Thankful Thursday: Pre-pregnancy skin & Playing inside the womb

Hey everyone! It's Thursday and you all know what that means! One more day of work and we're to the weekend! AND it's time to reflect on things we're thankful for in our lives! See, it's such a great day! Another week in the history books. Monica and I love taking this time each week to point out blessings, often those in disguise, that we can be thankful for. Enough babble from me, here's our lists:

Monica's List:

I'm thankful for my pre-pregnancy skin. How often is it that we really realize the little blessings in life?!! Not often enough! :) I never would have thought to be thankful for my skin... until I got a terrible pregnancy rash called PUPPS. I've never really given my skin a second thought, but I know there are others who suffer with severe skin conditions every single day of their lives. So I have to put up with PUPPS and it's effects on my skin? Can I handle it?! Heck yes I can! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right?! :)

I am thankful for such an understanding husband! He never ceases to amaze me! He has been doing a lot of stuff  around the house, on top of everything else he has on his plate. I appreciate him so much! I can tell that he loves me and sacrifices a lot for me! From little things like.... rubbing the steroid cream on my itchy feet...  telling me I'm beautiful even when I know I'm really not looking my best... and sympathizing the pain I've been in. I think I just may keep him!! :)

I am SO thankful for our active little boys! I know I've said this a million times but they move NONSTOP... like every minute of the day! And it's so strong! It's like I can feel body parts now and my whole belly will just shift and move. Who knows what they are doing in there!? Haha! It is the most adorable thing! I have been brought to tears twice this week from their movements. It's like we are getting to spend time together already and I feel so close to them. I don't even know how to describe it right though. I guess it's one of those things where there are just are no words to describe it? Love doesn't even seem like a strong enough word.

Jeremy's List:

I'm thankful for craigslist and Dave Ramsey. I recently began coordinating a Financial Peace University class at our church. We're 4 weeks in and have 5 more to go. Last weeks video was on dumping debt. I love it! It was my favorite chapter of Dave's book, The Total Money Makeover, and so far my favorite video of the series. Dave is a very passionate fella. He has his ways of motivating you. After last weeks video it helped give me that extra push I have been needing. Monica and I have been on the fast track to being debt free since we got married. I know I've listed our stats before, but we've paid off a lot of debt. We recently had to take on more after going through IVF and having a very nice 4 door car fall in our laps at an awesome price. I've been stressing a little because we were so close to being debt free. $3,700 on a school loan close! After the class this week I came home and found anything and everything we could sell and put it on craigslist. I have 12 ads on there right now including our Toyota Solara. My goal is to make $400-500 to put straight towards our IVF debt. So I'm thankful for Dave Ramsey and Craigslist!

I'm thankful I've gotten to feel my boys move so much! I know I've used this a lot, but it never gets old! The past two nights, I chased both boys feet all over the top of Monica's stomach. It's like a little game we play now. They will be kicking and moving their feet, and you can see it! So I put my fingertips on their feet. It's so funny, cause for a little while they will stop moving them all over, keep them where my fingers are and wiggle them around, push and kick my fingers. When they start moving them around again I follow them and keep mt fingertip lightly pressed against their feet. It's the most incredible thing ever. Sometimes we'll just sit there with my fingers touching their feet and they hold them there. Two nights ago it was mostly Baby A. Last night it was mostly Baby B. I love it! It's the highlight of my day and week when I get to feel my boys moving!

Thankful Thursday: Cast iron skillet, Movement & Day Shifts

It's Thankful Thursday time again! Another week recorded in the history books. Seems like lately in the Parks household it's been go go go. It's nice to stop and take time every week and acknowledge things we're thankful for. Here we go, on with the lists! So what are you thankful for today?

Monica's List:

I am thankful for my new cast iron skillet. I've been wanting one for quite some time and my grandma got me one for Christmas. I used it for the first time tonight and made pork chops. It was really convenient to be able to brown the chops in the skillet and then just throw the whole thing in the oven to bake. It seems like things just taste better in cast iron. :)

I am thankful for energy. Yep, I've still got it! We are entering the third trimester and my body can tell. Thankfully I don't notice it too much, but certain things just wear me out a lot faster. I know that is only going to get worse the further along I get, so I am just thankful for the nice amount of energy I seem to still have. Maybe it's just me, but it seems I may be entering the "nesting stage?" I just want to have everything clean, organized, and ready for when my little boys get here!

I am thankful for movement! These little guys like to move!! Maybe they will be soccer players when they get older? lol! Baby B sure is getting his practice in with my ribs, but it's not bad at all! :) He is on my right and I notice as long as I don't lean to my right or lay on my right side too much it seems to help keep his little feetsies out of my ribs. I just love feeling them move throughout the day! I am so thankful for that!!!! Yesterday they were moving so hard I think I saw a knee and a little leg push against me! You could definitely see every little nudge on my belly from the outside! Of course it is mostly A, he is our more active one.. especially at night! hehe! He needs to get on a different sleeping schedule ASAP! :) I love my little babies so much!!!! Come on April!

Jeremy's list:

I'm thankful for an amazing wife! She takes such good care of me. I came home from work yesterday and the house was spotless! She had cleaned from top to bottom and did an amazing job. The house looked great! I love coming home to a clean house. I know that may not happen so often in the future with two boys running around messing everything up :)

I'm thankful for a day shift position in which I get off at 3:15pm. For 5 years or so I worked 12 hour night shifts. It was tough. At first I like it because of the people I worked with and the atmosphere at night. Not to mention the shift differential was really nice too! I really enjoyed it. Once Monica and I got married it got much harder to work nights. I wasn't seeing her hardly at all when I would work 3 days in a row. Maybe for two hours after I woke up and before I had to leave again we would get to spend time together. We also slept alone a lot. Monica was home alone for 3-4 nights a week. I'm thankful that now we get to spend every evening together and go to bed at the same time. Which leads me to me 3rd thankfulness.

I'm thankful for our time together in the evenings. I got called in to work last night from 10:45pm to 7:15am. Monica had to sleep alone in our bed and slept terrible. It made me realize just how thankful I am that I get to go to bed every night with my wife and don't have to be apart like we used to. I'm so thankful for our time in the evenings after dinner and treatment time, when we can sit on the couch and just be together. I really enjoy it. It's my de-stress time of the day. Being with her makes all the worries of the world disappear! My wife is the best thing that's ever happened to me! I love her so much! ;)

So what are you thankful for today?! Think long and hard about it and leave us a comment telling us what you came up with! Looking forward to hearing them!

Plus, don't forget to check out our Indiegogo website and share it!

Thankful Thursday: Kickboxing Babies & 2013

Hey everybody! It's our very first Thankful Thursday post of 2013! Whoo-hoo! We like to take the time to share what we are thankful for each and every week! There's always something to be thankful for! Another week is recorded in the history books, so let's reflect on a few things we can be thankful for shall we? Here's our lists of thankfulness.

Monica's List:

I am thankful for family! What a wonderful holiday season we had this year! I would say it was the best year yet as far as being with our families on the holidays. Everything went really smooth and it seemed everyone was just happy to be together! I just love it when things turn out smoothly! Our boys are blessed to have such loving, supportive families behind them.

I am thankful for movement! I feel the our baby boys moving every day... for most of the day. It never gets old and I love it!!! This past week their kicks and punches have become stronger and most every time they move it can be seen by others now! My in laws were over for dinner the other night and they were both able to see the baby's moving. It's such a neat thing to be able to share with loved ones!

I am thankful for a hands on husband! We went to Babies R Us and registered for the first time tonight. Jeremy was all about it! He did all the scanning and was even excited to go up there and do it. I know this can be rare and that there are plenty of men who would have to be drug to something like that... but not my Jeremy!! ;) My boys are blessed to have such a great daddy!

Jeremy's List:

I'm thankful for another year! Monica and I were sitting and talking the other day about what we would like to do on our 5 year anniversary. We realized that we have been married for 3 and a half years! Time flies when you're having fun! It's crazy to think it has been that long, but at the same time, it seems so much has happened in such a short period of time. So I am thankful for another to live on. Another year to be the best husband, son, friend and soon DAD that I can be! Here's to 2013, it's gonna be the best year yet!

I'm thankful for an easy going wife! She's going to be 24 weeks pregnant with twins tomorrow and I haven't heard her complain once about something pregnancy related! Sure she has had aches and pains and has told me about them, but not once has she complained. Not once has she been whiny or had a bitter tone to her voice when talking about anything with the pregnancy. Baby B has started making it a habit of pushing/kicking her ribs, lol. It makes her ribs sore, and most the time I can only tell because I will see her rubbing her right side. She has had so many people tell her all the terrible things she has yet to go through with her pregnancy. How she's going to get so tired of them moving, they're going to be kicking her in the ribs so hard they'll feel like they're going to break and that she's just plain going to be miserable. It's very disheartening to hear such negative talk about such a wonderful thing, but Monica always just smiles and says something about how blessed she feels to be pregnant and that she doubts any of the terrible things will bother her :) I guess what we've had to go through to get to this point has made it easier for Monica to overlook the negatives and focus on all the positives! Anywho, I'm thankful for an easy going wife! She has made being pregnant look like a breeze! She's such a strong woman and I'm more and more impressed be her every day!

So what are you thankful for?! We have an entire year ahead of us full of so many things to be thankful for!!

Thankful Thursday: Neti Pot & Rambunctious Babies

Well it's Thankful Thursday again! Another week in the history books! We all have so many things we can be thankful for. Monica and I enjoy taking the time to think of all the things we are thankful for! We would also like to give a shout out to Ronnie and Mandi Sharpe for getting us started on this awesome new tradition of ours! They have been doing it for quite some time and it's a fantastic idea! Check out their blog here!

Monica is working on a 3 tier cake for a party tomorrow so she will be passing on this week, unless she edits herself in later. A friend of ours just returned home from his 3rd(?) trip overseas with the Army, and his family is throwing a big shibang! Anywho, here's my list!

Jeremy's List:

I'm thankful for Neti pots! A lot of CFers use them from what I hear to help with sinus problems. I have never really had problems with my sinuses until I get sick. I just always thought it was part of getting sick to have really clogged sinuses, sinus headaches and some mild pain across the cheeks, between the eyebrows and across the forehead. I was talking to a CFer friend of mine who said she uses a Neti pot more frequently and especially when sick to help clear them out. Yesterday I felt pretty crummy. My sinuses were very clogged and hurting a little more than usual when I'm coming down with something. I say hurting only because I don't know what other word to use. To me hurting means you are in a lot of pain, but it was not bad at all. It was more annoying than anything. I went to Walgreens, bought me a Neti pot and used it. Whoo buddy! I like it! It worked really well! A little on the weird side, but effective! My left side cleared up completely and my right side felt much better. I'm pretty sure I have another polyp in my right sinus but that's another story. Today I feel much better. Hopefully I have diverted this cold!

I'm thankful for active babies in mommy's tummy! My boys have been moving and grooving in there! As I mentioned in our 22 Week Belly Pics post a lot of our family got to feel them moving over Christmas and I've gotten to feel them almost every day! I absolutely love it! Feeling the little "bumps" and rolling against my hand is miraculous! God never cease to amaze me with his creations! The way women can carry tiny little human beings inside them and the way they grow and develop is nothing short of a miracle! Feeling my boys bumping, punching, kicking my hands is my way of feeling connected to them right now. Monica is carrying them and gets to feel every movement, so I'm excited when I get to feel them too! I also could not be happier that my wife gets the blessing of carrying children! I love seeing her tummy grow and hearing her talk about them moving inside her! We are extremely blessed!

So what are you thankful for?! Let us know will you?

Thankful Thursday: Generosity & Moving Babies

It's another week to stop and reflect on all the many things we can and should be thankful for in our lives. Life can get crazy busy and it gets so easy to overlook all the things in life we can be thankful for. So let's get to it folks! Here's what Monica and I are thankful for this week....

Monica's List:

I am thankful for movement! We learned at our last ultrasound that both placentas are anterior. This means they are between my belly and the babies. My doctor said that was the reason why I hadn't been feeling them move very much up until that point. She told me as they continue to get bigger I will be able to feel them more and more! Well this past week that has been the absolute truth! I feel them move everyday, for most of the day! It is the most AMAZING thing! I pretty much smile every time! :) So far it's looking like A is going to be our rambunctious lively one and B is going to be more chill and calm. It seems like baby A never stops moving and only every once in a while do I feel a slight bump on my right side from B. Matter of fact ...A keeps bumping me as I type this! lol! Oh man...I have a feeling that boy is gonna keep us on our toes!

I am so thankful that Jeremy has been able to feel them too!! We were both so excited for that day to come! He has felt A at some point every night for the past several days! I'm so thankful God has given us the gift of our twin boys and we get to bond over them! It makes me feel even that much more close to my hubby knowing that the boys are a mixture of the two of us! It is such a miracle!

Jeremy's List:

I'm thankful for the generosity of others! It's no secret that Monica and I are extremely blessed, which I think is an understatement. Monica and I just purchased a 4 door vehicle a few weeks ago. It has been running like a champ! It's such a nice car and we're extremely grateful for it. I'm a dork when it comes to cars. I like to do little stuff to them to make them "cool." Every vehicle I've ever owned has had tinted windows, an aftermarket head unit (radio), subwoofers, and an eyebrow (tinting or vinyl across the top of the windshield). Dorky I know, but I like it. Money has been exceptionally tight around our home with buying the new vehicle unexpectedly (we were not looking to purchase a car, it was a great deal and fell into our hands, couldn't pass it up). We had to pay taxes and license and insure it. We just got our car insurance bill for the next 6 months, which now has 3 cars on it. So what we set aside every month to pay it is not enough and we'll have to scramble to sell her old car so we can take it off. Anybody looking for a 2000 Toyota Solara? :) Anyways, I said all that to say this... we had two people give us a total of $150 so we can have the windows on our new car tinted. They said it was for the babies so they didn't have to deal with the bright sunlight, lol! So now we'll be able to tint the windows! Normally I would use the money for necessities or to pay down debt like we do with all our extra money, but it was insisted upon by the givers that the money be used as intended.

Also, this past week, we were given a total of $200 that is supposed to be designated to purchasing stuff for the babies! Monica and I have been too busy to shop yet and were very excited that we now know what we're having and can shop appropriately. However, as I said, money has been snug. Now thanks to 2 people, one who we know and have thanked and the other who is anonymous, we can shop for our boys. These 4 people will never know what their gifts mean to Monica and I. It's extremely humbling and makes me feel bad to an extent knowing that they worked hard to earn that money to turn around and selflessly give it to us. We are extremely grateful, and so will our boys be someday!

I think I've rambled enough for a day. So.... what are you thankful for today?! That's not a rhetorical question either. Share your thoughts and comments! Have a great weekend and Christmas everyone!

Twin Gender Reveal!

My apologies to all those who have been anxiously awaiting this post to find out what we're having! Especially you John! Sorry to keep you waiting man! It was an action packed weekend! A very busy action packed weekend. I wanted to be able to put the video of us cutting the two cakes on here. So.... here it is!



We are overjoyed to hear that we're having two boys! There was a little sigh inside each of our hearts, in hopes that we would have at least one precious little girl, but it's all in God's glorious hands! His plan for our lives includes 2 boys! As a man, of course I think it's awesome that I'll have two little buddies, my two sons, to teach how to fish, to swim, to ski, to play sports, to workout with :) I can't wait to meet our two precious boys! OH, I almost forgot to mention.... I felt them kick for the first time... definitively! It was incredible! If you haven't experienced it I don't know how to put it into words. It was so amazing! As I mentioned in a previous post, both placentas are anterior, which means they are between the babies and Monica's stomach. This is why we haven't felt much movement until now.

That's all over! I felt Baby A! He is on Monica's left and is breech, which means head up. So his head is on her left and just above her bellybutton line. He was punching away in there! There were 4 or 5 definite punches! We almost thought we'd be able to see her stomach poke out they felt so strong! Then it felt as though he was rolling onto his side or something. It felt like a small stick running across the tip of my ring finger several times. My guess is his little forearm was waving back and forth. It gets more and more amazing everyday. To know that I just "touched" one of my boys for the first time through mommy's belly is priceless. I got to feel more movement tonight, and I must say.... I can't get enough! I LOVE IT!!!

Here's a few pics from our party! Enjoy!