Pregnancy Update: Week 10

TEN WEEKS... that means I'm a quarter of the way done and getting very close to finishing up my first trimester!! Honestly, time is not going by fast enough for me! This has been my worst pregnancy as far as morning sickness (even worse than with the twins). I am one of those people that will do everything I possibly can to not throw up... which means I have been spending a lot of time sitting perfectly still while trying to not make a mad dash for the bathroom. I had to drop out of my own weight loss challenge only to lose 7 pounds over the past few weeks anyway!

The first couple weeks sucking on hard candy seemed to help, but then that stopped working. I've tried all the usual things (saltines, small meals, naps, etc.) but nothing seems to help except time. The hardest part was not being able to drink anything. If it wasn't for Strawberry Frutista Freezes from Taco Bell I'd have been dehydrated for sure. I even took to trying to make them at home (never perfected the recipe). In the process though I discovered that really cold drinks were best. Lemon water with LOTS of ice is my new best friend... and it's cheaper than the Frutistas.

Thankfully, it's getting better with each passing day. Some days are worse than others but I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I take comfort in the fact that morning sickness means that this little one is digging in deep for the long haul.

My next appointment is March 9th. I'm hoping to hear a little heartbeat! The next appointment after that I will be starting a new (for me) medical treatment of weekly 17P shots. I took progesterone with J.D. in hopes of making it to full term and while it seemed to help, it didn't quite get me to the finish line. These 17P shots are supposed to be very helpful in preventing premature delivery. We're still researching the options of who will be giving these shots each week from week 16 until week 36 (any volunteers?). 36 weeks... wouldn't it be wonderful if I made it that long!?

We are already discussing names. I'm guessing our discussions will go right up to the end of this pregnancy. We are definitely going to need the extra few weeks to full term to come up with something! If you have any suggestions let us know!

AWANA Grand Prix 2011

Our family had three cars in the AWANA Grand Prix this year. Since our lucky first run, when Wesley took 3rd place for speed, we haven't had another trophy come home... until tonight!

Here are the cars: 

Wesley's Hershey Bar Car

Justus' Packer Helmet Car

Eli's Striped Racing Car

With the exception of Eli's, this year's cars started out as a blocks of wood. We were a bit late in purchasing our cars and that meant we could only get one that was already shaped. We didn't really have woodworking tools that could do anything too exciting to shape the cars so we did a little internet research to come up with some creative ideas. In the end, having to shape the cars ourselves actually made the cars more interesting.

Wesley was pretty pleased with his when he was finished and J.D. liked it so much he tried to take a bite out of it!

The night of the big race came and all the boys had graphite in their wheels and high hopes. This year there was a new aluminum race track to race on and I think all the cars went faster than in previous years. Even though our cars broke the 200mph mark... it wasn't enough, we didn't take home any trophies for speed.

Wesley was super happy to take home a trophy for 3rd place design. Honestly, he didn't care what it was for... he was just happy to have a trophy!

Answers

Remember this "Inquiring Minds" post from December? Remember when I said:

"There is something very freeing about trusting God in this area. There is no doubt or confusion about what is God's will, if He wants you to have another child you will, if not you won't. Simple as that. Which is where we are now..."

Well, we weren't sure what God had in store for us, but now we've got at least one answer! Shown Baby Number Seven is due in September 2011!

Have any name suggestions?

If you are anything like the general public, I am sure you have a few questions... so here are my answers:

• Yes, they're all ours. (Yes, all from the same father.)
• No, we're not ... crazy, Mormon, Catholic, trying to keep up with the Duggars, etc.
• Yes, we do know what causes that. 
• Yes, we'll have our hands full... better full than empty, right?
• Obviously, we do get a little time to ourselves.
• He works at a door company and, no, we're not rich.
• A white 15 passenger van. 
• About 3,000 square feet with 4 bedrooms.
• Fixed?! Nothing is broken.
• We're glad it's us and not you too!
• Yes, we've really been asked all the questions that go with these answers! If you want a taste of what it's like to have a large family read Jerry's funny post about it here. And whatever you do please don't give us that near-sighted beaver look! :)

Birthday Fun!

Last Friday we had a little party to celebrate Eli and Justus' 7th birthday. I say "little" because it was just our family, my sister's family, and one of Roz's friends. It wasn't really as little as that sounds though because that was 15 people in our kitchen. Our family is pretty much a party where ever we go! We munched on snacks and then ordered pizza. Being the losers we are we followed the progress of our pizza order on Domino's website (we're pretty sure the whole order status thing is fake).

Roz helped me out by baking a cake. Nothing fancy this year. Maybe next year. It was a yellow cake with chocolate/chocolate chip frosting.

Tuesday was the twins actual birthday. I always like to take a picture of them together. I should dig up the old ones and put them all in one post so you can see how they've grown. Speaking of growing, they had their well checks last week and Eli is a good 2 inches and few pounds bigger than Justus. But they are both healthy boys! The doctor even told us their body mass index... I have to say I was a bit jealous of their numbers!

Tuesdays are our busy days so we opened presents as soon as Dad walked in the door. Then we loaded everyone in the van for a birthday dinner at McDonald's. The McDonald's by our house gives kids a free Happy Meal on their birthday. Having two birthday boys worked out to be a good deal!

Since we didn't have time for cake on Tuesday night we made one on Wednesday. This time a white cake with white frosting. It was just us, and the only person in our family who can carry a tune is back in Eau Claire, so you can thank me that this is a still shot and not a video.

I really can't believe how fast the last seven years have gone! I know it's not just me either because even the pediatrician mentioned it didn't seem possible these guys are already seven years old.  It really does seem like they were itty, bitty preemies just yesterday! Happy Birthday Eli and Justus!

Birthday Post?

Yes, yesterday was the twins birthday. And no, I did not get a birthday post up. I know, I know! Tuesdays are our busy days and with the addition of a birthday dinner at McDonald's plus some gift opening before heading to AWANA at church we didn't have a minute to spare!

I will get their official birthday post up in the next couple days, but until then you can read about how shocked we were when we found out we were having twins or read the twin's birth story. If you want to relive birthdays past you can check out my posts from 2008, 2009 or 2010. And don't forget to check out their crazy cakes!

March for Life

This Saturday is the anniversary for Roe v. Wade. If you've missed my previous posts about abortion you should take a minute to go read them.

In 2009, I wrote about late term abortion survivor Gianna Jessen and how both the founder of NARAL and Roe (yes, the Roe) are now pro-life advocates. More/better/improved birth control or education isn't going to eliminate abortions... the end to abortion will come through changing the hearts of people.

In 2010, I shared a post about birth control and abortion. If you believe life begins at conception, you need to be very careful about the choices you make in this area. All hormonal forms of birth control (pills, shots, implants) cause early abortions as a secondary function and there is really no way for someone using them to know which function is preventing a pregnancy at any given time. This information played a big part in our decision to being open to having more children. Jerry and I also feel strongly that part of the reason we "need" abortion is because of the changes contraception has brought to our society. Watch this short video.

I hope you will consider joining us for the Green Bay March for Life at Baird Park (corner of Mason and Webster) this Saturday, January 22 from 6:30pm-7:30pm. This event goes on no matter the weather, so dress appropriately. Feel free to bring a sign and a flashlight or candle to carry. If you don't live in the Green Bay area I'm sure a quick internet search will turn up a march in your area. If you can't make it to a march, please take a few minutes on Saturday to pray for an end to abortion.