Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm 25 weeks now and I pretty much say this every week, but I've really exploded lately. humongo exploded.
this was 2 weeks ago:

and now this week:

So much to be thankful for this year!

*an amazing husband who is always looking out for me
*two little girls that are growing inside of me
*supportive family
*the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives
*our cute house that is WARM and starting to come together, almost ready for little babes
(*I guess I'll highlight our new mirror and fireplace, I'm thrilled to have a mantle to decorate!)
*getting to make yummy holiday food

So count your blessings and cook, cook, cook!
Happy Thanksgiving!

minor aches and pains

I try not to be an overly paranoid pregnant lady, but sometimes it's hard not to be. This is my first time doing this, new things are happening to my body that have never happened before (times two) and it doesn't help that I recently finished nursing school. (giving me just enough info to get me worried, without enough experience to reassure my fears with facts on my individual case...)
So maybe I have run into my Dr's office to have them check on my babies after my rambunctious niece head butted me in the uterus when running to hug me. It freaked me out, and I didn't care that everyone in the office was certainly laughing at me after I left. I felt a little idiotic by the third time explaining the scenario (first to the secretary, then the nurse, then the doctor "now describe to trauma to me? what was that, a 3 year old girl head butting you? Hmm...she seriously thought a 3 year old running into her damaged her babies? ha. And yes, I did.)
The pregnancy discomforts are amplifying daily. Here's a couple of examples of recent concerns I've gone to my Dr. with:
*"Um, my left ribs have been numb for the past 3 weeks. " That doesn't seem good right?
SELF DIAGNOSIS: inflamed gallbladder? ....some kind of nerve damage??
DR. DIAGNOSIS: sounds like stretching ligaments, get used to it during pregnancy.

*I occasionally feel sharp, tingly pulling in the middle of my stomach at random times.
SELF DIAGNOSIS: maybe one of the placentas is pulling away from the uterus.
DR. DIAGNOSIS: sounds like stretching ligaments, get used to it during pregnancy.

*Okay, but what about a really sharp, intense pain on my lower right side that happens at night sometimes...this ones got to be serious, right? I better check, just in case...
SELF DIAGNOSIS: appendicitis.
DR. DIAGNOSIS: sounds like stretching ligaments, get used to it during pregnancy.

Apparently if you're pregnant and not bleeding, you can blame pain on your poor, overstretched ligaments, doing their best to support your enormous uterus. Hang in there guys, we've still got a long way to go. I know you used to just have to hold onto a little lemon-sized muscle, that little lemon grew into a watermelon, in fact it will be more like 2 watermelons...good luck w/ the stretching, dear ligaments. I can handle your stretching pain as long as you do your job.
It's amazing our bodies can do this whole thing! I've tried to explain to Brad that I can have a stomach ache in my ribs, here's why:

autumn

Our wedding photographer, Scott Jarvie is pretty awesome and does an annual charitable shoot (for free!) for past clients. It wasn't really perfect timing for us (I was showing enough to not look normal and it was about a week before I popped out obviously), but free is always perfect, so we went with it:

we didn't mean to do this, but it was kinda cool that timp was in the background of some of these, since we hiked to the peak while pregnant with the twins- they've already been to the top!

then Jarvie asked us to lay in some hay, and since we pretty much just trust him and do what he says:

but then he had me lay in the hay (or wheat or whatever...) by myself. That felt weirder. Turns out when you lay in hay and the camera gets the right angle it looks like you're trying to be a sexy mama, even if you're just laying there kinda dazed and awkward. (I have a bunch of these shots, I don't think there's much for me to do w/ them...)

and back to standing on two feet, we do much better here:

and just in case you couldn't tell, some hand placement so you know I'm pregnant:

Cutie Pie

I just had to show off this adorable apple pie I made for my young women last night. They only know that I bake good cookies so I was put in charge of a couple pies for our gratitude dinner, if only they knew I do more than desserts... oh well, it was a big hit once I convinced people we could cut into it.

in costume

So Halloween was a while ago, but I've been busy getting a couple baby quilts ready to take on a little trip with me...but I still wanted to share our awesome costumes on la blog.
Anyone who knows me knows I love an excuse to dress up- whether it be for something fancy or looking ridiculous- as long as its out of the ordinary I'm always entertained. I guess its one more outlet for my artistic side to enjoy.
Last year halloween snuck up on us, so I was the token witch (this dress is amazing btw- my mom made it forever ago, we wore it as a long witch dress when we were little and now my sisters and nieces have all had their fair share roaming in it!) Brad wasn't all into coming up w/ a costume (which doesn't make sense historically) so I just made him be Harry Potter:

 This year I wanted to make sure to incorporate being pregnant so this was our costume:

Get it? We're Quinn and Finn from Glee:

Except we're way more chaste, because we're married.

Brad loved this costume because I just gave him a puffy vest to wear and told him to try and make his hair look extra teenagery.

and I'm not the only one pregnant this year in my family- my sister Melinda and my sister-in-law Meg are both having babies around the same time as me! (and pseudo-sister Maja is having twins too) Many Lewis babes coming next year.

Melinda was a real cheerleader, can you tell? (I really need to start stretching again...)

 In the meantime, enjoy these images of adorable, pregnant cheerleader sisters:

We hung out at my moms eating chili and doughnuts, then went trick-or-treating w/ the nieces and nephews.

Hope you all had as much fun on Halloween as we did! (next year will be even better because I have two little me's to dress up as well- I can't wait!!!)

fall treats

So Brad mentioned the other day that he hasn't really noticed me have any intense pregnancy cravings. As we thought about it, we realized it's probably just less distinguishable from my normal cravings... I love food so much I think I always have that pregnancy symptom! I've been neglecting food from a blogging perspective lately, but in real life our love is still in full bloom. Fall and food were made for each other- the stews, pot pies, pumpkin, squash, cinnamon, ginger goodness- love, love, love.
I've been too overwhelmed lately with house projects and such, I noticed I've only been blogging about the babies. I think I need to find a better balance... So I'll clue you in on what happened today- I made yummy donuts with my nieces and nephews! And these ones have a healthy-ish twist: they have wheat germ and I baked them, so I didn't feel bad letting the kiddos down a few.

they're trapped

I was telling Brad about how I've been a little anti-social, consumed with projects and plans for home & baby. Then I mentioned how I haven't been blogging as much. Brad was like, "Katie, blogging isn't social..." Well, being virtually social is one step for me. I love hanging out w/ friends in real life too, so if you're local we should get together, I don't want to be a social wreck loose anymore. :)
The reality of pregnancy is hitting me harder these days. I'm suddenly feeling huge, wearing official maternity clothes, and experiencing some new pregnancy discomforts: lower back pain, inability to bend over, and starting to feel the impact of this growing bowling ball in my abdomen on all my organs. I"m only 1/2 way there, so thats a little scary...
Not all the new changes have been bad though! I've been feeling the babies move around for weeks now, its pretty cool. Brad has been anxious to join in on the fun, so last week I knew he'd be thrilled to feel them. Once when they were particularly active I put his hand where I'd felt little pokes, and he felt them! I think he was excited, but all he said was, "they're trapped! they hate it in there."
I tried to explain how a uterus is a happy place for a fetus to grow, but apparently to Brad my womb is a small prison. It's okay- the girls have already served over 1/2 of their time. I guess they are trapped, but i think they like it.

the bump update: (20 weeks)