08 December 2009

December 7, 2009

To steal a quote from a former president (FDR), December 7, 2009, "a date which will live in infamy" we welcomed into this world our two beautiful daughters. Ellie Katherine weighed 7lbs 4oz. and was 19.5 inches long and Sarah Elizabeth weighed 7lbs 8oz. and was 20 inches long! All three of my girls are doing well.
Ellie (left) and Sarah
As you can imagine, I don't have much time to blog at the moment between feeding and burping and changing and tending to Crystal as she needs it, but HERE is a link to more pictures. Enjoy!

14 October 2009

A new ride

Thanks to help from my dad we have a new vehicle. One that is big enough for us and our growing family. It is a 2001 Chevrolet Suburban! We've had it for about 2 weeks now and it appears that it is going to be a good truck. There are still a few small things to be done to it (I still need to figure out how to operate the DVD player correctly) and I need to strive to keep it clean. Hopefully it will last us for many years to come!

14 September 2009

Sam's 1st tent camping trip


On Friday, September the 11th, Sam and I loaded up after work and "school" to go camping. Crystal's parent's neighbors have a spot on the New River in Virginia that they allow us to use. This happens to be the first time that we have actually went up and stayed for the night. Crystal was going to get up early and travel to Winston to go to some consignment sales to try to find some baby equipment and clothes for our soon to be arriving additions, so Sam and I thought we'd go camping!

We got there Friday evening and I got the tent setup while Sam was riding his "motorcycle". I had no sooner finished setting up camp and it started raining. Our friends David and Brandy and their two kids, Courtlyn and Koda, came up for the evening to have hotdogs around the campfire with us. We had just gotten the fire going when the rain began so the kids and I headed for shelter while Dave and Brandy 'bravely' roasted some hotdogs in the rain. It only lasted about 20 minutes and then the sky began to clear.

With darkness approaching, David and his family loaded up to go home and Sam and I started our nightly routine. Pajamas on, a clean diaper, and brushed our teeth. Then we settled into a chair by the campfire for Sam's nightly milk. I went to put Sam in the bed and he would have nothing of it, so I laid there with him for about 30 minutes and he finally fell asleep. I stayed up for awhile longer reading and eventually turned in myself. I was awoken around 1:30 by Sam calmly saying "daddy, daddy" and he had to get right beside me to sleep the rest of the night. Not too bad for his first time in the tent!

He woke me up about 7:30 as happy as he could be!



His first trip went well, if not a little short, and hopefully there will be many more trips to come.....maybe next time with mom and the girls!

30 August 2009

Twins update and the search for a vehicle

We had another checkup/doctor appointment last week to check on Crystal and the girls. Everything looked great and the girls are right where they are supposed to be at this time. Each of them weighs about one pound a piece now! It amazes me how fast they grow. The babies already have everything! All they are doing now is getting bigger..... :)




We also sold the Jeep last week. Obviously with Samuel still in a car seat and two more coming a Jeep Wrangler is not big enough for three kids all in car seats so we knew we were gonna need a bigger vehicle. I had the Jeep posted on the internet for sale for a few weeks but never did get any emails or calls about it. A couple of weekends ago we went riding and looking for another vehicle and while out we decided to stop by Carmax just to see what they would offer us for the Jeep. They offered us a decent price and we decided to take it. So now we're down to one vehicle but, fortunately, we were able to borrow a vehicle from my father-in-law. Thanks to the help of my father it looks like he may have found us a car that should work nicely for our expanding family, there are just a few kinks that need to be worked out for the deal to close. Hopefully before too much longer we will have our next ride and be able to haul everyone around comfortably in it!

29 July 2009

Update on the twins - GIRLS!!!

Last week Crystal and I traveled to Charlotte to have a "level 2 ultrasound" done on the twins. Everything looked fine and both the twins are doing great. The doctor there also was able to tell us what the twins are. He was certain that one of the babies is a girl and was fairly sure that the second baby was a girl also.

Crystal had another appointment this week at her doctor's office here in Elkin and had another ultrasound done that confirmed what we found out last week. Both the babies are GIRLS! Now we try to prepare ourselves for pink to overtake our house and our lives....


Crystal tells me that this proves it's a girl...I'll take her word for it! :)


Maybe it's because I am their father but I can already tell them apart, in these pictures anyway!

14 July 2009

The twins @ 14 weeks

Here are some pictures from the twins 14 week "checkup". Note that this time the sonographer switched the baby "a" and "b" designation from the last ultrasound. Both babies are growing and developing as they should be. It is certainly amazing how much they have grown in 4 short weeks!





Since they are twins it automatically puts us in a "high risk pregnancy" category. Because of this, we will go next week to Charlotte to have a "level 2" ultrasound done.

"Ultrasound Anatomy Scan Level 2 Ultrasound

Details, details! This special ultrasound gives you a very specific glimpse of your growing baby.

What it screens for: The ultrasound anatomy scan, or level 2 ultrasound, is an amazingly interesting experience for parents-to-be. Your baby will be measured from crown to rump (and what a cute rump it is!), around her middle, around her head — and that's just for starters. The four chambers of the heart will be viewed, as well as the kidneys, bladder, stomach, brain, spine, and sex organs (be sure to tell your sonographer if you don't want to know what he or she sees — or doesn't see!).

Measurements are taken to make sure your baby is growing appropriately (and that his or her gestational age is still on target). A survey of the organs, including the umbilical cord, ensures that they are developing normally (or identifies any potential problems as soon as possible). The sonographer will also be looking at your amniotic fluid levels, the location of the placenta, and the fetal heart rate. Settle in to enjoy the show: The detailed level 2 scan can take 30 to 45 minutes (depending on how cooperative your little one wants to be during the photo shoot).

How it's done: You recline on an exam table with your belly exposed. A sonographer applies gel and then moves the transducer over your abdomen. As sound waves emitted from the transducer bounce off "structures" inside (like your baby's adorable face!), images are formed on a video screen. To get the most comprehensive assessment, the sonographer will be aiming for many different views from lots of different angles in this scan. When the technician gets a clear shot, he or she will freeze-frame the picture (that's the actual sonogram) and then measure the anatomy. You can expect to go home with one or two good sonogram pictures (the perinatologist and your practitioner will review the rest).

When it's done: Most level 2 ultrasounds are performed between 18 and 22 weeks. If you have a condition that needs to be monitored (such as carrying twins), you may have more than one detailed ultrasound."
Preceding information taken from whattoexpect.com

We will most likely find out the sex of the babies next week as well, as long as they cooperate. Check back next week to find out more!

04 June 2009

A MAJOR announcement

First the announcement and I'll let the picture speak for itself.

Crystal decided to take another just in case and the results were the same.

She said she "knew" we were pregnant before she even took the first test. She just had that feeling. We have known that we were pregnant for about 8 weeks now. We decided that we would keep it to ourselves for the first couple weeks and we did not tell anyone. The weekend just after Crystal and Sam's birthday we began telling people, after telling our parents first of course.

This past Tuesday (2 June) was our appointment for the first ultrasound to make sure everything was ok and we were hopeful to even get to hear the heartbeat. As soon as our sonographer began the ultrasound we received some news that we had not anticipated at all. And here comes the MAJOR part of the announcement.And yes, there really are two of them in there!
Baby "B", on the right, is just slightly larger than baby "A". B measured to be 10 weeks and 5 days old and A measured slightly smaller at 10 weeks and 2 days. This was right where they were supposed to be and at the time of this writing they have been in utero for 11 weeks!

Our babies are dizygotic twins, or more commonly known as fraternal twins. DZ twins usually occur when two fertilized eggs are implanted in the uterine wall at the same time. When two eggs are independently fertilized by two different sperm cells, DZ twins result. The two eggs, or ova, form two zygotes, hence the terms dizygotic and biovular.

Dizygotic twins, like any other siblings, have an extremely small chance of having the same chromosome profile. Like any other siblings, DZ twins may look similar, particularly given that they are the same age. However, DZ twins may also look very different from each other. They may be of different sexes or the same sex. The same holds true for brothers and sisters from the same parents, meaning that DZ twins are simply brothers and/or sisters who happen to have the same age. (Info taken from Wikipedia)



Needless to say when we found out we were pregnant we knew that our lives were going to change. Little did we know just how much was in store. Looking forward to it. :)

21 May 2009

Trying to catch the sunset

We wanted to try to get some decent sunset pictures. These were all taken near the end of the island at the Bogue Inlet. Of course Crystal is more of a photographer than I am and the shots that follow are ones that I took, mainly of Sam, while Crystal was getting shots with her camera.






Sam had a blast just running around and chasing us while we were shooting. And, not to be outdone, I tried my hand at attempting to get a nice sunset picture.




I will attempt in the near future to upload a post with Crystal's shots from the evening.

18 May 2009

Sunday on our Emerald Isle vacation

We made it down to Emerald Isle on Saturday afternoon for our 2009 beach vacation.
Sam and mommy on the beach!

We got up Sunday morning expecting rain and were pleasantly surprised to find that the rain was still a few hours away. We took advantage of the sunshine and headed out to the beach.
Hiding in the shade.

It wasn't long before the storm clouds began building and the rain was on it's way. After getting back to the condo and having some lunch we headed to the aquarium.
Bikes on the beach.
This is where we were on the beach earlier Sam.
Sam liked the loggerhead turtle display in front of the NC Aquarium in Pine Knoll Shores.
Jellyfish!

There was a "live dive" taking place while we were at the aquarium. They were using the white sticks to gently 'steer' the sand tiger sharks away from the diver giving the presentation while in the tank.
A photo opportunity in the gift shop. He DID NOT want to get in here! :)

And Sam and mommy leaving the aquarium.

Currently (Monday noonish) we are waiting on the rain to subside so we can venture out and do more beach things today. Fortunately, after today, the weather is supposed to be more cooperative and we'll get to do more outside activities. Until then.....

06 May 2009

Gardening?!

I took advantage of a brief break in the rain showers this afternoon to do a little "gardening". Crystal got me a couple of "Topsy Turvy" tomato baskets for my birthday last month and I finally got the chance to get them up today.
Both of them out and ready to go up.

I'm going to try to see if they'll grow on this hanger beside the steps. Crystal had a good point that the deer will probably come up and eat them there but I'm at least going to try this first. Maybe the dogs will keep the deer far enough away, and if not, I'll move them somewhere else.
I got the tomato plants into the planters and watered and not 20 minutes after I took this final picture it started raining again so I'm guessing they are sufficiently wet. Hopefully we'll have many delicious "maters" this summer!


And for those that check this blog just to see pictures of Samuel, here ya go (Hey mom!). After eating a cupcake...he sure loves chocolate!

22 April 2009

Geez, what a slacker!

So it's almost been 11 months since I've posted anything on here. I could come up with and type any number of reasons for not posting anything, but at this point, does it really matter now?

Here's what I'll do for now. How's about some various pictures from the past year and I'll try to do much better this year as far as updating this blog?! :)

Pawpaw, Sam, and I at the dam at Kerr Scott.

Samuel doing his best "Bobby Jones" impersonation for Halloween!

Of course my beautiful wife!

Sam and his mommy.

He sticks his tongue out alot while he's "concentrating"...yeah, he got that from me.

Sam's first swim, in the Cowpasture River near Clifton Forge, Virginia.

Crystal continues to take amazing pictures. This is the Bodie Lighthouse on the OBX.

She actually snapped this while on a moving ferry!

This is one of my favorite pictures from our OBX vacation last fall.

Crystal got up before daylight a couple of mornings to take advantage of the early morning light.

Easter at Papa and Granny Combs' house!


Decorating the eggs.

What a face.....

He loves to color!

Hopefully that's enough for now and like I said, I will strive to do better this year! Until then...