Flashback Friday

Most of you are pretty unaware of what life was like in Anchorage and these pics are probably only going to skew your view even more, but here goes...

Rob, Meisje, Gideon, and I would bundle up almost twice a week to go cross country skiing before   Rob went to work.

 Meisje loved running in the snow and she would get extremely excited every time we went out.

       

Sometimes Porter and Callie and Bryon would join us---Good thing we got the double chariot!

 

We had the amazing opportunity to go dog sledding with Travis and Sarah from Turning Heads Kennel not once, but twice! I have tons more pics and even some video to share, but that deserves its own post.

 

         

I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into Alaskan life!!

Momo Twins Pregnancy Update

I feel like I should have started doing this little survey weeks ago, but we all know that I'm a procrastinator and not too great at this whole blogging thing, so here goes! 

How far along: 23 1/2 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I lost 12lbs in my first trimester and since then I have gained it all back, plus 10lbs! I consider this a victory.

Maternity clothes: I mostly lounge around in yoga pants or in my swimsuit at the beach/pool. When I have to actually get dressed I wear maxi skirts or do the rubberband trick on my jeans ;)  I only own 2 maternity shirts, but that's gonna change real soon.

Stretch marks: none thus far!

Sleep:I get up 2-3 times to use the bathroom at night and recently my hips have been bugging me when I lay down. Also, as soon as I lay down my brain usually goes into overdrive about having twins.

Best moment last week: Seeing a glimpse of "baby b" on a 4D ultrasound. We usually just do the regular ultrasounds but my doctor was feeling generous and "baby b" was cooperating so he switched to 4D for a moment. She looks so beautiful and perfect!

Food cravings: Cafe Rio, mashed potatoes, french fries, hash browns...anything starchy and salty. Eggs sunnyside up.

Gender: Girls

Labor signs: if I do too much or lay flat on my back I immediately start having contractions

Belly button - in or out? still in

What I miss: Sleeping through the night and eating eggs sunnyside up.

What I am looking forward to: increased survival rates in the coming weeks

Milestones: Tomorrow we are getting our Swagger Wagon!!

Swagger Wagon

Let me paint a picture for you...

I was fresh off my LDS mission (I had actually been home for about a year) and looking for a car to purchase. I wasn't planning on getting married or having kids anytime soon, but I did figure that it was in the cards at some point. I was going to pay good money for this car and I wanted it to last me at least the next 10 years, so I did a lot of research. And when I say a lot, I mean A LOT. I scoured the internet for weeks reading about how to buy a car and what features I wanted and which ones I absolutely didn't. I really wanted a Subaru Forrester---that was the ideal---but I also knew that if I wanted to buy it used and with low mileage that it was still out of my price range. Other than low mileage, AWD/FWD, and trunk space to fit camping/climbing gear, one of my big requirements was that it would comfortably fit two carseats in the back. After a couple of trips to different dealers and private sellers I finally settled on the Suzuki SX4. It fulfilled every requirement I had for it and it looked great too! I even made triple sure that two carseats could fit in the back. Not because I had kids, but because I figured that in the next ten years I would probably have two kids and then "we" (my mythical family and I) would have saved up enough to buy a minivan and I would relinquish my "fun car" to my husband. That was the idea at least.

Her name is Suzy, and she's a champ

Fast forward 3 years and here I am married, with a 10 month old, AND twin girlies on the way. Ladies and Gentlemen, there is no way  to fit 3 carseats in the back of this car. I thought that I had been doing pretty well with this 10 year car plan, even with getting pregnant so fast a second time I figured it would be a couple years until we dared to have a third child and then we could reevaluate finances and determine if we could keep my suzuki and be a two car family.

I guess it's true what they say, "if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans for the future"!

Honestly though, I wouldn't have it any other way. I love these girls so much already and I'm excited to have them join the family. We have had tons of adventures in that Suzuki and it's been an awesome car for our family. Admittedly, I will be very sad to see it go BUT I am also very excited to have a "swagger wagon". Automatic opening doors? yes please. Room for all the kiddos? definite must. Low enough clearance that I don't die putting the carseats in? absolutely.

With that said, tonight we venture out into the world to find ourselves a minivan. Wish us luck!

Also, I'd like to thank Toyota for making such an awesome commercial that has ultimately helped sway my husband into being excited (or at least okay) with driving a minivan.

P.S. if you or anyone you know is looking for an awesome adventure car that can fit two carseats in the back and still has room for camping gear in the trunk, let me know! 

The Final Countdown

Ok, so not the final Final Countdown, but only 1 week to go until I check in to the hospital. After that we begin a new countdown---8 weeks of hospital life until the girls come!! As crazy as it sounds, I am actually looking forward to the hospital. Modern technology has made things for momo mamas so much more manageable in some ways and I'm looking forward to knowing how my girls are doing 24/7.

Anyhow, the last few weeks have been pretty darn crazy. My doctor allowed me to go on a weekend trip to Vegas so that Gideon and I could see Lola and Papa Tony while Rob drove through to Utah to attend his best friend's wedding. A good time was had by all. The next weekend we had an epic Higham Family Reunion in which all 12 of us were reunited for what will be the last time for 2 years! We went to sea world and the movies and the beach...it was crazy awesome. This last weekend Rob and I left Gideon with his Aunt Sarah and headed to a sweet little beach bungalow for a getaway weekend before the hospital.

Here are little snippets of all of those happenings and as soon as I steal the photos from Rob's phone you will have a much more fun picture of what went down:

Papa Tony and Lola spoiled the junk out of Gideon and got him a highchair.

Pool time with cousins

Gideon enjoying his nighttime bottle on the beach before

the fireworks

Sadie and Ryan were attached at the hip at Sea World

Despite the look on his face, Gideon really enjoyed hanging with 

Aunt Shannon

Sadie and Ryan would put on their "princess dresses" so that they could twirl

Gideon is in love with his Aunt Becky

Beach days are the best!!

We woke up to this picture text while we were on our getaway.

As much as we needed some "us time", we sure missed our little boy!

My husband is pretty hot.

Yeah, we ate all of that. 

I promised you a video...

...and I finally outsmarted the technology demons who were preventing me from posting it. This is Gideon with his balloon from the Pet Fair. Please excuse the first bit of the video as the technology demons still won the editing battle.

Confessions of a stay at home mom

Ok, this is gonna put me in a bad light to some of you, but I don't mind admitting I'm weak. Mostly because I am.

Being a stay at home mom (I believe SAHM is the term hip blogger sahms use) was the only thing I ever really wanted. Sure, I wanted an education and I wanted to travel and work BUT I had decided from a young age that I would take those things as they came until I found the man of my dreams and we could settle down and start a family. Luckily, I've had the opportunity to experience both lifestyles. I could go into the crazy adventures I had before I met Rob and settled down, but that's a post for another time. Instead I'm going to tell you how hard it was to transition from that lifestyle to this one...

It was hard. Like calculus hard. And if calculus wasn't hard for you then think 'art theory' hard. And if neither of those were hard for you then you should definitely try your hand at being a sahm.  I don't want to give you the wrong idea---I love being a mommy---but it took me a while to love everything that comes with it. And I still don't love everything about it (read: poopy diapers) but some of the things that I was loathe to do at first have become the best part of my day.

The biggest and probably saddest reflection on me as a person would be how I felt the first couple of months when Gideon would wake up from a nap. His naps were never long enough. I never had enough me time. His crying made my body hurt. He was notorious for leaving large presents in his diaper after naps. The list goes on and on. But then something magical happened. Gideon started smiling. And laughing. And rolling over! Suddenly this thing that was leeching all my energy had started to give me energy. I no longer dreaded his awake time. I even started to enjoy it! There are days now when I can't wait until he wakes up from his nap so that I can read to him or tickle him or show him a toy that I think he will like.

There were lots of other hard transitional moments (or months) for me and although I'd love to complain about expound upon them right now, I'd much rather show you some cute pics of Gideon from the Pet Fair we went to this weekend.

"what kind of dog are you?"

The fam minus papa

Perfect fit!

"excuse me, can you tell me where you get groomed? I just love your bangs!"

But if not

Today I want to share some of my feelings surrounding our precious MoMo babies. 

When we were first told that we were having twins I was neither surprised nor shocked. In the weeks leading up to our first appointment I had an overwhelming feeling that it just might be so--- I read up on the odds of conceiving twins if they don't run in the family (which they don't) yet still I thought it just might be so. I didn't tell Rob about my feelings because with only a 3% chance even I kind of thought I was insane. But the morning of our due-date-determining-ultrasound rolled around and as we were packing Gideon up I said "Are you ready to go see your little brothers or sisters?" I hadn't even realized that I had added the 's' but Rob caught it and as we were sitting there watching two little heartbeats on the screen he called me out on it. 

Unfortunately, that exciting news was accompanied with the suspicion that the twins were Monoamniotic Monochorionic. My midwife didn't tell us much about it that day, only that it was a high-risk situation and that we needed a better ultrasound. We set up our 3d ultrasound for the next day and I went home and proceeded to google everything I could about "MoMo twins". It was quite a disheartening experience as I read stories of other women and their loss. 

I read about the odds.

I read about how most doctors still advocate abortion in these cases.

I read about failed experiments and studies. 

I read about the lack of an effective treatment plan. 

I read about delivering the babies by c-section at least 8 weeks early.

I read about the lifelong effects of premature birth. 

But I also read about the miracles.

I read about the outpouring of love that people in these situations received.

I read about mothers who tenderly reached through incubators to caress their babies who were born at only 24 weeks. 

I read about twins who were born at 32 weeks who were pulled out of the womb hugging. 

I read about families who overcame all odds and brought home healthy, happy twins.

And that is when Heavenly Father reminded me of his love and his presence in my life. Most often he does so in the form of bringing scriptures to my heart and mind and on this particular day it was no different. The Spirit called upon the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego to teach me, or reteach rather, the lesson of but if not. 

For those of you who don't know the story, it finds place in the book of Daniel in the Old Testament. King Nebuchadnezzar reigned over the land and decided to build a "golden image" and commanded all to worship it. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego knew that God had commanded them to not worship idols, therefore, they chose to go against the commandments of the king. King Nebuchadnezzar was pretty upset about this and so "in his rage and fury" he called these 3 gentlemen before him and told them that if they didn't worship his golden image he would throw them into a fiery furnace. He mocked their belief in God and asked them if their God would save them. This is their reply---

"If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to ^adeliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us"

Now, that statement in itself is a huge show of faith, but that is not the lesson that Heavenly Father wanted me to learn. That lesson comes in what they say after that---

"But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not ^aserve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

But if not. But if not. But if not. 

These men knew that Heavenly Father had all power to save them and they did not doubt his ability to do so. However, they knew that Heavenly Father's plans are often different than our own.  

And this is my great lesson. I know that Heavenly Father has all power to save my little girls and to bring them safely into my arms but if not, I know that he will love them and care for them himself until that day comes when I will see them in a perfected state. That knowledge is the reason that Rob and I have decided not to live in fear of "the worst case scenario" but to embrace every moment of this pregnancy and celebrate our little girls. We love them so much already! 

If you'd like to know how things turned out for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, follow this link and read verses 19-30 http://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/dan/3.17-18?lang=eng#16