Baby Shower!

My lovely sisters threw me a baby shower while I was in California. And they gave me SO MANY baby clothes... I'm so blessed!! They all baked and decorated to their hearts' content and the result was a perfect shower. Thank you to everyone who came and especially thank you to my sisters for the best baby shower I could ever have asked for! I loved it and I know you guys did too! Here are the pictures:

We're all playing Renee's "Baby Trivia"

I got most of the answers wrong...

Here's all the food they made... not to play favorites, but Rachel's Brownie Chunk Cookies were to die for.

Opening all of my presents. I could hardly believe how many there were! Thank you again to everybody who blessed me with gifts!

Notice how Renee just can't keep her hands off of my belly!

Thanks Juli for coming all the way to California for my shower and for getting me a free flight, I can't thank you enough!

We went to visit my Grandpa Ortiz in his retirement home after the shower.

Then my Daddy took us to Downtown Disney

I had such a great time in California, it was hard to leave. I miss my family so much!! Hopefully, someday soon I can be close to them again.

Next up... our Idaho pics!

The Happiest Place on Earth

It certainly lived up to it's name once again. My Mom, Grandma, and sisters all came and we had such a great time! It was slightly more difficult getting around this time since we had a wheelchair, a stroller (Rachel is a nanny), and a pregnant lady but it was fun nonetheless. We rode only a few rides because so many of us couldn't go on them, but we saw the parade, the Aladdin show, the fireworks, shopped and ate a ton of yummy snacks.



Disneyland will always be my favorite place because of all the memories there. It was always our thing to do as a family when we were little and we have just continued the tradition by going each time we're all together again in California. I love that I feel like a little girl again every time I'm there. The fireworks are my favorite part because I always get tingles every time Tinkerbell flies. It takes my breath away and I can hardly wait to share this with my children!

Here's me on one of the few rides I could actually go on

I am so pitifully pale, this is an act of humility to actually post this picture... especially while I'm standing next to Rachel!!



Another children's ride...
YESSS!! We found Mickey & Minnie!!

I'm in CALIFORNIA!!

And today I'm going to DISNEYLAND!!! This will be our twins' second trip to the Happiest Place on Earth and they're not even born yet! I'm so so so excited!! Maybe I'll buy them Peter Pan outfits...

Anniversary Getaway

Here are some pictures from our anniversary weekend. We stayed at a cute little Bed & Breakfast in Cambridge, MD and the owners made fantastic breakfasts! The first morning we had spinach, mushroom, and gouda frittata (I don't even know what a frittata is, but it was gooood) and the second morning we had Belgian waffles!! Mmmm, my favorite!! Cambridge is a great, old historical town on the Chesapeake Bay and we loved walking around the marina and the antique shops downtown.

On Saturday, we kayaked through the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. When we were just starting out Brandon told me to "pace myself" because he didn't want to be doing all the paddling on the way back. He knows me too well ;-) He did end up doing about 75% of the paddling anyways, though. It was alot of fun but we were out from 11-2 and forgot sunscreen so we both got a little sunburnt. I was really confused as to why I kept getting sunburnt this summer until I read that pregnant women are much more prone to burning. Ohhhhhh, so I guess I better use sunscreen for the rest of the summer. On Saturday night, Brandon took me out to dinner. We found a great restaurant and ate like kings for only $22 each. He had steak and shrimp and I had a lobster tail. In DC, the same dinner would have cost us close to $50 each. I love small towns!!

On Sunday, we checked out of our B & B and drove to the coast because I had never even seen the Atlantic Ocean. We went to Rehoboth beach which was by far the most crowded beach I have ever been to. You could barely walk down to the water without stepping on somebody. But it was really nice to seen an ocean (any ocean) again. I ran and jumped right in. However, the Atlantic Ocean is much colder than the Pacific and there were rocks on the bottom. Also, there were just puny little waves, but hey, it was an ocean and I was glad to see it. On the way home, we stopped in Annapolis for dinner and walked around marina. All in all, it was a fantastic weekend. We had alot of time to talk, sit, relax, read, sleep, and just enjoy each other. Next year, (when our twins are 8 months old and scooting around the house) I think we'll be lucky if we even remember to say Happy Anniversary!

This is inside the Wildlife Refuge

I told you I didn't paddle much ;-)
This is our precious little room at the B & B


This is my first time in the Atlantic Ocean, sooo cold!
This is the crowded beach, I have never seen anything like it. I don't think there are many beaches around so every single person from Maryland, Delaware, DC and Virginia has to go to the same one. Annapolis Harbor

One Year (and a few days) Ago...

It's hard to believe we've already been married one whole year, it flew by! God has been so good to us and taught us alot this year and blessed us beyond what we could have imagined. I love you babe, here's to many, many more years!

Here are some more belly pictures from yesterday

I have gained 5 pounds since my last doctor's appointment 4 weeks ago. My doctor said that's "perfect." For some reason, I have this strange desire to please my doctor. I really care what she thinks of me and I always want to look good and pulled together when I have an appointment. She tsk tsk'd me for being slightly dehydrated and I went straight to work and started guzzling water. The next time I have an appointment, I'm going to wake up at night to drink water so she won't have to scold me again.

It's...

!!!!!TWO BOYS!!!!!

Yay!! We're so incredibly excited!! Especially Brandon... I think this is what he secretly wanted. After we left the doctor's office, he started pumping his fist in the air :-)

I can hardly believe it! I'm really excited though, I've always wanted alot of boys! And my Dad will finally have some boys to play with too.

Brandon and I are going to a Bed and Breakfast on the Maryland shore this weekend to celebrate our one-year anniversary. Now, we have alot more to celebrate too!!

Take a guess

So tomorrow morning we should be able to find out what sex our babies are!! As long as they cooperate of course :-) All of my sisters think it will be a boy and a girl. Brandon told me he had a dream the other night and that God "told him" it was two girls. He was kidding but he told me later that he seriously thinks it will be two girls. Well, since nobody else said it, I'll venture to guess that it's two boys. Anybody else care to take a guess?

Happy Birthday Huck & Emma!!

Our precious little (feline) babies turned 1 year old this week!! We can't believe how fast they grew up!! I hope time doesn't fly by this fast with our real babies, but I suspect that it will, so I better learn to cherish each day. Here's a picture of Huck as a baby.

And here's when Emma was so small she could barely reach her bowl

We celebrated their birthday by buying some scrumptious dinners for them. I swear, some cat foods sound like you'd find them in a gourmet restaurant. They got to eat Tuna and Whitefish in Savory Sauce and Grilled Chicken with Veggies. And needless to say, they loved it! Especially Huck- he ate his entire dish, then ate Emma's leftovers, then licked both bowls dry. Brandon called Huck a glutton and tried to lock him in the room so that Emma could come back for the rest of her meal when she was hungry again but Huck cried so loud that we let him out... and he came running and skidding across the floor to finish the leftovers.

Here's Emma relaxing after stuffing herself.

This is my sister's dog La La... isn't she adorable?? I can't wait to meet her in a couple weeks!! I will have to bring some her some treats from her Auntie Kim.

When do I get my puppy?

Brandon says he doesn't think I'm responsible enough to have a dog.... So I'm responsible enough to care for two human babies but not a dog? He said we have enough on our plate without adding a dog. He's probably right that we do have alot going on right now and enough responsibilities and don't really need anything more... but I still really, really, really want a dog!

I tried to make him a deal that if I can prove that I'm responsible by cleaning the cat litter box (after I'm not pregnant anymore of course) and feeding them and care for our twins during the day, then I can have a dog next summer. He said "We'll see." If I learned anything from my parents, it's that "we'll see" really means "No." Hopefully, in Brandon's family it meant something different...

We did it! We outsmarted the Maryland government!! They were doing everything they could to prevent us from registering our car - I think they wanted us to get a ticket. But 2 weeks, 3 trips to the DMV, $600, and countless documents later we successfully registered our car.

Take that Maryland!!

We also went to Ikea and registered at Babies R' Us last weekend. We could only register for about half of what we'll need since we don't know what sex they are yet, but we wanted to get a head start in case we don't have time to go again before I leave for California.

And some awesome people from our church gave us a free crib!!! YESSS!! There's nothing I love better than free stuff! Some other ladies have also generously given me plenty of maternity clothes. I doubt I'll even have to buy much more. I'm always amazed at the generosity of people when it comes to weddings and babies. Thank God for people willing to share and give to others. We're very appreciative and hope to continue the cycle when our friends get pregnant.

And here's a funny quote from Brandon while at Ikea:

(A 3 or 4 year old boy walked by us wearing a shirt with a scalloped collar and sleeves and that was buttoned to his shorts.)

Me: That kid has a ruffled collar on... that outfit is a little wierd for a little boy, don't you think?

Brandon: *Shrugs* Maybe he's gay?

First Belly Pictures!

Yes I know the lamp over my head looks stupid, but the picture was too dark otherwise.

Here's a close-up

I'll post more soon because I think I've already grown again!!