Where Is the Time Going?

Time passes so quickly lately. I can't believe that it is already December and 2010 is about to come to an end. There is not too much to update. We are still living with my parents. Stephen's company was bought out a few months ago and we are riding out the wave to see if his territory is going to change. The company that bought his has a few reps in this area again. Time will tell! Funny how sometimes it feels like days fly by and sometimes it feels like they aren't moving at all.

Congrats to all my surro friends that have had their babies in the last few months. What a big sigh of success!!

We have plans to travel over the holiday break and I am excited to get into some warmer weather. Now I remember why I wanted to move to NC, because the winters in Jersey are horrendous! It was 8 degrees today with the wind chill. That is freezing! That is beyond freezing! I wanted to hop on a plane to the Bahamas today. Hint, hint, honey!!

Hope you all have a happy holiday (or have had a happy holiday already) and a very festive New Year!! Here's to 2011, a year for lots of babies!!

Just For Fun

Just wanted to try this for fun and see what was displayed!

Stand up and listen

Do you ever feel like you are in a room full of people screaming at the top of your lungs and no one is listening? That is how I feel after reading the comments on this article about surrogacy and India. Seriously people, if you are not involved in the situation, don't you have a better way to spread your negativity? Do they understand what it takes to muster up the courage to embrace a journey like this and to tell people how you are going to create your family, since it is not the least bit traditional?!? Don't they understand how the women in India seek out the clinics to pursue surrogacy to also help their life situation improve. Maybe if they got on a plane themselves, took a forever flight to India, looked around a bit and ate their own piece of humble pie as they see how other people in the world live day to day, maybe then they would think before they speak.

Surrogacy has been a topic in my life and marriage now for three years. I've defended it to the end, I've been an advocate, an educator, and gabby gab to anyone who will listen. I've dealt with the questions, the reactions, and the "are you sure you want to do this" conversations. I've stayed positive even though we have lost two pregnancies. I still support each and every one in our little "surrogacy world" whether they are from blog land or forum land. Open your eyes people and look a little closer. There is a whole world that exists that you have no clue about. And until you have experienced it, then shut it! Just shut it and keep your opinion to yourself. Who is anyone to judge another for the choices they make in life? So to all those people who say we are exploiting the poor, taking advantage of Indian women, or outsourcing a pregnancy, try listening to our stories and feeling some empathy before you open your mouth and shove your foot in it!

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/parenting/outsourcing-pregnancy-to-india-this-is-just-the-beginning-1753055/?pg=12#comments

Thanks to all the people who supported my comment and said their peace on this article. Love, love, love my surrogacy family!!

Third time a charm?

It's official, we had a blighted ovum. Boohoo!! We were really hoping this was going to be the real deal. Thankfully, we have some frozen embryos and can try again in a few months. Third time is the charm, right?

updates

It's been a while, but here are our updates:

We found out earlier this week we did not have a viable pregnancy, we had a blighted ovum. We are upset, but not wrecked like last year. We do have five frozen embryos that we can try with when Ms. S is ready to go. We will have a successful pregnancy sometime this year! I can just feel it!!

I have been offered a teaching job in Wyckoff, NJ. I am rather excited about it and looking forward to the start of school.

We enrolled Stephen in a preschool that I think will fit him well. We toured the school and he seemed to really like it, especially the basement gym filled with toys for rainy and snowy days.

We have not found a house to our liking yet. We have probably walked through 50+ houses now. We are being patient and know that the right house will come along. Thankfully, my parents don't mind that we are staying a little bit longer.

Over the next few weeks, we have a bit of traveling going on. We are headed back to NC to visit Stephen's parents and our friends and I am going to Michigan with my son and dad to visit his side of the family. I am so very excited to be going there. It has been too long and I really miss them.

So, please keep us in your thoughts, as well as our surrogate. I am sure she is very upset also. We know this will happen when the time is right.

Coming Clean...

We have been dodging our blog for the last week, but we are ready to come clean. We received our results last week about our attempt with SI to get pregnant again. The results came back positive! We just received our first ultrasound report and it noted a single embryo that was well-defined. Our betas were great all week and we are so excited. We were a little reserved telling everyone, but we want to share our happy news with our friends and family. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers for an easy pregnancy. Looks like we'll be back in Mumbai in March. Just wanted to say thanks to all of our supporters, it helps us more than you know!

Say Goodbye to Bollywood!

I am sitting here in our hotel room, get ready to pack up our things in order to leave this evening. We have tried and tried to change our flight with no avail, so we will be on the late night-16 hour-get me back to the US-so we can see our little man- flight. I am a big believer that things happen for a reason and feel that we are supposed to be here for the transfer today. We did not stay for the transfer last year because at that point we were away 11 days and we were really home sick. But today has just marked a week in Mumbai and although we are home sick, it has been much easier to manage.

Being a believer in signs and things like that, I just want to add that I did see two butterflies while I was here. The first was a few days ago while we were driving back from the doctor's office. The second was on my egg pick up day. The day before EPU, I watched The Secret. This is a way of life for some and I have tried to adopt these beliefs as much as possible. Stephen is following, slowly. Anyway, I used the visualization technique and kept visualizing positive results, a pregnant Ms. S, and good egg numbers. Like I said, all week, we were told I had only 8-9, but I kept saying in my mind there would be more. I also asked for a sign to suggest my prayers/thoughts were being heard. Fast foward to 7am on EPU day. SI sent a representative to help "navigate" the admission process. She was a lovely young woman who did speak some to us, but not much. While I was talking to her, on her finger, she wore a butterfly ring. At that precise moment, I knew that everything was going to go smoothly and things were lining up for us. I know I am going out on a stretch here, this is typically a taboo subject, but I am a believer of the "secret", of God's intervention, of the stars aligning in the universe for us.

Anyway, shifting gears, in a few hours we will be off to Lilavati Hospital to meet Ms. S again and tell her how much we appreciate her doing this for us. Ms. S is a beautiful, young mother of one. Her husband is very genuine and caring. They are very much in love and still giddy. Mr. S carries a world load of problems upon his shoulders and feels the pressure of the economy daily. He is doing the best to support his family and knows that this will help ensure his daughter has a great education which will hopefully perpetuate some success for their family. With that being said, our meeting was sincere and sweet. We told them how we longed for another baby or two. They told us how they wish better for their family. We were both very grateful to each other for different reasons. That is what I love about surrogacy in India. The families are so appreciative and humbled at the same time. They feel like we are doing them the greatest service, when we, IP's, feel the exact opposite. I would never be able to tell Ms. S enough what this means to us.

During our meeting, we spoke back and forth about careers, family, and hobbies. She is a stay at home mom now and cares for their daughter. It seemed as though we hit it off right away and we couldn't have asked for a better match. Ms. S told me that she "would take care of our baby" and I just lost it. I teared up through most of the meeting and it really warmed my heart when she said that. She is going to be a great surrogate and I am looking forward to seeing her again this afternoon.

Otherwise, we'd like to report that this has been a welcome adventure as always. We enjoyed our time here in Mumbai and at the Novotel Hotel. We especially enjoyed watching the waves pound into the beach from our room and also from the lounge. It is amazing how soothing the sound of the crashing waves can be. Stephen has faired very well on this trip. He has been very relaxed. It seems that it is time to come home because we are starting to dream and talk about the food we want when we get home. I know that most people are not as crazy as us when it comes to trying the food here, but we both had a horrific time last year after sampling food at the hotel restaurant. We, especially me, like to stay with safe foods while traveling abroad. Call me a wimp, but I like to feel good when I am away from home.

Finally, we would like to take this time to tell all you readers how much we appreciate and are grateful for your love, support, help, and wonder about our lives. We have always tried to share and be real about what is going on in our lives when it comes to India and our baby mission. Some people receive it very well, some not so well. But, again, a big thanks to you all. We love you and will talk to you again when we are back in the States!!!!!

Baker's Dozen

Today could not have gone any better! We arrived at Lilavati Hospital on time and got into a room in a rather timely manner for India time standards. Right at 10 am, they took me to the OR to get ready for egg pick up. The procedure takes longer to prepare and recover from than the actual egg pick up. All week, my scans were showing 8-9 eggs, but today they retrieved 13 eggs!!! I was in shock when I woke up and Dr. Yash told me. I started crying and looking at Stephen in disbelief. Thirteen beats my number last year and far surpassed our expectations for this attempt. Since I am another year older, had a cyst, showed smaller numbers in the scans, this was a welcome surprise.

We feel very confident with our surrogate and the transfer will take place on Monday. Because Continental doesn't have "M" class tickets (a code for a coach seat at a certain price point), we will be here for the transfer. We are both anxious to get home to our little man, but it is ok that we will have to wait. I am glad that we can be here for the transfer and see our lovely surrogate again.

Please keep us in your prayers, as this is the time when we need them most. We have done all that we can possibly do to increase our chances, the rest is out of our hands. Tomorrow will be a relaxing day for us and we are looking forward to it. I didn't post yesterday, because we slept all day. Literally. We came back from breakfast with another SI couple here around 11 and slept until 8 pm or so. We did sleep through most of the night, but were disturbed by a 2:30 am knock at our door from the laundry man (?!?). We told him to go away and had a hard time getting back to bed.

We have been eating pizza every night for dinner. Breakfast is usually at the buffet downstairs. The eggs are made to order and we grab a ton of fresh fruit. Lunch is usually a microwave meal that we brought with us. We are out of ravoli, so it looks like tomorrow is macaroni and cheese. Yum!! While we were waiting to be discharged this afternoon, we started talking about the meals we want when we get home. Stephen wants a big juicy porterhouse steak and I want some chicken. It has been almost a week since we have had meat. It is starting to affect our thoughts! :) haha.

Thanks for all your support and comments. We have received a ton of emails and facebook comments also. We try to get back to you all, but the internet is in and out at the hotel. We love and miss you all. Can't wait to see you when we get back to the US. Stevie told us this morning as we skyped, three days left!!!!

Sweetest Day

Today is going to be a sweet day because we get to meet our new surrogate!! We did a last minute switch upon the doctor's advice. The first surrogate we picked was on the smaller size, so they suggested someone a little taller. We were fine with that and had two women to chose from that will be ready for egg implant on Monday. Yay! Fingers crossed!!

Stephen went for a massage today at the spa. He said he really enjoyed it. He came back smelling like a satchel of spices. It was pretty funny. The room stills smells of the scent because it is on his clothes. He is asleep now and snoring a bit. Haha!

Good news on the egg retrieval, but bad news from Continental. We tried yesterday to change our flights to Saturday night, but they don't have the same class ticket in inventory. So, if we wanted to fly Saturday night, it would cost us a fare difference and change fee. That was over $3000!!! So unless "m" class seats become available, we are hanging in Mumbai until Monday night. We are going to keep calling Continental, hoping for a miracle to happen!!

I'll post more when we get back from meeting our surrogate!! :) :) :)

Good News!

Good news!! Good news!! Egg pick up is on Saturday!! Yay!! That means tomorrow is my last day of injections. Tomorrow night is my trigger shot and then it's off to Lilavanti hospital Saturday morning. Woohoo!! We are happy with our egg count prediction and our odds of success!

We had a last minute change in our surrogate selection. Dr. Yash suggested a different surrogate because our first pick is a very, very tiny woman. She suggested someone (who is still tiny) but a little larger than they first in height and weight. We will meet her tomorrow when we head off to the doctors' office.

If everything goes well, we will try to head out Saturday night on the late flight and arrive home in the US on Sunday morning. Stevie will be so excited!! We are both drained, so we are taking a late afternoon nap. I am starting to feel some discomfort from my ovaries being so full. I hope a good nap will dull the aching for a while.

Thanks for reading... more later :)

Easy Day :)

What an easy day today has been so far! We had an appointment for blood work this morning at the doctors' clinic. We were in and out relatively fast. Also, the rickshaws are on strike today because of rising gas prices, so there was no traffic! It took very little time to get back and forth to the hotel. And now, the rest of the day is ours to relax and catch up on sleep.

Funny comment about the pizza. In fact, we did have pizza yesterday for lunch. The pizza is from Pizza Hut and is pretty comparable to US Pizza Hut. Plus, it's cheap and they deliver. We got a pizza, bread sticks, and two cokes for under $10. Last night at dinner, we paid $15 for a bowl of plain bow-tie pasta. Tonight we are probably going to eat one of the meals we brought with us.

We are staying at the Novotel at Juhu Beach. We did stay here last year for a day and then switched to a different hotel. It had just opened when we arrived last year and they were still working out the kinks. It has been a pleasurable stay so far. There are a few restaurants open now and a outside lounge that overlooks the beach. We sat out by the pool/lounge area last night and enjoyed the breeze off the sea. It was very enjoyable. There is a spa on the second floor and we are going to look into their services today. Stephen has a weak spot for massages. He's already mentioned that he thought we should "test out" the spa. I'll keep ya posted!

Tomorrow, we are headed back to the hospital for another scan and the freezing of Stephen's swimmers. We are still hopeful for a Saturday egg pick-up and departure shortly after that. We are anxious to get home and see our little man. We discovered yesterday that he reacted better to us calling first thing in the morning instead of at night. He was running a fever, but that is gone. Philly took him to the doctor to test for Strep, since his cousins came down with it. They spent all last week together, so maybe that was the reason for the fever. He told us that he has been playing golf with his Pops. We can't wait to see him on the course "playing" golf.

Keep your fingers crossed for a good scan tomorrow. Hopefully my eggs will have increased a good amount in size. We have taken a few photos and hope to get them up in the next day or so.

Cool and calm

First, I'd like to thank you all for the comments and support. We are very blessed to have such wonderful family and friends who make this trip a lot easier. We are encouraged every time we read your comments. They are like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

We were able to fall asleep for a few hours before the doctors were calling to set up our first appointment. We met them at the Lilavanti Hospital for my scan. So far, so good. I've got about the same number of eggs as last summer. So, I will continue my injections and let them grow to the desirable size needed. Dr. Yash commented that my egg pick up could be Saturday or Monday. We will just have to wait a few more days to check them again. We met another couple from Australia at the hospital that were going through the same process as us. They are a few days ahead of us, nearing the end of their time in India. I hope we will see them again before they leave. If not, we suggested we all meet back up in 9 months. That's the mantra around here, believe it will happen and it will. We believe that this will be a success again and we will be back in 9 months for baby pick up.

It feels like a different trip this time. We knew what to expect from last year. Stephen is much more calm and relaxed, which makes it easy for me to stay calm and relaxed. We are not as nervous about being here or what we need to do. Things seems very familiar to us this trip and we recognized and remembered a lot of places and things from last year. We are back in the original hotel we stayed in last summer. It was just opening last year and a lot of things had to be ironed out. We have been assured that the wrinkles have been smoothed and we are looking forward to our stay here. We are on the beach and look forward to spending sometime walking up and down the shore.

We spoke with Stevie this morning. He did much better this time with the conversation. We were almost hesitant to call because he has been getting so upset. Stephen's parents are taking great care of him and keeping his as busy as a bee. Although it is tough to be away from him, we realize it is a short time in the grand scheme of our lives and will provide us with the family we want.

It is almost dinner time here, but we are on such a delayed schedule, that we hardly noticed. Having a layover in Germany was tougher than we thought. It's really hard to grasp the concept of time when you cross so many time zones and are in certain places for meal times. Luckily, we brought an entire suitcase of food with us and our travel coordinator, Amit, set a microwave up in our room. We will be able to eat a lot of the food we brought for our meals and keep our appetites in order. We had a hard time last year with the food agreeing with us, that we came prepared.

It was nice to chat and we will update again tomorrow. :)

Touch down in Mumbai!

After almost 24 hours of travel, we have arrived in Mumbai. We had a lay over this morning in Frankfurt, Germany. Germany was very interesting. I noticed two things immediately about Germany: 1. the people are very tall there and 2. they drink beer with breakfast. I couldn't get over watching men and women eat their breakfast and down a beer. It was hysterical. Even on the flight to Mumbai, they offered (for free, in coach) beer, wine, Bailey's, and something else I can't seem to remember right now.

We are exhausted to say the least. We did not sleep much on the first flight, but we did catch up on sleep on the second flight. We arrived here in the middle of the night and it was humid and damp out. The car driver said the monsoons have been pretty bad so far, let's hope the rain stays away while we are here.

We contacted our parents and told them we were here safely. We talked with Stevie and he cried for the second time since we've been away. That has been the hardest on us so far. He makes me just want to get on a plane and turn right around and go home. Please keep us and our families in your prayers this week as it is going to be hard to be away from each other. Thanks and talk more tomorrow!!

Packing Our Bags

Here we are, in NJ, getting ready to leave on our big trip to India tomorrow. We have so much to do before we get on the plane, I'm exhausted even thinking about it. We spent most of today unpacking what we brought with us and then had a lovely dinner with friends and family.

We have already skyped with Stephen and we miss him tons already. I would love to write more, but I am exhausted and need to get to bed. Just really wanted to say....

WE LEAVE TOMORROW!!! YAY!!!

2WW

We are in the 2WW as in.... getting to India. This time, two weeks from now, we will be landing in Mumbai. It is crazy to think of how fast it has come again. We are praying for a wonderfully successful trip. As many of you know, there is a lot of planning involved in a trip like this. It consumes your life as you scrutinize the blogs and forums for more information on your docs, friends, and results. It is also very emotionally taxing. We are gearing up for our journey and starting to get all the little details in order.

Tomorrow, we close on our house. We will be "homeless" technically. We will also be without the general monthly expenses. That sounds nice, even if it is just for a month or so.

I have been watching the news tonight and am happy to see that Joran van der Sloot has been captured and is resting comfortably in jail tonight in Peru. I hope they nail his ass to the wall. I always followed the Natalie Holloway case and wondered how they let that guy go free. I hope that he gets what he has coming and these two families can have some peace in their life, knowing that justice has been served. Now, if you know me, I never speak about things like this, but I can't hold it in. Every dog has its day!

We've got a lot going on this week. This is my last week of school with students. It is kinda sad because I am going to miss them. I always miss my students. Also, because I will not see them again for a while. I'm sure when I visit, I will stop by school to say hi to all my friends. I have a small procedure happening Tuesday. So keep your fingers crossed for me. Nothing big, just necessary to help out with our results in India.

Stephen made it through his surgery just fine. I did break down and cry when they wheeled him away to the OR. My hubby comforted me just as he should. Before we knew it, the doctors were coming out telling us that he was out of the OR and in the Recovery Room. After one good vomit, he felt much better. By noon, he was riding his bike and jumping on his trampoline.

Well all my blog friends, it is time to say goodnight. Hope you all have a good week and talk soon!!

New places, new faces

Ohmygosh!! Life has been beyond crazy for us these past weeks, but more specifically this weekend. We moved out of our house and have relocated into my in-law's house. They have graciously invited us (me, Stephen, Stevie, Buddy, and Max) into their home. We are calling this home for a little while and Stevie doesn't understand why we can't go to our "home". It's time for new places, my son.

Buddy has already fallen into the pool. He tried to walk across the cover and realized his mistake very quickly. Thankfully, Stephen was there to the rescue. We are the only couple with a lab who does NOT like to swim or even get wet! Other than that, we have been lucky moving in.

We leave for India in just over two weeks. We are very excited, nervous, anxious, basically a whole gamete of emotions. We have our flights booked, working on the hotel, and I have all my meds.

Before I close this post, I would like to ask for you to say a special prayer for our son, Stephen. He is having a minor surgical procedure tomorrow to open his tear ducts and to have his adenoids taken out. It does not take long for both surgeries (the eye dr. and e.n.t. dr. are working together so it is only one procedure). He will only be under for about an hour, but I'm sure it will feel like the longest hour EVER!!! Thanks for the prayers and positive thoughts. :)

Is it time to stress yet??

We just got through an important week: Stephen's birthday week. Yes, his birthday was on the 11th, but we celebrated for an entire week. It started off in NJ last Friday night. It was a small, quick celebration. It was a birthday weekend, Jackie, Stephen, Uncle John, Uncle Ed, and Meaghan all celebrated birthdays last week. When we got home, we had a family dinner on Tuesday night with Stephen's mom, dad, sister, and grandma. Then this weekend, we had the little kids celebration, complete with a bounce house! It was soooo much fun. The adults got in and bounced also. He thinks it is still his birthday.







We can't believe that he is three already. I cannot believe how fast time goes by. He is such a sweet boy, but definitely testing the water with us. He says or does the opposite of what we ask. Sometimes it is humorous, sometimes it is frustrating. For example, at dinner tonight, we asked him to sit down in his chair the right way. He responded that he would sit down the left way. We couldn't help but laugh. It was kinda funny.

So, should we talk about stress? We are closing now on the 7th of June. That is 3 weeks from today. That is two weekends to pack. We will be staying with my in-laws for a few days because I won't finish school until June 15th. We went house hunting last weekend while we were up in NJ and put an offer in on a house. But, we lost it this week to another offer! Whatever!! Not much more I want to say about that. It wasn't meant to be.

We are on track with our trip to India. We are leaving on June 18th. We are hoping to stay 10-11 days. Once we get back to the US, we will be moving up to NJ. To my parents' house. We thought we'd live with our both our parents until they kick us out! hahaha. Kidding. We are thankful that they will both let us reside with them here in NC and in NJ.

Random thoughts

There are so many things on my mind lately, it's hard to remember if we are coming or going. The first piece of great news is that we are under contract with our house in NC. This happened way sooner than we ever imagined!! We put it up on the internet Monday, had a showing Wednesday, offer Friday, and contracts signed Sunday night. Wow... talk about fast paced! So Friday night came in with an offer and it was bittersweet. I actually had tears in my eyes. Although I am very excited about going back to NJ, I am really going to miss this house. We had it built, we picked out all the extras, we have done a ton of work to it. Plus, the biggest is Stephen's room!! He has the cutest mural painted on the walls. He is out growing it, but I still love it. I would love to have it replicated in our new house for our future children. We are also going to miss our family and friends. Saying goodbye is never easy. I feel a lot of tears coming on over the next 6 weeks. :(





Stephen has been traveling quite a bit over the last few weeks and I really just want him home. We have to start packing and making our plans to move and go to India. Speaking of India, we have chosen our new surrogate. We are very excited to meet her and let her help build our family. But today, for some reason, I thought about our visas to get in to India. Well, much to my dismay, our visas expire on June 22, 2010. We were planning on going to Mumbai on June 18th. Hmmm.... Big problem here. I am not sure how we are going to solve this one. I have read that you have to wait a month after the expiration date to apply for a new visa, which would put us into August. But, I've also read that you can apply earlier, while your current visa is still legit. Please advise if you know! We are going to try to apply early.

I am running a 5K this weekend. It is for two great causes: 1. Girls on the Run and 2. Susan Komen breast cancer research. Girls on the Run is a great program that is in my school. I've been asked to run by a girl in my class. She had to have an adult complete the race with her. I was really honored and excited that she would ask me to do this with her. I have been training for the past few weeks, but wouldn't you know that I have a cold this week! UGH! I am taking it easy and saving all my energy for Saturday morning. I am happy to support breast cancer research because so many women (including my dear Nana) are stricken with this. There are many survivors in our school and I am happy to run for them!

I have had the "why can't I just get pregnant" talk with so many friends lately. It seems like everywhere I turn, women are dealing with infertility issues. I am no different and the advice I can give is to hang in there, stay positive, and believe. We make life what we want it to be for ourselves. I am a big believer of visualization, positive thinking, and prayer. I had the most wonderful dream a few weeks ago about my Nana. She is in heaven now for two and a half years. I was laying in bed in my dream and Nana came and hovered right above me. She looked radiant. Her hair was done in curls and she had pink lipstick and was dressed in a white and pink striped shirt. She had a conversation with me that went something like this:
N: "What it is that you want?"
D: "Nana, I just want a brother or sister for Stephen."
N: "Which would you rather have?"
D: "I wouldn't mind a boy again, we have all the clothes and toys. I wouldn't mind a girl either."
N: "Well, it's going to be a girl. Get ready." "Now, stay calm, don't stress, and relax."
D: big smile on my face when I woke up


This is Nana with Stephen at 3 mos.

I believe that good things are ahead for us. Last year our big dilemma was if we should stay here in NC or go back to NJ. Well, that has been answered. I think this is the year when things start falling into place for us. The stars are lining up just like they have throughout my life. We are ready for the ride again!

Here We Go....

Stephen celebrating Easter


Me, Emily (cousin), and Stephen dying eggs

So many updates to share with you all!!

First, school has been beyond busy this year and I have been under lots of paperwork for most of the year. Thankfully, we only have 41 days left! Woohoo!!!!!!

Second, Stevie is turning 3 next month, on May 11th. Wow, time really flies. It seems just like yesterday that I was pushing that little man out. He has really grown into the terrible two's lately. Every answer is "no", "I don't want to", but we are managing well. Hopefully this will not last long.

Next, we are moving back to NJ! Yay! We are relocating for Stephen's new job. It was an opportunity he just couldn't pass up. He actually has been working from here for the last month with his new company and loves it. It is nice to have him loving what he does :) We are planning on moving to NJ early July. I get out of school June 15th, so shortly after that. We have been having an open house as often as possible to help sell it as quickly as possible. We are listing in on all the common websites to help gain exposure. St. Joseph is already hiding in the bush to help attract buyers. He has worked at the last three houses.

We are waiting for July to move because we are headed back to Mumbai to visit our good friends at SI. In fact, we just notified them of our surrogate choice tonight. We are going to leave hopefully right after I get out of school. We will spend our 2WW packing, driving, and unpacking, which will unload a lot of nerves. We are hoping again for a positive and a better experience after we receive that positive. Please keep us in your prayers and thoughts.

I would love to blog more often, but things are just a little bit crazy right now. I have been applying online for teaching jobs in a state where the governor slashed the budget and is now threatening the pension system. Online applications take forever to fill out and you attach a resume on top of that! I hope that I get something, but secretly wouldn't mind spending sometime with my little man. So between current job, looking for a new job, moving, packing, and planning a trip to India, we are limited on free time. I have to secretly admit we do spend a lot of our free time on FB playing bejeweled ;) What a great way to de-stress!!

Christmas and 2010

So we are a bit late with sharing Christmas photos, but better late than never. We celebrated Christmas with Stephen's family the weekend before Christmas. It was a lot of fun to watch Stevie and his three cousins play. They had such a great time and Stevie keeps asking when they are coming back to NC. We received wonderful gifts from Santa with the Craters. The gift we were most excited about giving to Stevie was his Curious George. He is beyond obsessed with Curious at the moment. We also celebrated with Stephen's extended family at the Petree Christmas party. It was nice to see everyone and catch up.





After leaving the Petree party, we packed the car and headed to NJ. We usually stop in DC to spend the night with Laura and this time was no different. When we got to Laura's (she was already in NJ), there was roughly 2 feet of snow on the ground. It was exciting to see because we just don't get snow that often where we are. We got NJ early the next afternoon and started unpacking our truck. We thought it was full then, but we had no clue for what we were in for coming home.

We had a great time at my family's Christmas Eve party. It was nice to see all my family. We all try our best to make if for Christmas Eve and then go separate ways on Christmas Day. Stevie got to play with my younger cousins and it was so cute. He really likes hanging out with them and playing. I love to see the interaction between them all. He had a great time opening his gifts and got to bed a little past his bedtime that night. Some members of my family convinced us to go the Zoo for a drink or two after Stevie was asleep. That was a crazy idea, considering we did even have our gifts wrapped. But we went anyway. I think we got to bed around 2 or 3 that night.




Christmas morning was so exciting this year because Stevie was really excited about opening gifts. He received a lot of gifts from Santa. Grandma and Grandpa also indulged in giving Stevie gifts this year. Jackie and her family came over later evening and exchanged gifts. It was at this point that we realized it was going to be a challenge to get home.



Stephen gave me the best gift this year. He surprised me with tickets to Jersey Boys on Broadway and booked a room at the Hilton in Times Square. We did something very similar last year, but I knew about it. We had a delicious dinner in the city, at a restaurant recommended by James and Tiffany, a great time at the play, and then fun walking back to the hotel in the pouring rain. It was one of the yuckiest days I've ever seen in the city. Thanks babe for such a great surprise!

We spent the rest of the week ripping up my parents' bathroom on the first floor and re-tiling it. All I'm going to say about that project is too many cooks in the kitchen. Otherwise, it came out beautiful! We spent New Year's Eve with my mom, dad, Jackie, and Rich. We went to Que Pasta, a good Italian restaurant that serves homemade pasta. I love homemade pasta! We rang in the New Year and went to bed. My family came over the next day to celebrate 2010 and also a quick happy birthday to me.

We were sad to leave, but it was time to get home and back into the swing of things here in NC. We won't be back up in NJ until the spring and that seems like forever away! We did enjoy a visit from Meaghan right after we got home. Poor Stevie had a stomach bug while she was here. It didn't ruin the weekend, but it put a damper on things a bit. We enjoyed having Meg here and were very sad to see her go!