We Are Half Way! SHE is Well On Her Way To Join Us!

This past week Lady Hiva's pregnancy passed it's 20th week mark! That means she is more than halfway through her pregnancy. That is longer than 3 siblings have made it in their pregnancy terms. By the end of next week the baby will have passed another sibling--the only two who made it farther was Vaitafe at 28 weeks and Tau'aho at 39 weeks (which was a miracle...one that we would love to be repeated).

For the most part, Lady Hiva's pregnancy has gone well. She did have a 'scare' a few weeks ago but we were so happy that when we rushed into the hospital it was determined that she had just done too much and re-agitated the stitches from the cerclage. We had prepared ourselves for the worst news so this was welcomed information. Since then she has been taking it easy. Much to her horror, I bought her a wheelchair that we take everywhere with us. I push her and Lucky Dragon sits on her lap. It has been good. It beats staying in the house. Since then, we have been pregnancy drama free! We hope to keep it that way.

Our next milestone we look forward to is 24 weeks when the medical world starts to view the baby as viable outside of the mother. We know very well that we want the baby to make it at least to 30 weeks, but one milestone at a time!

We found out at the visit this week that we are having a GIRL! Lady Hiva and I are happy to have any gender, it is more important to have a baby that is healthy. Although if this is the last pregnancy Lady Hiva will have, it will be fun to have a girl and a boy. However, none of our baby girls have made it far enough to live. We shall see. We have plenty friends and family offering prayers, positive thoughts and cheers for us and we are so thankful.

We told Lucky Dragon that we were having a girl. For the last several weeks we have talked about whether it was going to be a girl or boy. For a long time he seemed ambivalent to the whole situation. Yet, this last week he started to say he wanted a boy. When Lady Hiva told him that the baby was a girl he paused then angrily said, "I SAID A BOY!" and turned away to not talk to us for several minutes.

He has since come around to the idea and is seeming happy. I guess it is good we have several more months to get him used to the idea! haha.

Now we know we are having a girl, it is hard to not be excited. For a long time we were almost treating it like a medical issue that you just face the facts. It is a protection to the emotions that we have felt so many times. We even went to choose some material to make some quilts. I finished two quilt tops in  two days. That was fun to do. I like having a reason to be creative. Although, I had given Lady Hiva a shot--something I have to do weekly to keep her hormones high in hopes it will trick her body into not going into labor as it normally does. She was nervous about this at first, but is resigned to the fact now! haha.

I had just given her a shot and was making her a rice heat pack. I needed some more rice and went to pull it off the top shelf of the pantry that lines our dining room. I forgot all about the ceiling fan and when I stood on the chair the fan hit me twice and cut my bald head open twice! It hurt so bad and when I stepped down Lady Hiva gasped at the blood. So on I went sewing dabbing the running blood with paper towels every once in awhile...haha.(pictures withheld due to gruesome nature...)

So here we are going into some unpredictable time during a pregnancy! Thank you all for your contributions and support. We will keep you posted.

Weekend of Witches

As you all know there are not many things Lady Hiva and I disagree on, one of those things is her love for Halloween. I just can't quite share her fervor for the gory holiday. One year, when she was on bed rest with one of her pregnancies, she asked me to get some Halloween decorations for the house. I came home with what she terms "Autumn Decor" not Halloween! haha. We have come to a truce over the years. My love for Christmas will not fully take over our lives until after 31 OCT (that being said, I was singing Christmas Carols in the car the other day with Lucky Dragon) and she will not decorate with skulls or anything gory. Seems to work so far.

This weekend she went into full Halloween mode. We bought stuff for her to do some crafty decor and then the highlight of the weekend was going to Gardner Village, a place we love anyway, for the first day of their "Witches." From now until Halloween all the shops take on a Halloween theme and sell items to help people like Lady Hiva on their quest to Halloween greatness!

Buying Fruit from the Farmer's Market

We had fun seeing all of the autumn decorations up and looking for all of the witch statues staged throughout the complex depicting many forms of witch activities. Some were playing baseball, one was jumping off a diving board, they were dancing, hula-hooping, brewing in a caldron and playing on their organ. Lucky Dragon loved watching for them and announcing when we found one.

We saw all of the Halloween decorations for sale and for display. You would have thought that these two people with me were in heaven. Lady Hiva found a fun witch hat that she loved (actually she found several, but we only bought one. She also saw several costumes that she liked, but there were really expensive.

That is when my creative thought process began. I told her I could make her one. So we went to the material store on the way home and bought the colors she liked.

This is how the outfit began...this and an idea in my head

This is my pattern...straight out of my head..haha

Four hours later the costume was complete! It is not perfect and it was hard to design it so she can wear it pregnant and also after she is not pregnant any more. It was fun to make. So she is all ready for Halloween. Tau'aho insists that he be Harry Potter--we have most of his costume ready. And he keeps telling us that I have to be Snape...hmmm...I guess that's who I'll be then. Not my first choice, but boss #2 has spoken hahaha!

Making the skirt

He was so interested

Finished product from the front

Finished Product from the back

Skirt from the front

I made her try on the outfit so I could see how it looked...

Showing off her 20 week bump!

A Visit to the State Fair

A tradition in the United States is to have a county then state fair during the late summer and early autumn time of the year. This year we decided that we would go check out the Utah State Fair. Of course Lady Hiva was in her wheelchair (graciously, even though she does not like not being in control) and Lucky Dragon rides on her lap.

Our first stop were the rides at the carnival that was the center of the fairgrounds. Now, when we were younger we were not allowed to ride these rides--forbidden by Madre for safety reasons. There was one time that I was with a friend and his mom let us ride...I distinctly remember my friend and I wedging our skinny selves against the side of a cart trying not to fly out when the seat bar was not secure enough for us to stay in. I knew then that I would never ride another carnival ride.

Until a little Lucky Dragon comes along...that is.

But Tau'aho was excited to ride. So against all just judgement we bought tickets and he and I rode rides while I put Lady Hiva in the shade to watch. At least one of the family was safe after all. We rode the Ferris wheel and several other rides together. At first he rode a few kid rides by himself and loved every moment of it! Our little adrenaline junky. I was wedged between walls of kid rides with my knees up to my chin and wincing with every jerk! haha Unlike normal when I am loving the joy of the thrill, I was instead counting down the moment until we were done and I could stretch again!

Riding the Ferris Wheel

 We went to see the circus that we put on too. There were some amazing feats that the performers did. The only animals were some well trained dogs but the tightrope walkers and clowns were fun to watch. We even had front row seating because they were the only seats available with wheelchair access.

In the end we visited the craft exhibits and the animals--saw some of the largest sheep I have every seen! It was fun to see the FFA exhibit that allowed the children to pick apples and learn how our food makes it from the farm to our tables. He picked apples, planted seeds, fed the pigs and milked the cow.

So we have continued the tradition and been to the fair! It was fun and we made it safely too.

Learning how bees make honey

Learning where sunflower seeds come from (something he loves)