First Prego Photo

No makeup so don't judge. This is me at 18 weeks! I feel bigger than I look!

JT's first day of school!

Last Wednesday was JT's first day of school at Utah Valley University! He's a wolverine now. :) I made sure to get pictures of him waking up, his triumph at dressing himself, breakfast, and leaving for school. I'm so proud of my little Marine-turned-student! He looks so cute with his backpack!

An Unexpected Expectancy

I had my last scheduled ob/gyn appointment in Arkansas on Thursday, August 20th. I was only one day shy of 17 weeks at the time, but was ready to beg to high heaven for that ultrasound showing me whether we were having a boy or a girl! The begging worked and GOOD THING IT DID!

The doctor I saw (not my normal one since she was on maternity leave) pulled out his little laptop and began to look through my belly. He got this really confused look on his face and kept glancing over at JT and I.

Doctor: "What exactly did they tell you? When you had your ultrasound earlier..."

Me (with a confused look): "Nothing. Just that we had a healthy baby."

Doctor (confused look and shakes head, then smiles): "Well, you do... but there are two in there."



JT and I were speechless! I was trying too hard to process to know whether to laugh or cry! The nurse laughed after gasping and ran me over a box of tissues. JT kept staring at me to watch my reaction the whole time! After the initial questions of whether they were healthy or not were answered (and yes, they were), the doctor began some more poking around. He told us that Baby B is a boy!!! Kinda fitting huh? JT was thrilled he got his boy. I on the otherhand had visions of two 2 year-old boys playing tug-a-war with the cat! The doctor scheduled me for an emergency ultrasound clinic visit the next morning. We needed to know what Baby A was and whether they were sharing a placenta or not.



When we left the doctor's office JT and I simultaneously called our moms. My mother certainly enjoyed it because she'd periodically ignore me to listen to what JT was telling HIS mom and get excited about THAT. Both our parents were very cute. JT says his parents didn't even believe him at first! My dad just laughed and laughed! We left telling the rest of the family up to them. This is how my dad chose to share the news through email:


Next morning was the longest ultrasound I could EVER have imagined. They found out almost immediately that Baby A was a girl!! Best of both worlds! At least that would mean that baby-shower shopping was now officially failproof for everyone. ;) Oh, and they are NOT sharing a placenta which means I have the best possibility of a complication-free delivery possible--at least with twins that is. Both babies are healthy and even a little bigger than scheduled! A normal single pregnancy puts the baby at 7 ounces at 18 weeks. They were both at 7 ounces a week earlier AND are supposed to be naturally smaller because they're twins! Birth is definitely going to be interesting.

So there we have it! We're having twins!!!!!!!!!!!

Catching Up

These are the flowers JT had waiting for me when I got home last week!

Last month JT and I were surprised to find that Little Rock was refusing to allow APX to solicit, regardless of dues and paperwork already submitted. They decided to knock in cities about 3 hours away while waiting for the attorneys to figure it out. 3 hours is a LONG drive twice a day so they also decided to spend every night in a hotel except Saturday and Sunday nights. It was really sad being away from each other for so long so frequently! JT then came up with the idea of sending me to visit my family in California! I'd go visit and then come back as soon as he was home for good. We figured that would be 2 weeks tops! It all took a little longer than 2 weeks however, and once plane tickets got figured out it had actually been about a month.

While in California I.......

*slept in Jillian's bed

*hung out with my siblings

*watched my mom be superwoman as Relief Society president

*talked with my dad

*went shooting with Mike

*went out to eat with Mike and Bonnie

*had lunch with Kylie and then hung out at her house

*visited Lita and Lito

*visited my cousin J'Lene in the hospital after giving birth to Liliana

*went to the home ward

*visited Los Angeles with Jarom and Wailum

*went to Murrieta for dinner with Mike, Grandma, and Grandpa Trout

*drove up to visit Jillian at Girls Camp with my dad

*had my parents buy me my first maternity jeans

*got a bigger stomach

*trimmed Hunter's fur

*watched Jacob work on his Eagle Scout project

*played piano

*went to Laguna beach with my dad, Jillian, and Jarom

*discovered THE best chinese food restaurant in the world in Laguna (they specialize in HEALTH food that tastes great!!!!)

*ate In N Out

*went to the hospital to wait for Mike to get out of his successful surgery with Bonnie

*learned to crochet with Bonnie

*had wonderful tacos at the Mooney home

*woke up one Sunday morning and made strawberry crepes for my family

*played crazy 8s with Mike and Bonnie

*discovered I'm in love with my mom's cheesy garlic bread recipe

*fell down twice while trying to pet Sally

*got to stock up on baby gear

*watched movies

*ate at Cinnabon with Jillian

*had lunch with the missionaries twice

*went to the theater with my mom, Jillian, Jarom, and John to watch Up! in 3D

*talked to JT on the phone as much as possible!

Wow, I did a lot more than I realized! I'm sure I missed something. I'm grateful for the time I was able to spend there. It was nice to be apart from JT for once in my life without having a ton of anxiety and stress to go with it. Mission accomplished Honey. ;) I've always been closer with my mom and Jarom so it was nice to really get to spend a lot of time with my dad and Jillian. JT says that we're going to attempt one more California visit before the baby comes. We'll see how we manage to pull that one off!

The day I left California I boarded my plane at 2:30 pm and arrived in Little Rock at 10:30 pm. Bear in mind that there's only a 2 hour time difference. Yuck. I wasn't actually supposed to get in until 11 pm so JT hadn't even left our apartment yet! It was really nice to see him again. It's strange how many little things I take for granted. For instance, I used to always be aware of JT's personal smell--not his cologne. I especially loved it while we were dating. I'd go a week waiting for him to come home from base. He'd jump in his car and come see me as soon as they let him go! He was always still wearing his camis. Those especially smelled like him. He laughed at the airport when I told him I missed his smell. There was even a bouquet of flowers waiting for me in our apartment! Like I said, it was nice to visit my family but I loved coming home.

A blog to promise to blog

I will blog! I promise! I visited my family in California for a month and am now back in Arkansas. After I get settled in I will definitely be updating this. Stay tuned!