A Little Twin Update

Ahhh it never gets old, seeing the word "twin" and the excitement that comes with it! I still can hardly believe twins are on their way. That is, until I look at how big and fast I am growing, and then I can rather quickly believe it! This pregnancy, I'm trying to take a few progress pics because I *love* seeing other peoples progress pics (even though I have always felt severely emotionally allergic to them in the past).

Are you ready for this? Because it is really crazy how fast twins grow! I can hardly believe it myself.

15 weeks, visiting an urban flower farm 

15 weeks 

18 weeks (SO MUCH CHANGE in just 3 weeks!)

21 Weeks . . . growing more

Now I am 23 Weeks and looking full term already! 

The twins are growing well, and the doctor commented yesterday that they are "very close together". Which did make me wonder how it could possibly be otherwise since there is so little space! He ended up ordering the glucose tolerance test yesterday (as well as a few other things) because of some recent symptoms (nothing to worry about). I am also starting on iron 3 times a day, which is very tricky to take because it is supposed to be on a pretty much empty stomach and I eat pretty much all the time. How can we make this work?!

Do you want to see the amazing twins nursery? 

Prepare yourself! 

To be entirely underwhelmed!

BUT at least we have the cribs set up and the dresser (perfect for boy/girl twins) from the previous home-owners. I am thinking about doing a Narnia theme for the nursery, and my mom suggested framing some black and white Narnia images, I love this idea! Any ideas or suggestions on that front? We also need to repair the walls and paint the room, so our work is cut out for us! (poor Pat!) 

Here is a quick shot from right before the little gender reveal party we had. 

Kateri was veryyyy hopeful to have at least 1 younger sister. Sebastian was absolutely certain that there was 1 boy and 1 girl, and would practically dissolve into tears when we told him there were 2 other possibilities. Thankfully for his emotional sake, he was right and we didn't have to deal with the fallout!

The one set of outfits I just couldn't resist buying.



Now that we know there is one boy and one girl, I am having such a hard time resisting buying baby clothes. It seems like such a long time ago that Chiara was a little baby.

And, last but not least, isn't it crazy that this cute little number is about to be a big sister to TWO?! 

A Grain of Wheat

The Grain Falls and Dies

'The Farmer comes in from the barn, leaves a bucket from the henhouse at the back door with his boots. I can hear him washing up at the mudroom's porcelain sink. He steps into the kitchen. I look up from the dishes. He's seen it already. The man can read my eyes better than he reads the skies. Sometimes all our unspoken broken speaks louder than anything we could ever say. He reads my slow breaking over the kid's lightning bolt news and all my not-enoughness that I can't even grope through the pain to find words for. 

He pulls me into himself, enfolds me. And then, into the quiet, he says it so soft I almost miss it, what I have held on to more than a thousand times since.

"You know-- everything all across this farm says the same thing, you know that, right?" He waits till I let him look me in the eye, let him look into me and all this fracturing. "The seed breaks to give us the wheat. The soil breaks to give us the crop, the sky breaks to give us the rain, the wheat breaks to give us the bread. And the bread breaks to give us the feast. There was once even an alabaster jar that broke to give him all the glory."

He looks right through the cracks of me. He smells of the barn and the dirt and the sky, and he's carrying something of the maple trees at the edge of the woods-- carrying old light. He says it slowly, like he meanst it: "Never be afraid of being a broken thing."'

~ Ann Voskamp

Did you see this short meditation a couple days ago in the Magnificat? 

It struck me so strongly!

This and That

It sure has been a long time since I have posted regularly on ye olde blog, so here is a brief update based on the last couple weeks of my phone picture roll.

We finally got around to announcing the twins to the world via the interwebs. I had an idea that I thought would be just perfect, and I got it all set up . . . and the effect was beyond underwhelming (to put it charitably), as you can see! 

So much for that! So we had to quickly run to the store and buy some cute boy-girl outfits, twist my ARM, gee whiz! I have been dying to buy all the things but have tried to resist so it was fun to have the excuse. Of course, we had to include what Nonie said when she first heard the twins were on their way!

This pregnancy has required extra doctor visits, the most frequent being an every-two-week blood draw with my incredible PCP. It is thanks to Napro (and prayers, and God's mercy) that the twins are still with us, and to my doctor for working with me even though I hadn't been charting Creighton for a few months like many napro doctors require. Sometime I would like to write more on that, but for now am so grateful to have such a great doctor. (Side note, if you need a new doctor, I HIGHLY recommend Dr Young!)

Here is my standard view as I get my blood draw every two weeks. 

The phlebotemist is very understanding and often lets Chiara climb up in my lap during the draw.

Homeschooling is chugging along, we will finish week 11 tomorrow! The kids love homeschooling, and let's just say I have to go to Confession a whole lot more frequently now. One of these days I'd like to do a quick post on all the books the kids have enjoyed, so hopefully we can get to that, too.

This past weekend, we drove to Blackwater Falls in WV to see our friends who were competing in the North American Region Finals for Irish Road Bowling (Bol-Chumann na hEireann).

Have you ever heard of it?

It is something else! The course is about 1.5 miles of winding hilly road. Each contestant hurls a small cannon ball (I think it weighs about 2 lbs) down the road. Whoever finishes in the fewest strokes, wins. I didn't bring my phone because it was sprinkling, but here is an example of how the bowl (aka cannonball) is thrown. 

Pic from the Region Finals pamphlet

The spectators walk leisurely behind, and the kids have to stay well behind because the bowl can cause serious damage! Everyone had fun, and even Kia was able to walk most of two scores we saw. 

The sport started hundreds of years ago, folks in Ireland used small cannonballs and started a middle of the night competition on the roads. It is still fairly popular. Stephen has competed multiple times in Ireland.

Here is Stephen holding one of the steel/iron bowls so you see how tiny it is. Pic also from the pamphlet.

We have been chipping away slowly at our to do list to prep for the twins. I reorganized the pantry (yay!!! what luxury it is to have a pantry!) and by the grace of God it has stayed mostly organized over the past week, as you can see! 

We also went to the Peach Festival in Syria, VA a week and a half ago. It was such a nice drive to get there, and there is always good live music, pony rides, hay rides (best hay ride I have ever been on, it is about 30 mn long), a creek for the kids to play in etc. Very fun and dog friendly, I highly recommend it! It is significantly less crowded then their apple festival, which is also fun but much bigger.

So that is all for now! 

Early Spring 2018 Hikes and St Sebastian's feast day!

Uncle Bill and Lucy brought over this delicious surprise to celebrate St Sebastian's feast day! Such a treat and so thoughtful!

Thank you!

On a hike at Sky Meadows state park . . . it was warming up, but ice still covered so much of the pond!

The kids were excited to talk to these horesback riders and pet the horses!

Shenandoah River State Park~ what a contrast compared to now in summer!! 

This house is always so interesting to see, the top level is just above the tree line. Without the leaves on the trees, we were amazed to see that it is no less then FIVE STORIES tall! The trees are getting taller though, so they may need to add a sixth soon!

The Boys (Look at that dog, what an incredible heeler!)

The Girls

We also had some fun hikes with Aunt lulu and the kids around her neighborhood in Old Town. Look at that magnificent dog!

Early spring hike and some snow!

A short picture post I never published last year. Spring 2017!

Beaver evidence!

The kids were fascinated with the work the beavers have done. 

Here is one of the dams

Kateri leads the way!

The kids checking out the river.

Sweet kia content in the stroller

And one of the very first bluebells, a sure sign spring is coming!

Bashy hitches a ride once his "legs stop working".

Cousins, early spring 2017

Bashy confidently assured me he put pants on, but when I came outside to make sure, this is what I found:

That's one way to wear pants!

Kateri spinning salad, gollum-esque.

Getting ready to plant some seeds.

What I found inside Sebastian's cammo bag, a boy's necessities!

2 very helpful firemen

My new pretty planner, which I barely used.

preparing to go outside in a late snowstorm

Our indoor greenhouse

The bradford pear was blooming in this snow.

Nothing beats a good snow day!