4th of July

We had a great 4th of July. We went to Topsail Island to the Webber Beach Cottage from Friday night through Wednesday night. It was awesome. The cottage had been completely redone by Aunt Peggy and she did an amazing job. We spent the week with Aunt Peggy, Uncle Larry, Jennifer, Aunt Trisha, Jay, Aunt Doris, Chris, Midge, and Katie. It was fun to see some of the Webber/Fulghum family. Luke had an absolute blast with Katie - they became best friends almost instantly.

We spent everyday on the beach, the boys more than me as it was too hot for a 5 month doubly pregnant woman. Luke went out in the ocean with Lee and jumped the [calm] waves, went on the boogy board (he got really good at it), frolicked in the water, and played in the sand (they built an awesome sand castle). We enjoyed the fireworks on the 3rd courtesy of Surf City. We went to Lee and his cousins' favorite childhood mini-golf place and played a round of mini-golf. The kids loved it, but I think the big kids loved it even more. We enjoyed some yummy ice cream after - there is something so great about a waffle cone of homemade ice cream at the beach.

It was a blast and hard to come home. I love making memories with our family. I look forward to going to the beach house every year and as our kids grow and our family grows it gets even more fun. Some of my favorite memories as a kid were our family vacations (especially to the beach).

Two for One Special Blog

After much thought, I realized that this blog is supposed to be our family blog, hence the name "Ash & Lee Plus 3". Unfortunately, I have been only blogging about the twins and my pregnancy. I decided that I would create a blog just for the twins. It's called "Two for One Special" and can be found at http://241special.blogspot.com/.

I will still post things on this blog about the twins as they are a part of our family, but I will put detailed stuff about my pregnancy, their birth, and raising them on their blog. I hope you will check it out and follow if you like it. This blog will have more about our family and what we are up to like our life, vacations, pics, more about Luke (and the twins), and just be an "all about the Webber family" blog. I hope you still read and enjoy it.

Surprise Doctor's Appointment

Well today around noon I started having Braxton Hicks contractions and pain in my stomach. After almost two hours, I figured I should call my doctor. I figured they would say, "Everything is okay, just lay down, and drink water." Nope, they wanted me to come in right away. That got me a little concerned, but I know that God has His hands on me and the babies. I got my prayer warriors praying and headed to the office.

They checked my cervix and it was closed and very, very thick. They also did a non-stress test (NST) for about an hour in which they monitored the babies heartbeats, movements, and if I had contractions. They had the same strong heartbeats, moved the whole time, and I didn't have any contractions (or at least nothing they seemed concerned about). The hardest part was keeping Luke entertained for the duration.

She told me that any discomfort I have (ie groin pain, pelvic pain, leg pain) is completely normal with a subsequent pregnancy and with multiples. YAY! ;) She also said if I get Braxton Hicks contractions to lay down and drink a lot of water and see if they get better/worse. If worse, I am to call.

So everything looks really good. I am looking good for not having pre-term labor. YAY! I am really praying that no matter how uncomfortable I have to be that I can make it to 37-38 weeks and have healthy, hearty babies. I appreciate everyone's prayers. I know they are working. :)

21 Week Doctor's Appointment

So on Friday (6/25) I had my 21 week doctor's appointment. It went really well. I had gained 8 pounds in 4 weeks (a total of 12 for the whole pregnancy), my blood pressure was great (112/60 I believe), and we heard both heartbeats (130s/140s for both). She did tell me to keep an eye out for signs of preterm labor (Braxton Hicks contractions or cramps) as it is more common with multiples. Everything has been fine so far so I am not worried. I will keep an eye out just in case.

I go back for a check-up and in-office ultrasound in 4 weeks (25 weeks). I am also getting another "special" ultrasound at the hospital in 3 weeks (24 weeks). I can't wait to see the babies again. It's fun having twins in that you get tons of ultrasounds.

The coolest thing I heard was "24 weeks is the week of viability" which means that the babies have a good chance of survival then, not that they will be born then (God-willing), but it is nice to hear.

I am just so thankful that everything is going well. I can't wait to see the babies again in a few weeks. They are awesome miracles from God. :)

Alexis and Nathan's Nursery

We had so much fun today. We met my mom, Granny, Jenn, and her kids at Pottery Barn Kids at the mall today. I was a little nervous that it would be hard to find two bedding sets that were each gender specific (yes I like blue for boys and pink or purple for girls) yet coordinated. Well we managed to successfully find bedding sets and all of the accessories to outfit the nursery in one hour. Here's what we are doing.

Nathan is getting the Eli's Elephants bedding set and Alexis is getting the Lindsey Butterflies bedding set. We are going to use the crib sheets (plus some basic blue and pink sheets), crib skirts, bumpers, quilts (for decoration), and mobiles. We are going to paint the nursery a sage green (both bedding sets have a similar green in them). We are going to put up three valences (pink, blue, and sage) with coordinating rod hardware. We are going to use three colored (pink, blue, and sage) changing table pad covers. I think it is going to be precious.

Here is Nathan's Eli's Elephants bedding:

Here's Alexis' Lindsey Butterflies bedding:

Here are the valences. The blue is lighter in real life. We are putting the blue near Nathan's crib, the pink near Alexis' crib, and the sage above the glider with the coordinating rod hardware.

Here are the rod hardware pieces.

18 Week Ultrasound

We had our 18 week ultrasound today. It was great. Both of the babies measured perfectly (each weighed 8 oz), had no defects (including cleft lip which Ashley has), and had heartbeats of 148. Baby A is a boy and Baby B is a girl. We are naming them Nathan Reid and Alexis Faith. Here are the pictures from the ultrasound.Baby A - It's a boy!

Baby A - Profile

Baby B - Body

Baby B - Profile

Baby B - It's a girl!

Changed the Boys' Names

After "deciding" on Nathan Elijah and Ben Alexander a few weeks ago, I really started thinking more about Ben Alexander. I liked Benjamin more than Ben but Lee said, "He will be called 'Ben' so we might as well name him Ben." We don't like naming a kid one thing knowing he/she will be called something else. Obviously there can be a nickname or they can choose to go by a variation, but we don't want to name our kids knowing they will automatically be called something else. Yes, we are weird.

So after a few weeks of saying, "I don't think I want to do Ben. It doesn't do much for me," Lee and I started thinking of other options. I had liked Nathan and Elijah but really loved the way Nathan Elijah rolled off the tongue. Well we figured out a couple of new name combos that we absolutely love.

Here they are:

Nathan Reid - "he God has given" "red" - We picked Reid because that is my mom's maiden name and I was very close to my grandfather since my dad wasn't around. The fact that it means "red" is funny because our family color is red. We love red. We love NCSU and are Republicans so there you go. Plus if the baby has red hair like Lee (very low probability) it will fit even more perfectly.

Elijah Matthew - "my God is the Lord" "gift of God" - I love the way this name flows and the meanings of both names. I think this is a great name.

We are super excited that we will know what our babies are this Friday and can assign their names to them. We are still set on the girls names, Alexis Faith and Anna Grace. If they are one of each, we will do Alexis Faith and Nathan Reid.