The Biggest Surprise of Our Lives!

Most of my friends and family know that I have Lupus and that we have been wanting to get pregnant for a while but my body wasn't healthy enough yet.  I have been going to my rheumatologist every 8 weeks since we moved to Chicago and I finally was given the go ahead to start trying to get pregnant at the end of April.  May 16th was the day I could take a pregnancy test.  I knew it was a long shot because we had only been trying for a month, but I got pregnant with Daci after just one month and I was so anxious to know!  I waited until Rick left for work that morning and then took the test.  To my complete surprise and amazement it said "pregnant"!  I was freaking out all by myself in my bathroom :)  I spent the day coming up with a way to tell Rick.  I got pink and blue balloons and made a cake that said "Due in Feb....Again!" When he came in from work that night and saw it set out on the table is was completely shocked!  And very excited :)


Scroll down to see why this is the BIGGEST SURPRISE OF OUR LIVES!

 When I found out I was pregnant with Daci I shouted it from the rooftops the first day I found out but since I knew this pregnancy was going to be high risk I decided to wait to "announce" it until we had our first doctors appointment.

Well, this morning I had my first doctor's appointment.  Rick came with me, which I am SO glad he did because we found out that we are having TWINS!  Yes, you heard me right....TWINS!!!!!

I am in complete and utter shock.  How am I pregnant with twins!?  Well, to be honest, I shouldn't be that shocked. I have been feeling like from day one of this pregnancy that something was different.  I have been feeling sick with this one (I wasn't sick one day with Daci), I have been feeling MUCH more tired with this one, and I swear to you I look four months pregnant already.  I have been telling Rick all week that I thought we were pregnant with twins cuz how in the world is it possible that I am so big already!?  He kept telling me I was crazy and that there was NO way we were going to have twins.  Right before the doctor did the ultrasound he said, "Lets hope there is just one in there! We don't want to complicate things with two!" (We had just discussed all the complications that can happen with lupus and pregnancy).  Then he put the ultrasound on and said, "Ok, one, two....." "Haha, I said very funny."  He said, "No, I swear to you there are two babies in there!"  Oh my gosh!  I can't tell you the emotions that went through me in that one second.  I was soooo happy, shocked, excited and TERRIFIED!  Rick just sat laughing his head off in the corner.  "Well, you were right!" he said.  We are very excited but also very nervous.  I just pray that everything goes okay with the pregnancy and the babies will be healthy and will develop the way they are supposed to. I still can't get over that I am saying "babies"!  What!?

Babies #2 and #3 due in February!  (Although I am sure they will come early)

Lincoln Park

 We spent Saturday down in Lincoln Park.  My friend, Brittany Buck Brady and her cute little family moved to Lincoln Park for the summer while her husband does an internship.  We went with them to the Lincoln Park Zoo and then to lunch afterward.  Before the zoo we took Daci through the Lincoln Park Conservatory.  If you have seen the movie "The Dilemma" with Vince Vaughn and Kevin James, the scene where Vince Vaughn catches Winona Ryder and Channing Tatum was filmed in the Conservatory.  It was beautiful!

This pond was right in the entrance of the Conservatory

There was a Koi Pond in there.  These fish were huge!  The sign said they can live to be 226 years old! What!?

They had an area where they painted trees and rocks bright colors

Rick and Daci outside of the Conservatory with some of the city scape behind them

Next, we met up with Brit, her husband James and two little boys Mason and Caleb.

Caleb was enjoying chasing Daci and Mason around :)

Rhino

Daci was so excited!  She ran around the zoo and followed Mason around much more than she did any animal watching 

Mason and Daci had so much fun together!

Giraffe

Jaguar

Daci pointing at the Tiger

Tiger

Playing in the Ape Tube.  They could go in this tube and see the Apes more up close and personal

Afterward we went to lunch. Daci and Mason were crazy!

 We had so much fun with the Brady's!  I'm sad Brit and I didn't get any pictures together :(  I'm pretty sure we were way too busy making sure our crazy children didn't terrorize the restaurant and its patrons :)

My friend Stacey Holland Sargeant also lives in Lincoln Park and we met up with her for lunch as well.  It was so great to see her!

Fun Weekend!

We had a lot of fun this weekend with the nice weather!  We went biking on Saturday morning at the Prairie Forest Preserve with Carly and Micah.  We packed Daci and Eleni up in the bike trailer and Rick pulled them.  We really like this path because it is 5.5 miles and the perfect amount of workout!  Rick took the pictures so there aren't many of him :(

Carly, Micah and I

Micah

Carly and I

Isn't it beautiful!?

After we finished we pulled over to let the girls get out and stretch and to get some pics

Daci immediately started hopping around :)

The Lisonbee Fam

The Roberts Fam

After our bike ride we headed over to the Farmers Market in downtown Naperville.  I had never been to one and was really excited! We got some yummy raw honey and homemade salsa

Daci loved looking at all of the pretty flowers!

Later that evening we decided to take Rick's airplane out for its first flight of the year.

Daci found a bunny when we got to the park!

Rick flying his plane

Daci was really excited to be at the park AND to be watching the airplane

Rick guiding his airplane to come right at the camera!

Rick was so excited to have a flying buddy!  Daci absolutely loves to watch him fly!

On Sunday we had a special Stake Conference. Elder L. Tom Perry came and spoke to our stake and it was outstanding!  Daci was being super cute before church so I had to snap a few pics :)

After church, a friend of Rick's from his mission had us, Carly and Micah, and another couple over to his house for dinner.

Daci loved his two dogs!

She also loved playing the organ with him

Davis is a true texan and he made us some delicious smoked chicken and baked beans!

He has a little pond in the backyard with fish in it.  Daci and her new friend Ashlyn had fun watching them!

Eleni loved the baked beans :)

Davis gave them fish food to feed the fish

On Wednesday my friend and I took our girls to the pool!  Daci has only been to the pool once and it was last year at this time.  She was so excited when I pulled her floatie out!

Running around before we left for the pool

We had so much fun!  I'm glad we got a lot of fun activities in while the weather was so nice because it looks like a rainy next few days.  Thats okay though, I'm ready for a few laid back days in the house....I'm tired!!