Shawn's B-Day

Yadira held a surprise birthday party for Shawn today. Shawn was surprised too. It was a fun day; I ate too much and got too much sun, and almost immediately slept when I got home.

Amy with Cambria Cambria made rounds: Yadira and Cambria

Picnic with the McMichaels

Shawn's REALLY good cake made by his step-mom

Shawn the pirate, Aaar!

Group shot

Day O' Fun

Yesterday we went to my Aunt's for the afternoon. Sherri was very excited because this was the first time she was allowed to swim in many months. She really enjoyed it. I had a ton of fun from the spring board. They used to have one when I was growing up, but it's been broken for years. They recently (within the last 2 years?) replaced it, and my legs are still sore from all the jumping and diving I did.
After my Aunt's party, we drove down for a surprise party for one of Sherri's sides family friends. It was a very nice party at Newport Beach Back Bay (forgot to take pictures). Amy, you'll be jealous to know, they had Sprinkles.
All in all, it was a great day, hanging out with family.

My niece, nephew and cousin (once removed) My Aunt and her hiding granddaughter

My nephew running really fast

Me flipping out

Me, taking the plunge

Tree Removal

My parents are having some trees removed from their yard so they can remodel their kitchen and patio. Two of these trees are pine which have been growing for about 34 years. It is a large understatement to say they were big. Here are some pictures and a very long video (3 minutes) of one of the trees. My parents, Sherri and I were camped out in the backyard observing. It was an amazing process, and a TON of hard work.
Later in the afternoon we went to see "A Chorus Line" at Orange County Performing Arts. It was okay. They did a fine job, but my brother described it best when he said it was like the performers were just going through the motions. It was okay, but it could have been better. I like the musical in general, and that made up for quite a bit in the lacking performances.

FREE HAT!

Okay, I'm not really that excited about the free hat, but it was much nicer than the last free hat I got at an Angel's game. So, yeah me. Anyway, here's some picts from last nights game. We left at the end of the 11th, and the Angels lost in the 12th. I know, it was all our fault.

Chimp Child

At the moment, no more alien child. Today, the fetus looked very chimpanzeeish. The mouth in the first picture is the dead give away. Today's ultrasound was much better quality than the previous ones we've gotten, but I was hoping for color, and as you can see, still greyscale.
What was cool about today's though was we could actually hear the heartbeat - first time!
It's in the video if you care to peruse.
As I mentioned before, we don't get another ultrasound for 2 weeks. But this one with the little chimp, should satisfy me for a while. Also, this ultrasound was supposed to check likelihood for certain genetic diseases, and it appears very low risk - so yeah!

Alien Child

We had our last visit with our fertility doctor today. We are at 12weeks 1day, although he couldn't get the whole fetus into the picture today, so it says 12weeks 0days. The kid has a very triangular head at this point - I'm convinced he's at least part extra terrestrial. Tomorrow we go in for a genetic screening ultrasound, and I think it might have some colors to it, which will be cool. After that, there won't be any baby updates for 2 weeks, since our new doctor does not see us weekly. The video is pretty good this week at certain parts. The head is down and the legs are bent. The arms are moving around quite a bit and you can make out the spinal column and heart beat.

Dinner and the Theatre

Last night Sherri and I were going out to see my niece in her play, and it just so happend that many of our family were going on that same night. So we had dinner with most of the crowd and met the rest at the show. It was a fun night, and the Tiramasu at Cocina Picarelli is amazing!

Here's a dinner crowd group shot Here's the flyer from the show. The play was VERY funny. I really enjoyed it. The first act set things up, and the second act killed.

Catching up

My sister-in-law is starting up her own optometry practice. She has been an excellent optometrist for years, working for LensCrafters, and she finally decided to branch out in her own practice. She opens September 1, so if anyone needs their eyes checked, go and see her. Here's her business card. The website is not quite up yet. Everything will be a go by September 1st though.

Here's a picture of Sherri from yesterday which I forgot to post. This is our new doctor's office. We're crossing our fingers that in 3 weeks, pregnancy week 14, we will know what the sex is. We probably won't find out that quickly though. If we don't find out then, we will have to wait 4 more weeks, until pregnancy week 18. Sherri and I our spoiled since we are used to getting the ultrasounds every week. Not sure if I'll be able to handle waiting 1 month between.

I keep forgetting to post this picture. When we were visiting Greg and Angel a few weeks ago, we got our first official baby present. Up until now, we have gotten a boat load of stuff, but mainly from my sister as hand-me-downs. This is the first gift for baby, brand new - a Kate Spade diaper bag.

Day of Doctors

We are at week 11 now. Today was our penultimate appointment with our fertility doctor and our first appointment with our new doctor. Everything went well today. The numbers are good and the fetus is kicking. The video this week is not as good as last week. Right before the doc hit record, the kid was doing all sorts of things and very clearly, but once the record button was hit, it was hard to get a clear shot. There are still some good bits though. Next week will be our last weekly ultrasound, and after that we will have to wait 2 weeks for our next one. Then it will usually be once a month. The good news is our new doctor is next door to a place that does 4d ultrasounds which are very detailed. I'm looking forward to getting one of those.

Forgot Pictures

We went to Yadira and Shawn's wedding shower yesterday, and forgot to take pictures. I took 3 pictures while walking up to the place, see below, but I forgot while we were there.
It was a very well organized shower since there were a bunch of games. Also the food was great - it was from Baja Fish (Not Baja Fresh). The shower was located at a rec room in an apartment complex. They had 5 pool tables upstairs and that is where I spent quite a bit of time. Anyway, hopefully I won't forget to take pictures during the actual wedding.

This mother duck was having some trouble gathering her young in this shallow water.

They are making their way across

She spotted me. I guess she doesn't like the paparazzi.

Our very active Fetus

We had our week ten ultrasound today. Everything is good. In this picture and video the fetus is looking right at us as if we were above it while it's on its back. As you can see in the video, it is very active with arms and legs dancing around.

Dave's Birthday Party

Yesterday we went out to Raitis' to celebrate Dave's birthday. It was nice but I ate WAY too much. At the end I was completely out of it from the heat and the food coma.

Here's Dave with Cambria getting wrapped up around him.

Ben and his kids running around
Dave and his nieces and nephew

Group shot

Hannah, Ethan and Chloe's Third Birthday Party

I went to Jana's kid's party today. It was very nice; it's amazing how many children there were at three 3 year olds' birthday party. It was neat; they had three cakes, one for each child, plus we had to sing happy birthday 3 times because Jana and Ben don't want the kids growing up saying they had to share cakes, etc. Tomorrow there will be another birthday party for Dave.

Here's Jana setting the cakes: Dave and Cambria
Dave, Cambria and Amy

Ethan especially loved the ice. He was probably doing this for 15 minutes, throughout the party.