Belly Progression

And for those who don't follow me on instagram, here is a little belly progression for you.

Currently:
Week: 22 (no picture yet)
Weight gain: 11 lbs.
Feeling: tired ALL. THE. TIME. but surprisingly Upbeat! ( for all my fellow how to loose a guy in 10 days fans)
Craving: honestly they change frequently but I always want a baked good
Babies: ACTIVE these little guys love to move. It kinda makes me nauseated when they are both flipping positions at the same time but its pretty spectacular.


K so here we go...

I feel like it took awhile for me to starting showing, but I am there! I feel like it gets bigger and bigger every hour lol. So far I have held on to all my regular clothes. Lets see how much longer that lasts...my guess is two weeks. We shall see....

PS: I just realized how much stinking hair I cut off! Wowzas!!!

Growing Buds

I hope that later in life when my babies are no longer babies and they ask me about various "scars" from pregnancy, I smile and warmly tell them that they are love marks they left on mommy when I grew them.
I am not sure what I expected when I dreamed about being pregnant, or when I first became pregnant. In some ways, its exactly what I expected, and in others...not so much.

 In a lot of ways this pregnancy has been kicking my trash. I remember all the things friends and acquaintances warned me of and complained about. The back pain, the hemorrhoids, the crazy hormones, the nausea...yep had all of those fantastic little gems and then a few more. For me the anemia has been the hardest, I get bored easy and its hard to just rest and not do the million things to the house that I want to get done to "nest". Don't even get me started on the newly developed "gas pains". By the way ladies, a charlie horse feeling is not pre-term labor if its only on one side. (just to save you the embarrassment of a phone call) yea, thanks Bud B. I for sure have my moments when I start to get frustrated, but they don't last long.

All that being said,  I try really hard not to ever complain about all the lovely things that accompany growing a precious miniature human, or two in my case. I stop myself and think about all the women who would kill to feel sick and vomit their guts out at the mere thought of scrambled eggs. I know because not too long ago I was that girl, I try not to ever forget that. I think about the women who will never get to experience pregnancy and I am thankful. Several times a day I pull up my shirt and just stare at my bare belly in awe at the magic of it all. I love watching my belly get bigger and it think its the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I feel the babies get stronger with each passing day. I am already so proud of them. Not even born and they are already practicing every day to become a dancer/soccer player/ baseball player. Just kidding, actually, I am pretty sure they are trying to be UFC fighters. I don't care what it is, I love all their movements. It is the most amazing feeling to know there is life inside of me. I love all their little kicks and punches and whatever the heck is going on in there. I feel like this has been the biggest privilege of my life and I feel so honored to be their incubator/mom.

I am in love with life right now. I go to bed each night with a tickle in my heart and a smile on my face. I lie next to that one special person I get to annoy for the rest of forever, a sweet pup or two curled up to me, and babies kicking me good night. It makes all the yucky stuff I deal with through the day all worth it. When its all said in done, these are the gems of life. I couldn't ask for more out of life than this. I am in love with being pregnant, and while I am so excited to meet and hold my little buds, part of me wants to keep them in there forever. In my belly I know they are safe, I can feel their bodies and every now and then, I can feel their sweet little spirits too. I am soaking up every second of this tiny period in their lives. Its beautiful and magic and I am the happiest I have ever been.

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.