Where has time gone? I cannot believe that Cooper is almost a year and a half old. So many changes in his life that they are hard to even list here. But I thought I would give a fun update on how my little Cooper is growing…

• Cooper started to walk at 14 months old Thanksgiving weekend!
• Cooper stopped bottle feeding at 12 months old and started to drink from a straw cup, but he still got a bottle before bed.
• At 14 months, I weaned Cooper of his nighttime bottle and he solely drinks milk from a sippy cup during his 3 meals of the day.
• Cooper move to one nap early- at 12 months old. He took a solid 2.5- 3 hour nap during the day and 11 hours at night. Still doing that expect his nap is a little shorter now.
• Cooper’s communication skills continue to improve. He understands a simple two step command now. So I can tell him to pick up his truck and put it in the basket and he’ll do it. He is also still signing and saying a few more words. Currently he signs: ball, all done, more, yes, sleep/tired, potty (sometimes), help, eat/ hungry, and milk. Cooper will say: car, hi, hey, da, dada, daddy, all done “all gun”, dog “gu”, help “hu”. We have caught him saying- thank you, turtle (on the intonation), and more- but he does not say these consistently or hardly at all. He quacks like a duck and barks like a dog. I also have heard him recently mooing like a cow.
• Cooper has some favorite foods- bananas, blue berries, hot dogs, crackers, sweet potato, and butternut squash. He eats pretty much all fruit, very little veggies,  most cheese, and some meat (chicken nuggets/ hotdogs).
• Cooper is starting to enjoy being read to. This has become a huge part of our bedtime routine. He will sit on Chris or my lap and contently listen to story after story.
• Cooper is still obsessed with cars, but will play with some other toys more often now. His favorite thing to do is line his cars up on the window sill in the playroom. Quite cute if you ask me!
• Cooper knows some body parts now- he can identify his head, belly button, nose, eyes, and tongue.

So here is the update on the twins at 28 weeks:

Baby B is still breech and I am having Chiropractor adjustments (Wester Technique) to help that suborn baby to flip- hopefully! Chiropractor explained to me that twins typically are in the head down and breech position for a reason and that if they don’t flip before delivery to not worry. That after baby A is born, baby B should have enough room to flip. I am hoping he is right! My OBGYN is going to allow me to have a vaginal birth since baby A is still head down, but if baby B does not flip after Baby A is birthed- I will have to have a c-section. YIKES! This is not the most ideal situation for me, but I am putting my trust in God! I have been praying for a vaginal birth and I feel like God has heard me and will answer my prayer. Please pray that I am able to have a vaginal birth and that Baby B will flip before he/ she is delivered!

At my OBGYN appt. today I found out that Baby A had a heart rate of 143 and Baby B had a heart rate of 139. I am really starting to think that I am having two boys. We still do not know their gender, but that is my hunch. I have a total of 5lbs of baby in my tummy and I am measuring as if I am 33 weeks pregnant with a single baby (5 weeks ahead). Baby A was 2lbs 6oz and Baby B was 2lbs 8oz. During the sonogram Baby B was trying to suck his finger and you could see his mouth opening and shutting (so cute). You could see both Baby A and Baby B’s eye lids blinking and opening and shutting too, which was so neat! Both babies are growing well and look healthy!

How am I feeling? Well, I am starting to get uncomfortable. It is hard for me to find a comfortable position to sit in for a long period of time. Even laying on the couch can get a little uncomfortable for me at times. I have noticed that I am starting to have some contractions. The only way I know that I am having them is that my tummy gets hard. They are not painful at all and I have no clue I am having them half the time time. My doctor wants me to start keeping track of how often I have them. Anything over 6 contractions in an hour is not good. I don’t that I am having that many contractions, but I will keep an eye out. I find that I just am not able to move around with ease anymore. I find myself rolling off the bed so that I can get up and pee at night, haha! My doctor also warned me to try not to push it to hard in my third trimester and take it easy. Easier said then done!

Other Tidbits….
I have been watching my friends little girl for about a month now (Let’s call her K). I am going to watch K until the twins are born. She is only 3 weeks younger than Cooper. Cooper has had some adjustment to having K around. Cooper does not like to share his toys and I often find him ripping toys out of K’s hands or pushing her away from the toys. Cooper also does not like it when I have to share my time between them. He is slowly getting better, but that is a product to many time outs after he has either stolen K’s toys, pushed/ shoved her, or just been mean towards her. They do play well together at other times and it is cute to see when they start babbling at each other as if they were talking to one another. K is very motherly towards Cooper and often likes to “help” him out. For instance, I was calling Cooper to me the other day and he would not come. So K walked over to him and put out her hand, trying to get Cooper to come to me. Too Cute! The two of them keep my very busy, but it has been a lot fun to have the two of them together!

Pictures: Below are belly pictures, ultrasound pictures of the babies, and a picture of Cooper & K playing together. Enjoy!

Twin B's face and his/her eye is open @ 28 weeks

Twin A trying to suck his wrist/ thumb @28 weeks

Twin A's face @ 28 weeks

K and Cooper

28 weeks Pregnant with Cooper

28 weeks pregnant with twins

28 weeks pregnant with the twins

Our neighbor had a birthday party this past weekend. She turned 2. Her uncle works for the fire department and had to pick up a fire truck in San Antonio and drive it to Houston. He made a stop at the birthday party and parked the truck in our court. Cooper was so excited to see the fire truck. He was able to explore the fire truck inside and out. He was even allowed to sit in the driver’s seat. Here are some pictures of him and the fire truck.

Cooper got an aquadoodle for Christmas. This is one of the neatest toys! You can draw with a water pen on this plastic mat and it turns the mat blue. It is a great way for Cooper to get some extra practice with his fine motor skills without making a huge mess. I gave him some foam brushes and allowed him to dip them into water and “paint” water onto the mat. He had more fun dipping his foam brush in and out of the water container. I highly recommend the Aquadoodle to anyone with a young toddler. Just buy some foam brushes for another medium to use on the plastic mat.

I just had my 24 week appointment with my OB. The twins are looking great! There is plenty of fluid in each sac and they each gained a whole pound in one month. They now weigh 1 lb 12oz and 1 lb 11oz. That means I am carrying around almost 4 pounds of baby. No wonder I am starting to feel uncomfortable. Their heart beats were 151 and 161.  Baby B is still breach (head up) and I am praying that he/she will flip before it is time to deliver so I can have a vaginal birth. The good news is that Baby A is still head down and this baby is the one closest to my cervix. Baby A has to remain head down in order for my doctor to even allow me to attempt a vaginal birth- so let’s pray that he/she stays that way!

I am measuring as if I was 30 weeks pregnant with a singleton- and it feels like I am 30 weeks pregnant!! My back has started to hurt. It is beginning to get hard for me to bend down and tie my shoes or pick things off the floor. I cannot lay on my back at all or even recline strait back in a chair or I get very light headed and short of breath from all the weight pressing on my veins and lungs. My doctor said that is normal for the amount of weight I am carrying around from the babies, placentas, and extra fluid. Carrying Cooper around is starting to get more difficult, but luckily he is walking now and will hold my hand to go most places around the house. I don’t fit into any of my maternity pants I bought when I was pregnant with Cooper already. One baby is sitting very low (right on top of my cervix) and this makes putting some pants on very tight and uncomfortable. The baby will actually start punching my waist band if the pants are too tight, which does not feel good. Luckily, a girl from my small group gave me all her old maternity clothes that I can fit into.  I have gained a whopping 28lbs so far this pregnancy. I am suppose to gain between 35-40lbs, so I don’t see this as a problem.

We finally decided what to do with the twins’ nursery. I am going to paint the walls green (gender neutral) and use brown accents. We are also going to use the monkey theme that is Cooper’s room currently and move it into the twins’ nursery and give Cooper a new theme for his room. Since Cooper is obsessed with cars, we are going to make his room into a car, truck, and vehicle theme, which I know he will love! Once Cooper’s and the twins’ rooms are done, I will post pictures for everyone to see.

Here are some pictures of the twins from our 24 week ultrasound. They ultrasound pictures are starting to get a little more difficult to see because the babies are getting larger, but at least you get some kind of a glimpse of the twins:

Here are some comparison pictures of my belly at 24 weeks with my pregnancy with Cooper and this currently pregnancy with the twins:

24 Weeks Pregnant With Cooper

24 Weeks Pregnant with the Twins

24 Weeks Pregnant with the Twins

Height: 32.5 inches (85%ile)

Weight: 26lbs 13oz (78%ile)

Head Circumference: 50cm (>97%ile)

Cooper has been trained to poop on the potty. In fact, he poops in the toilet 95% of the time. However, Cooper is not pee trained yet. I still put him on the potty several times a day, if he pees great, if not oh well. I am not pushing potty training on him yet since he is only 14 months old.

Well, I usually put Cooper on the potty before his bath, in hopes that he will not pee in the bathtub. Well, he sat there for about 2 minutes and nothing happened so I took him off the toilet. He started to run around the bathroom naked. I called him over to me, but instead he sat down on the floor and started to pee. I had literally taken him off the potty only a minute earlier. I immediately grabbed him and started running towards the toilet, all the while he is still peeing leaving a yellow trail behind us. By the time I get him to the toilet, he had stopped peeing and was laughing. That little turkey!

Cooper received a Christmas card from my grandmother, Mommom. Inside the card was a bib that said, “Grandma Loves Me.”

We thought we would take some pictures of his wearing his new bib and reading his Christmas card!

Thanks Mommom!! Cooper loved the card and the bib looks very good on him! We love and miss you!

Still unknown! But, we did find out today that the babies are indeed the same sex. We had told both the ultrasound tech and the doctor that we did not want to know the sex of the babies, but the doctors said to us, “Well, I can tell you that they are the same sex.” GRRR! We did not even want to know that much information, but oh what are you going to do? So that means that babies are either 2 boys or 2 girls. What do you think they will be- leave a comment and vote. I think it will be fun to hear everyone’s guesses.

I am 20 weeks along and doing great. I feel good and I really have no complaints. The twins have been pretty active and I can feel them pretty often. I feel Baby A a lot more than Baby B, but I think that is because of the way they are positioned. Baby A is head down in my pelvis and Baby B is breach (head up) toward the top of my uterus (right now). I hope that Baby B will fip before I have to deliver so I can have a vaginal birth, so say a pray for me and the babies. I started taking an iron supplement, which has helped with my energy a whole lot. I guess I was slightly anemic after all. My belly continues to grow. I have a picture of my belly taken at 20 weeks and I compared it to a picture of when I was 7 months pregnant with Cooper, and the bellies look to be the same size, which I think it nuts.

The twins are healthy! We saw a specialist today. She preformed a detailed anatomy ultrasound. She confirmed that my twins are the best type of twins to have- di/ di. Which means they have separate sacs and separate placentas and are not at risks for developing at different rates. The current weights of the babies is 12 ounces and 13 ounces, which are very healthy weights for 20 weeks. During the ultrasound today, the technician took two 4D pictures of the babies faces. I thought it would be neat to include them in this post. Baby B was so cute in his/ her picture, with his/her arm tucked up near his/ her face. I was also told that Baby B’s butt is right in Baby A’s face right now…haha! That is funny!

And now for some pictures….

Baby A @ 20 weeks

Baby B @ 20 weeks

20 weeks pregnant with Cooper

20 Weeks Pregnant with twins

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha…

A few flurries and the whole city of Houston is going nuts. Yes, Houston is experiencing some mild snow, well it is more like flurries. It is lightly coming down and it not even sticking to the grass where I live. I went to MOPs (Mother’s of Pre-Schoolers) today and here was the announcement by the leader to a group of over 150 women, “We are going to end our MOPs meeting a little early today because schools are closing early. We also don’t want anyone driving on the roads as the weather gets bad. The snow is really coming down hard. So please be careful driving home and walking on the side walks.”

Yes, no joke they are closing schools early. Local school districts are closing anywhere from 1- 3 hours early. As I drove home from my MOPs meeting today (around 12pm), I passed a local middle school. The entire school was outside, scads of middle schoolers running across the school yard with their hands lifted and screaming in delight at the sight of flurries, oh opps, I mean snow. The sight had me laughing so hard that Cooper starting to mimic my laughter even though he had not idea what I was laughing about.

Having lived in Maryland, I just find Texans’ reaction to the light flurries/ snow to be comical. Marylanders would not even bat an eye at the type of weather we are having here. Having said all that, it is still nice to see a little white stuff coming down. Reminds me of home. I have really missed Maryland the past few months. But I believe that God has blessed me because I  was able to see leaves changing colors over Thanksgiving- beautiful red, yellow, and orange leaves as we retreated to Chris’s family’s farm. Houston trees are even begining to show sings of fall. I took a walk with Cooper yesterday around my neighborhood and just soaked up the colors in the trees. Then today little white flakes, simple reminders that God really does love us. He takes delight in making us happy. I have felt very lonely here in Houston lately, but even though I may be far from home and what is familiar to me, God has not left me. He has given me comfort through his creation. The snow and the changing leaves are just signs from God that all is not lost, but there is hope here in Houston!