Ummmmm......

So, with the birth of adorable kids, you would think I would blog MORE, right? Ummm...... Nooooo....... There just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to get everything in (watching SYTYCD, laundry, eating, exercising?!, playing with said kiddos, figure out what they are suppose to be eating at every new stage [am I starving/depriving them of anything?!], amazing husband working hard, but not home much while working 2 jobs for a couple weeks, visiting family with a new niece entering the world!, and well, you get the idea.....) Summer time is busy and it shocks me every year. Why is that? You would think it wouldn't creep up on us all, but there you have it :) I figure I won't try and catch up on everything we've been doing, but I'll throw in a few pics of our adventures and start up the blogging authorship again :)

Cute snuggle bugs :)

These kids are 7 1/2 months, people!!!! How is that possible?.....

They LOVE their daddy :)

Every once in awhile I come up with a great gift idea and this one was a doosie :) I figured out a way Adam could drive a Ferrari for his birthday and the kid was in HEAVEN. He is a TOTAL car guy and came away grinning from ear to ear. Makes my heart happy to see him SO excited :)

Adam and I were able to sneak away for a few hours and enjoy my Mother's Day present.... Wicked! It's here in 'Vegas for a few weeks and we were lucky enough to score tickets :) Thanks for babysitting, mom and dad!

We were able to spend a fun filled week with my MIL when she came to 'Vegas in July. The twinners were able to enjoy a chlorinated pool for the first time WHILE it was raining. They were champs and loved it. They really do well with all the new things we introduce to them.

And I just wanted to throw these two pics in :) LOVE them :)

First Flight

We found out the end of March that Adam's sister, Rachel, was getting married in Carlsbad, NM. We initially started planning for Adam to make the trip alone, but after talking with Bev. (my MIL) we decided it needed to be a whole family affair :) So with a week of planning, lists, 2 huge suitcases, and MANY prayers we headed out on the twins first airplane trip. Needless to say, we were a LITTLE worried they might have a hard time with all the time in their car seats, or the air pressure changes, or all the germies they would be dealing with in the airport (seriously, complete strangers would come up and kiss on them.... Really?), or.... or... or..... You get the idea :) Everything was going to be out of our control and they were BARELY 3 month old preemies. I mean, they had only been out of the NICU for 2 1/2 months.... Oh the anxiety :)

But they LOVE to blow us away on a regular basis, and this one was a doosie :) They were literally angelic. NO crying when they were in their car seats for 10 hours 2 out of 4 days, or when the plane was landing or taking off, or when a million new faces were holding them, or when they were sleeping in a new house/room. They did FANTASTIC and it made me want to buy a plane ticket for Europe and finish our backpacking tour over there :) (However they come with a TON more luggage! Adam and I were able to SHARE a medium sized bag for 2 1/2 weeks in Europe, but with these munchkins we had 2 HUGE bags. Good grief:)

Zach on his first trip in the sky :)

Adam and Ellie chilling. I WISH I had a pic 20 min later when she was literally jumping up and down looking out the window. This girl LOVES new things and is quite the dare devil already.... She MIGHT'VE gotten that trait from her Daddy :)

Zach and I dancing at the reception :) I LOVE those beautiful blue eyes :)

Ellie dancing with her daddy :) Melt my heart :)

LOVE these faces :) It was really great to see family we hadn't seen in a LONG time and/or family I hadn't even met yet. It was a wonderful weekend and I'm SO grateful we were able to truly enjoy our time there.

Baby Blessings

It truly is HARD to put into words how wonderful it was to bless our little ones..... I felt such overwhelming love for them, my husband, and our Heavenly Father that most of the day I just wanted to laugh and cry at the same time :) Adam did a wonderful job and both blessings contained a lot of great promises and sweet possibilities. It was even more wonderful that it coincided with Easter Sunday - April 8th, 2012. Being able to remember our Savior's sacrifice and the blessings his life has brought, and then the life of our new children just made it one of the best days on record :) A day that made all the tears and hormone shots disappear from memory :)

Our little darlings wearing their beautiful blessing outfits. These were made by a dear family friend, Susie Hughes, and I am SO grateful for talented friends :)

Our little princess, Elizabeth Lynn Crawford. She was LOVING the photo shoot and was SO happy the entire time :)

Her blessing shoes were made by her Great, Great Grandma Averett and the blanket she had was made by her Great, Great Grandma Lamoreaux. I LOVE that these great women made these for our future babies so a piece of them could be with us on this special day :)

Our dear Zachary Adam Crawford. He is SUCH a calm spirit that it was a surprise he was NOT digging the photo shoot. At least he looks darling:)

Zach's shoes were also made by his Great, Great Grandma Averett, but his blanket was made by his Great, Grandma Gail with yarn from a stash she found of their Great, Grandma Whipple's. It was SO sweet of Gail to make us this second blanket with yarn from my Grandma Whipple (she passed away a couple years ago and Gail is now married to my Grandpa Whipple). We were at a loss as to what to do with twins and only one blessing blanket, and Gail came up with this wonderful idea. This way we had 3 incredible women involved with the making of their blankets :)

We are SO grateful for these little monkeys and thank God for them every day.

Fun pictures

Because who doesn't like pictures of adorable babies? :) Here are a couple pictures of how we're spending our days.

My parents' 4 grandchildren! My nephew was having NOTHING to do with the babies :) Pretty much the best photo we could get :)










My ADORABLE niece cuddling the little ones :)










A little ticked off :)













30 seconds later.... God bless the inventor of Binkis :) What would we do with out them?










LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this picture! Adam had them one night and Zach reached over to hold Ellie's hand :) I thought it was ADORABLE :)











I don't love this pic of me, but I DO love how calm both of them are. Not every night's story time goes as well :)









I just love how small they look in this pic :)












Ellie during Tummy Time :) I LOVE the color of these kids' eyes. They both have the same amazing blue eyes and I REALLY hope they keep them :)











Sweet Zach during Tummy Time :)He's been smiling SO much lately and I LOVE it :)

Home Again, Home Again

So, it's now been about 4 weeks since we were able to bring the little ones home, and it has been one chaotic ride :) Never a dull moment for sure. During these past weeks, we've been able to find a schedule that works well in keeping the little ones happy and at the same time extending their feedings to 4-5 hours at night. I have a bed time of 6pm and get to sleep until midnight, where Adam gets to FINALLY sleep until 6am.... Our family has been AMAZING and we have extra hands to help one of us through each feeding, EXCEPT the 2am feeding.... Nobody seems to want to help me with that one :) We're working on getting rid of that one SOON, so I don't have to go to bed so early and I MIGHT be able to see my hubby for more than an hour after he gets home from work :) The feeding times at the zoo start at 6am and continue on at 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 5pm, 7pm, 10pm, 2am and start all over again. You might've noticed a difference in our schedule in the afternoon. These 'cluster feeds' were recommended by the Baby Whisperer which help us 'bulk up' the babies for the night and extend their sleeping. So far, the schedule has done well and the twins have been growing like weeds! We had their one month appointments this week and Ellie weighed in at 7lbs and Zach was 7lbs 2oz. The Dr was SUPER pleased with their progress and development, so we'll just keep plugging away at helping them get rolly polly :)

I LOVE Zach's smile! It looks like Ellie's trying to squawk about something too :) These two crack me up :) 5 weeks











Our ADORABLE Home Teachers brought these HUGE teddy bears for Zach and Ellie. It was the sweetest thing EVER watching these older, widowed sweethearts trying to bring these bears in the door :) (Brother Ed Hansen and Brother Jerry Baslington)









I was making cookies the other day and walked in to see this little one posing like this :) I don't have a CLUE how she kept her hand up in the air like that while sleeping :)









The next time I walked into the room she had moved to this pose. Beats me what she was thinking about :)










Then I looked at Zach and he was posing in a pensive way as well :) I just hope they don't start turning those thoughts towards gaining up on me :)

They Have Arrived

These LONG awaited babies have FINALLY arrived! We were surprised and shocked with the timing and the chaos that ensued, but at the end of everything we have been blessed with 2 wonderful babies :) Many people have asked for the details so here they are:

I woke up Jan 26th (Thurs morning) with my water breaking, and me in COMPLETE shock We had recently been to the Dr and he said we should be able to make it another week or so.... I swore, woke Adam up, we grabbed our overnight bags (which I had JUST finished packing that day :), and HAULED to 'Vegas. By the time we finished the hour and a half drive, my contractions were 3-4 min appart and the nurse was able to see that I had dialated to a 5. The nurses had been moving around kind of slow before that (I'm sure they get a lot of false alarms), but when they realized I had already gotten that far, they started to run around like crazy. It then took a little while to get the Anastesiologist up there for the Epidural, but then he seemed to have a hard time getting it in.... it took him 20 min to put it in, which was FOUR contractions people! (they kept telling me it was my first labor, so I shouldn't deliver for several hours. Because they're twins that should prolong things as well) An hour later the nurse asked me if I was having any pressure... I told her I had a wierd level of pain tolerance (I can endure a lot), so she checked me and I was dialated to a nine.... They also figured out that the epidural hadn't worked (up to that point I thought I was being a wuse, because everybody raves about how much they love their epidurals)
The doctor showed up about an hour later (I was in more pain now, because I wanted to start pushing, but the dr hadn't shown up until then) and I pushed for 20 min and Zach was born (PS the Dr was MAD they hadn't called him earlier. Quote 'I sad to get her comfortable! I DIDN'T say to get her dilated to a 10 and THEN get her comfortable!' :) The dr had to then give me some shots 'down south' (because no working epidural), so they could give me an episiotomy. He was beautiful! SO surreal to see something come from your own body. Adam was able to cut the cord and it was all pretty dang awesome. But then the dr saw that the blood coming out with Zach looked 'old'.... apparently he had torn his placenta the day before which is what triggered my water breaking. The doc got a little nervous and started yelling for me to keep pushing to get Ellie's water bag to drop. They broke that and he noticed there was a TON of blood in it. He said, 'We're done' and they started the emergency C section. Adam and I didn't know entirely what was going on as they had him leave the room. They then had to put me out (again because no working epidural) and they pulled Ellie out..... They found she had a torn umbilical cord and wasn't breathing because of it... Praise ALL heaven they were able to revive her. And she has done GREAT since then. While talking to the Dr later, he told us if anything had delayed them even a min more, we would've lost her.... I can't even IMAGINE loosing our little girl and I thank our Heavenly Father every day that they are both with us and are both healthy :) (Yes, EVEN when they're both crying at 2am :)
So, I woke up a couple hours later with stiches 'down south' and stiches in my stomach, but 2 healthy babies. Adam and I were able to compare stories and realize how INCREDIBLY blessed we were to have both those little babies with us.






Zach FINALLY being able to stretch all the way out. He tried SO hard while in the womb :) 4lbs 9 oz










Ellie HATED not being swaddled, so she is voicing her discontent right here :) 4 lbs even.










The next stage was getting them through the NICU.... NOT my favorite time in my life. It was SO hard to wait, watch them, and to want to take them home SO badly. We understood that they needed more time to grow, but it was SO emotionally draining to see them hooked up to so many monitors and IV's, and knowing we couldn't do anything to help.... One of the worse moments was when Ellie's IV started to fall out and they tried to save it. She screamed so long that she was horse and I was in the corner sobbing because I could do NOTHING for her pain. Adam even had to go back to work for 5 days in there and I had JUST been discharged from the hospital..... I should've been 'taking it easy' because of the C-section, but I wanted to see my babies so I was at the hospital for about 9 hours a day and had quite a distance to find any thing to eat. Needless to say, I had high blood pressure and my Dr was threatening to put me on meds :) LUCKILY, Adam came back again and he saved me :) I. LOVE. THAT. MAN. He has been such a rock through all the chaos and I couldn't do it without him.... He's SUCH an amazing husband and I've LOVED seeing him as an amazing dad. I've loved this new and crazy phase in our lives.







Ellie getting out of the NICU!!! February 7th, 2012










Zach FINALLY getting out too! February 11th, 2012

Many Happenings

SO busy lately. Unfortunately I don't think 'Hey, I need to get this onto the blog' so this poor Media forum has suffered. We're full of events and travels, but I don't have hardly any pictures, so I'll try and paint a picture :)

- The first weekend in November was AWESOME! I was able to make a trip up to Logan, Utah and have a blast with SO many wonderful friends and family. There were TWO baby showers and about a million laughs. It was wonderful and I am SO grateful for my sister Tasha and many close friends that put together a truly memorable weekend :)

- We then had Thanksgiving down in sunny, Southern California with my Mother-in-law and a few of Adam's family. Adam was able to go golfing a couple of times and I was able to tour a few shops at the outdoor market with my Mother-in-law and Step Father-in-Law. It was SO wonderful to enjoy the warm weather and relax for the weekend :)

- The next weekend we were able to go to Logan, Utah again for the wedding of my little brother :) We were SO excited for these two to FINALLY get married :) She's such a wonderful gal and they are so happy together. It makes my heart happy :)






- Seven days following this adventure (do you see why we've been pretty busy? :), we had another baby shower here in Alamo, NV. My awesome cousin Amie and my dear mother were able to put together another wonderful baby shower full of fun and friends. Everybody has been so generous and helpful with getting us ready for these little twins. It honestly makes me want to cry when I think about all the wonderful people in our lives, both near and far, that have supported us and helped us these past months and even years. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!


- Within all these travels, we've been visiting the doctors regularly and trying to follow all instructions. This past appointment had great news and okay news.... My body is doing REALLY well and the bed rest has helped IMMENSELY. My body is now on track with twins at 7 1/2 months and the doctors are really happy about that. The 'okay news' I try not to dwell on and keep me up at night, is that Zach is a little too skinny. He measures in wonderfully with his length, but his stomach is too little. I feel some of it is genetics (taking after his daddy :), but then a few tests showed that the blood flow to the umbilical cord isn't as high as it should be. The solution to this is...... MORE bed rest :) I honestly would stand on my head and drink whole milk if I had to for this little one, but they said the only thing we can do is 'take it easy' and help the blood flow that way. It really is a comfort when he's kicking like crazy, because I know he's okay :) I love that feeling.

- Now Christmas is right around the corner, and I am SO excited! I LOVE Christmas and I love spending it with family. The traditions of music, caroling, and decorations make me feel like a little kid and I truly appreciate the focus we get to have on our Savior Jesus Christ. So many things could be said about my feelings of our Savior, but they're so dear that I have a hard time expressing them..... I truly appreciate his life and his ultimate sacrifice. It's a wonderful time of year to reflect on his mortal life and the sacrifices he made and the love he showed each of us by making these sacrifices. Truly the BEST time of year :)

The Results

I know this post comes in a little late, but I knew the information needed to be posted onto our blog :) We went to our Specialist a little while ago and we were FINALLY able to find out the genders of our little ones. We get to have a boy AND a girl :) We're SUPER excited to have one of each and to enjoy these sweet little ones :)


This is our boy Zachary hiding his face from the camera. He's shy showing the face, but it DEFINITELY wasn't a mystery as to his gender :)



















Our sweet Elizabeth's (Ellie) profile. She would show us her face without any problems, but she was REALLY hesitant to show us she was a girl. Adam says she's not shy, just modest :)












It was SO incredible to sit there for about 20 min and watch while they measured the babies. I could've sat there ALL day watching them measure their brains, kidneys, etc :) Everything looks great for them and they are completely healthy. The Dr. did discover a problem with my Cervix (it's too short), so they've put me on bed rest for awhile (probably the rest of the pregnancy). We've been monitoring it the past few weeks and it has not gotten smaller, so we're feeling good about everything. The Dr. said my body was reacting normally to a 7 month single pregnancy (which is what the weight of the twins were at), but I was only at 5 1/2 months with the two 1 pound twins. SO, we're taking it easy and I'm LITERALLY feeling like an incubator :) Every day I feel SO incredibly blessed to feel them moving and beating me up from the inside out. The greatest gift we could've EVER received and I'm SO grateful to our Heavenly Father. So many blessings.....

The Baseball Game

Adam's mom asked him what he wanted to do for his 30th birthday and he immediately suggested a trip to see a professional baseball game. We looked into Phoenix, LA, San Diego, and San Francisco, before we decided on watching the Diamond Backs play the Giants in Phoenix. We would be able to meet up with his family there AND enjoy a game. Win, win!













Adam and his mom enjoying the festivities :)












My sister is a HUGE baseball fan and hasn't been able to make it to a professional game, so my family was able to join us for the game! Sweet, huh?













GREAT game to go to! Unfortunately, we had gone there to cheer for the Giants, but the Left-Fielder Adam knows, was out with a blown knee.... At least it was cool to see Arizona do so well :)















It was SO incredibly hot while we were there (ESPECIALLY being 4 1/2 months preggers with twins :), but at least we were able to have a great time with family. I think we might have to turn this into a tradition :)

Bladity Blah

Yup, I DON'T KNOW WHAT to blog about, so that has lead to the silence from this section of the blogging world.... Nothing too crazy is going on - just the regular everyday comings and goings.
- Adam is still working hard at C.O. Bastian High School as a group leader. We're PRAYING with all our heart that he gets another job that will HOPEFULLY open up at the same school. It's as a therapist and he'd be able to use his Master's Degree.... Fingers still crossed (we've been hoping and praying for about 4 months now, so we'd LOVE to see some progress on that :)
-As for me, I've been busy canning/bottling a variety of veggies and fruits, subbing at the local schools, and finding excuses to go to 'Vegas with my hubby :) After I passed the 12th and magical week of pregnancy, I want to live again and I have the energy to do a few projects a day. I never really had too bad of a 1st trimester (I didn't ever throw up or have excessive nausea), but I did struggle with being SO tired and wanting to do anything. I'm told that's normal, but you do start to feel lazy eventually :) I'm about to start my 16th week, and I don't even feel pregnant, except for the KILLER heartburn I have.... I'm starting to show a little bit (which is great to have SOME sign :), but it's not really an 'I look pregnant', its more of a 'Did you gain weight?' look :)
- Adam and I went to 'Vegas on Friday and bought a few Maternity clothes. SUCH a guilty pleasure. We don't have the dinero to blow too much money on pregnancy clothes (and I don't REALLY know how many other pregnancies I'll have), but really it was SO much fun. What girl doesn't want to look nice and fit into clothes while pregnant? Definitely a fun shopping expedition for a couple that didn't know if it would ever happen :)
- I have picked up a love for trying new recipes. I now have the time to experiment and I've found some fun recipes (a few from this blog). Shocking, I know, but I guess every girl can try new hobbies :) PLUS I love cooking with my mom and hubby.
- Is it weird that I PRAY for my siblings to come visit? They need to try some of these new recipes :) AND I miss them.
- We gave in and started watching the series Dr Who on Netflix. COMPLETELY cheesy, but oddly addicting....
- I ADORE this video. She's just SO passionate, it makes me want to cry....
Adele - Someone Like You (Live): Adele performs "Someone Like You" live at the 2011 VMAs.

That's all from us. I hope ya'll are having fun heading into autumn

The Results

So, after all those crazy procedures, we were FINALLY able to go get a pregnancy test done...... And we can officially announce our entrance into parental responsibility! We were SO excited to get a positive answer on the pregnancy test! 5 years and countless tears have set us up to be RIDICULOUSLY excited :)

We had barely digested that information before we headed into our first ultra sound (at 8 weeks) and found out that we would soon become a family of 4! TWINS! Adam was a little stressed out for a couple of days (you know how guys kick into providing mode :), but we honestly can't stop smiling about the whole thing. We are over-the-moon excited. SO many blessings....

Many people have asked me how I've been feeling, and honestly, I feel I'm doing pretty well. I'm WICKED nauseous all the time (but I haven't thrown up and can basically keep it under control if I eat regularly :), and SO tired, but I've known so many others that have been hospitalized that I feel pretty lucky. I've heard all symptoms can be compounded by multiple babies, so I figure that's why I've been so sleepy. I'll admit, I'm probably being a little bit like a wuss with the nausea, but tell me who DOES like to feel awful all the time? :) So, that's us in a nutshell. We're happy, sassy, and multiplying :)

IVF 101

I'll admit, I was SO naive when I first went into the In-vitro (IVF) Dr last summer. I truly thought there would be a couple of appointments and then the embryo transfer would take place and we would know within a couple of days if we were pregnant. Not so, my friends. There is a WHOLE world of appointments, medicines, and charting of calendars that I would soon venture in to. So, here are all the dirty details for your reading pleasure :)

- Start Birth Control (on this for at least 2 weeks) to help control when the cycle will happen.

- At least 2 weeks into the Birth Control (up to 4 weeks if needed) start the Lupron injections (Needles. I. Inject. Into. Myself. Gulp!)

- Go off Birth Control and continue Lupron shots (this is when the dreaded monthly visitor comes around :)

- At this time, you start 3 shots a day of Lupron, Repronex, and Follistim (side note. The Repronex is PAINFUL stuff) In this time, I discovered I bruise EASILY. I really never knew this about myself, so I was surprised to see my body spotted with purple bruises.

- After a week and a half of this funness, you go into the dr every morning for ultra sounds and blood draws. You do this until they say your eggs are 'ready' for a trigger shot of HCG they give you. This has to be timed perfectly with your 'egg retrieval' at EXACTLY 36 hours before your procedure. The needle is HUGE but I had an amazing friend that did a great job and I didn't even cry :) (from the size of the needle, I really had worked myself up into a panic and thought I would pass out :)

- You then stop the previous 3 medicines and start taking an antibiotic the night before the 'egg retrieval'. You go in the next morning for the 'egg retrieval' and are put under. Coming out of the procedure just in time to take more medicine and then start Progesterone shots (that you continue until a pregnancy test. If pregnant, keep doing for 6 MORE weeks... Again, Gulp!) These are the same size needle as the GINORMOUS HCG shot, so I'm a little nervous about these...

- 5 days later you then go into the dr's office and FINALLY have the 2 best embryos transferred. Yeah!!!!

- About 12 days after the embryo transfer, you find out if there will be a 'little one' on the way in 9 months :)

Whew! Quite a few steps, right? I appreciated that they gave all those steps only one at a time, so you didn't get confused and mix anything up. This whole experience has been super educational with a steep learning curve. SO worth it though if the percentages work in our favor and we get to finally start our family.

Mother's Day

I always thought Mother's Day was a good time to remind us all that we should be grateful for the women in our lives (as I feel most Holidays are good reminders :). I never minded Mother's Day..... up until a couple of years ago. I won't go into the gory details, but that Sunday ended badly with me crying like a little baby in bed. I told Adam I didn't think I could handle another Mother's Day at church and I wasn't sure if I would ever be able to stomach the torture again (I might've been a little too close to the situation and forgot that time does pass :) So, any who, I was surprised when this Mother's Day crept up and I wasn't too emotionally distraught. I took a deep look and realized that the first time in 5 years we had progression on the 'fertility' issue, so that was probably why I didn't feel so crushed. The day went without a hitch (gotta see my dear mom and chat with a great mother-in-law :) and then Adam bought me this painting of Hannah and Samuel. I don't know if you can read the caption, but it says 'For This Child I Prayed'. My favorite ALL TIME PAINTING now :) Tears and all that were FINALLY of happiness and I felt such hope for the future.