22 Weeks

Well, we've made it to 22 weeks and no complications yet! (knock on wood...)  When I was pregnant with Asher I did a lot more updates on my blog about the pregnancy.  This time around, it's harder to do those updates because I'm always trying to keep up with Asher and I am so much more tired all the time, so when I do have a little time I just want to lay down and relax.  So here is my mid-pregnancy post and I'll try to remember everything that I've been going through and then a few tidbits about Asher at the end.  Here we go!

Over Christmas break when we went to Idaho, I told my sister there were a couple things I let her borrow that I would like to have now that her kids have grown out of them (changing table pad, baby carrier, bibs, etc).  Well I got a little more than I bargained for when she sent me back about 7 boxes of baby clothes that she was sick of storing!  So now I have boxes and boxes of little boy clothes.  This was in the middle of my organizing them:

This was my favorite thing that Asher wore!  I called it his Care Bear outfit.  He was soon snuggly in it and I'm totally using it for my twins.

I was a little sad putting all those boy clothes away because...

We're having two girls!  So now I have lots of boxes of boy clothes, and 2 girls on the way.  I really hope another family member is having a boy so I can at least offer those clothes out.  It makes me so sad that they're all in such good condition!  I did go through and tried to separate out the gender-neutral clothes and plan on using them for the girls.  I don't look forward to having to buy enough clothes for 2 girls.  Having twins is expensive!  Thankfully I have family who look out for good deals for me (we got a second carseat for free and my sister is letting us borrow some clothes) and I always keep a lookout on yard sale sites on Facebook! (I got a crib for $10 in pretty good condition and a crib mattress for free)

Having twins, I expected to get bigger a lot sooner.  I was really hoping these babies wouldn't want to swim as much as Asher did.  I had so much fluid with him and got really big my last month!  Here's a comparison as close as I can get between the two pregnancies:

Twins - 22 weeks

Asher - 21 weeks

I think I'm doing ok for now.  I can still do most things and haven't felt overwhelmed with my gigantic belly yet.  I do get sick of growing out of clothes so fast though!  But I know I still have growing room.  Here's a picture of me the day before I delivered Asher (11 days before my due date):

I was very miserable that day and just knew I wouldn't be going clear till my due date.  So I have this big and more to look forward to!  

I had my big ultrasound today where they did all the measurements and made sure that everyone is healthy and doing good.  It took a long time and David and Asher were both very glad to leave by the end of it.  Since they had to do all the measurements for both babies, it took a good 45 minutes just in the ultrasound room.  But I got to look at them both and see how well they are doing!  Both babies were breech, whereas at my last appointment they were both head down, so hopefully that changes before we get closer to delivery.  They are both growing great and are right on schedule!  There was nothing they could find wrong and honestly now that I'm not worried about other problems, I'm hoping I don't have two 8 pound babies!

Here are a few things about this pregnancy:

• I have been so much more tired this pregnancy that with Asher.  It feels like growing two people is just a lot harder than growing one.  And the fact that I don't get to sleep in any more doesn't help.  That's one bad thing about already having a child when you're pregnant.  Also, it is a lot harder for me to get up in the morning.  I usually cheat and let Asher play on our tablet until I feel like I'm not going to die.  I get up with David at 6 and make his lunch and breakfast and see him off to work and then go to sleep until Asher wakes up around 7:30, get him situated, and then go back to sleep until around 9.  I feel so lazy, but at the same time I tell myself that I'm growing 2 people!  So it's ok if I'm a little lazy.
• I had to start sleeping with my body pillow a lot earlier this time around.  My back kills if I don't.  David hates when I sleep with it but it helps so much!  
• I felt these babies move a lot earlier.  I started feeling them around 13 weeks and feel lots of movement now!  Apparently with twins you just feel a lot more movement because they're all pushed out and cramped.
• My circulation has taken quite a hit too.  My arms and legs fall asleep after about 15 minutes of not moving.  I had this with Asher too, it's just a little worse this time.  I just have to adjust my position a lot, and position myself just right for sleeping!
• I haven't been gaining weight as much as I thought I would.  I only gained 30 pounds with Asher (an acceptable amount) and this pregnancy isn't much different. I just look like I gain a lot more!
• I've been trying to stay as active as I can.  I still take Millie on a walk every night, a little less than a mile, and I try to take Asher outside to play at least a few times a week as long as the weather is good.  I figure I'll just try to keep moving until I can't anymore because it's got to help!  Some days are better than others.
• I haven't been breaking out as much as with Asher.  With him, I looked like a teenager going through puberty and had so much acne!  This time I haven't gotten hardly any.
• I've been so much more emotional this time.  I cry all the time over stupid things, which is horrible when I teach Young Women.  I'm sure they hate when I teach because I'm that blubbery teacher that cries over every lesson.  I try to keep telling them I'm not normally like that!  Also, my temper is harder to control.  I've gotten better at it, but it's still harder for me to keep my cool when things really bother me.
• My pregnancy brain is awful.  I can't remember names, I always forget what I'm doing, and David will try to remind me of conversations we've had and I can't remember actually having them.  I also forget about 75% of the things that David asks me to do unless I write it down.  I have to write everything down because I know I'll forget!  There are a million little scraps of paper with notes I've written down.  So if anyone sends me a text or email or asks me to do something, don't be offended when I've forgotten about it!

To be honest, things are going pretty well.  I'm just a really bad pregnant lady and get grumpy about stuff, but I know I'm lucky that things have gone so well, especially with twins!  Next week is my glucose test (yuck) so hopefully that comes back negative!  That's all I can remember right now, so here are a few pictures of Asher just because. 

Asher LOVES balloons and was begging me to get some for him.  So I bought a package for $1 at Wal-Mart and made him one happy boy!  His favorite thing was to put all of them in the crib and try to kick them from one crib to the other, while I try to keep the balloons in his crib.   

"Bury me with the balloons please Mama!"

He loved his crib when he was in it and loves it still!  He's been having fun getting ready for the babies.

He learned to take pictures on purpose.  Most of the time he'll take pictures of his nose, sometimes try to take pictures of me (usually when I'm asleep), and this is one he tried to take of Millie.

He's getting more independent!  He has started insisting on making his own peanut butter sandwich, or as he calls them "keenut sandwich".  I usually put honey on it when I make his sandwich, but he likes just the bread and peanut butter.  He's actually not too bad at making them!

Asher has been really into singing lately and will sing just about anything.  He'll sing along with classical music, nursery rhymes, or he'll just sing whatever he happens to be thinking.  He's also gotten good at singing along with movies!  This is a video of him singing along with the beginning of Wall-E, which we watch about once a day.

December Time

November was so so busy for us, and I was actually really hoping December would slow down a little. Silly me to think that Christmas time would be like that!  It was a busy month full of shopping, concerts, and traveling!  I'll try to remember things the best I can.

First off, David came home one day with this little thing!

Teacher of the month!  I have no idea how often teachers at his school normally get this, but I thought it showed how much hard work David has been putting into his job.  He doesn't get a pay raise or a bonus, just a nice mug and something to put on his resume!  

Next semi-exciting thing is we got new couches!  Well, Brian was getting rid of their couches and they were very nice and gave them to us!  The hard thing was they wanted to bring the couches over the night of David's Christmas concerts.  I had to go to the concerts to help turn pages and tune and direct kids around, so Joy, Kahea, Brian, and Brittany moved our couches while babysitting!  It was so nice of them to do that and I felt bad that we couldn't be there (not that either of us could've done much lifting at that point because my belly was getting a lot bigger and David was still getting over his back injury).  But for about 3 weeks our living room looked like this!  It was very...cozy...and our living room felt tiny, but Asher thought it was great to have lots of couches to jump on!  David thought it was great because when we watched movies, he could lay on one couch, I could lay on another, and Millie (the spoiled dog) would get tucked in on the third. ;)

David loves to spoil Millie and always tries to sneak her into our bed at night, tuck her in on the couch, and play all rough with her when he gets home from work.  Because of that, this happens almost every night.  David will call me on his way home from work, and Millie knows that means Daddy is almost home and she'll wait either by the window or by the door waiting for him.

I'm not a morning person anyways, but since I've been pregnant it's been even harder to get up.  One morning, Asher got into the candy David brought home from school.  He unwrapped about 10 pieces of chocolate, then put them back in the box without eating one.  He doesn't really love chocolate and/or candy and I don't know where that came from.  Certainly not me.

As part of David's parents gift to us, they sent us the cutest Christmas ornament!  It's very fitting for our family.  I'm really hoping this one will survive the next few years!

On the 23rd, we drove up to Rexburg to spend Christmas with my family.  It was very cold, snowed a few feet while we were there, and we got to spend lots of time with cousins!  I think some of the most memorable things was when I made sugar cookies with lots of little toddlers (I started out just making them with Asher, but soon Ledger, London, and even Isaac joined in!  I don't have a picture of it, but it was very crazy!), watching David shovel off my parents deck while Asher "helped" by using a dustpan to shovel, and just seeing the general craziness with having so many children under the age of 5 in one house.

On Christmas Eve, we were going to go see a live nativity that my cousins put on every year, but it was really cold and snowy so we decided to stay in.  So my mom got out one of her nativity sets and narrated the story for all the little people!  It was very chaotic and I was laughing very hard!  This video was at the beginning when they were still kind of paying attention.

Asher thought it was great fun going through his, mine, and David's stockings Christmas morning!

On Christmas, it was snowing so bad that my parents, who had gone to church 20 minutes before us, told us not to even try going because our car would probably get stuck.  So we stayed at their house and let Asher open one of his presents to tide him over until they all got home!  We spent a little more than average on him this year because we both felt bad about how boring things have been for him and how crazy things are going to be this year.

Cousins wear Asher out.  He had so much fun with them!

David with Ledger and Asher at McDonald's.  There was lots of giggling when this was taken!

My parents found out their dog, Oscar, has diabetes along with arthritis and just being an old dog.  He was very spoiled during our trip because everyone knew how sick he was.

During the holidays it's one of our traditions to go to my dad's school and play in the gym.  It is great for all those little people that like to run around!  They have scooters and basketball and jump rope there and everyone has a lot of fun.  Normally we do a family game of lightning, but I wasn't going to play (too big of belly) and my mom and dad had both had surgery in the last month (we were the medical leave bench and just sat on the side and held my sisters baby), and there were a few people missing.  But hopefully next year sometime we can start that up again!

We had so much fun in Rexburg and it was great to see all my family again.  I'm sad I didn't get any pictures of David's family (my bro, not my husband), but we got to spend some time with them too!  It was good to get home, though.  Asher was in desperate need of his regular sleep schedule (and a little alone time, he's not used to being around other kids all the time yet), and Millie was getting bombarded by all the attention all the kids were giving her.  So we had a few days at home to relax before getting back into our routine.

My sister gave us Candyland, which Asher caught on to really fast!

We gave Asher a bunch of puzzles and so did my sister, so we usually end up doing about 5 puzzles a day with him.

We were boring on New Years.  Asher fell asleep on the couch at 6, so I just moved him right to his bed.  I was so exhausted from our vacation that I ended up going to bed at 10:30 (and even that was a stretch for me). David was the only one who was awake to ring in the new year, and I think he even came to bed shortly after that.

Judy sent Asher this adorable shirt.  I may have to take it in a little because he is just so darn skinny, but he looks very cute in it!

For mutual, we combined with the young men and played human hungry hungry hippos.  It was  a lot of fun!  I took Asher with me and he had so much fun throwing the balls back into the middle that came our way!

December was busy, and it looks like January isn't going to slow down much!  David's work will ease up a little.  He's been teaching an extra class so he has been working 10-11 hour days this school year.  But they recently hired someone to take over the choirs so he can go back to working his regular hours.  It will take a lot of stress off of him and he won't have to work so long.  That will be nice especially the further along I get in my pregnancy.  And Asher will love having his playmate home more!  We gave our old couch to my brother, so our living room feels much more open now.  And now our focus is just to make it through the next few months!  It's going to be difficult financially, emotionally, and physically, but we're going to do the best we can.  Here's to an exciting year ahead of us!