Our New Ride

So, two weeks ago Dan and I traded our Jeep Grand Cherokee in for a Chrysler Town and Country minivan. Yikes! What did we do?!? Ha.

We decided a while back that we needed a bigger car. With two kiddos and two dogs (and all the stuff that goes along with each), we needed something with more space than the Jeep. We found a used van with all the features we wanted and for a very decent price. So... for now... we're a minivan family. It does have really cool features like automatic doors (sliding doors and tailgate) that open/close with a button, a second row of seats that swivel around, a third row that completely folds down into the floor, and an option of tipping the third row of seats back so that you have seats for tailgating. We miss the jeep, but once the kiddos come join our family, the van is going to come in very handy.

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Capitol Dogs

Dan had a 3-day weekend for Columbus Day, so that Monday we decided to take the dogs into the city to enjoy a walk. We parked down by the Lincoln Memorial along the Potomac and walked from the Lincoln to the WWII Memorial and then back to the car. All in all it was about 2 miles, and we all had a great time.

Coda probably had the best time ever. If you've ever been in D.C., you know that you can't walk more than 30 feet without coming across a squirrel. Coda was in heaven! Dan had her on the leash, but he would take off running with her each time she saw a squirrel. Our walk along the reflecting pool was quite eventful. I think she chased a squirrel up every third tree...and each time she acted surprised that she too couldn't climb the tree (although she did get about 1 ft up one of the trees). The people walking around us thought it was the greatest thing too... one person even commented that she was one of the dogs from the movie "Up" (SQUIRREL!!)

Boscoe and I trailed along behind Dan and Coda. He had a great time too... you could tell because his muddy tongue was dragging on the ground by the time we got back to the van.

We had a really great time and can't wait to enjoy making Coda and Boscoe "Capitol Dogs" again.

26 Weeks!

We went in for another round of ultrasounds on Monday and learned that both girls are doing very well. Baby A is up to 1 lb 14 ounces, and Baby B is 1 lb 13 ounces. This is great for two reasons: the babies are close in size meaning they are both getting the nutrients they need, and those sizes are good for a singleton baby which means it's great for twins. All measurements still look healthy.

Baby B has always been in a better position to get good photos of. Here is a profile picture of her.

Here is a 3D picture of Baby A. It's hard to see, but part of her face can be seen in the middle of all that static mess. We think she looks grumpy cuz her sister is sitting on her head.

This is a 3D of Baby B. We like this one because it looks like she has a little smile. Hopefully you can make out the face in the middle of the static.

25 Weeks!

I'm 25 weeks pregnant! Yikes! That means that the girls will be born in the next 12 weeks (the doctors will induce if I haven't had them by week 37). I'm huge and getting huger. :P

GIRLS!!!

So a few weeks ago we found out that our two babies are both girls. The doctors still believe that they are fraternal, but now that we know they are both girls, they can't be 100% sure they're not identical until the girls are born. It was a total shock to both of us that both babies are girls.... but what part of this whole process hasn't been a total shock?! Ha. We're getting excited. We started registering for girly stuff this last weekend and we'll let you know when we're done. We're at an 80% solution on the names of these two sweethearts and we'll let you know as soon as we're sure. :)

Here are some pictures from our most recent ultrasound at 22 weeks. Sorry we only have one picture of Baby A, but she was being camera shy. Meanwhile, Baby B had no problem smiling for the camera. (Both photos are profiles of their heads)

Baby A

Baby B

This is a 3D shot of Baby B's face... it's tucked up in there around all the static mess

They took a ton of pictures but these were the best since all the others were of more specific areas like the brain, kidneys, heart, etc. Both kiddos are doing great... all measurements were healthy. The doctor estimated Baby A to be about 1 lb 1 ounce and Baby B to be 15 ounces.

We have another ultrasound this coming Monday, so we'll let you know how everything is going and hopefully be much quicker to post pictures on the blog.

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Vermont Vacation

Since we weren't able to take our trip to Ireland like we had planned (since it's a little risky to be travelling internationally at this point in the pregnancy), we went up to Stowe, Vermont for a week of nothing... and it was great.

From D.C. we flew to Springfield, Mass. and drove up to Amherst (location of UMASS where Dan went to school). We tooled around downtown Amherst that day and had a great time in the beautiful weather. We stayed in an old B&B right across from Emily Dickinson's house, which was a fun touch to the trip. The next day we wandered around the UMASS campus for the first day of school. Dan caught a freshman sneaking a glance at a campus map while we were on the campus bus. Ha. Yay for the first day of college!

Downtown Amherst

UMASS

We then started our trip up to Stowe, but not until we stopped off at the Yankee Candle factory store. We smelled a lot of candles, but didn't buy anything. The two candles that we remember the most were the worst smelling ones ("Witches' Brew": smells like dirt; "Be Thankful": just be thankful nothing else smells like that!)

While we were up in Stowe we stayed at a pretty nice lodge called Topnotch Lodge. It was a very comfortable stay. Our intent of going up there was to do absolutely nothing and just to relax, and I think we accomplished that pretty well. :)

The original Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream factory was right near Stowe, so we went there one day to sample some ice cream and take a tour. From there we stopped at the Cabot Creamery to sample cheese (yumm!) and then at the Hollow Mill Cider factory to sample some cider and cider donuts (hot & fresh!).

Ben & Jerry's factory

Holly and a fake baby cow at the Ben & Jerry's factory

While up there we also went to the Trapp Family Lodge. This is the lodge that the Von Trapp family from the movie Sound of Music built when they moved from Austria to Vermont (it's real... if you don't believe me, you're not the only one... Dan thought I made the whole thing up when I told him about it. He's a believer now.) We had dinner there one night which was very fun. Dan had some Austrian cold vegetable soup... it reminded us a lot of salsa. Ha.

Dan at the Trapp Family Lodge

All 3 Hayden girls at the Trapp Family Lodge

The front of the Trapp Family Lodge

We also took a gondola up to the top of Mt. Mansfield, which is the highest point in Vermont (a whoppin' 4393 ft.... ha... Mike & Kallie, aren't you impressed!). It was a beautiful view, and even though it wasn't foliage season yet, you could tell that a lot of the trees had started to change or were on the verge of it.

Looking up the gondola path

Views from the top

The happy couple! :)

Holly with a real baby cow at the corn maze (we didn't go through the corn maze)

A walk down by the river

We ate a lot of great food. I think the white cheddar cheese was the most pleasant surprise, and the syrup was great as well. After 6 days of lots of relaxing we drove/flew back to D.C. It was a great trip, and we can't wait to take another vacation sometime... but next time it will be all 4 of us!

19 weeks!

So I am now 19 weeks into this double pregnancy. As far as I know, things are still going well. I'm starting to feel little fluttery movements and I'm gaining weight, so I suppose those are all good signs of progress. I have gained a total of 18 pounds so far.... probably another 30 pounds when all is said and done (yikes!).

I've had a great time being in California. I've been able to spend a lot of time with family (even my grandma who recently moved to town from Mexico within the last couple of months). This last weekend my very good friend Stephanie got married. The funnest part was that she was hooked up with James (her husband now) by James' sister....at Dan and I's engagement party back in January of last year. Yay! Our wedding was contagious! :)

I'm flying back to D.C. this weekend (with Coda!) and moving into our new rental house next week. I'll have just less than 2 weeks to get things ready for Dan to come back home (can I get an "amen"?!?!). (Haha. Who would have ever thought I'd write "can I get an 'amen'" on my blog??) Lots of big changes in the future, but we'll do our best to keep you posted. God bless!

Surprise Visit

Okay, so maybe it wasn't such a surprise since we planned it but if you asked us 8 years ago, we would both have been surprised that we would someday meet up with each in Kandahar, Afghanistan! As is the norm, my job took me to Kandahar Airfield and as you can see from the pictures, Mike and I were able to meet up and spend some time with each other which was a good boost to my morale which hasn't exactly been very high lately.

So that's the only update I have for now. Enjoy.

Update From Afghanistan

The Stars & Stripes Flying High in Herat

It always seems that Holly & I update the blog right on top of each other and always after she has updated you on the course of her pregnancy. I promise I'm not trying to upstage her. Well she's not the only one who can update you on the pregnancy. I'm hoping I beat her to the punch on this one but she felt the kiddos stirring yesterday. We're not sure if they were dancing or wrestling with each other but apparently they were throwin' some serious elbows!

Okay, back to the point of this update...Afghanistan. Since my last post I've had the opportunity to travel more and take some more pictures. I've been to every major base in the country so far and some places more often than I'd like (read, Kandahar & Bagram). Throughout the course of our travels we've flown on everything from Cessna jets, to prop planes, to big giant cargo planes, to even bigger & gianter cargo planes and they are often not always US either. I've flown on Dutch helicopters, Belgian helicopters, Germany helicopters, and Italian cargo planes. Below are some of the types of aircraft we've used to get around the country. I really that's all I have to say for now. We keep traveling and keep trying to help our forces get what they need to accomplish their mission as fast as we can. Enjoy the photos and stayed tuned for a very special blog update to come this weekend.

I definitely snuck into this picture. I normally stand in the back but I decided I needed a picture with the boss.

Here we are waiting for the helicopters to refuel up north.

This is the Lieutenant Colonel who works in my office. We're standing on a tower in Bagram. It was very difficult for me to hide my death fear of heights as we walked up the staircase but I had to get a view.

Hope you enjoyed the photos! See you soon!