It's Hard to Believe

This past weekend, I took pictures as I watched my nephews leave for their senior prom. It is so hard to believe that they are seniors. It just seems like just yesterday they were Josh's age running around and playing baseball. Now they are all grown up and getting ready to go off to college. They looked so handsome, but I am a little bias.

As we went up to the high school to meet all their friends and get in the limo, it hit me that it was 20 years ago that I was getting ready for my senior prom. (Sorry no pictures will be posted of me at my senior prom.) Now I stood there watching my nephews leave for theirs. Before I know it, I will be watching my kids leave for their senior prom. My greatest advice would be to any parent is don't wish time to move quickly ever and cherish every moment, every whine, every annoying time because one day they will be gone and the house will be empty.

18 Weeks

As of this past Friday, I am 18 weeks. It doesn't seem that it has been that long but then again it does. For twins, I guess you would said that I am 1/2 way there since it is rare for twins to be carried full term. I just pray everyday that they are growing and will be healthy and strong like Maggie and Josh were. I am starting to feel them move a little more everyday. At times they will kick me pretty hard and it a surprise when they do because it is a rather strong kick. The first time I really felt one of them kick I was giving JC a hard time about something. He said that I should be nice to him and that if I wasn't then his babies would take care of him.
I feel like this is my first pregnancy since it is the first time that I have had twins. With my first two, I was feeling good and had lots of energy at 18 weeks, but not now. All I want to do it sleep and lay around. This past Saturday night I slept for 12 hours. But it is so exciting this time because I am experiencing this with the kids (who are so excited) and JC, who is experiencing all of this for the first time. Maggie and Josh look after me and are eagerly awaiting the chance of getting to feel the babies move in my stomach. JC is starting to get a little over protective of me, which I do appreciate.
Now we have to put the house on the market and pray that God will send a buyer along soon and have the perfect house for us to move into when it sells. I have friends who are stressed out because we don't have a house big enough for all of us or a car for that matter. But I am trusting that God will take care of us and things will move in His time and not ours. Because if we rely on His timing, it will be perfect.

The Bond is Strong

This morning as we were pulling up to the school, Maggie informed me that Josh had some little wrestling guys in his pocket. So of course I had to get on to him for trying to bring toys to school. He was like "Can't I just play with them?". When talking to him about it, I figured out that Maggie had felt of his pockets to see if he was bringing anything. She is such a little mama. I had to then talk to Maggie about doing that and tattle-telling which she does quite often. But I need to stress to them that if it is an danger to the other one then we need them to tell. As we were pulling up to the drop off point, Maggie said "Well there is something else but I pinkie promised Josh I wouldn't tell." Well that got my curiosity up and of course, neither one of them would tell. Maggie kept saying that she promised Josh. I asked her if he had gotten in trouble or if it was really bad and she said no. As much as this was a little frustrating, it was good to see that their bond with each other is strong and that is exactly what I have always wanted for them. They look after each other and make sure that the other one is okay. I can't imagine how protective they will be over the twins when they get here.

State Prep-Op Meet

This past Sunday Maggie competed in the State Prep Op Meet. She started out good on the floor and scored a 9.675. Next we came to vault where she scored a 9.1 which is one of the highest scores she had ever gotten for vault. The other two events did not go as well.

She was disappointed in her meet but I was of course proud of her. She finished 3rd in her age group in the state. It started out as a bad day because she said that she didn't want to go - she just wanted to stay at home. I can fully understand where she was coming from because they had just come home Saturday at 3 from a week at their dad's and then have to go back this weekend since it is the first weekend of the month. And of course our weeks right now are jammed packed since baseball season has started and she is still going to gym. So we will have to make the best of our time together and cherish every moment. I sure do miss them when they are gone.

Keeping things even

Yes I am behind my blogging but when I get home at night now all I want to do is go to bed and sleep. But last Wednesday we went to the doctor for another check-up. We had the ultrasound and the babies were doing great - heartbeats strong as ever. While we were looking she checked to see if we could see what we were having - we are having a boy and a girl. This is exactly what Maggie and Josh wanted. JC actually showed a little excitement. Now we will start getting things ready and picking out names.
Sunday JC took me shopping to look for me some clothes for this summer. As we were walking through Target I walked over to the baby aisle and looked at the price of diapers now. It has been quite a few years since I had to buy them so I wanted to see what the prices were like now. I showed JC one pack of newborns that was $19 for 72. He went into shock. We walked around the baby section for just a minute before JC told me that we had to leave because he was getting depressed. Even last night when he saw a diaper commercial he just moaned. I just laughed. Boy is JC in for a world of shock.

Ten Years

On Monday we celebrated Maggie's 10th birthday. It is so hard to believe that it has been 10 years. Yes it was 10 years ago that my life was forever changed. To hold her for the first time and feel so much love for a little human being was beyond words - it still is. Now she is getting bigger and more independent. I knew these days would come I just didn't realize that they would come so quickly. It just seems like yesterday that she was learning to walk and now she is learning to master her round off/back-hand spring in gymnastics. When I look at her I understand how much God can love us. But I thankful for how much He has blessed me with Maggie, Josh, and the twins on the way. I totally don't deserve it, but I am so humbled to be given the opportunity to be a mom to them. She is and will forever be my little girl.

Bedtime at our House

Bed time around our house has become a ritual. I started a while back doing a nightly devotional with the kids when I put them to bed. This meant that I had to read the devotional twice - once to each child. Within the last week this has changed a bit. We still do the devotional except that I read the scripture and JC reads the story to both kids at the same time. We all come into Josh's room probably because he already has a light on since he sleeps with his lamp on. The kids and I sit on the bed and JC reads the story. We all laugh and giggle at times because of how he reads the story. He is such a blessing to me and the kids.
After the devotional and prayer time, JC picks Maggie up and carries her to her room or simply walks with her - it really depends on Maggie's mood. And then once he comes into Josh's room the two of them definitely have a routine that they do every night. Josh "picks" at JC and tells him that JC can't body slam him and then the wrestling match begins. After a few body slams and "rest-in-peace", there is the grand finale. JC steps a few feet from the bed and Josh runs and jumps off the bed into JC arms for one final body slam. And then he goes to sleep. Maggie doesn't like the body slams so JC only does them to her every now and then - usually only by her request.