuby (bath time), snow, no, go-go, coat, dress, shoes, bow, tie, pants, chair, truck, bus, beep-beep, Katie, Tommy, Ann, Lori, Ady, Sydney, Cora, Ella, nose, eye, teeth, crash, mash, tatoes (potatoes), apple, peas, pasta, zanya (lasagne), milk, cereal, toast, hot, cold, bunny, blankie, tickle, crow, caa (what the crow says), juice, dink (drink), baby, shhhh, and Jesus. That's what I can remember. I can't believe how much she picks up on things. I think she's being blessed to be able to do so much since things will be so crazy when her sisters come. Three girls in less than three years of marriage. Who just does that? You count myself and the dog and Jeremy's way out numbered. She sure loves to dance, though (like what she's doing in the picture). Dancing and running and reading. I can't wait for warmer weather and the ability to walk returned to me so we can explore this beautiful country!

Double Placenta Brain

There have been multiple blog addresses I've been meaning to add to our blog for months. Well, in the process of doing it, I happened to eliminate all of the previous ones I had listed. I have a hard enough time with technology when I'm not pregnant. So I am begging anyone who I've checked in on before or who wouldn't mind having us check in on you in the future on your blog to please leave a comment so we can still stay in touch!

Finally Finished

Thirteen months after starting this project - I finally finished the stockings! So bedrest was a big part of the reason I was able to finish. Just in time too, because right after I finished my hands have now decided to go numb on me (painfully numb) as soon as I try to do anything with them. The same thing happened when I was pregnant with Kate, but it didn't hurt like this does. I tell you what, it's weird to wash your hair and not feel it. Anyway, the stockings. Also done just in time to have another year to make two more for miss Sydney and Cora. I can't tell you how proud I am of these though, because crafts and sewing are not so much up my alley. I usually prefer dirt and cookies. Yeah for branching out!

Winter Came!

We got our Christmas tree shopping in just before it snowed. This is Jeremy's dad helping Kate look at the trees. Although she was really more interested in the lights they had. But it was fun.
Here is our glorious tree. It's about 3 feet tall and cost us $10. I love it. None of the decorations match, they're all a collection of what we had growing up and one for Kate and one for our first Christmas together. Jeremy and I like to joke that it's very much like our life - nothing matches, everything's just thrown together, and we love it.

Our first snow! I love the winter and I'm so excited it finally came! Kate was really excited to get her boots and snowsuit on, but putting her in the snow to walk around was another story.

Yeah, she wasn't very impressed with walking around in this stuff. But she can say snow and she always wants outside, she's just not so sure what to do when she's in it.

Here's our beloved snow dog. I'm sad I can't take her somewhere to run like we could in Spokane, because I love to watch her fly in the snow. But she's pretty happy having a back yard to stomp around in. She's been making little beds for herself in the snow all over the yard. It's fun to watch.

I don't fit a single coat in our house. I can't even zip Jeremy's coats up over my belly. Some of our fleeces will still cover me up, but not a single coat.

So big, I am currently only fitting Jeremy's T-shirts. Let me tell you how pretty I feel. I don't mean to be vain, but it's that feeling of staying in your PJs all day when you're sick. I just keep reminding myself this is just a season. And hey, I am super happy that they're growing!

Sigmund Freud and C. S. Lewis

Because a good portion of the time I'm lucid enough to think I still have to lie on the couch, I am currently reading quite the collection of books. Our ward's compassionate service leader asked around some of the other gals in the ward and delivered to me a bag full of all kinds of books and I have just finished the second one. I loved the first one I read: A Walk in the Woods, by John Bryson (I think). Though he's foul-mouthed in conversations, he's incredibly witty and entertaining throughout the rest of the book as he talks about his adventures hiking the Appalachian Trail. He includes natural history, civil war history, American commerce history, geology, and all kinds of other things that just blow your mind. His view on the wilderness in general is enjoyable as you watch him go from almost couch potato to a man craving the wilderness even when he's home. I recommend it.

The one I just finished is also incredible. It's The Question of God, Sigmund Freud and C. S. Lewis debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life. I can't remember the author, but he's a Harvard professor that was asked to teach a class on Freud and it evolved into much of what is in the book. The background is that Freud was a stout atheist and Lewis was an atheist, turned Christian when he was 31. They may have met before Freud died (he was a generation before Lewis and their lives overlapped by a couple of decades or so), but it's not recorded. The author sets up a series of ideas and questions that with quotes from their books and letters to friends and family portrays each perspective almost as if they are debating. It's astounding. The author tries to be as unbiased as possible, but keeps finding many a whole in Freud's arguments and multiple occasions where he contradicts himself.

Freud's biggest beef with the existence of a God is even if there was one, he's obviously not concerned with us (it's a childhood wish of having someone as powerful as a parent watching over us that extends into adulthood) because if he did care, why is there so much sorrow, pain, and suffering? At the same time he thinks it's ludicrous to "love one's neighbor" because all his neighbor ever does is hurt him and there's no advantage in that.

Lewis didn't want to believe there was a God, partially because he'd been through so much suffering as a boy, but also because he didn't want someone else to interfere with or run his life. After many discussions with colleagues and studying things out on his own he was slowly converted to being "a believer," though he still struggled with the concept of pain and suffering and the purpose it served. But his answers came and it's humbling to read all of this and think through it. The author of the book states at the beginning that this isn't something you can just look at and think, "oh, that's interesting," but that you need to make a choice. One of these points of view is right and one is wrong, they can't both be right and you must read and decide and live accordingly.

What have I gained from this? A lot. First, I wonder now how often I sit on the fence about any issue because having an answer makes me responsible for what I know. But ignoring it is the same as choosing a side, and not really a good one. Second, C. S. Lewis' thoughts on happiness and joy put things in a very clear light. He more or less says as human beings, created in the image of God, our only source of lasting happiness and joy is to develop our relationship with our Creator, the God and Father of our souls. We were made to have this relationship with Him, to learn how to develop it while here on this earth. All other things that can bring us happiness or pleasure are blessings from Him, but to point us towards Him. They were never meant to satisfy completely and they do not have that power. He says that all of our vices are really souls trying to replace our only true source of happiness with temporal things - power, sex, money, recreation, entertainment, whatever. None of these things are bad, but become such when we use them as "other gods" and seek our happiness from them instead of our relationship with God. He also said we may create the wrong perspective of who God is if we only look to the imperfect people around us instead of studying out who He is through the scriptures and what they teach us about God. This struck me hard, especially as I now wonder about raising three girls in this world.

How often as a parent do I focus on teaching her how to read, wondering what she will become, wondering how to help her succeed in life, hoping she has the life skills to get through this world and the motivation to go to school? Just like the above things that can bring temporary happiness, none of that is wrong or bad, it's all good and necessary. But how much time do I spend focusing on how to teach her honesty, to have a relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, to have a desire to read the scriptures on her own, to be kind and non-judgmental to everyone, not just friends? There is a balance in all things and I want all my girls to know how to read, to count, to play and succeed in whatever they choose. But just as lasting peace in joy is only found in a relationship with the Savior and Heavenly Father, so is a true sense of identity and purpose. Though I need to teach all of them how to live in this world, I need to help them know they are only here for a time and all of their best laid plans may change.

I can look back on my own life and think of how I wanted things to be and how they've changed, how many joys, disappointments, sorrows, and triumphs I've gone through as have so many friends and family. We all have plans of how life will be and I bet anyone you ask would say it's not worked out the way they thought it would. Some wanted to get married right out of high school or soon after and a decade or so later are still searching for someone or find themselves divorced. Some who wanted to go to school never got the chance. Some who wanted children cannot conceive, or then there's my case where both Jeremy and I want them, but it is a walk through fire to get there every step of the way. Others have children with disabilities. Financial issues seem to face everyone in one way or another. Trials of faith that we never expected to face wash over us when we least expect it. Friends or family may pass from this life long before we ever expected. Or family we thought would stay healthy spend years watching their health painfully slip from them. Goals and dreams we have get replaced with current needs and we wonder why we ever had those if we feel we'll never achieve them. Loneliness can be overwhelming and consuming even if you are surrounded by family and friends as you struggle with things you don't know how to talk about with anyone else. Communication break-downs with family or friends leave heartache you never imagined. We've all made mistakes in actions, words, or the lack of that we cannot let go of. You can look at all of this and get so discouraged and look to the skies to beg the question, "Why? What is this all for and is there no mercy?"

But it takes us back to that simple answer. We are here to become like God, to develop a relationship with him and to understand who we are as his children and why we are here. Would you ever seek Him out as earnestly as you do in times of trial if everything went according to your original plan? Would you be as willing to listen if you didn't so desperately need His guidance? Would you want to return to Him if you felt you had all you needed here in this earth life? To Freud all of the sorrows of the world just meant misery. Just accept there is no hope, accept it as truth, then at least you won't be disappointed. But if you believe, suddenly there is reason behind sorrow. There is hope with trials. I remember Elder Worthlin's talk "Sunday Will Come." The Savior of the world was crucified and falsely accused and all looked bleak to His followers. Yet because of His death, He overcame ALL when He resurrected. He could not have if He hadn't gone through those darkest hours in the Garden of Gethsemane and on Calvary. We cannot expect to have something better if we can't pass through the difficult. Don't get me wrong, I'm often one of the first to say I don't want to go through hard things (especially bringing kids into this world). But reading through this and pondering over it, I'm so grateful for the hope of the Gospel. I love Christmas for this reason. Forget the presents and dinners (though they are fun and fabulous). I'm just so excited to know there is more than the trials of this life. That all of those moments of joy we have here are to point us to the greater joy we can have there in the next life with Heavenly Father if we let Him teach us through our experiences here.

Sheeze louise, have I talked enough yet? I don't know if anyone is even still reading this. I just wanted to get all of that out while I was thinking of it. It makes me happy to know there is a loving Father in Heaven and a Savior to help me overcome my own long list of weaknesses.

And I really recommend that book to anyone.

Miracles

So I had another OB apt this week and when I left I felt so relieved that I needed to put something up here about it. Overall things are really good now. I've finally gained enough weight to at least put us in the safety zone (31 lbs! I'm excited! It's supposed to be I think 40-60 minimum for twins, maybe 45, but 31 is so much better than where we were). My insides are still a little more ready for labor than they would like, hence, I'm still under a relative house arrest / bed rest order, but we have made it past 32 weeks! That means their little lungs are in pretty good shape right now and all the cooking they have left will help us be able to feed them better (and hopefully they won't spit up 24/7 as Kate did. At least if they do, we've dealt with it before). I don't know if I've mentioned, but we're pretty sure we're naming them Cora and Sydney. Cora's the smaller of the two, and she is lagging behind, but she's still gaining appropriately which is also fabulous news. The other thing is that many multiples end up being delivered by C-section. I asked my OB about the chances and she said as long as the first one is head down and I have an epidural in, unless someone goes into distress during the delivery she can do whatever needs to be done to get baby number 2 out without doing a C-section. We have to make it to 35 weeks (Dec 22) to deliver at the hospital my OB is at (because they don't have a NICU). But since we've had so much help (my sister, Jeremy's dad is here with us until Dec 20th, then his mom comes, then my mom, etc), I've been able to stay down so much more and I think we'll make it to at least 36 weeks (Dec 29th). The later they come, the easier they will be to care for.

The other thing is the ward threw us a nice baby shower and someone else in the ward brought by all of her little girl's old clothes. We were a little worried about having enough warm pajamas for these two, and for Kate and clothes have just kept coming. We now have plenty of warm PJs for the rugrats and it made me tear up as I was putting them in drawers, just realizing how aware of us Heavenly Father is and how much he's watched over us by sending us so many angels - friends, family, even strangers who've all been willing to sacrifice a little to a lot to help us at this point in our lives. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's kept us in their thoughts, prayers, put us on prayer rolls, helped us out with clothes, time, or any other blessing that's kept us afloat when we so easily could have gone under. We love all of you and pray that the Lord is watching over you as well.

Boo

I know, we're two holidays late for this one, but I was so proud of the ghost I had up for Halloween that I had to put a picture of it up. Nothing like a garbage bag and a Sharpie to get you decked out for Halloween.
This is one of my favorite people. Ginny was my VT companion in Spokane and she came out and slaved away for me for a few days. Kate adored her and it was fun to have someone in the house who wanted to jabber as much as I did. Thank you Ginny!

I never got a picture of my sister, but she came the week after Ginny and was such a lifesaver for us! She put up the Christmas decorations, made some awesome food, all while entertaining not just my own child, but her one year old as well. Here's Kate's cousin, Van and he loved playing with Pele and getting on the Christmas decoration boxes. Melissa was a total rock star. Not that I enjoy this more perma-bed rest situation, but I sure get a lot more company coming to visit!

Ah, our beautiful daughter. So we dressed her up in Ute shirt and pants so we could show the picture to her BYU Grandpa, but let us say she does not like to hold still for pictures. Melissa caught this beautiful pose for us.

Now she's happier. Good thing, or her grandpa might make some suggestion about her scowl having to do with wearing red and white instead of blue. Bah.

This girl is obsessed with coats. She finds the coat and points to it or grabs it and brings it to you and says "go go?" She was determined to put my sweatshirt on. Well, she looked more like a gnome from behind in it, then she'd trip and fall out of it and be so mad it wasn't on her anymore. She's so patient. Surely she didn't get that from her parents.....

We Love Firemen

After my fabulous visit to the hospital this last week my sister offered to come up and spend some time keeping me down. Jeremy's mom is going to come out just after Thanksgiving for 3 weeks. We've got awesome family and I can't say enough of them. Well, here's the adventure we had Melissa's first night here. Jeremy was on call and we were all peacefully in our beds. At about 4 am the smoke alarm started screaming. By the time I got out of bed and calmed the scared dog down (so brave, at least Kate slept through it), it stopped. Then it started again, then stopped. I'm sitting there thinking, are you kidding me? Please don't let the house burn down. It didn't keep going so I had Melissa come up the stairs to where it was and see if maybe it was the battery, but it was plugged into the ceiling. There was no battery. We checked all around the house for anything that could be burning, had a hard time deciding if we could smell smoke, got back into bed and it went off again. So I called the fire department to ask if they could come make sure we weren't missing some smoldering fire in our house.

At 4:30am we had 4 firefighters over who walked through the house and checked the smoke detectors for us, took the old ones down, and since they determined it was a short in the very old contraptions, put a new one in and let me know I needed to go to home depot and get some new ones quick. They were super nice about the whole thing and I found myself grateful that they were 1-reachable, 2-awake, 3-took me seriously, and 4-were helpful.

It's true, this turned out to be nothing tragic (thank goodness). But I just wanted to give a shout out to those people who are up all night to answer phone calls from pregnant women scared their house is potentially on fire.

Dad Always said I was Special

I don't know that everyone would like to hear about everything going wrong, but since this is as close as I get to keeping a journal right now I'll probably continue to post about the weirdness of pregnancy.

To make a long story short, Monday night I was throwing up blood. So since Jeremy was post call Tuesday morning we ran ourselves over to the lovely hospital to pump me up with at least some fluid. Our doc said I most likely tore part of my stomach and gave me some Zantac to tame the wild acid, but I mentioned that food was not digesting either and they gave me Reglan as well (on top of the 2 liters of IV fluid). Now, Reglan basically helps with gut motility, but there can be a few weird side effects. One of the rare ones is you get really depressed and suicidal. But instead, my body did the reverse. I went from being super sick and looking dead in bed to a sudden burst of energy and laughter. I couldn't stop giggling or moving and scared the snot out of my husband and the nurse because they'd never seen anything like it from something as mild as Reglan. Whatever happened, at least I could finally eat a couple popsicles! Our doc explained it is an extremely rare side effect and Jeremy just asked me, "Can you do nothing like a normal person? You don't even respond to medication like people should!" I'm just giving him a broader perspective as a physician.

So I'm home now. That's been three trips to the hospital so far, none of which have helped us feel any less clueless about what to do with me and I've never had so many pills to take on a daily basis in my life, but I'm not dead yet. I can look on this right now and laugh because it's so ridiculous, but maybe it's because they gave me the pill form of Reglan to take home.

My friend, Ginny, was here for the fun of all of that and what a lifesaver she was! Katie Lou did great with her and our freezer is stocked with food. I tell you what, there's nothing like good friends who you know understand you to help you feel like at least you haven't completely lost your mind, well, that or they remind you that you did have a mind at one point in time to lose. Sometimes in all of this I wonder....

Before all of that started, we were foster parents of a 7 year old English Mastiff from Thursday to Friday. She got along great with Pele and Katie Lou and was really sweet, but she was also in heat so I was changing her little doggie diaper every time she needed to go to the bathroom. Little's the wrong word. That dog weighed 140 lbs - more than 3x the size of Pele. She went back within 24 hrs.

All of this teaches me about limitations. I left high school and went through college feeling like I never wanted to be limited. I hated people telling me I can't do something (I don't mean safety things), or that dreams are impossible. Everything seems so black and white then. Then you start to face real life and realize limitations may be a reality during certain seasons of life. The stubborn side of me still fights that idea, but all that does is make me frustrated. If I decide it's OK to hold still for a minute and ponder instead of working to death for the sake of progress and efficiency, I begin to be a lot more grateful for the things I have. As much as this is stinking hard - the moments of despair, the constant weakness and sickness, the stress, worry, aching, and exhaustion - it has taught me so much more than I would have learned having an easy pregnancy. Compassion, patience (still REALLY working on that), trusting the Lord's plan and timing instead of demanding my own, humility, and especially letting go of that rigid image of how life is supposed to be if "you work hard and do everything right." I could talk about this forever, but I just want to say that I'm grateful.

I'm grateful for a husband that always does his best to take care of me. I'm grateful for a daughter who loves her parents despite their own perceived shortcomings. I'm grateful for a dog who really is the perfect fit for our family and knows what I'm asking when I just look at her the right way. I'm grateful for so many people so willing to help. I'm grateful that I'm not an elephant that's pregnant for 22 months. I'm grateful we have such a nice home to live in and that the weather has been as good as it has. I'm grateful our fridge and cars work. I'm grateful we haven't had a mouse in the house for a few weeks. I'm grateful I can see colors and that we have such beautiful trees and rivers around us. I'm grateful for Christmas lights that brighten up our kitchen when it gets so dark so early now. I'm grateful for the education and jobs I've had and the amazing roommates and coworkers I've gotten to know and love. I'm grateful my mom and dad always listen to me then talk sense into me and love me for who I am. I'm grateful for both mine and Jeremy's brothers and sisters and how much they do for us. I'm grateful for the sense of touch and how amazing it is to hug Jeremy and hold Kate or scratch behind Pele's ears. I'm grateful I can walk and talk (as incoherent as it is at times). I'm grateful I can read. I'm grateful for kitchen knives that actually cut food on the first try. I'm grateful I can hear music. I'm grateful for the power of prayers - both said and unsaid. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father knows me and watches out for me. I'm grateful I have a Savior who gives me hope when I don't want to hope anymore. I'm grateful that days come to an end and new days are always fresh with no mistakes in it.

You never realize how much you have and all of the things that can make you happy until you really think about it.

Preggo Mini-Update

I'm still super behind in posting anything in depth and I think it would do me good to get my thoughts out, but this may still be brief. Let me just say that this Tues we've reached 28 weeks, which is a 90% good outcome for any little babies born without additional complications. We mapped out our gains for 28, 30, 32, 34, 35, and 36 weeks. I have a lot of mixed emotions because I want them to have the best chance possible, but so much of the time I'm so weak and sick still that there's a part of me says the sooner they're out the better. If they're in the NICU, at least there's a team of medical people to watch out for them besides their parents. That probably sounds really harsh or strange to some people. OK, a lot of people. Let's just say that I passed out today at my OB appointment, went to the ER AGAIN, my phone died an untimely death last night (not a dead battery, a dead phone) so I couldn't even reach Jeremy or the gal watching Kate, and even when I'm home and resting it is a serious BATTLE to get enough food and fluid down me for one day. Everything makes me cry right now. It is so hard to know that I can't do simple things like make dinner, do dishes, carry Kate up the stairs, hold her for more than a couple minutes, or even just sweep the floor. After any of the above, I'm on the floor for a good couple of hours just breathing and feeling my heart pound. My OB said I'm actually doing really well for twins. Sheesh, if this is well, those poor people who get put on real bed rest. I don't like feeling like I'm complaining all the time and I'm really working on keeping a positive perspective here. If we can just make it to December I may not care at all when they're born.

I can't be thankful enough for the ward we're in. We've had so much food brought to us and people are coming over to take Kate left and right. The neighbors walk Pele about 3 times a week. So I know Heavenly Father's watching over us and helping us hold this family together. But I don't know if I'll remember much of anything of our first year here in New Hampy. Bless those women who enjoy pregnancy so much or who have to go through so much to get pregnant. I don't know if I can physically, mentally, or emotionally handle this again.

If we could beg prayers off of anyone, even if it's just that I can handle the cabin fever of unofficial bed rest, or that Kate will know her parents love her despite making her the ward foster child, or that Jeremy will have the strength he needs for 12+ hour days then to come home and take care of his other patients, we will take anything. Please forgive us for any lack of phone calls or letters this holiday season and just know that we think of all of our friends and family with the warmest feelings in our hearts and can't thank you all enough for how you've blessed our lives. We know we'll get through this and we can't wait for the chance to pay it forward to others. For now we just keep counting our blessings that we've been as blessed and protected as we have.

Pictures Always Look Good

We survived our trip to visit family, though I must admit, after almost missing the connecting flight and she and I both taking our turns puking, there better be a really important event for me to ever fly again pregnant. I cannot praise the kindness of strangers enough who were so kind as to let her sleep on their laps so I could breath and who cleared the way for me and talked to the flight attendants about what was going on when I had to puke my guts out. On that happy note, this is a picture of Kate with her cousins on a fine September day.
So my sister, Ann, did her hair for me and she just loved running on the sidewalk right next to Grandma Sorensen's flowers. Then she'd stop and eat them.

Another set of cousins, same ages as the previous set.

Kate and her daddy reunited after a long trip away. You're looking at the battlefield visible from Little Round Top at Gettysburg. I can't describe how moving American history is to me. This is an incredible place that makes me so grateful that, despite our problems, I belong to this country. There was no logical reason the Union should have won this battle. The South had greater numbers, more experienced generals, and started off in better positions. But this site turned the tides of the civil war and, again, despite our imperfections, every human being legally has the rights of another in our country. (Although all lawyers, politicians, and other people in general may argue with me on that).

Driving from Philadelphia to home was a long trek and we tuckered out the little bug and her Grandpa.

Here's Kate and her dad wandering the streets of Intercourse, Pennsylvania. Jeremy and I learned the difference between a Mennonite and Amish buggy here and our jaws dropped at learning the price of an Amish quilt.

Unfortunately our trip lost us some of the more glorious part of fall at home. This is my favorite tree in the cemetery by our house. It had just started turning red in little patches at the top when we were leaving. At least we still got to see this much of it.

Here's dad with the pink marshmallow, I mean Katie Lou, before one of our morning walks. I was so happy to find something that still covered her hands and feet!

Fall leaves from the neighbor's tree. It's great fun until Kate realizes she's close to the road then runs straight for it.

Here's our Halloween costumes. I'm a pregnant cowgirl and the Bug's a witch, though there's no hope of a proper hat staying on her head.

OK, this is my favorite. We went trick-or-treating to our five neighbors and she was much more interested in swinging the bag around and running in the road, but it was fun to show her off. Plus she scored big for the few houses we went to. Reeses, 3 Musketeers, M&Ms, we're in a good neighborhood!

So Much to Say

Ah, the two Jeremys of my life. My husband and brother. So to sum things up, I was in trouble for a while. After my parents and sis left I kind of took a turn for the worse. We had to go to the ER, my OB not so subtly suggested not being pregnant at this time, I was not gaining any weight and had to have neighbors and church friends come and watch Kate or bring us food because I could hardly move. My Mom felt terrible and sent my brother out for two weeks to help and it made a world of difference. Just having someone to carry Kate and make sure I could eat and drink. He was pretty much my hero. That and I realized maybe half of my conversations I am quoting some movie or cartoon from forever ago and my brother Jeremy is the only one who knows all of the same movies. We had a good time. And since he was sporting a shaved head and my husband Jeremy has wanted to shave his for some time now - voila ! We have the two shaved men above. I have since switched OBs, by the way, to one who took my vomiting and exhaustion and nausea a bit more seriously and things are better. I've currently gained 14 lbs (never mind that I should be closer to 25 or more now with two babies) and that is an exciting victory. But it's strange to be looking for high calorie, high fat, high protein foods when everything is marketed as low all of the above.

This is to show off my fabulous photography skills. My sister gave Kate this dress for her birthday and she does look very cute, but she also likes to move which makes for a blurry picture when you only have the standard digital camera and not enough patience to take the 20 shots you need to get the perfect picture.

We took Kate to the pool while Term (that's what I call my brother, Jeremy) was here. I lasted about 20 minutes, which was impressive. The water completely terrified Kate at first and I think it had more to do with the amounts of screaming children already in the pool. She warmed up to the idea after a while and we had a good time.

Super baby with Uncle Term at the pool.

This was Jeremy my husband's joke since all three of his girls (Kate, Pele, and myself) throw-up so much.

This would be Katie Lou and I in a Boston fountain. We went to Boston hoping to go to the aquarium (air conditioning is a nice thing in humid August weather), but we couldn't talk ourselves into the admission price so we walked around for a bit instead and Kate had no fear of this fountain until the water came back down on her head. We survived all the same.

So I seriously put my brother to work while he was here. We dug up half of the lily-covered garden to plant things like these raspberry bushes. The planter box you see here was a last minute thing before we had to drive him to the airport. We thought there was more soil there than there really was so we were pretty proud of our efforts to find things around the house to help with this project. We're not supposed to get a crop until next summer, but the one on the right has already given us at least 20 berries. He must be an early bloomer.

We joined the canoe club here when we first came. Many of you are probably thinking that if I was that sick I am insane for even trying this out. Well, mental sanity is just as important and since either Jeremy my husband or Jeremy my brother was really doing most of the work as I had to keep Kate from drowning and I got to sit down the whole ride, it was not as physically exhausting as other things. And yes, Kate still wants to drink the water.

We have this ginormo lavender bush outside our back door and every morning when we get back from our walk, Kate plays with it while I get Pele inside. We have since bought some fuzzy slippers to cover her feet in the morning as it's now around 50 degrees or less. (Again, the walk keeps the mental sanity, please don't tell me to stay home and rest - I can't do it forever and there is a balance.)

The child is a freakin book worm! She hands us books all the time. Jeremy seems to be able to get away with reading each book once, but I usually am asked to read it at least 3-5 times. Repetition is good, right?

And this is my friend Ericka's birthday cake. She came out for a week to help me and we have been playing (and I also make her slave away). She taught me how to do a double layer cake, and our first lesson was frosting doesn't stick as well if the cake is still warm in the middle. Fortunately chocolate cake tastes good however you make it.

There have been so many things I want to write about. We did find out both of the twins are girls (Jeremy is so outnumbered). But we were also told there were a couple of things they found on the ultrasound to be concerned about. It ended up being made a bigger deal than it actually was, but there's still something they're not sure about in the brain of one of the girls. At first we were very worried, but have since decided we're not going to change anything, we have no control over what happens here and we are very happy to love two more girls who are coming into this house. This whole pregnancy has been quite the emotional roller coaster. I always thought I'd like to live maybe a hundred years ago, but between Kate's pregnancy and this one I think I wouldn't be able to hack it. Oh, well. I look at the little Bug now and I know it's worth it. I'm at moments so overwhelmed and others so excited. I'm glad that Heavenly Father's in charge and not me and if I always look at it that way and not stress about maintaining control I am much happier.

I will be traveling to visit family and then DC for a few weeks, so hopefully we will have more pictures again for the next post and one day I'll get all my thoughts in about health care, the book I read on girls aggression, and having twins. Until then, I'm glad I finally put something up!

Picture Time

This is almost two month's worth of pictures, people. I hope you enjoy!

Look who wants to brush her teeth! Every time she sees me brushing she pulls on my leg until I let her brush her teeth. This was still in Spokane.

Ah, the beautiful Gray Canyon. This is what I was doing the week I left Jeremy with Kate in Salt Lake.

Here's the Burn Camp staff photo.

These, I believe, are called pectogliphs (sorry, not a historian or speller). We stopped on one of the hikes to check these out and I am always so amazed by them and very curious what they mean.

This is the incredible storm that came rolling in as we were pulling out at the end of the trip. Thunder, hail, it was awesome! Actually, because it rained nearly every day is what I think kept me in such good shape for the trip. Pregnancy for me with heat is a BAD combo. I was 7 1/2 weeks preggo for this trip.

Now we're onto Jeremy and Jeff's (Jeremy's dad) cross-country venture. They figured they'd get a couple of Royal's games in while they were on their merry way.

He's pretty good looking, isn't he?

They also stopped in Palmyra. You're looking at the Sacred Grove and the Palmyra, NY temple in the background.

Fast forward a few weeks to our new house and me not being able to find Pele in our backyard, but I could hear her. I finally figure out she found a way to get under the deck. Now she's got her own little cave to hang out it (plus I think she keeps the skunks and raccoons away).

Our second weekend on the East Coast was the 4th of July and we were in Cape Cod. This was Kate's first time in the ocean and she thought she was in heaven.

All of us enjoying our beach time that wiped me out so bad I was out cold on the floor of the house while everyone saw the fireworks at the beach.

Fast forward another month to Kate's birthday party. Thank heavens for family! This was the weekend my parents and sister Melissa with her husband, Jon, and their son, Van, stayed with us and did miracles for this house! We had a lot of fun, but I could hardly do a thing because it got so hot. So my mom made the cake and Jon and Melissa cut it out and decorated it. I was so impressed. Kate was, but she started to cry because she was so stinking tired. It's my party and I'll cry if I want to?

This is part of the amazing garden we were left. For the entire month of July there were orange, red, and yellow lilies everywhere and now we have what I think are called black-eyed susans. And Pele is sneezing. I think I should mention that that dog has learned out to let herself in and out of the screen door. I'm so impressed.

This is beautiful Kate. You can somewhat see how curly her hair is. Every time it rains she's a total curly Sue. She now has 4 top teeth and the same 2 bottom teeth.

A slightly better view of the hair.

This is daddy and the Bug at Lake Sunapee last weekend. If we could just teach her to quit trying to drink the water. She just throws her face in it then comes up coughing and looking at you like, why am I drowning? Love that little Bug.