I need to update, I know!!

Sorry for the break in our vacation and the updates. I know I really need to update my blog. We've had a lot going on: B's birthday, our new "toy," the rest of our trip to Mexico . . . I've just been really tired, and my stomach hasn't felt well. I thought 12 weeks was the "magic" number for the nausea and the fatigue to stop. I'm loving jammies and lounge pants! :) But, at least I am pregnant, and when I can actually sit at the computer without falling asleep, or when Gavin doesn't want my attention, I WILL update. Promise!

We interrupt our vacation . . .

. . . for our first ultrasound! We went this morning to meet my new doctor, and to get an ultrasound. I've never had one this early (the earliest being in my 20th week), so it was kind of neat. The baby was squiggling all over and wouldn't lay still for very long, but the doctor was able to measure the babe and found out that according to the u/s, I'm actually 11 weeks 5 days along, instead of 10 weeks 4 days. So, she bumped my due date up to November 7th instead of the 14th.

There is only one baby in there, and baby has a heartrate of 162! For some reason this time, I've been more worried about miscarriage, too. I never worried with the other three - in fact, miscarriage never even crossed my mind. But, with this one, it has. So, I was very grateful to see that little heart going and to see baby moving around so actively!

However, this is all still kind of surreal for me. We've tried to get pregnant for so long, and when each month went by and I wasn't pregnant, I found that I cared less and less, to the point where I didn't want a baby. I think it was my coping mechanism. It was easier to admit that I didn't want one, than it was to admit that I couldn't get pregnant after three very easy, successful attempts previously. (Scott, B & Gavin!)

But, I'm excited, and looking forward to finding out the sex so that I can paint the baby's room. We'll have that appointment in another two months. And, get this: the ultrasound machines in the clinic where I'm going are 3D. So, I'll get some 3D pictures of my babe at my 20 week appointment! How cool! :)


Measuring from crown to rump - 11 weeks 5 days


Baby's heartrate is 162

Monday in Mexico

The view outside our room

So, after our 11 hours of sleep Sunday night/Monday morning, we woke up feeling much better. Plane rides and all day travel really takes it out of you! So, we headed down to the buffet (knowing where it was at this time) for some breakfast, and then off to find our travel agency to set up activities for the next day. We decided on going to Xel-ha (pronounced Shell-ha) for half a day, and then to the Tulum ruins for the rest of the day. Looking back, all of us would have been just as happy to stay at Xel-ha all day! Oh well.

After we decided what we wanted to do on Tuesday, I headed back to our hotel room for a nap. I left our patio door slightly open and it was so cool to go to sleep listening to the sounds of the native birds, and to hear the wind blowing through the palm trees. Brandon came in a little while later and said that he and his dad were going to head down to the beach to do a little wading or swimming. I decided to go with them, so we slathered ourselves up with 50 SPF suncreen and headed down to the beach! Since we were going to the beach (with, you know, water . . .) we decided not to take the camera. So, no pictures.

But, we wandered down to the beach (probably 1/4 of a mile from our room), and while Wayne wandered the beach, Brandon & I jumped in to do some wave jumping. It was so much fun. When you first got in the water, it took your breath away for 1/2 a second, but once you were in, it was AWESOME! The water was so blue, and warm, and the waves (for the most part) were perfect for jumping and body surfing in. The one bad thing: rocks! We had to watch where we were going, because there was a lot of coral out there. I stepped on some unknowingly and ended up getting a pretty long scratch on my ankle. It wasn't too deep, and thanks to the salt water, it really didn't bleed that much, either.

Anyway, we swam for about 45 minutes or so, then got out to find Wayne waiting for us with a nice cold drink. An alcohol-less version of the Pina Colada, called a pinada (imagine the n has the little squiggle over the top, like in senor. Pronounced Pinyahdu.) They were good, and we each had at least one every day we were there. After our drinks, Wayne joined us in swimming in the Caribbean Sea - doesn't that sound awesome - and then got out to walk with LaRean when she came down. We were outside for probably two hours total, and I got burned BAD!!! And, remember, I had 50 spf suncreen on. It didn't seem to help.

So, we went back to our room to shower and get ready for dinner. I had Brandon put some lotion on me (I didn't think to bring any aloe vera gel - duh!) and oh, man, did that hurt! Ouch! Anyway, we went down to dinner, and then headed out to the lobby for some drinks (pinadas) and entertainment. During dinner, we could hear a saxaphone playing with a band, so we wandered out to listen. But, when we got there, an authentic mariachi band was playing instead of the sax. But, it was still fun to listen to and to hear the singers.

Sipping a pinada

Going in for the kill . . .

SMOOCH!!!

After they played, the other band came back, so we listened to the sax player play songs like "Red, red wine" and "My Heart will go on" and "Can't help falling in Love." A lot of people got up to dance, including one guy that was just hilarious to watch. He jumped and bounced, and flaunted and flopped, and waved his arms . . . We got a good laugh out of him!

Help!! He's trying to choke me!

Oh, wait. He's just giving me a hug!

One of the many fountains around the resort

By this point, we were tired (it was only 8:30), so we headed back to our rooms. Now, one thing you have to know about my father-in-law: he LOVES Mt. Dew. So much so, that he smuggled some down in his checked suitcase, because they don't have it in Mexico. So, Brandon was kidding him about getting it down here, and having to have his dew, when they decided to have some fun. Now, Brandon, loves Diet Coke. But, when he can't have Diet Coke, he has Mt. Dew. So, he asked his dad for one, and kiddingly said that he could probably just throw up it to our balcony instead of walking up the stairs to give it to him. This is the result:

Checking out the distance between our balconies

Climbing up - Dew in hand

Ready, aim. . .

FIRE!!!

My wonderful in-laws who made this trip possible! Thank you!

Sunday's flight to Mexico

Okay, so I finally have a few minutes while Gavin is at preschool. Here goes. So, we dropped the kids off on Saturday with my sister, then drove back home. By the time we got home, I had a KILLER headache, but while Brandon went to the Priesthood session of conference, I braved the crowds at Deseret Book to find a book to read during our vacation. (NEVER again with a headache! I was about ready to tell everybody to shut up right then and there. *sigh*)

But, when I got home, I was feeling dizzy and sick to my stomach, so I laid down for half an hour, then finally decided to call my sister to ask if there was anything I could do. (For the record, Tylenol does NOTHING for me! NOTHING!) She said that up until 20 weeks, it was okay to take some Ibuprofen, so I did. I laid on the kitchen floor while Brandon got him some dinner (it was actually very comfortable), and within 30 minutes I was feeling a lot better. Within an hour, I was fine. I LOVE Ibuprofen!!

We packed our suitcases, double checked that we had passports, books, gum, sunscreen . . . then finally went to bed at 11:30 that night. Three short hours later, my alarm went off. So, we got up, ate some breakfast, fed the cats, loaded the van, and headed out to pick up Brandon's parents. As we drove, we noticed that the moon was HUGE! It was awesome to watch it setting.

Anyway, we got to the airport, checked our luggage, and went through the security checkpoint where LaRean was pulled out of the crowd to have her purse searched. (This happened to her, once with their full suitcases in Mexico, four times, I believe. Just her. She was frustrated 'cause the workers just pawed through her stuff, or just dumped it on the counter. I would have been, too!) After that, we found our gate, then wandered to find a Burger King and a Cinnabon to have some breakfast. I was starving by then, and starting to feel a little sick to my stomach, so that sausage, egg, biscuit was HEAVEN!!!

We boarded our plane - a fairly small plane with only about 64 seats. We got the "privilege" of sitting right over the wings. Made for a noisy flight, especially at 7:30 in the morning! Inbetween watching us take off, trying to find Roosevelt or Vernal, and landing, I managed to snag about a ten minute nap. When we landed in Denver an hour and a half later, instead of connecting the plane to a walkway, we had to climb down some portable stairs, hike through some snow on the tarmac, and walk all the way through the airport to the other gate for our connecting flight.

Our first airplane - kind of small!

Awesome view of the Rockies at 27,000 feet

My ten minute catnap

Walking through the snow on the tarmac!

We noticed in SL that our tickets (just mine and Brandon's) didn't have a seat number for the flight to Mexico, so when we landed, we checked in with the attendant at our gate, and he gave us the very back seats in the plane. So, we had three seats to share between the two of us. It was nice. Anyway, we had about an hour to kill, so Brandon & I headed to Quizno's to get some lunch to take on the plane with us. Once we got back to the gate, I made him go back and get me some frozen yogurt, and his mom and I were getting a bit nervous because they'd already called for people to be boarded. But, since they had to check passports, there was still quite a line by the time the yogurt came!

Then, we boarded, took off, and we were on our way to Mexico. I tried to snooze a little, but it was kind of hard the first little bit, because we were seated right in front of the lavatories. People kept coming and going and coming and going. Finally there was a lull when the flight attendants served drinks, but once everybody had consumed their drinks, it was BUSY again. But, I finally caught about ten minutes of sleep while Brandon was busy taking pictures of the ocean, the cabin, us . . .

I was cold, so I borrowed Wayne's sweater. He just laughed at me!

When we got our first glimpse of Mexico bordered by the Caribbean Sea, it took my breath away! Wow! I've never seen water that blue. (Well, except for in a swimming pool, but that doesn't count!) Brandon also pointed out to me the landscape - pure jungle. It is so tight in there - it's no wonder that people are still discovering ancient civilizations!

Our first view of the coastline. The water is SO blue!


Mayan jungle

You can see just how dense the jungle is in the picture

Anyway, we landed in Mexico about four hours after we left Denver. There had been many people warn us about people at the airport who would try to suck you into a time share. So, once we had collected our luggage (and LaRean's bags had been searched, again) we headed out to find our transportation to the resort. A guy stopped us and asked us if we needed directions, so we told him we were trying to find the Lomas Travel Agency. He directed us to a lady at a booth and said that she would help us find where we needed to go. 20 minutes later, we finally got away from her. They sure sucked us into that one!

I slept on the way to the resort (The Grand Princess Riviera) (having had only three hours of sleep really wears a person out), but we finally got there. When we checked in, they put us in one building, and Wayne & LaRean way down in another building. We asked if we could have adjoining rooms, but that wasn't possible, but the girl that checked us in was able to get us rooms in the same building. We were actually just diagonal from each other, so that worked out. We also asked where we could get dinner. They had seven restaurants at the resort, but you had to make reservations for them the day before. But, they had four buffets that we could go to that were for anybody. They were pointed out to us on a map, so once we had gone to our rooms and gotten settled a bit, we ventured out for some dinner.

Our room - looking at the sliding door to our private balcony


Our bathroom, looking in through sliding windows right by the bed. It was really cool!

We wandered, and wandered, and walked, and turned in circles trying to find these buffets. Come to find out, there are only two that are open morning and night. The other two are only open during in the morning. So, since we had trekked almost down to the beach, we walked clear back up to the front of the resort, finally found the buffet, ate some good food, then wearily found our way back to our rooms. We crashed that night at 8:30, and slept for eleven hours!

Wandering among some cool statues

The pathway down to the beach - it seemed to go on FOREVER!!!

Sly's snake

Gavin was playing outside this morning, so I went out to check on him, and found this on the front porch:





Good job, Sly! Next time, please dispose of it in the empty field behind our house instead of on the front porch or in the garage. I'm getting tired of having to step (JUMP) over them.


(P.S. Mexico trip posts are coming. I've decided I'm going to have to do it a day or two at a time, instead of all at once!)

Ugh

Sorry, no Mexico post, yet. I'm still wading through pictures, and quite frankly, I don't have the energy right now to post about it. *sigh* But, anyway, on Monday I went to my new dr.'s office for a nurse consult and to have blood drawn for lab tests. The nurse called back today and said that the blood tests all came back fine, but the urinalysis showed up positive for a bladder infection.

Now the nice thing - I haven't felt a thing! She said that it's quite common for pregnant women to have bladder infections but not know it. So, I guess it's good that I didn't know it. The bad thing - I have to swallow pills for a week. On an empty stomach. But, I guess I'd rather do that than to be able to feel this infection if it gets worse.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure my cats have tapeworm, which means they also have fleas because that's how they get tapeworm in the first place. *sigh* They've been banished to the outside world, permanently. Or, at least until the vet can get this cleared up for us. And by that time, it will be full-blown spring, and they'll get to be outside all the time anyway! At least, it had better be full-blown spring. I'm ready for warm weather! NO MORE SNOW!

We're back!!!

We had SO much fun, and it was a wonderful getaway! We took a TON of pictures - currently 671, with a lot already deleted - so I have a lot of them to look through and organize. I will post our trip, with pictures, but I can't guarantee it'll be today, or tomorrow, or the next day, or . . . . . :)

I love you for infinity!!!

We dropped the kids off at my sisters house this afternoon for their Spring Break trip while we head to Mexico. When it was time to go, I asked Gavin for a hug. I picked him up, he hugged and kissed me, then said, "Now put me down, Mom!" Scott was mellow and gave me a hug and kiss, and told me he loved me and to have fun. B gave me about 15 hugs and several kisses (have I ever mentioned how much I love B's hugs???) Then he said, "Goodbye, Mom," and went and stood by Anne Marie. He was so brave, though! His little lip was quivering, and he looked SO sad as he waved goodbye! He stood in the driveway and watched us go.

I admit, I cried as we drove away. We've never left the kids this long, and for the few times we have left them, we've been just a few hours away. This time we'll be out of the country. It's hard. I know they're in excellent hands, but it's still hard. So, if you don't mind, I'll leave a short message for my boys:

I hope you all have lots of fun and are good for Anne Marie! And, don't worry, we'll bring you home a souvenir!! :)

I love you for infinity, Scott!!!

I love you for infinity, Braden!!!

I love you for infinity, Gavin!!!

Love - Mom & Dad

Only four days left . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . until our Spring Break trip!!! We're so excited to be going, and I'm very much looking forward to just relaxing on the beach, sleeping in as long as I want and napping when I want, maybe doing some snorkeling, getting a pedicure/manicure. Mmm. Our original plan was to also get a full-body couples massage, but, um, I'm not sure how licensed they are in pregnacy massages. So, I'd rather not risk it, but I'm all for a foot massage! :)

I actually felt pretty good today as long as I took things slow, so that's what I did. The house is pretty under control, which leaves me free to do laundry and start packing tomorrow! We'll take the boys out to my wonderful, awesome sister on Saturday, where they'll stay for a week while we're vacationing. (Someday, we plan to return the favor!) Then, early Sunday morning - we're off! But, ugh - we have to be to the airport 2 - 3 hours early because it's an international flight. That means, we have to be to the airport at 4:00 am! Which means, we leave Logan at 2:30 in the morning! Yikes! I have a feeling I'll be sleeping a lot on Sunday!

So, ciao, my friends, for now! (Unless I happen to post before Sunday!) I plan to come back with lots of pictures of plenty of relaxing things going on! And, maybe a trip to Chichen Itza to see the ruins! :)