How It Goes

Greg had chemo last friday. It was an interesting experience to say the least. Here's how it went:

We got there and they brought us into a room full of other people hooked up to IVs. Nobody looked like they were dying or anything, so that was encouraging.

The nurse sat us down in a chair and started "educating" us on the procedure and its after-effects. This was the hard part.. hearing about all the things that could possibly go wrong. I guess there still is a chance that Greg could lose all his hair, which makes me soooo sad. He's got such beautiful hair. The other possible side effects were numbness in his extremeties, nausea, and more susceptiblity to colds/flu/whatever.

The nurse started the IV which sounded like it was pretty painful for poor Greg. He already has a hard time with needles. IVs are brutal. I know from experience. Greg was pretty freaked out at this point, so I asked the nurse for some anti-anxiety medicine like he had when he had surgery. They gave him some ativant, which made him quite happy, quite quickly.

After that was done, they started the chemo (carboplatin), which didn't actually seem to do much to Greg while he was on the IV. So, we sat there for an hour till the chemo was finished. They unhooked him and he could go home.

Since then, Greg has experienced several of the side effects, but none were too major except one. He got hiccups BAD. He must have had 10 sets of hiccups on Saturday and Sunday. At first I didn't think that it could be an actual side-effect, but I looked it up online and found out that it's not completely uncommon for men (in particular), to get hiccups after chemo. I said "well, it's better than puking your guts out, right?" and he agreed with me. Yesterday Greg started feeling a little nauseated, but it hasn't been too bad at all. Weakness/tiredness has been the biggest hinderance, but he's been pretty good about it.

Sam is doing terrifically well. We love him sooooo much. He's happy and funny these days... spoiled rotten, though.

Well.. that's about it. Write comments! I don't know who's reading this anymore! Please?

Crystal

Yes, We Still Exist

Wow. It's been a while since I've posted. So sorry everyone!

We hope you all are well. Greg is doing great. We will know tomorrow what the plan is as far as chemo or radiation goes. We're not sure what the next step is with job searching, so please be praying for that.

Hey, I'm selling my 2004 vw beetle. It's galactic blue (look on the VW.com website for what that is). If you are interested, please email me at ilikecows13@hotmail.com -- it's only got 8000 miles on it. It's just that we don't want to have to keep making payments on this car we don't want! We're selling it for 13,000 which is a STEAL (trust me.. blue book it). Almost perfect condition.

Sorry for the shameless advertising.

So anyway... new pictures on www.snapfish.com
username: ilikecows13@hotmail.com
password: samuel

Hope your Christmas season is happy so far!

Good News

Well, things are definitely looking a lot brighter. Greg went and had some more testing done on Friday of last week. They were not sure if there was any more cancer in his body or of exactly what kind of cancer he DID have. The cancer looked like it was contained within his testicle, but they weren't abosolutely certain. After the testing results came back, though, everything looked good. In his CT scan, it looks as though there are no visible tumors in the rest of his body. The blood tests showed that there was no more growth hormone being produced, so that's a good sign too. We are going ahead with radiation treatment because we want to be sure that all existing cancer cells (if there are any) are eradicated before they take hold somewhere.

The only problem now is the posibility of sterility. Although I don't want any more kids at the moment, I do feel like I would like to have more somewhere down the road. Radiation has been known to cause men to become sterile and that would be a serious bummer. We do have Sam and are so glad that he is here, but more kids the merrier. So, we're thinking of sperm-banking.

Please pray for Greg as we are going to be doing this radiation. He has to go all the way to LA for it and that's a LONG drive. (3 hours or so). He will be doing that for three weeks, five days a week. Fortunately, he will be getting the lowest dose that they do.. so that's nice.

If you have any questions about things I forgot to write, feel free to email (ilikecows13@hotmail.com)

Take care, all! Thanks again for your prayers

Love

Crystal

Surgery

Greg's surgery went well yesterday. He came out fine and we'll have the results on friday. thanks for your prayers. Sam's crying, so I have to go.

Whimper

Greg definitely has cancer. We're having one of his testicles removed within the next couple of days. We don't know if it has spread or not. They will do tests after the surgery if not during to see if Greg needs further treatment.

Please pray for us.

Go Figure

Well,

With how wonderful life has been recently (sarcastic), you would think that we would have seen something like this coming. Good grief

Greg might have testicular cancer. He found a lump day before yesterday. We went to the doctor yesterday. They did a sonogram on him to see if it looked serious. It did. They will probably do a biopsy early next week.

We are devastated.

However, We have heard that if men are going to get cancer, this is the kind to get. If he has to have a testicle removed, he still may have baby-making capacity. It's been done before.

So, anyway.. that's our big news for right now. We tried the "extinction" or "cry it out" method on Sam last night. It seemed to work super well. This morning he was really with it and seemed super happy. Right now, he's in his crib crying again. It's time for his morning nap. We're trying to get a little bit more of a schedule extablished here. It's been a little bit frustrating because we haven't had any time to do anything. The house is a disaster. We're tired all the time because we get up 3 times a night with him. I don't believe attatchment parenting was the thing for me, so desperate times call for desperate measures.

Hopefully this will work.


Please be praying for us. We really don't know what is going on. We try not to question God's soveriegnty, but it's hard not to when things are this bad.

Sam Pics

So, here is where you need to go for all of Sam's recent pictures

www.snapfish.com

username: ilikecows13@hotmail.com
password: samuel

Sorry

I know, I know, it's nearly been a month... and what a month it has been

Ever have one of those days where the whole world seems to be against you? That everything is going wrong and nothing seems to be working out the way you had hoped? Well, not to whine, but a blog is sure a good excuse for a good vent. This last month has been the most singularly disasterous month of my (and I think my husband's) entire life. It has been quite difficult to keep the faith, but God has been teaching us lots of stuff though it.

The List of Things That Have Recently Gone Wrong:

-Our toilet is broken

-Our digital projector bulb went out--we bought a new one--didn't work--the projector may need repair (It's on it's way to the service center)

-Someone tried to siphon the gas out of the gas tank in our SUV with a knife.. Greg didn't know.. attempted to drive to work (After refilling the empty tank) and was spilling gas all over the freeway... he's lucky he didn't get killed. Had to replace the gas tank--guess how much $700.00!!!! (It would have been a thousand if they hadn't been as nice as they were) Greg's parents paid for the repairs and we are forever grateful.

-We've been trying to switch over to a new (less expensive) insurance plan with Kaiser Permanente. Our son doesn't qualify because of his medical condition.

-We were given a van by Greg's family friends, the Halls. Thank you guys! We are having major issues getting it registered here in California, though.

-We have been trying to get rid of my 2004 VW beetle. ARGH! So frustrating to have to pay for this car that we don't really use. Anybody want it? It's yours for 15,000 if you do! It has one new tire. It's pretty and blue.

-Greg accidently threw away his principal's letter of reccommendation, so now he only has references.. no letters when he goes job hunting.

-Sam has taken to have an 7-8 o'clock nighttime crying session for the last week or so. It's enough to make you crazy when you're as tired as we have been.

-Greg still hasn't had any real estate leads, which is really a bummer. We're wondering why the heck we went for the whole real estate license thing in the first place.

-We bought this 20,000 dollar time share because we could afford it a year ago.. well.. we haven't been able to use it yet because Greg has been having to work so much to keep the bills paid. We were supposed to go to Oregon last week for a week long vacation at a ritzy resort. We can no longer go and I'm bummed because it means that sam doesn't get to see my side of the family until thanksgiving.

-I couldn't find my check card anywhere, so I went ahead and cancelled it and ordered a new one. THe next day, my mother-in-law called and told me it was at her house. Argh!!

-Skittle's license has been expired for over a year now. We need to get her a new one, but in order to do that, we have to have proof that she has had her shots. We can't get proof of that until we go to the place where we got them done. It's over 2 hours away. Forget licensing the dog for now.

-I feel huge. I haven't lost any weight since 3 weeks after I had Sam. I initially lost 30 pounds I'd gained, but I'm still way overweight.. 40 lbs over where I'd like to be, actually and that's hard. I'm doing better at working out, though. Sam is interested in watching me run on the trampoline and lift weights, so that's fun. =)

-This has nothing to do with me directly, but it was still hard to hear. My long-time friend Melanie Briton passed away last week. She had been fighting cancer for a really long time. I had had no idea it was so bad until about 3 weeks before she died. I am going to miss seeing her at True Value when I go home at Christmas. She was a really funny sweet person and I wish I'd been able to spend more time with her when I had the chance. Please remember Melanie's family in your prayers. Having my own child, I can't even imagine what her parents must be going through. It would be utterly devastating to lose Sam and I've barely even gotten to know him. I can't imagine having known him for 24 years and then losing him.




But there have been good things that have happened this past month as well.

-My hubby has an interview for a really wonderful-sounding job on Tuesday at 2:00 pm. We're hoping and praying that it works out. It would definitely be something that would pay the bills.

-My dad is coming down on the 2nd for my great aunt Ada's bithday. She is turning NINETY FIVE. She's an amazing lady and we are so lucky to get to know her. Talk about a determined soul. She has macular degeneration and some dementia and she's just trying as hard as she can to keep on going like those things are nothing. We really admire her for her stamina and just-plain-oomph!

-Greg is working for his Aunt Jane. She is a life saver. IF it weren't for her, we would most likely be living somewhere else...no idea where. Thank the Lord for sweet wonderful and caring relatives!

-Greg took me to see Knott's Halloween Haunt. Oooooooooh it was fun! I was really impressed with the detail work that they put into the event. I had no idea it was so elaborate. Lots and lots of fun. I highly reccommend it (even for the money you end up paying).

-Sam has started SOLIDS! Huzzah!!

So that's that for now. I'll try to get some new pictures up of our little chunk (he weighs almost 16 lbs now). Please keep us in your prayers. We are feeling a bit out of sorts as you can see. We're just hoping that something works out soon as far as the whole job-for-Greg situation goes. If that were covered, everything else would be soooo much more bearable.

Love you guys!

Thanks Sheriduh

Here's a bit more info about me--survey taken from my friend's blog:

[ ] I am bisexual
[ ] I am homosexual
[ ] I've run away from home
[ ] I listen to political music.
[ ] I collect comic books.
[ ] I shut others out when I'm sad
[ ] I open up to others easily
[ ] I am keeping a secret from the world
[ ] I watch the news
[ ] I own over 5 rap CDs
[x] I own something from Hot Topic
[x] I love Disney movies
[x] I am a sucker for hair/eyes
[ ] I don't kill bugs
[ ] I curse regularly.
[ ] I have "x"s in my screen name.
[x] just to be funny I've slipped out a "lol" in a real conversation
[ ] I love Spam (as the food)
[x] I bake well
[ ] I would wear pajamas to school.
[ ] I have a job
[ ] I love Martha Stewart.
[x] I am in love/like with someone.
[ ] I am guilty of tYpInG lIkE tHiS
[x] I am self conscious.
[x] I like to laugh.
[ ] I smoke.
[ ] I loved Go Ask Alice.
[ ] I have cough drops when I'm not sick.
[ ] I can't swallow pills.
[ ] I have many scars
[x] I've been out of this country
[ ] I believe in ghosts.
[x] I can't sleep if there is a spider in the room
[x] I am really ticklish
[x] I love chocolate.
[x] I bite my nails
[x] I am comfortable with being me
[x] I play computer games/video games when I'm bored
[x] Gotten lost in the city
[x] Saw a shooting star.
[ ] I had a serious Surgery.
[x] Gone out in public in your pajamas
[x] I have kissed a stranger.
[x] Hugged a stranger.
[ ] been in a fist fight with the same sex.
[ ] Been arrested.
[ ] Laughed and had milk/soda come out of your nose
[ ] Pushed all the buttons on an elevator
[x] Made out in an elevator
[x] Swore at your parents.
[x] Kicked a guy where it hurts.
[ ] Been skydiving
[ ] Been bungee jumping.
[ ] Broken a bone.
[ ] Played spin the bottle.
[x] Gotten stitches
[ ] Drank a whole gallon of milk in one hour
[x] Bitten someone
[ ] Been to Niagara Falls.
[x] Gotten the chicken pox.
[ ] Crashed into a car ... mailbox ... dirt hill.
[ ] Been to Japan
[x] Ridden in a taxi.
[ ] Shoplifted.
[ ] Been fired.
[x] had feelings for someone who didn't have them back
[x] Stole something from your job.
[x] Gone on a blind date.
[x] Had a crush on a teacher/coach. (In First Grade, mind you)
[ ] Celebrated Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
[x] Been to Europe.
[ ] Slept with a co-worker.
[x] Been married
[ ] Gotten divorced.
[x] Saw someone/something dying ... and it was a cat!
[ ] Driven over 400 miles in one day. ... before I was legal driving age
[ ] Been to Canada.
[x] Been on a plane.
[ ]Seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
[ ] Thrown up in a bar.
[ ] Eaten Sushi.
[ ] Been snowboarding.
[ ] Been skiing.
[x] Been ice skating.
[x] Met someone in person from the internet
[x]Going to or have gone to college.
[ ] Done drugs
[x] Taken painkillers.
[ ] Cheated on someone else
[ ] Had sex with more than one person.
[x] Thought about suicide
[ ] Feared for your life because of another
[x] Been hurt so bad you'll never forget the pain.
[ ] Wished somebody would die
[ ] Lied to your girlfriend/boyfriend

Sam and Me Looking At a Fountain at the L.A. County Fair 

He's Sittin' Up! 

I'm EVIL

So, I had an opportunity to be nice yesterday, and I didn't take it. Sam and I were at Target. I had a gift card from my birthday. I had intended to use it to buy the second season of "Northern Exposure." When I got to the video section, however, I noticed that the latest season of the simpsons was available, but there was only one copy of it left! Ohhhhh choices, choices, choices! Argh! So I put The Simpsons in my cart in order to ponder my dilemma further. As I was standing there, staring at the shelf of dvds, a guy came up with his wife. He looked at my cart, looked at the shelf, and said "I think we missed it." I was supposing that he was talking about the simpsons since the only other thing sitting in my cart was my son.

I did the unthinkable. As the guy with his wife was drooling over my treasure, I walked away! Am I horrible or what!? I mean, I hadn't even intended to buy the stupid set in the first place! I didn't want the Simpsons, I wanted Northern Exposure! But when the guy made it seem like he wanted it to, all the competitive rage in me said, "No! It's mine!" And I walked away with it! What a jerk I am. I know, only guys can be jerks.

This senario is why I don't play sports. I can't stand to lose

What's new

Hi Dudes and Dudettes

Greg and I are having a DATE NIGHT! Woohoo! My friend Rachel (aka: Raquelita) is coming to babysit our little bundle and we are taking off to eat at PF Changs and watch "March of the Penguins!"

I'm very excited. Can you tell?

Sam had an awful night last night, but he had a great day day before yesterday. It is nice to know that he's human.

He had his first smile last week. That was absolutely joyous. I couldn't believe how it affected me. I started crying! (Not that that's unusual or anything). It was really wow-ful to see him showing emotion besides grinning.

A REALLY CUTE ONE OF OUR LIL' SAM 

What's New

Well, things are looking up for Sam. He is no longer in dire need of surgery. The specialist thinks that we can put it off for a year or so as long as we keep Sam on antibiotics. He may actually grow out of the condition, but it's not likely. He's such a little trooper, our little guy. He doesn't like his medicine very much, but he tolerates it fairly well.

Greg's real estate stuff is kind of stalling these days. We're pretty frustrated with all of that. We don't know exactly what God is wanting us to do at this point, but we're trying to trust Him. Please pray for us, though. If we don't start making comissions (REALLY SOON), we might have to sell this house and move somewhere...we don't really know where.

Karlie found out that she is having a boy. That was happy news for me.. I want Sam to have a boy cousin, but Karlie wanted a girl. But, maybe the doctor was wrong. We'll see. We'll actually know by next week most likely.

I turned 24 on the 15th of August. We didnt' do much celebrating.. It's difficult with a little one. But I still had a nice time with my hubby.

Here's My New Favorite Picture of Him and Me 

Here's one of Sam and I a couple weeks ago 

Things Are Good

Things are good in our household these days. Sam is learning so much. Greg has a few leads with his real estate stuff and I am not feeling quite so insane anymore. I am enjoying being a new mom more and more all the time! My 24th birthday is in less than a week! I can hardly believe how much has happened since my last one. We've been to Europe, remodeled a house to sell, decided to keep the house, gotten pregnant, had a baby, my husband has started a new career, and I am wondering where all the time has gone! I feel like nothing will ever feel normal again, but it's already more normal than it was before Sam was born.

This is a sleepy Sam 

This is Sam in the mirror.. I took this after feeding him.  

This is Sam saying "Hi" and working on a smile. (Not the best pic, but it's cute) 

Dad with Sam Again 

Ugh...

So the last week has been awful, to say the least. My poor little Samuel Paul was hospitalized. He had a urinary tract infection. We noticed that he was fussy a day or so before he started getting the fever. We thought it was thrush. He's had that for about a week now, so we just assumed it was the diaper rash and sores in his mouth.

About 3:00 on Wednesday, Sam was REALLY crying. We tried everything to get him to stop. I noticed he was warm, so I had Greg take his temperature. It was 101.9, which in a baby is dangerous. So, off to the hospital we went. On the way there, I took his temp again, and it was 103.5, which terrified me.

So, we got to the emergency room. They ran a series of tests on him to try to find out what the problem was. One of the tests they had to do was a lumbar puncture to test for Spinal Meningitis. A lumbar puncture is also known as a spinal tap. Poor Sam was stabbed in the back with a long thick needle about 12 or 13 times. The first doctor had a really hard time getting the fluid, so that's why he had to be re-punctured so many times. The second got it on the second try. It was awful!
So then they did an IV and blood tests and the poor little guy was just crying like you wouldn't believe. I had to feed him countless times that night to settle him down. He was then transferred to another hospital where he would stay for two more days. The next hospital was a lot nicer, but we still felt very traumatized. We had not been expecting what happened, and it was really hard to accept anything anybody told us. By the time we were released on Saturday, we felt like we were ready to crack up.

So Sam is doing okay. But unfortunately, it's looking like he's in for surgery. He has what is known as Vesicoureteral Reflux.Basically, it's that one of his uriters (the tubes that connect the kidneys to the bladder) is not functioning right. It looks like it is twisted and longer than it should be. This causes a problem with urination where pee actually backs up into the kidneys again, causing infections. The only way to correct this particular type of problem is through surgery. There are lesser degrees of the same condition, but Sam's kind of the worst case senario. So please pray for him. He's on antibiotics and stuff, so he won't be getting an infection again (we hope). He's really doing better and his thrush is MUCH better than it was. But we are so sad that he has to have an operation. Talk about trauma for the little man. We are hoping that they can get it done as soon as possible so we don't have to think about it any more. But the doctor on the phone said that the specialist that will be doing the surgery is very busy and it could be a couple of months before he's available to even do a consultation.

I'm scared. Being a mom is hard enough. Dealing with all this is something that I never believed would happen. It is going to be a tough few weeks ahead.

Sam With Dad 

Sam Staring Out the Window 

2 Weeks

He's 2 weeks today! I can hardly believe how busy the life of a mom is. Sam's honestly the next best thing to Greg that has ever happened to me, though. I love him sooo much. He's pretty dang adorable. He's learning all sorts of stuff. He's always got his hands near his mouth, which is dangerous, but we try to keep him out of yucky stuff. He also likes to hit himself in the face. A few minutes ago, he accidentally grabbed his belly button stump. He didn't like that very much. Sometimes he'll grab his nose, which is one of my favorite things, but my absolute favorite thing he does is play with his dad. Greg is really good at showing him how to do stuff. It's his teacher instinct I think. Anyway, here's some more pictures for your enjoyment!

Waiting For Sam to Arrive 

Greg and Sam 

This Is IT

This is the last time I will be writing before I'm a mom. We leave for the hospital in an hour! Mom.. what a strange title for me. That's the title for MY mom. I'm happy, but wow, what a change this will be! Please keep us in your prayers. I think the things I'm most nervous about are the IV, the epidural, and avoiding an episiotmy. (In other words, please pray for those the mostest). Hopefully this will go fast!

Love

Crystal

Tralala

So today I thought my water might have broke, but I was wrong. It's just an infection. Yummy.. sorry if that's TMI. But we got to see an ultrasound. That was fun. It made my mom cry happy tears, which was cool. It's hard for me to be emotional about all this right now. I feel so distant from birth, even though it's coming up THIS SUNDAY. Is that strange? I feel like it probably is, but it's hard to be all into it right now for some reason. He's kicking like mad right now.. he always seems to do this when I am writing in my blog. He'll probably be a computer nerd too. We did notice something with the ultrasound today. He's A CHUNK! He's going to be quite portly, we think. That was fun to see =) He sure is excitable.

So that's about it for now. We're just praying that everything is okay on Sunday. We're excited, but scared. Please keep us in your prayers too. Hope you're having a great week!

Love

Crystal

Noooooooo!!!

Shoot Shoot Shoot Shoot Shoot

So I went to the doctor today. I was all excited, hoping I would have made some progress. Just a little would have been fine.

Nothing

Once again, nothing has happened. I am one centimeter dilated, which is what I was a WEEK ago. DARN IT! Really, this is ridiculous.

They'll probably induce on Sunday. It's a bummer, but at least I know that he's coming. And induction means I KNOW WHEN. But it's still bad because there are higher risks with induction; things like episiotomies and tearing and heart rates dropping and other such fun things.

I am excited, though. I know God's going to take care of my baby and me. It's hard to believe it's almost time.. but then again it's not really. He is being SO active! It's awful! He's trying to pop out my belly button or something! Arg!

But we'll keep you informed. Who knows.. maybe something will happen before Sunday. Pray that it does. I am READY for him to be here!

NOTHING

D'oh.. he's not here yet! I'm a day between my two due dates. I have had hardly any contractions today. Last night I was feeling them every 15 minutes or so, but I am not now. It's very sad. I wish he would hurry up and get here. On monday I have a doctor's appointment, so maybe I will find something out then. It feels like nothing is happening, though. Really. I feel exactly the same pretty much. The contractions I have been getting are not painful at all. He's moving around quite a bit still, which is not supposed to be happening just before labor.

But that's okay, I guess.. it just means he'll be that much more prepared for the world. I'm just eager.

So my sister has morning sickness. I feel bad for her. I was one of those lucky few.

Well, I'll keep ya'll updated. Please pray that he comes soon now. IT'S SAFE! Tell him that!

Love

Crystal

My Sis Is PREGGERZ too!!! 

Exciting Times, These Are!

So, wow..

My sister is pregnant.

I figured this was a good enough wait. I've known for about a week and apologize for not posting on this sooner, but it's happened. My sis is going to be having a baby too... looks like sometime between January and February of next year. wowowowow.

She sounds pretty excited, and as you can tell by the look on Jesse's face, he's excited too. =) Which excites me and I'm excited!

So, Sam is nearly here, and he will have a little cousin coming about 8 months after!

I'm not really scared of labor anymore. I am more scared that I won't know when it's really happening, will end up at the hospital or get stuck on the way and have the baby on the freeway or something.

We have everything we need, though. I even got the baby bath tub today.. and some Lansinoh and all that fun stuff. Hooray! Almost here!

TWO WEEKS LEFT

There are two weeks until my due date. This feels weird. I can't believe that there will be a new family member in a matter of days! Skittle is jealous. I'm nervous. Greg is doing better than the two of us. =)

We had another doctor's appointment today. Everything looks fantastic. He's head-down which is nice to know. No forceps here! =) My heart problem comes and goes but it's no longer as scary as it once was because nothing seems to happen because of it.

I have all sorts of weird dreams--last night I dreamed that he was talking in my tummy and they could hear him when they did the doppler thing. It was pretty cool! And another night I had a dream that he came out and started walking in a matter of days. That was fun too.

My sister made the dean's list at the University of Arizona's online criminal justice course! YAY KARLIE! You rule the school!

My mom comes to help out with labor and delivery and the stuff afterward in less than two weeks! I'm so jazzed. I find the 14th of June to be a more significant day than the actual due date. I know it's silly, but it's true. The night after my shower I got all emotional because it was such a DATE. I mean, you have the shower, you're having the baby. It's just how it works! I freaked. But Greg was very good at calming my nerves.

So, I'll try to keep in touch and let everyone know when I am going into labor. if it's not too painful to be on the computer, I'll try to post here when the contractions start.

PLEASE comment with any advice and/or encouragement!

NINE MONTHS!!!

I'm nine months on sunday! Wow... can't hardly believe this. We're so close. I had my southern-california shower last saturday. It was a really smashing good time. Thanks to all of you who came for making it such a special and memorable event. I love all my gifts so much!

God is good. My husband found a real-estate job! He has to wait until his lisence is issued before he can go to work, but he has a job lined up with a man we believe is trustworthy and smart... not to mention, ETHICAL! Hooray! For more details, email me!

All the recent pictures are from last weekend. My family came down to visit and we took these while they were here. =) My friend Becs says "You're GINORMOUS!"

I agree

The men belonging to my sister and I 

My beautiful sister and me 

My awesome mom and dad... aren't they hot 

Just me and my tummy 

My darling husband and I before a wedding 

WE PASSED!!!

Greg passed his real estate exam! YAY! Praise God! Now we are just hoping that we can get everything turned in soon so that he can get his official real estate license, find an employer, and start making those lovely commissions! Ohhhh...we are so overjoyed. Thank you all for your prayers and support. We are very happy with how things have been going recently. God's been opening lots of new doors and we're just waiting to see where they take us.

I'm starting to feel contractions sometimes now. I'll get two or three a day. They're nothing too huge.. in fact, I sort of enjoy them because it means things are moving along. I'm 34 weeks on sunday! I can hardly believe it. I'm getting pretty nervous about labor, but not so much that I can't enjoy the anticipation of the arrival of Samuel. He's going to be so much fun. I can hardly believe he's so close to being here. I'm not looking forward to the sporadical sleepless nights and nursing and all that other fun stuff, but it's still going to be awesome.

My baby shower is a week from Saturday... should be fun! I'm definitely looking forward to that!

Hope all is well with you all out there!

33 3/4 weeks! 

Real Estate Exams Are Hard!

My hubby took the real estate exam today. What a joyful bunch of fun! (Not really). Greg had a very hard time with it, but we're glad it's done. Thanks to those of you who were praying for us. I guess there have been 10 random drive-by shootings in the past week on the 110 (a freeway we took to get there). The test was in downtown LA. I have woken up the past three nights feeling like we were in for Greg's impending death on the way. I just had this horrid feeling that something awful was going to happen on the way to taking the test! I know that's weird, but sometimes you just get these feelings. I was TERRIFIED! We're just glad to be home.

The test itself was hard. Greg feels that it was, anyway... lots of trick questions and not too many easy answers. We'll see! There were a whopping 7000 people there taking it, so Greg was real overwhelmed with people smell and sounds--we probably won't get our results for about 5-10 days, but we keep checking.

Cameron, our new little nephew is very wonderful. We love him. He makes awesome baby sounds that make our hearts melt. Yay to God and Jeff and Melissa! They did a terrific job in putting him together.

Yardsales and Leather Couches

We are getting our leather couch! Hooray! So exciting. We've been talking about it since before we were married and finally have decided to go for it. Greg's parents gave him a money gift a while back for a computer. He never bought the computer, so they told us to get a couch with it! =) We're very excited. It's going to be from the arizona leather company. It smells good. It feels squishy. It is nice.

We had a yard sale on Saturday. We were hoping to sell lots of stuff. In order to not have to get up TOO early, we set everything out the night before. Well, of course, it rained. We were very disgruntled at first. So much so, that Greg, in his frustration, couldn't figure out how to make the signs for the sale. He spelled the word "Yard" like "Sard" and spelled "Sale," "Sail"! I laughed at him, which was probably uncalled for, but it was so funny.

Well, that's about it for these days. Oh... my sister-in-law is having her baby sometime this week. That'll be really cool! I'm excited to meet him!

Hooray!

The New Napster

So, we're trying out the new napster. I've discovered a couple of new bands/artists/whatever-you-want-to-call-thems. Ben Lee and Andy Stochansky to name a couple.

The cool thing about the new setup is that you can preview whole songs before you buy them if you're a subscriber. I like that a lot. 9.95 a month isn't that bad of a price to pay for unlimited music. The bad thing is, a lot of the bands haven't given their authorization for Napster to give away their complete songs though streaming media. This means only 30 second clips of songs.

My husband's taste is a lot more inclusive and eclectic than mine. He can handle lots of single songs from a million different bands, where if I find myself liking someone, I like ALL their stuff. It's amazing discovering what different tastes we have. I didn't realize he was so into industrial... I knew he liked it, but it's pretty much all he has on his playlist. I am trying to be accepting of it. =) I'm sure he's totally sick of hearing most of my stuff, but he's a lot more tolerant than I am of music he doens't like. It's a good thing we have headphones, but a bad thing too. It makes me sad that we are finding yet another area we don't necessarily synchronize in. =(

Sam is doing well.. he was having a heck of a night last night. I think he is definitely going to be a night and morning person. He's so ACTIVE then. I woke up this morning sorer than I've been my whole pregnancy. Uck.

My Sister in Law and I at her baby shower. Lots of Us Preggerz People these days! 

CENTRAL AIR!!!

We HAVE IT! Ah HA! Central air is a wonderful beautiful thing and we are hoping that Sam likes it as much as we do already. The installers just turned it on and we stood under the vents smiling like we did on our honeymoon. =) How romantic these little inane things are. Yay to "The Cool Guys!"

We also got a dishwasher today, something that I have sorely missed since Alturas. I haven't had one available to me since. It works beautifully.

I have a holter moniter attatched to me today. After three consecutive sundays of nearly passing out in church, we are wondering if I am having heart issues (not of the spiritual sort.. I hope). So the doctor referred me to the heart moniter people and now I look like a borg. Very interesting and irritating. I'm taped up and suction cupped in 5 places with cords coming out and down to my pockets. Very attractive.

Sam and Greg and Skittle say hi.

That's about it for today.



Bye

Profile (He's practicing kissing on his arm) 

Sam with his arm next to his face 

The Drama of Home Loans

If you are ever seeking a quiet, useful, necessary home-equity loan, don't ever be fooled. They are hellish. Those nice little ads they send you in the mail? They are LIES! This has nothing to do with the brokers themselves. Our broker, Anita, has been nothing but wonderful and we love her. It's the mortgage companies themselves that are ridiculous. I won't go into details, but just keep in mind that they are never a piece of cake, no matter how enticing they may sound.

So anyway.. we're funding TOMORROW! Hooray! Then we get our money on Wednesday. Just in time to go to the Sandiego Zoo for my nieces 2nd birthday! She's getting so big! Golly I love her so much. She has grown so fast and I can't wait to see what the next year has in store...lots, considering her mom is about to give birth to her little brother. Poor Emma. So used to being the baby. I will try to be her friend through it, but I'm definitely prone to being attracted to the new ones too.

I go in for a 3-D ultrasound soon! Yay! So super excited! =) We're definitely looking forward to another glimpse into Sam's little world. i'll post pictures here that I get =)

Well, that's the haps for now.

Baby Showers

I went to a baby shower today. I realized after I came home that my pictures would have me wearing the same dress as before. Ugh.. how annoying. I really do have more than this outfit. Really!

Anyway, the shower was fun. It was for my cousin JJ. She's as excited as I am, which is fun. She's a doula-in-training, so I might be asking her to assist me in my birth if I can get her. She will have a two-month-old when mine is born, so I don't know how available she will be.

We have over thirty outfits for our little Sam. I've only bought a few of them myself. Most of them I got for Christmas. Looks like we're good for the first 3 months, but I wouldn't mind taking more stuff. Clothes for tots are FUN!


My Cousin and Me (She's due before me..next month!) 

Recent Photo Of Our Progress 

This photo is for Karlie. I hope you can "tell better" on here. Love ya!