My Favorite Christmas Card of 2008

We got lots of wonderful Christmas cards this year, but I thought this one was just too cute. It's from my friend Erin, who has always been witty and funny. This card just proves her humor!

Merry Christmas!

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Oh Boy! Oh Boy!

We found out yesterday that we are expecting two precious little boys! I had a feeling all along that it was boys. It took the girl doing the ultrasound all of about 30 seconds to determine that they were both boys. See the pictures below for yourself. It's pretty obvious! Now that we know what they are, we can start working on ideas for the nursery and names. I think the name part is the hardest because we keep changing our minds.

New Pictures

We went to see our OB this week and got some new pictures to share. According to the doctor everything is progressing wonderfully and the babies are looking like a text book perfect case. Yeah!!! It was really comforting to hear that. I'm sure everyone feels the nervousness during the first trimester, and for me it was no different. And, I know I have just been so tired and haven't felt well, but I have had a little bit of trouble feeling as excited as I wanted to be. That is starting to change though! I'm getting SO excited now that I'm starting to feel better! Maybe it was also that we saw the babies moving during the ultrasound that it's starting to seem a little more real. They moved during the last one too, but they didn't look like fully developed babies with arms, legs, hands and feet like they did this time. Baby A is 4 cm and Baby B is 3.8 cm. Baby A is still right in front of Baby B, so the pictures of Baby B aren't as good as the ones of Baby A. As they get bigger they will move around and we will probably loose track of which one is which. Our OB doesn't have the most wonderful equipment for this,so they are really grainy pictures. Our maternal fetal doctor does have the great equipment however, and I will be sure to post the ones we get on December 2. We will be 13 1/2 weeks when we go to that appointment, and although it's still really early, we may be able to tell the sexes of the babies. Keep your fingers crossed! You can click on any of the pictures below to view them in a larger size.

Both babies are in each picture below. It's really hard to see since they had to go so far out to get them both in one photo, but they are actually facing each other. The dark area is the amniotic fluid and the babies are really small here. Each baby and it's individual placenta is about the size of a lime.


This is Baby A. You can see pretty clearly that the head is on the right. That's a hand sticking up there. Maybe the baby is waving at us?! :)


This picture of Baby B looks a little different and it's much closer up than the ones of Baby A. The white plus sign in the middle part of the picture is at the very top of the head. You can see an outline of the little face and the arms just below.

Still feeling green

Although it has gotten a little better than when I posted last, my appetite still has been kind of spotty. It's not as bad as it could be, so I'm glad about that. Just some nausea here and there. Poor Randy is the real victim I think, because I gag just looking at his food, and that's not appetizing to anyone! More than just the nausea is the tired feeling that I have. It's like I'm not interested in being productive in any way. We get home and I'm on the couch, if not already going to bed, and I'm just worthless. Everyone keeps telling me that all of this will end after the first trimester, so bring on the second one! Being pregnant is fun and exciting, but right now I don't even feel like I have enough energy to go look at the baby stores for the cute little things out there. I'm definitely noticing a change in my waistline during the last couple of weeks. It's surprising since the babies are only the size of an olive at 9 weeks!

Hard to Eat

I think morning sickness (actually afternoon/evening sickness better describes it) has set in. It's been really hard for me to find something that doesn't make me gag since about Friday. Meat is the worst, and I'm generally a real meat lover. When my cousin Lesa and I were small I would eat the meat off of my plate and she would eat the vegetables off of hers, then we would switch when Granny wasn't looking so we could eat what we liked and still have a clean plate. I guess pregnancy has changed that! About the only things that sound appetizing are fruits and some vegetables. My books say this is pretty normal and I should start to feel like my old self again in a few weeks. But, in the meantime, going to the grocery store is not a fun experience. Randy and I went on Sunday and I thought I couldn't get out of there fast enough. I'm so excited to be pregnant, and I absolutely know that this nausea is all for a good cause, but I can't wait for this part to pass!

We went to a new doctor yesterday morning. We had another ultrasound and he said everything looked good and the babies appeared to be developing normally. Their heartbeats were much faster, 147 and 126. This past Thursday when we heard the heartbeats for the first time, they were 111 and 110. However, they had just started beating at that time. The heart starts to beat sometime between 6 weeks 2 days and 6 weeks 4 days. We were at 6 weeks 4 days on Thursday, so by Monday We were 7 weeks 1 day. Isn't it amazing how much stronger they grow in such a short period of time?!

First Pictures

I know it doesn't look like much, but at least you can tell that there are two babies!

Heartbeats

I know I should have posted an update by now. I'm sorry! I've been nervous about posting because last week when we went to have our ultrasound, my doctor made me a little skittish about announcing publicly that we were going to have TWINS! But, we had another ultrasound this morning and heard the heartbeats. So even though we are still in a very risky time frame for the pregnancy, I decided to share our very exciting news with everyone. As you can imagine, we are both elated and a little overwhelmed. I know that we were blessed with the unbelievable gift of two little babies because of all the prayers we have received. The chances of just one of our frozen embryos attaching and developing after the transfer was about 30%. The odds that both would attach and develop were less than 5%. So, as the doctor said, we continue to defy his odds! :) I want to ask for all of your continued prayers for a safe and successful journey for our developing babies. Having two is extremely exciting, but it also comes with a higher risk of complications. When we get to 8 weeks, we will feel a lot better, and then at 12 weeks we will be pretty much in the clear. Randy and I know what a great support system we have, and we appreciate you all so much. Thank you for all of your prayers. This miracle is proof that prayers work!

This morning both of the babies looked like they were developing appropriately. It was so sweet to see and hear their little hearts beat. It's just amazing that they develop so quickly from appointment to appointment! We have another ultrasound on Monday and then another on Thursday, October 30. At this point we're still going to our infertility doctor, Dr. Jabara, but we will start with our OB soon. Unfortunately having twins is considered a high risk pregnancy, so we will also be visiting a high risk maternity doctor as well.

My mom was convinced that we were going to have twins because of a dream that she had the night before we found out we were pregnant. Now that she was right about that, she thinks that it's going to be two girls. I am hoping for one boy and one girl, but have a feeling that it's going to be two boys. We won't be able to settle this until December or January, since that will be about the earliest we can tell the sex of the babies. It's going to be hard to wait that long!

My First Smell Aversion

This morning I had my first aversion to smells. My co-workers and I were mixing together peanuts, M&M's and raisins for goody bags. When the can of peanuts was opened my stomach turned and I had to leave the room. It was only a little bit of nausea because of the smell, but since I haven't been sick or had any other signs of pregnancy until today, it was really exciting that I finally felt pregnant! Yeah, I know, that's not going to last. But, for now it was one small bit of excitement for me!

Anxiety

Last night I laid awake for hours. That's strange because lateley by the time I can get in bed I'm so tired that I hit the sheets and I'm out with the lights. I think it was anxiety to blame. After all of the time and effort we have put into making this happen, I guess I never really thought I would be so nervous and scared when it actually did. Don't get me wrong, I'm very excited and giddy about it, too. I'm sure this is a normal feeling and it will pass as time does, but the anxiety is just not an emotion I had really expected at this point. This is normal, right?

I don't have to go in on Friday for another blood test. The doctor said that my hormone level is increasing so well that they don't need to monitor it anymore. And, my first ultrasound has been moved up a day to Thursday, 10/9. I'll let you know how that goes!

WE'RE PREGNANT!!!

I just want to shout it from the rooftops! I can't believe it really happened. This really is proof that God listens to our prayers! I think I was in shock on Monday. Then, Tuesday I kept thinking that I shouldn't get my hopes up because every time I do something happens. But now that we know for sure, I'm just so excited that I don't know what to do with myself! :)

I went in for a blood test this morning to confirm the pregnancy. We needed the hormone level to double from a 234 on Monday to at least a 400 or more today. My HCG was a 662! So, we really are pregnant!

The nurse told me that she was fairly sure without doing the blood test that we were pregnant because of the high number from Monday. And I know lots of people have been asking if a high number means it could be twins, so I asked her the same question. She said that a person with only one could have a high number like I did, so no, that does not necessarily mean twins. But, someone with twins is unlikely to have a low number. So, if my HCG had been low, then it would have probably ruled out twins. Since it was high though, it really could be anybody's guess as to whether both embryo's made it or just one. We won't be able to find out for sure until our ultrasound on 10/17, but as soon as we do know I promise to tell you!

Good News!

Well, we found out today that my hCG level is a positive indication for pregnancy! I say it like that, instead of saying that we're pregnant, because we won't be positive about the pregnancy until Wednesday. But, we are excited and celebrating the fact that we have such a wonderful indication this early on!

This morning while having my blood draw I asked the nurse what exactly we were looking for in this test. I told her I knew the hCG level should be above 5 to be an indicator of pregnancy, but she told me they had never really seen a successful pregnancy if the level isn't about 12-14 at least. She said it would be better to be 30 or 60, or even 100, because then we could have a very positive feeling about pregnancy. She said she would send the blood test out and get the results rushed so we could know as quickly as possible.

We were to expect her call between 10:00 and 10:30. So, Randy and I decided to meet for a cup of coffee (decaf for me!) and wait. Tammy called at 10:15...right on time! The first thing she said was, "Cory, you're pregnant." I just about fell out of my chair! She said I had an hCG level of 234! That's excellent news, because she said that a higher number like that is definitely a strong indicator. However, we do still have to go back on Wednesday to have another blood draw and make sure that number doubles to 470 or so before we can say we are pregnant for sure.

Randy and I are still in shock. We both kind of looked at each other and said, "Okay, what now?" It's crazy because every step of the way there seems to have been some sort of obstacle to overcome and we just didn't expect this part to have been so easy. I was thinking last night, as I laid awake for hours, that we are so blessed. I couldn't imagine being lucky enough to have this blessing bestowed upon us so simply. It just seemed like we needed to work a little harder than we have for it. I'm still processing the fact that on June 6, 2009, we may have a little addition to our James Family. Wow.

After Wednesday, if the blood test shows a positive result, we will go back on Friday for another one. Then, we will have our first ultrasound on Friday, 10/10. Tammy said that the first US is pretty anti-climactic because all it shows is the position of the developing fetus. They need to make sure that it's not an ectopic pregnancy or anything like that. Although it's unlikely, that's still a very small possibility. But, when we have our second US on 10/17, we will be able to see a heartbeat. Or, according to my mom, heartbeatS! At that time, when we can see heartbeats, we will know if one or both of our embryos made it. Even though I've wanted this for a long time, I realized that I'm not sure I even know what to do with a baby. How will know how to take care of one baby, much less two? But, bring it on! If it's one, that's great, but if it's two then we don't have to worry about anything else because our family can be complete. I know that the good Lord will not cast burdens upon me that I cannot bear!

Update!

My mom called tonight and they got their electricity back on a little while ago! Hooray! Luckily it hasn't been all that warm there, but temperatures are expected to rise in the coming days. Their little generator was enough to power their water well and their refrigerator so they had running water and ice, but that's not a replacement for cool air on those hot, humid days. What a relief for them to have their electricity back on!!!

Our Embryo Transfer

Today we had our embryo transfer! I'm really excited and anxious to find out if we will be parents. Originally I had decided not to post about it because I didn't want to get excited, and also didn't want to answer questions, in the event that the transfer didn't work. But, I can't keep anything to myself, so practically everyone knows about it anyway and I decided that this is much easier than answering the phone every five minutes! :) Thank you for all of the prayers and positive energy that is being sent our way. I have more than once been overwhelmed today by the wonderful support and well wishes that we have received.

So, yes, overall everything went well this afternoon. When Randy and I first arrived Dr. Preen told us that we had one embryo for sure that made it through the thawing process but he didn't about the other one making it. He explained that at this stage they should be hollow in the middle when they are thawed, but one had not expanded as well as the other. The one that did, however, looked just as good as the day it was frozen according to Dr. Preen. In the rating of the embryos, that one was Excellent or an A rating. The one that was lagging behind in the beginning ended up expanding and getting to the place it needed to be in time to make the transfer. That one was rated as Good, or B. I'm just so thrilled that we had these great results since 1 in 5 embryos don't make it through the thawing process at all. We were pretty nervous and very aware that we could very well get there and not have any embryos to transfer at all. As it happened, both were transferred in a very easy and quick process! I had to lay in an inverted position with my head down and hips up for twenty minutes, then flat on my back for another forty minutes. Then, they got me up, drew my blood for a baseline and sent me home. I'm on 24 hour bed rest per doctors orders. After 24 hours, I can resume normal activity. Randy is doing a really great job of taking care of me and waiting on me so I don't feel like I have to do anything.

My marketing team at VistaCare is bringing us dinner tonight. Christi made lasagna, Cheryl brought a salad and Molly is bringing us her wonderful brownies. I might start with dessert! I was told that my work had a prayer circle this morning to pray for Randy and I (and for our little babies!). I know that I am blessed to work with such a wonderful group of people!

I will have the blood test on Sept. 29th to find out if my hCG level is elevated. That is a pretty good indicator of whether or not we're pregnant, but two days later I will have another blood test and if the hCG levels have doubled then we know we are. I will keep you all posted on how it works out for us!

The 100 Year Rain and Hurricane Ike

We had the rain of the century here last week. Literally! The newscasters kept referring to our 8+ inches of rain as the 100 year rain. It's generally pretty dry in West Texas, but for some reason last Thursday conditions were just right for storms to keep forming over us and drenching the South Plains. There was no severe weather, just a long period of steady rain. That may not sound like a record setting event to my friends in Houston or some other places that get rain very often, but the drainage systems in Lubbock just aren't set up to handle that much. Never, since the weather has been monitored and recorded, has there been more than 6 inches of rain at once here in the Hub City. So, you can bet there was flooding! We've never seen schools close for anything other than a severe ice storm, but they did indeed close schools due to the flooding all over the area. I think that may have been over reaction to the rain, but when they had to make the decision there was no indication of when the rain would stop. But with rain, as opposed to Hurricane Ike as my mom and step-dad were dealing with just two days later, the water subsided and everything was back to normal. I wish I could say the same for my mom's situation. They are still without electricity and phone. Neither are expected to be restored for 2-3 weeks. They didn't sustain any damage to their property but neighbors of theirs had roofs blown off and trees uprooted. They do have generators to run some things like the TV, and at night a window unit for their bedroom, but that's about it. Click here for a very frank look at some of the damage caused by Hurricane Ike. All in all, it's been pretty eventful as far as weather is concerned in the past couple of days. Hopefully we can stay dry in the days ahead!

Tailgating

It was a great weekend! I am starting to think that tailgating should be the new Olympic sport for 2012 though. Whew...it's a tiring experience! We have a group of tailgaters that start on Friday night and pack up to go home on Sunday. It's lots of fun, until Sunday rolls around. But, we must be gluttons for punishment because we just keep doing it over and over for each home game. I keep telling Randy that when we get pregnant and have little ones that we won't be able to do it like this. So far that has just given him ammunition to enjoy it while he can. Here are some pictures from last weekend:

My Birthday Week!

Well, my birthday week is officially over. :(

It was a good one though, even if I say so myself. It started on Friday night with dinner at Lindsay's mom's house. Brig made a wonderful meal of beef tenderloin and creamed spinach and artichoke. That was also the first night that we got to meet Lindsay's new "friend", Lance. Hands down, we love him! Hope he hangs around a while -wink, wink Lindz- so we can all get to know him better. Then on Saturday night, my Dad had a birthday party for me at his house. If you know my dad's side of the family then you know there isn't much we don't throw a party for. So, of course, the whole bunch turned up and made it a really great time. Then, on my actual birthday, which was Thursday, my boss took our team to The Gas Light for happy hour. Maybe I should say happy hourS. Chad, Beth and Lindsay joined us and we stayed a little later than happy hour was probably intended. My birthday week is coming to an end with a weekend of tailgating for the first Tech football game. I guess if it has to end, this is a good way to end it!

Olympic Fever

Well, it's here. Olympic fever has hit me full blown. I don't know why, but for a few weeks every four years I just get so excited about sports that I never even give a second thought to the other three plus years in between. Maybe it's just the thrill of watching our US team competing and winning on a world stage that suddenly makes fencing interesting. Did you know that there is a sport called Hand Ball? It's really kind of silly, but I watched it this morning. We didn't get any USA Hand Ball medals, but I still sat glued to it. And, then the table tennis and badminton is just so ridiculous. The ping pong teams actually had a substitute ready to spring into action in a moments notice if the need should arise. They took themselves so serious that you had to laugh. But, swimming on the other hand, was just exciting to the very end. We never hear about any swim meets until the Olympics, but this year has to have made an impression on anyone with a television set. And congratulations to our girls gymnastics teams. I thought they all competed with real heart! By the way, who really believes that any members of the Chinese team are really 16? Who do they think they are fooling? That's just bad sportsmanship if you ask me. But, they didn't ask me, so I guess the competition will go on. Oops, got to go! Track is starting and I want to see our three ladies compete against the three Jamaican women in the 100M sprint. GO USA!

So, They Had Me Going For a Minute...

Have you seen this? I saw the commercial and thought no way that's real. So, I checked out the website. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen! Turns out, this website, and the two others you will find on there are all part of a very elaborate advertising campaign for a new series to start on HBO in September. Well "Bravo!" HBO, you got me!

Ruidoso Flood

Did you see in the news that the remnants of Hurricane Dolly dumped 10 inches of rain on parts of New Mexico this past weekend? Well, most of us in West Texas saw images on our nightly news of Ruidoso in what seemed to be disasterous conditions. Unfortuneately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, Randy and I happened to be there this past weekend when the flooding happened. Strangely enough, when we were there a couple of weeks ago, all we heard about was the drastic drought conditions that caused even the forsesty services to close the National Park surrounding Ruidoso. Boy, how quickly things change!
We've had our camper in Ruidoso for the summer and just happened to go back this past weekend to bring it home and get it ready for tailgating. Thank goodness we did! Otherwise, it would probably look like the ones in the picture here. It rained on us from the time we got there on Friday night until we were woken up and hurried out on Sunday morning. There was a long steady rain on Saturday afternoon and all night. I actually made the comment to Randy on our way home from the casino that I guess we were fortuate to be on the side of a mountain because at least we wouldn't get flooded since the water could just run off. Wrong! Our RV park is just east of the Rio Ruidoso bridge. As we crossed over it on Saturday night I strained to see if there was anymore than the usual babbeling brook due to the rain. Granted, it was dark, but I couldn't see any running water because it was so far under the bridge. That all changed sometime between 1:00am and 7:00am Sunday morning.
We were awakened by an insistent banging on the door. Both Randy and I shot straight up in bed with crazy thoughts of who could be so rude as to assume people were already up and getting around. Before Randy could get to the door to unlock it another rapid banging came. He threw open the door and a man started yelling, "You gotta get packed and get out right now! The Sheriff just came by and said this place is gonna flood. They're already under water next door! Hurry up!"
Okay, for those of you who don't know this about me, one of my deepest darkest fears is that I will die in a drowning accident. I have nightmares, one recurring nightmare in particular, about drowning and the feeling of the water suffocating me. As you can imagine, when I heard that man screaming at us to get out of there, I just about lost it. I froze with panic for a few seconds. Then, with a huge rush of adreneline, I jumped up to shaky feet. There was no shower, no washing our faces, not even time to brush our teeth. Randy headed outside to get us unhooked from sewer, electricity, etc, and I got busy finding places for stuff to ride. I pushed up the shade on the back window and that's when I saw it. The Rio Ruidoso that I had strained to find just a few hours later now looked like a white water rapid about 30 yards from our camper. It was amazing and scary at the same time to see water rush by with such force in a place that we didn't even know a river ran. The trout lake and paddle boat pond that were part of the campsite were flooded and had already reached the wheels of the first row of campers. Luckily we were parked in the second row and didn't have to contend with the standing water yet. It took us about 45 minutes to get our stuff together and get out of there, and in that time the water had gotten about 10 yards closer. We pulled out and went to the Wal-Mart parking lot to finish securing items for the ride back home.
There were others that weren't so fortunate. Lots of people weren't there to get their campers out, and even for some that were, they were having a hard time getting everything pulled up fast enough. We wanted to help, but everyone was talking about how if you were headed east you had to get going because the highway would be closing due to the rising water. Sure enough, at 9:30am, we passed the Highway Patrol that were lined up getting ready to close the road because the water rushing just under the bridge was rising fast. Apparently less than a half hour after we passed, the road was closed.

The picture above is of the campsite next to ours that was flooded when we were woke up. It was taken on our way out of town. I didn't exactly have all of my senses about me or I would have taken some of that river rushing behind us or of our campsite as we passed it on the way out. It just didn't occur to me until we got here, and only then because Randy suggested it. Another friend of mine that was there sent me this link of pictures one of her local neighbors took that day. Some are of the racetrack and the flooding that happened there. In all, 12 bridges were lost, some houses were swept away, and two people were swept away when they lost their footing on the bank of the river. Whoa...not the way to go. Click here for a slideshow.

Fourth of July

Well tomorrow we have to go back to work after a week of vacation. Of course, neither of us are really excited about getting back to the grindstone, but I guess it's got to happen sooner or later, right? But, you know how it is when you get back from vacation...the catch up time is like your very own punishment for being able to take off work. The crazy thing is that although we went out of town, we still worked remotely and even sold a couple of properties over the phone. That part was pretty good! When we weren't talking real estate, we participated in the annual Jet Ski Rodeo at my mom's house. I think I've explained it in an earlier post, but I will just summarize by saying that it's a really fun race around buoys where we get timed and compete for a silly trophy. Obviously our family is very competitive, but in a good way. It was fun to have my whole family together. In the evenings we sit on the dock and listen to good music and eat some great food. Randy and my cousin Lesa's husband Kevin brought their guitars and entertained us one night. Probably the neighbors got more entertainment from watching us stumble over the words, or on the other hand they may have wanted to murder us because of our awful singing. One thing my family was not blessed with is a singing voice!

New Post!

Wow! Has it really been more than two months since I've posted? My how time flies! The spring and start of summer have been so busy. I just realized that I haven't even posted about Randy and I purchasing Rush Realtors earlier this year. It has been a whirlwind since then, but we are having a great time. Most of you know that Randy has been a Realtor for a while now, and he decided to get his real estate broker's license late last year. Ever since then we talked about opening our own real estate company, and it just so happened that about the same time Rush Realtors came up for sale. It worked out great for us, and has been lots of fun. Randy is still the bank manager at Bank of America and I'm still in marketing for VistaCare Hospice. We work our day jobs until 5, then we work on the real estate stuff most nights and weekends. We have 4 Realtors right now, and everything seems to be moving along so smoothly. I have to report that we have been pleasantly surprised at how well the Lubbock economy and real estate market has been holding up through this downturn!

Gotcha Day II

In a previous post, I told you about my friend Lisa and her husband Justin that are in Russia to adopt their son, Wyatt. They went to Russian court on March 20th, and were supposed to be able to take Wyatt with them after that. They called it their Gotcha Day, and Wyatt was to be theirs from then on. However, because of a chicken pox outbreak, it didn't exactly happen the way they planned. They had to return him to the orphanage after their first night with him, and as you can imagine it was heartbreaking. However, after a week of emotional trauma, today is their Gotcha Day II and they are getting to take Wyatt home (to the hotel) once again. YEAH!!! I just wanted to share this with you because I hope that you will all pray for the rest of their journey to be calm and uneventful. After all, if any family deserves some smooth sailing for a while it's the Meacham 3!

Pictures of our Nephew!

Randy's nephew, Clayton James Rogers, was born on March 16th at 6:11 pm. He weighed 7lbs 15oz and was 21 inches long. We got to see him this past weekend and took lots of pictures. Clayton is so cute! And, no, I'm not prejudiced, I promise. :) See for yourself:
So far, Gina thinks he looks like Trey, and Trey says he definitely has Gina's feet because they are long and flat. Of course, Grandma and Grandpa think he's just perfect.

Gina and Trey live between Athens and Gun Barrel City on Cedar Creek Lake. I had never even heard of it until they moved there, but now that I've visited, I think it's one of the prettiest lakes in Texas. Trey took Don, Randy and I out in the boat for a little while on Saturday and we got to see just how big it is. We really had a good time visiting them and seeing our new nephew!

St. Patty's Day

Randy and I celebrated St. Patty's Day at McGilligutty's with some friends. It was a good time! Here are some of the pictures that we took.

Clayton Rogers is Here!

Randy's sister, Gina, had a baby boy today! Gina and her husband, Trey, live in Athens, Texas, so they are a few hours away from us. Unfortunately, we weren't able to be there today to see little Clayton James Rogers come into the world, but he certainly had an audience. Trey's mom, grandmother, and brother along with Gina's parents were all there to see the little guy. Randy and I will be there next weekend and I promise to get some pictures and post them for you all to envy! :)

Speaking of children, my friend Lisa and her husband Justin, from Tulsa, are traveling today to Vladivostok, Russia, to get their little boy. They have had such a roller coaster of a ride working out this adoption that we are all so thankful that they will be there to bring him home. If you are interested in reading her story, you can visit their blog here. Pray for Lisa and Justin to have a very safe and exciting time while bringing Wyatt to his new home!

Berkley and Clayton's Quilts

Here is the only little girl quilt that I've gotten to make for a while now. Berkley Akin will be born at the end of March. Her nursery is a cowgirl theme, and I had so much fun picking out the material for this one. I love the pink cowgirl stuff!







Clayton's baby blanket was a little different because I hand quilted each of the squares. The big squares had an airplane stitched into them, and each of the little squares in the four blocks had clouds. Believe it or not, after I had finished the quilt, I found some matching clothes at Gymboree. How crazy is that? Airplanes and the same colors. I couldn't pass them up!

Valentine's Day

I think that not celebrating Valentine's Day is becoming more and more popular. So many people now pick other days to celebrate, like St. Patrick's day or the Friday before Valentine's. It's amazing how much money is saved on flowers, not to mention time spent trying to find a seat in a good restaurant! Well, although I do see the argument for not making a big deal out of February 14th, Randy and I braved the crowds. We had a great dinner and I got beautiful flowers delivered to my office. And, what did I get Honey? Well, Randy read an issue of Texas monthly a few months back that talked about wet-aging steaks. Ever since then he has been talking about getting a vacuum sealer and aging his own steaks at home. So, I finally got him one for Valentine's Day. He was definitely more thrilled than he would have been with any kind of typical Valentine's gift like candy or a cookie bouquet. It was a win-win for both of us. He gets a new toy gadget and I get good steak. Yum!

Baby Showers!

This weekend has been full of babies! At least the anticipation of babies, that is. My friend Lisa Meacham from Tulsa, Oklahoma, was in town for a baby shower this weekend. She and her husband, Justin, have decided to adopt the most precious little boy from Russia. They are extremely excited, as you can probably imagine! I met Lisa through work when we were in Scottsdale, AZ, for a Professional Selling Skills class. She lives in Tulsa now, but is actually from the Lubbock area and went to Texas Tech. We discovered that we had even more in common when we found out we were both going to infertility specialists. Her story is tear jerking and heart warming all at the same time. You can read their "Born in our Hearts" blog at www.meachams3.blogspot.com. I'm so excited for Lisa, Justin, and their little boy Wyatt!

But, the baby showers didn't end there! I work with one of the sweetest girls in the world, Carisa, and Carisa's having her own sweet little girl. Little Berkley is due on March 30th, and her baby shower was this afternoon. It was so exciting to see the little girl clothes and decorations for her room. Ironically, both of the babies that had showers this weekend will have the exact same nursery decorations. Bukaroo by Banana Fish is a super cute cowboy/cowgirl baby set and somehow both families picked it for their babies. Did I mention that Lisa and Carisa have never even met or talked to each other? Sometimes it really is a small world!


I made quilts for both Berkley and Wyatt and I hope they enjoy them. This is a picture of Wyatt's quilt, but I forgot to take pictures of Berkley's. Oops! I will get Carisa to take pictures and I will post them when she does.

I'm Such a Slacker!!!

I can't believe it's really been over four months since my last post! Once I got behind, it just kept snowballing and I just never could come up with the time to sit down and get it done. So, everyone get settled in your seats while I try to recap the end of 2007 and we start fresh for 2008. Ready? Set. Here we go!

So, right after our fourth anniversary was my 30th birthday. Ugh. Although I did turn the big 3-0, I must say that I haven't had such a fun birthday since I've been an adult. Our friends Andrew and Stephanie turned their house and yard into a fun Tiki town! They even rented margarita and pina coloda machines. What great friends! I can really say that I had a fun 30th birthday!

After my birthday we took a little overnight trip to Ruidoso, NM. Randy and I bought a camper this summer and decided to try it out in the mountains over Labor Day weekend. It was a great first trip! The weather was cool but not too cold and we were in a very wooded and scenic RV Park. Who knew we were RV People?! I think the "try-out" trip was really just an excuse for Randy to get to go to the last weekend of the horse races while we were in Ruidoso. Unfortunately, we didn't win anything there, but we did have a really good time. After we got back from the Labor Day trip, we put the camper to the use that we intended it for when we purchased it...TAILGATING! We made every Texas Tech home game a party by tailgating from Friday until Sunday. Leslie, Mary Jane, Shawn and Bobbie were with us every weekend, and lots of others popped in and out to enjoy good food, music and laughter before and after the games.

Somehow, in the middle of the football games, we also managed to enter the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce Brisket Cookoff. VistaCare, my work, actually entered but we didn't have anyone to do the cooking so they asked Randy to do it. And, I think that was a good idea since he won us first place! Randy was downtown by 2:00am to get started smoking the brisket. When he turned it in at 3:00 that afternoon, he was exhausted and kept saying it wasn't going to be very good. Of course, Randy is his own worst critic when it comes to cooking. They called out the third and second place winners, and he was already walking back to our smoker with his head hung low. Then they said VistaCare won first place, and all of a sudden he came alive. Out of 44 teams, he really had a reason to be proud! He's like a kid with his trophy. It's so cute...he put it on the mantel and wouldn't let me take it down until I put up my Christmas garland.

The only football game I didn't make it to was the last of the season: Texas Tech vs Oklahoma University. This was a hard one to miss for so many reasons. First, it was on Randy's birthday, November 17th. Like mine, it was also his 30th this year, and I was so sad I couldn't be there to celebrate with him! Andrew and Stephanie brought Randy a cookie cake and Shawn and Bobbie brought him chocolate covered strawberries. All in all, I do think that Randy had a good birthday even without me. I did get to stop by after the game in time to see him open presents though. I had made a commitment in the first part of the year to be the Merchant Chair for the Junior League of Lubbock's Holiday Happening and there was no way I could get away on Saturday. Holiday Happening is a huge Christmas show with 150 merchants and thousands of shoppers that the Junior League puts on every year. The money raised by Holiday Happening funds all of our projects for the year such as building public playgrounds, helping to feed kids that may not get nutrition on the weekends, and other worthwhile causes. I know I missed Randy's birthday to do something for a good cause, but it was still a very sad day for me!

After Holiday Happening was over I thought I would have a chance to catch my breath, but that was just wishful thinking! We had a Christmas party with about 50 of our very closest friends ;) on December 8th. Last year Randy and I, with Mary Jane and Leslie, decided to have a little get together that turned into a big get together and it just kept growing. So this year, we just planned for the big get together and it went much easier. The party really ushered in Christmas for me, and afterward I kicked into overdrive on getting presents bought and wrapped. Our goal was to have everything wrapped and ready to go by the Thursday before Christmas so that Randy and I could take a long weekend and stay in a friends cabin in Ruidoso. Fortunately, we got everything finished and were able to enjoy the time we had away with no schedule to follow or to-do lists hanging over our heads. We came home on Christmas Eve, and had my dad, his girlfriend, my brother and sister-in-law over for presents and Christmas dinner that night. On Christmas Day we went to Plainview to spend the day with Randy's mom, dad, sister and brother-in-law. Then on the 26th we left town to go to my mom's house in Trinity. We had a really blessed Christmas with all of our families.

That weekend we left my mom's house and drove down to Galveston for one of my friends weddings. It was beautiful! Hollie and Jake got married in the sweetest little church. It was such an old building with lots of intricate carvings and details. Perfect for a picturesque wedding! Then, the reception was fantastic. It was very much like our high school reunion, except that it also included some friends that graduated a couple of years before and a couple of years after I did. I really had a great time seeing so many of my La Porte friends again. Let's hope there's another wedding soon so we can do it again! ...Christina? :)

And finally, if you're wondering about the baby situation, here's the latest. We still have the two embryos that were frozen after my retrieval in May last year. We'll be doing the transfer sometime in the next couple of weeks, so I'll ask for your prayers. It seems that frozen transfers are not as reliable as a fresh transfer would be, but I'm not going to discount my chances. We've got two, and that's all we need. I'll let you know how it all goes and hopefully have some really good news in early February!

Well, now that the New Year has passed and we're into 2008, my resolution is to post on a regular basis. I might even get Randy to post once or twice. I'll add some pictures from the end of 2007 below. Happy New Year!