Ultrasound Photos 18.5 Weeks

Week 19 Pregnancy Photos

Update

Everything is really starting to look up for us! It is a very good feeling. With Johnny's new job, we are finally able to pay our own bills. It is really such a relief. We moved down here knowing that it was going to be financially tough. However, we had no idea how tough it would actually be. We certainly had not anticipated it taking three months to get a job. Nor did we expect the Army to take so long to pay us. We finally got our Army pay, though, too. My transfer is still not complete, as far as I know. I did not drill for October, because it should have been completed at least midway through October. Now I have a bit of a mess there to clean up. Besides that, though, everything is pretty good. We decided that I can get out of the Army, which makes me happy. We will feel the loss of my paycheck and tuition assistance, but nothing compares with my ability to be home with our children. If I were to be deployed, it would be a major difficulty for our family. I know that I would not handle it well. Johnny would have an extremely difficult time with me being gone and having two little ones around may help comfort, but would probably make it even harder for him. If we were both to deploy at the same time or back to back...I don't even want to think about those situations. So anyway, we decided that it would be best for me to get out of the military.

Johnny loves his job. He loves being able to help people find good cars that they can afford that are awesome. I went to go pick him up tonight from work and I was able to meet some of his customers. They were really cool. Good people. I am glad that he can have a job where he has job satisfaction. The only problem is that he has to work 10-12 hour days, so I hardly get to see him. I feel so bad for him sometimes because he is also taking classes and he really just does not have time for anything, but he is always sure to make time for me. Sometimes it makes me feel a little selfish.

The pregnancy seems to be going well! I went to the doctor on Friday and I was able to hear the heartbeats! I am so glad to know that they are alive and well. Lately my lower abdomen has been hurting quite a bit, especially when I am walking around a lot. I have really had to slow down with this pregnancy--literally!! I walk a snail's pace...anything faster is just too hard to keep up with!!! It's ridiculous. The crazy part is I am only at 18 weeks. That's about halfway through if you're having twins, which I am! The really exciting part is that I have an ultrasound scheduled for Friday, so I get to see my babies!!! We should also find out about the genders then, so YAY!!!!

I decided to take up cross stitching as a hobby. I figure that since I have nothing else to do...I need a HOBBY!!! It's going fairly well. I made a little rose thing that says Love. Now I'm working on a Bless This House thing, but I am not sure how it is going to turn out, since I do not have a kit or real pattern for it or anything...we shall see. It is pretty basic, so it should be alright and I am definitely learning as I go. I never thought I would get into a needle craft. Or any craft for that matter! I guess my Mormon Mommyness is kicking in.

Week 17

Sooo...these are our Week 17 photos. Johnny says that he should have saved that pose for when I get bigger...I think he looks pretty awesome!

Some Pregnancy Photos

I am finally getting around to posting the pregnancy photos that I now have. Really, I just have around 12 weeks and 15.5 weeks. I kinda suck at taking them. It is really a little awkward to have someone take a picture of your belly, I decided...especially when it is not a six-pack!!! lol



So that is me at around 12 and a half weeks. I'm starting to show!!



And there is John at that same time period.



Here I am at 15 and a half weeks...a lot bigger...where did my once-flat-stomach go?!!




And another one of me. I'm going to have to take John's pregnancy photos for this week tomorrow. =D I think his turn out better than mine ;-)

1st Ultrasound!!!

I didn't sleep well last night. I kept thinking about the ultrasound and, quite frankly, I was a little worried that I would have the ultrasound and nothing would show up. That everything else was something else, and that I wasn't really pregnant. I woke up this morning from a horrible dream that I was in an advanced Spanish class, with Senor Barth as my instructor, and I couldn't understand a single word that he was speaking!! For those of you who don't know, he was my Spanish teacher in high school and I was his teacher's aide for a semester. To not be able to understand him would mean that I had no skill at all!!! After that horrible nightmare woke me up, I started groggily thinking back to when I wanted to be a Spanish teacher, and to the opening speech I would give me class in Spanish...just to prove to myself that all of those years did not go to waste...but I digress...after all, you're not reading this blog to know about my horrible nightmares of not knowing Spanish!!!

I finally got up at 8 and I was super cranky. I felt bad for Johnny, because he was all excited about the ultrasound and the beginning of a new day and I was biting his head off like crazy. He puts up with me so well!!

We got to the appointment early (yay)! And they took me back earlier than the original appointment time, which was super nice. The ultrasound lady (I wish I had gotten her name) told me that we might not be able to see anything with the regular tummy ultrasound, but she would try first. She did. There were two little black circles...at first I thought that it must be my ovaries...there are two of those, but I knew it wasn't that. She then confirmed what I was thinking...TWINS!!! I was shocked. Ever since I was a little girl, I had known of the strong possibility of either me or Julie having twins, but I never really thought that it would happen! Johnny and I even discussed it a couple times, but...it's so different when it is reality, not just some possibility. We were able to see them--Twin A and Twin B. They call the one closest to the cervix Twin A. I call Twin A Elizabeth and Twin B Little Johnny. I don't know the genders yet, but I think that's the way it is. Julie is guessing the same.

Wow. So there it is! I'm having twins...and I'm still a little shocked and very excited. And I keep thinking about how big I'm going to get. I'm already quite a bit bigger, most of my clothes fit rather snugly. I shall start taking pictures!!

Pregnant?!!

About a week after we moved to San Antonio, I found out that I'm pregnant!! My first appointment is September 2nd, and I can barely wait. I'm so tempted to move it up, but I figure that the longer I wait, the more they'll be able to tell me regarding the baby!! I've been pretty sick lately, but I think it's starting to get better. I don't know, though. Sometimes it seems like I'm getting better, and I'll have a couple of good days, but then I start feeling sick again...grrr...Today was good though! I feel closest to the baby at night, when I'm trying to fall asleep. I hope it's a girl. I don't like changing male diapers. It's gross...they pee on you :-O I can't wait to see how far along I really am. I've had nausea since about May, as well as some other pregnancy symptoms, but kind of off and on...mainly on. Because of that, I really don't know how far along I am :-( If I wasn't pregnant then, though, then I should probably see a doctor for something else...

The Move

I have not been very diligent in the upkeep of this blog. I will try to fix that!! Our lives have completely changed in the last month. We decided to take the plunge and move to Texas. It felt like it was what we were supposed to do, but it sure was difficult to take that leap of faith, as it meant that we would be leaving friends and family behind. We also had concerns of money--moving is so expensive!! We fought back those concerns, though and pressed onward. It was amazing. Every time a bump came along, something would happen so that we would be able to move after all.
The trip down to Texas was great! We took our time coming down, so it took several days. The first day we started out at around 4 pm. We made it all the way to Cliffdweller, AZ, were we lodged at an Inn. There were some bugs there that totally creeped me out, but I have a no bug tolerance. Johnny kept me safe from the bugs, but kept trying to scare me...grrr...I did not sleep that well, as my dreams were filled with bugs. Really, I only saw two, but...that was two too many!!!
We headed out bright and early the next morning. Our next stop was Phoenix, to visit with John's grandparents. They took us to a Chinese buffet where we were able to catch up and stuff our faces! It was nice to get to know them. They're both having some health issues, so Johnny was especially happy to see them before their health deteriorated too much. I personally think that they looked like they were doing very well!
After Phoenix, we headed to El Paso, to visit Julie, Joe, and Drayden. They have a beautiful house. Julie has done very well in decorating it and making it a home. We got there a lot later than anticipated, but we were still able to talk a little that night, then we spent the night there. In the morning Julie made some awesome potatoes and I made some pancakes that were a little less than spectacular. We were able to stay about half the day, during which I got to play with Drayden a little and talk to Julie. It was a grand time!! I love them very, very much!!
We left El Paso at around 1 pm, heading to San Antonio. It was supposed to be about an 8 hour drive to San Antonio, so we decided to go about 5 or 6 hours and stop at a hotel, so that we could surprise John's family in the morning. For some reason, it took a lot longer than we had expected, so we ended up stopping at around 8, with still a couple of hours to drive.
The next morning we finished our long haul from Utah to San Antonio at around 11 am. We parked a little further down the street from John's family's house, so they wouldn't see us driving up, and walked the rest of the way. Jessica saw us walking up, so she walked out and very casually said hi. We went inside and Johnny bounded up the stairs to go surprise Joshua, while I went in the living room. Momma Turner was in the living room, but it took a minute or so for her to register who had come in the house. As soon as she saw, so stood up and happily exclaimed, "You're here!!!" and gave me a big hug! Johnny finally came lumbering down the stairs and joined in the reunion. Jessica was on her way to Sea World and invited us to go along with her, so we called Michael and invited him, then we all went to Sea World, where we would surprise Amanda and Danielle. Amanda had the best reaction, she screamed and everything. It was pretty awesome.

5 Months and 5 Days Ago...

I cannot believe that this is the first post in this blog. I created it months ago!!! This is Amanda, btw, if ever Johnny decides to post or say anything, which won't be during this post, since he's going to bed, he will be in italics. These last 5 months and 5 days have been incredible. So much has happened. We have faced a tremendous amount of decisions. We've had our ups and our downs, but such is life. As with all great things, the good has outweighed the bad.

School did not go nearly as well as we had hoped. It started off on an interesting note, as we missed the first week for our honeymoon. We tried to jump in and do the whole school thing, but it is truly remarkable how unprepared we were to leave each other for PT at 05:00 every morning. Or, quite frankly, how unprepared we were to leave each other at any moment of the day, or night. Furthermore, we also had a couple of car accidents, a couple of moves, and a couple of illnesses and injuries. I had to deal with my mother's death and Johnny had to be there for me through all of my crazy emotional states.

We got through all of the bad, hand in hand. Johnny did whatever he could to spoil me rotten, and I tried cooking, to return the favor. I think it worked, because he loves when I cook and he still spoils me. He is magnificent.

We are currently trying to decide whether we should move to Texas this summer, or whether we should stay in Utah. It would be a lot easier to just stay in Provo. Johnny could continue at BYU and I could go to UVU. We wouldn't have to worry about changing units or selling our contract. It would be more fiscally responsible to stay here. There is so much uncertainty in Texas. We don't know where we would live, go to school, or work. It would cost a little over a thousand to move down there, and we're broke college kids. Johnny's family is down there, though, and we would love to be closer to them, especially if I were to get pregnant. We feel as if his mom would be a great asset to me and to the baby. Either option is good, but for now we're leaning to staying in Provo. That could change at any moment, though. It seems that every time we think we make a decision, more information comes out that causes us to rethink and choose another solution. I know that we will be happy wherever we are, as long as we have each other.