Our Florida Vacation..

Warning I have a TON of pictures. So I mentioned before that Darrian and I went on a trip to FL to visit my friend Niki and her family. You will remember Niki is the one that we surprised in Feb. for her 30th birthday. We were gone for 8 days, and Darrian had a really good time. It was just a mommy/son trip, and I was nervous about the flight. Remember I said that my sciatica was bothering me? So sitting for several hours at a time did not sound like fun. I realized that Darrian gets upset in situations where he is unfamiliar. For example, we got to the airport and have to put everything through the xray, including his shoes. I did not give him any warning and he started to cry and get upset because he thought I was taking his shoes and giving them away. He did much better on the return flight where he knew the drill. He did fine on the first part of the trip, but did not sleep. So onto the second part of the trip there, we had a 3 hour layover. Time to stretch our legs, get something to eat.

Well Darrian wanted to push his stroller everywhere, and it took FOREVER. He loved the moving belts that you stand on, and when it came time to go board our plane he waned to go "this way" to go ride on it. He does not know we have to get on a plane, and he has no sleep. He had THEE biggest meltdown of his entire life. Not just crying, but somewhere deep in him he found this scream. A scream I had never ever heard before. Picture windows breaking. It scared me because I had never seen him this upset. I pushed him off to the side of the aisle and tried to reason with him, he was not even paying attention. Did I mention it is 30 minutes before boarding if that, and EVERYONE who is getting on our plane is watching me? Then there is this eatery place and this young guy comes over to me and ask me to move him or do something because he is so loud. I look and everyone there is staring at me. I was so embarrassed. I start crying. He is crying, I am crying.. a mess. Three people rush over offer to help, take him for a walk, or give him candy and remind me that all kids have moments like this. I decide to take him for a walk. I called Keith. I calm down. We go back. He gets on the plane and before we even back out he is asleep. phew. The problem is, I showed him my cards. He knew that scream got me. So a few more times on the trip he used it. I have to say by the end of the trip he settled a bit more into himself, but since we have been home that scream has not been heard THANK GOD.

We had a great time at Disneyworld, it was HOT. It was fun to see the excitement on D's face. I did not think that he would want to go on many rides since he usually does not love them. However he did really good, and really liked some of them. He liked the fireworks and loved the tram and the trains.


Here are some pictures of our time at Disney. I will do another one with some of our other vacation adventures.

A Darrian Funny...

The other day Darrian was whining about wanting to go see trains, but when he whines he doesn't use words. So I told him "Your a big boy, and big boys don't whine they use their words" and he said back: "I not a big boy!! I Darrian OK?!"

I could do nothing but laugh.

The TWINS!

Ok, so I have to say when you have BIG news on your brain it is hard to get on this blog and update about little things here and there and not mention the biggest news in your life. Could very well explain why I have had only a few post here and here the past few months, huh? So let me catch everyone up, get it out there, and then hopefully start posting again :).

So way back in March we decided to try for a baby, the spacing between children seemed good because I had always thought 3 years was a good amount of time. I did not think we would get pregnant that very first month, but in April I started to feel what I thought could be symptoms. Me being the patient person that I am went out on my break at work and bought a couple test, and tested. To my surprise it was positive :). This was on April 23rd, and I had a night out with the ladies planned for the night. Trying to order a virgin margarita without seeming obvious proved to be difficult, but I managed to pull it off. The next day I took another test and again saw the positive sign. I told Keith that morning. I didn't want to talk about all the what if's and get too far ahead of ourselves. So I told him lets just go about our business like nothing is going on, until we have an ultrasound and confirm that all was going well.

I decided to wait a bit longer till about 8 weeks to have the ultrasound done. I wanted to make sure there would be a heartbeat for sure, and that everything was ok and not go in too early and not be able to see anything. So on May 13th I set off for the drs., alone. Keith was getting ready for his nephew to come into town, Darrian had school... so I thought I can handle this on my own. I show up to find out they had me booked for the wrong appt. paperwork only...grrrr. Pregnancy hormones took over, and after a few tears they said they could get me in for a ultrasound. I waited 45 minutes finally called back, and could tell the dr. was in a rush. He couldn't work the machine just right, and when he finally did I was looking at the screen to make sure I could see something. As soon as the image showed up on the screen I knew something was different. There were two sacs, and what looked to be TWO heartbeats. HOLY SHIT. Then the Dr. says he is not sure if there are two heartbeats, but looks to be two sacs. Could be twins, could not be twins, he was not clear I would need to go to Radiology to have a clearer ultrasound done. 5 minutes and he flips my whole life upside down. I kept saying Oh My GOD. It was most likely the most panicked moment in my entire life. How was I going to do this, how would we do this... He asked me to go up to radiology to book the appt. that they would do at a later date. I ran out of there. Seriously. I walked into the house and I think my face said it all. Keith said what is the matter was there not a heart beat? I told him I was not sure. Then handed him the ultrasound....of course he has no idea what he is looking at. I then said it looks like there could be TWO of them. His face turned into what mine looked like.

To make it all more interesting, Niki was waiting out front because I was going with her somewhere, and I was late. So Keith and I didn't really get to talk talk. Until later. I won't lie and say we had no fears of what could be, I mean going from 1-3 seemed really crazy. We were not sure if our car is big enough, and things have been down so much in the economy to be growing our family that much overnight is overwhelming. Devan was coming in that night so we agreed to not really talk about it and wait until things were confirmed. Of course Keith can't keep a secret for nothing. LOL. Seriously I can be a vault.. him not so much. The next morning he told me he talked to Devan (who is a twin) and realized that no matter what this is a blessing. We can make it work, it will be hard, it will be overwhelming.... but the payoff will be great. There is no denying that Darrian is the greatest gift we have ever gotten, that love times two more can't be bad. It can be hard, but it can't be bad. I will say it was just the pep talk I needed. Keith has a way of being there right when he needs to be... in a moment he will react how we all might, but he bounces back faster than I do.

We went about the weekend, we had a appointment on 5/18 and confirmed that there were two babies right on track growth wise, two heartbeats... two everything. It was great news, shocking news.
From that appointment till now we have been to a MILLION appointments. Seriously the blood work with twins and the amount of appointments are crazy. I have met with three doctors, one of them a specialist. Had a total of 8 ultrasounds at least, and had some scary moments. They were not sure if there was one placenta or two, two is not as high risk and we confirmed I have two. Took a week of worry, but we were happy to hear it.

On 6/17 I had a NT scan done, it was the more enjoyable ultrasound this far. That is where they told us baby A was most likely a boy. The woman was so nice, they had a TV so I got to see the entire ultrasound. It was fun to see them move and amazing to see two babies inside me. We not have it set up so we have ultrasounds every four weeks. I have images I need to scan, and I will get around to it soon.


I started feeling flips at 11 weeks, and kicks at 14 weeks 4 days.

We had our big ultrasound on 7/30 and it looks like two boys :) I am fine being a mama to all boys, I really enjoy it. I actually get really annoyed when people act like having a boy, or all boys is a bad thing or that they feel sorry I don't have a girl. A child is a child... as long as they are healthy no matter what I am given I will be happy.

I am over halfway done at this point, they will have me go to 36 weeks if I can. I am really hoping I can, but I know Darrian was born early so I am preparing myself for that too. I am 19 weeks and 4 days now, if I make it to the point they want me to the babies will be born around 12/05/10.



I promise to update more soon, and to update with pictures of the ultrasounds soon.

A month!! OPPS..

I can't believe how fast time is flying by, seriously how did it get to be Aug.? I have been meaning to update but our laptop cut out on us so I don't have my light room to edit pictures with, so I haven't been able to upload. July came and went, pretty quickly. We have some BIG news in our household. Keith and I are expecting TWINS this winter! I finally came out on facebook and to most people last week, I will do a HUGE update on this in the next few days to get the blog up to speed. I am 19 weeks 1 day, more than halfway through the pregnancy and we know we are expecting two more boys. :)
So to rewind time the 4th of July weekend was a bust because I was flat on my back with a really bad sciatic nerve. I have never felt pain like that before, and I have never felt so helpless. I could not stand on my own, I could not sit at all. That means no getting in a car, no sitting on the couch, nothing. I could lay down, but could not get up on my own. It was horrible. To make it all worse I had a big trip planned with Darrian on July 14th to FL. I was afraid I would never be able to get on the flight. I tried a chiro, a acupucture person came to the house (this helped the most) and then meds from the drs. I am still in pain, but not where it was a month ago.
I did make my big trip to FL with just Darrian. We had a ton of fun, there were bumps along the way but we learned a lot. We got to see good friends, and Darrian got to make new friends. I also got to take something off my bucket list! Taking Darrian to Disneyworld.

So that was the month in a nutshell.... look for post to catch up this week. I will do one on the twins, also one on our big trip, and one on Darrian who is getting so big and will be 3 in just 6 weeks!
Hope you all have been enjoying your summer!

How we have been spending our summer..

In the water.. lots of it. We are trying to swim on the weekends, a couple times a week. Darrian loves it, we love it, and it's free. Such a win win all the way around. I was able to snap some pics the other day when we were swimming. My little swimmer is so cute! He has no fear of the water, however he does not like bugs in the water :), and he can swim for hours.

Daddy took these on his camera phone last night.. D with the goggles :)

A happy birthday party...

Saturday we celebrated with Darrian's two friends C and J as they celebrated their 3rd birthday. Often times when I go to a birthday party for Darrian I get all frazzled and leave swearing I could never in my life run a daycare center. Something about a bunch for 2-4 year olds all in one place makes me antsy. :) I have to say this was the most relaxed party I have ever been too. I was able to chat with my friends, and Darrian enjoyed the ride on toys and water table. There was more than one ride on toy so I didn't have to worry about him fighting over one with all the kids there. It was a great time . Darrian had a LOT of fun, and so did I. Here are some pictures from the party.

D coloring on the firetruck they had set out for the kids, each with a picture of the kid driving it.. so cute.

Birthday boys blowing out the candles.

D played in the water table and got soaked... hence the lack of shirt.

A little catch up..

No pictures this post, I have to upload some new ones. I thought I would just write :). Darrian and I went on a mommy-son date this weekend and I took him to see Toy Story 3. I loved Toy Story when I was younger, and I was really excited for him to see it. It was his first time in a theatre and he did really good. He got a little antsy towards the end and wanted to switch seats which was no big deal. He talks so much it is fun to have conversations with him.

We also went swimming again this weekend and I was putting his swim diaper on and it had Nemo on the front of it. He was asking me what it was, and I told him it was a fish. He said "no Mommy that's Nemo a clown fish!" . I have no idea where he learned that. He saw the movie once?
He is also REALLY into imaginative play. When he gets up first question is "Wanna play? Wanna play" , he won't give up and will go get a bunch of cars or trains and assign you to one. He also re-assigns as he wants :), then you have conversations with the cars or trains and talk about your day. Sometimes he will just spend time on his own, on his belly having these conversations with his cars or trains. It is really fun to watch.
He loves to swim, we just put floaters on him and he goes. He will swim around in the deep end, and shallow. I am right behind him, but he shows no fear. We will be getting him classes soon.
Yesterday he wanted me to read him a book Auntie Dev got him. As I was getting ready to read it, I heard him spelling out the letters on the front F-A-L-L, then he goes "One L, Two L". He is really into counting, his letters, and his numbers. He can count up to 30 on a good day. :) Most days it is 20. He also has his colors down, and likes to point those out.

In a few weeks I will be taking him to Florida to meet my friend Niki and her family. I am very excited. I am taking him to Disney world (cross it off my bucket list) and I hope he enjoys it.

Lots of other things going on, I will update soon. I hope to post pictures this week.

Hope your all enjoying your Summer!!

Lily turns 2!!

I can't believe it has been two year since Lily graced us with her presence, she has been such a fun addition to her family and so fun to watch grow. We went over to celebrate her 2nd birthday, and really had a good day. It was nice to sit around and catch up and watch the kids play. I did not get a ton of pictures that day but I captured a few of the water fight that took place. It was a lot of fun, and we wish Lily a very happy 2nd birthday!! time is flying by.

Keith started by showing Lily how to make the water go even further.

She is a fast learner :)

First year of Preschool Complete

Yikes, time is flying by. I have lots to update but haven't had time to do it. It's been almost a month since my last update. I promise I will get better. More updates coming ....







First let's start with a big one! Darrian finished his first year of preschool! I think it was great for him, and he learned a lot. I really think he enjoyed the time playing and getting some structure. Towards the end of the year we would hear about what happen at school, and get little ideas of his day from him. It was really cute. I think next year will be even better. I can't believe how much he has changed in those few months. The teacher sent him home with some pictures in class throughout the year and there was one taken on his second birthday celebration just after school started, geesh he looked SO young and still such a baby. It is amazing how fast they change.







Keith took a picture of him on the last day of school, I will put it with one from the first day to show the differences.

Back then Darrian was size 2T, and a size 7 shoe. Today D is a 4T (pushing 5T) and a size 9 shoe. In just 9 months, they change so fast!

A busy family filled weekend..

Our Nephew Devan was in town this weekend, it was so nice to see him. Keith has seen Devan a few times in the past year and a half, but Darrian and I have not seen him since Darrian's first birthday! Time flies by. Darrian is very confused because he has an Auntie Devyn, so he doesn't get why there is another Devan who is not Autie Devyn. He spent the first day saying "no, that's not Devyn". However it did not take him long at all to become Devan's best friend. He will be really sad when he leaves tonight. Devan has been so great with him, and you can see the father in him coming out. (Devan is the nephew who has the 7 month old son Uriah).

We had a busy weekend, I have to upload more pictures tomorrow. We spent time in Berkeley, SF, and Half Moon Bay and really enjoyed ourselves. Darrian was really good, and I was impressed he did so well while we were out especially when we stopped to get dinner or lunch and he had to sit at a table for so long.

Here are some pictures from Saturday, Darrian also found Devan's hat's and liked wearing one for a while.

Mother's Day...

I feel very blessed to be apart of this club, to be a Mommy to a very special little boy. It is really something you can't grasp until your in it. I adore him. He has brought me way more than I could have ever imagined. This Mother's day was special because it was the first one that Darrian made me a gift. He has been in preschool for almost a full year and brought a gift home for me he made there. SO precious!

Keith also got pedicures for my Mom and I, and cooked us a dinner which was very nice. It was a wonderful Mother's Day.

Old friends...

Haskel and Keith have been friends for a long time, since HS. Keith can't remember exactly how they met, just that they did.. and once they were friends they did everything together. Keith is known to Haskel as Daryl, as most of his friends call him (his first name). I think when we did the numbers they have been friends for about 30 years. At times they got a long time without talking, but they are the type of friends that when they are together it is like no time has passed. There really shouldn't be that much time in between, but you know how boys are. Haskel called to say he was going to be in town with is wife, and daughter because his daughter was dancing in a show in Oakland. We had a busy weekend planned, but I was committed in getting these two together. I knew it would be good for Keith.

We drove to Oakland and met with him and the family at the hotel they were staying at. It was their first time meeting Darrian, and it didn't take long for Uncle Haskel to win him over. He didn't want him to leave. We were only going to hang out for a couple hours, with promise of another trip later in May. It ended up being 4 hours, and we had to get to a photo shoot (more on that later) and Haskel's daughter had to get to rehearsal. We decided to come back though after... and ended up at the show for a bit, then dinner, and talking until after midnight.

It was nice to see Keith happy and laughing, and after he was so thankful he went back.. old friends are the best. Even though Keith would never admit it, it is good for his soul.