Heartbeat

A cute lady in my ward offered to let me borrow this fetal doppler aka heart rate monitor to listen to the babies. It's been 5 weeks since my last doctor's appointment, so I was really excited to hear the heart beat last night. Now, I understand how twins went undetected before birth. Honestly, I kept saying to Doug, "do you think that's the same heart beat or a different one?" It helped calm some worries that there would be nothing there at my next appointment.

I finally made my second doctor's appointment. I was taking a while to see if I could find another doctor that I liked better. Unfortunately, Humana insurance made the decision for me--doesn't that seem wrong? The hospital closest to me is not covered, so there you have it. I was choosing between 3 doctors and ended up choosing my original one. I have my next appointment on Monday. I'll be 14 weeks Saturday, so I am considering going to the mall to find out their genders. I think I can go this next week, so let me know if you have any opinions about that.

Labor Day Weekend

My parents were planning on going to our cabin Labor Day weekend and we decided to crash their party. Dave and Chelsea joined us for a bit and Christine and Devin came up with us. For the first time that I can remember, my mom completely enjoyed herself at the cabin. She seemed to be beaming just spending time with my dad and enjoying the outdoors. We went to a huge Sacrament Meeting in Island Park, and then mom and dad took this cute afternoon walk in the meadow. I had them pose on their way back. Aren't they cute?

Saturday, we went to a nearby lake and found the sweetest rope swing. I will post photos later as I didn't bring my camera on that difficult trek through the woods. Monday, Dave came back, and he and Doug did a little diving competition into the lake. I was the judge--it was too chilly for a swim. Plus, my swimsuit is uncomfortably tight with a little belly that's forming.

This is Dave's best performance...

And here is my SUPERSTAR husband in his dive-of-the-day...

Dave and Doug thoroughly enjoyed torturing my mom while she was trying to lay out in the sun on a pretty chilly day, but her last day of cabin sunshine.

The conquering heros. They were loving it.

Doug has been learning to swim freestyle for a little while now, so I was pretty nervous when he announced that he was going to swim across the lake. I watched him the WHOLE time. He ended up doing a little backstroke to make it and told me afterwards that he got a little nervous. He was sitting on the bank and Dave jumped in to join him on the other side. I think they sat on the bank for 20 minutes because Doug needed a good rest before attempting that swim again. He's my muscle man!

My dad can swim forever...seriously. Dave and Doug were winded just from a jaunt across the lake, but my dad swam out to the buoy in the distance and back without stopping. When he got close, my mom decided she would meet him. We started chanting, "kiss her! kiss her!" to which my dad repeatedly said, "what?" He had earplugs in. My mom finally had to tell him that we "wanted him to kiss her". Ironically enough, this photo looks like she is trying to drown him.

We left Monday afternoon for home--bummed it was over so quickly. We had a great time...and I didn't even see one single mouse!

They're Growing

Ultrasounds are an amazing thing. Just two weeks apart and the babies have heads, eyes, and appear to have some arms and legs! I had my 10-week appointment a little early today with my OB. He didn't take new measurements but we saw the heartbeats again. It makes it all seem real, that's for sure.

The second line

I've always wondered what that second line looked like...it showed up on this test and I left it on the counter for a little while, just because it was so fun to see it!

Doug and I got a call on July 14th to let us know that the blood test I had taken that morning had confirmed a pregnancy. We've been on cloud nine ever since. I had taken the day off work to be with Doug when we got the results. We decided to go shopping in Park City for the day and were at lunch when the call came. Our waitress was a little caught off guard when she came to get our order and we were crying. Doug quickly told her that we had just gotten some good news from our doctor. We celebrated all afternoon. Before going home, we stopped back at the outlets and picked up two baby outfits, one boy and one girl. I am going to need to reign in Doug on the clothes shopping--he LOVES buying baby clothes!

I am due March 20th--which is Doug's birthday. He thinks that's pretty great.

On July 29th, I went in for a viability ultrasound when I was only 6 weeks and they found two babies in there--yup, two. I thought I would attach a photo of them--they are I think 1/2 cm in this photo. My doctor heard good healthy heartbeats for both babies and they measure pretty well on time. The one on the right is about 2 days behind developmentally. My doctor calls them twin A and twin B. They are fraternal and we will find out in a few months if they are boy/boy, girl/girl, or girl/boy. So, we're taking guesses for the next while! We're so excited.

Two babies means a whole new ball game for us. We will need to move into a bigger place because we can't fit two cribs in our walk-in closet. We will be getting two of everything and that seems a little crazy.

Their first photo shoot.

19 Days

Doug's sister, Natalie, has become a hero of mine in the last 19 days. Her husband, Dave, was deployed to Iraq in March of this year for a 9 month deployment. They have been separated for nearly 5 months and Dave has been separated from his 3 (now 4) children. Doug and I visited her in April and had a great time in Louisiana--it was already really hot in April! Well, Natalie just delivered their 4th baby by c-section and Doug had time off from school and work and went out to help. This has been a very long 19 days for me! I can only imagine what it's like to have a new baby without your husband. Natalie, you're amazing.

Top 10 things I've missed about Doug:

1. Whenever I am having a bad day, he tries to make me laugh with some pretty dry humor.

2. He sleeps by my side and I fall asleep in a few minutes.

3. The 'welcome home' kiss I get everyday.

4. Our weekly dates--we love to be together.

5. He gets me outdoors: hiking, running, biking, etc.

6. We call each other multiple times per day just to say hello.

7. Having someone to sit with at church.

8. Talking to him just before I close my eyes to sleep.

9. Snuggling with him before I close my eyes to sleep.

10. Working out with him...he's my favorite running partner.

He comes home tonight at 11:30. I can hardly wait.

We go trekking

We did it (again)! We were asked to be Ma and Pa for our stake trek this year and we had a great time. Our "kids" were so amazing and we had a lot of hard workers. I had strict orders from my doctor to not lift anything, run, jump, or twist...so that made things difficult for handcart pulling. I never pulled the handcart. I touched it once or twice, but had my hand swiped away.

These photos were taken by the stake photography committee, so I didn't know they were being taken. I think I am whistling?

Our "daughters" would always stay back and walk with me on the downhills because the cart would usually be run down the hills. This is Jessie--I really got to know our girls really well because of all the walking and talking on the downhill portions of the 26 miles or so we hiked in 3 days.

This is the women's pull. This is where the boys are asked to step to the side of the cart and not touch it for a mile or so. This was to reenact how many times the men were called away to hunt for food, were ill, left to militias, or died along the trail. It was a good experience for our girls. They did so well--I was so bummed to not be able to pull with them. I cheered them on really loud and encouraged them instead. They were tough and made it without their "mother" who was also ill or dead or something.

I love these two photos because it appears that I am smiling just to myself along the trail.

My handsome pioneer husband (with a funny hat). He was such a good Pa scooping up wet cow pies so our girls wouldn't have it at the entrance to their tent or under it. He spent hours making sure they were well taken care of. I love him!

How did they do it?

I was hanging out with these ladies (and one gentleman) a month or so ago and thought to myself...how did they ever live with me 24 hours each day? These women are some of my best friends because they did! These are my mission companions (minus 3 Australian ones and the one taking the photo). I didn't have the pleasure of serving with Jennifer (left), but we served around each other a lot.

We can laugh together for hours. Now that almost all of us are married, I think our husbands dread our sisters-get-togethers because we talk and laugh for too long. I feel so lucky to have had a chance to serve in Australia with them and to learn from them. They are all so amazing.