Busy, Busy, Busy

With the arrival of the twins any day now, we have been very busy making sure all is ready.  You would think I would be cleaning up a storm, but no, we have been SEWING up a storm. My mom has been here for the last week so that is why all of this is getting done. 

We made a couple of HUMONGOUS nursing covers for a little modesty.

We made a couple of carseat covers because it is the cool thing to do.

Geoff's in charge of making all of our children their Christmas stocking so even though the babies don't have names yet Geoff made them stockings.

Here is the "seamster" himself, sewing up a storm.

Here are the girls modeling the stockings.

My beautiful mother made the babies these darling quilts! 

Seriously! aren't they the cutest things you have ever seen???

She totally made up the pattern.  She is one talented lady! Thanks mom!!

More seriously big news is that Aria and Laila now share a bedroom.  They had a few rough nights but they have been doing better and better every night.  I am so proud of them!  Things seem to be coming together nicely before the babies are due to arrive.  

Getting very big! I have never been so ready to give birth in all my life.  I hope these babies come soon.  I can't wait!

My little ladies

Joeen took the most darling pictures of my girls.  They had so much fun because they dressed up and played with babies.

Laila fell during the photo shoot and scraped up her face thank goodness for digital photo touch up.

On a side note, Laila has decided to potty train herself which has been great but this is how she spends most of her time.

Joeen, thanks again for everything!

Mothers-in-training....and waiting

My wonderful Mother-in-law Joeen has been staying with me while Geoff has been out of town, and let me tell you, I might send Geoff out of town again if I could convince Joeen to stay.  She has been an absolute LIFE SAVER!! She has single-handedly made our home ready for two more babies.

Joeen has also been getting Aria and Laila ready for the new babies by helping them get excited about being mothers to their own babies.  Joeen has 7 children so she is an expert at diverting attention, and right now the girls are busy being mothers to their own babies and hopefully they will leave the new babies alone.

Not only is Joeen able to get more done in a day then anyone I have ever met, but she is a very talented photographer.  We took the girls out to play and take pictures and they turned out so darling, I will post some pictures later, but I wanted everyone to see my little mothers.  Aria and Laila are so good to their babies, I am sure they are going to be awesome when the twins come.

Here is the most recent "belly picture".  Joeen agrees that I am getting bigger and bigger everyday! Hopefully these babies will stay in a couple more weeks and then they are definitely invited to come!

Joeen, thank you for everything!  You have no idea how much you mean to me and the girls.  Thank you for dropping everything in your life to come make mine so much easier.  I LOVE YOU!!!!

The Babies

I had an ultrasound today and it looks like all is well with the babies. The ultrasound tech was so cute and wanted to see if they looked alike.
This is baby boy, we couldn't get a 4D picture but this baby looks a lot like Geoff...big cheeks and big lips. He also has quite a bit of hair.

This is baby girl, she was in perfect position for a 4D photo. I think she looks a lot like Laila. She doesn't have as much hair as her brother.
I am so excited to see what they really look like!!

A BIG SURPRISE!!

I received a wonderful surprise this weekend.  My mother-in-law Joeen was coming to help me but she showed up a day early with 3 of my sister-in-laws!!!  It was the BEST surprise.  I was so happy especially because I got to meet my brand new nephew Luke for the first time!

While Joeen escorted me to my various trips to the doctors office and the hospital for some shots my wonderful sisters deep cleaned my entire house,

and  watched and played with my children.

It was wonderful!  It really gave me the boost I needed.  I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful, supportive family.  I am still in a little bit of shock that Renee and Sarah would drive 6 hours and Michelle flew from Colorado,  to spend a couple days with us.

Renee, Michelle and Sarah thank you so much for coming and completely cleaning my house and for taking care of my girls and I .  I love you guys so much!  You are the BEST!!  I am the luckiest lady EVER!!!

Crocheting!

Since I have just been laying around, I decided that busy hands are happy hands so I have taken up a new hobby. Crocheting is the best thing ever because I can do it while I am laying down.  I LOVE IT!!

A little hat for each of the babies!

I need to give a shout out to my Grana.  She is a crochet master and I am so thankful for her teaching me how to crochet many, many years ago.  It only took me a couple hours to remember how to do it again!

Mandatory Rest?!?!

 Are you wondering what my sudden motivation to update the blogity blog with so many pictures and events came from??  You guessed it. Bed rest.

To be honest bed rest isn't as cool as I thought it would be.   Maybe it would be fun if I had a nanny and a maid and maybe a chef.  But it is the most frustrating feeling having to rely on other people to do all of the things that I should be able to do.  I am SO SO thankful to all my wonderful friends for helping me!  Most of all I am so thankful for Geoff, I always knew that I really liked him, but he might just be the most incredible, best, wonderful, awesome and stupendous man ALIVE!

Here's to almost one week down!

Hi mom!  Here is a picture of my expanding midriff at 31 weeks.  Sorry about the picture, Aria took it and it was the best one of the bunch.  I hope something isn't wrong with my camera,  good thing I will have a lot of time to sit down and figure it out.

The cutest Witches on the block!

Last year I picked up some costumes at JoAnn's for around 5 bucks and I am so glad that I did because this year I wasn't really on top of things and Halloween kind of snuck up on me.  I think they look pretty darn cute!

Did you know that costumes run small??  I bought Laila a 4T and she barly fits into it.  The worst part is the hat, it completly doesn't fit on her head.  I like to think it is because of her thick luxurious hair.

This is Aria's attempt at a witch face...pretty scary.

Carving pumpkins

If our little family has one tradtion it would probably be carving pumpkins.  I am happy that we did it this year.  Please excuse the nudity and bad hair.

The girls are facinated by the pumpkin guts, and as always Laila is a little more adventurous then Aria.

Aria finally gets some guts!

The finished pumpkins!

Happy Birthday Aria!

I am very late in posting a Happy Birthday to Aria who is now 4! 

She had quite the celebration!  I was having guilty feelings that she has never had a real birthday party and thought that this year might be as good as any and boy did we have a party!

Aria really wanted to invite her "closest" friend to the party which ended up to be about 16 kids.  I decided the best way to do that was at the park which was a good and bad decision but very fun. 

We played all the favorite games, duck duck goose, red light, green light, red rover, and tag.

No party is a party without a pinata.

Aria was definitley spoiled by all her friends and her grandparents.  She is one very lucky girl.  I feel like one very lucky mom to have Aria.  She is blossoming into a very wonderful person.  She is such a good sister and starting to be a very good helper (just in time).  I love her so much and I am thankful for all that she has taught me about patience, unconditional love, and consistancy.  Oh I don't want her to grow up!

Mother Moment

The other day was picture day at Aria's preschool.  The night before the big picture day I thought it would be so cute to put her hair in sponge curlers for her first school picture.  Aria didn't think it was a good idea and she really didn't want to sleep in the curlers, but with my amazing powers of persuasion (threats and bribes) she did it. 

The next morning as I unrolled the curlers I started to get a little concerned as she had 12 really tight curls right up against her scalp.  Before I let Aria see I quickly thought that if I brushed them out all will be well. 

This is what her hair looked like when I combed my fingers through her hair. 

As I was combing and she was looking at herself in the mirror I saw her hair getting fluffier and more poodle like I had a horrifying moment.  I started laughing.  I know, I know, rookie mistake but it was seriously so funny.  Her face, her hair the fact that I was doing to her what my mom did to me. 

She started crying as I was laughing and I really tried to fix it.  I really think I could have made it look cute, it would have relaxed and she would have loved it, right?  Nope, she was devistated! She started throwing  a huge tantrum, huge tears, rolling on the ground, the works.  I realized my mistakes and threw her in the shower and all was well.

I learned some really good lessons that day:

1) Just because my mom did it to me doesn't mean I should do it to my children.

2) Don't try something that we have never done before the day before a picture.

3) I had a really frightening look into what my future will be like with three girls.  If it was this bad at 4 can you imagine what it will be like at 14?

Please pray for me!

Laila has chicken pox too!!

Laila's turn!

Laila now has chicken pox.  It is very interesting because Laila's chicken pox has been very different then Aria's.  Aria had 50 chicken pox all over her body.  Laila has about 15 pox but they deep and BIG!  I am not sure which one is worse.  All I know is that Laila is going to have a few scars on her face...sad!

25 weeks...a lot more to go!

This is a comparison of a single pregnancy vs a double. The picture on the right is of me a few days before Laila was born and the one on the left is from today. Too similar right?!?!

Now, I know I have 2 babies in there but you gotta see it from my point of view...I don't know how my body can get any bigger!! It never has before. I have a good 3 months left before these babies come!

WOWZA! I am going to be huge! Oh boy I am so excited!

(I mean this very seriously, not sarcastic at all)

Aria's first day of preschool

Oh my, she is getting so big.  She is so excited to be in "school".  This child will do anything to get out of the house!

What we have been doing lately.

CHICKEN POX!!

The worst part is having to stay home!

Laila is TWO!

Laila is two...can you believe it? Either can I. She is getting so big!

We started out the day with our favorite Swedish Pancakes.

Aria is part of a little Joy school in our neighborhood and it was my turn to teach on Laila's birthday. Laila loves when all of her friends come over. She loves to participate and play with all of the kids so it was perfect to have them all over for a little birthday party. They made party hats and we played lots of games.

Then we had cupcakes!!!

When Geoff got home from work Laila opened all of her presents!

and we had MORE cake!

They are BEST friends, I have loved the last year watching Aria and Laila's relationship evolve. These beauties can play house and babies for hours. I feel so blessed to have two healthy, happy girls.

Laila is definitely my little buddy. She always wants me to snuggle her, tickle her back and read her books. She is a little mischievous and has a mind of her own. I am so thankful that she is in our family, she brings us such joy!

By popular demand...

So I have had a few people ask to see a belly picture. Here you go.

What?... you don't take belly pictures in neon splotched spandex? 

I just really wanted everyone to capture the essence of my pregnant body.  I don't get very pregnant in my belly, those babies are residing in my bum.  It is nice and roomy so I totally understand.