And I Thought School and Work Were Tough...

So if I keep waiting until I have time to post about everything I'd like to with all the fun pictures it will never happen. Instead I'm just going to start talking. To review everything since the beginning of May: I got back from New Hampshire with a house under contract for us to move into. Jeremy and I talked about timing for a sibling for Kate and we felt VERY STRONGLY that that time had come. Low and behold we are pregnant with about three weeks left until we move. As I'd mentioned before, I was invited to be a counselor again for Burn Camp the week that we had to hang out in Salt Lake and I had said yes. Burn Camp is a week long river trip down Desolation and Gray Canyon in Utah with absolutely no cell reception from start to finish. I had been super excited for this, but finding out we were pregnant put a lot of questions in the air. We talked about it and decided we'd hook back up with my old OB in Spokane while we were still there and ask him for an ultrasound. You can see the heart beat on these little guys at 6 weeks and if you see a strong one your chances of a miscarriage decrease significantly. We decided if we could see a heart beat then I would go on the river trip. We go in, actually a little early because he at first was having trouble making out the heart beat, but then as he kept working with the machine we found there was not just one sack, but two. We were supposed to come back in a few days later to see if we could find the heart a little better and to make sure what he was seeing wasn't a shadow.
So we go back in 4 days before we're leaving and there were two very distinct sacks which had doubled in size with two very distinct and strong heart beats. Jeremy and I just looked at each other in awe. We'd joked about having twins and naming them Huck and Sawyer just to be funny and I've since decided I'm never joking about triplets.
And we still had to move. The ward was amazing helping up pack up and get loaded. We found the right drug combo for Pele so she didn't throw up the ENTIRE trip (no small miracle, people). Kate handled the drive quite well, and I was only mildly nauseated.
Burn Camp was incredible. I loved being on the river, I couldn't eat much more than pringles, crackers and cheese, and red vines, but I was able to play the guitar for the kids and have some really good conversations with both the staff and the kids. There's no way to describe what an incredible experience it is. And I didn't throw up the entire trip. It did rain on us every day, which I take as a blessing because it kept us from baking which would have done me in.
I got back around 7pm on Thursday and Jeremy had to leave at 4:30 the next morning to start the drive out with his dad and Pele. I hung out with my sister and her kids and we drove down to Cedar to hang out with my parents. There is nothing like family. I love the friends I have dearly and am so glad we get to live as many places as we do, but something about just sitting in your parents' kitchen and talking with your mom, or taking a walk with your dad is one of the greatest things in this life.
However, I still had a 5 hour flight to Boston (getting there at midnight), had to find our hotel, then catch a three hour shuttle ride to Lebanon 2 days before Jeremy was going to get there. I was getting super nauseous all the time and Kate got sick right before the flight. Fortunately, people were super helpful and things did go well.
The other anesthesia residents helped us move all of our stuff in and we had fun having a few extra days with Jeremy's dad. They got to see a lot of the country, a couple of Kansas City Royals games, and some church history on the way out and Kate sure loved playing with her grandpa while he was there.
Jeremy started work the next week, then we were invited to hang out with a family at Cape Cod for the 4th of July. That is an AMAZING vacation spot. Where we stayed had no hotels, just houses that people rented on an annual basis, so they all knew each other. Kate LOVED the water, everything was so mellow, and other than me falling asleep on the floor and completely missing the fireworks over the bay because I was so exhausted, we had a ball.
We've since been settling into the grind of things. Pele and Kate and I have been walking every morning, sometimes we hike, sometimes we just stay in the neighborhood. This ward has been very helpful and inviting. I'm already the Primary Chorister (I love it!). I got to see my friend, Sandy and her baby Kate, visiting her in-laws in a little Vermont town about an hour south of here. Katie Bug and I have been strawberry and raspberry picking (I much prefer picking raspberries when I have a 20+ lbs person in my arms). We just got a membership to the canoe club here and we're going to try it out this weekend when my parents and sister and her family will be here.
So......twins. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this, and so does Jeremy. All I can say, just like we learned when we did a natural birth with Kate, you have to learn to tune out the doubters and the nay-sayers or you will be overwhelmed. I'm so grateful for all of those people who have just been super excited for us and cheered us on instead of telling us how overwhelming it's going to be. I know Kate'll only be 16 or 17 months. I know two are more work to take care of than one. I know I need to rest and to gain weight. Those two tasks are my greatest challenge at the moment. I'm not throwing up as much as I did with Kate, but I still have a hard time even looking at the pantry or fridge. There's no smell that makes me sick, it's just the thought of food half the time. But I am able to eat ice cream and drink raspberry lemonade. Weiner boats (hot dogs with mashed potatoes and cheese on top) are about the only other menu item. I guess I should truly enjoy a time when I am aloud to eat ice cream for every meal of the day and take advantage of the Ben and Jerry's factory 45 miles away from here. I can't be grateful enough for a husband who is OK with not having a dinner made every night.
It has been emotionally quite draining when I run out of energy about half way through the day and Kate is still ready to go. But this is again, another reason to be so grateful for our dog who helps entertain her some of the time and for women in the ward who have so graciously offered to help me with her. I have to get some pictures posted because she is just beautiful. She has tons of curly hair and even took her first couple of steps today. She loves to smash her face into new things (trees, clothes, books, the floor) wherever we are. She does not like to hold still. I think I see a lot of me in her. She's also very like her dad. We sure love her. And we're so excited to see who the two new members of our family are. Boy? Girl? Both or two of which one?
Life is truly amazing. As I read over The Family: A Proclamation to the World this morning I felt such a sense of peace as I realized we're trying our best to raise a family and it's never what we think or plan, but we can do this with faith. I'll post pictures hopefully by Kate's birthday and I'm sure as it cools down and there's not so much to do outside and the house is more settled, it'll be more often. I sure miss all you friends and family.