Seeing the Blessings: July 2015

Once again, this post is several (three to be exact) months late but my goal was to get this posted before Jack and Luke were walking so I'm doing good. I like to meet my goals. :)

Get ready for serious picture overload.

If I had a theme for this blog it would be God's perfect timing... it is everywhere surrounding the birth of the twins. God never ceases to amaze me. Chris and I love to step back and look at this story and see God in all of it!

Here's the most wonderful series of events that happened before Jack and Luke came:

March 18: My sister, Julie, arrived to help with Abram. She knew I was exhausted and that things were going to get crazier. We had pack out coming up soon and her job was to distract Abram. Not only did she keep Abe busy, she cooked and cleaned and we even got to do girly things together!

March 24-26: Pack out. If you know me, I get super stressed out before our house gets packed and this time wasn't any different. We were staying in our empty house for a month before we left for Hawaii and also we knew the twins were coming. Talk about organization and list overload! But could you imagine packing out with the twins there? Crazy! So happy we were able to do this before their birth.

March 27: Chris' graduation from the Naval Post Graduate School. He finished his thesis and completed his schooling! So glad I was there to see his graduation and celebrate with him. We were all so proud of him!

Graduation Day!

March 31: I had to check into the hospital to be on constant bed rest until the twins arrived. Luke had only grown 2 ounces in two weeks so they were very worried about him. I was on monitors for 22 hours of the day for a week. My doctor was amazing and the best part was my nurse, Elizabeth, that admitted me was working almost every day while I was on bed rest. She was wonderful! She answered ALL of our questions, made her famous juice cocktails for me and Chris all the time and got Julie a Diet Coke every time she came up there. We all loved her and we quickly became good friends! She made our time in the hospital so much easier and even at times, enjoyable!

My sweet nurse and friend, Elizabeth

Abe visiting during bed rest

Reading books that my sweet friend, Jessica, sent to Abram.

My biggest fear before going on bed rest was not being able to take care of Abram. But here's how God provided...

1. Chris was completely done. He had no work or school commitments. He could be with Abram, me or handle moving details.

2. Julie was there. She quickly learned her way around Monterey and drove Abram everywhere. She also made dinner every night and all three of them came up every evening to eat with me.

3. Abram was in an amazing preschool with such a loving teacher. Mrs Liz let us change his schedule so he could be up there more and she took such good care of him.

God provides!

Abe at his Easter party at school... I loved getting these pictures sent to me while I was on bed rest.

Julie and Chris made sure Abram had a fun Easter.

Abe getting into his Easter basket.

One night, Julie stayed with me and Chris took Abram to Oakland to see his first Mariners game.

Chris and Abe at the Easter carnival.

Abram was definitely taken care of!

April 7: Exactly one week after I was admitted, my doctor decided it would be best if the boys were delivered. He scheduled my c-section for early Tuesday morning. Elizabeth didn't work on Sunday or Monday so I thought I wouldn't see her, but to my surprise she came in early Tuesday morning and was with me through the whole thing! She prepared me for surgery, stayed by me during the c-section and was my post surgery nurse, too. I love how God knows I like to feel safe and secure and He knew Elizabeth would do that for me! Love the details that He takes care of!

Just before they took me back to the operating room

The anesthesiologist took pictures for us so Chris could watch!

I hate to say it, but I don't know who this is... if I had to guess I would say Luke because he was delivered first.

Seeing Luke and Jack for the first time!

I love this sweet picture!

Julie and my friend Heather were there the whole time! They were first to see the boys!

Elizabeth wheeling me back to my room.

Skin-to-skin for the first time.

Julie and Abram made a birthday cake for Luke and Jack.

Abram's big brother gift from Luke and Jack. They gave him a superman cape because he is a super brother!

Abram wearing his cape into the NICU to see Luke and Jack for the first time.

Jack and Luke were born five weeks early. Jack weighed 5 pounds and 2 ounces, Luke weighed 4 pounds and 1 ounce. Luke was born at 8:03 and Jack at 8:04. They were each a pound bigger than expected. God again took care of our boys... even though they were in the NICU for two weeks they never needed oxygen or feeding tubes. They just needed a constant weight gain. God also took care of me and Chris. Our NICU nurse, Karen, worked for two weeks straight (with one day off). She had a trip in May so she was making up the time. Again, we got to know her and she took time to answer all of our new parent questions. She was amazing!

Our first family picture as a family of five!

And again... Julie never planned to be here for Jack and Luke's arrival but she was! She was one excited aunt! Also, my mom arrived two days before Julie left so Julie could show her Abram's routine and the way around Monterey. I loved having both of them with me!

Such a great aunt picture!

Our sweet boys!

Finally, after two weeks the boys were discharged! We were so happy to be going home and just two weeks before we moved! :)

The creator of Dennis the Menace was from Carmel. The entire children's wing was dedicated to him.

My mom was able to spend seven weeks with us. She loved the time loving on her grand babies and it sure was great to have an extra set of hands!! She never needs any instructions. She always knows what her grandsons need. Abe has such a fun time with "his" Gram. We are truly blessed. Gram was able to fly with us to Hawaii and stay for seven weeks.

Abram holding Luke for the first time. He was so excited!

Such a great big brother... reading to them! :)

Also, before we moved Chris' mom was able to come for a visit to meet her newest grand sons. Such a special time to have family around us!

And next, our big move...

Hope you enjoyed all the pictures!

I know these are several months late (this shower was in February) but I wanted to share the pictures as a way of saying "thank you" to my wonderful friends for this very special day! It was so fun to celebrate Luke and Jack with these special ladies. My wonderful friends Heather and Char organized the Hawaiian shower. The decorations were fun and I especially loved what they planned. Char and Heather know that I don't like shower games so instead the ladies each shared how they knew me and at the end the ladies also prayed for me, the boys and our family. I had a wonderful time and it was fun to look back at these pictures and remember the day!