Our Year

I REALLY wanted to send out Christmas cards this year, but it just didn't happen (I wonder why?). 

2014 has been our year. So much has happened this year and although it's been stressful and our lives are busier than ever, we are so happy!

We started our year out with IVF fertility treatments which was one of the most emotional, stressful, painful things we've had to go through. I went in to the clinic 3-4 times a week and all we could think about the whole time was how much we wanted just one baby and the dream just felt so far away.

One morning at the end of January, after spending the morning in the clinic getting my blood drawn, I got back into bed with tears in my eyes anticipating the phone call I'd receive. I couldn't bare the idea of it not working out. At 9am exactly, We got the phone call. When the nurse told us we were pregnant, Cameron and I just broke into sobs and held onto each other. One of the most happiest moments of our life. A couple weeks later, we found out we were having twins.

In March, we went on vacation to San Francisco, Monterey, and Carmel California. We were both sick for the plane ride there, but once we got past that, we had a blast! We both loved being in Monterey, but we both fell in love with Carmel. The views there were breathtaking and it was a great place to forget about our worries and relax. I can't get enough of the ocean and was really sad to leave.

This old couple insisted on taking our picture for us =)

In March, while we were in San Fran, our beautiful puppy Cinders was born. She was the cutest newborn puppy I ever did see! She has brought so much joy into our lives - she's so sweet and is the biggest cuddle bug! 

Bruno and Cinders are best friends and love playing with each other.

2014 was also the year we built a house. We didn't build it ourselves, but it was still quite the endeavor. We love it here and it's nice to finally have a place of our own to call home. We moved in at the beginning of July.

Starting at the end of May/beginning of June, I started to have a lot of problems with heartburn. It was extremely painful and the further I got, the harder it was to get the heartburn to go away. There were times it lasted 12+ hours and we made many trips to the hospital to get it to go away.

I also started with the weekly stress tests and ultra sounds.

Our little girl had a two vessel cord and wasn't getting all the nutrients she needed. Each week we were so stressed as to how she was doing. 

Cameron was so supportive through everything. He's been working so hard and he's amazing at what he does. He's a Web Developer and is contracted out with some agencies - the main one being out of Seattle. He also does a lot of direct to client work. He loves what he does and he's really good at it. 

In July, we bought a car. We had a 20 year old Ford Explorer and we thought it best to get something we felt comfortable driving the babies in. 

On September 18 we went to Sacred Heart to have our babies. We left early in the morning, and the sunrise was there to greet us. 

Our doctor was running behind, so we had a lot of time to ourselves to get excited for the birth of our babies. 

Cameron thought it was a good time to tell stupid jokes lol

This was the most incredible day of Cameron and my life. It was so emotional and seeing our babies for the first time was surreal. They are so beautiful and we couldn't be more in love with them. 

We have been so blessed this year and are so happy! I think we're looking forward to a couple of laid back years compared to this one. Our babies have already grown up so much and their personalities are so unique. At this moment we're just taking one day at a time and trying to enjoy it all. 

But It'sssnot!

Classy title, I know. I don't like being sick, but what I hate even more is my babies and dogs being sick. Literally every living thing in our house is sick at the moment. Despite being vaccinated, Bruno got kennel cough the other day (thank you doggy daycare), and now Cinders has it. I can't....I can't...I can't even! You thought sick babies was gross, sick doggies are even worse. They've both been hacking and coughing, but Cinders actually spits grossness up. She's got doggy snot coming out of her nose and doggy drool coming off her jowls. I've quarantined her to her bed and it's the saddest sight you ever did see. Giving them their meds has been icky as I've had to pretty much shove the meds down their throats.

Bruno is doing better than he was yesterday.

The babies aren't running fevers anymore, but are still congested. They've been fussy in general lately. We've had lots of extra cuddle time.

They had a check-up yesterday and they both had to have shots (they've had a rough week). Ollie is up to 10 lbs 6 oz and Madelyn is 8 lbs 12 oz. 

We've Got the Croup

So Sunday night, Ollie and Madelyn started showing signs of a cold. By Monday morning, all three of us had it. Madelyn who is normally so happy, has been so fussy. She projectile vomited everything she had in her at one point on Monday which was traumatizing for all involved. I had been taking both their temperatures on a regular basis and I got some Vick's Vapor tabs to put in the humidifier.

Well, last night I picked Madelyn up to change and feed her and she was burning up and having a hard time breathing. I took her temperature and it read 100.4. We took her to the ER and by the time we got back to see someone, her temperature had lowered to 99.8.

We had to wait a super long time to see someone, but by the time the doctor got to us, he was pretty great. They were very thorough with their testing. It was late and poor Madelyn just wanted to sleep. They gave her a nebulizer treatment, they inserted a catheter right after she had wet her diaper which proved to be pointless; they pricked her foot and squeezed and scraped blood into a vile (very traumatizing!) and they took a chest x-ray.

They mainly just wanted to rule out pneumonia and RSV, but they did diagnose her with croup. Poor girl had a rough night, but once I got her home, I gave her a bath and put her to bed. Luckily the babies slept pretty well for the rest of the night.

Today, it's been more of the same. Lots of congestion, fussiness, and extra spit-up. Ollie's temperature has been getting higher, but luckily it's still under 100. I'm hoping it stays that way. It's hard taking care of two human beings when you're feeling super crappy yourself. I'm not sure I'd have it any other way though.