Pregnancy Twins (2016)

We have now reached Pregnancy Twins, Part IV: The Final Chapter -- well maybe not. It would be fun to keep the photo tradition going over the next several years. The final chapter could be the four of us together with Emma and Logan in their high school graduation caps and gowns, although there is a good chance they won’t go to the same high school since we don’t live in the same town. 

Anyway, today is my "preg-iversary" with Emma! It was very exciting, back in 2016, when Lindsey found out that she was pregnant just two days after I did! My story was that I found out the morning of Wednesday, October 26^th after Michael had gone to work and I had to wait the whole, very long day until he got home late and I ended up telling him over the phone because I couldn’t wait.. Lindsey took her test in the afternoon of October 28^th because her son Luke, who was three at the time, woke up from a nap and was asking who the baby in her tummy was. Crazy! Lindsey and her husband, like us, were also trying to get pregnant. 

We hung out a few days later on Halloween and took our very first (non-existent, ha!) bump photos in our costumes before taking Luke to Boo at the Zoo in Gainesville, where the entry is a simple can of beans/soup, etc. How wonderful! No wonder they get 5,000 people coming through in one day, but, of course, had to cancel it this year. I definitely want to take Emma there one year, maybe in 2022 and then trick-or-treating in my parent’s neighborhood where tons of the residents participate. Oh darn, I can see I’m already scheduled to work Halloween again that year. I’ll have to request it off.

Lindsey gave me this matching bracelet, which I still have and am currently wearing as I type this, that she bought as a "let's celebrate!" type of gift. She bought them from her friend Kathryn who made them for her jewelry company called Orange Magnolia. The colors don't symbolize anything in particular, but in general it stands for love and joy, which we both share in our relationship for each other and for our new babies! 

At the end of January, I was in Gainesville for my niece Helena’s baptism (Emma still hasn’t met her cousins which has been on the top of her “to do” list since she came home from the NICU), and Lindsey came over and we took more pictures with our sonograms and our small bumps that looked more like we just ate lunch!

We took full-bump photos at my baby shower towards the end of April 2017, which was the last big normal event before we started finding out all of the medical issues and about her dwarfism, which is when I started this blog. Not to add sad notes in here, but it was also the last day I got to spend with my Grandpa Narles before he passed away the following month. I wish I had taken a picture with him when we went out to breakfast with my dad that morning. 

^^ sign reads "future BFFs"

So two Saturdays ago, when we met up with our families at the beach, that was the first time Emma and Logan had been able to be together for us to finally take our post-pregnancy photos, with them both being 3 years and 3 months old. Logan was born about a week before his due date, which was originally before Emma’s, but that was before all of her diagnoses and them needing to deliver her via C-section three weeks early, which now makes her 12 days older than Logan. She doesn’t look it though! ;) 

Don't mind our faces, especially in the last photo with Emma and I both smiling big, but completely having our eyes closed, haha! It was very sunny and windy. However, that is always a much better alternative to it being rainy when at the beach!! Guess we'll just have to meet up again later for Pregnancy Twins, Part 5! ;)

Boo at the Zoo

 There are sooo many events that I have been looking forward to taking Emma to, even before Michael and I were ready to have kids, and this was one of them. So I was so happy to find that Boo at the Zoo was still happening with everything going on right now. Of course we had to wear masks and distance as much as possible, which wasn’t much of a problem- for me at least. Michael voiced how sweaty he was on several occasions and I will admit, there was definitely no ocean breeze like we had been gifted in Daytona the previous day. So having to wear the mask on top of that was hard for him. I only took my mask off two times for a few seconds for a picture when nobody was within about 100 feet of us. 

One benefit of us going during “Corona Year” was that the Halloween event was switched to being during the day instead of at night. But who would want to pay to go at night when you can’t even see the animals? What’s the point of even having it at a zoo then?! Emma's ticket was free because she’s so small. :) Also I didn't take a picture of it, but since Emma and Michael both have fair skin, they both got sun screen put on their arms, face, and Emma's bare legs when we got there. Her portable fan was definitely used the whole time. Michael has talked about getting a second one to point on himself while pushing her in the stroller! We were at the zoo from 11:35am to 1:15pm!

Oh and by the way, for my costume- I was supposed to be a ghost, but my makeup didn't turn out as pale as I was wanting (it turned out really well during the trial run last month when we did all of Emma's Halloween costume photoshoots, scroll down to the Boo-tiful Ghosts) after I learned that CoverGirl changed all the names of their foundations. And I forgot to put baby powder in my hair, and planned on wearing white tights, but Michael said they looked bad. But with how hot it ended up being, I was glad I didn't have them on for almost two hours. 

There were a lot of these arrows taped on the ground to keep people moving in one direction that looped around to help with social distancing. I am 100% fine with following a couple extra rules if it means still being able to participate in fun events with my family! :) 

I noticed these stroller signs, and Michael was fine taking a break in the shade with Emma, so I went into the kangaroo area by myself. I asked an employee about Emma being on a ventilator and she said strollers are definitely allowed for medical exceptions like that, but Michael didn't care enough and though it would be hard pushing her though the "sand". I told him it was more like a bunch of tiny rocks. He was fine moving onto the next section and since I got all of these pictures:

A different area, while walking over a bridge:

A nice mom wearing a shirt that said "Autism turns Muggles into Wizards" took this photo for us! 

Meerkats! The only animals I think Emma actually looked at- haha! The rest of the time she seemed to be looking up at the trees, or around at other things. Although I have heard that once kids learn to talk then they never stop, getting to ask her questions like "What was your favorite part? What was your favorite animal? Which costume did you see that you liked the best?" will be fun for me, and interesting to hear her answers. My brother often writes quotes on Facebook of things his daughters say and those are always entertaining. 

"Can you turn and wave?" This is what I get.... Nothing but posed perfection! Haha! 

  It would have been nice to have the zoom lens for this trip. A lot of the animals were far away and I do really love the National Geographic type of shots I am able to get with our Canon. But I didn't want to deal with the nice camera on top of it being hot and wearing Halloween make up, etc. Plus, I hadn't been to this zoo in eight years and didn't really remember anything aside from my friend Sana feeding the giraffes and I wanted to see Emma's reaction to things with my eyeballs. But there was little reaction to see. I think there is just so much for her to take in at one time, when she's used to sitting in the living room most of the time, so it's just a lot of staring going on, which is fine. Next time I'll take the Canon! 

 Michael's favorite part- standing under the fans. For readers who do not know: We live in Orlando. It is still in the 80's and very humid in the middle of October. Maybe Emma needs two fans for herself too! But she wasn't crabbing or crying, or signing "all done". Just patiently sitting back as we strolled around. 

Again, Emma not even looking. Totally oblivious to the fact that Beast is standing next to us. Too busy admiring the fantastic woodwork of the roof, which is something I did not pay attention to. So maybe in the future when I ask Emma what her favorite part was, it will be something randomly detailed like that and not anything at all like, "My favorite part was getting to feed the giraffe!" or "Playing in the splash area by the petting zoo! And eating pizza!!" A Young Belle was also standing near by, but seemed scared, even after her dad (Beast) said he would hold her, so Michael didn't worry about getting her in the picture. 

^^ Part of the petting zoo future-Emma just mentioned. During these Corona days, the employee did ask that people was their hands before entering, but still NOT touch the animals. I didn't take a picture of the small splash area where pizza was served, but will admit that I did not know it existed. Fun to know! :) 

Finishing up another hour-long bolus feed! Trying to keep on that schedule, even on a busy weekend! 

It's shots like these where the zoom lens would come in super handy! ;) 

Trying to be sneaking a "get a picture with Mulan". 

We ran into Beast & Belle again! :)

Admiring another well-designed roof. 

I forgot to get a picture of their socially distances candy tube device, but it had mummy wrappings around it so the employees wouldn’t have to touch the kid’s bags.. although, for us and the kids in front of us who just brought Ziplock bags, the employees gave us these nice Disney bags for free.. and then they put about 15 different pieces of candy down the mummy tube which dropped heavily into the bag. We said thank you for Emma. I think she just rubbed her eyes in reply. We’ve tried teaching her the sign for “thank you” a few times, but obviously not enough times yet.

I will admit I was pretty concerned we were going to be out of a chunk of change if it rained all day on Sunday since our tickets were not transferable to another day. All the zoos have to make up for the money they lost during the months they had to be closed at the beginning of the year. But luckily the rain from Saturday night pushed the forecast back several hours, so instead of the storms starting at 10am like it showed when I checked on Friday and Saturday, we didn’t hit any rain until we were already back on the Interstate heading home at 2pm! Another success, while Emma celebrated with a cozy, yet not-too-long nap on the ride home.