2007 Summary

What a year! If we could summarize this year we'd say it was a year of hard work and challenges, and not enough time to play. We had a great start to the year with vacations and time together as a family. We were thrilled of news of twins in July, but then life changed quickly. I've spent the past 6 months in my own little cave of sickness with far too many hospital visits. Meanwhile, Nick has been overwhelmingly busy with businesses and home projects.

However, in the end, we are very proud of ourselves for making it through the challenges this year has brought to us, as it turns out we've had a successful year afterall. Our College Property buisness is blooming, as we purchased 5 more houses this year for a total of 20 rentals. After a year of negotiations Nick is now the owner of Reuter Walton Construction and moved the office to a new, priceless location on Lake Calhoun. As for my job, I'm still sad about leaving the Humane Society but I'm looking forward to staying home with Ethan and the twins. Maybe I'll have more time next year to get back into helping with the college properties.

In summary, we are really looking foward to a fun-filled 2008!!!!

Here is a look back at 2007....

December 07-

We love you Solomon

November 07-

Thanksgiving in Iowa

October 07-

Thomas the Train!

September 07-

Still sick, but made it to the cabin

August 07-

Ethan & Nick at Annual Winn campout

July07-

Ethan's 3rd Birthday

June07-

House packed with foster animals

May07-

Ethan and BFF Murphy at park bike parade

April 07-

Bre visits Lorna in Seattle

March 07-

"Paint a Plate" with Grandma

February07-
Rooney and Walton families vacation in Cozumel

January 07-

Hunkered down in the house while snowing

Farewell 2007! We look forward to a wonderful 2008!!!

Goodbye Vegetarian Diet

As you all know, I've been a Vegetarian for about 8 years now. An old roommate in Boulder gave me the life-changing book Old McDonald's Factory Farm. Within 24 hours I had read the entire book and stopped eating meat immediately. The book opened my eyes not just to the horrible factory farm's treatment of animals but to the poor quality of meat produced and the horrendous damage these farms have on our environment. The environmental impact is HUGE...

OK, I don't want this blog to be a lesson for you, but you know how strongly I feel about environmental issues.

With that said, I'm forced to do something I really don't want to do....EAT MEAT! On Thursday my doctor told me I have Iron-Deficiency Anemia, which explains my fatigue and dizziness over the past couple weeks. However, my body will not allow me to take any vitamins. Even a children's chewable vitamin will make me vomit. Therefore, there is only one solution. I'm supposed to eat red meat at least 3 times a week. The babies' growth will be affected by my anemia and they're growth and weight gain will slow down unless I boost my levels. I guess I'll be having steak for Christmas (from our local co-op).

Don't worry, I'll be back to my veggie-eating, "granola", "tree-hugging" self after the babes are born. The things I do for my children!

Christmas Traditions

Here are a couple fun pictures from this morning's cookie decorating party. My mom, Shalene (my little sister:) and I have a tradition of splashing each other with frosting every December, which some people may call "decorating Christmas cookies." This year was a mellow year and more frosting made it to the cookies rather than Shalene's face.

Long time no blog!
Life has been pretty busy these days and I've been spending my spare time on the couch as directed by my doctor. We are now in the 27th week of pregnancy. The twins weigh about 2lbs, 5oz. each and are 15in. long. We have doctor appointments and/or ultrasounds every 2 weeks to check measurements and growth of me and the twins. My belly is HUGE, as I'm measuring at 35 weeks along, which is right on track. I will continue to measure 6-8 weeks ahead of a "normal" singleton pregnancy. These days I'm often asked "when are you due, any day now?" and they are shocked when I tell them I still have a couple more months. My goal is to rest as much as possible to avoid official bed rest. So far, so good.

Happy Thanksgiving! (a little late)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Iowa last week with the Rooney and the Winn families. Ethan had the time of his life running around with the cousins, playing in the first snow fall and swimming in the hotel pool. He is still talking about playing with Kayla, Eva, Logan, Zach and Jake. He wants to know when they can come to our house to play. :)

My body being as temperamental as it has been for the past 6 months wouldn't allow us to have a smooth, worry free vacation. I had a little pregnancy scare the night before Thanksgiving, sending Nick and I to the ER at St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids at 3am. Vomiting and loose stools brought on by some undiagnosed GI virus caused me to become severely dehydrated, thus bringing on contractions. The contractions were strong, frequent and a little scary so we rushed to the ER where they were able to hook me up with IV fluids and stop the contractions by 10am. Luck for us, we went back to the festivities, had a little nap, and were ready for the feast by dinner time!

Today we had a doctor's appointment and ultrasound check up.
The babies are growing right on track for 24.5 weeks weighing 1.5 lbs each with strong heartbeats. The best news of all was hearing that my cervix is still long and closed! Who would have thought someone could get so excited about cervical news! My orders are to rest, rest, rest and stay hydrated. Oh, and she wants to make sure we have a plan in place for Ethan should I have to go on bed rest.....I guess we should start thinking about that.

23 weeks

Keeping up with my food intake can be tiring. Yesterday I wrote down everything I ate in order to check my calorie intake. I'm supposed to consume at least 2700 calories/day. Here is an example of my daily diet:

Wednesday 11/15
8am- Special K cereal, banana & OJ
9:45am- English muffin w/PB&J
11:15am- Oatmeal
12:45pm- Two cheese tortillas & whole avocado
3pm- Yogurt & apple
4:15- Asparagus quiche
6:45- Spinach stuffed pasta shells
9pm- Ice cream

Plus, I always drink about 90 ounces of H2O daily.
Wow, that's a ton of food! Now you can imagine how often we do the dishes.

Here I am at 23 weeks...

Happy B-day Solomon

Solomon turned 6 years old yesterday. We got Solomon almost 6 years ago from my old work in Boulder- The Humane Society of Boulder Valley. He was picked up as a stray at 4 months old (already weighing in at 45lbs). I met him for the first time when I went into his cage to vaccinate him. He peed all over me becuase he was so excited for the attention. It was instant love.

This is what they really think of the party hats...

Right on Track

Even though this picture is dark, it shows that the first week of construction has been eventful! All the walls have been taken down to the studs and if you look closely at the picture you can see me standing in the far room. Sorry, no lighting in this part of the house for a while.

Check out the JOB SIGN in our yard!!!! REUTER WALTON construction!

Here is a close up of Nick's FIRST job sign! Nick will be the owner of Reuter-Walton Construction starting next week!!! CONGRATS Nick!! I'm so proud of you.

As for me and the babes, we are in the 22nd week and growing, growing, growing. Nick had to help me put my socks on today because it's not easy to reach my toes anymore. It looks like I'll be wearing slip-on shoes all winter. I promise to post another belly shot soon.

Moving Out

As if we didn't have enough going on in our lives, we are moving out of our house for the next 3 months in order to take on a huge home improvement project. After all, what would a pregnancy be without some remodeling? And, with a super-sized pregnancy comes a super-sized project.

The timing is just right. Nick's parents just left for Mexico on November 1st for the winter (Hi Bob & DR!). We are moving into their townhouse this weekend and hope that the project will be done in time to allow us to move back home before the twins arrive in February.

What are we having done? We are ripping out the kitchen, spare bedroom, and TV room in the back of the house. This new space will become our brand new, much larger, kitchen and living space. Plus, we will be putting in new (safer) steps to the basement and having our basement finished as a family room/play area. We are SO excited!

Here are some BEFORE pictures:

This is a picture of Ethan hanging out with one of our foster animals in our spare bedroom. This room was often used as our "foster" room for kittens and other critters when we didn't have guests staying with us.

This picture shows our "T" room. This was the TV, train, and toy room, right next to the spare bedroom.

Lastly, our hallway to the back door, which happened to be our kitchen. This kitchen is not family friendly, and we were always tripping over each other, or toys, while cooking or using the back door. I can't wait for this kitchen to go!

Stay tuned for pictures of the progress. Demolition day is Monday!

The frequency of posts may slow a little as we don't have internet at the Walton's house. I'm sure we'll be stopping home regularly to check on things and visit neighbors, so I'll sneak in some internet time as much as possible.