Wedding Video!

For all of our wonderful friends and family who couldn't be at our wedding we created a short 3 minute video with pics and video clips from our special day!!

Enjoy!

Perez Wedding- May 17, 2009 from Jackie Perez on Vimeo.

A look back at ministry in 2009! Thank you faithful supporters! Pa'lante 2010!

Merry Christmas from the Perez's from Jackie Perez on Vimeo.

Project: Twin Household Makeover

So, we've been working hard the last couple of days getting the house ready for our babies arrivals. We don't have teams on the island right now and with the holidays here it is the perfect time to steal away and work on some "home repair" projects!

We opted to creatively rearrange our house in such a way that will be conducive to having two little ones here while we're able to still live in our 2 bedroom, 1 bath house and continue to save some dough (that will inevitably go towards diapers or formula or something of the likes).

The plan is to convert our office into our bedroom and move the office into a functional workspace in the dining room. We'll then make our old Master Bedroom the twins' nursery as it really is so much bigger and suitable for two!

Here's a couple pics of the progress we've made thus far!

The workspace in the corner of the dining room (please ignore my half-filled candle holder- a sweet present from my mom!!)

Project #2: Turn the old office into our master bedroom! Alan is painting away as I type! The bookshelf you can barely see in the left of the picture is now going in the living room!

Stay tuned for more pics of our little home renovation project!

Christmas Celebrations and the End of 15 weeks!

We had a wonderful Christmas!

On Dec. 18th we hosted a Christmas party for our dear friends in the Dominican Republic. They are people we've come to call family. We do life and ministry together- the good, the bad, and the ugly! Some have branched out and started their own ministries and we are humbled to walk alongside each and everyone here! There was great food cooked by all, fun fellowship, and a few games!

The crew after our White Elephant Gift Exhange!

In the Dominican, December 24th is "family day." This is the day they celebrate Christmas. We went to Alan's parent's house and Alan's sister, Fanny had prepared quite a feast for us! It was so good, and even better as leftovers for the 3 days that followed!


Our nieces opening their little gifts we gave them... Headbands and matching bracelets.

On Christmas, Alan and I started new traditions (presents in the morning & making my mom's biscuits and gravy) and continued ones from last year (movies all day and homemade pizza for dinner!!), though I am unhappy to say my morning sickness returned with a vengeance and I spent most of the day throwing up everything I consumed. It was so comforting though to be spending the day celebrating our Savior's birth with my love!


The end of last week marked the end of 15 weeks as well and my belly is a growing! In case you're wondering, last week the fruit our babies most resembled in size was a naval orange and this week, we've got avocados ripening!! We return to the Dr.'s in 2 weeks and are praying we'll be able to find out the sexes. I will be in my 18th week by then, which is the half way point to our 36 week full-term goal!!


Much love!!

The Perez Fam

14 weeks Prego & a Special Gift

I am now 14 weeks pregnant and feeling a lot better!! I pretty much only throw up when I miss a meal (and of course, as soon as I wake up), but typically as long as I eat every 2-3 hours I feel fine. My energy is coming back too and I have returned to cooking and cleaning!! (Alan is very happy about that!!) I am really looking forward to this next stage of our pregnancy and caring for our little babies!

My mom sent us our first gift for the babies and it couldn't be a better gift. She sent us the Tale of Peter Rabbit Collection. Alan and I are both HUGE readers. We both find ourselves devouring book after book. I can't wait to begin reading to the babies even as they are in the womb! Thanks Mom!

Millions of peaches, peaches for free, millions of peaches, peaches for me!

Today our babies progress to the size of... yes, you got it... peaches!

Dear sweet little peaches inside my womb... how we love you and pray for you to be mighty warriors for the Kingdom. We have loved you and yet we haven't met you, seen you, or touched your tiny miracle hands... but you both are ours and entrusted to us by a wonderful King whom I am sure you already know. We love you both and can't wait until we get to meet you!!

They are developing vocal cords and their teeth. The babies heads are about 1/3 the size of their bodies and their intestines are moving from their umbilical cord to their stomachs! Just amazing to think of their tiny developing bodies inside ME! Even though they are just the size of peaches, let me tell you, it looks like a lot more than a couple of peaches have taken residence inside my belly. I think my body is overcompensating for lost time eating!! (Don't worry mom, we'll post new pics soon! ;)

Peace,

Jackie

Eating... A Full Time Job

When I was being discharged from the hospital I asked my Dr. if she could write me a Rx for the heavy duty vomitting I was experiencing to which she kindly replied "No." I was a little stunned by her response but she went on to say that this is a normal experience of a twin pregnancy and that if I commit to eating every 2 hours (YES, she said every two hours) then by week 14 I should be experiencing a vomit-less pregnancy.

Eating every two hours was not something I looked forward to. Most days I was lucky if I could keep down a package of crackers and some soup and most days I was not lucky. Thankfully though God has gifted me with an amazing and wonderful husband who loves to take care of me and make sure I am following my Dr.'s orders and the first day we were home he busied himself shopping for all kinds of snacks and things that I could eat throughout the day. Day one was a little difficult, I found myself eating a poached egg and a piece of toast for 3 of my 2-hr. feedings since it was also a little difficult to find things I could keep down. Slowly over the last week my appetite has increased, I have vomitted less, I am eating more foods, and I even gained 3.5 lbs!!

Here's what a typical day of eating looks like:
8:30am- vomit fest followed by crackers
9:30am- toast and poached egg
11:30am- Maizena (DR version of a cook and serve pudding- light on the tummy) or oatmeal
1:30pm- yesterday it was leftover tuna noodle casserole with tortilla chips!!
3:30pm- more crackers with cheese
5:30pm- apple with PB
7:30pm- tomato soup with noodles
9:30pm- Skim Ice popscicle (that doesn't really count... sometimes I will eat a few more crackers if I need to or something similar)

Still not a ton of calories (it is recommended that I eat close to 2700 calories a day- 300 extra calories per baby)

Eating this was is a huge accomplishment for me because I had lost 9 lbs. in between my monthly Dr.'s appt. We are definitely celebrating this small weight gain. In fact, one thing I am learning about twin pregnancies that are different from a singleton is pregnancy is the direct correlation between a mother's weight gain and the weight of her (almost guaranteed preemie) babies. The more weight I can gain (goal is 40 lbs) it is thought the healthier weight my babies will be at the time of delivery. This is especially important because if they are born early (besides health complications) they need to weigh around 4lbs a piece to be released from the hospital. With normal weight gain estimated to be about 1 lb. a week they could be in the hospital for weeks until they hit their goal weight to be released. Which has made it my personal job to eat, eat, eat and then eat some more.

My diet is still pretty bland at this point, but it is looking much better each day as I can "reintroduce" new foods into my sensitive tummy! I also started taking prenatals yesterday (cut in half taken with two meals!).

There has been so much to celebrate in this last week and we are so thankful to God, he is our Sustainer and our Life! We love Him dearly and look forward with nervous anticipation at the joys and trials of raising children who seek to know and follow after Him!

Much love,
Jackie

Prego or too much holiday pie???

Upon popular demand, 12 week prego belly!!