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baby A blocking the barrage of feet with his two hands!

A couple of weeks ago I went in for an appointment to see if the twins were getting equal blood and nutrition. I was discouraged to find out that there was a 14% difference after just 2 weeks. They do surgery on your placenta if it hits 20%. So we geared up to go to Cincinnati. My niece Susie had already offered to come help me for awhile so we felt blessed she would be here during our trip. The only way to reverse transfusion when it starts is to drastically reduce stress and activity. That doesnt always work though. When Susie got here that is just what happened. She did school drop-offs for me and I have been able to take ample naps. In general, she has totally lighted my load. When I went in for my next appt., expecting to firm up the details of the surgery, we found out that now there is a 2% difference! The doctor was amazed! Thank you for your prayers and of course- thank you Susie! Families and friends are amazing. One of the babies is breech and one is not. The one that is not was kicking the other in the face during the entire exam. If you look closely you can see the battered baby protecting his face with his hands as the kicking got more violent! I told the doctor that indeed these were my boys!

Thank you for the congratulations! We are honestly thrilled! I told my husband I felt like we had won the lottery. (Chances of twins when they don't run in the family is .04%) He wasn't too sure about my comparison! About three weeks ago we had an appointment. I have them every two weeks and soon every week. This is because these two share a placenta. Sometimes you don't know whether twins will be identical until they are born. In this case we do because they share a placenta. Because of this they have to be monitored carefully. At any point in your pregnancy the blood vessels which connect the umbilical cord and the circulation of the twins can be distributed unevenly. Also one can be receiving nutrition while the other is not. That is the gist Twin Transfusion anyway. But what it means is that I will have tons of awesome 4d sonograms to share and so I decided to share them with friends and family. I think they are amazing!

Anyway, these two are close, really close. So three weeks ago I had an appt. to find out the gender. We weren't going to find out but because girls have faster lung development by three weeks, in this case it was important to know so we could discuss options. So, the two were wrestling but the technician announced that she was pretty sure they are girls! Happy day, an even clan! LG would have sisters and I would have more to call me in my old age.

Then, on Monday I went in again to the perinatologist and they pulled up the screen, this is what they saw.

I couldn't believe it! This brings the ration 5:1 instead of 3:3. The wierd thing is, when I found out they were girls, surprisingly there was a part of me that was sad they weren't boys. I think I am just in general, scared of the day we I know I wont have anymore kids. I think I just got one step closer and it depresses me. Anyway, the clan grows and as my kids say, we will have our own sports teams now. more to come...

4-6, Merry Christmas to me!

I have always loved a two for one! I will share more details but this is what our winter has in store for us! Because our house wasn't crazy enough! I just wrote a long blog with all the details, including gender, but lost it. Now I remember why I don't blog! It takes so much time. I will add more later!
p.s. they do have a membrane in between them, but they do seem to be already butting heads!

I wish I could capture my kids like my friend kel can. Sometimes I don't think I slow down enough to try to get them on film. They are growing so fast! Little Girl, or LG, as she is known in these parts, shuns the camera. While Cowboy Stoney, a nickname he bestowed on himself, loves it!

Dirty Gold - California Sunrise

I have taken quite the hiatus from blogging. This is due to a lot of different factors that are changing in my life, I have started homeschooling, being more realistic about how much time is in a day and how efficient I really am. I will write more about that later. But there is something I have to scream from the rooftops. My nephew that I adore, because they are kind, great examples to my boys, hard workers and sweet as can be, are creating a stir in the music world. I had to share. There music gets us groving and my boys just keep hitting the play button. Read about them hear, scroll down to Before the hype, dirty gold.
http://www.crawdaddy.com/index.php/2010/12/09/before-the-hype-dirty-gold/

pirate day times three....arggghh

We we so thrilled to have a pirate day at school. So thrilled in fact that I sent Scurvy Gums Bobby to school a week early dressed and ready to plunder. My husband took him and five minutes after he left I checked my email that reminded me that in fact pirate day was in a week! Blimey! So I called my husband and told him to turn and grab the child who was running for the classroom and bring him home. My husband dropped the buccaneer at his Nana's which was closer to the school and I met him with the appropriate attire and some wet wipes.
The next Monday We suited up again, and added some dye to his hair to improve the look. This time he went all day. His Nana picked him up because I had a sick baby. When she brought him home, she informed me that in fact pirate day was on Friday. Sink me. This time I needed an apology to go with my wet wipe.

But the third time is the charm and he went looking shipshape and better than ever to retrieve his treasure. Luckily our beloved Mrs. Endicott is his teacher.  And I had another experience notch on my motherhood belt. I am going to be so good at this parenthood thing by the time I am through.

AHOY!

My New Life

In case you weren't feeling grateful today.

Today after swimming my five year old was lying on the grass in his swimming suit just relaxing. My little girl crawled on over to her brother and tried to nurse.

"Ahhh- you silly girl! Those aren't the real thing, those are just decoration!"

Enter to win a photo shoot like this one!

yet another sibling more talented than me...and win a shoot like this!

My sister is having a contest to win a completely free shoot with a CD included. Go to her site to enter! cwelton.blogspot.com

I was so glad to get some pics of this little guy in the outfit he has spent so much of his third year in!


My sister Carrie is SO talented! If you have been thinking about getting photos done, check out her new website. After going to the Picture People and last month, I was so disappointed at how much I had to pay for studio pics and pay per sheet and then I can't reproduce it! Carrie gives you so many photos and then you have the rights and the cd to make cards, reprints, whatever. She is also really affordable. I love so many of them that I can't decide which ones to show you!

Carrie captured my children perfectly which must was not an easy task. It was like they could sense my fear like wild animals and they were taking advantage of me at my most vulnerable moment. I was tossing out every bribe in the book. Not my best parenting moment let me tell you. "A chocolate shake, or how about Chuckie Cheese?" What ended up working? My husband told my kids they could put a rotten crab apple in my mouth. Smiles all around. Luckily Carrie is patient and a miracle worker. So check out her website. She lives in Utah but she will be making a trip to CA so let me know if you are interested in booking her while she is here!

http://www.carrieeltonphotography.com/

HOORAY!

FINALLY- real food!

Craigslist treasures

I found this great antique for a mere $200! Perfect for a bedroom or living room.

This beauty was in the free section of craigslist tonight. My husband wouldn't go for it. He said something about it being tacky...yada yada. So short sighted. Someone is VERY lucky. Wow!

(After posting this I recieved a concerned call from a friend stating that "maybe I really have gone off the deep end." I guess I need to state what I thought was obvious-I was just kidding. Just had to share!)

YEARNING!

When I am nursing sometimes I like to browse craigslist. I live in an area where people post some amazing stuff. This was posted today. Oh how I want it!

Can you imagine the fun we would have trekking around in this baby!

Sorry I accidentally went private for a day or so. I was trying to do something else on a family blog my siblings and I share but changed mine instead. But I had to remedy it because my fans went WILD. (Jayne- thanks for noticing.) Yeah- it is good to feel loved.

a tradition in the making?

What a man, what a man, what a mighty mighty good man! I can't really remember who sings that song but I definitely feel like singing it this morning. Usually I do maid duty. Simply because I am home in the day, and I can stay up late without too much trouble. Also, my hubby, we call him Diamond for undisclosed reasons, has all sorts of maintenance man work to do when he gets home. He is building retaining walls, ripping down interior walls, rewiring this or that, putting a light in the garage etc. He is just as or maybe more busy than I am. It isn't uncommon during busy weeks for me to get behind and then pull an all nighter to get caught up or at least stay up until 2:00 or so. Diamond is someone though that needs his sleep.

So this week I have been feeling REALLY crummy. I think I may have a bug or something. I have been really busy with valentines projects, student of the week projects and a science project. My husband feels like he is at a craft fair basically. Anyway- I was pooped last night and Diamond told me to just go to bed. At 12:00 I woke up with the baby and he wasnt in bed. He wash missing again and at 5:00 I went to investigate. Yes... I know my baby is too old for this all night feasting. Anyway- the man was cleaning the house, had gone to the grocery store, put away all valentines junk, laid out the kids clothes- he had even mopped the floor. He sent me too bed and two hours later he brought me my favorite steak omelet with Valentines wishes. Even though I wonder how he will make it through a day at work... I am too happy. Now if your husband is still giving you items you don't need or want for v-day, remember, this was 10 years in the making. But man it was worth the wait! THANK YOU- best gift ever!