Sunday Best

Macyn really likes her Christmas dress. It is purple with hearts, so she can wear it all winter and not just Christmas. She also likes her "elf" look (that's what we think she looks like). A classic red & green jumper with a turtle neck and boots!

Sledding

We received some fresh snow, and on Friday night on the way home from daycare,Macyn asked if she could go sledding. (we got her a sled for Christmas but were planning on giving it to her early). Here is how our conversation went:
Macyn: I want to throw snowballs at Dad
Me: Not tonight, it's already dark out
Macyn: I want to go sledding
Me: You don't have a sled
Macyn: Yes I do
Me: No you dont..
Macyn: Yes I do, my pink one!
Me: You don't have a pink one
Macyn: Yes I do - its in the garage. I will show you when we get home.

Seriously. Nothing gets past her! She was still just as excited to get her sled on Saturday and head outside to try it out. We have a good enough slope in our front yard that we have a decent "hill" for her to go down on.

A Timeline of... Twins!

I have been off of this blogging thing for about a month now, but I will be trying to be better to keeping this updated as much as possible! For those who don't already know, we are expecting a couple of new little ones in early spring. Here is a little bit of what has gone on since I have gotten a BFP (big fat positive), and what I have been doing instead of blogging)

3 Weeks (September 23-ish)
I took a pregnancy test 1 week before a missed cycle and it came back positive! I was pretty surprised I had a positive reading already. It said on the package that 60% of pregnancies can be detected that early.

5 Weeks
Did you know in our family picture there are actually 5 people?

6 Weeks 
Macyn's birthday party! Really wanted her to wear a "big sister" shirt, but I thought it would be too early to announce. I have always been a firm believe of keeping my mouth shut until you know everything is going smoothly - aka hearing a heartbeat.

7 1/2 Weeks
Thursday night Vikings football game in the cities! We made a long weekend out of it and hit up some shopping. I also came down with some pretty bad bronchitis the previous week that ended up lingering for 8-9 weeks. Awful! Needless to say I ended up sleeping in the car instead of shopping for part of the trip. Between walking around, bronchitis, and being pregnant, I was extremely exhausted.

9 Weeks
First doctor's appointment. I knew it was pretty early to hear a heartbeat, but I was really hoping we would so we could at least tell our parents and possibly others that we were expecting. It was around here it was getting a little more difficult to hide my belly. I attributed it to just showing sooner with your 2nd than your first!

So we went to the doctor, and could not find a heartbeat. My Dr. then brought in the portable ultrasound machine to see if there was indeed a baby in there and/or hear the heartbeat. We received this precious little picture of our baby:

We still couldn't hear a heartbeat, but my Dr. claimed she could see it's little "flaps" aka. arms and legs moving. The baby was measuring 1 week ahead in size, and so was I. Now, take note - there is only ONE visible baby!

A couple days after our initial appointment we told our parents, but explained we were waiting to tell others until we heard a heartbeat with the doppler.

11 Weeks
Another prenatal appointment, mostly to listen for a heartbeat. And guess what?! We heard it (one heartbeat that is)! This was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so we told all our family the following day about our news.
I would be getting an ultrasound within the next couple of weeks because I was measuring 1-2 weeks larger at the time and she wanted to make sure the dates were right. I didn't think much of this because Macyn would always measure between 1-3 weeks ahead.

12 Weeks 1 day
Time for our "dating" ultrasound. Everything looks really normal until the moment the ultrasound tech uttered the words, "Do twins run in your family?" My heart sunk into my stomach and I was like, "why?" And she said, "well, you are definitely having twins and they look like they are identical."

Holy cows. Seriously? And sure enough, they started measuring Baby A:
Length: 7.23 cm = 13w 3d
Heartbeat: 155 bpm

And here is Baby B:
Length: 7.42 cm = 13w 4d
Heartbeat: 169 bpm

And here are their two heads together....I actually had to go in for a second scan the same day because the radiologist wanted to take a look and make sure they are identical. As of now they are still going with that, but it could change whenever I have my next ultrasound. Identical twins are higher risk than regular twins, so it means more doctors appointments and more ultrasounds. 

 

So after only seeing 1 baby, hearing 1 heartbeat, there are two! We were shocked but she shock has worn off and has turned into excitement. I will be 15 weeks tomorrow, so I will try to update a little more :)

Eating Habits

Somedays Macyn thinks she's a baby and can sit in her Bumbo:

 Other days she thinks she such a big kid she can eat on the couch just like dad!

Family Photos 2012

We had our family pictures taken and we absolutely LOVE them! Here are some of our favorites:

If you want to see the rest of them, go to my album here. And here is the link to our photographer...she does such an AWESOME job!

Miss you, Grandpa.

 After a tough battle with leukemia, my grandpa went to be with his Lord and Savior the morning of Macyn's birthday party. I will always cherish the moments we had together. The laughter, the love, and the fellowship. This is harder than usual because he was my last grandparent left. It is a weird feeling, and an even stranger feeling knowing that I can't just go and see him.

When we delivered Macyn's invitation to Grandpa for her party, he was worried he wouldn't make it because of how tired he felt. We told him we would bring the party to him, and we were looking forward to that. Little did I know, less than a week and a half later he would be gone. We explained to Macyn about what happened to Grandpa Stan, and that he wouldn't be at her party because Grandpa went to go see Jesus. She replied, "I want Jesus to come to my birthday."

She understands more now. After we brought her to visitation, we explained to her the same things that happened with Grandma Van Aartsen, 2 months earlier, to the date. It melted my heart and made me shed a few more tears when we were viewing Grandpa in his casket when she said in the saddest little voice, "Goodbye Great Grandpa Stan."

Sometimes she will randomly ask, "Grandpa Stan went to heaven?" "with Jesus and Grandma Tillie?" We just tell her yes, and if he she has questions, we answer them. I think Macyn has a special place in her heart for him. She seems to get sad if she talks about him, but then she realizes he is in heaven, then she seems to be a little happier.

Rest in Peace, Grandpa Stan. We love you and miss you so much. We'll see you later, someday.

Princess Party

Cinder-"Macyn" and her birthday cake

Macyn with Great Grandpa Bernie

Presents!

Blowing out her candles

We had a small get together for Macyn's birthday! Both sets of grandparents, Great grandpa bernie, and Auntie Brandi, Kelly & Caden came to help us celebrate! She had a great time at her party!