Big girl beds and other news

There are some exciting things happening in our house. The girls have successfully graduated to toddler beds! The transition was as smooth as can be and so far, we have had no issues either with people falling out of their beds or getting out and coming into our room. I wonder if this is one of the few things that might actually be easier with twins: the girls have each other for company, so maybe they have less of a need to wander around looking for one of us in the night? Whatever the reason, I'm thrilled that it was so seamless! Here are a few pics of them snuggling down for the first night in their new beds.


We've been talking about moving them into their big girl beds for awhile, but they were so content in their cribs that we figured we'd give it more time. That was until we discovered this:

Yep, I'm pregnant! I'm 13 weeks along with this little surprise, due around September 5th. You could have blown me over with a feather when, after my period was late and I decided on a whim to take a test, it came up positive. We conceived the girls using IVF and didn't think it was possible for us to get pregnant on our own. After all, 5 years of unprotected sex and it never happened. We were open to the idea of having another one so we weren't being very careful, but it seemed like such a far flung possibility that we could actually make a baby on our own. Who knew?!

Now that the morning sickness has abated somewhat (it's been MUCH worse this time around than when I was pregnant with the girls, even though we're SURE there's only one in there!) and I'm starting to feel a little better, I'm getting pretty excited. We told the girls a few days ago and now every morning when she wakes up, Isabelle asks me if the baby is still growing inside my belly. I love it.

Early on, I had many moments of feeling overwhelmed and scared about having another baby, mainly how I would juggle taking care of the girls and Hannah's particular needs while also going back to the mind-numbing early days of sleepless nights. And I still have those moments but more and more, I feel confident that it will work itself out. I never could have imagined, when I was home alone with the girls for the first time after we brought them home from the hospital, all of the things I do on my own with them. I take them all over the place and manage just fine, even with Hannah's mobility challenges. And when this little one arrives the girls will be just about to start preschool so that will give me a little time with just the baby to care for. Plus they will be about to turn 4 and are getting more and more independent every day, especially Isabelle but Hannah as well.

I think this will be a great thing for our family. Right now, Isabelle does a lot of nurturing/caretaking of Hannah which is really sweet but also a little worrisome as we want to encourage Hannah's independence as much as possible. And Hannah likes to be taken care of. Once the baby comes, they'll both have someone else to fawn over and I think it will be good for everyone.

All in all, we're excited about the prospect of welcoming a new life into our house. Now we just need to go out and buy a minivan!