Week 14. Birthday Celebrations. Week 15.

Life. Is. Crazy. I know it will only get crazier when these littles arrive, but it sure has been difficult keeping up with my weekly updates this time around. January is always a busy month for us - packing up Christmas stuff, planning and prepping Josiah's birthday party, and finding time to celebrate my birthday with friends and family. Josiah's usually takes over mine, but I don't mind having a low key, simple get together.

I'll try and do this update in the order that it all happened...

Week 14
I hadn't been feeling the twins move a whole lot, but I started noticing a pattern of feeling them in the evenings. This week I hadn't noticed at all and it kind of made me wonder worry. I didn't think about it too much though. My mom was arriving later in the week for birthdays, so I had plenty to keep my mind occupied...cleaning, party favors, party shopping, party, party, party!

(no baby bump photo...unless you count the snapshots from birthday celebrations)

I decided I wanted to do brunch with just some girlfriends the morning of Josiah's party. I wasn't sure if it'd be too much for one day, but it was actually pretty perfect. I am so very grateful for the ladies in my life. They are my family away from family. My community. My village. God is good.

Sound the Alarm! Josiah turns 3 years old!
Friday was his actual birthday, but we were having his party on Saturday. I had this great plan to have it at a local fire station - several friends in the past year had their sons party there and I loved the idea! I was looking for inexpensive, simple, fun and this was the perfect thing for our little boy! So many of his little buddies came out to celebrate, it was wonderful!

Birthday donut on his actual birthday

His birthday shirt I made and those awesome fire truck shoes to match!

Sunday was my birthday, which I had reserved for family time. We went out to eat at PF Changs in Austin. I had never been and it was delicious. I made sure to go on an empty stomach. Loved getting to celebrate with my little family and my mom. It's been nice having a birthday close to Josiah's, so she has an excuse to come out!

Dinner at PF Changes. Turning 31 never tasted so good!

Week 15
It had been such a busy weekend! I was looking forward to some down time. Luckily I had my OB appointment Monday morning while my mom was still here. I was just expecting to hear heartbeats, but my OB likes to use the ultrasound machine to view the heartbeats - less guesswork on what you're hearing, especially when there's two littles in there. It was a nice surprise that my mom got to see the twins rather than just hear them :)

Little noggins

This is the first appointment Josiah has been to. He's a very active little boy and he had been extremely difficult while gramma was here (testing every limit = not being obedient to mommy and daddy). I was dreading him coming with us, but I knew my mom could handle him. Plus, it was kind of fun to get to show him the "two babies in mommy's tummy" for the first time. He still doesn't really know what's going on, but he knows something is different. One of the twins was very active during the ultrasound - put my worry at ease for sure - and both heartbeats were good. Also, my blood pressure was normal (praise God!).We ended up going to Motherhood after my appointment because I needed some basic shirts to further my maternity wardrobe. I ended up getting a few that I can dress up and accessorize with scarves and jewelry. We're going for comfort here. My back is already starting to hurt, especially if I stand for a longer period of time. I don't know if it's because this is my second pregnancy or it's because it's twins, but I can feel the stretching and growing of these littles a lot more than I ever remember with Josiah. Sometimes it's fairly uncomfortable. I definitely notice when my belly has grown overnight!

We had a great time with my mom while she was here. There were some moments that were really tough dealing with Josiah's behavior. It made me worry a little about when she's out here this summer to help with the twins, how he'll behave for us. I'm praying that the time between now and then will help him mature a little and us as parents can be even more consistent with discipline. It's going to be such a transitional time for him (and everyone) and I want to be able to parent him well still as well as make him feel special and included. I have so many prayers for my boy during this time of just the three of us. So many prayers.

Brunch at Kerby Lane Cafe in Austin before dropping gramma off at the airport

Next week I have my MFM (high rish) appointment. I'm prayerful we'll be able to find out genders - here's to hoping the littles will cooperate! Richard may get to go with me. If he does, we will also bring Josiah. I would love to have them there when we find out genders. I'm also really eager to get started planning the nursery and stuff. One thing I've heard a lot with twins (and is already kind of in my nature) is to be as prepared as you can! I'm all about getting done what I can as early as I can before it gets too difficult or if certain things complicate it (bed rest, twins coming early, etc.). Along with finding out genders, another prayer I have is peace. I've been praying for a boy and a girl, but I also know that the Lord will give us what he sees fit. I want to be at peace with that. Whether it's two boys, two girls, or one of each. Trust. Just trust.

Hopefully I'll have some exciting news to share next week! Stay tuned...