Happy Thanksgiving!

What a great holiday as James and I have so much to be thankful for. The last year has brought us so much happiness that we truly cannot be more thankful about. We were blessed with two little miracles that have truly changed our lives in such a positive way. We could not have ever imagined the love we have for them or the amount of happiness they bring us. Plus, we have such a huge support system with our family and friends and are thankful for each and every person. We are also so thankful for the health we have and how lucky we are have our jobs. We are so fortunate!

To celebrate our thankfulness, we had dinner at home. I hosted my first Thanksgiving, which I was pretty excited about. It was nice not to have to pack up our house (practically) and take the babies anywhere. Thankfully we didn’t have a ton of people on our first go round; I don’t know how people do it making food for 15-20 people. Seems a bit overwhelming to me, but I am sure it will happen someday. But this year James’ parents Mike and Judy came over and we had a small dinner. It was so much fun, but went by so fast. We got up, made breakfast, took Trevor to the airport (he was going home to Denver to be with Nicole, Taryn and Andrew) and then James’ parents arrived. Judy and I prepped the turkey with the stuffing and got it in the oven. Then we just hung out with the babies and watched football until it was time to get everything else going, potatoes, green bean casserole, etc. Dinner was done around 3pm, so we ate, had pie and it was already 6pm. We were going to play games, but the babies kept us busy enough that we weren’t able. Mike and Judy were gone by 6:30pm. James and I got everything cleaned up and both fell asleep on the couch, both with a baby cuddled in our arms. It felt great! It was so nice to be able to relax and be home when the food coma hit.

Friday, my parents came over. It was a beautiful day, so we decided to go for an afternoon walk. We bundled up the babies since it was a little brisk out, loaded up the dog and headed to one of our favorite parks at Lake Boren that doesn’t require dogs to be on a leash. Jersey was in heaven, she ran and ran. Then – we decided to take a short walk through the neighborhood close by – the hills in the area are killer, but it felt great!

Saturday was the biggest football day of the year, APPLE CUP! We decided to go up to my Aunt Linda and Uncle Paul’s house in Arlington. We got there with enough time to watch the Mizzou-Kansas game; they are HUGE Mizzou fans, which had a positive ending. We then proceeded to watch the Apple Cup, which was hugely disappointing. From the beginning it was not a good sight. I remembering thinking that that the Cougs just needed to calm down and get their nerves out, but unfortunately I don’t think their nerves left them. It was a sad, sad day for the Cougs. Maybe next year – although I feel like I have been saying this for several years L But it seems like we have a new coach, with a strong background and a huge morale boost for the Cougs. It looks promising!

Sunday, my parents went home, which is always sad. I love when they come to visit, but we are headed back to Spokane on Friday for the annual Webber Fest Christmas Celebration, which never has a dull moment. Very excited – for all you Webbers, we will see you Saturday.

New things Aiden and Averie are up to:

As I mentioned in my previous post, Averie is the moving queen. She has started rolling to get what she wants. She usually only goes for things that are within a roll or two, but I am sure it will continue to get farther and farther real soon. We are thinking of getting a super play yard for the living room in the near future. When you have one adult and two babies, you need borders. Aiden is still not moving a ton, but every time I check on him in his crib his head is facing a different direction, which is what Averie was doing when she started rolling around so I am sure he is on his way to following his sister. One big change we have noticed in the last week is that they used to grab whatever was in front of them, but they have started to become choosier and going after a specific toy or item they want. So fun to watch the small developments turn into bigger milestones.

Catching Up

So looking at the blog, the last update was June 14^th. Ooops!  All I can say is that we have been busy.  These babies keep us going all the time, but oh my, is it fun!  So, here is a brief synapses of the last few months.

July –

We went out to James’ lake property on the 4^th of July weekend. We would have usually spent the entire weekend there, but weren’t quite ready for an overnight camping trip with the babies, so we decided to just go out for the day.  That was the first real outing we had made with them in the car for a long period of time and it was a success.  They slept both ways.  On the actual 4^th of July, we had a BBQ and had James’ brother Chris over.  We ate dinner, put a movie on and we were asleep on the couch by 9:30pm. Oh the life of newborns, definitely a different life J

One Month Old

The following day was the babies 1 month check up with the pediatrician; everything went great.  Aiden was weighing in at 6lbs. 15oz. and 19.5 in.  Averie weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz. and 19.75 in.

Later that week I decided, since I had maternity time left, that I was going to drive to Cheney for a week….by myself….with the dog….never again.  Honestly it wasn’t that bad looking back and it would have not been quite so bad without the dog, but it was an adventure.  On the way there, I fed the babies, put them in their car seats and was on my way.  I made it to Vantage in 80 degree weather when they got hungry.  I pulled over, found a shady area and fed the babies.  They made it all the way to Cheney from there, fairly uneventful.  On the way back….I made it over Snoqualmie pass before they got hungry.  I stopped and fed them, all was well until I tried to start my car.  I unfortunately forgot to turn my air conditioner off when I turned my car off, but decided to leave the radio on, which resulted in a dead battery.  I honestly could not believe it was happening.  I had to call James at work and have him come rescue me, my babies and the dog.  Luckily it was just a jump and nothing serious and we were back on our way.

Little Peanuts 7/24/11

August –

Two Months Old

The beginning of August started with another doctor’s appointment – their 2 month appointment.  At that point, Aiden weighed 8lbs 15oz and was 21.25 in long.  Averie was 9lb. 2 oz and 20.5 inches long. They also had to get their 2 month shots, which were so painful…. for both babies and mommy L  I had never heard my babies cry the way they cried that day.  I had completely prepared myself though; I knew it was going to be hard.  The unexpected part came when we got home.  About two hours after, both babies woke up from their nap screaming in pain.  I was home alone and all I could do was sit on the ground, with both babies in m arms crying right there with them.  Not a good day, but after the baby Tylenol kicked in we were all ok.

On August 8^th, we had the dreaded day of mommy going back to work.  I am very thankful to be able to work from home on Thursdays and Fridays, but the early part of the week is very long, 7:30-6:30. Monday through Wednesday we have a nanny come in.  She is great and it is so nice to not have to take them anywhere before work. On the days that I am working from home, I am lucky to have James’ mom, Judy watch the babies while I work.  She is an absolute life saver.

I will have to say the first couple of days leaving the babies were awful.  I cried on my way out of the driveway and then also whenever anyone asked about them during the day, but by the 2^nd or 3^rd week, it was much better.  I still don’t like to be away, but it is much easier than it was.

On the weekend of the 13^th, the babies had their first adventure out of the state.  We were going to Montana for one of my best friends, Adrianne’s wedding.  We started to Spokane on Thursday night.  We got the car packed and were on the road about 6:45pm. We get to about North Bend and I see a sign that says “Temporary Pass Closure for Rock Blasting at 7:30pm.” I look at the clock and it says 7:13pm…son of a gun.  James decides he is going to try and hurry to get up to the pass before it closes. Nope….as soon as we get there, the truck to stop the traffic pulls right in front of us.  We are the second car back.  James runs up and asks the truck driver if there is any way we can get through as we have twin infants in the car….nope.  Their response was, “Good thing it’s not hot out today.” We sit there for an hour while they finish up their rock blasting. It was ok; we pulled both babies out of their car seats and just played.  Averie had just started smiling and was a smiling fool.  She made the best of it J  We got to Cheney at midnight, fed babies, and went to bed.  I think it was around 1:30pm.

The next morning, we wanted to be in Montana at 12pm so James could go river rafting with some of our friends, which was 11am Cheney time. Babies woke up at 5, so we were running on about 3.5 hours of sleep. We barely made it, but we did. James ran down to meet everyone for the rafting trip. I grabbed one baby, my friend Casey grabbed the other and we fed them right when we got there. Then we were able to just hang out and enjoy the sunshine.

The next day, we got to spend a girl’s day. We were at a location where the entire wedding party was able to stay at, so my mom came to watch the babies with James and I was able to hang out with the girls, but was still close enough to go and see them once in a while. It was perfect. Once we were ready, we went to take pictures and it was time for one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever seen.  Adrianne looked amazing. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. The ceremony was beautiful and the sweetest little boy, Jackson, was able to stand with his parents holding their hands while they confirmed their love to each other. It may have been the sweetest thing I have ever seen. I get a little teary eyed just thinking about it.

The reception was immediately after the wedding at the same site. It was in a barn that was decorated perfectly and there was also seating outside. The dance floor was outside for all the dances for the bride and groom, their first dance, father/daughter, etc. It couldn’t have been any better!  We had a great time and were able to see a lot of people we hadn’t seen in a long time. It was awesome!      

Montana 8/13/11

September –

Three Months Old

September went by so quick I don’t even remember what happened…..my parents, Alek and Rebecca came over for a weekend. For all of you that do not know, Aiden and Averie are expecting a cousin….Averie is going to have a best friend.  Camdyn Jo is expected to arrive February 11^th and we are all so excited!

They came over and we met my Uncle Cary, Cousin Reece, Great-Aunt Iona, Aunt Linda and Uncle Paul in Seattle.  We met for lunch and walked around for awhile.  It was a short but great visit! My Great-Aunt Iona moved back to Washington after spending many years in Tennessee, we are excited to have her back!

October –

October started with some very exciting news. My brother Trevor, who has been working in Iraq as a contractor let us know that he would be at Joint Base Lewis-McCord near Tacoma for training until February.  In addition, my sister-in-law Nicole, our niece Taryn and our nephew Andrew were coming for a visit, so exciting!  Once they arrived, I took a day off of work with the babies to go downtown to the Seattle Aquarium with Nicole and the kids.  The weather was absolutely beautiful and we had an amazing day.  All of the kids were perfect and it was just so nice to get out and do something fun. Unfortunately the time they were here went way too fast L I wish they could have stayed for a month.

James’ brother Chris decided to join the Navy, so he shipped out in late October, so while we were gaining mine, we were losing James’. It was a weird transition for the family because we are so used to having him around, but I truly believe it is a good thing for him and am so proud of his decision. We are excited to hear from him when he gets done with boot camp.

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday to celebrate, mostly because I think it has the cutest decorations, but I have to admit, dressing babies up in cute costumes makes it that much better.  Our little “bugs” were a bumble bee and a ladybug.  We went to a Halloween party the Saturday before and they did much better in their costumes than on the actual day, but that is when most people saw them anyway.  Although they did well in their costumes, mom and dad struggled a bit with ours.  I decided to dress up as a bag of Jelly Bellies, which made it very difficult to hold and feed babies.  Overall it was a great Halloween.

Our Little Bugs

November –

Five Months Old

Now that I have rushed through all of the other months, here we are in November with 5 month old babies, I can hardly believe it.  Seriously I believe time goes in fast forward once you become a mom.  I absolutely love 5 month old babies, but what happened to those 6 pound little peanuts?  But I do love 5 month old babies.  I wish I could keep them this age forever.  They are so much fun.  You can make them laugh at the simplest things, they love to snuggle and they smell so darn good (when they have clean diapers J).  I swear they are doing new things every day.  Our babies are totally defying the typical stereotype of boys and girls.  Aiden is the one who chatters and babbles all the time and is always aware of EVERYTHING around him.  Averie is the one that is moving all around.  I swear she could start crawling anytime.  She rolls everywhere!  We have the happiest babies and we are so incredibly lucky that they sleep amazingly, well at night at least, which is when it matters! 

We have recently started feeding them a little bit taster diet than just formula as you can see by the pictures. I am having so much fun making my own baby food. So far the babes have tasted rice cereal, peas, sweet potatoes and winter squash. I would have to say the sweet potatoes have been the biggest hit, especially for Averie.

Last weekend we went to Spokane and got to celebrate the arrival of Camdyn Jo and Rebecca’s shower.  It was so much fun and turned out great!  It was nice to see people I hadn’t seen since my shower.  We also had the Baptism of Aiden and Averie.  They did awesome, no crying!  It was such a nice service. Afterwards we had a nice family brunch at my Grandma’s house and headed back to Seattle.

Baptism 11/13/11

And now, here is my commitment to keep up on the blog!

Welcome to the World Aiden and Averie

Aiden and Averie are here!! So to get everyone caught up, we were scheduled for the C Section on June 9^th, but Thursday, June 2^nd,  I had a doctor’s appointment that was going well. We had a Non-Stress Test, both babies had great heart rates, all signs indicated we would still be shooting for June 9^th. My blood pressure was a little bit high, so my doctor told me to go to the drug store the following Saturday and if it was any higher we would just do the C Section that day because she would be on call. At this point, I was so uncomfortable, my cankles didn’t even have a classification anymore, and my body hurt EVERYWHERE, so I just asked if we could do it Saturday anyways. She said absolutely, so we were then having babies in TWO days! Man, was I excited. We got it rescheduled for 9 am Saturday morning.

I made some calls, sent some texts to give family and friends the update and of course everyone’s question was “Why?” I guess that it does cause concern when I give them that news, my emotion was complete excitement. My response was just that I wanted to. I was so ready to meet my babies. That night James and I headed to Costco to stock up on food that was easy to grab and eat, went out to dinner together as it was probably going to be the last time that would happen for a while and just chatted about our excitement. The waitress at the Olive Garden came over to ask how we were and James’ response was “We’re having twins on Saturday!” Priceless.

Friday, I went to work and was completely distracted. I wanted to get everything ready to go for my 12 week departure, but it was so hard to stay focused. I only made it to 1:30pm and then I was out of there. I then made the trek to Target to get some last minute items, came home, took a nap and my mom arrived later that night. We were so excited that I was not sure I was going to be able to sleep. It was like Christmas Eve multiplied by 1 million. Fortunately, I was able to until about 4am. At that point, I was wide awake. I watched an episode of Private Practice online and then started getting cleaned up around 5am. I was just about ready to go at 6am; we had to be at the hospital at 7am. I was instructed to call the hospital to let them know we were on our way, which I did only to find out the hospital was packed. They did not have room for me and since I was a scheduled C Section, I would have to wait, are you kidding me? After all this anticipation? We were then rescheduled for 8pm that night.

So of course I can’t go back to sleep at this point. So James, my mom and I decided that we needed to do something to keep busy. We decided to go to the Home Depot and buy some flowers to plant in the front of our house and some pumpkins to have at Halloween. Of course, I was in no condition to plant so James did it while I sat in a chair in the sun, it was a beautiful day. We then drove up to Redmond and had lunch at one of our favorite restaurants. Once at home and flowers planted, James’ parents came over and we hung out in the back yard. I tried to take a nap, but of course, I could not turn off my mind, so I didn’t sleep. Finally 5:00 rolled around and we decided to head to the hospital.

Soon after we got to the hospital, I was sent back to a surgery prep room where all my IVs were put in, both the babies and I were being monitored and they took blood to do pre-surgery tests. The whole process went very smoothly. When a C Section is scheduled for 8pm, they start at 8pm. I was rolled into the OR, gave spinal anesthesia and by 8:15, the first cut was being made. After waiting for a few minutes at 8:32pm, “Baby A”- Aiden, made his grand entrance. It took him a little while, but he then started screaming! One minute later, “Baby B” made her grand entrance. She started screaming immediately and she definitely is the one with the lungs. What a weird sensation to have so many things happening and so many people around you while you just have to lay there and watch everything going on. It only took about 15-20 minutes and I was sewn back up and on my way to the recovery room. Aiden weighed 5 lbs 8 oz and Averie weighed 5 lbs. 13 oz. The hospital has a policy that any baby weighing less than 2500 grams has to go to the NICU for six hours for observation; Aiden missed it by 13 grams. So I was given my little boy for about 5 minutes before his was taken to the NICU. It was very hard, but luckily I was able to hold my baby girl for the time being. James was able to go see Aiden and take our family in to see him.

It was about 11pm once things slowed down. Everyone was exhausted, so my mom and the rest of our family and friends decided to head home. I was able to keep Averie in my arms while James and I tried to get some sleep. Every time I closed my eyes and started to fall asleep, I would feel like I had the spins and would throw up. Needless to say, I did not sleep at all, plus I could not stop staring at my baby. At 2:30am Aiden was released from the NICU and they brought him to me, so I just held my babies since I felt sick and just stared at them in awe. I had a nurse come in at about 4 am and ask if I had slept at all as she kept coming to check my blood pressure and I just told her no, but it was worth it.

The next day we had a couple of visitors off and on. At one point our room was filled with visitors and I was asked a question and just broke down in tears. I realized that I had not slept in 36 hours, I was exhausted. The nurse made everyone leave the room so I could get some rest, which I look back now and realize was a very good idea. At the time, I was on cloud nine and thought it would be ok, but I am glad that the nurses were looking out for me, because I was finally able to take a nap.

That night a nurse came in and noticed that Aiden was looking a little yellow, so they did a blood test on him to confirm that he was jaundice. Come to find out my blood, which is O positive was not compatible with his blood A positive and was attacking his red blood cells. So they had to take him back to the NICU for 24 hours to put him under photo therapy. Again it was hard to have my baby not be with me, but for all things that could go wrong jaundice is very common and easily treatable, so I was just happy it could be fixed. Since I was able to get up and around, I was able to get up and go see him, so Aiden’s three family members would go down to see him. I would wheel myself in a wheel chair while James would push Averie’s bassinet and we would just sit and talk to him.

Monday night Aiden was back with us and we were preparing to go home the next day. We got all packed up, had both babies signed off on and were we on our way home. What a surreal feeling to be driving away from the hospital with TWO little beings that completely depend on you for survival.

Once home, James and I kept them on the 3 hour feeding schedule we started from the beginning at the hospital. The doctors were very concerned with the babies losing weight that they gave them formula very early on. I was very disappointed in that as I was planning on breastfeeding them, but I knew they were small and needed enough nourishment for the both of them. When we got home we continued with the formula but I was working very hard to get them switched over, which I was able to do. They are now on primarily breast milk, with very occasional supplements of formula.

We are so lucky to have really good babies. They only cry when something is truly wrong, i.e. they are hungry, they need changed, etc. I know it is very early, but the adventure has been way easier than I could have ever imagined. We are enjoying every second with these babies even if we are running on very little sleep, but it is so worth it. They are amazing.

Last weekend, my parents, brother, Alek, and sister in law, Rebecca came over to visit from Spokane. We had a great weekend. I had spent so many of the past weekends on the couch at home because of how miserable I was, that I just wanted to get out and do something, so we decided to go to the horse races. We just packed them up in their baby carriers and traded off carrying them, it was a gorgeous day. Then we came home, had a BBQ and all of us just crashed. It was so fun to have everyone around and meet our little miracles.

This week we have just been continuing our routine, which has become easier for us. It is definitely a learning experience, so we have altered things here and there every day to make things easier and take less time. At one point, I was feeding them eight hours every day, so I was able to get them tandem feeding which cut the time in half, allowing for more time to do other things, such as sleep! Gary Ezzo and Robert Buckham have saved our sanity. We have stuck to the “Becoming Babywise” strategy and it has worked like a charm. The last two nights we have had 3-4 consecutive hours of sleep, which has totally refreshed us. I just hope these little guys can stay to the schedule that we have set for them. I am guessing not, but for the time being, I am so thankful. I love you so much Aiden and Averie!  

Proud Daddy

Proud Nana

Brand New Babies

Going Home Outfits

Headed Home

Aiden's First Bath

Averie's First Bath

Headed to the Pediatrician

T Minus 2 Weeks and 2 Days

We are still on schedule for June 9^th as the day our babies make their grand entrance into the world. We had our last ultrasound on Monday. Everything still looked great, Averie is still taking all of the room and poor little Aiden continues to be squished. It is very hard to get accurate measurements, but they did their best and estimated his weight at 5 lbs 6 oz. Dr. De Regt said these weights can be off quite a bit because they are getting so much bigger and the space is getting so much smaller so it’s hard to get them all in one picture.  It will be interesting to see how close they are.  Averie was still hard to measure even though she has more room.  They estimated her weight at 5 lbs 14 oz.  As Dr. De Regt graduated us from needing to see her, she had great things to say and said that we had a model experience. We are truly blessed to have had such an uneventful pregnancy this far. We anticipated so many more complications because of what you read about many twin pregnancies, but it has just gone smoothly. She said if they come anytime from here on out that they most likely will not have any issues. What a great thing to hear!

It was brought to my attention, even though many others have already thought about it, that Aiden and Averie’s zodiac sign will be Gemini, which is the twin sign.  There have been so many signs that these twins were supposed to be in our life and this is just another one.  We are so excited to finally meet these babies, I cannot say it enough.  I think James is finally starting to come to the realization that they are coming SOON, I think it has taken a little longer to become real for him, but I can tell by his comments lately that he is definitely thinking about it more.

The next time I update this I will probably be able to post actual pictures of the babies rather than just ultrasound pictures.

Here are some pictures. As mentioned, they are getting big, so it is harder to see than when they were littler.

Aiden and Averie looking at eachother plotting their escape. Aiden on the left, Averie on the right.

Aiden - 36 weeks

Averie - 36 weeks

Lastly, because people keep asking, here is a picture of me. I feel like I am HUGE, but I do get mixed comments. Some people agree, some people thought I would be bigger. Keep in mind full term is another 4 weeks away.

Tentative Birthday

Last Wednesday, we had our second to last (unless the babies come before May23rd) ultrasound. Everything is continuing to look great, Aiden measured at 4lb 10oz and Averie at 5lb 6oz. These measurements can be somewhat off as it is an average of the head size, belly and leg length, but either way they are growing as expected. If they are accurate, then as of last week, I was carrying about 10 pounds of baby. And at this point in my pregnancy, they are growing 6-8 oz per week, so I am gaining about a pound per week of baby.

Averie is being a typical girl and taking up majority of the space in my belly and poor Aiden is squished in the lower right bottom. Unfortunately, both babies are still breech. There is still time for them to flip, but my doctor would be very surprised to see Aiden flip because he is so squished, poor little guy. He is what they call Baby A, the bottom baby, and if he is not head down, then it is an automatic C-Section, which is essentially what we are planning for at this point. So we have scheduled their tentative Birthday as June 9^th. Holy moly, that is another month away almost! From the beginning we have been told twins come early and James’ sister had her twins really early, so I think we had it in our minds that these babies were coming early. However, as of right now, there is no indication WHATSOEVER that these babies are coming anytime real soon. They anticipate them to go full term for twins, which is 38 weeks. We have been told that things can change really quickly, but both my high risk doctor and my regular doctor both wouldn’t be surprised if I went to the June 9^th date.

It is kind of bittersweet. We are so anxious and excited to meet these babies and see what they look like, but at the same time we know the longer they are cooking, the healthier they most likely will be. So we will just let it happen the way it is supposed to and either they come when they are ready or June 9^th will be the day we get to meet these highly anticipated new lives!

32 Almost 33 Weeks

Ok, where to start…  I have been so bad about updating this thing L  We have had so much going on, so I will just update since our last post.

Right after the last post we had an ultrasound of the babies that gave us a little scare, but nothing to be super concerned about.  Aiden was measuring quite a bit smaller than Averie was.  He was measuring in the 11^th percentile for his gestational age.  When they get below the 10^th percentile that is when the doctors really get concerned, so Dr. De Regt put us on a bi-monthly ultrasound plan.  Two weeks later we went in for a checkup and he thankfully had caught up just fine, measuring in the 39^th percentile while Averie was measuring in the 50^th percentile, where she has been the whole time.  They are not quite sure whether he really did actually catch up or if he was just in a hard position to get accurate measurements.  James thinks the techs screwed up and didn’t measure accurately.  Either way we are very happy he is back up to where he needs to be. We have another ultrasound on Wednesday so we pray all goes well.  Both rugrats were measuring just over 3lbs at the last visit.

We had another baby shower here on the West Side a couple of weeks ago.  James’ parents and James’ best friend Jeff’s parents hosted it.  It was a cowboy themed (Jesse James) baby shower.  It was really cute!  My parents were able to come over and many of James’ and my friends were able to make it.  My dad won the baby bottle sucking contest.  I’m sure he’s very proud.  We had a good time and again got so much stuff that was so helpful. These babies are already so spoiled and they don’t even know it yet. Here are some pictures from the shower.

Cowboy Cake

Diaper Cake made by Linda and Lindsey McMahon

Cowboy/girl outfits

Jessie and Diana (James' sister)

While my parents were here we started putting together the nursery; building cribs, a dresser and getting all of the clothes and blankets washed and ready to go for their arrival. We then decided to do things bass-ackwards by installing new flooring throughout the entire house, both carpet and linoleum.  Needless to say, we had to take the cribs down and pull everything out of the room that wasn’t hanging from a wall.  It was not a huge deal though.  James is quite the stud and was able to put those cribs back together in a matter of seconds.  He’s going to be such an amazing father.  The new carpet and linoleum look amazing, it was so worth it.  We are so excited to have clean new carpet for when we spend so much time on the floor!  Here are some pictures of the nursery.

I am now in the 32^nd week coming quickly into the 33^rd week, which is honestly getting nerve wracking!  My belly is measuring 41 weeks, so I am definitely getting big, which means that our little guy & girl are growing well.  James and I keep anticipating when my innie is going to turn into an outie.  We feel completely ready with the “stuff” needed for their arrival, but I don’t think we (James and I) will ever be ready.  It will definitely be a learning experience, but we are so excited!  Twins typically arrive between the 35^th and 37^th week, which is just around the corner. We have everything ready and won’t have a lot more going on in the upcoming weeks so hopefully we can keep this updated over the next couple weeks.  I plan on taking it easy from here on out.  James is already rubbing my back often and doing all of the daily chores, which is the way it should be. J

*Written by Jessie, edited with additional not so humble comments by James J

Getting Ready

So I haven’t updated this for a long time and it’s not because we haven’t had anything going on, it’s because we have been so busy. A lot has happened to prepare for the arrival of Aiden and Averie in the last couple of weeks. A couple of weekends ago, James and I drove to Spokane for the first of my two baby showers. It was thrown by two of my best friends, Casey and Kelsey and Casey’s mom. It was perfect! I can’t thank them enough for everything they did, including getting the cutest cake ever (picture below). So many close friends and family came to celebrate the upcoming arrival of Aiden and Averie and showered us, well more like down poured us with gifts, and again we could not be more grateful for all that we received at the shower. Everything from clothes, diapers, car seats, high chairs, toys, books, etc. will all be so helpful when our little babies come home to us.

As I mentioned James had to get rid of his beloved Toyota pickup about a month ago, but it has been replaced. As I attended my shower, James and my dad went car shopping to find something that would be more kid friendly and luckily found the perfect car. We didn’t get a minivan, although that is what James was hoping to drive to work every day, but we did get a Toyota 4runner. It is pretty much his truck with a covered bed and car seat friendly. I think he is extremely satisfied as he woke us up at 6:30am last Saturday to drive to back to Spokane to pick it up. It actually worked out perfectly, because we were heading that way anyways for Casey’s son Cade’s 1^st Birthday, which also turned out wonderfully. I cannot believe he is one already, but I am sure Casey can’t believe it more than me. He had a sports themed birthday. There were lots of family and friends there to celebrate with him that love him very much!

The last big thing that has been going on to prepare for Aiden and Averie is to find a bigger place to live, which we luckily have done. We found a three bedroom rambler house not far from where we live that we will be moving into next weekend. We are excited because we will have room for the babies and for anyone who wants to come visit once they are born, which I am guessing my parents will be doing quite frequently since we unfortunately live so far away. So this upcoming weekend will be filled with packing, which James will be doing most of to prepare for the move next weekend. We also have the 5^th Birthday Party of our twin niece and nephew, Kira and Carson, on Sunday.  Again it is crazy how fast time has gone, it feels like just yesterday we were anticipating their arrival into the world.

I will be updating this again this weekend as we have another ultrasound on Friday, so keep posted, there will be more pictures and updates of the babies soon!

Elephant Cake

Casey, Jessie and Kelsey

Casey's son Cade