Favorite Things Winners 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yay!  Time for the winners!  I put your names on slips of paper and let Scarlett choose.  So if you're sad you didn't win - tell it to her sweet little innocent face.  I put one name per family (sorry for all of your creative children's names!)

Jenni's Favorite Things of 2012

• Pinterest (seriously - I don't know why I waited so long to jump on the bandwagon!  I love that silly little site!)  Currently my favorite little find is this laundry tip:
• WHITER WHITES (got the grey out of our whites) from here
• HOT HOT HOT water
• 1 cup of laundry detergent
• 1 cup powdered dish washer detergent
• 1 cup bleach
• 1/2 cup borax
• 1 scoop OxyClean
• I filled up my bathtub with hot water from the tap and added the ingredients (I didn't measure them, I just guessed).  Before adding the clothes I stirred the water so they were all mixed in.  Then I added the whites.  I used a hanger to stir the clothes around and get them all under the water.  I left it to soak for several hours.  After I just threw them in the wash like normal (but I added an extra rinse cycle just to help get the chemicals out).  When I was done: my whites were white!  I suggest you all try it too!  :-)
• Sea Breeze face astringent.  Use it on your hair in the shower before shampooing and it gets rid of dry scalp skin.
• Ice maker and water filter built into our fridge!  No more dealing with Brita!
• Fiber One Oats & Chocolate bars (they taste like candy!)
• Apple Slicer - we eat lots of apples
• Palmer's Tummy Butter (love love love that stuff!)
• The Big Bang Theory
• And finally the prize: Beyond the Zone's Rock On Volumizing Powder.  You add it to your dry roots (with or without backcombing) and rub it in a little bit.  Bam!  Your hair will have great, flexible volume and texture without the crunchy of hair spray!  You can find it at Sally's Beauty Supply.
• Winner: Mom Glauser

Jake's Favorite Things of 2012

• New job at Ford
• A garage of his very own
• Power drill
• Pandora (he listens to it during his commute)
• Duck Dynasty (rednecks with money - what more can you ask for?)
• Easy Out Bolt Remover.  Several times while working on his dirt bike this fall he would try to get a bolt out and the top would break off.  This tool prevented Jake from having to take apart the motor.  So ya, he really likes them.
• And finally the prize: Indian Curry Sauce.  It's all natural and DELICIOUS.  Just add chicken and serve over rice.
• Winner: Billy Reano AGAIN!!! (can you email Jake your current address?)

Scarlett's Favorite Things of 2012

• WordWorld, SpongeBob Squarepants, & Team Umizoomi
• Squeaky Shoes (the squeakers fell out of both of her shoes when we were outside... bummer!  I think I need to get her another pair)
• Slides/swings/puppies/rocks/balls/being "ow'side"
• Bubbles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And the bubble gun
• Singing songs: Do As I'm Doing "or slow", Popcorn Popping, Wise Man/Foolish Man, Head/Shoulders, Once There Was a Snowman "tall, tall, tall", Pat a Cake, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star...
• And finally the prize: assorted puffs, stickers, pipe cleaners, tootsie rolls and other fun stuff.  Note: the puffs have NOT been in her diaper pocket :-)
• Winner: Natalia Merino (can you email/facebook me your address?)

Top Commenters of 2012

I realize that this is kind of hypocritical since I read all your posts on my phone and hardly ever get on the computer to add a comment.  But, I really appreciate those of you who do take the time to share your thoughts with us.  So I decided to give the "big prizes" to the highest commenters of 2012 (from Jan 1 to today).  The top 3 will be getting a Target Gift card.  But I want to thank everyone so much for sharing your thoughts with us!!!

• Winners: LL, Mary, and More Bacon

We truly appreciate all of you that follow our blog and take the time to be a part of our family.  It really has helped us feel closer to you even though we moved far away.  We love you all!!!

Thanksgiving

Traditionally Thanksgiving's been my least favorite holiday.  I blame years of visiting extended family with pets leading to a Benadryl induced coma.  But this year was wonderful!  Carolyn (Jake's sister) came out to Michigan for the holiday.  She loves to cook and do dishes - woot woot!  We had so much fun hanging out with her.

We woke up at 5am (yuck!) on Thanksgiving Day to go run a turkey trot in downtown Detroit.

Scarlett was such a trooper!  I put hand warmers on her seat before putting her in... she seemed comfy despite the crispy air.

Can you find Carolyn & Jake?  Scarlett and I just watched from the sidelines.  But at one point in order to meet up with Jake we had to cross the race path.  This seemed like an impossible task since the race was like 15 people wide.  So I decided to jump in the race (by then it was the slow group) and I slowly made it over to the other side diagonally while pushing Scarlett.  I think we ended up running 200 feet or so. Jake and Carolyn finished in 5731st & 5732nd place out of 23,000!  They said it was so crowded that sometimes they were forced to walk.

Carolyn spent all day Wednesday and most of Thursday after the race baking.  She made the best homemade rolls, pies, turkey, etc!

We had the Binghams over for our feast.  Jamie brought delicious food too - including a spinach cheese dip that I could eat 24/7!

Yes, there was some dirtbiking.

And bubbles!  (I got that cool bubble gun at the turkey trot)

Scarlett kept going back to her plate all afternoon.  I've never seen her eat so much!  And with such style too!

Carolyn made the pies that Jake and I requested: chocolate macaroon and pumpkin!  She even turned the pumpkin pie into a WordWorld pie for Scarlett!!!  :-)

Amazing News: Times Two!!!!!!!

I'm 12 weeks pregnant... with IDENTICAL TWINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Each baby is 57 mm long; about the size of a lime

We were completely shocked when we went in for our first ultrasound and the OB said: "here's the baby and the heartbeat... and here's the other baby and heartbeat."  I had just gone through a miscarriage and twins was not even a fleeting hope in my mind.  But we are so excited!!!  YAY!!!

There are a few sets of twins on the Seaver side, but no twins (that we know of) on the Hanna, Glauser or Huntwork sides.  But fraternal twins are the hereditary kind (two separate eggs) - not identical (one egg that splits).  

Our twins are "Mono/Di"

• Monochorionic: Only one placenta and chorionic sac (that's how we know they're identical, but if there are 2 placentas they could be fraternal OR identical)
• Diamniotic: Two separate amniotic sacs (for the first month they thought our babies shared an amniotic sac which is very dangerous - so we're soooo grateful they have their own sacs!)

Because they share a placenta they're at risk for Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) where one baby starts taking blood from the other baby.  Because of this condition I have ultrasounds every two weeks to monitor the babies.  I go back and forth between my normal OB and the high-risk OB.  I've already had more ultrasounds then I had during my entire pregnancy with Scarlett!

Today I had a special ultrasound called a Nuchal Translucency Screening.  It's done between 11-13 weeks.  They measure the thickness of the fluid behind the baby's neck and look for a nasal bone.  This information, along with my family history, age, ethnicity, etc.. they are able to assess the risk for certain genetic disorders. Everything went great!  Our babies look very healthy!  And we got lots of great pictures of them!!!  It was too early to see the gender though... but that gives us something to look forward to!  (Twin A is closer to my cervix, Twin B is on top)

I've been reading a lot about multiples cause I really didn't know anything about twins before this.  My doctors told me to read When You're Expecting Twins, Triplets, or Quads.  It's a great book that explains the science behind the methods (just what I need!)  Basically when you're pregnant with a singleton (term for just one baby) the female body is designed to just "handle it."  With twins (or more) the strain is so much greater on the body and the babies that you have to be a lot more specific about what you eat, how much weight you gain and when, etc.  The book gives proven guidelines to achieve a healthy twin pregnancy.

Weight Gain
Basically I need to put the majority of my weight on by the 28th week.  Studies have shown that later in pregnancy it is harder for the mother to eat enough calories (with all those babies squishing her stomach) so you need a good fat storage.  If the babies don't get enough to eat and their growth slows/stops the mom's body views that as something is wrong and can trigger preterm labor.

I had to meet with a dietitian to go over my new eating guidelines.  I went into the meeting expecting her to tell me that I do a good job with my diet... but instead she told me I need to be eating full fat, high calorie meals.  Lots of meats (like every meal).  Lots of full fat dairy and ice cream.  Eat every 3 hours - and snacks should be mini-meals with a protein and a carb.  Skip on the veggies or save them for last since they are filling but don't provide a lot of calories.  Then in a few months I'll need to start drinking these high calorie protein drinks.  !!!  Not at all what I expected.  At first her advice was hard to handle cause I was soooo sick.  I could barely eat soup.  But now I'm so hungry.  All the time.  Like eat-FiberOne-Oats-&-Chocolate-bars-in-my-bed-in-the-middle-of-the-night hungry (and yes, I have woken up with melted chocolate on my arms - classy!)  I'm even eating more than Jake!

Belly Bump

So with twins my belly is about the size of someone 6-8 weeks further along with a singleton.  By 32 weeks my uterus will be full size.  After that my OB keeps saying "you're going to be soooooo uncomfortable."  I believe her too!  I can't believe I'm already wearing my maternity clothes.

20 weeks with Scarlett vs 12 weeks with Twins

Complications

With twins you are at a higher risk with all the normal pregnancy complications (gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, bleeding, cervix issues, etc).  But you're also at a much higher risk for preterm labor.  They don't know exactly what causes it but the longer we can keep those babies in me the healthier they'll be.

Our goal is to get to 37 weeks (around May 12).  Most twins come around 35 weeks.  But my main goal is to avoid the NICU as much as possible.  I've already been down that road once - at least I know what to expect.  Oh she also said she'll be able to use the same c-section incision as I had before and that the scar won't have to be any bigger with twins.

To sum up... we're doing everything we can to get healthy babies.  They look great so far.  Oh - and we're sooooooooooooooooo exciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Favorite Things Giveaway 2012!!!

It's the most wonderful time of the year on our blog

For all you faithful readers of our blog - we want to say THANKS!  I know it's not easy to feign enthusiasm each time Scarlett learns a new trick (look: she can wiggle her toes!) so to say thanks, please leave a comment with your name.  We will draw winners sometime in the next few days/weeks/Idon'treallyhaveaspecificplanyet.

If you are curious you can check out last year's giveaway here and here.

Also - shout out to Christy whom I totally stole this idea from!  THANKS!!!

Tricks and Treats!

We had a wonderful visit from my parents during the Halloween season.  I got to sleep in every day, my dishes and laundry were magically done, my bathrooms were clean, and I don't think I changed a single diaper.  I was in heaven.  Unfortunately Jake and my dad had to work and since my mom was taking care of Scarlett and me - I was the only one who was on vacation!  Mom and Dad: you are welcome here any time!  :-)

We got dressed up for our ward Halloween party.  We were characters from 101 Dalmatians   Scarlett is really into puppies and lately she's been playing puppy by crawling around our house with her tongue hanging out.  I was Cruella de Vil, Jake was Jasper, and Scarlett was a little dalmatian.

 

On Halloween is was super cold, but we were able to visit our neighbors' houses.  It only took two houses for Scarlett to realize all she had to do was knock and they gave her candy.  She was in heaven!

This is how Scarlett spent her mornings with Grammy.  Yes, those are chocolate chips.  Grammy was too nice to her - she loved it!  :-)

Grammy and Grumple came up with a new game were they would swing Scarlett in a blanket.  She LOVE LOVE LOVES this!  She'll bring the blanket over to whoever and say "puweeeeese."  I came up with a modified version for when I'm the only one around.  She just laid there and let me drag her around the house like that for 20 min until I was finally too tired!

Grammy and Grumple also pushed her in her play strollers.  Her favorite part is when Grumple would send her sailing towards the furniture where she would crash.  Silly girl.  Here's a picture right after one of the straps ripped off, since then the other strap has ripped too.  I need to find my sewing box and fix that for her.

 More time with Grumple.  He knows just how to entertain her!

My parents took Scarlett to the toy store to pick out a new special present.  They walked through the aisles and showed her tons of cool new things.  But when she saw a bag of 100 balls she said "puweese puweese puweese!"  When they were buckling her in her car seat on the way home she started freaking out cause she thought the balls weren't coming with her!  Since that afternoon our living room has been a disaster!  Balls everywhere!  But she loves them.  She spends lots of time in her mini-ball-pit.  We've also been able to use them for color sorting games.

Grumple mowed our lawn while he was here (I know *shocking*!)

Scarlett is starting to learn how to play hide and seek.  Can you spot her in this picture?

Over the past few weeks her finger nail has been turning funny colors.  I don't know when she smashed it - but if finally fell off.  She also had her first ear infection this past week (the many gifts we receive from nursery).  But I found out my pharmacy doesn't charge for amoxicillin - sweet!

And finally, here's a cute picture of her at the park.  :-)