Sacramento Visit ... (Part 2)

On Friday 5/27, we got a special treat... we were invited to Heidi & Jeremy's house, and were able to meet her children, some of Heidi's siblings, her Mom, and some of their Neighbors and their children.   We had an afternoon BBQ at their house... it was very relaxing and fun - well, for us anyway!  How terrible are we that we sat back and watched H & J, and their friends and family whip up a meal for us!  I guess we will have to pay  them back when they come to Arizona sometime!  We had a lot of fun meeting everyone.  As I wrote to Heidi later, it's not surprising that such wonderful people like they are would be surrounded by great people.  We've known all along that we were blessed with being matched with Heidi & Jeremy; now we were able to witness first hand some of their awesome local support system, and the love and laughter that is in their house.  Our little ones are SO lucky to be growing in such a great environment. 

During the evening H & J's kids, and the Neighbor Kids were running around, playing and having a great time, and Sid and I exchanged more than a few glances wondering "are we ready for this"... "Ready" is subjective, and we are working on that as much as we can, but "Willing" - the answer of course is "YES!".  All of the love, caring and compassion that came from all of these wonderful people (Big and Small) was overwhelming, and we can't wait to add to it and begin to shape our little Beans' lives!

Here are a few pictues of our afternoon... beginning with our Favorite !

Aaron felt a movement... Sid missed out this time

This can't be a pregnant womans favorite thing... but Heidi was really Sweet

The Kid's opening presents from Sid and Aaron

I think Sid was wanting to play with the toys as much as the boys...

Here is a shot with all of the Kids together... see the baby in the background?

They were all SOO much fun to meet and spend the afternoon and evening with!

This was during Wii "Just Dance"

Star Wars was definitely the theme of the Day!

She is still Smiling (and Standing!)

These people are so wonderful!

First visit to Sacramento ... (part 1)

Sid and I flew up to Sacramento on Wednesday 5/25 for a scheduled 20-week ultrasound on Thursday 5/26 with Heidi and the "Gang".   We got in late Wednesday, and even later by the time we grabbed a bite and checked into the hotel. 

On Thursday, we were able to sleep in a bit, get Starbucks, and do some shopping for gifts for Heidi's children.   Sid was on a mission, and we found the best presents... Star Wars toys and T-Shirts, and a Wii game.  The toys were LightSabers (One Green, one Blue) that actually light up and make sounds.   Who knew that Star Wars would be so popular so many years later?? 

We met up with Heidi, (who is looking as beautiful as ever by the way), and had some lunch, then off to the Level-2 Ultrasound at UC Davis Med Center in Sacramento.  Once we finally found where we were supposed to be (we seem to be directionally challenged when we are all together, lol)... We checked in (more insurance confusion)... and off to the "Closet" that the Ultrasound Tech's work in.   I guess they don't always expect as many people as we had (Heidi, Jeremy, Sid and Aaron), so it was cramped quarters.   For anyone thats ever been through a Level-2 Ultrasound... wow... it's detailed - measurements are taken of all of the extremeties of the baby, as well as the overall length, face, etc.  Then repeat twice over.   The whole process took 2 1/2 hours, and Heidi was such a trooper.  She was being poked and prodded, from both sides of her belly.  She did so great!

The short story, and most important thing, is that all babies are doing GREAT... They are VERY active.  Our little Baby C even peed while the Ultrasound was going on - thats how long it took!  There was a bit of a concern on the 15-week ultrasound, but thankfully this time the areas they were watching were cleared up.  All looks good!  Fingers Crossed!   Next Ultrasound in 4 weeks !

Here are some pictures from this round of Ultrasound...

Baby "A" - Our 1st Daughter at 20 weeks 

Baby "B" - Our Son at 20 weeks

Baby "C" - Our 2nd Daughter at 20 weeks

Quick Update- 20 week ultrasound is now complete. It took 2 1/2 hours! All three babies are doing great and very active! Baby C peed on camera! Still at 2 girls and 1 boy!! Will post some pics soon!

May 25, 2011 - Pics from "Down Under"... Getting Crowded !

Here is the latest "sneak peek". More to come soon!  Babies are doing well and VERY active according to Heidi. We will be visiting them this week. Can't wait to feel them moving!

Bootcamp for New Dads

On Saturday May 21st, Sid and I attended a "Bootcamp for New Dads" put on by the local hospital.  It was fun and interesting.   While we got a lot from the instructor, we maybe got even more "real life" information from the "Veteran Dads" that were there with their children.  One Father had 7 1/2 month old Twins, one boy and one Girl;  Another Father brought his 12-week-old Son.   It was interesting hearing some of the differences between the Singleton versus the Twins ... as you can expect, Sid and I hads LOTS of questions for Twin Dad.  However, it was really cool just watching both Dad's interact with their children - they were holding, feeding, diapering and playing with the children.  During the 3 hour course, each of the children took a nap (even the 12 year old son of Twin Dad that was there to assist), but the Twin Boy was the winner, with three naps in as many hours.   Twin Dad said that the Twin Daughter was clearly more advanced, and learned faster (ok Women, rub it in... Men are slower than women, etc... haha).   We also heard that Breastmilk is a wonderful "Cure-all" for all kinds of things, from skin rashes to Pink Eye... who would have thought!  I guess it makes sense, as human breastmilk is really the one and only food produced 100% solely for human consumption!   Anyway, the course was a little light on structure and info, but just "open discussion" among all the guys there was really interesting (No Girls over 2 feet tall were allowed!). 

Making Room for Babies...

A whole room full of "stuff" going to Goodwill to make room for the little ones.  We have to step it up because I think the incoming stuff is going to outpace the outgoing stuff really soon! 

Aaron's new project!! A blog is born!

Aaron Hard at work trying to get the formatting on the blog all lined up...

By Popular Demand...

Sid and I are so happy everyone is enjoying the Blog so far.  We have to give thanks to Heidi (well, for obvious reasons...) because she makes blogging look so easy, and its been so great to follow her blog as a Surrogate mother, so we got the bug from her.   She didn't tell us how hard it was to get started though!

Anyway... as the title says "by popular demand"... While everyone has been excited to see pic's of Heidi, what we always get questions about is "when are you going to post pictures of the ultrasound"... so here are a few...   Hope you enjoy !

This picture is of "the gang", marked A (Girl), B (Boy), and C (Girl)

Baby A - Our Daughter!  Just Relaxing after a hard day!

Here is Baby B... our Baby Boy showing us some "digits"

Here is a picture of Baby C - aka "Houdini" the disappearing baby.  This was when she made her "comeback" debut... She actually WAVED at the camera (different shot that didn't scan too well)

The Best SurroMamma in the world..hard at work

Heidi @ 18.4 weeks... Getting closer every week!

We're Registered... Let the Shopping Begin !

(it was a process, let us tell you... 4 hours!)

Web Link... Click here!

Search using either Aaron Bell or Sid Cuecha ... or...
Registry # 46916147

Happy Shopping !!  ;-)

Belly Pics !! Wow... this really is going to happen !

Our Wonderful "Oven" at work...

Heidi & the babies... about 12 weeks

 (pic by Ty - 4 years old)

 

Heidi & the babies... about 15 weeks

(pic by Aaron - 6 years old)

Heidi & the babies... about 16 1/2 weeks

(pic by Jeremy - 32 years old)