Locks for Love

For the third time in several years, it was time to chop off the ponytail for Locks for Love (an organization that makes wigs from hair donations for children with cancer). My ponytail was longer than I anticipated, as I was waiting to go to the town of my in-laws for my favorite hairdresser. She does such a great job but we have been too busy to get down there. So Thanksgiving break was the perfect time!

Before:

11 inches later:

So far my hair has been SO much easier to wash and dry, saving me lots of time (and hopefully fewer headaches:)

13 week update-End of 1st Trimester!

So, about time for a blog post on the babies (sorry family, I know you have been asking for weeks). On Monday I began my 13th week, which is technically the beginning of the 2nd trimester! Yeah!! Can't believe it is here already.

Here is me at 13 weeks, not a whole lot of change yet. (I really need to stop taking these pictures after I have fallen asleep on the couch:)


Here are the babies at 12 weeks 3 days:


Picture #1: Baby A, a mover and a shaker. This little one was in a different position every time the doctor came back to take a look. The blob to the right is actually the head, facing us....kind of looks like a skeleton. We were able to see little legs on this one!

Picture #2: Baby B, a little more chilled. Head is to the left. This one appeared to be asleep though we could see some movement.

Picture #3: Baby B again, the little dot between the 2 blobs is actually an arm. We were getting a little wave:)

At our 12 week appt, we were able to do an ultrasound first, to make sure we could see both babies' heartbeats as the doctor said there was a good chance we would only hear one on the Doppler. Turns out the babies were right on top of each other, so we could just hear one for now. That was a really neat sound!! Hopefully next time they will be a little more spread out so we can hear both.

What is going on at 13 weeks:

- Have gained 7 pounds so far, with Thanksgiving feasts coming up so I need to be careful!
- Was vaccinated with the H1N1 shot
- Am feeling a little less nauseated, with fewer headaches
- Still get tired very easily (bodily tired) but am taking fewer naps
- Have a noticeable bulge in my tummy starting about mid-day
- Working on cleaning out my office, to begin a nursery (quite the project!)
- Rejoicing on all the hand-me-downs that have been given to us already! We are amazed!
- Babies do not fit on the same ultrasound screen anymore
- Am able to stop taking my progesterone pills
- Anxiously awaiting my next appt on Dec 17
- Thankful for every day spent with these little miracles!

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Josh and I are very thankful for each one of you!

Viva Las Vegas

A few weeks ago, Josh and I took a mini-vacation aka "last hoorah" to some place "cool", Las Vegas:) We seem like Las Vegas people right?:) We left on Sunday and traveled most of the day, arriving to our hotel, New York New York in time to eat dinner, browse our hotel and crash. An unexpected trip to CVS kept us up pretty late...but a fairly uneventful first night there.

Views of our hotel. Our window looked out to the roller coaster but surprisingly we couldn't hear the noise.



Monday we did a LOT of sightseeing of the different casinos and attractions. It is amazing how detailed everything was! That night we watched Monday night football in the ESPN Zone for a bit, Josh's request, and did some more sightseeing. At my request, we watched the Bellagio fountain show a few times:)

Monte Carlo

Closeness to the cats at MGM

Luxor

Excalibur

Tuesday we slept in a little and then began the rest of our sightseeing. We stopped off first to pick up tickets for a show that evening and then decided it was time for our Vegas buffet experience shortly after starting out:) Our plans were a bit off this evening but we ended up having a great time: saw the evening sights from atop the Eiffel Tower, Chinese food, more Bellagio fountains and volcanoes erupting, and ended with a great show of the "Blue Man Group."

Blue Man Group

Blurry Bellagio from the Eiffel Tower (none of our pictures were very good from here)

Ready for our "Tower" Ride

Gondola rides at the Venetian

Volcano erupting at the Mirage

Inside shopping at the Forum

Paris

We really enjoyed our time and didn't realize we would get to visit so many cities/countries in 2 days! (New York, Paris, Egypt, Rome, etc:) My 2nd favorite, next to the fountains, is explained in the picture below. Floor to ceiling tubes of M&Ms! Can't beat that! We are so happy we were able to go...but were very glad to come home. Our feet and legs needed a break!

Putt Putting and Batting Cages

Putt-putt golf and swinging in the batting cages.....these are activities you do in November right? In the south you do! Several weeks ago we went with some dear friends for a fun night of Mexican food, golf and batting cages. It was a little chilly but we and the kids had a great time. Here are some pictures of some of my favorite people on a fun night!

Peanut gallery

Snake-skinned boots made an appearance....rattlesnake we were told.

Sweet family!

Concentration amidst chaos

The two who were not allowed in the batting cages:(

Josh (if you can see him) swing for the fences

Very excited!

Pros

As Some of You May Have Heard......

We have a big announcement...................

WE ARE HAVING TWINS!

After 3 years of hoping and praying, God has answered with a double blessing for Josh and I and we couldn't be more excited (Josh still a little nervous, but mainly excited:) I am currently 9 weeks and 1 day, with a due date of May 31st. My goal date for twins is May 1st. As some of you may or may not know, we have been dealing with infertility for a long while and have been to 2 clinics spanning over a year and a half. Today I was officially released as a fertility patient (sad and exciting at the same time) so that is a great sign! We were spoiled again today with another ultrasound and were able to see A and B moving around...very cool! It is so amazing how they change so much from week to week. Below are some pictures from what has been secretly going on in our life for the last 6 weeks......

First EVER positive test! I have always d taking these things so I cheated and waited until after 2 ultrasound appointments before taking one, for picture purposes:)

I have been blessed to have an ultrasound every week for the past 6 weeks ( I found out super early at 3 weeks) so here are a few of the progressions......I don't have today's scanned in yet, so the latest one is for 8 weeks 3 days.

5 weeks. Hard to see but if you really look close you can see 2 black dots...that is it!

7 weeks 4 days....clearly see 2 sacs and 2 "blobs" inside:)

8 weeks 3 days. Baby A is on the left and is all stretched out. Baby B on the right is curled up and can't be seen very well.

Sorry if you can't tell anything from these ultrasounds at all (Dad...) I am so use to them it is clear to me, but just trust me that there are two:)

Here is my weekly progession...







(UGH! I am having trouble putting captions on the pictures..so I am giving up. They are in order of 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 weeks. The picture of Josh is at 4 weeks:)

Yes, I actually look bigger at 4 weeks than 8 weeks, your eyes are not deceiving you. I had a moderate case of Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS). I won't go into what it is, but you are welcome to google it if you are interested, but basically it caused my ovaries to more than triple in size. I gained 8 lbs in one week but am now back to normal. That belly was sure hard to hide though!

Contributors to my OHSS (times 6)

We didn't get to tell a whole lot of our family in person, as we are hours away from many, but there was a camera when we told some of the Steeds, thanks to Papa Tom. Here are a few happy photos.

We just want to thank all of our friends and family for all of your many many many thoughts, words of encouragement and prayers. You have helped sustain on this journey and we have felt your love and hopefulness. We are humbled and blessed by you all, and are so thankful for you to share in this joy with us. May God continue to bless you and please know how much each of you mean to both of us. We will never be able to fully express it ourselves.

Fall Festivities

We had a fun weekend, filled with lots of fall/Halloween things. The weather was actually very nice, no rain, so it was a perfect weekend to spend outdoors. On Saturday, we went to the Gardens with Josh's parents and his nephews. There was a scarecrow display/contest that we all thought would be fun to experience. Here are a few pictures from our morning.

Josh's parents, with a beautiful view

One of the favorite "scarecrows" of the day

Sunday afternoon we were invited to our dear friends/neighbors to carve pumpkins. Luckily, Josh had purchased one a few weekends ago, with the hopes of carving. We had a great time visiting and cutting. The carving was followed by a quick game of baseball in the side yard.....felt so good to be outdoors and not be sweating! The pumpkin on the right, is a pumpkin with an "idea" and ours is just your run-of-the-mill pumpkin. These are a few outtakes of the silly pumpkin pictures.

Close up of our pumpkin (hat NOT approved by Josh:)

Actual pumpkin carvers/creators

Scary Halloween faces! Can't you tell from Little C's face how scary they were in person?!!

Sunday night was Trunk or Treat, complete with pizza, games, and inflatables in our church parking lot. This is always a lot of fun, and so cute to see all the kids, costumes! Here are some pictures of our nephews and close friends.

Knight

Dragon the Knight fought

Spidey

Cuddly Tiger

Cute as a button Lady Bug

The Greaser

Hope everyone is enjoying their fall!