My New Ride

I held out as long as possible, but I finally caved.

Jay says we're a "real family" now. Ha!

We'll just fill this car up with our crazy 5 kids.

These 3 seem pretty excited about it.

20 weeks!

I am currently 20 weeks along with baby boy James and baby girl Elizabeth. They say with twins that you carry like you're 4-6 weeks ahead, and I'd say that's about accurate. I definitely look pregnant! (although I'm sure in a few months I'll look back and think how tiny I looked in this picture)

I am thankful to be feeling better from the nausea. Some days I feel pretty good. Other days I'm extremely tired, out of breath, dizzy, etc. I am really having to pace myself. Running 2 or 3 errands in one morning wipes me out for the day. Attempting to exercise is almost pointless. Last week as I slowly walked on the treadmill at the gym, I almost passed out. So I've currently put my gym membership on hold for the next 6 months :) No use paying to pass out! But overall I am healthy and feel well and I am so thankful for that.

We had the big anatomy ultrasound today and we are also very thankful for healthy babies! It was so amazing to see all the little body parts--times two. It reminds me of just how awesome our creator God is and the verses in Psalms about how he knits us together in our mother's womb. Here are some fun pics of the babies:

Baby girl profile: This was tricky to get a pic of because she didn't want to turn over. She's currently weighing around 11 oz and is on my right side.
Baby boy profile: He was much more cooperative for photos. See his heart? He's currently weighing around 12 oz and is on my left side. Both of these profile pics look exactly like the ultrasound profile pics of our other kids. I can't wait to see their little faces in person.
It was very entertaining to see them "interact" with each other. Here is baby girl kicking baby boy in the head. This is how she has been for the last 2 ultrasounds.
Here is baby boy putting his knees on his sister's head.
Here's baby girl's foot
Here's baby boy's foot (a little harder to see, but you can definitely see the toes)
I am so thankful for these healthy, growing babies. At times I feel totally unworthy of such a gift. When I think about people who have lost babies, had miscarriages, and struggled with infertility, I think about how God has blessed us with these children. It is a huge responsibility, but also a true blessing. (I have to remind myself of this when I start to feel overwhelmed.)

Please pray for continued health for me and the babies as the pregnancy progresses. Pray that they will turn head down (or that I'll feel more comfortable with the idea of c-section). Pray for our family as we prepare for this transition--both emotionally and logistically. We're getting ready to move Anna into Catherine's room, buy a new car, etc. And mostly you can praise Him for His goodness to us and His gift of these children.

Just like her daddy....

Just like her daddy, Anna closes her eyes in pictures!

And look at those crazy long eyelashes. Unbelievable.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day from my little people!

(They're all sporting their new Valentine's sunglasses. Nothing like $2 clearance finds to make the people happy.)

I was pretty sure...

I was pretty sure that we were having a boy and a girl. While I was pregnant with Anna, I was certain she was our girl named Anna. But I also still felt like God was telling me we had a little boy to wait for. I felt very confident that our 4th pregnancy would be our little boy named James. But in the back of my mind I would find myself thinking (or the Holy Spirit saying to me), but you have another little girl Elizabeth too. We had talked about the 4th pregnancy possibly being all the biological children we will have, so when we found out it was twins I knew that God was giving us our James and Elizabeth at the same time!

A few weeks ago a good friend of mine gave me a set of baby bedding that she bought at a consignment sale and ended up not using. It's really nice, well-made, from a great company and I really liked it. After 6 years I was ready for a change in the baby bedding. She gave me the blue/green version.

I decided to look online and see if I could find the girl version. I checked ebay and other places, but Land of Nod actually was running a huge sale on the girl version (not the boy). So with about 75% off, free shipping, and 4% cash back, I decided to go ahead and order the girl version. I figured that if it really wasn't one boy and one girl, I could just return the girl bedding. But now I get to use both!

I love it when God confirms something that I feel like He has promised us. He is such an amazing God, full of surprises and excitement.

We're having.....

This week at my dr's appointment, we did a quick ultrasound. We weren't expecting to find out gender quite yet, but the ultrasound tech said she could tell. Jay wasn't with me, so I asked her to put the ultrasound pics in an envelope so Jay and I could look at them together.

That night after the kids went to bed, Jay and I decided to each take one picture out of the envelope and then we would switch pictures. So I pulled out my picture and looked at it and saw this:

A girl! Then Jay and I switched pictures and I looked at it and it said girl too! Wow--2 girls! We immediately thought that Will would be a little sad because he really wants a brother and we started talking about having 4 girls in our house. Jay was concerned about the bathroom situation when they get older :) But we were excited about it.

As I went to put the pictures back in the envelope, I saw another picture in there. And I looked at it and went "What???" It said:

Apparently there were 2 pictures of baby B (the girl) and we had both gotten those out. Thankfully we realized there was another picture! We have both really felt like it was a boy and girl this whole time, and it is!! We are so excited and I know that these are the children God has planned for our family for a long time. (Also, I love in this picture that you can see the other baby's head on the left.)

Here are few other fun pics from the ultrasound:

Baby A (the boy) kept kicking all around, so we got a picture of his legs.

Baby B (the girl) was being much calmer. I love seeing the whole spine here!
So a boy and a girl!! Whohoo!