Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all!  Hope it was a great weekend of celebrating!

First and foremost, thank you each and every one for your KIND, PRECIOUS words of excitement and encouragement.  It makes huge life events seem more real when shared with dear friends.  We continue to be so excited and feel so at rest in the Lord's perfect provision for our little family!  

I apologize for having not responded to many emails or phone calls in the last week.  Right after I made that post, I used any free time to get us ready for the camping trip we went on last Thursday through Sunday.  I do look forward to getting caught up this week and next!

We had a trip planned to camp at Lake Cachuma for this last weekend, about 30 minutes from Santa Barbara.  We thought we may have to cancel due to the wildfire, but were so thankful that the air quality at the lake was still just fine as the winds blew the smoke out to sea.  This is what it was like as we passed through Santa Barbara on our way to Cachuma.

Abby Jane had a great time on this second camping trip for her.  She LOVED the tent, or "toot" as she called it, and has been asking for it ever since we got home yesterday!  She thought it was great fun to run around inside, jump on our thermarests, crash on our sleeping bags, throw herself onto the side of the tent and fall back onto the cushy bags/ thermarest combo!
Morning sippy cup by the fire
Sitting in her new little camp chair- she's saying "seat" as I'm taking the picture.  We think that orange will make the chair perfect for her to use at tailgates, too!
I think discovering how to throw rocks was one of the other highlights of the trip for Abby Jane.  We went on long walks in the mornings that included a little trail to this spot.

We had planned to go on several hikes, but it turned out to be pretty hot in the afternoons, and I just wasn't handling the heat well enough for a hike.  So we took an afternoon trip our second day to a cute nearby town named Solvang, and we even got to read books under a shady tree in a park while she had her afternoon nap!
We did have some issues with some marrauding birds and squirrels while we were gone one morning on a long walk.  We were also chased out of our campsite by a much-to-brazen skunk who proceeded to go through our trash that we had not hung up yet after dinner.  Jake made fun of me because while it was there, I was saying, "Let's just get in the car!" because it was NOT "just going on its way" like Jake said it would and kept coming closer and closer the more we backed away... and  Abby Jane was safe and sound in the tent, so we didn't have to worry about her!  Then after it left, I was talking trash about how it better not come back and what I would do, etc.  What can I say- I'm just not into animals that should be skittish and are NOT! 

But other than those run-ins with nature, it was a precious weekend of being away, unplugged, and being able to process the newest development in our lives!

Two for One

We received the biggest surprise of our lives yesterday at my first ultrasound appointment when we were shown TWO BABIES!!!!!  

NO I am not kidding and NO we have NO history of twins on either side of our families!!  

The tech thought we already knew and just casually said, "So there's twins there."  We thought she was kidding and she had to say three times that she wasn't until she finally said that she "wouldn't kid around about something like that!"

Jake and I broke into hysterical laughter that lasted about five minutes.  I'm not sure if I have ever laughed so hard in my life.

The tech started laughing so hard at us that she started to cry as she said, "I'll just give you two a minute!"

So if you do the math, we will have THREE children under the age of TWO come early November!  My due date is now the 10th.

That would be their TWO heads below...

One on top of the other sideways (because there are TWO babies)...

"Baby 1" (labelled as such because there is MORE than ONE)

"Baby 2" 

We are absolutely overjoyed and shocked and thrilled and nowhere near close to grasping what is about to happen!  Our God has SUCH a MIGHTY sense of humor, and it's beyond exciting to see that He has a plan for our lives that is NOT what we could have ever guessed.  My adventure-loving Jake who has the gift of adaptability said over and over on our way home, "I love life!!"  I have never felt so in the middle of the Lord's hands as we are entering into this crazy new stage that only He could have miraculously chosen to bring us to.  

As we are trying to absorb all of this, we talked about how we really want to keep forefront in our minds how we felt those first five minutes and "Choose hilarity!" Because this is a great demonstration of a great God who works "outside of the box" and has all kinds of things up His sleeve that we could never imagine!

There is a lot more I could share but one last thought that we love is how God created Abby Jane perfectly for this role.  That girl's independence and knowing of her own mind and total confidence in marching to the beat of her own drum is the PERFECT recipe for the only-slightly older sister for twins.  She will effectively rule the roost and not come anywhere near getting trampled down by the younger two.

Please do join us in praying for the babies' health as there are all kinds of extra factors that come into play with twins.  But everything looked great yesterday and we are at total peace and rest in the confidence that the God Who created those TWO babies did not forget any of the details that will come along with them, including their health!  

A welcome weekend

Jake finished most of his work before this weekend, so we had a great time enjoying acting like a "normal" family (is there such thing?!)  We bought her these glasses on Saturday morning and here's also a clip of Abby Jane "jamming" as she frequently does when music comes on...

We all went to Will Rogers State Park for a picnic and some flag football on Saturday...

And to the beach on Sunday afternoon!

Daddy Time

Jake has had a ton of schoolwork recently that has kept him out studying and writing papers to all hours.  But somehow in the midst of all that, he has made time for this...

In defense of Jake's back, I must say they had been doing this for a few minutes before I got out the camera.  (No, he did not make me say that- he's actually not home right now!)

In watching this video, I remembered that the two things my daddy and I did every night when I was little was read stories and "do tricks, Daddy!"  Do you remember doing tricks with your daddy when he came home from work?  I remember asking to be thrown up in the air in the den where we had vaulted ceilings as soon as he came in the door from work.  Abby Jane's obviously going to asking the same thing as soon as she knows how!

Caught

The truth about what I actually do with my daughter all day...

Breakfast Ideas?

First of all, thanks for all the congrats, friends!  It is so fun to share our exciting news with y'all!

This morning a little fantasy came true.  I was making some brownies to take to a friend this afternoon, and Abby Jane was wanting to see what was going on up on the counter.  So I explained the complex process of making brownies from a mix.  But then the best part... she helped me stir!  I know this is not a big deal, but it was really fun to have a first shared "cooking experience" with my girl.

Now, WHAT DO YOU FEED YOUR TODDLER FOR BREAKFAST??!!  Abby Jane has vetoed her oatmeal (even after having cinnamon, a bit of brown sugar, applesauce AND blueberries added to it!) and will only eat a few Cheerios at breakfast.  She has eaten pancakes OK in the past, but that's probably not the healthiest thing to have every day.  

She'll eat up any fruit I give her in the mornings and drink her milk, but I feel like she should have some sort of carb in addition to her fruit and milk. FINALLY, she did seem to like the multigrain waffle I tried with her this morning, but I'd still love your ideas! 

Abby Jane is going to be...

A big sister, sometime around November 15!We are so excited and thankful for this little one!  I'll be 11 weeks along on Friday, and we got to hear the heartbeat yesterday for the first time.  Such a blessing!

You can tell Abby Jane is already proud of her new role as big sister.

"Wait a minute... what does this shirt say???"