Springtime bloomin'

Well, Spring time is here, the blossoms are budding, and so am I! Here is my first belly shot...My hubby hates the blue shirt, and now that I look at the pictures of me in it, I can see why! But, thanks to the wonders of cropping and just for posterier sake (yes I know what I just spelled) I put it in...the pic on the front says "My pod has two peas", so had to do it at least once, right? At 16 weeks I am looking about 6 months pregnant. Woohoo, it's gonna be a long summer! Most of my maternity clothes are fitting quite nicely now and there is no question about it....no hiding it either. I talked to a friend of mine at church today and, smart woman that she is, she told me she thought it was just a pot belly! I brought her up to speed and like everyone else, her eyes got big and then she congratulated me. I hope not only that I survive the pregnancy, but that I can survive the babies too! My kids have been at each other's throats for the last two weeks and I have been ultra grumpy preg-zilla mom. Obviously somebody up there thinks we can handle this, so we'll just plug forward!!

More April recap

Anyone who has ever lived in the North West knows how crazy the weather can be here. Well, we were lucky enough to get snow to fall on Christmas day....though it didn't stick, it was a whitish instead of greenish Christmas :) Well, this April the weather decided to cooperate winter style...so, we got a few days here and there of snow and hail. I have to say blossoms look lovely amidst the white balls of ice :)



Little Tom has been involved in Cub Scouts for the last year and a half and has had fun with it. We have Pack meeting at the end of every month....April's theme was Abracadabra and all the boys did magic tricks. Tom was the "Master of Chocolate" and performed a mind boggling mind reading trick....wow, check it out :)






So we will wrap up April celebrating my 35th birthday on the 27th, oh joy :) and hoping for no more snow....I am looking forward to warmer weather and summer time hitting the pools! I am going to try not to cram a whole month into one entry again....we'll see how that goes :)

April recap...boys' school play

Well, March was jam packed and we made it....now April is almost over and we have survived yet another month :) After typing and downloading for hours yesterday, I gave up on a few more things to post, so here goes.... April 2nd the boys were in their first school play, "Who pushed Humpty?". Tom was Ol' King Cole's guard #2 with one fantastic line...."Here ye, here ye, here comes Ol' King Cole!". He delivered it magnificently :) Andrew was singing in the chorus. Andrew really knows how to HAM it up! He was in the front row for the Christmas concert and really got into it. Snapping his fingers, tapping his feet, swaying, and singing his heart out. I have a feeling he is going to be a lot like me. Watch out world! He was a little more reserved in the play chorus, but still loved doing it. I can't believe he is already old enough to be in all day Kindergarten.....wait, he will soon be in first grade! Ugh, time flies when you are havin' fun! Or, at least when you are raising kids :) Check out these little clips of them....how cute :)

oops...try again

Whew! March was a busy month!! Catchin' you up to speed!

I have been so involved in this whole baby thing, I have neglected to include other events in our lives.....and, of course, when it rains, it pours!

Fun stuff first...my Mother-in-law, ok, Grandma Julie :) has been saving up for a year to take all 10 grandkids that live here to build a bear. This sounded like a real fiasco, but was actually kind of fun :) All the kids picked out their animals and grandma paid. The kids had a blast. I was there with my 3 kids, Rachel and Walter with their 5 (Brianna, Nathan, Eric, Emily, Ryan), Matt and Jeanette with their 2 (Whitney and Chris), and Grandma and Grandpa Cameron. Grandma survived and the kids played together very well, as usual at her house afterwards.

Now on to the other events...First of all, Morgan had to had her adnoids taken out and tubes put in her ears on March 18th. That was only a week after we were told we were having twins and all the complications we were faced with. But, as any stay home mom knows, you just have to plough through it! Fortunately, it was a quick out patient surgery, but of course juggling kids and dragging myself out of bed early in the morning is not ever my strong suit....especially now. All went well and she did great. she is a much happier girl now and is starting to say more words than before.

Shortly after this surgery, little Tom decided to play outside. Ok, this may not sound monumental to you, but I usually have to command him to do so! Much to our dismay, he was only outside for a few minutes when he came in holding his arm and crying. He was swinging and decided to jump. I have done this many times myelf (of course nothing at all recent) in my younger, spryer days, so understood how it was fun for him,. Well, unfortunately for him, he fell forward and braced himself with his hands down. The impact was enough to jarr his wrist. I pulled out a bag of frozen peas (the ONLY good ice pack I always have around!) and put it on his wrist. We didn't see any swelling or bruising so thought he would be alright. My hubby went and got an Ace bandage splint and we called it good. He didn't complain much for the next couple of days....the next day was Easter, which fell really early this year, March 23!

We hosted Easter at our house and had all of the Camerons and my sister and parents over. This is a yearly tradition and never lacks for candy! We waited between cloud bursts to "hide" the eggs (I use the term hide very loosely since we have hundreds of eggs every year and there is not enough space in my yard to hide them all!) We sent them collecting (Morgan sporting her frog boots, aka. my hubby calls them church boots because she often insists, as only a 2 year old can, to wear them with her dress to church!) and ended the night with birthday cake for my sis-in-law, Jeanette. Whew, that will be the last family event I host for a while....maybe....my sister in law says I will not be able to leave the house after the babies get here and we will just have to host everything, hhahaha.

March 24, Andrew was in the midst of screaming about hating Tom and chasing him around to hit him. (this is common around here...Andrew is so sweet when he wants to be and loves his brother, really! He just has some "anger management issues" he is working through) While in the time out seat, he yanked out his very loose tooth and said, hey my tooth came out. Then he sniffed, wiped his eyes, and was done with his fit. This is his first lost tooth, so yay for him :)

Little Tom had woken up the day after Easter and put pressure on his arm. He started crying and complained that it was really hurting again. So, I made an appt. for the doctor. A trip to x-ray revealed a small fracture in the radius of his right arm. Dr. German double wrapped a bright blue cast almost to his elbow. This was our first broken kid....let's hope we don't have too many more! He was to keep his cast on for three weeks, but after one week, he got it wet in the shower and had to get it replaced. The second one glows in the dark, how cool is that?

So, I think that covers it....we had a very uneventful Spring break, except that Andrew had his first sleepover at his friend, Justin's house....Tom's cast came off last week, and he has been taken the WASAL (state assessments) tests for two weeks. Let's hope the only drama is continuing with the growing babies!

What a cute big sister :)

Last week I had an ultrasound on Tues. but didn't get any good pictures. Well, Morgan seems to think they are great! So, here she is displaying them. She is so cute....a couple of months ago, before I found out I was pregnant, I was sitting on the couch. (Ok, that is one of my favorite past times now!! ) Morgan came up to me, poked my stomach and said "Baby". I asked her if that was what she said and she nodded and said "uh, uh". I had been suspecting that I might be pregnant and this just confirmed it to me. I took a pregnancy test about a week later and it was true :) This just goes to show you how in tune to the spirit little kids are. I'm adding a short video too...she says "pease" instead of cheese :)....I have learned I can'tb tilt the camera :) Oh well, I am still learning how to use my new camera! oops :)

It's a ...... and a.......

GIRL! An ultrasound yesterday (just one of many more to come) revealed, or rather baby revealed herself :) Baby A is a girl and though baby B was shy, they are identical so we needed just one to cooperate :) I may have to put my husband into therapy with twin daughters, but I am excited! My boys won't know what hit them....and Tom tells me just to wait because they will hate ME when they are teens. OH WELL, I will just cross my fingers and hope they are perfect teens like I was! Hahahha....ok, not perfect, but pretty close, all right, I will humble myself! Doctor Oxford handed me a printed schedule of all the appointments I will have....an ultrasound every 2 weeks and at 32 weeks every week. They will be checking for heartbeats, measurements, amniotic fluids, etc. etc. They think maybe baby A may have less fluid so I will go back to the high risk group next week to check it out. Otherwise, both babies are measuring perfectly, heart beats are great, little fingers, toes and all! Unfortunately no good pics today...but I will have plenty of chances to post more later :)

Ok, identical twins it is! 12 1/2 weeks pregnant

Yesterday (4-2-08) we ran around hectic as any morning, running boys out to the school bus at 8:05 (please don't be late!), quick shower, throw on clothes, grab hubby (who, thankfully stayed home that morning), drop off Morgan at babysitter, drive like the wind. We got to our appt. with the high risk doctors (a little late as usual), signed some paperwork and waited. My stomach was in knots. I was nervous to find out exactly what was in store for me for the next few months. Tom, of course, checked his Blackberry a few times and chatted about work. He is very calm when it comes to all this. Of course, I don't exactly freak out, but I do have moments of temporary insanity! They called us back for the ultrasound and our day got better :) The tech (who is also an identical twin) was very excited about taking pics of our babies. You could tell she really loved her job and made us feel comfortable. I mentioned something about mono-mon twins and she said "they told you they were mono-mon?" Well, apparently, it is very common early in the first trimester to make that mistake. The membrane between the babies is so thin at that point, it is very hard to detect. Both Tom and I breathed a sigh of relief and began listing all the things I would once again be free to do for our family this summer. No hospital stay, not as much risk for babies, hopefully no NICU, maybe no C-section....these wereall things that were great news to me :) I actually started getting excited about this whole thing. When doctor Oxford had told us 3 weeks ago that there was a 20% mortality rate for mono-mono twins, and I would have to be hospitalized for months, then come home without our two tiny preemies in the NICU, I was not too excited about what was to come. This ultrasound changed it all for us! We got lots of great pictures of the babies, though baby A is a bit camera shy(like dad). I am actually getting kind of excited :) as long as I don't think about all the many sleepless nights, feedings, two sets of diapers, etc. etc. My friend Cathy tells me I will be really excited and enjoy them only when they are finally 18 ;) So, at this point, the babies look pretty close to the same size and no early indication of downs syndrome. I am free to see my regular doc with ultrasounds every two weeks to measure baby growth. Twin to twin transfusion syndrome is the main concern. As long as they grow well and all looks good, I may end up carrying them to term. My due date is Oct. 11, but for twins it is typically 36-37 weeks. I could end up with 8 pound twins after all! Well, we can only hope they are that healthy :)

We're having what?!!

We were happy to find out we were expecting baby number 4. I have been very sick to my stomach and already feeling like maternity clothes were my only option for comfort at 8 weeks pregnant. My other 3 pregnancies had been fairly smooth. No significant nausea, no complications...just big healthy babies. Ugh, is it because I have already had 3 kids?? Maybe my body is getting to ol d for this routine?? So, I remained miserable until my doctor's appt. on March 12, 2008. First they did an ultrasound. All seemed normal and looked good. As the tech was poking around, she asked me how I had been feeling......BLECH! was the only word I could use to describe how I felt. "Well, she said, that's because you are having twins!" "You are kidding me!" But, no, it was not a joke, there they both were, trying to duke it out already (though their arm buds and leg buds were much too small to even reach each other, they tried). My hubby sat in the corner smirking as only those who know him well would recognized this. He wasn't shocked, but I was feeling a little more nauseated than before. Ok, so she continued to check them out and told us they looked great so far, but it appeared that they were sharing the same amniotic sack. This news, which we found out later, was not good. There are many risks already involved with carrying twins, but this 1 in 10,000 chance was the worst case. We sat in the doctor's office for a good half hour discussing how the heck we were going to deal with not only 4 kids, but now 5! Dr. Oxford came in and proceeded to tell us all the gory details. This type of twin is identical, they share a placenta and both outer ( chorionic) and inner (amniotic) sack. They worry about cord entanglement and twin to twin transfer syndrome (where one baby takes more nourishment from the placenta than the other, causing problems with both babies). These were just the top two scary things! The regiment for Mono-Mono, or mono amniotic twins (that is their term) is hospitalization at 24 weeks pregnant and a C-section birth at 32 weeks pregnant. Yikes...she continued to tell us the percentages of things going wrong, and said it was a huge commitment. Wow, that is an understatement! We scheduled an appt. with the high risk pregnancy group for 3 weeks later for another ultrasound and consultation with them. The next 3 weeks we (well, maybe mostly me :) ) spent trying to figure out how our family was going to function with me incarcerated in the hospital for 2 months! It was likely that they would send me to Swedish medical Center in Seattle.....this is far from home, but Tom works just 2 blocks away. Family and friends instantly stepped up and offered help with kids, meals, etc. Thanks to all that are offering help!! I have spent hours researching this on the internet, reading personal experiences from others (very interesting and quite encouraging too, check out Faith and Grace Pruetz's story, scroll down to May 24, 2006 for pics http://thepruetzfamily.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_archive.html), medical info, and lots of other scary stuff. My dad and hubby gave me a Priesthood blessing and I have been offered to be included in lots of prayers.....Well, we had our visit with the high risk docs yesterday and it has all changed! Read my next entry for details :)