The Foster's Big Adventure

Who's looking?

2010-06-09T10:20:00.003-10:00

So a little while ago I put this live feed gadget on the blog cause I was curious who was looking at our blog. I had a few odd people following the blog and just wanted to see if we needed to go private or not. Anyway, what I learned is that there are a lot of people checking it out, which means that I really should be updating it more. But what I found out that was more interesting than who was checking things out but what they were looking at. If you google the following phrase, '4-d ultrasound 32 weeks', check out what you find. Kind of odd but I guess there are a lot of people who are looking at our ultrasound pictures. Weird, cool, creepy, or flattering, who knows.

Eme names the new set of calf twins on the ranch

2010-05-21T18:38:00.002-10:00

So here is the video of Eme giving us the names of the calf twins. So Papa - it is Purple & Purple 2. If Hoagy can come up with something better then you should probably use his names since he is a dog.

Happy Day - Homecoming Day

2010-05-07T21:49:00.000-10:00

Monday was the day we have been waiting for 181 days since Nov 3rd: Homecoming day for Brad's boat. It was a long day but a very happy day too. Brad boat came in late afternoon and we did not get home until late evening. It was like Brad never left for both Eme and I. Eme loved dancing at the pier to the Navy Band while we waited for the boat to arrive. They had star klackers that she loved to play with too. She spent most of the time waiting dancing and clacking her star. As the boat finally pulled up to the pier she started calling out for Daddy. She couldn't wait for the boat to get docked and wanted to go down and get Daddy on the boat. They finally got out to the top and disembarked in rank order from most junior to the most senior, which meant that Brad was the 8th to last person off the boat. We waved to Daddy when he finally got up topside and made our way over to the brow, which is the walkway from the boat to the pier. Eme kicked her way out of my arms and ran down the brow into Brad's arms screaming Daddy. Unfortunately, the picture man was no where to be found so we have no pictures of this but I tried to recreate it when Brad went back down to get all of his stuff. It was a very happy day and Eme reacted better than ever expected. Here are some pictures from the day.

Eme and I waiting for the boat.

As the boat arrived in the harbor, all of the other boats in the port sounded their horns as they passed by. Hearing this sound brought tears to my eyes and butterflies to my heart.

We made a lei for the boat out of plastic table cloths. It was huge.

Sorry for the sideways picture. These were the leis that we made for each sailor on the boat and the crafts that the MWR provided for the kiddos.

Eme playing with her klacker.

Seeing the boat up close and personal for the first time brought excitement and hugs. We practiced lots of big hugs and kisses for Daddy.

There is Brad topside third from the left.

Giving Daddy the Klacker to play with.

Our first family picture in 6 months.

Eme wanted to touch the lantern in the arch.

A family of cheese head smiles. This is my favorite family picture to date!

Eme and Daddy.

Here is the cup sign that the announced the homecoming.

Artistic pictures of the lei I made for Brad, his cover and the rose he gave me.

The banner that we put up at the house.

A magnet on the fridge that can go on the car too.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-05T20:11:00.004-10:00

So Brad was around for Halloween this year so I made him rearrange the storage unit to find the costumes I had bought for Eme and the dogs last year. We Trick or Treated via Skype to family and then I took Eme to one house to visit. She got an orange as her treat cause there wasn't anything else that she could eat and Mary did not feel right about letting her leave with an empty bag. So here are some pictures of the three of them together. Enjoy!

I am pretty sure that I can pick this one up too!!

Ruby is sacked out, as we say, cause being a ladybug is really hard work. Rika is pretty done too. Our dogs are such good sports. It has been a very long while since they were dressed up so they have nothing to compain about.

Not a great picture but the best of all three of them together.

She is so big!!!

Enjoy!

Starting a new chapter

2009-11-05T15:19:00.006-10:00

So we are going to ignore the fact that I have not blogged in forever. Sorry to those who looked her to keep up with us. I have been plain lazy about blogging and other things so there isn't an excuse. I am hoping to get better and I am going to move my computer back down stairs as that is when I fell off the blogging world. So we will see.

What has been going on??? Brad left on his deployment a few days ago so Eme and I are finding our groove so to speak. We have a routine that we found worked a few weeks ago when Brad left for a short underway.

Eme is growing like a weed. She has gotten so big it is unreal. As some may know we have been going through some allergy and GI issues for a while now. I think that we have found the cause and know how to fix things. She is on a milk, soy and wheat/gluten free diet now. Well, we both are as I am not going to fix multiple things for her and I to eat. It is hard enough to cook for one and then another half meal for her. So we are getting away from processed foods and back to fresh fruit, veggies and meats. This also means that I am having to cook more. It has made the world of difference in her attitude and persona for lack of a better word. She is much happier, giggling, playing by herself and fun little girl. I had to put wheat back into her diet for the past week and a half so that we could get one last blood test run. We thankfully got that blood test yesterday so we are back to the diet now. Incidentally, I had my blood test results come back negative so we will see what that actually means. I don't really trust what this dr says as she did not want to order the test anyway. I am interested to see what Eme's numbers are going to come back as. I just hope that they have run the right test as I don't want to add gluten back in because there really is a difference in her personality.

So I today I am making pumpkin muffins. And for dinner we are going to have pork chops for dinner. I am not sure how I feel about the chops cause I am not a huge pork fan anymore. I will give it a good try though cause if Eme doesn't eat it I will have lots of left overs.

Here are a few pictures from the Pier at the boat BBQ before they left.

A friend of ours captured Eme running crazy on the pier. She kept wanting to run to the gang plank thingy that you board the boat on. It had stairs and Eme decided that she needs to climb all stairs no matter where they lead.

Here is the boat pushed away from the pier. It takes forever for this to happen once the sailors load the boat. Well, maybe not as long if the Supply Officer did not leave something somewhere and have to run to go get it. Anyway, I got a wicked sunburn for sitting out there for so long. Eme was a little pink but thankfully she has Brad's skin and did not burn. I will remember the sunscreen for homecoming!!

Here is the boat hitting the open channel out of Pearl Harbor. There wives all traveled from the pier to the point to see them leave. Counting down the days to see the boat going the opposite direction!!!

Here is Brad and I before he left. And you wonder where Eme gets her cheese face from right. Oh yeah, Brad decided that it would be a good idea to shave his head for the deployment to be able to keep a timeline in pictures, by the amount of hair on his head. So, I took the clippers and shaved his head, only after asking him 15 times if he was sure. Then he lathered up his head and shaved it clean. So maybe once he gets back I will post the pictures of his timeline and see how it worked out.

A day at the playground

2009-07-25T20:57:00.006-10:00

So it has been a while and lots of things have happened since I last wrote.

Brad started his Engineering school so he is home during the week at a reasonable time and sometimes on the weekend too. It has been really nice having dinner as a family. He is getting some much needed bonding time so that makes my heart happy. It is going to be hard having him around right now then having to adjust real soon for his upcoming deployment. I am trying to savor every minute that we have him here until he has to go into the great blue yonder.

Last weekend we went to a playground at the elementary school down the street. Eme really enjoyed it and once she got going she did not want to go home. But a nap was calling her name so off we went.

Look Eme there is a giant hole to go through. Daddy shows her how to climb through.

Dad, you want me to go through this hole...

But why on earth would I do that when I can just as easily go around. See!!Look Mom, I did it like Daddy, right.Okay, I will do it like Daddy did but only if Mommy helps. Tada!!!Dad, I don't know about this slide thing but I LOVE STAIRS!!!

Guys, I really don't know about this...

Okay, that was fun!!!

Now Daddy goes down with me right... This is the big curly slide. It is really big!!!Yeah, that was so much fun!!!!! Daddy rubbed the skin of his toe but I had a great time.

This was probably the best time of the day for me. She wouldn't let go of Daddy's hand when it was time to go.

Man, I was parched!!! She is not a little baby any more. She is growing up so fast. She even has enough hair to put into pig tails now.

Upstairs bathroom

2009-05-25T10:59:00.005-10:00

Here are some before and after pictures of the house. This is what the bathroom upstairs used to look like:
Here is a new shower curtain that I made and the painted walls and cabinet.
I made curtains for the doors since there were not any doors to begin with.

And here is the detail of the shower curtain, I made 12 button holes for the rings to pass through.

More to come later!!

Update

2009-05-24T21:25:00.002-10:00

So we found out what the fussiness was from - a double ear infection, a sinus infection and a high narrow palate, along with the GI issues and a milk & soy allergy.

This poor kiddo has a right to be fussy and screeching and all the rest. I feel so bad that I did not see the signs that pointed to the ear infections, very wobbly (attributed to learning how to walk), jaw clicking, drooling and chewing (attributed to teething), and the outbursts (attributed to normal toddler Independence) but she did not have a fever like the last time. Anyway, we got her medicated and waited to see if she did better. We went back to the dr a few days later, as she was not doing better and got some ear drops that numb her ear to help with the pain. I took her back to the dr to get her ears checked once the antibiotics ran out, well one side had cleared up and the other was still infected. So another round of antibiotics and ear drops. She is still wobbly but seems to be getting better, the tantrums and outbursts have turned in the the occasional and not the daily/hourly occurrence. So she is doing much better and is back to our happy baby again. On the GI issues, I have removed all dairy and soy from her diet, put her back on a prescription formula and increased her medicines. I am hoping to try to reduce her meds once she is healthy or at least trial them again.

Since I have been dealing with all of this by myself, I had a surprise last minute visitor come out. My dad made a special trip out to help me with Eme and specifically to help out with the long to do list for the house. Well, after 10 days here, and am very happy to say that we are done with home improvements for a very long time. There are 3 things left to be painted and a few boxes left to be packed up. This is a very different house than before. We have made changes to every room but the kitchen since we moved in. Well, we have made a few minor changes in the kitchen but nothing that is as noticeable as the other rooms. I tell you this, I was so busy, as I needed to be, I did not have a bit of down time. When Eme was asleep, I was working, when Eme was awake, I was working, when Eme was at day care, I was working, when Eme was playing with Grandpa, I was working. Once my dad left I crashed so hard that I am just now recovering. I think I still have paint on places that I can't see to get off. Once I get back into my groove, I will post pictures to show before and after of what we did. We did manage to go to the zoo and headed out to the west side of the island to explore.

Dad -
Thank you so very much, I can't express my appreciation and gratitude for your willingness to come out and help me with anything that I needed. I could not have done it without you!!!

Crazy fussiness

2009-05-06T20:23:00.004-10:00

Hey there, sorry I have been MIA. There has been a lot going on and Eme has been super fussy. We have had to go back to the dr and the GI to see what is up and how to help her. It is amazing how a screeching baby all day long can drain the life out of you. I have had very little energy to get up and blog so I have not posted anything. I do have some pictures and video that I need to get uploaded so I am hoping to get that done soon so I can share. We did finally set up the web cam and Skype so we can chat with people. It is pretty cool and amazingly simple. If you have not tried it, you should.

Anyway, I am off to bed to rejuvenate for another day. But here are some April Photogs for you.

Simple toys for Eme, a really big box... event he dogs got in this one with her.
A wooden spoon, some Tupperware and yes, even a roll of toilet paper. She carried it around every where. The spoon is really her princess scepter, she turns the dogs into goons pretty regularly.

While we were cleaning out the downstairs closet, we found Brad's old soccer ball. It is very deflated and probably doesn't hold air any more but I decided to give it to Eme as she is getting more agile and I thought she might like it. Yes, she loves it. Problem is that she would not let go of it for anything. I just asked her if she wanted to put her ball down so I could change her diaper. Answer - how about no mom. And no we don't let her run around naked, but this day she was naked as a jay bird.

She would not even put the ball down when I changed her diaper.

See mom, you can change my diaper with me holding on to my ball and laughing!!! I love my ball.

Off to bed now. Love and aloha!!

Happy Easter!!

2009-04-12T11:02:00.005-10:00

We got all dressed up and headed over to the Marine Corp base for an Easter Egg hunt only to find out that it was yesterday. Oh well, not that Eme really would have know what was going on anyway. We still have a boat Easter party to go to so she will get to hunt eggs there. So instead we headed over to Pinky's, our favorite pupu bar and grill, to eat a yummy breakfast buffet. It was really good. Brad and I had mimosas, eggs Benedict with crab cakes and spinach, salmon with lobster and crab in a yummy cream sauce, fruit, prime rib, and the typical breakfast foods. It was very good. Eme had some french toast which was a first for her. She loved it. She was getting tired so we made it a quick breakfast and headed home for a nap for all. Here are some pictures from this morning.

Eme reading the Easter book to Daddy

Eme excited that she got a cute little Easter bunny basket from our friends next door.

Happy Easter all dressed up, head to toe navy and pink

Eme was toast since it was close to nap time. She was a trooper and made it through the meal with out too much fussing. She decided that she was done and ready for her nap so she used her new bunny lovey as a pillow on the table. Thanks Grandma! That is her new sippy cup with a straw that she loves.

Here is Brad's boat coming home yesterday.

Special outfits & Signs

2009-04-09T21:04:00.007-10:00

I have to post a few pictures of Eme in her newest outfits. A very good friend in Washington sent Eme some new onsies that she decorated for her. She is very talented and has made these for some other friends too. Now Eme gets to join the ranks of the cool kid shirt club. Thanks Vaiva!!

Eme in her new Initial shirt.

It has a special friend on the back. It is an elephant. A new animal to learn about.

And a purple subbie shirt!!! While I was taking pictures, Eme was doing some sign language too. Here is her sign for please. You are suppose to rub a circle on your chest and she kind of swipes her hand across her chest. Here is a Thank You to Vaiva. She hasn't yet learned to pull her hand away from her mouth yet. This is also her sign for blowing/throwing kisses, again she doesn't get the hand motion yet. She does know the difference and context to use them. If she hears the words, she will make the sign.
Here is "all gone" or "all done". I am not sure if this is one that is official but it works for us.

Here is more. She has been using this for a while now when she wants more food and I have gotten her to combine it with please, so she signs "more please". She has recently started using it for other things, like when she wants another book or to read it again. Also, when she wants another song or more outside/stroller time. This is where did it go or I don't know. Again probably not an official sign. And this is Eme walking toward me after she was done with pictures.

I am trying to work some additional signs into her language so that she can learn to communicate with us a little more. I am using this website because it is pretty easy to understand. I also have a book and a few dvd's too.

I better put my running shoes on!!!

2009-04-08T21:25:00.004-10:00

So Eme has been cruising along for the past few months. We all thought that she would be an early walker. But she has not really wanted to get up an go until now. Recently, she has been taking steps like this every so often. I have been trying for weeks to catch her on video but every time I pull out the camera, she sits down and shakes her head at me as if to say "No pictures". For the most part, she is still crawling.

Please pardon the outfit, she has been sick and I keep having to change her top or bottom because she has an accident or throws up on it. Needless to say, I have stopped trying to have her match when she is at home.

And yes, that is a necklace on her. It is actually an amber teething necklace that a mom sent me from one of the online mommy groups I visit a lot. She said it helped her daughter and she wanted to pass it on to someone who was teething. So I figured what the neck, I will try anything within reason right now. The poor kid is just had one molar come through and another one is poking out now. That will make her third molar. Her teeth count is at 7 on top and almost 6 on bottom.

I hope you enjoy this. I worked hard to capture it.

A few videos for our fans

2009-03-30T20:03:00.014-10:00

Eme has been really sick for the past week, well not really sick she just throws up every afternoon and has an ear infection and is very congested. Way more than I really want her little body dealing with at one time. Anyway, we have had a lot of time together because I have not been able to take her to day care so we have been playing and reading lots of books. We recently received a bunch of hand-me-down toys that included lots of new books. Instead of playing with the toys, Eme's first choice out of the bag was a book. What can you say when you have two geeky parents? Besides, I make her watch "Sid The Science Kid" on PBS every morning so she is going to be somewhat geeky, right?? So anyway, we have been reading lots of books over and over and over and over again. So, you may ask, "Has she learned anything?". Well, watch the below video and you will see what she has learned.

I hope you enjoyed the video. I have some more that I can post. I am trying to get video of Eme doing what walking that she does right now to show the progress but she sits down every time I pull out the camera.

Oh, Eme has another dr's appointment to see what is wrong with her. She has been really congested, runny nose and a cough. Then she started throwing up and hasn't stopped. She is on just liquids which is hard because anytime she sees food she wants it. She will stand under the counter and point up to where the banana tree is and point and grunt and squeal. She loves her some bananas. I will see what the dr has to say about it tomorrow. There are so many variables going on that we are pinning them down and weeding them out. It has been rough but at least she is staying somewhat hydrated. I was able to get her to keep down some oatmeal and applesauce today but she still had a few minor throwups. I hope that she is on her way to getting better.

Here are a few pictures that we recently took at Sears. First, a family photo at 1 year old.

Next, my 2 sailors.And last, Eme and I playing with flowers.

Update - Eme's birthday party and St Patrick's day

2009-03-24T22:11:00.005-10:00

Hey all, sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have been super busy and don't seem to be on the computer all that much right now. I am trying hard to get stuff packed up into storage and cleaned out a little bit. It seems to be very cathartic as I keep doing more and more. We got a 9x13 storage unit for a super deal so I am trying to get the house into shape.

Eme's birthday party went pretty well. We had major rain that morning so the pool idea was out so we ended up in the house playing with Eme's toys. It worked out very well and I think everyone had a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures from the morning.

Here is a family shot after cake time. I made reduced sugar cupcakes, mini cupcakes. 68 of them to be exact. I iced 24 of them the night before and they turned out really cute. I figured that the kiddos would not mind not having all that sugar in them and they really did not taste all that different. I also made sausage pinwheels for the adults, which got rave reviews. I love making them because they are so easy and really are tasty!! By the way, Eme is holding a Mum Mum cracker instead of eating cake. She did not want the cupcake and actually spit it out.

Here is Xavier trying to get the balls out of the Penguin, which was a gift from the Lambert's. Thank you Wendy and Chris.

Here the kiddos are watching Eme open her presents.

Later that day we did some laundry so Eme helped. She likes watching the stuff spin in there.

Here are some pictures from St. Patrick's Day. She was playing with the favors from her party, wrist warmers/sport wristbands whatever you call them. She wore them on her ankles for most of the day.

PS, Grandpa, here is a picture of her bowling ball head for you. I took these and thought WOW she really does have a round head. Anyway, I think the hair do really accentuates it.

Hey camera, look at me. This is the look of trouble!!! I have a hard time not melting when she looks at me now, I can't wait to see how I react when she is asking for the car. And this is a picture of her March 18th after her 1 year well baby check up. She had to have her blood drawn so she is sporting a pretty pink pressure bandage. She did really well while they took her blood. She did have a light bruise a few days later.

So that is a little update for you. Sorry it took so long to get them up. I will have more soon.

Happy Birthday My Love

2009-03-10T10:22:00.013-10:00

Happy Birthday to Eme!!! Here are some pictures from her first few days and her birthday yesterday.

Mommy and Eme at Tripler Hospital in Hawaii.Daddy and Eme minutes after her birth. I love the expression on her face. "Hi Pops!"
Little Angel sleeping in the hospital the day we went home.
Our first Easter together as a threesome.
Our friend Vaiva did this with her daughter Katrina and I thought it was a cute idea so we did it too. This is a big purple bunny that I bought to use as a growth chart for Eme. Each month, I took her picture next to the bunny so that we can compare her growth from month to month. I will share with you her first month picture which was taken 3/23 and her 1 year picture. What a big girl. I want to take her picture with the bunny each year on her birthday for a few more years to come.

Here is Eme showing you where the Bunny's nose is -
and where her nose is. She can also identify her head, ears, mouth and we are working on her eyes. She can also point them out on other people and in a book.

Here is her birthday party. We have had a party in Houston before we left at the end of Feb with my parents and sister. We had this party last night with Mommy and Daddy. She will have another party next weekend with her friends. Man, I don't know that I can keep up the multi party tradition as she gets older. I made her mini cupcakes and iced them in pink icing. I had them on a plate but she promptly turned the plate upside down on her tray.
We had to show her how to put her finger in it and taste the icing. Then Brad broke the pieces up for her. She liked to put the pieces in her hand and squish them into crumbs. Then licked her hand.
Yummy icing!!!Daddy brought home these beautiful flowers for Mommy to celebrate the year with Eme. Isn't he sweet!!! Thanks honey! Our day started early with a dr's visit and shots. Eme got her MMR, Chicken Pox and Hep A. Mommy got her allergy shots too, one in each arm. Then we came home and Eme took her nap a little early. For lunch, she had yogurt for the first time. Then we played with some new toys. She went down for her second nap and I made her cupcakes. Daddy got home and Eme had dinner then we had her party. Eme got a bath and then off to bed she went. I think her first birthday went very well. She had presents to open from Grammy and Gramps along with a card from Great Grandmother and Grandpa. She got calls from her Granddad, her Grandpa, and her Auntie. She received lots of messages on Mommy's face book page and even an Ecard from Grandpa. Thank you to everyone for their birthday wishes. I will be making every effort to capture them all for her book.

The past year has been very long and hectic. At times, it seemed unbearable. You know, looking back it was rough but I would not trade it for anything in the world. I love having Eme in our life and I can't imagine our life without her. I can't wait for the many years to come. I am sure that there with be rough days in our future but I will get through them just like all moms out there do.

Happy birthday little girl, we love you!! You are our little Makana and you bring us joy every day. Love you always, Mom and Dad.

We are home

2009-03-05T20:29:00.002-10:00

Yes, we made it home. We flew into Honolulu on Feb 23rd where Daddy picked us up at the airport. Brad actually beat us home from his underway. He went out on a 6 week, well actually only 5 weeks, underway. Hence the reason that Eme and I went traveling to see everyone. Anyway, the boat broke and they needed to come back into port and start repairs on it sooner than expected.

All has been well. Eme got back into the swing of Hawaii things pretty easy. I have been pretty productive with my list of things to do so that is why I have not blogged recently. I have actually had to erase some TV shows off the DVR because I have not had time to watch them.

So what has been going on??? I have had a list of things to get done for a while now and have not gotten to them. So I am in a good place to actually get things done. What things do I keep referring too??? Well, let me explain.

Day care for Eme- I have put her in a day care before but she was not crawling at the time so she would spend most of her time away from the other kids and I think this frustrated her. This was back in September. After a few days of picking her up when she was sitting in a corner crying, I decided to pull her and not take her back. Well after my trip to Texas, I realized that she really needs to make some friends her age and get some socialization badly. I mean how else will she learn to share her toys. I don't really share so I am not the best role model for that. I do realize that she will learn some nice behaviors that I probably will wish she did not learn, but that is life right. So anyway, I put her back into the same place because that was the only affordable option for right now. I wanted to see if now that she is mobile would she do better. YES, YES, YES!!! She is loving it. The first day she did not want to come home. I would pick her up and she wanted to get back down and play some more. She has been there for about a week and she is doing wonderfully!!! I stood outside the window and tear up everyday because I see her playing with the other kids or even by herself but she is having so much fun. There has only been one day that I picked her up when she was crying and that was partly my fault because I did not tell the teacher that she had a paci in her bag. So I am going to put her in 3 days a week for 3 hours at a time so that I can get some things done at the house and also so that I can schedule my appointments during this time.

Storage for the house- Hawaii houses are really small. I did plan for this and left some stuff that I knew that we would not need in Texas. Well, we have purged and purged and still have too much stuff. We are down to the things that I don't want to get rid of but really are not going to use here. So I am going to get a storage unit and store those items and some furniture to open the house up a little bit.

Projects for the house- We have a lot of projects that are either started and never finished or not started but really need to get done. I want to finish painting, finish the base boards, re-vamp the kitchen and a few other things. We have been here long enough that we need to get these projects done. I have also promised my parents that I will not have any house projects for them to do on their next visits because the last two they have done some pretty huge tasks for us. We love you and appreciate your help!! It is a shame that Janis and Merle don't live closer because we would love some of their help and knowledge too. Master home renovators they are!!! With Eme around it is a little hard to paint a room or get some other things done. Now that she is gone for a few hours, I have time to get some of this work done myself or arrange to get some help with it.

Getting in shape- Brad and I both need to get into better shape. He has been running at work because he has mandatory PT some mornings. He is really thrilled about this. I have been needing to lose some weight to help with my back problems. Since I have been back, I have started working out on the elliptical machine that is in our living room and I have been doing a little running with the dogs and Eme. My plan is to get up earlier than Eme to work out and start my day early. We will see if I can get that plan going. I have to work out very slowly because I do have major pain in my back when I work out. But I can't get rid of my back pain unless I exercise and strengthen those muscles. It is a viscous cycle but I have gotten through it in the past so I can do it again. I am also in Physical Therapy for my back so that has also jump started my exercise program.

Enjoying Hawaii- We have lived here for a over a year and a half and Brad still has not seen some pretty obvious sites. I have not been to some pretty obvious sites too, but I have played the tour guide to family and friends so I have seen a lot more. So last weekend we toured the North Shore. We had some shave ice, ate at Cholo's (a pretty well advertised Mexican food restaurant, that was not really all that great in my opinion. Yes, I have a very high standard for my Mexican food but what do you expect from a Texas girl??), and went to the Dole Plantation. If you ever visit me here, I will take you on the tour of the island according to this travel tour that tells you all about the sights and sounds of the island, while we drive the island. I did not get it for our trip so I gave Brad the "Lauren" version since I have listened to it about 5 times now. I must say that the "Lauren" version is not as good since I only remember the points that interest me and really butcher some of the pretty important other points. Anyway, point being that we did some touristy things and got out of the house. I hope that we can continue to do this but I have to come up with a list of some things that we can do with Eme that don't always include to Beach.

Go to bed earlier- I want both of us to go to bed earlier so that we are getting the best rest that we need to be fully functional the next day. Easier said than done, but I have been pretty tired at the end of the day so it hasn't been to hard. Another reason that blogging has been lacking as I usually do this later in the evening after catching up on TV shows.

So that is what we/I have been up to. Sorry that I have not been a better blogger. Once I get some of my tasks completed, I will update you. I will try to post some pictures soon too.

Hearts to Everyone

2009-02-14T06:59:00.003-10:00

Happy Valentine's Day to all my readers! Love & aloha to you all! Let me know that you were here by leaving me a comment. Also, follow me or sign up for updates on the right hand side.

Lauren & Eme

I am so proud!!

2009-02-11T17:07:00.004-10:00

I am such a proud mommy!! Eme said Mama Feb 10th, 2009 at 7:20 am. We were in Little Rock, Arkansas waiting to board a Southwest plane back to Houston, Texas. I was so proud even though I think it was said in protest. I had just pryed her mouth open to retrieve the napkin piece that she was eating. She turned away from me and tried to get into her diaper bag while in the stroller and went "mama mama mama" while crying. I asked her what she just said and she looked at me and said "mmma". I will take it even in protest!!! i have only been waiting 11 months for that moment. I called here daddy's cell even though I knew he would not pick up to share the joy of the moment. She says it off and on throughout the day. Her little face is so cute when she makes the sound as she purses her lips to say it.

We were just in Memphis, TN visiting with GrandDad and Grandma D. We also visited with Brad's Uncle Jack & Aunt Nancy and Aunt Heather & Uncle Fred. Kristin, Brad's sister, also joined the fun. We had a great time and it was great to catch up with all the family. I am so glad that they were all able to see Eme. Eme did really well with all the new faces.

We are now in Hallettsville, TX visiting with Grammy and Gramps. We have seen Brad's grandparents as well. We will be here until the end of the week. Eme is having fun playing with the big dogs, Storm and Natasha. Each time she sees them she says "da Da".

I am so amazed at her every day. She is learning so much and showing us what she has learned. I need to do a list of what she can do before her first birthday so that I have a record of it to put in her baby book. I will put that on my list. I am making notes of that dates these milestones are happening on for record keeping.

Anyway, I thought I would update my readers with what is going on during our vacation. More later with pictures too. Heading to bed for another big day ahead.

Leaving on a Jet Plane-

2009-02-02T16:05:00.002-10:00

Hey all, We are packed and ready to take our big trip. I hope to post while I am gone but if I don't get a chance I will post when I get back. I look forward to seeing everyone soon!

Packin' up and ready to go!!!

2009-02-01T20:06:00.002-10:00

So we are packing up for our big trip to Texas and Tennessee to see family. I am very excited to see everyone. I am totally stressed trying to pack and get ready. The dogs are being pills because they know something is up. I don't blame them but it makes things even more difficult. At least the have helped keep Eme a little entertained while I work. Anyway, I better go get more things done before we leave.

Vet Fiasco

2009-02-01T19:10:00.001-10:00

I really have a love hate relationship with the Army vet clinics. I have had nothing but difficulties with them. The only reason I continue to use them is that they are so cheap compared to the civilian clinics. I do not understand why it costs $150 per dog to have three little shots and a heart worm test. The Army is able to do this for $84 for both dogs. Hmmm, $300 vs $84. I guess the fiasco's will continue to save us money but give me the biggest headache ever. This visit has us standing in the rain for a hour just to get into see the techs to get shots. It would have been three or four to see the Dr and get the health certificate that i needed to board the dogs. I decided that I was not going to hang out in the rain with Eme and the dogs for a piece of paper up an hour from our house. I did stop at the clinic that was closer to our house that only sees animals by appointment that you have to make like two months in advance. They were very nice and were able to fit us in to see a vet to get the stupid health cert. I guess I could have been proactive and made an appointment a few months ago but really I don't do much in advance. Besides, I did start a week in advance of my trip so I tried to plan ahead a little bit. Rain and headache aside, Eme did really well and loved seeing all the dogs. She kept saying Da and squealing when she saw a dog.

Cool!!!

2009-01-27T10:22:00.002-10:00

Someone at blogger must have heard my plea for a non orange nav bar. Anyway, I found a not so ugly nav bar to use. Yeah!!!

I am off to the army vet to get the girls their annual shots and health cert for their boarding. I need a shower too so while Eme is down for her nap I am going to hop in the shower! Now that everyone knows that, I am off to do it.

More later when I get back from the vet.

Silly me and a sign

2009-01-26T21:48:00.005-10:00

So I posted a fix to take the nav bar off my blog because is was ugly and had orange in it. For those of you who don't know I really dislike the color orange. No it is not because I am an Aggie, I just don't like the color orange. Anyway, the point was that I thought the nav bar was ugly and I removed it. Well, I did not think that one through very much as I just tried to update the blog and I could not figure out how to log in without using the nav bar. I finally figured out a way but it took way to long so I put the ugly bar back on. Ughhh, whatever.

So I had a doosey of a day on Saturday. I got up and ready to go in the car by 9 am, which for me was a huge accomplishment. So I loaded Eme in to the car and realized that I had taken the car paci into the house the last time we were in the car and did not bring it out this time. So I went back into the house to get one, got it and locked the house up and was walking back to the car when all of a sudden I was on the ground in pain. I ate it big time on the sidewalk. Luckily no one saw but I was now gushing blood from my knee. So I got Eme out of the car, went back into the house and cleaned my leg up, while chasing Eme down since I was not watching her. She can crawl really fast when she wants to. Anyway, I did actually take pictures of my banged up knee but I will spare you the goriness. I am sporting the latest in Band Aid fashion, a huge 2x2 bandage. Well, it hurt like heck but I sucked it up and limped back out to the car to load little bit in her car seat so we could head off on our day of shopping. I did get everything that I needed so tasks were accomplished.

So I think this was a sign of what is to come in the very near future. I am convinced that I needed to go through a skinned knee to help Eme get through hers. She is getting braver and more daring with her cruising. She is pulling up onto everything and will be walking very soon. That being said, I am sure that scraps and bruises are to come any day now. I guess I needed a reminder of how to take care of them so I was tested. Now I know that it hurts like heck and is a pain in the neck too, as I can't get down on the ground very easily without bending my knee.

I gave a friend a baby shower on Sunday, hence the shopping trip on Saturday, which was a lot of fun. Eme got to play with new friends, Ava, who is almost 2 and donates many clothes to Eme, and Skylar, who is 4. I loved watching her interact with the big girls. I have to get her into a day care with other kiddos in March so that she can learn social skills and make friends.

Today, I had Physical Therapy, aka Pain and Torture. Nothing much else going on. Oh, the PT was not for my little fall but for my back that has been giving me lots of pain recently.

This week will be filled with preparations to see the grandparents and family.

So here is a picture from New Year's Day. I need a thought bubble above her head most of the time just to see what is going through her mind. The caption for this would probably go something like this - 'What - I sure did not make this mess with the Cheerios. By no means, did I reach into my diaper bag, pull the baggie out, and chew on it to create a hole to let the Cheerios out all over the floor. But since they are on the floor, I guess I can help clean them up by eating them. Maybe the doggies would like a snack, too. '

Have a great Tuesday!

Here's Eme!!!

2009-01-23T21:23:00.003-10:00

So here are some pictures that I took today. I just changed over Eme's clothes to her 12 month stash so we have a bunch of new clothes to show off. We also just received a lot of hand me downs from some friends here on the island. I can't believe that she is 10 1/2 months old. She has grown like a weed.
I missed her perfect smile because I cut her head off. Okay so photographer is not my calling. It is hard getting her to smile just right.

She was not too sure about being on the coffee table but she managed to give me a few cute shots.

Here is my cheese ball shot. She gives me this smile all the time. I am glad I captured it on film, well digi film.

Look at all those teeth!!! She has 8, 4 on top and 4 on bottom.

I am too cute and I know it!!

Cheese!!! Hey mom put that camera up - here is the case, enough with the pictures.

How is she so darn cute??? She is going to be hard to stay straight faced in her naughty times!!!

Where have I been???

2009-01-23T13:51:00.002-10:00

Well, after almost a year of motherhood I am finally finding my groove to get back into the swing of things. Where did I go? Well, I have this lovely black hole that I retreat to some times and that is where I have been. Things got really overwhelming and I just could only deal with certain things and everything else went by the way side. Blogging was one of those that was easy to push away. I did not really have anything positive to say so I did not say anything.

2009 is a new year. Yeah, yeah, new years resolutions smosions. No, really, I have figured some things out for my self with the help of some professionals and I have a groove that I am really liking. So I am trying to emerge and join society again.

Eme is doing great. The dr's and I have found a great solution to her discomfort and pain so she is a very happy baby now. It was very rough trying to figure things out but we finally have things under control. She has acid reflux and delayed gastric emptying, with possibly a milk allergy. Really long story so I won't go into it but it is really under control.

Huge mistake in parenting, letting my emotions and the need to help my baby get the better of me when it comes to sleeping. I spent the last 9 months of my life on the couch with Eme in the swing, on my chest or propped up on a pillow at the foot of the couch while she was sleeping at night and during the day for nap time. I also let her dictate her bed time. Why is it that I let a child of less than a year dictate her sleep times and mine??? How is it that I could crate train both of my dogs but I could not train myself to put my child in her crib??? So at the end of Dec, I did sleep training with her all by myself. It took 2 days for her to get on schedule and she only cried for about an hour each night. Nap times took a week but she is totally on a schedule now. She still cries when I put her in her crib but by the time I come downstairs and get the monitor she is out. I really wish I had done this a few months ago but hind sight is always 20/20. Anyway, I have found several hours that I did not think I had and I have regained some Lauren time, which has really helped emerge from the blackness.

So, my goals for this blogging thing? I hope to keep up to date at least once a week. If I don't achieve this I won't beat myself up about it, I will just pick up where I am at that moment. I have this thing about needing to catch up which tends to get overwhelming and then the black hole starts looking really good. So if I disappear, bear with me I will emerge sooner than this latest episode.

I do want to update and let my readers see Eme's first year in retrospect. I have even figured out how to upload video too so I have pictures and video from the past year for you too see. The catch, you have to wait for me to get around to posting them. Remember the overwhelming thing, this is very huge task so I will get there just have patience with me.

So, I am making this a permanent post at the top for the next month so it doesn't get lost in the shuffle. Keep checking back for updates or you can subscribe by signing up with your email on the right. It will send you an email when I post something new.

Sorry for the absence and thanks for your patience with me. Thanks for your support too. I appreciate it.

What a terrible mommy!!!

2008-03-22T20:40:00.004-10:00

So I blogged that my child was born on March 3rd which so is not true!!! She was born on the 9th of March. Kind of funny that Dad did not catch that slip up when he proof read my entry. Just goes to show how exhaustion will zap your brain!!! Thank you to a friend who pointed this out to us.

Kind of on a side note, our family birthdays all have a 9 in them.
Brad - 09/07/78
Lauren - 11/09/78
Emelia - 03/09/08

We are also 30 years older than our child. My father is 30 years younger than his mother and 30 years older than his youngest daughter(my sister).

Pretty neat, huh!! Oh, baby's crying got to run!!

Emelia Makana Foster is Here!!

2008-03-17T17:51:00.004-10:00

She is finally here. Actually she is about 8 days old now. I have been trying to work on this post in my head since she arrived and have literally had my hands full. Sorry for the delay in the details.

Emelia Makana Foster made her arrival on Sunday March 3rd at 4:33pm. She weighed 7lbs 4.6ozs and was 19 1/4 inches long. The delivery went pretty well. Once I got my Magic Juice (epidural) I was great. Things kind of flew by as I look back on it now. Everyone always tells you it will all be worth it once your child is looking back at you, and they are all right. It was all worth the pain. So life begins a new chapter in the Foster Household.

Here is Dad minutes after Eme came out. What a proud Dad he is!! He was an awesome coach and very supportive partner in this whole process. Wow, this is me after the delivery. Man, I look rough. It was all kind of surreal.Check out our little ham!! Howdy world, I am Eme and I am here to stay.

Here is a much better picture of me and Eme. I had time to get showered and cleaned up after the whole process.

So, Brad's Mom was here for the birth after her flight was canceled on Sunday by the airlines. She left Monday, while we were still at the hospital. We had one day at home by ourselves before my parents came into town. They have been here since the 12th and will be leaving to go back home on the 31st. They actually are on their way to the Big Island of Hawaii for a few days to sight see and give Brad and I some time alone as a family with Eme while he is still off work.

I will try to post some more pictures soon. I have to figure out how to juggle all the things in our lives now so bear with us. Thanks for reading and hope to hear from you!

Her room is getting pretty!!

2008-03-01T19:15:00.001-10:00

So I finally got her crib cleared out and put her bedding set up. The pattern that we picked out is Lambs and Ivy "Sweet as a Daisy". It is pretty purple and green with butterflies, lady bugs, and daisies. Here is her crib with the mobile attached. I don't have the sheets on yet because I still have to wash them. I also have to tie on the bumper and fluff the bed skirt but I will do that once we take the mattress out of the plastic. Here is the mobile. The pink blanket in the background was a gift from Susan, who is the wife of Brad's XO on the boat. She is a fabulous quilter; she made the blanket out of a pretty Hawaiian fabric and fuzzy purple fur. The dogs love it so it has their seal of approval. Now I just have to make sure that they know this is a baby blanket and not a puppy blanket. Here is a close up of the comforter. This is the side of the crib showing the bumper on top, then the mattress in the plastic, then the crib skirt.
More to come later...

Nope - not today!!!

2008-02-29T22:33:00.004-10:00

Brad did not get his wish of having a Leap Day Baby but he will get the Leap Year Baby. My dr's appt went okay today. I am 3 cm and still 60% effaced. She is still head down and in position. Any day now as I am now 7 days from my due date. I am hoping that she will come early or on time and not decide she really likes it in there and wait it out until they force her out.

Anyway, Happy Leap Day to all those whose birthday was today!!!

Big Belly Pics

2008-02-28T11:40:00.004-10:00

Okay, so are you wondering what is happening with the baby??? We are doing fine. Nope, she is not her yet and yup, I am getting much bigger. I thought I would grace this lovely blog with some updated pictures. I did forget to take some pictures so it is a pretty big leap from Week 31 and Week 32 to Week 37 and Week 38. What can you do when you are this preggo and your hubby is never around??? I thought I would start holding my belly for some reason, I think my thought was the week 37 shirt is a non maternity shirt so it doesn't fit real well for this sort of shot.Anyway, I did not think that missing those weeks would really make that big of a difference but as Brad told me last night, "You got a big ole' belly lady". For those who are wondering if my belly button has dissapeared, the answer is yes. I will not be posting the pictures of it because I think it is just gross and weird looking. I just hope it goes back to normal after she pops out.

I had a dr's appt last Wed, 2/20, and found out that I was 2 cms dilated, 60% efaced and she is at -2. My next appointment is tomorrow morning so we will see if I have made any progress. I hope that I have because I have been having Braxton Hicks contractions pretty regularly. But who knows. I will have a Leap Day update because Brad really want's her to make her debut tommorrow. I don't think that will happen but we will see.

She has a room!!

2008-02-11T18:44:00.000-10:00

So here are some pictures of the nursery as we have worked on getting it ready for the little one's arrival. This is before we started clearing things into the attic.
Can you find the little rascal in this picture??? The dogs love their resting place in this room. We will see how this will work after kiddo comes. Once we got the room cleared out we brought up the dresser that was my grandmothers for all her little clothes. Then we built the crib that Grandma and Grandpa Staha bought for us (rather for their granddaughter). Yes, I know that she is going to have a hard time sleeping there with all that stuff in the crib with her. I will have to find a place for it once we get the changing table put together and get her clothes in the dresser.

Here is Brad putting together the changing table. In the background, you can see everything piled into the crib to give us some working room. And yes, that is a TV on the dresser. No, it will not stay in the room for her to watch, but this room will serve as our guest room so we left it in here for them. It will eventually go into the office once we get a place to put it in that room.

Here is the changing table all put together. I have to find some storage baskets to put on the shelves to hold all the stuff. I found some great ones online, but we can't have them shipped for some reason so I have to look on the island for some that will work.

More pictures to come of the bedding set and the rest of her nursery. I will also post pics of the stroller and play yard.

Brad's 1st Underway

2008-02-10T19:28:00.001-10:00

Brad recently went on his first at-sea ride on the USS Columbus (as in, Ohio; Brad's regular boat is the USS Columbia, as in South Carolina/Missouri/Illinois). His boat wanted him to get some experience on a working boat while his submarine is in the shipyard being fixed up. The USS Columbus has recently come out of the shipyard receiving the same upgrades as Brad's boat is receiving right now. He went along for a two week ride so that he could get his engineering qualifications completed. Here are some pictures of the day he left and then when he came back.Here we are early in the morning dropping Brad off at the pier. The big black thing with the yellow crane in front is the sail of the submarine. Luckily my sister had just come in to visit us so I did not have to go through this for the first time alone while eight months pregnant and very emotional. Here she is with her brother-in-law before he went in to the big briney deep. You can see more of the sail in the background. After we dropped him off, Missy and I went off to see Hawaii and do touristy things. We headed back to Pearl Harbor in the afternoon to see his boat actually leave for the underway.
Here is the boat from the other side of the harbor. It is kind of hard to see but the submarine is in the middle of the picture with what looks to be a crane coming out of the sail. The sail is the big black thing that sticks out of the water when the boat is surfaced. It is the place that the periscope comes out and also it is the place that people come out to look out when they are on the surface. Missy and I went over to Hickam Air Force Base to the officer's club to watch the boat actually leave the harbor. I can't tell you how magnificant of a sight this really is. The anticipation is killer because the boat was delayed and there was not really a good place to see since they were doing construction. But when they actually pulled by it was a pretty awesome sight. There was a police escort because it is pretty hard to see in the water. The police also did not want us taking any pictures so this was as close as I could get. There were a few sailors standing up in the sail waving to us. No, Brad was not one of them. He did get to be one of them on a trip back into the harbor during the deployment but I was not there to capture the sight.
Here is a little closer on once the boat had passed. It was such a sight against the sunset. There were a few other wives that were out there with us as we watched them leave. Not as many as I thought there would be but this was a short underway.
We watched them for a long while. The two boats on the side of the submarine are the police escorts. I am not sure how far out they escorted the submarine because we left once we could not see the boat anymore.

We both survived the time apart. Since my sister was in town, it was a little easier because I did not come home to an empty house right away. We had lots of activities planned to keep my mind off of separation. After a few days, my sister left and I still had some activities planned to keep me busy. I also recovered from her visit by just chilling out on the couch. By the time I started to miss Brad, he sent me an email. We were able to communicate via email quite a bit. I had sent some letters that I had prewritten him to help him get through the time, but I did not expect any communication back from him so this was a nice surprise. He also was able to call me one evening while they were surfaced. We only had a few more days left apart when I received another call from him. He was back in port for a few hours if I wanted to come see him. Heck yeah, I hopped in the car and headed down. FYI - this is definately not the norm, so please don't expect that this is the kind of communication I will receive in future outings. I was actually prepared not to hear from him at all for the time he was away. We will see how much communication we get to have on future trips. Anyway, the time flew by and before I knew it he was back in port ready to be picked up. Well, so I thought. Here is the boat at the pier. This is a little better picture where you can see the whole submarine. Okay you can only see the very top part of it, but there are not many people that get to see the whole boat unless it is in the shipyard drydock like Brad's boat is. We actually got to see the USS Columbia in its entirity but unfortunately they would not let me take pictures of it. There is a whole lot of boat that you are not really seeing. You are just seeing the roof top to compare to a multi-story building. I picked Brad up from his first underway and we finally got home around 9pm. I am very happy to have him home for now. He will not be going out again until after the baby comes. The next time will be harder but we will survive and learn to cherish the time we have when Brad is at home.

Vow Renewal Pictures

2008-02-10T19:03:00.000-10:00

We finally received the pictures from our Anniversary Vow Renewal Ceremony. Here we are at Waialae Beach Park, a free place that is pretty remote and hidden from the general public. We did not have any crowds of people to worry about getting in our pictures.

This is the minister who performed our ceremony.

This is the minister and his wife singing a Hawaiian song for us as an added bonus to our ceremony.

Here we are receiving the Hawaiian blessing.

We then took some cool pictures of the two of us on the beach. The water is really cold, if you were wondering. It is about 11:00 in the morning, too.

This is my favorite family picture so far. I wanted to capture this moment forever.

4D Ultrasound - 32 Weeks

2008-01-13T08:10:00.000-10:00

We had a 4D ultrasound yesterday. It was so very cool. It was like having a little window into my belly watching our little one. I can now stop wondering what she is doing in there. Here are a few pics. Here is what we first saw and the way most of her movie debut went. For some reason she is playing with her toes and resting her foot on top of her head. She was very obstinate and would not move her hand or foot away from her face so we could get a good look at her. So the technician had me get up and shake her to try and move her around. Yes, I was told to shake my baby. I did the "Twist" dance move with ultrasound goo on my belly. Quite an interesting experience. She did move her limbs for a little while.

Here she is posing for us. You would think that by her right eye would be her right hand but I think it is still her foot.
There is a smile at the camera. "Okay I will be good and give you some pretty pictures of me even though I am all squished up in here with nothing but my toes to play with."
" Mmmm, speaking of my toes, yummy toes." We watched her grab her toes and shove all 5 of them into her mouth. I am not sure what this means when she is born so we will have to see. I am glad we live in Hawaii because I have a feeling it is going to be hard to keep socks on her little feet.
Here is a great picture that the technician cleaned up for us. This was the most amazing experience. She did doctor the photo up a little bit by removing the placenta and the umbilical cord that was blocking some of her face. We watched as she spun the image around every dimension and removed the shadows and extra stuff in the way of the picture.
So here is a clue that we have a smart and sassy baby coming into our lives. Here is the Hawaiian Shakra hand position that she is throwing to the camera. I think we will have to get a baby surf board for this one.
The technician gave us some information on how she was doing. She said that there is a lot of fluid in her little sac, which is a good thing. The baby is laying head down on my left side facing my back. We got some pictures with her squishing her nose up against the wall so she is not really using all of her space very well. She is cuddling up against my back. She has both hands and feet up by her head. Lastly she is definitely still a girl. I can't wait to see her in real life but for now this is the next best thing. We will see how much she plays with her feet as she grows.

I am 32 weeks now so we are about 2 months away but in reality she can come in as little as one month. She is definitely getting heavier. My walking is definitely a waddle and I am having some difficulty breathing at times. She is still moving around like crazy.

I have a baby shower to go to today for a friend who is due a few days after me. Her husband is on the boat with Brad. It has been nice having her around because we compare what is going on each week. She is having a boy. It was kind of funny when we found out what we were having; we each were hoping for the opposite of what we are having. Funny how life works out. We both are very happy with what we are having. It will be a match made in heaven and we now have built in play dates. It is very comforting to know that someone else is going to be going through exactly what I am at the exact same time, especially once they are born. Yes, I know that there are babies born each day but none more close to us than this. Now we just have to see who will be born first.

Alright, I have to go do laundry so I have something to wear today.

Update - I know you have been waiting for them

2008-01-08T21:31:00.000-10:00

So I have been remiss in my blogging since we moved into the house. There are many excuses that I can give but I won't. I will just pick up where I left off.

31 Weeks -

I have definitely grown over this pregnancy. Here are some pictures that I have taken. I have not taken pictures each week like I had wanted, but you can still see the progress. I have kept my weight gain to a minimum but I have a feeling that I will start to gain weight pretty rapidly in the last few weeks of this journey.

So the front view has not changed too much from what I can tell. Yes, I did grow out of the striped shirt. It was not a maternity shirt so I am amazed it lasted as long as it did.
Here is the side view and yes there is some major change seen here.
Here is a picture of my belly. The shirt I am wearing did not really show the true size of the baby incubator. Yup, there is a place to rest a plate, and yes, the belly has gotten in the way a lot. I have a nice bruise on my ribs from where I tried to dodge the belly and hit my side instead. I can only imagine how much bigger it is going to get.

I had a dr's appt on Monday that went really well. I am measuring right on track and baby is about 3 1/2 to 4 pounds. She is sitting head down and on my left side. She is definitely a hula dancer because she is moving pretty much all the time. I feel these really weird rolling sensations and sometimes she kicks so hard I think she is making a break for it through my getting-to-be-non-existent belly button. You know you are blessed to be a baby incubator when you lose your belly button. Brad has been making fun of this fun pregnancy trait for a few weeks now. It is really weird looking and I really hope that it returns to the nice inny that it was before. The baby had hiccups a few days ago. Truly a neat but weird experience. I can understand why people get annoyed with them when they happen. It is really a rhythmic thumping that is not as hard as a kick and definitely not as random. They did not last too long, but I have read that they can occur pretty regularly and for long periods of time. I can't believe that I only have about 8 weeks left.

We did the labor and delivery tour at the hospital. We saw the rooms baby will be born in and then the rooms that we will stay in for the duration of our stay in the hospital. Very nice and very large. Some of these rooms are big enough to have about 20 people along with the medical teams needed. There are some rooms that have whirlpool tubs and others with showers. There is no nursery, so once baby comes out she will be with us. We will all get special bracelets and baby will get an ankle monitor to wear as she will be in house arrest for all the trouble she caused me during her incubation.

Now is the time that we are getting down to the wire getting all the accoutrements ready for the little one. Do you know how much stuff a little one needs??? And on top of that, have you seen all the extra crap that is marketed as being a true necessity??? I am pretty sure that neither Brad nor I had some of these things and we turned out just fine. Some things will be nice to have because of technology, but some things are just ridiculous. For example, I am loving the video monitoring systems that are out. We will be able to see what baby is doing via a night vision camera and TV. Two friends of ours have a system that they love. I am going to be one of those voyeuristic parents that likes to watch their kid sleep, but I will do it from afar so as not to wake baby up. Yes, I will watch her up close but I hope not to wake her up by opening her door all the time. I think this is a great advance in technology that is well worth it. One thing that we will not be spending the money on is a vibrating mattress. What baby really needs this feature that pretty much doubles the cost of the mattress? Are we really going to raise our baby with this feature that years ago cost a quarter in a motel??? No I don't think we need that. The list of money grubbing contraptions that you really don't need goes on.

Okay enough about the little one that is not here yet. We do have two other kiddos that run the house right now. Here are some pictures of the girls newest napping place. Ruby was helping me unpack the linen closet this past weekend. The girls love blankies like no other dog I have ever had. I don't know what it is but you can pretty much cover them up with anything, even a dry washcloth and they will curl up and be quite content. So below here she is in the linen closet. She is up on the second shelf from the bottom. She had to climb her little way up the shelf with the help of the stuff below and then crouch down to get in between the shelves. It took her about 2 seconds to get comfy and relax.

I actually walked away for a few minutes and I came back to see that she had taught her sister how to use the linen closet as well. Rika being a taller dog did not stay as long as Ruby. Rika would rather be on the recliner in the other room, but she doesn't like to share with Ruby so that forces Ruby into the closet. Crazy little dogs!!!

Other than that everything is going really well here in Hawaii. We are getting pretty much settled and finding places for the things that we need to and actually purging those items that we don't need. There is still a storage issue but for the most part we know how we are going to handle them. I have some more pictures that I want to share but that will have to wait for another day.

Pretty pictures of a pretty ugly day

2008-01-05T18:41:00.000-10:00

Here are some pretty cool pictures that I took on New Year's Eve. The weather over the holiday break was pretty rainy as it is the rainy winter here. I took Brad to work because I needed some work done to my car. On the way to work I noticed that the waterfalls were in the mountains. On my way home, I decided to stop and take some pictures. For anyone who knows me, I love waterfalls. Whenever we go hiking in the mountains, I will try to find a trail that has a waterfall on it. When it rains here whether really hard for a long period of time or for shorter rains over several days, there are waterfalls that appear in the Ko'olau Mountains on our side of the island. This mountain range is the one that runs up the center of the island. Brad crosses them everyday through the tunnel. They are really neat because the east side looks completely different from the west side. The East side is very jagged and has a lot of hard coves and inclines, while the west side is more of a gradual incline and rolling hills. This is due to the winds and the rains. These were all taken on the H-3 going towards Pearl Harbor away from our house. Yes, this means that I made an extra trip through the tunnel to get these pictures.

The mountains are very lush and green right now because of all the rain. The picture below is of Brad and I, in my signature pose, at Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore on New Year's Day. My sister gave me a massage gift certificate for Christmas and I thought it would be a great way to start the new year, birth year.

We headed north on Kamehameha Highway for the day. We stopped at a shrimp truck and had lunch, then went to the resort to relax. It was very peaceful. The waves were much bigger than I have seen them before, and we were not even at the true north shore. I enjoyed my massage and Brad did too; I thought I would treat him since he would have just waited around for me otherwise. Afterward, he took advantage of the steam room and showers. I felt that it was best for me not to hard boil my incubating egg so I just waited for him in the outdoor lanai that faced out onto the ocean. Thank you very much Missy for the great relaxing present!!!

Mele Kalikimaka

2007-12-25T06:13:00.000-10:00

Merry Christmas from Hawaii!! Here are some pictures of Santa at the end of his tour around the world after a very long night. He and the Mrs enjoy a very nice vacation here in paradise.

We have been MIA from blogging since our last post. Sorry if I caused any worry to anyone and thank you for those who questioned our whereabouts. We are doing great. Since moving in to the house, it has been hard to stop and rest. We have been very busy getting unpacked and settled. Brad's work has picked up pace and they are pushing to get the boat back into the water. Anyway, we wake up to beautiful blue skies and warm weather. The temperature is a toasty 74 degrees. I hope everyone else is staying warm and toasty wherever you are. I will update some more soon. Wishing everyone a happy holiday! Mele Kalikimaka!

We are no longer homeless in paradise!!!

2007-11-08T18:15:00.000-10:00

So we are closing on our house Friday, Nov 9th!!! What a birthday present, right??? Anyway, after a very long road here in Hawaii and living in a hotel forever, we are finally getting the keys to our new house. The other great birthday present is that we get to bring the dogs home. The kennel called me today to verify that they were going home tomorrow and they even gave us a discount since the girls have been there for 55 days. Now the moving starts. We won't get our stuff for another week because Brad is in class for the next week, which means he can't take a day off to help me receive it. Yes, I have received our stuff before, but I have a bad feeling about this one. I am sure that everything is okay, but I was sick when they packed it up, so I did not make sure everything was done like it should have been. It traveled such a long way that I just want some extra help if something is wrong. Besides, my pregnant head has been so foggy lately, there is no telling what I will have them do or not do.

Here are some pictures of the house with the seller's stuff in it. I will take some new pictures once we scrape the ceiling of the popcorn and we paint.

I will start upstairs since this is how the pictures loaded. This is the upstairs bathroom. I am not sure where the cabinet doors are but they were not sold to us when we bought the house.

This is the upstairs hallway from the master bedroom looking into what will be the nursery.

This is the nursery. The blue in here is really loud; the pictures don't show the electricness of it. I am not sure if we are going to paint it the same color as the rest of the house or if we will do a nursery color. It will all depend on the bedding that we find for the kiddo. I think this is a queen sized bed in here to give you an idea of the size of the room.

This is the closet in the nursery. All of the closets have really nice built ins so they are much more usable than just a single or double bar.

This is the view from the nursery window. If you look past the telephone wires you will see the ocean.

This is the master bedroom. This is a king sized bed, for room size. It has a wall of closets opposite the bed. There is also a crawl space/attic in the corner of the room on the right hand wall.

Here is the living room and dining room. This picture really shows the back porch and back side of the house. It is really open and has windows along the whole back wall. There are no overhead lights but until it gets dark you don't really need any. I will be untying the curtains during the day though. I just have something about people being able to see into my house.
Here is the living room from the dining room. It is pretty big and will house our tv very nicely. I miss our tv very much. I am hoping that it made the trip unscathed.

Here is the living room from the back corner of the room. It looks into the kitchen and the stairs.

Here is the hall leading from the office to the living room. There is a neat shelving unit built in that I will use to display the little knick knacks that we have.

Here is the office. It is painted a bright yellow orange color. It is horrible. It will be the first room to be painted. It is a very large room that looks out on to the lanai. Since I expect to spend most of my time in this room I know that the girls will be outside on the deck in the sun for most of the day.

Here is the entry way. The owners before the people that we are buying from enclosed this area. It is kind of hard to explain how it was before. I really like it because it opened up everything inside. It also gives an inside place to take your shoes off. We learned this custom very early on while looking at houses. In Hawaii, you take your shoes off when you enter a home. I plan to put a bench in here so that if needed you can sit down to take off or put on your shoes when you visit.

Here is the other side of that door and the outside of the house.

Here is the back porch. I will probably spend a lot of time out here with the girls on a long leash in the yard.

So that is the house. We are very excited to get back into our own house. I love being able to have color on the walls and a sense of ownership. If you notice there are no pictures of the kitchen. Oh the lovely green kitchen. If you scroll down to October 13, What Next?? post, you will see pictures of the kitchen. My battery died before I could get the pictures. I saved it for last because the house inspector was in there doing his inspection. Anyway, I will snap some better ones and post them once we get settled.

So since we are moving in tomorrow, we will be out of touch via email and blogging for a little while. I set up internet for the new house to be turned on tomorrow so hopefully it won't be too long, but there is no telling. I will post as soon as I can get back on. I hope everyone has a great Veteran's holiday weekend. I know that we will; Brad has Monday off and we have lots of stuff planned for the weekend (mostly painting and scraping). We will also be attending the New Baby and Kids Expo here. We will be going with a few other families from the wardroom. I am hoping to get some great information about the new addition to our family and the stuff that she will need once she gets here. Time to get some sleep and enjoy our last night in the hotel.

Leave us a message telling us what you think about the house. Check back often so you can see the updating that we are going to do as well. Much love to all-

Brad and Lauren

Pictures of Lauren Preggo!!

2007-11-08T17:52:00.000-10:00

Here are some updated pictures of Lauren's belly.

Here is a view of several weeks apart.

Week 22 - Things are going well. I have had some really bad pain in my hands. I am learning how to sleep to minimize the pain, but most nights I am up every few hours. I was hoping to be able to have some good sleep before the baby came, but I guess those nights are over. My hands are also going to sleep while I am awake now, too. I am having trouble doing things with my hands for periods of time. The dr gave me some braces, but they seem to be making things worse because they are restricting and tight. I am hoping that once we get into the house and change our diet to a healthier one that I will not have so much water retention. The dr said it could be a pinched nerve in my back too because of my scoliosis. Who knows why or how but it is really annoying!! I changed my doctor at the hospital. I found a very knowledgeable and personable dr who has been doing ob work for 25 years. My other dr was nice but he was very young and did not have the experience that I wanted. Since this is my first kiddo, I don't know what questions I should be asking. My last visit with him was very rushed and impersonal. We will see how this new dr is.

Sorry for the delay . . .

2007-11-01T16:16:00.000-10:00

So I know that I wanted to write every week but this past two weeks have been very crazy. Let me recap for everyone:

Week 20 - We had the big dr's appointment where we found out we are having a little girl. It is very nice to be able to put a pronoun to this growth. She is moving around a lot and everything seems to be going normal with her.

Week 21 - The baby is about the size of a large banana. There are some great fruit references that are made to put into perspective how big the baby is during the pregnancy. She started out as a grain of rice, a pinto bean, a lima bean, a medium olive, a ripe grape, a small plum, a large lime, a peach, a grapefruit, and now a banana. I looked ahead and there are no more fruit references for this little one. It has been really funny looking forward to what fruit is coming this next week. Now all I can think about is a banana with little arms a legs that are flailing about in there. Now for how I have been feeling. This is supposed to be the best time of the pregnancy, well not for me. I have been having some problems with my hands. I am waking up at night due to my hands falling asleep and causing pretty severe pain. So much so that I can't get back to sleep for a few hours. I have been told that there is not much I can do about this; it is pregnancy induced carpal tunnel. Because pregnancy makes you retain so much water, your wrists swell causing a pinching of the nerves. You can wear wrist splints to keep you hands in a neutral position, but mostly you just have to adjust the way you are sleeping. For me that is not too bad, I usually sleep on my left side anyway. Unfrotunately, my left hand is the one that is going to sleep the most. So I am having to learn how to sleep on my right side, or sleep in a recliner to keep my head above my heart and let the blood flow down to my lower body. I am not sure that I can take another 18 weeks of this because it is starting to happen during the day as well. Ughh!!! There is a good note to this, it is supposed to go away by itself after the baby is born. We will see about that. I forgot to take pictures this week so I will post a new picture of me at 22 weeks this weekend.

We had a change of command with Brad's boat. There were several evenings of festivities for both the new CO and the old CO. For those who are not Navy, the CO is the Commanding Officer of the boat. He is basically the boss of the whole boat and is responsible for everything that happens to it. Brad will be a CO, one of these days, but right now he is the low man on the totem pole working his way up to the top. There is a special ceremony that the Navy does where the orders are read for both the incoming and outgoing CO's with a lot of pomp and circumstance. There are guest speakers and even the Navy band plays. The whole boat is there to witness the ceremony and there is a reception afterwards. This ceremony really made me realize that we are a part of a truly awesome organization. Of course, I cried during several parts of the ceremony. I have been to a lot of ceremonies but this one really hit home. It is the start of a new begining with the boat and with us as well.

The last part of the week has been dealing with our home purchase. We have been in escrow on a property since the middle of October. We were scheduled to close October 31st. So, are we in a new home yet????? Nope, we aren't. Why you may ask??? The seller's have asked for 2 extensions on the closing date. So it looks like we are finally going to close on Nov 9th. A great birthday present for me!!! We will let you know as the date gets closer if this date is going to hold or not. We are really tired of being homeless.

So that has been to story for the last few weeks. I have been very frustrated with the house situation. We have been in the hotel for almost 2 months now, but it looks like there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully we will make it to the end this time.

I hope everyone is doing well. We miss everyone terribly. Leave us a comment and let us know that you were here. You can do this by clicking on the comment count at the bottom of this post. Much love and baby kicks to everyone!!!

We are Expecting a . . .

2007-10-22T21:21:00.000-10:00

We went to our 20 week anatomy ultrasound and found out that we are having a little girl. Here are the pictures of the ultrasound.

We are going to have an obstinate one on our hands. She kept her hands over her face towards the end so the ultrasound tech could not get a look at her mouth. We tricked her into moving by having me lay on my side instead of my back, Ha ha!! She is measuring 14 ozs. I also had a doctor's appointment this morning. Everything is doing fine.

We are looking forward to our new little princess. I hope that you all enjoy looking at her grow as much as we are. Please click on the comments and let us know that you were here.

Happy 5th Anniversary to the Foster's!!!

2007-10-20T12:12:00.000-10:00

Well on October 6th of this year we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. It was really cool that we could celebrate it in Hawaii.

So what did we do that day???

10:00 am - We had a special vow renewal ceremony on the beach with a Hawaiian Minister at the Waialae Beach Park. It was truly special. The minister and his wife sang a beautiful Hawaiian song, then the ceremony was closed with a Hawaiian prayer. There was a photographer taking pictures during the ceremony as well as some pictures afterwards. I will post pictures as soon as we get them. Here are pictures of the leis that we got at the ceremony.

11:00 am - We went walking along the boardwalk of Waikiki near the aquarium and zoo. We saw some really cool fish in a reef right off the boardwalk. This is a picture are of a fish that came out to eat Fruit Loops that a little girl was throwing into the water.

12:00 pm - We had a special lunch at Costco, $1.50 hot dogs and soda. We laugh because we did a beautiful ceramony then go get a cheap lunch at Costco. We were meeting the realtor at 1pm so we needed something quick and easy. Not know any other places along the way, we knew that Costco had something that we liked.

1:00 pm - We had an appointment with the realtor to see some additional houses including re-looking at the one that we ended up buying.

4:00 pm - We headed down to Waikiki to Duke's Canoe Club on the beach for our anniversary dinner. We sat right on the front row of seating so we could see the sunset perfectly. We had a wonderful dinner with a band playing and gorgeous surroundings. These pictures are of the sunset off of Waikiki and one of us after dinner.

Then, we went back to the room and watched tv, then fell asleep kind of early. It was kind of an anti-climatic end to our evening, but we had a very long day.

To another 5 years with my best friend. I love you, Brad!!

Pictures of the baby

2007-10-14T13:08:00.000-10:00

So I took pictures of all the ultrasound pictures that we have received. They turned out pretty clear, much bettert than the scanner. Here is the little wee one.

1st Ultrasound - Charleston, SC 7 weeks

2nd Ultrasound - Groton, CT 8 Weeks

I don't have any pictures from the 3rd Ultrasound.

4th Ultrasound - Groton, CT 12 Weeks

5th Ultrasound - Aiea, HI 16 weeks

This one the baby is big enough to see a lot of its body parts. I have labeled the most prominant features.

This label says foot.

Let's talk about goals

2007-10-13T05:02:00.000-10:00

One of the reasons that I wanted to start blogging was to keep in touch with everyone while I was pregnant. I want to be able to share pictures with everyone like the many ultrasound pics, ones of me and my growning belly, ones of the house, and ones of the dogs. I know that pictures take up a lot of space in email so I wanted to be able to post them somewhere quickly so everyone can see. Yes, we still have the website but it is a little daunting to get it up and running right now. It probably is not going to be that hard, I am just having a hard time trying to get it done.

So, here is my goal.
I will be posting at least once a week to update everyone on my pregnancy and life. I hope to post more often but I am only going to force myself to do it once a week. There is a place for you to comment on my postings. Please do so. That is really the only way I will know that you were here. Also feel free to pass this along to anyone who you think would be interested. If you have a blog, I would love to read it, so please send me the address. I think this is going to be a great way for us to keep in touch with everyone that we know and meet in our adventures in life.

What about the Baby???

2007-10-13T03:16:00.000-10:00

Yes, we are expecting our first child. It will be a little hula baby that will be arriving March 7th, 2008. I am 19 weeks or almost 5 months. We are very excited and ready for the little one to come. Well, maybe not really ready for things but we still have some time to prepare.

Let me give kind of a run down of the last 19 weeks to bring everyone up to date.

Week 4 - I found out that I was pregnant on July 4th, 2007. I took one of those really cool digital tests. Here is the picture I sent to Brad.

Brad was in Groton, CT, at the time I found out. We had been trying in June before he left. So I went to the clinic and took their pee in a cup test. Then they scheduled the new baby class for me to attend.

Week 6 - This was where they tell you that you are pregnant and things are changing for you. Eat right, don't drink, stop smoking, and the rest of the do's and don'ts of the next 10 months. They give you a book "What to expect when you are expecting". The class is really informative and great if you are going to be in Charleston the whole pregnancy because you fill out all of your paperwork for the civilian hospital and everything. For me it was a complete waste of my time, as I was moving in a week. Anyway, after the class I scheduled an ultrasound appointment to make sure that everything was okay before I left for CT.

Week 7 - I went in for my 1st ultrasound. Here I got to see the little one moving around and heard the heartbeat. They gave me a few pictures. They also took a lot of blood to run lab work on. When I say a lot, they took probably 10 vials full. They wanted to schedule an appointment to see the doctor in 2 weeks but I was leaving the next week so they gave me my records and sent me on my way.

Week 8 - The Navy packed up the house in Charleston and sent it on its way to Hawaii. I packed myself up and drove to Groton, CT. I was able to switch insurance and they made an appointment for me there very quickly.

Week 9 - I saw a doctor and had a 2nd ultrasound to make sure that everything was still fine and growing properly. Since everything was doing well, I made an appointment for the week before we left CT to get a clean bill of health and because of the traveling we were going to be doing.

Week 11 - We went to Maine to see family and went on a pretty vigorous hike to see some really great waterfalls. I over did things and had some bleeding and cramping so I went to see the doctor. They did a 3rd ultrasound and found that the placenta was covering the cervix, also known as placenta previa later in pregnancy. The doctor also said that my ovaries were very enlarged and that we would watch everything to monitor but that there was not anything else to do except get a Rhogam shot. Well, this really did not satisfy my need to know what was going on so I called my trusted friend Ronee, who happens to be an ob doctor. She gave me a little more information than the doctor so I was a little more at ease about the situation. She said that the placenta could move upwards as my uterus grows and it would not be a major factor in the pregnancy. I needed to be on bed rest and not be on my feet for more than an hour. She also told me to drink lots of water and just chill out. Well that was kind of easy and hard at the same time. Since we were living in an hotel at the time, there was not much for me to do besides lay in bed watching TV or go down to the lobby to use the Internet. It was hard because that little room got real small real quick. It is amazing how when someone tells you not to do something, you can't think of anything else. But I had to make myself be good for the sake of the pregnancy. So I spent the remainder of the time in Groton on bed rest. The bleeding and cramping stopped within 1 or 2 days of seeing the doctor and being on bed rest.

Week 12 - We had my last appointment in CT before we headed home to see family and then on to our new home in Hawaii. I saw the midwife and had a 4th ultrasound. Baby was doing just fine. This was a scary appointment because she tried to find a heart beat with the doppler and could not find it. We have a history of this that I will share in week 15 that will explain why this was such a heart wrenching moment for both of us. So the midwife pulled the ultrasound machine in the room and we saw the little one dance around. She gave us a few more pictures and copied my records for my travels.

Week 13 & 14 - We were traveling across country stopping in Memphis and then in Texas. Nothing to report on the pregnancy.

Week 15 - We left the mainland and flew to our new home in Hawaii. This is a big week for many reasons. We are starting a new chapter in Brad's Navy career and in our life in a new place. An island to be exact in the middle of the ocean with nothing around but water. This is also a huge point in our life because this is the week that we found out that we lost our first baby back in December 2006. We went to the doctor to have lab work done at 15 weeks 3 days. The nurse tried to find the heartbeat with the doppler and could not find it. The doctor took us over and used an ultrasound to see what was going on. There was no heartbeat and there was no blood flow to the baby. I was scheduled for a D&C the next day. The surgery went okay. I lost a lot of blood and they almost had to give me a transfusion. I spent the night in the hospital because of this. Brad was on leave and was there with me every step of the way. Let me tell you, I knew that I found a truly awesome mate to spend the rest of my life with but he really reminded me of this during this time. When someone can change out your bed pan, you really know what that person is made of. Even though we were dealing with the biggest loss of our lives, it was a true celebration of our love for each other too. The doctor was great, truly made the situation bearable and even counseled us in the best way. I don't think I would have made it through without Brad first and foremost then Dr. Loveier for giving us the science behind what happened. The Doc sent things off to be tested and results came back as a partial molar pregnancy. To give a really short and dirty explanation of what a partial molar is, it is a pregnancy where there is a fetus that develops but at some point in the development it is over taken by a 'mole' because of a chromosomal imbalance. There were 2 sperm that fertilized one egg. The baby would not make it to term normally. This happens 1 out of 1000 pregnancies. After the termination of the pregnancy, there is a waiting period of 6 months to 1 year before you can try again. There is a serial testing of your hormone levels to make sure that the 'mole' if completely gone and not regrowing. I was tested 2 weeks after the procedure and my hormone levels were down to 2. Doc told us that we should wait 6 months before we tried again, which was June of this year. So we tried and got lucky right off the bat. So once we hit this point in this pregnancy we were really scared. We tried not to get too excited about things until we knew that it was going to 'stick'. So maybe traveling during this week was not such a great idea but I think it kept us from dwelling upon the loss. My first priority once we got to Hawaii was to get things checked out and make sure that all was well. Needless to say, we don't like using the dopplers very much at all.

Week 16 - I got everything switched over to Hawaii and luckily was able to book an appointment for a 5th ultrasound and see the doctor the same week. The ultrasound was really kind of heart wrenching to begin with but after we saw the heart beating, things only got better from there. The little one woke up and did some dancing for us too. This ultrasound was pretty awesome. It is really amazing how technology has changed over the years. Both of our moms said they might have had one ultrasound during one of their children's pregnancies but nothing like this. I can't imagine not having the ultrasounds just for my peace of mind. The tech did a complete anatomy scan of the little one this time. This is usually done at 20 weeks but because of my history they did it early. They took measurements of the brain, the spine, the leg, the arm, the stomach, the liver and the heart. They showed us the blood flowing in the little heart both to and from color coded blue and red. We saw 5 fingers on one hand and 5 toes on one foot. It took probably an hour. We also had an intern watching and learning. It was neat because she asked questions that the tech explained so we got to know what was going on medically too. It was really neat how they took some of the measurements. To see the liver and stomach they machine showed a cross section where the tech froze a view of the spine so you could see the vertebrae section along with the organs. Brad commented how amazing it was for the tech to be able to pic that out of what looked to us like a bunch of black holes and voids. They checked the placenta again and it had not moved so they are going to do another ultrasound at 20 weeks. This will also be the time that we can find out the sex of the little one. The tech also checked for another molar pregnancy and had a different tech verify her findings. So far it does not look like anything is going to go wrong. Needless to say, we both spent the rest of the day on cloud 9. We meet with the doctor a few days later. He did not give any indication that this was to be a high risk pregnancy and that we could breathe a little easier. There were some anomalies in my blood work but it looked like it was from the Rhogam shot I received in CT. I go back October 22 for both a checkup and the 6th ultrasound.

Week 17 - Nothing major going on. We are getting excited about things now. Not that we weren't excited before but we are allowing it to become really real now. Or at least I am.

Week 18 - I had a physical therapy appointment for my back. I have scoliosis that has given me problems in my day to day life before the pregnancy so I knew that it was going to be a problem now more than ever. So I wanted to get a start on the problem and find some exercises and stretches to do now and for the duration of the pregnancy. Most of what I did before I got pregnant I can't do now (for example, taking ibuprofen for the pain). The appointment went well. I have a list of daily exercises that I need to do and if I don't do them I really can't complain about my back. So here is to doing my daily exercises.

Week 19 - We are currently in this week and there are not any problems or goings on right now. I am anxiously awaiting the next ultrasound. Now that we have a house in mind, I really want to start thinking about the nursery. That is so crazy to think about. I have not let myself get too involved with thinking about baby just to protect myself. I know that things can still go wrong but I am also trying not to dwell on the negative too. Things happen for a reason too so if it is not meant to be with this one than we will try again. Okay, enough bad thoughts for now.

You might be saying, so you have had a few ultrasounds, where are these pictures??? What do you look like now that you have an alien growing inside of you, is it like the movie where you see the creature moving on the outside??? Well, I will work on getting those posted. Brad is asleep right now so I can't take pictures of the ultrasounds yet. I will do that as soon as I can get some time this weekend. Patience and a drum roll please!!!

Aloha and Lots of Love!
Lauren

Pictures of Lauren

2007-10-13T03:15:00.000-10:00

I have had brad take pictures of me in the same outfit for about five weeks now. The first was at 12 Weeks and then at 16 weeks, 17 weeks, 18 weeks, and 19 weeks. We will continue for the rest of the pregnancy and hopefully in the same outfit to get a real comparison.

Here is a front view.

Here is a side view.

What next?

2007-10-13T01:59:00.000-10:00

Okay so I have told you about moving here. How about where we are going to live besides the hotel???

So that is really the million dollar question. Housing here is very expensive, but it is paradise. We have decided to buy a townhouse to live in instead of renting or living in base housing. Are you out of your mind??? Yes, we ask that question everyday. So here is our justification and thoughts on the situation. We will be here for roughly 3 years. Our experience with buying a house in College Station was pretty good. The Navy is giving us a beefy housing allowance and cost of living adjustment now that we are here. We looked at base housing and simply can not justify paying all of our BAH for a 2 bedroom home. We also can't seem to justify paying an increased BAH in May when Brad makes rank for the same 2 bedroom home. We can see renting something in town for that amount or smaller but renting just seems to be a waste of money in our eyes. Yes, we would not have the commitment and huge mortgage to deal with once we move. We would not have to figure out how to keep the place rented once we move. We would not have to worry about what is going to happen with the housing market as much. But as you can see we do chose to worry about these things since we are buying.

So yes, we are totally out of our minds for even considering purchasing a home in Hawaii. We will be able to say "We have a second home in Hawaii" or "We winter in Hawaii" if we get stationed somewhere awful in the snow. So we won't tell anyone that people are living in our home in Hawaii so we can afford to say these things. We just won't talk about these things for now.

We have looked at several places in different locations on the island. We decided that we wanted to live in Kaneohe/Kailua on the Windward/East side of the island. The area is known as the country of the island. It is away from the hustle and bustle of Honolulu and Waikiki but only a 15 minute drive away. It is also away from the Aiea town with the mall and shopping, but still only a 15 minute drive away. Aiea, incidentally, is the only US city name without any constants in it. The language is a whole other post that you will have to look forward to. Brad will have a little bit of a commute but if we lived in base housing he would have about a 20 - 30 minute drive to go 5-6 miles. From the Windward side of the island, it is still a 20 - 30 minute drive but it is about 20 miles and it is through the mountains and lush green country side versus the concrete buildings and shopping centers. I will have to remember to take pictures of that area. We have friends that live in both places so it was just where we liked better. The drive from the base area is the most beautiful drive. We take H-3 which is a link between Pearl Harbor and the Marine Corp base out in Kaneohe. All of the big highways were built with federal funds to link the different military installations on the island. The locals will not drive on H-3 so traffic is pretty light on it in comparison to H-1 which at times is bumper to bumper traffic for hours. H-3 is said to be built in a ceremonial graveyard. I will have to figure out the whole story and post the history/legend story here soon. Anyway, when we were deciding where to live we just liked the feeling that both of us got as we emerged from the H-3 tunnel and say the Kaneohe Bay view. When you come out, you will see what we are talking about. It is just peaceful and serene. It is true Hawaii gorgeous landscape.

So what about the actual house? Well that has been an adventure. We looked at lots of places with very specific ideals of what we wanted and needed. Well, the wanted part kind of took over once we saw what we were getting for the money that we were spending. Everyone said that houses out in HI are a lot smaller so get ready. I was not ready at all. How in the world can anyone live in a 2 bedroom home that is 700 sq feet??? I know that I am from Texas and everything is bigger in Texas, but really how can I cram into such a small place. We have entirely too much stuff as it is, which we downsized considerably before we moved. And on top of that we have a new addition to add to the family who is going to have its own stuff??? Crazy talk. So we decided that we needed 3 bedrooms. I mean where else are we going to put our visitors??? Actually, many factors played into this decision, like how much we could get for rent vs. cost of mortgage. So we found a place and put in an offer. That really did not go so well. We put in the offer well under the asking price because in our minds things were not worth what they were being asked and we thought we could get it for lower and should. Welcome to the Hawaii housing market. Needless to say the sellers were not too thrilled with our offer and the realtor decided to be an unethical b(*&h and basically ignore our offers until there was another offer on the table that was higher. Then the realtor called back and said well that offer fell through are you still interested??? So we played her game again and the results were the same so we decided to move on. Yes, to bigger and better places. When we say bigger, I am talking price. A different property in Kailua had caught our eye, but it is more expensive due to the location (the other place was in Kaneohe). There are some good and bad with this property but for us right now it is the best choice. So we played the negotiating game again but this time we played with a realtor who was actually very ethical and professional. Unfortunately, we did not get to play with numbers as much as we wanted to because the sellers were already selling at a loss and were pretty firm on their asking price. So, with time ticking away we decided on a number and accepted. We are going to try and close by the end of the month which is going to be a very big push but hopefully everything will fall into place and we will move in the first part of November. What a great birthday present, right!!!

We are heading over today for the inspection. I am really scared that something big will rear its head and break the deal. I am fully expecting some items to be found and we will have to deal with those but I am hoping over all everything will be normal. I am planning on taking some pictures to post but here are a few that we took from the listing.

Here is the front of the house.

Here is the lanai with a bit of the view. We have not decided if we are going to pull up some of the decking to put in grass for the dogs, it all depends on what is underneath.

Here is the back yard looking at the house. There is not a fenced in section but there is enough room to let the dogs out on a long leash to play and potty.

Here is the salt water pool in the complex. We are going to use the heck out of this pool.

Here is the kitchen. Yes, it is green. We will be stripping the cabinets at some point to refinish them in a better color. We also want to upgrade the countertops this time so we can enjoy them. But for the time being, it is very livable.

Here is the living room and the dining room. The whole house has a wonderful berber carpet that is really soft on the toesies. We looked at a lot of laminate flooring and we are glad that there is carpet here. Especially when the wee one comes.

Here are the two bathrooms in the unit. The red one is upstairs and the white one is downstairs. The downstairs is also the laundry room. We plan to upgrade both of these rooms while we are here but that won't be for a while.

So that is the new place if all goes well. We are so ready to get moved into a home. I will get some more pictures today and post them so you can see the bedrooms too. There is one bedroom downstairs off the lanai and then the master and second bedroom are upstairs. There is a view of the ocean from the upstairs front bedroom and I think from the downstairs one as well. I think if you look over the lanai wall you can see it too.

A lot has been going on in the Foster Life -

2007-10-11T17:04:00.000-10:00

Well a lot has been happening in our life, as many of you are aware of. Since things have been so hectic, I have decide to keep a log of it online so everyone can share in our experiences with us. We have come to find that the time difference has made it difficult to communicate with many. Not that this will take place of that communication but I hope that this will offer a glimmer of what is happening with us.

Where to begin???
Moving to Hawaii - The Navy has moved us to Hawaii for Brad's first sea tour on a submarine. Brad left South Carolina in June to go to school in Groton, CT. I stayed behind and took care of packing the house to be sent to Hawaii. I headed to CT at the end of July and we both spent the month of August in CT. We have both decided that, while we will be back at some point in Brad's career, we don't really want to spend an extended stay there. So at the end of August we headed to Memphis to see Brad's family and friends. We then headed to Texas to see my family and the rest of Brad's family. Then September 15th we left for the great state of Hawaii. The dogs traveled with us in the cargo section of the plane and 8 hours later we arrived. We had to send the dogs to a kennel run by the Army because no places on the island take dogs in a hotel. Well, ok, there are 3 hotels that do take animals; one is not very safe and the other 2 are 5 star hotels that we can't afford. The kennel is really a nice place and they are in a "little dog" section with many friends. Brad and I stayed at at hotel near the airport for the first two days. Here are a few pictures of the room.

It was really close to base and near everything that we needed to access right off the plane. We then decided to move on base to the base hotel for the low, low price of $35 a night. It is pretty nice and we have internet in the room so I can't really complain. We have both been in a hotel for around 20 weeks (both CT and HI). I am really tired of being homeless and not having multiple rooms to go to. I know that it is really bothering Brad because I am waking up at weird times of night and I tend to wake him up while I am awake. More on the housing situation to come.

So how is it to live in Hawaii??? It is pretty freakin' fabulous!!! It is paradise and beautiful. There are great views all around us and such different landscapes everywhere you turn. Here are a few pictures of views around the island. The first picture is from Kailua beach looking at some smaller islands off the beach.

The second picture is a view from a mountain looking down at a beach on the Windward side of the island, I don't remember which one. The darker parts of water are part of the reef.

So that is all for now. There is so much to post, so bear with me while I get caught up. Please check back often as I will be updating soon. I am going to try to do at least one post a week, but I hope to be able to post a little more often right now.
Love you all!!! Back soon!!!

Just starting to blog

2007-09-30T09:01:00.000-10:00

So here is my first attempt to blogging. What better way to keep in touch and let people know what is going on in our life. Since we are in the Navy, we move around a lot and so we have friends and family all over. This way they can see what we are doing in our life and keep in touch too.

So I am pretty bad at keeping in touch so I am hopeing that this will help. I am not commiting to writing everyday but at least once a week. So keep reading and enjoy. Please leave me a comment is you feel the need.