ROCK STAR!

Any uterus that can stretch this big deserves some type of AWARD! I can't believe that we hit full term!! If I wasn't in so much pain, I would be partying like it was 1999! OK so I was on my mission in 1999 so I am not sure that there was much partying going on... but you know :)

Just a jumping around

Turner: Mom I think the twins have lilly pads in their ponds for them to jump on.

If that is the reason they are so content then dang those lilly pads! I should be happy that wed. they will be full term. I should be happy that they are estimating their weights at over 7 lbs. each. I should be happy that they are getting big and healthy. In reality I am. I can't wait to meet these little ones and I am hoping that I get to feel a little better :)

36 Weeks!

I can't believe I made it to 36 weeks without any complications! Pain, anguish, anxiety, exhaustion, and pure frustration yes but any major complications no! My Dr. got really excited on Monday when he said "Your gonna make it to 36 weeks!" And yes, yes we did. In fact I had been having quite a few contractions everyday but they have pretty much stopped so I am fairly confident I will make it to 37 which was my goal all along. If I hit 37 weeks then don't be surprised if you see me walking the neighborhood. I may have to have a cane with me but I am sure that I will grit my teeth and do anything I can to get these babies moving :) So the following picture is a singleton pregnant woman at 36 weeks.

This one is of twins... see the difference? (besides there being 2 babies in there) um... yeah! I went to a ward party yesterday and our old bishop came up to me and said "you look like you are the most uncomfortable person here." My reply? "I probably am!" Although 1 baby is uncomfortable and 2 is just down right painful. I am not complaining, just stating how it is! I am excited to meet these little ones! As long as they get here healthy it is all worth it and as most of us moms know- we forget!

Full sleeve tattoo?

A few days ago I had waddled upstairs to prepare food for my starving children. I was feeling pretty ambitious because I decided to whip up some mac & cheese. Mac & cheese has become the rare treat around our house because it either requires me to stand on my feet for a long time or sit down and get back up, something just as difficult. While I was upstairs engrossed in this labor of love for my children, Turner comes sprinting upstairs. "Mom, mom Grandma is on the computer." The main way I communicate with my parents in Austria (who are on a mission there for the rest of the year) is by Skype. We love it! So I lumbered down the stairs in anticipation of seeing my mommy. As I entered the family room I see my 2 year old son in the corner coloring. After he had filled his paper he decided that his body also made a nice canvas. I picked him up and proceeded to chat with my mom. She noticed his nice handy work. My children have become a little wild as my physical abilities have become limited. I decided it wasn't a big deal and we would just wash it off after lunch. During lunch I noticed that my son, who still eats with his hands a lot, was now eating blue mac & cheese. I also noticed that it looked as if he had a full sleeve tattoo! I thought it was quite funny. Especially since my husband is VERY anti-writing on yourself. He feels it promotes a desire for tattoos. I on the other hand usually use my hand instead of post-its. (We all need to do our part of the environment right?) I am thankful for non-toxic art supplies!

Happy 5th

Josh and I celebrated our 5th anniversary on July 14th. It seems as if July is just one big party! Living here in Utah there is a celbration on the 4th (of course) the 14th (for us) and the 24th (Pioneer day) We love the month of July! We had to keep our date pretty low key since I am instructed to "stay off my feet" so we settled for our tradtional dinner and a movie. It was kinda ordinary for a whole handful of years together but that is the season we are in right now! Someday we will do something exciting for an anniversary but for now- at least my husband stayed home from school for the night :)

Put me in the Zoo!

Turner: Mom the twins are in the zoo. They are little baby hippos floating around in their pool at the zoo!

I am feeling that that just might be true today :)

Pineview

While Rylie and Camryn were here helping out I tried to do a couple of fun things with them that I could do sitting down :) I didn't want it to be a totally horrible trip for them! One of the fun things we did was go to Pineview lake up in Huntsville. Huntsville is one of my favorite places withing my "hour leash." I had a great time watching the kids play in the water, sand and read. Mr. Turner is a fish and will be in water whenever he has a chance! Can you tell by this smile how much he loves the water! Max on the other hand was a total sand guy. He played in the sand most of the time and enjoyed the digging and messiness of it all!

Here are Rylie and Camryn running into the lake. I said something about this being a Baywatch picture and they acted like they knew what I was talking about but then when she asked again what kind of picture I said it was, I realized they had no idea what Baywatch was. I sometimes laugh when I realize how old I really am :)

This is my amazingly HOT husband! Hands off ladies! He is mine :) We went to this same lake on a date almost 6 years ago. When he said we were gong to go to the lake I dressed for hiking. At the time we lived over a half an hour away from each other. So when I showed up in Levi's and tennis shoes he asked where my swim suit was. Where I am from, you don't go to the lake to swim. Anyway he was kind enough to lend me a pair of shorts and a T-shirt to swim in. On the way up we reflected how much has changed in our lives. Not only were we now driving a mini-van, we had our 4 kids with us (2 in utero) and 2 others. I remember while we were in the lake we were talking about how long we thought our relationship would last... I had always had really short relationships- the longest being like 1 1/2 months and his being 9 months so we averaged it out and figured we would be together for about 5 months. Here we are 6 years later! I guess we were wrong!

Rylie, Max and Turner in the water. Max sure was spoiled the week they were here. He can wrap anyone around his finger pretty fast!

All the kiddos!

So Turner didn't stay clear of the sand anymore than Max did! Pure summer bliss :)

Feeling a little anxious

Well, these are not my babies... but they sure are cute hu? (I stole them off of a twin mom blog I stock... so if you know these babies don't tell K?) We are not there yet and neither I or they are ready. I did have a Dr.'s visit today and he checked me and said that my cervix is still high and closed! Yeah :) But then he did decide to go ahead and give me steroid shots, just in case, to help their lungs develop. I also did a non-stress test (NST) today and they were doing great. Little guy was sleeping so the Dr. had to come in and wake him up so that he would move around and they could get an accurate reading. I have to get another shot tomorrow and then have an ultrasound on Friday. I can't complain too much about seeing these little ones once per week from now on can I?

I have two "mother's helpers" here for a while. They are girls that I use to watch a lot when I was in college (Rylie and Camryn for those of you who remember them) they are 12 and 14 now... can you believe it? Anyway so I am so grateful that they can play with my boys! They are so stir crazy :)

Now that it is getting closer my anxiety is coming back a little bit- like when I first found out and wondered how I was going to manage, I am wondering that all again. I can tell myself that we will take it one day at a time but all the telling in the world isn't really helping right now. I just hope that I am building it up in my mind for now so that when they come I can say- oh this isn't so bad :) I read a poem today (another twin mom blog stocking find) that helped me feel a little bit better today:

Twins

Special delivery, special pair

two little infants left in your care.

It won't be easy this great big task

God thought you were the one He would ask.

To guide and rear two at the same time

through fights and mishaps and lots of grime.

He will give you strength for the longest day

and He will always be there to show you the way.

Though times you will feel that you are alone,

There are a lot of twins mothers who have two that are grown

So with this in mind that others have survived the test

You'll thank God for your double blessing and do your best.

I guess this just brought me a little peace because if there is someone who I can count on it is God right? He will help me an be there for me. I do know that this is true! Besides, at least it isn't triplets right? I mean I DO have 2 hands :)