The boys arrive!

I can hardly believe that a year ago this time I was big pregnant. I loved being pregnant. I was blessed to have a very healthy, smooth pregnancy. All was going well and we thought for sure that I was going to make it to 37 weeks but little Jack had other plans. It was the day after Matt and I's 8th anniversary that Jack's water broke. That night when we got home I felt funny but had just thought I had eaten to much. I was pretty uncomfortable and couldn't sleep. Matt ended up in the guest room. The next morning I got up to tell Matt his alarm went off and I ended up falling asleep in that bed. It was probably around 8 am when I decided to get up. I stood up and my whole world changed. I was a little in shock and had never thought of what I would do if my water broke. Matt had already left and my phone was downstairs. I made it to my phone and called the hospital and they told me to come right in. When I called Matt he was so calm and said that he was heading back home. Now that I think about I should have packed a bag or at least put stuff together but instead I got dressed and waited by the door. Matt arrived and I was out the door and ready to go. Matt said he needed to run into the house. I remember thinking what in the world would he need in the house that couldn't wait. He came out with towels and had me get up so I wouldn't get his seats dirty...only Matt :) We made it to the hospital and they admitted me. The boys were doing well. I was put on bed rest and they wanted to try to get two steriod shots in. They had to be 24hrs apart. I was able to get the two shots before the boys came. The four days I was in the hospital before the boys came is a little of a blur. Throughout my pregnancy I had worried that I wouldn't know when I needed the epidural and that I would wait to long. Everyone said I would just know. They were so right! It was early Friday afternoon and the contractions started to get stronger. I can still remember looking at Matt and saying it is time go find someone! They came in and did the epidural and I was so thankful. I don't even know exactly how long I was in labor but it seemed to go quickly. They wheeled me to the OR. The plan was to have the boys naturally but they took me to the OR just in case. Thankfully they did. Jack was born and then it was about 15 minutes later they decided that Luke was going to need to be a c-section. Both boys were born healthy at 33 weeks and 4 days. Jackson Phillip Shupe weighed 4lbs 12oz and Lucas Alvin weighed 5lbs 7oz. Both boys were taken to the NICU because they were born so early. It was awhile before I was able to see them but when I did I couldn't believe how perfect they were.
The following 8 days were pretty rough for me. I was very sick and they weren't sure why. After lots of tests they found that I had blood clots in my pelvis. I was able to give myself shots to help dissolve them and I was able to go home. The day I was going home Matt was able to have lasik eye surgery and we were quiet the pair trying to get home :) The boys and I had been transferred to BAMC and the boys were still in the NICU. They were still figuring out how to eat and grow.
Jack was able to come home 3 weeks after birth and Luke came home in 4 weeks. The time they were in the NICU I had so many emotions. I was so thankful that they were here and doing well but still scary having them in the hospital. I'm not even sure how to explain it but it was tough. Matt was great and I was so thankful that my Mom and Jaimie were able to come early.

Matt and I were truly blessed with very two very special little boys.

TWINS!

When God answers prayers sometimes it is with double blessings :) We are super excited to announce that we are having twins! Our due date is the 9th of October but we will mostly likely have babies in September sometime.

I'm feeling well just having some trouble sleeping. Okay so Matt is probably having more problems sleeping then I am but he is being a really good sport about it. I already have a little baby bump that is getting bigger each week.

Having twins will be a huge adjustment for Matt and I but I think Henry will probably have the hardest time with everything. For the last 3 years he has been our "baby" and is very spoiled! Henry is great with kids though so we know that he will be a great big brother.

I will try to be better about updating this the next few months :)

Quick update

Life is good! Matt is almost done with his second year of residency and has done really well. I have been blessed with amazing friends and great families to work with. We are still enjoying our home and loving our garden in the backyard. Matt has a real green thumb :) Henry still keeps our lives very interesting. His three favorite things are laying on the couch, eating anything and being loved on by Matt.

We have enjoyed our time traveling the last few years and playing tour guide when our friends and family visit. We have enjoyed all of our visitors!

Texas has been full of many adventures and blessings!

Germany Part 2 - a little late :)

The second part of Germany was amazing and it was a trip that Matt and I will never forget. We hope to take our kids back someday!

Germany Part 1

Matt and I have always talked about going to Germany and were super excited when we started planning our trip. We left on April 21st and got to stay until May 7th. Our adventure started in Denver and then we flew to Chicago and then an overnight flight to Frankfurt, Germany. I was so excited I think that I only slept a few hours on the plane or maybe it was because you could watch all the free movies you wanted it was great :) It was a long trip and we were excited to be there. Matt's grandma (Oma) and uncle were at the airport to pick us up. It was very nice of them to drive the four hours to get us. Oma had a very pretty bouquet of flowers for me when I got off the plane.

My first impression of Germany was it was beautiful. It was so green and the landscape went on forever. We made it Polle, the small village that Oma lives in. Polle was a village straight from the movies. It is probably the most peaceful, relaxing place that we have ever been to. Matt's german was great. He communicated very well with everyone and was able to translate for me. Towards the end of the trip I was able to understand some but never did very well speaking it. Oma was very excited to cook for us and we were very excited to eat her cooking. She made us a feast at every meal.

Our first adventure was to Berlin. We rented a car from another town near by and hit the autobahn for Berlin. Our rental cars and the driving were probably Matt's favorite part of our trip. He was able to drive the mercedes 130 mph on the autobahn. He loved it! Berlin was a very neat old city full of history. We had lunch at a great thai place and walked down a street full of huge named shopping stores. All over my price range :) We then got back in the car and tried to find a hotel. We should have booked something at the internet cafe but I thought it wouldn't be a big deal...I was wrong. I thought we were never going to find a place, but it is great how everything always works out. We found a place and when we pulled up and walked in I thought we were in the ghetto of Berlin (not really but it wasn't the nicest looking area). It turned out to be a quaint little one floor hotel with a nice room and a great breakfast.

We then went to look at the Brandemburg Arch. The road was blocked and the traffic was very congested. We parked and headed towards the Arch as we got closer we noticed all the police and police dogs. There was a protest going on and the police were everywhere. It was a little scarey becuase we really didn't know what they were protesting but there were other tourist so we just kept going. The Arch was very impressive. We walked all around and enjoyed exploring. There was a hallicaust memorial that we were able to see as well. We then went to the top of a tower in Berlin. It wasn't the best tower we ever experienced but fun to see all of the city lights at night. We then went to Checkpoint Charley. It closed just a few minutes before we got there but we were still able to see the actual checkpoint. Matt did a great job navigating the subway in Berlin and go us all around without any problems. It was really late and we hadn't had dinner so Matt had us jump on the subway to head to the "newer" part of town. We get off and a few blocks away we found this great Italian place. We had yummy pizza, salad and great beer. It was a great end to a fun day.

We only had a short time in Berlin but we had a great time! We headed back towards Polle for Matt's uncle's daughters confirmation in the church. This was a very big deal there. It actually meant celebrating all weekend with food and family. Oma made all the cakes for the parties. She made I think it was 11 cakes and they were gourmet cakes! We had a very fun weekend and we have never ate so much food in our whole lives...we loved it!

A busy April

Matt finished his rotations the beginning of April and we had packed the next few months full of fun times. We spent the first week he was done working on house stuff and spending time with his family. We then headed to San Antonio to find a home. We drove from Colorado and did the whole 16 hours straight. I don't think that it is something we will try again if I have a say but Matt thought it wasn't a big deal. We got to Texas and started the next morning looking at homes. We looked at about 7 and we had found a few we liked but nothing that we were super excited about. So our realtor had one more stop for the day and it was at a new subdivision. We looked at a home that was still under construction and loved the yard and layout. The best part was we were able to go to the deco center and choose the colors, the tile and the carpet. We headed back to Colorado and started to pack for our trip to Europe.

Shupe Update!

I cannot believe that it is March already. March has went fast. Matt is doing his last rotation in the ER. I can't believe that he is almost done..YEAH!! When we first moved here I thought that I would go crazy not working, but you know I have adapted very well :) Don't get me wrong I have tried to get a job. Being that we were only going to be here for a few months I didn't want to apply for a permanent job. I applied with the temp agencies in town and not a lot of luck. I did have a little job in March for a week so the extra money was nice. Another crazy job that I tried was delivering Dex phone books. It was an awful job and a lot of work for not much money. I would have never been able to finish without Matts help. I do have a few photos of this craziness but they aren't downloaded yet. Amongst these little jobs this month Matt and I have been doing a lot of yard work at his dad's house and was able to go skiing. It was a gorgeous, sunny Colorado day. We had a blast!
We have also been working on our move to Texas. We are in the process of all the financial stuff of buying a home and aren't a hundred percent sure what we are going to do. The options arebe qualified on only Matt's salary or wait until I get a job and qualify on both salaries?? We do know though that we are headed to San Antonio the third week of April to find a place to call home. We have been working with a great realtor whose wife is a second year resident at the base where Matt will be doing his residency. With all of our other moves everything has worked out and I'm sure this will too.
Matt has worked really hard the last four years and has done a great job! Matt and I love to travel so we thought what a better way to celebrate making it through this part of the journey then to travel. We are super excited about our upcoming vacations. We will be going to Germany and surrounding areas for two and half weeks before graduation and then the week after graduation we are going with my family to Orlando for a week. It seems funny to think that all of these plans are really close. Well I think that brings everything up to date. I will try to be better at keeping our blog updated. We have big events ahead of us and I will be better at taking pictures to post here.