Halloween Costumes

Brandon's family had their annual Halloween Party last Saturday. I was an Indian and Brandon was a mountain man. As usual we had a lot of fun putting together our costumes. I made my dress out material my mom used for her pioneer dress for a handcart trek she went on. I made up the pattern based on my favorite maturnity shirts. This dress is super comfy and I would wear it to church if it didn't have fringe on the sides. I made the head dress from shoe laces that Brandon saved, beads and feathers. The bow and arrow are from Brandon's Robin Hood costume from last year.

Brandon reused his Robin Hood shirt. I made him the pants out of a sheet we bought at DI for $3. I basically just traced his pajamas onto newspaper and cut the material out from there.

er=0>>Brandon spent most of his time making this rifle out of wood from the imfamous futon (that was the best dumpster find ever!) And a wooden dowle. He painted it with spray paint left over from other projects.

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I made Brandon this "possible's bag" (Mountian Man Purse) My cousin helped me discover the decorative stitching setting on my sewing machine and I had tons of fun using that.

Revenge Against Stuff

Over the past several months Brandon and I have been going through all our stuff and getting rid of things we no longer need. We moved from a place with almost unlimited storage to a place with very limited storage space. Also we are about to bring two girls into our lives and we figured it would be a good idea to get rid of our unnecessary clutter before they arrive.

It is amazing how much stuff we accumulated and hung on to over the course of our lives. Some of the stuff is important. However a lot of it is just junk. We've eliminated countless boxes of useless things we had been storing. We also were able to find things that were important to us, but we'd forgotten about them amidst all the other stuff we'd been saving. Though this process of decluttering I've come up with a theory about the seven layers of stuff that most homes have. Here they are in case you want to evaluate your own home.

Level 7 - Stuff you will never ever use
This is the easiest level of stuff to identify and the easiest to get rid of. It's just trash. Items include candy wrappers, flyer's for events you never went to, credit card offers, envelopes, etc. Before we moved we got rid of most of this type of junk. I can't tell you how many empty jelly jars we kept on top of the fridge "just in case we needed them."
Level 6 - Stuff pretending to be important
This is stuff that was once important to hang onto, but is now trash. This includes old bills (that you don't need for documentation), notes from high school history, and anything you've hung on to but can't remember why. This type of stuff is harder to identify. It takes some time to sort through. For example, I spent an entire afternoon going through our filing system. As much as I wanted to I couldn't just throw it all away. There were important documents such as my birth certificate that I needed. However, when I found an entire folder full of Brandon's phone bills from 2004 it was a no brainer to get rid of those papers.

Level 5 - Stuff with fake sentimental value

Look around your home. Do you absolutely love everything you see, or are there things that you hang on to out of obligation? The obligation stuff is the next thing you should think about getting rid of. Here is an example. Almost 3 years ago Brandon and I went to a Christmas Party and had a great time. At the party we won some goblets as a white elephant present. The goblets were dark green plastic, and consequently we never found a reason to use them. But because we had such a good time at the party we couldn't get rid of them. After we moved we discovered there was no room to continue to store those goblets. We were able to toss them into the DI box without forgetting the fun we had at the party.

Level 4 - Stuff with sentimental value only because you have hung on to it for so long

Have you ever opened a box and found something that you haven't thought about for years? Something that you thought you had lost, but never regretted losing? Something you could go your whole life without seeing again? And yet just because you found it again you think, "oh this wonderful broken cup/ ugly picture/ half eaten cookie! I've had it all this time - I can't get rid of it now." Guess what. In most cases you can get rid of it and you will sleep just fine. In fact you probably will forget that you ever even found it in the first place. A trick I've used to evaluate this type of stuff is to put it in a trash or DI box for a couple days before throwing or giving it away. That way I can tell myself that I can get it back out of the box if I need it. 9 times out of 10 I forget all about it and it leaves my life for good - just like it should have a decade ago. For example I recently found the fake baby I was supposed to take care of on my stake's handcart trek 8 years ago. I didn't care much for the baby during the trek (it's button eyes fell off the first day and I didn't get around to replacing them with a sharpy marker until day 3) I honestly had no idea I still had this doll until a few weeks ago when I found it with a bunch of my other high school stuff. For a few seconds I was tempted to keep the doll. Maybe my girls would want to play with it. I quickly faced reality. The doll was too big to store until the girls get old enough to play with it, even if I did store it I'm sure the girls will have other dolls to play with, and most of all I was indifferent to this doll. My life would be fine without it. And it is.

This level of stuff also includes stuff you see often. It may take something big to help you realize that you don't care about the object any more. For us it took moving to realize that we no longer cared about Brandon's model airplane. He'd stored it for years in his bedroom, and then our second bedroom. It was okay to have around, but it was showing a lot of signs of age. After we moved we decided that it wasn't worth hanging on to anymore. Here is what we did with it.

Level 3 - Useful Stuff

This is stuff that you hang onto because you are pretty sure you will use it one day. These are things like gift bags and tissue paper, ribbon, shoe laces, scrap wood, etc. The difference between this stuff and trash is that you actually use the stuff you save. Brandon and I have tons of this type of stuff. And trust me, we use it all the time. For instance, we haven't had to buy a gift bag the entire time we've been married. There is a trick to keeping this type of stuff. It can easily go from being a lifesaver to being a hindrance. Make sure you store it in an accessible place and that it is easily identifiable. Brandon uses clear plastic peanut butter and miracle whip jars to store his random screws, nails, and nuts and bolts. That way he can immediately tell what is in each jar. Also you have to periodically go through this type of stuff. I keep scrap paper for making cards. About once a year I go through the scraps and throw away any pieces that are too small to be of any real use.

Level 2 - Everyday Stuff

There is no escaping the fact that you need stuff in your life. You need pots and pans, clothes, blankets, towels, the list goes on and on. Sometimes these things that you absolutely need can turn into clutter if they aren't managed properly. I've spent a lot of time making sure that everything in my home has a home of it's own. For example, Brandon and I were given a lot of blankets when we got married. We also already had a lot of blankets. Up until last year we stored any blanket we weren't using in a big box. Then Brandon made me a beautiful quilt ladder to store the blankets. I love how it simultaneously stores and shows off the blankets.

Level 1 - Important Stuff

Going through all the other layers of stuff should help you identify the important stuff in your life. When you find something that is important make sure you put it somewhere that reflects it's significance. As I went through my high school stuff I found a lot of little things that I cared about. Instead of putting them back in the box I attached loops to them and turned them into Christmas ornaments. Now I will be able to pull them out and enjoy them every December. Also I've spent quite a lot of time sorting out the schoolwork I've kept over the years. I threw away all the notes I took in all my classes- even the ones I liked. Up until now I've been deluding myself that I would one day want to read the notes again - yeah right. Sorting though all my school stuff helped me find the stuff I actually wanted to keep and read. I put all the essays and papers I wrote in a binder labeled school stuff. Now I can easily read through everything from my 9th grade essay on Romeo and Juliet to my 12 grade US history essays to my college Sr Project on the Earned Income Tax Credit.

I'm by no means perfect at dejunking. I still have some boxes that are full of things I can't part with yet. However, I've been able to get rid of a lot of the things I really don't need. And now there is room for the important things.

Less than 7 weeks and a game

Is it just me or am I smaller than the woman on my pregnancy countdown thingy at the top of the page? I like to think I am. On Monday we had an appointment with my Ob. In the last month I have gained 11 pounds. Then on Tuesday we had and ultrasound where we measured how much the babies have gained in the last month. Both have gained about a pound and a half. Factor in fluid and placenta and I guess I'm doing well weight wise. Honestly I could care less about my weight. I figure I'm having twins so whatever.
At the ultrasound the tech spent some time measuring the amount of blood that is coming through Baby B's umbilical cord. B always measures smaller than Baby A so they want to make sure she is getting her fair share. The doctor explained that everything looks good, however, if there was ever a time that the blood flowing through the cord didn't look good then we might be sent over to deliver the babies that day. EEK! That got me thinking that I really need wrap my head around the fact that these babies could come soon. Thankfully, I received a lot of gifts at the shower and everything is coming together nicely.

Speaking of the shower, here is one of the games we played. It's a "guess that body part" game based on the many ultrasounds we've gone through (the total is up to 8 for long ultrasounds). Enjoy!

Baby B the drama queen

I guess most parents have the luxury of learning this lesson after their children are born. Brandon and I have been able to learn it now. The lesson is this . . . your children will not do what you want when you want.

Friday was our third non-stress test of the week. Usually we are supposed to only have two, but we had an extra one on Wednesday because the doctor was concerned about something she saw on Tuesday's NST for Baby B. She wanted us to come back for a second try.

Anyway, Wednesday's test was fine and we figured that Friday's would be too. Baby B had other plans. She wouldn't preform correctly for the test. Her heart rate just wouldn't increase the amount it needed to. We tried buzzing her, but that made her move away from the monitor. We could see that she was moving, but since her heart rate wasn't on the monitor it didn't count.

So after 40 minutes Baby B had failed the non-stress test. This combined with the weirdness on Tuesday's test made the nurse and the Dr concerned. So then we moved on to what is called a Biophysical exam or something like that. After going through this exam I now take back everything I ever said about how boring ultrasounds are. This was by far the most boring medical procedure EVER!

The nurse explained that we were going to do an ultrasound of Baby B. We would be looking for three things. 1. At least 3 movements of any kind. 2. One quick movement like a hand jerk or leg kick. and 3. Evidence of the baby breathing for 30 seconds. She said the test would last half an hour.

So she turned on the ultrasound and positioned it to look right at Baby B's rib cage. Then we all stared at the monitor forever. We got the movement and the quick movement right away, but the baby would not breath. (Babies only practice breathing about a third of the time.) Finally after about 20 minutes we saw the tell tell rib expansion that indicated Baby B was practicing her breathing. The problem is that she only did it for about 15 seconds. So we stared at the monitor for another 10 minutes hoping that she would start breathing again. Nothing!

At the 30 minute mark she finished the test and only scored a 6 out of a 10. The doctor said we had to come back again the next day for a NST and try again. I had my baby shower scheduled for the next day so the staff was kind enough to schedule me at the Intermountain Medical Center (IMC) which is closer to my parents house.

Today I went to Labor and Delivery at IMC for the test. As I suspected, Baby B preformed perfectly. She stayed on the monitor the whole time and her heart rate did everything it was supposed to. I don't know what her deal is, but Baby B likes causing these little disruptions.

There is a bright side to all this. Since I had to have the test done in Labor and Delivery they had to treat me like I was checking in to actually have the babies. It was a nice little practice for when I have to go there for real. The test was done in a Delivery room so I was able to see that the room wasn't as big as the ones at LDS where I plan to deliver. So maybe Baby B was just trying to show me what I needed to know.

Baby Shower

Today was the baby shower. My mom and my sister threw it for me. They reserved their stake's recreation building. Even with the reservation there was a little bit of drama at the beginning of the day. We showed up at the building to start setting up and found that the room was already set up for a reception later that night! Luckily the over-zealous people came back and took down their decorations. My mom loves shower games so we played lots of them. This is one where 3 people had to try to drink out of baby bottles.
We also played a multi tasking game. The girls played it first and then we made the guys do it. (They were hanging around waiting for lunch to start) Brandon didn't have the hang of hanging up laundry, talking on the phone, and holding a baby. He'll learn.
Lunch was soup and rolls. (Contrary to what my mom was telling people I made the rolls - not Brandon.)

After we ate it was time to open presents. I was so happy just to see everyone who came. Presents were a nice addition. Thank you! Thank you! To everyone who came and to everyone who brought stuff.
And thank you to those of you who gave presents without attending the shower. Amber I love the towels!!!!!!
Lots of people gave really cute clothes. These twins are going to be styling.
My cousin made these super cute pillows. Brandon later told me, "well I guess we are officially naming them Charlotte and Lydia." Yes we are because I feel like these girls named themselves.
It was a great shower. My mom and sister did such a wonderful job. I especially have to thank my sister Hillary who planned this shower while also planning Kearns High's homecoming week. Thanks again to all the people who came. I really appreciate you all.

Brandon's New Birthday

Here I am at 32 weeks. I'm having lots of days where I feel very pregnant. I've discovered the beauty of sleeping in our lazy boy recliner. It's almost as comfy as the Non-stress test chair. I'm also incredibly sick of eating. I'm constantly hungry, but less and less foods are appealing to me. I just want to get full and stay full! Everything is looking good with the babies. They will be here in 8 weeks or less!
The girls are due the day before Brandon's birthday. I'll probably be pretty out of it one way or another when his actual birthday is here, so I moved his birthday to Monday. He worked 5 hours for a co-worker which gave me plenty of time to cook him a surprise dinner. He was so excited when he got home and saw the dinner.

Also Brandon's diploma showed up in the mail on Friday. It's official. I am married to a college graduate!

Non-Stress Test

Today was the second of many Non-Stress Tests. A NST is where monitors are attached to my belly for 20 minutes. The monitors pick up the twins' heartbeats. The point of the test is to see that the babies heart rates increase when they move around, and that it is stable when they are at rest. It shows that the placenta is delivering enough oxygen and other nutrients to the babies. (I am constantly shocked at how much the placenta controls . . . basically this entire pregnancy has been at the mercy of the placenta. It creates the extra hormones that make morning sickness, it can contribute to gestational diabetes, it helps us determine that the twins are identical, etc)

I've heard that these tests can be pretty boring, but actually I love the whole experience. Ultrasounds are boring to me because pictures of bladders and femurs can get pretty tedious and I get sick laying on my back for so long. However, the NST is done in a really comfy chair in a well lit room.

The first thing we do is a quick ultrasound to check the position of the babies so the tech can know where to put the heart monitors. The twins are still in a ying yang position.
Here is a view of Baby A's head profile. Take a close look at the white line under her chin. That line is one of Baby B's femurs. Yep, she is basically sitting on her sisters head.
They hook up one monitor for each baby. There is also a monitor that measures any contractions I may be having. I didn't have any today, but I did have a few on Tuesday. I couldn't even feel them so the nurse told me not to worry about them.
During the 20 minutes of the test the results are displayed on this monitor. I think Baby A is red and B is green. I'm the blue line at the bottom.

Baby A had been moving around a lot before we got everything set up for the test. She fell asleep as soon as the monitors were hooked up and recording. Then Baby B woke up and started having a party. We watched her line dance up and down as Baby A's stayed constant. We were able to see that B's heart rate reacted correctly to movement. Since A appeared to be asleep the nurse said that we would have to wake her up. She got out a little stick that vibrates quickly. She put it next to where Baby A's head was and turned it on. We watched as Baby A's heart rate quickly increased and then went back to normal. We tried 3 times to get her to wake up, but each time she quickly fell back asleep. I guess that compared to her sister sitting on her head all day a short little buzz really didn't matter.

Eventually, the nurse was able to see what she wanted from Baby A so we were given the all clear until next Tuesday when we will be back to do it again. We will do this twice a week until the babies come. Here is my ever patient Brandon hanging out with me during the test.

This is totally unrelated, but here is a peach pie that Brandon made while I was visiting teaching the other night. Do I have an awesome husband or what?