2 days shy of 35 WEEKS!

It has been forever since I posted on here and since I am 34 weeks and 5 days today. Yep! People, I am term (for twins) in just 2 DAYS! I could cry I'm so excited to finally meet these kids that have been kicking my ribs and punching my bladder all day long. My favorite is when they have hiccups at the same time, it's the coolest feeling ever. I must say that having been pregnant with one baby and now with two, well they are completely different pregnancy's in every way. I never got too uncomfortable with Kolli, well because I never got this big. It's fun to compare my belly pics with her and my belly pics now, it's quite the difference. She never got high enough to punch my ribs like this little man does and I never had to wake up in the middle of the night up to 3 or 4 times to pee and at 4am to have a bowl of cereal because I'm starving and couldn't possibly wait 3 more hours until morning time, or... kept my house at 70 degrees. (Nog even had to wear long sleeves) I love that I've had both experiences.
Kolli has been talking like crazy these days, she learns so fast it's amazing! People always say how smart "their" child is and I think riiiggghhht it's just becasue it's "your" kid and well now I'm going to say it too, I have the smartest child there ever was. Ha. I love this girl in all her forms. She can be quite feisty when she knows just what she wants and wants it just then but I love that about her. She makes us laugh all day, and each day it gets closer for her sister and brother to come she talks about them more and more. She tries sitting on my lap which really doesn't exist and gets mad when she can't force herself back far enough to actually have a seat on it.
Kolli just turned 2 on the 6th which was such a great day! Every time she would get bored I would give her a new present to open and that continued all day. She was loving all the attention and gifts and is still saying even today, "Happy Birhtday Kolli." She got spoiled by all her cousins and family, they are the best.

Also, today Kolli and I made a paper chain. ha ha ya we sure did. Approximately 24 more days till we will be a family of 5, give or take of course. We colored all the pieces on the chain and wrote everyone's predictions on each chain to see who gets it right. It was pretty dang exciting, not going to lie.

Here's my beautiful girl on her birthday.

This is Kolli's bed/bench she got from the Duncan's. She lives on this thing with her new baby doll she got from Grandma. We found her the next morning like this.

 

 I've watched this video probably 200 times, it gets funnier every time. Her faces kill me, she's so animated.

 I just finished my last day of doing hair yesterday, for I'm not sure how long. When I finished I found these two cuddled up watching "The Incredibles" together. Nog is such a great daddy.

Just the cutest picture ever.

 Birthday bunny, I think, at least that's what Kolli called it. ;)

 Kolli reading to Ashers and Oakie. Kolli calls him "Ashers."

 Now when I take pictures of things she'll say "I wanna smile, I wanna smile." over and over and over again until I finally take her picture.

 

This is me the night before I went into labor with Kolli at 40 weeks and 5 days.

 Here is a picture of my belly I took this morning. I had to do it bare belly because clothes can be deceiving and make you look smaller or bigger than the real thing so here it is. No stretch marks yet... Sure hope it stays that way!

 And our super exciting chain, can't wait to show Nog!!..... Wanna make a prediction? 

Winner gets a snickers bar.

And now, put your phone, or your computer to your chest and watch this video.

A and B

I've had this secret hidden for nearly 3 weeks. If you know me you are probably asking yourself how in the world I had that kind of will power, and honestly to answer your question... I have no idea! But I do know that the opportunity to be with my whole family well (almost my whole family) all at once hardly ever happens anymore and how could I pass up that opportunity? Imagining their reactions makes me tear up just thinking how I thought it would be, well really how I knew it would be for each individual person and let me tell you that alone made me not want to, but HAVE to wait to tell them all because how many times can a girl have such incredible news in her life right?? Now you understand? SO what exactly am I talking about you wonder? Let me tell you...

On Monday April 29th, a day that will go down in history, well my history, Nog and I secretly went to a lovely lady's house named Sunny, just across the street from us, ya crazy how that worked out and she was wonderful. We went to her home where she does Ultra Sounds and this was our plan. Nog would find out what we were having and I wouldn't know until later. Why? Because he says I always know everything before him. I know I'm pregnant before him, I know I'm not pregnant before him and a bunch of other things I guess. So I thought well maybe that's fair plus he begged and begged, and for a while I refused but finally I caved and once I did, it was cute to see him so excited to know something before me and that made me happy. Weird maybe, but anyway. He was going to find out our baby's gender and his plan was to make a cake and later that night have a "reveal party" and that's when I would find out too. BUT, since we were going to see the rest of my family (almost all of them) in just a few short weeks, plus my baby brother would be home from his mission and how sweet would it be if he was there for it too. Since you know, he's kind of been left out of a lot of family stuff for the past 2 years. So we were pumped and ready to find out what that squirt in my belly was.

So back to the ultra sound appointment.  Sunny was my favorite from the moment she opened her door. We told her our plans and she was pretty excited about it, we told her to write down on a piece of paper what the baby was and put it in an envelope. I laid down, got the cold goop on my belly, and it was time to begin. I was nervous and excited and maybe well yes most defiantly sweating a bit, I don't know why, just excited I guess. She turned on her TV and I saw a beautiful baby! She immediately looked at me and said, GIRLFRIEND, GIRLFRIEND!!! Do you see this???? I'm thinking "the baby right? Pretty awesome huh?!" And she says LOOK! You have 2 babies in here!! Annie! You are having TWINS!!!!! Do you see them? She moved the monitor over and there it was. 2! yes 2 beautiful babies in MY belly! I looked at Nog and we immediately started crying. Nog gave me a kiss and the tears continued flowing! I still couldn't believe it, I couldn't take my eyes off the screen feeling like, are you sure? are you sure? I need more proof. The monitor continued to move over what she said was baby A. What? baby A? What does that even mean? She said the baby that is in the position to be born first is called baby A and the second to be born is referred to as baby B. Still I'm crying and laughing and crying some more. Nog and I are still in shock in the most beautiful way. I have been saying through out this entire pregnancy how much I would love to have twins but that doesn't ever happen in real life though right at least not to me! She says they each have their own placentas and so they are fraternal. I had no idea what that word fraternal really meant until that day, literally. So you can imagine how I am dying to know what our 2 babies are! I look at Nog and his eyes are still watering. Sunny says "Annie close your eyes now, I know the Baby B's gender and I'm going to put it on the screen for Logan to see." Nog covered my eyes, and kept his cool. He finally uncovered my eyes and she moved on to baby A. Baby A was so squished and looked so uncomfortable because Baby B was taking up all the room. It was the cutest and craziest thing to see that that was happening inside me and I had NO idea! Seriously this kind of thing hardly happens to people I know. No, people I hardly know. Not ME!!  Not in MY family!
Funny story, I called my Mom on April fools and told her I was having twins, keep in mind this was only 4 weeks prior, she responded, Yaaaa okay, sure Annie. Ha little did we know. :)

My heart is so full with gratitude, I felt like it was going to burst. Sunny says again, "Okay Annie close your eyes, I know what baby A is." I turn my head and Nog says so... that's it right? Sunny says "Yep, that's what your having." I look up at him and he's smiling. Now I'm really dying but I can totally wait 8 more hours to find out because the thought of twins will keep me busy thinking for a while. The ultra sound was only supposed to be for 30min, but she was awesome she kept going for 1 hour and gave us so many pictures I felt like she was just as excited as we are. When we left we gave her a hug, then stood outside hugging eachother and crying some more.
Later Nog started making the cakeS! Because there was 2 you know.? Our new plan was to have one cake out and I would cut it and see what baby A was first. Then once we were all settled down he would bring out Cake B. This was going to be the ultimate baby reveal ever! We invited his family, Laree and Trent, and 2 of my closest friends (kids weren't invited since they tend to spill the beans.) Then they were sworn to secrecy for the next 3 weeks until the rest of my family knew.
Nog kicked me out of the house so he could make the cakes with the babies gender color inside. Koli and I went to Grandma and Grandpas to help distract me, although I wasn't really distracted. I was looking up info on fraternal twins the whole time trying to be sneaky and all sorts of information about twins I could get my hands on. Nog kept calling me and saying "sorry babe it's taking way longer then I thought, it's going to be 30 more minutes, then 30 more minutes, then 30 MORE minutes." Now I'm getting impatient and want to go home and find out what these babies are! So finally after him having to redo the frosting it was all ready. And honestly I could care less what the cake tasted like I just wanted to see the color inside of it.
I was finally allowed to come home and everyone started showing up. My heart was beating so fast and I was shaking pretty bad. I shake when I'm anxious, or nervous, or excited. I try to control it but I just can't hide it.
He pulled out the first cake and I can hardly wait!!! I cut into it and the color was........ BLUE! One of my babies is a BOY! I can't believe it. I start crying of course and everyone was so cute but little did they know there is another cake on it's way out. A couple minutes later Nog gets the second cake, it was perfect timing. He walks in with it and says okay everyone, this is cake B. They look at him like holy cow that's A LOT of cake, why would you make so much? They didn't caught on, so I said " meaning Baby B" then Dad says, "are you having twins?" I said "YES" and the reaction of everybody was the best thing of my life! Then Regan says cut the second cake! I cut into it and it's PINK! We're having a GIRL!!! A boy AND a girl! One of each. What the heck I can't even handle this much happiness in one day this is the best day ever! And the best part is I got to do it again with the rest of my family in South Dakota and I will never forget any of it. We Skyped Brian, Meggi, and Laree, so it was like everyone was there. My family is well, A LOT more expressive which is why I couldn't miss this reaction in person, and we'll just say our voices hurt afterwards. I feel SO much love from them it's unreal.
It was SOO amazing and the hardest thing ever keeping it in for so long but seeing that reaction was worth every single bit of it. I love both my families SO very much! I told Nog I think I might be the most excited Mom ever to find out she's having twins. There was absolutely no hesitation, no worries what so ever, just pure joy and gratitude that this gets to be MY story, MY family, and I could not be happier. WE could not be happier.

If you don't believe me, don't worry, I have proof! ;)

 

 BOY

 Time for cake B

 GIRL

 Koli's ready to eat that cake, LOVE everything about this picture!

 Baby B for BOY! Yep that's a boy alright!

 waving hi!

 Baby A, GIRL!

 Love these ones. On top is our Boy's head and on bottom is our Girl's bum and legs.

This is the video of me finding for the first time!

 http://youtu.be/1iJUvsSUGNg

 :)

Here is the video of my families reaction!

http://youtu.be/XnibTAw_drk

Laundry?

 

Since I have had my morning/day sickness strike I have neglected such things as...cleaning my house, washing the dishes, washing my face, making diner, doing the laundry, making the bed, getting Koli dressed. I have taken one at least, almost always two naps a day. We watched A LOT of Baby Signing Time. And well, I've pretty much stopped being a good human/wife who does all those nice things. But I've kind of loved the lazy time I've spent with Koli while she crawls all over me bringing me one book after another then signs eat all day long till I finally get up and get her a cracker that she's been wishing for and then we go back to laying. Nog came home from work, saw the Arizona room that we now live in and says "sick, this room is disgusting." Crumbs and all sorts of food smashed in the carpet, clothes everywhere. Diapers that had been changed but not taken out to the trash, and us just laying there looking dead, looking bored out of our minds but not willing to get up and do something about it. Well guess what!!! After we came back from a nice weekend stay at the cabin to visit my sister for her sweet baby boys blessing I came home and decided no matter how I feel I am getting that laundry done. And guess what I DID. I am so proud of myself. Haha ya I am. It had gotten so bad that from the last cabin trip the week prior our suitcase was still full not even taking out my hairbrush or curling iron to get ready and not lifting a finger to put any of it away. If you know me you know that my favorite part of a vacation, well the aftermath, is coming home and putting all of our stuff away, because I'm so excited to be back home. Nog loves that about me because he's never had to help put stuff away, and I find great satisfaction in getting everything back to the way it should be. But well not this time. Nog and I would just laugh at how gross we are, well how gross I am and what we lived in. But So worth it of course and excited to go through it. So anyway back on track, I did 8 loads of laundry today! It got so bad that I was wearing the most oddest attire because well I ran out of pj's to wear so I was resorting to some strange things. And had NO clean underclothes to wear... not good.... It took ALL day literally and while I got started it felt so good that I went on a cleaning spree and cleaned the entire house including mopping. I am so proud over here. I feel like a good wife again and Nog is so grateful. It's funny how when you stop doing everything including getting ready that now when I do I suddenly look so much more attractive to him. I'm liking this. Life is good over here and now I won't be so embarrassed when company is over because yep I'm wearing clean clothes and bonus I found $20.46 in the wash. (thumbs up) which Nog says is probably his, but I'm claiming it! (or at least the .46 cents)

Latest

Koli's been sick ever since we got back from the cabin, and Nogs been telling me it's because I let her drink out of the bird bath water while we were there. I disagree, but maybe it is true and I'm a bad Mom for letting her. BUT each time I pulled her away it was like I was ripping her happiness away from her and I just couldn't do it. I'm the parent that will let my kids get away with, well, maybe too much. Nogs the parent who gets a bit more worried about things and is a bit more strict, in a good way. In church, me being "that" parent does not work in my favor. Koli will cry and cry while I'm holding her, finally I give in and let her down to roam. Nog on the other hand, well she wouldn't even try it because when she has in the past it's gotten her no where and she knows he won't let her down no matter how hard she fights. It makes me jealous, I'm thinking, what the! Not fair! But then again I did it to myself. Well I guess I'll be the cool Mom who she'll always come running to first to ask permission to do things but after all I know I'll end up saying, I don't know babe go ask your Dad and see what he thinks. So maybe not. But right now I am most definitely her favorite which is not normal (probably because she was sick and I was the one cuddling her all day which was heaven for me) but that girl loves anyone and everyone. For instance she went up to a complete stranger this morning and started hugging his leg, she looked up because I think she thought it was Nog but then realized it wasn't him and just kept her firm grip till I noticed and pulled her away. ha but still, I'll take it.

Nog had taken Koli one day while I was doing hair, she still wasn't feeling well so after running his first errand she had a major blowout and pooped EVERYWHERE. So he stripped her down and she was left in just her diaper, then she started getting really tired so he thought he would stop by Grandma and Grandpas for some Tax help from Dad for a little. His stay became longer then expected so he came to get me after I finished with hair so I could come put her down for a nap. I came in to get her and I found her like this, snuggled up with Grandma, naked underneath the blanket. Mickey Mouse was playing on the TV and they were passed out. I could not ask for a more wonderful Mother In Law. I LOVE how much she loves her grandchildren and is always spending the best quality time with our little Kollins.

 

I was so excited to take Koli out for a swim for the first time this year, but once I got her swimsuit on her she thought the strap on her neck was Way too tight. Each time I would snap it she would make this face. It was hilarious, then I would take it off and she would be totally fine. Luckily I have one in the mail on it's way to us now that will be just her size. (look at those legs, my favorite)

 

 Nog is the best Daddy, we were driving around running errands together and randomly we saw wild ducks roaming the neighborhood. So he immediately pulled over got Koli out of her car seat and brought her over to see the ducks.

Yep she's still in her pj's and so was I. We are big fans of getting ready much these days. ;)

 

 

 A trip to the plumbing store to get a water heater. I live for these random work errands they are just my favorite time spent together.

 

 Just eating grapes on the counter.

 Nog just ran another race! (jealous) after his race we decided to feed the ducks. I thought ahead and brought the bread. Koli ate most of it before the ducks could eat it. Unfortunately she wasn't too interested in the feeding the ducks part, she just kept trying to get in the pond water, what's up with this girl and filthy water, (no I didn't let her drink it this time) :) So we took her shoes off and she got to stick her feet in and she was quite content with that.

Girls Trip

For Spring Break we took an only girls trip, except for some few small male children, to the cabin. I was quite fun, actually it was the best and I'm so happy I went. Koli had a great time. She drank out of the bird bath. Yep, the bird bath, gross I know but at some point you just gotta laugh and let kids by kids and get dirty and gross and eat worms and all that kid stuff. So yep I let her, (well not the worm part) and she loved every moment of it. She's always walking around with her hands behind her back like shes being mischevious, which I really like and think it's adorable even if she is being mischevious, that's a fun word to say. Makes me feel very educated. Mischevious, ya, I like that. Anyway, she would stroll out front with her hands wrapped behind her, her finger tips just barely able to reach, like so...














And then she would rush over to the bird bath and start to drink that nasty water again, even after I had just given her a fresh bath. Little stinker, I love her.