Wow!

A lot of you are thinking girl! I finally got around to having Greg take a picture of me and I thought I would share in case it changes your mind.

Some other additional information in case you are interested:

1. At our last appointment, the heart rate was 162 bpm.
2. I personally think there's a boy in there (see the story below).
3. Greg up until he cast his vote on Friday was saying it's a girl but something told him to vote boy.

Here's why I think it's a boy. A long time ago, Ian was about 2 (long before infertility treatments, and way before even contemplating adoption), I was at a friend's mom's house and she did a card reading for another girl who was there. She started to say to her "You are going to get pregnant very soon....". She continued making similar comments and then said, "Very soon, I mean, are you pregnant right now?". To which the girl said, "Umm, yes! I just found out yesterday". She was testing her, it was really freaky to watch this unfold! Anyways, I decided to let her do a reading for me. She basically told me the following:

1. The number 4 was significant. She didn't know if it was 4 weeks, 4 months or 4 years, but that number meant something regarding our next child. Four years to the month that I had this reading we traveled to Guatemala and held Ana for the first time.

2. Our next child would be as different from Ian as can be. Um, can any two children be more different?

3. Our third child would be just like Ian. So I guess there's room for interpretation here, maybe by being "just like" it's just that they are both biological? I don't know, I just feel like it's a boy.

So there you have it, that's all the information I have for you. I don't know if it changes any votes, but just thought I'd share. Hopefully on Tuesday we'll have an answer, we'll see!

Number Three

So, we have our ultrasound coming up next week (June 2nd at 9:30am). Initially I didn't want to find out what we are having; I really wanted the experience of that last minute surprise! But Greg has always wanted to know so we were kind of at odds about it. Ian is going to come with us to the appointment and would really like to know (of course he wants to know it's a boy, he's calling this baby the "tie breaker") so we're going to see if the technician can tell. What do you think we're having? I've added a poll to the side of the blog so you can vote if you want! Of course you could let me know in the comments section too if you would like your name attached to your vote!

Disney's Hollywood Studios

Our next day was spent at Disney's Hollywood Studios and I think with a little better planning we could have done more there, but we had a good time anyways! I have very few pictures from that day, I think because both kids were still irritable from the previous long day. Ana was content when she was allowed to wander which was not something we were willing to let her do for obvious reasons. Ana's wandering involved frequent escapes from parental view, and because she was very disgruntled when you forced her to hold a hand, or tried to hold her she spent a lot of time in the stroller! There wasn't a ton for she and I to do there, so there was a lot of waiting involved which she tolerated pretty well actually. Greg and my little daredevil Ian went on the Tower of Terror and Star Tours together; Ian claims the Tower of Terror wasn't scary at all and has a picture to prove it. He was trying so hard to act like it was no big deal he actually looks bored in the photo! I don't know where this macho attitude has come from but it's kinda funny! Anyways, probably the neatest thing we did was the Studio Backlot Tour as Greg volunteered once again to be part of the show. He got to take part in a mini adventure movie and it was very cool! I was in charge of the video and photo taking, oh and not to mention keeping an eye on Ms. Fancy pants (strollers were not allowed and she was feisty as ever!). I did manage a video, but again, that will have to wait for another day, and one lonely photo of Greg all suited up before the action started. It was really neat and we were allowed front row seats because Greg was in the show.

So here's my Greg all suited up before he was literally soaked with water!

Here's Ian at lunch showcasing his growing collection of pins which was his very favorite activity in all of Disney World! You can see how thrilled he is at having his picture taken.

And here's Ana shortly after stealing the raspberries from my dessert plate, little stinker!



Ian posing with Kermit the Frog...



Ana passed out a little earlier that day, about 3:30 amazingly!



After spending a good long time at the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play land (absolute insanity, I was a stressball there were SO many people there!!) we headed back to the hotel before dinner and got some swimming at the pool in. Besides the pin swapping, the pool was a very close second favorite for Ian! It was pirate themed with a giant ship complete with water slides. Ana is not a water fan, but after a major amount of watching other kids run in and out of the shallow water she finally decided to join in. Whenever Greg came near she's come crying out of the water because she didn't want to go all the way in! She even hates taking a bath!



This was the day we received our "magical moment". We ordered pizza for dinner to be delivered to the room and Ian was in his glory watching cartoons on the pirate ship bed munching on slices of cheese pizza. Another cool thing we discovered shortly after getting to our new room was a family of ducks that wandered right up to our door. There was a mummy, daddy and three babies that the kids fed crackers to and as they opened the door they actually tried to come in the room! It was crazy, and I only got a single picture of one of the adults unfortunately. I think Greg got some video though, we'll have to wait and see.





I literally only took 15 pictures that day....complete insanity!

Epcot

I think Epcot was Ian's favorite; and I would say both Greg and I agree. It may have been because it was the first park we visited and we had enough energy to really enjoy it. In fact, we spent a full 12 hours at Epcot that first day. Everyone was up bright and early because of the very early bedtime the night before and it was the one and only day we were all up before 8am. Anyways, I have to say that I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I should have. It was just so hectic trying to keep track of, and keep occupied both children with such different age interests! I also think I really need to get a little compact camera though too because my SLR is just such a beast to keep track of! I took a little over 200 pictures the entire week, and those of you who know me, know that's kinda pathetic. We do have some video as well, but I'm making no promises as to when Greg will upload them, and that's his area.

So....Epcot! I'll just get on to the pictures instead of trying to recap the whole day which would be pretty impossible!

Here is Ian bright eyed and bushy tailed after his 14 hours of sleep the night before. The first stop was breakfast at the hotel, and a trip to the gift shop to buy lanyards to keep our passes on. Ian chose the medallion as well and was very excited to get on the shuttle and get the day started!

Stickers were given out everywhere! Ana would stick them all over her body, directly on her skin. Now these were the stickiest stickers I've ever encountered so there was pain involved in their removal. Unfortunately this didn't deter her from sticking more to herself the next time she received them!

We started off in Innoventions and Ian loved this area. Here he is trying his hand at making paper which he is now bugging me to do with him at home. I told him we'd do some paper making this summer!

In the Underwriters Laboratory Ian had a ball with this display that tests hard hat durability and the one that tests tv screen strength. Yes, these were the two loudest displays in the area...

Ian got his face painted, he made a special request for flames....

Here is Ian making his own video game where he is the main character. He loved this! He had to first record a video of himself jumping, running and doing a victory dance. Then he could play the game and see what he created. It was really cool, and very funny...especially his butt wiggling victory dance!

And here is Greg trying to restrain Ana while Ian is gaming!

One of the funniest parts of the day was the "What's Your Problem" show where they pulled members from the audience to participate in games. The last one was for dads and Ian enthusiastically volunteered his dad for it. They had to properly attach a diaper and bottle to each baby before sticking it to their apron; the one with the most babies at the end wins. It ended in a tie, but was seriously one of the funniest things I've ever seen! Look how proud he was of his accomplishment!!

We then went over to The Sea where we rode the Finding Nemo ride which for the most part scared Ana unfortunately. Ian, Greg and Ana were then promptly swallowed by Bruce the shark. As you can see Greg must have been trying to retrieve Ana from slipping deeper into his belly because you can't even see her, yikes!

Fortunately Bruce remembered people are friends, not food and everyone escaped unscathed. After a trip to the gift shop both kids were very content with their goodies; Ian with some very sour candy as you can see by his expression, and Ana with a Nemo lunchbox which she carried around for days afterward!



Ana enjoyed her first popscicle and Ian had an ice cream sandwich as big as his head!



We found an activity that by some miracle both kids enjoyed! When you step on the blocks they make the sound of the subject of the picture. It occupied Ian for a very short while, but Ana had a ball running around while he and Greg went and checked everything else out.



Ian went on Test Track with Daddy a couple times and really enjoyed it. Ian was thrilled that he was finally tall enough to enjoy some of the bigger rides, and he and Greg enjoyed as many as they could!



We then headed over to The Land where we had secured a Fast Pass for the ride Soarin'. It was very cool, and simulated a hang gliding flight over California. It was very realistic; Ian loved it and went on twice, once with Greg and once with me while the other adult chased a very overtired Ana around. We had dinner at the Garden Grill which was had very yummy food, and some characters which terrified Ana unfortunately. Ian after some coercion agreed to a picture with both Chip and Dale which were the only character pictures we secured during our visit! He just couldn't be bothered with the characters this time around. Once in a while he would say he would get a picture but the wait was always awfully long and he didn't want to waste time in the lines; and Ana was terrified of them all anyways!





Even after being there 12 hours we never did get around to the countries which I was really looking forward too. We did return to Epcot on our last full day but even then we didn't make it around to the World Showcase, we were just completely spent and it was the hottest day of our trip! Oh well, we will return someday! One last picture to share...we ended our day at about 8:30 that first full day and Ana finally fell asleep on the way to the shuttle (this girl would not nap during the day!). You can see Ian sacked out on the back of the sit and stand stroller as well, not sleeping, but utterly exhausted!!

Disney

Okay, I'm going to try and attempt a Disney recap. I remember thinking after the first day that I would just blog every night but, well....you see how that went. We were SO exhausted each night the only thing we could fathom is laying down as soon as we walked through the door! Anyways, it was a really fun, thoroughly exhausting vacation; and one I have vowed I will never take an almost two year old on again without modification. The first modification would absolutely be to buy the toddler their own seat. It would be an extra couple hundred dollars, but well worth the expense! Ana wasn't impressed that she didn't have her own seat and made her discontent known the entire first leg ("I seeeet, I seeet!"). We put Ian in the middle seat to make it more comfortable for Greg and myself, but that was mentally draining as well as he continually complained that Ana was "invading his space" (or hogging the window where I was sitting, Ana absolutely refused to sit with Greg on the way down) which would result in him pushing the invading body part away, followed by Ana yelling "NO" at him while pinching or hitting him. Which of course caused him to yell and get madder....you get the picture. I was so thankful when she finally fell asleep on the second leg of the trip! We planned our airline tickets so we would get to Disney around lunch time and be able to get some extra time in at the parks but by the time we got to our hotel we were so exhausted we could barely function! We stayed at Disney's Carribbean Beach Resort which was nice, but nothing that would make us want to stay there again. It is set up in several different villas named after Carribbean Islands and I have to say that when we were at the hotel we really didn't feel like we were in Disney, but rather in the Carribbean. It was a very strange feeling! Anyways, we started in Martinique, but on Monday we received a phone call wanting to know if we wanted to experience a "magical moment". Well, of course we said yes! It required us packing everything up and moving to another villa, but it was so cool for Ian because the room we were moved to was a pirate room complete with pirate ship beds and treasure chest storage!

This was our room in Martinique:

This was our new room at Trinidad South.
I think Ian was going to jump right out of his skin!

Can you spot the only drawback to this room? It's that very cool curtain at the back. Our first room had a door to the bathroom area, this one was just that curtain between Ms. Ana and the sink area (thank goodness there was still a door protecting the toilet!). I had to remove the tissue box from it's place every day because it was just a game to her to empty them, and we had to keep moving the garbage can because emptying it is a fun game too apparently!

But I'm getting ahead of myself now, I do want to make sure I show you how day one ended:


This picture was taken at about 4:30. Ana and I napped too, yet not as well as the boys. We probably clocked a whole 20 minutes to their couple hours! Ian actually didn't wake up until the next morning! We even ordered pizza into the room, set him up on the bed with a piece but he fell right back over and kept sleeping, the poor kid was so exhausted!! We did get to explore our hotel a bit and check out the beach areas and the pool, but that was about it for day one! I'll leave it there for now....more to come!

We're Alive...

Did I really let a month go by without posting? Holy moly, sorry! I know there are some of you still checking in because the counter continues to go up...right before starting this post it was at 12,037! Unbelievable! Thanks for not giving up on me. Lots have been going on, but we are actually going to be leaving in a few moments to go out for breakfast so I can't spend the time I need to update at the moment. So in the meantime I'll attempt to appease with a picture, something else I've been neglectful about for a LONG time! This picture happens to be the only one I caught in Disney where my children appear to be enjoying each other's company. The reason I say appear is because Ian was actually throwing sand at her, and although they were both enjoying it, Ian's enjoyment was only through his evil intent. More about the recent sibling rivalry later....