The Beauty of Sequim by Bike.

For the past week it has been sunny and 80 degrees along the Pacific Northwest. Cha and I decided to take advantage of the wonderful weather by taking a day long bike ride. First stop was lunch at one of our favorite restaurants in Sequim, Cedar Creek. Cha got a delicious pizza, while I had a crab, asparagus, and artichoke bisque soup with a yummy salad. It fueled us up for the long bike ride to come.
Cha giving his sexy pose in front of the restaurant. This is the only pic I have of him the whole day because he was mostly in control of the camera.
One more pose before we start our journey. Wearing my Da-Nang shorts and coconut sun tan lotion reminded me of my trip last summer to Hawaii to visit my BFF Abby. Miss ya Abbs!

All too soon there will be a kiddie seat on back of my bike.
We traveled along the Olympic Discovery trail, which runs close to the water from the Indian Casino all the way to Port Angeles. Last summer we biked to Port Angeles along the trail, but that took about 3 hours one way. I didn't want to over extend myself so we traveled the shorter portion north to John Wayne Marina.
All along the trail and all throughout Sequim is millions of wild daisies and CA poppies. Poppies are one of my favorite wildflowers.
So of course I had to pick one and wear it in my hair. Amazingly it stayed the whole bike ride.
This is the Johnson Creek Trestle, which we rode across. We stopped for awhile and walked along the trestle looking down at the creek below. The trestle is so high that you feel like you are walking along the tree tops. The Olympic Peninsula is full of these little gems that you don't even know exist until you stumble upon them. So beautiful!
The tranquil creek below.

Hope your are not afraid of heights! Excellent for bungee jumping.

What a great day!

This is Charlie's favorite wildflowers that he would yell and point at as we rode by. Finally he was overcome by their beauty and had to get off his bike and snap some shots. Sorry that I don't know their name.
Just above the marina. In the distance you can see Mt. Baker, if you squint through the trees you can see a white lump.

Yeah, we made it too the Marina!

All done! Although now we have to do it all over again, in reverse and up hill. But at least there is no snow! :)

Belly Pics- Eleven Weeks

Well here ya all go! Another set of belly pics, although nothing significant has changed since week nine, but I thought I should post some anyway. I guess my belly won't really start to grow much more until the baby starts to get substantially bigger. The little bump is pretty much the fact that my bladder has grown to the size of a grapefruit and extra water retention. I feel extremely bloated in my belly and Charlie likes to push on it with his hand and say "squishy" :). Thanks! He knows how to make a girl feel good about herself, but I love him anyway.

No, he really has been sweet, sending love everyday to my belly as he sits watching TV with one hand on the remote and the other on my stomach. So cute!

Even though there doesn't look like much growth my pants have gotten uncomfortably tight around the waist. With some pants I have begun to wear my bella band, which holds the pants up while they are unbuttoned. I have begun to look for clothes that are loose fitting, like these cute jersey knit dresses on J-Crew. I have one already and just love wearing it because it is so loose and stretchy. I think that it is so cool that you don't have to go to a maternity store to buy clothes these days, although I am sure that will change when I become the size of a whale :).

My Brother is Engaged!!

This past year has been pretty eventful! Not only am I going to be a Mother, but a sister-in-law too, as my brother proposed to Erica in Mexico this past weekend. On top of that my sister-in-law Carolynn is going to be a Mother any day now and her sister-in-law Catherine is having her first baby as we speak. Too much excitement in such a short period of time!
My brother and Erica have been seeing each other off and on for about three years now. My mom, sister and I have been bugging him for awhile of when he is going to pop the question. Finally he came to his senses and decided that he should propose and what better time to do it than when they are on vacation in Cancun, Mexico. The funny thing is that the last time we were in Cancun was as a family at Club Med Resort when I was in high school. I can remember my brother making a comment one night about how romantic it was there and what a great place to bring a loved one. Well you got your wish!
For months now my brother and Erica have been planning a week long trip to Cancun. Charlie and I were going to join them, but at the time people in Mexico were being killed in drug wars, so Charlie felt it wasn't safe to go. Which ended up being a good decision since I later became pregnant and the swine flu epidemic began. I have been teasing Erica and Chris that they should watch out for pigs and drug lords while they are down there.
But in a way I am kind of sad I didn't go because I could of been there for their engagement. I haven't found out the particulars of how Chris proposed, but I am sure it was really romantic. The ring he bought her is absolutely beautiful and he was able to get it the week before they left. Just in the nick of time!
Well I just want to Congratulate them and let them know how happy Charlie and I are for them. Now get to making some kids! :)

My May Garden

Welcome to my spring garden and varieties of plants that I have never grown before....
This past Memorial weekend has been the sunniest and warmest since 2005. I thought I would take the opportunity to soak up as much sun and vitamin D as I could by working on my garden. Surprisingly most of my plants survived the dreadful snowy winter. I was shocked that only three bit the dust after 13 inches of snow and extreme freezing temperatures from October to March.
Everything is so green and blooming that I couldn't help but capture all the beauty yesterday. These delicate pink flowers, otherwise known as bleeding hearts are my absolute favorite flower. All four years living in Mobile, AL I tried to grow these precious flowers and failed miserably. The only things that do well in the South are plants that can survive extreme heat and humidity, mostly tropicals. But here on the Pacific North West, bleeding hearts are native and can be found growing naturally along hiking trails. So once we moved here this plant was one of my first purchases and they have been growing like weeds. I also love tulips and other bulbs, which also do extremely well here. Unfortunately my daffodils are done flowering so I didn't include them.
Only nature can make something so perfect. For some reason bleeding hearts remind me of a bunch of ballerinas dancing around each other.
My roses have also been doing wonderfully. If anyone ever saw my rose garden in Mobile, it was pretty sad as they fried to death in the scorching sun. Gardening is so easy here that I pretty much plant them in dirt and they just do their thing, so effortless.
I am excited to watch my garden continue to grow as does my belly :). Although I didn't post a belly pic this week because I didn't feel like there was much of a difference since last week. But I will definitely post one this week.

What me patient? Haa...

I have to be the most impatient person on the planet! I am the extreme opposite of those people who don't want to know what they are having. But, I guess I am not alone since they wouldn't make such a product if I was the only one.

This past week I was feeling impatient about having to wait till week 20 to find out the sex, so one of my old co-workers sent me ways to find out sooner. I guess one of her friends did this IntelliGender test and it ended up being correct when the baby was born.

Yesterday I was in Walgreen's picking up some items and came across the test. I wanted to wait till my next doc appointment to do the test since I will be at the end of my first trimester and less chance of miscarriage, but I couldn't even wait till then.

The test is pretty much like a pregnancy test, using urine to decipher the sex. Don't ask me how it works, it has something to do with the different hormone levels or something in your urine. The package says it is 95% positive, but it is already starting off at 50%. It also says that real life results are more like 87% accurate. So who knows if it is really accurate, but it will be interesting to see if it ends up being true. Think of me as human guinea pig.

Well I thought it would be fun to do this and find out the result. Even though it resulted in a girl, I don't really feel that excited. I kind of feel like I got away with something I shouldn't, like cheating on a test. I was even contemplating posting it since I am a little embarrassed, but this is supposed to be a documentation of my journey so I thought it was better to be honest. Nonetheless, I am just too dang excited!

The Olivia Crib!

Here is our baby crib! My Mom was kind enough to purchase it from Pottery Barn Kids. Charlie and I have already bought the matching dresser with changing topper, but it is in the garage waiting to be assembled since our baby room still has things left over from the junk room. Anyone need an old computer, broken chest, and TV stand??

We feel in love with this crib collection when I first saw it in the Pottery Barn Kids catalogue. I just loved everything about the room, right down to the sheets. When I looked at the collection name I almost feel over. It is called the "Olivia" Collection! No joke, it is the name Charlie has always wanted to call our little girl. It was fate! The funny thing is that two years ago when I was first prego I feel in love with a boy's baby room in the catalogue. And on the sheets in the crib was the name Gavin, the name I have always wanted for a boy. I don't know if God has a connection with Pottery Barn kids, but it is very interesting coincidences. Albert Einstein always said, "that coincidences are Gods way of staying anonymous". I can't tell you how true that rings for me because my whole life has been filled with signs and coincidences! That is why I have this feeling that I might be having a girl. Knock on wood! My very good friend Abby even confirmed that the last pregnancy would have been a boy and this one should be a girl in her astrology book. The Chinese calendar also supports this theory. So all signs and coincidences point in the same direction! We will just have to wait and see...
I love this angle the best. I have always been into older styles, especially Victorian. As you can see the dogs are obsessed with the crib. They have been sniffing and circling it ever since it was put together by the delivery men. I can't imagine what they are going to be like when there is a real baby in there. This used to be where their cage was, so maybe they are thinking this is their new bed. Sorry guys, two legged babies outrank four legged.
What's under there guys?

Belly Pics- Nine Weeks

Well I think it is time to start the belly pics. Looking into the mirror today I could definitely make out a bump forming. It is all down hill from here. It is sad that I am already starting to look at older pics and long for that body. Good bye 110's!

Unfortunately I have started off my pregnancy at my heaviest, thank you moving. Instead of Freshman 10 it is more like moving 10. For some reason I always seem to gain weight when we move. I think it is because I get out of my routine, but I always seem to go back to normal. This time around I gained 7. Too bad I am prego, there is no going back now. Well, at least not for the next nine months. So far since I found out I was pregers I have gained three pounds. I like to tease that it is all in my boobs, well some of it is. The doctor wants me to gain between 25-35. I don't think that will be a problem!
Do you see the bump? I sure do and so does the top button on all my pants.

A sweet and beautiful gesture

I wanted to take a moment to thank my Mom and Dad for the very beautiful bouquet of flowers they sent me. This past Monday was the day of my ultrasound and right as we got home there was a knock at the door with these beautiful pink roses and white carnations. The flowers were to celebrate Mother's Day and my baby ultrasound day. It couldn't have been timed more perfectly.

Here is the card they also sent the day before wishing me my first Happy Mother's Day. It says that "You're going to be a very special Mom.." Well hopefully special in a good way and not in a handicap way :) Thank you once again for the sweet, beautiful gesture. I loved it! By the way if you hadn't noticed everything is pink that she sent. I am not the only one wishing for a girl, believe me. My Dad even predicted a girl before I even got pregnant. We will see! Cha says since I want a girl that will mean I will only have boys. Guess I need to start wishing for boys :)

The day our lives changed forever!

Going back in time a bit, I thought I would show you some pics from the day our lives changed forever. The day after my missed period and about five pregnancy samples later I decided to call Chuck and let him know it was pretty positive that he was going to be a Daddy. The day before he just laughed when I said it because it hadn't even been a day since my missed period. But a woman just knows these things and I am also very regular, eighth of the month every mourning. Plus on top of that I jinxed myself by saying, watch I will conceive in March, which means I will have a December baby. Not that it's bad to have a Dec. baby, I just hate having Cha's B-day on the 6th of December because it always gets pushed into Christmas.

Anyway I digress... as you can see I also used the digital EPT test cause I was tired of trying to make out those stupid little pink lines. The first line was very faint because I was so early. Seeing the actual words was a better confirmation. Later that night Charlie came home from work with a beautiful bouquet of flowers from Cosco. It was that or Safeway due to the time of night. We then celebrated by going to our favorite Thai restaurant.

I also decided to post the very yummy lemon-vanilla cupcakes I made for the Easter Sunday dinner with our close friends Larry and Jen Santos. The cupcakes were almost too cute to eat!

This year has already started off to a great start. February we decided it was time to start trying to expand our family beyond ourselves and our two precious dogs, Milo and Sunny. Four days before Easter Sunday our prayers were answered. The Easter bunny stopped by the Bush Family early.

Five weeks later and ironically the day after Mother's Day we celebrated when the pregnancy was confirmed by ultrasound. I was mesmerized by the babies heart beat, it was truly amazing to see. It was like watching a miracle in progress. But not as amazing as hearing the heart beat the next day by doppler. The doctor was surprised we were able to hear it at eight weeks, but that little heart was so strong there was no way it was not going to be heard.

The due date for our little baby is December 16th and I am currently about nine weeks along. However, the ultrasound measured me at eight weeks and the doctor said the due date might have to be pushed to December 21st. Is it going to be a Christmas Baby? Stay tuned!!