Side Ways Selfie

The Side-ways "selfie" only means one thing...I'm pregnant.  We're thrilled!  We had been trying to get pregnant for close to two years.  In January I just knew that I was pregnant this time.  I wanted to surprise Evan on his birthday that I was pregnant, but what if I was wrong...that would be a terrible gift.  So I did the whole pee on a stick thing the day before his birthday and yup I was pregnant.  

That morning Autumn and I got to work to announce to Daddy that she was going to be a big sister.

Autumn really likes to paint...everything

This picture cracked me up so I had to include it...underneath her jammies is the big secret.

Autumn was working late per-usual I wasn't sure if Autumn would still be awake or not, and maybe she would just show her new to dad in the morning.  But she was still awake so when dad came home I told her to show dad what we painted today.  Without practice or further prompting she unzipped her onesie.  It was perfect.  Evan got it right away and was so excited.  When I told him I was pregnant with Autumn I tried to video tape his reaction and totally missed it, so this time I just sat and enjoyed his excitement.

I've been feeling pretty good, but much sicker with this pregnancy and super bloated (who knew that was a pregnancy symptom?).  Nothing to really complain about.  I only threw up with Autumn a total of maybe 3 times the whole time I was pregnant (and a couple of those times it was probably just car sickness).  This time I would throw up once every morning before I could eat breakfast then I was fine until after Autumn's nap and I'd lay on the couch and have her watch TV if I could convince her to sit still long enough.  I did get SUPER sick one day and have to skip a baby shower I was helping to throw...turns out it was just food poisoning or something else.  Two days later (at exactly 12 weeks) I was totally fine, no more sickness. I've also been way more picky about foods.  With Autumn I just loved to eat and couldn't get enough of almost everything.  I really craved pizza and tomatoes with Autumn.  This time around something would sound good to me like sushi I'd eat a ton of it, then be repulsed by it a few days later.  I've also had cravings for pasta salad, Belgium waffles, and tuna with celery, and of course green olives and pickles!

 My mom came to visit when I was about 9 1/2 weeks along.  I didn't tell anyone I was pregnant last time until I was 16 weeks...not even my mom (I know totally mean, but I was super paranoid that I would have a miscarriage).  This time I was really excited to tell my family, plus I knew I wouldn't be able to hide my sickness from my mom.

 My mom sent me this super cute Valentine's Day craft.  Conversation hearts with our names on it.  I casually asked her where she had gotten the hearts.  So I went out and got another one and painted it and put stickers on it that read: "Sept 2014".  After I picked my mom up from the airport she asked, "hey did someone else make you one of those?"  Then she got it and was super excited (of course).  We went shopping the next day for maternity clothes, because I hardly wore any with Autumn since I was working and just wore my work polo.

 After Evan and my trip to Florida, my dad was visiting.  We showed them the pictures of our trip and I had snuck some random picture of an ultra sound (I hadn't had an ultra sound yet) in the slide, and was kinda like "whoops you weren't suppose to see that;)  He's pretty quick and figured out what I was trying to say.  

Someone's ultrasound photo I found on the internet

So then we told Evan's parents and brothers by showing them the souvenirs we got from our trip which included a "Thing 2" onesie that we had gotten at Universal Studios.  I think Evan's brother Patrick got it first.  Evan's little brother was like, "who's thing 1?" and I said, "Autumn" he said, "oh"  Evan's mom said, "do you get it?"  Then he understood, and was more excited than I thought a 16 year old boy would be.

I text a picture of the onesie to the rest of our siblings.  Everyone got it right away except Evan's sister Sara.  It was hilarious.  We were texting back and forth for a while, and then I realized she didn't understand who the onesie belonged to.  I had to tell her, "IT IS FOR A BABY COMING IN SEPTEMBER...NOT FOR YOUR SON!" (although that would have been cute too, Autumn and her cousin are close in age).  Evan and I had a good laugh about that.

So we keep on trekking along.  I keep telling everyone how "huge" I am.  I text pictures to a few friends/family members and the ones that have more than one kid assure me that I'm bigger this time around because it is my second baby.  Except for my friend Carla who text back something like, "Wow! You really are huge!"  Thanks for the honesty Carla.  I swore to Evan I've felt the baby kick when I was only 10 weeks along, he doesn't believe me.  I'm still quite bloated especially in the evening...and pretty much get increasingly bigger after I've eaten breakfast.  

Sunday (3/23) Evan and I were playing games with some friends.  Emily asked me the usual pregnancy questions, "how are you feeling? Do you feel different from last pregnancy?"  I casually said "I think it may be twins".  Emily has 8 year old twin girls and got SUPER excited and asked "have you been sicker this pregnancy?  That's a sign of twins-more hormones ya' know?"  She kept telling me that I had to convince my midwife at my appointment the next day to do an ultra sound, "fake like something is wrong" she says.  So she got me real excited that my instincts my be correct.  At my appointment I just kept asking questions about twins, oh and by the way did I mention I took Clomiphene to get pregnant.  (Clomiphene is a fertility drug that makes you ovulate.  I took it for 6 months with Autumn...three months with this pregnancy but a lower dose than with Autumn).  Clomiphene increases your chances of having multiple babies by 5%.  Any given woman has a 5% chance of having multiples, so if you take Clomiphene the chances are 10%.  The midwife chatted with me then listened to the babies heartbeat (love hearing that and having that confirmation) then measured my belly.  "Well you are measuring at 19 weeks, so a little big.  Let's take a peek and get an ultra sound."  Didn't have to twist my arm.  I had a feeling (maybe just wishful thinking)  it was twins, but my friend had convinced me it was twins too.  So Autumn and I went to Chic-fil-A and played for a good 1.5 hours until we could go back for the ultra sound.  I called Evan and put him on speaker.  I only saw one baby so I said so, but then the ultra sound tech said, "Nope, there's two!"  Evan and I were both super pumped!  There are two placentas (which means fraternal twins) and double of everything which is good news.  It is too early to know the genders. It was nap time and Autumn was getting antsy poor thing, but we had to wait to meet with the midwife...again.  And no one told the midwife I was waiting so we waited an hour before I finally asked the front desk what was going on.  So Autumn and I were both very tired when we headed home 6 hours after we left the house in the morning.  We couldn't keep this secret in for long...I had Evan's dad take a few pictures for us in the backyard.  Like I said Autumn was tired....

I'm super ticked that the ultra sound tech didn't give me any pictures of the twins...together, but here they are separate.

Twin A

Twin B

15 weeks one day with the twins-16 weeks one day with Autumn

Here is evidence that I'm not just "bigger" but huger would be a better word.  (Also I saw a picture of my friend at 12 weeks with her second baby, and also added fuel that yes this must be twins.  We have girls the same age...so that must mean we'd be the same size again right?)

Yesterday Evan and I went to dinner together.  Autumn wanted to stay home, so luckily Grandpa said he would play with her.  Evan and I just talked about how excited we were.  Today...as more people called and text I got very overwhelmed.  I'm not really nervous per se, but my to do list just doubled, and the time table just got shorter (most twins are born at 37 weeks oppose to singletons which are born at 40 weeks).  I think I've found the "triple" stroller I'd like to buy and I think we've figured out a plan for where the babies will sleep.  The things that way on me the most is how the babies will actually enter the world.  I am petrified of having a C-section (6 out of 10 twins are born via C-section).  Will the doctors sweep my babies away to the NICU just because they are twins?  How will Autumn handle not only not being an only child but having two other people to compete with for attention?  I started crying on the phone today when my mom asked, "how I was doing".  But tonight I was searching (again) for twin things on the internet.  And pictures like this make me feel excited again....

Twins is going to be really fun!

March On

It is still very much winter here.  I mean it snowed lightly for several hours yesterday and produced about 8 inches of snow.  On the other hand today it is much more spring-y.  The sun is out and I was fine walking from the car after church to the house in a cardigan.  Autumn and I are getting Spring Fever/Cabin Fever whatever you want to call it.  There was a couple warm(ish) days this month and Autumn and I went on short walks and one day we even went to the park.  But that just confuses little Autumn.  She asks almost every morning to "walk" or "park", including yesterday with all that snow.  One cold day I gave up and we went on a walk.  Then Autumn turned and started walking to the park.  We were not dressed for a long walk, but we went anyway. The park is a 15 minute walk while Autumn is in the stroller...much longer when she is walking.  I pushed her on the swings for a good bit while I was standing in snow.  The walk home was much colder and luckily Autumn had snuk her blanket on the walk under her shirt so I wrapped it around her face like a scarf and we eventually made it home.  The point of that long story is...we are ready for some park weather...every day.

 On a sunny warmish day we ate lunch outside.  The warmest part of the day is usually during Autumn's naps.  This is Autumn favorite shirt and she wears it ALL the time.  And yes she is eating a bowl of black olives for lunch.  She repulses green olives though.

Autumn and a little boy I was watching for a friend

 One  of Autumn's favorite activities lately is playing "plane".  One day I was cleaning out our 72 hour back packs, Autumn decided to put on one of the back packs, put on her boots and walked over to the door and said, "plane, Grandma, Grandpa".  She wanted to get on a plane to visit my parents.  It was adorable.  So we built a plane in the living room.  Now she like to get all her stuffed animals, bags, ect.  ride the plane then go to the car (because Hello you always have to get in the car after a plane ride in order to see Grandma and Grandpa.)  One day she convinced me to drive around in the car after she promptly buckled herself in her seat when we got to the car.  After a while I realized she really  thought we could just drive to my parents place.  I explained we were just pretending and she cried, "Grandma Pattie".  It was the first time she called my mom Grandma Pattie, usually it's just Grandma.  So SO sad and adorable.

 Yup wearing that same shirt.

 I went to my brother-in-law's school production of "The Hobbit", by myself.  Evan misses out on everything.  It was a great play.  Cameron is in the middle-ish, second from the right.

 It was my birthday!  Autumn surprised me by waking up at 5:30am. Then a couple hours later Evan got home from work and went to bed.  Autumn and I went to our ward playgroup at the mall.  No one else came and Autumn refuses to play in the play area.  She prefers to just eat a snack, so when she finished her snack we left.  I had a coupon for a free item at Bath and Body Works and I got myself a yummy coconut lime body wash and then use a coupon at Victoria Secret to buy some Love Spell perfume.  I figured everyone wore that scent in the 7th grade except me so what perfect thing to buy myself for my 27th birthday.  Evan woke up at 430 pm and I quickly opened up a few gifts from my parents and headed over to the in-laws.  My mother-in-law made dinner for us and even made me a cake.  I haven't had a homemade cake on my birthday in forever, it was a treat. Then Evan went to work.  In fact he missed the cake. 

Evan had the next weekend off so as we had been planning for months we drove the 2 hours to Denver to see the Veronica Mars movie (luckily it did NOT disappoint).  Then we had dinner at BJs and our favorite triple chocolate pizookie.

 Autumn wanted to go outside and paint like we did last summer.  I said no.  So she painted in the bathtub with pudding.  Last winter I tried this and she freaked and just cried and cried.  This year it was loads of fun.  She painted her "girls" aka Disney Princesses and then cleaned them off by dipping them in a bowl of water. 

The fun quickly ended when she realized she could eat the brown stuff....and it disappeared!  I really hope Summer is coming quickly...or at least some real Spring.  We are getting mighty bored around her.

End of Orlando

We went to Hollywood Studios, which has my favorite ride, Toy Story Mania.  We rode that one twice and I also rode the roller coaster there that is Aero Smith themed.  Evan and I both went in the single rider line, which moves much quicker than the regular line, you just don't get to ride together.  So I ended up next to a 10ish year old boy.  I asked him if he was scared?  To which he replied, "NO" and it was obvioius that he wasn't he was so giddy.  Well it was fun until we did a cork screw and I thought I was going to puke.  The ride slowed down and I said "oh, please let it be over".  The kid next to be says, "no, no, keep going".  We went back and forth like this for a bit, but luckily I won out and it was indeed over.  No pictures from this day, because unfortunately my camera battery had died.

Like I said before because things are spread out over 4 parks in Disney World we got to do some things we don't usually do, including riding on the Liberty Square River Boat and seeing the Country Bear Jamboree (which I think I've only seen once, and it wasn't with my family-my father never allowed us to watch shows/parades...best time to ride the rides is when everyone is watching the parade.  How true that is.)

I had to ask about 17 "cast members" before Mike directed me to where I could find a giant pickle.  It was one of the things I was really looking forward to on this trip and I thought for sure I was going to miss my opportunity.  In case you're wondering I found it at a "fruit stand" in Liberty Square near the river boat.  Later I also spotted some outside the Jungle Cruise at a stand.  At Disneyland they sell them in huge barrels in plain sight, not in individually wrapped packages hidden next to fruit.

We practically ran to the Ariel ride in the new Fantasy Land to use our fast pass, but were 20 minutes early so we checked out the info on the Disney Vacation Club.  Frank filled us in on the details.  He let me know I was a "driver"  because when he asked us if we had an questions I cut to the chase and said, "how much does it cost?"  (a one time fee of $16,000 for 50 years of membership).  I try to hide how bossy, competitive and abrasiveness if you will.  But apparently my first impression still needs to be worked on.  Frank assured me it was a good thing I cut to the chase....

These pictures are for Autumn.  My mom who was watching her started to show her clips of Ariel's voice being taken by Ursula and now walks around the house singing, "Aww aww aww awww aww"

Sunday we went to the Animal Kingdom park.  We weren't planning on going to this park, since we aren't zoo people...it really isn't worth it to go there unless you get a multiple day pass.

We went on the Safari ride.  My favorite part was when the real life hippo twitched its ears, like the fake ones on the Jungle Cruise.

There is a tram a head of us.  Sometimes you get really close to the animals.

This tree has different animals carved out of it...pretty cool

The only parade we saw and it was pretty lame, but we had good seats.  Then we rode Dinosaur which is kinda like Indiana Jones, I was queasy but doing fine.  Then I really wanted to ride the roller coaster at this park...bad idea.  Half way threw I threw up while the ride was still going.  Then ran over the ride (the wrong way...woops) and threw up again in the bushes then 2 more times in a trash can.  That is when I asked Evan to find out where a first aid station was located.  He got me a wheel chair and wheeled me there only threw up once on the way to first aid.  Then slept for 1.5 hours.  Threw up 2 more times.  By this time the park was closed and the nurse was telling us we had to leave.  So Evan wheeled me all the way to the parking lot...I was NOT going to ride the parking lot tram.  Threw up again then three more times on the way to the airport.  Twice in the airport and twice on the plane.  Then again after we had to ride the airport tram.  And surprisingly not a single time on the two hour trip from Denver to Cheyenne, even though my dad was driving.  Just too much Disney I guess.  What a way to end the trip.

Autumn drew a "baby" in the bath tub,  She didn't want her picture taken, but I thought this baby was exceptional for a 2 year old.

Grandma reading to Autumn before her nap.  And apparently Autumn doing something bossy.  (Gee where does she get that from?)

Parents!  So glad they were able to come and visit...and take care of Autumn!

Around the world at Epcot

Visiting Epot at Disney World was also on my bucket list...I had quite the productive trip.  I will say it was a little disapointing,  I thought there would be more cultural "things".  The most culture we got was visiting the gift shops of each country and trying out some food in most of the countries.  The coolest part about Epcot is the people who work in the different countries are actually from that country.  So of course Evan and I had fun talking to the different people and learning how to really say, "crepe", from Myke who worked in a food cart in France.

Here I am in Norway.  My aunt served her mission in Norway and has some creepy trolls like this at her house.

More gift shop fun in Norway.

This is how I visit characters at Disney.  Flash my camera over the rope of some random kid.  Here you go Kallie, the Frozen girls.

We bought the best pastry according to the Norwegian girl at the bakery, "School Boy", she said it was all that authentic, but it was the best so we got it.

I wasn't feeling egg rolls in China so I got a picture with Mulan instead.

I got a German pretzel in Germany...should have just gotten a Mickey Mouse shaped one at all the other parks.

One of my new favorites, Sushi, in Japan.  After I made of fool of myself and asked in China wear the Sushi was.  Evan was so embarrassed.

Morrocco

Very impressive display in "France" where we got a crepe.

Alice in the UK

Evan in Canada.

At the front of the park there are rides including a Finding Nemo one.  Autumn likes the first 10 minutes of Finding Nemo (before she gets bored).  So I took a picture for her.

Classic Epcot golf ball.  There is a ride inside of it, but the best ride here is Test Track where you get to design your own car (brought to you by Chevrolet) and then you "test" it out on a track...not like Autopia.  Besides that there aren't that many rides.  Like I said before all the rides are spread out over 4 parks so lines for the rides you actually want to ride are always super long.