Toddler Tales and Four-Inch Miracles

This past weekend, we painted our spare bedroom to move Easton into. This room is much smaller and we definitely need the bigger room for the twins. So Saturday we painted and started moving Easton's stuff into his new room! We were going to keep him in the crib for a while longer (he's just over a year and a half) but of course the crib wouldn't fit out of the nursery door. Since we already had the toddler bed (Amazon deal!), we decided to give it a shot. A new bedroom and a new bed in the same day, should be interesting! Well, he went to sleep without getting out of the bed, but I prepared myself for being up all night. I watched the monitor like a hawk.  Did he need me? Nope. Did he fall out of the bed? Twice. Did it even wake him up? Nope. I went in both times to put him back into his bed, but that little stinker slept soooo much better than I thought he would.

Sometimes, my son is so cooperative. He is a good little boy. He doesn't really throw too many fits, if I say no, he listens. In times like this I'm blown away with his easy-going attitude! Put me in a big boy bed in a brand new room, no problem, Mom!

BUT....

Try and give me my milk in a sippy cup? HECK NO, MOM!!!

Easton had his 18 month appointment a few weeks ago and the doc said he shouldn't have a bottle anymore. I was irritated (don't they have better things to do than critique my choice of beverage container?!). He drinks from a sippy cup, a straw, even from a regular cup with no problems... but his milk has always been in a bottle. He drinks it right down and we don't let him go to bed with it or anything. What's the big deal? Well, last night I tried to give him his milk in a sippy cup. Silly mom. He took one sip, gave me the dirtiest look, and threw it.  That's my son! Such a stubborn little thing when he wants to be. I like to blame his dad for the stubborn genes, but if we're being honest, I'm probably worse than the two of them put together.

As frustrating as it can be, living with a toddler sure makes life interesting! The stubbornness and refusal to eat normal food is strongly outweighed by all the wonderful things he does. He gives us kisses for no reason sometimes. He plays with my hair and wants me to put my head on his while we rock before bed. He helps me unload the dishwasher and is so darn adorable while doing it. He begs to play bubbles and runs down the hallway when I say the word "bath." He's such a sweetheart and I'm blessed to be his momma. And gosh-darn it, if he wants to keep using his bottle for a little while longer, I'm going to let him!

Of course I have to bring my other kids into the conversation, so here's the twin update for the week: Today my precious, little babies are 4 inches long (crown to rump). They both weigh around 2.5 ounces and are the size of navel oranges. I definitely look like I have multiple oranges under my shirt. Their little hearts are capable of pumping 25 quarts of blood a day! In a few weeks I will have my anatomy ultrasound at the hospital, which will check to make sure their growth is right on track. From that point on, I will have an ultrasound every 4 weeks. These scans will check to make sure both babies are growing at the same rate. Normally, a doctor will just measure your belly to make sure the baby is on track... if I remember correctly, it should measure as many centimeters as you are weeks along (i.e. 30 cm = 30 weeks).  But since there are two babies, that method won't work. The monthly ultrasounds will make sure that both babies are the same size. They both have separate placentas so the risk is less, but in some twin pregnancies one baby is much smaller than the other and that can have serious problems. Unfortunately, twin pregnancies are high risk in a lot of ways but I know God will take care of me and my twins. I'm staying positive and praying for my little oranges!

Courtesy of thebump.com

This coming weekend, we will begin work on the twins' nursery, if I ever find the right shade of navy paint. I will be sure to post pictures of our progress. I'm so happy to be finally channeling my excitement into productive work.  I've got to do something, there's a whole lot of pregnancy left and it's going so slow. I blame the fact that it hasn't hit 30 degrees in weeks. The never ending WNY winters just make time go so very slow!

Well, thanks for reading my thoughts. Hope you all can get a chuckle out of my toddler tales, and I hope you all will continue to pray for our little family as it's getting bigger!

Welcoming Trimester 2!

As of yesterday, trimester one is over! It wasn't a bad trimester really... some nausea, a lot of tiredness, but so much excitement. From telling our families Christmas morning, to calling them all to say "TWO BABIES!!!! There's TWO BABIES in there!", there were many more wonderful moments than there were crappy ones.  Not to mention finding out that we were going to have two sons! It was a great trimester, but I'm on to the next. This one will entail more appointments, more ultrasounds, painting the nursery, registering for gifts (yes, I'm having a shower... I'm spoiled by my family. They are the best), and feeling those babies kick. It's so exciting. My belly is growing and I'm happily wearing stretchy pants all the time now. Here is the first few progression pics of the bump:

Honestly, it doesn't even look like much of a difference. But I know it is. Week 10 bump could be sucked in; week 14 bump cannot, and is starting to cover my toes already. It's so weird to be showing so soon, I didn't take my first bump picture until 19 weeks with Easton.  I guess with your second baby you pop earlier anyway, and to throw an extra kid in there it makes sense to have quite a bump. Either way, I love it! I'm not the type of girl to cry because she looks fatter with a belly. I'm fully embracing all aspects of pregnancy. I guess having a miscarriage makes you appreciate the things that come with pregnancy... nausea, YAY! Food aversion, great! Constipation, I'll take it! Going to bed at 8pm, wonderful! Does is suck sometimes? Sure. Is it worth it?  HECK YEAH!!!

On a completely different note, I have to at least once reference the name of my blog. This right here is why it's called Chats Over Cheerios:

This, folks, is my life. This precious baby boy eating his Cheerios makes my heart full. I can't possibly be mad that 3/4's of the bowl ends up in his lap. We have the best time having our chats over a bowl of Cheerios. <3 

Two of a Kind

As I'm sitting here on Monday morning, reflecting on the past weekend, I can't help but be overwhelmed with gratefulness. I'm no fool in thinking that I made this life for myself. I did nothing, except to try and listen for God's direction, and I know I fell short in that too. He has blessed me with so much, and I do not deserve it. But that's my God. I'm reminded of this verse: "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:11) I know that I LOVE giving my son good gifts. It makes sense that God would want to do the same for us. The gifts He gives are not the materialistic things. They are the things that make your life rich. Not money rich, it's like chocolate rich. Think dove chocolate versus dollar store crap. (my metaphors make sense in my head)

So anyway, on to my weekend. Saturday morning my parents and two sisters, and Jeremy's parents and two sisters went with us to breakfast. We ate, we laughed, I chugged water so my bladder would be full for the ultrasound. Then we headed to Baby's Bungalow. Their set-up is great: a dim-lit room, comfy couches, a huge tv for everyone to watch the ultrasound on. We had 10 people shoved in that room, all eager to see my two little babies. Once they popped up on the screen, there were "awwwww's" around the room. Then it turned to sniffles. It's safe to say there are a lot of people who will love these twins.

If you've had ultrasounds, you know the emotions that come with it. Watching your little miracle in there moving around, heart beating, is just indescribable. The ultrasound tech told us that she could easily tell the gender of both twins! What a relief. I kept thinking how lame it would be to throw a gender reveal party with no genders to reveal....

Alright, fast forward 5 LONG hours later. We're at my parent's house, both sides of the family are there. We said the party would start at 5 and we'd do the reveal after everyone got some snacks, maybe around 5:30. It was 4:59, everyone was there, some people had snacks, close enough! Jeremy was ready to go. So here's the video:

Two boys! Two more boys! We are so excited! We always said that we wanted lots of boys, and we're off to a great start. More trucks, more camo, more legos, more tools! Easton will be so excited to have brothers. They will be best buds. We are truly blessed to be having what we were really hoping for! (I'm sure I will change my mind about that once the first elbow goes through my wall, or the first baseball goes through my window, or during the first trip to the ER cause someone fell out of a tree).

I've seen my twins on an ultrasound 4 times now, and yet sometimes it doesn't seem real. But last night, it hit me. I know I have a growing belly, I know I have pictures of them, but when I felt movement for the first time last night, it all connected. These two precious babies are growing inside of me right now. And before 14 weeks, I could feel them. Not the "oh, maybe that was the babies." It was the "oh my gosh, that was them!". Cue the tears. What a miracle.

I will end this with saying thank you to all who are reading this. To you who care enough to listen to my thoughts about my pregnancy. Thank you to the countless people who have said congratulations. To the people who have hugged me. To the people who have rejoiced with me. Thank you to the hundreds of people who have liked my posts on facebook. It seems silly, but that's hundreds of people who are excited for me and my beautiful family. We appreciate your kind words, and we covet your prayers.

The Waiting Game

2 Days. 2 DAYS! I can hardly contain myself. I have a stupid grin on my face at work this morning, behind all the snot from this lovely cold I caught. In two days, we are heading to Baby's Bungalow to find out my twin's gender. Baby's Bungalow is this cute little place that does elective ultrasounds, and boasts gender determination at 13 weeks gestation. By Saturday, I will be 13 weeks, 3 days and we are hoping to find out both genders. We have both families coming with us to watch the ultrasound, followed by a big party in the evening with the whole family from both sides. There we will all find out together and eat and party the night away (or until about 8pm... my new bedtime). I cannot wait!!

I had my second prenatal appointment last week and my mom got to go with me. She was thrilled that they did an ultrasound to look at the heartbeats. I'm pretty sure these two babies have her wrapped around their fingers already! Other than the normal pap smear/physical (with Mom in the room... AWKWARD!), we just chatted about the babies. My doctor is surprisingly supportive of my desire to have a VBAC which is wonderful! The only stipulation: one or both have to be head down. I also have to deliver at a bigger hospital that is more accustomed to doing these types of deliveries. The doc said that she used to do breech deliveries during her residency, but isn't comfortable with them anymore. I love my doctor. She is so blunt, like me.  She said when a lady comes in "with legs hanging out of her vagina" then she will have to do a breech delivery. Such a wonderful image. Just think about it.

In other news, I have a doula! I'm very excited to have her help me through this. I'm not going to lie, the delivery scares me just a little bit, so it will be great to have a positive, encouraging lady by my side.  Her business is called Baby's Breath and she is a friend of mine. She is just starting out and will get to throw a VBAC with twins on her resume if all works out. I'm so glad her and I can help each other out. It's safe to say our friendship will be different after she sees me in labor and delivering babies. It like being drunk, some people are happy drunks and some are absolutely miserable drunks. I'm sure there are people out there that go through labor with a smile on their face, but the majority probably does some yelling/punching/fit-throwing. If anything, I probably won't take out my pain on my doula, it will be my poor husband. I remember my sister in labor and her husband turned the TV to Braveheart... maybe not the movie you want to make your wife watch during labor. I can just picture Jer doing the same thing. But I guess we will see! Should be interesting.

Last update: yes, I'm showing! The bump is not entirely made up of the chicken fingers and honey mustard I've been eating. Doc says I should be feeling movement in two or three weeks! So exciting. Babies are the size of peaches this week. Precious! Makes me thing of Psalm 139:

"For you created my inmost being;

    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

    your works are wonderful,

    I know that full well.

15 

My frame was not hidden from you

    when I was made in the secret place,

    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

16 

Your eyes saw my unformed body;

    all the days ordained for me were written in your book

    before one of them came to be."

It is crazy to think that every day of my twin's lives are already known by God. He knows what they will look like, what their personalities will be like, what hobbies they will have, what friends they will make, when they will get married. What an awesome God we serve! And to think that he is carefully knitting them together in my womb right now! What a miracle.

Well, thanks for reading all my rambling, so much is going through my head right now! It's nice to write it all out. I will be sure to update on Saturday with genders!