Showers, Babymoon and Bedrest!

Well, since our last posting a lot has happened!! Starting with the baby showers! Both my mom and mother in law threw me a baby shower. Many came to show their support and celebrate our joy! The gifts were generous too! We are getting very close to having almost everything we need...only 2 more baby showers to go. We are very blessed! Here's a photo of my mom and I at her shower. Pictures of Patti's shower are to come :)

At our 27 week check up and ultrasound we got a clean bill of health and an ok to go north for our babymoon! The babies were measuring 2lbs 7oz and 2lbs 9oz. A full 5lbs of baby inside of me...so hard to believe!! They are growing right at and above a normal singlton baby :) But, it looks like Baby "A" is still being stubborn, in a transverse position...they say she has plenty of time to turn and face head down, but only time will tell!

As for the babymoon, Rusty and I took a quick vacation to northern Florida. We were lucky to get an extra night and spent it in St. Augustine. The next day we visited the fort and watched them discharge the cannon. It's been since 4th grade since I visited that place! Then we continued our drive to Amelia Island where we spent 2 additional nights. The weather was awful, cold and rainy as a cold front moved through. All we really did this trip was eat, and sleep so the rain really didn't interfere :)

The last day was beautiful. Before leaving town we did a little shopping (a beach town is perfect for finding beachy stuff for the babies' room!) then headed to THE beach. It had been 80 degrees in Orlando that previous week, keep in mind! I was determined to go the the beach, so that's what we did! Overall I had a wonderful time with my hubby and tried to cherish every moment of quiet! In a way I'm sad things will be changing because they are so great right now, but I know once the babies are here it will be great too, just in a different way.

About a week after we returned from our trip I started having some contractions. Painless but much more frequent and strong than usual. I headed to the doctor's office and promptly got sent to the hospital. I was surprised but complied. After 6 hours, several medications and some fluids I was sent home. Later that night the contractions returned and Rusty drove me back to the hospital for a 2 night stay. I'm now on strict bedrest for at least a week or 2 and on a pill that helps control the contractions until they are ready to be born. So far, things are going well but we still have a long 6 weeks until we should even be THINKING about welcoming the babies into the world. I just hope they don't have any other plans!!

Now that I am home on bedrest, I should hope to update a bit more frequently :) As for right now, I'm doing a whole lot of directing and supervising from my comfy spot on the couch! I'm feeling well but wish I could partake in some of the activities around here! My mom and dad have been by helping with chores and cooking. Rusty has been so supportive and is really helpful and keeping my spirits up. How lucky could a girl be?

Our growing family!

So far the pregnancy is still going well. I feel like we just found out we were pregnant but also find ourselves rushing to get things done before the babies get here!! How does time go so fast? As you can see I am growing rapidly which is starting to make getting around at work a little more difficult! I have 6 weeks left before I have to take my leave of absence...hope I can make it!! So glad to have such a great team at work to help me!!!!

We have started getting bombarded with baby stuff (thank you!!). Strollers, cribs, clothes, car seats, breast pumps, diapers, baby swings and bouncers. It is clear our lives are about to change drastically! We have installed a closet system in the baby room to start getting things organized. The last 2 weekends have been spent installing a fan and light in the room. They finished wiring it in today...I feel like the worth of our home just increased :) Tomorrow we are going to try to tackle the garage. I feel tired already!

Overall I'm feeling well and have really enjoyed feeling the babies activity (especially in the last week!) I think sometimes they wake each other up kicking! If everything is still going well, Rusty and I are looking forward to our "babymoon" to Amelia Island at the beginning of February. This week we start our parent education classes and soon the baby showers are going to start! So much to look forward to!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas from the Joneses!! It has been a very hectic (and cold!) holiday this year! We celebrated last night by getting together with Nolan, Paige and my dad to open presents. It was just like old times having everyone together at the holidays again! The night before we went for our traditional movie before the holiday (Harry Potter!).

We have had a few visitors lately. Savanah drove to Orlando during her winter break from work to come visit us! It's always great to catch up with old friends (I say old but really college wasn't that far in the past..haha!!). My dad is also staying in the area for the time so it is nice to have him in to visit as well!

Rusty has been working the third shift at Universal. He was promoted to a lead position for the month to manage a team of non-Universal employees while they trial a third shift (10pm to 8:30am). He has been having a hard time sleeping during the day so I know he will be happy to return to a more "normal" second shift starting January. It is weird both being on nights because it seems like someone is always coming or going. I will be happy when things get back to normal but I'm not sure what normal is anymore...lol!


The last time I wrote I forgot to mention our trip to Miami to see Grant marry his fiance Erin. It was a beautiful and intimate wedding and I'm so glad we got to be a part of it! Grant really has grown up quickly over the past couple of years and we are glad to see him so happy!!

At the start of this month we gathered up a group of friends and headed to Blue Springs State Park to camp! It was the coldest weekend I remember camping in a long time! The first night we were there, a small storm passed. Turns out it was a cold front! The next day was cold but the night was down right freezing (literally!!). For a pregnant lady making lots of trips to the bathroom away from the heat of the fire it was not a good situation! Overall we had a great time with friends but we all decided the last night was so cold we could forget about cooking breakfast...off to Perkins we went! The next camping trip will definitely be interesting with 2 little ones!!

Lastly, but not least, we got to catch another glimpse of the babies at our recent 20 week appointment!! THEY ARE BOTH GIRLS!!! Big surprise there, but we didn't really have a preference, just healthy! They were very active and the ultrasound tech had trouble capturing their images because they were moving so much!!! In the end she got all the images and the babies (and mom) are doing great! They are measuring right at gestational age except for their leg length which are measuring a week ahead of time! Yikes! We are going to have some tall daughters....Rusty is already dreaming about a volleyball scholarship..lol.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas and a happy new year!!

So very thankful!

So, I know it is after Thanksgiving but I am feeling extra thankful today. I am thankful for many things, like great friends and family but most of all a wonderful husband and a growing family. We have much to be thankful for this year including a new job, our health and happiness.




We celebrated Thanksgiving this year with a group of friends, old and new. Our house was filled with about 20 people and lots of delicious food (and 3 toddlers...a good trial run)! It was great to have everyone together. Rusty had to work on Thanksgiving day but it was nice to grab a bite to eat together with family at my mom's house.


Last night we celebrated our friend Michelle's birthday at Benihana. It is a really good hibachi grill place...I definitely recommend it!!

It's official!

Now that we are safely through 12 weeks...we are "officially" announcing our pregnancy (although most of you already know!) Yesterday and our 12 week check up everything looked great! I gave blood for the second part of the tests for Spina Bifida and Downs Syndrome. So far everything seems perfectly normal...except for the having twins part! I feel great so far. Haven't really been sick except when I'm hungry and have been going for long walks with Layla and doing prenatal yoga to stay in shape. (Hopefully that will help the cruise weight melt off..haha!) Rusty is already a very proud and involved daddy! Every week he updates me on the size of the baby and reminds me of all the things I'm not supposed to do or eat...lol!

This week we vacationed to the Bahamas on a Disney cruise. Yes! We vacationed AGAIN! But this will be one of the last trips for awhile (and probably the most restful and comfortable ones I will ever have again!!) We didn't do much but eat, sleep and lay on the beach...a perfect vacation! We visited Nassau and Castaway Cay, Disney's private island. Can't wait to take our 2 kiddos on the new Disney Dream! (Maybe 2012??) Gotta have something tropical to look forward to!

Right before we left for vacation we had a get together with some good high school friends! We all got together and had a delicious BBQ and brought our dogs...4 in all. It was definitely a full house. I had a great time and it was so nice to see everyone again!!

They're up!

The rest of our Trash the Dress pictures are up!

Trash the dress!

Well, not literally! Rusty and I had a wedding photo re-do this past weekend with Kristin Mizo Photography. She is amazing!! We were never really happy with our original wedding pictures so we contacted Kristin and traveled down to Ponce Inlet and spent the evening remembering our wedding day...what could be better? I was able to get dressed up again (yes! the dress still fits!!!) and get my hair and makeup done. Rusty was looking very handsome himself! I don't have all the official photos yet but I'll be getting them soon. Just a small preview of our afternoon! And yes, I did get into the ocean in my wedding dress, no it isn't ruined :)