Tidwells

LovING S. Carolina

2011-06-25T12:39:00.000-07:00

First of all I LOVE summertime.... Kids are so much more fun as well as manageable.... Then just add in a pool, friends and an occasional beach and you have it made.

For Fathers Day we spent the weekend in Hilton Head Island, which is this little resort town. WHich we loved, the girls loved the sand and playing in the water. It was a fun weekend get a way that was VERY needed...
Before the weekend we've gone to the local "lake murray" and my first thoughts were , Redmond, but luckily it did get deeper than 4 ft and had actual sand...

we spend time at the pool, dane catches frogs and FREAKS my girls out... I literally haven't seen dani that scared over SOMETHING!!!

we spend time with friends, and making a lot of messes!

Then after all that is finished we are SO tired, we fall asleep watching a show... Then we start all over again!

we have arrived...

2011-05-26T16:15:00.000-07:00

After a treacherous plane ride!! (there was one point where all 3 of us were crying) we have made it to SOuth Carolina!!! And truly are loving it here..The pool is very kid friendly, and our apartments are nice... I guess there's not much more you need :) Oh and of course friends.. The wives are way fun and the girls have Remi here, who they literally ask for probably 10 times a day..
Before we left I got family pictures and never got to posting them, so here they are!

the girls are thriving in life! They really are so much more fun! I definitely like the toddler stage much better.
Jaci is my little mom, always worried about dani, and saying what happened to dani mom? She is also extremely stubborn, she cried for 30 min today, because she wanted to sleep in her bed with dani rather than moms bed (ive been splitting them up on naps, when they will take one, because they just play in their room!)
Dani is my trouble maker, jaci definitely follows, but its always dani first... She just gets that mischeivious look and goes for things. Dani is also more independent, she likes to do things on her own, where as jaci wants HELP on everything.
Twins in this stage are so fun, one of my favorite things, is to just listen to them play in their room and giggle..
The other day i heard dani say "Good job Jaci" and jaci said, "I love you dani" then dani follows with "I love you jaci" oh.... just melts a moms heart....
ps, im not that good at the whole blog thing, so ive gone to a few friends, and realize that i am not invited because they're private! so send me an invite, mariontidwell@gmail.com, plus i deleted ALL my friends on accident and have slowly been trying to replace them, so if i haven't leave me yours so i can add it..

It's all about......the TWINS

2011-01-17T14:26:00.000-08:00

Happy Happy Birthday jaci and dani!
Our little girls turned 2 yesterday! They started out onry, but once they ate 2 cupcakes, cake and ice cream they cheered right up!
It was like Christmas all over again... We had a party at Grandma's
and enjoyed all the cousins.

I always get asked what its like to have twins... well here is a look into my morning

10:00 breakfast

10:15 Milk poured all over the table

11:00 girls both crying at my feet and since its a nice day we decide to go outside.

11:15 I run inside to change laundry

11:20 Go back outside and their face and hands are covered in MUD

11:22 run inside to get wipes

11:25 wiping off hands and put them on the chair while i run wipes back inside

11:27 girls have both stepped in dog POOP!

11:28 run back to get wipes again

11:30 cleaning dog poop off

11:35 go get phone

11:37 girls are now in the fire pit covered in soot!

11:40 run and throw dani in the tub and run back outside to get jaci

11:41 getting jaci ready for the tub.

11:42 take jaci into the tub and dani now has my razor! take razor away!!!

11:45-11:50 breathing

11:50 after a mostly peaceful bath(except for them using the back as a slide and Jaci yelling fun and dani saying cool!) get girls out of the tub

11:55 trying to get a screaming jaci dressed..

11:56 Dani has dads glasses!

11:57 getting dani dressed

11:57 jaci is unfolding my newly folded laundry GRR

11:58 go to get lotion

11:58 Girls grab the chips off the counter and dump them out all over the newly swept floor!

12:00 sweep floor again

12:02 go get brush to brush their hair

12:03 Dani has gotten dads scripture marker and they are drawing on the door!

12:05 mom has had it!

Solutions

A: watch both girls EVERY second of the day

B: Put them down for an early nap

(I chose B)

Luckily that is not an every day thing!
Aren't they adorable!

...and a happy nEW yEAr!!!

2011-01-01T16:01:00.000-08:00

What a good and busy Holiday! Since there are so MANY things to write about I'm going to summarize the month of December with the
*Bad, But good that came from it!
and the *Best
Bad: Dane having to have surgery 2 days before Christmas :(
>Good: He is on the road to recovery and says this is the least swollen he's ever been!
Bad:Driving in snowstorms for hours!
>Good: getting to spend Christmas in R-Town
Bad: THe cold being passed around again and again
>Good: Can;t think of much good to come from being sick....
Bad: Snowstorm after snowstorm
>Good: Sledding and a white Christmas
Best:
Going on the Polar express with all our cousins!
The ugly sweater party (which I won 2nd place on the best dressed)
Bryce and Kimley's new baby Reo being blessed
Seeing my parents dressed as elves... loved it
The girls going to nursery without crying (only took them 6 months)
Family Basketball game
Fritz tournaments...

And as the new year is here we want to thank all our family and friends whom we love very much!
And NO we did not get a dog. our landlords have one, and the girls ask for the puppies EVERY day..

Thanksgiving

2010-12-17T18:45:00.000-08:00

yes late again on the post, but this holiday season has been as busy as ever it seems.
We had such a fun Thanksgiving this year. It was spent with the Tidwell family and it was
4 days of partys! And we wouldn't have it any other way. The girls loved spending time with
all their cousins, and still every time we get in the car the twins name EVERY cousin because they think thats what we're going to do is be with our cousins.
We're already so excited for Christmas and to spend it with family!

Happy HOlidays

happy halloween

2010-11-20T15:24:00.000-08:00

I was kind of a slacker this year when it came to the hole Halloween celebration. Getting my girls dressed even seemed like a chore let alone buying costumes! SO without much effort they were cute little bumble bees... We had Adrie with us for the weekend and went to our ward trunk or treat, which was very creative and fun. Then on Halloween day we headed to Dane's sisters, Sunnie, for some of the fun festivities.... The girls got the hang of it and loved getting all the candy of course, although they didn't understand the concept of waiting till we get home to eat all the candy...

MAUI

2010-11-09T10:43:00.000-08:00

Dane and I were so lucky and got to spend some time in Maui! We loved
every minute of it. We layed by the beach, pool, went hiking
did a lot of snorkeling,
and of course eating (i really did eat SO much!)
This time being away from the girls was harder for me than before when
i've left them... But we came home loving them more than ever and refreshed
from our nice vacation!
halloween pics soon to come!

Goodbye R-TOWN

2010-10-05T14:03:00.000-07:00

It seems as if my life is full of "new beginings". We are finally back in SLC and staying (for now at least) But as you can see R-town was full of cousins and fun... I don't know what i'm gonna do without my sisters around to hang out with!
We had lots of water parties, spent time in St. George, got a lot of baby sitters, and played with cousins endlessly. But like all summers, it has come to an end. Dane has come home YEAH! so we are busying ourselves with work and moving. Hopefully we'll have a permanent residence by this saturday!
The girls are almost 21 months! and full of attitude.. I'm at a loss on how to be a good parent! I do not know how my parents raised five good kids, because i am really struggling with these 2! Hopefully its just a phase...
good news:
Bryce and Kimley a precious baby boy Reynold (Reo) Who i would trade in my 2 for him anytime!
Cy and Whit are having another girl! (we LOVE girls in the Tidwell side)
Dane and I are going on vacation without the GIRLS!
Our lives are busy as always, but listening to conference and one talk in particular, I realized that just because we're stressed doesn't mean we need to speed up... Slow down and enjoy, which is my goal for the month of.... November... love to all

Goodbye TEXAS

2010-08-16T20:33:00.000-07:00

This summer was definitely a hard one for me, but it turned out to be a lot of fun thanks to these 3 fun girls (and their kids of course)

We'll miss you and TEXAS!!

The girls and I are back in UTAH, but just staying in R-TOWN for a while. Dane is extending, so it'll make for a long couple months until we can get settled back in Salt Lake and figure out our future???

18 MONTHS

2010-07-27T21:43:00.000-07:00

The girls have reached the 18 month mark! And they are full time walking! I have no idea how much they weigh and all that jazz, but I do know they are little healthy girls.
I decided since we use anything to get together in the summer we decided to have a pool party with everyone out here. Lots of fun, cupcakes and sun! What more could you want.

The girls are growing together and individually and I see each of their personalities shining.
Jaci is my little talker. Dani is my little do-er.
Dani loves to play, she constantly pesters Jaci and the majority of the time they end up in a scream match, but a few times a day I do get to enjoy the giggling of sisters (which there is no sound quiet as enticing to a mom)... Jaci is still a mommy's girl and Dani is dads best friend....
They are the biggest copy cats around, if one pours out her water, the other does. If one touches mom with greasy pizza hands the other does, one throws their food on the floor the other mimmicks, etc. Sometimes it can be quite funny how much they notice what each other does.

I don't know if when I am out in public a day goes by that I don't get asked how I tell them apart. The true answer is that they look TOTALLY different to me. Yes, I do see that they are very identical, but I guess there's no explaining it except that they are different kids. What I tell people is that Jaci is about a lb. heavier and about 2 weeks ago a little birthmark showed up on Dani's hand and Jaci has one on her leg. So i guess if I ever get confused I always have that to fall back on.
Happy 18 months Dani and Jaci!!!!

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-12T16:59:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July! We celebrated ours with a barbecue and baseball game (as you can see the girls didn't last to long at the game) But all in all we still loved the holiday.
Things in Texas are going great.
We're still spending a lot of time and the pool, where the kids play and the wives talk.
The girls LOVE their daddy and wish he were around all the time.
They are FINALLY walking more and more each day. I know you might think I'm crazy, but I am SICK of carrying around 2 KIDS! I can't wait until they walk....
HOpe everyone is as happy as we are

Still KICKin

2010-06-16T13:28:00.000-07:00

Yes we are still alive! after the rollercoaster ride of this month.... Things have been crazy to put it mild... WE have spent a lot of time traveling ( nearly 3,000 miles of driving in 4 weeks agh!) . WE started out the summer in Montana, then spent a while in Utah and now we are living in TEXAS. . . the summer of sales... But we are settled and happy.
Luckily we have a pool so we spend a lot of time there, and doing whatever else you do with 1 year olds to keep them happy.
The girls are 17 months and still not walking! But soon enough, they finally like to hold my hands while I walk. They love sitting up high, on beds, chairs, couches etc. As you can see in 1 picture they fight all the time. Dani really doesn't like when jaci has something that she wants. But despite the fighting no one can make them laugh as hard as eachother. My favorite times are when I'm in another room and just sit and listen to them giggling. They play peek-a-boo, poke each other in the eyes, mouths, tackle eachother and just laugh...
Here are a few pictures of our latest and greatest.. enjoy

Spring Pics

2010-05-02T20:41:00.000-07:00

We got some spring pics taken, and I kinda combined it with the girls late 1 yr old pictures.
A friend from church took them and I love how they turned out...

As you can see they are adorable! Jaci is in green and Dani is in yellow
Dane finishes school and leaves for Montana this week! I have to finish out school so it'll be a couple weeks till me and the girls venture there...

seriously CUTE

2010-04-25T12:30:00.000-07:00

You can't tell me you don't kinda want twins after you see how cute these pictures are.

I found them in all these positions.
Sure do love these girls

screamin for spring

2010-04-14T20:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter

What we have been up to:

Dane; school, studying for finals

Turning 26!!!! golfing st. george

Marion; work, girls, r-town,

girls, st.george, kinda starting

to pack,.....

Jaci & dani; being mommy and

daddy's girls, teething, destroying,

being monkeys, sick!!! loving

the outdoors, making

mom and dad smile :)

love love love the sun!!!!

2010-02-09T09:06:00.001-08:00

We had a second birthday party for the twins and they were hilarious! AS you can see they dove right into their cakes... Everybody was sitting watching and laughing and I think they adored all the attention!
Dane and I were so lucky and got to go to the bahamas kidless! (my sweet mom took the girls! thank you so muCh!) I seriously loved it! We were with a lot of friends, so that made it even better. I was so nervous to leave the girls (yes i cried) but once I was gone, i was just fine. Maybe thats bad to say, but I knew they were in good hands, and being taken care of by my mom and sister.
So dane and i relaxed, slept, layed in the sun, and played played played. I am already planning my next trip... (MOM????) so to any of you who don;t think you can handle leaving your kids, i seriously suggest trying, it reminds ya why ya love your husband ha ha...

OH MY

2010-01-20T19:33:00.000-08:00

Somebody said to me how they couldn't believe that my girls were already a year old and how the time has flown by.. my response was. "Yeah maybe for you!" This really has been one of the slowest and fastest years of my life. As I look back on my girls all I can see is how blessed we are to have them with us and healthy. They are probably the cutest girls i know.
3 fun facts:
Dani
*flaps her arms when she gets SO excited which is especially when she see's dad
*Is a sly little one, (makes me a bit nervous for the future)
*Is in constant play mode, rarely is just mellow
Jaci
*will smile at little kids and watch them forever, but is more reserved for adults.
*Is such a LOUD and Constant talker. When she gets going plug your ears
*Loves books and reads them with her feet, (she also does the splits every time between sitting and lying down)
Dani & Jaci
*Dani will kiss jaci on the head sometimes then go about what she's doing
*They steal everything and anything from eachother. It really doesn't matter if I have 2 of things, they just want sissy's
*They will turn and talk to each other, (which is seriously my favorite)
and they feed off each other with their personalities. Especially when they are being silly at dinnertime. Or one is crying and the other finds it necessary to scream along with their sister!

Merry Merrrrry CHRISTMAS

2010-01-04T20:20:00.000-08:00

Happy HolidayS!! We had an extremely fun Holiday Season filled with family galore! We spent Christmas with Dane's family this year, and all slept at his mom's, not the best night sleep ever, but who really sleeps on Christmas Eve anyways. Then later in the day we headed to his dad's and enjoyed loads of good food, then the next day headed to R-town for the Dane's side Christmas party. then i feel as if we did it all over again and again and again, so it is official, I have decided I no longer EVER want to travel anywhere. I literally feel as if I have been traveling since Thanksgiving. Yes I know that this is a huge exaggeration especially being that the furthest place from SLC i went was R-town,... Maybe I'll be ready to take the girls somewhere by next Christmas... ha ha Here is a lot of our pictures. The girls were a lot of fun, and were spoiled of course. They love all the kids and to be near all the commotion. I think Jaci will be the little social one. Dani takes a second longer to warm up, but once she does she is right where the action is! As you can see a ton of pictures are of the girls and their cousins. Dane got tickets to a Bronco's game for Christmas, so thats one of the pics, and the rest are just filled with our family and my cute girls. I pray that everyone was as blessed this holiday season as we were...

christmas pics

2009-12-14T20:00:00.000-08:00

I've just come to terms with the fact that my girls will NEVER smile for the camera!
and they don't like santa much

thanksgiving

2009-12-04T13:27:00.000-08:00

good food +family +movies +basketball = A VERY memorable and FUN Thanksgiving!

2009-11-23T17:40:00.000-08:00

Yes I do realize,that its 2 days before Thanksgiving and I'm finally putting up my Halloween pics. But I do have an excuse!
Well it started in my early teenage years, when my mom always said how I needed to marry someone to keep track of me, meaning (keys, being on time, purse, organized etc.) Dane may have a lot of good qualities, but being organized is not a strong suit forhimself, so having to help me is out of the question! So we of course (not for the first time) lost our camera battery charger, and after searching the house for it, had to order a new one. So here you are up to date as to why there have not been Halloween pictures until now!
But aren't my girls adorable!
As for life at the Tidwell's things are going just grand! The girls are finally ALMOST sleeping through the night (i'm only up 1 or 2 times at the most!) They're scooting all over and I'm learning a little about having to move things out of reach... We soon head to Richfield for the Thanksgiving festivities!!!!
Oh and I know i should put which girl is which under their pictures, but I haven't figured out how to do it. SO the best i can do is do; 1 is dani and 1 is Jaci.

babies babies and more babies

2009-10-03T13:14:00.000-07:00

We belatedly threw liser a shower at Nicoles a couple of weeks ago! It was so fun and one of the first times in FOREVER we almost all got together!.. Liser's new baby is so precious! we tried to get a better pic of all the kids, but that didn't work out so well. As you can see all of our kids were there and it was a mad house!

Since having the twins a popular question to me was if i was going back to work or not. After a lot of debate it was decided I would no longer teach 1st grade :(. I was so sad about the situation, but knew there wasn't any possible way I could teach. Well after being home a month I realized 2 things 1.) we couldn't afford for me to be home all the time and 2.) I can't handle being home all the time.
Now.. I know this is a very controversial topic amongst mom's but I have realized everybody is different and has their own needs. I LOVE being home with my girls, but I also NEED my outs. I feel that when I get away from the girls for a bit I am a better parent. One of my friends put it in good terms for me. She said you can have quantity time, and quality time, and they don;t always go hand in hand....
Anyways, I kind of fell into a job as a title 1 teacher. (its for schools that are predominatly poor so they recieve extra funds to help supplement and add teachers) They agreed to work with my schedule so I am working tue and wed at a Private Catholic school. All new areas for me. I have started and like it so far, I just work with small groups and am really excited! One day a week Dane and his sister watch the girls and one day they're with a sitter.
Other than that out life is really good, Dane is super busy with school. Dani and Jaci are almost 9 months and growing up.

HAPpy HaPPy

2009-08-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

2 years!!! I know it does seem like such a short time, but its true we've only been married 2 YEARS!
I realize I never talk much about Dane, so I just wanted to give some props to my wonderful husband.. He really is such a great guy and I'm thankful that I was the lucky one to find him:
things I LOVE about my hubby
*He loves the Gospel
*He pampers me
*his strength, physical and mental
*He is such a good dad
*He loves sports (as do i)
*He gives the most AMAZING massages
*He's a babe
And of course the list can go on and on, but I do want to thank him, for still being the man I married!

beach luv

2009-08-04T06:43:00.000-07:00

we went to the beach to get family pics the other day and I was so excited for everyone to see them! My girls may not smile for the camera, but their eyes sure can draw you in.. Thanks kiara i really do luv them!

6 months

2009-07-16T11:47:00.001-07:00

Holy CRAP! Our little girls are 6 months old! Now i think the thing I'm supposed to write is, how it went SO FAST. But I'm gonna be honest, this did not go fast ONE BIT! I feel like I've been a parent for years!

I truly do love these little girls. They are so healthy and fun to have around. As you can see they're quite identical. But their personalities certainly aren't. I 've noticed that they balance eachother out!

Some fun facts about them:

I have started to put them in different rooms for their naps, but truly the last 4 times, they have woke up at the EXACT same time!

When one sleeps the other squaks and squeels as if they know something isn't right.

They hold hands ...

They LOVE baby einsten (thank goodness)

I was talking to Dane this morning and we decided that having kids makes everything so much harder and better at the same time! We love being parents and love having twins!

4th of July

2009-07-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

I LOVE LOVE LOVE richfield's 4th of July. So its always hard for me to be away from my family at this time of year, but I seriously had such a good time. Thanks to my sister in-law, whit, who wanted to make it a fun one we had such a good day. We started out at the beach, where they had some sand castle contests, and it was just a beautiful day! Then we met the boys at the beach again where they shot fireworks off a boat. It was beautiful! then got dinner at a fun little restraunt in town. The girls even liked the fireworks, their eyes were wide open just staring at them! We're loving being in Florida, and getting sad that the summer is half over!

Finally

2009-06-17T18:46:00.000-07:00

I have a husband again!!! Not gonna lie, that month without dane was super hard... but we made it, thanks to HUGE family support! I really don't know what I would do without everybody that stepped into help me while Dane was gone. THANK YOU..

My girls survived their first plane ride and we are now in sunny florida! My mom and sisters came out and we made it kind of a girls trip. We went to the beach, went on a fan boat, shopped, slept, ate a lot, pool etc. I was so sad to see them go, and am already missing the help!!!

jaci and dani are doing amazing! RIght before I left we had their 4 month check up (a little late) and jaci was 11.1 dani 10.6. They are seriously growing so much and smiling lots which I of course love ... Their personalities are showing through as well, dani likes affection and attention while jaci is mellow and content. I can't go anywhere without getting a ton of smiles and people wanting to know EVERY detail. But I'm not gonna lie, I don;t mind one bit hearing how cute my girls are!!!

They are 5 months old!!!

workin lady

2009-05-09T16:09:00.000-07:00

So i've been back to work for a month now, and have an all new appreciation for working moms!

Happy Mothers Day

picture time

2009-05-03T17:43:00.000-07:00

We took the girls to get pictures, and i can't believe how good they turned out because the girls were terrible! but we absolutely love the end result! so if you need a photographer he was really good with the girls and in between it all managed to get some great shots!

And this is going to be the story of our lives.. haha... I just love this shot! he got it just perfect...

Above is the girls in their blessing dresses.

We blessed them a week ago and it went so good. Dane gave them such a good blessing and the girls were angels...

the world i live in

2009-04-22T19:33:00.000-07:00

This is for all of you that tell me, "i've always wanted twins!"

and this is for all of you that tell me "you could never handle twins"

See I have the best of both worlds....

Meltdown

2009-03-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

So, it's true! I had my first official breakdown as a mother of twins the other night. It was the usual evening where at 10 my girls thought it was day time and were wide awake and very fussy with tummy aches! Just when I'd get one settled down, and get into bed, the other would start crying hysterically. And if it wasn't one it was both! So by 2 am I had just about had it. I was holding a crying baby in the recliner, then of course in the other room the other girl starts screaming. So i did what any smart mom would do, I started crying with them. Yup, 3 of us crying, it was a beautiful night. So my cute husband (whom I was trying to let sleep cuz he wasn't feeling well) came and got both the girls, shut my bedroom door and kept them out of the room for a few hours. I think that was the best 3 hours of sleep EVER.

But the good news is I still totally love my girls! :)

little ladies

2009-03-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

My sis, Jane, came up and since we can't really take the girls out yet, we had our own little photo shoot at our house. The girls only handled it for so long, but I still think we got some great pics.

Dani

Jaci

These girls are so much fun to have around. And being identical they really do things on tune with eachother, such as crying, diapers, feeding, noises (one nurse said she thinks they talk a lot, and those that know me know that they come by that honestly from their mom)

People have asked about their names, so here's the story. I was named after my 2 great grandmas and always like that. I didn't want my girls to have middle names, so I wanted to name them after somebody. I have always really LOVED the name Dani for a girl and it just so happens that Dane's step dad is named Danny and we adore him, so that's who her name came after.

Dane thought he got to pick the next name and Dane's middle name is Jay after his grandpa Jay, so he came up with Jaci which I really liked. and that is where my little girls get their names from (2 males) ha ha

But you have to all admit they are adorable!

2009-03-01T13:40:00.000-08:00

our little bugs....

yes these are newborn outfits and

still so big!

home at last...

2009-02-23T15:19:00.000-08:00

Our little girls are finally HOME! They came home a week ago, and of course it's been quite hectic around the Tidwell home.. Dani is still on a little bit of oxygen and at night they both are on monitors (yes the beeping is wonderful). They have grown so much, on Thu Dani was 5.7 lbs and Jaci was 5.9 lbs. They are gaining so quickly I bet they're about 6 Lbs by now. I know that doesn't sound big to you guys, but less than 6 weeks ago they were 3 lbs!

We absolutely love having them home! We have had SO much help from family and friends, and now that everybody is gone, I miss all the company!

I have 7 more weeks off of school, so I get to spend some time with the beautiful ladies!

Oh and since a lot of you are moms out there does anyone have remedies on helping tommy aches. These girls will just SCREAM! I've tried mylocon and a couple random things, but now I'm desperate!

jazz night out

2009-01-29T16:13:00.000-08:00

Dane and I were so lucky and got to go to the jazz

game against the spurs the other night. It was so

nice to GET OUT of the house and did I mention

we were on the 4th row!!!

And of course our little dani and jaci are doing so well.

It's getting harder and harder to leave them every day,

but it looks like we still have at least 3 more weeks

of this :(. . . . As long as they come home healthy we

will be happy!!!

Little Miracles

2009-01-23T12:04:00.000-08:00

Dani 3lbs 11oz.... Jan 16th 8:44 pm

Jaci 3 lbs 3oz..... Jan 16th 8:41 pm

They have arrived!!!! I wish you could all just see how precious and sweet these two little girls are. As you can see from the picture we're gonna have a hard time tel

ling them apart. They have tons of black hair, and are tintsy and so easy to love!

Now we'll tell a shortened version of why these ladies are here so early!. I went in last friday for my routine ultrasound (my 3rd appt of the day) and as they were looking our little Jaci had no more fluid in her sack and Dani had tons! So they said, well its time to deliver. You need to have these babies in the next hour or two! Ya, dane and I were both shaking pretty bad.

What happens with no more fluid is they can't grow anymore, causes kidney failure, heart problems etc.

So I went down to labor and delivery. I had been told about a week prior that I would have to have a c section because of all the complications with the girls (so yes, I was nervous without having a ton of knowledge of the procedure!) But anyways, I had eaten only an hour before, so they strapped me with all the monitors and we waited until 8:30 that night to start everything. I was so thankful to have Dane near me and want to be in the room, not to mention he was watching in amazement! But Jaci came out first and I just remember Dane sayi

ng "I see her little fingers, its like she's reaching out for us" So she came out great and Dane left me ALONE to go see her, then they got Dani out an

d the whole process was only like 30 min. Quite amazing! I shortly got to see the girls, but they had to be rushed to ICU and they didn't let me see them until the next morning which I think is just cruel... They were born at 32 weeks and 3 days, and are doing amazingly well. They both breath on their own, and are taking their food. We get to see them twice a day, and hold them for 30 min. It's definately not my favorite, but I am thankful that they are improving every day and are such troopers!

We are now a happy family of 4!!!!!!!!!!

BEDREST!?! What?? Why??

2009-01-07T13:35:00.000-08:00

If any of you have thoughts similar to mine, you think of bedrest and know it happens to woman who are pregnant, but never think it will be YOU. . So we went in for a non stress test last week and didn't think much of it because it's usually the ultrasounds that scare us and we are prepared for bad news with.

During my test, I was apparently having contractions every 1 and1/2 to 2 min. So they send us down to labor and delivery. Now I knew I was having contractions, but I truly thought it was normal, (i mean i've never been pregnant before) So making a long story short, weekend at the hospital, and a lot of drugs later I am finally home. The doctors were worried because I dialated over night and with first pregnancy's and 2 babies that worries them. So now they think I have days before the babies come!!! Because even with all the med's I am still contracting, but they just sent me home on strict bed rest.

That was hard for me because I was supposed to go back to school on Monday, and I really do feel better when I am busy,but I guess the maternity leave came earlier than planned.

So now we just kind of sit and wait. We had an ultrasound yesterday and one baby is 3.5 lbs and the other is 4 lbs. So they're getting big! We're just hoping I make it past 32 weeks!

Thank you to everyone for all the prayers, and my next apt is tommorow so we'll keep you all posted on how things go.

baby shower

2008-12-22T15:36:00.001-08:00

I had my first baby shower a couple of weeks ago, and man, people are generous....

It was a duo or Nicole and I, we just all went to Hill's played a few games and chatted away!

As for the baby up-date the girls are doing good so far. Each time we go in for an ultrasound things have changed just a little, but not enough for them to keep me in. People always ask if I have a scheduled date, and I don't. All i know is that we take it week by week. I could go in and they tell me I'm staying or they say you're good to go until next time. Kinda crazy. If one thing I've learned from this rollercoaster ride is to trust in the Lord. It's in his hands and the outcome will be how its supposed to. (much easier said than done though)

But thanks for all the prayers, and hopefully we have 5 weeks still.....

Another funny comment from a student "how come you haven't gone to the doctor yet?"

me: "What?" kid: "to get your baby out"

I guess he thought the time was here and I was big enough....

And students ALWAYS draw you "beautiful" pictures, so one day a student came and handed me a picture and I was busy so I just quickly said thank you as I glanced at it. Then I looked a little closer, It was me with a big belly and 2 kids inside of it. I wish I would have taken a picture cuz it was priceless.

babies... & football

2008-11-30T11:40:00.000-08:00

Yes, we did support the cougars last weekend, and were a bit disapointed. But the game was still fun and intense to be at (until the last quarter that is) I never thought I'd become one of "those" fans that just love BYU because before Dane I didn't even really like football. But now going through 2 seasons with him and supporting his dad I believe I have become a "true" fan. Now maybe not a die hard, but I do enjoy the games, and keep up on a lot of it.

Now I thought I would update you all on the "tidwell twins" They're both growing, as well as me! At times I don't think my belly can stretch any farther, but everyone reminds me that it sure can. And its crazy cuz I never though I would want to get bigger, but when it comes to healthy kids, I think all of you can agree with me, you just end up not caring and liking to see the pounds come on!.

We do have a bit of a scare, it looks as if our babies are sharing fluid and blood now. It is still pre-phase one, so not to bad yet, but instead of every two weeks getting ultrasounds, I am now going in twice a week!! Not to mention regular Dr. visits and I guess soon I will be meeting with the neonatologist. I got steroid shots to help develop the lunges of the babies and now I guess we just take it week by week. The hard thing is that I feel like a regular pregnant woman with all the "joys" but my babies aren't ok. I'm still working, so that's nice but they told me at anytime things can get bad. I guess the latest I will have the babies is 34 weeks, but they're thinking around 30-32 weeks. SCARY! Right now we're just praying that I can prove them wrong in some aspect. But we are very thankful with the technology out there today that detects things so quickly and can help pre-mature babies. So prayers for the babies are greatly appreciated!!!!

Kids sAY the fUNniest stuff.....

2008-11-18T13:36:00.000-08:00

While teaching and being pregnant I get some hilarious comments! I decided to share some of them so others can enjoy the simple minds of children.

*"You look pregnant" I then informed the kid that I was pregnant and it all made better sense to him.

*kid "What happened to your belly???" me "I have babies in it" kid "Oh..."

*One of my students from last year went up to his teacher and said very worriedly "mrs. Tidwell is getting fat."

*I told the students that I had to leave a little early that day because I had a dr.apt. so another teacher would be coming in to watch them, a student shouted out "are your babies coming out today?" mind you this is when I was barely showing...

*"So a a a when are ya gonna get those babies out?"

* we do stretches everyday in class and one day a kid had said something was to hard for him and one of my favorite little girls said, "If Mrs. Tidwell can do it with her babies, then you can!!! huh Mrs. Tidwell"

*And one of my favorites, It was snowing that day and a kid shouts out, "mrs. Tidwell your belly looks like a snowball." I just laughed, but then another kid said in a very confused tone "Maybe a BIG snowball!!!"

Halloween

2008-11-05T17:12:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we had a lot going on.

I really like Halloween, but with

school, I almost like it better when its over!

The kids are so crazy! This year us 1st grade teachers did the theme of insects...

On halloween we had a

fun party with Dane's family.

So here's me and my cute sister in-laws.

And on Sunday we had Cy and Whit's daughter Remi's baby blessing, She is so precious!

And of course I can't not give a shout out to R-town and taking state on Saturday. Alyse is helping coach so we went to the games, and it was so intense I was DYING. The babies were going crazy as well!

Girls TRIP

2008-10-15T20:42:00.000-07:00

So, we decided before we doubled all of our families we better take a girls trip! We all headed to St. George on Friday night and pretty much just did everything that girls like to do that their husbands won't do with us.....

Nicole and I just had to get a picture together being that we are due only 3 days apart. (don't worry that I'm like 5 times the size of her though) It's beautiful what 2 babies can do to ya.

THEY ARE................

2008-09-26T07:49:00.000-07:00

GIRLS!!!!

Looks like I've got two little ladies in my tummy! And everything is going really good!!! Dane and I are both really excited, and can't believe its more girls! This will make 8 out of the 9 grandchildren on his side girls!!!

Life CHanGing

2008-09-09T17:13:00.000-07:00

So here goes a crazy story (at least I think) for all of you. So while in North Carolina I was starting to feel a lot different and getting sicker so after 4 pregnancy tests it was confirmed that YES I was pregnant whether I liked it or not. I am sorry to say that I wasn't excited at all :(... It certainly was not planned and seemed to come at such an inopportune time. I had to come back and teach while Dane is still in school full time! Plus I was on the couch for the rest of the summer not feeling well at all. Dane and I were just thankful for the Gospel at this time and new it must be in our Plan. So when I got home I made a doctor appt. and went to get checked out. Since I had no idea when I had gotten pregnant (yes we were preventing it) they told me I was 14 weeks which I new there was no way possible because I was still in UT and Dane was in NC. But with all the measurements they didn't think they were to far off, so they got me an ultrasound.
I went to the ultrasound by myself because Dane was still on his way back from NC. So she puts the ultrasound thingy on me and she says, "Oh... you're having twins" i immediately shoot back "No i'm not...!!??" and she says, "Oh honey, ... I wouldn't joke about something like that!" Yes you can imagine the shock at the moment!!!! My instant reaction was tears... but if you can imagine 100 emotions running through your body at one time that is what I was experiencing. Truthfully the rest of the ultrasound was quite a blur. But I did call Dane right after and was FREAKING out when I was telling him.... Quite the moment.
So here we are up to date. And in all honesty we are so excited!!!! I hate to say this, but I think it needed to be twins to get me so happy about it all. Buying a house was really no longer an option so after living with Hillary for a few weeks, we finally found a basement apt. that we really like and is within walking distance from Dane's moms.
I had an ultrasound today and am 14 weeks. The doctor said I am having IDENTICAL TWINS which is really exciting, but also can be scary. I guess my baby's are in the same placenta but have different sacks. With this brings a scare of a disease called TTTS which means they are sharing the same blood and one baby takes more and can cause the other baby to die. So I went to a specialist today and as of right now they are not sharing blood. BUT it can happen anytime throughout the pregnancy and can be scary. So if having twins isn't already considered high risk, I have to have a ultrasound every 2 WEEKS to make sure things are running ok. So that's our story!!! Crazy I know, but also very fun........... It is so true when you think of how you never know what will come next because 1 year ago I never would of thought i would be pregnant let alone with twins!!!!
PS
Dane also had our 1 year anniversary... Quite the gift :)

Home Again

2008-08-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

So I am finally back in Utah!! It has been so, nice and one of the best things is that I feel like I can finally breathe! I know that sounds weird, but before I was leaving NC there were so many rainstorms and it was so muggy I felt that I never got fresh air! But Utah and the mountains cured that!!!
Right when I got home I was so lucky to get to be with all my family. We celebrated my Grandpas 80th birthday and spent a weekend in Fish Lake. I loved every moment of it (except that my husband wasn't there)
We rode bikes, played games, fished, caught up with the family, and of course ate a lot of food. It was so nice.

4th of July FUN

2008-07-08T12:20:00.000-07:00

I was sad I wasn't in R-Town for the 4th, but we still managed to have our fun out here.

A few of the wives went to a minor league baseball game out here. The team was called the "Swamp Dogs" as we were sitting there, I was like, wow this is some serious white trash, but then I was reminded of Richfield and the derby ....

I couldn't look at not having fireworks on the 4th so Dane and I found a place out here that had a big ol' celebration.

Then we headed back home and Dane had some fireworks of his own (he had purchased them on his way out to NC without me of course) But i did love watching him be a little kid throwing flowers into the pond trying to blow up the frogs....

ROBOT

2008-06-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

As a lot of you know Dane has a prosthetic leg. Despite the difficulties it brings, there is also a lot of laughter with it. For instance my nephew wanting a "peg leg" like his Uncle Dane or the other day as Dane was in the bathroom a little 6 yr old came up to him, (as he's peeing) and says "man, what happened to your leg" and went on for about 15 minutes. Apparently he had just watched transformers and thought it was pretty cool.

Anyways, its hard to explain what has happened to nieces and nephews let alone the inquisitive 1st grader. So, our story has become like this, dane didn't have good leg so the doctors had to get him a new one and we call it the "robot Leg". Although it never just ends at that with the question after question of the little kids mind wanting to know more and more.

So one day Dane visited my classroom with shorts on and the kids eyes are automatically just staring and wanting to know what was going on, but I of course tried to keep them working. I walked Dane out then came back into the classroom with all of my ESL(english as a second language) students grouped into a cluster. One of my favorite students came up to me, (obviously coerced by the rest of the group) and asked, "Mrs. Tidwell.... Is your husband really a ROBOT???" I didn't know what to say, because I just had to hold the laughter in.... I was dying.

myRTle

2008-06-17T14:40:00.001-07:00

We went to a fun restaruant right off the beach.... Then after the boys went for a swim in the ocean. It was such a fun day.

Even though we got caught in i think the worst rain storm I have EVER seen, it was crazy; the windshield wipers couldn't keep up............

MyRTle BEAch

2008-06-17T14:26:00.000-07:00

Fathers day Whit and I decided to have the guys go golfing in Myrtle Beach- since it is only an hour south of Wilmington/.. So while they golfed we shopped. :)

Not a bad idea, right///

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-06-11T15:23:00.001-07:00

OUR STORY

2008-06-10T14:43:00.000-07:00

Dane and I were set up on a blind date, by my now sister in-law.

I was teaching at my school and she happened to be substituting.

I recognized her from Snow, and she mentioned to set us up and since I loved blind dates I was all about it. Our first date we went out with her and Dane's brother.

My first impressions of Dane were that he was super cute and tall which I loved, but not for me................ Little did I know he felt the same way!!! Who knows what happened but I guess we kinda just fell for each-other. We were engaged a year ago, June, at Lake Powell. Dane was selling in Oregon for the summer, so he came home to visit and we went to visit his sister's family in Page. He mentioned on the way down that we should go on a hike, so of course I had a bit of suspissions, but when we got out of the car, there was no ring in the pocket (of course I had to check) and he didn't even grab a blanket, so I was a little saddened, but to my surprise his sister had set it all up for us. It was overlooking the point and during the sunset. BEAUTIFUL!!! We were married August 24th in the Manti Temple. Our honeymoon was spent in Mexico on the caribbean (very relaxing). We then lived in Taylorsville for the school year while Dane attended SLCC working on pre-reqs. and I taught 1st grade in Taylorsville.

Dane wants to become a nurse anesthetist (kinda like an anathesiologist).

He absolutley loves that stuff, which I am very thankful for because I can't even go to a hospital without getting a little whoozie......The school year went great and fast for us both.!

In may Dane headed to North Carolina where he is working and selling security systems. I just barely arrived a few days ago and am loving it here. We live right on the coast and I get to spend the most time I ever have with my husband because I'm not working like a maniac... Which is why I have started to "blog" We'll see how long it lasts though, I'm not to good at this stuff, but it should be fun....

So that's our story up until August when everything will change once again, but

truly I like not knowing what will come next................ :)