Shoshone Falls

If you've been to Twin Falls area, you may have seen this...

...if you haven't been, go.

Here is Shoshone Falls in all its glory:

I haven't seen it like this in years.

The mist went out really far!

And the roar of the water was quite loud.

Porter wasn't too fond of being so close...

Didn't keep us from being there.

Or from going to another lookout location...

Beautiful.

Porter still wasn't too happy to be there...

But, we stayed for some quick family pictures.

A few things I miss about Twin Falls...or the mountain west in general I should say...

Thunderstorms, the smell of the rain after it falls (because it smells clean instead of moldy), and the sunsets...

...where you can see the WHOLE sky.

Love it.

And, for your viewing pleasure...

Porter saw a rock chuck, but it went away.

So to say where the rock chuck went, Porter made up a story!

Silly boy.

Hop 2 It

We went to a fun place called:

It had a bunch of blow-up play things!

Porter had a blast on every one of them.

Check out this form...

I think I may have a future basketball player on my hands!

Porter needed som coaxing to get up this one...

Once he went down once, he was hooked!

I love how tiny he looks on this huge slide.

Porter shows some promise in baseball, too!

Even when it's floating in the air!

He hit it a few times, as well...

You can see it in the left corner under the plastic thing.

Got some pretty good mid-air shots...

Porter flipping...

One of my favorite things to watch was Porter and Seth.

Porter definitely enjoyed this place.

Porter didn't want to pose.

Porter found a fun ball pit to play in.

A couple other kids joined him in the pit, and the kids started throwing balls at Seth.

Porter figured out that the odds were a bit unfair and joined the side of his father...

I think he just wanted to be part of the winning team.

Fun place!

Small Break

We made a trip to Twin Falls this last week!

We were there for Mother's Day and got home yesterday.

It was very much a needed thing to do.

I needed to get out of Portland, Seth was done with his last finals, and we had a bunch of stuff to pick up from my sister who dropped it off at my parents' place.

Now we are almost completely prepared for the babies to arrive!

I should be ready for them 2 months in advance, and I couldn't be happier.

I feel the need to prepare now when I have the energy to do so.

Thank you to my awesome family for helping us out!

We had a lot of fun while we were there, as well!!

I Often Go Walking

My favorite Children's Primary song for Mother's day is "I Often Go Walking."

Growing up, I sang this song in Primary, but I never really listened to the words.

Last Mother's Day I was the Children's Primary Chorister and I wanted to sing this song.

Something I had never heard before was the second verse.

I can't even listen to it now without getting teary.

A trait I've inherited from my mother.

So, for all the mothers who have influenced me, but most especially for my mother, I dedicate this song.

I Often Go Walking

I often go walking in meadows of clover,
And I gather armfuls of blossoms of blue.
I gather the blossoms the whole meadow over.
Dear mother, all flowers remind me of you.

O mother, I give you my love with each flower
To give forth sweet fragrance a whole lifetime through;
For if I love blossoms and meadows and walking,
I learn how to love them, dear mother, from you.

Happy Mother's Day!

24 Weeks

Just a couple days ago, I was told that I look like I'm full-term.

I've started to have a lot of people asking me when I'm due.

When I tell them August, they always say "wow...so you still have a ways to go!"

Then I tell them it's two...

And then they're all excited and happy even though I feel quite insulted.

I shouldn't.

But what pregnant woman wants to hear that they look huge?

Even if there ARE two in there.

24 weeks!

Wearing a shirt that is NOT maternity just because I could.

Not the best picture ever, but we were headed out the door at 10AM.

PS: Can you tell I've rearranged??

I'll have to take pictures.

Master of the Potty

Porter has mastered going to the the potty!!

And, I mean the BIG potty!

In fact, he wasn't all that interested in the little one, and that was perfectly fine with me.

While he would go in the bathroom for a "good try" or even a successful trip, I would go into our "multi-purpose" room where I craft, and put together this...

To see the whole thing, go to my craft blog

Porter LOVES this book!

He was so happy when I finished it!

So was I, because I finished it the same day he figured out the potty!

Can you guess what his favorite page is?

{future location of cute video reading the book...I don't like my internet}

A potty-trained son is the perfect Mother's Day gift...to myself :)

Part One Results

Seth got his Part 1 of Boards exam result...

...and...

He PASSED!!!

Apparrently he was one of 72% of people who did!

Also, he has finished his last set of finals for the rest of his LIFE!!

That means, he has received...

His "D"

(as a reminder, it's the letters and dots in O.D. that represent the years in Optometry school...something the students do.)

One more {dot} to go and then it's over!

Yay, Seth!

Ready

I'm ready...

...for every day sunshine...

...for the end of Seth's final semester of classes...

...for a trip to the beach (even though I'm sure I look like a whale at this point)...

...for Porter to have mastered the art of the potty...

...to give in to my nesting instinct.

I'm not ready...

...to say goodbye to good friends who will be leaving in just a couple weeks...

...for the babies to come, yet, although my comfort would say otherwise...

...to step into the unknown of this coming November (I like to plan).

This summer brings with it a lot of changes to our family.

Most of those changes are coming very quickly.

I've had a lot of time to think about what's coming up, and have found that I'm not yet prepared for the "biggest" changes.

This week was spent trying to prepare for them.

Sadly, because of this, I did not take any pictures.

But, I did go to the doctor, so there are more ultrasound pictures at the bottom of the post.

Here's the latest news on the babies:

Because the babies share a placenta, they are at risk for something called twin-twin transfusion.

This is when one baby steals blood from the other baby and why in some situations one baby doesn't survive or is significantly smaller than the other.

There was a small sign of this at my appointment, so they will double check that on Thursday of this week to make sure it's not happening.

They aren't that worried about it, so I'm not that worried about it because the babies are still about the same size and have above average amounts of fluid in their separate sacs, but it's still a little concerning.

The most concerning thing at this last appointment was what they discovered in the heart of one of them.

What looks like a connection between two of the ventricles.

This is not good, and could mean the baby would have to go into heart surgery right after birth if it's not something that will just close on its own.

I will have an appointment with a pediatric cardiologist in mid-May to check on it and have him do a "diagnosis" of sorts.

We have to wait until then because he is out of town.

We feel like everything will be fine, but it's hard to hear news like that when you have a lot to deal with as is.

Our baby girls are still beautiful and thriving.

In fact, they're doing some acrobatics right now that's making it difficult to concentrate.

Two active babies makes for one entertaining belly.

And some sore ribs.

Baby B decided to be the first for a good pose this time...

...and even got what looks like her little hand in baby A's photo...

22 weeks ultrasound

Right now, one baby is head down and the other is breech.

So, it's kinda like yin and yang in there.

Happy Easter!

This Easter week has been pretty busy!

I sang in church today, so a lot of it was spent in preparation for that instead of in preparation for the "hunt".

We're grateful for the plastic eggs that are already colored when we don't have time to do it ourselves.

Besides, Porter really likes the candy inside.

So much so that he'll even wear it!

For dinner today, we joined the Johansens to celebrate...for the last time.

Had to keep up the tradition even if it was for only one more Easter!

We start Optometric externships in May and a lot of our friends, including the Johansens, will be leaving right away.

Sad to think about.

After dinner, we joined a bunch of people at the park for some dessert, and had a great time!

Another reason our week was so busy is this:

Potty-training!!

Porter's not a pro, yet, but he's catching on!

20 Weeks Ultrasound

Get used to a lot of ultrasound pictures!

I get to have one every other week.

This week, there wasn't any measuring of the babies, just making sure their hearts are still strong.

Baby A

Baby B

On top of getting to see the babies every other week, I get my cervix checked to see if I'm going into pre-term labor.

A high risk with the situation the twins are in, they say.

The first time they measured my cervix, two weeks ago, they told me it was about 6 cm long.

This is good, apparently.

A "normal" cervix or an "average" one is 2 cm.

This week, I was measuring about 5.5 cm long.

The ultrasound technician, after measuring, told me that if he had a cervix, he'd want it to be just like mine.

Then, I got to see the radiologist who told me that I have an "awesome cervix."

After that, I had a doctor's visit where a nurse and the doctor both said the exact same thing...

"You have an AWESOME cervix!"

All I could think during this was, Thanks?

I asked what made it awesome, and was told that because my cervix is so long, it's as if I was "made" to have multiples.

A long cervix = highest chance of making it full term!

Now, if only I understood why a long cervix makes such a big difference in the chance pre-term labor...something I'll have to ask next time.

But this is good news!

Maybe not for my stretch marks on my belly...

Buddies

What Porter and I do while Seth studies...

Watch a show online, share earphones and hang out!

My little buddy.

PS: yes, I got a haircut :)...it was starting to look a little like a mullet.

Cleanin' the Sunglasses

It's hard to find Porter without his sunglasses lately.

So, here is another "shades" post.

Porter sees Seth cleaning his glasses with this shirt.

Usually after he's gotten his little fingers all over them.

So, when his sunglasses are dirty, he knows how to clean them.

Which he has to do a lot for the following reasons...

My silly boy.

"[Porter] wears his suuuuuunglasses [inside]".

Couldn't help myself.

20 Weeks

Okay, this last month, I have really started to show!

I don't really know how I feel about this, yet, but I can tell you, you can kinda see how the "feeling" is by looking at my face in the picture below.

Granted, I was wearing my black dress that makes my belly look bigger because of the line and a pregnancy back brace that was heaven during three concerts this last weekend that also made it look larger, but still.

Feeling huge.

Names

Tomorrow on my craft blog, I will explain in more detail the girls' names and the people who inspired me to use them...it will be a very special post.

FYI: My button to the right doubles up the address. I've made a button before that worked just fine and followed the same steps to make this one, but somehow it got messed up, so I apologize. I emailed the source, but haven't heard a reply, so I'm not sure what to do. Until then just follow the link in the words above...or delete the double after clicking the button :)

Gotta Wear Shades

If you can believe it, we had some sun!!

...well, we've had some before, but I always forgot my camera.

Seth got Porter some sweet shades for days like this.

He loves them!

Porter's one cooool dude in his sunglasses!