Dearborn, feels like home

I am still attempting to wrap up the posts on our road trip. Due to my increased desire for multiple naps a day since returning home, it leaves me little time by myself to think or write.  If I happen to start writing run on sentences it is because nap time has overtaken me ; ) Also, I was attempting to title all my posts from vacation with a lyric from a song.....way too tired for that!

Michigan was amazing…every little part, every person we spent time with, every smile I saw from Virginia as she loved on her great granddaughters & every moment that Rob & I glanced at each other with a look that meant we needed to put this trip on our calendar more often.

This post includes all the relaxing we did & time spent with family & neighbors.  Virginia has lived in the same house for somewhere around 60 years. She is close friends with many of her neighbors whether they rival her for the first to move in or came along later & merged their lives together.
She is just a short walk away from a great shady park so we went there nearly everyday at some point. Char perfected her moves on the scooter & Aunt Edna worked with Elo on walking upright : ) It worked, she was walking like a pro when Edna was done with her! Charlotte helped her Gigi water the yard.  There is no better way to complete outdoor home care than in your undies right?
 
Anne is one of Virginia’s close friends that lived behind her for many years but moved into an assisted living facility a couple years ago.  Virginia has taken a role of helping Anne sell her home, paying her bills & maintaining a sweet friendship. We got to go visit her one morning & meet a few of her friends there before we kidnapped her & took her to Brady’s Irish Pub, her favorite place to go for lunch. It was fun to visit with her & even Charlotte decided she would pose for a picture!

Jeannine’s cousin Ted & his family live about 30 minutes away & invited us over for dinner one night. I had heard so much about their family & was excited to finally meet them. They were quite the host/hostess & served us an incredible meal out on the patio. We finished the evening off with some jumping on the trampoline. If ziplining in Tennessee had not split the egg all the way to begin the life of the twins, I am sure my multiple flips finished off the job ; )

Robby yelled up to me that the net was working well & I thought he meant that someone was falling off & had been caught by the net but when I walked down I figured out what he meant. Oh my goodness, we could not stop laughing

Paige, Edna, Ted, La & us

We took one morning to enjoy the Detroit Zoo which was not a far drive from home.  We took Grace & Emma who live next door to Virginia.  They were SO fun to have along with us for multiple reasons. One, Char & Elo love them. Two, it was a little taste of what’s to come when Char & Elo are 9 & 10. And three, they are just delightful young ladies that we could have spent every day with & not tired of them!

I know it is weird but I love the reptile house & this visit, Charlotte got hooked on it too! Yipee! She was more interested in this pig nosed turtle she is staring down in the picture below than any other animal at the zoo.  We kept turning around thinking she was behind us & she would be standing back at the turtle.

The gorilla habitat was neat & we saw this big guy walking all over the place.  Elo put her shades on when it got sunny & posed with Emma & Grace.  We call her “Elo-John” when she wears them ; )

When we sat down to eat our lunch we saw a Mommy peacock & her babies. We got into this hilarious discussion about what to call them. It started with Rob saying, “I don’t think a female is called a peacock".” I thought he was crazy but thanks to Google on our iPhones, we could settle the disagreement rather quickly.  We found out that as a whole, they are called “Peafowl” while a male is called a “Peacock” & a female is a “Peahen.” What the heck?? It was pretty funny.  Since Michigan is chilly for much of the year, they have an amazing Arctic Circle exhibit where we got to see lots of Polar Bears sunning themselves.
We were not planning to ride the carousel but sweet sweet Eloise almost had a tantrum as we walked passed it & Gigi said we should ride : ) So we did & it was of course, worth it!

Grace was not too excited to be riding a grasshopper ; ) Charlotte rode a bat which made me laugh because for the longest time you would say “Charlotte, say “bat”” & she would think for a minute & shout “MAT!” She can say it correctly now. Elo rode on Nemo which was so appropriate since they had just watched it while driving state to state.  Again, I love watching my girls enjoy a carousel ride!

That evening, Meryl, Grace & Emma along with Dorothy & Jack from across the street joined us for dinner on the patio. Rob is one happy man with a grill, some good music & a beer. He cooked up some Polish hotdogs & burgers for us plus some super yummy mushrooms & onions on the side.  We had a WONDERFUL time getting to visit with Dorothy & Jack who purchased their home around the same time Virginia & Gene did. They had many stories from over the years. One being that Dorothy remembers watching Bob, Jeannine & Robby drive away when they moved to Texas shortly following Gene’s death & prior to Robby’s first birthday. Another neighbor talked about how she remembered Evelyn Valentine (Rob’s other Grandmother) walking down the street with Bob in a wagon. How neat to be in a place for long enough to see a couple generations grow up & then meet the grandkids of the kid in the wagon!

Charlotte really liked Dorothy & Jack as they were just wonderful paying attention to her.  They let us borrow some toys that their grandchildren & great grandchildren have played with.  In the mix was this itty bitty baby that Elo carried around with her everywhere.  I will blame Jack for getting Charlotte hooked on coins ; )   He gave her a dollar coin that she thought was just amazing & from then on has been begging for coins. It is pretty funny. Long story short, she got a piggy bank (pink of course) & now earns coins each day for feeding the dogs.  Someday she will be rich….maybe not, she really wants to spend it all on candy.  I am not ashamed to admit that I relinquished much of my parenting responsibility to a 9 & 10 year old for a good portion of the week. We were always nearby if they needed help & they rarely did! Charlotte & Eloise enjoyed their dinner out on a quilt with the big girls.

We enjoyed looking at the post in the basement where Virginia recorded how much everyone was growing.  Robby looked pretty close & noticed that between 1988 & 1989 he shrunk a good 6 inches ; ) Oops!

Virginia added Robby’s current height to the post & then Charlotte decided she wanted in on the memory making…..


The second to last day we were there, we took over to the cemetery where Rob & Evelyn Valentine are buried. They both died before Robby & I were dating so I never got to meet them.  One thing I love about spending time with Virginia is hearing all the stories about the Valentines since she maintained a close friendship with them through the later years of their life.  I enjoy walking around cemeteries & reading the headstones. It is a place that makes me think of those in my life who have died. I remember very clearly the funerals of grandparents, one at a very young age. I think back to singing at a funeral of a friend who died early in college & how that was one of the contributors to God really pursuing my heart in a painful time.  It was within months of that funeral that I truly recognized my need for a Savior & prayed that He would forgive me for my sin. I committed to trust Him above all else & walk through the rest of of my life with His leading. To read the years of the start & finish of someone’s life on earth really puts things into perspective. Even if it is 100 years, that is just a speck in all of eternity. Cemeteries make me think about my own life & feelings about death.  Death brings so much pain & sadness that seems to linger for years as people grow through their grief. I would be lying if I said that death has never scared me but as I consider the whole picture, I am reminded of the passage in 1 Corinthians 15 that says “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” In Christ, we have nothing to fear in death.  It is just the passing from life on earth into the presence of the Lord for all of ALL ETERNITY! We cannot even fathom how incredible that will be & should earnestly desire for that day to come. All that to say, I was glad to go to the place where Charlotte & Eloise’s great grandparents are buried. 

One other stop that morning or rather a drive by…..Wesson street in Downtown Detroit to see one of the homes that Virginia lived in with her family as a young girl.  It was a really nice part of town in the 1930s & 40s when they lived there but is quite run down now. I was so thankful to just see a little piece of Virginia’s past on our drive that day.

Well, that is the second to last of the Road Trip 2012 pictures…..still to come, Dearborn Homecoming.....my favorite part!

Expecting the Unexpected

Yes, we double checked the math....and it is definitely correct! It was confirmed today that the Valentine family is growing by four little feet come next spring! Our hearts are bursting with joy as we share this news with our family & friends. 

I had to title this post "Expecting the Unexpected" for a few reasons. First, after our time of waiting for the Lord to give us a baby, we were blessed back to back with Charlotte Grace & Eloise Hope. We have always known we desired more than a couple children & over vacation had really begun to talk about adding #3.  In fact, there were a couple times that I mentioned that I thought our family might possibly be complete with just one more child. (hahaha!)

The night we returned home from our trip to Michigan, on August 5th, we saw this lovely result......

We were jumping up & down hugging each other so overwhelmed that once again God would allow us to welcome another baby.  What a sweet moment it was! We told Eloise first when I was nursing her before bed that evening....she just grinned & said "bobby" which is "baby." We shared the news with Charlotte the next morning at breakfast.  Robby said "Charlotte, would you like for Mommy to have another baby?" knowing that her answer would be "YES!" Instead she said, "Yes! I want 5 brothers & 5 sissies!"  Five is Charlotte's perfect number by the way, she wants five of anything....except spankings ; ) Anyway, we went on to share with our families that day & received lots of excited screams. 

Onto reason number two for the title....we went to the doctor the following Monday for a routine early ultrasound for dating. I had only had one period in June & assumed I was about 7 weeks along from that date. Instead, we saw a little gestational sac that measured about 5 & a half weeks. Within that sac were not one but TWO yolk sacs. I have seen enough ultrasounds to know what I am looking for & I immediately saw both yolk sacs but thought...."no way, I must be looking at it wrong." The sonographer said "well, let me tell you what I am looking at, you are a little too early to see a heartbeat but there are definitely two yolk sacs!" OH MY!!! That look between Rob & me will be one that I will remember my entire life. It's like we knew the deepest joy & excitement in each other's heart & just grinned with our eyes really wide thinking, could this could really be happening to us?

The sonographer left us alone for a minute & we were laughing so hard that I am sure she was laughing on the other side of the door. We came out, walked around the corner & saw Dr. Peppy.  The nurse shot me a glance that said she knew what the sono showed. It was a face like "oh girl, get ready for chaos!"  Dr. Peppy on the other hand was busy getting Charlotte a lollipop. He looked up at me & said, "So, did you have your scan?" I thought, oh boy, I get to be the one to tell him! I said, very nonchalantly, "yep, there were two yolk sacs." His jaw dropped & I don't think he spoke for about 30 seconds.  Robby finally said, "Are you okay Dr. Peppy?" It was hilarious. I think he might have taken it that hardest out of everyone we told ; ) He later told us that it takes a lot to shock him but that definitely did it! He cautioned us that he frequently sees something called "vanishing twin" where by the time a scan is done around 8 weeks, one yolk sac/baby disappears but he ran us through the whole gamut of a twin pregnancy. We left with our brains going a million miles a minute & our hearts full of excitement with the possibility of two babies.

I had been feeling really good until about 3 days after my ultrasound & then it happened. My body was overtaken by the worst nausea I have felt & fatigue like I have NEVER experienced. I was pretty nauseated with both prior pregnancies & felt like I needed some naps to survive but this has been crazy! I took two naps a day for about 6 days in a row, went to bed by 9 & slept till 7 & still fought to keep my eyes open.  I kept telling myself that it was a good sign that at least one baby was growing in there! I am feeling like my belly is already sticking out a little bit. In fact, I chose a maternity skirt to wear to church yesterday...it was comfortable! I felt a little better about that choice today when we saw that there are two reasons why I might be showing already ; )

So fast forward 2 weeks to this morning.  We got up before the sun came up to get ready, jumped in the car to drive through the rains from Tropical Storm Isaac for our 8 o'clock appointment. I felt like it was my wedding day or something.  Before we woke the girls, we sat on the couch & Rob prayed for us for a little bit. The Lord really calmed my anxious heart in an instant & as we asked him to prepare us to receive whatever he saw fit to give us whether it be one baby, two babies or even no babies.  The girls were so happy on the way there humming along to our music.  We listened to Sons of Korah which was a band Rob really enjoyed when he lived in Australia. They basically sing Psalms word for word to beautiful music....we love their songs & it was a perfect choice to keep us from being anxious.

Eloise decided to have the stinkiest, grossest diaper I have changed in a long time right when we arrived at the office. They called my name when I was changing her so I came out with this diaper that almost made me vomit & told Rob he had to take it outside. This really has nothing to do with the story but it made me laugh...just a snapshot of our life right now : )

A couple other snap shots of our life, ie weird things:

• I did not know I was pregnant while on vacation and did more than a couple things I would not do while pregnant such as horseback riding, ziplining & doing some crazy acrobatic moves on a trampoline. I was quite nervous when I saw that positive result on the pregnancy test that I may have done something that would cause a miscarriage or something.  Come to find out, with these twins, an egg split to form them. If you count back to when I would have ovulated/conceived + knowing that the egg split sometime early in the first week, it lines right up with when I flipped upside down to go across that zipline ; ) My friend Sara called it "the zipline split!" Who knows when it really happened but I think the zipline split makes for a great story!
• The morning of my first ultrasound Charlotte told me "I have 5 babies in my belly mommy, wanna see'um?" I said sure as she held out the palm of her hand requesting that I hold them while she got off the bed.  I think she was onto something. If you asked her today, or any day she would tell you that I have 5 babies in my belly too.  Seriously considering that possibility makes twins seem like a joke ; ) 
• Prior to my ultrasound Charlotte got really hooked on a couple episodes of Dora where she has twin siblings born.  It was her episode choice for her TV time for about 5 days straight.
• I played Bunco one evening between the ultrasounds & was awful at every number except when we were on 2's. I rolled 16 in a row. 
• A friend of Jenny's asked her (after seeing me at Karis's birthday party) "When is your sister in law due?" Jenny was taken aback & said that it wasn't really public knowledge yet but that I was early. She replied "Well if I didn't know any better, I would guess she is a few months along with twins." HAHA! I think Jenny had a hard time containing herself in that moment ;)  So yes, proof that I might have a little bump. 

We had the same sonographer that we had last time & she quickly moved along so we could see what was happening on the inside. What do you know....we saw two little babies!!

Baby A on the left & Baby B on the right

JOY JOY JOY!! Their heartbeats were 155 & 157.  They measured 7 weeks & 3 days which if I remember correctly, that is exactly what Charlotte & Eloise were at their first ultrasounds too. We saw Baby A do a teeny tiny wiggle while Baby B posed perfectly still for their picture.  They are considered Monochorionic Diamniotic Twins or Mo/Di for short. This means that they share a placenta but are in separate amniotic sacs.  Mo/Di twins are always identical so we know that we are adding two boys to even things out in our home or two more girls to add to the giggling. Either option sounds like quite the adventure. A twin pregnancy is considered term at 37 weeks which makes my due date March 23, 2013- Rob's 32nd birthday!

You can see the individual  membranes around the babies in the picture above.

A great shot of Baby A with B hiding somewhere in the background. 

Lastly, I chose "Expecting the Unexpected" because I am living life right now as a mother of four babies, two in my arms & two in my womb. In those times of deep sadness & even contentment before we were given Charlotte, I never expected we would be where we are today on August 27, 2012.  I am beaming, with tears running down my cheeks.

With twins, I am automatically deemed "high risk" especially with my starting size & stature.  Twin pregnancies many times are uneventful & women are able to carry to term without any complication but there are often multiple difficulties that occur.  I live in this reality that many pregnant women do not because of my experience as a Labor & Delivery nurse. My two places of employment are in the top three in the United States for deliveries each year. I have spent seven years celebrating with families but this also adds up to seven years of walking with families through the tragedy of losing their children.  I have seen a baby at nearly every week gestation, amazed at the perfect forming of every body part that can only be attributed to God.  I have held babies while they have passed from this life into the arms of the Lord when a parent has not been able to do it.  I have cried many tears with families & for weeks following their loss.  We know the possibilities that lie ahead for these babies & that is why we are celebrating their life today.  Please join us in prayer over the coming weeks & months for God to provide strength for my body to carry for as long as God sees fit, for these two little ones to continue to grow healthy & strong & for our hearts to be prepared for whatever is coming our way.

As I consider these things that tend to weigh heavy on my heart, I am reminded that "all I have needed, His hand has provided, great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me."  These lyrics come from the song that has basically become our family anthem sung at bedtime every night & lately periodically throughout the day. I have been awake in the middle of the night with these words running through my mind as I consider the possibilities of our future. I will close with the words of the song that I sang the first night I rocked Charlotte in our home while she was awake screaming in the middle of the night. That sweet little girl sings every word along with her Mommy & Daddy now.

He's Always Been Faithful 
by Sara Groves

Morning by morning I wake up to find 
The power and comfort of God’s hand in mine 
Season by season I watch Him, amazed 
In awe of the mystery of His perfect ways 
All I have need of, His hand will provide 
He’s always been faithful to me. 

I can’t remember a trial or a pain 
He did not recycle to bring me gain 
I can’t remember one single regret 
In serving God only, and trusting His hand 
All I have need of, His hand will provide 
He’s always been faithful to me. 

This is my anthem, this is my song 
The theme of the stories I’ve heard for so long 
God has been faithful, He will be again 
His loving compassion, it knows no end 
All I have need of, His hand will provide 
He’s always been faithful, He’s always been faithful 
He’s always been faithful to me.

project 365: [225-231]

August 12th- Our all american girl eating some corn on the cob.

August 13th- the frog (about 8 inches in length) who jumped on my arm when I opened the screen door at 11pm.

August 14th- Char & Jude got to feed the fishies in the pond at the Johnson's house. 

August 15th- Finally cleaned out & re-organized the spice cabinet.

August 16th- Week of the frogs! We watched a few little ones go in & out the wind chime during an evening rain.

August 17th- Princess Eloise refused to eat her breakfast without her crown on.

August 18th- Put our two new ornaments away to wait for Christmas decorating.

project 365: [days 217-223]

August 5th- Last stop on the road trip home....a sweet treat from DQ! Elo's face cracks me up!

August 6th- Laundry & unpacking have taken over the house.

August 7th- Found two "cool" girls in the refrigerator.

August 8th- Sorted through the entire kids library to pass on some oldies & categorize the rest. 

August 9th- Loving my Pampered Chef chopper as I prepared some spaghetti sauce.

August 10th- Finally added Elo's 1 year old pic to the bookshelf.  These two frames are her obsession right now. 

August 11th- Charlotte enjoying her tear out animal cards from her magazine.