Holiday in Missouri

I am winding up a cozy weekend for adults.  It has just been Mike and I and his mom and dad just enjoying each others' company.  Thursday we just sat around and ate all day.  We watched a couple of Hitchcock movies and a couple of football games.  The Cowboys are having a good year, eh?

Yesterday we tootled around Missouri.  We visited the RLDS (now Community of Christ "Temple" and the neighboring church visitor's center where they had a Dead Sea Scroll Exhibit that ends today.  It was pretty cool.  They also had some water pots and oil lamps (I was surprised how small the lamp were) from the time period.

After that we revisited Liberty Jail.  Since it was just us adults, we had a wonderful discussion with the young sister Missionary who gave us the tour.  At the end of the tour, we stopped to enjoy the Nativity display there at the visitors center.  Local members donated their Nativities from around the world.  There were probably about 50 different sets and works.  Ten of them were from the "Skembos Liberty Stake."  Consie has collected them for years.

Before we did any of that we stopped at Sam's to restock their candy at the Far West Country Store.  They made me ride the fat lady scooter cart.  I really do need to take it easy because these babies have to stay in there for two more months.  This month has gone by fairly quickly, though.  

Today is our last day here.  Tomorrow we leave after Sacrament Meeting so we can get the kids back and get back to work.  Mike has three job interviews lined up for the coming week already.  We'll see.

Pink

I have deleted all of the boy items from my Babies R Us registry. Both of them gave a clear view for the doctor. I have two girls. Doc says there are two separate sacs, but they have thin walls, which leans more toward identical. Of course, I don't expect them to be anything but identical. Doctor says their measurements are totally consistent with the 29 Jan. due date and they are growing equally.

Mike is coping well enough. He had a house full of boys growing up. He is not used to hormones. It will be a good experience for him. I am sure I will get a chance to make another post before the holiday, but I wonder if anyone will read anything before then. Just in case, Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope you enjoy it. I don't have enough room in my stomach to really enjoy it. If I eat two bites too many, I become reflexively bulimic. The Nurse Practitioner says I just need to have little feasts all day. This Thanksgiving be thankful for the space in your abdominal cavity.

FAQ's

Are you far enough along to find out the babies' sexes? Yes

I am 29 weeks. As long as the baby is positioned well, the sex can be determined at 20 weeks.

Do we want to know the babies' sexes? Yes.

Because we have a nice "bottoms up" situation, it should be pretty easy to determine the sexes at my in-depth ultrasound on Monday. I went to Babies R Us to update my registry today and added multiple sets of both boy and girl clothes. When I find out, I will delete the unnecessary clothing.

Can the doctor tell you if they are they identical or fraternal? Yes and no.

They can only rule out identical if they are male and female, or confirm identical if they are sharing a placenta sac. However, if they are the same sex and in a different sac, we may not even be certain if they are identical or fraternal after they are born. However, I expect that they will be identical, because of family history, and I was certainly not in fertility therapy.

When is the due date? Jan. 29th

All of my other children came two weeks late, so until I knew it was twins, I told people I was due in early February. Realizing that they usually come early, I am now telling people I am due the end of January. However, Mom said she carried the twins to full term and her singles were late like mine. So, rather than have them at 42 weeks, I will have them at 38-40 (January 15th-29th), despite the fact that the majority of twins deliver by 37 weeks.

How long are you going to work? I don't know.
I expect to be on bedrest (on orders, or voluntarily). I may be able to hang in there long enough to be of help up until Christmas Day. If I make it that far, I will certainly stop there. After that, I expect to return to being an at-home mom. There is just no value in working for 8.25/hour when I have a baby to care for. That is enough to pay for daycare and taxes, while still putting us in a higher bracket so that we are sure not to qualify for earned income credit. Not enough families realize those implications.

I will be looking at some dance/music teaching opportunities for a little extra here and there, where I can bring my babies along. Hopefully they will be content babies. I doubt they could be as easy and content as Andrew.

The answer to the unaskable question. Yes, I will be breastfeeding.

Any other questions?

It Takes Two to Make it Out of Sight

It's official. Baby A and baby B are side by side, heads down, which explains why I get so much stinking kicking in my ribs.

I only met with the Nurse Practitioner today, who happens to be the mother of twin boys. Monday I will be having an in-depth ultrasound with the doctor, who is the father of twins. This doctor was recommended to me by a couple of ladies in the ward.

I'm stuck in a 70's sitcom. I've gone from the Brady Bunch to Eight is Enough! I'm excited. Since I work right next door to Babies R Us, I registered there, though I have never been in the store, I did it all online. Feel free to visit babiesrus.com and look up our registry number: 68713835 or you can look it up by searching under Skembo.

Emylie the Artist

This is Emylie's freehand drawing in colored pencil. She did this one from an art instruction book, though this picture did not have instructions, it was inside cover art. She does a lot of other things out of her own brain.

Activity

Monday was a busy day at work. I had contractions every 5 minutes for the last two hours I was there, and another full hour after I got home. I did leave work a little early, and I laid down most of the rest of the evening. I was not feeling well at all, and I was concerned about how much longer I would be able to work.

However, I had kind of the same problem last Monday as well. I think I must be doing too much on the weekends and adding a full day of work to it after that just sets everything off. Yesterday and today were fine. I only had one or two contractions per hour, with none during some hours. Even that would be a source of concern for some, but since I regularly had contractions for a month or two before all of my other babies were born, I only see them as a warning sign to take it a little easier.

Babies were pretty still over the weekend, but there was tons of activity in the middle of all my contractions. The one on the top had been the far more active one for the longest time, but I am getting a lot more movement on the left side now too. Some of the movement is so strong that it moves the rest of my body, like someone bumping against my chair or something. I love feeling the life inside of me. Pregnancy is uncomfortable, but I love it.

Big Transition

Emylie got her certificate of achievement from the Bishop today to advance to Young Women's just before the primary program. Isaac was the only one who did not participate in the primary program today, but next year, only 3 kids will be in it.

Lexi and Emylie both went to YW today after my class. I have one more student who will turn 12 in a month. After January, I will have no students in my class, so I will be able to attend the adult classes. I took Emylie, Lexi, and Isaac to a fireside tonight. I have three children over the age of 12. Three. And two in my belly who will not go to youth activities for a long time. Just strange to think.

It is funny how pals-y Emylie and Lexi have been this weekend. Lexi had a bunch of things going on with her mom on Saturday and Emylie kept asking when she was going to be here. Their friend, Megan was here part of the time, and they all got along fine--including Claire. It was supposed to be the weekend of Emylie's big birthday party, but she wanted to keep it small. Because it was so late before Mikey and Lexi got here, we didn't have cake until 10 pm. The only present there was to open was an MP3 player, but she had gotten the wig and a nice set of leather bound scriptures the week before, so she actually got a REALLY nice birthday.

Claire, the Artist

Emylie has long exhibited artistic talent, to the point of over-shadowing her sister, Claire. However, last month Claire was selected to be part of an art exhibit at the school district office. We did not get a chance to visit the exhibit, and neither did you, however, the school district has teamed up with Artsonia.com to publish the exhibit online.

View Claire's artwork, comment, or join her fan club. Click on her work when get to the gallery. You can also buy prints of her art on greeting cards or T shirts. Proceeds will benefit the school art program.

You can appreciate her work better by taking a closer look at some of the other children's work. Her color saturation and pen strokes are definitely more mature than her schoolmates. The continuity of her border through the color changes adds to the effect as well.

Pain

Monday at work was awful. I kept having pains and contractions. I was concerned that I was going to have to stop working soon. I went home and laid down the rest of the evening. I was not able to sleep at all that night. Nothing was comfortable. Tuesday at work was much better, and I slept well last night, for the most part. I did have a dream that one of my left ribs was broken and sticking out, so I pulled it out like one would an underwire that was malfunctioning. I did wake up to a very sharp pain there.

Mike is on week two of having his car all torn apart. It has consumed him. There is little time for anything else. He has been in a lot of pain for one reason or another; whether its smashed fingers or aching muscles. He is having to take me to and from work so that he has a vehicle to fetch any unexpected parts in while he is working. He thinks he has everything he needs now. He has new tie rods, shocks, breaks, springs, rebuilt calipers, and whatever else attaches to any of those things, plus a new clutch master cylinder. We have probably spent about a thousand dollars in parts, but the labor that we are not paying for would amount to at least another $4,000. Our friends Cash and Scott have contributed to the labor, or Mike would probably have another week of work to do, and he would have had to buy a great many more tools and tidbits. We still need to get an alignment not that all of those components have been replaced, and are in great need of at least 3 new tires.

All of it has been no source of stress for me. Mike is strung out, but I am excited for him. I guess the timing couldn't really be better, since he is out of work. There is no way he could have done all this if he had his job.

Whaddaya think?

I am at 27 weeks, which marks the end of my second trimester, making me (newly) 6 months pregnant. A lady came into BB&B two days ago, who was due 2 days after me, and we were very close in size. She has been to the doctor, and is definitely expecting twins.

Did you know that your chances of having a multiple pregnancy double when you are over 35? I continue to experience significant movement in my belly. I have felt a heel right up at my diaphragm and tickled it. However, I have a really hard time distinguishing what is what. The most dramatic movement occurs on my right side.

If it is twins, one baby is facing out (the one on the right) and the other baby has its back against my belly and its limbs toward my back. It just seems like I am getting nudged from a hundred different directions.


I definitely sense the urgency of seeing a doctor now. I took the day off work yesterday so I could apply for Medicaid. UGH! I had #317. They were on number 269 when I came in. I was there for 3 hours and they were on 279. THEN I find out that I can just leave my filled out application (that I got online and filled out at home) in the box for them to review and they would call me for an appointment in 7-14 days. If I had known that, I would have done it 2 weeks ago just after work. I was expecting to have to sit in a waiting room. If I had stayed and waited the six hour minimum I still would have had to come back for an appointment.

As much as I wanted to stay in a room with mothers talking about Child Protective Services in relation to their addictions and overweight smelly people crowding the chair next to me, I had to get the van back to Mike so he could take the kids out to Matt so that I could get a ride to be at the church by 6:30 for our warm-ups for the 7:30 performance. Yes, I left.

I will not wait 7-14 days, however, until I contact doctors and make an appointment, since Medicaid can be retroactively applied up to 3 months.

Baby just woke up. I love playing with my baby. Where it kicks, I push on the spot with the same rhythm and it pushes back. I have never had a baby respond like that. It is amazing.

By the way, you haven't seen my hair yet. It is 2 months longer than it was. My hair has not been growing very fast, though. I just went 2 weeks without shaving my legs, and it was hardly noticeable.

All Saints Day

All Hallows eve is done. Today used to be the holiday that was focused on. I guess that was when a much higher percentage of the population was Catholic.

Emylie went Trick-or-treating with a couple of friends last night as some sort of princess. Her dad bought her a costume wig, but it is really uncomfortable and she doesn't like it, but her new everyday wig that we ordered showed up yesterday. She is really excited about it. Today she is wearing it to school for the first time. We'll see how the kids at school respond to it today, and how she responds to them.

I walked around the block last night with the other three. The neighbor kid, Vuk and his little sister Ani (short for something-they are Polish or Russian or something) came along with us. Claire was a Gypsi with a black wig. Isaac and Andrew and Vuk were dressed in camo as some sort of military unit. Isaac kept giving drill commands and marched them between the houses.

Somebody "Boo'd" us (ding-dong-ditch) a couple of nights ago, but Mike and I were not here, and before we got back, the kids had eaten all the candy they gave us. So last night, everyone was required to dump out their bags for "inspection." They were told to give us anything they didn't like. After that, we were free to take anything that WE liked from what they had left. The bowl that was left on our porch is now full of things to satisfy adult-only sweet-tooths.

Tomorrow I have the day off because I asked for it, so I am going to go apply for medicaid because I really need to see a doctor. It's not the doctor I need to see, it is what is in my belly that I need to see. I am just barely six months along. I have now passed into the third trimester, but I look like I should deliver in the next three weeks. My fundal measurements continue to be ahead by several weeks, and the activity in my belly continues unabated. Either the child has ADHD already, or they just like playing with each other.

I am having more spurts of sore ribs where the bones and cartilage are stressed by the pressure of baby living and growing there, which I have not experienced before.

Time for work again.

Fall Festival

Last night was the ward fall party. There was an adult costume contest. I went as a pregnant lady, but that is because Mike wasn't going for my couple costume idea of me being Bruce Banner and him being the Hulk. Okay, so we didn't dress up at all because we didn't have a spare minute to do anything.

I did 10 loads of laundry, got groceries, made waffles for breakfast and even made lunch for everybody, made chili for the carnival and cupcakes for the cake walk. Mike was busy taking his car apart. He finally has nearly all the parts and pieces he ordered for rebuilding his brakes, suspension, and drive shaft. It will be out of commission for a few days while he gets all his work done.

Today we began rehearsal for the primary program, but could not run through it in the chapel because another ward was in there. It was just the singles ward. Don't know why they can't skip sacrament meeting for a week or two. Maybe they could have Sacrament meeting at the park. Singles love that kind of stuff. That, or next week when we do our run though the single adults, who miss the opportunity of a primary program could have us "bring the spirit through the hearts of children." Yeah, our practice should be their Sacrament Meeting!

Being our first week of run-through, it was the usual madhouse. It looks like it will be an awful program, but experience tells me that the kids will be fine.

I've been teaching the 11-year-old girls for a year now. That is the longest I have held a calling in a long time. Probably because I don't like it that much. I love my girls--for the most part that literally means "my girls"--but I don't feel like I have put much effort into lessons and preparation. I absolutely loved my calling as the primary choirister, and I only got to do that for 4 months. It was long enough to be part of a killer Primary Presentation.

This is my last week of two choir practices. I have ward choir in 20 minutes. I missed the one before sacrament this morning that would have been a nice warm-up for our ward conference special music, but I did not feel in any way like getting out of bed this morning after all I did yesterday. I have Stake choir tonight at 7, then next week is the cantata, which should be really nice.

I have to leave now.

I have been trying to squeeze as much into my mornings and afternoons as possible, but still not getting anything done that needs to be. I have to talk to the scheduling manager about having a day off next week. I need to apply for medicaid and get a Dr. Appointment.

This week I took Emylie downtown to fit her for a wig. We have gotten to that point. She wasn't sure about it before, but now she is excited. They didn't have what we wanted in the store (meaning something near $100) so I will be ordering one this morning that the company has online, now that it is payday.

That is the last check we will be getting from Mike's previous employer. He has already been contacted about temp work, but when he showed up yesterday, no one else was there.

It is finally cold enough here for long sleeves and jackets in the morning. Short sleeves is still fine in the afternoon. I have yet to turn on the heater, though.

Fun with Hon

Mike got a hairbrain yesterday and decided he had to have cheesecake. His sister has a recipie that he is very familiar with, so he got it and made it. We had fun in the kitchen together. Not laughing, playing fun, just nice to be working side-by-side fun. I was making dinner at the same time he was making dessert.

I didn't get to taste the cheescake until today. I liked it. IT WAS CHEESECAKE, DUH! --Even with forgotten vanilla.

This post has been sitting in my drafts for nearly a week. I guess it's been that long since I posted.

Neck knots

I'm feeling a little tense. I took more than a third of the money I have been saving for our Disney vacation to cover expenses for Mike's car, which is not driving safely at all right now. Fortunately, that is only half of what it would be if he wasn't so skilled at his own labor--or he would not be getting it fixed right now.

Just as my savings is dramatically reduced, Mike's company pulls his contract and we are left, once again, jobless. However, he has an interview today with a company where he is becoming very well-known. I will not give any details because in the past that seemed to jinx things.

If things work out with this company, we will have the medical benefits we so desperately need. If it does not, I am now able to qualify for medicaid, so there is always a positive. In the long run, somehow, there will be more positives than negatives. In the present tense, (there's that word again) I have knots in my neck.

Off to the Races

Yesterday we went with our friend, Cash, his granddaughters, and a few other people to the drag races. Lexi and Mikey had fun for a little while, but then complained about being bored. The boys came back with a bit of a sunburn. That pretty much filled up our day.

When we got home, Mike started working on his talk for today. His topic was Following the Prophet. This is the first time he has been asked to give a talk since he was able to be classed as a youth speaker. He ended up going into work before he was able to finish, so I took dictation for him and helped him with revisions and stuff while he was driving to and from work. We make a good team. It was a great talk and he delivered it well. What I liked best about it, is that it was powerful, succinct, and the meeting ended five minutes early.

I went to choir practice this morning before church, but only the accompanist, director, and one other person showed up. We were not able to go over our special number that we were on the program for, so the other lady and I did an impromptu special musical number of "Come listen to a prophet's voice." We only had enough time before the meeting to decide on the song and give the first verse a shot. It turned out fine, of course.

Now I have to get ready to meet Matt for the kid exchange, get back in time for Isaac to go to the regional youth fireside with President Dahlquist, YM General President, and then to my stake choir practice.

"There is an hour of peace and rest"--somewhere in all that.

Andrew

I missed Isaac's Tuesday game because I was in the hospital with Andrew. It was the last game Isaac will be able to play for three weeks because of his grades. His team won, though, I think, 26-6. That is really impressive. Their first string team lost again. Either they kept the teams more even than the other schools or this school has a really deep skill pool so that there just is not a big difference between Team A and Team B.

Yeah, Andrew and the hospital...Not a big deal really. He has been fighting a bronchial infection for a week or two since fall allergies kicked in. After the weekend at his dad's he was wheezing again. He was complaining that he could not breathe. Since we don't have a doctor yet, I took him to a few different urgent care clinics and Dr. offices trying to find one that takes the military insurance. By the time I found one, all the clinics were closed so I went to the nearest ER that takes it.

The doctor was barely able to diagnose him with pneumonia because he had a "little spot in his left lung." He has not had a fever, except for the mildest that day. He went to school the next morning, though.

Today I had a conference with his teacher, Mr. Wu. He has a really high reading level, which I was pleased with, but, like Claire, it does not translate into successful spelling. The teacher was convinced, though that his writing was below what it should be. It would appear that Andrew has a standard case of Boy Lazy. I mean, I have never called him anything but Andrew, and he has chosen to write Andy on all of his papers because it is easier. The teacher says his sentence structure is ultra simple and does not reflect his abilities.

Of course, he needs more practice in Math. Time to go to work.

Stretched balloon

It seems like it has been a long time since I wrote, but looking at everyone else's blogs, I am at a fine pace. Kim is the best at it this week.

Yesterday we watched both sessions of General Conference. Our friends, Scott and Arren (Peachblossom) came over and watched with us. While the boys went to Preisthood meeting, Arren and I watched HGTV and like channels for the entire evening. We enjoyed it. (You have to kick the guys out if you want the remote.)

As nice as it was, I have a better appreciation for standing on my feet for long hours. Sitting all day just about killed me. My upper back hurt like crazy. There was nothing I could do to get comfortable. Then, when I stood up, the skin of my stomach felt like a fully inflated balloon that someone was still trying to put more air into. The baby had not moved much for two days, apparently because it is going through a growth spurt.

I am so short-waisted that I have, literally, two inches from the top of my hip to the bottom of my ribs. That does not leave a lot of interior room for a baby--therefore, my belly is way out. Besides that, it is trying to grow into my ribs. Yesterday I felt like my sternum was being separated to make room for a baby inside my ribcage. The child, according to week-by-week pregnancy sites, is only one pound. I have at least six more pounds to fit in there.

Despite the discomfort, I love being pregnant. There's something in my tummy. It is alive and it came from God. I am helping Him create it. Time for the last session of Conference.

Strong

Baby is getting so strong! I don't have people feel my belly, all they have to do is watch! My belly jumps.

Isaac had another strong game. They tied it up in the third quarter but they let the other team score in the last 9 seconds of the fourth, so they lost 16-22. Both teams had good defense, hence the low scores. Its funny that this is my blog and there is a weekly football feature.

Emylie and Claire and both expressing a strong interest in joining soccer somewhere. If they do, you will probably hear more about soccer from me that from MaryAnne.

It is nothing like Utah, here. Snow could happen in 3 months. We are having a strong indian summer. Fall comes and goes. I watched the game tonight with my face to the sun--again--in the heat. At least there was a steady breeze. Mike made it because Lexi didn't have a game tonight. It was nice to have him to lean on in the bleacher behind me. He's my strong man. Of course, he had to leave back to work after the game was over. I don't know if I will see him again tonight.

I am going to go help Andrew make some macaroni and cheese.

Today I lounged around in bed a little bit with my husband. Nice. Then I made brunch--bacon, eggs, pancakes. Then I was set to have my husband help me in the garage. He complains that he doesn't have a place to park his car, and he has a window that won't roll up the last inch or two, so I figured he would be motivated. I told him we only needed a half an hour and that I couldn't do it without him because of being in my "delicate condition." He whined like a little crybaby. He had his heart set on something else.

See, Tuesday this week, in case you hadn't heard, was the release of Halo 3. Mike bought it on Thursday at the Microsoft company store for half what everybody else paid because he has a friend who works there. He has had few hours to play because of his work schedule. Rather than getting up to help me, he handed me a second game controller. He taught me the night before how to play, but rather than shooting at him this afternoon, we shot at other things together. I saved his back, he saved mine. It was tender.

All the kids are with us this weekend. (They were watching TV while we were lounging this morning, and they were playing outside while we were killing things.) We took them to the Aquatic Center and let them play at the indoor pool. Then we went to the adjacent park for just a few minutes after that.

There in the park was one of the most elaborate birthday parties for young ones I have ever seen. A mother was dressed as Tinker Bell, and all the girls had fairy wings and skirts, while all of the boys had pirate hats and patches. They were organized on a painted tarp, which they left for a scavenger hunt. They all came back in an orderly fashion and ate pizza to be followed by cake. One of the things they ended up with from the treasure hunt was a "rock" (baked salt dough) filled with a jewel/ treasure. It was nearly inspiring.

Mike had to go into work this evening--again. I at least had a little chance to talk with him about our holiday travel plans. I was looking up hotels and ticket prices last night for our trip to Disney world. When I started planning the trip last year, I had intended to stay at the Disney accomodations. However, we have a friend with a time-share condo in FL, who can't use her week this year, and she offered to let us have the week, so I got my brain around that idea and was told that, as I expected, there were no availabilties for the holidays. That got me looking into other options, though, and the prospects are good--even without doing the priceline, name your price. I am really getting excited about the trip. If I keep saving at the rate I have been we will be able to go without any problem--except for the issue of being 9 months pregnant.

I am typing with my tired, chlorinated eyes closed. I wanted to look into some other planning stuff, but it will have to wait. Goodnight