Steven's Graduation

We flew back to Minco for Steven's graduation on Wednesday night. Wednesday was also Paul and I's 3rd anniversary!! What a way to celebrate. We are getting old already. Actually, I have to give Paul credit, because he sent me beautiful flowers to work that day and made a very yummy steak dinner on Tuesday night for us to enjoy. I will blog more about our anniversary after we complete the festivities when Paul is finished with his board exam in June. One of the reasons we decided to fly back on our anniversary is because the studying for the board exam would have prevented any extravagant celebrations anyway. Paul and I both haven't had time to get each other presents yet. Anyway, we arrived that night just before midnight and after listening to and watching some of the after show of the NBA playoffs we headed for bed to rest up for the weekend activities.

My mom and I spent Thursday gathering all the supplies we needed for the graduation party and dinners and decorating my grandma's sun room where the party will be (all of our graduation parties have been in my grandma's sun room). Paul got up semi-early that day and was able to get in a few good hours of studying before my brother's woke up and enticed him to go fishing, and to of course play Frisbee golf with them. It's kind of funny because prior to going to the graduations Paul assured me that he would be able to say no to my brothers and would be ok missing out on the things they were doing. I guess he lasted a few hours before cracking ;).  My aunt and nephew's little boy arrived that evening, and we got to visit some with them while I made the toppings for Steven's graduation cake.

The sign I made for Steven's party. There were a lot more decorations I just didn't take pictures of them.

Paul with his fish...I actually think the breaks he take for fun help recharge him and his brain and make for more productive studying. I mean you can only study for so long before needing a break.

On Friday, we headed back over to my grandma's to prepare a late lunch before graduation, make the cake, punch, and all other goodies for the party that night. Paul actually stayed home and didn't go back out fishing this day. Steven stayed behind too so that he wouldn't be tired and sun burnt for graduation. I am confident that Paul did some studying while my mom and I were getting ready for graduation, but when we left they were playing video games.

The finished product of Steven's cake I made and the cupcakes.

My older brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephews arrived that evening a few hours before graduation. Addelynn turned 4 that Tuesday before Steven's graduation so I saved her gift to open with us when she arrived. I think I did pretty good this year she seemed to love it, and of course she loved her brother's gift so I added a some fun filled balloons to her gift too!

Addy with her present

Addy popping a balloon

Addy gathering up her goodies

This picture won't rotate, but Addy with her Little Mermaid float

Addy with her purple and pink sparkly purse and all the goodies that go inside

It is so much fun to watch people open the presents you get them. Especially your niece and goddaughter.

After, dinner we headed to graduation, and got there just in time before it started filling up fast. We had a lot of people come. Brett and Nick's girlfriends(Kayla and Jonna) joined us that evening, and Mallory came too. It's kind of weird to think that I probably won't go to another Minco graduation. I can hardly believe that Steven is old enough to graduate from high school and then go on to college. I was nine when Steven was born so I had so much fun with him since I was old enough to really interact with him. It was kind of like having a real life doll just as I was out growing my actual dolls. I couldn't be more proud of him, and know he will do great in college. He is going to go to SWOSU with my other brother's, and I am sure he will have just as much fun there as the others do.

Addy and I at graduation

Steven getting his diploma

Steven and I after graduation..The roses are for me, my grandma and my mom. I thought it was sweet that he got me one too until my mom said she told him to get three for us. Guess he still needs some guidance.

Steven with his cake at the after party

On Saturday we were lucky enough to go to Steven's All-Star baseball game. It had gotten rained out the week before, and while it was hot and I of course got sun burned again, It was fun to see him play again, and with all the other best players in the district. Steven played in all of the innings. He started as short stop and then ended the game pitching. He did well hitting too!  Before the game Addy, Tyler and I got to play at the playground near the field too!  I was proud of Paul again, because he decided it would be best for him to stay back and get some good quality studying in while everyone was gone to the game and the house was quiet.  I know it was hard for him to miss the game, because he loves all sporting events. Hopefully, all his hard work will soon pay off, and he can put this STEP1 exam behind him, and never think of it again.

I outweighed both of them on the teeter totter, but I do have two little people growing inside me.

Addy loved going across these

Tyler monkeying around

Addy needed some help from uncle Nick to climb up the slide

Steven playing short stop

Steven hitting

Steven pitching

After the game we all went home to slather on the aloe, and cool off. We then enjoyed playing some board and card games before the NBA playoffs were on and it was time to cheer on the Thunder again. The Thunder are doing great this year, and they did great the year before too! I am proud of my home state and their competitive NBA team. It's always bitter sweet to leave on Sunday. I am always ready to get back home and sleep in my own bed and get back into routine, but I hate that we are so far away and it takes 8 hours to get there. Oh well, so far we haven't let the distance keep us from enjoying much family time. I also think Dasher misses living in Minco with my mom and eating kitty food. He didn't even seem to miss us when we left him there for the 3 days.

Mother's Day

This year Paul and I were able to celebrate Mother's Day with both of our moms. That doesn't usually happen since they live 6 hours apart and we are 8 hours from my mom and 4 hours from his mom. Mother's Day was the day after my little brother Mark's graduation so we were with my mom for a few hours that morning before she dropped us off at the airport to fly back to Houston, and Paul's mom came to Houston to spend the weekend with his older sister and pick us up from the airport and have lunch with us on Mother's Day. I truly believe this will probably never happen again, but glad we got to be with both of our moms on such a special day for them.

We actually gave my mom her present Saturday night after we got home from my little brother's graduation. I think we did a good job this year with her present. She had already bought herself a kindle fire, so that made it a little difficult. I did end up finding a movie from one of her favorite books, some lotion from Bath and Body Works and collected some funds from my little brothers for her to do whatever she would like with. Since I wasn't able to spend all day with her I hope my little brothers at least were nice to her for the rest of the day.

mom reading the card

mom with her gifts

Our plane arrived in Houston just in time for Mother's Day lunch. I mean we had a really hard time finding a restaurant that wasn't an hour - two hour wait for a party of 9. We did end up getting a table pretty quickly at Texas Roadhouse, which was yummy and this mother-to-be was starving so I was grateful for the peanuts and rolls that they give you right away.  Then we gave Paul's mom her gift. We were lucky that Macy's is running their summer Brasil campaign, because we found a coffee pot that Paul's mom likes that they use in Brasil. I actually love going to Macy's now because it does remind me of being in Brasil in their little Brasil sections. We also got her some summer/spring smells for the scentsy pot we got her for Christmas.

Paul with his mom

Paul's mom opening her gift.

As special as it was to celebrate with both our mom's it was also such an unreal thing to think that I already have my own babies growing so fast inside me. Paul was very sweet and got me some flowers, balloon and a little gift to celebrate this first Mother's Day for me!

with my flowers, balloon and book (I love you to the moon)

I can't wait until next year to celebrate this day with my babies in my arms instead of in my belly, but for now I am just happy to be joining one of the most honored positions a girl can hold, MOM!  Hope everyone was able to celebrate with their mothers. I know one day just isn't enough to celebrate all my mom has done for my brother's and I and I hope she knows how special and important she truly is to all of us. Love you mom!

Mark and Mallory Graduate!

May was a crazy month! We had two graduations to attend that were only a week apart, and managed to squeeze in Mother's Day as well. All of this while Paul was still studying non-stop for his upcoming board exam. I am always so continually impressed how he manages to do it all.

The second weekend in May, my little brother Mark and his fiance Mallory graduated from Southwestern Oklahoma State University. Paul had his last basic science course exam that Friday, and is now half way done with medical school and will be in clinical rotations the next two years. Well, after he completes his first board exam. He will take three board exams in total, but the first, STEP1, is the hardest and most significant. This test helps determine what kind of doctor Paul can be (each different type of doctor has a different score requirement to apply for their residency programs) and which residency program within that specialty he will be competitive for after he completes med school. Anyway, this made a good driving day since Paul does not like to study too much after taking a test. We arrived in Oklahoma a little after midnight and I helped my mom ice cupcakes that my grandma baked for us for Mark and Mallory's graduation party before going to bed that night. It's a good thing I pretty much sleep the whole way there so I wasn't quite ready for bed when we got there.

Chocolate graduation cupcakes

Funfetti Graduation Cupcakes

On Saturday, we all headed to Weatherford, OK for the graduation. We got to my little brother's place just before he had to go up the school to get ready for graduation. We left shortly after, but unfortunately it was already packed. It took us a while to find some seats, but we had to sit separately, but were able to find some decent seats. My camera ran out of batteries (I apparently didn't charge it before leaving) so I don't have any pictures during graduation. Luckily, I was able to steal this picture from Mallory's aunt.

Mallory and Mark college graduates!

We all went to Mallory's place after graduation for pizza and cupcakes to celebrate the two graduates. After, the party we went back to Mark's place, changed, and headed to the park for some Frisbee golf of course!  It was a fun day hanging out in my brother's college town. SWOSU is a very pretty campus, and Weatherford is a pretty nice little college town. Nothing beats Stillwater and OSU, but I did like SWOSU. We left that Sunday and left Dasher and our car in Minco to fly back to Houston. Since Paul was finished with school he was able to drive me to work and pick me up that Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before we flew back to Minco that night for my youngest brother's graduation from high school.

Telling our Families

Since we live so far away from both our families we wanted to share the wonderful news that we were going to have a baby in fun and memorable ways since we couldn't do it in person. When we told our family we did not know that we were going to have twins or even that twins were a possibility.

We surprised my mom and Paul's parents by sending them flowers with a card that said Congratulations Grandma!! and Congratulations Vovo and Vovo!! (Vovo is Portuguese for grandma and grandpa they have accent marks the computer won't let me do and are pronounced differently). I was hoping the surprise wouldn't be too confusing, but I think it took a few minutes for it to sink in for both of them.

My mom with her bouquet!

Paul's mom with her bouquet!

Since my dad is working out of state and only gets to come home once a month or so, we sent him a coffee cup that said "Hello, My name is Grandpa". It took a long time for him to get the coffee cup due to shipping so my mom had to keep it a secret for longer than I think she would have liked.

My dad with his coffee cup

It was easy to think of what we were going to do for Paul's sisters, but my brother's were a little more challenging to surprise with a gift. We finally decided to send them little beach balls that I wrote "Can't wait to have a ball with my uncle _____". I felt kind of bad though because I send my little brothers and niece and nephews Valentine's every year, and when the baby announcement packages arrived they thought it was my Valentine's packages. I got a few texts that said Congrats! but where is my V-day candy? I made up for it by sending St. Patrick's Day candy though.

Close up of the beach balls

Brett got creative

such a goob

Uncle Mark

Uncle Nick

Uncle Steven

Uncle Ben with Cousins Trevor and Tyler. Their beach balls say Can't wait to have a ball with my cousin _____.

Aunt Kourtney with cousin Trevor and Addelynn

We also got Paul's brother a beach ball but his said Can't wait to have a ball with Titio (uncle in Portuguese) Jacob, and for his sister's I found some cute necklaces that I was able to personalize to say Titia (aunt in Portuguese) (Kourtney I also have a necklace for you and Addy, but they took too long to come in so I didn't mail them with the beach balls. Hopefully I will remember to give them to you sometime).

Titia Megan

Titia Jessica

Titia Anne

Titia Bethany

Titio Jacob

Close up of necklace

We also sent our grandparents a card to announce to them that we were expecting. The front of the card said "I think my grandparents are great..." then when you opened it on the inside it said "...that's why I made you great grandparents!". I forgot to take a picture of the card and a picture of my grandparents with the card :(

Paul's Vovo reading the card.

Paul's Vovo reading the card.

Portuguese version of the card. The English versions looked just like this too!

Paul's Mimi and Papaw reading their card.

My grandpa and grandma K. Not reading the card, but wanted to include their picture ;)

We were so excited to share the news and loved how surprised everyone was.

Seeing Double

We're having Twins!!!

Our two little peanuts at 8 weeks!!

Paul and I could not be happier or more excited to have two little babies on the way instead of just one. Paul and I had decided about a year and a half ago that we were ready to add to our family. I was nervous with him still in medical school, but he told me that he was only going to get busier as he progressed in school and then onto residency so we shouldn't wait for school/work to slow down for him because it just wasn't going to happen until we were old and gray. I was excited that he didn't want to wait until school was over. I have to say the process took longer than I thought and threw us a few curve balls along the way. We even sought advice from a fertility specialist who told us we had only a 3% chance of conceiving without the use of advanced medical procedures such as intra-uterine insemination or invitro fertilization. After a few weeks of trying to understand how that was possible since the doctor also said there was nothing preventing us from becoming pregnant on our own after running tons of tests and procedures. After praying about it and discussing it a lot, Paul and I decided to not pursue advanced medical procedures until he was finished with school and possibly even residency. That way we could see if things did just happen as they should. We kept getting a strong pull from God to wait. I felt like he was literally leaving signs all around us telling us to wait on Him. I sure am glad we did. We consulted with our regular OB after seeing the specialist and she suggested a few things that we could do that didn't involve advanced fertility treatment. She was so understanding and encouraging through the whole process, but still didn't leave us with any certainty that it would happen for us soon. I finally made peace with the fact that God wanted us to wait.

The holidays were a little rough but through all of this I had met and made a really great friend whose husband is in Paul's medical school class and has a similar story to ours.  I was so excited when she told me in early February that she was expecting. It was the first truly bittersweet moment I have ever felt. I was so happy for her, yet sad not only that it was her and not me, but that we would lose some common ground in our friendship. Thankfully, God was just smiling down on me because a couple weeks later on Valentine's Day I decided on a whim to take one of the tests we still had upstairs. I didn't tell Paul I was taking it because I didn't want to upset him if it was negative. At first glance I didn't see a line, but when I looked again I saw the faintest line and came running down the stairs with the test asking Paul if he saw what I saw. He was just as confused as I was and we tried not to get too excited, but we were so thrilled to get anything on the test besides nothingness. Here's where the 20 home pregnancy tests come in. I took a test almost everyday until our first ultrasound just to see the line get darker and still be there!  I still can't believe that we found out on Valentine's day and that I still get to share this amazing journey with such a sweet and dear friend.

When the time arrived for our first ultrasound I was still very nervous, anxious, and beyond excited. I can't even describe how it felt to see the little blob on the screen for the first time. The doctor warned us that at 6 weeks you sometimes can't find a heart beat, but not to be concerned. Lucky for us she was able to find a heart beat and we could even hear it. Well Paul heard it. I kept waiting for the 'static' to stop so that I could hear the heart beat only later to find out that the 'static' was the heart beat. Then I heard what I thought were the worst words of my life. The doctor got a concerned face and said "Well that's interesting". I instinctively go "What's wrong!!" and she smiled and said I think I see two sacs and possibly two babies. A huge wave of relief flooded over me. At this point the second baby still didn't have a heart beat that we could detect so the doctor informed us of a thing called vanishing twin syndrome where it looks like you are having twins at an early ultrasounds, but that the tissue never makes a baby and is absorbed back into your body. I was happy to hear that we had at least one healthy baby, but unsure how to feel about a vanishing twin.

You can see the baby in the top left corner, and then the little black dot just to the right is the second sac!!

It wasn't until 7-8 weeks that we had another ultrasound to confirm that we were in fact having twins!! I have always wanted twins and still can't believe that my dream of having twins is in the process of becoming true. Both had strong heart beats and were even wiggling their little hand and feet nubbins a little.  So cute!!

My little peanuts.

We went back at 11 weeks for a check up, and to make sure they were still growing and progressing as should be. Since we are having twins we are automatically a high risk pregnancy.  I was happy yet sad to see that they had grown so much and no longer fit into the same frame on the ultrasound.

This is our active baby. He was upside down, sideways and all over the place. The doctor had a fun time trying to get this picture and you can even see his/her little smile if you look closely.

This is our calm baby. I actually thought something was wrong with him/her since he wasn't moving at all, but he/she had a strong heart beat, and finally stretched and sucked his/her thumb towards the end of the ultrasound. So cute and calm. You can see near the head some body part of his/her brother/sister who was moving around like a crazy person while he/she calmly slept beside them.

Our last ultrasound was last week at 13 weeks and we are finally out of the first trimester. I cannot complain though because I have been very blessed and lucky to not have any morning sickness; except for in the evenings for 3-4 weeks. I still hold my breath at each ultrasound and am so relieved when they have great heart beats and are moving all around!

Our little active one. He/she was moving so much that this is the best picture we got. It is as if he/she is looking at you.

Our little sleeping one was actually a little more active this time, but still not nearly as active as his/her brother/sister. His/her head is to the right.

I hope you enjoyed meeting out little ones and keep coming back to see them grow!

Me at 12 weeks!