Christmas Pictures

We had family pictures taken on Friday (since I'm not a Black Friday shopper) and it was the first time since Ainsley's birthday that she has had her picture taken. She didn't start walking until 13 months, so her birthday pictures were really easy - we just plopped her down where we wanted her and she would sit there and smile for the camera. Piece of cake. Now, she's all over the place and has really started to come out of her shell so it was not that easy. She did pretty well in the first room and they got several great shots, but when we moved over to the second room for another round of pictures she was not interested. They did get one picture of me holding her but after that she kept running out of the room or trying to check out the giant teddy bear in the corner. I'm pretty sure we didn't get our ten minutes in each room, but there were still more than enough good pictures to choose from. Here's a few of our favorites . . .

I hate pictures of myself and I can't get over how huge my butt looks here!

The jury is still out on who she looks like.

Although it's pretty obvious who he got his good looks from ;)

She looks like a little girl here instead of a baby. I can't believe how big she is!

Thanksgiving "Break"

We have not really had a break since we got out of school on Friday, but I wouldn't have it any other way.



Nana and Papa came to visit over the weekend (and I only got a few pictures because the batteries in the camera died) with hopes of watching our future pro play in a baseball tournament. The tournament was cancelled due to the rain so Ty had to show off his talent at the batting cages at Putt-Putt. We made a mega trip to Babies'R'Us and got a lot of stuff for the babies and then the guys put the cribs together on Sunday. Ainsley has been so sweet the last week or so. I think the giant top molars she has now were possibly the cause of her crabbiness a few weeks ago. Poor baby - it's too bad (for all of us) that she has quite a few more to come!
We're working on several projects (mostly related to cleaning/organizing) and I have very high hopes of getting at least our kitchen better organized after being inspired by Anjolee and Connie. I would like to post my pitiful "before" pictures for everyone to be shocked and mortified by, but unfortunately it sounds as though naptime is over ;)

24 Weeks

So I'm over halfway there and everything is going really well so far. I don't feel very different than I did being pregnant with Ainsley, but I feel now more like how I felt around 30 weeks pregnant with her. I am still going to the Dr. every 2 weeks but I'm not sick of it yet because I love getting to see the boys on the ultrasound so often. We cleared out their room today (which mostly just made a huge mess upstairs) and ordered their cribs yesterday. I still can't decide what to do about paint, but if I can make a decision Stuart might be able to paint over Thanksgiving break! We also took a new belly picture (cause I know everyone couldn't go a month without seeing one ;)

Here's one of me 28 weeks pregnant with Ainsley. I think I look bigger now at 24 weeks with the twins.

Play Ball...

Ty had a baseball tournament this weekend in Flower Mound. Ty's team was the only rec. team in the tournament, as all the other teams were either AA or AAA teams, who play these tournaments every weekend. It was a great learning experience.

The tournament was called the holiday classic, and the kids got to wear costumes. Being the Angels, they wore halos and angel wings. My own personal angel!

It was in the 50's in the morning, and there was a lot of dew on the field. I took this picture during warm ups, and I love how you can see their wings. That's Ty in the middle.

The coaches decided to dress as monks. So we had two monks and a team of Angels. We are blessed!

After their games on Saturday, they also had a league game to play. Courtney and Ainsley came to watch. Ainsley had a tough time as she couldn't tell which kid was Ty. They all looked alike in their uniforms. She was so excited when he came over to see her. She wanted to spend the whole game doing one of three things. Poking the players in the dugout through the fence, playing in the mud puddles, or running around the fields.

Ty had a blast, and loved spending the whole weekend at the ball fields. It was exhausting though.

When we got home, Ainsley wanted to play catch with Ty. We gave her an old glove of Ty's and she ran around the house with it on one hand, and a ball in the other. Ty was a great big brother and played catch with her. She loved it!

Playing Kissy Feet

We're working on table manners (for Ainsley and Stuart).

That Kid's Got "The Stuff"!

Today we had a little surprise at Ty's baseball practice. Benji Gil, who was the number one draft pick of the Texas Rangers, and won the world series with the Angels, was at practice tonight. He is a friend of Ty's coach. He was there today to help the kids with their pitching. I was excited for Ty to get pitching tips from a major league player, and hoped that he'd do well, and work hard on whatever Benji told him.

The evening started off great when I overheard Ty's coach talking to Benji about Ty, and saying, "That's Ty. He's the one I was telling you about."

Ty spent about 15 minutes working with Benji, as I watched him pitching from behind the pitching mound. It was like watching another kid. Ty has always struggled with his confidence on the pitchers mound, and hasn't always been the most accurate. Today, he threw strike, after strike, after strike. I was SO proud of him. Benji looked over at coach and told him, That kid's got "the stuff"!

Towards the end of practice, they had a simulated game with fielders, and batters. Ty was the last to pitch. Benji asked me to catch for Ty while he warmed up. The first pitch that Ty threw to me was so hard that I felt like he had broken my thumb. It had so much velocity on it, and was straight down the plate. I believed I cursed under my breath.

Ty was called up, and he was the last to pitch. What happened over the next 5 minutes was unreal. Every pitch that Ty threw was a strike, and he threw everything like it was a bullet. His coach commented early when his son was clocked throwing at 40 m.p.h. that normally kids in Ty's league throw around 30 - 35 m.p.h. Ty was clocked at over 50 m.p.h. The coaches were stunned and wondering what the heck had happened to Ty. One commented that they'd found their new number one pitcher. Another said that there wasn't a kid in the league that could hit those pitches.

It was like watching my little baby boy...on steroids! He blew me and his coaches away. Benji Gil was all giddy too. Here was a kid, who's never played baseball before this fall, throwing 15 m.p.h. faster than most kids in the league, and with great accuracy. I was one proud Dad.

I also just got a text from the coach saying that they can only protect 3 players from the draft in the spring, and he wants Ty to be protected, so he can be on the team in the spring.

WOW! Go Ty #4.

Half-Baked

I like that title. I have been waiting for (what feels like) a long time to say that. I think my friend used it as a blog title when she was 20 weeks with her last baby. Thanks!
I had my 20 week checkup at the Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist today. The short version of it is that is everything is going really well and he did say that the boys are identical. When we got home we took new belly pictures. Here's me 20 weeks pregnant with the twins. . .I think that this picture doesn't really do it justice, maybe because my arm is in the way or something. Anyway, here's a picture of me 20 weeks pregnant with Ainsley. I think that sometime (soon) we probably need to quit taking belly pictures with skin showing. Unless I can get real crafty with the photo editing and give myself a tan and cover up the veins. Gross!
The rest of the story about my appointment is that the doctor was awful. (and he's supposed to be one of the good ones of the bunch - I have even more sympathy for people who have had to see the "bad" doctor there) When I got on the table he asked me,"So are these old-fashioned twins or fancy twins?" I thought that was rude. Then he proceeded to mash way too hard on my stomach and tell me everything horrible that could possibly happen to my babies. It wasn't any new information, but it was still discouraging to hear. He also only spent about 5 minutes on me which is rediculous since the ultrasound tech at my OB's office normally spends at least that much time when I see him every other week. My every other week visits are supposed to be just to measure my cervix and do a quick check of the heartbeats, but my new best friend Joe the ultrasound tech is so nice and he always measures the babies for me and prints me a few pictures. This appointment was supposed to be the "big" one where he looks at and measures everything, and he was also supposed to look at their faces in 4D to check for cleft lip/palate. He didn't do anything in 4D. There's also something they can do to see the blood flow (he was either looking at the heart or the umbilical cord on one of them) and he only checked it on one of the babies! I don't know if he just forgot on the other one or really didn't care. So I was pretty disappointed with him and hopefully we won't have any complications so I won't have to go back to him.

Here's a picture of Ainsley doing what I wanted to do at the doctor's office. . .

(that would be throwing a fit, for those of you who may not have recognized it :)

The RollerCoaster That Was Today!

The day started off great. Ty had a morning game. For the second time this season, he got to pitch. He pitched the fourth inning and struck out the first two batters he faced. He then walked the third batter. This was a 1,000% improvement from his first time pitching. I was so excited for him!
The day went downhill from here.
1. We noticed our truck seemed to skip 2nd gear, so we decided to take it back to Carmax to get it fixed, since it was under warranty. Yea for warranties.
2. While I followed Courtney to Carmax, Courtney started complaining that there was a rattling beneath the car.
3. A minute later we were switching vehicles because the noise was "freaking her out!"
4. The noise got louder and louder, whenever I put my foot on the gas. No problem right?!?
5. Then, the tire gauge sensor went out!
6. The temp. gauge started telling us that we were overheating!
7. The noise under the truck got louder!
8. The air conditioner went out!
9. The engine light came on!
10. The battery light came on...
11. ......and then ALL the power in the truck went out, on the middle of the highway!
12. We had to pull over on the shoulder, while freaking out, right where a entrance ramp to the highway was.
I have to point out something here. Cars drive REALLY FAST when you're standing 5 feet from them on the highway. I kept imagining a car hitting our Mazda, then plowing into the truck, and taking me with them both. :(
13. Called AAA, who showed up 50 minutes later.
14. We watched as the tow truck driver almost plowed into the side of our car, due to the little room on the shoulder. Turns out, we were in his way, so we had to leave the shoulder, trying to get our little Mazda from 0 to 60mph back onto the highway, before getting rearended from the other cars on the highway.
15. We looped around, and once again drove down the entrance ramp to the highway, with our hazards on, listening to people behind us blowing their horns at us in anger!
16. The discussion with tow truck driver, who spoke little English, was interesting. I think he wanted me to have the truck towed to his house, so he could fix it??? Like that was gonna happen!
17. Followed the tow truck to Carmax, while tow truck driver charged us $7 a mile.
18. Got to Carmax and the service center was closed, and apparently nobody there knew what to do with cars when the service center was closed. "I guess you could leave it here, till Monday. They SHOULD get it then."
So as it stands right now, we have a truck at Carmax that may or may not be getting fixed on Monday, the sweet little Mazda to get around in for the next two days, and a Saturday that is shot! I never got to mow the yard, or clean out the garage as planned. Mmmmmm? Maybe it was a blessing in disguise after all.

Dear Nana and Papa...

Dear Nana and Papa,
Good morning. You're probably wondering why I'm blogging today. I asked Mommy and Daddy if I could send you an email, but they didn't seem to understand what I was saying, so I'm blogging instead. Maybe they're getting old and losing their hearing.

Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about a big event coming up here soon. Did you know I'm going to be a big sister? I know! Can you believe it? Little ol' me...a big sister. It's going to be awesome.
Now you probably heard that the babies are going to be boys. I can't wait. Gimme a year or two and I'll have those boys wrapped around my little finger, just like Ty and Daddy are.

They'll probably listen to everything I say...because I'm a lot older than them. Hopefully they listen better than Daddy. Mommy is always having to repeat herself, when talking to Daddy. She says he has slektiv hearing. Mommys a girl, so she's probably right.

Anyway, I should go. It's getting close to Mommy and Daddy's bedtime, so I should be heading upstairs soon.

Talk to you soon.

Love Ainsley

xoxoxoxox

P.S. stay warm in Minnesota. I heard about the snow.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Well, not really. It was a little cold for a few days but I don't think it ever got below 50. However, I got this jacket last year at Gymboree for $10 (awesome!) and couldn't wait to see it on her. She did a little fashion show for us . . .

This one got a little too much flash but I thought it was so cute anyway :)

Also, today I am 20 weeks pregnant so stay tuned for a new belly pic! I am so big it's rediculous. Kandis is 18 weeks pregnant so we need to do a tummy shot together (if I'm brave enough-she's still a size 2 with a cute little bump and I am . . . .well, no longer a size 2!)