Macy and Makayla

We're a little behind on updates, partly because we didn’t have any good new pictures to post, but we’ve been to the doctor several times, and thought I should give some sort of update! We had another ultrasound almost 3 weeks ago now, so that the babies could be checked out and measured, and, as far as they can tell, everything looks fantastic! The babies are both just above average (~70th percentile), and almost exactly the same size! At that time, Baby A measured at 2.86 lbs and Baby B measured at 2.84 lbs! We can only guess, after 3 weeks, that they’re both well over 3 lbs now! We are very blessed to have such good reports, and can only pray that things continue in this pattern! Below are a couple of ultrasound pictures, (Baby A on top, Baby B second) but there’s really not that much to see. You're mostly looking at their heads and the tops of their chests. The babies are getting too big to get any really clear shots, and after the 3D pictures from before, it makes the 2D pictures even harder to make out!

We did have another doctor visit last week, and the babies heart rates were still healthy – 135 for Baby A and 145 for Baby B. It could be partly because she may have been sleeping, but Baby A’s heartbeat had quite a substantial drop! This is also a GOOD sign, though, since this tends to happen as the babies mature in the womb. Additionally to that, mom is consistently growing…I’ve gained almost 40 lbs!! I measure what is fairly standard for a singleton pregnancy at 37 – 38 weeks, so the doctor was confident to assume that I’m appropriately uncomfortable, and will be for the next 7 or 8 weeks! :) It’s all for an amazingly good cause, so I just have to suck it up, keep the air conditioner turned LOW, and wait it out!! For the first time in my life, I’M the one constantly adjusting the temperature down! (The dogs like it, at least!)

The big “announcement” is that we’ve officially settled on first names for the babies (some of you have known these for a while, but I haven’t really made the official announcement)! So…Baby A will now be referred to as MACY and Baby B will be called MAKAYLA! We’re getting close on middle names, but figured we’d go ahead and lock down the first names, at least allowing us not to have to call them “A” and “B” anymore!

Other than that, not a whole lot to post…we’re slowly building up to the big day. Mom’s FINALLY slowing down at work, Dad has been doing lots of chores around the house (with a lot of much appreciated help from Aunt Melissa), and the nursery is coming together nicely…furniture in place, bedding is ready, and recliner is in position for some serious rocking action! As soon as we get it all put together, we’ll post pictures!

We’re very excited about the showers that some of our friends and family are graciously hosting for us over the next several weeks. While we’re appreciative of anything and everything, we’ve posted links to our registries over to the left. We’re registered at Target and Babies ‘R Us. Hopefully we’ve made logical selections…neither of us ever dreamed how hard and intimidating it would be to register for a baby (not to mention TWO babies!)!! There’s so much stuff to consider! We look forward to celebrating with everyone as the final countdown progresses!!

Aloha!

I know this blog is meant to be about the babies on the way, but we just got back from an AWESOME trip to Maui, Hawaii, and I decided I might as well post a "scrapbook" of our one last fling prior to changing to our new role as "responsible parents"!! We had a blast and couldn't believe how fast 10 whole days flew by! We managed to make the most of our trip, and stayed pretty busy the entire time, but it was SO worth it! (Tiring, but worth it!)

We did take time to rest and hang out by the pool at the beautiful Ritz resort where we had priveleges as part of our house rental. It was an awesome place to relax, drink "lava flows" (Gary's new favorite drink), and play in the pools with Haley, Reganne, and Riley! We also spent plenty of time on the beautiful beach, where Gary, Clayton, and Jason tried surfing...of course, the girls who wanted to try it were smarter, and they took lessons and had much better luck! :)

Besides hanging out at the pool and having lunch by the ocean, Gary, Whit, and I took multiple "Jeep Adventures" around the island. Gary and I officially circled the island by our last full day! It is definitely one of the most beautiful places on Earth! "The Road to Hana" is one of the most famous "attractions" on the island, but the day before Sheryl's wedding, Gary, Whit, and I found that the South route to Hana is actually better than the more famous north route! There is little vegetation and no rain forests like there are on the "official" road, but the cliffs, mountains, and valleys are unbelievable! We traveled to the "seven sacred pools" (although there aren't 7 and they aren't sacred!) which was a beautiful sight, and finished off our trip with a visit to Charles Lindbergh's grave. He planned his burial place himself, and couldn't have found a more primitive spot! The road is pretty bumpy, narrow, and curvy, and Whit and I were both pretty sore by the end ;-), but it was well worth the trip! We had to hurry back to be ready in time for the rehearsal dinner back at the resort.

The morning of the wedding, we made a quick trip just past our resort in Kapalua, only to find that we were staying within about 2 miles of roads as beautiful as we'd seen the day before! So that we wouldn't be late, we turned back for that day, but Gary and I started our own "road to Hana" trip from there later in the week.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful! Sheryl looked gorgeous, of course, and Ryan was studded out in his beach "tuxedo"! They released butterflies at the end of the ceremony, per Hawaiian tradition, then after champagne, cake, dancing, and pictures, everyone headed to the reception, which was a traditional Hawaiian luau. The luau was so much fun, and the food was amazing!! Whit surprised us all with a little bit of stage dancing, and Reganne and Ryan did their share as well. The highlight of our show was watching the kids. I've never seen more happy children as Reganne, Riley, and Haley were. They especially LOVED the fire eating and twirling!!

The sunsets in Hawaii are everything you'd expect...some of the most beautful sights you'll see. Unfortunately, haze moved in later in the week due to the eruption of a volcano on Kona, which was a bummer for the sunsets, but there's no cooler excuse for a bad sunset than to know it was hazy due to a rupturing volcano!! On our final evening in Maui, Jason, Jen, Riley, Reganne, Jim, Marian, Gary, and I did a sunset cruise on a catamaran. The kids loved that too, and it was so peaceful and relaxing!

Speaking of sunsets, we also saw our share of sunRISES! The 6 hour time difference made us miss very few toward the first part of the week (although we got more lazy as the weeks passed!) and we could even see a pretty good set of colors from our own bedroom! Afterward, Gary would share tea with Haley, and then play in the koi pond on our patio! :)

The day after the wedding, Melissa, Whit, Gary, and I made the long trek up to Haleakala (volcano) to watch the famous sunrise from there. We had to leave our house at 2:30 am, and had heard it would be cold, but had no idea what we were really in for! We had stripped blankets from our bed, but still couldn't hardly stand the cold! It was a beautiful sight, and we were glad we made the trip up to 10000 feet anyway!

The other main adventure of our trip was a day trip to the island of Oahu, where we toured the Pearl Harbor memorials. The USS Arizona is the ship that has been laid to rest in the Pacific with a beautiful monument built over the top. You can see the ship in the water, and can even still see trickles of oil rising to the surface. What a way to celebrate Memorial Day weekend! Beside that, we toured the USS Missouri, the ship were the peace treaty for WWII was signed with Japan. No trip would be complete without a visit to the Pacific Air Museum. Unfortunately, this was a pretty rushed trip, but we saw what we needed to, and then headed to the airport to catch our flight back to Maui!

On Monday before we left, Gary and I headed out on our own trip to Hana! As mentioned before, there were lots of beautiful flowers, plants, and waterfalls along the complete trail. Between this road and the others that we toured, I've never seen more bumpy, curvy, and scary roads, but luckily, Gary drives like a champ, and we made it safely all the way around the island! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make the hike to see many of the "hidden treasures" promised along the road, but there's no way we would have made it to all of the stops anyway, and Gary was glad I wasn't able to kill him with hikes! :) We stopped for some amazing banana bread in one little town, and picked up a box lunch that we ate at a different stop along the way.

By Wednesday, we were exhausted, but VERY sad to leave the beautiful island...and much dreading our trip home! Fortunately, we slept most of the way home, and then stopped over in Atlanta to see our beautiful new neice, Emmy Cate! After a quick overnight visit, Gary headed to work, and I headed home. Back to the real world...

Anyway, the babies seemed to have no issues on the trip, and I think I grew several inches while we were there...we've officially entered the 3rd trimester, and went back to the doctor today. No major news to report. Very good doctor report based on baby heartbeats and all of mom's measurements and vitals. We go back for an ultrasound for baby meaurements next week! We'll post more updates as soon as we have them!

Babies' First Photos

The babies have already made it to their second concert, this time to see George Strait with Mom (obviously), Dad, and their grandparents! I'm pretty optimistic that they're going to share their parents' love of music, since they seem to get pretty excited in there when the music starts crankin!

The more exciting news is that we went this past week for our 24th week doctor visit, got a clean bill of health again, and also went to get a 3-D/4-D ultrasound. I was a little nervous that it would be kind of freaky, and that they'd look more like aliens than babies, but I was totally wrong! It was AMAZING to see their cute little faces, hands, fingers, and feet! They look SO real now!! Unfortunately, we didn't crank up any music and they wouldn't seem to wake up or wiggle around much. We poked and proded, but only got slight movements.

"Baby A" was the most photogenic of the two. She kept her hands up over around her face most of the time, and seemed to rub her eyes with sleepiness, but we got several great shots of her! "Baby B" is our little acrobat, apparently. She had her FEET in front of her face instead of her hands. She must be comfortable, but boy did she not look like it! There was a cute shot of her grabbing her little feet with her hands! We mostly just got profile shots of her, though. It was amazingly obvious to me already that these girls have inherited plenty of features from their daddy!

The positioning of the babies is kind of amusing...Baby A is straight upside down on my left side. Baby B, as I mentioned, is almost bent completely over, with her head up on my right side...and, with her butt right in Baby A's face! At one point, you could see Baby A had just accepted it and given up, since she was laying there peacefully with her head resting on Baby B's behind!

I'm starting to feel the babies move more and more every day. The ultrasound tech did confirm that both placentas are in the front, so this might mean that I feel less movement than I would otherwise. I think this will be a nice advantage once they really start kicking around!

So, the big confirmation for the week was that everything looks good with both the babies and mom, so mom and dad are headed for Hawaii tomorrow morning! I've bought and packed all of my "big girl" clothes, and, we're ready to roll! We'll probably have plenty of pictures from Maui and from Aunt Sheryl's wedding, so we'll be sure to post those when we get home!

Additionally, we'll come home to a new little niece in Atlanta as well! Nathan and Lauren are due any minute, so, unfortunately, we won't get to be here for the big day, but we're planning to go see them as soon as we get home! I can't wait to find out what the new baby will be named!! We'll post pictures of her as well!

So, until next time, Aloha 'oe! :)

Baby Cheeseburgers in Paradise

The girls attended their first Jimmy Buffett concert this week, and we all had a fantastic time! For those of you who have been there with us in years past, you know the concert probably wasn't quite the same crazy party that it usually is, but we still had a blast! (Maybe Dad more than Mom! :)) It was a long night standing up, but totally worth it. Luckily, the girls got a little bit of dancing time in too...We confirmed that we've got some little Parrot Heads in the making!

Below are the newest ultrasound pictures...we went yesterday for our 21st week visit! Time is flying SO FAST! From what they can tell, the babies are very healthy, and seem to be pretty tall (maybe not a surprise??). One baby is in the 70th percentile, the other at 87! This seems like quite a drastic difference to me, but the doctor assured, when speaking in mere grams, this isn't that much! They're pretty close in size, their heartbeats have stayed around 146 and 150 - 5 beats apart - and they checked out completely healthy! We were able to get both hearts...all 4 chambers, and they measured everything from head to tummy to femur bones!

It's pretty cool now that I've started feeling the babies move, and it was exciting to figure out how they are positioned in my belly! It helped to confirm that I have been feeling their little wiggles (not just indigestion! :)), based on the way they are positioned. There's one baby on the right, upside down, and one on the left, rightside up...seems logical enough, but with all of the pictures you see on the web, I wasn't really sure how they were stacked in there!

Every visit makes this all feel a little more real and close, and we're getting so excited! Mom's been a little stressed with work lately, so it was nice to get confirmation that everything is still going well. Luckily, Mom also likes to eat when she's stressed, so nutrition and weight gain haven't been a problem!! I'm getting big, but seem to be right where the doctor wants me.

The other good news is, as of now, everything is still on for our upcoming trip to Hawaii in May for Sheryl's wedding. We're both eagerly anticipating that much needed vacation!! We'll have some tests done at our next doctor visit right before we go and then we'll be ready to catch our (LONG) flight!!!

The Two Little Girls!!!

And the Verdict Is...

We just got back from our 17 week doctor visit, where we had a Level 2 ultrasound, in which they looked the babies over inside and out. Both babies are close in size, measuring around the 75th percentile for their Gestational Age. Heartbeats are strong at 146 and 154...both right in the middle of the healthy range. They were able to view healthy hearts, brains, lungs, kidneys, and bones! We're thrilled to get such a good report for both mom and babies! Dad's pretty healthy too, from what we can tell! :)
So...the big news of the day is...we're having two baby GIRLS! Gary's thrilled to know he'll soon be sharing a home with 4 females (including our still-new addition, Marley!) Thank goodness he has Max to commiserate with!! (He's really just as thrilled as anyone!!) We'll be back in touch, and will post our newest ultrasound pictures soon!

Hello Everyone!
We've created this new blog so that you can keep track of the new family additions as they develop! We're in week 15 now, and the pictures that are posted are from our ultrasound last week! There wasn't a ton of movement, but good, steady heartbeats and "normal" measurements! I know ultrasounds aren't that easy to "interpret", since I've never been able to decipher them before myself, but hopefully these "narratives" will help! It's amazing what you can see on that screen when you're there!

I haven't been able to feel the babies move yet (hopefully I will in the next couple of weeks), but I can tell that they're growing like crazy, and so is my belly!! Thanks to several friends and family members, I have my first "starter set" of maternity clothes! It's amazing how quick I went from wearing my normal pants to not even getting the buttons close together!! :)

Anyway, things are going well, and we will be going for our next ultrasound in only 2 weeks! This is our "big one", where they'll measure heart, lungs, etc, of each baby, to make sure there are no visible issues, and we'll also get to find out the sex of each baby! While we'll be THRILLED with any combination, we CAN'T WAIT to find out what we've got coming our way! We've put in a poll at the top left side of the site. Give us your vote, and check back on the 25th to see if you were right!

Stay tuned for more updates!