22 Weeks and an Evil Left Foot

To say this pregnancy is flying by would be a huge understatement. I can't believe I'm already 22 weeks. Babies are roughly a pound each and doing great. At the last ultrasound about 2 weeks ago they were both breach but they can still spin around at this point.
Here are their little heads. They are just chatting with each other.

Baby A (boy).

Baby B (girl)

We are still working on names with a few that we both actually like, progress!
As far as pregnancy goes I'm feeling pretty good. Sleeping hasn't been too bad since I learned I could sleep sitting up if I have roughly 85 pillows supporting me. Heartburn is tolerable and my ankles swelling isn't too bad yet.
Which leads me to my left foot. My evil left foot. I started feeling some twinges of pain a few weeks ago. It would come and go and would usually just happen when I first stood up and I would feel an intense pain with my first few steps. It remained tolerable for a while but a couple of days before Christmas it got bad and was beginning to be pretty constant. Christmas Day I was in a lot of pain and needed to sit down and take my weight off of it completely numerous times. The day after Christmas I went to urgent care after work, I had a feeling it was only going to get worse and I needed to find out what to do to get better. The doctor didn't seem to think it was a strain or stress fracture so he did some blood work to find out if it was arthritis or something like gout. So then began my 3 days of excruciating pain and waiting. The labs were due in on Monday and I just had to wait for a diagnosis or treatment plan. Friday was the worst. I can't even describe the pain. It was as if a truck was slowly running over my foot. I kept it elevated and tried to do as little as possible hoping it would help but nothing did. The more I read about gout the more it sounded like my symptoms so I started eating things used to treat gout (cherries, pineapple) and trying to find anything online I could to help me. By Monday morning I was ready for answers so I called the urgent care first thing in the morning and they said the lab work came back normal, no high levels of uric acid or any signs of arthritis. I was glad it wasn't gout or anything like that but I wasn't any closer to treating the pain. So I asked around at work and someone recommended a podiatrist I could go see. And luckily they got me in with a couple of hours! The doctor was great and after listening to my symptoms and looking at my foot and finding where the pain was located she diagnosed me with plantars faciitus. She said some daily exercises (foot stretches) and I need to wear a brace for a couple of weeks it should be healed up in a couple of weeks. I was so thrilled to have a treatment plan and direction on what I should do to make it better. I went back to work and started the foot stretches and it felt better within hours! Yay! So this was yesterday and today I'm able to walk without a limp. I still have some pain but NOTHING like last weekend. Thank goodness!
So that's about all for now. My next OB appointment is in two weeks and hopefully we'll get another look at our babies as they continue to grow.

Christmas Time 2013

We've had a lot going on lately. The Christmas season had us busy busy and I loved every minute of it (ok, maybe not the shopping crowds). We had so much fun making cookies and doing all things Christmasy. I'll let the pictures say the rest, I just love this time of year!

Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl

We found out a couple weeks ago that the we are having a boy and a girl! It is so exciting and just perfect. It's funny because Evan seemed to know all along. We would ask him what he thinks they are and he would say a boy and a girl. He even named them, the boy is Swimmy and the girl is Rattaley. He's so funny. And until Todd and I can agree on some names that is what we are calling them.
At the ultrasound I was 17w6d and they are measuring 7 ounces each and are looking great. I have another Level 2 on Monday because they couldn't quite get all the angles of the heart they wanted. Now that we know the genders the fun really starts. But we are really at a standstill now until after Christmas. Then we will work on rearranging rooms and going through all the baby stuff I have in totes downstairs, a very daunting task. I'm feeling much better lately, not really nauseous in the mornings anymore and have gotten some of my energy back, thank goodness! I've been feeling some kicks for a couple weeks now and I love it.
And Christmas is approaching fast! I finally finished my shopping yesterday and I couldn't be more excited for Christmas morning.
Here are a few photos from trimming the tree and making a gingerbread house.

Isn't it magnificent!? It lasted about an hour before it fell apart. It was not structural sound enough for all that candy. 

At the beginning of this month we had a pretty decent snow, maybe 6 inches or so. The kids had an absolute blast. The would've stayed out there all day if we would've let them, but with the snow came temperatures in the twenties so we had to drag them kicking and screaming back in.

Well there's about a million other things I need to blog but that's all I have time for tonight, we are getting ready to make Christmas cookies, weeee! 

Our Big, Exciting, Unexpected and Crazy News!

I'm waaaaay behind on blogging but give me 2 more seconds and I'll explain why. We're having TWINS!

It's been a crazy few months as you imagine. We had been trying for baby #3 for two months and we're surprised when we got a positive pregnancy test back in August. It was a uneventful two weeks or so but then the morning sickness started to kick in and it hasn't let up since. More on that in a minute. I had my first doctors appointment when I was 6 weeks, I had my blood work and all the normal stuff. This time since I was over 35 my doctor recommended I get a new test called Harmony to test for genetic abnormalities and to my surprise it would also give us the gender at 10 weeks! And what really sold me on it was it was a simple blood draw from me. So she scheduled for me to come back at 11 weeks since I would be on vacation when I turned 10 weeks (which just reminded me I need to blog our Florida pictures!).
Anyway, weeks passed and I was feeling really cruddy. Sick almost every morning and just drained of energy all the time. I thought to myself this one was another girl because with Evan I was sick maybe once, with Erin I was sick less than a dozen times but still I was sick. We went on vacation and it was amazing and relaxing but I was virtually useless to Todd. I was just so exhausted.
We got back from vacation and a few days later Evan came down with a fever. He was puny and needed rest so the day of my doctors appointment he stayed home with daddy. I knew I'd be getting blood work and my doctor mentioned she'd check out the heartbeat with her handheld ultrasound but I didn't think bringing both kids in with me was good idea. Anyhoo, I went in to my doctors appointment and she started by rolling the little handheld ultrasound over my belly to get a heartbeat. She found baby and said "there's baby!" And I said "Awww....just one right?" and I was totally joking. Silence from my doctor. And she rolled the wand a little more and said "uh I think there might be two". I think I might have asked her if she was serious 42 times. Then she told me to get up and we'll go to ultrasound. She marched me out of the room and right into an ultrasound room down the hall. The tech came in, they exchanged some doctor/tech lingo and I was quickly laid out on the table and I got my first view of both my little twinies, their little heads, their kicking legs and flailing arms and I just wept.  Joy, fear, complete surprise, you name it I was feeling it.

And I was really missing Todd! I couldn't believe he was missing out on such a life changing moment.  So I talked to my doctor a little more and she explained a few differences with this pregnancy. And she also told me unfortunately the Harmony test could not give us the gender of multiples. I still went ahead with the test though.
Then I headed home to Todd and the kids. I walked in and I immediately told him to sit down. So he knew something was up. I handed him the ultrasound pics and he was floored. The shock definitely hadn't worn off for me at that point so we just stood there, shocked together.
A month later it still seams pretty surreal. My belly is expanding at a ridiculous rapid pace (although I've only gained five pounds so far). I'm still sick almost every morning and the occasional evening. Evan is soooo excited about the two babies and kisses my belly in two spots daily. I think he is going to be a great help when they are here. I think Erin is just happy to talk about babies but I'm not sure she fully understands that two are going to be living with us in the Spring.
My Harmony test came back all good and clear - yay!
My official due date is May 5th, but my doctor said if (God willing) I make it to 38 weeks I'll be good to go.
As far as the other details we're still working those out. Not sure of the sleeping arrangements yet - but pretty sure Evan and Erin will share a room for a while once the babies are here. Luckily since we already have one of each gender we won't need much in the clothes department no matter what the genders turn out to be. Which we will find out in two weeks! December 2nd I have a Level 2 Ultrasound and we will be find out the genders. I'm super excited for that!
Well that's all for now, hopefully I will have time to update more often now that my busy season with photography is winding down. I had three weddings and countless sessions last month at the peak of my exhaustion. So now I'm just resting and trying to catch me breath!

My Two Year Old Girl

At Erin's two year check up she was 26 pounds 8 ounces (50th percentile) and 34-1/2" tall (75th percentile). I'm in no way ready to surrender her babyness but she continues to surprise me every day by how big she is getting. Just her vocabulary lately is amazing. And the other night in the bath out of nowhere she counted to 10! I was amazed! I absolutely love her personality. She sassy when she wants to be but most of the time she is sweetness and love. She is my snuggle baby and I'm so grateful for that, Evan really wasn't much of a snuggler.
She still doesn't mind the camera in her face so I grab it any chance I get. And on that note, the many faces of Erin. Don't mind the tomato beard, she had just gorged on no less than 10 cherry tomatoes :)

Party Time!

We decided to do a combined birthday party for the kids this year and it worked out great. Coming up with a theme for both of them was a little challenging but after watching Despicable Me about a thousand times already this summer it became clear that a Minion birthday party was the way to go.
My friend Amy made the cake and it turned out super cute!

We did a bubble station and a pinata for the kids and they all seemed to love it. Evan was eyeing the pinata all day and couldn't wait to take a swing at it. 

After numerous rounds we had to have daddy finish it off, pretty sure it was made of steel.

I made my own bubble solution and it worked out very well, and it was super easy!

1 cup water

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

4 tablespoons Dawn dishwashing liquid

The kids had a great time and so did we.

Erin is 2!

Two! No way. My beautiful girl is growing up so fast I can't believe it. She has been talking in full sentences lately and I love it so much. Her tiny voice saying "what doing mommy" just kills me!
Right now she is pretty feisty when it comes to getting her own way. You have to catch her in the right mood to change her clothes that's for sure. And tell her she can't wear her favorite shoes, look out.
She still will eat anything and loves cherry tomatoes (which she will pluck out of the garden and eat if they are even remotely red).
We've been doing a little potty training but nothing too serious yet. She's already peed on the potty twice so I think she might be a little easier to train than Evan. We'll see.
She's a pretty goofy girl and can also be very serious. I took her outside to get some photos the other night and I'll let them speak for her personality. I just adore her more and more everyday.

And these are from her actual birthday yesterday. Little known fact, she is terrified of birthday candles. Who knew?

And these are the favorite shoes by the way.