Oh Baby!

Well, I'm sure most have heard the news!  Brett and I are expecting and due in September!  We are so thrilled and can't believe this chapter of our lives has already begun!

Most have heard that we had twins on the way, which was quite the surprise (especially when Brett was not even at the appointment with me!).  They looked identical, and one was slightly smaller than the other.  Unfortunately, it is common to lose a twin during the first trimester...and that's what happened to us.  Even though we are bummed, we are still so grateful and excited we have a healthy, growing baby still on the way!  Thankfully, when this happens with identical twins in the first trimester, I don't "miscarry" like most women would with one baby, the baby just stops growing and slowly gets absorbed into the fluids.  They still aren't sure why this happens and is so common, but it most likely is from the shared circulation of the two babies, and one will just begin to dominate the other.  Just to give you an idea, here are the two ultrasound photos:

 Here are the two babies at 7 weeks, looking on track

and...

Here is 9 weeks, you can hardly even see the second baby now, in the top, right corner.

What a difference 2 weeks makes!

Twins do run in the family though, each of my parents have a sibling that has a set of twins.  And identical twins are not proven to be genetic.  Once you conceive multiples, your chances of conceiving them again shoots way above average!

Now I'm at 11 weeks, and things are going great!  I've been so lucky to not be nearly as sick as some women (like my mom!).  I have fainted once (thankfully Brett was there to catch me), but not once thrown up.  Nausea comes and goes, and sometimes at night, when I'm tired, I start to feel crummy.  But I've already been having really great days, so I think the worst might even be behind me. 

Things I've been eating a lot of lately:

soups

Ritz crackers

lots of bananas

jolly ranchers

cherry 7 up

QT icees

pistachios

apples

strawberries

and mexican food!

I feel like overall I've been able to keep pretty healthy eating habits, but sometimes that sugar/carbonation just helps my stomach feel settled.  And when I have to be in Downtown Phoenix at 7:15 am every morning, I will do what I have to do to feel good!

So even though we aren't getting the "2-for-1" deal this time, who knows, we might sometime later!  But for now, we are just so excited with one coming at a time!

Oh Happy New Year!

Going to Golden Gate on New Year's Eve with the Clark side of the family.

One of our favorite family traditions!

  

And a fabulous New Year's Eve party hosted by our dear friends Dave & Kelly Florenz (the newlyweds)!

Baby James makes another appearance!

 And then Brett and I started off the New Year right (on his day off--January 2) by hiking the Mormon Trail at South Mountain, with a picnic lunch at the top!

We are already loving the new year and are so excited for everything it has to offer!

Update--We Are Still Alive!

Well, I obviously took a break from blogging for a while, we just had too many fun and exciting things going on! 

Lots of Holiday get-togethers and celebrations with family and friends.

We got hot chocolate with the Whitings and drove around and saw Christmas lights.  We saw several decked-out houses, and even saw a house that coordinates the lights to Christmas music on the radio--it's crazy!

Here it is without the flash,
so you have a better idea of how "decked" these halls were!

We attended the annual Brown Family caroling party on the 23rd.  Complete with a delicious Mexican dinner and all piling onto the flat-bed truck to carol.   It was a blast!

Me & the adorable Breckyn on the trailer caroling

I had a lot of baby cuddling time...

Meet baby James (offspring of Jacob and Xanga) born December 9th

Meet baby Case (offspring of brother and sister-in-law Michael and Kami) born December 15th

Love those newborns! 

(And I'll have a couple more here to cuddle with soon, two more cousins both due in January!)

We got to play "Santa's Elves" on Christmas Eve in Willcox.

Putting together a trike and a train set

And the long-anticipated Disneyland trip with the whole Allred crew! 

We are talking all 45 of us (including 12 day-old Case!).

We are already missing Calvin & Susan, who are on their way to Chile as we speak.

We were the lucky ones that got to take them to the airport...

2 years feels like it will be forever, but we are grateful we get endless phone calls and skyping!

Gingerbread Houses

We made a gingerbread house the other night with our friends Cory & McKenzie!

We bought a kit, but they opted for the homemade graham cracker house.  They both turned out cute!

I investigated online to find an easy and entirely homemade version of a gingerbread house and came to the conclusion--too much work!  In order to be successful you bake one day and allow to cool, cement everything together the next day and let it set-up, and decorate the following day.  I am not a good enough gingerbread house maker to commit to three days worth of work.

It was really fun, and Brett is creative when it comes to the decorating,

I just copied the ideas on the box, ha! 

Hopefully this is a tradition we carry on throughout the years.

What We've Been Up To: The Brett Edition

My husband is so fun and such a great help to me.  Here's what we've been up to lately through pictures of Brett...

Our house isn't very well insulated, so we have been bundled up pretty good around here,
especially after the cold front came through.

This is how he looked before he broke down and turned the heater on!

I have been knitting, and had mentioned to him that some of my yarn had gotten really tangled.  So he literally spent hours untangling it while we watched re-runs on Hulu.  Then he came home from work the next day and immediately finished.  I was laughing so hard, the yarn isn't worth much, but he just couldn't stop once he had started.  He's a helpful guy!

Grilling our yummy dinner outside in his PJs (I think he's a little bugged that I'm following him around with my camera giggling at him)

The other night, Brett walked in to the house and said "Lay your eyes on this!".  It was the first egg that we've gotten from our chickens.  Here are the first three.  They are a very light green, and we are so excited!

Isn't my husband the best?  He makes me laugh all the time and always helps me! 

I just love him!

Traditions: Two This Week

So to continue on with some traditions I love,

here are two simple ones that I took part in this week. 

And they both happen to be traditions that my grandmas have started! 

The first one, is something my Grandma Clark does every Christmas. 

She has a basket of popcorn balls near her tree. 

Every time we visit, we get a yummy treat too! 

So I whipped some up the other night for our house. 

And it was my birthday this week, and as a tradition, my Grandma Brown

always calls (and leaves a message if we can't answer) of her playing her

beautiful rendition of "Happy Birthday" on the piano as she sings along. 

It always is fun to pick up the phone and hear that on the other end!

They are simple traditions but I love them, they still make special moments. 

Here's the popcorn ball recipe I use, in case you want to whip up a batch or two for yourself.

Popcorn Balls

Place 1/2 cup of unpopped kernels in a popcorn air-popper.

Sift out unpopped kernels out of the bottom when finished popping.

1 cube butter

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup light/white corn syrup

1 tsp. vanilla

(salt to taste)

Bring to a boil.

Bring to a rolling boil and boil for 45 seconds-1 minute (stirring constantly).

Pour over popped popcorn and stir to coat evenly.

Let sit for a few minutes, for carmel to thicken on the popcorn.

Shape into balls, place on wax paper to set.

Put in small plastic bags and tie with ribbon/yarn.

That's it!  I made smaller sized balls, and I made two batches so my basket would be full.

Make sure to add a little salt, it makes a huge difference!

Tradition, TRADITION!

When the holidays roll around, our lives become embedded with traditions.  Traditions make me so giddy!  They give me a sense of belonging, a sense of camaraderie, a sense of unity and joy.  Every year our neighbors host a "peach-fest" during the Fall.  They go up to Utah and buy huge boxes of peaches and return home to host us neighbors.  They invited us over for all peach desserts--peach pie, peach cheesecake, peach homemade ice-cream, and the list goes on (does that not sound divine?!).  Even though we are new neighbors, they invited us this year, and it made us so happy!  It reminded me of my fondness for traditions, and got me thinking on some of my own.

So I thought that I would do a small series on some of my family traditions and traditions that Brett and I are starting for our own family.  If you are interested, I'd love a guest blogger or two, to share one of their own unique traditions.

I thought I'd share the first tradition that Brett and I have started for our own family.  It even coincides well with the holiday season.  I got this idea from my Aunt Ruth Ann and Uncle Dan and their family, hopefully they don't care that I stole their idea!

Ever wonder what souvenir to get when you travel on vacation?  Everywhere you go, there are so many things that are options!  And pricey options at that!  Our first tradition solves this problem (especially once we have little kiddos begging us for everything in the store).

Everywhere we travel, we buy an ornament as a souvenir.  Then, at Christmas time, we can set up a small "travel tree".  As of now, we only have 3 ornaments (but seeing how we've only been married 6 months, I don't think that's too shabby!).  Our travel tree will be small for the next several years, but it is so fun to pick out an ornament together and watch our collection slowly grow.  We try to find an ornament that reflects the place we were visiting (and usually try to get something that states the place).  I know years down the road it will be a blast to look through our collection and remember the memories we created as a family.

Here's a glimpse at our small collection now:

Sort of creates an eclectic combo, but it brings back floods of memories with just a glance.  What are your favorite traditions?