Michelle's Blog!

Aging sucks.

2008-04-25T15:49:00.003-06:00

So, this past weekend, we went to the eye doctor for some pretty overdue visits. Larry's got nasty horrible vision, and surprisingly, his prescription didn't change very much since his last checkup almost 10 years ago!

My vision isn't horrible, my lenses have always been fairly thin, and my script hasn't changed much over the last 10 years at all. Until now. :( Not only was this my biggest vision change, but the doctor told me what I already suspected...I'm going to need freaking bifocals in the next couple of years.

Happy freaking 38th birthday to me! LOL!!

At least bifocals are better looking now than they were several years ago! :)

Ok, Ok, so I suck at this blog thing!

2008-04-22T12:50:00.004-06:00

LOL! I really should just set one day a week to do this, since I obviously can't do it daily, let alone monthly!

Anyway, we've just been super busy with school, working on the house, sight seeing, day to day stuff. The girls are doing really well, only a month left of preschool...Waaaaaaah! No breaks for me until they go to pre-K in August! lol! We signed them up for Kinder-Baseball, which is a program that will teach them the basics of baseball along with building foundations for teamwork. They start that in June. Larry and I have been working with them a little bit in the afternoons, and we think Emily's going to make a great cheerleader! ;) Sarah seems to have more of our athletic ability, so there's hope yet! :)

Emily running away from the ball!

Sarah looks like a natural!

We also went to the Denver Botanic Gardens, and Opening Weekend at Coors Field earlier this month (all in the same weekend!). The Botanic Gardens were neat, but I need to go back in a few months when things are blooming.

Opening Weekend at Coors Field was fun! We went to the 3rd home game of the season, and got to see the NLCS ring presentation! That was really cool to see! The girls are now die-hard Rockies fans! lol! We bought Emily a Todd Helton shirt, and Sarah a Troy Tulowitzki shirt! They really got into the game (and REALLY got into the eating as you'll see in the pictures!), and they made it all 10 innings! That was my biggest surprise! We got there 2 hours before the game even started, so it was a looooooooong day for them!

It's crazy, but we've been here in Colorado for almost a year now!! Time is flying way too fast!!

Pictures and Flu and In-Laws OH MY!

2008-02-25T14:08:00.007-07:00

It's been a crazy 10 days or so here! First, Emily came down with the flu a few days before her birthday, and is only just now getting back to normal. Sarah tried and fought so hard not to get the flu, but she came down with it the morning that my sister-in-law and brother-in-law were flying in from California for the weekend! We also had their 4 year professional portraits in the middle of all this too! It's now Monday, the girls are about 99% back to normal, and the in-laws should be landing at any second, back home in California! :(

Some pic's from our week/weekend!

Girls ready to go take birthday pictures!

We're 4!!

Sarah:

Emily:

Playing pool with Uncle Eddie:

Opening gifts with Aunt Mary!

Feeling better and ready to go out for breakfast!

The Girls are 4!!!

2008-02-18T14:00:00.004-07:00

Wow, where has the time gone? This is just crazy that my babies are 4, and are barely a year away from Kindergarten! Anyway, I want to wish them a very Happy Birthday, and share some pic's from the past 4 years!

A few days old, Sarah on the left, Emily on the right:

1 year old! Emily on the left, Sarah on the right:

2 years old, Emily on the left, Sarah on the right:

3 years old, Sarah on the left, Emily on the right:

Today, 4 years old. Emily:

Today, 4 years old, Sarah:

Kung Hei Fat Choi!!

2008-02-08T15:49:00.000-07:00

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!

Welcome to the year of the rat!

Some interesting information for those of you not familiar with Chinese New Year (or Lunar New Year as it's also called): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year

May you have much happiness and luck this year! :)

Whew, computer is all fixed!

2008-02-04T15:49:00.000-07:00

After an hour and a half on the phone with Linksys, my internet connections are restored. I thought we were going to have to call 911 for me there a moment when they reset my stuff, and I had NO internet whatsoever! I was about in tears! LOL!!!

All is well in the Chei house...Michelle has her lifeline restored! :D

Help!

2008-02-04T13:03:00.001-07:00

My desktop doesn't want to connect to the internet, and I don't know how to fix it! :( Anyone know how to reset a Local Area Connection? Waaaaah! Thank goodness for the laptop!

Now THIS is why we had children!

2008-02-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

:)

Please don't call Child Services on me! :D

Where we've been, and what we've been doing!

2008-02-02T13:47:00.001-07:00

So, it's been ages since I've written anything. We've just been crazy busy between school, the basement being finished, Christmas, and now we're back to birthday's and Chinese New Year again! Where has the year gone??!! I'm going to try to keep up my blog again, we'll see. I'm not making any promises! ;) Anyway, I'll start with the big stuff here, our basement is done! It took just under 2 months, and knock on wood, it went very, very smoothly. Only minor issues that were immediately resolved, and we are thrilled! Larry's down there working while the girls are playing Wii as I type. I'm savoring the peace & quiet at the moment upstairs on the main floor! :) Here are some before and after pictures!

The bedroom before:

The bedroom after:

The "family room/entertainment area" before:

After:

Pool table/dartboard area before:

After:

Wetbar and bathroom areas before:

After:

So, in a nutshell, we've been mega busy with all that, and now we've been shopping every weekend non-stop to furnish and decorate it since we're basically going to live down there now! lol!!! I'll update again soon...really. ;)

I need a "happy" post right now...

2007-10-11T22:00:00.000-06:00

So, I'm just going to name 10 things I love right now.

1. My family of course.
2. The "smell" of the air here in CO. Those of you in SoCal back home, wow, it's nice to inhale without hacking up a lung!
3. Seeing bunnies and deer and whatever other animals that just wander the neighborhood!
4. FALL! Holy crap ya'll, we have FALL here! The leaves are changing color and actually FALLING off the trees! lol!!
5. October baseball...especially this season. We think we're completely responsible for the Colorado Rockies being in the playoffs...they sucked 'til we got here!
6. The artwork and projects the girls bring home from preschool.
7. My Hula Girls. Ya'll are my rock, my inspiration, and my best friends in the world. I love you all!
8. Fresh Baked Cookies. I got up the guts to finally bake in this altitude, and they came out AWESOME. Helluva lot better than any store bought crap! lol!
9. My DVR. Yes, it's silly, but since the girls have been born, it's impossible to watch any T.V. that's not Noggin, Disney, PBS, or Sprout. Since we got our DVR here, my fat lazy butt has gotten to see all kinds of shows!
10. Bob. You were so instrumental in bringing Larry and I together, and I'll never forget that, or you. You stood up for me, you protected me like I was your own child, and you gave me away at our wedding. I love you and will miss you always.

A very sad day.

2007-10-11T12:56:00.000-06:00

I just learned a few hours ago that someone very close to me passed away. On October 9, 2007 Bob Freeman lost his battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). Bob was a wonderful, funny, smart, and beautiful person. He gave me so much, taught me so much, and he will be sorely missed.

I love you Bob.

So, I've totally been neglecting my blog...

2007-10-04T14:33:00.000-06:00

You'd think it was because we moved, and I'm busy unpacking and decorating, right? Yeah, not so much. We did paint all the bedrooms in the house before we moved in, and moved most of our junk in ourselves before moving day.

Since moving day, I've unpacked and put away most of our necessity stuff, and was concentrating on the visit from Mary & Eddie (SIL & BIL for those who don't know). We had a great visit with them, although it wasn't long enough!

Of course, the other things in life that have kept me from busting butt on this house are the fact that the Rockies have made an unbelievable run and are in the playoff's (have the game on as I type), and the fact that we have a DVR, which of course means I can record shows and watch them at my leisure (i.e. no kids around).

Sigh. I'm so sick of boxes (been in them for 6 months now!), yet I have no motiviation to get moving on it! I keep looking at my boxes marked "Christmas", knowing I can get them out of the garage and into the basement, but I just think "gee, in a few more weeks, I'll be needing them back upstairs". ;)

I finally just started calling people to get estimates on our basement too. I'll be blogging about that and showing the progress of it. :) As long as I keep motivated! lol!

In the meantime, Go Rockies!

Timing is everything...

2007-08-31T16:24:00.000-06:00

We've gotten so lucky in the past several years with timing, that it was bound to catch up with us.

We bought our first home just before prices went through the roof.
We sold our first home just before prices went down to the cellar.
We moved just before school got out in CA and started in CO.

And now we're getting ready to move into our house....sounds great right? Too bad I fell off the porch last Saturday and very badly sprained my ankle. >:( I've been out of commission this whole week, and poor Larry's been going between the apartment and the house after work to finish up what I should have had done this week.

This sucks.

First Day Of School!!!

2007-08-07T10:41:00.000-06:00

Well, it's here, and it's almost over...I'm leaving in a few minutes to go pick up my not so little babies anymore! They did great this morning when we left them there, barely batting an eye at the fact that Mommy and Daddy were walking out the door! I was fine until we got outside, and then I lost it, and just cried, and cried for about 15 minutes straight. I've had a few moments of crying again all this morning, but overall am OK.

Here's some pictures of them on their big morning! I'll add more later once I pick them up and see how their day went!

Oh, and did I mention??

2007-07-31T21:49:00.000-06:00

The girls are starting preschool on Aug. 7th!! 2 days a week, for 2 1/2 hours a day. This is a huge step...moreso for me, than for them. As many of you know, I've only ever left the girls for a few hours at a time, and only with Larry. We've never left the girls with anyone before (READ: NO DATES IN 3 1/2 YEARS!!!), so this is a big step, a good step, but a damned hard step.

My babies...well, they just aren't babies much anymore. :'(

I do have to confess though that I'm looking forward to grocery shopping in peace, and not having to wrestle with either a stroller, or a bulky 2 seater shopping cart at a few stores! ;)

We are officially homeowners again!!

2007-07-31T21:38:00.000-06:00

We closed escrow today on the house. We still don't have keys or anything, but by the end of this week, Saturday at the latest, we can start moving stuff in!!

Gooooooooooodbye small, smelly, loud apartment!!!!!!!

At Age 3 Years, 4 months, and 12 days, it finally happened!!

2007-07-04T21:54:00.000-06:00

A HAIRCUT!!!!!! My little baldie babies finally got their first haircut, and they loved it!! We went to Cool Cuts 4 Kids where they have videos the kids can watch while getting their haircut, or for older kids, video games to play! Where was this when I was growing up?!? I have to admit, I cried a little bit during the whole thing...I mean really, this was kind of the last "baby" milestone. Sigh. :( And please, someone tell me how one of the world's biggest tomboys got such girlie girls for kids! ;) All they talked about was how "pretty" they were and how their new bows made them so beautiful! lol! I have a feeling I'm in for some big trouble here!!

Anyway, here are some before, during and after pictures! :)

Emily:

Sarah:

We Got The House!!!

2007-06-19T07:43:00.001-06:00

After many offers and counter offers, we finally got the house! We will be moving in mid to late August! Wooohooo!

We're going to do a lot of painting before we move in, so I'll be posting some before and after pictures once we're to that point.

So, in the meantime, we are picking out appliances, and furniture, and deciding on paint colors!

Wooohooo! No more "stinky" apartment (as the girls call it!). :D

No sooner do I post our frustrations, do we find a house!

2007-06-14T08:09:00.000-06:00

Yep, we found what we really hope and believe is "the" house last night! We're putting in an offer (today I hope!!). I'm sooooooo ready to move already! :)

No new updates, frustrated and tired of being in this apartment.

2007-06-12T21:09:00.000-06:00

:(

We've been looking at houses for what seems like a year now, even though it's really been less than a month. We found one house that was just about as perfect for us as we could get, made an offer, got countered, and we countered back and the sob's declined. >:( Ok, I should be nice, but it hurt, and it sucked that we came up and they wouldn't meet us in the middle!

So, it's been an up & down few weeks. Our main problem is that there's only 2 neighborhoods in this entire town that will allow you to have your own pool in the backyard. Only 2...out of about 20. So, we're very limited in our choices.

We were supposed to go see 3 houses today, but of course Mother Nature decided that this afternoon was a perfect time to release the thunderstorm from Hell, and make it impossible to even walk outside. Let's hope the weather is nicer tomorrow. Sigh.

Oh, and as for why we're tired of being in this apartment (besides the fact that it's ridiculously small for the 4 of us), our upstairs "neighbors" are VERY loud, VERY rude, and during a party (on a Sunday night no less), someone "up there" puked on their patio, which oozed through the cracks in the wood floor on to ours...and our stuff. Gross bastards.

And so the house-hunt begins!

2007-05-21T14:48:00.000-06:00

Before we even made it to Colorado, I told Larry we were going to start house hunting immediately. He kept saying, "No, let's just settle in, get into a routine, and we'll look closer to fall". That lasted all of 3 minutes when we couldn't sleep due to "apartment noise". Now, he's just as or even more anxious to get out of here than I am! :)

So, we hired a buyer's agent over the weekend, and will start the house hutning in earnest this week! I hope we find our dream house, quick and cheap! :D

Fraternal Twins Again!!!

2007-05-16T21:20:00.000-06:00

Larry and I just had fraternal twins again! Presenting....

The Durango and The Ram! Now we feel like real Colorado-an's! ;)

We're heeeeeeeeere! :) Parker, CO that is!

2007-05-09T12:20:00.000-06:00

What a month! Between Larry accepting the job offer, selling the house, packing the house, moving, driving, hotels, moving again, and now finally in the apartment! Is it bad that I had the internet hooked up before my bed was even put back together? I've got my priorities straight! lol!

Anyway, we are here, but the girls and I all have colds, so the unpacking is suffering because I just don't have the energy left to do it right now. I hope by tomorrow I feel better and can knock out some more boxes.

Larry's at his first day of work, and I'm anxious to hear how it went! The girls are napping right now, and I should be too, but I'd rather sit here on the couch, tv going, with my laptop here.

I'll post pictures soon!

Adding picture with OUR house in the background...

2007-04-25T08:25:00.000-06:00

instead of our neighbor's house! Our houses just sit really weird at the end of the cul-de-sac, so everyone thinks it's our neighbor's house, not ours that was up for sale! Ooops! :)

Getting Closer!!!

2007-04-17T21:07:00.000-06:00

Of course I need to take a new picture since the house in the background is our neighbor's house! Ooops! I took it from the wrong angle! :D

Things are moving at the speed of light!!

2007-04-10T21:36:00.000-06:00

Well, it's been 10 days since Larry got the job, and in that time we've managed to:

Clean the entire house top to bottom (deep, deep cleaning stuff!)
Weed the vegetable garden and put in the plants we'd already bought
Hire a landscaping company to re-do our front planter bed and mow our grass until we sell the house.
Hire a real estate agent, sign the contract, "stage" the house somewhat for showings
Decide it'll be cheaper and better if we all go to Denver together
Start packing like mad people since we now have less than a month to get out
Get an apartment 1000 miles away
Show the house
Get an offer
Make a counter-offer
Have the counter-offer accepted
Open Escrow (ok, technically Escrow won't open until tomorrow)
Pack some more like a mad woman
Schedule estimates for movers
Get the girls medical records
BREATHE!!!!!!

Man, oh man, what a horrendous week!!! I'm so flipping tired, and can't sleep due to all the things racing in my mind!!

I'll be glad when the house is officially sold, and we have a BIG check in our hot little hands! :D

We're moving to Denver!!!

2007-04-02T20:54:00.000-06:00

Soon! :) Larry got a job in Elizabeth, CO...a tiny little town south of Denver, and will be moving there by the end of April. We're scrambling now to get the house on the market and praying that it sells fast!! We're happy this happened at this time of year, and not say November! :)

We're going to be super busy for the time being, and I don't know when I'll get to update this again. Hopefully the day the SOLD sign is up!!!

My children are a rare breed...

2007-03-27T14:30:00.000-06:00

They are some of the few children who LOVE characters and Santa and the Easter Bunny! I'm so knocking on wood for that, otherwise life would be sad! lol! We waited for over an hour today for the Easter Bunny who was running very late, and when the girls saw him they started shrieking with joy, and ran right over to him and gave him hugs!! :) Not to mention that opportunities like this allow me to dress the girls alike which I only do now for Christmas and Easter pretty much! ;)

Home Improvement Project! 3/26/07

2007-03-26T14:13:00.000-06:00

We've been busy for the past 2 1/2 weeks with replacing our kitchen/breakfast nook floor! We're saving tons of money doing it ourselves, but it's taking longer than we hoped, and was really rough going there for awhile! But, we're finally almost done! What a difference it makes too! :)

Before (crappy white vinyl floor):

After (Maple laminate flooring!):

3/13/07 My Little Bald Babies Finally Have Some Hair!

2007-03-13T15:05:00.000-06:00

Of course though Sarah's is at a weird length right now that she's got cowlick's all over the place...and Emily's is so thin you can barely tell I put her hair in braided pigtails! Still though, something's better than nothing, right? :)

The girls are 3!!!

2007-03-05T08:42:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted for awhile due to mutliple February birthday's going on around me (including the twins of course!), along with Chinese New Year, which happened to fall on the girls' 3rd birthday! That should mean we'll have a very lucky year, right? ;) I'm sad that they're already 3, but I'm glad it's over because I was about to lose my mind if I was asked one more time "Mommy, are we 3 yet? Is it my birthday yet?". Not to mention them singing Happy Birthday about 100 times a day to eachother!

Anyway, here's a few pictures from their party!

More lasts...and firsts.

2007-01-30T13:18:00.000-07:00

It seems to me that the first couple of years of the girls' lives were filled with firsts! First smile, first time rolling over, first time sleeping through the night (my personal favorite!), first time sitting, standing, walking, running...

Now, lately, it seems that every first is followed by a last. The move from the cribs to beds, and now, this week, the move from highchairs to the table. While I'm glad to be rid of the highchairs, I'm sad that it's just one more step towards my babies, well, not being babies anymore!

Sigh. Before I know it, they'll be off to school!

Growing up too fast!! 1/22/07

2007-01-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

My babies are just growing too fast for my liking! They'll be 3 in less than a month, and we hit another "big" milestone yesterday. They're out of their cribs and into big girl beds now! I know I should be happy that they stayed in cribs for this long, but I'm just so sad that little by little they're growing up and will soon be going to school and having lives that don't revolve around me! Waaaah! Sigh.

Are they even sisters...let alone twins?

2007-01-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

I swear, these 2 girls of mine could not be any more opposite if they tried! It definitely keeps me on my toes, but it's so tiring at times to try to cater to two very different needs. Sometimes I wish I could just split myself in half to give them the undivided attention they need!

Sarah would stay up 24/7 if she could.
Emily would sleep 15 hours straight with a 3 hour nap in between if she could.

Sarah would eat anything and evertyhing in sight if allowed.
Emily would eat ONLY bean burritos or Carl's Jr. Chicken Stars if allowed.

Sarah is the Energizer Bunny...non stop from wake up to bedtime.
Emily would probably sit and do nothing all day but watch TV if left alone (remember the laziness the perinatologist labeled on her?!?).

Sarah tries to read books.
Emily would rather be read to.

Emily is the boss. She tells Sarah what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and what to bring to her.
Sarah is a pushover and does whatever Emily tells her to do.

Emily is tough and loves being teased.
Sarah is so sensitive, and bursts into tears when you tease her too much.

One thing though that they both have is a great love for eachother, and everyone in their lives. The girls were sitting on the stairs today waiting for me to tie my shoes so we could leave, and Emily slung her arm around Sarah's shoulders and said "Sarah, you're my best friend". I wanted to burst into tears at that! It was so sweet!

I wouldn't trade being a mom of twins for the world...but I'm not sure I'd wish it on very many people! I'm just emotionally tired right now! :)

Deep into birthday planning! 1/16/07

2007-01-16T13:29:00.000-07:00

Where is the time going? My babies are going to be 3 in just one short month! Time is just flying by way too fast, and it saddens me to realize I'll never have a little baby again. Sigh. But, we are at such a fun age right now too that I wouldn't trade this for anything either!

What a difference a year makes too in the birthday theme. Last year, turning 2, it was all about Elmo and Sesame Street. This year, my little "princesses" are all about the Disney Princesses!

I wonder what next year will bring?

Snow in Southern California! 1-12-07

2007-01-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful treat it was this morning to wake up to find snow everywhere! The forecast said we "might" get some snow, but I really didn't think it would happen! I bundled the girls up and got them outside because who knows when this might happen again! We had such a fun time for the little bit it lasted!

Here's a few pictures! Pretty funny to see palm trees and snow, huh?

Thursday, January 11, 2007 "The Birth!"

2007-01-11T14:17:00.000-07:00

Well, we were in the home stretch with the pregnancy and all was as well as could be expected considering I was as big as a house, couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, and couldn't walk more than 5 feet without having a contraction! I was saying a little mantra all the time "Please stay head down, please stay head down". I was in some kind of denial about having to undergo a c-section, and did absolutely no research on it. I guess I was thinking somewhere, "If I don't know, it won't happen".

I'm sure you can see where this is heading! One night just as I fell asleep, I had a very sharp pain in my right side and it looked like a football was protruding from under my ribs! I started to cry, I knew what it meant...Baby B had turned, and turned with a vengeance! I went the next morning for my bi-weekly NST and when we got to the ultrasound portion of the test, my nurse said "Oh no! What happened to Sarah?" I was touched that she remembered the names of the babies, but was devastated that it did indeed appear that she had turned. The nurse showed me her position on the screen and said "Look, she's rolled herself up into a little ball!" Sigh. The nurse let my OB know about the change in positions, so we could discuss it at my next appointment.

With twins, the placenta(s) can degrade much more quickly than with a singleton, so a lot of doctors don't like to let twin pregnancies go much past 37 weeks. Twins tend to develop their lungs a bit faster than singletons, so a full-term twin pregnancy is considered 36 weeks, instead of the normal 38 weeks for a singleton. As soon as I saw my OB, he told me we needed to go ahead and schedule the c-section for sometime between 37 and 38 weeks. Larry helped pick the date, and we were lucky enough that the OB was open for it. We decided on Wednesday, February 18th, 2004 for a couple of reasons. The first one being, it was one less "number" for Larry to have to remember! :) Since our wedding anniversary is September 18, it's easy to remember February 18 for their birthday. Also, he could take just the day of the birth off, then take a week vacation the following week to help us all adjust. There wasn't anything for him to do at the hospital on Thursday and Friday while I basically just healed and rested, so this worked out perfectly.

On Tuesday night, February 17th, we went out for "one last dinner". Who knew when that would ever happen again! :) We went to Outback Steakhouse and just took our time. It was in the same parking lot as Babies R Us, so we did one more last minute run through! How convenient, huh? :) Oh well, it's not like I could sleep much anyway!

Wednesday, February 18, 2004...D-DAY!! It's all kind of a blur since once things got going, they moved pretty quick! We got checked in, moved into my room, changed into my gown, but not before taking one last pregnant picture!

I got all my pre-op stuff done, filled with fluids, babies monitored, IV's in place, and suddenly it was time. I wanted to just scream "Not yet! I'm not ready!", but of course I didn't, and of course I was as ready as I was ever going to get, so off we went to the OR. My friend Tammy grabbed my camera real quick and took this "flattering" shot! ;)

So, I go into the OR, and Larry gets to go get dressed up like a doctor (scary thought!), and the moment I've been dreading is here...the spinal. I'm normally not afraid of needles at all, I don't mind shots, don't mind blood drawn or IVs, but the thought of this big needle in spine did not sit well with me at all. I half hoped I'd pass out from fear. No such luck. I was almost pleasantly surprised though. The needle is not what hurt. What hurt was the anesthesiologists knuckles digging in my spine to find the spaces! I didn't even know when the needle went in! Just as I was relaxing, thinking this would be a piece of cake, the dry heaves started. What a horrible time to find out you're allergic to morphine! The one thing about this surgery I was looking forward to, ends up being my nemesis! :) Needless to say, the delivery for me was horrible, as I pretty much dry heaved the entire time. :( Good thing Larry was there with the camera!

***Warning, birth pictures to follow***

Baby A, Emily Nicole being born:

Baby B Sarah Elizabeth being born (butt first by the way, thanks to her rolling into a ball!):
Emily Nicole born at 1:00pm 5lbs.13oz. 18" long
Sarah Elizabeth born at 1:02pm 6lbs.2oz. 18 3/4" long

Daddy and the girls just minutes old!:

Mommy and the girls at home 4 days later!

Now, the real fun begins! :)

Wednesday, January 10, 2007 "The Last Trimester!"

2007-01-10T12:56:00.000-07:00

I was a little over 17 weeks pregnant when we got the ultrasound and the BIG NEWS, which meant I was about halfway through the pregnancy. We obviously, immediately took back the cute little stroller and carseat, and bought what we call "The Limo". Our double stroller, and got 2 matching carseats. I think that purchase really brought it all home for me, and put me in full panic mode! :)

We ended up also immediately trading in our little Dodge Dakota for a much bigger Dodge Ram Quad Cab (we still needed a pick up truck, and I was NOT ready for a mini-van!!!). We also really, really needed to confirm the sex(es) of these babies too, so that we could better prepare while we still had 2 incomes! It was pretty obvious by then that even if I wanted to go back to work (I didn't really want to), that there was no way we could afford it! I started pricing daycare costs "just to see", and they all cost more than what I made. My health insurance however didn't cover the cost of more than the one ultrasound (since it was deemed there were no problems, no need for further monitoring), so we found one of those "for entertainment purposes only" places.

So, on November 15, 2003 my friend Tina & I went to Ultrasound Babies to see what we could see! By then I was about 24 weeks pregnant, so we had a good shot of getting 100% confirmation! The tech. knew immediately the sex of both babies, before she even turned on the screen for me to see the babies! It was that fast! We knew then, we were having 2 girls! We had 2 girls names and 1 boy name picked out just in case. If they were boy/girl twins, it was going to be Sarah Elizabeth and Andrew Michael. But since it was girl/girl twins their names were going to be Emily Nicole and Sarah Elizabeth. We went alphabetical, and Baby A is Emily and Baby B is Sarah. And since we wouldn't know for sure until birth whether they were identical or not, I assigned them colors alphabetically as well. Pink for Emily, Purple for Sarah.

Here's a picture of me taken on November 15, 2003 just hours after we learned the twins were girls!

By this point in the pregnancy, I was already tired and having contractions like crazy. I was so ready to be done, but was also scared out of my mind to be done...being done meant having TWO babies here!! I wasn't at all sure I was ready for this! I read every book, website, bulletin board, everything I could get my hands on! I learned a lot and am very thankful I did all the reading I could. I prepared myself for every worst case scenario, including the very real possibility of NICU time.

I left no stone unturned when it came to educating myself about the risks involved in a multiple pregnancy, so it really wasn't any surprise when I got put on "modified" bedrest at about 28 weeks. "Modified" bedrest meant I was to lay on my left side twice a day for 2 hours each time. I had pretty high blood pressure, and edema (swelling of the ankles and wrists). I had the early signs of pre-eclampsia, which I was completely prepared for thanks to all my reading, and also from watching every birth show out there on Discovery, The Learning Channel, and Discovery Health Channel! :)

December 5, 2003 was my last day of work and it was bittersweet for me. I would miss my co-workers, friends, and customer's, but I wouldn't have to get up at the crack of dawn anymore! Ha ha! I actually kept pretty busy for that month due to the holidays. I also had my OB appointments to go to, which I had 4 of them in the month of December. Everything was going along quite well, my blood pressure had dropped a little, my swelling had gone down some, and I was resting pretty well. I was also bored out of my mind, but knew I needed to enjoy these last quiet days as much as possible!

In January, everything changed, and we had a pretty bad scare. At one of my regular OB appointments, my blood pressure had shot up pretty bad again. I was just over 7 months pregnant by then, and still needed to keep these babies in as long as I possibly could. My doctor sent me over to the hospital for a Non-Stress Test (NST), to check the babies and make sure all was well. This was something I wasn't prepared for. I had read a bit about NST's but didn't really look into it that much because things had calmed down so much for me, I thought it would be smooth sailing until delivery.

At the hospital, they hooked me up to two fetal monitors to watch each baby's heartbeats, and they took my blood pressure several times. The good news was that my blood pressure had gone back down to just about normal. The bad news, Baby A (Emily) failed the NST. Her heartrate did not respond to movements like it should have, and she wasn't moving much at all. The nurse called my OB to ask him what he wanted done at that point. He had me come back to his office to get a referral for an appointment with a Perinatologist (fancy word for High Risk OB/GYN).

At the perinatologists the next day, they started out with a level II ultrasound, and checked out everyone's organs, hearts, hands, feet, you name it. The dr. was very happy with those results, and said all looked great. He also said that both babies were head down, so we had a good shot at trying for a vaginal birth. He wanted me to go ahead and do another NST in his office as well to check baby A again. They also did some blood and urine tests which all came back fine. My blood pressure was also only a little high.

Then the dr. called me in to discuss the findings of his NST. Turns out, baby A is fine...just a little lazy! (I wish I knew then how prophetic that was to be!!) I felt so relieved! He wanted to see me in a week just to confirm all was well. From here on out, I had 2 NST's per week, my OB once a week, and my Perinatologist once a week. Some bedrest this was turning out to be! After a week, my Peri said he didn't need to see me anymore, so I was down to 3 appointments per week, for the next few weeks until delivery.

I was prepared for a vaginal delivery sometime after 37 weeks which was fast approaching. Of course though, Baby B had other plans....

Tuesday, January 9, 2007 "The Ultrasound Story!"

2007-01-09T14:07:00.000-07:00

Friday, September 23rd, 2003 is the big day, in more ways than one. I have 3 appointments scheduled for that day. My regular OB appointment, an appointment at the lab to get bloodwork done to screen for any abnormalities in the baby (AFP or Triple Screen Test), and finally, the big ultrasound!!

Larry and I talked it over beforehand and decided that we were not going to find out the sex of the baby at the ultrasound. We both liked the idea of being surprised! We had just bought the stroller and carseat a few days beforehand, and it was yellow and green, very gender neutral!

So, that late afternoon, Larry meets me at the place where we're getting the ultrasound. It's more like a lab than anything, and what my insurance paid for. When they call my name, they explain to Larry that they have to take me in first, by myself, and will call him in once it's established that all is well with the baby. They tell him it shouldn't take longer than 15-20 minutes or so.

I get in the room and am prepped for the ultrasound, and the tech., her trainee and I are just chatting away, when the tech. asks me if I've had an ultrasound before. I took her question to mean if I've "EVER" had one before, so I say "Yes" (I hadn't had one with this pregnancy, but had an ultrasound with my prior pregnancy!). She says, "Oh, then you know there's 2 in here!".

Oh. No. She. Did. NOT SAY THAT!!

I do need to interject here, that during the entire pregnancy, I kept telling Larry we were having a boy because I never felt like this during my pregnancy with my daughter in 1989. He would tell me on an almost daily basis that we were having twins. I would tell him to shut his mouth, or he'd jinx us!!

So, back to the ultrasound room that was suddenly spinning out of control! I have vague memories of saying "Oh My God" about a million times. Then the tech. telling me that it was going to be more like an hour before Larry would be allowed in! I asked if someone could please at least let him know that everything was OK so that he wouldn't worry. I don't remember if that happened, I think it did.

In that hour or so I still don't think I calmed down at all from the first moment I learned we were having twins. I actually felt sick to my stomach, and just kept saying "I can't do this". The tech. was finally done with what she needed to do, and she asked me how I wanted the news about twins broken to Larry. I told her "You're telling him, not me!". She asked how I thought he'd react, and I said "He'll smile and say I told you so".

So, they finally bring him in, and he asks if everything's ok. Then the tech. tells him "Your twins are just fine". And, he looks at me and says.... "I told you so!" I wanted to smack him. :)

We realized then that we needed to know what the sexes were ahead of time so we could start buying now. They were 80% sure that Twin A was a girl, and 20% sure that Twin B was also a girl. Basically, they told us not to run out an buy anything pink yet!

We did have great fun though telling everyone! We made them read each individual picture (Baby A, Baby B, Babies A&B)! I wish I'd have recorded everyone's reactions!

Here are the twins first pictures!

Baby A:

Baby B:

Monday, Jan. 8, 2007 "Introduction!"

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Hello all! I've been wanting to do this for ages, and just never really got around to doing it until now! I hope to be able to keep this up, but sometimes life just gets in the way! :)

Anyway, I'm going to be kind of jumping all over the place here, but wanted to start with the most recent happenings in my life since they are the freshest in memory!

Let's start with my immediate family here. My husband, Larry, and I met in June of 1995 at Columbia Bowl in Duarte (it's no longer there, sniff, sniff). He was bowling on a league that my parents had bowled on since the beginning of time. I had just recently moved back to California after my second marriage fell apart (that's a blog for another day!). Larry was very shy, and I was very hesitant in general about the whole dating thing anyway. We developed a bit of a friendship, but nothing more really over the summer. We only saw eachother at bowling, once a week. Well, finally, one November Tuesday, I drove him home from bowling, and the rest is pretty much history! We moved in together within about 6 weeks of our first date, and never looked back.

Here's a picture of us at the "Top of the World" restaurant at the Stratosphere in Las Vegas shortly after we began dating!

He proposed to me in Monterey, CA on September 17, 1998. It was the most romantic thing ever! We were sitting on these rocks on the beach, watching the sunset when he proposed. We were married 1 year later, on September 18, 1999 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. It was a very beautiful wedding, and as nervous as I was, you'd have thought this was my first marriage, not my thrid! ;)

Here's a picture of our wedding party!

A few years later, in April, 2001 we bought a house about 35 miles east of where we were currently living. The house was a brand new construction, so we drove out every few weeks to watch the progress. That was probably one of the neatest things in the world, to watch this patch of dirt become your home. We moved into our home in January, 2002. We spent the first year here working on our unfinished backyard, and adjusting to life as homeowners. After our first summer here, we decided we HAD to have a pool! So, in February of 2003, we started pool construction. The pool was finished in May, 2003, just in time for summer!

A picture of our house!

At this point, we had been talking off and on for a few months about having a baby. By then, I was 33 and Larry was almost 38. We weren't getting any younger, and I didn't want to wait much longer if we were really going to do this. We decided in June, 2003 to start trying. We figured it would take us awhile due to our ages and a few other things. Well, low and behold, we became pregnant on our very first try! I got a positive test result on July 5, 2003. My due date was March 8, 2004.

Other than being sick 24/7, the pregnancy was pretty uneventful. We didn't start to buy anything until well after the first trimester was over. We finally decided to go ahead and buy our stroller and carseat the week of our ultrasound. The ultrasound was scheduled for Friday, September 26, 2003.

That is a story in itself, so I'll stop here for now!