So Long Sally

With the addition of Gus our Sally had just been sitting around. Well, financially we decided that it was best to get rid of our Sally to pay for Gus. We had owned Sally for about 2 1/2 years and taken many a trip to Phx as a family in her. She may seem nice and compact (which she is), but there was always plenty of room to store our stuff for 4 kids and 2 adults for several weeks vacation!



I usually don't have much of an opinion about cars - that's Jeff's job to deal with. When we added our 4th though I started looking into my options and really fell in love with this car. It is tall, seats up to 7, and has good storage space (even fits a double stroller no problem)! It was even better when we found the one we wanted at a fabulous price!
She was my dream car!

I was sure that parting with Sally would be difficult, and it has been. Driving Gus in a parking garage is not the funnest thing to experience! Other than being huge I just love Gus and am grateful for the next vehicle to safely take care of our family! We have been blessed as we have searched (well, as Jeff has searched) for vehicles to fit our needs and try to stay out of debt. Part of the blessing of Sally has been to keep us out of car debt with Gus. For that I am truly grateful! I hope she is great for her new family! She was fabulous to mine!

The Results Are In...

It's TRIPLETS!!! Well, it supposedly started out that way, but the third is dissolving (hopefully)and we have 2 healthy babies. That would have been a real adventure to have 3 at once. The Dr. did call me Fertile Myrtle today though :). I guess my ovaries are in overdrive now, good thing we are done!

OK the gender results are in!!!


Baby A profile view....

Isn't she cute?! Yep, a girl. She's got her hand by her mouth in the picture.

Baby B profile view...

Such a handsome little boy! He was so good for the ultrasound tech! We got to see his hands, fingers, feet, and face - good boy! Oh, and he was very open about his gender too. His sister took a little bit more convincing, but we snuck a great shot to be sure she's a girl!


Here is his arm and hand. Look at those fingers! So cool. It was fun to go to the specialist to get great pictures, and also figure out some of the other stuff that's been going on with this pregnancy (the 3rd baby). Kind of strange to have "high risk" pregnancy after 4 normal ones, but at least I'll end up with lots of photos :).

We have names, but are still finalizing the girl name. I'm sure it will spread around soon enough. I'm just happy to have the gender figured out at this point!!

Guesses Anyone?

I'm getting close to figuring out what these two little bundles will be (I'm very excited)!!! Jeff and I have been working on our names. Trying to pick one of each is hard enough, but two of each... man that's tricky. Well, we've had boy names for a while it's those girls that really give us trouble :). I have an appointment this coming week and I'm optimistic that I'll find out the gender. Well, it's not my normal Dr. visit (a specialist actually) so either I'll get better results or they won't focus on the babies too much (since there's other stuff they want to check out). Otherwise the next week I do have my normal Dr visit and I'll be 17 weeks by then! It is strange to think that I could go as early as 34 weeks (which hopefully I won't) and that would be my halfway mark! This is seriously my shortest pregnancy ever. Unless I just go on and on and never let these little guys out. Either way I'll be done by about 38 weeks so that is nice to know :).

So the point of this post is to get your input on our little ones! I have had my personal opinions on what the babies would be (2 boys), yet the Dr. was thinking last week that one is a girl and couldn't tell on the other. I guess my guess is probably not right :). I'm working on a new guess. I also really don't mind any of the ways it could turn out. It would be fun to have the same gender, but then it's more confusing too. I want to know your guesses! What do you think we'll have? When will they come? I did give you some info to help a little that I'm not going past 38 weeks (which would be the end of June) so that should help you out a little. I think this will be fun!
It's free to vote just click on the game button :). The game name is twomuchfun (on the left side of the screen). You don't need to sign up for anything just enter in the info and that's it :).

Maybe I'll think of a prize for the winner. There's points for gender and points for when they come so this will go on for a while :). I get to have so many new experiences with twins it makes this 5th pregnancy a little more exciting than I was planning on!!

Journaling

Our kids have been keeping scripture journals for several months. We finally took out the pages to scan them so we have a digital copy. While scanning them I read through what they have been writing (since Talmage does his on his own and I never read it). Sometimes it's very repetitive, but other times it was very surprising! Sandra's isn't that fun to read yet, but you get a few from Grant and lots of Talmage. I think the spelling is cute and it's amazing what things they think about and want to write in their journals!

There are different sections on the journal page they fill out: Scripture - summary, or some lines of what they read, Journal - for the day's events, Thankful for and Please help - to help them remember things to say in their prayers at night (also good to write down anyway.)

Grant's are mostly things from different dates and Talmage's are all from what he wrote for those sections on that day. I tried to keep all the spelling the same as was in their journals :). I hope you enjoy seeing what goes on inside little boys minds!!

Grant

Thankful for: peano, Ra bbitsandBurrows

Journal: Momy and baby - written Nov 23rd (he did not know we were expecting yet!), pinwil, AalpJan (if you can figure that out let me know, I'm still confused), trans Formers

Talmage

Journal: tonhit we are going to trunk-or-treat at the church house wich means geting candy from trunks!

Please help: Me feel the spirit, Mhari not hit, me know if the Book of Mormon is true

Journal: Today Grants zebra and mine both rolled a bouncy ball back and forth.

Thankful for: sticker transformers, gowing to the dentist, happy house

Journal: Tomarrows christmas eve! I am making a book for Grant. Mommy Sandra and Mhari are geting neckleses. Daddy is geting the car from yesterday and a zoo map (he made the map himself, along with the necklesses and book).

Journal: Today Me and Grant sowed with hand nedles! I sowed dinosauors and Grant sowed swamp creatures.

Journal: Tomorrow is Grants birthday! Today we put things in a box to give away! I also at chruch read 3 capters! Chapter 20-23 of Mosiah! Today was church!

Journal: Today we folded our landry! Tomarow I am fasting!

Thankful for: landry, fasting, Tomarow church, Tomarow is the book of Alma

Journal: I saw Grant at the Library!

I just love it! I love the Christmas post because that is all he wrote about Christmas. He never wrote about what he received, just all the things he was doing for everyone else! It was really touching to realize that he wasn't focused on his presents, but on giving to others! Kids are amazing! I love that they are writing this stuff down in their journals while they are young... maybe they will keep the habit into their adult years!

Tight Squeeze and In-between

I'm not just talking about how huge I'm getting at only 14 1/2 weeks of being pregnant...

But also about our Gus Gus and that he fits in our garage! I never thought it was possible, but Jeff was determined and rearranged everything to get him in there! Way to go hunny! I love having my car in the garage! (Let's just say there isn't much room to get around him, but if I squeeze I can still manage, another tight squeeze, for now)!



Part of the in-between is Mhari...

She is having a hard time staying in bed at night and just going to sleep. She had been doing great and then this week she stays up playing with Sandra - argg! I am wondering if she is trying to stop napping. The days she doesn't nap (which are few) she goes to sleep really easy, or falls asleep in the car when we get the boys. I don't want to let go of naps (seriously I need all the sleep I can get) and she does quiet time well even without napping. I just need her to stop playing when she's supposed to go to bed.

Today she crashed for quiet time though.




On her floor nonetheless. I'm sure it's going to be a fun night getting her to bed!




The other in-between is me. I must say that I am progressing much quicker this pregnancy than any of the others. If it wasn't twins I would be seriously worried! My MIL requested photos, so that's why this is here.




I did pull out the maternity boxes and sorted through my wardrobe for the next 6 months or so. I am proud to report that even my smallest maternity shirts are still too big. I guess I'm in that awkward in-between stage with my body. I feel huge in my normal clothes, yet maternity ones are just like wearing tents! I'm sure it won't be that way for long :).

Such fun transitions. I'm looking forward to feeling the twins move, yet I know at the same time once they do I'll never have a moments peace :). I am grateful to be feeling well and have such a helpful family that maybe we will really be ready for the crazy life of twins by the time they get here!

Big girl bed

Mhari has claimed Sandra's bed. I didn't care at first because she just wanted to sleep in it at nap time when Sandra wasn't in the room. Then she wanted to sleep in it at night.

The big decision came one night when Sandra said she wanted to sleep in Mhari's crib. Both girls were happy and Mhari was transitioning well to a big bed, even if that meant that Sandra was reverting to a crib...

I gave in :)

It worked out well because there is a gate on the crib so she can get in and out. Plus it's very sturdy so having Sandra in it wasn't going to break it. Sandra even said she would share with the twins when they came. So sweet of her :).

I let that go on for a few nights before I hunted down a new bed for Sandra. We've been meaning to get Mhari a big bed for a while, but with tight finances buying a new mattress wasn't on the top of our list. When I was telling my friend about needing a bed she said she had an extra mattress - perfect! (Thanks again Shannon!)

Now both girls have a big bed. However the first night Mhari did throw a fit because she wanted to be in the new bed and not the one she stole from Sandra. Oh 2 year olds are such fun!

A new member of the family

With the addition of the twins this summer our family vehicle, Sally, will no longer hold the entire family. With that in mind Jeff has been searching for a replacement vehicle. We would need something large enough to fit a double stroller and two rear facing baby seats. That defiantly narrowed down the search...

Here he is - Gus Gus



He is an 03 Diesel Ford Excursion that seats 8. It is strange that with the babies we will fill this baby to it's max. It may seem large, and it is, but we really like it so far! I love the interior space and sitting so high when I drive! I guess I'm used to being tall :).




For the whole day that we've had Gus we are very happy. We are left with only one problem now...



Anyone in need of a great little family vehicle that can seat up to 7, named Sally?

The last birthday of the year!

It's got to be hard to be the last birthday of the year, just following Christmas, and all of the other birthdays. Plus this year Mommy and Daddy were suffering from colds and not very motivated for a birthday celebration. I'm so grateful that Grant is such a good kid and had a fabulous birthday despite all of the other stuff going on!

It was a simple day and I think just having us remember it was his birthday and then getting presents was enough for him!

Here he is opening presents.


All the presents and the Happy Birthday Boy!


We were seriously all done with eating anymore cake by the time Grant's birthday came around. I decided that ice cream sundaes would be easier and just as fun (if not yummier). Grant didn't mind and enjoyed picking his own toppings.

Maybe I should have given him more ice cream - his candles barely fit :).

Happy Birthday to our awesome 6 year old! He is a great kid and loves learning at school. He is creative as ever and is still part animal :).

We love you!