I am so far behind but not for long…Here we go.  November through March.  Hold on to your seats…there are about 100 photos here including 2 birthdays and several holidays.  Whew!

 

Starting in March – Brian and I were invited to sit at Community Ambulance’s table at the St. Rose Mardi Gras Gala.  It was pretty fancy with very strange food.  I actually wore heels, which I haven’t done in years and my feet hurt.  It was fun to get all fancy though and go out.  We haven’t had a picture together in years so we took one against this lovely orange background.  They put me on a booster so the height difference wasn’t  aesthetically unpleasing.  Also pictured is Brian’s 3 bosses on the right of Brian and to his left are two co-workers. 

Julie and Serra W came down in February with their crews.  I will have to post some of those pictures later.  There are hundreds there to go through as well.  But here is one of Julie and I at WPPI – the photography trade show with Elvis.

  

For Valentines Day Brian took the older girls to the Sweetheart Ball at Serra’s school. 

 

 

 

Rosie’s preschool had a field trip to the fire department. 

 

  

 

 

 

Back to Valentines Day.  Brian came through with lots of pretty plants and flowers for everyone…including some we planted in the garden.

  

 

One Saturday in March everyone got haircuts.  Weston was the same as usual and didn’t get a picture but here are the girls including Charlie who looks so much better.

 

 

Some random cuteness.  The kids are soooo good with Charlie.  Even Wes is very kind and does what he can (usually) to make her happy. 

 

 

 

January is Weston’s month for his yearly update pictures…Rosie wouldn’t let me get started until I took at least one of her.  Here is the boy and some of his better shots.

 

 

 

 

Weston had a bit of a party with some family around.  The cake was a hit.  A dinosaur mountain covered with pre-historic creatures.  He scored a new scooter and helmet and a few other cool doo-dads.

 

  

 

 

Charlie has the best bed head ever.  I got a bike for Christmas and later purchased a trailer to go with it.  The kids love to go on bike rides. 

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One trip to Bonnie Springs on a cold January day to see the strange and delightful smelling animals.  And one trip to the ER for a breathing treatment on a difficult night for Mr.  Wes.

 

 

 

We hosted an Ugly Sweater Party for New Years Eve.  Here are the folks that came dressed in their finery. 

 

 

 

 

And yes…Christmas.  Last year I worked hard with my flower shop and was able to cover all Christmas expenses. 

 

 

 

 

Before Christmas I took some shots of the kids and a day later my computer crashed.  So here are their holiday shots.

 

 

 

Gingerbread Houses.   Wes did one a few days later and I can’t find his picture.  Classic Santa picture with at least one kid crying. 

 

 

 

 

We took the kids to see some lights at the botanical gardens at Ethel M.  And why do we buy our kids gifts anyway.  Just give em’ an empty box or container. 

 

 

 

 

The Bear gets this round.

But Wes takes the next round.  The kid likes to sleep with this thing. 

 

 

Rosie takes her photo shoots seriously. 

 

 

 

Happy to be 5.  Happy birthday last November Miss Rose.

 

…update to last post which was previously private…check it out if you want the full tale. 

Yesterday…first scheduled prenatal appointment.  A friend of mine stayed home with the kiddos so Brian could come to the appointment with me and actually be present and not hustling kids.  What a blessing that turned out to be.  

Everything was going along normally.  All the typical questions were asked to determine how things are going.  My doctor likes to do an ultrasound at the beginning to get an exact age as I can not usually rely on a cycle date.   I was pretty sure I was 8 weeks at this point as I got the positive result 4 weeks ago.  My uterus is usually in a hard to find position and this time was no exception and so it took a few minutes to locate the fetus.  He found it and saw the heart beating immediately. Doctor Martin continued checking out a few other things and stopped at one spot.  He indicated that he was seeing something else and says,  “It looks like another heartbeat or it could just be blood flow, but it’s hard to tell with this machine.  I want to get a better look with the better machine in the other room.”  

Brian and I laughed it off.  Brian made the comment that there are absolutely no history of twins in the family to which my doc replied, “family history has to start somewhere.”

We waited 20 -30 minutes for the tech to be available and we laughed that it would be crazy if there were two, but we weren’t overly concerned.  If I was going to have twins it would have happened when I was on fertility treatments with one of the first 3. 

Finally we started the second ultrasound.  The baby was located and then Doc Martin pointed out the reason for the closer look.  “There is definitely something there, and it looks like another heartbeat.”  To which Brian questions…”Could it be anything else?  A pulsating mass maybe?”  At this point he still was looking at all other possibilities…”Not with an embryonic sac.” 

Stunned silence…I started sweating and pulling on my hair.  There are two babies with distinct heartbeats and what is crazy to me is they only measure 6 weeks.  So the timing is off and my cycle is once again unreliable.  But they both measure exactly the same. 

To say we are shocked is an understatement.  This really changes everything.  Our lives are going to change drastically in a few months.  I hope I am able to stay sane.  I am wondering how I am going to handle the day to day things as we get toward the end.  I can only imagine how HUGE I am going to get.  I wonder what we are going to do about a car…I wonder how long it is going to take to go anywhere with 4 kids under 3.    I wonder if I will ever get sleep again. 

I have to admit that sharing this news is pretty fun.  The most common reaction is “Your kidding me!  or Seriously?”  Then the laughing…I think people are excited for us but are really glad it’s not them. 

The girls are really excited and are already arguing over who has to hold the boy and who gets to hold the girl (the only twins they know are a boy and a girl).  When I tell Wes I have 2 babies in my tummy he tells me he does too.  Charlie….sweet Charlie will be barely 2 when all this goes down. 

This will be an adventure to say the least…ready or not…here we go.