17 weeks

Well, I'm in my 17th week already. Hard to believe how fast it's going, yet I know that I still have a long way to go! I'm looking forward to having time at home this summer to enjoy Kaden before our lives change forever in the fall. In two weeks my grades are due and then I'll move myself out of my office and wrap things up by the end of May, so the end is in sight (bittersweet, another blog post about this in the next weeks I'm sure). I don't have any belly pictures yet, mostly because I'm just starting to show more. I thought for sure I'd be showing more and much faster, given the fact that it's my 2nd pregnancy and twins, but it hasn't been too bad! Most of my non-maternity pants don't fit, and it's still the in-between stage right now. If only I could find the perfect pair of maternity jeans, now. Sigh.

Generally, I feel great. I enjoy eating pretty regularly throughout the day, but not in excess as people may assume with twins. If I can get protein and carbs before lunch (Bagel Beanery is my favorite hang out these days for egg and cheese bagel sandwiches. Good thing they have TRIP!), I'm good to go for the day. I get tired faster and fall asleep if I let myself sit on the couch, so I try not to do that much. I'm thankful for a smooth 2nd trimester thus far!

I started to feel a significant amount of movement over the past week. I had felt a few things here and there before then and thought it might be the babies, but this week it's pretty obvious. When we had our ultrasound yesterday, it's clear that I feel Baby B who is much closer to the surface and a crazy mover. Baby A is nestled deep in there and perfectly content to just chill :) When I played the piano in church on Sunday Baby B was going crazy- I think they love music already. I love being able to feel movement, it's so reassuring and a reminder of the 2 blessings growing inside of me.

Yesterday was our anatomy ultrasound. A couple of weeks earlier than most people get their ultrasounds, but because I had been going every 4 weeks for ultrasound, it's just how the schedule fell. Everything looked great- 20 fingers and 20 toes, lots of heart chambers, kidneys, spines, brains, etc. There is plenty of fluid for the babes and my cervix is cooperating nicely. Each baby weighs between 5-6 ounces, and their head size is 1 1/2 inches. Isn't that amazing?!?!? We're so thankful that everything is developing and pray that continues for many more weeks to come! We had hoped to find out the gender of the twinners yesterday, but it didn't quite work out that way. The ultrasound technician was able to get some between-the-leg photos, but she was afraid to make the call one way or the other. Since there are 2 in there, we want to be 100% sure of the gender, so we'll wait it out a little longer, and I'm okay with that!

At this point we'll now start seeing my OB/GYN every month as I have been, and my high risk doctor every 2 weeks. Each of the high risk appointments will have an ultrasound- some really quick to check fluid and cervix, others longer to continue to check their development. I must admit, I kind of like being able to see them so often. We're hoping that during the next ultrasound in 2 weeks we'll confirm our gender predictions from yesterday :).

And now for a face view of the twinners: (the other ultrasound pics from yesterday weren't really that good)

As I mentioned earlier, Baby B is quite the feisty little guy or gal. He/she kept kicking Baby A in the head and punching Baby A in the legs with their arms (with a membrane in between of course). They're at it already.... we're doomed! :) Here's proof:

Kinderplaats

We had never been to Kinderplaats and decided this was a great year to take Kaden since he's so much more independent. Plus, it was the start of Tulip Time in Holland and I LOVE seeing the tulips. The weather was perfect for it, and we're so glad we went. It was the perfect start to a beautiful Saturday! Kaden loved it, too, and fell asleep on the way home because he was so worn out. He loved seeing all of the trucks and the "sports-themed" inflatables the best. Didn't want anything to do with the other inflatables, but that's fine by me (too many big kids and craziness in those things anyways!). After we did all of the Kinderplaats festivities, we took a walk through some tulips in the park and ended our morning with lunch at 8th Street Grille- my favorite! :) This might have to be an annual tradition, although Andy says he's not doing this next year with 7 month old twins!! We'll have to see! :)

Kaden is OBSESSED with trash trucks and was in his glory when he got to sit in one!!

Posing by the trash truck with Daddy

Petting the bunnies

Hitting the ball

Riding the "horse"

Petting the dog

Feeding the dog- look closely at where the food actually ended up! :)

Wouldn't be a true Tulip Time experience in Holland, MI without the Dutch dancers! :)

Shooting hoops with Daddy

Picture by the tulips with Mommy- of course he wasn't looking at the camera or smiling for any of them :(

Looking at the windmill with Daddy and waving to Mommy from the top of the hill

And of course.... tulips.

Home, home on the range

Well, Kaden finally got his long-awaited set of REAL golf clubs from Uncle Steve yesterday. He's been asking for real golf clubs for quite awhile now (the plastic snoopy set just wasn't cutting it anymore). Since Uncle Steve just so happens to work for The First Tee and has access to donated clubs, he was finally able to locate a set that was perfect for Kaden. Uncle Steve's busy season is starting up, but he was able to find some time yesterday to come into town to bring Kaden his first real set of clubs. Kaden was BEYOND excited. Words can't even begin to describe his excitement. He would cry and ask me to call Uncle Steve to bring his clubs, and it was a great bribe when he was being naughty! :) He loves that he has his very own case for his clubs and his own real golf clubs to use. So, of course, last night we had to go to the driving range to try them out. At first he wasn't quite liking the fact that you couldn't use your own balls, and that when your bucket was gone, you were done. But, he'll adjust to all of the rules of golf. We were glad that he was wrecking someone else's grass as he attempted to hit the ball and not ours! He actually did pretty well and now keeps asking for golf shoes, golf gloves and a golf towel. Andy is going to give him a golf towel tonight, but the others will have to wait. These clubs had to go in the car with us garage sale shopping this morning, and in his room for nap time. He even had to call Andy today at work to ask him if he could bring him to the range again tonight! Hopefully the excitement and newness will wear off soon. Let the golfing begin! :)

Giving Daddy a "High-Five" when he hit the ball

Both of my boys getting ready to hit the ball

Ready, set......

SWING!

Golfer boy

Getting help from Daddy- that lasted about 10 seconds- Mr. Independent wanted to do it all himself!

Concentrating hard to get the ball on the tee

Cleaning his clubs when he was done

Easter 2011

Yes, I know that Easter is over, but since my blog also serves as my scrapbook when I get them published into a book at the end of the year, I wanted to make sure I documented our Easter this year.

This was our 2nd year attending the annual Easter egg hunt at our church. This year Kaden really got into it and kept picking up egg after egg after egg. He was pretty excited about the treats and tickets inside, too. He was able to get a beach ball, rubber duck, sunglasses and a lei with all of his tickets. That made for one happy camper for the rest of the day!

Waiting patiently for his turn to get the eggs

Cutie pie

Picking up eggs with Daddy

And more eggs...

After Kaden finished the hunt, we grabbed some popcorn and juice and headed inside where they had Veggie Tales Easter playing in the sanctuary. Kaden wanted to watch it for a bit, and when we sat down in the pew, he looked up and said, "Mommy, there's a cross." I confirmed his observation, and he replied with, "Jesus is ALIVE!!" Seriously, how awesome is that? Even an almost 3 yr. old catches on to the basics of Easter. I continue to be in awe of the faith of young children. What a blessing!

Kaden and Mommy on Easter

Opening up his Easter basket after church

Excited about his goodies

Opening up the eggs he found at Grandma Rysdam's house with Daddy

Grandma even gave him some money for garage sale shopping! :)

Having fun with Uncle Steve and his soon-to-be Aunt Kelly after dinner. He loves to play around with his uncles!

Capturing conversations

CWhen I taught 4th grade, one of the strategies I always taught my students was to capture conversations. I encouraged my students to listen in on conversations (NOT eavesdrop), as a way of recording and remembering conversations to possibly include in their writing someday. My students would record conversations they heard in their Writer's Notebooks and those memories were preserved forever.

This morning I started thinking about everything that Kaden says, and how many crazy things he says that make us laugh. I know that I won't remember these things later on, so I decided to capture some of his conversations and record them on here. Anytime I do, I'll call it capturing conversation so you know what the reference is to.

So, the first conversation goes something like this. We were walking out of church this morning.

Me: Kaden you need to hold my hand in the parking lot.

K: Why, Mommy?

Me: Because there are lots of cars and we have to be careful.

K: Then the cars would squish me and you'd have to throw me in the trash.

I cracked right up outloud. I told him that we'd never throw him in the trash and that we don't want cars to squish him which is why he always needs to hold my hand. Gotta' love the thinking of an almost 3 yr. old.

Sweet Ride

Since I blogged about Kaden's new ride, I figured it would be fitting to blog about my new ride. Yes, we are the proud owners of a 2011 Honda Odyssey. I'll tell you what... I love it. I don't care what anyone has to say about minivans. They are seriously the most practical and sweetest ride out there for a mom. Now I know why so many moms own them!! :) We knew once our lease was up on our Murano in January that we would be purchasing a minivan, regardless of whether or not we were pregnant again. Well, now that the twinners are on their way, it really made sense to have a minivan, as I refuse to have 3 carseats in the back of an SUV. Insanity. Long story short, we got a rare opportunity to get out of our lease early with no penalties if we did it by the end of April, so we took advantage of the opportunity and went on a hard-core car search. After doing lots of research and visiting lots of dealerships, we ended up getting a great deal and love our new purchase! I'm sure each time I make a car payment I'll be reminded of my desire for a mom-mobile, but it's worth it nonetheless. The best part is that now we have it in time for the twins when they arrive and get to fill up the back of the van rather quickly in the fall!

Sometimes when Kaden isn't in the car and I'm driving to work I get a little lonely and have to blast some ghetto music- just to remind me that I can still be a cool mom even though I own a minivan.

About to drive it home from the dealership

Kaden taking over the back of the van

Yes, I know I don't have a full-length picture of it, I forgot to take one when we picked up the car and of course now it needs a wash and I refuse to post a picture of a "dirty" car, so once it gets a nice wash, I'll post an updated picture! :)

New Bike

We knew that we needed to buy a new bike for Kaden this year since he had outgrown his toddler-type bikes from last year. I had been looking around but couldn't find anything that seemed like it would work. The 12" bikes were too small and babyish, and the 16" ones looked huge! In the meantime, I knew I wanted to keep my eyes open at garage sales to see if I could find something. Well, sure enough... I was getting ready for work a week or so ago and noticed my neighbor setting up for her garage sale and a bike out for display. I ran over there and it was exactly what I needed. Plus, it was a 14" bike, and the perfect match for Kaden. Needless to say Daddy wanted to make some improvements on it, and now it's perfect for Kaden. We got him fitted for a helmet and bought new wheels and training wheels at a local bike shop and waited for a nice day. Once the first somewhat nice day came, Andy put it all together for Kaden and he's wanted to ride it everyday since. He still has trouble stopping (hasn't quite figured out how to turn the pedals backwards yet to stop), so I'm sure his shoes will be nice and worn out by the time this season is done since he drags them on the ground to stop! He also has some trouble turning and steering, but I'm sure he'll get the hang of it in no time at all. He looks so grown up riding his bike- I can't believe how fast time goes!

And as the famous Mastercard commercials go....

$10 bike at garage sale

$32 helmet

$20 training wheels

$14 wheels

Watching Kaden enjoy his first "real" bike.... priceless.

(Just a note... the bike (not including the helmet- we'd be buying that either way) still ended up being cheaper than the new ones at the store despite our fixing it up... woo whoo!!).

Helping Daddy put on the new wheels (check out my hot new wheels in the background... another post to come on this in a bit)

Getting up close to help Daddy

Showing off his new bike

Cutest bike rider I've ever seen :)