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.