I'm sooooo grateful...

I know I've said it before, and I'll say it again... I have the best friends in the world. I just do, and that's all there is to it. We originally scheduled the baby shower for LAST Sunday, but God decided we needed a "spring" day instead of a snowy day to celebrate (yes, I do live in TEXAS!)

Yesterday, my friends threw me a wonderful baby shower, and I'm still overwhelmed by everyone's generosity. We received so many gifts family & friends that I can't even begin organizing! These babies are definitely loved, and I can't wait to meet them & introduce them to the world!

Here are a few pictures from my shower...

My wonderful cake!! Thank you, girls for such a special & yummy surprise!

Ashlee, Kelsey, Christina, preggo me, Leah, Delyn, and Julie
(the best friends a girl could ever ask for!)

Maternity Pics

We finally got around to taking some maternity pictures before Brayden & Kayelynn are born! Thanks to our wonderful photographer, Debbie Romeyn, for being so giving of her time. These are just 3 of the many pictures she took a few weeks ago (thank God she removed the wonderful stretch marks that go along with pregnancy).

My sister, Julie, got us these little shoes a while back... very cute!
Mommy & Daddy to be :)

Thank you, God, for allowing us to be parents of these two sweet little growing babies!

Nursery Painting!

I have the best friends ever... I'm soooooo looking forward to my baby shower they are throwing in a few weeks. By then, we'll have the nursery nearly complete with clean carpets, freshly painted walls, and furniture for my sweet babies! Thank you, Kelsey, for spending your time on such a cute project for your "niece" & "nephew" to-be! :) Just above where Kayelynn's crib will go

Just above where Brayden's bed will go

The "nook" where the glider & changing table will go

The spelling game...

Ok, I know I just posted about names, but now I'm having second thoughts on the spelling of our little boy! I've always just used "Bradyn", but my husband thinks it looks like Brad-in... Here are some considerations:
Bradyn
Braedyn
Brayden
Braydn
Tell me what YOU think!! :)

Update

We went to the specialist day for another check-up & were thankful enough to receive some POSITIVE news on our little girl! I guess overall, we never know anything for sure, but from what the doctor saw, her ventricles look "normal" right now. I think they'll be checking her every week, just to be sure everything is ok.

I promised myself I wouldn't research anything on what could happen if her ventricle continue to be larger than "normal", and I kept that promise all week. I ended up being a nervous wreck though, the closer we got to the appointment. Chris decided to ask the "what if" question, and the Dr. Payne said it could mean learning disabilities. He also mentioned that MOST children with this condition don't have learning disabilities. My thoughts?? If someone tells me there COULD be something wrong with my babies, I'm going to attempt to take it with a grain of salt.

NAMES!!! Sorry, Christina, I keep forgetting to answer your question! We've decided on... Kayelynn Faye & Bradyn Michael :) Kaye is my mother & sister in law's middle names & Lynn is my sister's middle name. Faye is myself, my mom's, and my grandma's middle name. I guess our little girl will have lots of women taking ownership of her name! Michael is my husband's middle, his dad's middle, and his grandfather's first name. Bradyn... well... We just LIKE it! Actually, a co-worker's spouse mentioned that name at a Christmas party, and frankly, it's the only name that's come up that NEITHER of us have objections in using!

I'm quite happy to now have names for our sweet little ones.... Even though I keep calling them our "little boy & little girl", I know it'll be just a few more months before I'm holding them tight in my arms! Yes, I'm anxious... I find myself wrapped up in work or just being tired all the time, and then I think about how life is going to completely change so soon. I can't even fathom what it will be like, and I can't imagine how much I'm going to love them at first sight.

What happened to December?!?

Well, I would apologize for not posting AT ALL in the month of December, but it's quite a busy month with all the band concerts, rehearsals, and other festivities going on!

For a while, pregnancy seemed pretty easy going... I'm not sure if I posted this in my last blog, but we did find out that our daughter definitely has a clubbed foot (not sure if it's both or just one). Chris & I are taking it pretty well, as many people have told us it's a doable thing. Luckily, I have a wonderful coworker whose husband can get us in at Shriner's hospital.

This week has unfortunately been a little more hectic than I would like... Our first week back at school, and I get yet ANOTHER sinus infection! I felt it coming on last Sunday, but nothing I took was going to get in the way. Before I started feeling the worst symptoms from that, I had a somewhat embarrassing night & ended up in Labor & Delivery. I would give more details, but I'll just say that I was in a lot of pain, had a little bleeding, we checked the babies, and they were doing very well. It's not blog-worthy, trust me... So, essentially, I was at the hospital on Wednesday, saw my specialist & OB on Thursday (for regularly scheduled appointments), and went to my family doctor on Friday.

My specialist appointment was a little bitter-sweet. I like going there, because those doctors are very thorough. He said everything is going well, but he was a little suspicious of a ventricle in the brain that may be "larger than normal". I didn't really like to hear that, but he said not to be concerned just yet--he wants to watch the size for the next several weeks and see if there are any changes. He said, "I'm not telling you this to alarm you. I'm telling you this because I'm supposed to tell you what I'm thinking." I pray that he doesn't find anything bad when he looks next week... It'll break my heart if something else is wrong with our baby girl.

On a positive note, I have some belly pictures!! Enjoy...

Oops!! It's been busy...

So, I guess I've been bad lately at updating my blog! I have been so busy, I haven't even started the journal I talked about earlier! I promise to start this week, whatever it takes...

So, Thanksgiving is coming up, so that is putting me in the holiday/mommy-to-be mode of wanting to clean out the spare bedrooms, decorate for Christmas, and get ready for these sweet little angels! I have so many things on my to-do list, I don't know where to begin!

On another note... We received some unpleasant news from the specialist on Thursday. It looks like (right now at least) that my little girl has clubbed feet. This is thankfully a very treatable condition, and hopefully, we can have it corrected through braces, casts, or surgery before it's even time for her to start walking.

On an even sadder note... It looks like my sister's pregnancy is not going as well as we all prayed for. After several weeks of stress, it will most likely turn out to be a non-viable pregnancy that she will have to terminate within the next week. I unfortunately don't have the words to say to her to make her feel any better. It's so difficult to be pregnant & happy while she's going through all of this sadness. I pray that I find a way to reach out to her, as it's been really hard to do that over the past week. Please pray that God will bless her and her husband with a healthy baby someday (hopefully sooner than later).

Thanks to all of you for your prayers and kind words as we go through this exciting (and stressful, even though I try not to think about it) time of our lives. Chris and I are so excited to be parents soon, and we pray that we find a way to prepare these babies for a life full of love and happiness!