Some fun

I have been really bad about taking pictures of my kiddos lately. Blame it on the pregnancy, or I think I just get frustrated because they are not posers and I always catch their backs to me. Not that I want all their pictures posed, but a smile and looking at me would be nice once in awhile.

Anyway, so I was surprised when I came home from my prenatal yoga class the other night and Kev said he took some pictures of them. I was shocked because he is never the one to take pictures. Of course he took pics of them climbing in the windowsill, something I don't let them do. But he got them to smile!

These two faces make me smile, and laugh everyday. Oh how I love them.


So Gracie girl is just the silliest. She was all ready to go outside in her rainboots.


My sweet Ty! He just loves his fruit!


She loves to climb and play in any open container.


Love her!

Football Players

IT'S A BOY!

We had our ultrasound on Tuesday and got to see our cute, little BOY!


Our ultrasound tech let us choose a pair of socks for our little guy.


Of course, I had a girls name all picked out and no boys names. We are very excited to have another football player though. They better take good care of Gracie.

18 months already!

My babies are 18 months old! This milestone makes me a little sad because they are just growing so fast. I feel so blessed to have them in my life and am so thankful I get to spend each day with them. Today was their first day going to Nursery at church. I stayed with them the whole time, but they did so well and had so much fun. I think they will do just fine in there.

So we had their 18 month check-up a couple weeks ago and here are their stats:

Tyler



Ty-Ty: Weighs: 25 lbs. 8 oz. 33 and a half inches and yes his head is still in the 90th percentile. A very healthy boy!

He loves: to play outside, to wrestle with daddy, find and squish frogs, jump on beds, climb on everything, run really fast, read books, throw things, build towers with blocks or canned food, play and bug his sister, his paci, and dance to music.

Favorite words to say: "No" and "Mommy"

Favorite food: grapes, strawberries, cheese



Gracie






Gracie Girl: Weighs: 19 lbs. 12 oz. 31 inches and continues to stay right on her little growth path. We found out she had a little ear infection, her first one, and she never acted like she even had one. What a tough girl!

She loves: to play outside, to give loves to her stuffed animals, to push her stroller around the house, to color and draw, to put things back in containers, to help mommy clean, to bring me the broom, to play on the stairs, to jump on beds, to climb on everything, to read books, play with Ty, her paci, and dance to music.

Favorite words to say: "uh oh" and "Daddy"

Favorite food: cheese, cereal, sweets

Obviously Gracie didn't want her picture taken, she just really wanted to climb.

We love them so much!

Some pics

A few family members have been asking for some updated pics, but mostly my sister keeps bugging me to post something new. Here you go Auntie.


Gracie is very shy and a big mommy's girl, but she has a special connection with her Uncle. He is the only other person beside Daddy that I have seen her give loves to.


Uncle Chris came to visit for the weekend! We love him!


Ty and Gracie loved building towers with Uncle Chris and then knocking them down.


Ty loves to ride his lion. He also loves to climb on it and balance himself.


So fun to have Daddy throw me up in the air!


Two peas in a pod!


Cute as can be! She is my sweetheart.


They love to pet the animals of course!


Looking at the animals at the fair! Ty loved the chicks, Gracie loved the dogs.


Daddy is the most fun to wrestle with.


Loves for Daddy. Cuddle time.


Love this guy, just wish he would look at the camera.


Trying to get pics on Sunday, all ready for church.



A belly pic! Our little one poking out at 19 weeks.

A story to tell...

Infertility is not fun. I know, I have been there and it was always one of my worst fears. Obviously this story gets better so just stick with me. See I was always one of those people who had a plan and set goals to accomplish this plan. So when life doesn’t go according to my plan I tend to get frustrated. I have learned and am still learning to get over this.

It was never part of my plan to teach school for four years. I wanted to start a family and becoming a mother was what I always wanted. After a year of being married, Kev and I decided it would be okay to start our family. A year went by and nothing happened, just as I was beginning to worry we found out I was pregnant. Exciting news for us! The excitement soon ended with an early miscarriage. Sadness, loss, pain, and eventually moving on all took place. I remember telling a friend its okay because at least I know I can get pregnant.

We moved to Washington that summer and I began my second year of teaching in the fall. I saw my new doctor in November and expressed to her my desire to get pregnant. She put me on some fertility medicine to help the process as well as ran a few tests to rule out some causes. Three months later and two years since we began trying she said the dreaded words “time to see a fertility specialist”. She did not have an explanation as to why I wasn’t getting pregnant. With tears running down my face I took her list of recommendations and left. My worst fear come true.

I saw my first specialist six months later who right away wanted to start the process of doing IUI (insemination). This is how Kate Gosselin got pregnant for those familiar with who she is. After a couple tests we began the process. I won’t go into details other than we tried this four times with no success. One of the attempts was a complete failure due to not responding at all to the medicine I was on. I was ready for a break, it had been three years since we began trying.

My break soon ended when I wanted to try a different specialist. The name of another specialist kept coming to my mind. I made an appt., met with him, told him my history, and I loved him. He said we didn’t have enough conclusive data to know the cause, and therefore couldn’t choose an option. Duh, that makes complete sense! So we did some testing and much to our dismay, no surprise it was concluded we had “unexplained fertility”. Nothing was wrong with us, yay! On the other hand, no quick solution. He gave us four options to choose from and he knew from the look on my face I was done messing around and ready to discuss IVF or In-Vitro Fertilization.
So, just as my third year of teaching school ended in June, I began the IVF process which would carry into the middle of July. Now the whole process itself is grueling and a story that could be told in another long post. My doctor was extremely confident and their lab had extremely high success rates. We of which are among those success rates. At the end of July, after 3 and half years of trying we learned we were pregnant. A few weeks later we had our first ultrasound and saw we were expecting twins. Tears of joy, relief, and peace! With God all things are possible.

Why do I post this story now? Well, I have been wanting to for a long time and just never did it. Infertility is one of those things that isn’t talked about and it should be. A lot of people out there are going through it and feel alone. Some things I will never say to someone who is trying to get pregnant, “Just relax” “Stop trying and it will happen” “Don’t stress about it” “You’re so young and have plenty of time” “Why don’t you adopt” to name a few. My point is I understand, because I have been there and it is hard, I never thought I would be that girl.

Currently I am another girl I never thought I would be.

Because we did IVF to get the twins, I came to accept that there was a good chance we would have to do it again if we wanted more children. We had unexplained infertility so there is always the chance we could get pregnant on our own. And people always said that it would probably just happen if we weren’t careful. Well I wanted to be one those lucky ones so I figured it wouldn’t happen like that for us. However, much to our surprise and excitement…

I am Pregnant!

We were shocked and once we got past that, we laughed a little and have been really excited. After telling a few people my favorite question has been, “So was this one cheaper?”

We are due February 14th…our little love baby. And it is just one baby. Miracles do happen.

My favorite saying since high school has been, “Life happens when you’re busy making other plans”. And that is very true.

Some pictures from Idaho.

Gracie and cousin Allyson playing Grandma's piano.


Daddy and Ty checking out the splash park in Rexburg.


"You want me to do what Mama?" "I don't think so!"


Love it!


More water for Ty!


Gracie's favorite ride!


At the zoo with Daddy.


Riding the tiger with Uncle Steven.


Wee! Having so much fun swinging in the trees.


Riding with Grandpa on the tractor.

Time for some updates

Where have we been you ask, well maybe you don't, but we have been gone!

Actually we have been back for over a week but getting my life back in order has taken some time and energy. Sometimes I just wish I were Mary Poppins and all the little messes that seem to get made so quickly could be cleaned up just as quickly. Oh well, I will keep working on that one.

First, my most wonderful Grandma came to visit for three weeks. We love her so much and miss her even more. Ty and Gracie loved having her here. She plays with them, reads to them, talks to them, feeds them lots of sugar, and comforts them when they don't feel good. She really is the BEST.


The day my Gram left, was the day my mom and I drove to Montana with Ty and Gracie. We stayed with my mom and stepdad for two weeks. Ty and Gracie did exceptionally well on the long drive over thanks to lots of snacks and their favorite movie "Yo Gabba Gabba". In Montana, we played outside, went for walks, played with Grandma's dogs, ate out, went shopping, tried to eat rocks, went to a few parks, went swimming, went to the hot springs, played with friends Ross and Ridley, but mostly tried to play in the dog's water dish.

Kev flew in to Montana 10 days after we had been gone. Ty and Gracie were so excited to see him. Ty wouldn't let him out of his sight and everytime Kev left the room Ty would throw a fit. I guess he missed Daddy. After spending a couple more days in Montana we all left and headed for Idaho. We stopped in West Yellowstone on the way and ate lunch, along with getting some yummy treats for the road.

We then stayed at Kevin's parents house for a week. All of Kev's brothers were able to come too, so it made it a family reunion. The highlights for Kev were playing golf with his dad and brothers almost everyday, floating down the river, seeing friends we haven't seen in awhile, eating homemade ice cream and zingers (which I won't buy) and having a campfire. He had a pretty full week. I too enjoyed floating down the river when I wasn't running into the trees, catching up with sister-in-laws, watching Ty and Gracie play with their cousins, going to Rexburg and remembering all the memories there, and most of all seeing friends I miss seeing all the time. Ty and Gracie had a great time too, playing with Kaitlyn and Allyson, playing piano with Grandma, getting tickled and chased by Uncle Steven, swinging, playing outside and jumping on the trampoline.

Then we made the long trek home from Idaho. Ty and Gracie did even better on the way home. What traveling troopers they are. It was a fun vacation and so good to spend time with family, but we were all excited to be home.

So, lots of pictures to come, but I need to go through them first.