Big Brother To Be

I've debated when to tell people. I didn't even tell Steven last night b/c I wanted to be creative. I feel bad now. Sorry Steven. I can't hold it in. So -

I'M PREGNANT!!!!!!!

Last time I told people to check my blog for good news, they asked if I was pregnant. Some people know that I was waiting for Steven to get a job and insurance. Check and check!

I've had crampings but thought that maybe I was just sick to my tummy over my cousin Chrissy. Now I think it was both. I've been really thirsty, and have been wanting watermellon and berries. That's what I really wanted this time 2 years ago. With Dylan, I pulled up a chair to my mom's counter top and just sat there cutting slice after slice of a big watermellon 'til my little brother laughed at me. I had almost eaten a whole watermellon. 8 months later it looked like I had eaten one whole like a snake would do.

I emailed Steven to tell him that I had a suprise for him when he got home from work. I asked if he wanted to wait 'til his birthday (next week) or not. He said "why wait? I love suprises!" I had church tonight and asked Steven if there was a chance he'd be home before I had to leave. He replied that only by a miracle. He was planning on staying late. I couldn't wait to I called him and told him that it would be worth it if he came home early. He flat out asked if I was pregnant! and I lied.

I made a shirt for Dylan today. I wanted to be creative telling Steven b/c last time I couldn't hold it in and I was jumping up and down and he was right there and had no time to think. I let Dylan tell Steven. We waited on the porch and Dylan was holding the test that I had sterilized. Steven said that he couldn't read the shirt from the car but then he saw the pregnancy test. He took it out of Dylan's hands before I could get Dylan to go give it to him as rehersed. He was happy and he said that it was worth comming home from work early for. We're a big happy family:) I had to rush off to teach the young women at church and we individually told some family. I still kinda want to take another test to be sure, and I know there are a lot of things that could happen, but I'm still excited.

I visited my friend's cute newborn twins yesterday. I just love them! Steven's friend Jerry had his baby yesterday. Then my friend Carolina had her baby girl today. Corrie and Stacy are also pregnant. My cousin Keri is using my maternity clothes b/c her baby girl is due soon. Babies babies everywhere!

I didn't want to admit to myself that I was pregnant b/c I kinda wanted to wait to get pregnant until this month. I did start taking prenatals just in case, I was in denial. Too much going on. I took the test exactly 4wks after the 1st day of my last period b/c I didn't want to waste a test if I was too early to tell. The baby's due date is probably around February 3rd which is 12 days before Dylan's birthday. I thought March would be perfect. Oh well, spring is in the air, and ready or not Dylan is a big brother to be!

another reason it's a need

I've loved the invention of the disposable underwater camera. But what if you procrastinate getting it developed . Or what if you don't finnish it before the weather gets cold?

Here are pictures from our Costa Rica trip in May 2005: This is me surfing above. See the wave behind me? Below is Ritesh, Corrie (and baby), Darren, Steven, Tiffany, and Luiz. My dad, Martin, and Danny also went. They did the zip lines w/ us the first day then went surfing the whole rest of the time. We met up w/ them some. I have a million other "dry" pictures, but I just discovered these.I love this one of Corrie and myself. Check out Costa Rica Goops picking on NY Goops. Instigator!Here are pictures from last summer before it got too cold to do underwater photo shoots:
These are good family portraits.

Imagine the Christmas cards I could have made if I had this print developed!

Danielle is going to take me to Costco to get a camera like hers. I can't wait!

Ok, it's a need

I posted before about if a waterproof digital camera was a want or a need, and today I got my answer.

It's time to save up.

My camera didn’t know how to hold it’s breath at the beach. I guess it was only a matter of time before it got one too many drops of water.

Luckily I have an old back up (it was at home though) and I had already taken a lot of pictures.

We all rested in the morning b/c Dylan took a 3hour nap. When Marc got back from fishing we went to cold stone b/c we were hot from playing by the pool. Dylan has his own spoon and is trying using puppy dog eyes for a taste.

Then we went to one of my favorite places. Four kids fit perfectly under the umbrella. They were digging to China. I’d like to know if there’s any person who hasn’t at one point tried “digging to China.” They looked like the muskrats we just saw at the zoo the day before. Brent started them singing “Dig a tunnel, dig dig a tunnel” from one of the Lion King movies. Isn't this the best?! They looked so funny reaching all the way down to the bottom. They couldn't even touch the bottom w/ their hands - they could w/ shovels though.They dug a hole so deep that Dylan climbed in it and it looked like he was a soldier hiding out in a war trench. His big hat matched the sand and it was level w/ the rest of the sand when he crunched a little. The hat almost filled the opening of the hole too. I wish I could show you. That’s the first time I missed having a working camera. I tried to turn it on multiple times, but the attempts were in vain.

Raising Boy(s)

I'm helping my friend with her 3 boys while she's away. We're having so much fun!

Yesterday we got to go see Shrek 3. It was in the middle of the day so I didn't feel bad taking Dylan. Plus, it was showing every 30 min so I knew the theater wouldn't be packed. It's Dylan's 2nd movie theater movie. His 1st one was when we went to Jake's 10th birthday party so those boys have been there for both of his movies. He was a little wiggly the first half, but not bad and not loud. About half way through I had to take him out to change him and get refils then he sat still on my lap for the rest of the show with the other 3 boys.

Today we went for a swim in the morning. The water was a little cold so we just splashed and threw toys and let Jake dive for them.

I had to wake Dylan up so we could go to the Zoo. It's so fun doing things with people you love - the more the merrier. The boys only "faught" over who got to push Dylan in the stroller and who got to sit by him in the car. They actually resolved the issue mostly by themselves quickly. They were great so we went to dinner.

I'm so glad that I have a baby boy after being around those boys. They're pushing me to teach Dylan more signs and they won't give him his ball or blanket or water or whatever until he does the sign for it AND signs "please." They're helping me raise my baby.

Fund Raising

The scouts in our Branch of our church held a BBQ to raise funds for their scout camp. It was at a great park that has a fenced-in area for 2-5yr olds. Dylan's close enough. I was able to leave him in there while I visited with my friends and ate the yummy food.

Dylan of course had one of his many balls.

The fun thing is that he gained the courage to go down the slides all by himself!

Oh, and I got Dylan's outfit for free b/c my friends/neighbors are moving and were ready to get rid of their cute baby's clothes. (He's exactly 1 yr older than Dylan.) I was going to jog to the gym but they side tracked me and I didn't make it. I haven't been to the gym since Saturday morning 2 weeks ago.


Steven did a good job keeping me busy ever since I found out about Chrissy. He suggested that I ask my mom to watch Dylan and he took me to dinner and a movie. Because it's not as easy to just leave for a date, by the time we got Dylan ready and settled with his Uncles Jonathan and Martin, we only had time for dinner at Panera if we wanted to go to a movie too. I love panera and I love Steven, so it was perfect.

Tonight we had a fund raiser for the young women. We had a bake sale auction. Danielle and I spent hours baking lots of yummy treats instead of holding youth night on Wednesday. It felt like it should be the holidays, only I've never baked that much for the holidays. (I've just heard about people who do tons of baking.)

The bake sale was tonight. Only one of the six girls going to camp was present to participate, but Steven won some really good bids for us and now the girls will be able to go to camp!

Chrissy's Website

Lacey and I are making a website in memory of Chrissy, her sister and my cousin. It is a place to compile stories and pictures and videos and all memories of her. We miss her so much. If you have anything, please email me or Lacey and we will put it on for you.

The link is www.RememberingChrissy.blogspot.com. Or you can click on my list on the right of my blog.

Underwater at Grandma's house

My friend Danielle got something new for me to covet - a new digital camera. The thing is - it's waterproof!!!! I felt so guilty taking it under the water. I may be getting my wants and needs messed up, but I'm thinking I'm going to need one of these:)

1st time fishing

For some reason I have wanted Dylan to go fishing b/c I thought it would be so cute. I pictured it being w/ his daddy on a Father's Day, but look how cute he is fishing w/ Marc. Marc LOVES to fish so eventually I think I'll have him teach Dylan.

Steven likes to go deep sea fishing, but that takes a big chunk of time, it's pricey, and Dylan doesn't like being constricted in his infant life jacket so we've never attempted to do a Father-Son outing. It was a pretty windy day - check out the hair!

2 babies

I think twins would be fun, but there's a lot to consider.

Dylan and Malia are now getting to a stage where they know how to push each other's buttons. Malia will sometimes steal Dylan's blanket or a ball. Honestly though she will usually only do it if Dylan has done something first and she actually finds and gives him his blanket more than she takes it.

Dylan, on the other hand, will just touch something of hers that he has no interest in just to get her all worked up. I learned my lesson that I need to put Dylan and Malia on opposite ends of the back seat b/c Dylan will just rest his hand on Malia's arm rest to make Malia get my attention. It's like she's saying "he's touching me," or "he's looking at me!" They're just like brother and sister. He's the little pesky brother. He's passive-aggressive. This is a picture of them fighting over the blue monkey.

They play together so well most of the time if they have room. I let them run free w/ no shoes on (don't tell on me). They were so happy. I love them so much.

I wrote a post about the day I went shopping for Mother's Day. Here's the answer to my question:

Danielle and her cute baby took me to Costco for my 1st time. This is where moms with twins should shop! It's really meant for 2 toddlers! The only problem is that Dylan would undoubtedly touch something in Malia's space if I took the two of them. It'll be a while before I run out of diapers now, but we'll see if I take them next time I go . . .

Makes Me Smile Monday

Today's MMSM is supposed to be on the fads of the 80's but I wasn't trendy then to remember much about that era b/c I was born in 1980 and didn't have any older brothers or sisters. I hate 80's music, so I'm not participating in the assigned topic. I'm catching up on lots of stuff today and watched this video for the 1st time.


I got back in town last Thursday and was enjoying that Dylan was entertaining himself. Malia got him the basketball goal for his birthday and he LOVES it. Some people would take advantage of the fact that they don't have to entertain thier toddler all the time, but since I had missed him when I was in Oklahoma for Chrissy's funeral, I just wanted to sit back and watch. This went on a while before I got my camera. It's pretty funny at about the halfway point, but maybe just to his mommy. I also caught him signing "mommy," so it made me smile. I bet it will make you smile a couple of times too.

Pencil Pals

Growing up, Chrissy and I wished we could be neighbors but we lived a couple of hours apart from each other. We visited often. Chrissy and Lacey were "pencil pals" to my sister, Kat, and I. I saved a lot of letters from both of them. I have more from Chrissy. She drew pictures in some and folded the paper like a puzzle some times and we would even write in code and send the key separately. This is one letter from Chrissy. I kept the envelope which was post marked August 25th 1993 - we were both 13 years old.

Susan's Pool

Dylan got to meet his friend, baby Peyton for the 1st time. It was baby Peyton's 1st time in the pool! I love all of the 1sts for babies.

Dylan was doing so well with swimming. He was going under and reaching and holding onto the side. He liked jumping in b/c he was jumping w/ baby Peyton's cousin, Ryan. They would give each other high fives after and would both be so proud of themselves. This video is sideways, but I like it. It's short:

Pool time

Fun at Uncle Andre's pool before I left for the airport
Dylan's favorite pool toy is his favorite land toy - a ball. Steven and Andre taught him how to hold his hands to catch a ball. He has actually caught a ball a couple of times, but he'd rather wait 'til it lands then go fetch it.

Dylan and Malia had fun splashing each other like bath time.

Last summer the babies were in the pool lots but we were holding on tight to them. It is fun that they entertain themselves this summer.