Our 6 year old little man

Hayden's actual birthday was on Thursday but we had a small party on Saturday with a few family members. He was so excited to see everyone and to have a day dedicated to himself. We ordered pizzas (I would normally cook something really good but I am supposed to stay off my feet as much as possible) and had a mint custard concrete cake with mini M&Ms from Culver's. We all relaxed and chatted while Hayden opened his gifts. His favorite gift was the marble toy that my IPs sent him. Grandpa Steve worked hard to get it all set up for him. That night we went to Red Robin for dinner and Hayden enjoyed being sang to by the wait staff.

On Sunday, we headed up to Fort Collins so that Hayden could spend all of the birthday money he had accumulated. We took him to an awesome toy store but didn't find anything he really wanted. We took off to Target after that and he got himself a new game for his Nintendo DS (Diddy Kong Racing) and then we ventured over to Toys R Us where he bought Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii. He still has $25 to spend and I would be willing to bet that he will use it to buy another DS game soon.

Last Thursday, we did several fun things since it was officially his big day. I took him to get hot cakes from McDonald's (at his request) and then I picked up some goodies for his class to eat. Emerson and I joined his class just after 3pm to celebrate with all the kiddies. We had M&M cookies, sour cream potato chips, Starburst candies and juice boxes. I really wanted to take cupcakes but the teachers request that you don't since kindergartners can be really messy. I can't say that I don't blame them for that, lol. For dinner, we ventured toward Denver to eat at a really random Mexican restaurant known as Casa Bonita. If you watch South Park on tv then you have likely seen an episode based on this weird place. There are guys who dive into a small pool of water in the middle of the place, a broken arcade, mediocre food, a guy dressed in a silly gorilla suit, Black Bart's Cave and lots of strange rooms for the kiddies to explore. The place is really odd. My friend Melissa brought her family to join us (her son Brayden was in Hayden's pre-k last year and they are good friends). Clayton took the kids to explore the place while Melissa, her hubby Rob and I sat and enjoyed some adult conversation for awhile. We all agree that this place stunk and isn't worth our time. At least the kids still managed to enjoy themselves.

Bulbous, lol

God Bless My Family....

This post is extremely difficult for me to write but I feel it is a good way for me to cope with the recent loss of a close family member. Terry is my cousin Sheila's husband. I have known him since I was a small child. He used to be at my Aunt Judy's house (she kept me during the week) all the time when they were two young teens in love. I saw them go to prom, I saw him leave to join the Marines and I was in their wedding as a 5 year old flower girl. My cousin Christine's (Sheila's sister) husband, Jeff, told me that when I was a little girl that Terry was my favorite person. I had a hard time believing that because Terry is such a hard person to get to know. I don't remember much about him from way back when. Well, once I had my boys and I saw how much he enjoyed playing with them, I got it. He has a knack for being a fun-loving soul with little kids. My boys and Christine's boys can always count on having a good time as long as Terry is there to entertain. Speaking of entertainment, he can always make everyone in the room laugh. He is a total smart-butt and has such a way with sarcasm. He really could crack me up at times.

Thanks to him, I have 2 wonderful cousins-Natalie(22) and Rachel(16). They are both beautiful girls that I have the pleasure of being related to. I miss them very much since I have moved here to CO but I feel lucky to have been in NC long enough to have seen them both grow up. My heart goes out to them and their Mother.

I can't believe that I got that call this morning. I wish I could just forget it. This is definitely a wake-up call as Terry was only 44. He is the second person in my family to die young from a heart attack (I had a 43 year old uncle on the the other side of my family pass from a heart attack back in 1997). It just makes me realize how mortal we all really are. The really bad thing in this situation is that we thought that he was okay. He had been sick the week before and went to the ER on Friday to find out that he had a couple of heart attacks. They put in 2 stints and everything should have been fine. Heck, he was a lucky man to have survived those. He was feeling better and recovering well from what I had last heard. When asked by a nurse what he would like for lunch he replied that he didn't see a whopper on the menu, lol. That's so him to be a smart alec like that. I am sure everyone chuckled. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse last night and he passed this morning. This just leaves me to ponder "Why?". He wasn't fat, didn't smoke and didn't drink. He was too young to go so early.

I am trying to get clearance to fly home. I am unfortunately really far into my pregnancy and I have had complications to boot. My OB said that she will clear me as long as I don't have any painful contractions (I am currently on Procardia to help relax my uterus) and if I am not further dialated on Thursday. I will just have to wait and see. Hayden's birthday is on that day too so I will try to make it extra special that day if I get to leave over the weekend. We are planning to take him out on that night for some fun but Saturday was going to be all his too since we were going to hopefully meet with some family for a little party. Now Clayton may just have to be in charge of it all.

Sorry I couldn't bring myself to write in the past tense throughout the beginning of my post but my emotions are too raw to fully accept Terry's passing. I have never felt so far from my family as I do right now. :(

Surrogacy Update-I had an interesting day yesterday, to say the least

At my 31 week OB appt., I explained to the doctor how I had contractions from about 1am-10am on Sunday morning. They were painful, 2-4 min. apart, caused me back/abdominal pain and ranged from 30 seconds-2 min. each. I took it super easy and waited until shift change at the hospital because I didn't want to be the gal who made an OB get up from their slumber for a possible false alarm. Clayton made me some breakfast and then they stopped, thank God. Well, thanks to all the recent activity I was dialated to a 1. They decided to give me a test that can detect changes in hormones that could possibly lead to pre-term labor. I took it 2 weeks ago also due to contractions and passed it. This time I wasn't so lucky. The nurse that called with the results said that failing was pretty rare so they felt it necessary to do more monitoring and tests to check on baby.

FYI-just because I failed the test does not mean that I will go into labor in the immediate future. It just means that I have had a hormone shift and that *could* indicate labor approaching (or not). "Could" is the operative word here.

My instructions were to head up to Fort Collins for monitoring at the hospital there. I picked up the boys from their schools and tried to get in touch with my husband a million times to no avail. Ugh! Why is it that he is completely unreachable when I need him most?? I drove over to his work and hung out in the lobby about 30 min. before I even saw anyone that could help me locate him. All the people that I had numbers for weren't at their desks and there was no one near the front to ask help from (the problem is that the building has major security and you can't walk past the lobby without an ID badge). Finally a gal came through the security gate as she was leaving for the day and I stopped her. Thankfully she knew how to page Clayton. He was shocked to know that I was in the building and left work immediately.

We checked into the hospital just before 5pm and I got settled in with an external monitor. Baby girl was ticked off having that belt around me. She kept kicking at it which made it difficult for the nurse to keep the monitor on her. Heck, she can't stand when the kids lay against me, when I prop a book on my belly or when Clayton puts his arm around me so this was no shock, hee hee. The kids and Clayton took off to eat at Coopersmith's and I enjoyed room service (the food is actually good!). After a while on the monitor, the OB made the decision to give me a steroid shot to help develop the baby's lungs just in case she is a preemie. About 45min. after that, they gave me another shot to help stop contractions. That was only a temporary thing though and it wore off in 30 min. As soon as it wore off, I began having lots of contractions which was weird. They made the decision to send me home as long as I felt good and gave me some pills to stop the contractions at home. I have to take them around the clock. Unfortunately, I have already experienced a few contractions despite the pills so we will just have to wait and see what is going to happen. I have to go back to the hospital tonight to get a second dose of the steroid and then report back to my OB in her office on either Thursday or Friday. Fun stuff I tell ya.

It really doesn't help that I have to keep going up to Fort Collins for everything as that is a 45 min. drive each way for me. My local hospital doesn't have a NICU and my OB is only in the local office one day a week making it impossible for this to be easy. Oh well, at least baby girl is being given the best shot at survival should she make her appearance early into the world. If she didn't get those shots then she could have major issues breathing due to lung maturity. Thank the Lord for modern science. :)

Monday, Monday....(Peanut Butter, Cruises, Grocery Game, etc.)

I seem to be keeping a trend of updating the blog on Mondays. I have just been so tired lately. The ole blog has been the last thing on my mind. This past week was complete hell for me. You know that peanut butter recall thing that CNN has been talking about? Welllllll, I found out about it a little too late. I bought a box of Keebler peanut butter crackers a little while back and I ate one pack just about every day for the past week and a half. Little did I know that they were making me incredibly sick. Since I am pregnant, I just assumed that the massive headaches and nauseous stomach problems were a result of Miss Thang. Lo and behold it was the stupid crackers. I didn't catch on to the issue until after I opened the last pack this past Saturday night. When I saw the news talking about it they reported that the bad ones were made by Kellogg's. I thought mine were fine until I read the backside. Who knew that Keebler was owned by Kellogg's? Ugh. Needless to say, I won't be eating any more peanut butter crackers in the near future. I was pretty much bed ridden and miserable as a result from eating them. Now my girl scout cookies (Do-Si-Dos and Tag-Alongs-both have peanut butter) that I just ordered better be okay to eat!!

***I just learned that the girl scout cookies should be fine. Thank the Lord!***

I got my awesome new pink Blackberry Curve this week and I am in love. Having a full keyboard is way better than having 2 letters per key on the Pearl. Maybe crunching my pink Pearl in the car door wasn't such a bad thing afterall, lol.

The kids were out of school today so we went to see "Hotel for Dogs" at the theatre. It was really cute and the kids seemed to like it. I was really only there for the buttery popcorn and cherry slushie though. Yum....

Anyone have any cruise line recommendations? We are looking at going to the Mexican Riviera sometime this year (Cabo San Lucas, Mazutlan, Puerto Vallarta) but we are not sure who to book with. We took a Carnival cruise to the western Caribbean for our honeymoon and while it was alot of fun, we feel that another cruise line may suit us better. I am really looking at Royal Caribbean at the moment. Their ships seem really impressive. We would like to look at Norwegian and Princess too. Anyone know anything about the differences between lines?

There has much talk lately about saving money at the grocery store. I cannot stress it enough but if you are truly interested in doing something about it other than buying generics, shopping at Wal-Mart (which is the pit of hell in my book and I boycotted them years ago-GO TARGET!) or only buying sales items, then you need to change your way of shopping. The Grocery Game is the best and most reliable way to get your weekly grocery bill down all the while causing you to build a nice stash of groceries. I have been doing the GG for over 3 years now and it has changed my way of grocery shopping forever. There is a 4 week trial that you can do for a dollar but it really takes about 12 weeks to see it in full effect. The reason I prefer the GG over other sites is simply because Teri makes it so easy. I don't have to put together the sales lists at all because it is already done for me every week. I went to King Sooper's (yes, that name is completely idiotic, lol) last week and got $116 worth of groceries for $50.35. I did not buy any generics. I simply used coupons from the Sunday paper on name-brand items to achieve that nice discount. The list told me what was on the best sale and what week's newspaper the corresponding coupons for the items came from. It's that simple. If you decide to give the site a try, I would love to have your referral so that I can earn free weeks. Just use my email address of: brandylogan@gmail.com

BTW, if you want to see my previous posts on the Grocery Game, click here to read them. I have pictures of my loot plus a 2006 year-end savings report. Those old posts help describe just how the GG works.

Holy Crapola...

I did a bad thing on Saturday and I am so mad at myself. As I was getting into the car at the grocery store, I managed to shut the door on the bottom part of my sweater coat. Since it is maternity it is huge on me. The pockets hang really low. Unfortunately my pink Blackberry Pearl was in that pocket and it got crunched. Ugh! I loved that phone. It wouldn't turn on and just kept blinking a red light at me. I am so mad that I didn't make sure to pull my coat in all the way before shutting that door. Anyway, after some deliberation, I decided to look at getting a new one. Verizon has them really cheap right now and Clayton's phone is up for renewal. He offered to give me his new phone option to replace mine. Isn't that sweet of him? I ended up ordering a pink Blackberry Curve this time and I can't wait to get it. The Pearl had 2 alphas on each key so having a full keyboard is going to be wonderful. I would have gotten a new BB World Edition phone because it has a better keyboard but I didn't like the overall size of it. It was a bit wider than the Curve. BB users look like that are talking into a flapjack so my opinion is that smaller is better, lol.

I woke up this morning to a fresh blanket of snow. This immediately bummed me out because I hate driving around in it but at least now I will get to try out the new snow boots that Clayton bought me for Christmas. Whoo hoo!

Baby girl is doing very well and is sooo active lately. She pokes and prods me all the time, lol. My tummy is definitely getting bigger. Hopefully I will show you guys soon. I still haven't got a card reader for my laptop just yet and transferring photos is a huge pain. Can you believe that we will be 30 weeks along tomorrow? Wow, in just 6 short weeks I will be ready for potential birth. That is insane! The time sure has flown. If baby girl decides to hold out until induction day then she will be here on 3/17. We decided to set an induction at 39 weeks so that the parents can attend and it would make everything easier. Wish us luck!

New Year, New Us for the Future

Sorry I haven't put any pics on the blog. Either my card reader is broken or something is wrong with my laptop. I originally thought that it was my reader but now I am almost sure it is the computer. I have had it for almost 5 years now and it just recently started giving me trouble. **Sigh** I hate to buy a new one but I can see that it is inevitable. I cannot even hook up my either of my cameras to it to directly transfer the files. Ugh.


So what is going on with you guys? Did you make any new year resolutions? We kinda made one. We are going to try to get our future planned out. We don't have credit card debt but we do have a car, house and student loans to pay for. We also are now seriously thinking about retirement and college funds for the kids. Here are a few things that we are working on:

-To start the year off right, Clayton and I both now have savings accounts. We are great spenders but saving is something that we are going to have to learn.

-I already have a life insurance policy but Clayton is going to be getting one too soon. The kids and I would be completely devastated if something were to happen to hubby. We simply could not make it on our own. I could never afford the mortgage and car by myself. It also doesn't help that I haven't worked in 6 years. My lack of work experience sure wouldn't help matters.

-We are going to write up our will next month to make sure that our final wishes are carried out whenever that time shall come. We are appointing my SIL Stephanie as legal guardian of our kids just in case something happens to us while they are young. She would make a fabulous guardian for them so I want to be sure that she wouldn't have problems gaining custody.

There are lots of other things that we are going to do but my post is beginning to sound a little too gloomy/doomy so I will end it here. Just trust me, if you haven't been thinking about your financial future, there is no better time than now. Every pregnancy I seem to think about death alot and that is what has spurred this all. I just want to be sure that all of us are taken care of should Clayton or myself die. I have a huge load lifting off my shoulders as we take each of these steps to protect our family's future.

***Clayton is a little bit worried that I am going to push him down the stairs, lol. He is worth wayyyyy more to me alive than dead so I don't think so. If anything I should be watching my back, lol.

Coming Out of Hiding, lol

How has this holiday season been treating ya'll? Good, I hope. We have been extremely busy and I just haven't had alot of time to update my blog. Here's my attempt to bring my blog up-to-date:

12/17 (Wed.)-Emerson had his Christmas program with his preschool. He got to sing a few songs and then say a line by himself on stage. He was a little shy but he did great. He said his line perfectly. I told him to make sure to say it loud so that his Daddy could hear it. He was so proud of himself and we were too.

12/18 (Thurs.)-Today was the last day of school for both boys and each had their school Christmas parties on that day. I couldn't be in both places at the same time so Clayton went to Emerson's party and I went to Hayden's. I had to help the kiddos make pancakes on a griddle so that was interesting to say the least. As we walked out of the school we realized that it was snowing pretty heavily. It was nice to see the snow but it unfortunately messed up our travel plans for that weekend.

12/19 (Fri.)-This day marked Clayton's Christmas vacation. Every year he takes a couple of weeks off in December to relax and enjoy staying at home. He won't go back until January 2nd. We were supposed to leave and head out to Wyoming to spend Christmas with his Mom but that didn't happen due to the weather. Her area was supposed to get snow 3 of the 4 days we were going to be there. Heck if I wanted to travel in that mess. I love snow but I do not like to drive in it. That totally sucked.

12/20 (Sat.)-It's actually a good thing that we didn't go to Wyoming. I was sick as a dog and ended up spending the day in bed. I had a roaring headache.

12/21 (Sun.)-We headed to the Denver Zoo to see their holiday display of lights. The event is called Zoo Lights and it rocked. We froze our butts off but it was well worth it. The kids got to see Santa and then we took the little steam-powered train for a little tour around the middle of the park. After that we went to see the hippos, elephants, snakes, fish and giraffes in their indoor exhibits. There was a cute baby giraffe that we really enjoyed seeing. There was also supposed to be some baby snow leopards somewhere but we missed them. If you live anywhere near Denver, you really should check this event out. It ends after New Year's Day so it is still going on right now. The trip was well worth it to us and we plan to make it a Christmas tradition from now on.

12/22 (Mon.)-I worked on getting the house clean all day long. Clayton also helped quite a bit and then took the kiddos to see Bolt at the theatre. I soooo appreciated that as the kids were driving me insane.

12/23 (Tues.)-My parents flew in to spend the holidays with us. My Dad had never been on an airplane nor had he ever been to Colorado before this day. He also hadn't seen the kids since June 2007 so this was a big trip for him. We met up with them in Brighton for dinner at a yummy 50's diner. We had a good time and the kiddos were thrilled to see Grandma and Grandpa.

12/24 (Wed.)-My parents and the kids put together rice krispie houses (kinda like making gingerbread houses but they tasted much better IMO). Hubby helped the kids make sugar cookies and rice krispie treats for Santa. One of Santa's elves rang our door bell and left us all Christmas jammies and a note that said that we needed to go to bed soon because Santa was on his way. This is a yearly tradition that began with Hayden's first Christmas and it is one of my favorites. The kids never quite make it to the door fast enough to catch sight of the elves. It's all so much fun.

12/25 (Thurs.)-I couldn't believe that the kids weren't up at the buttcrack of dawn that morning. The one morning that I expect them to get up early is of course the day that they sleep in, lol. We all waited in the kitchen for them to come down. Once Hayden emerged I told him to wake his brother because Santa had left them some goodies. He quickly grabbed Emerson and they both flew down to the living room. It was fun watching them go through their stockings. After they finished we dove into ours and then everyone opened their gifts. Here are a few of the gifts we got that I can remember off the top of my head:

Hayden & Emerson
-2 Nintendo DS Lite systems
----games-Transformers, Super Mario Bros., Pac-Man, Spongebob-Drawn to Life, Lego Star Wars, Bolt
-Nintendo Wii
----games-Super Mario Kart, Thrillville, Da Blob, Rayman:Raving Rabbids, Paperboy Mario
----accessories-Sports Kit, 2 Steering Wheels, Gloves (covers for the 2 remotes and 2 nunchuks)
-2 Playdough Caddys
-Star Wars voice changing helmet
-Wooden disk sets that are used for building things

Me
-Nintendo DS Lite
----games-Brain Age 2, MillionHeir, CrossworDS
-Snow Boots
-Slippers
-NC State sweatshirt
-Bakeware set

Clayton
-Nintendo DS Lite
----games-Zelda, 007
-Coat and scarf
-Puffy vest
-NC State sweatshirt
-Personalized beer mugs
-Coffee caddy for Keurig cups

Don't you think that it is funny that all 4 of us got Nintendo DS Lites for Christmas? On top of that we got the Wii from Mom and Dad. Clayton still has his XBox 360 too so now we have a ton of video gaming options in our house. It is insane around here but a lot of fun, lol.

Mom and Dad usually don't do much for themselves for Christmas so I got them both stockings this year and filled them to the brim with lots of fun goodies. We also gave them a new digital camera so that they could get out of the Stone Age. Film is so old school, lol.

12/26 (Fri.)-We goofed off all morning and then headed out to Red Robin for lunch. After that, Mom and I went to Target to pick up some Christmas cards and wrapping paper for next year. I really lucked out and got some great deals. We headed to Starbucks after that and then went back home for the evening.

12/27 (Sat.)-We relaxed and took it easy today with my parents. For lunch we headed to Culver's (their food is so-so but their frozen custard is heavenly). I made some molasses cookies that evening and we just chilled.

BTW-I want to say Happy 1st Birthday to my first surrobabe!!! He was born after midnight on 12/27/07. I can't believe that he is already a 1 year old. Wow, time sure does fly.

12/28 (Sun.)-Mom and Dad flew back to NC today. I spent all day in bed due to reflux and I just didn't feel very good in general. Thank goodness I had a backlog of DVRed programs to watch to keep me entertained (and not to mention I had my new DS to keep me company too).

12/29 (Mon.)-And now I am finally caught up to today. We met up with Clayton's Dad and his wife for lunch at Rockbottom Brewery. It was fun catching up with them. We then went to Toys 'R Us so that the boys could spend their accumulated Christmas cash before heading back home.

Whew....I am tired of typing now. I will try to get some pics posted tomorrow. My card reader is now broken and I hate hooking my cameras (I have 2 and they each use a different kind of disk hence making a multi-disk reader much easier to deal with) directly up to the laptop. I will possibly just go buy another reader tomorrow to make it easier but we shall see. Good night everyone!!

Hi and a Big Thank You to My Blog Readers in India

24 week 3D/4D Ultrasound

You know who you are, lol. I sincerely mean it. You all are the sweetest for thinking of me and my family. I am so blessed to be connected to you through surrogacy and I can't wait to help bring your granddaughter into this world. March is going to be an awesome month!

In case my readers have no clue who I am talking about, I am referring to both of my IP's parents. They are the proud soon-to-be grandparents and they are so thrilled about the impending birth. They have sent us lots of wonderful gifts and well wishes from their homeland of India. My boys and I have received the coolest Indian clothes. One day when I have some free time I will take some pics of us in our outfits. Mine are beautifully beaded/embroidered and they are so pretty. The intricate details are stunning. The boys outfits are really cool too. The fabrics feel wonderfully silky and the colors are so nice. I also have acquired several pieces of beautiful jewelry (2 brooches from IM's mother that I *LOVE*, a pretty necklace and a pair of earrings to match from my IPs), 2 boxes full of dried fruit and nuts and a gorgeous blanket that was handmade just for me by my IF's mother. Wow, I can't believe the generosity of all these nice people that I don't even know. It is a bit overwhelming being the receiver of all this attention but I am glad that I know these lovely people are so excited about baby girl. It makes this whole surrogacy thing even more worthwhile to know just how much I am appreciated. Baby girl is very lucky to be born into such a loving family. :)

9 years ago today...

was the absolute best day of my life. I became Clayton's wife in a little courtroom in Raleigh, NC. We had just finished final exams the day before and it was the first day of our Christmas break while at NC State. Our close friends John Moore and Leslie Boone were there as our witnesses. Clayton and I were poor college kids so we couldn't afford a lavish wedding. Our families were all spread out too which made things even more difficult. I couldn't imagine arranging all the airfares that we would need to buy to get his family to NC. His Mom/Jack would have flown from Worland, WY, his Dad/Sandy would have come from Omaha, NE, his sister would have flown in from Cheyenne, WY, and his brother would have flown in from somewhere in PA. It was just too much for us to get everyone together so we decided to go it alone with our 2 friends. My family was miffed because I wouldn't allow anyone to join us that day (they all live about 1.5 hours from Raleigh in Archdale/High Point/Trinity). It just wouldn't have been fair for them to have been there when Clayton's family wasn't. Since we didn't have a ceremony, my family threw us a wedding reception that following weekend. We got tons of much-needed things and it was alot of fun. My Aunt Judy went all out and made us a pretty cake (she used to be a professional cake decorator). She also made my hubby his own groom's cake.

My parents gave us a fabulous honeymoon cruise. We took off just after the new 2000 year and it was a blast. The airline gave us first class tickets so we really lived it up. I don't think that we had ever had so much fun together. We got back to Raleigh the day before the Spring semester began so that was a bit hectic but we managed. I wish we could go back and do it all again. We will hopefully take the kiddos on their first cruise within the next year or so. It won't be as romantic but it will be just as much fun. :)

Tonight we will go out to eat and drop the kiddos off at our local drop-in childcare center in Fort Collins. That place rocks because we can drop the kids off anytime and do what we want by ourselves. The boys have lots of fun there so we don't have any guilt leaving them in their care. Heck, they don't like leaving when we go back to get them, lol.

If you are interested in reading our story about how we got together or to see a few pics from our younger years, read my post from 2005 about us HERE.

Happy Anniversary to my sweetheart! I love you more than anything!!
~~Just so you know, you only have one more year to save up to buy me an awesome band for my diamond ring. Remember, the big 10 is now just a year away. ;)

So....

What's been going on with you guys? I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. We have been incredibly busy around here. Thank the Lord that I did my shopping months ago or I would be going insane. We went out to the Flatirons mall yesterday in Broomfield and it was insane in there. It was worth the trip though because we scored some awesome deals for ourselves. Clayton got some khakis from JCrew for $15 (I think that they were regularly $60). I got 2 bras from Victoria's Secret for $57 (they were both regularly $48 each!). I also scored some new clothes for the baby from a place called the Pumpkin Patch. It's like a Gymboree but a little bit more high end. They are supposedly a well-known store in the UK and Australia but haven't quite hit the jackpot here in the US just yet. Let me tell you, their stuff ROCKS. Here's a taste of what they sell:




I bought Miss Thang the onesie and hair band from the first pic to go with the turquoise corduroy dress from the second pic. They didn't have any colorful tights left in her size so I got her some white ones. How cute is that?! She's gonna be adorable. I also got her a sleeper while I was there with a matching hat and bib. I am gonna hook her Mommy up when she arrives in March for the birth. ;)

Anyway, if you go to the Pumpkin Patch site to check it out don't click on the '08 catalog because it just makes you click on pics of the models one at a time with a small selection of their clothes lines. Instead, click on the little words in the blue header on the main page that say things like "baby Patch" or "kids Patch" to see all of their lines and to buy them. They sell clothes from premie age all the way up to 11 years. They also have a maternity clothes line but there is only 5 pieces of it available online.

Anyone else covered in snow? We just got dumped on again last night. The kiddos and Clayton went out sledding today and had a fun time. Poor C got worn out from pulling them around on a sled for too long though, lol.

I have got to go and get ready for bed (yes, I really am that lazy, lol). I go to bed on most nights around 8:30pm so I am running late. Hopefully I will find the time next week to upload some pics for ya'll. Ciao!

Ugh....It's a Freakin' Winter Wonderland

Yesterday we woke up to the stinkin' white stuff. I know, I know. It is cool to live where it snows but I have my issues with it. In NC it was always great to see snow. It meant that everything would shut down and everyone would stay home to enjoy it. I loved snow days back then. I would sit around drinking hot chocolate and possibly scrapbooking. Well now that has all changed. When we get snow here in CO it means that life stays the same with the exception of having to deal with the difficulty of driving around in it. I HATE that. My 4-Runner isn't four-wheel drive and that has alot to do with it. I slide on the packed ice and my anti-lock brakes like to come on everytime I need to stop. The anti-lock brake system is really touchy and will come on even if I am only going 5 miles per hour before lightly tapping the brakes. I am so afraid of running right through an intersection because of that. One day I will get a new 4-Runner or perhaps a Sequoia and I will make sure to get four-wheel drive when I do. Until then I will keep on driving Suzy until she dies (which I don't think she ever will because Toyotas ROCK-take that Big 3!!).

Do you Southern gals hate having to put your kiddos in all that snow gear before they go outside to play in the snow? You know, it takes you like 20 min. just to get them bundled up before they decide that they need to pee before they head out? Imagine having to do all that crap everyday before school. It sucks. I really hate making my kids get all that garb on just for the 10-15 seconds it takes to walk from my car to the front doors of their schools. Ugh. They have to put on snow boots just to walk that short walk and then they have to change into tennis shoes shortly after entering the building. After the school day ends, they have to switch back into the snow boots just to get back into the car. It is such a hassle I tell ya. Bring back the summer weather!!! I am definitely looking forward to it.

Hayden making snow angels in the backyard

My Little Bakers...

I totally forgot about these photos sitting around on one of our disks so I thought that I would share them now albeit a bit late. I got both of the kiddos a set of kid's bakeware from Bed, Bath and Beyond last month. They were practically a steal for only $5 each. They each got an apron, cookie sheet, cake pan, whisk, cookie cutters, rolling pin and a storage bag. Hayden thought that they also got sprinkles but it ended up being those annoying silica gel packets to keep everything freshly packaged, lol.

Anyhoo, I let them make sugar cookies one night (11/19) and they really enjoyed themselves. I knew my boys liked to help in the kitchen from time to time but I had no idea how much they would like baking. As you can see from the looks on their faces they had a grand old time.

Sorry for the bombardment of posts today guys...I am a little behind, lol

It's that fun time of year again. The elves have been by our home to drop off some fun ornaments for each of us. Every year they manage to put a gift bag of them for us out on our front porch but we never catch them in the act. It usually happens on the 1st of December but we were a little late getting our Christmas tree up this year and I have a feeling that they somehow knew that, lol. Anyhoo, the kiddos were super excited and were ready to tear their ornaments open but I made them wait until Dad got home to partake in the fun too. They were a little disgruntled by that but it was worth it.

Clayton got the leg lamp from "A Christmas Story", Hayden got Kung Fu Panda, Emerson got Wall-E and I got Snoopy sitting on a gingerbread doghouse (I love the Peanuts gang). Every year we get new ornaments from the elves (namely Hallmark, lol). The plan is that the boys will have 18 special ornaments to begin their own trees once they move away/go to college. I really wish that we would have had the same tradition as we were growing up because Clayton and I had to start from scratch. When we were in college it was difficult to throw down alot of money for a measly tree, ornaments, lights, tinsel, etc. Hopefully my kiddos will appreciate this one day. :)

Photos from our fun adult-only weekend

Here's a beer sampler from the Odell Brewery in Fort Collins. Clayton got to enjoy it while I watched, lol.

While eating dinner we saw 2 reindeer go by our window. Here is one of the beautiful beasts out in the town square. They are such beautiful creatures and I am so glad that I got the opportunity to see them up close.

While walking around the town square in Old Town it started to snow and it was freezing cold out there. We just bundled up and enjoyed the moment.

Our "Suite" Retreat

I just thought that I would share a few pics of the honeymoon suite that we stayed in last weekend. It was so much fun! The funky colors and modern decor were really cool. The yellowish-looking walls were actually a pretty green color. My little camera didn't pick it up very well.

This round chair was AWESOME! I would really like to get one for me to relax on at home. It sat both Clayton and I perfectly together. It is alot bigger than the pic makes it seem.

Desk area on the left side of the bed

Coffee area and seating on the right side of the bed

Our "Suite" Retreat-bath area and bathroom

After you walk through the main door, there is a little alcove on the left. The tub sits out in the open. It seats 2 comfortably (it is alot longer than it looks in the photo).

This wall separates the tub area from the coat closet in the main entrance. Weren't they nice to put some Mr. Bubble on the shelf for us? lol

The bathroom and shower are located on the right as you come in the door (directly across from the tub alcove). I didn't take a pic of the shower but I can tell you that it was big. It was at least twice the size of ours and it looked pretty cool.

All in all we loved our stay at The Armstrong Hotel. We will definitely be back in the future for another fun getaway weekend sometime. The location was perfect and the room was very comfortable. It has its own unique charm and that made it special for us. Not to mention it was fun seeing the resident cat Oreo in the lobby everyday. :)

Food Sniffer...

 

 

 

These photos crack me up! I had all of our Thanksgiving dishes prepped and ready to go into the oven. When I went to the kitchen to begin putting them in, I saw Emerson's little head behind the counter trying to smell them all, lol.

Starbucks Winner and the Gender Reveal

I have been under the weather for the past week due to some sinus congestion so I am sorry that I haven't been around much. I would have posted yesterday but my head was killing me and I ended up in bed from 3pm through the rest of the day/night. Ugh. Anyhoo, we went to see the baby in 4D yesterday and *she* was so cute! Yes, baby is definitely a girl. I have predicted it from the moment of getting my first bout of persistent nausea in the beginning of the pregnancy. She has made me so sick and that is something that I never had with my boys or my surroson. If I would have had a girl myself I probably would have never been a surrogate. Being nauseous and sick all the time isn't exactly my cup of tea, lol.

On to the winner of the gender guessing game----Shawnna!! Send me an email via the "email me" link in my profile so that I can get the card out in the mail to you. I have it ready to go. I just need your address. Congrats gal!

I still have pics of our mini vacay to share but I am trying to take it easy today. I would love to not get a nasty headache so I may not be on the computer for the rest of the day. Recipes will be sent to all who requested them later this week.

Hi!

This week has been a total whirlwind for me as I am sure it has been for many of you guys too. Last Sunday was my day for finishing up the monster paint project that we have been working on for over a year now (thank God that's over!), Monday was meal planning/grocery day for our upcoming family feast, Tuesday was meal prep and house cleaning for turkey day, Wednesday was Clayton's birthday and more house cleaning, Thursday was Thanksgiving Day and Friday through today was our mini vacation away from the kiddos. The intended parents are flying in tonight and we are going out to dinner once they arrive. Tomorrow will be an early morning OB appt./glucose test for us and then the 3/D-4/D ultrasound is scheduled for 11am. Sheesh, I have been going non-stop for a solid week now. I am tired...

Here's a quick recap of highlights from this past week:

Wednesday, November 26th-Clayton's Birthday
I had already given him his big present a couple of weeks ago (a kegerator) and today he got 4 new shirts from Gap. My other present for him was our weekend get-away to Fort Collins.

Thursday, November 27th-Thanksgiving Day
I hosted a delicious meal for my Sister-in-law Stephanie, her man Tom and my Mother-in-law Christie. Everything turned out yummy with the exception of the cold mashed potatoes, lol. We had a wonderful time hanging out with the fam.

Friday, November 28th-Day 1 of our mini vacay
Clayton and I took off before lunch to Fort Collins. We stayed in the most awesome hotel, The Armstrong Hotel. It is perfectly located in the middle of Old Town and is within walking distance to everything. The rooms are very cool. You can choose either vintage or modern decor. I chose the modern themed honeymoon suite for us. I have some pics to share with ya'll but I don't have time to upload them now. I will do that later this week.

We spent a few hours at the mall before we could check in. We browsed and took our dear sweet time (something that you can never do with 2 small boys, lol). Even though it was Black Friday the mall really wasn't too crowded. I checked out Victoria's Secret for some new bras and had one of the ladies measure me. Much to my surprise I have gone up 2 cup sizes since I became pregnant. Holy cow, I am so not used to having this much boobage, lol. TMI, I know, I know...

We checked in at the hotel and then headed to Odell, a local brewing company. Clayton enjoys their beer so he tried a 6 beer sampler and we hung out there for a little bit before dinnertime. We then went to dinner at Beau Jo's. It is a Colorado-based pizza parlor that specializes in Mountain Pies. Their pizzas are made with the freshest stuff and their doughy crust is HUGE. Some of our crust was a bit undercooked but it still got a thumbs up from us. While we ate 2 reindeer walked by. Someone was walking them on leads through the town. They caused quite a stir and crowds began to accumulate outside of our window. I wanted to see them but they walked on before we finished dinner. Luckily they were in the middle of the town square when we left so I did get to see them up close. They were such beautiful creatures.

As we walked around the square, we came across a store that had millions of things in it that my MIL and her hubby would love. They had the neatest stuff so we ended up purchasing a gift before we left. As we exited, we walked out into snowfall. It was so pretty and serene. Now it really does feel like Christmas around here.

Saturday, November 29th-Day 2 of our mini vacay
We got up early and walked a few blocks to a wonderful little place called Lucile's. It's a quaint restaurant inside of an old home. We got beignets that were to die for, homemade Chai, awesome French toast, biscuits and grits. Mmmmm, it was so yummy.

We headed out to do some shopping after that and ended up in Loveland so that Clayton could use his Gap gift card from his Mom. He bought a sweater and some khakis while I ended up buying myself 3 sweaters, 4 shirts, a scarf and a hat. It's too bad that I can't wear any of it until next year though, lol.

Clayton wanted to check out Left Hand Brewing Co. in Longmont so we headed that direction after shopping. In my opinion, he likes this company simply because he is left handed and he thinks that is cool. :P

I got incredibly sick and had a roaring headache throughout much of this day so I struggled to keep up. I fell asleep in the car on the way back to Fort Collins and went straight to bed for a while. That evening, Clayton decided that I might feel better after eating something so we went out to The Rustic Oven. Their food was really good but it didn't seem to help much with my headache. It just figures that I wouldn't feel good during the weekend that I had planned out so many months ago as a surprise for hubby. Sigh...

We went back to the room and rested for a little while and then I decided that I could muster up the energy to go downstairs to The Chocolate Cafe. We had been there before so I knew it would be good. After hearing awesome reviews on their homemade dark hot chocolate we both decided to try it. My gosh, it was delectable! I have never had such good stuff before. I used to love Starbucks' Chantico when they had it and it was similar but wayyyy better. Just before finishing our drinks we realized that it was beginning to hurt our stomachs. I don't know why that is but everytime we make hot chocolate at home we both have tummy aches afterward. Maybe we are lactose intolerant or some crap like that? Hmmmm... Anyhoo, we both ended up going to bed early after that and neither one of us felt good at all. It was a terrible way to end the night, that's for sure, lol.

Sunday, November 30th-Day 3 of our mini vacay
We went downstairs to Mugs Coffee Lounge for a quick bite to eat this morning and then we headed back home. We had a lovely time staying in the hotel but we were ready to be home again. The weather wasn't looking very good so we figured that the earlier that my MIL could leave for Wyoming, the better (her trip is 6 hours north of us). Unfortunately she had to turn around before getting to the WY border because the highway had been blocked off due to a winter weather advisory. She did leave again a little while later though since the advisory got lifted.

We have spent the afternoon eating Thanksgiving leftovers and lounging with the kiddos. Tonight we are heading out to have dinner with my IPs. Their flight got delayed so we have no idea how late dinner may be at this point. We are looking forward to visiting with them and I can't wait for them to see how big I have gotten. Their baby sure has grown!

***Tomorrow is the big gender reveal and I can't wait to draw a winner in the Starbucks free drink card giveaway. If you haven't already entered for your chance to win, click HERE. All you have to do is leave a comment there and guess what the baby is. I will be drawing from all the correct guesses. Go ahead and enter. Who couldn't use a free coffee?

***I know that several of you have left comments or dropped me an email about the recipes. I will get to them sometime this week. I haven't forgotten any of ya. ;)

Holiday Prep + Want Some Recipes?

Today I spent most of my time prepping all of my Thanksgiving dishes. I host a huge meal every year and this one is no different. I can't wait to eat everything on Thursday. We are having a 23 pound turkey with all the trimmings-gravy, chive & onion cream cheese mashed potatoes, stuffing, homemade macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, apple/cranberry casserole, sweet potato souffle, Hawaiian rolls, Clayton's fruit salad, broccoli casserole, pumpkin pie and pecan pie. It is going to be so yummy!

I am almost finished with my 2008 recipe cards and if you would like a copy of the files, leave me a comment and I will email them to you. They are in MS Word format for 4x6 index cards. I have 10 great recipes to share this year. If you would also like the 5 recipes from 2006 and/or the 10 recipes from 2007, let me know and I will share those files also. If you have no idea why I do these cards, check out the recipe card boxes that I altered for my family back in 2006. I vowed to add recipes to their collection every year and this will make my 3rd Christmas of doing so. :)

A Day Late and A Dollar Short, lol

Hayden's Kindergarten Pic

Emerson's Pre-K 3's Class Pic (I swear he usually smiles better than that for the camera!)

Yesterday I meant to get on here and post some pics but I ended up shopping for Clayton's birthday instead. My trip ended abruptly after getting a call from Hayden's teacher because his tummy was upset. Needless to say, I had to go pick him up shortly afterward. Anyhoo, Clayton's birthday falls on the day before Thanksgiving this year and I am looking forward to all the fun I have planned. I did already give him an early present. I got him a kegerator (a fancy fridge built especially for holding kegs and has a tap handle system on top) so that he can easily dispense his homebrewed kegs. Right now he has an Odell IPA keg in the extra fridge in the garage and a homebrew keg inside the kegerator in our house. He has a tap on both so he can choose whichever to drink and he is one happy hubby, lol.

To really celebrate my man's special day, I have reservations for us at a cool hotel in Fort Collins. We are going for the whole weekend after Thanksgiving and my Mother-in-law will be watching the boys for us. It's going to be great! We got the honeymoon suite and it is so pretty. :)

Have you guys ever tried Amish Friendship Bread? It's this wonderful stuff that you make with a starter. Most people acquire the starter from someone else (thus the name "Friendship") but I made the icky starter myself. I have made 4 loaves of bread with it so far and we have been happy with the yummy results. One of the first 2 loaves was taken to the scrapbooking retreat in Estes and I never even got a piece. I sat it down and went to get an hour-long massage. When I returned, it had all disappeared. That spoke volumes, lol. Seriously, the bread is that good. If you are interested in making this stuff yourself, you can find the recipe for Amish Friendship Bread Starter HERE. The bread recipe that I have been using is HERE. The bread recipe is so easy to manipulate into a million different types of bread just by changing the applesauce to pumpkin or changing the flavor of pudding in it. I personally left out the raisins and dates because we don't like them. It didn't seem to make a difference. Yummy!

Well, I have got to run. I have some things to do while Clayton took the boys out for a movie. ;)

Sorry for the delay...

I have been so busy. The blog has been on the backburner lately and I apologize. I have some school pics to upload of both of the kiddos but I won't get to that until this afternoon. Be back soon...

By the way, the contest for the free drink on me from Starbucks is still going on. All you have to do to participate is guess the gender of the kiddo that I am carrying. The winner will be chosen from those participants that guess the correct gender. All you have to do is post a comment to the blog entry that I started for the giveaway (it is located just below this entry). The winner will be announced on the evening of December 1st after the intended parents see the gender for themselves at our 3D/4D ultrasound. I can't wait to reveal the answer and determine a winner!

E's 4th Birthday~~Free Starbucks Drink Giveaway~~Surro Baby News

Saturday was Emerson's 4th birthday but we celebrated it on Sunday. I was away for the weekend at a scrapbooking retreat in Estes so that complicated things. My Sister-in-law and her man were able to join us on Sunday so it worked out great in the end. Clayton took the boys on Saturday to spend all of E's birthday money that he got from our extended families. Hayden had $10 burning a hole in his pocket too so they had a fun day buying new toys.

On Sunday, we let E open his gifts and then we all headed to a bowling alley in Greeley. It was alot of fun but man we suck, lol. Emerson chose to go out to dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery afterward. We go there quite a bit and the kiddos like the food. We took his Kung Fu Panda cake with us so that we could have it for dessert. I believe that Emerson had a wonderful birthday this year.

Tom, Steph and Hayden

I went to the big ultrasound yesterday and I now know the gender of the baby. First let me say that everything looked perfect and the baby is doing very well. The weight is estimated to be around 14 oz. Now on to the stinker, I cannot reveal what I know, lol. Once my IPs know and tell their families, I can then blurt it out. Some of their family members read here and I don't want them to find out that way. In the meantime, I want to have a little fun with this. If you comment here and can guess the correct gender, I will put your name in for a drawing to win a free Starbucks drink (it will be in the form of a $5 gift card). Good luck and hopefully it won't be too long before I can share my knowledge. ;)

I got an email from someone the other day telling me who the wehatecrunchies people are and that group is all in fun. I am so relieved to know it isn't some group dissing me, lol. I now know that a friend of mine is in that group and she was sharing a link to my blog to show how I organized my kitchen. K, if you are reading this, I cannot email you back. My home email doesn't work any more. I can read received messages (I *think* that I receive them all) but replies never go out for some reason. This has been going on since August (I only became aware of it recently-ugh!) so I am sure you are missing some emails from me. Sorry about that! I will try to email you later from a gmail account.

Who are you "wehatecrunchies" people?

OK, I am about to go nutso because I keep seeing alot of people checking out the kitchen organizing part of my blog. They are all from a message board by the name of "wehatecrunchies". What the heck? I am a little worried that people are talking smack about me on the net and I want to know who you people are. Can someone comment and let me know what the deal is? I read up on "crunchies" and they are moms who homeschool, do attachment parenting, have homebirths and live naturally. I don't fit that genre AT ALL. Why am I the subject of discussion? Please ease my fears and tell me it is all good, lol. I hope that I don't have to make my blog private again.

BTW-I am on my way out the door to a scrapbooking retreat in Estes Park. I won't be back until Sunday. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

20 week belly bump and another reason for it, lol

Here I am at 20 weeks along with my second surrogate pregnancy. Sorry for the lack of a head but I had to take the photo using a bathroom mirror and that can be so difficult. It is a little bit blurry but oh well. At least I posted! My appetite has definitely picked up since my last belly photo at the pumpkin patch hence the reason I have grown so much. I like to blame it on the baby but it really has everything to do with foods like this:

I have been on a kick lately where I try a new recipe at least a few times a week. I made this yummy pumpkin turtle pie last night and it was a huge hit. I found it in the latest Kraft Foods magazine. It has pumpkin, Cool Whip, cinnamon, nutmeg, caramel and pecans. How can you go wrong with all those yummy ingredients?? It was super simple and no baking was required. It's a cold pie. I don't have time right now to post the recipe but I will try to do that next week. ;)

I have to pack up for a scrapbooking retreat in Estes and I will be gone all weekend. Emerson's 4th birthday is on Saturday so I feel a little bit guilty missing his day but I will be back on Sunday to celebrate it. We plan to take him bowling and I got him a cute Kung Fu Panda cake to eat that night. Hopefully Aunt Steph will be able to join us too.