Well..., the twins are here! Last night Maran got a call from the hospital and was told that her C-Section was being moved from 9:30 this morning to 7:30, which meant that we had to be at the hospital at 5:00 AM. Needless to say, neither Maran or I got a lot of sleep last night.
Here is Maran right before we left this morning. The last picture we will ever have of her pregnant with twins. Unless ... it happens again. After arriving at the hospital, checking in, starting the IV, epidural, and letting Hannah give her mom a kiss, we went off to delivery. It was a lot more pleasant than our experience with Hannah, and even though we were hoping that Maran would go into labor early, it was nice to have it planned and to be more prepared. Maran reacted differently to the medicine and epidural than she did with Hannah's birth. I remember her getting the shakes, which is hard for me to see, but she got very nauseous this morning, and even threw up on the delivery table. She is still having a tough time keeping things down, but she doesn't complain. So, at 8:02 AM, Brynn Elizabeth was the first to come out. She was 6 Lbs, 8 ounces, and 18 inches long. One minute later, Bailey Marie came, weighing in at 6 Lbs, 11 ounces, and 17.5 inches. The first thing that I noticed was that both of them had really dark hair, and a lot of it. When I first saw Hannah, she did not have a lot of hair, and she looked just like I did when I was born. The same cannot be said for these two. They do not look like me, but they also do not look like each other. As you will see from the pictures, Brynn has lighter skin and a different nose than Bailey, who has darker skin. Hannah had super long eyelashes, but Bailey and Brynn have no eyelashes. Here are some pics
Brynn and Mom
Brynn on the left, Bailey on the right
Hannah with Brynn
Hannah with Bailey
Brynn, Dad, and Bailey (excuse my huge head)
Our happy family!
Bailey Marie
Brynn Elizabeth
As the babies change in the next few days, we will continue to post pictures. We are so blessed and so grateful to have these girls. Sure, I am outnumbered 4 to 1, but I think it is great. We are also so grateful to our moms for being here. With our move this week, and now having the twins here, I honestly don't think we could have made it all work with out them. Thank you Julia Lea and Donna Marie. You are the best!
I wish that I were posting a blog saying that I've had the babies, but I'm afraid I have to tell you all that I'm still pregnant. However, we have some good news. First off, I only have ONE week (or less) left until these babies are here. I am very excited and ready for them to come.
Also, we're moving to a 3 bedroom apartment (pictures to come later)!! It's only about 3 minutes from this apartment and it's much nicer and newer!! And best of all.....IT HAS A DISHWASHER!!!!! I am SO excited to finally have a dishwasher after 5 years of marriage. You'd think that after that long that I would have gotten used to washing dishes by hand, but I hate it just as much now as I did the day we got married. It probably sounds weird that I'm getting excited over having a dishwasher, but a lot of apartments around here do not have them, so it's an extra bonus when they do. The bad part of this whole moving thing is that we are doing it this weekend. Although I want these babies to come now, I also kind of want to be moved in before they come.
Some other good news around here....my mom and mother-in-law are both in town right now. I love having them here, but I have a really hard time accepting all of their service. I feel like I need to be serving them. My poor mother, who recently had knee surgery, has been cleaning and packing our house as well as cooking us dinner. My mother-in-law has also been doing these things for us, and I have mostly been relaxing. Tonight my mom even washed and massaged my feet and my mother-in-law painted my toes. They are both wonderful and I feel so blessed to have them here to take care of me.
Now onto the bad and the incredibly ugly....
If you have a queasy stomach, don't scroll down.
If you read one of my posts about pregnancy a few months ago, I stated that pregnancy and I don't go well together. Yes, my cankles have returned big time!!! When I was pregnant with Hannah I didn't get huge cankles until after she was born. This time, it has occurred before these babies are born. My feet are SO SWOLLEN...it's ridiculous. Let me just say again that I'm really excited to have these babies!
If you like the Twilight series you might like this. I am really excited for New Moon to come out in November. Hopefully I can take two hours away from our little ones to go see the movie in the theater. Anyway, if you haven't seen the trailer for the movie, please watch this:
After watching the trailer, you must click on this LINK and watch the video that pops up. I found it to be extremely hilarious. Hopefully you will too.
Ok, time to update the blog. We had a great Independence day weekend. Scott had Friday and Saturday off of school and work, which was awesome because we got to spend the entire two days together. On Friday morning I wanted to do something we've never done before. Provo has a hot air balloon festival for the 4th of July. I thought Hannah would love it, especially since she loves balloons and loves the movie "Up," which has a bunch of balloons that fly a house through the air (kind of like a hot air balloon, right?). Anyway, the only problem was that we needed to be there at 6:30am, so we rolled out of bed at 5:45am, which is quite early for Hannah and me. Actually I don't think that Hannah had ever seen the sun rise before this day. Anywho, we all really enjoyed it. Someday I would love to actually ride in a hot air balloon.
I think I've written this before, but I love Independence day here. Everyone dresses up in red, white, and blue. We have a parade that people camp out for the night before to get a good seat. It's only a block away from our house and literally thousands of people come to watch it.
Hannah and her little tongue at the parade.
One of the floats above.
After the parade we all took a 2 hour long nap, which was awesome. I can't remember the last time that happened. Hannah doesn't take naps anymore, but she took THREE this week. It's amazing how angelic this child is after a nap. After the nap we went swimming and later that night we watched fireworks on BYU campus with Scott's cousins. This is the first year that we let Hannah stay up this late to watch fireworks and I think she really enjoyed them.
Anyway, so that was our 4th of July weekend.
Here's an update on the babies: I have a scheduled C-section on July 28th at 9:30am. That's only 3 weeks away!! My mom is coming into town this weekend and my mother-in-law will be in town next weekend. Then I can do everything in my power to put myself into labor. I can tell that these babies are getting big because I feel like my belly is sagging. I think I need a belly bra. I believe I'm measuring around 10 months along and I've even had strangers ask me if I'm having twins. Oh man, people are funny.
Two rules thumb: 1. Don't ever ask anyone if they're pregnant unless it is completely obvious that they are. 2. Don't ever ask anyone if they're having twins.
Come on peeps, women are sensitive about their bigness (not sure if that's a word) and these questions can hurt their feelings if the answer is no to either of them. It's a good thing I am pregnant with twins; otherwise I might have started crying:-(
These last few weeks seem to be going by slower than the rest of the pregnancy. I just can't wait to see their sweet little faces!!!
I feel like I haven't posted about anything that we've been doing lately, mostly just because I've been posting a lot about the babies. I've been trying to do as much as I can with Hannah these last few weeks because I realize that this is the last time that she will get alone time with Scott and me. It makes me really sad for her but also happy that she will be able to share a lot of these fun times with little sisters. I know that I am going to miss this time that I've had with her as well, because she will probably never get this same amount of attention from me again. So I've been making the most of the time that we've had together. Here are some things that we've done over the last few weeks: gone to a museum, petting zoo, numerous parks and playgrounds, swimming, took her to see the movie "Up," and have had numerous tea parties with chocolate milk and picnics out in our front yard. Yesterday I wanted to do something really fun because Scott had the weekend off of school and homework, so we went to a place called Liberty Land. It's such a fun place for little kids! I became the designated picture taker because I couldn't go on any of the rides, but I had so much fun just watching Hannah have fun with her dad. At this place they have
race cars,
a rock climbing wall,
a high tower ride,
a cute little girl,
an airplane ride,
a train ride,
a froggy ride (Hannah's favorite. She rode it about 8 times) ( P.S. Please blow up this picture of Scott.....it's the funniest thing I've seen in a long time.),
bounce houses and a play place,
bumper boats,
a merry-go-round,
and much more which I didn't get pictures of. Unfortunately their roller coaster was closed for the day, which happens to be the funnest ride there. We've been to this place twice now, and both times there were not many kids there. As you can see from the pictures, Hannah and Scott are the only ones on each ride. It's kind of funny because the worker pretty much followed us around to whatever ride we wanted to go on and let us on. I don't understand why more people don't go to this place; Hannah loved it! I'm afraid it's going to go out of business soon, so I'm glad that we got to go.
Finally, I just have to say Happy Father's Day to my dad and to Scott's dad. You guys are both wonderful fathers and grandpas. We are grateful for you both and love you both very much.
And Happy Father's Day to my husband, who I truly believe to be one of the best fathers out there. Hannah and I love you dearly.
Honestly, I can't believe that I have gone from this
to this....
in 5 months. And I also can't BELIEVE that I'm posting this picture of me. Oh well. I want you all to know that this will be the LAST TIME I post a picture of myself before these babies are born so soak it up my friends, soak it up. These "lovely lady humps" are signing off, so if you'd like to see more in the weeks to come, I'd be happy to email a picture to you.
I can't believe I only have 6 more weeks to go. This pregnancy has actually gone by really fast for me. Starting next week I will have two appointments a week until these babies are born. The first appointment is done at the hospital, where they perform a non-stress test on the babies. It's a test that basically monitors their heart rates, their amniotic fluids, and my contractions for about a half hour. Then I will have my regular doctor's appointments and I believe the next time I go they will check my dilation. Oooooo, this makes me nervous. Sure my body is ready to have them. I think my skin has about stretched to its limit and I'm starting to have some painful contractions at night that usually last about a minute. However, I don't know if I'll ever be mentally ready to have them. To be honest, I'm scared to death of taking care of two babies at once but I'm really excited too. Anyway, my hubby needs the computer, but just know that hopefully the next time you see me in a picture, it will be of me holding my little cuties!!
This post isn't going to have any cute pictures in it or anything but I figured I'd blog about what's been on my mind lately. Today's topic: Electronics. I have a love/hate relationship with electronic equipment. First let me tell you why I hate electronic equipment. The first reason is because I feel like this digital world has taken over all of us and it bugs me. It bugs me when people are constantly talking on their cell phones or texting others. It bugs me when people neglect other responsibilities to be on the internet all day long. Come on, I'm sure a lot of us have spent hours on the internet searching facebook, twitter, youtube, or blog stalking, hence the reason for the video at the beginning of this post (P.S., Conan O'Brien is hilarious). It bugs me that some people are addicted to video games and television. I hate it when I'm trying to have a conversation with my husband and he is distracted by the internet or by someone else texting him. Yes, I've done it to him as well and also to my daughter. I am guilty of all of these things that I just named off. Sometimes I wish that I lived in a simpler world where there were no such things as cell phones, television, and internet- a world where kids used to get out and play and use their imaginations.
As much as I hate technology, I also love it. We are guilty of having a big screen TV, an Xbox, cell phones, a lap top and a desk top, a digital camera, and even a digital picture frame. I am grateful to have a cell phone so that I can get a hold of my husband whenever I need to. I am grateful for the internet, which has helped me keep in touch with old friends and has answered many questions for me in the past when I needed a quick answer to something or a quick recipe or directions somewhere. I love reading others blogs or getting a quick email from a friend or family member. I also love to veg in front of the television at night after a long day. I love watching movies with my husband and I've loved playing video games with him in the past. Many lives have been saved because of digital technology and I am grateful for that. I don't really know if I could ever go back, knowing what I know now about technology, to a simpler time.
And now I'm switching back to the second reason I hate technology, the real purpose of the post....
Dealing with people's addictions to technology is annoying, but here's the real reason I hate electronic equipment: it's expensive and it breaks easily. Maybe Scott and I have just had bad luck, but it seems like a lot of people have had trouble with electrical equipment. In the five years that we've been married, we've had a somewhat new computer go bad on us (so we've now had two computers), we've had to take our DVD player in for repair twice, we had to exchange our TV because it was making a loud popping noise, we've had a car adapter almost start on fire on us, we've had to buy a fan for our lap top because it over heats, and we've had many DVDs scratched so badly that we've had to throw them away (and I really don't know how they got scratched). Ok, that list doesn't look very long, but if feels like we are constantly having technical difficulties and each time that we do, I end up wanting to chuck the object at the teeth of the person who made it.
You all know that we recently bought that '05 Dodge Caravan. I actually really like the van, but not two days after we bought it the power locks went out. We did some research about this and I guess a lot of '05 Dodge Caravans have had this same problem and there was nothing that anyone could do about it (and if there is, it would be really expensive). It wouldn't be that big of a deal if every door on the van had a key hole, but they decided to make the van so that only the driver's door has a key whole. This is going to be somewhat difficult with three children and a two year old who could run in the street at any moment while I'm trying to manually unlock all of the doors on the van.
Then this morning my husband tried to turn on the TV and there was nothing. The TV will not turn on at all. No lights, no sounds. We just bought this TV a year ago in February, which means the one year warranty is no longer valid. What I'd really like to do is take that TV and smash it to bits, but I've contained myself. My husband wanted a flat screen TV so badly and we finally used all of our tax return money to buy it last year, and now it doesn't work anymore. I could see the devastation on his face after he tried everything to get it to turn on this morning, and it broke my little heart. We really can't buy a new one right now with these babies on the way and getting it repaired is almost just as expensive. I started to make peace with the fact that I'd just have to watch some of my favorite shows online, a day after they've aired, and at least we still have our lap top so we could still watch movies. After all, it's really not the end of the world if we don't have a television. And then tonight my husband came up with a brilliant solution. We bought this TV with our credit card for this exact purpose. Our credit card will match a warranty (meaning if our TV was under warranty for a year, it would match that one year, making it under warranty for two years) if we purchased the item with that credit card, which we did. Our credit card company might just bail us out of this little pickle and either repair our TV for us or give us money to get a new one. I knew credit card companies were good for something!!! Please guys, bail us out and make me have a love for electronic equipment again because right now, I'm feeling pretty much against it.
I don't have much to write about but I figured I'd update you all on the babies. I had another ultrasound this week and the babies look great. In fact, the sonographer said that they couldn't look better. They both weigh approximately 3 lb 4 oz and both of their heads are facing down now (last time one was up and one was down). At least now they can look at each others faces (although I'm sure they can't see a darn thing in there) rather than kicking each other in the face. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures from the ultrasound.
Here's a picture of both of their heads together.
Here is twin A's profile. I don't know if I'm looking at the right thing, but if I am, our baby's going to be a freak. Look at the size of those lips!!!! I'm kidding. Even if our baby does have abnormally large lips that only a mother could love, she'll still be an angel to me:)
We didn't get a profile picture of twin B because her head was facing down, but I'm excited to see their real profiles in less than 8 short weeks!!!!!
Well these last couple of weeks have been crazy for me! I've had to learn how to organize things. This is kind of hard for me because I've never really been a very organized person....or very clean for that matter. Don't get me wrong, our house is not usually a pig sty, but it has its moments. I've gotten better over the years at putting things where they go, but now that we are going to have to cram 5 people into this 2 bedroom apartment, I've decided it's time to step up the organization. I've gone through almost everything in our house (besides the kitchen...that's another story) and found a proper place for it: the garbage or in some sort of drawer or shelf. I had to throw or give away a lot of stuff. I don't necessarily think I'm a pack rat, but sometimes it's hard to get rid of stuff. I always think, 'Sure I've only used this once in the past 5 years, but what if I need it someday?'
Anyway, amongst the stuff we got rid of were Hannah's crib and changing table. I loved that crib and changing table, but since we are getting two matching cribs from someone else, I decided that we needed to just get rid of hers. We bought her a "big girl bed," which she seems to love. I was worried that she would get out of her bed at night since she's no longer locked in, but she hasn't once.
I also got rid of all of her room decor and bought all new stuff with the gift cards that I had to Target. The babies' bedding will match hers as well. Somehow we are going to have to fit two cribs in this room with her, but for now we'll let the babies sleep in our room. But anyway, one thing I've learned from this whole experience is that I LOVE decorating. I haven't had much experience because a lot of our decorations and furniture are either hand-me-downs or were given to us by other people, but I really just loved looking through bedding, curtains, and other decor online and piecing it all together. I am really excited to someday buy our first house (hopefully next year when we are no longer on a college student's income) and decorate it. I'm not really that good at it, but it really brings me joy to do it.
Here is Hannah's new room:
I haven't decided if I'm keeping that pink rug or not. It might be too much bright pink. That mirror's color looks off too.....maybe I'll exchange it for a brown one. The colors are supposed to be green, white, dark brown, and bright and light pink. You are welcome to give me your opinion on that rug if you'd like. Also, I wish the dresser was either white or really dark brown, but someday all of our furniture will match (That dresser used to be in our room but we are now using it as a changing table for the babies). I am still waiting on a bed skirt that matches her bedding to come in the mail, but everything else is about done.
Anyway, it's been kind of a fun couple of weeks decorating. Organizing has been kind of fun as well, but it's extremely hard work keeping everything in its place. If you have any suggestions on how to keep things organized, let me know.
Here's a little update of what we've been up to over the last couple of weeks. Scott started his spring semester at school and is incredibly busy. Luckily the semester is only 7 weeks long (he only has 4-5 left to go) because he doesn't get home until 7pm every night, which also happens to be Hannah's bedtime so he doesn't get to see her much. After he gets home, he usually takes about an hour break and then is off to do homework for the rest of the evening. Poor guy doesn't really get any breaks until he graduates next April....and then we are taking our little family on a NICE vacation. We deserve one!!
Hannah has been her two year old self these past couple of weeks and that's all I have to say about that (It's been a rough week with her....I wonder if she senses that things will be changing soon).
I have been crazy busy trying to clean and organize this apartment. I'm almost done doing everything. I'll update more about this probably next week, though.
I also had my 28 week appointment today. I didn't really learn anything new and exciting about when these babies are coming, but I am having another ultrasound in 2 weeks which should let us know a little bit more about the size of these babies. The doctor did tell me that if I started to go into labor (cervix dilating, more contractions) that they would take the babies as early as 35 weeks, which I believe would be the first week in July. I doubt they will come that early though, although I feel like I'm almost ready for them to come now. I've had a lot of people ask me when I'm due lately, and then I tell them in July and they give me the big eyes. Then I tell them that I'm having twins to make their big eyes go away and they usually end up telling me that I look like I'm due next week with a singleton.
A lot of people also ask me how I'm feeling, which is really nice. Just so you all know, I'm actually feeling great. Sleeping is starting to get rough, but it's no big deal. I'm just getting really excited for them to come!
Well, we did it. We got a minivan and now I'm a minivan mom. I never expected to have a minivan at the age of 26. Today we said goodbye to old Silver Bells.....
and hello to Silver Bullet, a 2005 Dodge Caravan.
This baby can reach 120 mph. Ha! I think I just realized that I'm not going to get to drive a really cool car again until our kids have moved out of the house. Our coolness factor just went down a few notches with this purchase.
Ok, I'm totally kidding. I'm really just glad that we were able to find something within our price range that all of us will be able to fit in.
Today is Scott and my anniversary. We've been married for 5 whole years!! Wow, it's really gone by fast. There's a reason that this year is so important to me. As a lot of you know, I majored in Sociology, so I know a lot of statistics about certain social problems. One thing I did learn in one of my classes is that the majority of couples who end up getting divorced do it within the first 5 years of marriage. So, we've made it past that scary mark. Ok, that's kind of silly for me to write that because divorce has never been an option for Scott and me and it never will be because Scott and I are always willing to work on ourselves and our relationship together (although I realize that no one ever goes into a marriage thinking that they are going to get divorced. It usually ends up happening after one or both members of the couple won't work on the marriage or their faults anymore). In fact, I've grown to love my husband more and more each year that I am with him, and our marriage seems to get better and better. We've learned to deal with each other's faults and accept them, rather than try to change each other as we probably did more at the beginning of our marriage. Scott reminded me a couple of weeks ago about something that our sealer told us in the Oakland temple the day we got married. He was talking only to us and told us that sometimes when he sits down with a couple before they get married that he has a bad feeling about them. He told us that he had a really good feeling about us and our marriage. Anyway, I know that Scott and I will be together forever and I am incredibly grateful for that.
Don't get me wrong, our marriage isn't perfect. We fight and get annoyed with each other. Usually our fights end up in giving each other the silent treatment until we feel good enough about it to talk to each other. One thing I am very proud of, though, is that I can't think of a single time in our marriage that Scott has ever yelled at me. It's not in his nature to yell and get incredibly angry. I am grateful for that because I don't know if my sensitive heart would be able to handle that.
I love our relationship. Scott and I are both somewhat reserved, laid back people and not many people know that we love to sing loudly (even though we both have terrible voices) and dance with Hannah, do group hugs and kisses, and make fun of each other. I enjoy my husband's sense of humor because I have a similar sense of humor. We can both be sarcastic and like to tease each other. I think we've both learned to laugh at ourselves more since the beginning of our marriage.
One thing I love is that my husband says almost everyday, "Mommy's the best, isn't she?" to Hannah, even though I obviously know that I'm not the best. He makes me feel like I'm a good mother and wife, even if I don't feel like I am sometimes.
Anyway, I won't go on and on, but I am grateful for the 5 years of marriage that we've had together. I am excited to see what else is in store for us over our lifetime together.
Five years ago
My husband skipped his class tonight to take me out to dinner. It really meant a lot to me considering the fact that this semester I don't usually get to see him until 7pm every night.
Well, since Jen would like to see the gifts that we got, I figured I would take some pictures. We got TONS of stuff!! I actually had to leave some stuff at my mom's house because we couldn't fit it all in our car (P.S., We are going to have to buy a bigger car...three car seats will not fit in our Sonata). Anyway, I just can't believe how generous people are. Amongst all of the clothes and other baby supplies, we had people give us 2 matching cribs, a twin boppy, a bouncer, a swing, and other people gave us money, which we were able to buy two car seats and a double stroller with. Honestly, we are SO blessed to be around such giving people!
Here is all of the stuff that we were able to fit in our car (Hannah was squashed amongst it all in the back seat). Actually, I found two more bags of new clothes after I took this picture, so this picture doesn't contain everything.
I wanted to take individual pictures of some of the homemade items because they are adorable. Scott's cousin-in-law, Haley, made these blankets, burp cloths, and bows to match the two outfits.
My cousin-in-law, Cortney, made these adorable pillows for Bailey and Brynn, which are going to match perfect with their bedroom.
My mom made these cute burp cloths and bibs.
My step grandma made this beautiful blanket.
Scott's aunt Janette made these adorable sweaters.
No one made this onesie, but I thought it was hilarious because if these babies have even an inkling of Price genes in them, they are definitely going to have big butts (or "Peaches," "EGGBs", "Ghetto Booty," "Bubble Butt," or "Huge Heinies" as some of us Prices have been called. Ok, I'm kidding about the "Huge Heinies" one, but yes, people have called us the other ones and many other names that aren't appropriate).
There were a few other homemade items that I didn't get pictures of. My sister-in-law, Jill, and Scott's aunt Frances made some adorable blankets that I couldn't fit in our car. My mom will bring up all of the items that we weren't able to bring.
Here are a few other pictures from our trip:
There were a few days that the temperature got into the 90s while we were in Cali. Hannah and I decided to take a dip in the pool on one of those days. She loved swimming by herself with those floaties on.
Yeah...I don't think I've ever seen my daughter this dirty before.
Above is my niece, Sam, and Hannah.
Hannah and I were also able to enjoy a night and day with my friend Stacy and her daughter Montana. We went to this really fun place that had a ton of bounce houses. The girls had a lot of fun! I had a lot of fun too but thought I was going to go into labor with all of the bouncing and climbing that I was doing.
Anyway, overall it was an awesome trip! Scott was able to come down for the last 4 days of it, which made it even better.
Here is Maran right before we left this morning. The last picture we will ever have of her pregnant with twins. Unless ... it happens again. After arriving at the hospital, checking in, starting the IV, epidural, and letting Hannah give her mom a kiss, we went off to delivery. It was a lot more pleasant than our experience with Hannah, and even though we were hoping that Maran would go into labor early, it was nice to have it planned and to be more prepared.
