Malea's Big "3" Birthday

Malea has been waiting all year to turn three, and it finally came. She invited a few girls from the ward over for a "Jimmy" party. Jimmy is a white horse that Malea has fallen in love with that lives in the pasture across the street from my parents house. When we asked her what kind of party she wanted she said a "Jimmy"party - so we did somewhat of a cowgirl theme. Here are a few pics from her big event!

Malea decorating her "cowgirl" hat

The wild, wild bunch

Learning to lasso

The sheriff and villain Eva

Pin the tail on "Jimmy"

Rattlesnake Limbo

Malea with her "jimmy" cake and cowpoke

Malea's Favorite Things at "3"

1. a white horse named Jimmy
2. dancing
3. swimming
4. her "white" dolly
5. fruit snacks
6. going to the park
7. letting Kiah do her chores
8. wearing her swimming suit around the house
9. dress-up
10. coloring
11. pretending she is someone else (usually the last person to visit the house)
12. doing anything Kiah does
13. putting her panties on backwards (I don't know that she loves this - but she sure does it a lot)
    
    
    
    
    
    

Malea we LOVE you!

21 Week Belly

OK, so here is my belly at 21 weeks. It is growing exponentially!!! From what I have read the babies do the most growing between 20-28 weeks (then they slow down because they run out of room). So, I will try to send a few more pictures over the next 2 months - after that I can't promise I will send as many (I will be so huge after that I don't know how many I will want to take). I am feeling great, the girls are wonderful, and Joseph is LOVING dental school! I have no complaints!

WOW! Where did September go!

I first want to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, to all of you for your sweet comments, calls, e-mails, and especially your prayers! Let me tell you, the last few weeks since we found out about the twins has been a bit of a roller-coaster. I came down with some kind of respiratory infection that hit me pretty hard (so hard my coughing would make me throw up - I know you wanted to know that), and so I am sorry if I haven't responded personally to your kinds messages. Please know that I love you and thank you! We also had a fun visit from Joseph's sister Rebekah from Arizona. The girls of course LOVED having her here, and so did we. Here are a few pics from our month - Joseph's B-day, and our visit from Rebekah!


Joseph's 30th B-day!!!

Rebekah pampering me!

Joseph pampering the girls!

The girls pampering dad! He loved it!

Painting the Nursery

So, since Rebekah was here from AZ, we decided to try and paint the nursery. Let me just say - in the 6 years we have been married, we have never lived anywhere where we could paint. So, let's just say, I didn't really know what I was doing. Rebekah knew a ton more than me, but we still winged it. I of course picked out colors a little too dark - but at least you can get a little glimpse. I still have the blue wall to do the strip on, put on a trim, and do touch ups - then we can move in the furniture. Even though it is a little darker than I envisioned - I think it will grow on me. So the final product will be, pink on half, blue on half (if you look close they have a light stripe) and dark brown on the bottom throughout! We'll see... to be continued!

Joseph's First Day of Dental School

It's OFFICIAL, Joseph is a "University of Pittsburgh" Dental Student. Three cheers - hip, hip, hooray!!!!! The girls made him breakfast, a special dinner, and he even came home to Joy Wilbur's French Silk Pie. To add to his day, he got his scrubs (with his name on them), and even a pager. Doesn't he feel special. He actually has no idea how to even use it, but he feels special none the less.

Kiah's first day of Preschool

Kiah started preschool on Wednesday. Kiah is attending a MWF afternoon class, to prepare her for full day kindergarten that starts next fall. It was a fun day for Kiah, but a sad, tear filled day for Malea. Kiah of course loves it, but Malea didn't understand why I wasn't taking her picture (so you see the result - a picture of Malea with her backpack on too), why she couldn't play on the playground, or wear a name tag, or stay and play with all the fun toys. Males cried most of the time Kiah was gone. I can't say it has gotten any easier. She at least knows now that she can't stay, and we've tried to go a few minutes early to play on the playground - but, dropping Kiah off at the door with Malea not getting to stay is still hard. Any suggestions??? I am hoping to start a one day a week afternoon "preschool/playdate" with a few more her age (that don't take afternoon naps.) We'll see how that goes.

Update:  So, after we found out we were expecting twins, we decided to take Kiah out of preschool and leave her home to help out!  She was a little sad, but I tried to explain how much I needed her help.  It turned out to be a great decision.  With no kids in school, I could do whatever I wanted to do that day.  Which ended up being just about nothing outside the house.  But, we had a lot of fun at home! 

Joseph's White Coat Ceremony

The Dental School held a "White Coat Ceremony" for all the incoming Dental students at the end of last week. So, not only does he now have scrubs with his name on them, and a pager - but, he has an "official" white coat. Sweet, wonderful, kind, Aunt Mary came with us to the ceremony and helped me with the girls. It's really happening, Joseph is going to be dentist, now all we need is to get through the next four years so the white coat can really be official. It was a fun evening to support Joseph and meet his class of 80 students.

The Biggest Shock Of our Lives

Well, we received the biggest shock of our lives this morning at 7:15am when the ultrasound tech told us "you have 2." "Yes, we know there are lots of two's on babies - hands, feet, eyes, arms, etc." We never expected that she would ever say, "You have TWINS!!!" Since moving to Pittsburgh soon after finding out we were expecting, it took a little while to establish insurance, find a doctor etc. Being 18 weeks, the doctor scheduled us for an ultrasound before coming to our first doctor's appointment that was scheduled directly after. Since Twins don't run on the Whitaker side, we thought that us having twins would only ever happen by divine intervention - and as you are well aware - we are not in charge here!!!! So, I know you are sitting there with your mouths wide open saying to yourselves "oh, my word, you have got to be kidding." Yes, I know that you think we are kidding, and believe me we thought the tech was kidding too -but, come the end of January the Westovers will be blessed with yet another girl, and also our first (and only) little boy. Our girls are thrilled and mom and dad are "excitedly speechless."

Taken that magical day at the ultrasound, where our life changed forever!!

Can you see what I see? (Baby A/ Baby B)

Baby "A" profile

Baby "B" profile

Recent Art Work

Our First Visitors

We sure felt loved when the Marcum's stopped by our house the weekend after we moved in. They were driving back from the pageant on the way back to Lexington and took a little detour so they could say hello and see our new place. They of course couldn't stay long - but thank you, thank you - for taking the extra time to stop by. We loved it and love you!

Then, my brother Alan and cousin Matt just happened to come stay in Pittsburgh for a few weeks. They finished up selling alarm systems in NY, and decided to finish out their time here in "The Burgh". The girls loved seeing them on Sundays, and they even watched our girls so we could go get ice cream after Joseph's first day of school. Thank guys for letting us enjoy you for the short time you were here.

Building a Bird House

The kids favorite spot in the house is in front of our HUGE front window looking at the birds. One of Joseph's first projects was to build a bird house with the girls for a big post in our front yard. We get many beautiful birds, and even some squirrels. The girls LOVE it!

This squirrel (or any that looked like this) affectionately became known as "fast taker!"  Always taking the bird feed, and caring less about us pounding on the windows, and throwing stuff at them to get them to go away!