Snuggling

I am finding myself thanking God lately that I have kids who are real snugglers. My day started out today with my son waking me up and cuddling up to me for a few minutes. I went to get out of bed and he wrapped his little arms around me and just snuggled right in for awhile, then gave me a kiss.
K has decided lately that she needs to be IN my lap whenever she can be and when she is not, then A needs to be. Both are great at giving kisses, and hugs and K especially gets her entire body wrapped around you in hugs.
I love the feel of their warm little bodies, all close and molded into yours. It is so special to hold them close and experience and embrace the love that is shared between the two of you.
And this is why I find that I cannot do anything but be thankful to God - for my kids, for the blessing they are to me, to M and I together. They are so amazing and I am so incredibly, incredibly full of love for them.

A-girl's Heart

Yesterday A went for her 3 month heart appointment. We were there for over two hours in total - they did an echo (ultrasound) of her heart as well as an EKG to measure the electrical currents. During the echo she was crying quite a bit, so they did not get a lot of really clear pictures. The technician thought she saw a tiny 1 mm hole still (it was 4 mm at two weeks of age), though it was a little flap more than a hole and the cardiologist herself thought that the test was inconclusive and there may not be a hole at all! She also couldn't really hear a murmur, so she was really happy and we do not have to go back until A is 2 years of age.
They also weighed and measured her and here are her current stats. It's kind of funny, but according to the last measurements we had she was taller 3 weeks ago! This place uses a more accurate form of measurement though, so I would say it is correct. She is gaining weight though, almost 1 lb in these three weeks! Not the chunk that her sister is, but still gaining.
20.9 inches long
8 lbs 13 oz
Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts.

Love Multiplied

As his mother, there are various times in R's life that I will look at him and marvel. How can I love this child as much as I do? How can one little boy bring so much love that you want to burst with it? DH and I have laid in bed at the end of the day and marvelled over things he did and laughed over happenings and things he said. Before the girls got here, we were told by other people that your love is just as much for each of your children, that it doesn't divide, it multiplies. I knew cognitively that this would be the case, but in my heart I always wondered how I could have that intense of feeling for another child.
I was just looking down at A in her swing and was thinking to myself that my heart wanted to burst with the love that I was feeling. How can you love someone this much who you have only known for under three months. (Not counting the time inside.) And the same feelings are true for me of K. I have been blessed with three wonderful children whom I love so much. Thank you, God!

Tone

As I am sitting here trying to burp my middle child I am thinking, "I can't believe I have two." Which is a change from most of the times this week when I have thought, "I can't believe I have two." How, you may ask. It's all in the tone which cannot be communicated in writing. Other days the tone was exasperated and frustrated. Today, I just feel blessed to have two wonderful little baby girls in my life. Hopefully, this feeling will last all day!

Transfer and an update

So today was an interesting day. For some reason, even though I was not feeling well this morning due to my blood pressure medication (still trying to get that balanced out) I felt that I NEEDED to be there for the 11:30 feeding. A nursed (PTL!) and K got fed by my grandmother who is in town for the weekend.
While they were feeding, a lady came in to tell us that they were going to be transferred to another hospital here in the city. It is about 10 minutes farther away from us so we will have to drive farther to visit. Apparently because they are doing so well, the Foothills is for "sicker" babies, so ours were the ones who got transferred. This is a good thing, we are told.
We got to the PLC after they had gotten settled and were given the tour of the NICU there. It is a lot more laid back than the Foothills and their philosophy is quite a bit different. K's feeding tube had been taken out just before her 11:30 feed and she is now on demand feeding, so whatever amount past her 42 ml she wants to drink, she can. A's tube was taken out within 10 minutes of us being there. They said they do everything they can to train them to bottle feed so that they can go home as soon as possible. Yeah for that! They also said that parents are to take temperatures and change diapers, that people we put on a visitor's list can visit without us (so the grandparents and aunts and uncle) as well as as many people as we want can be in there at a time. It felt like a big family there and I felt quite comfortable. The only downside is that the areas for each baby are extremely small.
They did an admitting exam for both girls and we found out something new. Apparently A has a heart murmur and there may be a chance that her heart hasn't closed between the two sides at different places. The doctor wasn't worried about it, they will watch her over the weekend and get an ultrasound on her heart on Monday or Tuesday, and he said as the heart is a muscle it may be healed by then. So yet another prayer request for you all out there. She is such a little fighter and a trooper, so if anyone can do it, she can! One the other hand, he said K presents like a "normal" baby. So that is a praise!
K was so wide awake and A was just crashed. She tried to suck on A's ear several times. It was so cute!Again with the profiles...
R had yet to meet his sisters as the hospitals have a policy that children without their immunizations cannot go into the NICU. The guys who were transporting the girls were nice enough to stop and let R see them. We have showed him a lot of pictures and talked about them all the time. (He "helps" me pump milk for "K-A" (he does say their entire names, not the initials) every time I pump. He turns the pump on and off and sometimes "pumps" his own by lifting his shirt and putting a lid from one of the bottles on his belly button. It is so adorable!)
He had such a look of wonder on his face and after they took the girls away, he threw a tantrum. Normally I don't like when he does that and greatly discourage it, but this time he was screaming about "my babies, I want my babies, bring back my babies!" Just about broke my heart. I do hope that he wants them around as much when they come home!

Have a little hope....

R and I were looking at different music videos that I had posted on my blog earlier today - his favorite is obviously still Mahna Mahna - but I came across Shackles by Mary Mary. For some reason it made me cry today. It wasn't the memories that made me want to cry, but the words. That is one thing I really love about Mary Mary, they not only have awesome songs to listen and dance to, but words that just make you want to praise God in spite of things and have hope.
Well, this song got me thinking about another one of their songs and I looked it up on YouTube - there is no official video to it, but someone put a bunch of images of the ladies together to the music, so have a listen. I love the arrangement and choir and acappella part at the end.

And no, things aren't really bad around our house - just a little overwhelming at times. I thought it was a pretty good day, but all of a sudden I was down and needed a little pick-me-up. This gives me hope and if you need it I pray it does the same for you!

Lots going on!

The last week in our lives has been a bit eventful, yet not. What I mean to say is that we took our house off the market last Friday... and I felt nothing but sweet relief. I was getting so tired of keeping my house clean every day and trying to keep R from being a two year old and messing things up, just in case we had a showing. And the showings were annoying because they are an hour window and usually over supper, so we would have to spend money to eat, because neither R or I would be able to wait. We just took a look at the market again and what our mortgage would have to go up and the monthly payments we would have and figured that it would be better to just do some rearranging and close in our loft to make another bedroom. It will be a bit of work, but far less stressful financially.
So now we are in plans to renovate. We are going to be getting a shed, moving our storage room items to the shed, move the office to the storage room - have to sell the current desk and filing unit and get a custom desk made. Finish off the storage room with giprock, mudding and taping, and painting. Change the door to a french door so we can get natural light into it. Then we get to close off the loft, probably with a pane of glass above the stubwall and put a door in. More giprock and mudding/taping and painting. We are going to get a standup deep freeze and sell ours and then get high efficiency washer and dryer that will stack so the deep freeze can go beside it and take up no more space. (I'm also going to be doing a lot more laundry, so this will save us money! :) Oh, and I am looking at a microwave that will go above the stove so I free up counter space! Yeah!
I had mentioned that we bought a van about 3 weeks ago. It happened in a day... I know, very fast. A guy we know works at a dealership, it is an awesome van, the make and model we were looking for, that they gave us a wonderful deal on, so we bought it. I posted the ad for the Subaru on Kijiji and usedcalgary on Wednesday at noon. We had a phone call on Wednesday night, they came and looked at it and test drove Thursday night and put down a deposit. They picked my baby up on Friday night and it now lives in Canmore. I almost cried, but I kept it together. Obviously, God is taking care of us as I never imagined that either of those transactions would go that quickly.
I am also now more confident in the decision that we made to take our home off the market. Though it would be nice to have a bigger home - we love this house. We built it, we picked everything and just finished off the basement in January! It finally felt like it was home to DH. Someday in the future, when the time is right, we will get a bigger place that will suit our family at that time, but for now God is taking care of us and we will do just fine. Maybe things will be a little more crowded in the next 6 months with 2 swings, 2 bouncy seats, 2 exersaucers and a playpen in our living room. Oh goodness, I am not ready to think about all that yet! :)
We have also been a little busier because my good friend V was here for a few days and now DH's parents are here on their way home from Mexico. It is nice to have people come visit us and see Rand how he has grown and what a good kid he is. He loves all the activity and attention and he LOVES my in-laws dog, Amigo!
Well, now that I have had the chance to catch up a bit, I think I ought to go. Have a wonderful week peoples! I hope to post more often once things settle down a little bit later this week.

Thank you, God!

I found out today that the OB that they referred me to, Dr. Stephen Wood, is taking me on as a patient! I have my first appointment on the 3rd of March!
Thank you to those of you who prayed, God answered our prayers. We would appreciate all the prayers you want to say on our behalf as I don't know how this journey will look and really I just want healthy babies and a healthy me (both physically and mentally - I had some post partum with R) when we are at the end.

Surprises

Please watch the video and then read the post - don't worry, it's not too long!


On Wednesday we went for our first ultrasound. A bit later than most people's which are at 18 weeks - ours was at 19 weeks - and many people are having an 11 week ultrasound these days, though they are done along with blood tests to check for markers for Down's Syndrome. We decided that we didn't want this early ultrasound as if there was anything wrong we wouldn't do anything with the baby anyway and the chances of a false positive are high and who needs unneccessary worry for the remaining 6 months or more of your pregnancy. All this to say that we had not yet had an ultrasound.
So I went in for the u/s and the technician asked if it was my first one with this pregnancy and I said yes. We got all ready and she put the wand on my tummy and within the first 30 seconds said "You really should have had an early ultrasound."
"Why?"
"Because there are two in there."
"WHAT!?!?!"
And she proceeded to turn the screen towards me and show me that, yes, there were two little heads and bodies there!

WE'RE HAVING TWINS, PEOPLES!

Two babies, dos bebes, deux bebes... it's exhilarating and scary any way you say it. We are feeling so blessed by this, yet all the things that you have to think about with one - the swing, the car seat, a stroller, etc. - are doubled when you are having two. As well as the fact that my new-to-me Subaru (which I love, have I said that lately? :) will have to be sold to get a minivan as there is no conceivable way that three carseats will fit across in the Outback. That is a must before the beginning of June. We also have to think about how long our house will work for us - we only have two bedrooms - R's and ours - which will work for the first while, but not in the long run.

On the other hand, we are pumped. I will be getting my three kids, which I always wanted. DH has always said we will take them one at a time, but boy, God had other plans! :) So I am back on track with my goals. (Ha, ha!) The great thing will be that we will have no middle child, really. It will be R and the twins. We do not know what they are, so don't ask, and if we do ever find out I will not be telling before they are born anyway. We are so excited about the joy that they are going to bring to us, tripling the love, laughter and love that we already have in our home and our family.

I will be moved from the Low Risk Maternity Care office that I have been going to, to an obstetrician who specializes in twins most likely. I am excited about this as well, as I will have all my care from one practitioner and he will deliver my babies as well. More personal - yeah for me! - I have been a little envious of the care that my friend has been getting with her midwife and now God has taken care of that as well. We would have gone with a midwife if we could have afforded it. And I couldn't go with a midwife now with a high risk pregnancy, so God took care of that too. He is good and there are so many things to be thankful for. Oh, and according to the doctor at LRM that I talked to the OB that they are referring me to (which I don't know if he will take me on yet, so please pray about that for me!) is Dr. Stephen Wood and two of my friends, one who was a delivery nurse in L & D with him and the other who worked in records at the hospital said he is so nice. In fact, C said that he is the nicest OB she knew from there. Another blessing. God is good, that's all I have to say!

To finish off, I will leave you with some pictures of our little people. The radiology office that we were at has 4D and you can get video, so we did. We won't with all our ultrasounds - apparently they do one a month with twins - but we did with this one. I guess we will be finding out all about twins over the next years...

My Week

This past week has been a bit of a busy one. Last week DH was home to work on the basement. It was so nice to have him here, though he was downstairs most of the time doing mudding and taping and sanding. Not too fun of a job and extremely messy - dust everywhere. I helped him clean up a few different days and the first day even though I had a mask on my nose and everything were still covered in the fine dust. On Sunday, we made it usable again - good thing as I NEEDED to do laundry and couldn't get into my laundry room as it had plastic stapled over the door. Anyways, now we got to start on the priming. Maybe we'll be done for Christmas!?!
Speaking of which, I still have not put up my Christmas decorations and I am beginning to get a little depressed about it. I look forward to Christmas and decorating every year and then it just seems to fly right by and this year will be even worse as it'll be 3 weeks less that I get to have the wonderful Christmas lights and pretty decorations. Oh well, we will be doing it this weekend, for sure!
Saturday my book club had their annual Girls Christmas Party at my neighbour C's house. It's always fun! We had a gift exchange and I, of course, gave something that had Tupperware in it. Apparently the ladies liked my gift as it was stolen (yeah, it was a "Chinese" gift exchange where you have numbers and can steal a gift twice) and then some people wanted to order some. I ended up having 6 people order things through my Christmas party, which is not bad at all! :)
Monday I had a Tupperware party at my friend K's house. Only 3 people besides the two of us showed up, but we had fun anyway - it was very casual - I did no presentation, we just talked, I have my stuff out and they could ask questions. It was an enjoyable evening, though I was out late again.
Tuesday I had A here for an hour and a half - C and I have begun a babysitting exchange. While she goes to speech therapy with J, I have A every other Tuesday a.m. and then she takes R the other two weeks. Then I took R to A's to put down for his nap and went to an appointment with DH, then back to A's for Mom's group. A cold has been making its way around our house, so I really didn't feel well in the afternoon at A's and when R and I came home I just rested. DH has the cold pretty badly.
On Wednesday, R and I went for chiro appointments, then for groceries. It took DH an hour and a half to drive home after picking up our Subaru at the dealership that only takes half an hour normally to drive home from. There was around 15 accidents on the road that DH heard about when he was driving.
Yesterday was interesting. It started off pretty normal, cleaning house and trying to get things down around here. Just before I was going to put R down, DH phoned to see if we could pick him up from the CTrain as his cold was bothering him so much he couldn't concentrate at work. We did and R fell asleep for 2 minutes in the car. When we got home, he talked and complained for an hour before I went in there. He was feeling hot and his nose was running, so I gave him Tylenol Cold and rocked him for a long while. I finally put him down and he cried - but I was the heartless mommy who let him and went to have a shower - when I got out 10 minutes later he was fast asleep and slept for 2 good hours before I went in to wake him at 5 (I was scared he wouldn't go to bed if I didn't! :) DH slept through everything from quarter to two until five! I got an hour sleep in myself - yeah! My parents came over for supper and then stayed to babysit R while DH and I went to a Friends Church Leadership Christmas party. DH is going to be doing some speaking at church and this was a way for us to get to know some of the people who are in leadership there. We felt it was pretty important that we go or we would've stayed home due to DH's cold - though after his long nap and some Tylenol he was feeling able to function. I am glad we went and I am thankful for our church. People went out of their way to introduce themselves and strike up a conversation with us. It made us both feel good as well as confirmed our decision to make Friends Church our home church. We are very thankful to God for our church and the people we have gotten to know as a result.
Well, I gotta go, I have a Tupperware order to put in this morning and I gotta get a hold of K to do it. She decided to go to Arizona for a week, so this may be fun!

Thankfulness

I was just reading Jobina's post about medical insurance. I commented on it and the last sentence that I was so thankful that we had coverage through Michael's work. I realised as I wrote it that I do not share the things that I am so thankful for on this blog very often. (Except my car, of course! :)
I am so thankful for Michael's job and the company that he works for. He was very blessed to be given this opportunity and though it is not similar at all to what he did before, we are so blessed by them. They take care of our AHC and we have an amazing benefits plan as well as a Health and Wellness account for the things that are not covered under the regular plan. We are headed to Chateau Lake Louise in November for the Christmas party - this is much different from church Christmas parties where it is potluck!
Anyways... all this to say that I am thankful. For the blessings that God has showered upon us.

God is good!

R and I drove the car down to the dealership today to have them look at the keyless entry system. It just stopped working on Saturday morning and we went down there then and their parts department wasn't open. So, R and I took a trip today. Peter, the sales manager who we bought the car from, helped us out and they couldn't get it to work, so they are replacing it. He told me it was my lucky day because they were going to replace the keyless entry system and it only costs them a little bit more to put in a remote start keyless entry. So I can start my car in the winter from the house and it'll be warm without my going out there! I am so excited about this car already, and now I am especially excited! God is just blessing us with it, I am so happy. I love the seat warmers and the fact that it is automatic. I love the space in it and that R can no longer kick the back of my seat. I love the truck and the way I can see all around my car through my rear view mirror and shoulder checking is great because there are windows everywhere. And now we are going to have remote start as well as keyless entry.
Thank you, God!