3 years later

Three years later we went from this:

To this:

Two babies and an early morning donut run to celebrate our anniversary (followed by Club 33 at Disneyland - woohoo!). I am so glad Darren decided to marry me.

Got Belly?

I have been busy the last couple of months growing a very impressive belly. Babies are doing great. In all honestly - this pregnancy has been very charmed. But definitely feeling the weight of a new ever-expanding stomach. I have less than 8 weeks left. We have been busy setting up a nursery and getting things in order before our world changes. Here is a shot to document the last few weeks of the pregnancy.

30 Weeks (with twins - I feel like I need to tell people this fact )

A few things to note at this point.

1) Black does help you look a bit thinner. Trust me. I saw myself in a picture with a colored top and almost died from shock that I looked so big! Lexi helped me retake this picture.

2) My forearms look exceptionally beefy in this shot. Like I am a construction worker or such profession.

3) I still have EIGHT weeks left to grow babies. I want to go for 8 more weeks. It is better for the babies but not so good for my self esteem in pictures :)

4) Currently each baby has an estimated weight of 3+ lbs. Lexi pointed out that I am as big as she was when she delivered her baby. Which is true - he was 7 lbs. Which leads to this question - what if each baby weighs 7 lbs? Where will that weight distribute? Maybe my forearms?

5) My bottom looks very flat in this shot - not the case - it is the shirt. But I won't lie. My bottom has gotten big. Kind of like what is going on with the forearms.

6) I am having a hard time breathing. This could be because I am breathing for 3 people right now and my lungs have now been crushed upwards. I am just glad to be living at sea level. How do people breathe when pregnant with twins and living at high altitude?

7) I wear support hose. Like an 80 year old woman and I LOVE THEM. I have noticed that being cute is much less important now. I have to stand a lot for work and my feet have started to swell. Comfort over cuteness. This could explain why I am wearing crocs and sweats a lot. They are just more comfortable. I have a hard time bending over - so flats and slip-ons have been taking priority in my life.

8) I have a pair of skinny jeans. Which is ironic because I am not skinny but seeing how my legs have put on the least amount of weight (see support hose comment) - I feel the need to at least showcase them.

9) Someone asked me about pregnancy cravings. And my answer is this - FOOD. All kinds of food. And ice cold water. I haven't gotten heartburn, no throwing up - nothing. Which makes food so much more appealing. Hmmm. Food. Everything simply tastes better when you are pregnant.

10) I can feel the babies moving A LOT. Their movements are being visible to the naked eye, which is a bit disturbing. It is also disturbing that both babies instinctively can sense when I am getting ready to rest or relax and they start dancing the macarena in my belly. They kick hard now. How hard are they going to kick in a few weeks?

Okay okay, on a more serious note - Darren and I are very excited to meet our baby boy and girl when they decide to make an entrance into the world. We are rushing to make plans to have everything ready in case they decide to make an early appearance. We have been fortunate that so many people have been so generous with their baby gear - clothes, cribs, glider - the list goes on forever. We are feeling set. Kind of.

Before our little people get here I wanted to document the last year and the last decade. The next few posts will be related to that. I was going through some pictures and can't believe how much change this past decade has brought. If it is any indication, the next decade will be pretty exciting.

Times Two

We have a few changes coming our way in April:

Baby A - a BOY

Baby B - a GIRL

We couldn't be more thrilled with the outcome. One of each. Baby times two. Blessings times two. Pregnancy fatigue times two. Weight gain times two (or that is what I tell myself at 15 weeks when clothes are getting tight).  Twice the diapers, twice the gear, twice the fun. 

Apologies to all because I truly have fallen off the face of the earth. I am starting to emerge from my fatigue. I hope. Darren hopes. :)

2 Years

In 2 years, we have gone from this:

Dressing up all fancy and having a big party. 

To this:

Happy and tired because I secretly woke up early to sneak out of the house and buy donuts at his favorite place in HB. I know - donuts - we get all fancy here. (In all fairness, Darren whisked me away to AZ for the weekend to lounge and shop - I am the one who reciprocated with donuts). 

I love you Darren! I am so happy I get to be married to you! 

Date Night

Sometimes work is so busy that I don't want to do much on the weekends. Darren and I try to go on a date at least once a week, but this one was simple and good.

We both left work a little early and headed to Balboa Island for frozen bananas. Besides the fact they are awesome, it helps me pay homage to Arrested Development.

Then we took the ferry over to the pennisula, and went over to the wedge to watch the waves for a while.

As you can see I am slightly obsessed with the polaroid feature on my iPhone.

Ferry rides + Frozen Bananas +



Watching Waves =



Happy

Day 5 - Nov. 15, 2008

Our last day was perfect. It rained a little bit but we were able to relax, take a walk along the beach. One of the coolest parts of the walk were when we saw a HUGE sea turtle in the waves. It was a stormy morning and the waves were huge. This was over by the cliffs on the south end of the Shipwreck Beach. With each wave that came in, I just expected this turtle to be thrown onto the rocks. But each time the wave crashed, you would see the turtle swimming in place, as if the waves hardly affected it at all. Just amazing.

We spent the last part of the day exploring the west shore and eating at our favorite pizza place, Brick Oven Pizza.

Then we went as far west as the paved road allowed and found ourselves on a dirt road for almost 5 miles to reach Polihale State Park - a beach that the concierge told us that she would help to. There are not a lot of tourists. It was a gorgeous beach, the waves were huge (would never get in that water) but the beach never seemed to end. And seemed completely empty. We loved the rainbow and the light.

Darren at the beach

Can you see the rainbow in the background?

Nikki at the beach - sooo windy.

On our way back to the hotel, it really started to rain. Hard hard hard. Maybe it wasn't such a bad time to leave. I actually felt a little bit sad about the people unloading their luggage to this kind of weather at the hotel. 

At the airport, relaxed, tan-ner (for us) and tired, we were glad we got the chance for a little adventure. As we sat in the plastic lounge chairs, we started planning our next adventure.

The End. 

Day 4 - Nov. 14, 2008

This is the day we woke up at the crack of dawn on vacation to drive to the north shore of Kauai. We headed to Ke'e Beach - which is literally the end of the road on Kauai. From there we hiked the Kalalau Trail to the Hanakoa Fall. It was amazing. We didn't have rain (like we did last time) and we made great time on our hike. 

We even got in the water at the falls - which might have been the coldest water in the world. That waterfall might be coming out of a glacier. 

I was a wimp and was in the water for about 2 seconds. 

While Darren preferred to frolic. 

We were sad to have the hike end. I would like to think I was mostly sad because I was pretty tired by the end of the 7 mile hike through humidity. Luckily Darren was a gentleman and offered to carry the back pack. I needed all of the help I could with my balance (which has ever been good). 

Darren being a gentleman with the backpack. 

Our hike could not have finished at a better time - we were climbing into our car when it started to rain! The north typically has a lot of rain, while the south shore is a little sunnier.  Po'ipu was a little overcast, but no rain - we were lucky. 

We soaked in the hot tub for our sore muscles. And to remove some of that red dirt.

But we had to hurry, we had reservations at the Beach House for sunset. Unfortunately though - since it was overcast, there wasn't much of a sunset. However, it was still delicious. It was a little sad though, it was our last night on the island. 

Outside of the Beach House restaurant and our kind of sunset. 

Day 3 - Nov. 14, 2008

This was designated as a strict beach day. Which my really non-tan skin needed. We headed to Kiahuna Beach in front of the Sheraton Hotel. Not a lot of rocks, waves were not as crazy - so I felt a little more safe in the water. 

Beautiful beach, right? 

This a cliff we climbed up outside of the Hyatt - on Shipwreck Beach (the name alone makes me nervous in that water). You can see the Hyatt in the background.

We later were sitting on the beach when Darren fell asleep on the beach. I did what any loving wife would do in that situation. I 

buried him in the sand and took pictures. 

 

That night we were all set to go to the new James Bond movie but it was a tiny theater, the only seats were in the front - so we went to bed early for our hike the next morning. We had to get all of the rest we could. 

Day 1 - Nov. 12, 2008

Ahhh, we are back. From Hawaii where we just spent 5 very relaxing days. Lovely. I am going to post a little bit of what we did every day. WARNING - there will be a lot of pictures. 

Day 1 - we flew into O'ahu. I have never been to O'ahu before, so we starting things right by stopping at Costco first thing and picked up a few provisions and headed to the North Shore to stay here:

Turtle Bay - What a dump. Okay, just kidding. It was beautiful, we had a great view from our room. Our first day we spent the morning exploring. 

Me on a hammock with really really white skin - I had not been in the sun - YET. 

Darren in the beach cottage area- everything was so green! 

We were lucky to meet up with Clark and Kathleen - they were staying at the same hotel. 

And the famous Matsumoto's Shave Ice. Wonderful. Worth a flight. It's a bold statement, and I stand behind it. 

Day 1 was actually really long, so this will be done in 2 posts. 

One year???!!!!

We made it to one year. If you want to be more accurate, one year snuck up on us. Life still hasn't slowed down, but let's be honest - will it ever? Tonight our celebration will be simple. Take out from Pei Wei, Baskin Robbins ice cream (hand packed) and we are going to watch our new Mary Poppins DVD (my choice, not Darren's) and go to bed early. Lovely. 

PS - this what we looked like a year ago. Nothing has really changed except a slight weight gain :) Dang that ice cream!

Welcome

We have a new addition to our family. Welcome home, little Harris. 

Born: 08/21/08

Weight: 4 GB RAM 

Length: 24 Inches

Darren was concerned that I needed a better computer to blog and a bigger monitor so I can look at more blog screens at once. I am certain I will now be capable of responding to emails in a more timely manner. 

I am in love. And so is Darren, don't you think? 

The End of an Era

We can kiss our single lives good-bye!

On October 27th, I married this guy:


It was the perfect day for us. By the end of the day we were happy and exhausted. Exhausted spirtually, physically, emotionally - it was such a huge step for both of us. We we happy to have our loved ones there for this day. Both of us - Darren and myself were the last ones to get married in our families. Darren was the last of 5 kids to be married, and I was the last of 11 to get married - that is what I meant by the term - The End of an Era. Being the last meant a LOT of people. We we were fortunate to have a photographer that didn't get scared by crowds because this the bunch they were dealing with :


That group is a few friends, mostly family and a lot of happy welcome chaos. We had the reception the night before and loved every minute of it. The only thing we really wished we could do was spend more time with all of our guests. Here are some of my favorite shots from the wedding:


A special shout out to all of my friends and family who made it such a special day - We could not have done it without you. I'll get a slideshow up sometime soon.