Memories of Rita

My pooor poooor poochies on the road, evacuating Houston, in hot miserable weather



I had never seen a cat pant before this either. I think Tango was on the verge of going into shock...



Next pics are of our home...then panning in the direction of our neighbors home to our right, close-up of the tree that fell, then an upclose of his roof. The tree could've gone either way...Neighbors tree was in between our home & his but clearly HIS tree....glad the tree "leaned" in HIS direction! at least he doesn't live there~
We already had prospectors looking to "sue" whosever tree that was....its deeply rooted on HIS side of the house....our land ends at the end of the brick wall.








Ah hah! these pics show Hubby's great work cleaning up the yard!! Note no limbs etc. Can't say the same for the neighbor, don't think anyone will be ready to clean that mess up for a LONG time to come!

So, those are the memories of Rita...few pics taken, that's all that's needed.

G'night. Doc appt. tomorrow to see our 2 stars!

c

Au revoir, Rita~!

What a harrowing experience this was...not the storm, but the 15 hour trek to San Antonio! It took us about 6 hours to go a mere 30 miles.....in really really hot weather, and since our Trooper was overheating, we had no A/C! Talk about the verge of heat stroke!

Hubby had a load on him, 5 dogs, 1 cat, his mother/father, and a wife pregnant with twins. It didn't help that I started spotting/cramping. We left Houston about 5am and got to San Antonio at 10pm. Friday, I was sore all over. Every inch of my body. Went to the doc there, just to check on the babies and to see about the spotting/cramping. While there, went ahead and did the bloodwork that I would have done Thursday. Progesterone was above 56 and estradiol was 3052, in other words, all ok.

Babies are measuring fine. Heartbeat for Baby A is 175bpm and Baby B is 163bpm. Normal range.




We were really blessed to have made it to San Antonio at all. Long story. But we stayed with our friends Frank & Mary and their two daughters Domonique and Francesca. Eloy got his teeth cleaned while there! (Frank's a dentist) and I refused as usual :) --gag reflex is way too much!

Meanwhile, my two stars are growing nice & strong; Officially 9 weeks today:

Baby(ies) is/are nearly an inch long — barely the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce, but poised for rapid weight gain now that basic physical structure is in place. Also starting to look more and more human. The embryonic "tail" is now completely gone and body parts — including organs, muscles, and nerves — are kicking into gear. Eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. Has earlobes, and by week's end, the inner workings of the ears will be complete. The upper lip is fully formed, too, and the mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The tips of their fingers are slightly enlarged where the touch pads are developing. All major joints —shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles — are working, enabling your baby(ies) to move their limbs. As for their heart, it has divided into four chambers now, and the valves have started to develop. External sex organs are there, but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks.



Mommy:
Feeling ok, have an appt thus Thursday for an u/s and more bloodwork.

Daddy:
Nesting. Started clean-up on all the branches and leaves yesterday. Still nesting, getting ready for his two children to join him!

Meanwhile, my favorite season is aproaching. We're expecting our first Cold front Thursday!


Yay for Fall! Decorations here I come (no, I never did finish decorating!)

c

4am

Been up since 4am, leaving for San Antonio soon, just need to find alternate routes....I have a feeling its going to be a long long long long day/drive to SA.

Taking my laptop, hoping to log on from the hotel/friends...wherever we end up..

Stay safe everyone...

c

Hurricane Rita

Here she comes, Hurricane Rita, headed for just about 45 miles south of us.

As you can see from the map, that's right on our backdoor. And considering the waterways leading from there to Houston, storm sugres are expected to reak havoc on our city.

Went out to Sam's ---throngs n throngs n oodles n oodles of people there, it was chaos, pure mayhem-ok maybe not mayhem-but close to it. It was crazy.

We stocked up on some non-perishables, mostly we needed Puppy food (both dry & canned).

Stocked up on some crackers, pies etc. Hubby says we need bread *which Sam's was out of* so that just in case we lose power, we can have PJ sandwiches! We had plenty of water, soft drinks, gatorde and propel to get us through the weekend. Bought grapes and plums. Chicken, which I plan on cooking tomorrow night or Friday morning.

IL's are coming to spend Fri-Sun with us. Although I'm still a bit hesitant about that since the wkend we went to Austin, MIL says someone "broke in" to her house while she was gone, and stole her beige suitcase, she can't find it anywhere (???) I say more of the same (Alzheimers? Dementia?) can't be too sure at this point. But Hubby's point to her that someone wouldn't break in and steal JUST that suitcase, the point is lost on her. Someone broke into her home, period. So, I told Hubby they can stay put unless we see that we're getting more of a direct hit. Don't want her worried about someone else coming in and stealing 'select' items while she's over here.

Hubby will be out of town tomorrow. Boo hiss, client refused to settle so he's flying out tomorrow and will be back in the evening. Day trip....

Meanwhile, I'm researching Life insurance for the hub's. He needs it. Also needs to be seen by an Ortho for his knee problem (gives away at odd times) but he is still refusing. I can only imagine what it'll be like to get him to get his colonoscopy!

Meanwhile, I'm tracking Ritas progress. I'll know more in the morning as to exactly where she plans on making waves....the computer models have her eye set on Matagorda or Freeport, somewhere between Galveston & Corpus.



c

EW!

Caution: Gross ahead....





Dizzy, pukey, call it whatever you want. Nesting, irritable....want to clean out my closet and every nook n cranny in the house!

Smells bother me...

Want to clean out my sock drawer....

Vitamins don't help....

Weaning off of prometrium & vivelle estrogen as of today....go back Thursday for more b/w....

Wahhhhhh.....I asked for it, I got it, Toyota...


cc

8 weeks gestation

The two peas are 8 weeks this week: Hubby asked this weekend and again this morning, about the gender, what my feelings were: My gut is telling me 2 boys! My heart wants a boy & a girl, my soul says whatever He blesses us with.





How your babies are growing: babies are now 5/8 of an inch long, about the size of kidney bean(s). They are constantly moving and shifting, although you won't be able to feel these womb wiggles for several weeks yet. Their embryonic tails are disappearing, and their eyelids practically cover their eyes. Still slightly webbed, their fingers and toes are growing longer. Their arms have lengthened, too, and their hands are now flexed at the wrist and meet over her heart. Their knee joints have formed, and their feet may be long enough to meet in front of their body. With their trunk straightening out, the head is more erect. Breathing tubes extend from the throat to the branches of their developing lungs. The nerve cells in the brain are also branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways. Though you may be daydreaming about your baby as one gender or another, the external genitals still haven't developed enough to reveal whether you're having a boy or a girl. (Taken from Baby Center -fetal development with edits to the plural)

Mommy: Extreme nausea & fatigue; Slight weight gain of 1-2 lbs. although could be attributed to this weekends birthday party feast & football game junk food. Friday the nurse called to change my progesterone/estrogen prescription to 1 pill/1 patch. Going in this morning for more bloodwork. This decrease in preparaion for the placenta(s) to take over production of these hormones, which should start to happen in about 2-3 weeks.

Daddy: Sympathetic pregnancy symptoms; still curious (almost nervous) about how we're going to handle two.



This Thursday starts Autumn, my favorite season of the year. Hopefully some of this heat will subside, as we've had record heat this week *100 degrees or more*

Steelers Rock!

So we went to the Texans v. Steelers game today....Season tickets right. Well, to watch the Texans get whooped by the Steelers was sooo worth it. I think I may have just found myself a new favorite team!!!

I worked through my nausea but this pic kinda shows my quesiness. I had to pull my hair back in a ponytail b/c it was sooo hot, I felt like passing out....The guy in front of us volunteered to take this pic for us, was a Steelers fan dressed in Steelers gear....boy was I sooo glad I opted NOT to wear my David Carr jersey! I would've had to strip it off! Carr was too pathetic today....and we pay him what???



Clay Walker singing the Houston Texans song




Too much Pizza and too many nachos had me home in bed by 4pm! Slept til 6pm.... regretting eating all of it now..glad I skipped the dippin' dots!

Off to watch Ellen host the Emmy Awards show....

Remembering the words back on Aug 31st...

The questionable area is between the word "sac" and the "+" sign on the left. Baby B could have been in a different position, causing him/her to look oblong. Or it could be as the doc said, "fluid" Me? I'm just happy to be pregnant at all!

Back then, I think I almost dismissed the fact that there could be a 2nd pregnancy....I mean, from the look of the scan, you can clearly see the 1st baby....between the "+" sign and the word "sac" was where the doc thought he might have seen another baby...but he calmly pointed at the screen then turned and kept scanning me....

NOW, there's no question about it, Baby #2 (I'll have to rename them) is definitely here, making his/her appearance quite known! The little embie that could....

Still in shock, my mind doesn't know where to begin to start thinking about it....

c

Woke up a mother of two!

Baby1 -measuring 7w2d Heartbeating 150bpm!
Baby2 -measuring 6w6d Heartbeating 146bpm!

I was in such shock and awe yesterday....hubby took me to lunch & we celebrated the discovery that we're pregnant with twins... I ate and ate and ate....only to regret it vehemently last night. I had SUCH a tummy ache, it kept me up most of the night, nauseous, dizzy, feeling faint. It felt like someone was kneading on my tummy, it felt like it was in knots... So, I'm reverting to my other diet, soup n crackers! It's got me down to 126 but the doc said (after DH told on me) not to worry, that I have plenty of time to gain weight!

Feeling much better this morning. About to pull out the video of yesterdays ultrasound to see my little ones and their little hearts beating....

While we're extremely happy with the turn of events, I'm still in shock. So many questions, so little answers.

All of these questions/concerns are taking a back seat until very late in the game. Doc still warned that one or both could m/c--I refuse to believe it but he did say 10% chance for each baby. Also said one could survive, while the other didn't (vanishing twin) So, while these stats are looming over us, we'll continue to pray and hope for the best. We were blessed with just one...two would be twice as nice!

c

Make that two holy cows!

Could someone please pull me back into reality?

TWINS......

2 heartbeats....

2 sacs....

more later....


cc

Holy cow

~I forgot to call in payroll Tuesday & Wednesday....oh boy, am I in for it......

7 & 7

Today, seven years ago, I married my best friend. Although filled with many ups & downs, we have managed to survive the highs and lows, and are happy & very strong in our marriage. Seven years ago, Hubby & I were married at the Courtyard on St. James Place. http://www.courtyardonstjames.com

Although plagued that day by the reminents of Tropical storm Francis, I did not let that get in my way of having a wonderful day. The outdoor ceremony was moved inside, but my marriage was celebrated, more importantly, in my heart. I remember all of the wonderful food, the fruit and cheese table was breath taking. We had a roast carving station, a pasta station, and a buffet line filled with scrumptuous foods like stuffed mushrooms, sesame chicken and the like. The buffet centerpiece was my Ice sculpture of a beautiful swan.....We spent our wedding night @ the Doubletree Guest suites just down the street, where we saw "???" a rapper, armed with two hoochies on each elbow, exiting his limo. Next day, we had our breakfast feast at home with family, at which time we opened most of our wedding presents. We honeymooned in California, first in Santa Barbara, staying at the Fess Parker Doubletree resort
http://www.fpdtr.com/index2.html
After leaving Santa Barbara, we stopped in for a short visit with my SIL Elvia in Santa Monica. http://www.pistolerapost.com/ From there we drove to Lake Forest to visit my brother Bobby and his wife Angela & my two gorgeous nephews Robbie & Jimmie. We then made our way to Laguna Beach, where we spent two wonderful nights at the Sand n Surf hotel, right on Laguna Beach. I remember we left the patio doors open, and the high tides keeping me up most of the night :) http://www.surfandsandresort.com/
From there, we traveled down to San Diego and met up with a friend of Elvia who had arranged to have us stay with her mother in Rosarita, just south of Tijuana Mexico, in Baja California. The home was a luxury home, atop a hill, overlooking the ocean, just near where the Titanic was filmed. We spent one night there, enjoyed lobster & the first Oscar DeLaHoya v. Cesar Chavez fight over dinner. The next few days were sight seeing, back to California and to Santa Monica to sleep over one night with Elvia. Short but sweet, it was the honeymoon I'd always imagined growing up as a little girl.

Every year has brought something different to the marriage. In the end, we're still happy. Noodle brain as I am, Hubby had to be the first to say "Happy Anniversary" as I woke up a total zombie and sat with him during coffee for a good 10 minutes before realizing it was our 7th anniversary! Was finally able to get over to get his gifts...Austin rocks tee, Harley attire and an art piece of MexicArt ( a wooden bull, colorful) http://www.mexic-artemuseum.org/info/index.html Will try to get a pic up as soon as he opens it!

Today I'm 7 weeks pregnant:
Baby:
Baby has grown into an embryo about the size of a raspberry and has a tiny beating heart. Your baby's face has a recognizable shape with eyelids and the tip of a nose with formed nostrils, though his head is still very large compared to the rest of his body. All major organs are now formed and in place, though they still need to mature. A tongue has already formed. The ears are forming both internally and externally. The arms and legs extend forward and shoulders, elbows, hips and knees are detectable. Knees and elbows have begun to form on the limbs. Tiny fingers and toes are starting to appear at the tips of your baby's developing limbs and the arms may be slightly flexed at the elbows and wrists. All major organs are in place. Your baby is moving around a lot, moving his legs and flexing his spine, but you are unable to feel it at this point. Your baby's genitals have begun development, though they are still difficult to identify. (Taken from FF)

Me:
Total and complete fatigue. Nausea. sore bb's, cramping, gassy, moody, hungry all the time, but too nauseous to eat anything but soup & crackers. Bloating is completely gone. pre-belly size back. Down to 127, due in part, no doubt, from the nausea and food aversions I've had.

Hubby:
Enjoying his pregnant wife. Talks to the babies in the morning, still conveying messages from them to me. too cute. Still nesting!

Follow-up & ultrasound in two days...feels like just yesterday I was there with the dildo cam getting my first peek at the little bean baby.

c

Wasted dayz & wasted nightz

Ugh, was yesterday a total waste of a beautiful day in Austin or what??? Instead of leaving Wed night, the wise hubby decided he wanted to get up super early (well, at least HIS regular wake up time of 4am) and drive to Austin, check in early (which the hotel so generously allowed) and then get to his seminar etc etc.

Something about us both is that we love our home, enjoy it immensely, and feel as if it is our very own castle, where we go to rest, relax, be ourselves and enjoy the comforts of our own sofa, bed etc. He sold me on that idea. One more night in the comfort of our own home, one more night to spend with our troop, etc. For me, one more night of Qiqi crowding me in bed, one more night of hearing/feelinig her jump on & off the bed, nudging me to lift the covers for her, one more night of waking up to licking-kisses from Qiqi, whose breath reaks of her midnight snack on Mew-Mew's cat food. Yes, hubby sold me on staying in our own home just one more night. So, waking up at 4am was not something I looked forward to, but I settled with the idea that I'd get to the hotel room and get back in bed and catch up on my sleep.

What I didn't bargain for was feeling sooooo totally fatigued all day long that I was jittery with the shakes, fatigued, nauseated, irritable and that my WHOLE day would be spent trying to catch up on the sleep that I was deprived of by the early rise and drive to Austin.....

So, after giving the IL's instructions on opening/closing doors, the alarm, feeding the troop, locking/unlocking the wrought iron doors, walking the dogs, feeding the dogs and the cat, using the phones, coffeemaker, stove, etc. we finally took off at exactly 10 til 6am! And although his seminar started at 8;30am, Mr. punctuality didn't really care. we did finally make it in, he showered and I attempted in vain to get the laptop plugged and connected to the internet.....After about 2 hours I realized that I needed to call the front desk to get the wired for business 'connection' approved. Even then, it took me a while to get the right wires in the right place(s). By then it was almost lunchtime, so I showered, dressed and ventured out to see what "healthy" meal I could find.

What I also didn't expect was that my mind would be on a different playing field as my body. My body just would not, refused even, to cooperate. I ended up in the car shaking, jittering, feeling faint and just plain pooped. I shook so much, I tried to get out of the car, but just couldn't. So instead, I backed out of the parking spot and turned the air up as high as it would go, and drove. Luckily, I had a OmegaZone bar, smelted by the heat of the car as well as a car temp bottle of Propel with me. Much to my chagrin, I downed the bar and drank and drank and drank. After driving for a quick spell, I felt a bitt better, enough to run my errands and drive over to Lamar Blvd. to one of my old stomping shopping grounds at the Gap & the Bookstop. By that time though, hubby called, it was almost lunch-break time. I offered to pick up some Rotisserie Grill, he agreed. But did CC's mind cooperate wiith here intentions? Of course not.

I decided to venture off of Lamar Blvd, and ended up, someway, somehow, by the University of Texas, amongst the throng of Tea sipper students walking to and from classes. By then, hubby called again, it's lunchtime. and I was totally lost. I ended up on Guadalupe St. somehow, and stopped at a Chango something restaurant to pick up my craving for chips & salsa, then hopped over to the restaurant next door to pick up a gyro and a greek salad, something hubby always enjoys.

I finally made it over to the hotel, and up to othe roomo where dear hubby was waiting for his lunch. I, on the other hand, ended up hating everything about the poor excuse for the chips & salsa and ended up opting to take a much needed nap.

Before I knew it, it was past 5pm 7& hubby was back from classes. He & I both stayed in bed and it was 8pm before we decided to venture out to enjoy one of hubby's fav restaurants, Texas Land & Cattle.

While getting dressed for dinner though, I made the mistake of trying out a lotion that I had brought with me. This lotion had come with a great smelling spray from Victoria's Secret called Very Sexy for Her. I had received it as a gift from Antoinette for Christmas. The spray has been used up entirely by now so in my desire to smell that smell-good odor of VSfH, I decided to bring this lotion with me. I splatted some lotion on my hands and rubbed in it, nice coverage over my arms, elbows, hands. Moments later, I found myself washing my hands vigorously to get that smell off of me. I ended up so nauseated, I broke out in a sweat and began to be not-so-good-company on our walk out of the hotel to dinner. by the time I got in the car, I was dry-heaving so badly, hubby stopped the car, as I desperately opened my glove compartment for a napkin and the "car-tash bag" that I had stashed in the center caar console. hubby grabbed it from me, and opened it in time for me to hurl into it........but not before I drooled all over myself and my evening slacks...and not before opening the car door to drool out onto the parking garage floor.

The relief I felt afterwards though, was worth every moment of nausea I had had up til then. It was INSTANT relief. = Hurl. Relief. Just like that. So we ended up driving to dinner-I ended up ordering 2 appetizers while Hubby feasted on 10oz of Sirloin,. We decideed to cruise 6th street, past our favorite Driskill Hotel, then onto Congress up to the Capitol, onto 12th street back to the hotel. It was a nice/brief trip. Needless to say, despite the relief I felt, there was no romance to be had this night. It was staight to bed and lights out for me.

Yesterday ,I had No time for shopping, no time to explore Austin, the thing I enjoy most. Despite the offer/invitation to our nephew Daniel, a 4th year student @ UT, we didn't get to see him for dinner. We always enjoy seeing and visiting with him when we're in town. I didn't get a chance to run out to the Harley shop to get a surprise fo Hubby, no time to find an interesting shop to pick up a nice souveniir of this trip. No time to shop for a gift for Mr. Wonderful for our 7th anniversary. Yes, yesterday was a great tribute to freddy fender & his classic song 'wasted days and wasted nights,' so I have lots of catching up to do. And since it appears that this quick post turned into a mini novel, I've got to get to steppin'!

c

Noodles

Lately, I've had noodles for brains...doing dumb things that I only do when pregnant (per my history of prior short pregnancies, that is)

To wit:
Left uncashed checks in my desk since ???--when asked yesterday by an employee about settlement checks for certain clients, I looked at her like SHE was dumb? What checks? When did you give them to me? Are you sure, I asked. Off she went to be sure....and came back...not just with the settlement checks, but MORE checks that I had stuffed in my desk and forgotten about....IN FRONT OF Hubby....oh boy, was I in trouble.

Tuesdays, I call in payroll. Today is Wednesday, no payroll yet....hmmm. Gotta run to the ofc 1st thing and do that....Yikes!

Overdrafted last week on my checking account! Hence, a big $60 hickey from the bank-(two $30 hits) ...not an enjoyable hickey if you kwim..... Err ummm, glad I don't share accounts with the Hubby....

Had to "borrow" $100 to pay the maid yesterday....b/c er um, I overdrafted last week and haven't gotten paid yet....I had to explain that I paid ALL the bills and had no $$ left....Hubby understood...of course, this, after I confiscated his "rat hole" money to buy Dad his birthday gift this weekend....he started to question my accounting skills....then yesterday happened at work...no question anymore, my accounting work is going to be monitored. He's already resorted to his "CC!" voice, shock and awe in his voice....

This past Saturday when I went in to work, I got home, wondering where my Propel fitness water was...well yesterday when I got to work, I found it on my 2nd desk...along with a comment from an employee that I had left the PC on...seems I just walked out Saturday...just walked out like there was a firedrill or something, and never came back.....oooh boy. Did I lock the door? Can't remember.

That's not all, but all I have time for this morning, as I have to rush to work to call in payroll....oh and make sure the transfer to payroll acct is done since I normally do that on Thursdays but won't be in (we're leaving for Austin tonight) which means I have loads of house things to do before we leave. IL's will be here to care for the troop (oh boy).....yikes! I feel I've forgotten to do something and I can't figure out what it is....

BB Friday night or Saturday morning...Staying at the Marriott @ the Capitol (where the Seminar is being held) Else, we'd stay at our FAVORITE hotel in the big state of Texas! The Driskill.....oh my....memories memories!

OMG! I almost forgot! Hubby agreed to go the Real Estate route with me! I'd wanted to enroll/register for my first class this past July but IVF etc. came up...well we talked yesterday and he's up for it. Wants me to get my license and he'll support me all the way through it! I can't wait now! I have all of my paperwork, just need to complete it all and send it off, and pull out my Catalog and look up the next round of classes and when they start etc! All this came about since our neighbors house went up for auction yesterday --everyone and their ex's (literally) are bidding on it. Its the worst disaster of a house I've ever seen, but its the property value everyone's buying....so we got on the topic and he mentioned my previous interest in getting my license! And said, let's go for it! Of course, with the idea that "someday" I'll have my own office & be the broker instead of the agent! Thats such a long way away, but as we discussed, the best "retirement" job one can think of!

6 weeks

Wow! How time flies! 6 weeks already, seems like just yesterday I was overjoyed about my bfp!



Baby: Size of a small lentil bean (4 to 5 millimeters across) Baby's heart starts to beat, though it's almost impossible to hear. By the end of this week, buds on ends of embryonic arms and legs grow into webs that will become fingers and toes & blood will be circulating throughout our little baby embryo. Her intestines are developing and tiny breathing passages are beginning to appear where her lungs will be. She's also starting to build muscle fibers and, halfway through this week, she'll likely start moving her tiny limbs. (taken in substantive part from BabyCenter & Pregnancy.org)

Me: VERY fatigued still. Tender bb's, backache, and mild cramping are regular du jour symptoms. Yesterday, felt some nausea. Other very noticeable symptom is "mask of pregnancy, or brown spots on my face! Regrettably, from the vivelle estradiol/estrogen patches. I went back and read up, and yes, it is a side effect of the patches. I'm dreading them getting worse and I've been avoiding the sun like the plague as it only worsens symptoms. Dear sis said she had the same and has a cream she recommends. Of course, I'll have to wait til AFTER the baby is born to use it....darn these little brown patches!

Dad: Still overjoyed, still nesting. Yesterday, we told the IL's we're pregnant. Asked MIL to pray for us. FIL & MIL continue to debate the boy/girl issue. FIL wants a boy MIL, a girl. Both joust back and forth about which it will be and who will "win" We've decided that FIL has a 66% chance of being right, MIL 33%.

Update on A:
Got an email from her, she had more contractions yesterday, and they were able to stpo them. She's at the WH, where I suspected she'd be, still in very good hands. I plan on sending flowers but don't know whether I should "visit" her personally. I know its very touchy and go, and don't know what's the proper protocol at this point.

Today, I plan on setting out my Fall/Harvest decorations, I have plenty to choose from as this is my favorite season of all. Love opening the door to fresh cool breeze feeling. Hubby agress with me. I also enjoy hthe Harvest moon, which my mom absolutely loves and points out every chance she gets. Yes, I'll be decorating today and prepping for my favorite season....

c

A

I posted awhile back about a nice/dear FF of mine who made my day by easing my nervousness / anxiety with some nice words. I raved about her, I'm sure. Well I'm not sure if I posted that she also sent me a nice pregnancy journal last week. I met her on FF, and realized that we both live in Houston and were treating at the same clinic.

During the week of my betas, she emailed me daily, keeping up with me and very much interested/concerned about my welfare. She suffered through OHSS so I had alot of questions for her about that, as well as guiding me through IVF with questions/concerns. She also followed me closely during the IVF process, asking my estrogen levels, wanting to know about ER, fertilization reports etc. Just a jewel if there ever was one.

Anyway, she went through Femara, IUI's etc like I did, and finally moved on to IVF-ICSI-PGD and is now pregnant with a baby girl (24 weeks).

Well Thursday, she went into labor and is now in the hospital. She needs lots of prayers for her little one. She's on strict bedrest, her amniotic sac is trying to escape through the cerclage stitch she has in place due to incompetent cervix. Her baby is only a little over 1 pound. She's hooked up to monitors and they expect her to stay in the hospital until the baby is born.

Lots of prayers are needed at this time.... she needs to get her little "puschka" to grow in utero but the situation is very touch and go. She is in the best care possible with Dr. Adam, perintologist (sp?) renowned nation wide and among the top 10 in the nation. Although she is in the best of hands, the power of prayer can not be understated....We women know that if we were in my friends shoes, we would appreciate the love, support and prayers from even strangers to us.

Everything up to this point had been uneventful, seeing her High Risk Peri every 10 days though. Never had a problem and although they had mentioned that she'd be on bedrest after 12 weeks, she never did get bedrest instructions since she was doing so well....Prayers prayers and more prayers are needed. That's all we can really do for her, after all.





Keep you posted

c

Happy Birthday Dad!

Phew! Belly has gone down significantly, not really coming through in this pic, but considering where it was just a week ago, I consider this pretty flat~

Weight adjusting nicely, still holding at 129....(wanted to lose to 120 but with this new 'development' don't expect to get there any time soon)

On the homefront; Roger came in & did his work, was done by noon and now we have no more leaking...just need the ceiling area to dry then we can start on getting it repaired.

A new set of plumbers came in, did all sorts of roto-rooting...and the problems appear to be solved...just hoping it stays that way!

Today! My Daddy's 76th Birthday. Born September 3, 1929, he is Father to 7 children, 13 grandchildren and 2 great grand children. Inspiration to all of us, we get our generosity & hard working ethic from him (Mom's a hard worker too, let me not count her out on that one). Dad always encouraged us to church, sometimes overdoing it, causing me to rebel as a teen and get a weekend job just to "keep busy" Most of us are practicing catholics...a few (Bobby & I) catholics without "attending" church. And Betty B - a non-denominationalist since she married in 1976.

We're all going over to Mom & Dad's this evening. Gotta run out and get his birthday present. What do I get the man who has everything and needs nothing? Hmmm...always a predicament for me come Birthdays, holidays etc. I'll think of something as usual...

On the baby front: Feeling better than yesterday which was a day full of cramping, laying in bed til 11am, sooo tired I worked just 2 hours & came home.... Feeling a tight, pulling sensation over the lower middle area of my abdomen.

Not much else to report. Will update pics of tonight laterz....meanwhile I have an appeal I brought home that I need to belt out & get in the mail by this evening, the deadline having been yesterday...postage stamped on the envelope already! :)

c

The money pit

Seems like since the day we moved into this house, we've had nothing but expenditure after expenditure. I can't even begin to count how many times we've had plumbers, electricians, a/c men, cable, pest control, you name it, in our home, trekking to & fro repairing something or other. Not to menton the things we have yet to address, like the foundation issues we are clearly having....lots of cracks in the corners of doorways and some door now not closing all the way. Well nothings changed....

We've been without the hall bathroom since about June. Prior to that, we had toilet problems (I'd say about April)had that repaired, but apparently, what they did, didn't do the job. In June the toilet finally backed up on us again. Since then, Hubby hasn't been able to get the same plumbers out..or the alternate plumbers for that matter. Seems they are avoiding us like the plague...as if our problems aren't worth what we pay for repairs....So finally, after almost 8 weeks of no hall bath, we're having plumbers come in to "fix" the toilet problem, which has been backing up into the shower (ew, I know) after which I dare say I'll vehemently hate showering in until someone cleans it. So finally, after complaining that, hey, a pregnant woman shouldn't be exposed to "toxic" material or smells (i.e., the crap in the shower) new plumbers will be coming out tomorrow to look at our problem and hopefully, not gouge our eyes out in the process.

On top of that...we found that our beloved Formal Dining room has, once again, fallen victim to what we thought was rain damage.. We had that repaired in 2002. I can't even begin to remember the total cost, just know it was thousands of dollars. Then, I had to pay someone $375 just to clean my Maria Theresa chandelier, since it had filled with soot and flaking paint from the water damage. Not to mention that my dining table was all but ruined...still have not called Kinkaid to find out if they sell the replacement leaves.






So Hubby decided one day to open the door (we keep it closed to keep Tango out of there) and voila! water damage had once again torn a whole in our ceiling, dripping onto my dining table (again) and of course, causing ceiling damage and messing up my chandelier....

So, hubby had a bright idea. He thought it hadn't rained enough for there to be this kind of so-called water damage... So he called Roger(yes, we are now on a first name basis with our A/C guy, having replaced so many a/c units-our home takes 3 to cool/heat-and heating elements it isn't even funny.) So Roger came on out, took a look up in the attic and determined that, the coil was rusted, the water pan thing-a-ma-jig is rusted, and basically it all needs replacing....wha? again? Total cost? $1,050.00---wow.

Add to that our plumbers bill ??? ---looks like we're not gonna have a fun weekend at all....

Add to that the fact that we have a long laundry list of things around the house that need repair/replacement (see oh, a post April 22, 2005) and I think I even posted one before or after that....sigh

Good thing is, Hubby is starting to nest, hence the sudden movement on getting everything in order.

Oh, and did I mention that we had a major water break upstairs a few months back, which resulted in water damage to my utility room (yes it leaked all the way through to the 1st floor) So this Saturday, we have a guy coming over to assess/estimate the cost of tearing down the ceiling/re-applying a ceiling *whatever that is called* then repainting etc....He's also going to paint the garage (a very long awaited project) so that I can finally park my car in there....I've refused to since we moved in, it stinks in there, its hot and there are spiders everywhere.....

All this to say, I'm glad the nesting bug has hit Hubby. He doesn't have a lot of honey-do's from me. He has yardmen --so yardwork is never a problem. I have a maid....who comes in to do the "hard" and tedious stuff. I'd say we're about equal on that end. But every now and then the patio needs power washing (yes, I bought him not one, but two power washers), the cob webs need taking down from the porte-coche, where bees tend to nest and make mud-houses everywhere, thereby causing me to run in and out of the house to my car everyday.....yes, this house has been a money pit from the day we moved in...requiring a full inside & outside paint job from day 1, and that was just the beginning...

Roger will be here at 7am tomorrow. Once his work is done, we'll be having the guy who's repairing the utility room, also look at the dining room, and give us his estimate on getting that repaired. Of course, before ANY of that work starts, I need my chandelier taken down....for fear that the guy will do sth and I envision coming hom to see poor Maria Theresa on the floor, crashed and broken in millions of gazillions of little pieces.... yes before anything, Maria Theresa is coming down....

Happy 2nd Birthday Tango!

Happy Birthday to my little kitty cat Tango!

Hubby rescued her when she was just a kitten from the middle of an intersection, busy with cars, trucks and 18 wheelers whizzing by her...He stopped in the middle and caught her from behind. He was sure she would have ran had she seen him coming but luckily, it was noisy and she didn't hear him approaching..

Tango on October 3, 2002, about 5 weeks old...and still very gun shy!


Up on the bed....tsk tsk!



In her full bunny pose....she trusts us enough to expose her belly!


Being mean to Sasha...


Pretending she's not nibbling on my house plants!


Enjoying her new bed


Can someone say MEOW???


Taking a treat...


Where's Tango?


By her Hero's side...he literally came in and sprawled out on the floor and fell asleep...happens when he's totally exhausted after a ride on his Harley Fatboy




On Qiqi's birthday...she wanted attention so she thought she's jump behind the mini blinds and make AS MUCH noise as possible




And finally, today...with her Birthday present...ahem, she's easy to please, a box from the case of gatorade I bought to relieve ym OHSS>....she immediately jumped in it and got to playing....