Girls, Girls, Girls

Okay I'm about to be honest. When we found out we were pregnant, I prayed that God would give me a boy. I grew up in a family full of girls. Seriously, 3 older sisters, and 6 nieces. Girls everywhere. Now I absolutly love my sisters and all my nieces are so sweet, but since I started thinking about being a mother I wanted my firstborn, if not all my children to be boys. I'm not what you would call a girly girl, although I'm not a tomboy. I don't wear heels, I only wear basic makeup, and jeans and a t shirt are my clothes of choice. Anyway, I'll be real right now, and you have to promise not to think I'm a terrible mother, but when we found out it was two girls in there, I was a touch disappointed. I still knew I would love these girls with my whole heart but part of me was hopping they would say "Hold on, no it looks like boys." I even felt that our families were disappointed that there were no boys, although Morgan convinced me that was all in my head. Since that day I've come to be so excited to have two daughters. I've got things I'm scared of, since I'm a girl and know what they are like. But there are some things that will be so special because they are girls. Here's a list....because I love list.

What I'm scared of:
.........I'm absolutly scared of the amount of diapers we will go through. I know this doesn't have to do with their gender. But wouldn't you be scared of the twin diaper ratio?
.........I'm worried about bonding with two babies at once. I've heard that the bond a mother has with her brand new baby is amazing. But how do you love two brand new babies with all your heart? I know I will, but it still worries me at times.
........Oh the drama! Girls are drama queens. Some are worse then others, but all girls have there dramatic times. And two the same age, going through the same changes. Yikes!
.........I'm so not looking forward to 13 years from now. Two girls going through middle school, periods, and self-esteem at the same time? Two girls that think I'm an idiot no matter what I say. I already covet your prayers for that time.

What I cannot wait for:
........I cannot wait to see two precious daddy's girls. Morgan is so much like his father, and one thing I love about Dave is how sweet and loving he is towards his girls. He's a man who knows how to be a daddy to girls. I forsee Morgan being wrapped around two little glitter pained fingers.
........I get to help two girls figure out what it is to fall in love. I get to help them figure out how to be a successful women in this world. I get to help plan and watch my daughters prepare to be a wife and mother themselves.
.......These girls will not only have sisters, but they will have a best friend. I pray these girls will always be close and best friends. I can't wait to hear them pretending in their bedroom, go to the mall together when their teenagers, and watch them be each others maid of honors at their weddings.
.......There is a relationship that mothers and daughters have that can't be replaced. I look forward to being there mother and raising them, but I hope one day when they are women we will be friends.

I'm so in love with these girls already.

Crazy cats

Morgan does not believe me but I am convinced the cats know what's up. Ever since I've been pregnant they have seemed more affectionate. Pretty much anytime I'm sitting on the couch either one or both of them end up right on top of me. This is a pretty new attitude for them. My cats have never been all that loving. Recently I've woken up at night realizing Murphy is cuddled up right next to my belly. Before, he would sleep down by my feet if he slept in the bed at all. But now, every night without fail I find him next to my belly purring like crazy. This might sound nuts, and you may think I'm a crazy cat lady....but I wonder if their sensitive cat ears can hear the heartbeats. Okay stop rolling your eyes. All I know is that right now I have a cat on each side of me, when 5 months ago they could have cared less about me. My thinking, while they are still in the womb the cats are trying to convince these babies to not pull their tales when they get here :)

Our last Christmas

Ok, it's not our last Christmas. But it was our last Christmas just the two of us. I remember the first Christmas that I brought Morgan home to meet my family. We had been dating about 5 months. We had already known that we were going to get married one day, but I still wanted my family to love him and him to love my family. I remember being so nervous the whole time, but I shouldn't have been. He was meant to be my family.

The next Christmas was our first as a married couple. In my opinion, there is nothing better then waking up on Christmas morning in the arms of your true love. That first Christmas was so special. We woke up in our little apartment, opened our gifts to each other in our PJ's, and just took our time enjoying that first special Christmas.

No pics on my computer from that year....

Last Christmas was a tough season for us. We had quietly gone through our first miscarriage. We had found out at the beginning of the month we were pregnant, only a week later to lose the pregnancy. It was something we had only told our parents and it was hard to go through the motions of the holidays with people who didn't know what had happened. We did end up spending a few days after Christmas with Morgan's family in the mountains and that was a good time of healing for me.

Again no pics of that year on my computer...geesh...

This year has been the best. I feel like the season has lasted a while and I've been able to enjoy all of it. We've had a great time helping out with our church.

Christmas shopping wasn't too bad. I'm the worlds worst at gift giving. My mind goes a complete blank and I have no idea what to give people. This Christmas season we got to find out great news about babies. First we found out that our good friends were expecting about a month behind us. This was so awesome! I've always dreamed about being pregnant with a friend

at the same time and relatively close to the same dates and now I do!!! Then two days before Christmas we found out we were going to have two sweet little girls. They already are showing the personality. One is shy and one is so not. I'm going to be a mom to two girls.....that's another post in itself!

Christmas Eve we went to Morgan's parents and had a seafood boil. It was really good! We also got to announce about the girls. We had two presents wrapped up from them. Harriet opened one while Dave opened the other and they saw boxes full of little hair bows. I think everyone was a little shocked about two girls, but I hope everyone is happy! Christmas day was just what I wanted. We woke up early and just snuggled and talked about our future, and how scary and exciting it's going to be. We got up and opened up gifts. Morgan outdid himself this year. He totally surprised me with a Coach bag I've been dreaming of (with the help of a dear friend who got him a great deal). Then we got dressed and headed back to his parents. We spent

all day there just talking and enjoying family. They gave us our first carseat! Yay!! Overall it was one of the best Christmases ever. I can't wait to spend all my coming Christmas seasons with our girls. But til then I'll always remember these special Christmases with just the two of us.

Christmas Tree

We have had our Christmas tree up for a week now. A couple years ago while I was teaching one of my class parents gave me a pre-lit tree and when I left I brought it with me. Anyway it was pretty great, but its about had it. Especially after last year the cats decided to try and climb a fake tree, the bottom branches have decided to droop. But we still put it up. Next year we are thinking about getting a real one. Anyway, have I mentioned how much I love my new camera! I've been taking pictures of everything. Here are some of our ornaments.

I love snowmen!

I thought this was a very unique nativity ornament.

Did I mention I love snowmen?

I'm not sure how this one is Christmas related. My mom gave me a box of ornaments from her sister. They are all from Austria I think, hand painted and wooden. Some are really cute, some are a little strange, and some (like this clock) have nothing to do with Christmas. Oh well, fills up the branches!

Merry Christmas!

A little....

Here are some words to describe what I've been feeling lately...

....Overwhelmed - We are taking our first trip into town to look at baby stuff. I've been around babies and kids all of my life it seems, but I just am at a loss as to all the stuff I'm going to need for our two babies. I'm really worried about buying the wrong thing, not getting two of something, or only getting one thing we need two of. I've got a lot of people in my life that already have children but none that had two at once!

....Scared - Any new mom probably feels that fear of whether or not they can do this. I know God designed me to be a mom but sometimes the thought terrifies me. From the birth to bringing them home to what to do with them when they are here just leaves me scared sometimes.

....Excited - There are going to be two babies in our house next Christmas. We are enjoying this last quiet Christmas just the two of us, but I cannot wait to take cute Christmas pictures of our twins in front of the tree next year! Also off the subject a little I'm so excited about our new Nikon D3000 camera we just bought at a ridiculously cheap price this week.

....Loved - We've had so much love shown to us already. It's fun to hear from girls I went to high school and college with on Facebook saying how excited or happy they are for us. Then seeing most of my family at Thanksgiving and talking about their pregnancies was so enjoyable. Mostly I just love this man God gave me. I could not imagine doing this life thing without him. He has been so good through our hard times, and now this fantastic times. I love him. No one else can get me quiet like him, and I'm so ready to see him be a daddy.

What You've Missed

So while we were keeping our "little" secret this past couple months there has been a lot going on with me. Here's a list of the first trimester pregnancy stuff I've been going through.

1. Number one that any expecting mom can tell you, pregnancy makes you tired. Now pregnancy with twins....exhausted!! I would feel like sleeping all day and all night so much. My normal bed time has been 9 or 9:30 with 8:30 being a bed time here and there. My energy has come back a little, but 9:30 you still find me in bed.

2. A lot of people may hate me for this, but I've not had any sickness. Every once in a while if it was close to meal time I might feel queasy but a few crackers and I was okay. I'm really thankful because my doctor scared me into thinking twins would mean really mad morning sickness.

3.Cravings! At first I didn't really crave anything, but around 8 weeks I started to really get them. Number one for me is red meat. Sometimes I feel like if I don't have some form of cow I'll go insane. Just last night Morgan grilled us some steaks, and I swear I've never been more happy :) Also major craving has been OJ. I could drink it at every meal, including last night with my steak. I've also could put hot sauce on about everything. The spicier the better!!

4. Aversions. Don't come near me with scrambled eggs. Ugh, just thinking about them turns my stomach. Also sweets, especially chocolate, does not interest me at all. Which is brand new to me.

5. Random things: My nails grow super fast. I cry at everything! I get really crabby which even I have to admit. And I forget everything. I even had to look up my zip code when addressing a letter. Pregnant brain is a real thing.

That's a little bit of the things that have been going on. I enjoy looking up all the crazy old wives tales to try and figure out what these kids are, but having two I'm not sure what the old wives predictions would be.

Double the Fun

So if you were at our church this morning this blog is a repeat of what I said, but I hope you still take a little time to read it. A lot of you reading this will probably remember about our miscarriage in April. I've written about it a couple of times. After we had our loss it took a while for me to grieve and recover from our loss. It seemed that every time I got on Facebook, someone else was announcing their pregnancy. I dealt a lot with jealousy and doubt. It got to a point that I was so focused on us getting pregnant again that each month I got more and more down. Morgan basically had to stop me one day and just say "Liz, relax! It will happen when God wants it to happen. Enjoy this time we have together." I listened to him, and also started getting into the Scripture.

Each morning I would read and pray. I began praying to get pregnant, but then I started praying that I could just see what God wanted from our life. I started to feel closer to God than I have in a long time. When I would spend that time with Him I would start to feel Him speak to me saying to just trust Him and He would work it out for us.

Not much longer it seemed We finally got our positive pregnancy test. I was excited, but scared at the same time. You see what a lot of you don't know is that we had a first miscarriage in December, after only a week of knowing we were pregnant. So I was really worried about having a third miscarriage. But we made it to 8 weeks when we had our first ultrasound.

Now this is where I find God kind of having a little fun with us. You see the tech started the ultrasound and said "Oh I see two flickering heartbeats, looks like twins!" I sat up and pretty much said WHAT! Morgan was just chuckling in the corner. Total surprise, but total blessing. As we left the office and were trying to wrap our brain around twins, Morgan summed it up perfectly. He said, "Liz, you know I think God remembered how much we hurt from our losses and so He is giving us two babies!" We are so excited. Very nervous but can't wait! We are due in May, and I'll be 13 weeks on Tuesday. So far I've had a very easy pregnancy. I just hope it stays going so well. I'll try to post more on my blog to keep you updated on our progress.