You have all been waiting for this one....

Time for the pregnancy update!

I am currently 20.5 weeks pregnant. This means I'm halfway! I made it to the top of mountain and the rest is downhill (in a good way!). I hadn't gone to the doctor for 4 weeks because I had been doing so well, which is a great sign. I'm spoiled with getting ultrasounds every two weeks, so by the time yesterday got here, I was DYING to peek in on my little ones. The wait was so worth it and it was one of the most exciting days of our pregnancy yet!

Mom update: I'm feeling much better, eating us out of house and home and just starting to gain some weight. My baby belly is getting huge and I have days where the babies grow but my skin hasn't yet stretched so I feel like an inflated balloon which may pop at any moment during a deep breath or a laugh. My hunger is out of control sometimes I feel like the life is being sucked out of me. I am tired a lot and trying to keep my feet up to avoid the lovely side effect of chronically swollen feet and ankles. My darling husband dotes on me and is always fetching snacks, water and other various things that I request.


Baby Update (the good stuff!!!!): So the most important part of the ultrasound is that the babies are doing fantastic! They are perfectly healthy as far as we can tell and they are growing like crazy. They weigh just under a pound and already swallow, yawn and interact with each other.

AND

we don't just have to say "babies" anymore, we can now refer to them as the GIRLS!

YAY! We're having girls! I had some intuition throughout the whole pregnancy that it was girls, but Dan was hoping for some boys. He says he wanted some basketball players... so he is still adjusting to this new idea of girls. Nonetheless, we're nothing short of ecstatic. Ready for some pictures????

I'll walk you through the pictures:



This is the last official picture of the identical twins together in the womb. In the next few weeks they will grow and will no longer be able to fit on the screen together. The baby on the left (Baby A) is laying with legs to the right. The second baby (Baby B) is facing Baby A on her side. Can you see the skull bones and face profile?

Introducing Twin Girl A ! (Notice the clavicle- shoulder bones and the little foot above her head in the background (Baby B's foot!) )


Introducing Twin Girl B!- The jaw bones are obvious and her little legs are bent at the knees.


Next you will see their tiny tummies: This is their abdomen and the black spot on each is the stomach.


Finally: PROOF that these will have to be WNBA players :) P.S. Dan would like the world to know that this will be the first and last time that the girls will publish nude pictures of their girl parts on the internet :) This picture is from the bottom up and you can clearly see their legs nd girly anatomy. This is Baby B and her hand is down by her thigh.


We're really so excited to meet them. I feel them moving all the time. The ultrasound tech was teasing us because she said they were really "busy" already. She advised me to take naps now while I still can.

I hope you enjoyed this as much as we did. I'll keep you updated with maybe a belly picture or two next. :)

Love to everyone!

2009

It's the new year and I can't say that I'm sad 2008 has come and gone. Life sure did throw us some curve balls during the past year, sort of like going from a dress rehearsal to opening night...just in real life and not a staged play. ha!

There is this song on the radio these days and the chorus goes " ...life is a runaway train you can't wait to jump on." That is exactly what I feel like. Some days our life (and I'm sure yours does too!) seems like the scariest thing, but other times the unknown and the chaos brings me real joy.

I'm learning to live through faith each day and I'm sure that God is teaching me how to trust Him more. So I didn't make too many New Year's resolutions, but I did make one. I decided to take more pictures and compile a yearly photobook that recaps our life. I know that each stage of our life will end sooner than we could imagine and I am determined to enjoy the whole process- no matter how sleep deprived I get!

Katie

I had debated posting about this in my own mind for a few days, but I decided that because life is about both the ups and downs, and I decided that sharing a down time in our life is important too.

Last week we unexpectedly and tragically lost a family member. My Aunt Katie, my mom's sister, suddenly collapsed after a Christmas party with her friends. And after a few days of the best medical care possible, she never recovered.

It feels like I have had something stolen from me that I can't find or understand why it is gone. Katie was 49 years old and there was no indication of any serious health issues. She was (and still is) a mainstay of our family. She had a huge wonderful personality and was just about the most fun person you could ever be around. Katie wasn't just the life of the party, she was THE party and was someone who was everyone's friend. She had so many friends- probably around 500,000. I'm not even kidding... when she was in the hospital there were people flying in from around the world to see her.

She lived life to the fullest, harder than anyone I know. She managed major hotel operations in Washington D.C. and hung out with celebrities on a regular basis. She owned more shoes and purses than I could ever dream of and would honestly do anything for you.

Some families have Aunt's that are known, but distant. Katie was never distant. My memories of her during my childhood are numerous and she would play with me and my brother and sister on the floor for hours...just wrestling, tickling and loving on us. As we grew up a little she became the "cool aunt" who would let us do things that our mom and dad wouldn't...like give us candy in the morning or stay up really late. I don't think I'll ever forget the time we visited and she was dog sitting a little white fluffy dog named Bo. She let my sister have Bo sleep in bed with her!!!! Dogs in beds were NOT allowed in our house, and we thought her rules were the best ever. MaryKate (now just about age 20) still talks about sharing her blankie with Bo!

When an unexplainable tragedy happens to a family, the mystery and "whys?" seem to cut extra deep. I'm sad that Katie didn't get to have more years in her world-traveling, exciting life, but she is definitely in a much better place than we are right now. God was so merciful with the fact that there was no suffering, no pain. If you are going to leave earth, it might as well be after a fantastic party with all your friends right???

Now, we are the one's left to live without her. I am grieving over the loss of her in our lives, and that she won't ever tickle and love our children. My grandparents are working through the loss of a child in their 70's and my parents and other Aunts and Uncles are trying to get through what it means to lose a sister. I can't yet comprehend what our family is like without one of our mainstay members. I am reassured that over time, we will learn life without Katie, though it will never be the same and we will always miss her.

The funeral mass will be this coming Saturday and we will travel to Annapolis to be with everyone and remember Katie. Please pray that we will know God's love and grace as we walk through this sad time.