Goodbye USA, hello Central America!

Today is our last day at home, and I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I procrastinated on packing, and now I am frantically trying to get everything together. So far I am shocked that a. everything seems to be fitting in to our suitcases and b. that I haven't had to make a last minute Target run for something I forgot.

I had mentioned before that there were some definite pros and cons to choosing this option for IVF. Since I'm short on time, I'm going to do a quick version and if you have any specific questions feel free to contact me!

Pros~

1. The most obvious positive is cost. $2800 for IVF (including ICSI), $85 for each monitoring appointment, and about half price medication. Freezing of embryos is $500 and a FET is $1000.

2. In addition to an IVF cycle, you have the opportunity to vacation in two amazing places...Costa Rica and Panama.

3. During your cycle you are away from work and everyday life stresses so it may be easier to relax and keep your stress levels low.

Cons~

1. You have to be away from home for at least 18 days. For me it was easy because I work at a school and am off in July. For Mr. Chef Bud, not so easy.

2. You have NO contact with the doctor until the day you show up in Costa Rica. I coordinated everything through Mark with Passport Medical, and he was quick to get back to me or pass my questions on to Dr. Perez, but I will not personally speak to Dr. Perez until we get there tomorrow.

3. There is a lot of planning you have to do for the traveling part of this whole thing. Personally, I love to plan trips so it was fun for me, but I know not everyone enjoys that.

That's a quick and dirty version of the pros and cons. The biggest thing I will say is that you have to have a pretty laid back personality, and be able to trust in the doctor and his method (even though you've never met him) for this to be a viable option for you. For Mr. CB and I, we felt like this was our only option. We weren't willing to pay $14,000 to cycle at our local RE. We have one shot right now...if this doesn't work we will have to take a year or more off to save money and figure out a next step. But it was important for me to feel like I had tried EVERYTHING to get pregnant, and that ended up being IVF. So even though I tend to be someone who needs to control everything and wouldn't usually describe myself as laid back, for this I had to let all that go and just trust that this could work for us.

So, off we go! Our plane takes off tomorrow at 8:04 am EST, and we should be in Costa Rica by 1:30 EST. I will try to update as I can along the way. We appreciate all your positive thoughts for us as we embark on one of the greatest adventures of our life!

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In Honor Of the World Cup

Baby Obsessive Bud decided to kick the crap out of her dad. It was pretty awesome. I don’t know if it was the vuvezelas she was hearing or just knowing soccer was on TV but she sure did kick him. I’m feeling her every single day all the time now and it is probably the best feeling ever. She loves to kick after I eat, drink or lay down. She definitely loves to kick when I’m taking a nice bath. I guess she is relaxing also?
Since getting back from Hawaii we have been busy with her nursery. Well I say we, more like Mr. OB has. We have done alot, but still have more to do. On our list to do is:
Put up crown molding
Get rug
Make curtains
Purchase Mattress
Bedding is being made as we speak

Put decal above her crib
Make molding around the decal
Put up poms
We also have a couple of things to do in our house after her nursery is finished. Like I really want to get a big freezer for all the breast milk I will be storing (Crossing fingers here on this one), I want someone to paint the bathroom. I don’t mind helping though. We need to get some new patio furniture and put some frames up in the guest bedroom.
Hopefully these things can be done in the next couple of weeks. If not, oh well it will be fine.
This weekend Mr. OB and I deep cleaned the floors because our dumb dog Floppy thinks our floor is the backyard and keeps peeing on it. Apparently he knows something is up and knows he is no longer the baby. Well he better get over that fast. My mom also came down and we did some baby shopping and recovered a lampshade with fabric. Lets just say it was little more difficult than the website showed but we got it!
I’ll give you a couple of sneak peaks into Baby OB’s room. She is going to have a pretty awesome room. She’s already so lucky!
Her view from her crib

Again

The fabric for her bedding being made as we speak!

View from the door

Also I’ve been bad at having Mr. OB take my photos. Here is a photo I took myself at 26 weeks. Enjoy!

BIG giveaway event coming up next week!!!

OMG, OMG, OMGaaaaaaaaaaah. I am so excited! Bloomin' Babies officially has over 100 followers!! I speak for all of the Buds when I say THANK YOU for sharing in our journeys with us, routing us on & sharing both our pain & happiness in what can certainly be a roller coaster ride! To celebrate all of YOU for reading Bloomin' Babies, I have arranged a HUGE, I think I need to re-state that - HUGE giveaway event every weekday next week with several wonderful & amazingly talented sponsors!

The giveaway will feature something for everyone, here's a sneak peak:

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All the details coming next week...I'm so excited!!! Don't miss it - starting next Monday, July 5, 2010 & running through Friday, July 9, 2010! It's gonna be AWESOME!

Almost to 15 weeks and time is flying!

I've finally emerged from the hellish first trimester, and I feel like I have my brain and sensibility back. Even though I got off pretty easy with little to no morning sickness, my worry-wart self was agonizing over every what-if every minute of the day. But with a couple good ultrasounds under my belt, and a nice strong heartbeat hearing this past Monday, I'm finally breathing a giant sigh of relief.

And my belly is breathing deeper, too! Just this week I've started to notice a little bump forming. It's tiny still, but it's there even when I wake up in the morning, and reminds me that my little Baby Bean is growing every day. Check it out:

My appetite is growing, too, which is probably the most enjoyable thing about being pregnant so far. Last night I had 2 ice cream desserts, 2 hours apart! At my 14w checkup I had already gained 11 lbs., which alarmed me, so I'm trying to put the brakes on a little bit. Right now, that includes swapping full-fat Ben & Jerry's for coconut whole fruit Popsicles. Hey, every little bit counts, right?

3 weeks from tomorrow we find out the sex! Eeek I can't wait!

We Have Ignition!

Hollllaaaa!!!!

Is this a positive pregnancy test, no, not yet. But ladies and gentleman, HOT DAMN I'm ovulating! And that sweet little smiley face? Was enough to make me have a goofy ass grin plastered on my face for the past 4 hours.

So please do not call/text/email for the next 48 hours - I'll be ummm, busy.

Halfway there baby!!

Well now that I'm almost 21 weeks pregnant, I thought I'd post my 20 week update! Sorry for being so MIA lately - I have, as usual, been extremely busy @ work & getting ready for Baby Worry Bud (ie, cleaning our house, registering, getting the nursery together, etc.). I have been in major baby-buying mode lately. Lets see, recently I purchased this awesome Bumble Collection Diaper Bag for 50% off the retail value, which normally is valued around $110!!

I LOVE it & can't wait to put all of Baby WB's cute stuff in it! I also stalk all those daily deal & designer deal baby sites for cute stuff & have snagged a few things - from blankets to stuffed organic toys - from those sites! I love buying stuff for her! And she kicks me every time I second guess a potential purchase, so I know she wants it, hehehehe. She's already getting everything she wants!

Anywho, enough already about my baby-buying obsession, on to the actual baby update! This week marks the halfway point in my pregnancy, woot! Soooo extremely excited to get here considering what we went through to get pregnant! We had our 20 week anatomy scan this past Friday & it was amazing. I was literally in heaven sitting there watching our little girl rolling around in there up on the screen for a little over an hour. I had to change positions & go pee like 4 times during the ultrasound so that the tech could get all the correct measurements. They looked at her brain, heart, hands, feet & several other major organs. According to the Bump, Baby WB is the size of a cantaloupe or about 10.6 oz! At our ultrasound, the tech estimated her actual size based on her head & tummy that she is about 11 oz., so she's just a wee bit ahead, which is all good with her mama. Here is a cute profile shot we got from this past Friday's ultrasound:

I had an OB appointment immediately following & her heart was beating at about 150 bpm (the ultrasound tech said 153 bpm, which I believe is a bit more accurate than the Doppler my OB uses). I met another one of the doctors at my practice, Dr. G - now I have met all three - and I LOVE her. She's so energetic & very nice! She told me that I should probably get registered for breastfeeding & childbirth classes + any others I wanted to take soon because they fill up quickly in my area. Mr. WB and I have also decided to do an infant CPR class - you know, just in case....you never know when those skills will come in handy, even if not with your own child. She also told me that I was doing awesome on my weight gain, which is about 11 lbs. (since 8 weeks when they first saw me at their office), but I think there's another 3 lbs. that I gained in weeks 1-8. So my grand total is about 14 lbs., which according to my books, is completely healthy & on track & my doctor confirmed that on Friday. Did I mention I love her?! She also told me a new OB (a woman) is joining the practice next month & will be delivering by the time I go into labor, so that I'll need to meet her at some point soon too. Next month is the last of my monthly appointments, then I move to twice monthly, which is just another milestone that brings us closer to meeting our precious baby girl in November!

One interesting & somewhat shocking (to me anyways) development - my left ankle was pretty swollen yesterday. I noticed it while working out at the gym - I had capri workout pants on & I looked down to see a left cankle. I was pretty concerned, so I went home and left a message for the triage nurse at my OB's office. She called back pretty quick - asked if I had any headaches or blurred vision, both of which I did not, so she said it's probably due to the hot/humid summer we are having here in my area. She said it happens to a lot of women in their practice because of the heat & humidity in this area & that I should stay off my feet as much as possible & rest with my ankle elevated to relieve the swelling (and also avoid sodium as much as possible). By this morning, it looked much better - just a little swollen still.

So yeah, I'm trucking right along & Baby WB is starting to move a little bit more everyday, which I absolutely live for. It even startles me sometimes how hard she kicks or punches or whatever she's doing in there to her mama. I can't wait till its even more regular & something I can count every couple of hours. Here are my 20 week bump shots (taken actually at 20w1d b/c I forgot to take them on Saturday):


I promise I'll try to be better about posting updates. Ahem, ::looks over at followers in side bar:: I also noticed we now have 100 followers!!!! Yaaay. when we started this blog, just about a year ago now (in about another month), I never knew how many people we would get reading or how well received it would. I'm ecstatic that we now have 100 followers that I think this calls for a summer giveaway! I am gonna see what I can set up - yay! Thanks to all each and every one of you that read & care about us Buds - it truly means much more than you'll ever know. And for that - you guys deserve a reward!

Our planned adventures in Costa Rica and Panama

One of the biggest things that attracted us to doing IVF out of the country is that in addition to getting a great price for the procedure, we would also be able to visit two amazing countries that we've never had the chance to experience. I'm sure many people would want to take it easy and relax during an IVF cycle, but for me, the busier I am, the better. I need whatever I can get to keep myself occupied so I don't stress about the cycle and how it's going.

Mr. CB and I are adventurous travelers and since it's just the two of us, it was easy to find great things to do in Costa Rica. I bought a Frommer's Costa Rica book and pretty much focused on three major attractions that were close enough to San Jose for us to travel to around our appointments.

The Chef Bud's Costa Rica/Panama Itinerary:

Day 1: Arrive in Costa Rica, pick up rental 4x4 ($385 for 11 days), and head directly to first monitoring appointment with Dr. Perez. After our appointment we are driving about 3 1/2 hours to Arenal, which is an active volcano. We're staying at the Arenal Observatory Lodge (cost per night $104), an ecolodge that offers lava views from your room!

Day 2-4: We'll be touring and hiking around Arenal. The lodge offers free guided hikes each morning, and horseback riding for $7! There is a waterfall nearby called La Fortuna Waterfall that we plan on hiking to, and we'll celebrate my birthday on July 3rd by whitewater rafting on the Rio Toro.

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Day 4-7: On the morning of July 4th, we'll drive about 5 hours to Monteverde. Monteverde is known as the cloud forest, and is a huge ecological reserve. In Monteverde we plan to zipline and hike through the reserve during both the day and night (unless I chicken out at the thought of a nighttime hike!). We're staying at Pension Santa Elena, a hostel that has great reviews (and is only $45 a night!).

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Day 7: We'll leave Monteverde and head back to San Jose for our afternoon appointment with Dr. Perez. Hopefully we'll have great news with lots of follicles and a thick lining! After the appointment, we are heading 2 hours southwest to Manuel Antonio.

Day 7-10: For the next 3 nights we'll be staying at Verde Mar ($70 per night), and exploring Quepos and Manuel Antonio National Park. This is Costa Rica's smallest national park, but one of the most diverse with rainforest, beaches and coral reefs. By this point, there is a chance that I will be feeling a little uncomfortable so we don't have many plans other than to lay around on the beach and see the famous monkeys around Quepos. Mr. CB wants to surf, and I'll stick to taking pictures.

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Day 10-11: We go back to San Jose on July 10 for our final monitoring appointment. At this point, Dr. Perez will schedule our egg retrieval date. For these 2 nights we're staying at Out of Bounds B&B ($80 a night) which I am so excited about because it looks super cute. We don't have many plans for San Jose, other than dinner out with Holly and her family. I "met" Holly online through Tracie (who went to CR in May for IVF), and Holly is doing IVF with Dr. Perez as well. We've been emailing and I can't wait to meet her!

Day 12: Off to Panama!!! Once we land in Panama, we have a driver meeting us to take us to our apartment. I knew a lot of our time in Panama would be spent relaxing and on bed rest following egg retrieval and egg transfer, so I wanted to have all the comforts of home. I found a great apartment on vrbo.com, and we'll be staying at Posada del Rey ($770 for the week), which is right near the clinic I'll be going to for ER/ET. Panama City reminds me of New York City.

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Day 12-19: We don't have anything specific planned during our time in Panama because we don't know yet when ER and ET will be. We plan to see the Panama Canal and go out to a nice dinner to celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary on July 14th. Other than that, we're going to play it by ear! We fly home July 19th, hopefully with some great embies on board!

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First accomplishment

I passed my last m/c date of 5week and 2 days, today I am 5 weeks 4 days.

Next accomplishment is the baby u/s that is this Wednesday, 6/30. I will be 6w3d and am praying that we will be able to see something, not just a black empty sac like we have seen the past two times.

Another CD1

AF sucks.

Every cycle I allow myself to be hopeful. You'd think by now I would know better!

This marks the end of 17 months TTC. I think it is pretty obvious we have a fertility problem. I have gone through a number of tests- bloodwork, ultrasounds, and an HSG and every single one has come back great. You probably see where I am going with this... I'm thinking it may be a sperm issue. We have had great timing every single cycle.

When I started spotting last night, a lot of thoughts started going through my mind. When we started TTC, I was pretty open to fertility treatments. I'm not sure how I feel about them now. Of course, I am getting ahead of myself here, since we don't have a diagnosis, yet.

I'm going to sit down with Mr. Sassy Bud this week and discuss our game plan if I don't get the job I am waiting on. I plan on bringing up adoption. We have discussed it before and we both were open to it at that point. If he is on board still, I will start doing some research on it and see if it seems right for us. Of course I would love a biological child, but I do not have an overwhelming desire to be pregnant. I would just like to be a mother.

~Sassy Bud

Back from vacation with some beta numbers

The destination wedding in Punta Cana, DR was so much fun. Everything came out so beautiful and the weather was great. I did have to do a lot of fake drinking, which was a pain in the rear end but it was all worth it after hearing my beta's this afternoon.

The nurse just called... beta 1 at 14 DPO was 390 and my progesterone was 15 (this is great compared to my last m/c which was at 7). I have been using Crinone 8% progesterone suppositories every morning and will continue to use until I am 13-14 weeks pregnant. My 2 beta's at 21 dpo are 3979!!!

According to justmommies.com my levels are doubling every 50.1 hours (2.1 days), which (thank God) they are right on schedule. In a bout 85% of normal pregnancies, the hCG level (also known as beta's) will double every 48 - 72 hours. The next step is the baby u/s. At that appointment my RE will make sure that the baby is growing in the correct spot, check for a few things and see how many there are. I think this is a singleton pregnancy, but hey you never know!

Without further adieu here are a few pictures from the wedding/vacation:


Our View from the balcony


The beach


Where we sat every morning for breakfast... beautiful views


Rehearsal Dinner


The bride's accessories


Bride and Groom


They are so adorable


Us


Bridesmaids


After the Carnival & Fire show


Us


And where everyone ended up after the wedding... with dresses and all!!

Smelling The Roses

Unfortunately, my type of personality is the one that falls on the border between slightly neurotic and complete lunatic. Throw in The Clomid Factor, and I'm sure you can guess where my head is at right now. I am the type of person who always has to be in the driver seat, and who can always manage the situation (Hi! I'm an only child - can you tell?). I am that person that strives for perfection with whatever task I'm undertaking, and because I'm that persistent? I usually achieve it.

Hello my name is Sarcastic Bud, and I am a control freak.

So, as you can imagine, infertility has hit me where it hurts. Its such a foreign concept to me that I am not perfecting the art of making a baby (Wait, I'm definitely perfecting the art of making the baby, just producing a child from it. TMI? Sorry about that - I'm also an over-sharer). And as much as I just want to hold my breath and stomp my feet in protest because I have not been able to get knocked up and keep a pregnancy for almost 2 years, I know that won't get me anywhere (except maybe a trip to the funny farm, or to the nearest preschool).

But I had a moment of clarity yesterday. I have been investing so much of my time and energy into getting pregnant, I haven't taken a moment in a long time to take in all of the wonderful moments that have been happening in my life. And the good? It far outweighs the bad. In fact, the only bad thing - ahem, bump in the road - in my life right now is this infertility business.

And I would like to take this opportunity right now to share with you, the awesomeness that is my life (in list form, because I am a master list-maker).

1. I am financially stable.

2. My complete kick ass marriage. My husband is my best friend and lover all rolled into one. I have never had a connection with anyone like I have with him. The support that we have given each other over the past year has touched my heart, and made me realize how lucky I really am.

3. I don't have a mortgage to pay. My house was inherited from my grandparents.

4. My dad is now cancer free. He was diagnosed last summer with colon cancer and it completely killed me. My dad is my hero, and to see him going through what he had to go through made my heart actually ache. But now? He's back to riding his Harley and planning his next tattoo (ya, I have a cool dad!) because he has been in remission since March.

5. My husband is the most handsome man I have ever laid eyes on. This is why I'm so good at trying to make babies.

6. The job I am so lucky to have. Who gets their dream job in their 20s? My job is the job I having been wishing for every since I graduated college. I still feel sometimes that I am a little girl playing dress up in her mother's clothes when I'm getting ready for work in the morning, or that I don't actually deserve this job, but ever day I walk in there kicking ass and taking names to prove that I belong there. I get paid to do what I would do for free.

7. I have a wonderful friends. Friends that will be there to dry my tears or buy me a box of wine (keeping it classy) - depending on what the situation calls for.

Yes, this list is a little self-indulgent and maybe boring for others to read, but it has helped me out a lot. If you are going through the same thing that I am, I encourage you to make a list too.

Life goes by far too quickly and if you focus too closely on the negatives, you will miss the positives that makes life worth living.

As for me, I am taking the time right now to stop and smell the roses around me. And there has never been such a sweeter scent in my life.

Heading into another 2WW

According to FF, I am 3 dpo, but I really think I o'ed yesterday, making only 1 dpo. I had some cramping midday and my cm was drying up when I checked last night, which always happens on O days. If this is true, DH and did not do well this month and I completely and entirely blame the Celtics. DH works some nights at a hockey rink and switched days from Thursday to Wednesday so he could have game 7 off. That meant both Wednesday and Thursday there was no bding. That probably means just like Celtics, we are left without a trophy. It seems like every month something gets in the way of us really trying. I guess that is what happens with life.

I don't quite know if I will do anything different if we aren't pregnant this cycle. I am contemplating calling my OB and see if they can do anything, but I am not sure. We are still both young and definitely could wait a few more months, since a June baby would be perfect for us. I am just have this itching feeling that something is wrong. This honestly could be nothing, but the fact that things (school, dance, teaching) normally come easy for me. I am not used to struggling that much.

Oh well, I have a lot of non-baby things to look forward in the next few months. As of right now I have a day and a half left of school for the year, I am beginning a camp that I love in a week, my friend's bridal shower is next week, and her bachelorette party and wedding are in July. As much as I want to be pregnant, these events may be hard to handle with first trimester queasiness. At least, this is what I am trying to tell myself.

Well, here's to a miracle this month and I am already ready to move onto my next cycle.

Another 2ww

I resumed charting this cycle on CD17. It looks like I have since O'd so I am 2-3 DPO now.

I'm guessing that last cycle I also O'd late which is why my cycle was longer than any had been in the past.

I'm still waiting on word about the job opportunity, so until then, I will just keep going with our same routine- that obviously doesn't work!

The good news is that TTC is the only negative aspect of my life. Everything else is really, really, great, which makes it easy to focus on positive things.

Let's see what the next few weeks bring.

You're going where to do what???

Planning this trip to Costa Rica and Panama has been a very interesting process. We decided early in April that this was the best option for Mr. CB and I, but there was so much uncertainty about Mr. CB and his work schedule that it wasn’t possible to book everything right away. It was a weird place to be ~ we knew I was going the whole time, but didn’t know if Mr. CB would be there the whole time, or if he would be there half the time and my mom would be there the other half, or if all three of us would be there together some of the time. For someone who likes to go full steam ahead once a decision is made, it was very difficult! We finally made the decision the first week of June that Mr. CB will there the entire time with me. This makes me extremely happy, of course. In a future post I’ll detail our travel plans and the fun exciting places we will be visiting, but I think most are wondering about how this whole IVF in another country works…so I’ll start there.

The doctor I will be seeing is Dr. Ariel Perez Young. His practice is established in San Jose, Costa Rica, and from what I’ve heard, it is THE clinic to go to if you’re struggling with infertility. I haven’t spoken to Dr. Perez at all. Any contact I have is through Mark Semple, the president of Passport Medical. He’s basically my middle man (which is good since I don’t speak any Spanish!) and he has set up all of my appointments and answered any questions I have about the process. If I have a question for the doctor (I was wondering a few weeks ago what his minimum lining thickness was for transfer), then Mark will email Dr. Perez and then get back to me.

I started birth control pills when I started my May cycle. Luckily I started my period towards the end of the month, so I will be on the pill for a total of five weeks. This will suppress my ovaries and allows my cycle to line up with the time frame needed for travel. I stop the pill on June 26, and fly to Costa Rica on July 1. I will have my first monitoring appointment that afternoon, and start my stimming medicine that day as well. I go back for monitoring on July 7 and July 10. Hopefully I have tons of great looking follicles and at this point my egg retrieval will be scheduled.

On July 12, we fly to Panama with Dr. Perez. The reason you have to go to another country is because IVF is illegal in Costa Rica. I did a little research, and basically back in the early 2000’s IVF was banned in Costa Rica because of religious reasons. There are still some artificial reproductive technologies that are acceptable, but IVF is not one of them. So to get around this law, Dr. Perez takes his patients to nearby Panama to perform the actual retrieval and transfer. We’ll be in Panama from July 12-19, and during this week we will have the retrieval and transfer. We fly home on July 19, and then wait a few days before POAS! Any after care I need will be through my OBGYN.

So this in a nutshell is IVF in Costa Rica and Panama. It’s a lot of planning and traveling and uncertainty, but the same can be said for an IVF cycle in the US. What is really different is the price. We had a quote from our local RE of about $14,500 for IVF and medications. We will be approximately $4500 for the same procedure and the same medications in Costa Rica/Panama. The IVF is $2800, three monitoring appointments are $85 each and medication is roughly $1500. Even when we add in our travel costs, we will be well under what it would have cost us here. And we’re going on a vacation for 19 days! You can't beat that!

No update so far!

Just cruising along on the hormone therapy. I am on 25 days of Premarin and then on days 13-25, I take Provera. I start the Provera today.

Only thing going on is I'm terrified to have sex. We are clear to have sex now and I tried and had to stop and shook like a leaf for about an hour afterward. I'm afraid of bleeding and pain. Hopefully I get over that sometime soon...

Back to the RE on July 15 for my followup and discuss what our TTC course of action will be now. Hopefully it won't involve anymore surgeries!

its official...

we are pregnant!

I am excited but yet EXTREMELY scared. Since I POAS Every time I use the restroom I am petrified of seeing blood on the toilet paper.

We were on a break this cycle (you could read on it here) but I was still using OPK's so that I had an idea where I was in my cycle. After ovulation this cycle, I had some cramps on and off which I normally do not have and creamy cm, then 8 dpo I started to smell any food from like a mile away! especially yogurts.

On Wednesday night I caved and tested on the cheap amazon tests and it had a very faint line. Yes, I know a line is a line but I was still in doubt. Then speaking to a good friend she convinced me to test with a digital on Thursday and that's when I saw this....

Tomorrow I have my first beta BW and then again on Tuesday. the second set. I'm hoping to have some great news before our destination wedding that we have this weekend. I already told my DH even if the beta's come back great we are not telling anyone of our family on this vacation. With our last bfp we had some great numbers and we still m/c. I have been using progesterone supp since 3dpo and am hoping this is it for us.

Any little prayer would be great :)

My New Mantra...

FET #2 Coming in August...

Babymoon, Birthday Celebrations, 3 Year Anniversary and 1 year Brain-Aversary all in one trip!

Hawaii!

Hawaii was great. It was a good getaway. I could have managed without the time zone change or the flight back from LA. It was miserable because I was so sleepy and so cramped. Dumb red eye flight But we had alot of fun. I wish I would have been prepared for the horrible trip to the top of the volcano. Poor Mr. OB had to tell me multiple times I was okay and we were fine. No one was dying. I got altitude sickness along with motion sickness from this windy road and crazy bus driver. It wasn't so great but the view was AWESOME. Once we stepped out of the bus I was 100% fine.

I loved the sno cones. So amazing. On the bottom there is a surprise waiting for you.. Ice Cream! Yum!

We saw some amazing fish and SEA TURTLES. Snorkeling was so much fun with Mr. OB. I enjoyed so much of it. I hope one day to take Ms. Pepper so she can see the fun fish for herself.

Some of the highlights:

Our Balcony and Pepper - 23 Weeks

Our Balcony and Mr OB's Beer Baby?

SPAM!

The day on the beach with beer strawberries and cheese!

Waiting for the sun to rise on a volcano 10,000 feet in the air! Talk about altitude sickness = NOT FUN!

Visiting the Brewery for Mr OB- Notice I'm a good girl and drinking water

Taking a scenic road trip!

Sailing to Lanai and snorkeling - Notice how sunburnt I am =*(

Road to Hana

SNO CONES!!

Luau Time!

So sad to leave this:

Next up: Finishing up the nursery. We have registered already and need to just finished up the room. Hopefully by next week I will have some more progress in that department!

We need to finish painting, put up the decor, and my mom and I need to start on the bedding. Fun stuff!

Pepper is doing wonderful. No that's not her real name. She is measuring 1lb 9 oz and growing so fast! I can't believe I am almost 25 weeks already. Where did time go? Before I know it she will be here and I will finally know what she looks like!