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Monday, August 31, 2009

Why We Have 2 Ears

A conversation that took place in our house this morning:

My sister called me on the phone and as I was talking to her, Chloe kept trying to interrupt and ask me question after question. She was being loud and persistent enough that I had to keep interrupting my phone conversation to tell her to be quiet and wait until I was off the phone. After I hung up the phone, this is what took place:

Me: "Chloe, you know the rule: when I'm on the phone, you cannot talk to me. I can't hear both you and the other person on the phone at the same time."

Chloe: "Yes you can, Mom, that's why you have 2 ears!"

No wonder she has never obeyed that rule! Duh!

Ultrasound Results

We had our 32 week ultrasound today and....... Baby A (the one who will come out first) was head down! Hooray! I was so relieved! Baby B is transverse right now (laying sideways across my belly), so the best case scenario would have been to have both of them head down, but having Baby A head down was the most important. Once Baby A comes out, they can try and get Baby B to switch positions and become head down. So at this point, we are planning on a regular delivery, which is all I could hope for! Whew......

Monday, August 24, 2009

Happy 6 years

Saturday marked the 6th Anniversary of the start of Team Andros.


6 years together
6 years of fun
6 years ago
When two became one!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Confessions of a Pregnant Mom


At 31 weeks pregnant with twins, I have a few confessions to make.

* I think I need to wear a sign on my body at all times that says: "I am due October 22nd with twins and yes, that is why I am SO big!" To make polite conversation, people in public ask me constantly when I am due and when I tell them October, they get a weird look on their face and make a response that goes something like this, "Ohhhh.... wow, you've got a ways to go still," all while glancing back at my stomach to verify that it was really as big as the first time they looked at it, then glance back at me to make sure I know how big it is. It is at this point that I tell them I'm expecting twins and most of them show immediate and apparent relief. They all assume that by how big my stomach is, (before knowing it's twins), that I am due any day. One lady, after blatantly expressing shock that I wasn't due any day, said with a sigh of relief upon find out it was twins, "Oh, okay, that's why you're so big!" Awesome.....

* I am feeling done with being pregnant, and I've still got at least 5 weeks to go, if not more. At my 30 week appointment, I measured and had gained the same amount of weight as I had when I was 40 weeks pregnant with Mitchell. A friend had told me months ago that my 30 weeks would probably feel like a singleton pregnancy at 40 weeks. She was definitely right! With approximately 7 pounds of baby in me (over 3 pounds each), and the extra amniotic fluid, I have enough baby weight and baby "stuff" to equal what Mitch weighed at birth. Come on 36/38 weeks! (My back and neck pains may not hold out until then....)

* I now have to go to the hospital once a week, until the babies are born, and have non-stress tests. This is a good thing, as it checks on the health and well being of the babies. As I get farther along, complications and pre-term labor become more likely and they need to check the babies weekly to see how they are handling everything. I went for my first test yesterday and was not looking forward to it, but it was actually quite relaxing! The kids were not with me (obviously) and I was put in a quiet room, hooked up to 3 monitors and given extra pillows on my already adjustable bed and offered beverages and snacks. I watched a movie on my iPod and did not hear crying, whining or demands for over an hour. Hello! Can I stay for a week? The only problem with this new weekly appointment is that I will start seeing my doctor once a week now as well- that's 2 appointments a week- if I had a live-in nanny and didn't need to bother so many people so many times a week to watch my kids, this would be a completely stress free duty for me.

* I worry how much bigger I can get in the next 2 months. As mentioned above, I am measuring full term for one baby, yet I have almost 2 months left to go and 2 babies that still need 3 or 4 more pounds on them each (and with my history of big babies, that could be 5 more pounds each). Yikes..... The sign I will constantly wear on my body will have to be made bigger each month to be visible on my largely expanding belly, and I may have to start shopping in the plus size maternity section soon.

* I have an ultrasound in a week and as always, they will check the babies' size, but this next ultrasound is extra important, as they will be checking the position of the girls. At my last appointment, neither of the babies were head down yet and I was told that by 32 weeks (which is what I will be when I get the next ultrasound), that the baby on bottom (Twin A, who will come out first) needs to be head down at this point or it will pretty much be an automatic C-section delivery for me. By this point with twins, it is extremely hard and rare that the babies can change positions, so if the bottom twin does not go head down in the next week, it is almost certain that she can't/won't after that. I am very nervous about that and am praying she cooperates and is all in position in a week! I am not excited by the prospect of a C-section delivery at all.

* There is nothing sweeter than hearing my 4 year old say at every prayer, "Thank you that we can have 2 sisters." We are very grateful to be getting 2 sisters and we can hardly stand the wait anymore!

* I am stressing out over the purchasing of a stroller that will fit our needs. I not only have to think about a stroller for twins, but one that will hold Mitchell too, as he will barely be 2 and will still need to be in a stroller for awhile. I need to have the option of being able to take all the kids out with me at the same time. Double strollers for twins with toddler seat attachments are extremely pricey and the last two used strollers that I found on sale online that I wanted were both sold before I could make an offer. If we are offered a reality show contract, I will then be able to buy the stroller of my dreams with no hesitation about the price!

* While we would have been happy and excited with any combination of gender for the twins, I am kind of excited to still have my sweet Mitch baby as "my little boy." I constantly tell him he's my favorite little boy, my best boy, etc. and I would have to stop that if I were having another boy. But I'm not, so he can still be my favorite boy.

* After watching a documentary about the Octuplet mom, I started feeling like twins will be a breeze!

* Thank goodness for knowing and running into other moms of twins and for their great advice, wisdom and support! We are already excited and always have been, but after each encounter with other moms with twins, I become even more excited and anxious to meet these little angels and welcome them to our family.

* As crazy as life may be after the babies come, thank goodness we have 2 older children that are great sleepers. I think about this every night after they are in bed by 6:00 p.m. Hallelujah! (And ASAP, the babies will be on this same schedule....)

* It's at times like these (when I am pregnant), that I wish I was married to a massage therapist! Not that Ben doesn't rub my back every time I ask (daily), and do a great job, but it sure would be nice to get a professional massage at least once a week.

* There is almost nothing more unique and amazing than feeling a baby kick inside you. And in my case it's 2 babies, and now that they are bigger, I can sometimes tell which baby it was that kicked. If we were decided on names already, I could call by name and get after the bottom one for constantly jumping on my bladder, and the top one for kicking me in the ribs (sometimes at the same time).

* What is more fun than shopping for one baby girl? 2 baby girls! Too bad there is so much adorable stuff. Babies need 50 outfits for each size, right???

Whew, okay, I'm done.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Summer Adventures, Part IV

For our last big summer adventure, we headed to the Oregon Coast for a week of fun (without the sun) with Ben's family. 4 of his 5 siblings were there (the other is on a mission), all the grandkids and Nana and Papa. We had a wonderful week with lots of sand, water, and playing!




Ben won the hand stand contest!


Papa brought his truck this year and the kids had a blast riding in the back to and from the beach.


Chloe is still not afraid of the ocean, nor bothered by its coldness!

The two Beach Beauties!

How the kids "ride" the boogie boards.....

A great action shot running through the ocean!

Baby row- 3 babies to hold, plus my 2 to lug around.

Mitchell loves his Papa- he did not leave his side all week.

If there was one thing all of the kids loved more than anything it was the HOT TUB! Requests were made hourly to get in that darn tub.


Lewis and Clark, discovering the Oregon Coast.

At the tide pools

Our traditional "names in the sand" pictures.


The Andros Family in our tie dye shirts!

A great year at the beach!

Now on to our next adventure- preparing for 2 new kids!

Summer Adventures, Part III

After Yellowstone, Ben made the long drive back home while the kids and I headed to my parents house to stay another week.

We enjoyed the park......


And lots of time with cousin Carter, Mitch's favorite buddy.
If they both had the same color of hair, they might be able to pass as twins, seeing how my sister and I inadvertently buy them the same clothes.

Burley has a wading pool for young kids and Chloe loved practicing her swimming skills without having to worry about drowning!


We went to my mom's work party for the hospital and Chloe enjoyed a canoe ride with Grandma and Papa.

They also had kiddie train rides.






Chloe also self taught herself how to do a front flip on the trampoline, no hands. I can't even do this. (For all you gymnasts and trampoline experts, this is not a hard skill to master, I know.... but I just can't do it.)

We had a great time in Burley being spoiled by Grandma and Papa for a week (and the adults got to play lots of Settlers of Catan after the kids were in bed......)



Summer Adventures, Part II

Next, we headed off to Yellowstone with my entire family- my parents, 4 siblings and all their kids, and my Grandma.

On the way to Yellowstone, we stopped for lunch near Rexburg to go to Big Jud's. Since I never attended Ricks/BYU-Idaho, I have never eaten there and wanted to experience this place for myself.



Ben, the kids and I shared a Big Jud's special and boy was it BIG!


The burger was almost the same size as my ever expanding belly.....

After our burgers, we all split a Hungry Heifer. This is a giant trough (a large dog bowl, actually) filled with 12 different scoops of ice cream, whip cream and toppings. It was amazing..... Between the 8 of us, we just about licked the bowl clean.


We then spent 4 days in Yellowstone. We went on lots of hikes, did LOTS of driving through the park and spotted lots of animals. It was beautiful.


Papa brought up 4-wheelers and the kids LOVED that.

Aunt Amanda even taught Chloe how to drive one!


Ben had a few opportunities to fish in Yellowstone and was in heaven! Brad Paisley's Fishing Song "I'm Gonna Miss Her" is Ben's theme song- if there were ever one thing he would leave me for, it would be fishing..... :)


All of the Blakeslee grandkids in front of our cabin with Grandma and Papa.


We saw (and smelled) lots of stinky geysers. The older kids would loudly exclaim just how smelly they were at any opportunity.

We found a warm river (heated by the natural hot springs) and had a great swim.

We had a great time in Yellowstone!

Summer Adventures, Part I

What a summer we've had! With 2 babies on the way (soon!) we decided to live it up this summer and try to pack in as much as we could.

We started off our July adventures by heading to Tri-Cities for a short weekend. It was HOT there (well over 100 degrees) so we headed to the pool.

Mitch loved the water!



Here he is "swimming" (or kicking his legs).

Chloe had just completed swimming lessons that same day, so she was very excited to try out her new found swimming skills. Her cousin Stella had also just finished a round of swimming lessons.
Ben decided to teach her how to dive and she had no fear. She caught on quickly and for her first day, she did really well.


Here she is in action!

All 8 Andros cousins together for the first time.


On the 4th of July, we started the day off at at Parade. The kids loved seeing the horses and floats and loved getting candy, but it was SO HOT!


That afternoon, Ben's cousin got married and Chloe and Stella were flower girls.



A fun job for 2 very pretty girls!


Then off to Burley we went! The kids enjoyed the DVD player, and Mitch pulled his usual trick of sleeping less than an hour for a 10 hour trip!


We headed up to our favorite camping place in Idaho- Lake Cleveland. The snow wasn't even all melted off the mountain, so it was a freezing camping trip, but that didn't stop either of the kids from jumping into the lake and not even blinking an eye.


Mitch enjoyed rowing in Daddy's Pontoon boat.....


and fishing for the first time!


We camped one night and it was a long, rocky and uncomfortable night for the pregnant mom. But morning came (I really thought it never would) and I had survived. I dedicated that night to my nature loving husband and daughter.