What can't he do?

We have spent so many hours in the pool. I love to watch the kid in Dan come out. He's so athletic and its fun to watch all the new tricks he comes up with. A lot of these shots are from a game of HORSE. I'm glad I didn't have to follow him. :-)

Behind the back!

Excuse me...

If any of you have seen the Mad TV skit "Can I have your number?" you will find this very funny. (Sarah and Kasey, this is for you.) The other day Gracie was right at my feet and I was trying to get by. I nicely said, "Gracie, excuse me." She replied, in her sassy voice and brotha dialect, "Escue me, can I tot to you fo a minute, the back of yo head is ridikilus!" I almost peed my pants laughing! Here is her swimming in the "cuzzi" as she calls it. Such a little nerd...just like her dad.

Just thought I would start this post off with some cute things that Gracie has said this last week. We were both laying down to take a nap the other day. I had my fingernails painted black and she looked at me like I was really scary to her and said, "you have scary monster hands." Then a couple minutes later she said, "Ewww Mom, you got eyebrows up your nose!" She cracks me up.

Things are still going good. Almost 33 weeks!!! I have an U/S tomorrow. I'm excited to see the girls again. I have a feeling that Violet has turned head down. I can usually feel her little head and back up towards the top of my belly but recently have been feeling what I think are little feet. Plus a couple days ago when I went in for a non-stress test they had to place the monitor way lower than usual. We'll see tomorrow. Okay, I've finally decided on names. I just couldn't do Iris, although I like it, it's too cutsie matchy with Violet. After about the 10th time of telling someone their names and them replying sarcastically, "What about Petunia and Pansy?" I decided that I couldn't do it. So the names are decided....Reece Danielle and Violet Marguerite. We wanted to do first names that could be their own, and middle names after family. I picked Danielle a long time ago, after Daniel, just in case we never have any boys to pass his name down to. Marguerite is Dan's mom's mother's middle name and she was such a beautiful lady. So the verdict is in and I'm about 99% sure that they won't change. It really has been tough trying to find two names that are not too different from or similar to each other. Here's a picture of my 32 week, 5 day belly. Woohoo! It sure is getting heavy. Dan's mom bought me one of those belts that strap around your belly and over your shoulder. I was desperate to try anything but it was too tight and I had a lot more contractions when I wore it. Bummer. Oh well, not too much longer.

Happy Mothers Day-From Dan

Hey everyone, this is Dan. I don't get on here often but wanted to post this for Becky. I just wanted to take a minute to talk about how amazing my wife is. The past few weeks as she has been in the hospital, she has not complained once. She is the best mom in the world and she is an amazing wife. Becky, I want you to know how much I love you. I love how you guide our family. You are the supreme example of a woman and I love that Gracie has you as an example of who she can be. You are always so concerned about me and Gracie and how we are doing. You are the nurturer in the family and Gracie and I are so blessed to have you. You take such good care of our family and I want you to know that we are so lucky for your companionship in life. I am so grateful that we will get to be together forever and get to spend time with each other forever. You are such a strength to me. Thank you for your spirit and for your willingness to have children. I honestly feel like I am the luckiest man. I love you so much Becky.

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.