Category: Photos


Wisconsin

At the end of July, we took a trip out to Wisconsin. Sharyn’s Great-Grandmother was having a party for her 100th birthday in Shawano, so we took a trip out and hung out with all of her family. It was nice getting to see a big chunk of family we haven’t seen in awhile. We took a red-eye flight out to Minneapolis-St. Paul and then rented a car to drive the last 4ish hours. We stayed at a Hotel/Casino and they had a really big saltwater pool. Sharyn’s mom, dad and sister stayed across the hall with the cousins, so Edward and Morgan got a lot of cousin time in.

On the day of the party, we went to see where most of the other family was hanging out/staying at the edge of the lake. Edward got to play in the lake with all his cousins and Morgan got to crawl around in the grass nearby. It was a lot of fun.

We took some big family photos because we were together and how often are you able to take actual 5 generation photos?

Then on the way home, we stopped at a truck stop that happened to have a Wisconsin War Veteran Memorial. We also had a little bit of spare time when we got back to Minneapolis, so we went ahead and stopped at the Mall of America to blow some time. Edward got to go on his first log flume ride. He wasn’t super sure about the drop as you can see in the photo.

July

Summers are always super busy for us as the weather is nice and we can see all sorts of different things. It also helps when we have an exchange student. So, we were super busy this month. First up we had a great 4th of July party with all of our neighbors. It was a lot of fun and I made some yummy pulled pork fries and we played in the pool outside.

We also did the Skagit Valley Highland Games. The boys decided they wanted airbrush tattoos and Edward wanted the exact same one as Fernando. Then we jumped in the car and continued up to the border to check out the Peace Arch. Check out those photos here.

The next weekend, we went up to Mt. Vernon again to check out the Clayslist sale. Then we found a nearby farm where we could pick some raspberries. That was pretty cool as we spent about an hour and we ended up with almost 40 lbs of raspberries (whoops!).

Throughout the weeks, we did our normal splash parks, fun around town, and some parties for EF. We also had Darrell’s work picnic and Darrell and Fernando went out with our neighbor on his boat to do some crabbing and visiting Jetty Island.

After we dropped Fernando off at the bus, we were asked if we would be a gap host family for some 9-year old twin boys from China. It was rough with communication issues and that we had another friend in town we hadn’t seen in awhile, but we made it work. We took the boys out and did blueberry picking with them. It was super hot so we didn’t last very long, but we still got almost 15 lbs of blueberries.

After a long 3 years, we finally made it! We attended Darrell’s graduation ceremonies. On Tuesday night, we went down for his EE graduation ceremony which is the smaller one.

Then on Saturday, we headed back down to the University for the big ceremony with the whole school. It was long and hot, but we made it through and the boys were both well behaved. Darrell’s Dad showed up and came with us. It was a lot of fun. We are happy to be able to put this part behind us and move forward. It is nice to be able to spend more family time together without having to worry about homework and everything else. Yippee!!!

In January, we had a Flat Stanley from one of Darrell’s coworkers kids, so we went around Seattle and saw a bunch of the typical touristy spots. Edward loved visiting and seeing things.

We also went ahead and took Edward bowling again. He only really likes to play for the first game and part of a second, so we just finished up while he wandered and played in the arcade.

March was a big month for us. I took the boys to Fort Dent Park in Renton.

We also took a trip down to Boonville for the Ross family reunion. It was a long drive, but the boys did great! We stopped in Medford for an hour or two at a kids museum to let the boys get out of their carseats and stretch. Then we finished the drive. We enjoyed spending the long weekend with all the family and Edward loved the attention. We went to Pennyroyal Farm and got to see all their baby goats. Then on the way home, we stopped in Humboldt to visit friends and got to see the Elk herd on the way home. It was a great trip!

We decided in January to go ahead and do another IUI cycle and use our last vial of sperm. We had our fingers crossed, but having had 2 failed IUI’s and a failed IUI to IVF under our belt, we weren’t sure what to expect. We knew we were doing the same medical cycle that we normally do. We kept this cycle around quiet from everyone as we have never had a surprise for anyone, so we thought we would try. It was super hard when I was struggling with all the hormones and the waiting game, but we did it!

We had the IUI on January 23rd with 3 good size follicles, 2 small follicles and 15 million sperm. 2 weeks later, this is what we have:

Our first couple ultrasounds of the baby:

12-13 weeks along and we made the announcement to our immediate family:

Then comes the halfway point with the anatomy scan where we hear that everything is great with the baby.

And of course, then the announcement to everyone else that we are expecting a baby:

24 weeks comes shortly after and all of a sudden, I am measuring 5 weeks ahead.

Then 30 weeks, still measuring ahead, so back in for another ultrasound to make sure baby is still fine and not to much fluid. We are on the upper end of fluid, but still in the ok range.

35/35 day! 35 weeks down and 35 days to go!

Then we hit 40 weeks and my brain went nuts because they were not expecting the baby to be late, if anything, the doctors didn’t think he would even be an October baby. So, at 3 days late, we headed back to the MFM for another ultrasound and an NST to make sure everything was going great. Because of course my brain was flipping out on not wanting to loose another baby. Everything was fine. They were estimating baby to be almost 11 pounds and told me that they would have sent me straight to induction if I was delivering in the hospital. My midwife was a bit more lax and just kept telling me I would be able to do it no matter what. It was what I needed to keep some of my self-assurance there as I prep for delivery of what I know now is going to be a HUGE baby!

Then, we hit 41 weeks. I was huge and uncomfortable as we went in for what we hoped was our final midwife appointment. We spent most of the week trying everything we could to put me into labor. And it succeeded. I took this photo about an hour before we headed off to the midwife appointment and then I was in full labor 2 hours after the appointment. Basically, I had the baby less than 9 hours after I took this photo and I took the photo not feeling like that baby was coming any time soon. And the meme was the thoughts that I was having the whole time.

And that is the pregnancy in a nutshell. I was super happy to have him and breathe again! You can read the birth story here.

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