The baby bump

A few friends have requested pictures of the baby bump.  It's funny, the other day we saw some pictures of another friend at twenty weeks and could hardly tell she had a bump.  I may not look big, but I feel rather large.  Such is life when you are having twins, I guess.

Here's the picture, taken on Christmas Day. . . and we just found out today, we are having two boys!

Lincoln City

And yet, another unfinished post.  Man!  

Over Labor Day weekend, we had our first visitors to Portland (hooray)!  It was a lot of fun to have my parents here, to see where we live, and just spend some time together.  While we got a lot done (painting, canning and a few other projects) we also took some time to enjoy Portland beauty which included going to the beach . . . a family favorite. 

Upon arrival, Dan found a stick and immediately started writing a message. Before I get to what he wrote though, let me just say, none of these photos are photoshop enhanced.  We really do have blue skies. . . . I wouldn't have believed it, but have seen many a gorgeous day the last few months while living here. 

Anyhow, back to the message. 

which says. . . 'Hi, my wifey'.  Cute!

We enjoyed a few hours, just walking around,

seeing how long we could stand keeping our feet in the cold sand,

digging ourselves in holes

and frolicking in the water (sorry, couldn't find those pictures).

It was a fun day.

And great to have family with us visiting! 

Discovering downtown

Wow . . . so I just discovered this unfinished post from about 3 1/2 months ago. . . oops!  Back in August we decided to take a trip downtown via the MAX.  It was a blast!  The MAX is a fairly nice ride for public transportation, and the best part: we didn't have to try and find parking.  Sweet! 

We visited the food carts and enjoyed some amazing pizza at "Give Pizza a Chance".  This place bursts with flavor, and the guy who runs it - super friendly and a riot to talk to. 

We decided to find this small park dedicated to some early firefighters in Portland, one of whom is Dan's distant relative, T. Grenfell. 

You can see, the park isn't kept in the best repair, but it was fun to make another 'family discovery' in how we are connected to Portland. 

Two x's the fun!

We are pregnant and expecting twins.  Yes, you read that correctly - twins!  Some common questions we've been getting from family that you may be wondering: twins run in my family; the old saying that they skip a generation . . . yeah, not so much in my family.  There has been at least 1+ set of twins in each generation of my family for the last 3-4 generations . . . 

Our twins are fraternal - both have their own sac and placenta, which is the best case scenario for all of our health.  Twins are notorious for coming early so we are anticipating sometime late April to early May.  As for how I've been feeling . . . it depends on the day.  Physically: the nausea/morning sickness is mostly gone - and that is a huge blessing!  I am hoping to be able to get a lot done during this trimester, though I definitely feel more tired than usual.  All-in-all though - no complaints here.  Mentally: I'm not going to lie - the thought of having 2 babies has been pretty overwhelming.  That being said, we are adjusting to the idea and are grateful we were fortunate to find out early that we are having twins.  We have a great doctor and are hoping for the best in the upcoming months. 

Here is a picture Dan found the other day that we couldn't help laughing at.