House Full

Since I am home during the day now, we set up some appointments to get some things looked at in the house.  It seemed like all the sudden there were these items that popped up that neither one of us had the ability to fix.  Eric called our home warranty company regarding the different items and they said they would call back within 24 hours to schedule a time to come to the house within the next week.  Scratch that.  Everyone and their brother came over today within a 8-hour period.  I was glad to have such a speedy response but it was a bit overwhelming. The plumber came to look at a leaking toilet and our hot water heater.  The HVAC guy came to look at the blower motor in the furnace.  The electrician figured out what was wrong with our master bathroom lights.  The high speed internet guys came to figure out why our internet speed was so slow and intermittently cutting out.  A general contractor came to give Eric a bid for the master bathroom floor since the slow leak in the toilet was starting to bubble the linoleum in there. 

At 8:35 this morning when I found out that the first of many people were coming over, I thought that today was going to be disastrous.  The boys have been teething and full on boycotting nap time.  Amazingly, Abraham took two 2-hour naps today despite all the in and out of people and all the loud voices.  Our killer attack dogs Suzie and Scooter also threw in some barking for good measure.  Winston was in a much better mood today and I was soooo thankful.  The little guy had been wearing me down.  Here is the crazy thing.  Winston woke up from a nap and I laid him down to do a diaper change.  He smiled at me and I saw something on his upper arch.  I did not think it could be a tooth already but it most definitely was.  The little dude has cut both of his eye teeth or lateral incisors.  I am not quite sure which ones they are because it's hard to assess how much space his teeth would take, how close together, etc.  It definitely looks like his eye teeth.  I now know why he was so grumpy.  Apparently those eye teeth are extra painful when they come in.  He is my little vampire baby for now.  I checked Abraham and no sign of his yet but he did cut a lower lateral incisor last week.  These boys are totally different in some regards.

Thankful that we can get stuff fixed around here.  Thankful for a home warranty.  Thankful that the boys had a good day.  Thankful I can be home to love on my boys and smooch their cheeks as much as I want.  Thankful for my husband bringing me home roses just because. 

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Today is the last day of NaBloPoMo.  It feels good to accomplish a goal.  I doubted I could do it but I managed to get a post done everyday.  I learned how to write and compose faster which is a very valuable skill.  I will be slowing down the blogging pace from here on out for a while.  I want to focus on getting stuff done around my house and getting ready for the Christmas season.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Getting ready for Thanksgiving. Our festive dining room.







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Saturday Busyness

Today we went grocery shopping and got all the fixings for our Thanksgiving dinner.  We also picked up paint and supplies for finishing up the dining room area.  We took the boys shopping and they were absolute dolls.  They smiled at everyone they saw.  Total time away from home was about four hours and there were no melt downs.  They pretty much missed a nap but it turned out alright.  It makes me encouraged that down the road I can take the boys on longer errand runs.  When we were out we ran into a couple that we had taken our childbirth class with and they had their identical twin girls with them.  It was so much fun trading stories for a couple of minutes and seeing their little girls.  People love babies and they especially find twins enamoring.

As of right now we have the wall almost done.  It's a color called Autumn Maple.  Perfect for Thanksgiving, right? The door is going to take a while longer because we have to take it off the frame to paint it. 

A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

Nothing too exciting happening over here.  Just getting geared up for the holiday.  It's going to be a bit of busy week with me finishing up work indefinitely and Eric going out of town for a business trip.  I am telling myself that I just need to push through till Thursday.  The good news is that I won't have to go back to work the following Monday.

Random Friday

Happy Friday Everyone!

The randomness in my head:

-Excited to go to a bridal shower tomorrow.  I have spent the last three weekends at home with the boys and am looking forward to some girl time.  We are all healthy again.  Praise the Lord!

-Finishing up the shopping list for the Thanksgiving menu.  Really looking forward to the grubbin'.

-We need to finish painting a wall in our new to us dining room.  It's the wall that had the door installed so we have to cover up the spackle job around the trim.  We are going to add some more color to the house and I am excited about finally making our place more homey. 

-We also got an entry ladder to our attic installed.  This means we can clear the garage floor and get a car back in there.  Revolutionary idea, right? 

-Trying to process that I have only have three days of work left.  Crazy.  Fortunately I am on track to finish a project that I have going. 

-We have had incredibly high winds here today.  There is a really bad fire in Reno.  Pray for the families that have lost their homes and the firefighters that are working tirelessly to stop it. 

-Sometimes I look back on my previous post and am in awe over my typos and grammar.  I try people but I am trying to crank these things out on a daily basis for NaBloPoMo and my brain is tending to shut off when I am writing these things.  I read yesterday's post and thought, "Did I really put the word 'statistcally'?  I am making up words over here!"  Really, I normally pride myself on spelling so it's a good thing to be humbled and laugh at my blunders. 

-These were my sweet boys right before bed tonight. When they are really tired they fall asleep right on the nursing pillow:

Sickness and Wasps

Since my last post the boys have been fighting a cold.  It was inevitable of course.  Babies are bound to get sick but it is still a big bummer to hear your little ones all congested.  I thought they had managed to fight it off for the most part but early Saturday morning when Eric was getting ready to leave for the airport I got up with Abraham and I heard that phlegmy sound in his breathing.  It was just mommy and the snotty nosed (literally) babies all weekend because papa was gone.  Thankfully they are such lil' troopers and despite having some moments were happy guys for the most part. I felt horrible seeing the boogers running from their nose into their mouth.  It was driving me crazy because I could not suction them or wipe their nose enough.  I would turn around and it was like a little faucet running.  The horrifying part was seeing them smack their lips as the little look on their faces said "Hmmm, this is salty."  Like I said, horrifying. We stayed quarantined until yesterday and I have been running their humidifier with eucalyptus oil.  Lots of snuggle time, extra vitamins and they seem to be on the mend.  It was a long weekend because Friday was Nevada Day. I got lots of time with my little guys and I loved every bit of it.  I ended up with boogers all over me but I cherished my role and wouldn't trade a minute of it. I went back to work today and they were happy little guys when I went to pick them up from grammy's.  I felt relieved.  Hopefully it will all be over soon. 

The other exciting part of the weekend was that I had a minor wasp invasion in my house.  Hey, one wasp is one wasp too many when it's inside your house in my humble opinion.  We had a door in our kitchen area that led to the backyard that was visibly not hung correctly.  Our friend Tim had come by the week prior and pulled the trim off so that he could see what needed to be done and could fix it for us.  Well with the weather getting colder at night and the trim off, there was a space on the crooked door that the wasps were sneaking through.  Once I figured out that the door jam was their entry point I taped up plastic bags and no more wasps got in.  That was not before I had to kill over a dozen wasps in my house and I was having a conniption worrying about the boys getting stung.  Fortunately we have an electric fly swatter which works wonders.  I had never heard of an electric fly swatter and when Eric told me how great they were I thought it sounded stupid but he converted me.  I was able to electrocute the wasps at least enough that they were disabled and could get rid of them without worrying about getting stung.  A desperate phone call to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Adam and Ally, provided wasp traps.  Once they were hung up in the trees outside, there was noticeably less wasps flying around.  Amazingly our friend Tim came over on his Saturday afternoon and replaced he offending door and frame.  We now have a proper sized frame and a solid weather (and wasp) proof door. 

Sometimes improvisation is needed.

So we are all surviving and thriving here in the Guddat household eagerly awaiting dear Eric's return. Also did you know November is National Blog Posting Month?  I did, but forgot until today.  Do you think I could be up to the challenge?  I am not making any promises but we shall see...

36 weeks and Counting Down

A lot has been going on for our little family in the last week.  I am writing this in the middle of the night due to nagging contractions.  I figure I better get this written down for posterity because it may be my last chance for a while.

• Last week we had both a regular OB appointment and our last appointment with the perinatologist.  I was supposed to have seen the perinatologist the week prior but had to reschedule.  I had my Strep B swab done and I am really hoping that I don't have it.  I still have not dilated...seriously.  I apparently have a very tough cervix and if I don't go into labor on my own this week, my OB and perinatologist have advised an induction.  The whole concept of an induction makes me a bit nervous because of the correlation of pitocin use with higher occurrence of cesarean section.  I am using some natural methods of induction given to me by a friend training to be a midwife.  It involves homeopathy and natural oils such as borage and evening primrose that have prostaglandins.  I will let you all know if it works.
• The baby boys are putting on some weight!  Baby A was estimated at 5 lbs. 15 oz. and Baby B was estimated at 5 lbs. 12 oz.  Their variance was only 3%.  I realize that at 35+ weeks there cannot be the same level of confidence in the accuracy of estimates but I have to admit I felt pretty excited they are so close!  We also found out the boys have hair!  Their hair was so thick that it was showing up on the ultrasound.  I have never had heartburn in my life up until the last few weeks.  Maybe that old wives' tale is true?
• We moved during the previous weekend.  It was quite the whirlwind.  Fortunately it was only a 2.5 mile move so it got done very quickly.  We had about 20 people from our church show up to help as well as Eric's family.  Things got loaded up, unloaded and the rental house cleaned within 4 hours. It was a complete blessing. Eric has been tying up loose strings like getting the carpets cleaned, sweeping out the garage, etc.
• We feel so blessed to be in our new place.  It currently has a lot of boxes and 45 gallon trash bags everywhere but it is coming together.
• We met with our pediatrician and felt really encouraged.  We wanted a doctor who was willing to listen to us and think outside the box.  Yes, we are delaying and/or not consenting to vaccinations.  The pediatrician was awesome about listening to our concerns, validating them and giving us options.  
• My family is here!  My dad, stepmom Anne and grandma Ida are up here awaiting the boys' arrival and helping us settle into the new place.  It may not be pretty but the house is functional.  If I go into labor, we have what we need set up and ready.  My dad has been helping Eric with the more manly items like adjusting doors, putting in a new air filter, etc.  Anne and Grandma are cleaning and organizing machines!  I cannot keep up with them. I tried and all it got me was some seriously swollen feet.  The swollen feet are also contributing to the insomnia.  They have been such troopers and have worked so hard already.  Again, I am so completely blessed by them.  
• Today, in roughly 5 hours, I have another OB appointment.  I am hoping I made some progress in the effacing and dilation department.  
• Why do well-intentioned moms keep telling me to get sleep while I still can?  Does anyone sleep well this late into pregnancy?  Especially a MoM?  I have been measuring at 36 weeks or more for over two months.  Maybe it just doesn't compute with some people that a multiple pregnancy involves a much longer period of "late pregnancy."  I now consider two hours a long run of sleep.  Also it's not like I can accumulate or bank up my sleeping.  It is what it is. 
• I am behind on updating my pics.  I promise to get in those last belly shots.

 The boys at 18 weeks- the last time they cooperated for a pic.

  It make us all the more eager to meet them.

34 weeks and counting

I am past 34 weeks now.  I am trying to grasp that I will be the mama of two little boys in the next couple weeks.  We are getting baby clothes washed and the over night bag ready.  Our escrow on the new house closed earlier in the week so we are in the process of moving.  Between NSTs at the hospital, seeing the perinatologist in Reno, packing up our place, giving a deposition (long story for another time), and theoretically trying to put in some work hours at home (ha!), I am starting to feel really tired. I felt great yesterday but may have over done it.  I need to slow down and graciously let other people help me.  My MIL came over yesterday and she was a packing machine!  I am so grateful that she wants to help.  Soon more family will be in town and I know it is all going to get done but it is hard to be patient.  I want the babies' room to be all done but I know that is going to take a while longer.  I am not too sure how much I will be able to blog in the next week or so but we are plugging away here in NV.  The blessing is that these boys are nice and strong.  We have not had any concerns with their health and are so looking forward to seeing their sweet little faces. 

Wearing my comfy clothes after church.  These kids are growing like weeds!

Weekly Wrap-up

 We had a busy and productive week.  We are getting geared up for moving into our new house and the babies' arrival:

• Baby gear: Our mini co-sleepers that we are going to use as bassinets were delivered.  We opted for two separate co-sleepers for the babies so that we could order the movement sensor baby monitors.  Eric has been on a SIDS call when he working with the fire department and felt that we should get the monitors for our own peace of mind.   We also got the car seats and stroller ordered.  Once those items get here, we will have all we really need for these babies to come.
• I had my first round of NSTs (non-stress tests) this week.  Both of the boys were looking good.  Baby B was kicking the belt monitor so hard they thought I was having sizable contractions. The nursing staff was great and to err on the side of caution, swabbed me for fetal fibronectin (fFN).  The test was negative so I am confident I could reach at least 35 weeks with these little guys.  The second NST was also showing contractions however so they gave me a dose of terbutaline.  That stuff made me feel like I was going to crawl up a wall .  It felt like I had drunk way too much coffee.  Hopefully I can avoid it next time.
• We signed all of our loan paper work for the new house.  We are awaiting one repair to be finished in the house and then we can fund our down payment.  Once funded, we can close in a couple of days.  I am really looking forward to having a bigger kitchen and more cabinet space to organize things.  
• We did our taxes.  We aren't expecting a large return this year but feel grateful we don't owe.  I have to say that everyone should be wary of using a franchised tax service, particularly one that has initials with an H and R (am I being clear enough?).  They really messed up our return last year and our underwriter caught it when doing our loan.  So now we are in the process of having them file an addendum and pay what we now owe the IRS plus penalties. 
• I got my hair did.  I went back to a brighter blond and a shorter a-line bob.  I feel much less frumpy now.  You will all get to see it when I post my next baby bump photo. 
• More baby gear: We scored two sets of baby swings from a garage sale where a MoM was getting rid of stuff.  One pair of swings is a solid, stationary set and the other is a smaller, mobile set that we can bring with us to grandparents, friends, etc.  We got a great deal.  Now I am just taking off all the liners  and washing them. 
• Starting next week I am starting my maternity leave!  I am going to be doing some part-time hours from home via a VPN account so that I can stretch out my FMLA leave.  I have been so blessed to have been able to work as long as I have.  At this point it is just too difficult for me to sit in my office chair for approximately 8 hours.  Working from home, I can partially recline and be a lot more comfortable. 
• I kind of dread going out in public now.  People feel the need to make comments and ask way too many personal questions.  Just a few more weeks.
• We are getting really excited about meeting our boys.  It is feeling really real now!

Going Non-Stop

This past week was incredibly busy.  I am trying to contemplate that a week ago I was up at Lake Tahoe and instead it seems like forever ago.  Maybe that was why we needed a weekend to recharge because from here on out we are going to be moving constantly.  That is not to say this is bad or that I am trying to complain, it just means we are gearing up for a really exciting time in our lives.  The week in review:

• Monday we viewed a couple houses and found one we really liked.  We made an offer and it was accepted a couple hours later.  We have been getting all the loan documents put together and are excited about owning our first home together.
• Tuesday was Eric's birthday and he had been feeling ill since the day prior when we were looking at houses.  We had planned on going to our scheduled child birth education class but he stayed home and I went by myself.  I felt horrible because it was not much of a birthday for him. 
• Wednesday Eric went in for work to teach one safety class and came home once it was done. He had to cancel his high school bible study at church.  I attended a breast feeding class after work so dear husband was on his own again.  The breastfeeding class was really helpful for me and I left feeling a lot more comfortable with the idea of trying to nurse two infants.  Two nights in a row of getting back home between 9-10 pm after working a full day left me whooped. 
• Thursday we saw the perinatologist up in Reno. We had a great appointment which was such a blessing and encouragement.  Baby A was measuring at 3 lbs. 7 oz. and Baby B was measuring at 3 lbs. 4 oz.  They had a total variance of 5% which is really good for how far along we are with this pregnancy.  Apparently I have a cervix like a brick (the doctor's words, not mine).  I am still at 4+ cm in my cervical length which is virtually unchanged from my last appointment in December.  The doctor stated that she did not see me going into spontaneous labor prior to 35 weeks.  All in all we felt a lot better that we had a good shot at getting moved into our new house before the babies make their arrival.
• On Friday morning, the dull headache I had for the previous two days was escalating.  I left work early and got my neck adjusted at the chiropractor.  I felt much better after that and took a nap when I got home.  On Fri. night Eric had organized a movie night for the youth at church and I played Bunco with my church group. 
• Saturday and Sunday were more relaxed.  Some packing was done, napping, church and eating dinner with friends.  My husband never got a real birthday celebration but he sweetly said that buying a house was enough of a present.  

In general, we are getting really excited about moving into our own place!

Recharge and Getting Ready for Change

We got to go away this past weekend for a brief but much needed respite.  Our friends have access to a condo at Lake Tahoe owned by their family members.  There was no agenda or anywhere to be.  We were surrounded by the beauty of nature.  I got to play around with our camera.  We ate food that was bad for us.  We slept in.  It was awesome.  I was amazed that a little over 24 hours in a change of scenery could leave me feeling so invigorated.

When I try to imagine heaven, I think of skies like this

Mat and Eric acting silly

My nearly 30 week belly

 We celebrated Eric's birthday a little early

Jolene's one baby and my two babies. 

We have the same name 

and due date!

This last week we had been thrown for a bit of a loop.  We found out we had to move out of the house we had been renting since we got married.  The whole concept of nesting and setting up a nursery came to a halt.  We calculated that a mortgage payment would be the same if not less than rent for another comparable house.  We viewed a couple homes and were scouring the MLS listings.  I think that was why it was so nice to just get away, spend some time with friends and recharge.  When we got back on Saturday, we got some major progress accomplished with the babies' room (more like staging area for now).  Today we went looking again and found a house that hit all the right criteria.  We made an offer and it was accepted within a couple hours.  So now we are looking to move right before these little boys make their grand entrance.  While the thought of all that needs to be accomplished is stressful, it is also very exciting.  Eric and I took it as a clear sign that God was directing us to a new path.  We are starting a grand adventure and feel blessed that we can afford a home where I can now do some permanent nesting.  We had looked at houses last spring but decided not to make an offer a couple of different times.  Something just wasn't right at that time.  The market has continued to decrease in our area and we are so glad we were patient.  Next step is purging the rental house and packing it up.  It's going to be an interesting time in the next couple months.  I know when I feel overwhelmed that I can comfort myself with the reminder that God knows my circumstances exactly and He is not surprised. 

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD,
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

February Update

Well first off, yours truly turned 27 on the 6th. My husband was super sweet and started celebrating my birthday a little early. I came home from work one evening to find a bouquet of flowers and a new rug! The back story on getting the new rug is that our previous brown wool one shed little hairs everywhere and I became this compulsive, angry sweeper/vacuumer due to the constant little bundles of wool developing in areas on the hard wood floors. In other words the Dutch genes were being expressed. I now know why that rug was such a great deal at Pier One Imports. My husband did a great job picking one out! Birthday night we went to a local Italian eatery called Saletti's. Eric says they have the best Chicken Marsala he has ever had. The next night we had the Guddat fam and our friends Jason, Alexia and their little girl Maria over for a dinner party. I requested smoked salmon for my birthday dinner and the hubby delivered (for those of you who knew I was a strict vegetarian, I am eating some types of meat again).

Then we had our first out of town house guests. Eric's cousin Jason and his wife Rachel stayed with us for a couple days through Valentine's Day weekend. Jason and Rachel were married in September in Hawaii. Being that Eric and Jason have a million stories from childhood, both of us couples are newlyweds, honeymooned in Hawaii and most of all are believers in Christ, we had a lot to talk about! We decided to beat the Valentine's Day crowd and have dinner out the night before at, you guessed it, Saletti's. The next day we drove up to Tahoe and had breakfast in Tahoe City. We drove through Truckee and then to Squaw Valley. It was beautiful but oh so cold. We just enjoyed the scenery and people watched. Later that night we had pizza night with the Guddat fam. Eric and I had a lot of fun with Jason and Rachel and look forward so much to hopefully hanging out with them this summer if we get to make a WA trip.

Valentine's Day weekend was also our six month anniversary. We are so grateful that the Lord has continued to deepen and mature our love for another. The last six months have been chock full of learning and growing experiences in our new marriage and I know we will look back at this early period in our marriage with great fondness.

Eric had shoulder surgery on the 19th to remove hardware from his previous shoulder surgeries (2). Eric's surgery ended up extending past the time they scheduled him for, 3 hours, to nearly 6.5 hrs. His surgeon really wanted to remove the screws and wire but Eric's bone had fused completey around the threads. To remove them would have compromised the integrity of the small bone, the acromion, his orthopedic surgeon had worked to fuse using a bone chip from his hip. So the surgery did not have the results we were hoping for but we trust there is a reason God did not want the hardware to come out. We are thankful knowing Eric's os acromiale has been adequately repaired and he has a functional shoulder. We at least got to learn how strong Eric's bones are! I will not worry about my husband developing osteoporosis any time soon =-) Please remember to pray for his continued healing and that with another round of physical therapy he will gain strength back in that arm. My husband has displayed incredible patience in what could be a real frustrating circumstance but he continues to be his wonderful, encouraging self.

Setting Up the House...

This last weekend was incredibly productive for us in that we actually have what I consider a home now...not just a house with a myriad of half unpacked boxes. We managed to move in two couch/love seat combos which means we have furniture to sit on. People can come over! Eric's firefighting buddy Chad has a sweet Ford F-250 that we have now utilized twice with the moving process and we definitely appreciate it. With the truck and Eric's dad's trailer we can really move stuff. We were blessed to have been given the couches by family friends so they have been in storage just waiting to be picked up. Another topic of discussion between Eric and I has been sleeping arrangements...we were sleeping on Eric's queen sized bed. Now this worked just fine when Eric, the belly sleeper, was in the bed all by his lonesome. But Beef has acquired a wife and pretty much his $3.00 wins over my buck thirty five every single time. I have been hanging on to the edge of that bed in the fetal position every night. We were discussing the cost of a new Cal King and it was not within sight. Fortunately my husband was open to the idea of shopping via Craigslist and we were blessed to find a clean, hardly used Cal King mattress and box spring up in Tahoe. We hauled it back down the grade and that night put the old queen bed in our guest room and slept wonderfully on our "new to us" mattress. We are thrilled at God's provision. He truly has met our needs and more. We have been so blessed with the graciousness and generousity of family and friends...we can run to Target and use our gift cards for those items we don't have yet. So we now have two extra bedrooms which means we are ready for company! Please don't be shy, we truly look forward to having visitors!