Some Things I Want To Remember

Lucy calls bananas "Gahleegahs"

When Janet and Arlene watched the kids during Grandma's memorial service, Hampton told them, "Four year olds are alergic to crackers, so you might want to feed these to the babies."

When Janet and Arlene asked him if Sweetie got him one of the toys he responded, "No. I got those for Sweetie when she was seven and that was eight years ago."

Sweet Big Brother

Lucy and Reid are very much at the "mine" stage of toddlerhood. They steal each others things, bicker over toys and hit/bite at the drop of a hat. Several times in the last week or so I have "caught" Hampton trying to help Lucy and Reid "work out their differences." In the sweetest voice he can find, he gently says, "Guys, my Bible verse tells us to be kind to each other." It doesn't stop the arguing, but it sure melts my heart.

WOW!

From across Happi Names Hampton yelled, "Mommy, there's poop over here, but it's not mine...and it's all over my hands." It was Reid's...AWESOME

I love this boy!!!

As a parent, sometimes you feel like what you do isn't working...like you're beating your head against a wall when you're teaching, training and loving your kids. Once in a blue moon, you catch a glimpse of hope. Today was one of those days. When I dropped Hampton off a school today, his teacher said she wanted tell me something sweet that Hampton said. The other day they were learning the nursery rhyme, "Humpty Dumpty." They were putting sequencing cards in order to tell the story. When they came to the end Mrs. Nash asked the class what the last card represented. They all replied, "All the king's horses and all the king's men, couldn't put Humpty together again." Hampton looked up at his teacher and matter of factly said, "You know, God is really the best at fixing these kind of things." I was so proud and so thankful for the Lord's faithfulness! It's glimpses like these that keep a mommy going.

I have been meaning to blog this story for a long time, but keep forgetting. Hampton is really into pretending he is Bibleman, a superhero in the "Lord's army." He has learned all the peices of the Armor of God and often suits up in full armor to fight the "evil doers." Several weeks ago, Ben and Hampton were playing in the bounce house. Ben was tripping Hampton and Hampton was using his sword (of the Spirit of course) to try and chop Ben's legs. Mid-game Hampton ran to the corner, bowed his head and prayed, "Dear God, please help me beat him."

Hampton, you are such a blessing to our family. Our prayer is that you will always turn to the Lord no matter what the circumstance. You are precious. I love you SO MUCH and I am so proud of you just the way God made you!

Breathing a Little Easier

We listed our house today. I can breath a little easier now and most of the work is done. I'm glad. I have worked ridiculously for the past few weeks and now, all I have to do is maintain. We are having an open house this weekend and a realtors luncheon on May 8th. I'm hoping we are under contract by then though. As thankful as I am that there is a sign in our yard, today is a sad day. This is our home...and we are leaving it. I am thankful that even though we are entering a new phase of life, we still have many memories to hold on to.

When Hampton left for MDO today, things were still in a state of disarray. We were mainly ready, but still had lots of paperwork and misc stuff to clean up. When we pulled up after school, there was an exciting sign in our yard. H had fun hitting it and watching it swing (it's a fancy sign). We played in the front yard and visited with Daddy for a few minutes before we walked inside. When he walked in, I noticed him looking around, seemingly in disbelief. I asked him, "What do you think?" He slowly replied, "Mommy...our...house...it...pretty." When Ben walked in the room Hampton looked at him and said, "Daddy, our house. It pretty."

Please laugh at the sweet story and don't let it be a reflection of my housekeeping :).

Here are a few pictures of the home we have truly enjoyed. I won't say we loved it, because I'm always telling Hampton that we don't love things, we love people! That said, I love and treasure the memories we have made here.

Oh Sweet Racquet Court :)

Movin' Up...

...North that is. Ben was offered a promotion with in his company that requires that we move to Kansas City to work in the corporate office. We are frantically working to get our house on the market because we have already found a house there. By mid-summer, this will be our new home...

I'm still processing all of this, but here is an email I sent to some family...

Hey Girls,
I just thought I'd send you a link to some pics of our new house. We are in the option period now and are set to close the end of May. The sellers are going to rent it back from us until the end of June. So...we should be moving by then. We are a little anxious under the pressure of selling our house here. The last thing we want to do is pay 2 mortgages! I am really excited about the house and we have been amazingly blessed to be able to live in a home as nice as this one. That said, I am feeling really sad about leaving our life here. I love our life here...Watermark, our friends, Hampton's friends, J and A, Drew and even our neighbors. Last night as I was thinking about all the change that is about to take place, I got that homesick pit in my stomach. This is my home and I am sad to leave (crying as I type). I know there are open arms and lots of love to welcome us in KC, but change is always hard for me. Please, pray that we will continue to trust the LORD through this situation, that our house will sell quickly and for close to our asking price, and that we will all adjust well to these big changes.

Thank you for loving us and praying for us,
Elizabeth

Oh, how I dislike change!!!

What In the World

On more than one occasion over the last several days, Hampton has said...

"I take Wucy and put her in da potty and fush it and her go bye bye and den we onwy have one baby."

It's always sweet Lucy who gets flushed...poor thing.

We are working on memorizing Psalm 1 as a family. The first line is supposed to be, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,..." When I asked Hampton to say his Bible verse for me today, he started, "Blessed is the man who does not walk...he have to run in the counsel of the wicked."

35 Weeks and Counting

Sometimes I ask myself why God has been so good to us! I am 35 weeks now and have had very little restriction and no complications. The babies are growing and moving like crazy. I have reached the point of no return...if I go into labor now, there's no turning back. Dr. H has requested that I rest on my side as much as possible, but that makes my lower back and hips really hurt. I get really stiff and can hardly stand after lying down for very long. I am having contractions throughout the day and especially at night. They are growing more and more painful, but at my appt on Monday (3 days ago) I learned that those contractions are not doing anything. I'm not dilated at all. That's good news for the health of the babies, but not for my aching body. Dr.H reminded me how blessed this pregnancy has been and how thankful I should be for such an easy and healthy pregnancy. My prayer is that these babies come on their own before 38 weeks...join me! I didn't take many pictures of my growing tummy with Hampton and now I wish I had. So...here are a few, oh so embarassing, pics of my tummy now.

Hampton did not understand why I wasn't smiling for the picture, so he offered to smile for me. He is so excited to meet these babies. I hope he's still excited when they come home to STAY :).

Quick Facts

I am officially 34 weeks. Things are going well. I am having quite a few contractions and they are getting more and more painful. I have started to swell and am unable to rest enough to reduce the swelling. At our appointment 4 days ago, everything looked good. The babies still have plenty of fluid. Our baby girl weighed 4lbs 5oz and baby boy weighed 4lbs 7oz. They still have a lot of growing to do, so I need to make it as long as possible. Dr. H said that I really need to make it until at least 35 weeks. If I go into labor before then, I will be put into the hospital in order to stop labor. After 35 weeks, they will not stop labor. We are "being greedy" after 35 weeks...everyday is very valuable. He also said that, unless there are health concerns, they will not intervene at all until after 38 weeks. Based on the way things are going right now, he is confident that I will go into labor on my own before then. I am thinking they will come sometime between January 14th and 21st. My prayer and goal is that they will both be healthy and able to come home with us with no NICU time. We'll see...

Today was such a fun day. We started with breakfast with Santa followed by Christmas shopping and lunch with Daddy.

He informed Santa that he wanted an orange monster truck and a Mack truck with a blue car (which happens to be one of his gifts that he found in the garage and hasn't stopped talking about it since). We don't really talk about Santa much around here, but the breakfast was a fun outing.

Of course, I couldn't get all 4 kids in one pic.

Hampton was such a happy boy and so obedient. We made our first trip into the mall without the stroller. I intended to go into one store, purchase a gift and leave. Of course, the first 3 stores didn't have the gift we were looking to purchase. We covered some ground in that mall hand-in-hand. Hampton obeyed so well and was eager to hold my hand. As a reward for his obedience, he got to ride one of those rip off toys at the exit. He loved it and was so proud of himself for being "such good boy." We enjoyed Qdoba with Daddy and then headed to this store:
As I was unloading Hampton, the following conversation took place: H - My wan go in that 'pankin' store.
M - What?
H - My go into that 'pankin' store.
M - That's not a spanking store. What are you talking about?
H - Yes it is, see?
M - Do you want a spanking in the store?
H - No, my good boy. My not want 'pankin'.

I tried to remember the last time we went to REI and if he had indeed been disciplined inside. We hadn't been there in probably a year and I could not remember any discipline. As we approached he said, "See dat SadMan."
Do you see it?
The door handles are ores, which strongly resemble SadMan. Sweet boy!

Baby Sister

This afternoon when Hampton got up from his nap, we were snuggling on the couch when I told him that his baby sister was kicking me. I put his hand on my tummy and sure enough, she kicked. A huge grin spread across his face and he said, "My baby sister got my hand." How precious he is to me!!!

Baby Update

I had yet another sonogram yesterday to check the growth of the babies. It's always fun to see the babies. They look very different from eachother and from their big brother. I am almost 25 weeks and have entered into the "every 2 week" stage. I will have a "growth sonogram" every 4 weeks and probably a quick sonogram on the off appointments. These will be well photographed babies even before they arrive. Here are the high points from the appointment.

*He weighs 1lb 5 oz and she weighs 1lb 3 oz

*They are both ahead of schedule and say they are due Feb. 8 instead of 11

*Her head is down and really low. Her body wraps around the left side of my tummy and her feet are up high. That's what I feel in my xiphoid process.

*His head is up...digging constantly into my right ribcage. I love it! His body wraps around the right side of my tummy and his feet and bottom are in his sisters face :).

*They both have lots of healthy looking fluid surrounding them. Yippee!

*No cleft lips.

*They are both very wiggly...most of the time...all the time.

*The tightness I feel is actually contractions (which are not "productive" ie not getting me any closer to labor, which is good right now!!!). Dr. H said he wouldn't be surprised if I was having 8-10 per day.

*I gained an overwhelming 10 POUNDS in the last 4 weeks. Dr. H told me last time that I would probably gain "a substantial amount of weight" between 20 and 24 weeks, but 10 lbs, really? He wasn't at all concerned and said it was all fluid weight. I am still under a total gain of 15 lbs.

*Baths are great and would be his first suggestion to relax a contracting uterus. Thank goodness, baths have become a nightly sanctuary :)...so relaxing. With our new master bathroom came an extra deep soaker tub. I can be almost completely under water. It's amazing how good it feels to be almost weightless :)

*New prenatals...not so expensive.

*Glucose test in 2 weeks.

*Got a note to freeze my gym membership. That will help the pocket book.

I think that pretty much covers it. Maybe I'll be brave and post a pic of myself. Everyone comments on how small I am to be 6 months with twins...I may look small, but I feel very pregnant. Thanks for the compliment :)

I felt the babies move today!

We flew to KC today for a family Labor Day vacation.  After putting Hampton to bed, I was visiting with my aunt and felt the every so gentle flutter of the babies.  I don't notice it unless I'm sitting still, but it won't be long before I can feel them all the time.

Family Night Out

We took Hampton to his first "real" movie. We went to dinner at Raisin' Canes and then to the dollar movie theatre. Hampton was so excited to see a movie with Mommy and Daddy, even though he had no idea what we were going to do. He was a little restless before the movie started, but barely moved once Horton Hears a Who came on the screen. He hammered most of a bag of popcorn, a few M&M's, and some Skittles. He L-O-V-E-D it all. What a fun family event. I know fun isn't the only thing that matters, but I hope we are always a fun family. Even with a big family, this kind of fun comes cheap. We all went to dinner and the movies for less than $15. We could have saved even more money by eating at home, but it wouldn't have been as special.

When we got home from the movie I got to put Hampton to bed. Usually Ben does this so I can rest, but I wanted to rock him tonight. We read 2 terribly boring books, but he seemed to enjoy them, and then the story of Gideon's army, which sadly didn't hold his attention as well as the boring story about an otter. I got up to turn off the light and asked him if he was ready to go to bed, "No...wock...Mommy sing." So we rocked and sang a few songs. His first request is always "the fountain song"...There's a Fountain Free...one of my favorite old hymns. His second request is usually "the word song"...Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. We said a prayer and rocked for a few more minutes before he took his binky out, gave me a really slobbery kiss and said, "Night, night Mommy. Go night, night." What a perfect end to such a fun night.

Something I don't want to forget: Every night part of my prayer for Hampton is that he would be a bold and positive leader among his peers. He always repeats, "bold among peers." He used to think when I said bold, I was talking about bowling. He then talked about rolling the ball to knock down the sticks. Now he understands that bold has nothing to do with bowling, but he has no idea what bold means. Some day, I am confident he will fully understand its meaning. Precious boy!!!