Country Girls

My Mom and Gary moved onto some property and they now have a ton of animals. Ok, not a ton, but more than we are used to. The people they are renting from keep their animals on the property so my Mom and Gary tend to them. The girls love to help! They have 3 horses, a cow, alot of chickens, 2 dogs, and a cat. Joseph is spending every weekend there helping them get it all in order, yardwork, tearing down old treehouses, tearing down old chicken coops, building rock gardens and alot of landscaping. The kid loves the hard labor. (He's also earning working to buy Gary's Ford so that is huge motivation for him)

Here's some cute pics of our little country girls.

Annabel loved to feed the horses......

And Lilah has a thing for the chickens. You would think they would scare her but, NOPE. She just loved to walk around with them, trying to touch them. Amazingly, they are too fast for her. Finally, something that can outrun her.

The First Day Of School....

It went better than I thought it would. It's been really nice having all the kids home this summer and I must say for selfish reasons. They have been a HUGE help with the house and the little girls. The girls have been very reliant on them for just about everything. I was dreading the moment when Annie and Lilah asked for "their kids". They did, but accepted my answer nicely, although about 2pm, they are sitting at the window waiting for them to come home. Thank God for earlier middle school release!

All the kids are happy with their teachers and schedules. Mady doesn't start Clark until the 21st so the verdict is still out on her but I'm sure she'll love it. Juliette is taking band this year and playing the Baritone. That child always has to try everything once. We should probably be worried come the teen years. Yikes. Noah is still in band and very good at it. He loves it. We have our very own Band Geek. But he's a pretty good-looking band geek so it's ok. Besides, haven't you seen "American Pie, Band Camp" ? AH! Kidding! :) (If you haven't seen it, you'll understand my kidding disclaimer once you do) Joseph is happy with all his classes too. He starts Driver's Ed tomorrow. Watch out on the road! Kidding there too, he's a really good driver. Must take after me. :)


So, now the obligatory "First Day Of School" pictures. As you can see, the kids just love me when I do this to them every year. But once I threaten them with taking the camera to the bus stop, they smile happily and pose away.

Madeline & Joseph. Joseph is officially taller than Madeline now. She's not thrilled.

Noah & Juliette. Juliette is almost taller than Noah. Aren't they CUTE?!?!

Baby Pictures

We got some cute shots yesterday. The girls were very active so alot of angles. Here are our adorable baby girls at 24 weeks. Aren't they cute?

Rosalie's profile

Gwendolen trying to suck her thumb/hand, as usual. lol.

Emilia was being shy. She's laying on her side with her face tucked into her hand. You can't see her face at all, but look at those muscles!

24,24,24,24,24,24,24,24,24,

Can you tell we are beyond thrilled to be at this point? Yep, TWENTY FOUR WEEKS! It's the first of a few major milestone. About half of all babies born at this gestation survive. Thank God for medical science huh? Of course, 24 isn't quite good enough for me. I mean, I thank God that we are here, but now its time to move on to the next milestone. Week 28. Week 28 is H.U.G.E. Week 28 brings us to 90% viability. Week 28 brings us a sense of relief. Well, I think it will anyway. It should. I'm anticipating it. A mere 28 days.

Today's appointment went fantabulous. Couldn't ask for better. I got to see my absolute favorite Dr., Dr W. Aaron went with me today. The babies were perfect today. My cervix is being an absolute champ! Does it get any better? I think not.

Cervical measurement is at 4.1 with almost no funneling. Yay! The Dr.'s exact words were that it looked "Spectacular!" :)

Babies are measuring the same as a singelton would be at this point. They are HUGE. For those who don't see me alot, that translates into I AM HUGE. But it's all good, because if I grow, the baby girls grow. Oh, the sacrifices we make for our children. lol.

Rosalie: 1# 5oz

Gwendolen: 1# 6oz

Emilia:1#6oz

Me: Yeah, right. I'm not posting that, I'm not vain but it does not need to be general public knowledge.

And, we asked Dr. W about the chances of the girls being identical (Aaron is a bit disappointed that we were told by the US tech that they were not ID since they had their own sacs and placentas) just out of curiosity. We were pleasantly surprised when he told us that they very well could be, separate sacs and placentas didn't mean for sure that they are fraternal. WHAT?! We both just smiled. It would be fun to have them ID. Anyway, the Dr. said that if the egg splits within the first 72 hours, then they would have their own sacs and placentas. We've been thinking all along that I released 3 eggs and thus we created 3 babies. That might be the case still, but it might not. It could be that either all of them are ID, 2 of them are ID or none of them are. If we had a penis in there, then that of course, would be obvious, but since we don't, the Dr suggested genetic testing after they get a little older, if it's not obvious by then. If they look totally different then they obviously aren't ID. He agreed with Aaron when he said that most all babies look alike anyway so it would be a waste of money before they get older. I don't agree with the whole babies look alike thing, so I guess we will see after they are born. See, surprises every single day!

24 Week Belly. I did it in black & white this time. Since it's a special occasion and all. :)

Action Shots!

Well, good news! She loves them! She couldn't stop petting them! I think they look GREAT! :) I can't wait for her to wear them this Winter.

Crazy Proud...

of my knitting.....Shamelessly, to be honest. I'm kind of not minding this resting stuff when I can create things like this:

I can't believe I've only been knitting about 8 months. This is my "Official" 5th pair of knit pants. I'll add action shots of Lilah in them when it's not so hot out. :)

23 Weeks

Only 7 days until Week 24, but who's counting? ME! Today's appointment went so good. Babies are perfect. Cervix is measuring at 4.3 relaxed and 4.0 under pressure. Still minor funneling but no change since Friday in the funneling so that is good news! The Dr. said the activity restrictions must be working so I'm going to keep up with that for sure.

Remember, when I mentioned the fFn test awhile back? It's a test that they do to determine whether or not you will go into labor in the next 10-14 days. ( http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/14332_1149.asp) It doesn't determine cervical changes, just whether or not labor will/may/could start. A negative test is good. A positive test means you have a 15-20% chance of going into labor in the next 2 weeks. With multiples, a negative test is awesome. A positive test means strict bedrest, meds, and lots of monitoring. Welllllllll, long story short, I had my first fFN test done today. It was a BIG, FAT, NEGATIVE! Yay! They will test me every 2 weeks or so. Today's test means we get to 25 weeks!

The girls were super active today so it was hard to get a good reading on fluid levels but the tech was pretty sure she got an ok reading, all coming in at a 4x6 area which is great. They have a ton of room to grow. Rosalie and Gwendolen are super active, kicking and moving like crazy, and Emilia is kind of relaxed and laid back. It will be interesting to see how their personalities are at birth.

Only 35 more days until 28 weeks! Only 49 days until 30 weeks! And only 91 days until 36 weeks which is delivery day!

23 Week Belly Shot... Growing, Growing Babies! (and growing growing mama!)