Christmas card

Merry Christmas Eve! I am taking a few minutes this morning while the girls sleep to post our Christmas card...click on play, and you can also click on the packages to see some Christmas pictures of the girls. We didn't make it into a photo studio for professional pictures, but I think these turned out just as cute. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Announcing the birth of our twin girls on Aug. 18, 2009:

Hailey Dawn McFadden
4 lbs. 11 oz. - 19 1/4"
and
Brooke Emma McFadden
5 lbs. 2 oz. - 18 1/2"

Wow, it has been a LONG time since I have written, and a lot has happened. I am a mother of 2 beautiful twin girls Hailey and Brooke, and they are growing up so fast! I can't believe they are going to be 3 months old tomorrow (I started writing this when they turned 2 months LOL). Time flies when you're having fun! Oh, just a little disclaimer: If this doesn't make sense, it's due to my inability to articulate with the amount of sleep I've been getting (or rather NOT getting) the past few months. It's amazing how I have adjusted to run on 5 hrs. (or less) and still be able to function. It has all been completely worth it, I absolutely love and adore my girls and LOVE being a mom! Here's a little slideshow of my favorite pictures of them the first couple of months (turn up the volume for some nice music):

Make a Smilebox slideshow

My favorite things about them are watching them sleep, because they look like angels, and also to watch them when they are awake. They make the cutest facial expressions and sounds and movements! It's amazing to watch them grow. I could just watch them 24/7 and do nothing else. I never understood that until now. I can't even sum up what it's like to be a mom. Now it makes sense that everyone says "you don't really know until it happens to you". So true! I am so greatful and blessed to have these two sweet spirits in my life! They bring me such joy and happiness that I can't fully express in words. Hailey & Brooke, I LOVE YOU and I love being your mom. :)

Last day...

Well, this is my last day before I officially become a mother. Tomorrow Shaun & I are going to the hospital to have a C-section and to meet our twin girls Hailey and Brooke! I can't wait.

As the day is coming to a close I am starting to get a little more anxious and nervous, but mainly right now I am just EXCITED!!! I can't wait to see what they look like and to hold them. They have been especially active today...my adrenaline is rubbing off on the girls I think, LOL.

I have been on bedrest since July 2nd, which is why I haven't written much in a while. We haven't had any new pictures since the last ones either. It has been a long month and a half and at the same time it has flown by. I was getting tired of laying on the couch watching "Baby Story" and "Bringing Home Baby" and movies, but I know I am going to miss that very soon. I will admit, it was really nice when I was first on bedrest to have a break from working 8 hrs./day.

Here is a little synopsis of the babies' development and my progression over the past couple of months:
6/23/09--3 hr. glucose tolerance test - PASSED! (which means I don't have gestational diabetes, hooray!)
6/25/09--29 week mark: placed on modified bedrest since baby A is smaller than baby B (1036 grams & 1336 grams)
7/1/09--Perinatologist put me on bedrest as baby A was 3 lb. 2 oz. & baby B 3 lb. 8 oz., and I had a shortened cervix so he was concerned I may deliver at 32 weeks
7/7/09--OB appt. = cervix measured okay, not shortened
7/14/09--cervix shortened/same as before, baby A 1443 g (3 lb. 3 oz.), baby B 1734 g (3 lb. 13 oz.)
7/16/09--32 weeks: NST (non-stress test) at the hospital to make sure the heart rates of the babies goes up when they move
7/23/09--33 weeks: NST
7/30/09--34 weeks: NST
7/31/09--perinatologist, baby A 4 lb. 3 oz., baby B 5 lb. 6 oz.
8/6/09--35 weeks: NST, OB/GYN baby A 4 lb. 11 oz., baby B 5 lb. 9 oz., start NST's 2x/week
8/10/09--NST
8/11/09--feeling sick (sore throat, earache, stuffiness...no fun!) taking antibiotics for 5 days
8/13/09--NST
8/14/09--Perinatologist checked babies, baby A 5 lb. 5 oz., baby B 5 lb. 11 oz., decided it's time for the babies to come and we scheduled a C-section for Tues. 8/18/09!!!

So, to wrap it up, I am SO looking forward to seeing my girls tomorrow afternoon! I know they are very special little spirits and hope and pray they are healthy and all goes well tomorrow as my first day being a mother!!! :)

Ultrasound 6-3-09 - 25 weeks 6 days, Twin B

Here's a couple more photos! Only Twin B this time, since Twin A was moving a lot. At least they cooperate every other time. :) Enjoy!

25 weeks and 1 day - New Pictures in the Month of May

It's time for the monthly update of Jen's Journey! I have some new pictures to share from yesterday's appt. at the Perinatologist, the 25 weeks and 1 day mark:

I couldn't believe how clear the picture of Twin A turned out!!! Brought tears to my eyes. Last month she was moving too much to get a clear shot...this month Twin B was moving too much, but between this month & last we have a couple of fairly good pics of each one. It's amazing to see how big they ar growing. Not sure if you can tell from the pictures, but I wrote on there "Twin A 1 # 11 oz." and "Twin B 1 # 11 oz.". Oops...just realized I wrote it wrong, Twin A was actually 1 # 10 oz. just an ounce smaller than Twin B. I am feeling them move quite a bit every day now, mostly when I am quietly sitting at work or watching a movie or TV. Their little punches & kicks are getting to be quite powerful! Last night when I was trying to fall asleep I think one was using my bladder as a punching bag! OUCH! I LOVE to feel them move, but that was the first time it was actually painful. I started to sway from side-to-side and think I rocked the little boxer to sleep, thank goodness. :)

As for names, I have been getting asked about that a lot lately, but it's still a work in progress. It would be so nice to already have them picked out so we don't have to keep calling them "Twin A" (who is on my left and currently breech) and "Twin B" (who is on my right and currently head down), and we have a few possibilities we have in mind, but nothing is definite yet. Every time we watch a movie we look at the credits to see if any names pop out at us, which has been fun. Speaking of movies, Shaun & I and his brother in-law Tom & our 3 youngest nephews all got to go to a special screening of Disney/Pixar's "Up" Thurs. night, the night before it came out, at the AMC Theaters in Burbank. It was GREAT! Pixar films are amazing, they get better and better every time. The short before the movie was excellent as well, in classic Pixar style with superb quality and a witty storyline. I highly recommend going to see it.

On Memorial Day I planted a few flowers in our little border along the front of our house, as Shaun was working (he was shift leader, PLUS it was a holiday, so he got big bucks for working that day! Perfect to add to our savings for cribs & diapers & medical bills...oh my! LOL). I didn't take a picture of it yet, but I was really happy with how it turned out, and it is so nice to walk by the front of the house now. I planted a couple of cranberry/white variagated mini carnations, a couple of blue balloon flowers (they are really cool...the flower heads look like a little balloon being blown up, getting bigger & bigger, and when they open up then POW with a burst of color!), soft yellow pansies, and some really neat flowers I found called "Moss Rose", which the name is slightly deceiving, because the leaves aren't anything like moss, more like little succulent leaf pods. The flowers open when the sun is out and have beautiful colors in many different vibrant shades (from oranges to magentas to creams to yellows), and when the sun goes down they close and look kind of like carnations. They are really pretty, and the tag said they can tolerate extreme heat (also poor soil)...perfect for Simi, as it gets SO hot here in the summer. It was hard work, but I love seeing the fruits (or rather flowers!) of my labor.

That's about it for this month of May. We're coming up on Shaun's & my 8 year anniversary in 3 days...my how time flies! It has been a good 8 years with lots of accomplishments and adventures, and I look forward to many more to come, especially sharing it with our little girls. :) :)

New Ultrasound Pictures - 20 weeks/5 days

Here are the latest pics of our little girls! Yes, I said girls. Went to the Perinatologist today, at the 20 weeks/5 days mark (but who's counting?), and got 100% confirmation that both are GIRLS!!! (and just to clarify, NO, we are NOT having triplets, just twins...there are 3 pics because the little ladies were VERY active this morning, so the top picture is "baby B" on the right side of my tummy, and the 2nd & 3rd down are both "baby A" on the left side of my tummy a little out of focus) Both were facing down today, and the ultrasound tech took almost 45 minutes visualizing & measuring all the little parts...the head, the brain, the ventricles in the brain, the stomach/abdomen, listened to the umbilical cords (sounded like a fast "swoosh-swoosh-swoosh") and hearts (sounded a little different from umbilical cords but similar "swoosh-swoosh-swoosh" like a horse galloping), the arms, the hands, the legs, the femur, the feet...it was AMAZING!!! The pictures above are their little profiles...look very similar, but you can tell their faces are different. SO adorable! I love it.

Oh, and we just came back from a cruise to the Bahamas! Flew to Miami, FL last Thurs., stayed in a hotel by the airport, in the morning after a yummy continental breakfast took the hotel bus to the port of Miami for our Carnival cruise on the Imagination, and had a GREAT time enjoying the buffets, free room service, amazing Broadway-quality shows, took some fun pictures (to be scanned/downloaded & posted soon), had a nice afternoon on the island/capitol of the Bahamas, Nassau on Saturday where I got to be a part of the only trained flamingo show in the world (they were nuzzling me! Silly me...I wore a "flamingo"-colored shirt that day! They probably thought I was their momma! LOL), hand fed some beautiful parrots, took a dip in the pool, watched some kids go down the water slide (wishing I could go), and slept in. It was a wonderfully relaxing vacation. Had a lot of turbulence on the flight home during a good portion of the flight, even the stewardesses were asked to buckle in...made the rocking & swaying of the ship seem like nothing! Although I still feel like I am swaying...hoping that feeling goes away soon. The ride home from LAX on Roadrunner Shuttle was like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland! It didn't even compare to the taxi ride in Florida from the port of Miami to Miami airport...and I thought that was pretty hairy. Nope, not as wild as Roadrunner Shuttle. they packed us in like sardines, so we were uncomfortable, then there was traffic on the 405, so the driver decided to take some side streets and was zipping through the streets at "light speed", taking speed bumps at what felt like at least 30 mph, with terrible shocks on the van. Each speed bump felt and sounded like we were going to loose the back end of the van with all our luggage and we REALLY felt each one...there were about 8 sped bumps at least. It was rougher than the flight turbulence AND the swaying of the ship combined! Was a crazy ride. I couldn't wait to be home. We got back onto the freeway and the traffic wasn't too bad, it was moving, then a couple minutes later we passed the propane truck that was right in front of us when the driver decided to take all those side streets. So, we could have avoided the speed bumps all together! Had a fabulous time on the trip though, and it was so nice to come home. It was worth it. TTFN! :) (PS - this new background is called "Pieces of Heaven"...I decided to change the background, inspired by my girls! The colors & name of the background and style fit perfectly. LOVE IT!)

And the genders of the twins are...(drumroll please)

as of Thursday, 4/2/09 at my 17-week Dr. appt.,









SCROLL DOWN…























98% chance 1 is a girl…

(keep scrolling down…you gotta wait almost as long as we did to find out LOL)






















and the other is 90% chance it is a…………





























GIRL!!!

BASHFUL:

Shaun & I are still on the fence about the 90%, since it was really hard for the Dr. to see...we may know with more of a surety at the next appt. in a month. But, for the time being, that is the current prediction! *singing* Thank heaven, for little girls! :)

Update (finally!) with pictures

Oh my, I can't believe how long it's been since I added my last post! I am really slacking. Sorry! I've been rebuked by a couple friends already, so I'd better update my blog! :) I have a good reason though...I spend 8 hrs./day 5 days/week in this room at my work computer (right behind me), using the very same chair I am sitting in right now. So, staying in this same room and simply turning my chair around to my home computer after being on the computer all day is not the most appealing thing. Thus, my delay in blog posts & email replies.

Now that I have explained, onto the fun stuff!
Here's the video I sent out via email several weeks ago, with my ultrasound from the 10-week mark on 2/12/09:

(if you can't see the video, here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mZmGdJeRk8)


If you can't tell from the video (as I know these are hard for some people to decipher), we are having TWINS!!! We are very excited, can't wait to find out if it a boy/boy, girl/girl, or girl/boy! We'll find out in about 3 weeks.

So, we knew we were having twins from the very first ultrasound at the end of January. I emailed out the photo with just the one twin, but we knew then during that visit there were 2. Our Dr. recommended waiting until the 10-week mark to say anything though, because sometimes one of the twins will "fall off" or be "reabsorbed"...strange phenomenon, but we decided to wait to be sure before sharing this amazing news!

Below are a couple of the most recent photos from 3/2/09 (12 & 1/2 week mark). The first picture is a 3D ultrasound, and you can really see the features of the tiny face, may be sucking their thumb, and little legs...SO cute, huh? The 2nd picture is the other baby, who for a while had their back to us (it was amazing to see such detail on the entire spine!), and just when I was about to say they were being "camera shy" they flipped & gave us a nice profile shot, even smiling...you can see the features of the face pretty clearly. It was cute, the baby alsy put their arm up & looked like they were waving! Wish we had captured that shot, but I have it in my memory. Signing off for now...more to follow! Goodnight!

Good News!!!

OUR LITTLE LIMA BEAN

Shaun and I have some wonderful news to share

........................................................................................................................................ ......................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................................
I'm pregnant!!!

This year is definitely a year of miracles. Shaun and I are so happy & excited to share the news with you! We first found out on New Year's Day (best day of the year, up until yesterday), and yesterday we went to our Dr. for our first ultrasound, and saw our little "lima bean"! I got to see the heart beat as well, just a tiny dot blinking/flickering. It truly is a miracle! I am 7 weeks and 2 days now, and my due date is September 10th. What a wonderful next step in my Journey.