That One Time I Was The Angel

So I have been wanting to write about this for a WHILE but at least I am finally getting to it now :) 

You don't have to reassure me that angels are walking among us. I know this to be true without a doubt! Sometimes, however, these angels are actually our family, friends, neighbors, or random strangers who Heavenly Father sends to to help us. These past months of my life since my babies have been born have been filled with these spiritual and physical angels. 

Well, thanks to an incident with my rug, I was used as the angel this time :) 

You see, it had snowed and Jordan came home from work. As he walked in the door he brought a trail of brown wet sludge with him... Unacceptable. I knew that I would definitely lose the battle to get him to take his shoes off so I happily accepted that I would have to purchase some rugs for my front and back doors. Win for a clean house and win for buying something new and cute for my house! 

My mom and I packed up my babies and a left-over Target giftcard from a baby present and went shopping for some rugs. I quickly fell in love with this rug. It was beautiful!! Buuuut it was mustard yellow, and I was afraid to decorate my house with that color.

Also it was too wide for my back door so I couldn't buy two of them. I just decided to buy two of these other rugs. 

They are cool and they would match, so I left my beautiful rug behind. 

When I got home and put the rugs down, I was let down. The rug I had settled for did not look good at my front door and I realized my mustard rug would look fabulous there. 

This is when it gets good (I know no one truly cares about my rug delema). When Jordan got home that night I informed him we were going back to Target to exchange the rug. We ate dinner, packed up the kids again and made our way back to my beautiful rug. 

We kind of attract attention when we go shopping with the babies.. First of all we have a huge limo stroller that basically has a flashing sign that says, "TWIN BABIES HERE" 

Also, Jordan INSISTS that he push the stroller. (I had to tell him to let me stand there for the picture above). He says he is just being a gentleman but we all know he just likes pushing it because he gets attention and it has wheels. But anyways people stare at the random guy pushing the stroller. 

Not more that 2 minutes of being in the store we were stopped by a tall, freckley guy who looked about our age who asked, "Do you have twins?" 

We are used to this question and we gave him our rehearsed response that, yep we do, and our somewhat pushed smiles and tried to keep walking. Before we could escape he eagerly said, "we are having twins too."

We stopped dead in our tracks and swarmed him and started the rapid fire of questions. Are they your first? How far along is your wife? Do you know what you are having? Etc... He politely answered and confirmed that they were their first kids and not very far along. As he started asking for information on our stroller, his wife walked over. She was equally tall and freckley and very sweet looking. I looked at her and just felt like I knew her. Jordan abruptly asked, "so do you know what your birth plan is?" 

I tried to give him a scolding look for asking a controversial question but he wouldn't look at me. The girl simply said that she did not want to have a c-section (the same answer I had given many people before I believed in myself to go through with a natural birth). I suddenly felt the urge to tell her that I had my twins  naturally and unmedicated. I don't really like bringing it up because I don't want to sound baggy and that is NOT why I did it. As I told her about it, I could see a sence of releif and longing in her eyes. "Really?" She said with hope in her voice. "Really." 

I looked at her straight in the eyes and said, "if that is something you want to do, you can do it! Don't let anyone tell you you can't."

Relief and hope ran across her face as I then went on to reassure her that it was the most beautiful thing I had experienced and told her about hypnobabies and to find a doctor who would support her. 

We wrapped up the conversation and it was at the point where social cues suggest we should walk away and keep shopping but no one moved. We were so bonded and connected! It didn't feel natural to just leave them! We knew exactly what they were going through and they wanted more information! There was nothing left to be said though so we eventually parted ways. 

I told Jordan I would have KILLED to have had that conversation when I was pregnant with the twins. I didn't know a single person who had their twins unmedicated and it was terrifying! I was so happy to have talked about it with this girl! Maybe it helped her as much as it would have helped me. 

Well we went to the rug isle and got my beloved rug! As we made our way to the customer service counter so I could exchange it I was feeling pretty good about things. When we got to the counter, a woman in her thirties was there with an older woman. They had two carts and two car seats and as I got closer I realized the thirty-something woman was waaaay pregnant and the older woman was her mother. "Are you having twins?!?" I excitedly assumed because of the two car seats and the HUGE belly (well it was..). She confirmed that she was and became really excited as she realized that I had twins too! The questions started all over again from me and Jordan. These were her first babies as well, and she was going in to have them in two days. Jordan realized that meant she wasn't going to have a natural birth so he thought up the next most awkward thing he could say... "Nursing has been the hardest part, are you going to breast feed them?" 

Again I tried to scold him with my eyes, but again he wouldn't look. To my suprise, the woman was eager to talk about it! She told us she desperately wanted to breast feed her babies but that is what she was the most nervous and anxious about. I jumped in to the conversation and reassured her that it was possible and that she could do it!! I also told her I almost gave up three times and it got very hard, but I kept going and it is getting easier. She looked at me, a little relived, and said, "Thank you. If you can do it, I can do it!" 

They finished up their transaction and went on their way and we exchanged the rugs :) I was so amazed that we just had another conversation that I would have killed to have with someone when I was pregnant. 

As we were on our way home I was happily replaying the nights events in my head. I got a little teary as I realized what had just happened. I don't think for one second that it was a coincidence that we were all at Target at the same time that night. Those women needed some encouragement and a vote of confidence that I could give to them (I know they needed it because I was in their shoes), and I was able to be reminded that I was doing a good job and I had made it so far. I am so humbled that Heavenly Father chose me to talk to those women that day and I really hope that I was able to say what they needed to hear! 

I love having my "angel rugs" at my doors now because I am reminded every time I leave my house that I might come in contact with someone who needs an angel that day. I hope that I am living my life well enough that Heavenly Father will choose to use me has his angel again :) 

Feeding Twins and The Incident at 4:42 in the Morningq

So I know lots of people wonder what it is like to have two infants at once... And I especially and unsurprisingly get millions of questions about feeding them. Before all of this, I wouldn't have fathomed how it all worked either but now it seems completely normal.. Although still challenging at times. Jordan takes the whole process for granted because that is all he knows.. but I will go in to that in a minute.  Here are some questions and answers about feeding twins!

Q. Do you nurse them or do formula? 

A. I definitely nurse them... Breast milk is liquid gold for babies and it is worth the time and effort. Also we could not afford to feed them formula! A small can of formula is about $20 and would only provide 15 bottles.. I don't want to do the math but hi...that's expensive. 

Q. Do you nurse them at the same time? 

A. Yes!! If I did not feed them at the same time I would be nursing for like 20 hours a day. Sometimes I do have to wake one of them up to eat with the hungry one but they actually usually get hungry at the same time. 

Q. How do you nurse them at the same time? 

A. I use this nifty little gadget I named my "baby tray" but it is legitimately called the "My Breast Friend" my dad referred to it once as my "breastie" haha that works too dad, that works too. 

I wear it like a pool floaty around my waste and it is somewhat humiliating. The first time Jordan saw me wearing it he said,"You ready to jump in??" To which I replied with a helpless smile. Anyway, when I am alone, I lay the babies next to each other on the couch/floor/bed beside me while I strap in to my baby tray. Then I lean over and pick one of them up at a time and put one baby on each side with their feet to the back of me and I hold them like little footballs. Once they latch I sit patiently in the same position for about ten minutes and listen to their gulping (so cute!) I have a long torso so I end up hunched over :( my back is really taking a beating. They both usually need to be burped at the same time so I secure my hands around their necks and support their heads, lean completely forward so my body is pressing against theirs and heave them up so they are both in burping position. 

 I used to be able to pat their backs at the same time but as they are getting bigger I have to hold one and pat the other and then switch. Once I am thuroughly soaked in spit up, I lay them back down and they are both sound asleep. So I set them to the side of me, unstrap, and change their diapers. Once I am thuroughly soaked in pee and/or poop I start the process over again. This results in babies who are either wide awake and ready for entertainment or a murder scene... Like these.. 

I prefer the murder scene.. Because that means I get go to back to sleep! 

Sometimes I do burp them one at a time as they need it. That is always fun trying to keep the other latched on and happy while holding and patting the other. One time I was doing that and drinking from a water bottle! I felt like an octopus.. 

Q. How long does it take to feed them? 

A. About an hour :/. When they burp fast and I can change them quickly it can be as fast as 40 minutes. Can I get a sarcastic "yay"?    Yaaaaaaaaay

Q. How often do they eat?

A. Every 2 and 1/2 to 3 hours. Even at night. So if you have thought through that correctly, you realize I only get about an hour and a half or two hours of sleep at a time. 

Yes. I am tired. 

Q: Do you enjoy nursing? 

A: Yes and no. No for a few reasons... It makes me sore, I have to do it so often, it is too much of a process to do anywhere public so I am at home way too much and honestly I just want to sleep :( 

But yes because I love doing what is best for them, the alone time to just sit and enjoy them is priceless, and they look up at me and smile now which will melt any mothers heart no matter how tired they are. Also I am burning calories like crazy! Win-win! 

So now back to Jordan to taking the whole thing for granted...

One day I opened up a package of my favorite vanilla sandwich cookies that my mom so graciously bought for me and basically went to town on them. I ate some at every meal and at snack time and just all day.... By the end of the day my babies were in so much pain from throwing up and pooping green slime that I knew something in my milk was bothering them. I didn't know what to do so I said one of my millions of prayers I say a day and asked Heavenly Father to please help me know what to do. The sandwich cookies instantly came to my mind and a prompting to immediately stop eating them so I knew that had to be it. Not wanting to poison our babies further, Jordan and I decided it would be best if for the next few feedings we gave them formula while I pumped the bad milk out. It was about 1:00 am when we decided this and Raylee woke up at 1:30 wanting food so Jordan made her a bottle and gave it to her while I pumped and then woke Wake up to feed him. We all went back to bed, no big deal. At 4:42 both babies woke up crying and wanting food so I turned on the light and nudged Jordan to wake him up. ( he isn't used to waking up with them because I let him sleep and I can handle it by myself) he tiredly looked at me and said, "what? Right now?" I laughed because it was obvious with the crying babies and all... Eventually I got him awake and I started to get the pump ready. I was very excited  to just pump for a while and let Jordan handle the feeding for once! Well, he got up and ogred over to the babies co-sleeper and picked up Raylee and the bottle and went back to his side of the bed. With one crying baby still in the bed I was like, "umm babe? Are you going to feed Wake too??" To which he angrily responded like I was a crazy person with, "feed both of them at once???"

Ummmm I didn't know how to respond to that. Was he really not going to feed them at once? It made me mad, actually, that he didn't think it was possible to give two babies two BOTTLES at once while I go through the struggle of breast-feeding and what I described above every three hours!! I would love to just place two bottles in my children's mouths and hold them there.. So easy. 

I angrily asked him to explain himself and he went on about how if one has to burp or of one starts coughing what would he do with the other one? I honestly don't remember all that he said because it made no sense to me. Well I ended up feeding Wake and pumping while he tended to Raylee. We also argued the whole feeding about whether nursing or bottle feeding was harder... So much for not arguing I front of the kids. In the end I realized I asked a man to multitask... They cannot do that. So we wen to bed laughing and agreeing to disagree. Since then I have convinced him he can feed two babies at once and he is asking for a re-do. We shall see.

At least he can hold the babies at the same time. 

30 Thoughts of a New Mother

Well I have been a mother for exactly one month today! I was trying to think of what to write about since becoming a mom and the range of emotions and things that have happened is too insane for one topic... So here is a list of legitimate thoughts that have gone through my mind since that fateful day. 

1. I can't believe this things were inside of me!!

2. Yep.. My babies are definitely cuter than everyone else's. 

3. How am I so in love with them? 

4. Wait.. I don't ever get more than 2 hours of sleep at a time? Is that even survivable? 

5. They keep going cross-eyed! MY BABIES ARE BLIND

6. My boobs can do what now?

7. On my heck I love them! 

8. Will you please poop more? 

9. Ok you can stop pooping now.

10. Why are there so many bumps in the road and when did they get here? Driving is not a safe activity.

11. I can't wait till you guys get bigger!

12. STOP GROWING! Stop it now. 

13. I think I am going to die.

14. Motherhood is the best thing ever! 

15. She just spit up out of her nose! Is she dying?? 

16. This subtle breez outside is TOO VIOLENT for humans! 

16. There are so many bugs outside... Did we experience an increase? 

17. I wish I could just snuggle them for hours! 

18. BACK AWAY FROM MY CHILDREN

19. Jordan is the best dad ever. 

20. My baby is darker than me... That's just not fair. 

21. One baby would be a looooot easier than two...

22. One baby would not be even close to as awesome as twins. 

23. Can I please just sleep a little longer? 

24. Why did we get chosen to be so blessed? 

25. I got this! 

26. Oh I have no idea what I am doing..

27. I am just going to stop eating everything so I don't upset their tummys

28. Thank goodness for my mother.

29. Am I really trusted with these little angels?

30. Life is going to be so fun!!! 

My Perfect Natural Twin Birth

I have no doubt that I have experienced the most miraculous and perfect thing that I ever will in my entire life! My twin's birth was amazing on so many levels and I want to share my story :) 

I chose to use the Hypnobabies method to be able to birth my twins naturally. I didn't always want a natural birth, ESPECIALLY once I found out I would have to push two babies out... I was like, 

But I am a huge fan of doing things naturally and wholistic stuff, and I kept having the thought come to my mind, "why would Heavenly Father make our bodies perfectly but then require it to do something that everyone thinks is impossible to bear?" So I decided not to give up quite yet and educate myself on birth. 

Through my dear friend Rachel and some spiritual promptings, I stumbled upon a Hypnobabies class taught by Talya Matheson. Hypnobabies teaches self hypnosis to re-wire the way we view birthing to a very positive thing and it teaches deep relaxation and how to use hyono-anesthesia. It also teaches very detailed and accurate information on the birth process and what our bodies can do! I soaked up every ounce of information like a sponge...it was exactly what I wanted to hear and it felt good! By the end of the course, I was craving a natural birth and had so much confidence in myself and my body! Thank you Talya! 

I finished the classes and had about a month to practice my techniques and get my birth team together. I hired Talya as my Doula and Jordan stayed by my side with all of my decisions. I was so excited to see what my birth story would be like! So without further ado..

Thursday started off as a normal day... Sleepy, uncomfortable, and excited that I was one day further. I was 35 weeks and a few days. I had a doctors appointment to go to that I went to with my mom. The doctor said that the babies looked really good! Both head down and cooperating completely. He even made the comment, "they could be born tomorrow and probably be just fine!" Heh heh... 

We went to lunch right after and while we were eating I noticed I felt a little crampy. I had had these feelings before and they didn't hurt at all and they didn't seem to be coming and going... Just kind of a general feeling. I usually felt that way when the babies were growing and my uterus was stretching so I just figured they were getting bigger. 

That night I had a huge dinner packed with protein and carbs and I had the thought, "this would be a good meal to eat right before I went into my birthing time" heh heh... 

After dinner I was supposed to go to a wedding reception with Jordan but I felt a huge desire to sleep and a prompting to listen to my body, so I fell asleep and Jordan went to the reception. I slept for about 3 hours, woke up at 9:00 pm, and waddled myself to the bathroom. While on the toilet I felt a big shuffle come from the babies followed by a slow and somewhat constant trickle. I thought, "um? That was not pee... Wait..." Yyyyyep my water broke and I knew it! I sat there wondering why I hadn't felt any pressure waves and if they would start. In the mean time I just sat there and texted Jordan. I knew that would result in some sort of hyper-reactive tornado that is Jordan, but I needed him home because I was a little bit in shock. I also texted Talya, my doula, to let her know things were starting. Then i called my mom for some comfort before Jordan got home. 

I was still just sitting there when Jordan got home. Sure enough I was bombarded with excited questions... "Are you sure?" "Why is so much coming out?" "Are you ok?" "What do I do?" "CALL THE DOULA" haha... I reminded him what we learned in class and that this is normal and calmed him down a little. I called Talya anyways and she suggested to lay down and get some rest  before things started picking up and to send Jordan to get some pads so I didn't soak the bed. Haha.. Jordan knew what pads were from being a husband, but I had to explain that I needed the big obsorbant kind this time. He ran out the door and came back with the biggest pads I had ever seen!! They were just short of being a diaper.. I laughed and told him thank you.. But they ended up being just what I needed. 

We hadn't packed our hospital bags yet and I hadn't felt any pressure waves so I figured I should get that ready before I got some rest. I was very calm but Jordan waaaaas not. He went into what he calls "survival mode" and ran around the house packing anything and everything he saw that might come in handy later..this included tuna fish cans and a can opener...(an obvious necessity for birth). It was while I was packing that I felt my first real pressure wave! I kind of excitedly just stood there and felt it. I had been wondering for 35 weeks what this would feel like! It felt like a really big fast cramp...ish. I was glad things were moving! 

 I kept packing and they kept coming until I finally realized the pressure waves were coming faster than they should if I was in my early birthing time. I started tracking them and they were already about 6 minutes apart and lasting 30 seconds to a minute. At 10:40 I texted my doula and let her know that things wet picking up and I didn't think I could sleep through the waves. She encouraged me to listen to my body and get into hypnosis. I tried laying down to listen to my cd but man my body did not want to lay down! I decided to sit on my birthing ball and listen to my deepening track (a cd that talks you into deep hypnosis). Ten minutes later I realized the waves were pretty intense and I couldn't talk through them. I wasn't completely able to tap into my hypnosis tools because things were moving so fast so I was getting anxious for Talya to come over but I figured I still had like 15 hours left of labor so I didn't ask her to come yet. Ten minutes later though I texted her that I was having a hard time relaxing on my own and she called me and talked me through a few pressure waves. Her voice was so calming and she said everything I needed to hear to remember my hypnosis tools I had been practicing. I was able to be very relaxed after listening to her prompts. Where was Jordan during all of this? On a packing rant... He even came in to ask me if he could run to walmart to buy a head mount for his GoPro and some canned soup... I gave him an exasperated and curious look and said, "no I need you here" and he kicked in and sat with me till Talya got there.

Talya got to our place at about 11:30 or 11:45. I heard Jordan greet her at the door and directed her right upstairs to where I was. I could tell he was really relieved she was there and so was I! 

I spent the next little while awkwardly waddling around trying to find a position that my body would agree with while Talya made me feel very calm and relaxed. At about midnight I threw up and boy did that feel good! When I was throwing up, I remember thinking, "don't people usually throw up when they are in transition?" I still really didn't think I was that far yet.... Talya soon pointed out that my pressure waves were every two minutes now and asked if I would like to go to the hospital yet. I agreed and we made our way to the cars. I went with Talya so she could continue to help me and Jordan followed behind us. We ran lots of red lights and I realized Talya thought I was pretty close to having the babies! But as we got closer to the hospital I experienced some pressure waves that were different from the rest... I don't know how to describe them except for very productive feeling.. And then I finally knew that I was definitely close! 

We pulled up to the ER entrance and a nurse rushed out with a wheelchair to greet us. I didn't hear her, but Talya told me later that she told the nurse I was ready to push! She rushed us up to the Labor and Delivery unit and turned us over to those nurses. The L&D nurses must not have thought I was that close because they were not acting rushed at all. They asked us a few questions and then sent me to triage and they told me to put on my gown and then get in the bed where they will check to see how dialated I was. I just did as I was told, but as soon as I went to change into my gown I felt a huge overwhelming need to push my baby out! I told Jordan and he proceeded to run back and forth between the bathroom where I was to the nurses desk outside yelling, "CAN I GET SOME HELP?" Finally the nurses felt some urgency and walked me over to one of the delivery rooms. Somehow I got changed into the gown and in the bed and the doctor who was on call checked my dilation and announced I was complete....no duh... I got rely excited when he said that though because the only pelvic exam I had was the last one :) and I was so so excited to meet my babies! 

I was pushing during all of this with each pressure wave and the doctor told me not to push until we got to the operating room.... Uuummmm FYI it is impossible not to push... But he is a man and could not possibly understand, so I forgive him for making the comment. (We had to go to the operating room because of hospital policy that every mom with multiples has to deliver in there) Pushing felt so so so good! I loved actively working with my body rather than trying to relax and let it do it's thing. 

We finally made it in there and I chose to push on my knees. Talya was not allowed on the OR so it was just me and Jordan working together. This is something I will cherish for the rest of forever :) he held me and said little prayers with me and told me how amazing I was doing. 

I was pushing for 40 minutes. Those were arguably the best 40 minutes of my life. It was a little weird because there were so many nurses in the OR watching me... I looked around at one point and saw a small crowd of nurse faces watching me from a window... I didn't know what to do so I just smiled at them. They didn't know what to do either and awkwardly smiled back. I was in the zone for most of it though and wasn't aware of my surroundings at all. Jordan said lots of nurses in the room were talking to each other about how well I was handling everything. I felt no pain but felt every sensation from from both babies coming down and crowning to both babies slipping into this life. I pushed my baby boy out first :) it. Was. Amazing! I did it!! I was so happy and proud of myself and feeling him come out was surreal! I was facing backwards so I had to turn around and sit normally to hold him :) he was softly crying and so beautiful! The doctor let his cord pulse a little bit before he had to clamp it and get things ready for baby girl to come out. I handed him to Jordan and then assumed the normal "pushing" position so the doctor could see what baby girl was doing. She was a little angel and was still head down. The doctor suggested we break her sac so she would continue to come down quickly. I was against the idea for a second but I felt very at peace with it and agreed. I didn't have time to get back on my knees because she was coming! After 9 minutes and two pushes she was here! I could see her and she was blue but she quickly took a breath and pinked right up. She was very quiet and just enjoyed me telling her how much I loved her. A piece of my placenta wouldn't come out so there was a bit of craziness while they got that out... But eventually I got both babies in my arms, kisses from Jordan, and the happiest feeling I can't even describe. I still can't believe I did it :) we finally left the cold operating room and went back to the regular room where I got both of my babies to latch and nurse at the same time! Our family was finally together and everything was perfect.  

I owe a lot of this to my hypnobabies training. I spent months re-training my brain and practicing hypnosis. Also Talya was amazing to have! I don't think I will have a baby without her... And Jordan... I might cry.. You were so supportive and helped me be so strong! I love you! 

I am so humbled I was able to be a part of Heavenly Father's plan and participate in the power of His creation. I feel very close to heaven as we work together raising these two little angels :) 

The Adventures of Fly Boy and Plumpy!

So here is an update on what has been happening with our Crazy Wayment family.

If any of you are friends with Jordan on Facebook or Instagram or in real life, you know that he has been traveling the world in the past month! He has traveled to Tel Aviv, Rome, some Italian Island, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and currently on the East Coast of the US. This is all for Flyboarding! He has been getting paid to be a part of the Flyboarding Show Team and perform his sexy flyboarding skills allover the world!!

 Him traveling has been quite the adventure for our family! I cannot travel... at all... so I stay at home while he is gone for days or weeks at a time and miss him like crazy!! Yes, it is sad that he is gone but I don't like to complain about it because how many times does your husband get offered to get paid to travel to crazy places and perform for thousands of people on some crazy contraption that just got invented? It's so awesome!

So that is what has been going on with Fly Boy....... Plumpy, on the other hand, has been having a grand old time being pregnant.

Plumpy is a nick-name given to me by Jordan.. my husband. I know this makes some people gasp in shame for him, but he is actually pretty accurate. I don't care how many people tell me I look "tiny" for being pregnant with twins, I am still almost 40 pounds heavier than normal. Which, hi.... that is a huge amount! I really appreciate that people are trying to make me feel better about myself, I do, But I still feel very very large. Very large.

I'm not depressed about my new figure though. It is kind of fun jiggling my extra arm fat around and seeing what my face looks like with extra chins... It is also great having to pee every single time I stand up, having to make 7 point turns to roll over in bed, using waddling as my mode of transportation, and lets not forget my new grandma compression tights that complete the whole look (I love my compression tights.. my ankles would be elephantiatis status without them).

I don't have any pictures that accurately depict what it is like being pregnant, (because I only take pictures of myself that I won't mind looking at later) So I have put together some pictures of animals from the internet to try and depict what it is like.

I included the happy dog because I am happy a lot of the time too. Pregnancy is a miracle that should be celebrated! Even though I might cry for unjustifiable reasons or feel too tired and uncomfortable to go on sometimes, every time I feel my babies move I smile and I am filled with so much love!!! I am looking very forward to the birth of our twins and Jordan and I couldn't be happier that this is happening to us!

Cancun! Secrets Revealed ;)

So I am sooooo excited that I can finally write about our trip to Cancun! We went down there with most of the Flyboard Family from around the world to create a Youtube video that would feature Franky Zapata's new invention he calls the Hoverboard.

This is Jordan on one :) And yes, I took this picture from a big-ole fancy boat in the middle of the ocean.


Devin Supertramp was the one who filmed the video!!! It was so surreal to meet his team and watch how he filmed the riders and got amazing shots. (I couldn't get good pictures of him getting shots in the ocean because he was far away...)

I think its dumb that we couldn't post any of the pictures on the Facebook or Instagram this whole time... but they wanted it to be a huge reveal of the product and didn't want to ruin the surprise... oh well.

The whole experience was just so amazing!! We actually didn't start filming the video until the last 2 days we were there, so let me fill you in on the first five!

The first two days were spent being tourists in Cancun, and man did we pack those days full! Luckily The Belly wasn't that big yet, and getting around and being active wasn't too hard. The very first thing we did on the first morning was go to a little island off of the coast. While we were waiting for the ferry .... this happened...

Yes, that is a Mexican who just threw himself off of a rickety old Bungee-jump tower above like 5 feet of water.... and to give you a better feel of this atmosphere, imagine LOUD fiesta music playing and a man over a loud speaker yelling, "PERFECTO!!!", followed by more Spanish words.  I think this is the moment that I realized Mexico is, "No place like home".

Anyways, we snorkeled an underwater museum (which I don't have pictures of as my phone is not water-proof) and then went to this beautiful little place to eat after.

We saw some Mayan Ruins... (it was HOT)

Swam in some under-ground caves...

Saw amazing beaches...

And got some baby-bump pictures :) (Thought I was huge... heh heh)

The next couple of days were really relaxing for me... because I stayed at our luxurious resort while Jordan went out with the Flyboard Family to figure out the new contraption.

This is where it gets good :)

It was about 8:00 at night  on the first day that Jordan and the crew went out to practice the new Hoverboard. I was already in bed, asleep. I was exhausted from a luxurious beach/pool day and growing two humans. Jordan BURST through the door (probably with a HUGE smile on his face) and woke me up saying, "Babe! Babe! Um, guess who did the first back-flip on the Hoverboard??" and he gave me a second to wake up all the way before he proceeded to tell me his story.

Before I get into it though, you have to understand that this Hoverboard was so new that only Franky Zapata and Jordan had ridden it out of the whole group that went down to film, and Jordan had only tried it once in Las Vegas a few weeks before. No tricks, spins, flips, or anything besides carving back and forth had been done on it ever, and everyone was starting to worry that maybe those types of tricks couldn't be done on it. Of course Jordan was DETERMINED to figure out how to get a backflip down. for WEEKS before we even left to Cancun, Jordan would come to me and say, "So I think I figured out how I can do a backflip on the Hoverboard" and then he would show me with his fingers (like using one of those mini skateboards that were popular when we were kids) or his whole body how it would work. His ideas changed a few times, and by the time we got to Cancun, Manimal couldn't stop talking about how he was going to do it. He described it as sort of a backwards roll thing... I have to admit, I kind of ignored him when he would talk about it... becaaaaaaause I was on the "that won't ever work" train. I tried to stay supportive and encouraging though, because I deeply admire how his brain turns on when everyone else turns theirs off.  Anyways, this is the story that I got from Jordan about the first backflip ever done on the Hoverboard.

It had been a long morning... It took a while to get all of the Jet-Ski's hooked up correctly with the Hoverobards, and to get to the right location. There were quite a few riders there who had never tried the Hoverboard and had to spend a while even learning to get up on one. Soon all of the riders were riding pretty confidently and it was time to figure out if this backflip, or any sort of trick, could be done to help make the Youtube video more exciting. I don't know how long they were trying, but it sounded like a WHILE of everyone just trying things and failing over and over. Franky Zapata and Jordan were nowhere close to giving up though and Jordan jumped on a board and Franky Zapata started driving him to have another go at it. Jordan failed at his attempts quite a few times and then decided to re-work how he was going to accomplish this elusive flip. He said he started carving like he was on a Wakeboard, and then decided he was going to throw this flip how he would a Backroll (wake-boarding back-flip-roll thing). He threw it, and made it all the way around!!! He fell on the landing because of excitement and the newness of it, but Franky and the whole crew got very excited!! Jordan got right back on and threw it again. LANDED!!

I watched the video that someone took of him landing the first backflip, and there was so much cheering and excitement from everyone!

He didn't stop though, and went on to get a few more. He once told me that when he learns a new trick (on anything) he has to throw it and land it at least three times.. and that is what he did. He was about to be done and celebrate, but he decided he was going to throw a front-flip... just because.. why not? He threw it. LANDED!!! After that, he jumped off the board to celebrate and Franky jumped off the Jet-Ski and swam over to him and gave him a huge hug! When Jordan told me the story, he said that that moment was the happiest moment of his life and quickly added, "after our wedding day of course" Haha! After that he was tasked with teaching everyone else how to do the tricks and things just took off from there :)

Here are the videos that came from all of this. The first one is the main one, and the second one is the behind the scenes one (I made an appearance in that one!)

  This whole experience with Flyboaring, and now Hoverboarding, has been so amazing for both of us. We are so thankful for all of the experiences that have happened and will happen to our little family because of Franky Zapata!

(forgive that I look horrible... we just had a 16 hour day filming)

Wake and Raylie!

Holly poop... I just need to share how awesome it is that our little Wake and Raylie are coming to us!!!

You see, when Manimal and I were dating, we would stay up for HOURS and HOURS just talking about what our pasts were like, what we wanted our future to be like, and other random things.... like what kind of boats he wanted. But it was during those talks that we realized how much we had in common.. and it got kinda freaky.  For example, we both pogo-sticked for our classmates at school. Who does that?? It even got to the point where we would just say, "Name your favorite _____ on the count of 3" because our answers were the same so often! Then we would just sit there and argue about why it was our favorite more than the other person... we still have this argument on a weekly basis about who likes water more.

Anyway, it was during one of these conversations that one of us brought up the names of our future children. It turns out, we had both fallen in love with the name 'Wake' for our first son when we were in High School!! We couldn't believe it!! I liked it because it sounded cool and it related to water, and Manimal liked it because of the relation to Wake-boarding. When we got married... we figured we were destined to have a son, because we both thought of the same name for him before we even knew each other! 

After we were done freaking out about how awesome it was that we both liked the name 'Wake' for our son, we brought up girl names. I actually hadn't come up with anything specific yet so I asked Manimal what he was thinking. Without hesitation he said something like, "I want my gril's name to be Raley!" I kind of started laughing because Raley (pronounced Ray. Lee) is the name of a Wake-boarding trick and I didn't think he was serious, but then I realized how adorable that name was and we made a pact, right then and there, that Wake and Raylie (we spell it better) would be the names of our first girl and first boy!



This is Manimal doing a Raley on the wake-board. (one of the things that makes him a manimal) This is is FAVORITE trick... and if we are anywhere near another boat while he is wakeboarding, he is sure to throw this one. (This was at a competition...so excuse is stressed face) I can't wait till Raylie can watch him do this! <3

Again, when we were first married, we both thought our first child would be a boy for sure because of how awesome the name thing was, but whenever either of us had dreams about our future children, we saw Raylie. Some dreams were more special than something our subconscious just thought up, so after a while, we had accepted that our first baby was probably going to be a girl. 

Finding out that both of them are coming to us is so so AWESOME!! There just isn't a word for how unreal it is :) Why both of them are coming at the same time is completely unknown...we would have happily accepted them at different times.... but it is just so cool to see Heavenly Father's plan for us matching up a tiny bit with something we planned. We still can't believe how blessed we are that our little angels are here and swimming around in my belly together!

The Reaction Heard Round the World (or at least the office)

It has been no secret that Manimal wanted one or both of our babies to be a boy.... He would literally tell everyone that, "one of them better be a boy!" and whenever I talked about the babies kicking he would say, "that's my boy!"

When people heard this, they would shoot me a quick worried look... They were probably a little embarrassed for me that my husband was being so obvious about what he wanted, or felt sorry for him if both of the babies were girls, or maybe they were worried that one of the babies was actually a boy and he would forget all about the girl! Well, no matter, I wasn't worried :) BECAUSE Manimal has an obvious soft spot for little baby girls. He is always commenting on how cute baby girls are and how much he loves their pig-tales. He even comes home from work with stories of little girls that he met and how cute they would say things. He almost never replicates this behavior when he sees little baby boys. So, I have always known that Manimal would adore our little babies, especially if they were girls.

But now the secret is out and we are, in fact, having one of each!!! A girl and a boy :) I couldn't be more excited!!! My reaction to the news was very subtle compared to someone I know.....

So we got to our Targeted Ultrasound. This is an ultrasound that is done by a Sonographer at 20 Weeks pregnant and they spend about 20 minutes (per baby) looking at their development and making sure there are no abnormalities going on. Anyway, we got into the room and I had to go to the bathroom, so I left Manimal and our Super Sonographer (she was so awesome) alone in the room together.... I found out later that Manimal spent the entire time that I was gone telling her that he wanted to make sure the babies were healthy, but he mainly wanted to see if the other baby was a boy. When I got back in the room Super Sonographer said, "I tried to ask him when your due date was, but all he seems to know is how much he wants one of them to be a boy" haha! Jordan and I both started laughing, and I was getting that worried look, and I told her my 40 week date is September 28th.

I am pretty good at reading people due to my introvert-ness, and I quickly got a good feel for Super Sonographer's personality.  She is a very smart and confident lady with a few extra doses of spunk and she isn't afraid to show her sense of humor (like I sometimes am). Before we started the ultrasound, she asked me if I wanted the freezing cold gel, or the heated gel with a straight face, but then started laughing and didn't wait for me to respond and started splurting the heated gel on my belly.

She started the ultrasound with Baby A. Apparently they name your twins Baby A and Baby B. Baby A is the one that is closest to the Cervix and will likely be born first, and Baby B is up higher and will probably be born second. Anyways, Baby A was just chillin there and she went straight to the pelvic area first.... she said, "This is a perfect view of the pelvic area! You can see the thighs and everything perfectly!" It kind of looked like the baby sat on a copy machine and that is the view we were seeing. I was unsure, but I thought I saw male parts haha... but Super Sonographer didn't say anything, so I happily let her continue so that I could see more of my baby! She concluded that Baby A is developing perfectly and everything looks well and moved on to the next baby. Manimal quickly inturrupted and said, "Can you tell what it is??" and I said, "Babe, I think she already knows..." (due to the clear view from earlier) and Super Sonographer said, "Well, I don't think we are going to be able to tell today because of the babies positioning" with her same straight face that she used earlier with the gel comment... Of course Manimal didn't catch on and kept intently looking at the screen (I love his random gullibility) and I looked at Super Sonographer and she quickly winked and kept going with Baby B.

"This one is definitely a girl" was the next thing out of her mouth, and oh how adorable that little girl is!!!!! She had her hands up by her face the whole time! She was kind of sucking on her hands at one point and then she was covering up her nose. Manimal was kind of panicked and asked if her fingers were stuck in her nose because she left her hand up there so long! Super Sonographer and I just laughed. Well Baby B looked just as healthy as Baby A and their heartbeats sounded great!

Manimal was not satisfied at all with the current results of the ultrasound, and I was getting a little anxious too because I still wasn't sure if I actually saw little male parts or not and needed Super Sonographer to confirm! Of course we were both very very happy that our babies look healthy and perfect because in the end that is what is most important.. but Manimal asked if he could shake my belly around to try and get Baby A to move. Super Sonographer just laughed and said, "Well let me just take another quick look and see if we can find anything" Within seconds little Baby A's male parts were very obvious on the screen... even to me... but not Manimal yet. I just started laughing and Super Sonographer finally said, "that is a penis". That is all it took....

Manimal kept his eyes glued on the screen and shot out of his chair to get closer to it. "WHAT?! ARE YOU SURE??" He let his eyes leave the screen for a second to get a confirmation from Super Sonographer, and she very assuredly told him that it was. I can't remember exactly what he did next because I was having my own very excited reaction.. but there was a lot of yelling and cheering and "THAT'S MY BOY" 's coming out of his mouth, along with running around and jumping up and down. I was just laying there laughing and smiling and just so thrilled with the whole situation. Manimal wasn't settling down, so Super Sonographer and I let him keep freaking out while we finished up the appointment. After we wiped all the goop off of my belly, Manimal came running over and put his hands on it and got close and said, "Hi Wake and Raylie!! I'm your dad!!" We hugged and kissed and were just so thrilled that we are having one of each!!!!! As we got up to leave, Super Sonographer leaned to me and said, "Good luck with all 3 of your children" haha!! I could only laugh because quite a few people have said the exact same phrase to me......

When we were finding our way back to the lobby, every Doctor, Nurse, patient, or worker that we passed was smiling at us. Manimal finally announced that we are having twins and just found out that one was a boy... a couple of them just started laughing and one of them said, "We know, we heard... Everyone heard!"  So much for confidentiality.... Our Dr's office definitely needs to install more insulation in the walls because when we found out we were having twins everyone heard that too! Trust me, it would be easier to ask the office to install insulation than to ask Manimal to keep his excitement to himself. (picture is blurry.. but accurate)

Words cannot express how much I love my new little family! The amount of how perfect everything is turning out is..."without fathom" (Megamind) I am going to post more about why it is so perfect in my next post, because seriously...its unreal.

Pregnancy Update: We know a gender!

One of my little frogs is a girl!!! I am obviously very excited, but at the same time not surprised... I had a dream about 2 years ago that I would have a girl first, and ever since I found out I was pregnant, I just had this feeling that I was having a girl. When the twin card was played, however, I felt a bit confused and doubted myself haha, but with the 99% guarantee from my new Doctor (Dr. Southern -- she has a slight accent) that this one is a girl, I am feeling reassured again. Ah I am just so excited to meet her and hug her and dress her in PINK THINGS!!! (with hearts and bows and flowers of course) The Manimal gets this cute little twinkle in his eye whenever we talk about her and while he doesn't share my passion with pink girly things, he is very excited about our little girl as much as I am. Buuuuuut lets be honest, he wants a little mini-man that he can rough around with and teach him everything he knows...

Frog #2's gender was not visible.... This has become somewhat of an annoyance to me for the past few weeks for a few reasons 1. I still cannot plan anything for the colors of the nursery or anything else really, (and I LOVE planning things) 2. We already have one girl name and one boy name picked out and me and The Manimal are having a hard time thinking of another girl name just-in-case, and 3. When people ask me what I am having, there is always an awkward pause after I reply with "A girl!!" because they are waiting to hear what the other one is. I can't blame my little one though because he/she was fully cooperating with trying to show us the goods. He/she was all stretched out with its hands behind its head and legs spread open wide, but the dang umbilical cord was just chillin right in the way. Dr. Southern tried to get the baby to move around and try and look at it from a different angle, but of course little frog didn't move. Which is too bad... because it was really weird to have my doctor jiggling my belly around and pressing the ultrasound thing in weird places. Oh well...

This last week my belly (The Belly) has noticeably grown larger and I think its obvious that I'm pregnant now.. This is a picture of me in Cancun a couple of days ago! I will write a post all about this vacation as soon as I am allowed to talk about everything that happened there! We did some things there that can't be shared on the internet until I get clearance... Que twilight zone theme song.... nu ne nu nu, nu ne nu nu...

Anyways, The Belly is a weird thing to get used to. I can't bend over all the way, or sleep very well, and I don't know how I feel about people looking at me and then staring at my belly.... BUT I have felt tiny little movements every now and then and I am just filled with so much joy and love each time. They are just faint little movements for now... but oh how I love them!! When I cross my legs and sit a certain way, the baby on the right side starts squirming around... probably because they are annoyed with me because it limits their space even more, but I keep doing it anyways because I love it.

So far The Manimals parenting skills are frightening. When he notices my belly, he palms it like a basketball, shakes it around, gets two inches away from it and yells,' "HI BABIES!! I'M YOUR DAD"... Their little ears are just developing, so I don't know if they can hear him yet, but they are probably a little stunned when this happens. I guess its good to start conditioning them to get used to the energetic father they are going to be fully exposed to.... OR I suppose they could be just as energetic as him, as they are his children, and I'm the one in for a ride...

Overall I am loving a lot of things about being pregnant, and The Manimal is doing well adjusting to my hormone flares (I love you, darling). Our lives are still quite crazy with switching employment and trying to find somewhere to live, but we thank Heavenly Father every day for our two beautiful blessings!

Twins!!!

"Oh there's two babies!" 

Those words spoken by my midwife at our first ultrasound were unexpected, unbelievable (literally), and needed to be spoken six or seven more times before they were accepted as truth. Nothing has been the same from that moment forward, and things will probably continue to get more crazy and unbelievable!

WE ARE HAVING TWINS!!!

I am so glad that "the cat is out of the bag" now so I can share this experience and just talk about it! Holding that secret in was the hardest thing I have ever done... I mean, the most shocking and life changing thing was happening to Manimal (my husband) and I and I had to keep it in and not talk about it! Torture. 

So after my midwife had begun the ultrasound and told us that two babies were in there, this is what happened.... 

Everything in my brain went black and I just couldn't compute. It was like someone just told me that unicorns exist and that I would be meeting one later on that afternoon. I just said, "no there isn't" or "nu-uh" or something like that.... its still a little blury, but I do remember asking her six or seven times to clarify her statement and reasoning behind the statement. She had to point at the screen at each one and show me that there were 2. She even locked in on one at a time and showed me their little bodies! They looked like tiny little cute frogs!

I don't know if I had processed it yet, but I remembered that I was married and that Manimal was in the room having a reaction of his own. He had jumped to his feet and had clasped both hands over a huge smile. He was kind of yelling/laughing and his eyes were watering. He couldn't really speak, and each time my midwife was reassuring me that she wasn't lying, his strange laugh-yell got louder. There were points when his face was 2 inches away from the screen and he couldn't seem to say anything other than, "Oh my gosh!"

It felt like my brain wanted to stop everything from happening and just have a second, but I caught up to myself again and realized I was clutching Manimal's shirt. By this time, my midwife had concluded that the twins were Fraternal (not Identical) because they were each in their own placenta and had space between the sacs and had printed out a few pictures. She suddenly said, "let me just make sure there isn't a third one in there" we silently held our breath while she looked (at this point, anything was possible). No triplets.... enter sighs of relief. 

I am sure that the angels watching us through all of this were having the time of their lives! Our reactions were priceless, I'm sure. 

I think the reason we were so shocked and astonished was because twins don't really run in our families! Manimal was actually adopted, so we don't even know what is in his genes, but my family hasn't had a twin in it since my great grandma! (and when twins are fraternal, it is because of the mom's genes) That fact, plus the fact that we didn't think we would get pregnant that fast anyways made any possibility of twins just....not a possibility.

After the appointment was all over, me and Manimal were left to process what just happened, and what was going to happen next. We were in our car just kind of sitting there. It reminded me about our wedding day when him and I got into the car alone after the temple and just had a moment to let the significant change of our lives settle in. I don't know if I could say that I was happy about the news, but I wasn't angry either.... just worried and anxious. Manimal, however, was pretty ecstatic and just kept kind of giggling to himself with joy and excitement. (It was adorable)

Since then, a lot has changed already! Nothing has really physically changed (except for a small bump on my belly, and my ability to cry, laugh, and become furious within seconds) but a lot has changed mentally. Manimal is starting to feel more pressure on providing for a family twice its original size, and I am becoming more in love with my little ones and feeling so excited and blessed that this is happening to us! I still have the same fears as any pregnant lady about things going wrong, but we have to stay positive. 

We went in for our 12 week appointment yesterday and we got to see them again! Instead of looking like frogs, they were fully developed little humans! They are both squirming around and moving their tiny little limbs all over the place.  All I can think about is what a miracle they are and how much I love them. 

There is still a lot of road ahead full of unsurity, but one thing is for sure, Those Crazy Wayments just got a little bit crazier!