25 and 26 Weeks

Week 25:

How far along: 25 Weeks
Total weight gain: 21 pounds
Maternity clothes: yep- and even those are getting a little snug :)
Stretch marks: Nope

Sleep: Not bad this week- Clay says I kick him a lot during the night

Best moment of this week: Healthy doctor appointments. At the regular doctor I had my glucose screening test first thing Thursday Morning. The midwife checked their heart rates and everything was good. The next day I had an appointment at the specialist and they were finally able to see all of the baby boy's heart. Everything looked good!
Miss anything: being able to shop in regular stores :)

Movement: everyday they are moving more and more
Food cravings: nothing in particular
Anything making you queasy or sick: still bad smells
Have you started to show yet: Yes I am measuring "30" weeks on a normal scale

Gender: Girl and Boy
Labor signs: None
Belly button in or out: Starting to poke out on one side
Wedding rings on or off: On
Happy or moody most of the time: Overall pretty happy, with a few moody moments.

Looking forward to: Working on the nursery more! Clay put up the second bed. 

Here's a comparison of week 20 and 25. I would say it's safe to say we are growing. The boy's estimated weight was 1 pound 11ounces and baby girl is 1 pound 8 ounces.

Week 26:

How far along: 26 Weeks
Total weight gain: 22ish pounds
Maternity clothes: found some great deals this week on new dresses
Stretch marks: Nope
Sleep: For the most part ok.. I am waking up early on weekends (I guess I am getting ready for the future)
Best moment of this week: Clay felt one of them kick real hard and it kind of scared him. It was neat to see him light up when he felt it.
Miss anything: being comfortable laying out at the pool
Movement: The move a lot (like today when I was trying to take a nap)
Food cravings: still nothing specific
Anything making you queasy or sick: strong smelly things
Have you started to show yet: Still growing
Gender: Girl and Boy
Labor signs: None
Belly button in or out: the left side has kind of popped out
Wedding rings on or off: On
Happy or moody most of the time: this week I was pretty moody.. :)
Looking forward to: Going to the beach with my mom this weekend.

We worked on the nursery some this weekend. I cleaned the floors and we placed the beds where they would go.

We also got the changing table from my parents house. My grandpa made it for me when I was born. As my mom said, "it's been many things over the past 28 years." It was in my bedroom until we moved to Michigan then Ryan had it in his room. After that Dad kept it in his office with all this flies for fly fishing on it. Clay is cleaning it with some oil that restores the wood. I am excited to use it for my babies.

My mom and dad also got us this rocking horse that has made it's way into the nursery as well.

Slowing it is coming together. My mom is almost completely done with the boy's bedding. So excited to get the bedding on and put baskets in the changing table. Mom is going to help me organize everything so far after my shower at my grandma's house in July.

This morning at church was a reminder that these precious babies belong to our Heavenly Father. I am excited I get to be their mom here on earth but thankful that they ultimately belong to God. Looking forward to another week as we move closer to meeting the twins and praising God for the miracle they are!

24 Weeks

This past week flew by! It's amazing how quickly the whole pregnancy is going. This past Friday my mom picked up our cribs for us. Clay put one together Firday night and we LOVE it!!

 

 

On Saturday night we had our first shower in Jasper at Clay's Mom's mountain home. It was a wonderful time celebrating with her family and close friends. Clay and I are so blessed with not only a big family but also close friends that have watched us grow up. Here are some pictures from my phone from the shower.

 

 My Nana- So blessed the twins will have time with their great-grandma

Couldn't go through all this without my mom. :)



Here's the picture and the questions for this week:

 

How far along: 24 Weeks
Total weight gain: 20 pounds
Maternity clothes: Yes- still loving skirts and dresses
Stretch marks: Still not yet
Sleep: Waking up most nights to go the bathroom. I also feel like I flip and flop all night long.
Best moment of this week: Our Jasper shower, being blessed by family and friends.
Miss anything: Being able to do a normal workout.
Movement: They are kicking around like crazy. Today one of the twins was hitting my ribs and that was not as fun. I still love every time I feel them.
Food cravings: Nothing really.. I love sugar and always have- so sweets always sound good! :)
Anything making you queasy or sick: Still the smell of ovens/toaster ovens.
Have you started to show yet: Yes- people think I am a lot further along.
Gender: Girl and Boy
Labor signs: None
Belly button in or out: Still kind of flat.
Wedding rings on or off: On
Happy or moody most of the time: Still pretty happy, this week I was more teary eyed then normal but I held it together pretty good! :)
Looking forward to: Doctor appointments this week and especially the ultrasound on Friday! Clay is going with me this time again and it will be neat to see the babies before Father's Day this weekend!

 

We are getting the mattresses this week (a very generous gift that I am so excited for) and Clay is planning on putting the other bed together. It's really coming together. Even more so it's really becoming real!



23 Weeks

The past two weekends we have been working on projects around the house. We are starting to get the house ready for the twins!

The nursery has been our main focus. As always I didn't get to take a good "before" picture. However, this room was previously used for Clay's office- but more realistically random storage.

Here's the room before we started painting:

I am so blessed to have Clay and my mom give up their Saturday to paint the room.

Since the twins will be in the same room, we wanted to walls to be gender nuetral. We selected a paint/primer that was light grey and dark grey. (Thanks to the Memorial Day sale we got an extra $10 off the paint).
Here's a picture when they finished painting:

Here's a picture once we added the rug and curtains. We got a deal on the curtains- they are brand new in the package from Ikea for only $8 at Goodwill. The rug came from Home Depot and I love it!

We are hoping to get the cribs this week! I will post more pictures as we add more.

This week I am 23 weeks pregnant. It is so crazy to me that I am already that far along. Time is sure flying by! One of my best friends gave birth to a perfect baby boy last week! It's been so wonderful to go through this journey with close friends in the same stage. Another close friend is due in July and then the twins will be here sometime in September! It will be so great to share in all the stories together. I am already blessed by those close to me that already have little ones. It's amazing the support and encouragement friends can give.

Here's my picture from this week:

 I also always found it interesting to read friends blogs when they answered questions each week. So I am going to give it a shot too. :)

How far along: 23 Weeks
Total weight gain: 19 pounds
Maternity clothes: It's all that fits now. I really like the dresses because they are light weight and comfortable.
Stretch marks: Not yet
Sleep: This week I started waking up every night to have to go the bathroom. I guess it isn't so bad seeing I made it 23 weeks without having to do that. The leg cramps still come and go but not as frequent.
Best moment of this week: Texting with all my friends as we waited for our friend to give birth. We didn't know the gender before so it was a super exciting day!!
Miss anything: Energy- still so tired. A glass of wine on the weekends.
Movement: The movement has really picked up this week. Clay hasn't been able to feel it as much but today after lunch two co-workers got to feel them move.
Food cravings: nothing in particular.
Anything making you queasy or sick: still the smell of ovens/toaster ovens.
Have you started to show yet: oh yes.
Gender: Girl and Boy
Labor signs: Nope
Belly button in or out: It's kind of just flat right now.
Wedding rings on or off: On
Happy or moody most of the time: Usually happy! There have been some moody moments (I am sure Clay or my mom would say more then a few "moments").
Looking forward to: Our first shower this weekend in Jasper with friends and family.

Here's to another great week!

Big Changes are Coming

It has been awhile since I have blogged about any house projects. We did complete our master bathroom this past fall, but other then that not much else. This January we got some exciting news.. we are pregnant!!! Then the first week of March we got even bigger news...

TWINS!!! To say Clay and I were shocked is kind of an understatement. Now that the shock factor has died down a little bit, we are so over joyed and excited to have twins! The night we found out we were having twins I came home and sat on the couch and called my closest friends. The one thing that each friend told me was, "if anyone can handle twins you can.." I think this was God's way of telling me it would all be ok. Another friend reminded me that God has known I would have twins and has been preparing me for this journey. When I was in high school I started babysitting for a family that has twins. The twins were barely one at the time and now they are turning 11 this summer. They have been a big part of my life and I know that if I could babysit them every week and over summer vacation then I can handle twins of my own now.

My pregnancy has overall been great! I did feel sick the first trimester and I feel constantly tired. My mom mentioned the other day that I have really been blessed so far. My prayer is that I will continue to stay healthy throughout the remainder of the pregnancy. I am hoping to carry the twins to at least 37-38 weeks.

Here is a picture of me at 12 weeks:

 

And here is last week at 21 weeks:

 

This weekend we are starting to work on the nursery. Clay is going today to buy the paint and my mom is going to come over and help him paint the room. My mom has also offered to make the bedding for the twin's beds! We are going this weekend to buy all the fabric we picked out.

We are looking forward to this adventure that lays ahead!

A New Look For Where I Cook

Three weeks ago we decided it was time for another project. I love my "new" kitchen.

Here is a picture from when Clay moved in: 

 After we painted and Clay put up the back-splash the kitchen looked like this: 

On Friday afternoons I get off work early so I came home and decided to get the project started. Taking everything out of the cabinets took longer than I thought.

 This was the most annoying part of the whole project- having my kitchen spread out in my dining room:

 We started by wiping everything down with liquid sander:

Then when Clay got home he started on his jobs- he added trim to the top of the cabinets and put up wainscoting:

On Saturday we started to paint: 

 I painted the cabinets with two coats of cream paint:

Then on Sunday I painted two coats of cream paint on the base cabinets:

 Did I mention it was annoying having the kitchen in pieces?

After the cream paint was dry, Clay then began painting the glaze:

After painting the brown glaze we painted two coats of a protecting glaze.

Clay found drawer pulls on clearance and we bought door pulls to match. We tried to buy new hinges but Home Depot did not carry the ones we needed. We ended up painting the old hinges with black spray paint. Clay also bought soft close dampers for the doors. It's a nice added touch, it keeps the doors from slamming shut. It took a few days to let the paint dry and complete some touch ups. We finally got the kitchen back to normal.

Here is the finish product:

The total cost for this project:

-Opps Cream Paint = $8.00
-Brown glaze (had from previous projects)= $0.00
-Clearance drawer pulls= $ 6.00
-New door pulls= $46.00
-Soft close damper for the doors= $30.00
-Protecting glaze= $20.00
-Misc. painting supples= $15.00
-Wainscoting = $36.00
-Trim = $34.00

Total Cost:  $195.00

I don't know a lot about buying new cabinets but I think we got a deal. We only have a few more projects to complete before we have done every room in the house. It's exciting to see how far our home has come in just over 2 years. I am thankful to have a husband who can make my ideas a reality while staying on a budget. Looking forward to more projects this spring!

It's Christmas Time..

Christmas is the greatest time of the year! I truly love spending time with family and friends. I love the Christmas music, the baking, the decorating, the devotions, and the lights. This past year seemed to fly by faster then others. The year was filled with travels, a new job, and great times with our family and friends. I am truly thankful for everything God blessed us with this year and I am looking forward to next year! 

When I started decorating for Christmas I pulled up the pictures I took last year. It's amazing how much our home has changed in one year. 

Here is the dining room last year: 

Here is the picture from this year:

 

Here is the living room last year: 

Here is this year- not too different:

Here is by the front door: 

Here is the living room last year and then this year:

Here is the kitchen this year- I didn't take any pictures last year: 

We started redoing the guest bathroom upstairs. I will post pictures when we finish. 

I hope everyone has a Blessed and Merry Christmas! Here's to another great year!