Well last week was full of great times. My Dad and Riitta came out for four days and it was so awesome to have them here. We drove to Canon Beach, which is about an 1.5 hour trip. It was one of the most beautiful beaches on the West Coast. It was really cold, but a lot of fun!

We also tackled going to cut down our own tree this year. What fun that was! We had over four acres to choose from. Trying to find the perfect tree was a headache. But after an hour, we found the perfect one. It will be a new tradition for us to chop down our own tree vs. a nursery.

Today we went to meet with Luke's surgeon. We found out that he will start getting casts approximately 1-2 weeks after birth. The cast will be changed on a weekly basis for six weeks. After six weeks, he will have tendon surgery (they will cut the back of his ankles and stretch the tendons out). After the surgery, he will wear a cast for 4 weeks and move into a brace. We won't know if he will require major surgery until he is about six months old, but this is what we will do once he is born.

Again we are trying to count down our weeks to a successful pregnancy. So far, we have 7 more weeks to go. I have another appointment on Wednesday, but so far both he babies are doing exceptionally well. We will continue to keep you updated. Have a great week!

Update on the Chesnut's

Well I know that it has been over a month since we have given an update on the twins, so here is all the current news. We had our appointment the day before Thanksgiving and what a grateful one it was. Luke's heart looks perfect! Actually both of their hearts look fantastic!

Here is a picture of Luke's club feet. I know a lot of you are curious to see what this may look like early on. In the center of the picture are his feet shape like a "club." This would be his right leg that you are looking at. You can see his feet turned inward. We meet with the surgeon on Monday, December 8. We will give you an update once we hear from them.
They are both just about 2 pounds each and are measuring a week in advance of their gestational age. So they are growing completely healthy and right on target. As for me, my stomach feels as though it's going to burst and I just can't imagine a few more months of TWO growing babies in there!


The doctor has set our goal for mid-January. That would put me at 32 weeks. If we can get my body to last that long, we are in great shape! Babies or twins born after 27 weeks have a 90% chance of a healthy survival. So we pray that I can get to at least 32. The reason why we have this concern is with both pregnancies, I have had pre-term labor early on. So please keep us in your prayers! But I do feel great -actually better this pregnancy than with either boys. Sometimes I feel like a punching bag with one baby literally bruising a rib and then another on my hip. I have occasional moments where my hip/legs will give out, but over all, I am doing well.



As far as the rest of the family, we had a great Thanksgiving. We hosted it here with about 20 of our church friends. I made a 30 pound turkey and the guys project was a 20 pound deep friend turkey (yes our house is still standing). So needless to say, we STILL have a lot of turkey! We can't believe that Christmas is 24 days away and then a new year. How exciting! My Dad and Riitta come this week and then next week is Aaron's parents. And then at the end of the month, Julie (my dear friend) and her 3 kids are driving all the way up here to visit for the first time.So we are so excited to have
family and friends visit for this Christmas season.

By the way- this shouldn't surprise anyone that knows me, but we (yes , both Aaron and I) changed our daughters name. Her name (no more changes, promise) will be Adilynn Noelle Chesnut (Adi for short) and his is still Luke Aaron Chesnut.

Halloween

Update on the Babies

Well we had our follow up appointment today for both the babies. As of right now, both of them look wonderful. Luke still has the club feet which won't be able to be corrected until arrival, but his spine and heart looked perfect today -as well as Ellie's. We were told even if there was any chromosome abnormalities, we won't be able to tell until they are born. .

At my next appointment, they will do a echo gram on Luke's heart to rule out any other abnormalities. Ellie and Luke weigh a little over 12 ounces and about 9 inches long EACH! Can you believe that I already have 18 inches of baby in me? Austin and Dylan were both born at 19 inches at birth. I just can't imagine what I will look like in just a few more months! Pretty much they are from hip to hip. Luke actually was hitting my rib today during the ultrasound with his head. We are always amazed to see how big they are every few weeks. As of right now they are both breech (head up) but the doctor isn't sure if they will turn are not. Since they are twins and the space is getting quite small, we will have to wait and see if they turn or it will be a mandatory c-section.

So thank you all for keeping all of us in your prayers. We will continue to keep you updated as the months go pass.

Luke & Ellie

Here are the most recent ultrasound pictures that we have. These are from almost a month ago, I'm just now getting around to putting them on here.




Our next appointment is on October 28th and we will have another ultrasound to look closer at Luke's club feet and to make sure that both Ellie and Luke have no abnormalities. I promise to write an update as soon as I get home. Thanks for the prayers!

Seattle

A few weeks ago, we took out last family vacation before we are a family of six. We went up to Seattle, which is a little over a two hour drive north. We were going up there to watch the Angels play the Mariners. The boys were so excited to go as this was Dylan's first real baseball game.

We stayed downtown in the timeshare and it was beautiful. It was an old, restored brick building that had a vintage theme. We walked a lot and even road the bus, which was operated underground. The boys had a blast. Dylan thought that he was on a train so he was in seventh heaven.

We got to the game a few hours early so that the boys could watch batting practice. Austin was able to watch his favorite player which is Vladi. He was even able to get Vladi to say hello and wave to him. Dylan, being the cutie that he is, was handed a ball by one of the Angels players. He was very proud of himself. Since Dylan got a ball we were on the hunt for Austin.

Our seats were in left field near the bullpen. Austin was cheering them on as they were warming up before the game and the pitching coach noticed him. As they were walking out to start the game, he threw a ball up to Austin -the actual ball that they were warming up with. Thank goodness! So now that both boys got baseballls, we could enjoy the game. The Angels won in a fairly easy game in the freezing 48 degree night. Needless to say after six hours at the ball field, we all crashed the minute we got back.

The next day we did a sight-seeing tour. It's a tour bus and boat in one. The boys thought that this was just awesome. It took us all around Seattle and in the water too. After the three hour tour, we walked around town looking for a great fish restaurant along the water. We or I had the best Halibut ever! It was worth the walk. Before we left, we went to the famous market center where they throw the fish. The boys thought that this was so exciting and wanted to try themselves.

This was a lot of things to squeeze in a 24 hour period, but we all had a great time and there's nothing ever better than a family trip.

Pumpkin Patch 2008

So yes I know that it has been quite awhile since I have updated this thing, so bare with me. Our internet has been down for a while and finally got a new service. Here is a little slide show of our recent trip to the pumpkin patch and a few extras.