Dreams Do Come True

I wasn't sure this was something I was ever going to get to say: I am pregnant!

Mack and I are expecting twins, due January 17th.  I am currently 12 weeks along.  And we couldn't be more thrilled!

It has been a long road to pregnancy for us.  Several low tech fertility treatments, one surgery, three adoptions, and one round of invitro fertilization later (all over a four year span) and we finally did it.

Here is a picture of our two little embryos before they were implanted back into me: 

Yes, that is our kids sitting in a petri dish. How many people can say they have a picture of that?
Whenever we have told people that we are having twins we get that look of, "oh, I am so sorry".  We're not.  We really couldn't be happier.  I told Mack before we started invitro that if we did it, we were going to end up with twins.  I think he didn't take me too seriously.  But neither of us were all that surprised when the doctor told us there were two. 
How many kids does this make!? Yes, we realize this means that we will have five kids five and under.  I am slightly terrified by that thought.  But at the same time, wouldn't have it any other way.  We have been blessed beyond measure with the way in which each of our children has come into our family and we are equally as excited to add two more to the crew.
Do your kids know?  Yes!  We aren't the type of parents who are very good at lying to our children.  When Mack was giving me up to five shots a night, the kids were a bit curious.  So we told them that we were trying to get pregnant.  I think they think babies come from shots.  We aren't correcting that misconception yet.  Depending on the day and the child, they are mostly excited to be getting babies in the family.  Reese and Jessenia have come up with some doozy of name choices for the little tykes.  My favorite by far is "Juice".  Unfortunatly it didn't make the short list, sorry Jessenia.
When do we find out the gender?  The day the twins are born.  We want it to be a suprise.  I always imagined not knowing & even though Mack has been tempted to find out because it is twins, I am sticking to my guns.  If this is my only chance to be pregnant, we are doing it my way.  (And for the record, Mack isn't at all upset about this plan.)
How am I feeling?  Great!  I went into pregnancy thinking I would be sickest most miserable person in the universe because of my history of IBS.  Then adding the prospect of twins with double doses of hormones and I thought we were in for a wild ride.  But I have been pleasantly surprised.  Sure, I don't feel great all the time.  But I really can't complain.  It has been dreamy in comparison to what I thought I would be like.
Are we done?  I have always said that I want 9 kids.  We are on a take it one (or two) kids at a time basis.  We will just have to wait and see.
This journey to pregnancy has been a very spiritual one for our family.  We recognize our Heavenly Father's plan and His will in each of our lives.  We are thankful for the blessings that we recieve and still have faith in Him despite the struggles in our lives and the lives of those around us.  We pray for all of our friends who are struggling to concieve and/or adopt.  We hope that you feel the love of the Savior in your life, regardless of your current place in your journey.

Tonsillectomies

Brisbane landed in the ER in April with swollen lymph nodes and adenoids.  Apparently they were so swollen that they were cutting off his windpipe.  Kind of a major problem.  We spent three very hectic days in the hospital and were grateful for friends and family who watched our kids so Mack and I could tag team the Brisbane Situation. 
This resulted in Brisbane having to get him tonsils removed in early June.
We started noticing this Spring that Jessenia seemed to have some issues hearing.  I thought she was just a bit flighty and willfully ignoring her parents to boot.  But then when Reese started getting on her case for not hearing him when they were playing, I knew we had a problem.  One visit to the ENT and it was confirmed that she had massive fluid behind her eardrums.  That combined with super large tonsils and we had an issue.  She would also need her tonsils removed and tubes put in her ears. 
So two weeks after Brisbane's surgery, Jessenia had hers.  June was the month of Tonsillectomies!
How did it go?  It was basically miserable for everyone.  Brisbane was unhappy and wouldn't eat anything, which made him even more unhappy.  He got fully better about two days before Jessenia went in and then we started all over.  Jessenia wouldn't eat and she slept awful for the first week.
But we did all survive the experience and now have two less kids with tonsils.  (For the record, Reese is incredibly grateful that he did not have to have his tonsils out even if it meant slightly less ice cream consumption for him compared with the others.)  Now we hopefully won't land in the ER with a child struggling to breathe and Jessenia can hear me when I tell her to go change her clothes.  Also we now have two less people in our house that snore like truck drivers.
One last mostly related story:  Mack took the kids to church one Sunday that I was sick at home.  He came home and told me that Brisbane had fallen asleep in Sacrament Meeting and was snoring.  I didn't think much of it since Mack didn't make too big a deal of it.  Then I went to visit a lady in our ward who told me that not only was Brisbane snoring but he was snoring so loudly that members of the congregation were turning around to see where the old man that had fallen asleep was and why nobody was waking him up.  Brisbane was laying on the pew so nobody could see him.  Apparently our little boy caused quite a scene.
Thankfully, not anymore.  So what about the picture of the tunnels connected in a circle?  That's what desperate parents do to entertain kids who can't leave the house because one of the siblings is so miserable.  That's right.  All three of our children are inside those tunnels.  We are expecting our Parents of the Year Awards any day now.

Random



Brisbane is in a bit of a stage with getting his diaper changed.  We have to go through all sorts of antics to keep him from fighting us and rolling off the changing table.  This usually involves myself, Reese, and Jessenia running around with "Diaper Hats" on.  Who would have thought that Pampers was brilliant to print Sesame Street characters on their diapers?  I often resort to showing Brisbane all of the character options and letting him choose one.  Apparently it matters whether Ernie or Big Bird is gracing your bum.

This day I talked Brisbane into a diaper change by letting him wear his shorts on his head.

 What can I say?  Desperate times call for desperate measures.

 Reese and Jessenia went through about a week long phase where they went to 'school' everyday.  Reese took this new game very seriously and wore his backpack everywhere.  Lunch.  Watching tv. Playing cars.  In the above picture he is doing his Kindergarten Prep workbook pages.  I thought it was too cute with the backpack and Uncle David's combat hat.

 Last time we went to Costco I let Reese think that he got to pick something special since he had to walk and the other two got to ride in the cart.  I was already going to buy those Drumsticks but when I asked Reese, "Do you think we should get those?" and he said, "Yes!", he definately felt like he had been the deciding factor in ice cream or no ice cream.

 But that was only the beginning of the fun.  Who knew that Brisbane would (barely) fit in that box?  Reese dutifully pushed him around while making train noises.

Like I said, it was a tight squeeze.  So the box was fun and the ice cream was delicious.  Win Win!

Simple Things

Grandmas are magic!  They take the simplest things and make them into the most fun and entertaining activity imaginable.  Whenever my mom comes to visit she opens my eyes to a myriad of things to do with my kids that require basically zero effort on my part.

This particular visit from Grandma was when the joy of balloons was introduced at my house.  I am telling ya, balloons can entertain my kids for DAYS.  And the number of days of entertainment is directly related to the number of days that the parents can stand having a bunch of balloons lying around the house.

 When the kids realized that sticking balloons up their shirts was hilarious, that led to even more hours of fun.

 The boys developed some game that involved chest pumping with balloons stuffed under their shirts.  It was highly ineffective, highly dangerous, and highly entertaining.

 We made lots 'o cookies while my mom was here to give to some families as thank you's for helping our family out in recent months.  Grandma let the kids make cookie sandwiches with some of the leftovers.

 Reese was very conscientious about getting the icing on the cookie.

Jessenia was more interested in just eating the icing.  Probably not the most hygenic activity we have ever undertaken, but good fun nonetheless.  Thanks Grandma!