I want to wish my cousin Natalie a happy birthday today. She is now 21 and legal. Hope you are having a wonderful day gal!
Last Wednesday, I hit the 20 week mark. I can't believe that I am halfway through this surrogacy. Wow, time sure does fly! My belly is definitely noticeable at this point. I have people congratulate me all the time when I am out and about. They always stop and stare at me like a deer caught in headlights when I proceed to tell them that the baby isn't mine, lol. After explaining that the baby is someone else's genetics and will be going home with his biological parents, people seem fascinated. I get lots of questions and so far no one has freaked out on me. I have heard several horror stories about people getting offended and then accusing the surro as a "baby seller". It's crazy how many people do not understand that the baby can be conceived in a petrie dish using the biological parents' sperm/eggs and then transferred into someone other than the biological mother to grow. My job (besides gestating this sweet little one) has been to educate others on the process of gestational surrogacy and to help them understand that the main goal of this procedure is to help a couple become a family with their own biological child/children. The question that I have been asked alot lately is, "Will you do this again?". So far my answer is yes (barring that I have no labor/delivery complications). If my current IPs want to try for a sibling project, I will be on board. If they don't, then I will refer back to CCRM to see if there are any potential couples in line for a gestational surrogate. We shall see. As long as my hubby continues to support my ventures I will be fine. :)
***I will try to get a new belly pic posted later tonight or tomorrow.***
I also wanted to add to today's post that it is my cousin Rachel's 15th birthday. Happy Birthday gal!!
I just had to personalize it, lol.
We chose to do rounded corners. I think that it looks better than squared off ones.
The weird hole with the wood pieces over it is one of our basement windows. We will have to get a cover for it so that the kiddos don't fall in (or me for that matter, lol).
When I took these photos, the concrete was still wet. It looks as though it had speckles in it because that was how it began to dry. As of 5pm it is mostly dry and the concrete is white like the stairs.
On this day we began the transformation of our backyard desert. I have the greatest landscaper working with us. He works when he says he is going to (I can't say the same for our concrete guy) and he helped us figure out how to cut costs. We can't afford to do everything that we have planned with him but we will be getting the basics taken care of this year. Next Spring, he will come in and do the shrubbery and trees that we want. I can't wait!
I have no pic for the day but the trenches for the underground sprinkler were dug.
A lot of river rock was spread on one side of our house. The concrete guys set up the framing to pour our patio.
Man, it is amazing to me how much we have got going on around here. I had a consult with a landscaper and concrete guy yesterday. Clayton and I are getting ready to throw down a lot of money all at once and it is about to make us sick to our stomachs, lol. We have to do something about our barren backyard though. It is an overgrown weed patch at this point. I had originally sat down with the landscaper and had all of our plans put down on paper but it turns out that we got in over our heads. The concrete guy costs twice as much as one back home to pour our patio. That really sucks. My uncle (who is a contractor back in NC) said that the quoted price for our patio was high but it may just be due to location. It's kinda like buying bread in one state can be dirt cheap and super expensive in another. Dang it. We did look at another guy but his prices were even higher so we stuck with the first guy. No stamped concrete for us though, sigh. We are going to get a basic concrete patio, underground sprinkler system, sod, river rock (for the boundaries), and a fence. Due to severe sticker shock from the patio, we are going to hold off on doing the play area and decorative plants until next year. The play area will be a 20x24ft. area marked with timbers and filled with smooth tiny pebbles. Considering how close we are to the end of warm weather here in CO, that will be fine. We can wait until next Spring.
I am so excited to say that I got Hayden into an awesome preschool. He will be going to one that is held at the local elementary school for, get this, FREE. Yea, I can't believe it either. After paying tuition for him the past 2 years, this is definitely going to be a treat. The state of CO offers the program and Hayden miraculously got accepted. Yay!! He will go 4 days a week from 12:15-3:15pm. Emerson will be going to a different school since he isn't old enough to go to the same one as Hayden. He has afternoon pre-k also so we will get to sleep in everyday. It can't get any better than that!
I am beginning to pack for our upcoming trip. I know I am insane but I just can't wait. Only 44 more days to go!
I woke up this morning at 7:45am to the sound of my doorbell ringing. The stupid plumber wasn't supposed to be here until after 8:30am but he decided to show up before the acceptable time of 8am. Ugh. I had no clothes on and I yelled at the the kids (who were already roaming around downstairs) to not answer the door. After yelling it 3 times while I scurried to find some clothes, Hayden opened the dang door anyway. The 2 guys yelled "Hello?" several times before I rather rudely yelled back "Just a minute". After finally making my way down I told them that I was sorry that I wasn't ready for them but that they should not have been here until 8:30am. They simply said that they were a bit early. Early?! Anytime someone shows up at my door unexpectedly before the hour of 8am it is not okay nor is it respectful. Sheesh.
To add more fun to my day, I am eat up with hives. Last night was pure hell for me becauce my face itched so much that I couldn't sleep. I got a shipment of fruits and veggies on Monday that had a mango in it. I grabbed it with a plastic bag over my hands so that I wouldn't have to touch it. Well, stupid me grabbed the rest of the produce out of the box with my bare hands and I forgot to wash them afterward. The oils from the mango skin must have been on the other produce because I broke out like crazy late that evening. I look like I have a 3rd degree burn on my face/neck/chest. It really looks horrible. Naturally, I had a Ryland Homes manager, tax accessor, cable guy and the plumbers all show up at my house during these past 2 days. I look like a burn victim. I had to explain to everyone why I look like this and it is super embarassing. I just want to curl up in my bed for the day and not get out of my jammies. Why won't they just let me have some peace?
My 29th birthday is tomorrow and I am going to take it easy. I may scrap all day or just stay in bed. Either way, I am calling the shots, lol. I NEED a break at this point. I have been with my kids day in and day out since we moved here (June 13th) and I need to get away from them before they drive me to the loony bin. Soooo, I have a facial and haircut scheduled for myself on Saturday at the local Aveda salon in Loveland. I am debating getting a massage also. We shall see. Hopefully my hives will be better by then. If they aren't, I will have to reschedule and God knows how long it will be before they can get me in again. *sigh*
On a happier note, only 51 days until our family vacation! :)
Happy Birthday to my wonderful friend Natascha back in NC!!
Harper Bolick and Emerson chilling at the fire station
Hayden's 2nd Birthday
My 28th birthday-the scan makes it look a bit crooked but it isn't IRL
Our new home did not come with air conditioning and we looked at that as a good thing. A lot of homes here don't have it because the average high temp for our area is 89. 89 is completely doable without a/c. You sleep with your windows open at night because it gets pretty chilly and then you shut them in the morning before it begins to get warm outside. Around 2 or 3pm, it gets hot but it doesn't last long. Fans are all you need to make it through those few hours of heat. Once 6pm rolls around, it begins to cool down and you can start opening up your windows for a breeze. Well, that is how it is supposed to go anyway. We have experienced a nasty heatwave since we got into our house back on the 2nd. We have only had 2 or 3 days where the temps were below 95. Ugh. It really doesn't help that I am 17 weeks pregnant. We are finally getting air conditioning installed tomorrow. Wouldn't you know it, the temps are only going to be mid 80s today and high 80s tomorrow. That figures.
I am really beginning to show now (I will try to post a pic tomorrow). This little guy tosses and tumbles all around. We got the prelim results from the amnio and we know with certainty that he doesn't have Down's. My IPs are positively thrilled. :)
excited. My Mom and Aunt will be driving down from High Point, NC and we will be flying in. Their drive will be around 10 hours and our flight will only be 3.5 hours. I am glad to be taking the shorter trip there, lol. Everything was paid for and all of our dining reservations were taken care of back in April. All we have to do now is wait. I did add another fun element to the trip this past week though. I am going to take my Mom and Aunt to have tea time at the Grand Floridian on our free day. I also have another fun thing up my sleeve but I won't divulge that info. on here in case a certain hubby reads this.I know I haven't posted in a while but this past week was completely crazy for me. My nerves were shot because of the amnio that was to take place on Thursday. The thought of the procedure has always scared me and I really didn't want to go through with it. Well, my fears have definitely been validated. It sucked. I won't bore you with the details but I won't ever put myself through that trauma again (unless I fail the level II ultrasound or have some bloodwork come back abnormal). I have been so sore the past few days. Anyhow, the ultrasound was perfect and there was no markers for Down's. The baby looked extremely healthy and *HE* is a rowdy little thing (yes, it is a boy!). He moved constantly throughout the ultrasound and the sonographer remarked about how active he is. I didn't need her to tell me that. He is a little tumbler. I have felt movements since 11 weeks and now that he is 16 weeks, I feel him a lot more. I believe that my IPs have an acrobat on their hands, lol.
Colorado has been going through record highs since we arrived. Yesterday was 95 and today will be 99. Ugh. The only good thing is that we don't have the nasty humidity that NC does. If we did, I would melt!
Clayton's Dad (Steve) and his wife Sandy came by for a visit on Saturday. Sandy also brought her mom Bea. Steve's mom (Virgie) drove down from Estes Park to join us. We had a great time catching up. It's too bad that Clayton didn't tell me that they were coming until Friday night though. I could have made them a yummy lunch or early dinner if he would have given me the heads up. We ended up going to McDonald's (or Micka Donald's as Hayden says) for lunch. Can you believe that they ran out of catsup?? I have never had to eat my fries without any before. Weird.
My MIL Christie will be coming to stay with us on Thursday. I have an amnio scheduled in Denver that day so she is going to watch the kids for us. Friday night is the Bon Jovi concert at Cheyenne Frontier Days so she will be watching the kiddos for us then also. We will be meeting up with my SIL Stephanie and her man Tom for the big event. I can't wait!
After finding that I could get my dairy and bread products delivered to my door, I decided to look on the web for other delivery services. When we lived in Atlanta, we had an awesome service called Webvan. They were an online grocery store that I could purchase anything from and then they would deliver it within a 1.5 hour window. The produce was always the best and the service was absolutely awesome. It's too bad that they shut down operations after a year of me being a customer. I don't really understand what happened to them considering that it was an extremely popular service. Anyhow, I was hoping to find something similar in nature here but it's a no-go. Instead, I did find an organic fruit and veggie delivery service from Denver. They deliver weekly or bi-weekly. I chose to get a medium box of mixed fruits and veggies to try out on Monday. Everything is locally grown and completely organic. I can't wait to try them out. If you live in Colorado or in parts of Nebraska or Wyoming, check out their site at: https://denver.doortodoororganics.com/ .
-Steph, they do deliver to Cheyenne, WY.
-Sandy, they do deliver to Sidney, NE.
;)
If only I could find a delivery service for meats and general groceries. I do have Schwan's service for frozen foods but I wish that I could get general stuff through them too. You know, like a can of cream of chicken soup? Oh well, I guess that I can't have it all, lol. It just really stinks to go to a grocery store here considering that they are so far away. My town is incredibly small and it only has a specialty grocery store. If I want to go to civilization, I have to drive about 20-25 minutes away. With 2 kids in tow, I just don't want to.
Thank the Lord, we finally made it into our new house. It has been a crazy journey getting here and I never want to go through that heck again. Here's a quick run down of what has been going on in the Logan household since I last posted:
7/2-We finally closed on the house. Yay!!
7/3-We got our furniture delivered.
-I had my first OB appt. today. The appt. was a bit boring but at least everything was okay with the baby.
7/4-Clayton woke up in a lot of pain and got admitted to the ER for kidney stones. He was put on 7 or 8 doses of morphine before he finally felt comfortable enough to be alive. I couldn't stand seeing him in such pain. Poor guy.
7/6-We finally got our very first brand new bedroom suit. Our old one was a hand-me-down that we will be using for guests. And yes gals, we finally upgraded from a full to a king.
-I now have a milk man. How cool is that? He was going door to door giving away 1/2 gallon of milk to all new customers. It is a bit expensive but well worth it. The milk is organic and they recycle the containers for us. They also deliver Starbucks coffee beans, butter, cream cheese, sour cream, cheddar cheese, Sara Lee breads, bottled water, Eggland's Best eggs, etc. I am in heaven!
7/10-We got our cable back on. I have been going absolutely nutso without the internet.
I would like to announce that my best friend Tracy had her baby girl Addison on 7/7/07. Everyone is doing well and she is incredibly precious! I would give my right arm to be able to hold that sweet baby. Hopefully, I will be able to make a trip back to Asheville in the near future so that I can see her. Congrats to the Ducker household. :)
Well, this is the first time that I have been able to get on the net in forever. I have many things to do but I will be sure to upload some pics soon and I will be posting regularly once again.
Well, Friday didn't work out but we will definitely be closing on the house on Monday at 2pm. Thank the Lord!! I am so sick of being homeless, lol.
After getting stuck with needles 3 times on Thursday and the nurse not being able to get my vein, she decided to have me come back on Friday. Guess how many more pokes it took to get one blood draw??? 4! So basically it took 7 needle sticks to get 1 blood draw. Egad. They had even tried to get the top of my hand (which hurts wayyyy worse than your arm I quickly found out) to no avail. I ended up having the nurse switch to someone who was better at finding veins. She simply gave up on me, lol. Once that gal got a vein I was thrilled to finally be done. That was my last blood draw for CCRM. They graduated me and I no longer need any meds to sustain the surrogacy. :)
I hope that you all are having a wonderful weekend. We will most likely be getting our cable back at the end of next week and then I will be back on the net. Wish us luck!
Can life really be any more exciting than having 2 little kids crammed into a tiny room without their toys for weeks on end?? **Sigh** We arrived here in CO back on the 13th and we have been living at the Residence Inn ever since. Don't you think that the hotel name is kinda ironic? It has served as our place of residence for wayyyy too long. Let me attempt to give ya'll a brief synopsis of our nightmarish move from NC:
13th-We flew out to CO. Sometime into the flight, we realized that 3 hours is just too long for little ones to sit on a plane and be amused.
19th-We were supposed to close on the new house. That got changed when we dropped our initial lender flat on her butt. She disappeared and was impossible to reach 2 weeks before we got out here. Once she finally did call us back, she changed her loan terms and added in all kinds of fees that were not disclosed in her original offer. She purposely waited until we were so close to closing so that we couldn't say no. Well, we proved her wrong and decided to go through the heck of getting another lender. This guy was going to try and get us closed at the end of the week. On another note, our cars arrived.
20th-All of our belongings arrived and had to be put into storage. Thank gosh that Clayton's company paid for that. We were worried about them only paying to deliver it to 1 destination and then we would have to pick up the tab to move it again. Not only did they pay for the storage but they will also pay to have it redelivered to our house once we close.
22nd/23rd/24th-New lender guy can't get us closed that fast. Clayton's loss of his license sure didn't help. He lost it somewhere in the old town section of Fort Collins. Without it, he couldn't easily get a notary to sign a document that he needed so that he could get a certified check from Wachovia. Since Wachovia isn't available out here, we had to have the check overnighted from NC rather than doing a wire transfer. We would have had to walk into a branch to do a wire. Ugh. Anyhow, Clayton's lack of a license also caused him to miss the Fort Collins Beer Fest this weekend which really stunk for him. Lesson learned, lol. Since we missed the festival, we decided to go see my Father-in-law and his wife in Nebraska. It was a wonderful break from hotel living.
25th/26th-We thought that we would close sometime early this week but things went completely awry. It turns out that the guy who inspected our house had his license revoked prior to our inspection. The bank made the inspection company do it again with someone else. Gosh, if it isn't one thing, it is another around here.
27th-Our hotel can't extend our stay any longer so we had to move to another Residence Inn in Fort Collins.
28th-The lender is saying that Clayton has to have his ID at the closing. He ordered it last week and it got here today. Thank the Lord!! I believe that our closing will be Friday at 2pm. I will believe it when I see it.
Today was also the date of my Ultra-Screen with the specialist in Denver. We had an ultrasound and learned that there was 1 healthy baby in there. I had a feeling that I wasn't carrying twins any longer a few weeks ago. It was completely intuitive and I told Clayton that I felt as though there was only one. It's so weird how I knew that. My lack of weight gain was my biggest indicator. I am as big now as I was at 5 weeks. My belly got big really quickly and then slowed down dramatically. If I had of kept growing the way that I did in the beginning, I would be huge by now. Anyhow, the baby looked great and I am so happy for my wonderful IPs. :)
I also went in to do my last blood draw for CCRM. They had me discontinue meds last Monday and they wanted to make sure that my levels were ok without them. I got poked 3 times before the gal gave up on me. She could not get my veins to cooperate and it really hurt. Now I have to go in tomorrow to try again. Sheesh.
I hope to have the internet back on soon. I am so sorry that the wi-fi doesn't work at all in our hotel. 2+ weeks is just too long not to be able to jump on my computer. The only time I can use the hotel computer is to quickly check my email so I haven't been online very much. For this post, I am visiting yummy Panera so that I can use their connection. Like Arnold said, "I'll be back". ;)
Sorry I haven't been able to update the ole blog. We are still stuck in a hotel at the moment and my wireless connection won't work. I have to use the hotel's computer to check my email for now.
Our closing on the new house is supposed to happen tomorrow but it may be a day or two later. Ugh. Anyway, I have very good news to report. We sold our house in NC this past Friday!! Someone wanted to see our house the day that we were moving out but we couldn't let them due to the movers being there. They ended up coming by that Thursday and loved it. We got the contracts on Friday and I had to negotiate everything from the hotel. Clayton started his first day on the job that day so he wasn't around to agree or disagree with anything. By the time he came home I had already sealed the deal. He was quite surprised and pleased that it all worked out so well and that I had gotten a great price for our house. What a sigh of relief!
As far as communication goes, I have my cell phone still but our minutes have been used up. If you want to chat with us, email me at brandylogan@gmail.com and I will give you our direct number here at the hotel.
I hope you all are having a wonderful week! I will try to update again later this week. ;)
To see some photos that Joanna took of us the other day, check out her awesome blog at: http://www.tuesdaysfrog.com/journal.html
Well, the packers are here boxing up all of our worldly possessions. I hate the feeling that our stuff doesn't have a home right now. I realllllllly hate that my scrapbooks are going to be baking in the back of a semi for 7-8 days. Ugh.
The cable will be shut off this afternoon so I won't have Internet access for a while. I will try to update when we get to our hotel in CO. We will be flying out on Wednesday.
It's sad realizing that we are leaving so many wonderful friends and my family. My parents brought Hayden home on Saturday and that was the day that we said goodbye. I was fine until my kids wouldn't let them drive away without just one more kiss. I about lost it when we met the Bolicks for lunch on Sunday. Goodbyes are something that I struggle at and this time around seems to be worse than normal. We have made so many true friends, both us and the kids. It stinks to move so far away from them. Tonight will be my last dinner with my best friends Tracy, Kala and Angela. Tracy will be bringing Austin to see Hayden for the last time on Tuesday and that is really going to stink. They are going to be taking us to our hotel since we will be both homeless and carless after everything gets loaded up. Oh man, I dread that like the plague.
The front of the house taken from a side angle (the columns should be painted by now)
The Family Room
The Window Wall in the Family Room
My Scrapbook Room 
The Kitchen (the tiles on the island and the countertops are the same cool ones that are around the fireplace-the floors and cabinets are hickory)
Master Bath
Master Bath-everything is tiled and the ceiling is vaulted
Master Shower (a better view)
