Colorado Baby Shower

Over Christmas Martin and I got to go to Colorado to spend time with my side of the family.

While we were there some very sweet people  threw me a baby shower so I could share the excitement of our twins with many of the people I grew up with.

Lisa and Catherine put everything together, thank you both SO much.

 

And I know many other women helped with decorations, invitations, food, and more, so thank you to everyone who helped make it a wonderful night.

This is a picture of part of the invitation, it was adorable.  It had a cute little Noah's Ark theme because all the animals came in 2's.

 Invitation designed by www.sugarinkdesign.com

The rhyme says:

"Like Noah and his ark of old,

the critters came by twos.

Now Katy Gille's having twins,

we're thrilled to share the news!

There's so much to look forward to,

the cooing and the bubbles,

What fun she surely has in store,

When the cuteness factor doubles!"

Here are some pictures of the fun

 

CUTE CUTE decorations and really great food.

Salad, soup, darling cupcakes, and just a whole lot of yummyness.

And LOTS of people who I love so much

(but we weren't able to snag a picture of everyone who was there, so I'm sorry if we missed you!)

 

Lindsay and Hebs, I love those Ballantyne's

 

Alexa, Paige, and Amy - some of the best friends I could have ever asked for

 

Tammy, Toby, Kelsey, and Becky - 

Some of my church leaders from not too long ago and good family friends

Reiko, Cindy, and Catherine -

Amazing women who I just love

Taylor, Leslie, Lauren, and Sarah - 

My family!  One awesome sister-in-law and my 2nd family, the McCabe's.

Leslie is having a girl soon and Lauren had her baby boy about a month after this pic was taken.

Brooke and Taylor

Another great McCabe girl (who is pregnant with a girl!) and my awesome sister-in-law 

(Kyle, thank you for marrying such a cool girl.)

Joyce and Paulette

These women have been in my life for many many years, I'm so glad you both could be there.

 And the Carney women!  Me, my mama, and Taylor :)

I love you both.

It was SO nice to be able to celebrate with so many people who mean so much to me.  Many of these people have known me since I was a little girl, then as an awkward teenager with glasses and braces, then as I got married and now as we're getting ready to welcome our babies into the world.

Thank you to everyone who was involved and who celebrated with us.  

I felt so loved and blessed beyond measure.

 

27 Weeks! How in the world did we get here!?

Whew!  Things are starting to become more real that I will soon have 2 babies in my arms.

At my 26 week Dr.'s appointment last week I was talking with my OB (who had twins herself) 

and she told me that she delivered her twins at 35 weeks.  

At that moment I got kind of freaked out because if I were to deliver at 35 weeks that meant the babies would be here in 9 weeks....9 WEEKS!!!

The whole concept of me being a mother of twins sunk in nice and deep at that point.

It is CRAZY how quickly 9 months can fly by.

Although I have my freak out moments of, "Oh my gosh, there are TWO babies," and "Ahhh, how are we going to do this?!" I always have bursts of excitement that follow those freak outs.  

And I get so excited!!!

Week 25

Week 26
We forgot to take a pic for Week 26...whoops.  But it's cool to see the difference in the size of my tummy after 2 weeks.

Week 27

The process of getting to this point where we have two children waiting to join our family has been a unique journey.  I remember when Martin and I felt very strongly that adding to our family was what we needed to do.  A lot of prayers went into following that prompting because of so many different factors in our lives (neither of us were done with school, we're both young, etc.).  BUT I cannot deny the firm impression I personally felt that children needed to be in our near future.

Some people know about this, and I have become very open about sharing this, but I was pregnant just a couple months after our decision to try for children.  Sadly, I miscarried that first pregnancy.  Going to the Dr.'s--ecstatic with the expectation of seeing your baby--and leaving with a broken heart was devastating.

Martin and I were so blessed by the love and compassion of others though.  

It took courage to tell people (other than close friends and family) about what happened, but telling people was one of the best decisions we made.  I learned of many more families who endured the same tragedy and we felt so much comfort from talking with them.  I strongly believe that suffering in silence is not what God intended us to do when we face trials.  Angels surround us and God often acts through the people who are our neighbors, friends, family, and even complete strangers.

Well, four months after our very sad experience, we were blessed with another pregnancy.  And this time, there was not only one strong heart beat to hear...but TWO!!! 

Oh what a joyous experience, truly.  I smile thinking about it :)

Now, 27 weeks later we have SO much joy knowing that our babies are growing, healthy, and active.
I've been feeling them kick like crazy and it is so fun! As they get bigger the kicks become more noticeable.  You should see my stomach move when these babies are turning
and kicking...crazy stuff.

I had a nasty cold last week, but I am getting over it.  I have discovered that it is NO fun coughing with a big ol belly.  Martin has been so kind and patient though, he just helps me along and takes very good care of me :)

I am so blessed.  So blessed.

Our journey to this point genuinely amazes me.  Everything truly does happen for a reason.

Babies, babies, babies

I have said this numerous times, but it is SO true...it amazes my how quickly my stomach is growing!

Those little babies are healthy and strong and growing like crazy!

As of my last ultrasound 4 days ago the babies are looking great.  

Our baby boy is weighing about 1 lb, 12 oz and our baby girl is weighing about 1 lb, 11 oz.  This means they are still bigger than the average size of a baby at this stage in the pregnancy, which is good!  Usually twins are small, so we'll hope they keep this progress going.

Our baby girl was being shy and didn't let us get a good view of her face, but here are pictures of our baby boy!

Isn't he so cute!? That is our baby and it is so incredible!

And 3 weeks worth of the belly growing:

Week 22

Week 23 on Christmas day!

We compared the prego belly with the volleyball belly and they're about the same size...crazy

Week 24

 

I was really tired...

Some updates on how the pregnancy has been going:

• I feel the babies move all the time!  They crank up the activity whenever music is playing (maybe we have some prodigies on our hands.) It is so cool to see my stomach move as the babies kick and turn.
• I'm honestly feeling really good!  No aches and pains, thankfully.
• My ribs, stomach, and bladder are starting to get crowded.  Every now and then I'll feel our baby boy play with my bladder like it's a punching bag, yeah that's an interesting feeling.  Then our baby girl likes to snuggle up to my lungs and take my breathe away...ha, pun intended.
• Being almost 25 weeks along blows my mind.  That means that in just 12 weeks I will be at 37 weeks which means it would be safe and sound for the babies to come if they came early....ahhhh!  12 weeks, that's only about 3 months!  That is so crazy and exciting to think about!  9 months flies by, that's for sure.

2 Year Anniversary

December 21, 2010

The Best Day of my Life

Photo by Amber Allen of [echo] images 

http://www.echoimages.blogspot.com/?view=magazine

Photo by Amber Allen of [echo] images 

http://www.echoimages.blogspot.com/?view=magazine

I have been married to Martin Gille for over 2 years.  In some ways I feel like, "Only two years? I can't remember life without Marty." and in other ways I feel like, "Wow! It's been TWO years!"

Marrying Martin was truly the best decision I have ever made.

While we were dating and started talking about a long term future together I pondered and prayed long and hard to know if marrying him was the right decision to make.

In a very personal moment, I genuinely felt confirmation that my decision to marry Martin was endorsed by God and that unfathomable joy and blessings would come our way.  And ever since the day I married him, that personal insight has become reality.

Of course we have our ups and downs.  What couple doesn't?  But I can honestly say that the "ups" FAR outweigh the "downs."  My soul is genuinely happy with Martin.  I desire SO badly for every person I know to have a relationship like ours because it is marvelous, truly marvelous.

I am so blessed to be Mrs. Gille.

For our anniversary we got to celebrate in some fun ways.  About 2 weeks before our anniversary I came home to these:

He got them a couple weeks ahead of time because we would be leaving town the day after our anniversary so he wanted me to be able to enjoy them!  Thoughtful, right?

On the day of our anniversary we made waffles for breakfast and I packed Marty a special lunch for work with 2 of everything in it (because it was our 2 year mark).  I got to pick him up early from work and we headed to a really yummy wood-fire grill restaurant.
Here's a picture of us in the car at the restaurant because it was freezing outside:

Then we went to see Elf the musical!  We LOVE Elf the movie so we were pretty excited about seeing the musical.  The theater was decorated in a way that I would totally see Buddy the Elf decorating it.  Paper snowflakes everywhere, tons of garland, and all that good stuff.

Here we are at the theater and you can see a glimpse of the decorations behind us:

(Doesn't it look like I tried to sneak a soccer ball in under my shirt!?  I'm getting big!)

It was a great night!  I love my handsome husband and am so thankful for him!