Stephen's Second Second Birthday Party

Stephen and Mommy



Jeffrey, Stephen, and Daddy enjoying an ice pop with Papa in the background
PS- nice glasses Jeff ;)



Stephen and Uncle James playing airplane



Champy cooling off in the kiddie pool


Yes, a second, second birthday party. This time it was in New Jersey with my family and friends. The day started out chilly and rainy, but the skies cleared up and the sun came out for a while. We had such a wonderful time and all the kids enjoyed themselves. The pinata was the best part!! Here are a few pictures :)













Here's the long awaited India update. We have a date, we are leaving July 9th or 10th. I will have my eggs harvested on July 19th. We will be back in the US a few days after that. We have had all our preliminary blood tests done and are in the process of applying for a visa to enter the country. I begin my medicine treatment at the end of June. We have also picked our surrogate. She is a beautiful, young mother of two. We are so excited that she will be helping our family become complete. This journey is finally here for us. We have been waiting for so long and talking about this for many months now. It is very overwhelming and exciting at the same time. I have spent many nights lately working after Stephen goes to sleep until 11 or 12 filling out paperwork and transferring test results to the doctors in India.

We are very humbled that women across the world are willing to help families like ours. We are excited that she can help us fulfill our dreams and we can help fulfill her families needs by providing them money for a solid future for their children. Although their actions are not completely altruistic, there is no greater gift these women can give. We are very excited about our future and how our family may be expanding. Thank you for reading and continuing to support us. We appreciate all your good thoughts and well-wishes. While we are in India, we will definitely update our blog.

Mumbai, here we come!

We have a date! We have a date! We have a date!

We are beyond excited! Mumbai here we come!

Memorial Day Weekend- Chillin'

We want to start by saying thanks to all the men and women who have served this country. We hope you had a great day! We'd also like to thank Dr. Lipscomb on this day for saving my life two years ago. There will never be enough words to express how we feel toward him. He is an amazing, caring doctor and is still working with us very closely on our journey to India for surrogacy.




With that being said, Stevie had a funfilled weekend. We spent some time at home, completing some of our landscaping plans, beautifully created by Mr. Weiss of Greenland in Paramus. Stop by there and pick up your everyday gardening needs to make your home beautiful outside! He was so generous to draw up such detailed and well-thought out plans for our property off of a few pictures. I was amazed how well he got our house shape correct, out of all things. Like I told Krista, we will try our best to complete his dream for our land. Thanks again Mr. Weiss, we will be stopping by on our next trip to NJ!!!

We also went to Badin Lake to spend time with Popsy (Steve), Philly, Dana, and of course, Mom-o. It was Steve's birthday. Ok, follow me here... Steve (father-in-law), Stephen (husband), and Stevie (son). I know it gets confusing! So, we got there after an hour drive which consisted of Stevie's entire nap for the day. To say he had his moments was an understatement. The first thing he wanted to do was to ride Mom-o's boat. He was a little unsure at first, but then said, "I like it." Everything now is, "I like it" or "I don't like it". He will say, "I don't like it" even if it is something he has loved for a while, like watermelon. So, he decided to help his Daddy drive the boat. It was such a sweet moment. It is hard to catch him with a smile on camera lately, but I think we got a cute picture of daddy and son.







He did not want to lay down for a nap while we were there and who can blame him. There is so much to see and try for the first time as a toddler. He has been there every summer since his birth, but he really enjoyed himself this time. He wasn't too sure about fishing though. He didn't like the fish, but did laugh if they flopped on the dock or grass by accident. He fell asleep instantly when we got in the car for the ride home. He was snoring and everything! He had a fantastic day!!



Overall, we had a great three day weekend and wish that I didn't have to go back to school tomorrow. We are almost done and thankfully we all lived through EOG's!! If you got this far, thanks for reading and stay tuned.... exciting things are right around the corner ;)

You can see the rest of our pictures at
http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=90d3be8744462a75c7e45aad1e0cdff4&sid=8AatWjly0buWOD

for some reason, I can't get it to link there, sorry!

Birthday Parties!

Stephen has had a party week! We started off by celebrating his birthday on Monday, which was his actual birthday. We had Pops, Philly, Dana, and Momo here for dinner and cake. We had Stephen's favorite dinner, pizza, of course! He opened his gifts and then we got ready for the cake. When it was time to sing happy birthday, we had Gamma and Umpa on my cell phone and Uncle James on the house phone to sing with us. Stephen had a blast. He didn't quite understand how to blow out the candles, but he enjoyed the birthday cake.



I baked the cake myself and it did come out pretty good. I put extra icing on it, at my hubby's request. The only thing that came out crazy was the icing for the writing. I bought a decorative icing that comes out of a can. Well, it is not as easy as it looks. In fact, I don't think anyone can make decorative letters look good with icing that comes out of a can. So that was the big laugh of the night. I would call it creepy crawly font.

Then on Saturday afternoon, the real fun began. We had some of Stevie's little friends over for his 2nd birthday party. We filled our backyard with every toy imaginable. We had kiddie pools, a ball pit with a tunnel, basketball, baseball, golf, Tonka trucks, sand and water table, little race cars to zoom around the patio, and the hit of the show... the police car (thanks Jackie!). All the little boys wanted to ride the police car, even Jessica's big boys took it for a spin.





We had a great time celebrating Stevie's birthday with our friends and their children. The food was great, we had two cakes to choose from, and lots of laughs. Stephen is starting to think that his birthday lasts for a week. We can't wait to celebrate again when we get to NJ in the next few weeks ;)

Happy Birthday, Stephen!!!!

We can't believe how fast two years has gone. It seems like yesterday Stevie was born. Now he is a big boy, running, playing, and talking non-stop. We are so thankful to have Stevie in our lives and love the family that we have become. With everything that happened to me after Stevie's birth, we rarely reminisce about that day. So here we go, a lovely trip down memory lane.

It really started on May 10th, when I thought my water broke and Stephen was out playing golf. He was actually playing a really good game too when I called. He came home and we went to the doctor's office. They checked me out and said my water didn't break, but I might of had a high leak, since I was close to 4 cm. dilated. They told me to go home and see how I felt in the morning. They also wanted me to go in for an ultrasound the next day to check the fluid levels. Well, nothing exciting happened that night and I woke up fine. We went to the doctor that morning and found out that my fluid was a little low, so they could admit me to the hospital. I was also having light contractions.

Stephen and I went home, took our time, got our things and had lunch before we went to the hospital. I think we checked in about 3PM and were in a room by 4PM hooked up to the monitors. My water was broke and then the contractions really started kicking in. Since it was around dinner time, Stephen decided to run to Subway to get a quick sandwich. It was only across the street from the hospital.

The nurse told me that we shouldn't expect to have the baby until after midnight. By the time that Stephen got back with dinner, I was having trouble with my epidural and felt a lot more pain. I could barely keep up with the conversation. Then I got the chills. The nurse came in to check my epidural and decided to check me. She said, "I don't believe it, you are at ten centimeters." It was time to push. I called my mom to tell her the baby was on it's way and I remember saying to her, "You didn't tell me it would hurt this much." I hung up with her and got back to pushing.

I pushed for a half hour and the head finally came out. I felt so much better at that point. My epidural stopped working because I had dilated so fast. The medicine could not keep up with my body. I even asked the doctor at this point if he could just pull the baby out. I really didn't want to have to push again. But, I did and I was fine. Stephen was the first to say, "It's a boy!!!" We were both so overjoyed, there are no words that will ever express the elation that we felt at that moment. Stephen Grey Crater, III entered our lives May 11, 2007 at 10:40 PM, weighing 7lbs and 0.5 oz., and 21 inches long. So, that is our story, that is how our family started. Happy Birthday, Stephen!!! We love you more than you'll ever know :)

Spring is finally, truly here!

We had such a great time in NJ over Easter break. Stephen had a great time playing with his cousins (second cousins, but whose counting). We spent some time with Lisa, Jared, and the rest of the gang. Stephen and Jared played so well together, although Stephen got a little cranky by the end of the night from exhaustion. We are so busy when we visit in NJ, that he runs all day and night. We try to adhere to his schedule as best as possible, but it doesn't always work.




We also went to Brewster park with my dad. Stephen had a great time going down the slide after he conquered his initial fear of it. This park is right by the train tracks and he was really happy when he saw a real life "Thomas the Train".



We are so happy that spring is finally here! This is my favorite time of the year. Flowers and trees bloom, we spend a lot of time outside, but most of all.... school is almost OVER!!! I am so looking forward to summer vacation. I had a great year back teaching after taking a year off to spend with Stephen, but I am ready to be off for a while. We do not have any serious plans for the summer. We will visit NJ hopefully twice, late June and mid-August.



We are continuing to save for our trip to India. Our tax return really gave us a boost and Stephen also closed a deal! Yay! He is really excited that he closed the deal with the state of the economy.

Little Stephen is continuing to amaze us. His second birthday is a week from tomorrow. I can't believe that he is going to be 2!! We are going to have a little party for all his friends. It is so rewarding to see him play with other children and be able to communicate with each other.

Stephen has discovered that he loves to eat corn on the cob. We have it atleast once a week now. He is also enjoying fresh pineapple and watermelon. They are both so sweet right now.



He really enjoys playing with his Thomas trains and his train table. He received the battery operated Thomas and James from the Easter bunny at Gamma and Umpa's house. He has played with them so much, we have had to replace the batteries already.



We just wanted to say thanks to all of our family and friends for continuing to support us and send us positive messages. We are definitely on the road less traveled to building a family. I have several friends I have met on a surrogacy forum who have also become a great support system. Please just continue to pray that our journey will be successful and we will have healthy baby(ies)!!!

Easter break

We are up in NJ visiting my parents for Easter break. I have this week off from school, so we decided to drive up this past weekend and stay for a week. We haven't been up to see my family and friends since Decemeber, although it has felt longer than that. Stevie enjoyed his 10 hour car ride by watching Nemo, Cars, Backyardigans, and Dora in the car. What a great Christmas gift that was! I was able to pass the time by reading and Stephen listened to a book on tape as we alternated driving. Buddy slept in the back. All in all, it was a good ride up.

Stevie was very happy and excited to see his "Gamma" and "Umpa". He has been having a great time playing with my little cousins and his Uncle James. My parents bought him a basketball net that is adjustable as he grows. Well, his daddy and uncle are getting more use out of it than anyone right now. They have been playing "horse" in the living room for two days now.



For Easter, we had a fantastic dinner with Gerard, Kelly, Adam, and Mary. It was nice to spend some time with them. Then more family came by for dessert. There were so many good desserts and so little room left in my belly. One of the things we look forward to most when we visit is the food. There are certain spots that we have to hit to get our fix. We always get a bagel with egg, taylor ham, and cheese, the 101 Pub sunset wings, IGA deli rolls, pizza, and my mom's meatballs of course. We are also celebrating St. Patty's Day again on Thursday so we can have corned beef and cabbage. Yum!!




We have been super busy and that is why I haven't posted in a while. Stephen built a fence with our friend, Mark. They did such a wonderful job and it is relaxing to let Buddy out and not worry about him venturing into the wild. Also, Stevie is locked in the backyard now! We can move his club house into the grass and free up the space on the patio.



We have decided to postpone our trip to India until November. There are a few reasons, but the most important is that we did decide to go with a different clinic and doctors. They have been wonderful so far and we only expect great things to happen with them. We do need to save a little bit more and the timing is just better. We will not need to be in India for three weeks, but only 10-12 days. That is much more reasonable amount of time away from our little man. So, we are still very excited to set out on this journey for our next child and are will to wait until the time is right. Thanks for all your questions and concerns about our trip.

The most frequently asked question is how does it work? It is pretty simple, I guess. I will start hormone injections that are used for women doing an IVF cycle. I will start the medicine here in the US and be monitored by my ob/gyn. We will travel to India two weeks after I start the injections. We will meet with our Drs. in India and they will take over my care. They will adjust my medicines according to how well my body is producing eggs. After a certain amount of days, they will retreive my eggs and match them with Stephen's sperm. From that point on, we are done medically speaking. They let my eggs develop and transfer after 3 and 5 days. There are different statistics for success rates for day 3 and 5 implantation. Finally, we enter what is known as the "2WW" in infertility land... the 2 week wait. After two weeks, we hear if our surrogate is pregnant or not. I hope this paints a good picture. If she does become pregnant, then we do not return until the baby is born, unless we want to go to visit in the meantime. So, please keep us in your prayers. There are many things that need to fall into place.

To see all of Stevie's pics, please copy below: http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=a73c0cdd8f4612bdf12f12eb75ef82b5&sid=8AatWjly0buWNt