Thursday, August 18, 2016

Last post until next treatment! - Thank you's & Photoshoot pics!

I am sad to announce that this will be my last post until our next treatment! SAD because this blog has been beyond therapeutic for me during our stressful and special fertility treatments, SAD because I really enjoy posting about the babies, and SAD because I know many of you around the world who keep up with us are going to be bummed. This blog wasn't intended to be an ongoing thing though. BUT, it is also a very HAPPY thing! This means that a treatment worked and that we finally have a family...yay!! And, also HAPPY because we still have one more treatment left to try in a couple of years. Woo hoo! For those that didn't remember, we still have 2 precious snowflakes left to transfer!...the ones that were thought to have been no good last transfer but rallied back with a vengeance and are patiently waiting for us on ice :) Yay for ninja embryos! We know that you will understand just how much work a blog is sometimes, and just how busy these cute babies keep me.

I'm so glad that our family and friends have been able to keep up with the treatments through this blog. So many nice things have been said to me about it since I started it. But, this blog turned into something I didn't expect also. So cool! It grew into something very special...we have almost 40,000 blog views now from dozens of different countries around the world! WOW! That is just so neat to me. Thank you so much to all of those who follow us! We appreciate your desire to want to share in these happy, sad, funny, heartbreaking, and very special moments with us. The life of infertility is a crazy one, let me tell you! I am SO grateful to be ending this blog for now on a happy note! Both babies are beautiful, healthy, and growing like weeds. I kiss them til they smell spitty smelling, he he. They're SOO loved and wanted! I still just sit and look at them in amazement and cry tears of happiness. What a special thing it is to be a mother, especially when your heart has waited for it for so very long. We are so lucky and so blessed by Embryo Adoption. What an adventure and honor pregnancy was! We are so grateful for everyone's support, to those who helped get these babies here safe, to those who gave and sent gifts, comments, messages and love. We finally got our rainbow babies after 9 longgg years and one devastating miscarriage!! Yay! And, I know many of you out there will also get your rainbow baby(ies) when the time is right! God really is in the drivers seat, these babies came to us in such a special way. We hope that this blog has been a comfort to you, fun for you, brought you hope on dark days, and is something you'll remember. I hope that you can look back at your favorite posts and feel comfort, or laugh or cry. We also hope that you will still share our blog with others, it will be left up! Why? Because...Embryo Adoption is AMAZING and we need to spread the word!!! Seriously, if you know of someone who can't have children for whatever reason, tell them to check into Embryo Adoption. There are embryo banks as well as special programs at fertility centers. Some are done as a traditional adoption after the baby arrives, and some are done simply as anonymous donations like ours. No home study, no background check. So amazing!

I am very excited to have the second treatment's posts made into a book for Claire and Cameron! I had one made for us after the first transfer to remember angel baby Cannon's treatment and pregnancy journey. I want the twins to see just what all went into getting their precious little selves here! They are so special and unique. Here are a few last current pictures of the twinnies for you guys. The babies are so happy, cute and wiggly. Can't believe they're 3 months old already! We are so excited to watch them continue to grow! We thank our Heavenly Father daily for these precious little souls, we know and can feel that they were meant especially for our family! Shoot, they even look like us! :)

What better way to end than with the babies' beautiful photoshoot pictures?! We got them all on a cd last week and they turned out SO beautiful. We are absolutely thrilled with them! Was hard to pick favorites out of almost 60 amazing pictures. A big thank you to our photographer, Kara. We have waited a long time to have pictures of babies in baskets to put on the wall! Costco here I come!

Check back with us in a couple of years to see what we are up to...you never know, maybe we will get twins again, lol! :) 

Remember, if the pictures are blurry, just click on them.
 


Wednesday, August 17, 2016

A very special lady! - We love our Granny!

This woman is amazing, fun, wonderful, funny, comforting and sweet!! She is my second mother and has given me so very many wonderful, fun, and loving memories! She helped make my childhood a blast with delicious sugar cookies, Easter picnics, four wheeler rides, sprinklers under the trampoline, games of Yahtzee, Clue and Rummy, deer season camping, birthday camping, rodeos, reservoir drives, fishing and crawdad hunting, fun Halloweens and Christmases, summertime fun as a teenager, and she even helped me master my 9 times tables. We like a lot of the same shoes, clothes and foods. And, we are both worry warts, ha ha. As an adult, I still look forward to our visits, and chips & salsa and Diet Coke with lime on her back yard patio furniture every summer! I even sleep better at her house than I do my own. It was the best place for me to be while doing stressful fertility treatments, it's so relaxing at Granny and Gramps' house! They have a beautiful yard that I love to take pictures of and put on our family calendar every year. They are so fun and we love them dearly.

Not only was Granny my main shot giver during our fertility treatments (she haaated it but did so good!), but because of her help, Cameron and Claire were able to get here safe and healthy. I can't begin to describe how grateful we are for her. As I've mentioned before, my mom watches my younger sister's baby. We had no one else besides Granny to care for her so that my mom could come be here with me while on strict bed rest. Granny didn't even hesitate when Mom called. She watched my sister's baby out of state at my parents home for THREE months with only a few breaks! Every time I said I was so sorry that she had to be away from home for so long, she would reply, "We will do whatever it takes to get those sweet babies here safe!" Every single time. Being away from home, your husband, your own things, your bed, etc., is not easy. Especially for that long! What a trooper! These babies were sooo blessed by her sacrifice and service. And my grandpa even watched my cousin's little girl all by himself for weeks at a time so that Granny cound be there for us! We love Gramps lots too! Thank you Granny, for all that you have done, continue to do, and for all that you are! I come from some awesome women people! Nothing makes me happier than seeing people who are very special to me holding my precious babies.

Some old and recent pictures with my Granny!





Tuesday, August 16, 2016

We love weenies!

We love weenies at this house!! How cute are they?! As many of you already know, we have a weeniedog named Slinky (yes, after the slinky dog on Toy Story), and I love anything weenie dogs! So, when I saw these jammers, I HAD to get them. I got these before we knew their genders,  but girls can wear blue too! :) 

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Like WAY wanted!

Too funny to not share! I have to say, our bebes were like WAY wanted as well! :)

Saturday, August 13, 2016

3 months old!!!

These adorable babies are 3 months old today!!! What better way to celebrate than wearing weenie dog onesies?! They are changing so fast and are such good babies. They keep mommy very very busy. Both babies smile, drink almost 4 ounces at feedings, almost laugh, squeak and squeal and kick their legs, love mommy's silly baby talk, love their play mat and the tv, lick their hand mitts like little kitties (so hilarious to watch!), and have become interested in Slinky. 

Cameron can roll from his front to back, probably weighs close to 10 pounds, is in size 1 diapers, loves his tongue and likes to stick it out, and has the sweetest and cheesiest smiles ever! 

Claire has become more vocal lately, is most likely in the 9 lb range now, still in newborn diapers, smiles so much while drinking her morning bottle that it's hard to finish, and she recently discovered her nose and is cross-eyed often, ha ha. 

We love these sweet little people, our lives are soo blessed because of them! They're going to be 1 before we know it!! :0

Friday, August 12, 2016

I heart baby shoes!

Claire's first time in shoes was on Tuesday!! Anyone who knows me knows that I love little things in shoes. How adorable is she?! We went to great grandma's house to visit and I had to doll her up. She looked so dang cute! I just need to get some for Cameron now! :) I was given so many cute girl shoes.

Saturday, August 6, 2016

A shrinking bassinet!

How cute are these two?!! I think the bassinet is shrinking ;) They laid in the bassinet together in our bedroom for over a half hour today while I put away some laundry and cleaned our bathroom. While they were laying there, I couldn't help but remember how precious and tiny they were when we brought them home. Claire's head was like a little orange in your hand and some of the preemie clothes were too big for them. They fit horizontally in there at one week old. I can't believe how much bigger they are! Definitely can't lay them that way anymore, ha ha. They barely fit vertical now. Good thing they sleep well in their crib. We love these two sweets so much! They brighten our days and are becoming the cutest little peoples. 


Thursday, August 4, 2016

A very special post! - They were worth the wait!!!

This post is very special to me. I saw some photos like these online a couple of years ago and absolutely fell in love. I just couldn't wait to do this with a photographer, but sadly I forgot my needles when we had the babies pictures professionally done recently. Was soo mad at myself. Oh well. So, I did it myself, ha ha. Years ago, I could just picture a cute little baby, our baby, in one of these needle hearts. This picture idea is the only thing that kept me going some days. Especially after we lost our angel baby, Cannon. What better way to show some of what you endured to finally get a precious baby (or babies in our case!) after a 9 year long battle with infertility?! So neat! Treatments are so hard and such an emotional rollercoaster. Are you going to finally become parents, or are your hearts going to be broken to pieces again? Not fun. Nor are the shots, pills, appointments, etc. Every shot was soo worth it though!

It wasn't until I was done that I noticed one of Cameron's snaps came undone on his outfit and that the blanket was turned the wrong way (ain't that just life?!), but oh well, ha ha. They're still adorable! The love we feel for these sweet little babies is indescribable. We spent many nights crying, many days angry, and many years looking at negative tests. I am so glad that our battle with infertility is over! We did it! I wish I could tell our anonymous donor couple just how much we love and appreciate them. They have blessed us more than they will ever know!! I am so grateful that we didn't give up, and that God had such a neat plan in store for us to grow our family! They were worth the wait!!! Thanks to my friend, Monica B, for the adorable onesies! 

Lots of needles, huh!? This is actually a few needles and several bottles short, and also does not include anything from our IVF cycle in 2008. This is only from our two recent donor embryo transfers.

No babies were harmed during the photo shoot. All needles/syringes were checked and properly capped!