OUR JOURNEY TO SURROGACY IN INDIA ~ BLAZE'S STORY

Yes, we are alive and well.

2011-12-07T01:03:00.000-07:00

Just busy with life as a family of 5 (still SO hard to believe when I say it out loud). No time to write, so here is just a few pics of our growing family. We are blessed, and LIFE IS ~~GOOD~~ GREAT!!!!!

Our 1st Family Photo shoot

Dylan Tara

The Boys

Halloween 2011 - Dylan

Halloween 2011 - Jett

The Cat in the Hat and Things 1 & 2

Love that hair!

Dylan all smiles!

Our little Princess

Just like Daddy

Ain't that the truth!

Dylan and Jett

Dylan bright and nosy

Jett chilled like his big brother

Sitting tall.

Haven't lost one bit of hair!!!

Beautiful big brown eyes

Happy, happy Boy.

Always making faces.

My new hat!

Miles of smiles

Everyone LOVES the twins~!

Enough pictures already!!

Big brother in his glory!

HOME Sweet HOME

2011-08-29T01:18:00.000-07:00

We made it back to the U.S by August 25th, just in time for Blaze's 2nd birthday the very next day. All of us are exhausted, jett-legged, happy to be home and most of all finally HEALTHY. We will post more once we more alert.

Thanks again for all your wonderful words of support, love and care over the last 6 weeks...that's right our little babes are 6 WEEKS old TODAY!

Hugs,

Getting Out of Dodge...

2011-08-20T01:43:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally are ALL healthy. Better not say that too loud.

The twins turned 1 month on the 18th of August. Big brother Blaze will turn 2 years old on the 26th of this month. Also happens to be the day after (God willing) we return home from India. We LOVE India but this stay has been a little more then we could handle with sickness and unexpected DNA testing. It just seemed like at every turn of the corner we faced another obstacle. We have had little time to enjoy our friends and family or the many sights of Mumbai which is disappointing, but unfortunately that has not been our main priority this trip. We have tried to make the most of it and see the kids God Parents as much as possible, even if it means a quick visit to the SI clinic or a late supper here in the vicinity of the hotel in Powai.

We have also had the amazing pleasure to have seen both the twins and Blaze's surrogates a few times. FB we first met while still at the hospital after the twins birth. A few days later she came to the SI clinic and happened to literally run into us in the hallway holding the twins. It is SI's policy that the surrogate Mom's do not see the children after birth. It certainly wasn't our intention, but we had little choice at this point and so with the Docs okay, we went with it. She held both the twins and smiled and told me, she knows what a wonderful feeling it is to be a mother and so she was so happy to be able to help make me a mother. Yes, I cried like a baby. We gave her some small gifts for her, her husband and two kids and planned a further date to go shopping. During one of our Skype sessions she told us, what she would like most was to take me shopping. I turned the tables on her and today with the help of the lovely Heena at SI, FB, her son and daughter all made there very first trip to a local mall. I gave her a set amount of rupees and we shopped till we dropped while Gerry stayed back at the SI offices with all 3 kiddos. Each of FB's kids got a full outfit and a wrist watch and FB got a beautiful saree. It was such an amazing day seeing them using an escalator for the first time and enjoying an ice cream together. It was such a heartwarming moment, one I will cherish forever.

We met KT (Blaze's surrogate)at SI's office and her entire family came. We had small gifts for them all and had such a lovely time catching up. Both her boys had grown so big in the last two years and they remembered us fondly as the ones who took them swimming in a pool for the first time. Blaze went to her immediately and she held him on her lap while he smiled and gave her hugs. Both her and her husband invited us to come and visit their new home and said, 'if it wasn't for you both, we wouldn't have it, so please let us share it with you.'. Needless to say there we a whole lot more tears that day as well. Today we were able to visit KT again as she has decided to be a surrogate again and while we have been in India she had her transfer and was lucky enough to get a positive pregnancy and so is at the SI surrogate house until her upcoming scan this week. We went with Blaze and visited her and all the 10 other girls at the house. They were all smiles and excited to see the chocolates we brought for them to share. Blaze was of course the center of attention and went right to KT and said her name. It totally shocked us all as we had told him earlier that morning we were going to visit KT, and just the fact that he recognised her and called her by name was so wonderful. He played with her bangles as he sat on her lap and all the ladies loved his charm. He blew them all kisses and smiled and laughed. I asked if she was happy, (referring to the fact that she was again pregnant as a surrogate) and she said,'Yes, she was very happy we took the time to come to see her again.'. Gosh we love this lady. KT walked us out to the outdoor gate all the while giving us hugs and kisses and endless smiles. We told her she will forever be a part of our family as when we look at Blaze we thank God for her. It has been such a wonderful and touching experience getting to know both the kids surrogates. It is sad as we know it will be quite sometime before we visit these special women again.

Jett is doing well, has a little bit to go before he catches up to his sister, but that's to be expected after 10 days in the hospital. He is SO wide-eyed and makes the cutesy faces with his wrinkled little forehead. He is definitely the quieter of the two and likes his pacifier every now and then.

Big sister Dylan continues to thrive. She continues to 'run the show' and it a total DIVA! She definitely has a very distinct personality and it will be interesting to learn about raising little girls with her. She has the brightest eyes and doesn't miss a beat. She is already holding her head up looking all around. When she wants something, she wants it NOW and she let's us know it.

TWINS....this is a whole new, fabulous and exciting experience.

Our 'App'azine.

2011-08-13T11:03:00.001-07:00

Our story (Our Family: Made in India) by Ringier:

"The Global Baby," the Second Issue (May 2011) of the Collection Appazine Series for iPad Tablets

We were extremely pleased with the story and are hoping it helps to spread the word about surrogacy in India as an option to infertile couples.

Here are a just a few of the marvelous still photos taken here in Arizona and Mumbai. All thanks to the ever so talented Katja and of course our journalist extraordinaire Tilman:

All photos and video courtesy of (Katja Heinemann / The Collection Magazine) also the link to download the app: http://itunes.apple.com/app/the-collection/id427145593?mt=8

Update... FINALLY!

2011-08-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

Quick up date on our little ones,

After 3 long days at the hospital I am back at the hotel and in touch with the world again. Jett was discharged from NICU on Friday morning to a regular room in the hospital. We are getting to be old hats at this juggling kids from hotel to hospital and back. Tonight Daddy is on Jett duty and Mommy is on hotel duty with the two eldest.

Jett is doing well. He remains on IV antibiotics and the good news is that all the culture reports came back inconclusive so although he definitely had neonatal sepsis, the source was undetermined and so the length of his IV antibiotics is now 10 days instead of 14. Which is exciting news for us. He is starting to eat again and still remains a 'lazy' eater, but he is taking in a good 30mls every 3 hours and sucking. Now we are just trying to get him to put some weight on. His big sister has passed him in weight when in the beginning she was the light weight of the two.

So...basically our time in India this trip, has been one bad turn after another. Both babies were released to our care from NICU on Tuesday, July 19th (remarkably less then 24 hour in NICU for 34 weekers) We had a mandatory 3 day hospital stay on the floor and then discharged to our hotel. Gerry and I did our best juggling all 3 kids and the twins were (and still are for the most part) very typical newborns.. Eat, sleep and poop. We had a 3 hour schedule and both babies wouldn't budge till the 3 hours hit. Dylan (whom we have already nicknamed, 'Our Little Diva.') would be the first to wake and if not attended to in 30 seconds she was/is going to let you know. Jett is our laid back 'chilled out' little guy and waits to be attended to. Both are just tiny and we worked (and still are working) on increasing their weights. Although small both were healthy and thriving.

After a week or so we noticed Jett was not taking the bottle as he should. We reached out to friends and family as this was all new to us. Blaze was such a textbook, perfect little baby, we were spoiled beyond belief with him. We sufficed that Jett was just going to be a lazy eater and it was going to take us some work to get him to feed. Other then that, he was a typical newborn. Finally after trying every trick in the book Jett still wasn't eating and got to the point in less then a day to not sucking at all. That's when I became concerned. It was like the bottle was an instant sedative, and when it hit his lips he would fall fast asleep. He was still alert, but starting to have more sleepy periods then awake.

We quickly called Dr. Yash and she suggested we take him into the ER for an evaluation as it sounded possibly like low blood sugar. Gerry took Jett over to Hiranandani and the resident doctor recognized Gerry from when Blaze was born did some lab work and said, ;go ahead back to your hotel and we will call you with the results in a few hours.' Jett was stable and although lethargic his blood sugar was good. Thank God for our amazing hotel accommodations that are a quick 15 min. rick shaw ride to and from the hospital. This has certainly been a blessing in disguise as we always stay at the VITS, we decided to take a leap of faith and try something new. Little did we know what a great decision this would be since we have had to make our fair share of visits to the hospital this trip.

Gerry no more made it back to the hotel with Jett when the Doctor called and said he needed to return with Jett right away his lab work was abnormal and he rattled off a bunch of numbers. After hanging up Gerry realized he should have gave the phone to me to decipher the medical jargon. (I am good for some things. :) We called Dr. Yash and she got on the phone to Dr. Bijal (the Pediatrician) and returned our call immediately. Jetts white count and platelets were abnormal and they were going to admit him to the NICU with neonatal sepsis. 'It was a good thing we got him in when we did as it could have been much worse.' Our hearts sunk and the tears flowed. Gerry headed back to Hiranandani while I stayed with the other kids. Dr. Soni and Dr. Bijal literally met them at the door of the hospital. Jetts bed was waiting for him in NICU.

They started him on IV fluids and 3 different types of heavy duty IV antibiotics. They placed an O2 hood over his head as the nurses noted he was have a few very short periods of not breathing. They placed an NG (feeding) tube and started all the testing. Labs, cultures, CT scans and lumbar punctures....

In the mean time Blaze was having diarrhea for quite a few days and we expected it was his large intake of fresh fruit. So we cut back only to have the diarrhea continue. We started him on some polyantibiotic liquid and he was still drinking and eating well, so we let it run its course. Expect for the fact that the same day that Jett was going to the ER, Blaze now started vomiting. Again we called Dr. Yash (we had her on speed dial this day) and she got some meds. ordered for the vomiting. Dylan (fingers crossed) was the healthy one. Or so we thought. Docs warned us to keep her and Blaze apart.

Jett was in good hands in the NICU. It was difficult to see him all alone with tubes and lines all over the place. I see this on a daily basis at work with my patients, but its a completely different thing when its your helpless child. We were allowed 2 visits daily and Gerry and I rotated so that we didn't have to bring the other kids to the hospital and risk getting them sick. His labs were improving slowly and all the culture results were coming up negative. The lumbar puncture was negative for meningitis (dodged that bullet!).

In the meantime we needed to bring Dylan in for a check up. We met Dr. Bijal and she had news on Jett. She did a CT of the head and to her surprise it came back positive for a grade 1 mild ventral bleed. Again our hearts sank. She stated that Jett was improving in his alertness and motor skills so she was not concerned. This is not uncommon in preterm babies. You can't imagine the terror of being told your 13 day old son has a brain bleed. Can you see why we have been somewhat tied up now???

Each day passed and Jett improved slowly. Labs were improving the IV fluids were slowly being decreased and they started him back on oral feeds. The feeding tube came out, the oxygen came off, the Jett we knew was coming around!

Unfortunately, our luck with Dylan ran out... during her 'routine' check up we found out that her weight decreased again, she now had an umbilical granuloma and oral candida not too mention the green goop we noted from her right eye that morning. Thankfully none of this serious, just more stress and worries on our part with more antibiotics and treatments.

So fast forward to today... Blaze is still with diarrhea and what a trooper, he hasn't skipped a beat with the exception of three times the normal diaper changes a day, every time he says, 'uh ohh, poopie' we groan and giggle. Poor little man. We are quickly running out of diapers and wipes. He is on an oral antibiotic and a second course of polyantibiotics.

Dylan's eye is great! Her belly button is drying up and her mouth is free of cooties. She is eating like a champ (twice the amount of her brother) and taking some vitamins and minerals to help increase her weight.

Jett remains in the hospital still receiving his IV antibiotics, and if all his blood work and repeat CT of the brain come back normal on Wednesday, we can bring him back to our home-away-from-home here at the hotel to be reunited with his big sister and brother.

Mommy and Daddy are worn out from around the clock feeds at two separate locations, sick children and the news that we now have to do DNA testing since 'it had been over 3 years since Gerry had frozen his sperm and that sample was used for the twins.' Not what we anticipated since it was the same sample as Blaze and no DNA testing was required then. When it rains it pours!!!!

Thank you all again for your love and support. They mean the world to us and we are truly touched by those who kept us apart of their prayers.

We haven't lost our sense of humor...

Prayers Must be Working

2011-08-02T01:53:00.000-07:00

Jett remains in the NICU and by all accounts is beating this sepsis. We are on day 3 of heavy duty x3 IV antibiotics and he has started oral feeds again.

Blaze appears to be back on the mend as well (no further vomiting or diarrhea...fingers crossed it stays that way).

Dylan is the strongest of the three (GIRL POWER!!!) no infections and still as cute as a button.

When I catch up on sleep, I promise to give all the details. Until then, here are a few pics of our angel in his latest accommodations and his big brother and big sister (by 15mins...I am sure she will remind him of that for the rest of his life):

NICU bed 2

Before they were separated (Dylan left/Jett right)

All 3 of our beautiful children...how blessed are we!?

Oh the humidity...I can't do a thing with my hair!!!

A very few hard couple of days

2011-08-01T11:18:00.000-07:00

Prayers needed...

Jett returned to NICU last evening with neonatal sepsis. We are beyond sad, but extremely hopeful and know he is receiving the very BEST care at Hiranandani hospital. And if that wasn't enough on our plates, Blaze has been suffering from some bug with chronic diarrhea and recent vomiting.

Will post more soon. Until then please keep our little men in your prayers.

Hugs,

Our Growing Family

2011-07-22T08:28:00.001-07:00

Proud to introduce you to our growing family:

1st to arrive on July 18, 2011 at 0909 was baby girl Dylan Tara, followed by her little brother 15 minutes later Jett Ajja. Both are healthy and back at the hotel with us now. Born at 34 weeks 3 days, we couldn't be happier at how great they are doing. Blaze is LOVING India and all of the amazing sights and people, especially his God Parents, Dr. Yash and Dr. Sudhir. We are here till the 17th of August and hope to make the most of our last trip to India (our home away from home) for quite sometime.

Me and my God Papa

Loving my God Parents

First Family Photo

Yep...that's our boy~!

Finally Some Long Awaited Photos

2011-07-21T02:01:00.000-07:00

So here are some pics of our little Angels,

Jett (left) & Dylan (right)

God Papa and his little man.

Jett (front) & Dylan (back)

Daddy in his glory

Daddy gets to hold his new babies

Blaze would point and say, 'India?'

First family photo

At the Salon (baby style)

Dylan (left) & Jett right.

Just like Daddy

The VERY BEST God Parents in the world.

Baby boy Jett

Little Miss. Dylan

Discharge Tomorrow...

2011-07-20T02:03:00.000-07:00

So sorry everyone, we have had our hands full between the new little ones and trying to entertain Blaze all at the same time and making frequent trips back and forth from hospital to hotel. It is definitely a challenge when bringing a toddler along. Although sleep deprived and no time to update we are managing and wouldn't change it for the world. We had my niece Micaela planned to come with us at the end of the month, but when the twins wanted out earlier, it put a little wrench in those plans and now we are alone till Sunday. Worst part is that its now with them at the hospital we need her the most. Oh, well we are making due.

Twins are not like a singleton at all. Not that I anticipated it being the same, but it is much harder (as I imagined it would be).

Blaze is turning the uber charm on for all the ladies and they are eating him up. Even the waiters at the hotel come and take him for little walks around the lobby. He is definitely the center of attention and a little star and loving every moment of it. It was so awesome to see his God Parents faces when he ran to them and smiled and gave huge hugs and kisses. Definitely a touching moment and one for the memory books.

I don't have time to post photos as internet and sleep are at a minimum. Sorry. All I can tell you is both Dylan (pronounced Dillon like a boy and not Dielon as the sisters call her...LOL) and Jett are wonderful. They are itty bitty and their preemie outfits are even big on them. But they are healthy and eating like champs. They are perfect with full heads of hair. We already are seeing their different personalities at just a few days old. It is amazing how little they are and SO healthy. They spent less then 24 hours in the NICU and will most likely be discharged from the hospital tomorrow. WOOOO HOOOO!!!

I promise once back at the hotel and settled in a little I will plug in the camera and post some pics of our furry (yes I said furry...they have lots of preemie body hair) twins. For Dylan's sake its a good thing this only lasts for a while. :)

Thank you everyone for your kind words and well wishes. We are still in shock that our little family of 3 plus dog turned into 5 plus dog at the blink of an eye. We can't believe they are ours and that we have been doubly blessed through surrogacy in India.

Till next time. Big hugs from the 5 of us here in Mumbai.

Introducing To the World...

2011-07-18T02:05:00.000-07:00

A new little brother and sister for Blaze. We will have all the little details with pics tomorrow. But for now we are simply over the moon with excitement about our newest additions. We made a valient effort, but the twins couldn't hold on for just 2 more hours.

First to come into this world on July 18th around 9pm, via natural birth was our little girl DYLAN TARA (4.0 lbs tall & slender one )followed by her brother 4.2 lbs (the big head) @ 925 pm, JETT AJJA (@ 15 Mins later). The Docs met us at the airport with the wonderful news , after being one of the first people our little ones saw. Dr. Yash even got to witness their birth.

We are happy to report both FB and the twins are doing well. We will get you see them tomorrow morning. We cant wait.

Thank you all for your continued support and kind well wishes.

While We Wait

2011-07-17T02:06:00.000-07:00

We are currently waiting for our connecting flight to Mumbai in Paris. We got 15mins. Of Internet so I checked our email and saw an update from Dr. Sudhir:

I have mixed news for you.
The Oxygen saturation was slightly dropping for FB. The babies are doing fine.
SO Dr Yash and Dr Anita have stopped duvadilan drip and started her on pitocin (to induce labour).
This means the babies will arrive before you arrive.

This was last night, So now, we are just waiting for any further news. Our priority is FB and our babies. It would have been wonderful to be there and possibly have the chance to go in for the delivery, but not at the expense of the three of them. We know Dr.Soni will do what is best for FB and the babies so we are not at all concerned. They are in the very best of hands.

This is all so nerve racking. You'd think it would all be easier the second time around???

We are coming babies and if ours isn't the first faces you see, then you have the VERY best next thing...your amazing God Parents!

On our way... babies may just be holding out till we get there. Prayers & fingers crossed.

2011-07-16T02:08:00.000-07:00

Heading to India...Sooner then Later!

2011-07-15T02:09:00.000-07:00

Well the latest update is FB is relaxing and hasn't further progressed, so we may have a few more days.

We booked our flights and leave bright and early this Sunday the 17th. We arrive in Mumbai on Monday the 18th late at night.

We know our little ones and surrogate are in the best of hands at Hiranandani with Dr.Soni and Team SI watching over. So that in itself is a HUGE stress reliever for us.

Packing certainly doesn't seem easier this trip and I suppose the mad dash for last minute things doesn't help much either.

Thank you all for your support and kind words. Our surrofamily, friends near and far and our immediate family have all been so incredible. You will never know how great it feels to see you stopped by our blog to check in on us and leave a little love (comments) for us. Do please keep our little angels and dearest Surro Mom in your prayers.

We will keep you posted as things progress. Until then, I gotsta get to packing!!!

WE ARE IN LABOUR!!!!!

2011-07-15T00:32:00.000-07:00

Need I say more.....

WE ARE IN LABOUR!!!!!

2011-07-14T02:09:00.000-07:00

Need I say more...

OMG.... We just got the call. 4cm dilated and 70% effaced. Baby will be here today or tomorrow almost a certainty. Way too early for us, we are so not prepared. Mad scramble to pick of a few remaining items, start (yes i did sat START) packing, book flights, get hotel reservation changed, book my neice's flight straight to Mumbai to meet us there.

Here we go again. We hope surro Mom and babies are okay.

Watch this spot!

Almost Time

2011-07-11T02:13:00.000-07:00

Our babies 34 weeks:

Good Doggie

2011-07-11T01:57:00.000-07:00

We are busy once again preparing for our 5th trip to India. We can't wait to see the Docs and for them to see Blaze after almost 2 years. We are 34 weeks pregnant (see our babies bump here)! Prayers and fingers crossed that the twins surrogate waits for us to arrive on July 30th.

Holy Crap....We are Having TWINS!!!!

2011-05-28T02:14:00.000-07:00

Some days it just hits me like a ton of bricks. Yes, I know we have known we are having twins for 6 months now, but some days it just really sets in. Usually its when Blaze is deciding he is going to give Mommy a run for her money and start with a 'terrible two' meltdown in the freezer section of Fry's. My thoughts:

1. If its twin boys I am totally going to have to take up drinking.

2. If its twin girls...I am SO screwed, I have NO idea how to take care of a girl and besides we have NO PINK!!! Which ends up meaning big $$$$$ now and into their late teens.

3. What the heck was I thinking when we said lets have just ONE more??? Be careful what you wish for...

4. What will I do when all 3 decide to have a tantrum at the store, better yet how am I going to even take 3 to a store?

5. Takes me back to the title of this post, Holy Crap...we are HAVING TWINS!

At this point I can't really think straight because my heart has started racing and I am having palpitations and my breathing has become faster, I feel a cold sweat come over me and then I have to sit down and pinch myself to wake from my terrifying dream. After a few minutes my thoughts then change too:

1. WOW...how lucky are we to be blessed with not one but two more miracles from God. Please God continue to let FB have a completely boring and uneventful pregnancy that we have had up till now.

2. Some people would totally give their right arm to be in my shoes right now.

3. Its going to be okay. I have dreamed of being a Mom since I was a little girl and I CAN DO THIS!

4. I have so much support from my fellow twin surro buddies to my amazing neighbor and Grandma of twins, Aunt Winnie and now my 'Got Twins' Facebook crew (Thanks Todd) who calm my panic attacks pretty much daily. Who could be so lucky?

5. Everyone says if you can make it through the first year the rest is truly a breeze. Heck one year ain't nothing when we tried and waited for a family for more then 4 years. This should be a piece of cake...(Ya, right who am I kidding!?!)

6. Blaze is going to be such an amazing big brother and how wonderful for the 3 of our children to be able to share not only the exact same genes, but a common bond of how they came to be a part of our very special an unique family.

7. I better get that mini-van I swore I would never buy very, very soon, cause there is no fitting 3 car seats in the back on my H3 SUV. I can totally be a cool soccer Mom!

8. We are instantly going from a family of 3 to a family of 5! Do I even remember what I did with all of my time just 2 short years ago...Nope and I totally don't care! Wouldn't change one minute of this awesome journey!!!

And the list goes on...

Yes I am scared to death that I am not going to be the very best Mother I have always dreamed of being. Just the mere thought of trying to care for 2 newborns and a toddler at the same time continues to baffle me. I am about to get a crash course very shortly. But above all else, just the fact that I can say that I AM a Mother...WOW! There truly is nothing better in the entire universe then to hear your child call you "Mommy." I am one of the lucky few to have been drug threw the infertility trenches and come out the other side with the ultimate prize in hand. Not one single day goes by that I don't look into my son's big brown beautiful eyes and smile and say a silent prayer thanking God and all the powers that be that brought him into my life, especially our incredible Doctors at Surrogacy India, Dr.Yash and Dr.Sudhir (also known as the best God Parents in the world!). Soon there will be 2 more sets of eyes and I can't think of anyone more blessed then me.

So, here they are 26 weeks in all their glory:

Twin 1 we call our tall skinny one, measuring about one week smaller than their sibling (with the exception of the femur length) and weighing in at 860 plus or minus 126 grams. Twin 2 we call our chubby one whose head and belly are bigger and is currently measuring exactly 10 grams heavier at 934 plus or minus 136 grams. So with all this info. Gerry has now changed his tune to Twin A = a girl and Twin B = a boy. Totally not fair as that was my guess from the get go.

Just a little more then 8 weeks and it won't be a surprise any more! Now we just have to come up with 4 unique baby names (boy-boy, girl-girl, boy-girl...our heads are spinning) and we better get packing as we are going to be back in India in no time!!!!

21 Weeks and Counting Down

2011-04-11T02:15:00.000-07:00

Our growing babies:

Our Skinny Minny

2011-04-04T01:06:00.004-07:00

Blaze is growing like a weed. He had his 18 month appointment a couple of weeks ago. Dr. Gentile said he is such a calm child as the whole time he examined Blaze he just stood there and said, 'Hi!' He weighed in at a whopping 22.10 lbs (just a light weight at 10% range) and 33 inches tall (75% range). He remains tall and skinny as ever. He still fits into some 6-9 months shorts at 19 months old so we have lots of clothes to grow into. The other day I put a pair of 12 mth shorts on and saw they were a little big on the waist, but went with it anyway. Well not 10 minutes later I looked down to see Blaze in his diaper with his shorts in hand still zippered and buttoned up. I couldn't help but laugh. Needless to say, all the 12 mth. shorts are now in the back of the closet again. He is our skinny little monkey.

His vocabulary seems to expand by the day. He is intimating many of the words we say and words said on some of his favorite cartoons. Even learning Chinese from Ni Hao Kai-Lan. He says, 'Ya-Ya' and 'Ho-Ho.' Also 'Diego' which he sings when he sees the cartoon on TV. Every letter or number he sees is 'B.' He has learned the word, moon and looks for it at night in the sky. He is also putting words together, like 'Hi Daddy.'

He continues to learn new signs too and is using them daily to communicate. He now knows, hat, car, apple, more, eat, finished, cold, hot, bird, shoes, dog, airplane, please, sorry, and thank you. He even waves 'bye' to the TV when his shows are over and then looks at us and does the 'all done' sign.

Signing 'All done / finished'

He has also learned the saying, 'Uh Oh!' and uses it appropriately when he drops something from his high chair or makes a mess. Take tonight for instance, he stood up in the bath started to pee and looked down to see what was happening after a minute or so of processing he proceeded to look up at Grandma and me and say, "UH OH!" Now I would say that is the appropriate use of that saying. :)

Fun with Grandma's perm rods

He loves to say 'Wow!' and also used it the other day when I was driving and complaining about the terrible Arizona drivers. All of the sudden from the back seat I hear "Wow," and all I could think was, 'Thank goodness, that's all I said.'

Daddy taught him, 'Dude' He will say,'Up' when he wants to be picked up. He loves to say, "Baby" Which will be very appropriate in the coming months. We love singing and dancing together and when we sing, Old MacDonald's Farm, Blaze never fails to do his part of the chorus. He gets the 'e-i e-i ohh's' at the perfect times. He shimmy's his little hips and shoulders and spins round and round to his favorite tunes. He has also started putting our shoes on and walking around the house. He keeps us laughing, that's for sure.

More recently Gerry bought him a set of sponge squares with pictures with words on them for the bath tub. I started to show him them and say the word, the next night he was able to pick out 10 of them when asked, 'show Mommy the...car, moon, cow, book, sock,etc.' I was astonished how quickly he learned.

He loves making faces. His newest and most comical one, is when he tilts his chin down and looks up at you from the top of his eyes. Its better if I just show you:

We have officially started 'TIME OUT.' Well, I have that is...he is still an angel for his father. Take today for example, we went to the grocery store and I knew half way through we were getting close to nap time, so I was trying to speed it up, now the first part around the store he said, "Hi" to everyone who passed with a big smile on his face. Then out of nowhere, (and this was a first) when I was telling him not to keep throwing his sippy cup on the floor as it wasn't going to speed up the process for us, he proceeded to open his mouth (so I could see every single tooth) and let out 2 screams, then started to cry. I was in such shock, I kinda just stood there and stared like the rest of the customers. Thankfully, it only lasted all of 30 seconds and we were on our way. But please tell me...how on earth do you do 'Time Out' when the meltdown is in the middle of the frozen foods section?

Don't let that innocent face fool you.

The newest big project at home is renovating the 3 car garage (which usually is used for storage) into a 2 car garage with an indoor play room. Gerry and Dad have done an amazing job thus far without any help. I haven't even minded living with a big hole cut in my front hall for a few days while we were waiting for Gerry's next 4 days off so they could install the french doors. It is going to be a great room for the kids when its done.

Playroom in progress

We also decided that since the nursery (aka Blaze's room) is done in a gender neutral theme (Fisher Price Rain Forest) it would be much easier to just convert one of the spare bedrooms (sorry Papa and Grandma you lost your room) into his room. I decided a Fireman theme should be easy enough and I knew Gerry wasn't going to object. Well, what started out as a little red and white paint and a few fire trucks, has now became an entire fire station and all. And it turns out Fireman theme is not so easy after all. Nothing can ever be that easy for us, I should have known. Well, we only got a few months left so we definitely need to get cracking on that project. I suppose I will wait to remind Gerry of that AFTER he finishes his testing this month for Captain at work!?

Blaze loves to play and run outside, so hopefully when Gerry is done with our playroom renovations we can finally find that perfect outdoor play set we have been searching for since Christmas. The backyard pool is up and running so we will have some fun this summer as a family. The tough part is going to be trying to keep little fish Blaze out of the pool, as he never gets enough of the water.

At swim class

We have been taking as much time as possible to spend with Papa and Grandma as they leave again for the summer in a few days and when they return next time they will have 3 Grand kids to spoil. He loves them so much and runs to them both with open arms as soon as he sees them. Today was all about Papa, he wanted to sit with Papa, play with Papa and spend ALL his time in Papa's arms. It truly melts my heart to see them together. Poor Grandma got the cold shoulder, which is very unusual as Blaze is definitely a 'ladies man' and even more so a Grandma's boy.

We are busy starting preparations for our next trip to Mumbai, which we figure will be sometime the end of July (yes that is ONLY 4 months). We are so very anxious to see the Docs again and the entire SI team. We can't wait to show Blaze off to everyone. We hope to be able to meet up with KT and her family as well. I can't believe that we are going to be starting all of this all over again. Yes, I do think if we weren't already crazy we will be in the coming months. Wish us luck!

Our beautiful babies!

2011-04-02T02:16:00.000-07:00

We are already in our 20th week. More then half way there considering most twins are considered full term at around 36 weeks. We had our 4D (3D on our end as we had no sound or movement only still images) anomaly scan in our 18th week. Our surrogate is doing great and continues to have an uneventful pregnancy thus far. So without further adieu, here are our beautiful babes:

Twin 1 left Twin 2 right

Twin 1 left (legs) Twin 2 right

Twin 2 left Twin 1 right

Twin 1 left Twin 2 right

Twin 2

Twin 1 is measuring at 17.5 weeks and Twin 2 is 18.2 weeks. Twin 2's measurements are all a little bigger except for Twin 1's femur, and foot. Both have a fetal heart rate of 133 bpm. Gerry is convinced we have 2 boys, however he says he is certain Twin 2 is a boy. Grandma R. says she thinks she sees 2 boys as well. Me...well I have NO idea since all the essential body parts are cut off on purpose. So I am guessing its one of each, just to be different. Either way as long as they both continue on this healthy and uneventful path to a normal delivery I am happy for 2 beautiful babies.

A love a MILLION times stronger

2011-03-01T00:06:00.001-07:00

The other day we were at the park. Gerry and I walked hand in hand as we watched Blaze run through the grass smiling away. We were both thinking the same thing, 'How lucky are we? How many times did we hope and pray for a moment just like this?' Those thoughts come so often and usually in the smallest and simplest of moments. We think of the numerous times we wished we were that very couple watching their little one play.

I have kept a separate journal for Blaze to jot down my most intimate thoughts and capture all the little things he says and does. Today this is what I wrote with joyful tears:

You are the most amazing thing in the world. Every single day I am in awe of you. I still can’t believe that you are ours and so perfect in every imaginable way. I can’t even really put it into words. I hope and pray that you will always know how very much you are loved and cherished. And know just how deeply we hoped and prayed for you. Not one day goes by that I don't thank God for blessing us with such an incredible little boy. Never did I believe that we would have given us such a child as perfect as you. Just 18 short months ago the Doctor placed you in my arms and I could never know the strength of that kind of love that I felt at that very moment. It is a love a million times stronger then any love I have ever felt and it grows stronger and deeper with every passing moment. My heart feels like it will burst sometimes when I hear you say, "Mommy". Such a simple word but one that I have never been called before and a word I will cherish forever. You are my world my every breath, my life, my love, my everything.

Busy, Busy, Busy...and soon to get Busier!

2011-02-25T13:57:00.000-07:00

Yep no time to chat, just swamped with life as we know it, preparing for baby (x2) this time. OH BOY here we go again! I don't think it has really sunk in and probably won't until I am standing there holding our 2 little ones in my arms with Blaze pulling on my pant leg for some attention too. But, that's all stuff for the other blog...

Blaze is growing like a weed. He will be 18 months already on the 26th of this month. He seems to get taller by the day and we notice it even more when he is opening all the doors, drawers and cupboards or getting things off the counter that used to be way out of his reach.

He is learning to climb and no chair or couch is too tough for our little man. Tonight we found him in the spare room, up on Gerry's Grampie's 100 year old chair standing tall all proud of himself then minutes later out on the couch in the living room peaking over the back at us while we cooked supper. Little stinker. When we try to chase after him to get what ever he has in his hands that he shouldn't, he runs off making a game out of it and if we get too close well then whatever is in his hand gets thrown to the floor. That's my BOY! Every time, I just look at Gerry and say with a chuckle...'You wanted a boy!'

I swear he gets cuter by the day (Blaze that is, but yes my husband is aging gracefully and I fall more in love with him everyday). We have been trying to style his hair some, so he is not a total 'Justin Beiber look-a-like', although he is Canadian and a cute kid. But I digress, So, in trying cool hair styles that also means I have to be diligent in keeping it cut so I can make him a little fo-hawk now and then. He does have nice wavy light brown hair so he will be blessed when he is older I am sure with easy to style hair. His BIG brown eyes are a killer, never hesitating to get a look and a smile from the ladies. Still a lady killer!!!

He is talking more and really trying to carry on a conversation. Too bad the words are quite far from the English language (or any other language we have heard of). His favorite words are Mommy (Mum for short), Daddy (and Dad), Papa (which still sounds like 'BaPa'), Gamma (which often sounds like Mama), and Dog (with a very long drawn out 'G' (sounds more like Daaawgggg). But by far his favorite of all is, "Hi!' He says it all day long even if he has just seen you 2 minutes early and you walk back into the room, he greets you with a high-pitched little 'Hi!' that truly melts your heart. He will say it at the darnest moments to anyone and everyone that is in earshot. We are trying to expand his vocabulary some, but he is pretty content on jabbering away in his own language and thinking we know exactly what he is saying.

He likes walking backwards then sitting on whatever he bumps into to, including Neyla. He still loves music and when we tell him to dance he wiggles his hips and shimmy's his shoulders, it is so cute. His latest pastime is spinning in circles and falling to the ground with a giggle.

He loves to explore. Getting into everything that is not tied down or one of his many toys. Every animal is pretty much a dog. Everyone on the phone is either Dad or Papa. He will wave 'bye' to the phone and either blow kisses or give the phone a big wet kiss to whomever is on the other end. Too bad they can't hear either.
He, like most toddlers loves to imitate, which makes for some fun meals out at restaurants when he decides to mimic the laughing couple next to us or the coughing old guy at the table across. We can't help but smile and laugh with him. Mommy's new thing she taught him since he DID say Dada first is me saying, "Who loves Blaze???" And his answer, "Mommy!" of course. Teeheehee just had to do it!

He is such a good natured child. I thank God each and every day and find myself saying, 'If the twins are even 1/2 as good as him...' He almost never cries. No exaggeration. People laugh when he gets upset cause it lasts all of 1-2 minutes and he reverts back to his happy-go-lucky self. And when I say 'upset' its maybe some whining, a few tears or a mad face, really nothing to ever complain about. We notice it even more when someone comments by saying, 'is he always this good?' or 'that's as upset as he gets?'. And my parents tell us over and over again that they can't get over what a good child he is.

He LOVES people. No matter where we go he ends up being the center of attention. We found a new park just around the corner from our house that is huge and he loves to go from swing to slide (the bigger the better) to monkey bars to stairs. He is our little dare devil and truly has NO fear but remains cautious. I am foreseeing a future with some pretty big boo boo's like his Daddy had when he was little.

Since Blaze is now following us into the bathroom and tries looking between our legs while we are on the toilet (those with toddlers, totally know what I am talking about) we thought it was a great time to introduce the potty.We bought Blaze the Fisher Price Cheer for Me Potty Chair and we are slowly getting him used to the idea. If he uses it properly it plays a song and says rewarding phrases. So NO singing from the potty just yet, this may take a while. Every night before bath-time the diaper comes off and he sits on the potty (well more like on all 4's up in the air and backs on to it). He sits quietly for just a few seconds, but hey its a start. We aren't pushing it, but how nice would it be to have him potty trained before the twins arrived...Ya right...wishful thinking I know!

So far he has mastered a few signs (well Blaze's signs) from his Baby Signing Time videos. I try to sign as much as possible when I am home with him. He now consistently knows and does, 'All done/finished,' 'more,' 'please,' 'eat', 'hat' and 'airplane' He uses them appropriately too.

On a different note, we have been busy with telling 'our story.' We are approached via email quite often for requests to do media stuff. In the past we have gracefully declined many because of the hassle of negative feedback and the time it takes to invest our free time. A few weeks back we received back to back requests for a few different things. The first one being the largest Swiss publisher who writes for many Swiss and European magazines and is planning on marketing a magazine on reproduction solely being distributed digitally for the IPAD, Kindle, and numerous other electronic books and also in several languages. We thought about it quite hard and then said sure what the heck, we are thrilled about the twins and can't say enough how blessed we are to have Blaze, and as always sing the praises of our incredible clinic, Surrogacy India and amazing doctors Dr.Yash and Dr.Sudhir. Next thing we knew there was a photographer and journalist on our doorsteps for an entire weekend to capture us in our 'everyday' life. It was a very long, but productive weekend. Blaze truly had a blast, especially when the photographer got on the ground to get photos which in his eyes was to play with him. He loved looking into the screen on her camera and seeing Mommy and Daddy. The journalist had taken the time to read the entire blog (wow, I don't know anyone who has read the whole thing...I was impressed) and loved spending time with Blaze, who was our little shining star. I joked how we felt like we were being followed by the paparazzi and got a few strange looks from on-lookers at the local grocery store and restaurants. In the end we hope we did their story justice and help spread the word of India being an affordable and attainable way to have a family for those who can't the regular way.

The second request was from an author interested in writing a book on infertility and wanting to feature our story as part of her book. The funny thing was after chatting with her on the phone and getting to know her, I then took the time to research her. Low and behold she has written 2 New York Times best sellers here in the States. Now I felt like a bit of a dummy! She was truly wonderful to talk to and such a down-to-earth humble person who told me, 'us and our story are inspirational.' WOW....I was floored that a person of her notoriety thought that about us??? Kind of still blows me away when people say such kind and amazing things. We truly are just a simple family created through a less then conventional way, but still just simple. So, it will take a couple of years for the book to be completed, but if you see us all on Oprah in a few years you'll know that her third book was also a best seller...LOL. Seriously though, how awesome would it be to have the positive and wonderful side of surrogacy in India spread to thousands of people (NOT by us on Oprah) but through her words in a best selling book. I could only dream that it would be possible after so many years of strange looks and odd faces when we tell our story. Any how, I still feel strange being the topic of anyone's story or article we don't feel any different then any other American family.

Blaze continues to love swimming. He is doing so awesome in his Survival Class. The first couple of classes were full of tears, but Coach Bryce assured us it is quite normal for the first couple of classes while they adjust to Mommy and Daddy not being with them in the pool. He was right on the mark, by the 3rd class Blaze was a happy little camper back to enjoying class. He now floats for long periods on his back with his arms and legs out straight with just a little hand from the Coach under the back of his head, He jumps in from the side of the pool and comes up and hangs on to the side all by himself and goes hand to hand all the way along to the steps. He sits quietly on the steps with his 2 other classmates and waits for his turn with his one-on-one time with Coach Bryce. He is all smiles and picks up very fast. Papa and Grandma came this week and couldn't believe what progress he has made in such a short time. Sad thing is we don't know if we can afford to put all 3 kids in swim class which kinda stinks as it has been so GREAT for Blaze. At least we have our own pool so its not like they won't learn how to swim, just most likely not the same as Blaze has.

We got some heart-wrenching news the other day about one of Gerry's co-workers at the Fire Station. His son, just 2 1/2 years old was diagnosed with leukemia. I came home from work that night after finding out at the end of my shift and went in and grabbed Blaze from his crib and just hugged him for what seemed like hours not wanting to let him go. The tears flowed down my face at the thought of such a horrific thing happening to any child broke my heart. I can't even begin to fathom what their family is suffering. Life is much too short to take even one minute for granted. If you are reading this please add little Brody to your prayers he has a long and difficult fight ahead of him.

There really is SO much to tell and I could go on and on and on about our amazing little man, but who has the time to write or read it all. We are just the proudest parents in the world, and can't believe to this day that he is OUR precious little angel.

2nd Trimester...Can I get a WOOO HOOO!?!

2011-02-15T02:18:00.000-07:00

We are uneventfully entering our 2nd trimester. WHEWWWWWW! (Insert very big sigh of relief here)

All is going well with FB and our little ones. We had our Nucal Fold Thickness scan ( just a fancy term for testing for Down Syndrome and other chromosomal defects of the fetuses by looking at the fluid around the neck) done at the delivering hospital just the other day and the results were GREAT!!! Baby A is measuring about 5 days smaller then Baby B, Fetal heart rates are 150 and 152 and both have a nasal bone and all that other good stuff they look for. Basically both look great and the scan report says all is well in utero.

Our official due date now by ultrasound is August 24, 2011. That is 2 days before Blaze's birthday ( he was 3 weeks early). Now it is unlikely that they will go to the full 40 weeks, but still Blaze's siblings will be almost 2 years apart from him. I think that is the perfect age difference.

We are trying to prepare...once again. A little part of me is REALLY hoping we have at least one boy, since I went a little crazy with clothes, shoes, hats and little boy stuff for Blaze. It would be such a shame to not be able to use it all again since it is basically all like-new.

The big question always seems to be the same..."So, do you know what you are having?" And our answer still and always remains the same..."Not until they are born." It gets some strange looks but when we explain the policy of India it usually changes to a smile and, "Wow that's a great surprise!" Truly I am just hoping and praying for 2 healthy babies no matter what sex. We are already listing our favorite names and have to come up with 2 of each...not such an easy task. After all we do have a 'Blaze' and I don't think a 'Joe' or 'Jane' sounds just quite right.

It feels all so strange to be going through this journey again. Same similar feelings when the emails and phone calls come through from India, your heart skips a little beat. We have decided to make our 3 car garage into a 2 car garage and build an enclosed play room with access to the house, for the kids. A pretty big task to take on. Blaze's rain-forest themed nursery will now be the twins (with a little work on refinishing the crib since Beaver Blaze made work of that). It is a gender neutral theme so we can't go wrong. So, Blaze will move next door into one of the spare bedrooms. We are still deciding on a theme for him, but Gerry found a cool Firetruck bed on Craigslists and we thought that might be a slightly easier chore then the months of work put into the nursery.

We are feeling slightly more comfortable with the process of India, etc. since this will be our second time around. But it will be almost 2 years since our last visit, so we are preparing for any changes as with the bureaucracy of India we are sure some have occurred.

I am a little more relaxed at this part of the journey, but much more anxious about the coming months and the fact that we will now have 2 newborns and a toddler in tow. I think I am having anxiety attacks regularly when I start to think about all of it. I now can officially say I am freaking out. Excited, but super duper scared and anxious of doing it all again times 2, plus 1. Oh my...just typing it, makes my heart race. Now Gerry on the other hand is Mr. Cool Cucumber...'We will be fine.' 'How hard can it be?' 'I am sure we will have struggles, but everything will be okay.' Yes, as always, I am the glass half empty and he is half full. We make a great team though, as we certainly meet somewhere in the middle with us both being at either ends of the spectrum of feelings. I suppose only time will tell, and in my eyes time is flying by.

So without further ado... here are our perfectly precious babes:

Belly Picture....long overdue!

2011-02-04T02:17:00.000-07:00

I have been very slack on updating our blog. Time is passing by so quickly and the twins will be here before we know it. Here are our long overdue belly shots of our surrogate:

7 weeks- not yet showing.

14 weeks- just a little belly.

17 weeks- Whoa there's our babies.

Where to begin?

2011-01-23T02:19:00.000-07:00

For those who are reading for the first time and don't know us. We joyfully welcomed our beautiful baby boy BLAZE XENNON into the world August 26th, 2009. After starting the Journey to Surrogacy in India back in early 2008. It was a very long, emotion-filled journey for us, but was hands down the very BEST day of our lives when he entered this world and we held him in our arms for the first time.

Fast forward 15 or so months later...

we talked about having a sibling for Blaze. Were we being selfish after being blessed with such a miracle in him? He has and continues to be, such an amazing child. Yes I know, EVERYONE says that about their children, but we are truly lucky. Many people comment on how they 'have never seen such a great kid' (not even their own children were as good as Blaze!') He has had NO skin issues, he was not a fussy baby and is not a cranky toddler, he eats great, he has slept through the night since he was 8 weeks old, he is very, very healthy, and he has such a great demeanor. He is SO happy, SO friendly, SO sociable, etc. etc. etc. Were we betting the odds in that we would have another child even half as good as Blaze? Could we afford to go through another cycle in India? Would Blaze's egg donor be available? Did we want to start the roller-coaster of emotions ALL over again with the possible failures, the 9 months on pins and needles having our surrogate thousands of miles away. We knew she would be in the BEST of hands with Blaze's Godparents AKA the Doctors of SurrogacyIndia, Dr. Sudhir and Dr. Yashodhara, but it is still so nerve racking...what pregnancy isn't right?

We talked and we talked, going back and forth, when would be the perfect time? Blaze was getting older, and so were we!

Fate would this time be in our favor! We were chatting with Dr. Sudhir as we have done many a night for the last 3 years. Out of the blue he asks "when are we going to give Blaze a sibling?" We hummed and hawed and gave them all of our excuses and reasoning and blah, blah, blah. Then he tells us, "We have been searching for over 6 months and we have found Blaze's egg donor"' REALLY??? It gets even better, "She has agreed to do just one last cycle for them." WHAT??!! Could this be true? It had to be fate. This was our time. So we agreed to not mess with fate and go ahead. This just has to be a sign that it is the right time to do this again. So we said, okay we are ready.

At this point, the rest seems like just a blur. We went through the process. Next thing I know, we get the phone call 'You are pregnant!' Your beta number is 561.7. I remember my mouth dropping open and thinking, 'Is this what I think it is...twins????!!!!' OH NO! What did we get ourselves into? We only wanted one more child. But as they say, be careful what you wish for.   My worst fear and greatest dream was about to come true.

Here are the STATS thus far:

Nov. 30, 2010 - Our amazing egg donor produces 18 eggs. 14 are mature.

Dec. 2, 2010 - 3 embryos are transferred to FB (our chosen surrogate)

Dec. 14, 2010 - The phone call arrives....POSITIVE PREGNANCY! Beta number 561.7

Dec. 18, 2010 - 2nd beta number 2577.0

Dec. 30, 2010 - Ultra Sound Report is as follows:

           CRL A   6.0 mm - 6 weeks 3 days - cardiac activity well appreciated in this fetus.

           CRL B   6.7 mm - 6 weeks 4 days - cardiac activity well appreciated in this fetus.

           CRL C 1.4mm - Less then 5 weeks - Cardiac activity not appreciated in this pole. :(

3 SAC's???? that's a surprise. All I could think of is...'Thank God we don't have to go through the pain of a selective reduction. Mother nature is taking over.'

And so, here we are. Not just pregnant, but pregnant with TWINS!

6.5 weeks

Our Journey is about to start ALL over again. This time x 2!

9 weeks

And now we wait! Wait for the scans, the lab tests, the pictures and the updates...

Blaze's Introduction to The World

2011-01-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

BLAZE'S BIRTH

Recently going through our thousands of pictures and video's and reminiscing. Look what we found...

WE ARE HAVING TWINS!!!!!!!

2011-01-09T13:55:00.000-07:00

Yep you read it right! and if you read the entire last blog post you would have already known....I must admit I am equally as guilty for skimming through all the many blogs I follow to get a quick update, as I feel like I have so little time keeping up with Blaze. HA....just wait till the twins arrive...right???? That is exactly what has been going over and over and over in my mind since the day we got our first beta result on Dec. 14th. 561.7, my heart sunk...I have been in this surrogacy world too long to not know what those kind of numbers could mean. Just 9 days later my worst fear and greatest joy would become a reality. Twin separate gestation sacs! We only wanted, hoped, and prayed for one?! WOW...my head was spinning with a million thoughts. Two newborns and an almost 2 year old at the same time. How do we feed 2 babies and a toddler? How do we change 2 babies and a toddler? How do we sooth 2 babies and a toddler? How? How? How? I quickly started referring to all my fellow surrogate friends and blogs of twins just to find out. I am especially going to be checking in on Todd and Alper as they have to be the ultimate pro's with 2 sets of twins just 6 months apart. They have already assured me that we can do it. But like I said when we found out we were pregnant with twins...'God only gives us what we can handle. Well I think maybe God has a little bit more confidence in me then I do!' (that goes for T & A too).

So here are all the specifics as I know many people wanted to know the details:

Many talks between us and between the Docs at SI about a sibling for Blaze over the last 6 months or so. Can we afford it? We better hurry and decide since we aren't getting any younger? We don't want the kids to be too far apart in age? Can we go through the roller coaster of emotions again? We decide its NOW or NEVER and let's just jump in with both feet!!!

After 6 months of searching, Blaze's egg donor is found and the Docs tell us she is willing to do just ONE more cycle. This has to be a sign of fate that we made the right decision.

Nov. 30, 2010 - Our amazing egg donor produces 18 eggs. 14 are mature.

Dec. 2, 2010 - 3 embryos are transferred to FB (our chosen surrogate)

Dec. 14, 2010 - The phone call arrives....POSITIVE PREGNANCY! Beta number 561.7

Dec. 18, 2010 - 2nd beta number 2577.0

Dec. 30, 2010 - Ultra Sound Report is as follows:

           CRL A   6.0 mm - 6 weeks 3 days - cardiac activity well appreciated in this fetus.

           CRL B   6.7 mm - 6 weeks 4 days - cardiac activity well appreciated in this fetus.

           CRL C 1.4mm - Less then 5 weeks - Cardiac activity not appreciated in this pole. :(

3 SAC's???? that's a surprise. All I could think of is...'Thank God we don't have to go through the pain of a selective reduction. Mother nature is taking over.'

And so, here we are. Not just pregnant, but pregnant with TWINS!

I still can't get used to saying that!!! How did WE get lucky enough to get a positive on our first try this time? And all 3 embryo's implant? Are they sure they have the right couple? As many of you are aware that have been following us from the beginning, it took a few practice runs with Blaze before we got a positive. How can this be???!!!

Just awaiting our next big milestone, the 13th week mark. We are more anxious about this pregnancy obviously as twin pregnancies carry a higher risk. We only hope and pray that it goes even half as smoothly as Blaze's pregnancy was.

I have said since day one what a GREAT child Blaze is. Really I know how lucky we are! Great health, great skin, great appetite, great temperament, great sleeper, just GREAT! So...I have always said if we do this again the other child isn't always similar and in many times is the exact opposite. Oh boy! What did I wish for. LOL

Seriously though, we couldn't be happier. It has (and still is) taking some getting used too, the thought of 2 more little ones and the thought that we are even pregnant again, but we truly are feeling blessed....DOUBLY BLESSED!

Our new blog dedicated to our 2 new little angels can be found here: DOUBLY BLESSED IN INDIA. After much thought we have decided to make this blog private, so if you want to follow along with the next journey please let us know.

To everyone out there who is trying and have had negatives or is just starting out...please don't give up, it CAN happen, just look at us and so many others who could truly be the poster children for this crazy journey we call surrogacy in India (right Kerrie ;) )

The Common Denomenator

2011-01-08T00:06:00.000-07:00

So, what do all these people have in common...

John Candy

Celine Dion

Pamela Anderson

Wayne Gretzky

Jim Carry

and Blaze W.

If you guessed that they are all

CANADIANS.... then you'd be correct! Our Blaze received his Canadian Citizenship on November 8th. So we are officially a family of dual Canadian/American citizens.

Well the holidays are over. Just as quick as they came...they left! We had a wonderful Christmas. On New Year eve, both Gerry and I worked, and I also had to work on New Years day. We are not really party animals too much anymore with a toddler in tow, so it didn't really matter.

Blaze is doing incredible. He grows and changes and learns every day. He teaches us so much about being parents. The other night I was watching TV and they showed a baby being burped. It felt like such a lifetime ago now when Blaze was that small. He is now running...yes, I said running all over the place, bare foot or with shoes, once he started there was no looking back. He loves to explore and see new things. He is so very gentle, which I know Neyla appreciates, since he has now dubbed her back, his new chair. She is SO good with him. She lets him do anything and she just looks at us with that 'REALLY guys?!?' look on her face. I cant' say it enough, we sure lucked out with this rescue dog. It was Neyla's first real Christmas with a family and I think she liked it.

Blaze starts survival swim class next week. He has done so well over the past 10 months in parent-tot classes that Coach Bryce says he is more than ready to advance. We are a little disappointed cause we can't get into the water and share it with him, BUT we are proud of our little Michael Phelps.

Gosh he has changed SO much in the last few months it all just seems to roll together. He is getting his top two incisor teeth, which has significantly helped in the chewing department. He still likes to ride the vacuum, but figured out that its a little loud, so whenever the vacuum starts up he puts his hands over his ears like ear muffs.

He signed his first 2 signs last week. 'All done/finished' and 'more'. I got so excited when he did them, I think I scared him to death when I screamed. He is trying very hard to communicate to us. 'Ahhhh' is his favorite word to talk to us or answer any of our questions. He is pointing to what he wants now, which is a huge help, since 'Ahhh' covers just about everything. He says, Ma Ma, Da Da, dog, Pa Pa, Gamma, Nanny, pretty clearly and every now and then will say a new word, but not consistently like the others.

Man of many faces, that's our boy! He loves to furrow his brow and pretend like he is either mad or really thinking hard. Mostly he smiles and is a real charmer with the ladies when he tilts his head and squints his eyes to really reel the girls in. It totally works as they all respond with, 'Ohhhh he is SO cute!'

We also have his first job lined up as soon as he can work... he is going to be the youngest ever Walmart Greeter. He says hi, to every single person (which was not an easy task over the Christmas holidays). Most people say 'hi' back to him, because if they don',t well then he just gets louder and more persistent until they cave. Even then he repeats it over and over to the same person to the point that they end up laughing and walking away, after Gerry or I say, 'Blaze the nice lady already said 'hi' to you five times now.' When someone is leaving, our little man will wave his little hand and blow kisses to them, so darn cute!

We have decided they need to rename the 'Terrible Two's' They need to call it 'here comes the 15 month old with an attitude...look out!' We can't really complain though. We haven't had any all out kicking and screaming temper tantrums...yet! But we are patiently reading and learning how to redirect our little monster who decided that the one time Mommy wore her hair down for family photos was the PERFECT time to take a couple of fist fulls of it and pull with what looked like demonic possession in his eyes. Photographer got a nice shot of that one. SO embarrassing!!! ' No', is not in a toddlers vocabulary. Well, I suppose unless its coming out of their mouth. If not whatever they have in their hand goes hurling across the room at mach speed in an instant, followed by a loud yell. I am convinced though that it is only Mommy that seems to be subject to this devilish treatment as Daddy just has to look at him the wrong way and the bottom lip comes out with a face that would pull on anyone's heart strings. Daddy says Mommy is a 'pushover!' Mommy says she just has to learn to look scarier then Daddy does. As I said...we really can't complain, however its only 16 months in, so Blaze may just be testing us for what's yet to come. I did teach him, 'gentle.' and he usually will take his hand and stoke our faces very softly, unless the devil rears its ugly head.

A great accomplishment at 15 months was Blaze going to bed on his own. We will say...'Its time for bed.' or 'are you ready for bed?' and he immediately walks to his room and waits for us to pick him up and lay him in his crib. Also, if we say, 'Ok time to eat.' he goes over to his highchair and pulls it back from the table and waits for us to pick him up and put him in it. Still, once we put him in bed, then that's it and he is out for the night till around 8 or 9 a.m. My parents didn't believe us till they babysat a few weeks ago and he did it for them too. I think we totally have the smartest 16 month old out there. ;)

He is learning the parts of the body and he loves when Mommy sings, 'head and shoulders, knees and toes...' His very favorite is 'belly-belly-belly.' He giggles and pats his belly. Daddy thought it would be fun to also teach him 'Dinky-dinky-dinky' and yes, he pats that too. Boys will be boys!

We were excited about Christmas this year thinking how much fun Blaze will have tearing all the Christmas wrap off. Not so much....he still had 3 gifts under the tree on boxing day (day after Christmas for all you non-Canadians) He loves his new set of wheels. Spoiled child already has a cool ride at the age of 16 months. Check out his mongoose quad.

So other than Blaze growing like a weed, Not much is going on around here. Life is pretty status quo: work, spending time with Grandma and Papa, trying to loose all that Thanksgiving/Christmas turkey weight, finding out that we are pregnant with twins, etc. etc. Not a whole lot happening.

Happy Holidays from us to you!

2010-12-20T00:24:00.000-07:00

This will be a very, very blessed Christmas for us in SO many ways. We can't wait to see Blaze's face Christmas morning!!!

We have been busy little bees, working, shopping, replacing and fishing out big $$$$ for a new water heater since the old one suddenly decided to burst (right before Christmas, I might add ), getting family photos done (not at all in time for Christmas cards..yes I officially suck), dealing with my TMJ which locked my jaw for 2 days straight and me living on milkshakes, soups and muscle relaxants (gotta love them drugs), spending lots of quality time with Papa and Grandma, doing fun-filled local family outings like the annual Phoenix Zoo Lights and the State Fair. Oh, and did I mention shopping??? Yes, shopping, shopping, shopping for Christmas. So much for another year of 'getting a head start'! One of these years I'll get it right!?

WHEW...last thing on our minds was/is blogging...Sorry folks (however I have been keeping up with everyone else's blog adventures when I get a spare minute or two.)

Well here is a few updated photos of our little guy, who is not just walking, but running all over the place. So much to tell and so little time...I promise more details after the holidays. Until then... A VERY HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON TO ONE AND ALL!!!!!

Just a few of our family shoot...not easy with a 15 month old and a puppy...WHEW!

Still not sure about this guy with the beard???

Keeping warm at night-time Zoo lights.

A FULL day at the State Fair where Blaze:

Rode the little roller coaster

AND...

the huge Ferris-wheel... NO FEAR!!!

Enjoyed the sights with Papa and Grandma,

and met a whole bunch of new furry friends.

One of Blaze's FAVORITE things to do every day...hiding Neyla's food ALL over the house.

Who needs the fair? This ride is awesome!

I LOVE the zoo!!!

0 to 1 year of growth chart done...I know a little crowded.

" How many pennies is that water heater repair man???"

Everyone LOVES Grandma!

Still the happiest little boy in the world!!!

REFLECTION...

2010-11-15T11:32:00.001-07:00

Our blog book arrived the other day. It is a hard cover bound, 400 page packed, beautiful book about BLAZE'S STORY.

I hope and pray someday he will read it with pride. We both share in our love for India and our forever connection we will have with it. We have always been very open and honest about our journey and were one of the first few blogs about surrogacy in India. It was a long and emotional journey filled with major highs and unbelievable lows. In the end we won the battle and reaped the rewards of a precious little Angel born to us almost 15 months ago. I still look at Blaze and cannot believe he is here with us.

While putting all the information into Blaze's blog book I had to review each and every post and comment from the very beginning... April 2008! Seems like a lifetime ago. What started as merely a journal and some FYI info. for others who may be interested in Surrogacy in India, became SO much more:

50,000 plus blog views

Personal emotions and details shared

Thousands of photo were taken

Ultimate joy and heart-wrenching pain

Endless memories we will hold dear to our hearts for a lifetime

Intimate connections made from people all over the world

Friendships were made and friendships were lost along the way

Media coverage: photos, interviews, news clippings and magazine spreads

Helping to create and be a part of an ongoing India surrogacy support forum (certainly giving and taking my punches at that)

Criticism, opposition, and conflict

Support, encouragement, gratitude and love

Infertility is a world filled with crazy passionate emotions, comments are made in the heat of the moment, people are hurt, and clinics are bashed. In the end, no one person or clinic or doctor or hospital is perfect. We read, we research, we become more educated. After all this time and energy is spent, we take a leap of faith hoping and praying that we have made the right choice. The right choice for you and your family, not for anyone else.

Do we have any regrets??? NO! We couldn't change things now anyway. As the saying goes...What does not kill us only makes us stronger. We all learn from our mistakes, failures and experiences. This is who we are...love us or hate us, in the end we have ultimately changed others lives with sharing our story. We weren't the very first couple to have done this, and we won't be the last. We took a chance and we succeeded.

We are forever indebted to all the people in India, including our Doctors who had any part in giving us our greatest gift, our son. We will continue to sing their praises and remain proud of how we overcame our infertility challenges with their help. Our story is unique, but not so uncommon anymore. We have never been ashamed or embarrassed to share our story and experiences with anyone, we have tried to help others with their own personal journey's, as we knew how foreign and unfamiliar this territory was when we began. We only wish at that time, we had so many others to pave the way for us. We did this voluntarily, and contrary to others opinions we have never received so much as a dime. As crazy as others have called us for advertising our story, we felt like we had found hope when all else had failed. We had won our own personal lottery.

We remain in constant contact with the incredible people who made our dreams come true...Blaze's Godparents, Dr. Sudhir and Dr. Yashodhara the owners of our Mumbai clinic, Surrogacy India and our amazing surrogate KT. From day one we were blessed with a positive and fulfilling view of India and all its beauty and culture. To this day both Doctors continue to thank us for believing in them and say we are apart of co-founding Surrogacy India and their dream to make babies possible. We created a friendship, a bond, for life with our Doctors for what we have shared with them, we now consider them family. We were their first international clients. We were thrilled to have taken a leap of faith and found in them, an incredible, affordable and manageable solution to our dreams of having a family. We were over the moon, we wanted to shout from the highest roof tops that our prayers had been answered. We wanted everyone to know there were other options, and so we shared this gift with others in hopes that they too would experience the joy of fulfilling their dreams. What a wonderful feeling it is to have someone tell you, that 'because of you opening up and sharing your story and experiences, their dreams have come true', both from IP's and from our Doctors. To now, be one couple of many who are a referral for our Doctors, for their superb treatment of us, our surrogates and our son throughout our entire journey, was the least we could do for them, as they gave us the ultimate payoff, our greatest reward of all... our beautiful and perfect child, Blaze.

We hope that our pride will be shared by our son. He may not announce it to the world that he is an IVF child born in India via egg donor and a gestational surrogate, and that's perfectly okay with us, it will certainly be his choice to share all or nothing. But we do hope and pray that he personally embraces his conception, origin and common bond and love for India as we both have. We still consider India a second home to us, and we will return with Blaze when he is old enough to understand and hopefully enjoy and join in our pride of this amazing country.

To each and every person who has shared in, learned from, followed along or lurked from afar in our journey from day one or even just today, we thank you for being there. They weren't all happy times, but they were ours. Good, bad and indifferent times, we are forever changed because of you.

Happy Halloween...a little late!

2010-11-03T13:06:00.000-07:00

Mommy's little Caveman, complete with brown glitter eye shadow (aka dirt) on his sweet little face! I know, I know...he is going to have something to say about that when he grows up, but I had no other 'dirt looking' non-sparkling eye shadow. OH WELL, I will suffer with the future consequences, just because he looked SO DARN CUTE!!! Not a bad hand-made costume (with a little help from very multi-talented Grandma) from my not-so-crafty self which also included his Bam Bam Caveman bat.

WE WON...WE WON...WE WON!!!!!

2010-09-30T10:30:00.000-07:00

What????? We NEVER and do I mean NEVER win anything! What an amazing surprise to get this email. I am still in shock. All I can say is Thanks ever so much to Becky and Ashley from '2 Moms Talk' and the creators of Cutest Blog on the Blog. They are both so talented. We can't wait to get Blaze's book together. What an awesome keepsake for him for many, many years to come!

We SO want to win...

2010-09-27T22:03:00.000-07:00

What timing do I have???? Just stumbled upon this blog from my friend Danielle's blog list and low and behold, its what we are trying to do...

The contest is from the makers of Cutest Blog on the Block (where I got our blog template). Keep your fingers crossed for us to be chosen to win. It would really mean a lot to help us out with this book which we discovered will be over 400 pages at this point. WHEW, we have been busy bees for the last 2 years. I will let you know the outcome later in the week.

A YEAR IN REVIEW

2010-09-15T21:33:00.001-07:00

So much has happened in the blink of an eye. Just one short year ago our Angel came into our lives and it would be forever changed. Here is just a few of the highlights that have brought us so much happiness with Blaze in our world:

Our very first real image of our Angel - 19 weeks old

Just Born - August 26th, 2009 10:22 pm

Mommy & Daddy's greatest gift from God...Blaze's Birth Day.

2 days old and stealing everyone's hearts

Welcome Home! Meeting big sister Frankie - 1st month

First time in our swimming in my pool - 1 Month Old

Welcome Home! -1 Month Old

First visitors from Canada (Aunt Tracy and cousins Micaela & Megan) - 1 Month Old

First trip to the Grand Canyon - 1 Month Old

Meeting Grandma & Papa for the first time - 2 Months Old

First Happy Halloween - 2 Months Old

Sleeping thru the night - 2 Months Old

First giggles - 3 Months Old

Started Stage 1 baby foods - 3 Months Old

Love looking in the Mirror - 3 Months Old

First Thanksgiving (So much to give thanks for) - 3 Months Old

Merry Christmas! Blaze's first Christmas - 4 Months Old

Just so cute we had to add another First Christmas photo - 4 Months Old

Standing tall with help - 5 Months Old

Started Stage 2 Baby food - 5 Months Old

No more swaddler (AKA straight jacket) - 5 Months Old

Starting Swimming Lessons - 5 1/2 Months Old

Using a sippy cup like a big boy - 6 Months Old

New fur sister Neyla - 6 Months Old

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling - 7 Months Old

Found his feet - 7 Months Old

Sitting up by himself - 8 Months Old

First Tooth - 8 Months Old

First Fishing Trip - 8 Months Old

Started Stage 3 Baby Foods - 8 Months Old

Taking steps with help - 9 Months Old

Starting to crawl - 10 Months Old

Said 'DaDa' (your first word) - 10 Months Old

Pulling self up and standing - 10 Months Old

No more Formula - Whole Milk for the big boy - 11 Months Old

Graduates to big boy bath - 11 Months Old

First Haircut - 11 Months Old

Time Flies - 1 Year Old

One year already?????

2010-09-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

UGH!!!!! Can't time just stop and our little boy stay just like he is for a few more years, months, even days? He is changing each and every day and I don't want my little man to grow up. Daddy on the other hand, well he wants him big enough to wear a tool belt to help him out around the house. He brings such joy to our lives, we can't remember what life was even like without him and we wonder what we did with all of our spare time. There is so much to tell and so little time...we have decided that after this post we are going to get the blog bound into a book for Blaze to have when he is older. It is one way to explain those difficult 'how he came about' questions. We will continue to blog to keep our friends and family updated as Blaze grows, but as he grows he is getting into more and more, leaving less and less time on the computer, so the days of weekly blog posts are LONG gone.

Anyhoo...back to the post. We traveled north to Canada for Blaze's 1st birthday. We did a red-eye on the way there so we could sleep through it, which worked out great for Blaze who slept most of the flight. Mommy and Daddy on other hand not so much. Turns out our little fella (who has always slept independently from his travel bed in India, to his pack-n-play in our bedroom to his crib very soon after arriving home) is a real mover and a shaker. Every little kick or twitch, Mommy was awake checking to see he was still safely asleep on her lap. It was SO worth it.

Blaze had a little bit of jet-lag for a day or so, but quickly adjusted. Keeping nap schedules and meal times was not so successful, but he was a real trooper and adjusted perfectly. After all, he was a world traveler and all at the young age of 3 weeks old. Grandma and Papa met us at the Buffalo airport with big smiles and lots of hugs and kisses. It had been almost 5 months since they had seen Blaze (minus Skype) and boy what a big difference that can make.

We all had a fabulous fun-filled week in Niagara Falls. Spent lots of time with family and caught up with old friends who now have kids of their own. Even got to see my old college roommate Angela and meet her 2 kids. Blaze got to meet his Uncle Keith (my brother), Aunt Cheryl and 2 cousins Lauren (9yrs) and Jesse (7yrs). What fun he had with his cousins and them with him. The house was filled with giggles and laughter.

Fun at the Park

Daily walks with Papa and Grandma

Fun with Lauren and Jesse

Uncle Keith is so silly...

Spoiled little boy Blaze who turned 1 on Thursday, had a cake and small celebration with Mommy, Daddy, Grandma and Papa at home and then had more cake and fun up in Kitchener at Uncle Keith's.

Who are these crazy people and what are we wearing on their heads???

No explanation necessary...

For me???

What is with all this singing???

Another one???

The biggest and most special surprise of the day was a phone call from our dear Doctors in India (aka Blaze's Godparents). It brought tears of joy to my eyes to hear their voices and think back to one year ago this day how they made all of our dreams come true.

Then Saturday was the planned celebration at my Uncle Buck's (yes I actually have an Uncle Buck- long before John Candy was Uncle Buck). We had neighbors, friends, and family for an afternoon filled with barbecued food, swimming and yes another cake. I still think Blaze is a little confused with all that singing to him and stuff?!?

That would be #3!!

He learned so many new and exciting things in Canada. The most comical, being that Blaze is not a fan of grass! Yes that's right, I suppose the lack of it here in Arizona meant he didn't really get to experience it until he hit the great white north. We all had a great laugh about it, well...minus Blaze. Not sure if he was scared or uncertain or uncomfortable, but it definitely is not on his 'likes' list.

HMMMMM??!!

Nope...Don't like it, can I get up now Daddy?

Blaze is learning every day. He now will give things to us, rather then throwing them from his highchair to the floor, but we have to say 'Thank you' and give it back. Its a game for him, but less clean up and mess for us. He is fine tuning his motor skills with using his finger tips to touch and grasp and feel things. Has learned to clean up his toys and put them in his basket and put the rings on the stack-able ring toy. His favorite game is Peek-a-boo and it never gets old. Whether it is with the shower curtain in his tub, or with his bib or the toddler tent Mommy picked up the other day (best $5.00 of fun I have ever spent!) it always gets the biggest belly laughs.

He has also learned to take everything in his crib and throw it on the floor.

He has now added, "Hi!"routinely to his vocabulary and will repeat words occasionally, making us oh so proud. He is still trying to add in the hand wave with it, but can't get it just yet. Like a typical boy he is full of noises. He loves to hear himself talk and make lots of crazy vocal noises.

Blaze continues to crawl all over the place, but still not on his hands and knees, he prefers to walk up on his hands and feet (the 'crab crawl') and boy can he make a lot of ground this way. He just boogies around the house getting into everything he can. He is SO close to walking, but just won't take that next step to let go long enough to go on his own. He will stand on his own, only when he is not aware of it and can do it for minutes at a time till he either realizes he isn't hanging on to anything OR loses his balance and falls back on his bum.

We transitioned him to whole milk at about 11 months and it went off without a hitch, you would never know we changed except for the big savings in cash from not having to buy any more formula. He will drink the milk warm or cold. He loves fruit juices and really thinks he is a 'big boy' when we let him drink out of our big person cups. He gets this beautiful grin and makes this evil little laugh. The more he laughs, we laugh and it becomes quite the scene when we are out at restaurants. Sour drinks are his favorite and he makes the funniest sour faces but keeps coming back for more.

Even with just 7 little teeth, Blaze is eating a lot more table food, Grandma's mashed potatoes and mandarin oranges are on his favorites list and we still have yet (knock on wood) to find any foods he doesn't like or that don't like him. Hopefully this will mean he won't be a picky eater in years to come. He has outgrown his frequent gagging with eating, just like his Doctor said.

His 1 year check-up with Dr.Gentile went great! Two shots in one leg, a couple of tears and then all smiles and laughter like his usual self. He is not quite 20 lbs yet (19.7 lbs to be exact), and 30 inches tall. Still remaining our tall and lean little fella. We see such a big difference in size with other kids his age and got a little worried he may be too thin (even though Daddy feeds him like he is about to have his last meal with every meal). But Doc assured us Blaze is perfectly healthy in every way. He sure has saved me on buying clothes with still fitting in some of his 3-6 mths shorts. Daddy likes to buy him 12 months, but I say he looks like a homeless kid, with his clothes hanging off of him. He is still cute as a button though, big clothes and all.

Swimming continues to be one of his favorite activities. Unfortunately with my new work schedule (I changed jobs to a specialty hospital 7 minutes from home doing 12 hour day shifts 3 days/ week), I miss some classes. He kicks and paddles under water and even swims up to the stairs and pushes himself up and holds on all by himself. He has no fear of the water and learns every day. He is now sitting and standing on the edge and jumping into our arms.

Bath time continues to be a favorite of Blazes. Now when we turn the bath water on he squeals and crawls as fast as he can to the bathroom and gets up on the little stool and screams some more just waiting for us to put him in the tub.

August was a month of many firsts for Blaze!

We had Blaze's first professional photos done (Jeph DeLorme Studio) in early August so we could bring them home to Canada with us. We finally got to put on his traditional Indian outfit we bought when he was born. Blaze was the perfect little model, minus the constant crawling toward the man with the bright flash, which in the end left us with lots of action photos, but just a few poses to pick from.

Blaze had his first haircut. My beautician and good friend Amanda was kind enough to fit him in with Mommy's appointment and he had a little trim. We managed to keep a few pieces of hair although there wasn't much for a keepsake.

Blaze's first train ride (for little people) at the local McCormick railroad park.

His first 'feed the giraffe' experience (with a little help from Mommy) at the Tucson Zoo.

He had his first taste of dog food out of Neyla's toy that challenges her to keep her busy. Not such a challenge for Blaze who got the kibbles out and proceeded to go directly into his mouth. That toy has now been part of the house proofing plan. Not to mention he found Neyla's waterer which caused one of his first few bruises.

He has learned how to dance. Not just with Mommy holding him, but now while he stands and holds on to things he bounces up and down to the music and moves his head back and forth.

Blaze is now cleaning up his own toys. He will put them into the basket and look at us for approval where we have to follow with a, "YAY!" or "Good boy!"

He just gets cuter and cuter by the day, not just in looks, but he has such a beautiful personality. Everywhere we go he gets lots of "He is so cute!" comments. Probably because he wants EVERYONE to hold him, from the ladies at the airport counter to the store clerks, to pretty much anyone who will take him when he leans in for them too.

I sometimes wonder how it is possible to love someone as much as I love Blaze. My heart bursts with joy every time I see him and hold him and hear him giggle. He is truly my world and I cherish every single moment I have with him. I can't understand people wanting time away from their children. I wish I had more time with my little man. Can you blame me??? Look at that adorable face.

Yummy lip smacking apple sauce Dec.2009

2010-08-10T20:35:00.002-07:00

An oldie but a goodie!!!! Time sure flies, our baby boy is almost 1 year old... (insert sad face)

Summer Time Fun!!!!!!

2010-07-23T21:59:00.000-07:00

Blaze and Daddy enjoying the pool. Blaze truly has no fear of the water and is getting to be quite the little swimmer. Look out Micheal Phelps!!!

Time flies...

2010-07-11T22:04:00.005-07:00

We are right around the corner to Blaze's first Birthday! We have booked our flights to visit Papa and Grandma in Niagara Falls. Grandma is so excited...she thought she was going to have to wait until mid-October to see her little sunshine again. It should be such a nice trip. I know they will barely recognize Blaze. He has grown leaps and bounds since early April when they last saw him. Skype is great, but it just doesn't match the feeling of being together in person. Then we will plan our next trip later in the year, which will be to visit Gerry's Mom and his daughters Jessica and her family and Kristin in Nova Scotia.

I thought that it felt like I had no time to update the blog before, but now...forget it!!! Blaze is crawling all over the place and getting into everything. We can't take our eyes off of him.

Under my jumperoo

Some have suggested a gated-in play area or playpen, but I don't want to restrict him. He has so much fun exploring and if it means that I have to spend every single minute with him, well then so much for blogging and everything else. This only happens once and I want to remember and experience every single minute of it. I work all day and it leaves such limited time together, so home equals Blaze and family time. Hence the reason I am writing this while he is sleeping and its Saturday night and I don't have to get up at 450am for work.

I keep telling myself I will just do some short blog posts with photos, but that doesn't happen either and not to mention that almost a month ago our computer decided to die, SO no pictures to access. Its been a busy month and a half with Blaze growing, our stove dying and needing to be fixed (certainly not from over use for those who know me), computer dying and needing to be replaced, Mommy turning 40 (and having a mini-meltdown about that), Daddy and Blaze's first Fathers Day and even his first 4th of July fireworks show, and those are just major events.

Watching the fireworks intently

Like I mentioned earlier, Blaze is crawling all over the place. When he hits the tile he gets up on his hands and feet and does a crab crawl. He really moves fast like that too.

We have started covering outlets and moving all the low breakables and are going to be purchasing gates very soon. He hasn't officially found Neyla's doggy door...YET, but we are keeping a very, very close eye on him. He is pulling himself up to stand and as soon as he started to crawl he would crawl to us and pull himself up for us to walk him all over the house.

He didn't take long to figure out how to pull himself up in his crib and thus it currently looks like a beaver has attacked it. He has chewed from one side to the other, and Oh so proud of himself. We quickly lowered the crib that day. Not that it has stopped the chewing, but hopefully a tumble over the top!

He flips and turns and kicks on his change table and is almost too tall for it. Its like Wrestle Mania IV trying to put a diaper on him.

He loves Neyla's big bed and will crawl over and join her in it!

Can I trade beds?

He likes pulling himself up on his jumperoo and playing on the outside of it. He is definitely giving Neyla a run for her money. He has found her tail and figured out her fur is easy to grab. Neyla is so awesome. We are so proud of our little rescue dog. She takes it all like a champ and when she has had enough just gets up and walks off.

He is trying all sorts of new foods and drinks. Fried, mashed and sweet potatoes, spaghetti, wieners, scrambled eggs, crackers, grilled cheese, lots of fresh fruits and veggies and even slow-melt Popsicles. He has a very sensitive gag reflex so we have to watch or he will gag and spit up some of his food. But it doesn't phase him much. He does pretty good with his 4 little teeth. He is picking bit-sized foods up and getting them into his mouth consistently, that took a little bit of practice. And of course, he still does great with his sippy cup.

My very favorite accomplishment happened just the other day. After 2 months of saying DaDa, he finally clearly said MaMa! It was so amazing! Well that, and also that he gives us kisses on the lips when we ask. Open mouth kisses, but they are SO darn cute!

He continues to be such a happy, happy kiddo! He is learning the word, 'No'. And is pretty consistent about stopping when we say it in a stern voice. He thinks about it first though. We can't help but giggle at him. He is so mischievous and very stubborn. I am convinced he gets those traits from his Daddy.

He is such a people person. He loves seeing his Nanny when she has been away for a few days and loves people watching and smiling and hamming it up. He loves women and loves looking at himself in the mirror (what a typical boy). He is full of smiles when we take him out and people stop to comment on his happy nature and adorable smile. He will go to anyone who wants to hold him and he just stares very intently checking out their entire face then will laugh and cuddle once he figures they are safe. His smile lights up a room and its from ear to ear. You can't help but smile when he does. We just love him to bits!

He continues to sleep through the night and we try really hard to ensure he gets 2 good naps during the day, but Blaze doesn't always like to cooperate fully and then its early to bed that night. We learned a valuable parenting lesson about only putting a diaper on for a nap. We had come in from a family swim and decided to just dry Blaze off and put a diaper on since he was pretty exhausted. After a while I heard him playing and decided to go in and check on him only to find him buck naked with his diaper at the other end of the crib, and all smiles. He is such a stinker. Thankfully I didn't have any messes to clean up.

Blaze's 9 month check up went great! Even better for him since he actually made it out without getting poked with needles. The Doc said he is still lean and that's okay since he burns so much energy, constantly jumping and moving. He is now 18.5 lbs and 28.5 inches long.

He officially graduated to the "'big boy bath" a month or so ago. We bought an Elmo mat and a Sesame Street blow up bumper that goes around the whole tub. He loves being able to move and crawl and lay back.

Swimming class continues weekly and Blaze is SO relaxed and calm in the water. Coach Bryce gets such a kick out of him in class.

We take him out back in our pool as often as possible and he loves it!

We have certainly gotten our money's worth out of our annual Zoo pass and make frequent visits.

Blaze and Blaze the goat!

Blaze had his first huge play date right here at home. We invited our friends that we haven't seen in so long. Our fellow India surrogate friends Sarah, John and baby Savannah (the old woman of the group, already over a year old),

Our fellow local blogger friends, Bobby, Greg and baby Sabrina (just had her first birthday)

and Gerry's ex-coworker and our dear friends, Chantelle, Cyndi and baby Xander (the baby of the group already 6 months old).

It was a day full of food and fun. We swam and played and just caught up on so much. All the kids swam and it was great to see all the little smiling, giggling faces in the pool. Some for their first time in a pool and others old pros at swimming.

Now THAT was a party!!!

We have finally starting completing the finishing touches on the nursery. I covered these plain white letters with animal prints and now that we have recovered all of our photos from the old laptop, I can work on his growth chart. I am going to put little framed photos next to his various heights.

We did some spring cleaning of Blaze's closet and clothes, and packed away everything from clothes, to shoes, to hats. This, believe it or not is just newborn to 3 months. He still fits his 6 months clothes.

Well hopefully that gives you a little insight into what has been happening in the life of our little man, our beautiful boy, our MIRACLE.

A Trip to the Zoo!

2010-05-30T23:23:00.002-07:00

It was Memorial Weekend and so we decided to take a family trip to the Phoenix Zoo. Since it is so close to where we live and very kid friendly, we decided to get an annual pass for the whole family to enjoy. So we set out in the 105 degree heat, packed with LOTS of sun screen, baby hats and plenty of cold drinks. When you live in Arizona, you have to be prepared when you venture outside in the heat during the summer. Well, it was SOOOOO much fun! Blaze actually looked at all of the animals and smiled and watched intently as they moved around in their enclosures. He really enjoyed the petting zoo and the goats, getting up close and personal with them. There will be so much more for him to do in the years to come, a spray ground water play area, lots of educational programs, even being able to ride your bikes through the zoo grounds, and so much more. Blaze got to enjoy his first snow cone, and even tiny bits of Mommy's chicken fingers and fries. What a great day!

Watching the fish and turtles

Just hanging out

Enjoying the petting zoo and my new friends

My First Carousel Ride

Everyone likes my portable highchair...Me too!!!

My 1st Memorial Day outfit, it only lasted until lunch

A tired boy

A Very Special First Mother's Day

2010-05-25T21:37:00.004-07:00

I know this post is WAY overdue! But, when it comes to spending time with the love of my life or updating the blog...my little man ALWAYS wins out! Sorry for those who follow, but time is precious and I don't want to miss a moment.

What can I say???? Blaze is growing leaps and bounds and we swear he changes by the minute, although he is still tall and skinny. We continue to count our blessings EACH and EVERY day and thank God, our awesome doctors, Dr.Sudhir and Dr.Yash, and the whole Surrogacy India team, for the amazing little boy that they have blessed us with. He is so perfect in every way. A beautiful, happy, healthy little boy. How lucky can two people be?

Gerry made my first official Mother's Day so very special. He had to work at the fire station on the actual day, so we celebrated the day before, Just family! We played by the pool and Gerry cooked a very special supper of crab, lobster and steak, all of my favorites, and oh so yummy! To top off my wonderful day, Gerry and Blaze gave me a new camera, and 2 hand made poster boards filled with so many beautiful pictures of Blaze and I. There were beautiful pictures starting from the very first time I saw him on the monitor at 19 weeks in-utero, right up until the present. It brought a flood of tears and emotion to me. The thoughtfulness and hard work he put into it for me was so touching. I have the very BEST husband!

Blaze and I spent the actual Mother's Day Sunday together with lots and lots of "Mommy and me time". We again spent most of the day enjoying the beautiful weather and played in the pool and laughed and giggled. At one point I just stared at him and cried with tears of joy for the very special gift I had on Mother's Day, my beautiful miracle, my Blaze.

We recently took our first family get-away up North to our favorite cabins in Pinetop, AZ. It was a wonderful weekend of relaxation, walking, feeding the ducks, fishing, sitting by the fire, taking in beautiful scenery, and going out in the boat. Neyla loved the great outdoors with so many new and exciting areas to sniff and explore. Blaze loved to sit by the window of our log cabin and look out over the lake as the sun set. And Mommy and Daddy enjoyed some quiet family time at night just relaxing by the roaring fire in the fireplace.

Blaze seems to be changing every day. From all of the new skills he is learning to the new sounds and faces he is making. We love to watch him grow, and Gerry and I sit and reminisce all the time about how just a few years ago we only were able to dream that we would be doing this very thing! It is truly amazing. The gift of Motherhood is the very best thing in life I could have ever hoped and dreamed for.

Some Stuff That Has Recently Happened In The Life Of Blaze Xennon

Our little man is sitting up nice and straight on his own now and loves to sit and play on the floor with all of his toys. Neyla loves to take this opportunity to give her brother some nice wet kisses, and Blaze just giggles and smiles. He grabs at everything he can reach and what he can't reach he definitely tries very hard to get.

OOPS, Daddy forgot my new shopping cart cover!

He likes to play a game of peek-a-boo with his bib. He pulls it up over his face and when he peeks out we say 'peek-a -boo' and he smiles and giggles and then just repeats it over and over. Every time we say 'boo', no matter what he is doing, we get a huge smile and a giggle.

His top teeth are coming through now. His 2nd bottom tooth came in 2 weeks after his1st, so he now has such a beautiful toothy smile. He is having a bit more difficultly with these big front top teeth and has had a stuffy, runny nose, but thankfully no fever. Poor little fella. We got him a tooth brush that he holds himself and he really enjoys sucking and chewing on it after we give those few teeth a quick cleaning.

His swimming lessons are going great. He has been dubbed the class's "Star Pupil", and received his first ribbon. The instructor Brice, uses Blaze, since he is so easy going and relaxed in the water, to show all of the new parents the different exercises that he does in class to teach the children.

Blaze also loves going in our own pool at home and he sure enjoys just floating around in his floaty for hours. He is mesmerized by the water fall in our pool, and just loves it when we take him over by it and let the water splash down on him.

He has been eating Stage 3 foods for the last month and a half with no problems, and is now even eating with us at the table. He recently had his first cooked meal of carrots and mashed potatoes, which he just loved. He also recently tried eggs too, and he seemed to like them, even though he made a few funny faces while eating them. He is such a big boy now that he has his own bowls and spoons. He has found a new favorite for snack time, it's Gerber Puffs. He especially likes the Sweet Potato flavored ones. We have discovered though that he is not a fan of the flavor of the tomato paste in the bottles of baby food. I guess that we will have to make our own and see if he likes that.

Apples and Pears...MMMMM!

He continues to be a great sleeper and has continued to sleep through the night as he has done since being only 2 months old, lucky us! I definitely believe that the secret is to keep him in a routine. Our routine has been to eat supper around 5 pm, then have some playtime and cuddle time, and sometimes a stroll around the neighborhood. Then it's bath time around 7 pm, with lots of kicking and splashing.

We then try to wind down a bit. One of his favorite things to do is lay across Daddy's lap and we play a few videos of him on the computer. He just stares intently at the screen and smiles. Then it's bottle time. Sometimes he will drink quite a bit, 9 to 11 ounces. And sometimes he will only drink a bit, 4 or 5 ounces. When he doesn't drink a lot, we then give him a bowl of cereal, which he really loves and eats right up, and it gets him to drink his milk without him even knowing it! Then we give him lots and lots of kisses and put him in his crib, where he will fall asleep on his own. With our routine for Blaze, it also includes 2 long naps during the day, one in the morning after play time and one mid-day, about an hour after eating lunch.

Yep, I actually sleep like this??!!

Blaze has also learned to mimic us. If we slap the water or our knee with our hand, he does it too. If we hit our own hand like a clap (give us 5), he will do that too. And when we talk to him, he tries to talk to us back. He recently said his first word, and wouldn't you know it, it was "DaDa", Darn it, Mommy lost that one!

Well, that hopefully brings our followers up to speed on whats been happening in the life of our little guy. We will try to update our Blog a bit more frequently. We have Blaze's 9 month doctor's appointment coming up very soon, and we are both so excited to see how he has grown. And as the 100 degree temperatures have already hit us here in Arizona, I'm sure a lot of our time will be spent cooling off in the pool.

And more random cuteness:

We are going to have our hands full...

2010-04-19T21:32:00.002-07:00

Yep, not only just because we have a 7 and 1/2 month old, but Blaze is definitely ALL boy! He is already wanting to get into everything and he isn't even crawling yet. He does the belly flop, leg shaking rolling all over thing, but has not yet put it all together to crawl.

Trying to figure this crawling thing out!

He gets stronger by the day and it seems he is all muscle. His long legs are so defined, he could be the youngest body builder...okay maybe not that defined, but he certainly has NO fat on them. He gets his workouts in his jumperoo (SO happy we got that, thanks Papa and Grandma). We think he might even just skip the crawling thing all together and start walking. He loves to stand and actually prefers it, compared to laying down, so we shall see.

Up to no good!

Got it!

Little Devil

Blaze is now the star of swim class with 2 new members his age just starting out. The Mommies are very impressed with his skills. He even kicks and swims when he goes under water. There is even a little girl who seemed to be flirting a little, but Blaze was all business (and maybe cause he is already got his girlfriend lined up in Maryland, who he will forgive for getting fresh with Noah since she is away in India and Dr.Yash was being bad!)

Big news the other day!!! Blaze cut his first tooth! Yahoo!!! A big milestone since he has been drooling incessantly and biting on everything for months. Our nanny, Yessie noticed it on Friday and told me right away when I got home from work. Sure enough when I checked, there was just the hint of a sharp edge popping through his bottom gum.

Poor attempt at a tooth shot...Not as easy as it looks!

So far so good. No crankiness or crying! Whew! Still his happy-go-lucky self. Have I said how lucky we are? We have been blessed with an exceptionally happy, sleeping, eating baby and I am thankful for that everyday. I know the sleepless, difficult almost horror stories of some new parents and we realize every day, just how lucky we are. Makes us a little nervous to try this all again... would we be so lucky the second time around???

Papa and Grandma are gone for the summer and its quiet around here. Daddy is off very busy between work and the military and so its just the 3 of us most weekends. Which, stinks for Daddy but gives Mommy lots of time to bond with her little guy. This past weekend he has had some great scheduled naps during the day which Dr. G had mentioned would be a good idea on our 6month check up. Up until now we haven't had any issues so we just let him play till he falls asleep and then naps for 30 minutes or so a few times during the day. Now I see he gets sleep around 10:00ish and so I lay him in his crib and turn the mobile on (something he has now learned to do himself- such a smart boy) and he falls asleep within 15 minutes and sleeps for 2 hours. I do the same between 2 and 3:00pm and so far it is working great for all of us! Sometimes Mommy even gets to take the occasional nap too.

Our wireless connection for our computer is down and so we haven't been able to keep up like we would have liked with Skype, email, etc. UGH!!!! It's amazing how much we depend on computers when they are down (bills, email, updates, etc.) As least we can hook it up! For the first week we couldn't even get it turned on.

Last but certainly not least we need to Congratulate 2 dear SI couples who we have been following since the very beginning of their journeys. Greg and Rob welcomed beautiful sweet Addison Claire into the world (Blaze's future bride) and Johnny and Darren their handsome little guy, Noah Robert (Blaze may just have to have a word with him). Both couples are in Mumbai and enjoying the camaraderie of each other and quite a few other couples. We are so very happy for all of them.

We can't help but get such an amazing feeling every time a couple gets a positive pregnancy or a little one is born with SI. We feel a little part of each and everyone of them, for being the first International couple to pave the way for SI. I guess that is one of the reasons why to this day we maintain such a close relationship with both Dr.Sudhir and Dr.Yash. It was so much more then just a business deal from day one when we first started our journey. We trusted and believed in them before any other and they never let us down. We are so proud of the success they have created and know it couldn't happen to 2 nicer people.

Happy Easter to me! WHAT no chocolate???

Silly boy!

I love Elmo!

Just for Rob and Greg! LOL

Mommy having more fun in the tub!

Not scared anymore Grandma!

Innocence at its best!

Best Friends!

Lean, Mean Swimming Machine!

2010-04-03T22:15:00.006-07:00

Wow, 7 months already! I can't believe our little man is already more than 1/2 a year old. It still seems like yesterday when Dr.Soni placed him in my arms for the first time, just minutes after he was born.

I still look at him every day and can't believe he is here. We hoped and prayed for so long, that it all still seems so surreal. He is my sweet little angel and I thank God every day for making our dreams come true. I prayed and hoped to be a Mommy for SO long, but never imagined it would be this amazing!

At the park with Daddy

Blaze continues to be a little cutie. We are so blessed. He had his 6 month appointment earlier this month and Dr. Gentile was so surprised to see how much Blaze has grown. He was all smiles for the Doctor and got a thorough check-up to which the Doc replied, "he is very lean and tall." Only 16 lbs (25 percentile) now, but a long 27.5 inches tall (74 percentile). The good thing is that I bought a ton of 3-6 months clothes for the summer thinking her could have worn them year round here in Arizona, but we have had an unseasonably cold winter and hasn't got to wear many outfits. He still fits into most of the outfits with the exception of his sleepers that won't fit his length. WHEW!!!! So no obsessive baby clothes buying for me for a while.

Just like my Daddy

He is changing SO much. And getting so active. He is doing GREAT in his swim classes.

He is so chilled out and just goes along with the program. The only dilemma is that our class is early evening and Blaze fights the urge to fall asleep while he is chilling out during class. We dive him under and Coach Bryce swims him over to us. He swims up and holds on to the edge of the pool to grab his toy of choice. He loves to float on his back and even dives from the edge of the pool with a little help from us.

Best dressed swimmer in the pool

He loves the water and is a real natural in the water. He is kicking under the water and loves to visit Papa and Grandma's heated pool and squeal and scream for all the old folks who just smile with delight.

Fun at Papa and Grandma's big pool

He is my precious angel. My boss is complaining and now wants me to be more 'flexible'. I look into Blaze's eyes and say. Hell NO! He is my world and I won't do it. I took this position because my previous position required so much of my time and energy. I won't compromise! This happens once in a life time and I can't repeat any of it so I am not going to miss one moment to work extra hours and be stressed out over "just a job!"

Sporting a Mohawk in the tub

He continues to eat like a champ! He just loves all of his stage 2 foods. We like Earth's Best and Gerber. A while back I started giving him his Sassy teething feeder and I put frozen banana's and mandarin oranges, apples and pears into it and he sucks the mesh dry. Messy for sure, but he loves it!

MMM..oranges!

He is like a toddler with his sippy cup, he holds it by the handles himself and drinks away, stops, then drinks some more...he absolutely loves all of the Gerber juices, especially white grape and apple.

His DVD player in the truck has been a true Godsend. Blaze wasn't a huge fan of being a passenger, riding backwards, but now barely makes a peep when his favorite DVD's are on. As soon as we turn it on, his eyes light up. He chats with Elmo and loves to watch the kids on his Baby Signing Time DVD.

He is a true jumping machine in his Jumperoo. It took a bit of time to get the hang of it, but now he will spend an hour at a time just jumping and playing and squealing with delight.

My favorite toy Mortimer Moose from my big sister Jessica and nephew Aiden.

He is sitting in his Bebe Pod chair really well and now loves to grab his feet and suck his toes.

And in the tub too...

He loves sticking his tongue out and blowing and spraying us with spit. He is happy almost all of the time and his smile will light up a room. His giggle is contagious and we can't help but smile and laugh along with him.

His manual dexterity is really improving. He reaches and grasps items and of course pretty much everything goes straight to his mouth.

He loves chatting on the phone, well more just listening intently and smiling to the voices on the other end, is another favorite.

He rolls and rolls and rolls when he is playing on his mat and when in his crib. We check in on him before we head off to bed and he is usually on his belly and knees with his butt up in the air. He starts out at one end of the crib and ends up at the other end upside down. This made me decide to put breathable bumper pads up, since we found him one too many times with his legs through the crib rails.Our little man is till sleeping through the night (we are SO lucky!). One of his favorite things he still loves to do is stand up tall with very little help from Mommy and Daddy.

UMMM...some assistance here folks!

The mirror never hesitates to get a smile! He loves to see the baby looking and smiling back at him.

A few weeks back we picked up a Baby Bjorn Active carrier from Craigslist. He really likes it and so do Mommy and Daddy. We can't wait for our first trip to the Phoenix Zoo to really try it out.

Neyla is now in school, well she started in dog training classes last week and she is doing great too! The trainer comes to our home and does one-on-one training. The trainer told us that our Neyla girl is going to be a fast learner, and after only a couple of classes she has already picked up 'sit', 'come' and 'stay.' We look forward to working on 'park it' in the next couple of weeks. We have already seen a huge difference in her and its great!

Well, it's that time of year again...Papa and Grandma head back up to the great white north and leave us for another 5 and a 1/2 months. We are all very sad, Grandma especially! She has become very attached to her newest little Grandson and we all know how much he will change in the coming months. We will be keeping in touch through Skype and be sure to save tons of hugs and kisses for them when they return in October.

Bye, Bye Papa and Grandma we sure will miss you!

Like Father, like Son

2010-03-14T15:46:00.003-07:00

Everyone has been saying how much Blaze looks more and more like Gerry, so I pulled out some old photo's (compliments of Grammie Wile):

Daddy

Blaze...

You be the judge?!

So this is just a quickie post for now. I know, I have so much to catch up on, but time is not being kind to me these days.

Gerry has been away for the last 2 weeks on a rescue training course in San Angelo, TX and he finally returns on Friday. So, I am trying to hold down the fort here at home until he returns. I am learning to have a lot of respect for single Mom's.

We missed celebrating Gerry's birthday yesterday as a family, but will definitely do so when he returns. So if you are reading this Daddy...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE, YOUR LITTLE BUDDY, BLAZE AND NEYLA GIRL!!! WE LOVE AND MISS YOU.

Blaze is doing great! 6 months and counting already, and getting taller and cuter by the day. We are busy with swim classes and a new puppy in the family and work and getting ready for the summer, etc. etc. etc. Here are a few photo updates of our little angel until next time...

I love bath time!

Meeting my newest friend Cooper.

Starting him early...

First swim class

Cool Dude!

Using my sippy cup all by myself! I am such a big boy.

Already starting with the cell phone...we are in real trouble!

Styling

Blueberries...MMMMMM!

OH, maybe not such a great idea!

I love my Grandma!

What a beautiful Angel, if I do say so myself!

This thing tires a guy out!

And I couldn't forget our newest family member, Neyla NOT letting me make the bed!

Our newest family member...

2010-02-28T18:24:00.005-07:00

NO not another child...just yet! One is certainly enough at this point. We spontaneously went out and got a fur baby 3 weeks ago, a rescue dog. We called her Neyla (which means 'fulfilled wish').

We adopted her a week before Valentine's Day from a 'no kill' dog farm here in Scottsdale. She was on the 'E' list when Carrie rescued her just 2 weeks before we got her. I found her on the Humane Society website and we decided on a whim to go and see her. Honestly, had we not chose her before we got there, we definitely would have after. She had the greatest tempermant of all the pups. We wheeled the stroller in and Neyla immediately came over and sniffed Blaze. I placed his little hand on the edge of the stroller and she leaned over and gave him a few licks then sat very purposefully next to him. In that moment she became ours!!! She even laid on my feet as I completed the paperwork to bring her home with us.

Neyla is a one year old, tri-color (white, gray and black) blue merle Catahoula Leopard Dog with ice blue eyes. Our Frankie girl was the same breed and so we thought we couldn't go wrong. And we were right...she has fit right into our little family and she will be a great companion for Blaze in the years to come. She is full of puppy energy and loves to sneak things away with her... like our shoes, Blaze's socks and pretty much anything else she can get her teeth on. So far we have had only 2 casualties, my work shoes (it was time for a new pair anyway) and one of Blaze's little stuffed toys. Not too bad for a pound puppy.

From the moment we got her home she made it her home too and within hours was curled up on the couch asleep. She sleeps in the bed between us every night and greets us with a big smile (yes a smile, she lifts her lip and shows her front teeth when she is really excited). She used her doggy door right away and seems to really enjoy her big backyard...certainly no farm, but she doesn't have to share with anyone else. She is such a joy to have around. Our home just wasn't the same since we lost our 4-legged Frankie girl in August. Neyla has so many similarities as Frankie (Gerry says she may just be Frankie reincarnated), but she also has a very different personality in many ways too. She has helped to fill that void that has been sadly missing in our home since Frankie passed. She certainly has not replaced our Frankie girl, but she is a wonderful addition to our little family.

We even took her into our local groomer and got her a pedicure (well just a cut and grinding no polish). She is learning to walk well on a leash and next month we are taking her to a personal trainer here in Mesa to get her some real doggy training. So much is new to her...the back seat of the truck, the vacuum, the pet store, etc. It is fun watching her explore her new surroundings. She has already figured out that if she nudges her electronic feeder with her nose she gets a little treat. We can't put anything past her. Even our wonderful Nanny is loving having her around during the day while we are at work. Grandma and Papa took an immediate liking to her too, who wouldn't??? She is a real sweetheart.

Now, if I can just keep her away from my shoes...