Thanksgiving, 20 weeks, and a surprise visit

So instead of going down the list of things for this week, I decided to do a normal run-of-the-mill post. Just to tell you all about my weekend.

First things first. I got the surprise of all surprises on Thanskgiving - my beautiful sister Shelby came up from Sacramento to surprise me! Here we are, can you tell we are sisters?

If you can't tell, I am the one in the kicky hat. Shelby is the prettier, younger, and skinnier one of the two ;) I also neeed my bangs trimmed in a major way...

Anywho, we were up in Seattle when Josh disappeared, I fell asleep on the couch, and then I was woken up to my sister kneeling next to me telling me to wake up. It was a wonderful surprise :)

We left early the next morning back to Portland. Josh has to work, so Shelby and I went downtown. We went to Pioneer Place and within 1/2 hour we were ready to leave. It was crazy busy there. Why would I go to a mall on Black Friday when I have spent every BF for the last 18 years working in a mall or shopping center?

Plus my sciatica started annoying me. Just a side effect from the diagnosis of babies, I can't run around like I used to ;) I get pains in my left hip and my back when I am on my feet for a while.

So then we got some Chinese food and I introduced her to one of my favorite shows, Dexter. She may be hooked now. BTW, I have loved the name Dex long before the show...

We went back to Seattle Saturday morning, Shelby got a new tattoo (above) - now we both have sparrows on the front of our shoulder :) So does my brother... Josh got a little work done on his arm, just some shading...

We hung out with Josh's sister and her fam, then came back to Portland Sunday eve to watch the new episode of - you guessed it - Dexter. And it was awesome. She also got to feel the babies move and kick. They were super active all weekend. In fact, one of them is doing pushups or situps or maybe they are both in their own little mosh pit rockin out right now. Definitely quite active!

Sadly I had to take her back to to the airport this morning. I miss her already, but I know I will be seeing most of my family in a matter of months.

Tomorrow will mark the official halfway point in most pregnancies :) I can't believe it. 20 weeks. WOW. I am excited to be closer to meeting these little ones but at the same time I am trying to keep the days going by slowly so that I can enjoy and relish in this. Despite the pains, acid reflux, blah blah blah I am really, really enjoying being pregnant. I feel like the babies are moving a lot and I love that feeling. I also know this will most likely be the last and only pregnancy I have.

I have also come to the understanding that I need to ignore most of the "advice" I am getting about childrearing. I am really tired of the "right way" and "wrong way" to raise the kids. It's funny how much I have changed. I have really become a protector of my family and my personal life. I have always been sorta to myself and have done things my own way. But now I actually get upset and even offended when people tell me what I should and shouldn't do, that it's going to be so hard to do this, I am going to need so much help, etc etc. Basically when people start in on me about the negatives I want to crawl into a corner. I want to do that because I feel like those who tell me how hard it is don't have faith in me. It pisses me off.

Um YEAH. I'm not stupid. I know it will be a challenge. But I also know that the pros WAY outweigh the cons. I know that all kids are not alike. I know that I will make mistakes. I know that my kids will act up. But I also know that I will learn. They will learn.

Getting pregnant has been a challenge. Having surgeries, injecting myself countless times, timing our intimacy and having every month for 8 long years end in disappointment and pain hasn't been easy. But it has made me stronger. It's made me a fighter....

I am devoting my entire life to the two lives inside of me. I will NOT complain about my children. EVER. I will never let a day go by not telling them how much they mean to me and how much I love them. I want them to grow up in a loving, low-stress household. I will do anything and everything possible to make that happen...

I have been getting stressed out with family issues, as you can tell. Not my family, mind you. I have always felt that my family has dealt with our own issues in a positive way. If anyone gets pissed off at someone else, we deal with it and move on. We know that time is precious and to spend our lives upset, tense, and plain unhappy is just stupid. We know that nothing lasts forever.

One of Josh's favorite quotes is "This too shall pass". Good and bad, it will pass, so you'd better enjoy the good as long as you can and move on from the bad. Otherwise you end up alienating your family, friends, and you just spend your life miserable.

What kind of life is that?