Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!

Z Man had his first adventure at the Houston Zoo on Saturday! My company had a Family Day event so we decided to check it out. And I am glad we did! They did a great job of putting it together and I look forward to it again next year when Zachary will be a little more interested. It was a nice set up....tent with lunch, dj, magician, face painting, airbrush tattoos, raffle, and more! For an afternoon at the Zoo, we spent ZERO $$$ too which is always a plus! Even though Z slept through most of it, Matt and I quite enjoyed our "family time"...so thank you, BG!

Hanging out at the tent for some lunch and music before exploring the zoo!

Sunglasses on babies are ALWAYS a hit!

Daddy was making me giggle!

Ready to hit the zoo!
Monkey business!

A rare pic of mommy and daddy with Z!

Hakkunah Matata...what a beautiful word!

Baby Hadiah (a rare babirusa pig) and her mom...she is only 10 days old!

Willie the bear...we thought he was smarter than the average bear as he was beating the heat by chilling in his little river!

What's cuter than a momma and her baby! And when we walked around the exhibit...we ran into Holly and her boyfriend who were also enjoying a day at the zoo! What a nice surprise!And of course we had to get Zach out for some shots with the giraffes!

Even though he was sleeping, we know he enjoyed it!Tyra and her baby, Jack!

And why is there a dog at the Zoo, you ask??? He is there to guard and protect the cheetahs! They are lounging in the back if you can see them!

All in all a great day...I am looking forward to going back soon!

Me and my girl, Paige

Zach and Paige had their second date over Memorial weekend. Although they were both asleep on and off most of the time, Gin and I know they had fun. And JUST IN CASE they do decide to get married...we had to snap some cute pics. Seriously Paige, I would be a great mother in law ;-)

This is my girl, Paige....I know it looks like she is sleeping but I think she digs me!

Whatcha looking at moms??
What's so funny?

A little cuddle time...Check out my big feet, Paige...I wonder who's will be bigger?

Are we done yet??

Peace out peeps!

Pictures!

Just some photos from the last few weeks...enjoy!

Mr Giraffe...why are you looking at me that way?

Cant we just be friends??

I'm a little elephant...short and stout!! Thanks Aunt Becky for this cool towel, its one of our favs!

We went to visit Dad at his office before mom went back to work!

I am ready to do some deals!! Check me out!

A year ago today.......

I found out we were pregnant! I was just looking at something and noticed today was the date, 5/29!! How exciting! Finally seeing those 2 pink lines was so exciting!! And with knowing that Sue, Theresa, and Kari are all preggo again, it brings back all the memories of that initial joy, excitement, shock, and anticipation! So excited for all of them. Answered prayers for sure!! Speaking of babies...wow, do I know a lot of pregnant people right now! Let's see...between now and January due are Miranda, Ashley, Charla (with twins), Ashley, Kristen D, another friend, Susan, Katie's SIL (ok, i dont know her personally but I know of her), Theresa, and Kari. And I think I may be missing someone too! And I know Allison G is due sometime soon too, right?? I tell ya...I would be ready to do it again now but don't think Daddy-o is quite ready. Who knows, maybe we will get lucky this fall!

Ok so work...I am surviving. I have cried every day leaving. But it gets easier too. Thankfully everyone at work was happy and excited to see me and I snapped right back into the mix of things. It was weird, like the first day of school. But overall, it hasn't been too bad. Z's daycare gives him little progress reports every day so those are neat to read. And man, you cannot BEAT the smiles and coos that you get at pick up time. Its funny, cause he doesn't notice you at first...and then BAM! SMILES for MILES! Love it! I have decided I think I am going to have Matt start dropping off. I don't think I should have to do both and dropping is too hard for me. Plus picking up I am closer and can get there faster!

I think thats about it for now. I will post some pics soon...its been too long! TGIF!!!!!!!!!

Working 9 to 5!

That's right folks, tomorrow is the big return to work. Not much to say that I haven't already said! Nervous, anxious, sad, worried, etc.... But I am glad we did the visit last week to day care so hopefully it wont be as bad. I am thankful Kerri will be at work too so I have someone to be there for more. And its a 4 day week so that helps too.

We had a good weekend at the Beach too. It was great to be around friends and relax although I missed Zach. It was harder than I thought. I think a lot of it had to do with me going back to work tomorrow and not as much as being away from Z. Bad timing. But all in all, it was fine. My folks had a great time with Z (although tired at the end with the early morning wake-ups). Zach was glad to see me (or I tell myself). We had lots of snuggling and napping and cuddling over the rest of the weekend.

Yesterday Ginny and Paige came over. It was SO good to see them both. I miss Ginny and wish they lived here in Houston so we could see them more. I hope they make it down here some time. Paige is a sweet pea too. She and Zach took some pics which I will get posted eventually. They will be great if one day they end up getting married! ;-)

Anyway, not much else going on now. Will try to get to bed early so I can be human tomorrow. I will let you know how it goes!

WEIRD

That's the only way I can describe it. Being separated from Z just feels weird. I miss him. Today was the first time I have been ALONE in my house in almost 4 months! I have been away from Z before...but always with someone else...like at book club, PEO, with Matt, with mom, etc. So this week is the first time to be on my own. I feel a little...lost?!?! I know it sounds silly, but it is what it is. What if I enjoy being at work? What if I cant do my job as good as before? What if I miss him too much...or not enough? Will I still be a good mommy even though I am not with him all the time?????

Yes, these are the things I thought about today on the massage table. The massage was really nice, but man, my brain was racing!!!!!! About work, about Z, about Matt & me, about my 3 month postpartum body, about another baby....and a slew of other things that I thought would be good to be blog about but now I cant remember squat!

we are headed to the beach tomorrow....dropping the z man off with grandma and popsie. they cannot WAIT!!!!!! Mom has hit the local 2nd hand store and has cleaned up. she bought a stroller, play mat, and swing and who knows what else?? z and i stayed the night there Sunday night so he would have a night in his crib there too. I think he will be alright! Hopefully I will be too!!!!!!!

Slacking

I know, I have been lax on the blogging. Being as this is my last week with Z man before headed back to work, I have just been busy! Monday was spent all day shopping with mom and Z. We hit the new outlet mall and man did Z make out good. He got some CUTE stuff!

Tuesday was drop Z off for a half day at daycare...lunch, grocery shopping, shopping.

And today was Zach's full day at day care to which I cashed in gift certificates for a mani & pedi and then a hair cut, followed by bathing suit shopping to keep me BUSY! It wasn't terrible, but wasn't great either as I have not yet motivated to get the diet properly going unlike my hubs who has lost 20+ lbs (Go Hubs!) If you want to read a funny post, go visit Ginny and read about her most recent post-baby bathing suit shopping experience. Anyway, I heard the phantom crying sometimes still today and missed my little buddy being around. His teachers said he did great and he was happy and smiley again so that makes mommy happy.

Tomorrow morning I am get a massage (cashing in another g.c.) while Z is at his last faux day before the real schedule starts. He is only doing a half day. Then I am picking him up and we are going to meet Daddy for lunch. And sometime during this day I need to be packing for the weekend. Oh yeah, and Esther has had diarrhea for the last several days....so taking a visit to the vet at 4pm too. I hope my baby girl is okay! Um yeah, I am busy!

So besides the fact of being sad about missing my baby boy and all that goes along that...I am worried I wont be as good at my job any more! Like I still feel dumb sometimes. Wasn't pregnancy supposed to be gone?? How long does mom-nesia last?? I can't think fast enough, of the right word, remember what I did five minutes before, etc etc etc. I took a lot of pride in my job, relationships with customers and my traders before and I worry it wont be the same any more. I feel like I am starting a first day at school or something.

Anyway, there are a lot more things running through this muddled brain of mine but I will leave it at that for now.

Night night!

First Drop off

Today was Zach's first time at daycare by himself. I knew we needed to get this done sometime before I went back to work as to not appear like a crazy crying woman next Tuesday at the office. My plan was to get Z there and go grocery shopping afterwards. My friend Kerri must have been psychic today as she knew I needed someone to go to lunch with today. So after dropping Z off with his many bags of stuff (he over packs just like his mommy), I headed to meet Kerri. Of course I cried when I left Zach but thankfully he was smiling so that made it a little easier. Anyway, Kerri and I had Pei Wei and she listened to my ramblings. Then I got the grocery shopping done and was headed to get my nails done only to find out they were way too busy. So I opted for a little shopping instead. And then it was 3pm and I decided that 4 hours away was long enough!

When I got in to pick him up, he was chilling in the boppy having just finished his bottle....and gave me the BIGGEST grin ever when he saw me!! He took his afternoon nap there as well and went on his first buggy ride! The ladies said he was great and the only time he even fussed was when he was hungry. I laughed, cause that's just what he does. He lets you know when he is HUNGRY and ready to eat! :) So all in all, sounds like he did good. We came home and had snuggle and play time before it was time for his last cat nap for the day.

Tomorrow I will drop him for closer to the whole day while I get my hair done, etc. I wanted to experience a whole day away before it happened at the office. Wish me luck.

Anyway, we survived and I pray it gets easier as time goes by! Now off to cuddle my sleeping boy!

Zach's Story

A year ago today we had our first IUI, the second one was tomorrow. One of which created Zachary! The story began with us using a different RE, we will call him DrMcYucky. We had been with him for about six months and for various different delays, only did two injectible cycles with him, both of which were cancelled before we even got to the IUI point. The first cycle was cancelled due to me not responding well enough to the meds, and the second one for my testo being too high. Both extremely disappointing and frustrating as we had paid all the money out of pocket for blood work, ultrasounds and medicine without getting to the point where we could do an IUI and have hopes of making a baby! So after the second failed cycle, we decided to go for a 2nd opinion and never called DrMcYucky's office back again.

We went to see Dr Gill who validated that he didn't like our first offices procedures and reasoning for cancelling either. He also felt he could get us pregnant, just not sure how long it may take. The plan was for us to call him when I started my next cycle and we would go from there. We waited and waited and when nothing still had happened. I put off calling for a few days and then finally after some prodding from some friends, I called. He wanted me to come back in and take a look to see what was going on. It was my mom's birthday and for some reason too I had the day off. I went to the appointment, actually even discussed moving to IVF over the summer after my brother's wedding. We did an ultrasound and saw what looked like a mature follicle, something I hadn't seen before. Did some blood work and they said they would be in touch with a plan. I remember calling my mom crying to tell her about the appointment and the possibility of invitro. Then I headed out to surprise her for lunch. While we were at lunch, I got a phone call from the nurse telling me that indeed, it was a mature egg and we had two choices: 1) come in tomorrow for an IUI or 2) give it a try on our own. I called Becky before I called Matt to ask her what she would do? Its not cheap but since we had never gotten to this point before, and now here we were, and the option was finally there...should we go for it? She agreed that this was just too coincidental, and to go for it. She said she had a good feeling. I called Matt and he agreed. The next day, it was a Friday, I went in for my first IUI. Matt couldn't be there for the procedure since we were both working and I remember laying there and talking to God and asking Him for this to please be it! I talked to Rachel too and asked her to put in a good word for us with The Big Man and remind him we would be good parents! The next morning Matt and I went in together for the 2nd IUI. We were like excited kids, there was finally a possibility!! I read Hannah's prayer in the Bible and prayed that it was our turn to be blessed.

Well you know what happened....It was indeed time. Two weeks later we found out I was finally expecting our little miracle. Even Dr. Gill remarked on how random this quick chain of events was and that God definitely had been watching over us. We couldn't agree more.

So here we are, one year later from the beginning of it all. What a difference a year makes! We are so blessed and so in love with our little miracle. Zach amazes me every day and I couldn't be more in love than I am with him! Thanks to all who have shared in our journey so far...I can't wait to see what else we have in store!! :)

Sorry for the novel post, just wanted to get it all down. Exciting to see where things have gone from where they had been!

PS-I put together the exersaucer. Woohoo! Although I could see my future...I will be putting the toys together for all birthdays and Christmases to come!

RoseMary's Grand-daughter

That song always reminds me of Rachel and Al. It was one of their favs which turned into one of my favs. Rach was always ahead of the curve on songs. The only songs I ever knew that were cool before Rachel did were Chumbawumba's Tubthumping and Semisonic's Closing Time (this was the main one I found before Rachel did and we both LOVED it). Anyway, tonight I was planning to go to Allison's to hang out while Matt was at a friend's birthday party. Just as I had finished feeding Zach and starting to pack his bag, he started freaking out....for no reason. Fed? Check! Burped? Check! Diaper Change? Check. I tried to soothe him for about 20 minutes and he calmed some but figured I would give the car a try and see if that wouldn't do the trick. Texted Al to say I was on my way and if Zach hadn't calmed by the time I was there I would just turn around. Justin was having some of his fellas over for poker and unlike our crew, they only have one baby in their group so far so I didn't want to be a buzz kill with a screaming child.

So back to the story...Zach is still screaming in the car halfway to Al's and then all of a sudden "Rosemary's grand-daughter" came on. I looked in the rear view mirror and he just stopped crying all of a sudden?! I hadn't heard this song in ages and had just added this new XM station that it came on to my Favs today. When it came on and I was singing,
"I am rosemary's granddaughter
The spinning image of my father
And when the day is done my mamma's still my BIGGEST FAN
sometimes I'm clueless and I'm clumsy
but i got friends that love me
and they know just where I stand
it's all a part of me that's who I am!"
ZMan just stopped crying! I sent a text telling Al and she replied, "Thanks Rach!" I concur, that's exactly what I was thinking. I know my friend was back there comforting my little man .

I'll post more on this tomorrow....too much for one post. Tomorrow is 1 year from my IUI, also known as Zach's conception. On that day I also felt the presence of my friend, Rach. I truly believe she is a guardian angel to me and Zachary and all my "sisters". I wish she was here every day. I often talk to her and ask her to visit me...and today she did. I reflected on Rachel a lot on Mother's Day too...and although you were never given the chance to be a mommy here on this Earth, Rach, I know you are watching over some very special babies in Heaven and also ours here with us. I miss you friend, thanks for the visit today. I love you and miss you always!