Reese's 4th Birthday

Welcome to the third post of the day.:) Tuesday was Reese's 4th Birthday and we had a party that night so he for sure would have a birthday party. Karla and I made this Lightning McQueen cake, he thought it was pretty cool. We had Tim's family and some of Reese's friends over--it was a loud event.:) Cousin Jeffrey gets a big hug from Gage.
Uncle Bob sitting with all of the kiddos.
The birthday boy smiling with his cake. Gage is shooting himself in the mouth in the background.:)
Lightning McQueen slippers from cousins Titus and Kyle.
He got some very cool horses from his friends Logan and Asher.
Cousin Jeffrey sleeping with a bag on his head right in the middle of the everything.:)
Grandpa Lynn made some fun building blocks for Reese. They have had lots of fun building with them!
Gage building a tower, sticking his tongue out in serious concentration. He is a true Slabaugh!

Wedding

Last Saturday was Jana's (Tim's sister) wedding! Tim and I were stand-ups, Reese was supposed to walk down the aisle ringing bells with his cousin Titus, and Gage was supposed to sit in the wagon and throw petals with his cousin Kyle. Notice I said 'supposed to' before the boys job descriptions. They both did great at the rehearsal of course but wedding time came and Reese refused to walk down the aisle and Gage dumped all the petals in his lap and then proceeded to yell and scream the whole way down the aisle! Thankfully everyone just laughed.
Mom and sister helping lace her up in the back.
Tim helping his dad put his tie on (he was not excited about being choked to death by a tie).

It was a beautiful wedding and we are very excited about having Austin as part of our family now!! On the other hand it has been hard to accept that Jana will now live in Indiana but at least it is only 6ish hours away and not 20. We love them both and are very excited for them!!

Almost There ...

I know, I know, I know, I am a horrible blogger--I haven't updated in a very long time. So here goes, I will try to fill you in on all the happenings around the Bender house. Tuesday the 17th we went in for another ultrasound and here are some pictures from that, you have to use your imagination, the bigger they get the harder it is to get good pictures of them. According to the ultrasound approximations, Baby A weighed 5lbs. 7oz. and Baby B weighed 5lbs. 11oz.! Praise the Lord!! So hopefully by now they are each over 6lbs. In the first picture, Baby A is grabbing the bottom of his/her foot.
Baby A definitely has Tim's nose! :) He wasn't too excited about that, I just laughed!
Picture the baby looking straight at you and you will see it better.
This is the best we could get of Baby B, he/she is shy and doesn't like to cooperate for the camera.

As of today, I am 36 weeks and 6 days! They consider 37 weeks full-term for twins, so I am almost there!! Everything has been going good so far and we are very excited to meet our two little miracles! Reese is very excited and keeps asking Gage if he will be nice to the babies. :) He is so worried that Gage will hit them. Gage climbed into my lap a couple of days ago and wrapped his arms around my belly, laid his head down and said, "yuv you babies." Mommy melted!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I was thinking about it the other day and 3 out of the 5 Valentine's Days since we have been married, I have been largely pregnant! Not exactly the most romantic way to be, especially this year, I look like a giant blimp! :) But I wouldn't trade my kids (born and unborn) for the world. Speaking of, I had a weird dream last night that I had the twins and they pretty much just came out on their own with very little pushing, great huh! One was a girl and one was a boy,the weird part, was that they were fully clothed! :) In case any of you are wondering, we still have no idea whether they are boys or girls.

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and she said that I am dilated to 1, but that my cervix is still very high so I could still go for another couple of weeks. She also said that they don't usually let twins go more than 37-38 weeks. So I have about 3 weeks left at the most! Part of me is very ready to have them out and in my arms and the other part of me is scared out of my mind!! My prayer for labor is that things go very quickly and that I can have them both vaginally. They are both head down so that is very encouraging! She told me that she strongly recommends an epidural because if the second baby is not in the right position after the first one is out then she might have to stick her arm way up in there and turn the baby! She said "that can be very uncomfortable", I think she might have made the understatement of the year!!
I have an ultrasound on Tuesday so I will post more baby pictures then.

This week has been a week of getting haircuts, chiropractor treatments, and painting. We all got haircuts this week, Tim has never actually paid to get his hair cut before and he looks very nice. Reese and I went to the salon as well and he did such a good job, he sat there perfectly still and even giggled a couple of times when she tickled him with the clippers. This coming from the boy who screamed and cried through the first dozen haircuts of his life. I was very proud of him! Gage also got his first haircut ever! Kim did it and he just sat there like this is no big deal. I also took the boys for chiropractor treatments and this was the first time that neither one was scared or cried. It amazes me how fast they are growing up. As for the painting, my mom and my sister painted the back bedroom that will soon be Reese's room. It looks very nice. I'm not quite sure why we have waited this long to do it but oh well. He is very excited to move into his new room!

Sorry this post has no pictures but I will try to post again soon.

Crazy week!!!

It's been a while since I last posted and I'm not sure where to even start. Since my memory is failing me these days and I can't remember anything beyond last weekend--I will start there. Last Friday we headed out to Indiana to help Austin and Jana with their apartment renovations. We left our boys at Grandma's house and away we went. Tim's two sisters (Jana and Karla) went with us and of course my husband managed to get us there in record time even with a couple of traffic jams (Hmm, that whole marrying someone like your dad might have some merit:). Your probably thinking how in the world a woman who is 7 months pregnant with twins helped with renovations--well, I didn't. At first I felt really useless because I can't bend and I can't be around paint and I can't lift anything super heavy and I could go on and on but the point is, I got over it and greatly enjoyed spending my time at Uncle Kerm's house just lounging around and reading--not something I get to do very often, if ever. We had a great time spending time with Tim's family--they are wonderful--sometimes I wonder if it's fair that I have a wonderful family and I got to marry into a wonderful family! Anyway, now that I have overused the word wonderful:). Tim also got to go snowmobiling with Uncle Kerm in 0 degree temperatures. The picture below is him looking oh so thrilled that I insisted taking a picture of him in his getup.
We arrived home safe and sound on Sunday and picked up our boys, who were very glad to see Mommy and Daddy but also had a great time at both Grandmas houses.

So far Monday has been my only day at home this week and of course I felt a little lazy after being gone all weekend. Tuesday I headed to Mercy Hospital for my first non-stress test. I have to go in twice a week until I have the twins. Basically they hook me up to monitors and make sure everything is going well with the babies. It takes approximately 45 minutes and then I am free to go. On Tuesday I had a nurse that I would describe as a pessimistic realist. She thought it was her job to tell me all the bad things that could happen and that I would be very lucky to make it another 2-3 weeks. I left the hospital and told God that I did not agree with anything she spoke over me and that I would in fact have healthy twins and I will make it at least another 4-6 weeks.

Wednesday was a doctor's appointment at which she said everything looks good and I have no signs of premature labor--Praise the Lord!!

Thursday I got a Shiatsu massage and he told me that Baby A is head down again (PTL) and that Baby B is slanted down headfirst so I am feeling very positive and encouraged that I will be able to have a normal delivery for both of them. Oh and before I ever got to my massage I (true to myself) got stuck in an Amish guy's driveway! Tim came and pulled me out, it was rather embaressing. Then I almost couldn't make it in and out of my parent's driveway. As if I wasn't frustrated enough with all of that, on the way home my battery light came on in the van. I didn't think it could be the battery because it's less than a year old. I made it to my parent's house and talked to my dad and he said that it is the alternator--great! One good thing is that my dad is the alternator king. Along with all of my drama, my husband had a pretty bad day at work as well and couldn't take us home because he didn't get home until 2 something in the morning. So my wonderful mom brought us home so the boys could go to bed. Tim told me that even though we thought it wasn't a very good day that only means something good is going to happen soon. We are praying for that anyway. I am very thankful for my family and that we are all safe and sound.

Today I am going back to the hospital for another non-stress test and then I am going to go with my sister to a Brad Paisley concert in Moline!!! Very excited about that and hopefully the twins will be okay with the noise. :)

Here are some updated pictures of my daily growing self. I am 32 weeks. Gage thought he should show Daddy where the babies are.

Off To The Doctor

Yesterday was appointment day! It didn't quite go as planned but everything worked out fine. I couldn't start my van because it was negative 20 degrees and my van apparently isn't a fan of the cold. So Lynn graciously came up and tried to start it but alas I am not the only stubborn one in our family--it would not start. So it ended up that Jana and I went to Iowa City in Lynn's big ol' gray truck! We were only 25 minutes late for my doctor's appointment (just trying to live up to the Miller standards:). Dr. Clevenger said everything looks good and I am cleared to go to Indiana next weekend. Yay!!! On the way out of the room she told me to stay boring, she likes boring. Next Jana and I headed off to the mall for a little refreshment and some exercise as it was a few hours until my ultrasound. Since Iowa City schools were cancelled yesterday because of the frigid temperatures and snow, the mall was much busier than I expected. It is beyond me why someone would take a baby out on a day like that. Anyway after browsing around for 3 hours and only leaving with one purchase--pullups, we headed back to Westside Imaging where Jana got to drink free coffee and we got the privilege once again of peeking into the world of the amazing miracles inside of me. They are growing extremely well--Baby B weighs approx. 3lbs. 8 oz. and Baby A weighs approx. 3lbs. 11 oz. They are getting so big and while my belly and the rest of my body says otherwise, I look forward to them growing another 2-3 lbs each. Baby A decided that being head down was not as fun as being kicked in the head by Baby B so we are praying that in the next few weeks it gets sick of that and decides to flip around again and get ready for the Amazing Entrance into our scary world. The ultrasound technician said that there is still some moving room but will get less and less the bigger they get. It is all so amazing that there really are two little munchkins swimming around inside of me--I can't wait to meet them!

Foggy

Wow, it has been a while since I posted last. Right now I feel like I am in a fog--my head is full and I am extremely tired! But I am praising God that my family has stayed healthy and away from the flu bug that has been going around! I am now 30 weeks pregnant and I am supposed to be going to the doctor tomorrow--we'll see if that happens since it is supposed to snow again tonight and tomorrow. I love winter! Today I was in one of three places: the couch, my bed or in front of my computer. My bed was my favorite place but I am sure I will pay for that tonight when it takes me 2 hours to go sleep. My house has also payed for my lack of movement today. This morning Reese came up to me (he wasn't wearing socks) and said "Mom, I wish that I wouldn't have to step on yucky stuff (meaning crumbs of food) when I walk through the dining room." I had to keep myself from laughing because he was so serious. You have to love the honesty of a three year old. If my husband had said that I would not have been laughing. :) Reese is growing up so fast. Last week he learned which hand is left and which is right--he is so proud of himself. He keeps talking about the babies and how he is going to help Mommy when they come out. He told his Sunday School teacher that he is the only one that can hold them when they come out. He is also going to teach Gage not to hit the babies. :) He is my sweet, sensitive little boy with a huge heart!