Love is in the air

The whole reason for our trip up to Washington was to attend a most fabulous wedding.  My brother Scotty got married to a hilarious lady named Christa.  The weather was fantastic, not at all the typical February Washington clouds and rain, but a few days of glorious sunshine.  I didnt really get a lot of photos, but believe you me it was fantastic! We danced, ate, sang (a little karaoke the night before) and drank .... well not me, but I downed that water and sparkling cider right along with 'em! 

Welcome to the family Christa, you are a refreshing and most welcomed addition! 

33 weeks

I had my 32 week appointment last week, everything is right on track.  Heartbeat is at 147, measuring fine.  Dr Savage thinks Inoke has moved, because I was telling her I have been feeling so heavy down below, like he could drop out at any minute.  She palpatated around and poked and prodded said his head feels like it is down, and butt up in my rib cage.  According to babycenter.com Inoke is the size of a pineapple .. yum my favorite!

So now I get to start going every 2wks to see Dr. Savage.  This is really exciting and scary at the same time.  Its going to make the weeks fly by.  I still am having a hard time believing that I am going to be a mom, and be responsible for another human being's survival ..... YIKES!!!

Happy Spring!

Yay for Spring!

I love the Spring for a few reasons ....

1. It marks the start of the warmer seasons
2. Longer daylight hours
3. Flowers blooming
4. My Dad's birthday ... My dad is amazing, so inspirational.  He is a positive example in my life and many others lives.  He is so spiritual.  He is a hard worker, and loves his job.  He loves my mom and our family, they have been married 43yrs! wowie wow wow! He has unconditional love.  He is a survivor. He recently participated in a fundraiser called The Big Climb.  It raises money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  My dad along with my brothers Scotty and Cory climbed 69 flights of stairs, and 1,311 steps.  A pretty cool and amazing thing that they have done for the past few years.  This is a pic of my dad next to his survivor poster that was put up at one of the landings,it says, "In honor of James Harris, Mantle cell Lymphoma"

Pretty dang cool, brought some tears to my eyes ... Love this guy

AND 5. I love spring this year most of all because uh Hello our new arrival will be here May 9th! Yee Haw 

Books, Books, and more Books

So lately my obession has been books.  I have decided that everytime I receive a coupon from Borders for 33%-40% off one item I am going to buy Inoke a new book.  So far I have spent quite a few hours at Borders just browsing through the many cute and adorable selections of books they have for the little ones.  So far I have only bought 2 .....

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? has been one of my favorites to read to my nephews and other kiddos that I have watched over the years.  I try and read it every night to Inoke and then play the little lullaby Bob Marley CD to him ... Sione just chuckles at me, but he always ends up listening in ;).  It's been more theraputic for me than Inoke I think, because it helps me unwind and relax, but Inoke seems to get jazzed up by it and just keeps rockin' and a rollin' in there.

The 2nd book my sister in law Adrian recommended, King Bidgood's in the Bathtub.  It is super cute and I love the illustrations in it, thank you Adrian!

Adrian also told me about this little website Children's BOMC, where you sign up to receive books.  It is great, and most books are reasonably priced .. good to place the order when they have deals on the shipping.  So far from that website I have ordered, "Monkey Truck", "Trucktown: Smash! Crash!", "Curious George and Friends", "Mooo! Baaa! Oink! Quack! Roar! Trumpet! Hisss! Squawk!",  "The Runaway Bunny", and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar".  I am so excited to get these in the mail and start reading!

My family have always been big readers, so having Inoke grow up with books and have a love of reading is really important to me.  I know that I will probably be the one buying books for him rather than toys, so I will leave the toy buying up to dad ;)

Inoke has really been moving and a shaking in there these last couple of weeks, it was fun to have Sione actually be able to feel and see him move.  I dont think that he really realized the power this kid has.  I always am commenting when he is moving and stuff, but for Sione to be able to be apart of it was priceless.  It never gets old either, I love just sitting and watching my belly move or feel Inoke doing his thing in there.  Such a cool miracle to be experiencing!

24week appointment

I had my 24week appointment and everything is still looking good, heartbeat is at 152 and weight gain is right on track, I guess, eventhough I feel large and in charge.

Ela and Daniel came home the other night from grocery shopping and Ela said that Daniel got to pick out something that he thought he had never tried before, so he picked this .... A Papaya. I told him according to my pregnancy updates, that was the same sized as Inoke.

I had Daniel pose for this little photo is of Daniel holding the papaya he picked out just like a little baby ;) ... He just couldn't believe that this was in my stomach, his eyes were so wide and just keep saying really Lorien? I told him, well maybe he's not that big but just about. Its even crazy for me to think about.

Inoke is really moving around alot in there, around 9-10 in the morning he's most active, and in the car. I do play the music pretty loud in there so maybe he's just dancing ;). Sione hasn't really been able to feel him yet, just a few times, soon enough though!

I am thankful everyday at how my pregnancy is going. I dont really have any major complaints, a little uncomfortable obviously, some heartburn and acid reflux, which I hear means he will have alot of hair, YAY!, some numbness in my legs and back aches from my ever growing chest and belly, but thats about it .... not too shabby I say. All and all I have been able to go and do all the everyday things which I am grateful for!

Also I found this album, I am so excited for it .. I hope Inoke enjoys it too!

San Diego Trip

Sione's dad was laid off from work and decided it was time for him to go out to California to be with June. So Sione, me and Tevita packed up the truck and headed out. The drive was nice, mostly because I was able to nap and not feel bad about leaving Sione to do all the driving because his dad was there to help keep Sione entertained. It was a nice little trip, pretty short so I dont have alot of photos. We were able to see the Jackson,Resch,Queen clan one evening for dinner, they are always so gracious and kind to have us over and feed us .. Just love those guys. Had some yummy dessert with Teresa,Nicole and Jessica and met up with Aunt Sheila for some lunch. Sheila gave us some cute,cute,cute onesies and blankets for Inoke, so thoughtful! Mostly though 2 of the days were spent trying to find places for Tevita to fish, the weather was wonderful of course so I enjoyed going to the ocean and lakes reading my book while the boys tried to catch some fish ;) ... I really miss it down there, it was torture leaving the weather and coming back to the bitter cold and snow.

Sione and I flew back which wasn't as bad as I thought. I am not too huge to be really uncomfortable, but still big enough that I find the need stand up for better breathing and need to stretch my legs for circulation, luckily the flight was short and sweet.

Thankful for blessings

My mom and Dad went to Hawaii and Austrailia last month, I know rough life right?!, and she sent me this adorable quilt! It is amazing and so fun. Every letter refers to something in Hawaii. So this is my inspiration for Inoke's room, Hawaii. I love the tropical serene feel of the islands and the bright colors. I cannot wait to put this up in his room... When he has one, that we are working on, still trying to figure out where we want to live ... Here, Washington, or California. Just waiting on a job opportunity to open up for either Sione or me ... applied lots of places, now just a waiting game.

I am so thankful for blessings and answers to prayers. There was a time in my life, (last April-July), when I was praying for us to get pregnant and expand our little family. Well after a couple rounds of Clomid with no results and then Sione got sick and was admitted to the hospital, my prayers then shifted to just at least having a healthy husband and for him to start feeling better. Well he did start feeling better, but then I started to have some issues of my own. My hair was falling out in clumps, I was irritable, tired, gaining weight despite my bike riding to work. I was often stressed out and sad.

After some discussions with my husband about what may be going on inside my brain causing all of this junk we decided it was work. Now I know everyone has their problems and stresses at work, but for some reason the things that I was going through and experiencing at work were definitely taking their toll on my mind and my body. I tried to resolve these problems and stresses in an adult manner, but it seemed no matter how hard I tried I could not please my superiors and more things were found to discipline me. So needless to say Sione in his infinite wisdom said "Lorien I know that if you quit, you will be happier and healthier and we will probably get pregnant." What a scary thought! Quit my job with only a part-time job to fall back on and no full-time opportunities in sight.

So again I prayed, and the answer comforted me and I knew the decision I had to make. It was very difficult, I loved my job and loved (most) of the people I worked with. So I put in my notice in June, and proceeded to take some well needed vacations.

We visited my family in May, his mom and some great friends in San Diego in June, camping in July, and Bear Lake in August... and lo and behold only 2 months after getting out of that stressful and taxing situation, WE GOT PREGNANT! So everything definitely happens for a reason, and I am so thankful for the support of my family and friends, Heavenly Father and His infinite wisdom and plan!