Let's Start at the Beginning...

Helen Holmes with Robert and Ronald Holmes

I visited home this last weekend. There, I had the pleasure to see my wonderful family including, my grandmother, Helen. She shared some pictures of the family with me, and I was, of course, especially taken by the one above. 

It's this woman we have to thank for the impending excitement. So I thought I might tell the story she shared with me, about the first known set of twins in our family.  Here's hoping that this set of twins enters the world in a less... exciting way :)

My grandmother was unaware that she had two, not one, little bundle of joy arriving. She went to the old hospital in Springfield to deliver, but she was having a hard time. Her doctor decided that they needed to give her an x-ray to see what was going on, but there wasn't one available in the hospital (what?!?), so they would need to transport her to a doctor's office down the street. The hospital also had no elevator... so who did they get to help her down the stairs? Who else but some people from the jail next door?! They transported her by ambulance (which doubled as the hearse) to the doctor's office, where they found that there were twins and one was breach. They took her back to the hospital and got her back into her bed, before her doctor decided that she needed to be transported to Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, in order to be able to save the second twin. 

So once again, the jail men were called over to help her down the stairs, and she was loaded into the ambulance. But, of course, the hi-jinks weren't over yet... the ambulance got a flat tire! My great-grandmother said that she had never seen two men change a tire faster. The man driving the ambulance, always called my dad and uncle, Pete and Re-pete. And as history shows, they finally made it to the hospital, where my grandmother successfully delivered... 15 lbs of babies!

On our home front, I'm starting to get a little belly :) And also, I've felt them move! The sonogram will be on April 27th... which isn't too far away at all. 

Love at Second Sight Two...

So today was our first visit with an OB/GYN. Our initial plan was to go with a mid-wife, but because we're having twins, we had to switch to a doctor.

This was just a normal visit, just to meet with the doctor, and have her answer any questions we might have. The doctor decided though, that since we were so close to 13 weeks that she would try to listen for the heartbeats. But after some wrestling with the monitor for a few minutes, she decided that they were just too little... but we like to think they were hiding.

Though we were disappointed about not getting to hear the heartbeats, we got an excellent conciliation prize. The doctor decided to bring in a portable ultrasound machine to look at the wee ones and see their heartbeats. This was exciting, because we weren't supposed to see them again until the 20 week sonogram. All looks well! Two little heads, four little arms, four little legs, and two fast little heartbeats.

Our next step is to schedule the 20 week sonogram, which is a bit of a misnomer, because the doctor said they may want to schedule it as early as 16 weeks since we're doing the whole two-at-once thing. We'll keep you posted on that date, because that's the date we find out the answer million dollar questions.

Think that's all for now!
Nightie night!

Nostalgia...

I'm feeling a little nostalgic today... maybe it's all the rain, what dreary day. But whatever the reason, I thought I'd take a quick trip down memory lane to see all my original babies :)

1. Morgan

She was like my very own live cabbage patch doll! (Although thankfully without the awkward, overly-large forehead, and yarn hair). I definitely got the best of both worlds with Morgan-- she wasn't my sister, so we didn't have to fight (though we did some :), but we were close enough to relate. Hard to believe that this little cutie will be graduating from college in... what was last count? 72 days?

2. Mac

Mac would have been the perfect antagonist for this story, but he was just too darn sweet-- though he did ruin a few perfectly good outdoor pretend weddings with his red motorized jeep... beep! beep! Heard he got a pretty sweet hit at his recent college baseball game. Congrats! Miss you buddy!

3. Andrew

Andrew was the source of my spending money for quite a few summers. By the time he came along, I was apparently old enough to be trusted with a baby. He probably doesn't remember this, but our favorite spot was the hammock on the barn's screened porch. He just got his learner's permit... oh my! Look out ladies!


4. Keaton

Keaton was my own little man for a whole summer! And what a summer it was. We took a lot of walks and sang along with a lot of old school Whitney Houston... and boy could he dance! He turned one year old that summer, and never looked back. He's come a long way from "Mommy! Handball! Mommy!" Now he's almost in high school... sigh....




5. Kole

Kolie! What a sweet little boy :) And those dimples! He could rule the world with just those dimples! Kole loved (and still loves) to read... if it had words, he wanted you to read it to him. I especially enjoyed this because I love children's books... and there's nothing better than a baby, with their baby smell sitting in your lap letting you read to them:)  I hear Kole has become quite the saxophonist! So move over Kenny G. -- it's time for some new blood!

6. Wilson

Until recently, Wilson was the baby of the family. But I think he was okay relinquishing that job to Levi... and Levi-- I'm sure Wil has lots of valuable tips! He's the only one of these babies I remember liking to do laundry. We'd go to each room, and make a big pile... and then he'd jump in it! I hear Wil is now making his way into adolescence and is really making a special place for himself... not that any of us doubted that he would. Wilson's birth was the only one at which I was present... and I have to say that I hope my future childbearing is as easy as my sister Lori made it look!

Here's a few oldies... but goodies (I just couldn't resist!)

And on a side note, I think Mia knows about the you know whos. She's been trying to soak up as much attention as possible recently... sorry Mia!

The Magical Second Trimester

Alrighty... well we've made it through the first trimester. It was touch and go there for a little while, but despite the crying, illness, whining and tantrums, I'd say Nishka did remarkably well. And I'll give myself a little pat on the back too. :)

According to experts,* the second trimester is supposed to be magical; a time of "renewed vigor and strength." Well let's all hope really hard that this is the case... because so far, all I've gotten is a bad case of the baby brains. I still have to:

• complete a publication worthy certification paper (major graduation requirement... and I hear law schools don't like it so much when these aren't met)
• finish my source pulls for Journal-- and not look like a complete idiot by messing it all up
• study hard and ace my Evidence mid-term (and final)
• find time for all my weekly reading assignments for school
• find a place to live in May, and hopefully for at least a year following that
• go to work, and not get fired because I can't remember where I put that darned spreadsheet
• etc, etc, etc.

Looks like I better get cracking! I'm now eating and sleeping for three... do I also get the brain power of three? Come to think of it, the twins should be almost halfway to their JDs by the time their born! We can put them to work!

Hope all is well wherever you are. We're getting monsoons this afternoon... thanks TN family for sending that on up.

I hear lunch calling...



*By experts, I mean the authors of all the books I've read... and they better be right! Experts always are... right?

Inspired...

Okay, this is a repost for some of you... thought I'd move the party over here to make things a bit more official.

I've always thought about starting a blog... but I'm pretty sure I've had nothing exciting enough in my life to blog about thus far. But as I've had several people close to me start a blog recently, I thought I might give it a shot. With all the major life changes coming our way, now seems as good of a time as any.

A baby… What a new beginning to a new chapter of life. Nish and I talked for months about when was the right time. Should we do it before I graduate law school? Should we try to time it between semesters? Should we wait? Do we have enough money? Time? Maturity? I’m sure these are all questions that people ask when they are debating on whether or not to start a family. And I’m sure almost everyone else experienced what we experienced… It will happens when it happens, and not a moment sooner; and definitely not according to all your “plans.”

Babies… excuse me? Did you say babIES? Oh, no… you must be confused, we only signed up for one. I clearly remember checking ONE baby on the form. How do you hold two babies at once? How do you feed, change, clothe, bathe, pay for and love two babies at once? I know we aren’t the first people on earth to experience such a surprise, but for one small second just after the doctor said, “It’s twins!!,” it felt like we were the only people on earth who had ever had this happen to them.

But after a minor meltdown, it started to shine through what a blessing this would be. We weren’t getting just one lump of joy, but two! And if there were ever two people that had village to help them, it’s us. I think, too, it has helped the outlook considerably that I can hold down more than two spoonfuls of food at a time, I don’t need a nap every 20 min., and my Totally Body Boppy Pillow has arrived thanks to my wonderful husband! (everyone should have one of these… I meant the Boppy Pillow, but a wonderful husband is nice to have too!!)

Things are definitely starting to look up! (at least until the next mood swing :)