Where the heck have you been?!

Well, I will tell you where the heck I've been. Mostly laying glassy-eyed on the couch, occasionally barfing, and even less often, doing something else. So here's a photo version of the past 6ish months of the latter.

Nana came to stay with us to take care of Laura and the kiddos for 2 whole months (Thanks, Nana!!) . Sophia graduated from preschool with a real degree and everything, and Sophia and Holly had their dance recital and performed like pro's.







Travis's Mom had 6 aneurysms and a stroke or 2 at the end of May (and as you can see that did not stop her from being the social butterfly that she is :)). Travis took Sophia and Holly with him down to NC to visit and they got to see Grandma, Papa, and cousins Vivi and CJ as well as cousins Lily, Abby, and Claire and their Aunts and Uncles that live there. We also went swimming at the pool and feed the animals in Amish country when Papaw came up to see Nana and us during July 4th.







We had smores in the backyard fire pit, had a girls 'spa and beauty day', danced at our friend Elisa's wedding, and Sophia and Holly took swimming lessons (they are fabulous swimmers, naturally!)







Aunt Susy came to stay with us and brought cousins Lily and Claire with her. As you can see, we were all very excited. :) We chilled at the pool, snuggled and played, and rode the pony's at Hersberger's Farm.







Sophia had her very first day of Kindergarten. Holy Cow. See how happy she is? The third photo is Sophia's face as she gets ready to go into her classroom. The fourth photo is my face when I broke down in the car. The last photo is the junk food I bought at the store to pork out on at home cause I missed her. Hey, I still weigh less then I did when I got pregnant, so I'm allowed.







Travis and I had our 8th anniversary (awwww...). Sophia and Holly started dance lessons back up. Mommy turned 27 again and Lucy learned how to make a grumpy face.







We went to the Coshocton County Fair and rode LOTS of kiddie rides. Then we went down to NC to visit and got to go to the NC State Fair to hold ducks, get our faces painted, and see amazing crafts (yes, that IS the Tardis from Dr. Who done in beadwork. Fabulous!)







Halloween came and the girls dressed up as Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Mulan. I had a costume, too. Then Travis ran a half marathon! It was freezing outside but he did great!







And finally, Lucy turned 2! She's so cute. If you look in the last picture you'll notice a dog. His name is Petey. We found him and thought we were going to keep him, but alas, after a month his owners have finally come forward. We will miss him. (But truth be told, a certain mommy who is pregnant with twins really can't handle a new dog on top of everything else right now, so even though he is a sweet little dog, it worked out for the best in her humble opinion. :))






So, there you have it. A shortened version of the last 6 1/2 months. Hopefully I'll be posting again shortly because I have given birth! I'm scheduled for a c-section on Dec. 14th (baby on the bottom is breech). So, maybe my next post will be shorter but infinitely cuter. :)

Laura got sick of the pump and just tore it off.

So I've been hooked up to this pump for the last 11 weeks that slowly pushes Zofran (an anti-nausea medication) into my leg. It does some wonderful things like make me not so barfy, makes it easier for me to eat and drink, and also to keep those food and liquids inside my body rather then having them just use my mouth as a revolving door. It also does some things I'm not so crazy about. For example, in order for the medicine to go into my leg, everyday I stab myself with what looks like the biggest thumb tack you could imagine (and then add 2 inches to that) and it's attached to a small tube that stays a few inches under the skin and the meds run into my leg and pool underneath the fat and muscle tissues there. It leaves a very large, red, swollen area (a little bigger then a computer mouse, but a little smaller then a bagel) that hurts a LOT. So much so, that you're willing to stab yourself in the other leg just to give the first one a break. As with any other owwie, they don't heal instantly, it takes about a week for them to be completely gone, so what you really end up with are 2 legs covered with varying degrees of healing welts with knots, bruises with knots, and knots. Eventually you run out of real estate. So yesterday afternoon I was trying to move that thing to a new spot, but the needle just WOULDN'T go in. I tried 8 times with 2 different needles all to no avail. I had noticed that it had been getting progressively more difficult to get that thing down into my leg for a while now, but I could always get it eventually.(according to my nurse husband, it's most likely due to the increased amount of scar tissue I have under the skin from having done this 78 different times.) So, I just turned the pump off and set it on the counter. I'm free. Probably. With the pump, I also get a home health nurse who calls every other day to make sure I'm gaining weight and don't have too many keytones (which if you don't know what that is let's just say it measures if your body is digesting your muscles for fuel). So I've discussed with my nurse what the process is for getting me off the pump and she definately didn't say 'just rip it off when you can't take it anymore'. It was more like turning the pump down by degrees till I'm off it completely. Although my nurse, Louise, is the best and she did say that a lot of girls do just turn it off one day and there's technically nothing wrong with that. So I'm free. For right now. I've been off it now almost 24 hours and I feel pretty ok. More nauseous and tired, but I haven't thrown up, and I've been eating and drinking. So far, so good. :) I'm happy. I don't have to sling on my 'medicine purse' (as my girls call it) everytime I stand up. And by the way, that picture at the top is the pump itself and some model with the 'site' in her abdomen. (you can put it there too, and I did a few times, but it hurts a lot more there on me for some reason.)

It's Twosies!!

Yep. I'm pregnant again. And it's twins. :) They're due Christmas day, but we don't expect me to make it that far, so it'll probably be closer to Thanksgiving. I'm only 10 weeks along, so I wouldn't normally we telling yet, but I'm so stinkin sick that my mom has graciously moved from her home near DC to our house to take care of me and our 3 monkeys. I'm hooked to a Zofran pump (it's antinausea medicine) and still taking other meds to help with the hyperemisis, too. I'll probably be like this (I'm basicly on bedrest and I've still lost about 9 lbs so far) till about October. So you might not hear much from me for a while. Just thought I'd let you know. Also, to any of my girlfriends who have twins, any websites, groups, etc... that you found helpful, send my way! Because eventually I'm going to get beyond needing to focus on just breathing and I'll be able to digest the fact that I'll be the mother of TWINS! Ok, so love you!

Goin' to Carolina in my mind...

Hey Ya'll. So a few weeks ago we took a fabulous (though entirely too short) trip to NC, and here's a musical version of what happened. Enjoy.
Miss Susy had a baby. She named her baby Claire.


Butterfly in the sky. I can fly twice as high... (at the NC Museum of Life and Science!)




Everybody do the dinosaur.






Ridin' that train. High on... life and science!






I scream, you scream, we all scream for Sunni Sky's ice cream!






Lying in the (grass) you found me, you found me...






We are family!








The End. (applause.)