Hawaiian Babymoon

Justin and I were spent 9 days, 8 nights on Oahu last week. It was so relaxing to be away from the hustle and bustle. This will be our last trip until Izzy arrives. The weather was so so. Most days were cloudy with sun breaks, which still wasn't bad. We only had one day of down pour and drizzle. We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village at the end of Waikiki, so we were able to walk into town and do a little shopping. I would say we walked 3-4 miles a day. It felt so good! The first night there, I dropped our new camera in the case and shattered the screen. I was so bummed, but luckily we had our camcorder that has a picture feature!

View from our room.

Belly shots.



We rented a car and ventured to the northshore beach one day. The waves are much bigger on the northshore and you get a more local feeling than tourist which Justin and I both love. On the way there we stopped by the DOLE plantation and had a very yummy lunch and pineapple ice cream! YUM!



Northshore beach during the mid afternoon.
Northshore beach a little farther down the road at sunset. The waves were gigantic!

Northshore sunset.

Another day, we flew to Hawaii for a day trip. Our trip to was much different than what we expected. We have been to Maui and Oahu before, so thought an island that neither one of us has seen before would be fun. Not much to see there in Hilo...infact I felt like I was in Aberdeen! We couldn't find a cute restaurant or anything. Our highlights to the Big Island were driving down the coast to a small hick town, hiking the Kilauea Iki at the Volcanoes National Park, and seeing the Rainbow Falls. The Kilauea Iki hike was 4 miles, it descends 400 ft. through a native rain forest and into a crater where we walked across the frozen lava lake from the 1959 eruption. Then we had to hike back to the top! I was so proud of myself!!! Of course we took it slow and stopped several times so that I wouldn't over do it. As we were about to head back to the airport to catch our flight to Hawaii, I couldn't find my passport! The tickets were under my maiden name, so I had to use my passport to fly. I was so scared that I wouldn't be able to get back. Luckily I had kept my old driver's license with my maiden name on it! Whew! The only bummer about my passport is that it had my St. Lucia stamp from our wedding. I cried over it...those darn hormones!

Start of the hike in the rain forest.

Peek at what was to come...the frozen lava lake! That is what we crossed over! It was huge! Justin near a steam hole on the frozen lava lake.
Climbing out of the crater.
A look back at what we just hiked! We started clear across the other side on the top!


The end is near!!!!
Rainbow Falls.

So a very nice woman offered to take our picture with the waterfall behind us. She was definitely on something by her shakiness (hence the fuzzy picture :( ) and the way she was talking and moving about. I seriously thought she was going to drop our camcorder! Thank God she didn't!

Isabella Rae (Izzy)

Finally got to a scanner! Here are the January u/s pics at 20 weeks of our little Izzy.

The strip of three are a bit scary! She kind of looks like an alien. :) When we were still in the u/s room after finding out it was a girl, Justin was super quiet. I thought maybe he was nervous about having a little girl after growing up with all boys and then raising boys. I asked if he was okay and his response was..."I'm a little concerned that she looks like an alien." HA! I giggled at that. Not the most flattering pictures of Izzy! Today marks my 22 week and 4 day! Our baby girl weighs about 1lbs and is about 8 inches long...think about the size of a small doll! I can't believe it. Time is going by so quickly. She can hear our voices this week and her other senses have developed too! Last night I think I felt her hiccup for the first time. It was pretty crazy whatever it was... consecutive thumps! I've been feeling great. Just a little slower and a bit more uncomfortable. My mom is coming over tomorrow to help paint the nursery. I can't wait to have it all done. Hopefully we can set up the crib on Sunday and then I can start adding all the decorative touches!

21 Weeks and 5 Days

Happy Valentine's Day!


Today marks the 21st week 5th day and I'm feeling great! The only thing is my feet are starting to hurt and swell. I've also been tossing and turning trying to get comfy when I sleep. Besides that... I'm really starting to enjoy pregnancy and I love watching my tummy grow! The baby is moving around quite a bit now and sometimes I can see my tummy jump.
This weekend we are getting the crib and changing table! I am so excited...it's like Christmas for a child! We are also going to start our registry tomorrow as part of our valentine date night. So romantic I know. I'm really looking forward to spending some one on one time with Justin tomorrow. He has been out of town every week since the beginning of January. Thankfully his trip next week is just overnight!

Pink or Blue?

PINK!!!! We are having a girl! We are so excited...that little girl is going to have Justin and her brothers wrapped around her finger! I'm so excited now to move forward with nursery plans. Our family is in for shock with a girl! We are so use to boy things that this is going to be a ton of fun.

Things went well in the ultrasound. Everything is on track and looking good. The due date remains the same. I'll post the pictures when I can get to a scanner!

19 week belly shots

So it seems as if I popped out over night and each day I feel a bit bigger. It is so exciting to watch my belly grow. My favorite part about being pregnant is feeling the baby! The movements are getting stronger each day and I am so amazed by the feeling and thought of a human growing inside of me. I am so excited to meet him or her! Justin is able to feel the baby slightly too, which is fun for us both to experience together. Along with my belly and baby growing, so have my hips. The other morning I woke up and felt like a baseball bat was taken to my hips. On the positive side, I think I've hit my plateau for growing in other places besides the belly...knock on wood!!! We find out on Monday what we are having! Stay tuned...

Vegas Baby

I just returned home from a quick weekend getaway in Vegas. Justin is staying for business until Wednesday. It was quite a different experience going to Vegas pregnant. It was actually really nice waking up every morning feeling normal! We arrived Friday night and went out to dinner with my sister, Sarah, who lives in Vegas. We ate at Tao at the Venetian. It was a fun experience. I did a lot of people watching... Vegas nightlife is very entertaining! Saturday we went to the new mall...I can't remember what it is called, but it was really nice. It reminded me of an outdoor mall in LA that Sarah and I went to back in May. Can't remember the name of that mall either! We also went to the Tropicana and saw a comedy show. It was hilarious and we had a great time. To end our Saturday night, we went to Paris and had crepes!!! Oh my goodness they were sooo good! On Sunday, we walked around the strip for awhile being tourists before I had to catch my flight back to Seattle. The weather was around 64, the perfect weather for t-shirt and jeans! It was really nice to feel the sun! I felt huge all weekend. I'm at that stage where I look fat or pregnant and the judgment is in the eyes of the beholder. It was so wonderful seeing my sister. It will probably be the last time until the baby is born. :(

I finally scanned my last ultrasound pictures from December and posted them below! So I thought I was one week ahead, but I had my regular checkup and my doctor said that my due date has not changed. So, June 22nd is the due date and I am back to being one week behind what I thought. It really doesn't matter now. As long as our baby is healthy. Because I'm pushed back a week, our 20 week ultrasound won't happen until the first week in February. We are getting so anxious to find out what we are having! I've been feeling a lot of little movements! It is so amazing! I stop in my tracks every time to see if the baby will move again. I spent my morning reorganizing my closet and making room for all of the maternity clothes that friends have graciously let me borrow! It is really depressing not being able to fit into your clothes anymore and it all happened so fast.

This is my favorite picture! The abdomen and little legs. So adorable!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! We had a pretty low key evening. The Graham family came over along with our friend Amy. We had a nice suprise visit by Katie and Jerame right before the new year rang in. The boys lit off fire works of course. We played a few games as well. Our tradition every year is to eat chinese food on New Years Eve. Justin has had that tradition since he can remember. It's a fun tradition to do.

We are excited for 2009! Lots of excitement heading our way... we will be able to find out the sex of our baby near the end of the month! I'm so excited to start decorating the nursery. Can't wait!!!! Tyson and Justin will be back into the full swing of baseball starting in February. That should be fun sitting on bleachers in my 3rd trimester! I'll probably need to bring my own folding chair. I'm really looking forward to the boys playing ball again. Tyson's team is so competitive with a lot of action usually. Isaiah's team is still learning the game, but in a year or so the competitive spirits will come alive! Also in 2009, I'm praying for my little sister Tala and her husband Brian to move home...hint, hint! I know they want to, I'm just excited for it to happen. :)

Many blessings to everyone this new year! We hope that you have a happy, successful, filled with love year!

Okay, here it finally is...the belly shot at 16weeks!