Memorial Day Weekend

Phew! We had a busy weekend! Very eventful but very fun. We started out on Thursday night by celebrating Caleb's 8th Grade Graduation. Wow!! I have no idea how he is already going to be in high school! It was nice to celebrate Caleb...he is such a sweet kid, so polite and respectful and always in a good mood. We're looking forward to catching a few of his baseball games this summer.Thursday also happened to be Lincoln's 4th Birthday. I told him that he could choose again this year what he wanted to do to celebrate his birthday. We could go to the Indy Zoo like we did last year, we could go to the Children's Museum, whatever he wanted. Would you believe that his response was that he just wanted to play games? Such a sweet little man!! And when I asked what he wanted for his birthday present, his response was, "Ummmm. Bubbles." DONE! Such a simple kid! So we arranged to get him on Saturday so that he could enjoy a day devoted just to him. In addition to the bubbles, we decided we would get him some outdoor toys and games. You can see how excited he was!
First thing, we headed over to campus so that he could play in the fountain that is outside my office. He and Shell brought me lunch a few months ago before they turned the water on and I told him that we could come back and play in the water once they turned it on.

(Is this not the sweetest thing ever?!)

After plenty of water time in the steaming hot temps, we headed over to the Memorial Mall on campus for a picnic.

I insisted on bringing the dogs which stressed Josh out a little bit. Kowe still likes to bark at bikers and runners, and she wasn't a big fan of the kids running around the fountain, so I stayed in the shade with the pups. Then at our picnic, Lukey kept trying to steal Lincoln's food. So: lesson learned. They won't be going next time. BUT they were definitely tuckered out and I let Lincoln decide whether to take them, so he was glad they were there.

We got back to the house and spent some more time outside. We got Lincoln a slip-n-slide and some water guns, so we played with those and got the sprinkler out.

Josh had to show Linc how it was done:

Then he had to help him out a few times to help him get the hang of it...

Finally he got it down and he loved it!

Later, we went to the park for a bit and then decided we needed some Igloo. It was so hot that poor Linc couldn't keep up with the drips!

On Sunday, we went to church and then Shell and Griffin joined us for a cookout and to play outside a little more. Griff had a blast with the water guns and the slip-n-slide. Shell, Josh and I had a blast eating grilled nachos with Josh's homemade guacamole. It was so gorgeous outside, but well over 90 degrees outside! So the water guns felt good!

Today, we went to Josh's parents for dinner. We grilled out and played some Sequence...a nice relaxing ending to the very eventful weekend. Josh opened his big birthday gift and you can see how giddy he was! It's a giant, comfy hammock! He replaced his a couple months ago and wasn't so happy with how comfortable it was(n't), so he was thrilled with this surprise! Wow, I'm tuckered out just recapping the weekend! This next week is proving to be another busy one as we are preparing our house to go on the market and we have plans to look at several houses this week as well. Plus, the BIG ultrasound is on Thursday!!! We're so excited to see Pokey squirming around in there and can't wait to find out if we have a boy or girl! And I'm really excited just to see if everything is going well, I'm hoping it will be a huge sigh of relief for me.

My First Mother's Day

Yes, this is a bit late. I'm a little behind on uploading pictures, but I wanted to share that Josh made my first official Mother's Day extra special. I've grown to actually really dislike this holiday. After all, I spent the last 4 years hoping that the following year I would be celebrating with a pregnancy or a baby in my arms. With each year that passed, the holiday became harder and harder.

We happened to be in Sanibel Island for Jeff and Laura's wedding, but Josh thought ahead and still made the day extra special for me. We had a really nice breakfast and ended up spending the entire day on the beach (that's the day I got fried and my legs/ankles swelled so bad!) followed by dinner out with Jeff, Laura and Laura's friend, Jennie.

Josh had stopped by my favorite spot to get massages before we left for the trip and he surprised me with a prenatal massage. I haven't used it yet, but I'm so looking forward to it!! We also stopped by the outlet mall on the way to the island and he got me a Coach diaper bag. We went back and forth and couldn't decide which one to get, but finally settled on this blue and cream one. It is a coated canvas so it should hold up really well. We decided that it was too good of a deal to pass up and that if we find something else later on, Coach has a really relaxed return policy. Yes, it's blue. That's okay with me whether it's a girl or a boy because I love the color! If we have a girl, her room is likely going to be done in a light blue tone anyway, so it'll be perfect. I guess we'll find out if that will be an issue this Thursday!!

I felt so blessed to have Josh for this first Mother's Day. I know I got so lucky to have a husband as attentive and appreciative as he is. But the day was definitely bitter-sweet for me. First, I still get sad over the loss of Mya. I'm grateful for this growing baby that we have, but it was still a sad reminder of what we had lost. And most of all, I was so heartbroken thinking of my many many friends, both in real life and through my infertility community, who are still waiting and praying with empty arms. I remember how difficult Mother's Day was for me and I couldn't get those women out of my head.

Nonetheless, it was a great way to celebrate. I am looking forward to Josh's first Father's Day!!

16 Week Update

We had our 16 week appointment last week and it was also our first visit with Dr. Schafer. We've heard mixed reviews so we were anxious to meet him. Actually, take that back...we've heard almost all amazing things about him except from one or two people. But still I was worried because we were used to the care that Dr. Jarrett gave so we have high expectations. I had a second doctor in line as a backup, but thankfully we really liked Dr. S. He was running quite a bit behind due to a delivery (which I'm told is pretty common...and I can't say that I mind because when it's us delivering, we'll appreciate it!), but he took a lot of time with us, didn't rush things one bit and was very reassuring about some of the anxiety I've been having. I even convinced him to let us get an ultrasound 2 weeks early because I've been having some troubling dreams and general anxiety over the health of the baby. Nothing major, it's just been hard going from ultrasounds every 2 weeks to having to wait almost 2 months to see Pokey. So he said that he would be fine with us coming in at 18 weeks...

...which meeeeannns!!! We get to find out the sex of the baby (hopfully Pokey is cooperative) next Thursday!! I am so excited we are to this point!!

We also got a quad screening done and should find out the results of that this week sometime. Overall, things are still going really well. I'm definitely showing more now and have made the switch, maybe a bit prematurely, to maternity clothes. I've waited so long to wear them that I just couldn't hold out any longer! Hopefully I'll start to feel the baby move in the next few weeks. So that's pretty much it for now...stay tuned for the big announcement coming soon!!!

Oh, and in other exciting news, we might have figured out a boy name!! We're still not 100% sure but we'll let you know next week. We're definitely not ones to hide the name and sex...it's too exciting!!

Read me a story, Daddy!

Now that we know Pokey can hear us, Josh has started reading a story to him every night. It's been a sweet little nightly routine, but I'm sure you won't be surprised to know that Kowe thinks the whole thing revolves around her. She is really funny to watch...she knows when he grabs the book to crawl up right next to me. She is nice and alert and just watches J as he reads. She looks at the pictures like she's following right along. Usually before the book is over, she has her head on my pillow ready to fall fast asleep. This particular night, she was exhausted from being out in the garage preparing for the garage sale all night. So she didn't make it through the book. I just had to share this adorable picture...you can see that she's zonked and enjoying her nightly story. Such a sweet girl...most of the time!

Sanibel

We had a quick little getaway last weekend to Sanibel Island, FL, to attend Jeff and Laura's wedding. It was a really fun and relaxing weekend despite the fact that we both got a little sunburnt which resulted in my having really swollen ankles and having to spend most of the afternoon when we got home at the doctor's office!

First things first, we headed to the outlets and made one very exciting purchase..but more on that in another post. As soon as we checked into the hotel we headed down to the beach. We were excited to document Pokey's first official trip to the beach.
I'm not big on the whole belly pic thing that a lot of people do, so consider this the closest thing to a 14w belly pic. And this is Josh's 14w belly pic:
We headed that night to a nice dinner with Jeff and Laura. It was good to see them before the frantic crazy times began. We had a good dinner...they enjoyed 2 bottles of free wine which was great.

And Josh absolutely died over his dinner. I think it was crab-stuffed grouper. He talked about it all week! We saw some interesting creatures during our trip. We saw this cute little tree frog on our way home from dinner...
Then the next day we saw a huge snake slithering across the beach. Of course Josh thought he was the Snake Hunter and was running across the beach to try to get pictures. I thought it was too scary looking to be making it mad! But in the end, he just slithered off.Sunday morning we had a delicious breakfast at a cute restaurant called the Island Cow. They had the most delicious coconut muffins and fresh squeezed OJ. From here, we spent the rest of the day at the beach...getting fried. We truly didn't mean to; we were under an umbrella and it was so cozy and breezy.That evening we headed over to the resort where Jeff and Laura were getting married so that Laura could do a "trash your dress" session. She had a horrible experience with David's Bridal (surprise, surprise!) and had to end up buying an entirely new dress, so she decided to trash this one. She took some really neat pictures in the ocean and we had a fun time being silly on the beach. (But note how incredibly short the dress is in the front...some seriously faulty altering on David's Bridal's part...)

There were posts and they thought they needed to do the Karate Kid stance:
After an hour or so on the beach getting pics, we grabbed a quick picture and headed to dinner with Jeff, Laura and Laura's good friend, Jenny. I was in so much pain from the burn on my legs that I didn't take a single picture at dinner!

The afternoon before the wedding, we drove through a nature preserve and saw this funny guy hanging out with his wings expanded. He sat like this for several minutes while we watched and was still that way when we pulled away.

I also forgot to grab too many pics from the wedding. Here is one of Jeff and Laura saying their vows. I'm hoping to get some cute ones from some of the other people at the wedding. We had a really wonderful time. Congratulations Jeff and Laura!!

We brought some sand back so that we can start a tradition of collecting sand from each of the beaches we visit with Pokey. The plane ride was rough on my ankles and I would post a picture but I think everyone reading would be too freightened. It was a scary sight!! Josh called me Hulk all day. He kept saying "Hulk SAD!" "Hulk MAD!" We also saw a striking resemblance to the Nutty Professor as well as The Thing on Fantastic 4. Or, if you think about when you've seen a rubber glove filled up with air...that's a pretty good estimation of what my feet looked like! Needless to say, we got an unexpected trip to the doctor and got to hear Pokey's fast little heartbeat. I was worried all week about whether he was in stress, and I drank what had to be gallons upon gallons of water. Luckily, he didn't seem to mind the burn! Then we had to get ultrasounds of my legs to make sure there were no clots, so that was another doctor visit in one day. Everything turned out fine and I spent the following day on the couch with my feet propped. They're finally starting to look somewhat normal. It will be interesting to see how things hold up through the summer heat!

Pokey's First Present

Grammy and Papa got Pokey his first present...and what better than a baby piggy bank with the Wyoming Cowboy on it!? A Piggy Poke for the little Poke! It's already so heavy because Grammy got to work on filling it with lots of change! This baby is already so incredibly spoiled. It's pretty scary really! Between Grammy and Auntie Shellbell (and...okay, ME!), we are going to have one very lucky (read: spoiled) little peanut!

Thanks Grammy & Papa!!

One Fun and Busy Weekend!

Last weekend, we had a full and fun couple of days. We started on Friday by celebrating a few things with a cookout at Shell and Dan's. We were celebrating Pokey (of course) and also Shell's new job and my receiving an award earlier that week as one of the Top 10 Young Professionals under the age of 40 in the Greater Lafayette area. It was a really busy and exciting week with lots of exciting things happening, so we had a lot to celebrate! To add to the excitement, the same day I won the Top 10 Under 40 award, I also found out that I was voted into the Board of Directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters. Such an eventful week and much to celebrate. Of course, Shell, Dan and Josh decided to do so with a little vajunka.

Can't say that I was sad to miss out!Saturday morning, we headed to a Kickball Tournament that my Tippy Connect Community Involvement Committee organized. Josh put together a team for Kohl's and it was a really fun day. He was definitely sore the next day!! But we raised a couple thousand dollars for the Hanna Community Center so it was a fun way to spend the afternoon.

Here are some pics of J and his team in action. They might not have won but I think they had fun!

Whoa, look at that action shot!:
Josh pitched the entire 2 games. I was glad that they played right next to where I was stationed (making hot dogs!) so that I could watch them play a little bit!

Saturday night, Josh went out with Dan, Jeff and Bruce to watch a boxing match. Then on Sunday, we headed to Indy with Ron and Patty to eat at a restaurant that we'd all been wanting to try for several months, Fogo de Chao. It's a Brazilian-style restaurant and they serve all different sorts of meat, all you can eat. I was so mad that I forgot to get some pictures of the gauchos serving the meat...or really any pictures for that matter! After we were pretty much done, J remembered and we grabbed two shots. They're not too good, but it's all we have!

It was a LOT of meat! Patty didn't get the meat portion; I thought about not getting it but figured my little Poke could use the protein. But we were all stuffed to the brim afterward and then took a short walk around downtown Indy.

This was the best pic we got of all of us. I'm so disappointed in myself for not getting some cute ones! Note my NOjito. They surprised me while I was up at the salad bar and had one delivered for me. Yummm!!

In the end, it was a really fun weekend. Busy and full of fun things to do! This weekend will be just as eventful as we are preparing to head down to Sanibel Island for Jeff and Laura's wedding. We're looking forward to some relaxation and some sun!

10 week u/s

How could I forget this adorable picture when I was posting yesterday?!!? Here is a picture of Pokey at the 10 week ultrasound. Such a good picture...the other two are pretty much little blobs, but this one actually allows you to see a little body, head and arms. Pokey's head is the round blob toward the bottom, the oblong shape connected is obviously his body, then you can see his little Power Forward arms swinging around by his face. We also saw his legs, which were crossed at the ankles, but you can't see them here.

We won't get another ultrasound until we're 20 weeks, so another 7 weeks from now! But as of now, this is what the little peanut looks like (you can see the legs crossed in the picture just like Pokey had them at our 10w u/s). They say he's almost 3 inches long and weighs almost an ounce.

Cat's out of the bag!

We let the big secret cat out of the bag this afternoon and it feels so fabulous....we're PREGNANT, again!!

We are officially out of the first trimester as of tomorrow (or Saturday, depending upon who you ask) and we had our first appointment with the regular OB/Gyn yesterday. We found out in late February and I can tell you that it has been so tough keeping the secret! On the one hand, we wanted to make sure that things were going smoothly, but at the same time, we're so excited that it's hard not to shout it from the rooftops.

Here are a few pictures so far:

6 week ultrasound:

8 week ultrasound:

And here is a picture of me with Dr. Miracles himself, Dr. Jarrett. We really cannot imagine what we would have done had we not made the move from our old RE to him. He's obviously the best that there is, proven by his success rates and the fact that he ranks as the #1 IVF RE in the state. But beyond that, he genuinely cares. He's really invested in his patients and I'm certain that he treats them all as fabulously as he did us. This man literally changed our lives and we have so much gratitude toward him!! (We took this picture right before we officially "graduated" from his care...very bittersweet. If he was available to be our doctor through the entire pregnancy, I'd absolutely make the drive to Indy every month!!)

Anyway, so that's what we have so far in the way of pictures. We didn't get an ultrasound at yesterday's appointment but we did get to hear the baby. Luckily, we have a doppler and we're able to listen to the baby every night. It's a great source of reassurance for us.

As for the little peanut, we're calling it a few different things. Josh is convinced that it is a boy. 100% convinced. (We'll find out in 6 or 7 weeks!) He calls him his little power forward, and based on the wiggleworm that we saw swinging elbows in our last ultrasound, he could be right on about that prediction. I tried to remind him that he could have been doing ballet moves, but J didn't go for that. I sometimes call him our little b-dub. As in, Baby Wright.

But mostly, we call him our lil Poke or Pokey. The reason behind this is that when we went for our first ultrasound at 6 weeks, we saw no heartbeat. This was on a Thursday. We were scared out of our minds, and Dr. J gave us no reason for high hopes...he didn't want us getting our hopes too high. So I took Friday off, got some more bloodwork done (and my levels were skyhigh, which was good news), and then spent the weekend taking it very easy, praying and praying for our little miracle, and I kept saying, "I'm building a heartbeat, people!!" On the way to the appointment on Monday, we were still so nervous, but I said, "Maybe the baby's just taking it's sweet time building its heart. Maybe it's just a little pokey!" Needless to say, there was obviously a heartbeat (pretty sure that Dr. J teared up with us!) and the baby DID take its sweet time and it WAS just a little Pokey. Funny enough, I've been accused on more than one occasion of being a piddler, so it's not surprising that a baby of mine would build a heart on its own time! So Pokey has stuck, plus since Josh's alma mater, Wyoming, is also known as the Pokes, he likes it even more.

So there you have it! Another Baby Wright on the way. We're still very sad over the loss of Mya and we never want to forget everything that she did for us. She gave us so much hope and joy even in just a few weeks. She made us realize that we were meant to be parents and that our 3 1/2 year struggle was worth it. We still believe that and we will treasure her as our first baby for always.

Marching for Mya

Today we did the March for Babies Walk in honor of Mya. It was a really fun day, though very bittersweet.

Shell got t-shirts made for us and they turned out really cute:

Here is a picture of the girls (minus Sloop)

Josh and Danny messing around after the walk:Here's everyone during the walk. Notice that Josh is carrying Lincoln. He did almost the entire 4 miles carrying either Linc or Griff or with Griff on his shoulders! Guess he got a double workout!Here we are after the walk...sad but excited to be thinking of our little girl:

We're so proud of our team!! Together, we passed our goal of raising $1,000 for March of Dimes by $200!! We were in the Top 5 Lafayette-area teams for online fundraising, too! March of Dimes is one organization that I knew I would want to support because of the research they have done for Down syndrome. I know that if Mya had lived, we would have taken advantage of the research and support offered by MOD, so hopefully with our team's help, other families will be able to do so.

Thanks to our walkers:
Shell, Dan and the boys
Ron and Patty
Laura and Jeff
Laura Smith
Elizabeth
Laura Edwards (in spirit!)

And thanks to the many people who donated!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Easter

We had a great Easter holiday this year! I had been planning a big egg hunt for the boys and we had planned on doing it on Saturday, but then it ended up raining. So on a whim, Josh decided to make an Easter lunch for Shell, Dan, the boys and us after church and the day turned out to be gorgeous. We had the egg hunt first, then Dan and Josh took the boys down to the playground and we had lunch outside on the patio. We were hoping to go down to Southern IN to visit Josh's grandma but it didn't end up working out. Hopefully we'll get down there soon.

Here are some pictures of the boys hunting for eggs:

And here is Shell, Dan, Linc and Kowe relaxing on the hammock. Perfect hammock day!!
As always, Josh worked his magic. We made some deviled eggs and I got the idea from Mary in my office to dye the egg whites. They turned out pretty cute.

And here's a picture of our entire spread...salad bar, ham, homemade potato salad, corn and cadbury mini egg cookies. It was all delicious!

Cheap Date: Black Tie Style!

This past weekend, we were able to attend the HTM Black Tie Dinner. Since we went for work, we didn't have to pay for the tickets, so we figured that we would take advantage of the free dinner to enjoy another installment of our Cheap Date! Series. We haven't been too good about our cheap dates lately, but this was a fantastic one! We enjoyed getting all dressed up and eating some unique and new (to us) foods.

Here is a picture of us. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera at home, so Wendi sent me a few pictures. (Thanks, Wendi!) I would have taken pictures of Josh drinking lots and lots...and lots of wine, champagne, more wine, more champagne. Oh, the wine was a-flowin'! I drove that night, so I enjoyed some fabulous NOjitos! They were delicious non-alcoholic mojitos! Sooo delicious!

This is a picture of a giant shrimp with frozen gazpacho. It was very interesting. VERY spicy! At least mine was. The theme for the night was Chilean food, as we have a new chef in the department who is from Chile.
My favorite course of the night was this delicious soup. It was a squash soup served with two types of salsa on the spoon. You dipped the spoon in the soup and swirled it around to get the best tasting soup ever!!

Here is a picture of Wendi, Denise and I.

And here is a picture of me with Ali, the BTD President from last year, and Carter, the BTD President from this year (and hopefully next year, too)! I get to work with them on seating and invitations. SUCH a great group of students. They work for 8 months and the event is comprised of over 400 students. They learn every aspect of the service of a synchornized service dinner. It's such a neat experience. This year's guest speaker was Gale Gand. She has been on several Food Network shows as well as Top Chef. She did a book signing after the event and we all got a copy of her newest cookbook, "Brunches." Funny story: when Josh and I were getting our book signed, I told her she could make it out to Josh since he does all of the cooking in our house. She was impressed with this and said she hoped I did the dishes (ummm....). Then she complimented me on my necklace and was just such a sweet and personable lady. But when we looked at where she signed it, she made it out to John. We laughed.

Overall, it was a fabulous event and we had a great time. Best of all, it was a great date night with my handsome hubby!

snail mail

You know what will really brighten your day?
I'll tell you!

A few weeks ago I checked the mail and found this sweet letter in there from Griffin. He told Shell that he wanted to send me a letter, so he wrote it all out on the back of a colored picture that he had done at school.

He's such a sweetheart. Just the thing to brighten any day!!