It's been a long time and a lot has happened since I last updated.
After we got home from Miami we had a whirlwind week full of doctor's appointments (more about that later) and laundry. We had a lot to do because on July 4th we headed to the beach for our family vacation.
We stayed in South Carolina and rented a little place next door to some friends who vacation there every year. L noticed the water in the lagoon behind the house right away and it was one of our favorite things to look at. The best part was that an alligator lived in that lagoon and would sometimes swim right past our back door.
L loved checking that alligator out!
I was just a little worried about her getting too close to the water.
It's hard to take the camera down to the beach because of the sand and everything else, but one night both families went down to take a walk on the beach. It was a perfect opportunity to take a few photos without too much danger of the camera being destroyed.
Here are both girls running in the water.
L walked right up and stood right in this stranger's beach chair. Luckily they weren't around to be bothered.
The lens fogged up when we took it out of the bag, but I love this shot of the laughing shoulders. It's what being at the beach is all about.
It was super windy, but L didn't seem to mind.
Both girls loved watching this wind surfer.
L found herself a little puddle and we knew that we were not even going to be able to keep her dry after this.
I think everyone enjoyed the wonderful evening.
Sweet Baby C even had a wonderful time.
There was a lot of running as you'd expect with a couple of preschoolers on the beach.
There was even a little flying through the air.
...and even some remnants of sand castle conquering.
L loved the beach. I have to say that I spent most of my vacation sleeping, but what's wrong with that? :o) We had such a wonderful wonderful time sitting in the sun and swimming in the surf.
On Tuesday we went into Charleston from the beach to visit the Children's Museum. There was a special invasion of pirates that day and we were excited to see them come into the museum.
L made a pirate hat.
Some kids went all out with the pirate dress.
And... just when we thought we would melt, the pirates made their appearance!
They then opened the museum and we went in to play.
L had a great time!
We found a little kid area too, and I think it might have been the favorite place in the museum!
We had a great time, and after having been gone for the second half of June and the first half of July, we decided to head back a day early. I was feeling so tired and worn out and poor L was very ready to be home. It was the best vacation!! I was sad to see Brad go back to work!
On Monday after we got back we started another round of doctor's appointments. Way back in June we decided to do a frozen embryo transfer. We had embryos leftover from our last IVF cycle and were waiting to start the adoption process until mid-summer and decided we might as well just give it a shot and use up the embryos we had. We were definitely hopeful, but fully expecting the same results we'd gotten before and we were fine with that. We knew that we'd be parents again through adoption and even though we'd really felt like we'd been led to do the IVF cycle, we also knew that there was no way to know why we'd done it, though we felt like there was definitely a reason. We went forward with the frozen cycle quietly.
Well... we got results we never expected. I ended up with a positive pregnancy test just before we went to Miami. We didn't get our hopes up because we didn't know if it would last, but blood test after blood test kept my numbers rising higher and higher. Finally, having been farther into a pregnancy than we'd ever been before, we headed into our very first ultrasound on June 30th. The doctor found two egg sacs. We were pregnant with twins!!!!!
It's impossible to believe, really. It's truly a miracle. We never ever thought that we'd be going through this experience, but we also know that God can do anything. We are so blessed to be able to go through this special life experience together as a family.
When we got back from the beach we had another ultrasound at 8 weeks. It was amazing to see how much they'd changed and it was amazing to see them again.
Here is baby A. You can see the head is down and the leg and arm buds.
Here is baby B. You can see the head is up.
Here they are together!
Our house is about to be a whole lot busier! Although for now, it's mostly a whole lot sleepier with strange eating habits! :o)
I have to admit I'm a little nervous about the family dynamic of bringing in two more babies into this house where L now reigns supreme. She is such a trooper who adapts well to new situations. She is going to be a great big sister! As my first born though, I don't ever want her to feel displaced, or like she's the odd one out. I'm so desperately wanting to make sure that she always feels loved the way she does right now. I'm reading up on this and trying to make sure that our very unique family dynamic always makes L feel special and not different. I often tell people that being a family formed through adoption is so much more the same (as bio families) than it is different. I know that there are tons of families with biological and adoptive children together. I just want to make sure that ours is successful! That little girl fills my heart with so much love it wants to burst. I want her to always know that no matter how many other little children there are in this house (and our plan has always been and continues to be to adopt again in the future) that she will always be that for me. She's the most precious thing on earth.
This week my close friend Wendy came to visit. I love Wendy. She's one of those friends that no matter how long it is between visits we pick right back up where we left off. L loved her too. We had the best time the past few days. Now... it's back to normal! We're going to be getting in the routine of things right after our lunch and afternoon nap!
We'll have more next week! See you then!
