Summer Fun and Swim Lessons

I love summer! It has been really nice these past few weeks even though I haven't been home for quite a while. I'm camping out at my in-laws until these kids come and it has been a lot of fun. Dan's mom got me hooked up with a membership to the clubhouse that is near their house. Dan and I take Gracie any chance we get. They also have a pool in their back yard that me and Gracie swim in almost everyday. It's so nice to have a place to cool off. Gracie and her cousin Mikey started swim lessons or "swim school" as Gracie calls it. Both kids did really good. Gracie was a little nervous until I got in the water with her and we couldn't keep Mikey's head above water. He was a fish! Gracie begs to see her swim teacher almost every day. Her teacher is awesome and very good with the kids. Here's some pictures of us hanging out at the beach and also some of their swim lessons. The last two pictures are Gracie doing her "cool trick" as she calls it. She will count to whatever number she decides to, sometimes 3 sometimes 11, and then goes under water. It's a pretty big step for her. She used to freak out even in the bathtub when we would try to wash her hair. She always thought she was going to drown.

Bittersweet Day

I'll start with the good news first. We started off the day with an ultrasound. Babies looks great and the fluid I lost from being on the Motrin has doubled just from this last Sunday. Iris is 3lbs 15oz and Violet is 4lbs even. Yes they have names now. Its hard when you decide that you like a name and start calling them it, then second guess yourself and try to call them another. Iris was the one that I was unsure of but have decided that its her name. (For now anyway) Who knows. I still have maybe five weeks to change my mind but I don't think that I will. Anyway, both were very active and already picking on each other. Iris is head down and Violet is feet first. They kept kicking each other in the head while the sonographer was trying to take their measurements. It was so fun to see their cute little features and see them moving their lips. Iris even stuck her tongue out at us a couple times. :) Later that morning we got Chilis to go and went to the clubhouse to have some much needed family fun time. Dan and Gracie had a blast playing on the beach and in the water, while I had fun tanning my enormous belly. Hey, they say dark fat looks smaller than white fat! After that, it was back to see the doctor for the exam. Things went great and the nurse practitioner who checked me said that I was thankfully still at a 2 and 70 and that my cervix is like Ft. Knox. Woo hoo! After speaking with the Dr. we felt very optimistic about the next couple weeks. He said that once we made it past 32 weeks, it is pretty much fair game and the babies should do great if they come anytime after that. We left there feeling pretty confident about the weeks to come. Now on to the bad news. After a day in the sun and water, my skin needed a deserved rubdown with some serious lotion. Well I just happened to be standing in front of a full length mirror, (something I do not have in my house for obvious reasons). While putting lotion on my dry, itchy belly, I noticed two little shiny marks. Yup, thats right, my first two stretchmarks on my tummy. What a stinking damper it put on my near perfect day! I was so ticked not just for the fact that I got them, but that I know will probably get tons more seeing as I have potentially 5 weeks left and much, much more to grow. Oh well, I know it is totally worth it but I just was not ready to say goodbye to my body for good. Well, I hope this news both good and bad, maybe made someones day. :)

About to pop...

It's been a crazy time lately. I switched doctors and had another ultrasound about 3 weeks ago. The twins measured 2 lbs. 14 oz. and 3 lbs. 5 oz. I have another appt. coming up and I'm sure they're going to be so much bigger. I'm anxious to see how much because I feel enormous. My belly button is completely popped out. With Gracie it was only about half-way. I had an appt. a couple of weeks ago. We came down a couple days early because I wasn't feeling right and we wanted to go to the hospital in Mesa to get it checked out. Turns out I was dilated to a 2 and about 70% effaced with contractions happening more than they should. They gave me some medicine and started the steroid shots as preventative and told me to come back the next night. When they checked me again I was at a 3 and 70% so they admitted me. I was there for about a week and a half and they finally let me go home yesterday. I'm so glad to be out but I feel like a ticking time-bomb. I'm so nervous that I won't be able to make it to 36 weeks. I'm on bed rest and medicine to keep things calm so I feel like I'm doing everything I possibly can to keep these babies from coming early. Dan is finishing up this semester on Monday. I'm so proud of how hard he's been working. I can't wait to get my husband back though. I miss spending time with him. Hopefully we get to a little bit before these babies come because I know it will probably be scarce when they do. :) Hope everyone is doing good. Take care.
-Becky

My big girl...

Yesterday, I was trying to get things organized around the house and I was running around putting laundry away. I went into Gracie's room to hang up some of her clothes and noticed that she had brought in some of her sidewalk chalk and it was on her floor. I told her, "Gracie, remember that we don't use chalk in the house, only on the porches outside." She was playing with her kitchen and didn't even stop and look up to reply, "Okay, I got it mom, just chiiiilllll out." It was hard for me to not laugh because I know that she probably picked that up from me. :)
Then the other day, I was trying to get her loaded in the car and I was running around gathering things up and getting them loaded. We were ready to go and I noticed that she hadn't buckled her seat belt yet. I turned to look at her and kind of sighed and before I could say it, she sighed and said while shaking her head, "You're making me crazy mom." :) My little girl is not acting so little anymore. She cracks me up so often with the things that she says and does. I hope I can keep up with her.

Sorry to those of you regular bloggers out there. I'm sure you're tired of seeing the same post for the last few weeks. Things have been so busy. Now that I'm able to do more I really have been doing just that. I had to catch up from all that time spent laying around. I had this huge list of things to get done before the babies come and Dan and I almost have it all done. We got the nursery painted, recessed lighting done, dimmer switches put in place of the regular ones, and TONS of little odds and ends and finishing touches that we've needed to do for a long time. Gracie's birthday was last week. She had fun opening her presents. We gave her a few in the morning, some in the afternoon and some of my nieces brought tons of fun things for her that night. I also bought her a tutu from my friend Jessica and she has hardly taken it off. At first she was a little shy about wearing it, then a little while later she came to me and asked if she could put her "dancing booty" on. :) Easter was fun. We were in Gilbert for Dan's clinical that weekend and decided to stay and hang out with the family. Gracie and her cousin Mikey had a blast with the Easter egg hunt. Grandma McArthur was great and took care of the Easter Bunny and his surprises and presents. Gracie was definitely spoiled-Thanks Grandma! Here's a few pictures of us on Easter weekend.



The babies are doing great. They're still growing big and so am I. I feel so huge by the end of the day. Not too much longer to go. I absolutely cannot wait until they arrive. I've been really good about not buying too much girl stuff. It's so hard sometimes because spring clothes are my favorite. I'll ask Gracie every once in a while if she is excited for her sisters. She always replies, "no I want brothers." :) Then after I explain that she can't put dresses and hair-bows on boys, she decides that she wants sisters after all. I can't decide completely on names yet. I'm not so into the trendy popular names but instead old fashioned and not so common. I know one of them is going to be Violet for sure. I also really like the name Iris but am not sure if that would be a weird combination because they are both flowers. Then again, I love flowers so it would work. I'm sure names will come to me the closer that we get to having them. My last U/S they were 1 lb 11 oz and 1 lb 12 oz. I have another appt. coming up and I'm anxious to see how much they've grown in a couple weeks. I'll take a picture of my belly this week and be sure to post it. For sure it will make everyone be so grateful for their own bodies. :)

Happy Birthday to my Sweetheart!

We’ve had fun celebrating this last week. Spring Break was coming up and I knew everyone would be out of town for Dan’s birthday so I planned a fun BBQ and had all the family over earlier to celebrate. While we were in Gilbert this last weekend for Dan’s clinicals, we got the chance to celebrate with his family. Good times, great fun. On the actual morning of his birthday he was treated to breakfast in bed, complete with crepes, homemade buttermilk syrup, fresh fruit, to-die-for-omlet, bacon, the works! Anything for my Honey. Then later I took him golfing. For the last 5 ½ years he has been asking me to come with him. He’s convinced me that I would love it but I always declined. Well, we went and had a total blast. I love that game! I’m totally hooked. It took me about 5 swings to finally hit the ball on my first try. :) Dan was great to coach me along and not laugh when I’d miss or hit it into the lake. Thanks babe!
To Dan- I could go on and on about all the wonderful things you do for me and for all the reasons I love you. I hope I can give it justice with the ones that I mention. You are the best husband and I’m so grateful that Gracie and our kids will have someone like you to look up to and learn from. I hope to someday accomplish the things that you do and hopefully be half as talented as you are. I’m amazed at the way you are so selfless and caring to Gracie and me. I love that you remind me often that you are happy only when you are doing things that make me happy. You’re so hard working and I love that you do it out of enjoyment and not because you feel like you have to. You’ve helped me grow into the person that I am and I’ve learned so much from you. I appreciate your kindness to all those around you and I admire that you would give the shirt off your back for just about anyone. I can’t remember any given time that you have told me no for anything. Even when I know that I don’t do the same thing for you. Thanks for always claiming that you cooked when it tastes terrible and giving me credit when it’s delicious. Thanks for never raising your voice to me and making sure that our fights don’t drag out for more than a couple minutes, with you usually being the humble one and admitting that you were wrong first. Even when sometimes it’s my entire fault. I love you for that. I hope I can make you half as happy as you make me. I love your spontaneity and your easygoing attitude towards life. Thanks for always finding ways to calm me down and take over when I get stressed out. You never cease to amaze me that you can always tell when you need to take over completely with Gracie and send me off to soak in the bath. Not to mention that every night you give me the best back massages without expecting one in return. I love the way that you can make me laugh in the toughest situations and are always concerned about my happiness. You are absolutely amazing and I’m the luckiest girl to have you as my husband and best friend. You’re the best!

This will be a long post. Mostly pictures that I've been meaning to upload. Valentines was fun. Gracie and I had fun getting dressed pretty in our pink and red shirts. I was curling her hair that morning and was explaining to her about valentines day and how when we see Dad we were going to tell him Happy Valentines Day and give him a hug and kiss. After we were all dressed up and had our hair done, I asked her, "What are we going to tell Dad when we see him?" She thought for a second then squealed "Happy Christmas!!" She is so cute. I got to sneak out of bed for a couple hours and I met my sisters and niece at McDonalds and let the kids play. Our husbands were either working or out of town so it was fun having girl time for a while. Joke of that day or should I say, week, "Look down your shirt and spell attic. (A-T-T-I-C)" Retarded joke but it was even funnier when I told it to Dan and he spelled it attick, and looked at me funny, replying that he didn't get it. I laughed so hard! He's such a special guy. :) Here's Gracie and her cousins Hannah (on the ground), Mariah and Adam at the playground at McD's.


We had another Drs. appt. today. It went good. The specialist did another ultra sound to check the babies anatomy and they also measured my cervix to make sure I wasn't effacing. The tech almost gave me a heart attack the first time she measured because she quickly excused herself and came back in with the Dr. She didn't measure it right because it was showing only 1/3 of the length that it should be, meaning, I would be spending the next 3 or 4 months in Tucson. Anyway, they said the length is okay but staying on bed rest is a very good idea to keep me from going into pre-term labor. We were hoping that they would be able to see if they were girls for sure this time. I'm still not going to buy anything until I have proof. The last U/S we got, I was only 16 weeks and the first tech couldn't tell and thought one of them looked boyish, but then another tech came in and looked real fast and said they were girls. He didn't even show us or take any pictures so I'm not going to buy anything until I know for sure. Today the babies weren't cooperating. Both had their legs crossed and wouldn't give us a good look. Maybe in a couple weeks we'll know. I'll be happy with whatever though.

Here's my 5 month belly. We took Gracie to the appt. today and I kept telling her she was going to see the babies on a TV. She was a little weirded out by the U/S jelly and kept saying in her concerned voice, "Mommy, you got owies on your tummy?" It was fun having her come along to my "dotters appoitent" as she called it. :)


Here's just a little comparison. I'm getting somewhat worried. The first picture is of my belly the night before I had Gracie. Keep in mind, she was about 5 1/2 weeks early. The second is of my 5 month belly. I'm hoping that I do make it to 36 weeks with this one. At the rate I'm going, my tummy is going to be freakishly large. :) All in the name of bearing sweet children! Totally worth it, but it is funny to see how 5 months of pregnancy and no exercise can change your body so much. (Volleyball picture below.) I think I was one month along when Dan took this. Ah, those were the days. I wonder if I could still fit into those shorts? Just kidding, I won't even try. :)

Sweet girl...

Gracie has been really good at keeping me entertained these past few weeks. Her newest thing to say is "Mom, you're cute as a bug," while she squeezes my nose. When I say it back to her she states in her know it all voice, "No silly, I'm beautiful." :) She is such a girly girl. Everything is pink and princesses with her. Any commercial that comes on and has something pink on it, she squeals, "I want that!" It doesn't matter what it is, as long as its pink. As my belly has grown she'll come and lay on it and tell me its a nice comfy pillow. Today I had my shirt pulled up a little way and I was scratching my itchy tummy and she looked at me shocked and said, "Mom, put your shirt down, I don't want to see your woo woos." She cracks me up all the time. These pictures are from just a little while ago. I caught her getting into my makeup and of course she denied that she put any on. :)
Last week we had a yard sale and I was going through her baby clothes. It was like one giant dress up party for her. Who cares if they don't fit. :)