A Painting We Will Go

I bought some washable paint for the twins a couple of days ago, and have been promising them we would get it out since then.

We're at my parents' for a few days, and what better place to get artsy, than at Sita's, the retired art teacher's?!

My children had a great time, although they soon questioned the need for paper at all.

I give you...Monet and O'Keefe...

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Life As We Know It...

Wow! Things have changed a lot since I last posted.

In my last post, I was 38 weeks pregnant with Avery Grace and exhausted.

Well, I'm still exhausted, and Avery Grace is now a month old (4 weeks and 4 days to be exact), and life with two newly-turned two year-olds and a newborn is a LITTLE nutso and chaotic, but its life as we know it.

I'd like to say I have big plans to go back and catch up on posts about Avery's birth, Easter and the twins' second birthday, but let's be honest, it's probably not likely.

So, life these days is full of laughs, time outs, spit up, and lots and lots of love.

Here are some pics from my phone over the last few weeks...

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Because I've Been Napping...

No, really. 

That's not a "dog ate my homework" kind of excuse.  Because y'all...I'm just tired.  Plain old tired and exhausted.

I have so much to catch up on, and I had big plans for this blog to act as a baby book of sorts for the twins, but I've just been such a slacker about it.  Saddening, really.

Here are a few of the highlights since my last post in JANUARY!  Agh!

• I'm 38 weeks pregnant with baby Avery Grace.  What's that?  Oh, yes, we decided on a name.  See, it's been too long.  Here's a recent belly shot at about 37 weeks.

• Reese and Truett are 22 months-old.  They are so delightful and then turn around and make it necessary for me to step outside and occasionally scream until I can't scream anymore.  But mostly, they're delightful.  They're learning so much.  In fact, as I speak, they've figured out how to climb up on the toy box under the spiral staircase and pull themselves up onto the stairs which are blocked by a gate at the bottom.  I found them at the TOP this morning and wondered how they'd figured it out.  BUSTED!  Every. Single. Day. 

• They love to sing, especially Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, The Wheels on the Bus, Jesus Loves Me, ABC's, and a little sing-song my MIL sings to them but we changed the words to.
• They're learning their letters and numbers and Reese can now count to 6!  Truett's up to about 4, I think.
• Their vocabular grows daily, and that is really fun to be witness to.  In true girl fashion, Reese is quite the chatterbox and has a pretty extensive vocab.  She says words and I have to say, "Where'd she hear that?" 
• These days they love, 'Paydoh' (Play-Doh), and 'Caynons' (Crayons), Legos, 'Boo Cues' (Blues Clues), 'Beats' (Fresh Beat Band), and 'Tee Tee Nandy' (tee tee candy). 
• And that brings us to potty training, or the lack thereof.  I can't lie...having them out of diapers by the time the baby arrived would have been super fabulous.  But it ain't happening, folks, and it's all because of me.  I just am not motivated.  At all.  The thought of taking two toddlers to the bathroom every 20 minutes makes my head spin at this point.  I've seriously considered Googling "potty training bootcamp" and packing their bags for a week away.  Just kidding.  Kind of.  They both show interest, although she more so than he.  And the candy bit has been a big incentive because they don't get it any other time from us.  But, three in diapers it will be.  *sigh*

Here's a little video I shot the other day to give some insight into what goes on MULTIPLE times a day with two little toddler brains working together.  I hope you laugh, and then pray for their mother.  :)

Blue or Pink? Whaddya Think?

Psalm 113:9:  He settles the childless woman 

in her home as a happy mother of children.

In October, we had the ultrasound tech at our gender appointment write down the sex of the baby on

the picture she took and put it in a sealed envelope to be opened at a later date. 

Eventually we decided on January 1st, when my parents could be here for a small reveal.

So, New Year's Day we had our families and a few close friends over to reveal the gender of this sweet baby due in 11 weeks!!!  WHAT? 

It was a very laid back event.  I threw together some decorations last minute (it was New Year's Day, so my Christmas decor was still up; I just threw some blue and pink in amongst it all...hee hee), and asked everyone to wear either pink or blue, depending on their guess as to the gender of the baby!  

Here are some pics from the night.  It was such a fun time with lots of laughs and love for baby #3.

The front door.  

The cake table and cake.  We have a local gal who makes and decorates cakes and she's amazing!  Not only is it exactly what I asked her for, it was delicious!!!!  

Whaddya think????

 The cake table and cake. 

I found this cake (left) on Pinterest and loved it, so I took this picture to a local cake maker/decorator (surely there's a word for a person of such sorts), as well as the envelope with the gender written inside to her.  She's self-taught and an amazing talent!  Our cake is on the right.  Not only are the cakes beautiful, but also moist and delicious!  

 

 I found a punch on Pinterest I wanted to try.  The submitter calls it The Best Punch Ever. I was thinking it would be way too much for the small gathering, but boy was I wrong!  It was delicious!  Here's the recipe!

The group in our pinks and blues.  Forgive the quality; the lighting was terrible and I was attempting to use a timer on my camera.  Sigh. 

 Drum roll, please...

As you can see by all of our faces, the actual moment of the reveal was so much fun!  Can you see the color of the cake??

IT'S A GIRL!!!  

We are beyond thrilled to now know we're adding another little girl to the family!  We are blessed and thankful to God each day for answering those prayers we uttered, many times through tears, what seems like so long ago!  To go from not knowing if we would ever be parents, to now be expecting our THIRD, is just so amazing, and only something God could orchestrate.  

Psalm 113:9:  He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children.

Have You Received Your King?

A couple of weeks ago, I was listening to Christmas music and heard a song all too familiar to most.  This time, it really struck a chord in me, and I found the Lord speaking to my heart through it.  

"Joy to the World, the Lord is come.  Let earth receive her King!" 

We could probably sing all of the words if asked, but have you ever thought about what that opening line really is demanding.  It proclaims that the Christ child has come, but then it demands something of the "earth", of all of us. 

This is where the Lord really opened my eyes to this one line in the whole song, the part we all know by heart and have sung countless times over the years without really contemplating what it means. 

It tells us to RECEIVE our King. 

Have you?  In all His simplicity and wonder? 

Have you accepted His birth, His life, His gift to us all?  His death?  His resurrection?  Is He in your heart?  Does He rule your life? 

Have you RECEIVED your King?

Magical

Oh, the wonder...

A Little Photo Comparison

While I don't think I'll ever be the tiny "basketball under her shirt" pregnant woman, at least I'm not as big as I was with TWO babies inside me!  These pictures do make me feel a little better about feeling SO LARGE this time around!  :)

p.s.  Please try to look past the lack of makeup, greasy hair and large cold sore coming up on my face.  Ugh.  :(

26 weeks

How far along: 26 weeks!


Size of Baby: Baby is the size (in length) of an ENGLISH HOTHOUSE CUCUMBER (whatever the heck that is)

(Picture taken from Google images and BabyCenter.com)

He/she weighs about 1 1/3 pounds and is 14 inches long from head to heel.   

Total Weight Gain/Lost: Honestly, I've gained faster and gotten bigger quicker this pregnancy than I ever expected to.  :(  At my last appointment, I had gained 28 pounds, and at this point in my pregnancy with the twins, I'd gained 37, so I guess it's not terrible.  I just can't imagine having 14 more weeks to gain!!  Eek!   

Maternity Clothes: Pretty much all the time. 

Gender: We're not sure yet, but we have set our gender reveal celebration for New Year's Day.  My parents are coming up after Christmas and we'll have a little get-together to celebrate a new year and a new baby...boy or girl! 

Movement: Now that the placenta has moved and is out of the way, I am feeling him/her much more!  He/she is very active about 10 in the morning and 10 at night.  The baby is big enough now that I can feel body parts, too, which is always fun! 

Sleep:  Sleep isn't horrible, but not great.  I've been sick the last few days, so it's been pretty bad lately.  When I do wake up (on the days I'm not sick), it's usually to go to the bathroom, or get a small snack.  Occasionally, I'm having insomnia, but most of the time, I'm so exhausted from a day with two toddlers that I'm ready for bed and fall asleep easily.   

What I Miss:  Sleep, my waist, and just to keep it real...not having back fat.  I definitely miss that. 

Cravings: Food. :)

Symptoms: I'm TIRED, my belly feels HUGE, some Braxton Hicks and heartburn/acid reflux from you-know-where.  That's probably the worst right now.  I'm hoping some meds will help with that, soon. 

Best moment for this week: Up to this point, my placenta had been anterior and low-lying.  Basically, if it didn't fix itself, I'd end up having a c-section, so I'd definitely been praying for it to correct itself and soon.  Not only would it mean c-section, but I was having a hard time feeling any real movement from the baby, and I missed it!  When we went last Monday, my placenta was so far away from my cervix, the sonographer could barely see it!  GREAT NEWS!  I'd even told Richard earlier in the week that all of a sudden I was able to feel the baby a lot more and I wondered if the placental issue had worked itself out.  YAY!

My BabyCenter email this week said, "26 Weeks, Only 14 More to Go!"  WHAT?  14 weeks?  That's crazy talk!  We have so much to do, but in some ways, I am more anxious every day about meeting this sweet baby, who came to us unexpectedly, but is such a blessing to us already! 

Full of Fun and Funnies

I'm bummed.  The election is over.  He wasn't my choice.  Let's move on.

I'm 21 weeks pregnant and feeling great!  We had another ultrasound Monday, and all looked well with our little bug.  At first I really thought he/she looked a lot like Truett, and I still do.  But there are certain features where I see Reese, too. 

Well, hello world!  See ya in about 19 weeks! 

I've had several people guess "girl" because of this picture.  

So peaceful.

McH and I attended a local fundraiser the other day.  It's called Christmas In the Park and it helps raise money for the lights display and Christmas festivities in our town.  Families and/or businesses host a table and decorate it with a theme of some sort.  It was so fun to see what everyone did.  There are some very creative people around here!  I wish I'd taken more pictures of the tables themselves.  Thankfully, our hostess chose a theme we could pull off with no work...Western chuck wagon.  These days we take every advantage of a "date night" and we ended up having a great time eating and visiting.

 I have loved taking the babies outside in the afternoons after their nap.  It's so beautiful, although I am ready for it to get a little bit cooler so the mosquitoes and flies will disappear.

Yesterday we ventured out and R & T had such a great time.  I had to kick myself a little because my memory card was almost completely full and I missed some great shots.  Sigh.

Oh, well, here are a few I did manage to get.

FYI:  I'd given the twins some crackers with peanut butter smeared on top.  Of course, what sticks to peanut butter?  DIRT!  You'll see what I'm talking about in the pics. 

And a funny conversation with Miss Reese Kathleen this afternoon.  I was laying on the floor playing with the babies and she came and sat on my stomach.  Here's how the convo went. 

R: (sitting on my stomach):  "ORSE!"

Me: "No, baby, Momma's not a horse, silly girl!"

R:  (without missing a beat) "COW." 

Bahahaha...

Hmm...someone needs a lesson on never calling a pregnant woman a COW, even if she's your Momma...ESPECIALLY if she's your Momma!  Haha

And here's a post-nap, awesome hair shot of the little comedian.  They both really are so funny these days.