Soup

First, a bed rest update. It's going Ok... Today is only the second day that I'll be completely alone. I'm Ok with being alone, don't get me wrong, but it can be awfully lonely. Yesterday my lovely Ria came over to entertain me and brought entertainment for Gavin, also, who'd stayed home for the day. She also came with a Subway Melt wrap for me. Love her!

The spotting is still happening, but I think it's getting better... I find out on Saturday if my bed rest ends on Monday or not. I do not get morning sickness, one reason why being a surrogate is an option for me ~ my pregnancy "symptoms" are few and rare (as long as I take the iron~free prenatal vitamins) but I've been feeling a little queasy... off kilter... in the morning and can't eat anything for the first couple hours.

The babies, at 7 weeks, we learned are the size of blueberries already! I am having funny images in my head of little alien looking blueberry babies.

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Tyler brought home a book from the library this week, which we were reading together before he left for the bus. Normally, I am not struck by children's books, but this book is the funniest book I've ever read in my entire life. I was laughing so hard, incontinence was a threat. If you have kids (boys or girls, it doesn't matter), please do yourself a favor and check out this book.

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My lovely neighbor, Lori, tagged me for a meme a few days ago. So here it is!

10 years ago:
I had just dropped out of Nursing School. I was 8 months away from getting married to Shawn. I was unsure about what to do with my life, but knew that I wanted to spend it with him. I was 20... and living "in sin" with my boyfriend ~ a big no~no in my family. Once they discovered the errors of my ways, my parents told me that they would not pay for the apartment I was living in and we moved to Lafayette, Indiana to live with his folks and get jobs. The future was bleak... we were working at a factory, were college drop outs and didn't know what we wanted to be when we grew up.

We collected Beanie Babies. We had two cats ~ Tigris and Euphrates.

Things on my to-do list today:
Hee hee ~ this is a funny one for me, don't you think? Let's see... today I will spend my day cooking babies on the couch. I see a soap opera and maybe some talk shows in my future. I might take a nap and will hopefully get around to reading some more of my book. I have a phone date with my sister and will catch up with my co~workers at some point today as well. I'll check email, read blogs and finish writing this one.

What would I do if I suddenly became a Billionaire?

First, we'd take the boys to Disney World! We'd pay off the house and cars, put enough money for the boys' college educations in the bank. We'd give a million to all of our friends and family. We'd travel as much as we could and we'd make a huge donation to our favorite charities. I'd quit my job and finally get to volunteer. We'd probably adopt a little girl ~ or two. I'd have loved a bigger family but we stopped mostly because of space and financial constraints. This would no longer be an issue, obviously.

Three of my bad habits are:

1. I'm not always a good listener. I interrupt when I'm being spoken to. This is mostly because if I don't, I forget what point I wanted to contribute to the conversation. I find this to be a very bad habit and I don't like it about myself ~ I try very hard to over come it!

2. I shop too much. Granted, I shop at thrift stores and clearance aisles mostly, but it's still spending money that we don't always have and thus... we have debt. My mom is a shopaholic, so I get it honest.

3. Talking Shawn into stuff that he doesn't want to or we shouldn't do (like going out for dinner because I don't want to cook)

Five jobs I have had:
1. Office manager for a small Allstate agency (currently)

2. Stay at home mom
3. Nanny to 4 kids (they all had the same mom but several different dads)
4. Admin Assistant for various companies (one was an architecture firm where I was busy for about 1 out of the 8 hours I was there. I spent all day chatting in a chat room on AOL. I became a "reg" (regular) )
5. My first job ~ I was stuck in a closet at my dad's office and I shredded office documents (for $5/hour)

Five things people don't know about me:

1. I can tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue
2. I know how to play the piano (not very well though, it's been years since I played)
3. I met Shawn in a chat room while we were both at Indiana University and later his ex~girlfriend introduced us in real life
4. I hate working out... but I do it any way so I won't be fat again
5. I burp like a man. I can probably burp louder than a man and I can talk while I'm burping. This comes in very handy when you are the mother of two boys that are entertained by bodily functions

Fun with Photos

We got a new camera with our tax refund... We have been coveting a digital SLR for quite some time and got a good deal on eBay. It arrived yesterday and we had fun taking photos of the boys... and they, of course loved posing.

Those eyes... Oh, my heart!

He's been walking home from the bus stop alone, a first for him as I'm usually there to meet him. He thinks he is very grown up and always walks in he door with a huge grin on his face, proud of his accomplishment as a big boy. He wasn't sure why Daddy was standing there with the camera when he walked in the door ...

He's a scary one, that Gavin!

Yes, I am a lucky girl indeed :)

Shawn caught him just as he was waking up from a nap...

Gavin loved having so much attention while Tyler was at school yesterday... from cuddling on the couch with me to playing games with Daddy. I fear we may have more tummy aches so we have an excuse to play hooky?

Update from the land of blah

I have survived 48 hours of bed rest, so far. The spotting has trickled down to almost nothing, which makes me feel much better. I haven't pulled my hair out yet and also haven't exhausted all my reading material. So far, so good.

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments and thoughts/sticky vibes. It seems like we have weathered this storm, and I'm feeling very optimistic. Now to get used to the idea of twins in my tummy again!! I'm really excited for the Makua!

Gavin and Shawn stayed home with me today. This morning Gavin puked, which I think was a bad reaction to dinner from last night. Shawn thought it would be best to stay and take care of both of us and I was certainly not going to argue with that! Gavin seems to be fine now, though his appetite hasn't really returned, and I quite enjoyed getting to snuggle with my baby, I mean big boy, all morning. It was really nice to have their company and tomorrow, Ria & her youngest are coming over to entertain us for a bit.

I sure am a lucky girl, huh?

Oh, my nerves

Yesterday morning I woke up for my regular 5:30am pee. I felt something that didn't feel like pee and looked down to water that was supposed to be yellow but instead was red.

Blood! I was bleeding! I was not supposed to be bleeding!

I immediately got sick to my stomach as my not yet awake mind snapped into life and figured out what was likely happening. I screamed for Shawn to come and he graciously came to my assistance. I asked him to go get the phone and called my mom, who sent me back to bed with instructions to call the doctor right now.

The doctor on call returned my call in about 3 minutes (the longest 3 minutes of my life). I explained what was going on ~ no cramps really, but my uterus felt tight. The blood wasn't gushing but it was more than spotting. She told me that the chances of this being a miscarriage were 50%. She said to stay in bed and relax and go to my appointment that was already scheduled for the next day. If it was a miscarriage, there was nothing that could be done.

So all day yesterday, each time I had to pee, I examined the water. Blood and tissue came out ~ a lot of it, it seemed ~ until the evening. I felt helpless... this was my responsibility to take care of their baby and I had failed. I was positive that I was literally flushing their hopes and dreams down the toilet. I cried while Shawn held me. I agonized over the ultrasound that I was sure was going to show my womb empty... the pregnancy gone. I played through the conversation I was going to have with the makua, over and over, in my head. It was not the phone call I wanted to make.

Shawn was such a trooper... he brought me tissues, water, chap stick. He cleaned the house all by himself, took care of the kids, and cooked all three meals. He did the laundry and even folded it (folks, this does NOT happen in my house! he claims to not know how to fold laundry). The boys gave me hugs and kisses, unaware of what was wrong with me. Being sick on top of losing the baby just compounded the issue.

Finally, in the evening, the bleeding mostly stopped. I was left feeling empty and drained. I was dizzy when I stood up and felt weak. I hadn't been able to eat very much as I felt nauseous all day. I was convinced that it was over... the baby was gone. We were going to have to start all over again. Oh, how I dreaded that phone call!

This morning, while waiting for my appointment with the ob/gyn, I got a call from her office. She had a patient in labor and might need to postpone my appointment. I explained that I had just had a miscarriage and wanted to be seen right away ~ I could be there in 5 minutes. She begrudgingly agreed and I ran out the door. After filling out paperwork, photocopying the insurance cards, etc, I was finally taken back to the ultrasound room. I didn't have to wait long before the doctor came in. We talked briefly about the events that had unfolded yesterday and my history of pregnancies.

Then she put the dildo ultrasound wand inside. As she looked around, I waited for the confirmation that I was no longer pregnant, as I suspected and instead she told me that there was a heart beat. Further investigation showed another heart beat and 3, maybe 4 (!) yolk sacs. The 4th, if that is what it was, was difficult to see, so a repeat ultrasound will be done next week. So it looks like we had triplets and lost one? It's hard to tell...

But two heart beats!! Twins!! We were told, based on my HCG levels, that it looked like just one baby was growing in me so when I started bleeding I thought I was losing the only one there. I was flabbergasted, to say the least, when I saw all those different sacs and heard her say there were two heart beats.

So needless to say, the call I placed to the Makua wasn't nearly as bad as I thought.

I have been placed on bed rest, though. For a week at least... I'm still spotting a little bit and that makes me nervous as I have never done that through a pregnancy. But lots of other people have so I'm trying not to stress out too much.

Magazines, books, crosswords and soaps, here I come! I have never had so much relaxation time in my life! I'm going to be finally caught up on my magazines that I'm usually 2~3 months behind on.

Please, please send sticky vibes our way, though. We need the two remaining babies to stay put!

Ick!

Our house has been quite an icky house the past couple weeks.  All four of us have had whatever Gavin brought home.  Tyler definitely had it the worst.  I thought everything was pretty run~of~the mill as far as flu bugs go until his legs started hurting.  I have never heard of anyone having that symptom along with a 5 day low grade fever and headaches.  I took him to the doctor and he couldn't find anything wrong with him.  

He swore Tyler had Strep and I kept telling him that he didn't have a sore throat and I didn't think that was what it was.  He didn't believe me and did a culture ~ two actually~ both came back negative.  He sent me home with a prescription for an antibiotic (in case the second culture came back positive) which I never filled, and told me he thought Tyler had allergies.  

The next day Tyler was starting to feel better, which typically happens when I finally break down and take him to the doctor (lil stinker!) and the next day, I got it.  Just a sore throat and general icky feeling ~ nothing I can't handle.  And any excuse to lay around all day reading magazines and taking naps, I am happy to have!  I could so easily be a lady of leisure...

This weekend is our big cleaning weekend and we've been grocery shopping already also.  Tonight I have been invited to go along with a group of girls from the neighborhood who 
are getting together for Mexican food and drinks... I'm Ok with being invited just for my designated driver capabilities. :)  As long as I'm feeling up to it, I think I'll tag along.  I can never turn down Mexican food!

Tomorrow Ria and her family are, I believe, coming over to watch the Oscars with us.  I'll try to get a video of our dogs playing together ~ it is really quite hilarious.  The boys will be so spoiled ~ getting to see her girls two weeks in a row!

Oh!  Another fun thing I got to do yesterday, after I had our car worked on (I was 6,000 miles overdue on the 15,000 mile maintenance.  Oops), was to go pick out maternity clothes.  Ria's friend owns her own business and you can check out the website here if you'd like to.  She is actually not going to be selling her clothes anymore, due to wanting to spend more time with her girls, so I offered to help buy up her inventory and the things she didn't have in my size, she said she would make for me.  Pretty cool!  It's definitely early but it will take her a few weeks to get it all made and probably by then I'll be too big for my britches.  

Tyler got invited to his first play date today ~ I got a call from a little boy in his class, T,  who is bored and wanted someone to play with.  We haven't done this before but I know him, from volunteering, and I think it'll go well.  They live about 2 minutes away from us, in our neighborhood.  He's so excited!  We'll have to reciprocate and have T come over to play with Tyler in a couple weeks.  Poor Gavin feels left out ~ we will have to go do something fun while Tyler is gone.

Happy Saturday!

Longing

I usually have too much to say for Wordless Wednesday shots but we're lonely for Hawai'i and thought I'd throw a sunset picture up.

Tyler's really sick... he is on his 5th day of a low grade fever combined with head aches and body aches in his legs ~ it's hard for him to walk unassisted.   We're headed for the doctor.

You ask, I answer

In response to my copycat post the other day, I got some great questions! So without further ado, here we go!

Amanda asked: I am really wondering about the process of carrying a baby and having little ones around for the process. How are you explaining it to the boys?

Ironicly, the only pregnancy my kids remember is the surrogacy when I had the twins. Gavin obviously doesn't remember my being pregnant with him or Tyler, and Tyler was only 22 months old when Gavin came into our family... so he doesn't remember that either. So for them, me carrying babies in my tummy for other families isn't so strange because they don't know any different.

We did talk to them about what I was about to do, before making the final decision. Not that a 4.5 or 6 year old could have changed our minds about what we felt was right for me and for our family, but we wanted to have their input and support before starting this journey. We told them that we'll need them to be big helpers ~ being careful not to throw balls or jump on my tummy, helping with the chores, etc. They agreed and were totally on board from the beginning. They're really empathetic lil guys though ~ they love to do things for other people when they can and I think they can see that this is important, even at such young ages.

They actually get really excited about the whole thing. The IP's from the first surrogacy would talk to them and play with them and send them gift cards for Christmas. They felt like, by the end of the pregnancy, that the IP's were a part of our family ~ so it was no big deal to say good bye to the twins. Even now, they are really looking forward to meeting the Makua. They want to go to Hawaii to visit them and can't wait for them to come to Denver. They've been practicing their Aloha's and Mahalo's. So cute!

Mama Geek asked: I know you blogged about it a bit before, but I'm wondering what made you decide to do surrogacy? And is there an attachment to the baby? What's THAT like?

There were definitely lots of reasons for being a surrogate. It's life changing for us and the folks we work with. Some of the bigger reasons are wanting to help other families experience what we've been able to with the joys our children have brought us. Also, it's a way for me to make a difference in the world in a way that I couldn't otherwise. It's a life experience and a way for us to connect with people we probably would have never met otherwise ~ and our lives will never be the same after knowing these guys and having these interactions!

There is an attachment to the baby but from the beginning I know it's not mine to be attached to. I have to always be conscious of this ~ I want to be attached enough to make really good decisions about my health (and thus the baby's health) while never forgetting that this baby has lovely parents to go home with, one day.

It's not as hard for me because we feel very strongly that our family is complete. Shawn is fixed and was long before I started considering being a surrogate. We knew we didn't ever want to go through the newborn phase again. That financially, a family of 4 worked best for us and for what we wanted to be able to give our kids. Sure, we'd love more, but could we responsibly provide for them in the way we could with just 2? Probably not, without the others having to sacrifice. Also, we know that adoption is always an option ~ and if we ever decided that we wanted a girl, that would be the surefire way to get what we wanted!

Chani asked: Okay.. what book are you reading right now? Do you like it?

I'm reading The Pillars of the Earth. I LOVE it!! When I first heard about it, it didn't seem like something that would be up my alley. I've never been interested in reading about life in the 1100's, nor has cathedral building ever sounded intriguing to me. But 325 pages in, I'm hooked.

Flutter asked: what do you do to relax? what brings you bliss?

Simple things, really ~ snuggling on the couch with Shawn at the end of the day, watching our shows... reading magazines or books... blogging and reading blogs... working in my garden (oh, I can not wait for spring!). When I'm feeling really extravagent, I love getting pedi's and massages. The latter doesn't happen very often, but I would definitely say it's a blissful experience.

And I know this seems like a cop out but my family brings me bliss. Spending time with three people that really get you and love you anyway... watching these little boys that are here because of us, grow and learn and love and live ~ in spite of us. It's just magnificent. Seeing the things we like about ourselves in them... seeing that they have learned a little lesson we've tried to teach them... watching them interact with each other in positive ways... yes, they are my bliss.

The dragonfly asked: What would be your dream vacation?

I have a couple, actually. I hope you don't mind if I pick two. :) First, I have a dream to take my boys to Disney World. I know that Disney is bad... the mom always dies... they steal your stuff and don't do anything about it... it's expensive... tons of paraphanelia... gift shops at the end of every ride...

But.

It's a magical place that I remember going to when I was a lil girl. I remember standing in line with fear and excitement before getting on the Peter Pan ride and wondering if Captain Hook was going to get us with his sword. I remember going up and down and around in circles on Dumbo. I remember climbing up Tom Sawyer's treehouse and I remember singing "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!" at the top of my lungs on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. I remember looking at all the kids on the Small World ride that looked different from me and wondering what country they were from. I remember swimming in the pool at our hotel and going down the water slides.

And I want that for my boys.

I can not wait to re~live it through their eyes. To watch as they gaze at the characters walking around, remembering when they saw them on their favorite movies. To hear their squeals on the "scary" rides and to try to decide which ride to go on next.

I just can't wait!

And my other one... would be kid~less. :) I'd love to go away with Shawn to an island somewhere (he'd pick Fiji) where we'd stay in a lil bungalo on the beach with some sort of tropical drink being given to us at our whim. There would be delicious food, of course, and interesting locals that wouldn't think less of us because we were tourists. There will have to be snorkeling because now we are hooked! And only minimal access to the outside world ~ because I'll still need to be able to call and tell my boys good night. We'd read books, have conversations about everything and make love. We'd only know what time of day it was by where the sun was located on the horizon.

Copycat

So life is still pretty mundane around these here parts... It's still pretty cold here, with an almost 60 degree teaser once in awhile. The boys are busy still with Valentine's Day gifts and fun stuff from our Hawaii trip.

I'm feeling pretty good, no belly to speak of yet, but then again we're only just past 5 weeks. But I'm so so tired ... I'm working only half the day today and hoping to cut that short if I get my work done early and run to the grocery store before picking up the boys from school. Tonight we're watching Ria's girls, a swap for a night next month when we go out to celebrate Shawn's birthday.

Today I am volunteering at Tyler's school for the first time in weeks, as I was spending my Fridays working to make up hours for being in Hawaii for a week. Oh, Hawaii. I still think about our trip and wish we were there. Even for just one more day.

I'm looking forward to seeing the kids again and Tyler's doing announcements, which is going to be so fun to hear!

So the lack of blogging material, because who wants to hear about our boring day to day life, has brought me to this. A couple other blogs I frequent ~ click here and here real quick ~ asked readers to think of a question, any question, and put it in the comments. I thought it'd be fun to do here too...

There may not be anything that you are dying to know about me, but humor me and try to think of something. :) I'm an open book ~ I'll answer anything.

February

So I was looking through my archives to discuss our Valentine's Day tradition and link back to last year's performance, if I could find it ... I did find a couple other interesting things.

First, I've been blogging here, in this spot, for over a year now. I think I've come a long way from the first post. ;) I started this blog as more of a diary... a way for us to have memories of the little things in life, rather than just the big ones that we capture with photographs. It's evolved just a bit for me, into a creative outlet as well as a way for me to connect with other folks in the blogging community.

It's also been about a year since I first discovered Barack Obama and my instant love for him was formed. Here's why. And here's some more. I still, a year later, think he is the man for the job. And as things progress, it seems more and more like a big majority of my fellow Americans think so too. It is so nice to have hope again... though he's been criticized for it I do NOT think of hope as a negative thing at all. In fact, many of his criticisms have not seemed like negative things to me. I think, overall, since I first discovered him last year, that he has run a fair and mostly positive campaign... enduring tons and tons of slams from the other camps before finally standing up for himself. I am still 100% convinced that he will have my vote, and it's really starting to look like I will have the opportunity to cast it. So exciting!

So back to Valentine's Day... this post talks about the tradition we had in my family growing up and one that Shawn and I have continued for the boys. I'll be going to Target tonight after dinner to pick up a couple things but the treasure hunt itself is what they really look forward to...

Hopefully it'll redeem us from yesterday's drama. Thank you for all of your support, commenters. It seems we have not scarred them for life ~ in fact, it didn't even make the high/low list at dinner. Whew!

Hope you get lots of love tomorrow!

Worst. Parents. Ever.

No, I'm not being dramatic.

Shawn and I like to think of ourselves as halfway decent parents. Sure, we screw up. On a daily basis. We know it, the kids know it. We do try to correct our mistakes or at least learn from them, though. But overall, I think we do an Ok job.

That is, until last night.

Yesterday, Tyler's other top front tooth came out. Or, more accurately, I should say that Shawn pulled it out. He was as excited as he's been for every other tooth. He ran upstairs to find the tooth fairy pillow ~ the one that hangs on the door (IN PLAIN SIGHT... on a door I have to pass before I go to bed. So does Shawn), put his tooth in it and we went about our evening. I didn't think another thing of it.

(you know where this is going, right?)

This morning I heard his door open and thought it strange that he didn't come in to say good morning. A few minutes later, his sobs were audible. Instantly it dawned on me that we'd forgotten. We forgot to take his tooth!! We didn't leave him a dollar!! OH MY GOD!!!! Shit!!

I went running in to see him and he looked up at me, alligator tears running down his face, and said "she didn't come, Mom". I muttered something about maybe she got backed up because a lot of kids lost their teeth yesterday while looking at Shawn for help. He ran downstairs while I sent Tyler back to bed, telling him maybe he'd gotten up too early and we'd all go back to bed so she wouldn't know that we were up already and maybe she'd still come.

Luckily I, who never have cash in my wallet, had cash in my wallet and Shawn found a $1 bill. I'm thinking now we should have given him at least $5 for such a big fuck up. I waited about 10 minutes and then opened Tyler's door and excitedly told him to look at his pillow on the door ~ there was a dollar in it!! He jumped up, tears dry by this time, excited and relieved that she hadn't forgotten him afterall.

Thank goodness he is still gullible...

I'm quite certain that this will be one of many stories that he tells his therapist one day when he's in counselling getting fixed because of all the things we didn't do right as parents.

Hi

So it's been a few days and I thought I should say hello.

Hi.

Things are pretty blah around here... Our weekend is already 1/4th over and all we have done is clean the house, do 4 loads of laundry and grocery shop.  The boys are watching their daddy play his Wii.  It is one of their favorite pastimes.  

I'm biding my time until it's my turn to have the only television in the house with a DVR, DVD player and video game console so I can catch up a bit on some of the shows I'm behind on.

Not too exciting, eh?

Don't feel too sorry for me, though, as tonight I am going out with my mama's to celebrate Tiff's birthday.  Two of us are pregnant so it will be a rather tame evening, with dinner followed by singing at our favorite piano bar.  I can not wait!

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I do have a funny story though... A bird got into my mom's house the other day.  My sister and her brother~in~law were picking up the kids that my mom babysat while my sister and her hubby were at a wake (brother~in~law's 96 yr old grandmother died).  On the way in, a bird that had been sitting in the Christmas wreath that is still hanging on the door, flew into the house!  My parents have very tall ceilings in their living room and it took all four grown ups under the watchful eyes of my neice and nephews to coerce the bird into the garage so it could fly away.

Tyler went to work with me yesterday and we heard the story during my daily morning phone call with my mom on the way there.  After we finished and picked up Gavin on our way home from work, we told him that a bird had gotten into Grandma's house.  His eyes widened as his brow furrowed and he asked Tyler who told him that, to which Tyler promptly answered "Grandma".  Gavin told Tyler: "I think it was just a joke".

Aparently we have teased them and told tall tales way too many times. ;)

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And I'll leave you with one more before I return to the last load of laundry left to fold today.

I mentioned that Tyler accompanied me to work.  As is our tradition, on the days he works with me, I buy us lunch ~ partly to bribe him into continuing to cooperate and partly to carve out a special moment with him in the middle of the day.

I had been sharing my tomato bisque with him and before I finished it off, asked him if he'd like a bite.

"I'll have it if you smell my fart" he responded.

Nice.

Chinese New Year

Last night at dinner, Tyler proclaimed that today is the first day of the Chinese New Year. They've been talking about it at school. Gavin even made Chinese lanterns one day this week.

Gavin, remembering that we just celebrated a New Year and getting a lil confused, said "again??"

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I asked the boys if they knew what animal they were and Tyler said he thought he was a dragon (in reality, he's a snake, like me).

Gavin said: "I'm a person"

On Being Pregnant

This first trimester is strange to me... We are technically almost 4 weeks already. Yet I hardly feel pregnant. The idea that there is a teeny tiny little person in my tummy again takes some getting used to. I don't feel pregnant, yet my life style is already changing. I'm monitoring more carefully what goes into my body... the physical activity that I partake in... But my tummy is still flat~ish. I can still (barely) fit into my size 8 jeans (I say barely because I've been eating more than a non exercising person should be eating and am getting quite pudgy!).

I have easy pregnancies, which is a big part of why being a surrogate is a good option for me. I don't typically have much in the way of nausea and morning sickness. So those pregnancy indications aren't there.

I get emotional, but that hasn't really started yet. It's close though ~ there were a few times today where I could feel tears starting to form in the back of my eyes as a response to something that I wouldn't normally cry about. Soon even the silliest, sappiest commercials will make me bawl like a baby!

One symptom that has started already is a teeny little pain that I get if I move too quickly ~ if I stand up from sitting on the couch rapidly, it feels like a little troll is stabbing me in the belly. It is not a big deal, just a reminder to take things a little slower.

So though I don't feel very pregnant, it's there, growing. And I stop occasionally and think to myself ~ "oh yeah, I'm pregnant". Eventually, it'll be obvious and I'll feel little kicks and turns in my rapidly growing belly and won't need any reminding. But this first trimester, it's different.

But no less important. There is a life in my tummy! One day it'll grow up to be a person probably taller than me! It is going to affect two lives in ways they can only begin to imagine ... as well as lots of other lives in smaller doses, along the way. It's a fresh start, a clean slate. It could be a person who changes the world... It could be the first female to walk on the moon or the man who invents a cure for cancer. The possibilities are endless, as they are with any new baby.

This journey is so incredible and I'm looking ahead with great excitement that I... I get to be a part of it.

And how cool is that?

It's official...

We're pregnant!!!!!!

So aparently you guys are the best sticky vibes senders ever! It worked! Hooray! I just found out for sure a few minutes ago ... Looks like in October the Makua will have their hands full with their first child (or children ~ too soon to tell).

Ok, back to work. :)

Lost

Before the Lost tour, I wanted to show you this photo: Tyler lost his 3rd tooth! I think those holes on the top of their mouth are the cutest. So I had to share... And it sort of went along with the "lost" theme!


Our DVR didn't tape the premier, so we only just watched it last night. It was fantastic but I would have liked another hour to help through the withdrawal we had to experience while waiting for the season to start. But no one asks me what I think. ;)

So the tour we went on was really cool, and really expensive. Between the Makua driving us around the island one day and driving around to look at these sites the next day, we saw almost the entire island of Oahu. It was a little rainy the day we had our tour but still fantastic.

Here's a cool website where you can see the places they have filmed so far... (click me!).
As the last post, captions under the pictures.


This is where we first saw Jack ~ in a bamboo forest. In reality it's a tiny patch of bamboo outside a Buddhist temple (which I'll show you in a minute) but on the pilot episode it looked like a whole forest of bamboo.

This is a bad shot, from below, outside our tour van... but we got to see the Convention Center, which doubles as the Sydney Airport. We didn't go in, but we drove around.

This is the Buddhist Temple in a cemetary ~ one of the prettiest shots I think we got. It was used on the show as Sun's father's home ~ we saw it a lot in Season 1.

Here is Shawn, standing on the crash site beach (obviously sans debris and the camp). It was surreal standing where they'd filmed ...

The waterfall where Kate and Sawyer swam... Kate dove down here to get the case with guns in it in Season 1.

The characters often hid in this forest of Banyan trees from the black mist... I just love those trees! They're so beautiful!

Here is the beach where Mr. Echo was buried in Season 3 (we think).

One of the coolest things we saw was the airfield where they keep the debris (except the cockpit) from the plane. At one point it was blocked off but the black tarp has fallen down. The fuselage was there but it still had it's tarp on. In this picture you can see an engine...

And here is some of the luggage...

This is the church where Charlie went to confess and other scenes were filmed here too but I can't think of what they were right now!

This is another beach that was filmed on numerous times... The most memorable might be when Kate stumbled across a nekkid Sawyer. :) We thought about acting the scene out just for fun but in the end decided to keep our clothes on.

Here is the pier where at the end of Season 2, Jack, Kate & Sawyer were kidnapped by the Others. Also where the submarine blew up.

This is one of the Others' homes.

After Shawn left, the Makua took me to eat here, at Murphy's Bar. I believe all the bar scenes in the show are taped here. They have really yummy food too! :)

And finally, this is behind the crash site beach... the valley is where we first see the "monster" ~ the black mist.

Overall we were really happy with our tour and saw tons of cool stuff... If you are ever in Honolulu, you should check it out. :)

And now... off to get a much needed hair cut!

Have a great weekend!