Cruising

About 2 years ago, our twins came to us and asked for a cruise to celebrate their 18th birthday.  They turned 18 this past February but we waited until November due to hurricane season and our oldest daughter who works at the local Supervisor of Elections office.

November 10th found our family along with my mom boarding ship for our first cruise.  We started off enjoying our first meal and quickly learned how much food was going to be available for the next 3 days.  Overall the food was very good on the ship and we enjoyed having the opportunity to try unusual foods like escargot and roasted duck that we normally would not purchase or make.  We chose the earlier evening meal time which usually worked well as we would be hungry and ready for lots of food.  I was disappointed that Carnival apparently just started putting a surcharge on things like lobster and other more expensive meats so I wasn't able to have the lobster I was looking forward to.   Our wait staff was wonderful and quickly learned that coffee was a standard with dessert.

We were able to get into our cabins right away although we didn't get all our luggage until later in the day.  The 5 girls were in one cabin with 2 twin beds, 2 bunk beds that were folded up against the wall during the day and a trundle bed.  My mom shared a cabin with my husband and I.  We had 2 twin beds pushed together and a trundle bed.  The beds were actually very comfortable and while there wasn't much walking room, we had plenty of storage.  The one thing we would definitely do different on our next cruise is get a room with at least a window!  Our room was very dark so there was no way to know if the sun was up or not.  That was not easy for me as my habit is to look out a window shortly after getting up in the mornings.

When we went up for breakfast Friday morning, I was amazed at the color of the ocean!  I had heard how pretty the Caribbean was but to see it in person is breathtaking. After breakfast, we headed up top to watch as we pulled into our first stop, Freeport.  While I found the water to be beautiful, I was not overly impressed with the port itself.  It was very industrial looking.  Since this was our first cruise and because they are expensive, we didn't arrange to do any excursions so everyone but my husband and I chose to get off at Freeport.  There was a small shopping area that we walked through. It was mostly the same things like your standard souvenirs but we also saw some different things like a turtle made from coconut shells.  Cruise elegant was dinner that evening and you can believe it was much looked forwarded to with our boatload of girls.

Saturday morning, we awoke to find that we were in port at Nassau.  This was more the look I was expecting.  We all got off after breakfast and headed into the town.  We had to walk past the other 4 ships that were also there and made our ship look like the runt of the bunch.  There were quite a few locals trying to get us to take their tour or taxi or carriage ride or get our hair braided.  Thanks to advice of friends, the girls had their hair up or under hats.  We then headed down the street where there were shops of all kinds and offering everything you could imagine.  We went to the closest beach where we put our feet in the water - cold water that is!  We then headed back to do some shopping and enjoy some activities on the ship.  We pulled out right around sunset so we had some opportunities for some beautiful pictures.

Sunday was our day at sea so we enjoyed many of the activities on board like trivia. We actually played trivia every day and I, along with my husband and mom, won a trophy or ship on a stick the first day.  We also took in the pg rated comedy shows and the Hasbro family show.  I was able to get on stage for the Hasbro show Saturday night and my team won so I had a shot at the grand prize.  I ended up in 2nd but I received a new game for the family to enjoy.

We were ready to be home on Monday but hubby and I are already thinking and talking about future cruises.

Surprise of a Lifetime, Part 2

Twins!  I think it started sinking in and now it was time to start thinking of how we were going to go from 2 to 4 girls all under age 4.  We started having monthly ultrasounds so it was fun to see them getting bigger.  The babies were pretty much next to each other when we first saw them but by the next appointment, Baby B had moved down and Baby A was tucked up on the left side.  They pretty much stayed there for the rest of the pregnancy.  Thankfully, I never was put on bed rest but I definitely slowed way down in the last trimester.  I got so large that I couldn’t get to our dryer so hubby or sweet friends from church had to help me with the laundry.

Before we found out it was twins, we had begun discussing another girl name and were leaning towards Abigail.  After we found out we had to come up with 2 names, we had to figure out first if we were going to rhyme them, have them start with the same first letter or just do totally separate.  Since we already had one name, we decided to do both of them as Biblical names.  Hannah was chosen to go with it.

My biggest concern was the possibility of having a c-section and as I got close to the end, it was determined that would be the safest delivery due to Baby B being breech.  There was too much possibility of the cords tangling to deliver naturally.  I made it to 37 weeks, which is like 40 weeks for multiples, so the doctor and I were ready to have these babies arrive.  Since my first 2 girls were born on the 14^th of the month, we thought it would be great to have the twins on that date also.  Unfortunately, that was Valentine’s day and it fell on a Saturday so we couldn’t do a scheduled c-section so we scheduled for the following Monday, February 16^th and I prayed labor would start earlier.  That didn’t happen so at 12:25 p.m., February 16, 1998, Baby B was pulled out first to be labeled Baby A and given the name Hannah.  A minute later, her sister came out and was named Abigail.  We decided the order of the names because Abigail means “father rejoices” and for us that was because she was the last one or so we thought but that is another blog post.  2 healthy babies crying their lungs out was a beautiful sound.

It is hard to believe all this took place 18 years ago because many times it seems like yesterday.  God has allowed these 2 scrawny babies to grow into beautiful young ladies both inside and out and gave me the grace to be their mother.  I look forward to seeing what God has in store for them and maybe He will even allow me to be a grandmother to twins because that would be the cherry on top!

Happy 18th birthday, girls!!  I love you!

Surprise of a Lifetime, Part 1

Positive!  That is what the pregnancy test said.  Unfortunately, I was not as excited as I should have been.  I wanted another child but having a 2 year old and a 9 month old only 20 months apart, I had desired waiting until the #2 was 18 months to begin trying for a 3^rd child.  Hubby, on the other hand, was thrilled when I told him.  I was being selfish and not wanting to go through the morning sickness and stretched out body again so soon but thankfully, God convicted me of my feelings and soon I was excited that number #3 was on their way. 

My morning sickness lasted a little longer this time around and my clothes got snug way faster but it was the third pregnancy in as many years.  I had finally gotten over the morning sickness in the 4^th month when I apparently contracted food poisoning from eating out at a salad bar.  After a night of vomiting and wishing the morning sickness would just come back, I told hubby to take me to the ER because I feared I was dehydrated.  I was so they gave me an IV of fluids along with listening for the baby’s heartbeat, which was thankfully beating strong. 

The next week, was finally our ultrasound appointment.  Hubby and I went back and forth on whether we wanted to find out the sex of the baby.  I had enjoyed the surprise we had with #1 of not finding out but hubby wanted to find out since we already had 2 girls.  We decided to find out.  The ultrasound technician got me set up on the table and started asking us questions like what did we think it was and how many children we already had.  She did a test swipe and then took the wand off.  Her questions then were things like did we have a bet since we each thought it was a different sex and did I take fertility drugs.  I finally looked over at my husband and said “Is she trying to tell us something?”  She put the wand back on and said “It’s identical twin girls!”  All that from one swipe!  We were speechless and I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry so I did a little of both.  I think we walked out of the office on cloud 9.  Neither of us would have ever dreamed we were having twins, especially identical ones!  Now we had the fun of telling family and friends.

My family was waiting anxiously to hear whether we were having a boy or a girl when we pulled up to my parents’ house.  We got out of the car, each with a ultrasound picture and one of us showed theirs saying, “It’s a girl!” and then the other quickly said, “And another girl!”  It took a few seconds for it to sink in but then the shrieks and cries of joy started.  We then made calls to other parents followed by calls to our church family.  Everyone was as shocked and thrilled as we were.  Then fun was just beginning!