All Things Pink!

We had our ultrasound last Friday, and we are having 2 girls!  I was sure that we were having a boy and a girl, so I was quite shocked to find out it was two girls.  I knew that Chloe was a girl and Mitchell was a boy long before any ultra sound told me.  But I was wrong this time.  I was  shocked, but not disappointed!  We are very excited and I can't wait to start shopping for my two new little princesses.

Everything in the ultrasound looked good- two healthy, active little girls.  It was determined at our last ultrasound that they are fraternal, and they each are in their own sack separated by a membrane strip.  In the ultrasound, we got to see them interact with each other and at one point, they both reached their hands out and touched hands against the membrane.  It was very sweet.  Although they cannot have skin to skin contact during the pregnancy, they are still trying to touch each other and play together.

Here's to 2 more prom dresses, 2 more sets of hair to style every day, 2 more weddings to pay for (the first thing Ben thought of) and 2 more emotionally charged girls to bring joy into our home!  And here's to making sure our lone little man, Mitch, is all man! :)

Our Van!

Before we even got pregnant, I told Ben months and months ago that when we had a 3rd child, we would need to get a van.  Our Explorer held 3 in the back, so we could have made due with it with a 3rd child, but having 3 carseats in there was a major pain in the neck.  With 3 car seats in there (or even just an adult in the back with the kids), it was such a tight squeeze that Chloe couldn't even buckle herself, which she has been able to do now for more than a year.  Trying to get 3 people buckled in there brought about much whining from the kids, and angry words being muttered under my breath as I tried to squeeze everyone in.  

Ben, on the other hand, was in no hurry to get something new and said that with another child, we would be fine (obviously he hadn't been the one buckling everyone in......)  So I jokingly told him one day after we knew that we were pregnant (but before we knew how many babies were in there) that it sounded like the only way I was going to get a van was by having twins.  Lo and behold, it happened and now I got my wish!  Sounds like I'll have to go to extreme measures in the future to get more things I want.

Saturday was the big day that we made the BIG purchase.  We have never bought a new car together and have had much success and fun with buying nice used (and very inexpensive) cars that have been more than sufficient for our needs, so buying new this time around was.... well, big.  But we are very pleased with our van and excited to be able to safely (and non-angrily) buckle our expanding family into it soon.

Our Toyota Sienna- isn't she a beauty?  We are quite enjoying her.

The happy new owners the day we picked her up.  We are excited, but the looks on our faces can also be interpreted as "Oh boy, did we really just do this?"

Chloe loves it and has commented many times that the van is "cool." 

We now join the many, many others of you who enjoy your family vans!  Those of you who say you will never own a van, be careful- it happens to the best of us!

Whoa, baby!

Well, this will probably come as a surprise to no one (word spreads fast), but we might as well announce it anyway.  I'm not sure why I've waited so long to put it on the blog, but I could come up with a few reasons/excuses.  In October, the Andros family will be adding an addition to their house and expanding it by 4 feet..... Yes, two babies are on their way to our home!  Twins!  Who would have thought?  We are very excited and cannot wait to welcome into our family 2 more beautiful babies.  We don't know if they are boys are girls yet, but we do know that they are fraternal twins, which gives us the possibility of any combination- 2 girls, 2 boys, or one of each.  Chloe hopes at least one is a sister for her, but we have talked about the possibility of 2 more brothers. 

I am almost 15 weeks and we told Chloe the big news a few weeks ago.  We got it on tape and she handled the news very well, but got very silly at times.  Mitch, of course, has no idea what is going on and after we received the big news, we knew we HAD to get him walking ASAP.  He has fulfilled his end of the bargain and is now ready to be a big brother!

As for me, I have been very sick and what they say is true- if you get sick with pregnancies, it is definitely twice as bad with twins (and twice as tired, too).  I have never felt so ill in my life.  For me, it's been like having the flu all day, every day.  Things are starting to get a bit better now that the first trimester has passed and I can finally keep a little food down.  I never thought in all my life that the thought of ice cream would make me nauseous (it still makes me sad to say that).  But I have hope that I can feel much better soon and be able to eat like a normal person once again.  Pregnant with twins is the most effective diet I have ever been on (I lost 8 pounds in just a week or two) but I would much rather have to work those pounds off at a gym than feel this rotten.

But sickness aside, we are very excited.  But along with that excitement, we have had to hear the responses and comments from many people. Although I'm sure they mean well (I try to repeat that after someone blurts out a thoughtless comment), I have come up with a list of comments that I will never say to someone expecting twins.  And to give credit to all those well meaning, all be it rude people, I may have said similar things in the past, which I now resolve never to do again after being on the receiving end of the comments.

1. "Wow, twins..... (with eyes wide open in horror).  You guys are going to be SO busy, wow."

2. Twins??  Oh my!  How many kids do you guys want to HAVE?"

3.  Whoa.  I am SO glad it is you and not me......"

4. "Wow, your house is going to be CRAZY....."

5.  "Twins, oh man.  I'm  so glad I'm done having children."

6.  "Wow, you've got QUITE the road ahead of you....."

And then the various comments that imply that we don't quite understand that twins means two babies and that we better rethink this (as if it's something we could change even if we wanted to).  But to all the well meaning naysayers (none of you personally that I know who read my blog), we see this as a blessing and not in any way a curse, a trial or a test.  They are babies, not bombs!  If there is anything more precious than the expected arrival of one baby, it would probably have to be two and we couldn't be more thrilled.  We have 2 families in our ward who have twins (both older, ages 10 and 11) who have been a great source of wisdom for us.  They have given great advice and have said so many kind words to us.  They have truthfully told us that yes, it is busy and can be hard and we have taken that in and can say that we know that it will be hard, but we can honestly say we don't know just how hard yet, but that we are up for the challenge and ready for some fun!

Swine Flu

I'm sure most of you have heard about the recent swine flu breakout.  I heard about it today and didn't think a whole lot about it, until I heard it originated and is spreading across Mexico.  After I heard that, I started getting nervous because we just booked a vacation to Mexico last week for the end of May!  

Too much irony this past week for us- Mitch walking the same week he starts physical therapy, and now after we book our first kid-less vacation since our honeymoon, there is an influenza outbreak in the same location we book our trip.  What are the odds?

My mother, being an infection control nurse, kindly sent me an email regarding the current swine flue situation and although as of today there is no need for panic (yet), the U.S. Travel Agency has issued a suggestion that "nonessential travel to Mexico be avoided."  Well, as much as I'd like to say our trip was ESSENTIAL (vacation every now and then is essential, right?), in all reality it's not.  Now what do we do?

Well, I've been on the phone all day trying to figure out my options.  This morning, our travel agency (Costco.com) said that our trip protection insurance would not cover the "suggestion" from the U.S. Travel Agency and that if we canceled, we'd have fees of $600 (about a third of the total trip, wow!)  And the airline we booked the flights through is willing to move the trip date or let us fly to some other destination with no changing or cancelation fees, but only up until May 8th (we don't leave until May 22nd).

Long story short, I decided to call Costo.com back randomly for a small question and was told by the agent, "We just got a new policy from our manager- if you cancel today, you can cancel for no fees except your trip protection fee ($54)."  I never thought I would be excited to cancel a vacation to Mexico, but we jumped on it.  With the uncertainty of this flu outbreak, it wasn't worth it to us (financially or health wise) to wait around and see if it was going to clear up before we left.  The dates we are vacationing are set in stone for us (with Ben's work schedule and other things) and it was too risky to wait around until a few days before and either have to cancel our trip and pay hefty fees AND not have time to reschedule another vacation, or still have the advisory in tact and go to Mexico with the chance of being exposed to a flu we are not immunized against. 

It may come down to the fact that this scare/outbreak clears up in a few days or weeks, but now we don't have to worry about it.  So now..... back to the drawing board for vacation destinations!  We are still planning on somewhere warm, either state side or otherwise.  Wish us luck, but curses on Swine Flu!  

The Best Birthday Present!

This week for my birthday, Mitchell decided it was FINALLY time to start walking.  This was a great birthday gift, as he is 18  months old and been in the process of walking now for 6 months. It's also quite ironic (and frustrating and amusing all at the same time) that he started walking this week, as we just started physical therapy on Monday.  No, our one therapy session did not do the trick (the therapist is good, but not that good)!  Something just clicked for him and he decided this was the week to start walking for good.  Now we have to decide when to quit physical therapy and if we should take the expense out of Mitchell's college fund.....

At any rate, we are very excited that he is walking and we can't get enough of watching him do it.  After all the struggle we've been through with him to walk, it's like watching a small miracle.  It got to the point where we couldn't imagine him ever walking all of the time.  He is very happy about it himself and loves just walking all around the house.  I have posted proof of our walking man for those who have requested to see it.  (Mitch is not very happy in these clips, but proof is proof).