Thanksgiving and a Pregnancy Update

We had so much fun on Thanksgiving!  We were originally going to just do it really low key at our house and just have it be our little family.  We got a turkey and potatoes and all the fixin's and Rick was going to help me put it together while I sat at a chair at the counter :)  A few days before Thanksgiving, a friend of ours from the ward called and said she was trying to get a few of the families together that weren't really doing anything. Since we didn't have family out here, she thought she would give us a call!  We had so much fun with The Wrights and The Richards in our ward and it made me realize how much your ward really is your family when you don't live by family.  It was a special Thanksgiving and Daci had a blast with her little friend, Addy.  They spent most of the day playing Princess Dress Up. In fact, Daci was so excited about the Princess dresses that she wouldn't sit still long enough to eat ANY of Thanksgiving Dinner!  By the end of the night, she was sure munching on all the veggies that were leftover :)

Daci and Addy. They got their own little table.

Family Pic

Now for the pregnancy update.  I have been to my regular OB once a week this last month and everything is looking good and I haven't dilated anymore since our first little "scare".  I also haven't gained any weight in the last 3 weeks!  Wahoo!  I am hovering right around a 30 pound weight gain so far.  This makes me extremely happy considering I gained 50 with Daci!

I went to my high risk doctors today to get a growth ultrasound done and the babies are doing wonderfully!  Baby A (girl) is 3 lb 5 oz and Baby B (boy) is 3 lb 6 oz.  That means I am carrying almost a whole pound more than Daci was born at!  What!?  She was only 5 lb 15 oz when she was born and I have 6 lb 11 oz of baby in me with 8 more weeks to go.  I said to the doctor today, "So, it seems like they gain about a pound every four weeks, does it start to slow down now?" He laughed and said, "Oh no, it speeds up! They will gain 1 lb and a half to 2 pounds by the next time we see you at 34 weeks and then another 1.5lb-2lb before delivery." Wow!  I always thought they would be smaller than Daci considering there are two of them, but I guess I was wrong :) Sounds like they will each be around 7-7.5lbs. This is just a testament to me of how much my Lupus affected my first pregnancy.  We had no idea I had Lupus at the time so I wasn't on any of the medication I needed to be.  I retained A TON of water with her, gained 50 lbs, and she was only 5lb 15oz.  I am SO grateful that everything turned out okay with her.  We are so very blessed because so many things could have gone wrong.  I'm also so grateful that we know what is happening in my body this time and can take all the precautions necessary for the twins to be healthy and strong!

The doctors are very happy with how healthy the babies are and with how well I am doing now.  A few weeks ago I would have said I didn't feel well at all and that I felt like I could have the babies at any moment.  Now, I feel great (except for that I am EXTREMELY uncomfortable :) ) and feel like they will go all the way to 38 weeks.  I know this is because I have slowed down and taken it easy.  I was pushing myself much too hard before.  I also know that I couldn't have done any of this without the wonderful women in my ward that have helped me out so much with Daci and with meals for my family.  The doctors say everything looks great and that I don't necessarily need to be on bed rest but that I need to continue to take it easy.  I can go out for a quick run to the store if I need to, although it wouldn't be smart to take Daci because I can't lift her into the cart.  I can do little meals here and there for my family on the days where the ward isn't bringing in food.  I can even do little outings for my sanity, as long as the outings aren't walking around and I can sit the whole time, like going to the movies (Breaking Dawn here I come!), or to an hour or two (or three if I'm feeling ok) of church!

I feel so blessed to have the love and support out here that I do.  I'm so grateful to be a member of the church and have an instant built in network of friends and support.  We have loved living out here in Naperville and I feel like this is where we are supposed to be at this time in our lives.  Don't get me wrong, I still miss my family and friends in Utah SOOOO much!  Sorry this turned into a testimony....I'm just feeling especially blessed today.

Now for some pics!  They are getting so big now that it is hard for them to get good pictures of the babies anymore.  These are a few of the ones that turned out okay:

Little Girl with her foot by her face

Little Boy with his foot AND hand by his face

Side profile of Baby Boy with his arm up across his face

Some Summer Fun through Studio J

 Along with my regular scrapbooking, I also like to do some digital scrapbooking.  I use the program Studio J which is through Close To My Heart.  I put these layouts together months ago but just ordered and printed them. When you have them printed they also send you jpegs of each of them.  These are just a few layouts of the Summer Fun we had, I'll share more when I get more printed :)  You can click on the picture to see it bigger and read the journaling.

This Little Girl

This little girl can go from sweet.....

.....to sassy......

.....in a matter of moments!



And I wouldn't have it any other way :)  Although some days I wish she would just be one of those angelic, sweet little kids that listen to every word their mother says and does whatever is asked of them. But then I remember that I love that she has such a fun and spunky personality.  She is always surprising me with what comes out of her mouth and the new creative games she comes up with.  She has SUCH a wild imagination.  She is so hilarious at bedtime.  Rick and I will turn the volume off on the TV and just listen to her up in her bed.  She is hysterical.  She sings everything....at the top of her lungs....and it is just a constant stream of talking and singing when she is in her bed.  She makes up the funniest stories and adventures for her dolls and stuffed animals.

We definitely have our hard moments.  Like when she flat out says, "No" when I ask her to pick something up, or when she walks in the other direction when I tell her to do something, or when she says, "Calm down, Mom" and rolls her eyes when I get upset with her.  Seriously, where is she learning all of this!?

But I love my spunky little girl and am so grateful that Heavenly Father sent her to me.  I was the complete opposite of her as a child: quiet, obedient and eager to please.  Heavenly Father knew I needed someone to test my patience, I guess :) Love you Daci Bug!

Some things she is doing lately:
-Biting her nails....just her right pointer finger. Ugh
-Getting out of her bed to turn her light on and then running back.  She is so obsessed with having the light on!  The other morning when Rick's alarm went off at 5am there was light flooding into our room.  He went to tell her to get back in bed, that it was still too early to get up, and she was sound asleep in her bed.  She had gotten up in the middle of the night, turned it on, and went back to bed.  What a goober.
-She will randomly walk up to me and say "Howd'ya dooooooin?" It always makes me laugh.  Even when I am mad at her :)
-She loves getting her picture taken all of a sudden.  Every time I have the camera out she asks for one.
-She has recently become obsessed with the show Strawberry Shortcake on Netflix.  One day she was playing on our iPad, stumbled upon it, and asked to watch it.  Now she is hooked.  And now she knows how to turn on an episode by herself, so if the iPad is left out, Strawberry Shortcake is on.
-She also loves Little Einsteins and can sing the whole theme song by herself
-She loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse too
-She knows all the songs on the radio.  We get in the car and she immediately starts singing along, pretty crazy to hear her singing the words to grown up songs.
-She LOVES to play at other people's houses.  Since I went on bedrest she has been playing at a lot of her friends houses.  She loves it so much that she yells at me to let her go back when she gets home.  Sigh.
-She loves to watch me bake and cook.  She pulls up a chair to the counter everytime I start making something.
-She insists on sitting in the back of the cart when we go shopping
-She loves to put all of the groceries up on the belt for me at the store

Rick's Birthday

We had a fun celebration for Rick's birthday this year.  I wasn't able to do much for him since I wasn't supposed to leave sitting position.  I always make him Homemade Oreo Cookies for his birthday and I was so disappointed I couldn't do it this year.  But then, Carly offered to make them for me!  Yay! I spent the day on modified bedrest over at her house. She made the cookies, and I frosted them.  I made this banner using my Cricut (in sitting position :) ) and Carly picked up balloons for me.  We ordered Lou Malnati's Pizza, got an Oberweis Ice Cream Pie, and had Oreo Cookies.  It was all delicious!

Funny Story:  Rick's mom got him a dress shirt from Nordstrom and I was wrapping it earlier in the day.  Daci was watching me and getting so excited for Rick's party.  When Rick walked in the house Daci ran to him, yelled, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!  We wrapped your shirt!  And we made you cookies!"  Oh great, both surprises of the day....ruined :)  Haha!  It was pretty darn cute though.  She was so excited for him!

Eating Lou's pizza

Don't mind me....getting to the scary stage. Yuck.

Opening presents

His amazing Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Pie from Oberweis

Blowing out his candle

Rick's brother Sam got home from his mission last week and he came out to visit us.....well, I think he mostly came for his cute nieces :)  He adored Daci before he left.  She was 10 months at the time and Carly was pregnant with Eleni so he hadn't even met her yet.  It was so fun to watch him with the girls. Daci was really shy around him for the first few hours but then she warmed right up to him.  She loved playing with him!  He was a big help while he was here.  He and Carly took Daci and Leni to the Children's Museum one morning while I laid in bed :)

I made him a cross-stitch of the Campinas Brazil Temple (he served in Vitoria, Brazil) and gave it to him while he was here.  

And for good measure...a pregnancy pic.  I am 28 weeks here.  I'm slowly but surely getting there :)

Of course Daci had to be in the pic, its getting harder for her to peek out from under my bump!

Ha-ppy Birth-day to Daddy

Happy Birthday Daddy!  We love you!

A Trip to the Children's Museum

Carly and I took Daci and Leni to the Naperville Children's Museum two weeks ago for a little outing.  The girls absolutely love to go there!  We love to take them there because it is such an educational and interactive environment, and we don't have to do much while we are there...just sit back and enjoy :)  Daci gets this really serious face when she is concentrating.  She rarely smiles when we are doing things like this, she loves it though...I promise!


Playing with the Glowsticks:

Building with Shapes:

Playing in the Music Room:

This is just an area with lots of toys and a little clubhouse.  Daci decided to move a bunch of furniture and toys into the clubhouse and make herself at home :)

Water Painting:

At one point Daci got so frustrated with my camera constantly in her face that she came right up to my face, put both her hands on my cheeks and looked me right in the eye (like I do to her when she is in trouble) and said, "Mom, NO MORE PICTURES!" I couldn't help but tease her after that!  So I kept saying "Daci, Daci, Daci, Daci, Daci..." until she finally looked up at me with an exasperated smile

In the water and wind area:

Trying to pull the bubble up around them, didn't work very well this time :(

In the building area:

Pictures on the big Chair:

And of course, we couldn't finish off our Downtown Naperville trip without our tradition of stopping for a Red Mango with the girls :)

Halloween Festivities

WARD TRUNK OR TREATING PARTY:


While Rick and I were in Texas, our ward had Trunk or Treating.  Rick's parents got Daci all ready and they went to the Ward Party with Carly, Micah and Leni.

Daci and Leni before the Party

Daci and her Papou

Princess Peach

Trick or Treat!

Fred with his two granddaughters

HALLOWEEN:

We had so much fun on Halloween!  I'm glad I got to experience this with Daci before I went on bedrest.  The whole day she couldn't stop talking about how she would be a princess that night and go trick or treating.  She kept saying, "I be a princess, mommy be mario, and daddy be 'weeji' and we go trick or treating!" 

This dress used to be Daci's Aunt Sophie's dress when she was young.  When Daci was in Utah last month she found it and instantly fell in love with it!  Sophie was sweet enough to let her take it home with her and she has lived in it ever since.  I cleaned it up really nice for Halloween and got her some gloves, a crown and a wand.  She was so excited!
 

Princess Peach has very flipped out hair so I sprayed Daci's hair really well with hairspray and went to town.  She ended up with some very 70's looking hair, but after a little while it loosened up a bit and looked so cute.

Luigi and Princess Peach

Daci LOVED trick or treating!  She would march right up to the door, ring the bell, and yell "TRICK OR TREAT!" before anyone even opened the door :)

We went to visit our friends the Jaynes', they had a bunch of people from the ward there at the same time.

Daci was excited to see her friend, Kate

Mario and Princess Peach

Then we went to visit Carly, Micah and Leni. Rick downloaded the SuperMario Brothers theme song to his phone and everytime we went up to a door to trick or treat he would play it.  When we got to Carly and Micah's house he put it on and Daci had a little dance party :)

Mario and Luigi save Princess Peach!