A friend is someone who...

Comes over and cleans your bathroom when you're too big and tired to do it yourself. AND, she does it with a smile on her face!

Here is Rachel, scrubbing away at my shower with a smile! Isn't she the greatest? Rachel gave me the best birthday present this year, coupons for housecleaning! This is how I used my first one... She was far too kind and said how the bathroom really wasn't that bad, but the truth is...it really needed some TLC! It's still sparkling!

Not only did Rachel come over and clean my bathroom, she also helped me get the room ready for baby! She organized, washed clothes, even transformed my bathroom into a more baby/kid themed room! And look at these cute decorations?

Thank you, Rachel, for coming over and helping me! You have no idea how much this meant to me!

My Baby Shower

My Sister
Rachel & Sarah

Threw me a wonderful baby shower! I had such a great time, and all the guests did too! There was lots of food, fun, family and friends....I just couldn't have asked for a better time.

My Mom was a silent 4th partner!

Wow I have generous family and friends!!!!

And what baby shower is complete without a visit from Santa? Yes, we were totally surprised by a visit from Silverton's Santa, who was out riding on a vintage fire truck for a canned food drive. We were even more surprised when he came in for a few photos and gave all the kids candy canes!

Here I am with 4 of my pregnant friends! At least 3 more had already left or couldn't make it to the shower....I am so glad to share this experience with so many other special ladies!

Thank you Erica, Rachel, Sarah and Mom for all your hard work throwing me this wonderful shower! Thank you to all my family and friends for sharing this special day with me and for all the wonderful, adorable baby gifts!

Elfed!

Thanks to Rachel, Ona and Glory....Eddie and I have been Elfed!

Everyone should do this, it's hilarious!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1125307692

Happy Holidays from the Diaz Family

What's in a name??

Eddie and I are having trouble coming up with a good name for our baby if its a boy (which I think it is!). We have a girls name we both LOVE, but can't say the same for boy. We have baby name books and I've looked through them several times, but just can't seem to find the right one! We both would like to avoid anything too popular and admire original names and some traditional ones too.

We need some help blogger pals! Give us some good boys names, but please don't be offended if we don't choose yours. If, however, you do send us a name we both love and end up using if our baby is a boy...I'll treat the winner to a $5 Starbucks card. (I know its not much, but remember, I did just quit my job!)

2 Years Ago...

I married the love of my life! November 5, 2005 Eddie and I were married in Las Vegas. We had a really fun wedding. We decided to get married in Vegas for fun, and planned everything over the phone and internet. Neither of us had ever been to Vegas before. It was actually really nice to have a destination wedding. We arrived 2 days before the wedding and got to play before the day of the wedding. The day of the wedding was not stressful for either of us. Everything went very smoothly, besides the fact that Chapel by the Bay at Mandalay Bay starts their weddings ON TIME and NO exceptions...so my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin who came from Wisconsin missed the ceremony. :( We met them in the foyer as we walked out, but they made it to our little reception! We had 50 guests travel with us to Vegas, friends and family. We were so blessed to have so many people willing travel to be with us for our special day! Our wedding was everything I ever dreamed a wedding could be, and more. We headed home the next day and then we were off to our Honeymoon in Jamaica, which was also a wonderful time!

This is my all time Favorite picture of Eddie!


This is the view from our room in Jamaica!

He Turned 16!!

I'm a week late posting this, but my oldest Nephew, Hank, turned 16 last Sunday! I can't believe it! My sister is 8 1/2 years older than me, so I was only 11 when Hank was born, and right away I just adored him! He and my sister lived with us, so I got to spend a lot of time with him, and he's been a HUGE part of my life ever since. I was even lucky enough to get up in the middle of the night with him a few times (Erica was a really heavy sleeper :).

Before Hank was even born, he lost his Daddy to a car accident. For a mother and child who suffered such a tragedy, they have really done well. Hank has always been a special boy, very kind and loving, and not to mention hilarious. I fondly remember the time he got in trouble for riding his bike through town without his helmet on, and when asked if there was anything else he would like to confess, he calmly said, "sometimes in the shower I don't use soap." Poor kid, and he was just on the virge of discovering girls! Hank is a great big brother to sister Olivia and brother Jagger, who both idolize him. I am so proud of him. He is a sophomore in high school and gets good grades, is Student Body Vice President (of the whole school), plays football (JV and Varsity), and is just an all around great kid! Here are two pictures of Hank:

Hank's First Christmas

Homecoming Prince 2007

Happy Birthday, Hank, here's to many, many more!

I Resigned!

Today was a big day. I resigned from my job, I'm going to be a stay at home Mom. I have never wanted anything more than I want to be a stay at home Mommy, yet it was bittersweet handing in my letter this morning. I have 14 1/2 weeks left at my job, which sounds like an eternity and not enough time all in one. I am sad to leave the friends I have made, but so excited to be a full time Mommy.

I've worked at the same place for 5 years now, and have had 3 different positions...each unique and challenging in their own way. I've gained tons of personal and professional experience...not to mention I worked at the same place as my husband! Even though we didn't really see each other too much at work, it's always been kind of cool to tell people that we work for the same place!

Sorry this is so short and there are no photos...we're off to our first class at the hospital tonight!

Baby Bump!

Here it is folks, my 5 1/2 month baby bump! Thank you Rachel for insisting on taking this picture!

Thank you to all my blog friends who posted pregnant pictures! I will try to post more of these as I the baby grows. Right now, he or she is really movin' around and I'm really enjoying it. I still can't believe I'm almost 6 months along, before we know it we'll have a new baby here.

We're starting our childbirth class on October 30th, and I am so excited. I'm not good at reading books, so I'm hoping to learn a lot in the class.

Hopefully soon, I'll have pictures of the nursery! Oh wait, we're still procrastinating! Ha ha! Ta ta for now!

8 Random Things

So, I woke up this morning not wanting to get out of bed and decided to check some blogs (I think I'm officially addicted to blogging) and when I read Rachels, I was tagged! Here are 8 random things about me:

1. Pizza makes me sick since I've been pregnant, but I really want to eat it anyway.
2. I can't read books, they put me to sleep, no matter what. I still try, I love to curl up in front of the gas fireplace and try, but it just turns into a nap.
3. Our baby is due on Valentine's Day.
4. I LOVE anything pumpkin or pumpkin spice.
5. I used to be a big Starbucks girl, but now that I'm pregnant, I have an aversion to coffee.
6. I like to go to bed early and wake up early.
7. I am a Representative with Demarle at Home ( and LOVE IT! )
8. Fall is my absolute favorite season.

If you've read this, now you're tagged. Post 8 random things about you on your blog for us all to enjoy! Thanks Valerie and Rachel!

Hope everyone has a Wonderful Tuesday!

Baby

The day is finally here! We got to see our baby on a video screen!

After waiting for an hour, we finally were called back to the ultra sound room in our doctor's office. We were so excited for the ultrasound, but more excited when we realized the machine our doctor has is a 4D!

We, or I should say I, held my ground of not finding out the sex and turned away when the doctor told me to. Eddie tried his darndest to see, but was not succesful. Sorry Eddie, we'll just have to be surprised together when he or she is born in a few months. The baby was SO active during the ultrasound the doctor had a really hard time getting a good shot. He was really trying for a face shot, but baby just wasn't going for it! We saw the heart, the stomach, little feet, little hands...all dancin' around like crazy! A note about the picture we did get: This is a profile of the baby's face, and NO that's not a HUGE nose! Right before the doctor locked in the image, the baby cupped his or her hand over the nose and if you look closely you can tell its a hand. Sure looks like he or she is going to be ornery...just like Daddy! We are even more excited now to meet this little one...only a few months left!

One Year Ago...

One year ago today I was about to embark on one of my life's greatest challenges. I had trained for 7 months, working on my own during the week and with my group every Saturday morning at 6 am. Yes, I got up at 6 am every Saturday for 7 MONTHS! I am not a person you would consider "athletic" or even outdoorsy, I never played sports in high school (although I tried to convince many people that Cheerleading and Dance Team were sports, I did afterall, LETTER in both of them!). But here I was, at the starting line of the Portland Marathon. I was seriously considering just stepping off to the side to be a spectator, but I didn't. I had so many things going through my head, but most of all, the finish line. I had worked hard for this day and I was going to do this.

The reason I wanted to do this? My dear Aunt Margo was a runner and she had always tried to encourage all of us to be a part of her healthy habits, but most of us just couldn't ever discipline ourselves to do it. She ran Hood to Coast, Portland Marathon and many other local races. We lost Aunt Margo to cancer and at some point after that I decided I wanted to do this for her, because I knew she would be so proud of me. So, that's what got me to where I was on this chilly fall morning in 2006. I set my mind to doing this, and I was gonna do it.

I had experienced all kinds of crazy things while training (blisters, avoiding certain foods, almost fainting from not eating enough after a run, nausea from dehydration, learning pepto bismol was a cure all on the running trail), but best of all I made some great new friends! Elizabeth and I had decided to run together (even if she did ditch me at mile 19 only to beat me by 8 minutes over all!!) and we encouraged each other, popped pepto bismol together, stopped at the porta potties together...etc. I was also lucky enough to have a cheer team who stopped at 5 spots along the run to cheer me on, I was so lucky to have them there, they have no idea how much their cheering and support helped me! My Mom, My Sister Erica, Eddie, Rachel, My nephew Hank and his Girlfriend Tess all got up early that day, too and made the trip to Portland and followed a map (almost getting killed along the way, thanks to Erica's crazy driving from what I heard!) and stopped to snap pictures and cheer me on.....they are the BEST! They even walked with me through a water stop! My Dad and Valerie met me at the finish line, too!

So, off Elizabeth and I went on this great adventure through Portland. We laughed and cried, but we made it! The biggest challanges? The St John's Bridge...1.5 miles UP HILL at mile 18...was a killer but once we reached the top of the hill and ran over the bridge, it was gorgeous! After about mile 20, I honestly felt like I had been drinking. I felt really silly and just started screaming with the spectators and really talking myself into finishing this thing! Elizabeth was long gone, so I was acting sillyl by myself. :) I rounded the final corner with BAD cramps in my quads, but I ran as fast as I could across that finish line! 5 hours and 5 minutes after I started I crossed the finish line of the Portland Marathon, I did it, I was done, and I had never been so relieved! I made my way to the "finishers area" and had some gatorade and ate some snacks...oh, and best of all, got my medal.

The funniest thing about finishing the marathon? I stopped running! I can't believe its been a year, time sure flies when you're having fun!

Disappointed!

So, our doctor had to cancel our ultrasound appointment today due to some emergency surgeries. Now we have to wait until next Thursday! We are both disappointed, but we'll live. :) Stay tuned for pictures next week...

Worst Blogger Ever!!

Ok, I have to admit, I am the worst blogger ever! I am a devoted reader to all my blogging friends' pages, and I haven't updated my own in almost two months...I am feeling the pressure. :) I don't have any pictures right now, I'm going to need some lessons from you moms out there on taking millions of pictures, I've never been very good at it. And, for some reason, I feel really weird posting just pictures of myself. I promise a belly shot soon.

Our ultrasound is this Friday, so look for some fuzzy shots over the weekend...I'll do my best for a belly shot, too (Eddie's not much for taking pictures, either!). I'll tell you all right now, we have decided against finding out the sex of the baby...well, I decided and my husband lovingly went along, even though I know he's dying to find out. If you know me, you know I might be one of the most impatient people in the world, but I made my mind up about this and we're going to be surprised. I think it will be a very special moment in the delivery room for us when we find out!

Since my last post I have grown a lot and I'm now feeling the little one move around quite a bit, right now in fact! I think he or she is dancin' around because he or she wants some ice cream, yummy! Since we're not going to find out the sex of the baby, I needed to come up with a neutral nursery theme. I found an adorable bed set on the Babies R Us website called Froggy Tales, so I've decided to do froggies. Hopefully it will be cute. I'm not the worlds greatest decorator, so we'll see, it will be interesting. I'm also a terrible procrastinator...here we are 1/2 way through the pregnancy and I haven't even cleaned out the room for the baby! UGH! Oh well, I work best under pressure, I think?

Not much else is new with us at the moment, but I felt the need to write and was feelin' the pressure from Liz and Rachel! Thanks Girls!

Best Birthday Present!

On Thursday, we had our 2nd doctor's appointment and heard our baby's heartbeat for the first time! It really made this whole experience real...we were both so excited to hear it...this is all such a miracle! My Birthday was Friday and that was the BEST birthday present an expecting Mommy could ask for! I told Eddie I wasn't sure if I would laugh or cry when we heard it...I laughed, which made extra noise on the machine! Later that day, I wanted to cry tears of joy and excitement... We are really bringing a baby into this world, and right now he or she is growing like mad!! I am already feeling big, but the Doctor says I'm "measuring" just right for 12 weeks. I had to include this picture of my belly this week, just to show that I can't button my pants anymore! I wore my first pair of maternity pants on Friday and the comfort was just amazing! I'm definitely hooked!!

I had a great birthday...besides the fact that I had to work! My Mom sent be the beautiful bouquet you see in the picture below, such a wonderful surprise and they brightened up my non-window office for the whole day! Max came and had lunch with me and we had a great time talking and eating. I just don't see him enough. I made him promise that we would spend more time together!! In the evening I did exactly what I wanted, nothing! I layed on the couch with Eddie and we had Chinese take out. Another gift, I have felt great for about 4 days now!! The nausea is very minimal, whoopeee!!

Tummy Trouble

Well, I still have no pictures but decided that did't mean I couldn't post a new blog. This has been a trying week for baby! I went to Arizona last weekend for a Demarle at Home convention (it's a direct sales company I've started a business with...curious?? Just ask!!). Anyway, it was SO hot in Arizona I could barely step out of the hotel, not to mention I just think the traveling was unsettling for our growing baby! I had a great time and learned a lot of new ideas for my business, but my tummy was upset a lot of the time. To top it off, I got home and spent my first night home ill, ugh!

The rest of the week was great, busy days at work that just few by! I am struggling to get into my pants these days, but still just a tad too small for maternity... Although, I may just start wearing the maternity pants, I mean who cares right?? I am pregnant after all and excited! I love that I'm starting to show a little bit!

On Friday evening I had a Demarle Rendez'vous in Woodburn that I was having a hard time being excited about! I had worked all week and was exhausted! Luckily for me, I had Rachel and Sawyer to go with me! They brought me a new CD full of fun songs, and lots of enthusiasm. Oh, and the best part, Rachel was the BEST helper ever! She prepared food, passed it around to guests, and she and Lisa even washed everything for me, then she packed my stuff up and put it in the car....she's the BEST!!

Saturday I went to my nephew Jagger's (he's the baby in the photo on my last blog) 3rd birthday...I can't believe he's already 3! He was so cute opening his gifts, even if he didn't know what it was he would say, "Oh, this is for me!" I called early in the morning to say Happy Birthday and he got on the phone and said "Hi Meghan. It's my birthday today. I'm naked!!" How cute is that??

Saturday evening Rachel treated me to a Blues Concert at Lefty's while Sawyer stayed at our house with Uncle Eddie. I was excited to go out and have some fun and enjoy the music. Curt and Teri Abel and Mike Bethers joined us for the fun! Unfortunately, our evening was cut short because I made the HORRIBLE mistake of eating pizza. I have now learned the hard way (it took me twice) that our growing baby does NOT like pizza!! Oh well, cutting pizza from my diet is not necessarily a bad thing...it will help me keep weight gain to a minimum...

9 weeks and counting!

After gentle nudges from a few friends....my first pregnancy blog!

On June 14th I took a home pregnancy test and it was positive! We were so excited, and honestly, a little skeptical of the "home test" results (more Eddie than me) so I took a second test the next morning, and sure enough it was positive, too. I figured out that morning that I was about 5 weeks along and immediately went to the computer to figure out the possible due date, which said Valentine's Day 2008...perfect. I thought, what a special (and easy for Eddie to remember) due date. Eddie wanted to wait to share the news with family and friends until I could see my doctor and confirm the results, but I couldn't get in for 2 weeks...I couldn't keep the secret! I had to tell my Mom, Sister and Rachel. It was really hard not to shout it from the rooftops, but I figured I had to respect Eddie's wishes.

Then, dum dum dum, the nausea and EXTREME fatigue hit! Oh my have I been tired and nauseated so much in the last 6 weeks to last me a lifetime. I feel really super lucky that I have not had the unpleasant side effect of vomiting to go with the nausea, but still just feeling icky like that and not being able to talk about it at work was agony! The fatigue is strange, I'm not usually one to take naps, but these days, I come home in the evening and lay on the couch, the WHOLE evening in and out of naps, then I go to bed. On the weekends, sometimes I take two naps!

Eddie came with me to our first prenatal appointment, which I think is a slightly traumatizing experience for all men! He came out unscathed and pleased with the doctor. I can't say the same for me...the phlebotomist who took my blood went right through my vein and I still have the bruises to prove it! All in all, I can't complain, I do have a great doctor and I'm looking forward to seeing him every 4 weeks....LOL!

Now, let me gush, just for a second about my husband. I am not married to a person who would EVER complain about things not getting done around the house, and I usually try to keep up on it for the most part with a little help from him. These days, NOTHING is getting done! I am so lazy. He has not said one word and quietly does things around the house while I lay on the couch. I have whined, complained and snapped more at him since I've been pregnant than I EVER have and he just sympathizes or quietly moves to another room when I'm grouchy! Even if I've been grouchy and try to apologize, he insists that I don't need to apologize and everything's fine. He has even gone to the store for me twice in an hour to get what sounded good... When you're nauseated, it's hard to find things that sound good! He's just been wonderful!

We are just so thrilled to be expecting, thank you to all of you who have listened to me whine before I got pregnant and whine since I've been pregnant! Your "ears" are much appreciated!

Mother's Day!

This is completely unheard of for me, I am not known for my timeliness, so for me to compose a blog and post photos from YESTERDAY is, well, shocking! I am literally surprised myself while I type this blog!

Since I'm not yet a mother myself, I asked my Mom and Grandmother to come over to my house for Mother's Day. I made brunch for the three of us...fresh strawberries with sour cream and brown sugar dip, carrots with garlic/spinach dip, mini-muffins, crustless quiche and cheesecake. I had to include a picture of the quiche, which I made in my Demarle Sunflower mold. It turned out so beautiful! We had a very relaxing time, just visiting and eating! My Mom even treated me to a beautiful bouquet of Tulips, on of my favorite flowers. I think Mom and Grandmothoo had a wonderful time, I know I did! Grandmothoo is my name for my grandmother...when I was very young she insisted I call her "Grandmother"...it didn't quite come out right, but now we all call her Grandmothoo! My niece and nephews couldn't quite pronounce Grandmothoo, they call her Grandmamoo, ahhh family traditions! Happy Mother's Day to all you Mom's out there, maybe next year I'll be one too!

Happy 30th Birthday...and still no Baby!

My dear husband turned 30 on April 29th, which is what we've talked about as the official "let's try to have a baby" milestone!! He didn't seem too depressed to have hit this milestone birthday, just happy to have the day off!!

Eddie spent his day relaxing in the morning and enjoying a hot breakfast made by yours truly. That afternoon we were off to a delicious prime rib dinner, curtesy of our good friends Scott & Rachel. We had a great time, eating, playing Friends Scene It (Scott and I let Eddie and Rachel win this time..they cheated!), eating, playing at the park and going for a walk, then eating some more! I made a great ice cream cake for Eddie with a vanilla cookie crust and layers of strawberry ice cream, vanilla ice cream and sliced strawberries.

Aside from the strawberries being rock hard, the cake was delicious and beautiful!

After a fun afternoon/evening with the Kofoid's, we went home, put Chloe in the car and were off to the Fireman's park up the street from us, which is Chloe's most favorite place to frolic!

I think Eddie had a great birthday, and here's to 30 more!

VACATION!

Eddie and I just returned to work after a week off! We spent the week working, relaxing and having fun!

We really enjoy taking time off and going nowhere but home sweet home. Our home is our favorite place to be. Our dog, Chloe, really enjoyed having us around for a whole week, too! She posed for a few pictures! She is spoiled rotten!!

We accomplished a lot during our time off... We changed all the door knobs in our house from brass to brushed nickel, and what difference it makes! We washed the windows inside and out, did lot's of yard work, and built 14 feet of fence in two sections. I must say, building the fence together was pretty fun! I stained all the dog-eared fence boards and Eddie dug up old posts and cemented-in new one's, then we put the boards on and completed each section together. It was hard work, but very satisfying once we were done. I forgot what a great feeling it is to do something together! We really had a great time!

I went to visit my Niece and Nephews one day and we took some fun pictures! They are some of my favorite people to spend time with, and I love them as if they were my own... I have so many pictures of them at work that I've been accused of stealing someone else's family! Hopefully we'll have our own child soon, but until then I'll continue stealing my niece, nephews and of course, little Sawyer Kofoid!

Isn't our fence beautiful???

New!

I'm an impatient woman, which is why I created a blog now, instead of waiting until I was at least pregnant. I couldn't stand it! The whole idea behind creating a blog, for us, was to share with our family and friends the stages of pregnancy and then, of course, the birth and growth of our child. I mean, really, who wants to read a blog about a couple that has no children? Seriously! But this will be the one post I compose, until we get pregnant...at which point I will force everyone to read the blog and learn of the good, bad and ugly of my pregnancy!