Family Photos

I’m really excited to share our first set of family photos done by Esther Louise Photography while we were in Savannah for Nick and Shea's wedding.  She did a wonderful job and I am so thrilled with how these turned out!  Check out the full gallery here (password is Savannah).

28 weeks!

Today we have reached another milestone and move into the third trimester! We've been busy getting ready for the babies and I'll post an update on the nursery and more fun stuff later today after our doctor's appointment.

For now I thought I'd catch you up on what the babies are doing this week (as far as development goes) because they had a neat image that shows you fraternal twins at this point on the health blog!

By this week, your babies weigh two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to his and her heels. They can blink their eyes, which now sport lashes. With their eyesight developing, they may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. They're also developing billions of neurons in their brains and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.
(from Babycenter.com)

Sneak Peek!!

So when we were in Savannah Nate and I had our maternity photo shoot with Esther Louise Photography out of Tampa, FL. Esther and Danielle are AMAZING to work with and so much fun. We spent the early morning roaming Savannah's downtown district which was both beautiful and HOT.

She's finishing up all of the photos now, so you'll have to wait for the full gallery, but here's a sneak peek for you:
http://www.estherlouise.com/blog/2011/08/a-savannah-maternity-session/

Enjoy!

Missing: My Ankles. Reward = a back scratch with my amazing nails

I've reached the 25 week mark and am starting to slow down again; and more so than the first trimester. Nate and I discussed just yesterday how to say "no" and I've been practicing... not very well. 

Bump progress - 25 weeks

The not so glamorous portion of pregnancy is in full force and I'm trying to become a little more humble and dependent on Nate - who I am sooooo thankful for. Here's the short list:

• I started losing my ankles in the afternoon this week. Awesome.
• I can't really reach things I drop without having to rest from the effort of picking them up. So stuff is either staying on the ground - or Nate's helping me.
• I can't paint my toe nails without passing out - my mom is better than the Vietnamese... but much slower. She's still working on her English. :)
• Acid-reflux is becoming more prevalent - especially after eating tomatoes. One TUM seems to handle it though and Nate has decided he likes to eat TUMS like candy.
• I really don't want to drink any more water but if I drink sugar it's like a dance party in my stomach. 
• I had to teach Nate how to shave my legs... hasn't happened yet, but I figured he should be prepared. It should be humorous. 

I will say though that I am super thankful that these are only minor things and I am EXTREMELY thankful to only have 13 more weeks to go until we meet Addi and Gavin!

So we're making progress on getting the necessities and researching the necessities x2. A little overwhelming, but it's getting done! My friend Kristen who has twins has been a tremendous help and resource of information and I love my online shopping dates/texts/e-mails with Melissa! :)

On another note the babies are moving like crazy!! It is amazing. Last week at our appointment we were able to take Kate (she was down from India for Nick & Shea's wedding) and she got to meet the babies during the ultra-sound. It was a treat for us too because they switched the machine back and forth between the 3-D!! We were able to see similarities of both Nate and I - check out the photos (sorry they aren't super clear, they were moving around a lot):

PHOTO of Addisyn:

PHOTO of Gavin:

Finally, we enjoyed celebrating another addition to our family in Savannah, GA! Shea and Nick's wedding was beautiful and perfect. It was a great reflection of them both and we all had so much fun. Here's a quick photo:

Officially Mr. and Mrs. Nick Brower

Photo with the newest "Brower"

Well... that's about it. I'll try and post something this weekend about the nursery. I think we'll be painting and doing trim work (or rather Nate will be)!

xoxo

Almost to SIX MONTHS!

I can't believe it. Time is flying - as it always seems to do. Next week we will be 24 weeks. I'm still feeling great (minus these stupid allergies that I can't seem to shake) and we are busy starting to get things planned for the babies.

We finalized their names, so you can officially refer to them as Addisyn Grace and Gavin Harwick. Gavin's middle name is in memory and honor of Nate's grandfather who was and is an amazing man. We plan to pass many funny stories on to the kids that came from Nate's grandfather - like using 409 to clean everything and the thousands of funny sayings he would use.

Last week I went to a jewelery party that my friend Julie is starting to sell and was just relaxing in a chair when my arm bumped up and moved without me doing it! It was so cool... since then Adie and Gavin have been bumping all over my tummy and it's been really cool to see when they are active. Nate and I have also been listening to "underwater" sounds through a stethescope on my belly at night. It is kind of funny.

Nate finally got to feel them bump me yesterday during church. It isn't very frequent in one place yet, so he kept missing it every time I felt them.

In other news, we bought the paint for the nursery and will begin that as our next project, so I will certainly keep everyone posted on the nursery progress... no theme, just things that we like.

Have a wonderful week!!

Baby Bump Progress- 20 Weeks

Here is a photo of the bump to date from our recent vacation to Charlevoix! More updates on our trip to come... including a photo of the "mother-ship" as Nate likes to call it. You can call it the truck. LOL!

Genders Reveal...

It's official!! We are having a:

BOY: (it took them all of two seconds to tell what he was, LOL)

and a...

GIRL: (she was a little more difficult to decipher, so we came back to her. The tech checked her twice though just to be 100% certain!)

!! We couldn't be happier. We are so blessed to be welcoming one of each to our family and we're both really excited to start the planning process.

Here is a group shot of everyone:

So at our ultrasound appointment we brought Grammie April and Beema Becky to share in the fun. My mom has never seen an ultrasound before so once they were on the "big screen" the waterworks began! :) It was really fun to share the time with the both of them and celebrate right away the genders. I think they both had a nice time too!

After that we visited Aunt Shea at Kate Spade. She had already hit up baby GAP too and gave the babies their first onesies:

Then mom, Nate and I hit up baby GAP ourselves and had a little fun:

Needless to say the babies will be clothed!

Now to start getting the necessities...