Miriam is 6! Bathroom Reno, and a few pics of the kids :-)

I can't believe Miriam is 6! She is such a blessing to our family! A great help around the house, makes us laugh all the time (she really can't stand it if someone is sad) She is very smart and picks up on things quite quickly. :-) We love her very much! 

I was a bit slow in buying a present this year... I found something last minute, but I couldn't get it till Sunday (bought it from a girl from church, so she was gonna pass it to me on Sunday). So on Miriam's birthday we gave her two small presents - a glasses straw (loved those when I was little!) and a box of smarties all to herself (which she generously shared with her siblings :-) )  

We didn't plan a party with friends this year, but a few cousins and grandpa and grandma showed up :-) 

Ice Cream Cake!!! Which I forgot to serve and just as Grandpa and Grandma were leaving Miriam asked if we were going to have cake... Oops - they took off their shoes again, sang happy birthday and had a piece of cake :-) We were too late to catch Uncle Nate and Aunt Lin + Cousins though :-(

                                                          The candle was a #6 sparkler :-)

                                                Waiting to open her present on Sunday :-)

                                                                         Pollies!!!

                                                            So many Polly pockets!!

                                                                    Enough to share!

                                      Miriam stuck all the balloons to the back of the fan :-P

Good morning! Wheat squares for breakfast! :-) Mom is slacking a little... right now we only have porridge 3-4x a week :-S

                                                                    Snack time! Grapes!

                                                  Hee hee I love Lydia's 'PEEEESE' face :-)

                                               Such a cutie - love this little rascal so much!

                                              Gotta love those eyes! Love him to bits!

                                               When did she get so big? Love her so much!

                                                     Let the bathroom reno begin!
        Easy for me to say as I sit in my chair and my hubby does all the work... (I feel quite useless actually...)

                                     Trying to figure out what the previous owners did... ???

Well, for one, they vented the hood fan into the wall...not even into the ceiling. Notice the terrible patch job on the ceiling - likely they had ice build up in the winter and it all melted in the spring :-S Then to 'fix' it they put a drop ceiling in... ??? I never used the fan cuz we couldn't figure out where it vented to... lol good thing!

         We now duct taped the vent  - we plan to renovate the kitchen later and put in something proper :-)

                                              The debris coming out of the bathroom door...

                                          What a mess!! He cleaned it all up too :-) Love him!

He climbed up in the attic and stomped on the bathroom ceiling... :-) We now have a vaulted ceiling in the bathroom! But it doesn't look that great... lol

Today Matthew is ripping out the tile around the bathtub. :-) Eventually we will have a completely renovated bathroom :-)

Ultrasound, Heart Echo, 25 Weeks!

Both the ultrasound and heart echos look good this week :-)
 Repete has almost as much amniotic fluid as Pete now, yay! Pete also flipped over (finally) and the ultrasound tech got a nice picture of his nose/lips - something they haven't been able to get a picture of so far. Both babies are moving lots and trying the patience of both the ultrasound techs, and the heart echo techs haha! They are definitely acting like my kids... always moving! :-D
 The dr. at the heart echo said she can't see any signs of TTTS anymore. Yay! She also said that the way the babies were positioned some of the pictures were grainier than normal, so she may have missed some little stuff, but overall things look good and I don't have to go back for another heart echo for the twins :-)
Next week - Dr. appointment and Ultrasound :-P


                                                                     25 weeks!! 

Weight Gain:  Around 2lbs

Maternity Clothes: Yup!! But I'm still wearing a bunch of my normal shirts, not sure how long that's gonna work for though :-P  (I think I'm getting close to the size I am when I'm due with 1 :-P )

Sleep: Yup :-) In-between bathroom breaks :-P I even get a nap a few times a week. :-)
 
How I'm feeling: A bit tired, but overall, pretty good. If I carry too much, or am on my feet for too long my back hurts quite a bit, but that's normal :-P

Belly Button: Still an inny... I really don't think it's going to pop out, even with twins! 

What I miss:  Committee and volunteer work. - I went to my last CLC meeting last night :'( Gonna miss those meetings. What a great bunch of friends to plan church events with! We always had such a great time! 
 I also really miss relaxing and having wine in the evening with my hubby. 

What I'm looking forward too: Holding 2! babies! 

Size of Baby: Pete is around 1lb 10oz and Repete around 1lb 4oz 

Nesting: I'm never sure what to call nesting... But sure, I am currently trying to find doubles of things we NEED doubles of (carseat, swing, bouncy chair - and later a booster seat/highchair... not sure I want doubles of anything else except clothing... :-P ) Matthew and I are also getting the baby room ready :-)

Yard work done! (Well mostly done, still a few things here and there)

We are so excited we can use the yard daily again :-) There are still a few things to do yet, but it's mostly done.
Now Matthew can start on the inside renos... well at least some of them :-P He is really trying to get the bathroom fixed up before the twins arrive because, we are planning to use the paneling on the bathroom walls as shelves in the twins room closet.  (so I have a place to store all the office stuff) and once he renovates the bathroom, he can replace the interior doors upstairs that are sitting in Lydia's room... :-P One thing leads to another :-)

Anyway... Here are some pictures of our yard :-)

My raised garden beds :-) The two in the front are planted - the one on the right the kids split and planted their own seeds :-)  I still have to plant the two in the back. 

Yay! Not so muddy there anymore. And hopefully no more water in the basement :-P

This side used to be all rocks... it looked kinda trashy, and couldn't really be used. Now it's all re-sloped and looks much better. Hopefully now that the neighbors yard doesn't pour water onto ours we won't get water in the basement anymore...

Beside the sidewalk on both sides used to be gravel/rocks, it was really hard to shovel in the winter cuz we ended up with quite a few rocks on our front lawn every spring, and it always looked messy. The gardens on the left side will eventually have flowers in them or something - we haven't really decided, but those big rocks are going to go. :-P Under the garden Matthew put a drainage pipe so the patio drains properly. 

Matthew transplanted some lilly's that were being taken over by the iris' in the front garden. 

This garden is a bit bigger now - there is a drainage pipe under it, and it's re-sloped 

This garden used to have goutweed (spelling?) in it and some bushes that were dying. Matthew re-sloped and put in a drainage pipe. He is planning on putting some low bushes in there and wood chips around them. 

The front of the house looks a little bare, but neat and tidy :-)  Now I'm waiting for bedding plants to go on sale :-P

Pictures of the last 3 (?) Months. I'm falling behind :-P

Sisters.  So cute to watch these two play together :-)

What are you doing with my crib Daddy??

 Ohhh! Exciting a new bed!!

Here let me help...

Do you need this Daddy?

This bed came with Toys! :-)

Dylan turns 4! 

 Putting his motor bike lego kit together (He followed the instructions very well!) :-)

 

Angry Birds game from Uncle Nate and Auntie Linda!

When asked what kind of cake he wanted Dylan said "ice cream!!" So we just bought ice cream and put candles in it (easy for Mom!)
Around here we don't buy ice cream except for birthdays :-)

One of Lydia's favorite things to do... play with shoes/boots and then throw them all down the stairs...

First picnic :-)
The raised gardens in the background Matthew was working on - they are now all leveled, filled, with grass around them, and 2 of them are planted :-)

One of Dylan's favorite things to do :-)

A grocery list Miriam wrote for me :-)

19 weeks :-) at this point I didn't know there were 2 babies inside :-P This picture was taken to compare with the pictures I had of when I was pregnant with Lydia - I thought my tummy seemed much bigger than last time... :-P

Kindergarten day!! So EXCITING!

Kindergarten graduate!!! This year has flown by! So proud of my little girl!

Receiving a gift from her teacher :-)
Jess: Miriam thought you were a really great teacher! She had a really fun year! She can't wait till you have your baby :-)

Matthew has been quite busy... he dug up around most of the house, put in some new drainage, re-sloped and sodded everything... and made me 4 raised garden beds :-)

Here he only had to dig in front of this flower bed. After this picture he made the garden a bit bigger, moved some of the flowers around, and re-sloped it.

My raised garden beds! So excited!! (obviously they still needed dirt... after this picture Matthew also dug up all the weeds and sodded around them properly)

Some of what he dug up in the back.

Turns out, the neighbor's yard flowed right into ours :-S That was probably why we got water in the basement starting from this wall... After this picture Matthew sloped everything properly so that the water flows into the drainage stuff he put in, and then into the front yard, he also put down new sod :-)

Pj's on and they still had to watch Dad. :-) These kids ADORE their Daddy :-) Melts my heart.

All ready to go to Miriam's soccer game :-) My baby is getting so BIG!

Twas a rainy soccer Saturday...

My big helper! Love her to bits! Always ready to help me - of course, a new smaller vacuum may have been a good motivator :-)

A little about the twins, a little about the rest of us :-)

I've had 2 ultrasounds, both babies had a heart echo, and I've seen my OB since my last post :-)
Things are going well. The heart echo showed that Pete's heart is going back to normal (before the laser surgery it was thickening because it was pumping too much blood) and Repete's looks normal :-) Yay (his always looked normal, but sometimes after the surgery there are complications). I go back for another heart echo for the boys next week to see how things are going.
The two ultrasounds I've had since the last post, show the boys seem to be coping well after the surgery. Pete is still 2 weeks ahead of Repete in measurements, and I believe that will likely stay that way, as Repete's portion of the placenta is smaller. Fluid levels are good - Pete still has quite a bit more than Repete, but Repete, has enough for him, and his bladder is filling and emptying regularly :-)
At this point the the dr's still recommend weekly ultrasounds (I see a dr. every ultrasound), and I see my OB every three weeks instead of monthly. My OB appt went well this past week, nothing out of the ordinary :-)
We are so thankful the boys seem to be coping well :-)
Delivery can still happen anytime btwn 25 wks and 36wks - as things can turn around for the worse very quickly, so we are trying to be ready for that. If the twins have to be taken out before a planned C-Section, then it would likely be immediately after one of my weekly ultrasound appointments, with little to no time to plan for anything at home (babysitting etc).  So far, I've been able to book my ultrasound appointments at 7:30am on days that either my sister or sister-in-law don't have to work. This way I don't have to wake everyone up too early, and if I do end up needing an emergency C-Section, then I have at least a day to find someone to take my kids/arrange babysitting :-)  Come July another one of my sisters is going to fly down and stay with us so we don't have to arrange for babysitting every appointment. Having her here will help tons after the C-Section and if/when the boys are in the NICU and we have to drive back and forth. :-) Can't wait to have her down here! - I've been trying to talk her into coming for the last 2 summers and so far it's never worked :-P

A few questions people have been asking me lately:
- How are you feeling?
I'm feeling great :-) after the heart echo's for the babies my back hurts really bad, and I've had a cold, but other than that, I feel pretty much normal. Actually at this point I don't really feel like I have two babies inside me :-P Just feels like a single pregnancy to me now :-P
- When are you due?
Umm... well technically on Oct 4th, but these babies could come out somewhere between 25 - 36wks (I'm 23 1/2 wks now)
- Did the surgery work?
As far as we can tell :-) Although, that doesn't mean the babies can stay in full term now. With this kind of complication (TTTS) I/the babies have to be monitored closely, because things can go wrong very quickly. Examples of some of the complications that often happen with TTTS - placenta starts detaching, pieces of the placenta start 'dying off', contractions start, one or both babies die (for unknown reasons this does happen sometimes), membranes rupture/leak (and more but I can't remember them all)



A little update on things that have been going on around here :-)
Matthew has been super busy since we've been back. On top of his full time job, he has been trying to keep up with the church website, and sound committee stuff (weddings, funerals, coaching some of the techs that haven't used some of the sound equipment, trying to make some user friendly manuals for equipment not often used. etc.) He's been staying on top of  the never ending emails :-P - sound committee, church website, and school computer stuff. On top of all that he's been trying to finish the drainage stuff around the house he started before we flew to Toronto :-P So far he's finished digging everything, laying the drainage stuff, re-sloped and fixed up the front flower gardens, almost completely filled and properly sloped the stuff he dug up in the back, and fixed up the drainage pipe for our patio because we had a few problems with it this spring. Oh yea, and he's been a super great help around the house, making suppers, bringing laundry baskets downstairs for me, carrying heavy things I shouldn't be, putting kids to bed, taking them outside/occupying them on weekends so I can take a nap  etc. :-) (most of the lifting stuff I can do again, but after the surgery I had to be careful). Matthew even made it to Miriam's year end Kindergarten picnic :-)
I haven't been able to help him outside because I've been busy as it is with housework, sick kids, appointments, school activities, Miriam's soccer, trying to get a few things ready for these babies, and getting a few things organized in this house so things run smoothly when these boys arrive. :-)  I truly have been blessed with a hardworking husband who takes care of me and my kids so well!
Miriam has been busy helping Dad with the yard work, keeping her little sister out of trouble, soccer 2x a week, a few little household chores, Graduating from Kindergarten! (what?!?). She also went on a field trip to the nature center, and really loved it! On sports day she won 2 Firsts (running, crab walk race) and a second (bean bag on the head race) She is very excited about that!  I was so proud of her when she didn't cry when failed miserably at skipping (snicker...) She did warn me before sports day that she really can't 'do the skipping' haha! She was right :-P
Dylan has been helping Dad outside, picking things up off the floor for Mom ;-) (that's almost a full time job - haha) cleaning up the shoes Lydia constantly is pulling out of the front closet... playing mario kart wii... (he's really good at it :-P) reading, coloring, playing outside, and of course pestering his sisters :-P He has also been sick :-( He's starting to feel better now though.
Lydia has been sick :-( and keeping us all busy needing extra hugs, cuddling, and needing her nose wiped every 5 mins ;-P Other than that, she has learned so many new words and has become quite the daddy's girl :-) (yay, now she hangs on his legs instead of mine :-P )

That's all I can think of right now... I'll try post some pictures soon - we are putting away our desktop and bought a laptop, so we can use the office as a baby room for the twins, so I'm still learning how to use this laptop :-P
 I better sign off, because in the time I've been writing this my hubby has come home from work, and now has made supper :-S