3 weeks away from turning ONE!!!

Wow, first of all I can't believe my girls are 3 weeks away from being ONE YEAR OLD!!! Second, I can't believe how long it's been since I have blogged. So much has happened! It's getting late so I will have to give a synopsis later, and I know I will have some free time to do it since I am off work for 1 & 1/2 weeks, the last of my "baby bonding time" before they turn 1, WOO-HOO! Have I mentioned the girls are turning 1 soon? Just wanted to make sure. :) Just wanted to blog on a cute thing that happened today. Brooke was crawling down the hallway at lightning speed like she usually does, but this morning the sunlight was coming in through the atrium causing big rays of sunshine to cascade through. As Brooke was zipping down the hallway the brightness and warmth of the carpet caught her off guard, so she paused for a moment, then winced and smiled up at the rays of sunshine. As she turned to her right to escape the blinding light she noticed something on the closet door. As she moved closer it got bigger and bigger. She jumped back and it disappeared. So she inched closer and closer and TADA! There it was again. She picked up her right hand and gently caressed her shadow on the closet door. She was quite entertained for a few minutes playing with her shadow. It was so cute and as I was watching her while feeding Hailey I thought "I HAVE to blog about this to document this memorable occasion!" So, here I am with my eyes heavy and closing as I am sitting in my dimly lit living/dining room with the baby monitor at my side and the constant sound of a fan oscillating in the background. It's worth it to add a fun little tidbit to my journey, but now it's time for bed. More later!

7 months and counting...

I started putting together this slideshow a day before Hailey & Brooke turned 6 months old on 2/18/10 (a few days after Valentine's Day, hence the "Love Struck" theme), and I'm just now finishing it after the program was really slow & it took me a while to add all the captions (so it wouldn't say "add caption here"). So, here's the girl's first 7 months...and they'll be 8 months in 2 weeks. Time flies! I'm enjoying every moment as it's whirling by. I love their little personalities blossoming. They're definitely unique individuals whom I love dearly, and I LOVE being a mom. :)

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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. :) :)