Big healthy Boys!

20 weeks






We had our big targeted ultrasound this week and saw our two big healthy boys!





They are very much full of life. In this shot, baby b was actually romping on baby a's head with his fist. When baby a got tired of that, he rolled over and a boxing match ensued. The doctor said they both are growing great and look very healthy, which was a big relief. I think being a nurse has been a disadvantage in this case. I worry about everything, especially all the risks involved with twins. But, no need. Our boys are brave and strong!

Also, if you're wondering, they have two separate sacks and two placentas which is very healthy for them and avoids some risks with twins. This also means they're most likely fraternal but they could also be identical. We won't know til birth. Here is a cute picture of baby b sucking his fist.






This month has been better. I'm getting bigger and slathering on my Bella bee tummy honey butter in hopes of avoiding stretch marks. I also got this awesome girdle called the The prenatal cradle. It wraps around my belly like a bra and then around my shoulders like a backwards backpack. It is the best investment we've made. Goodbye back pain! The nausea is also better, I only lose it a few times a day rather than feeling like death. Bryce is surviving with four more weeks this semester! Woohoo!

February- the best husband in the world!

I married the most amazing man on the planet. The first few months of my pregnancy were like death. I was useless. Mostly I just slept, threw up, and laid on the couch in a coma like state. The house had become a destruction zone, I couldn't cook, and Bryce couldn't make anything that had even a hint of an odor. Yet, he never complained. He has taken such good care of everything, especially me (even right now as he's trying to force me to bed since it's past my pregnancy bed time).

Bryce works full time and goes to school full time, sometimes leaving at 6:30am for work and coming home at 8:30pm from school. On one of these days, he came home to me laying on the couch sick, kissed me, and then silently went to the kitchen to do the mountain of dishes and find some small scrap in the pantry to eat. I felt so bad that he worked hard all day and came home to this mess and me on the couch. I started to cry because I felt so guilty. Then HE came to comfort ME. Can you believe that?



I love my husband so much. He is my hero. I can't express how much his patience, support, and unconditional love have meant to me. He has really stepped up during this pregnancy, even when he doesn't have the time or energy.

I love you, handsome. Thank you for everything.


Picture at 15 weeks.

Our DOUBLE surprise

Picture this- I'm laying on the ultrasound table at 9 weeks and Bryce is sitting in the chair beside me. The doctor begins his test and says "Well, there's number one.... And there's number two". A sit up from a lying position to get a better look an exclaim, "what?!" Bryce leans forward, "You're kidding, right?" Then, I'm sure with much amusement he states, "Nope, not kidding. Let's just check around for anymore". Both our hearts drop.




I think the doctor had to tell Bryce he wasn't kidding three or four more times. But there they were, our cute little double blessings. It happened to also be a little birthday surprise for Bryce. All through his birthday date the next day we continually said to each other, "we're having TWO babies". I think this was to try an affirm it really was happening.

I think telling our families about the twin thing was more of a shock and more fun then telling them about the pregnancy. Both our mothers said they had wanted twins and now they're super excited to have them for grandchildren.



My main question, how in the world does a girl like me, at 4'11" and just over a hundred pounds carry two babies?! We shall see.

We're going to be parents!

In an attempt to catch up on the blog, Bryce downloaded an app for my iPhone so that I can post. We'll see how it works and if it makes it simple enough for me to blog. I'm going to start a few months back when we found out I was pregnant! We found out the first week of December. Here is a picture of my flat belly the day we took out positive test!



We wanted to wait a while to tell our family but we had a problem. By 6 weeks, I was throwing up nearly constantly and couldn't stand the smell, look, or thought of food. This made not telling family around the joyous holiday season impossible. Not to mention, all my coworkers knew because the Emesis basins became my best friends and the bathroom a second home.

Bryce's nickname at home is 'baby nut' so he made a super cute picture, featured here, that we put in a bowl of nuts for his parents. If you can't see it, it reads 'our family tree is full of nuts!' and has a funny picture of us, our parents, and a little baby. We gave it to them on Christmas eve at a get together at brooke's house. Everyone was excited and many a tear was shed.




We wanted to tell my parents before my brother called from hong kong for Christmas. We gave them a plaque that says 'grandchildren are God's reward for not killing your children' which was perfect for them. My family was very surprised and excited! Sinikka cried and immediately began planning for they're arrival. My studly brothers met me outside the bathroom door after another sick spell with crackers and a coke. Such Gentlemen.

Halloween Party

Last night we had a Halloween Party with some of our friends. Last christmas, Brooke and Ty got us a game called Quelf that we haven't been able to play with a large group till now. It was really random, which was the point. Have you ever tried to drink out of the opposite side of the direction the glass is tipping? Probably not.We had a great time and thanks everyone for coming! 

Jenn's New Blog

Jenn has finally made her own blog with a subject that is near and dear to her heart... Organizing!

Go and have a look using this link: www.labelthatstuff.blogspot.com

She already has two tips and she will be adding more as she goes around our home making things the way she wants it. You might just learn something you can do to organize and beautify your own home.

Sign up for the RSS feed to get automatic updates in Google Reader.

You don't know what Google Reader is?!?! Get with it and go to www.google.com/reader!

Bryce Side Photo

Hello Everybody!

Today I can announce that I have made an official blog for my photography and video. I have even gone so far as to register the domain name.

I'm going to do my best to post up frequent updates as well as my favorite pictures from my ventures. While this blog (The Bryce Side of Things) will now take on a simple family orientation, my other blog will be devoted to my artistic efforts.

Please do me a favor by registering to the RSS feed and recommending me to your friends!

www.BryceSidePhoto.com

This year's garden

This is a late blog post, but I thought I'd show you our innovative gardening strategies. Ok, they aren't that innovative since they're all out of the square foot gardening book, but they're new to us.

This year we're doing our square foot gardens again and we wanted to plant them on Jenn's birthday (May 8th). Nature was against that though with freezing temperatures forecasted for the week after we wanted to plant. Luckily I remembered this awesome idea to make little greenhouses for our gardens to protect them from the frost.

We simply took two 10' PVC pipes from corner to corner and strapped them together with a zip tie at the top. Then we got some big pieces of plastic and draped it over the top of our new structure and placed bricks around the edge. Luckily we haven't thrown out these bricks since we moved in. I never realized how useful a little pile of bricks are.

Our garden is doing really well right now so if you're nice you might just get to come help eat some of it.

You can see how humid it is here since the lens immediately fogged up when I stuck it under the plastic.

We were also able to plant a peach tree and an apple tree. You can differentiate the peach tree above since it doesn't have holes in it's pants.

The Cathedral

Last month I had the opportunity to go to a photography seminar at the Salt Lake Library for a group called photowalking utah (www.photowalkingutah.com). Before going into the Salt Lake Library I noticed this church which I had seen maybe once before.

Since I was going to a photography workshop, I obviously had my mini-tripod and camera with me. I decided that I would take a picture of the cathedral after the seminar. Having scoped out the only possible slab of cement that I could sit on while aligning my tiny tripod, I proceeded to nearly press my face against the cement to try and see what I was getting in the viewfinder. Luckily there weren't many passersby since they would have wondered if I was a beggar that had made off with a really nice camera from someone uptown.

After I took the photo below I scoped out some other locations when I realized that this wasn't a cathedral at all, it was the city county building! Knowing the strict rules that cities place on federal buildings, I began to walk back toward my car, peering over my shoulder periodically to see if there were any security guards who would make me delete my precious photos. I hid behind a tree and somersaulted over a bush to avoid the glare of two officers walking my way. I slunk into my car, sped away, and rejoiced in my captures.

The Third and the Seventh

In my daily perusing of photography blogs I stumbled upon this video. The Third and the Seventh is a tribute to architecture as an art form.

The producer of this video, Alex Roman, is a master of 3DsMAX which is 3D animation software. I was impressed with this video because of its unbelievably realistic portrayal of our world.

Pay close attention to the textures used and the stylistic feel of this video. He obviously put many hours into this project.

The only things in the video which are not real according to Alex are the time-lapse flowers, some of the birds, the airplanes, and the photographer toward the end of the video.

Again, truly amazing work here. Hope you enjoy.

Make sure to watch it full screen with the sound on. (Click the link below)

http://vimeo.com/7809605