Family Visit and Gender reveal

I was lucky enough to get to have my mom, aunt, and a few cousins stay with me for a week while my siblings and other cousin went to EFY. It was a great week. We cooked yummy food, went shopping, swimming, laughed, went to the gym, and ate more yummy food. We even squeezed in the Aquarium. It also could not have been more perfect timing.  It was the same week we were getting our gender Ultra Sound, so my mom and aunt were able to be in the room.

Before I get to Gender stuff here are some pics we took while they were here.

The Belugas are my FAVORITE

Not sure what is going on with these Starfish.....

My bump looking esp. round :)

If you couldn't tell, we had a great time at the Aquarium 

Cade...LOVE him

                                       

When we got home from the Ultrasound this sweet little thing put his hands around my belly (not my back, just my belly) and said I am hugging the babies I just love them so much. MELT. MY. HEART! Oh Cade, they are going to love you almost as much as I do. 

This was Cade most of the time. He and the Charles were buds

                                     



Gender Reveal:

The Ultrasound was really special for me. I was so thrilled I got to share it with my mom and aunt. It was really fun and I always LOVE seeing my little buds on the screen. It had been a month since I had last seen them and I could not believe how much they had grown. Their little profiles were so cute I teared up. My baby guy let the tech know he was a fella right away, but little miss Bud was being stubborn. (I may have my trouble maker). The Tech had warned me not to get my hopes up cause the position may not be good, but she made her tiny self known and the tech wrote the genders and sealed it in an envelope. The suspense was KILLING us!!!

Since we weren't sure if my buds were going to reveal themselves the Gender Party was last minute. There is NO way I could have pulled it off without the help of my Aunt and mom. I wanted to do a bee theme to go along with the bears we were opening.

Friday GB and I made our way to Build  a Bear and had the ladies at the counter assist us. They were so pumped about it, it was really cute and made us more excited. We picked out two boy bears, two girl bears, and two outfits for each. Then we handed it all in with the envelope and left our phone number to let us know when they were done.

We were dying when we went to pick up the bears.

My Aunt busted her little bum putting my party together with me.I was so grateful for all the help, my family is really great at lending a hand. My mom and cousin Ben were my little cleaners and made sure my house was spotless. My awesome friend Darcey made all my cupcakes. It was a little stress full it came together. Everything was EXACTLY how I envisioned it. I was SOOOOO happy with it all. 

Don't Darcey's cupcakes look amazing! They were Caramel Apple. The caramel on top looks just like honey.

Cade was pumped! He kept telling me all week there was one boy and one girl in my belly. Smart little sucker :)

                                       

Opening my little fella!

Finally! A Bradham Girl!! We did it

I still feel like I am living a dream. I have always wanted twins, and really wanted boy/girl twins. I can NOT believe I got it. I love these little monkeys. I started to feel them and it is the most wonderful feeling. Being pregnant is everything I thought it would be and then some. Thanks all the family and friends who helped, came, and watched via internet. It meant a lot to us and we were so glad we got to share that experience with all the people we love. My family left the next morning and I was sad. I love having them around. Thanks for all the help Mom and Shelia!! You are awesome and I love ya to pieces.

In other News

In other News. We have enjoyed a pretty good summer so far. Despite being sick, I have managed to have some fun.

Before Summer Started we went to Columbia to visit friends and have my friend Naomi take some pictures for us...here are our favs.

(Old due date...since its twins, it is now 12/10/13)

Trevor and Spencer Graduated. The WHOLE family was able to be there because Grant came home!!! Sadly, his plane didn't actually arrive until a little after midnight so we have ZERO pictures of his homecoming . Anyway, here we are at the graduation.

Way to go little studlets, we just love you to pieces.

All the Brothers

 

And all the sisters lol

Okay we were just a little bit proud :)

We also went to Stone Mt. on Memorial Day with the twinners and their female folk. Not gonna lie, made us feel old, but still a grand ole time. 

In between enjoying games and movies with our dear pals the Farnsworths, GB and I have been enjoying working on furniture. Of course, when I say GB and I, I really mean that GB builds it and I tell him how to stain/paint it, then start to paint , get sick, and he finishes. And also when I say GB builds things, I mean he gets a little help from a friend or two. But really, he has been such a man lately making all sorts of ish. Pretty awesome if you ask me. Here is the table he made for our empty wall. I am just gonna go ahead and say...skills. Its almost done, then I will post more pictures. 

I also re-finished our breakfast table (which I will post when the chairs are complete) and night stands (which still need their handles)

My sweet Aunt Shelia was kind enough to send me her left over Annie Sloan chalk paint, I am in LURV with that stuff. Its easy and turns out fantastic. 

And last week we went to the beach. I was soo thrilled to get out of the house during the day and just soak up the sun, feel the sand in my toes, and be serenaded by the waves. I was really blessed in that I received a burst of energy and was able to fully enjoy my little self. I guess the babies love the beach as much as mommy. We rode bikes, snuggled, played games, ate fresh crab, walk the pups along the beach. It was just heavenly. 

Here I am in ecstacy on Sunset Beach. I flippen LURVED that little spot I found. It was magical. 

GB was pretty proud of his sweet shell and baby sand dollars he found. 

Traditional Putt Putt...What What!

Oh her little baby bump!

Bike ride dates are the very best!!

I was sad the humidity was killin my cream :(

Catchin me some crabies! ...yes, I am aware of how that sounds ;)

I was so sad to leave the beach. Probably not as sad at the pups, they were depressed when we got home. 

So far its been a good summer. Can't wait to see what the rest of it brings. I head up to Girls Camp Thursday. Next week my mom and aunt will come stay the week with us, then hopefully my dad and company will come the end of July. I will be 13 weeks in 45 minutes and on the 27 we get to see if can find out the gender. Pretty exciting stuff! Here is to hoping these awesome widdle Bradham's keep lettin mommy feel good. 

Double Double the Spoils and Trouble

It has taken me awhile to do this post because it is so emotional for me and I have been so sick that I haven't really felt like getting more emotional than I already am. But I wanted to get it all out before I had mounds of things to update. So here goes, I broke it down into sort of a "play by play" if you will. Enjoy :)

Little Pink Lines

The week of April 17th Garrett was out of town and I was expecting my cycle that weekend. I have always known that Garrett wanted it to be a surprise and for me to make it special when I told him I was pregnant. If you don't know him well, then you are unaware that is is IMPOSSIBLE to surprise him. He figures every thing out, every time. It's really annoying. Anyway, it was  Tuesday and I was to pick him up Thursday from the airport. I thought to myself, wouldn't it be great if I found out I was pregnant now so I could actually surprise him? That meant I would have to take an early pregnancy test. So I went out and bought an early kit and thought, well I will just try it and see. It just so happened that night I had to pee like 7 times.Each time I got up, I thought, should I try now? I decided I would wait until morning because I would for sure get a no and then be too upset to sleep. So morning came and I tested. I watched as the first line began to appear and I thought to myself, "hmm, I have never gotten that line before." (trust me, after nearly two years, I was a pro at these things) I started to freak a little, then thought, okay just wait....welp. The second line arrived, along with a rapid increase in my blood flow. My first thought was, "no way, this can not be right". So I busted out the instructions just to be sure. Nope, its positive. Immediately this wave of emotion coursed through my body. for almost 2 years I had cursed and loathed that stupid stick and now all of the sudden it was the most precious possession I had. I fell on the floor and just cried....no sobbed is the better word.(no I did not stop to pull up my pants) I mean I couldn't breath and I was shaking. I have never felt that much elation and gratitude at once ever like that in my whole life. It was like if you take all the very best and most happy moments of your life, roll them into one, and feel it...all. at. once. That's what it was like. I was busting Jerry, busting. (Seinfeld reference) I wanted to call Garrett SOOOOO bad but I knew it was better to make it special. 

Baby Shoes and a Letter

 To be honest keeping that "little" secret was the HARDEST thing I have ever done in my life. Okay, slight exaggeration, but it was friggen difficult. I pulled it off though, I had a brilliant plan that was sure to shock and I was ready. After what felt like an eternity, I picked up GB at the curb. I was somehow able to keep my mouth shut the whole ride home (miracle). When we pulled into the driveway, I told GB to give me exactly 5 minutes, then to come to the stairs and follow the shoes. As GB approached the top of the stairs, he followed a trail of blue and pink baby shoes which led to our nursery. Once he opened the door, the room was lit with candles, a song was playing (we're having a baby, my baby and me by Desi Arnez) and pink and blue balloons tied down with newborn diapers filled the room. I was in the corner, as he walked in, he seemed really confused and kept repeating "what?" over and over. I instructed him to read a letter from "baby". He then kept saying, "NO" lol, So I instructed him to open the little white box covered in pink and blue ribbon, inside he saw the test. "Are you pregnant?" I started to cry (again) and we just hugged. To be honest I am not sure what shoked him more, the fact that I was actually pregnant or that I was able to surprise him. Either way, it was such a special moment that I had been dreaming about for so long and it couldn't have been more perfect. We will both always treasure and never forget, mainly cause I have it recorded.

A Little  Extra Surprise

May 13th was our first ultrasound. I was beyond excited to finally see our little one on the screen. I was really hoping I could hear a heartbeat. We were about 40 minutes late because of traffic and I was flippen out. I thought for sure they wouldn't see us, but they did. We ended up waiting about an hr. to get in to the Ultrasound Tech. GB was getting bored and tired of waiting. Little did he know how worth it, it would be. I sat up on the table and she placed the uncomfortable foreign object in. Immediately I saw these two little bubble/sac looking things. The tech looked at us and asked if this was our first ultrasound. We told her yes, and she then said, "Well wait until you get a load of this". For Garrett, this confirmed his suspicion that I was carrying twins, but I still didn't want to get my hopes up. Garrett and I have ALWAYS wanted twins, it was the dream, but at this point I was so grateful to have even one that I wasn't going to be greedy. I kept watching the screen to see if what I was looking at was two babies, or my ovaries. (Don't laugh I had NO clue what I was seeing) after she took a bunch of measurements, she said, "have you figured out what's going on yet?" I said/questioned, "twins?". She smiled really big and said, "It looks like it". Tears just started to pour down my face. That feeling I had when I saw the pink lines, was coming back. I was so overwhelmed. In that moment, I had everything I had ever wanted. I think the tech wasn't sure if they were tears of joy or fear, but we assured her we definitely wanted twins. A person shouldn't have that much. She started to showing us the different babies and then we got to hear each of their heartbeats. It was like magic. Garrett's face just lit up and he had the biggest most goofy/awesome grin. I instantly fell in love. She placed us in the next waiting area so I could see my OB, where I had to listen to GB boast about how he knew the whole time it was twins. I didn't mind really, I was so elated. As I sat there staring at my pictures sitting with my goofy grinned husband, something whispered to me, "I told you it would be worth it". And it was, it really really was.  It was incredible. The whole day we were just beaming. I am still beaming. 

Now

Today is my last day in week 10. The babies original due date was Christmas, but since I'm having twins and its my first, he wants to induce December 10th. We got to see the buds again last week and they have already changed so much. Bud A was flipping all around and kicked poor Bud B who was trying to nap. Melt my heart. I am so madly in love with those little thing. I feel like I  have also already changed so much. Something about seeing those little "buds" as I call them on the screen changed me. I realized then just how wonderful my body was. I have spent a good portion of my life really not liking my body, constantly wanting to change things, being mad at it when I was so sick. But in that moment, I had such great respect for it. This body I had never learned to love was giving me two babies. I realized just how amazing and beautiful my body is now. I don't  ever want my kids to look at their bodies and see the "imperfections" I want them to see the strength and beauty of it. The best way I can do that is to give them my example. I can honestly say that I have never felt more beautiful. I find myself looking in the mirror at things I have always disliked, and suddenly, I am hoping my babies have those traits. For example, my nose, always hated my nose. Just recently I have noticed I have my dads nose. Now I think, I hope you have my nose, it comes from your Grandad. I have been tremendously sick since about week 6. Which I knew I was going too, with previous health problems. But I haven't minded one little bit. I feel so privileged and blessed to have these two little miracles growing inside me and I just want them to be healthy, I don't even care what it does to me. I have a long way to go, but I am so excited. Garrett is going to be such an adorable dad. My buds are just gonna adore him. It has been a long and hard road to get here, but it has been worth it. As I look back on our  years together, we have been so incredibly blessed. We really have had this amazing life. 6 years, just to ourselves, traveling the world, fulfilling our dreams and in the end, we get this too. It's too much happiness. Despite the insane amount of hormones flowing through my body, I am immensely elated. I know that without the hard fight and all the lost battles, the victory of this war wouldn't be nearly as sweet, and I wouldn't change a single second.