And the name is . . .

So after many weeks of looking, praying, asking for feedback from our little boy in the belly we have picked a name.

Drumroll please!

Making his first appearance in July is . . . our son Eli Graham Fisher!

You will have to take our new poll on his hair color. Also, just as an FYI the "Days Left" on the poll is set to our due date of July 22nd. It's a countdown - 90 days left!

My Little Ewok

The pictures don't do it justice, but I dropped our dog off at the groomer as a small yorkie and picked up an ewok!

Tawny has horrible skin allergies so after months of trying different medications and perscription shampoo we thought we would try a short haircut. Here are the pictures:

The groomer also gave her a new nickname "Chubby Bear". I don't think she likes it!

Twitter rant - Tweet this

I don't know about you but I feel like I am being bombarded with talk about Twitter the last couple of weeks. If I hear another news anchor say he "tweeted" or the Today show talk about "tweeting" I will break something. I even get in on ESPN on how Shaq twitters at half time - maybe he should have focused on trying to make the playoffs.

I read about Twitter a year ago in a magazine and did not understand it. I still don't. It is an over-glorified text message that all of your followers see. What is the fascination with telling everyone what you are doing? And why do people care? And I really can't stand it when I have to hear on the news or the internet that a celebrity tweeted a heart-felt message for casualties to a country they have never heard of. They want people to think they really care; why don't they do something or send money instead of tweeting.

Tweet is not even a real word. The only things that should tweet are little birdies and Michael Jackson when he is singing Rocking Robin. Ohh and by the way Megan Joy (American Idol), what in the world were you thinking when you decided to choose that song to sing. Good riddance.

On Twitter's website, these are the reasons Why you would use Twitter. My response in red.
* Eating soup? Research shows that moms want to know. I strongly doubt my mother wants to know what I am eating at all times.
* Running late to a meeting? Your co–workers might find that useful. If you are my co-worker and you think you can send a Twitter message cause you are running late and you won't call me. Go ahead and turn around because I don't want you at the meeting. And start looking for a new job.
* Partying? Your friends may want to join you. If I wanted you to come I would call and invite you. If I am already at a party and then twitter you that I am here then I never wanted you to come in the first place - it is a half-hearted attempt to make you feel like you were invited.

Sorry about my mind dump and the internal dialogue going on in my head. I would open a twitter account and tweet about this but I would be limited to 144 characters

- Brent

Growth Spurt!

Now that I finally have a true baby bump I thought I would share pictures on how it all started.

I can't believe that we are more than half-way through the pregnancy. These last few weeks have been really fun as we found out "it" was a "HE", feeling more movement and seeing movement from the outside. I will have to say the first time I saw Baby Fish move in my belly was freaky. A really special moment was the first time Brent was able to feel the baby kick. He even responded with a kick when Brent said "Hello"!

Time just seems to be flying by and I'm sure it will go by even more quickly once Baby Fish is here. We are a little behind on our baby project plan. We might have to put in a few change orders and extensions :)

How is all started . . .

8 Week Sonogram

11 Weeks

15 Weeks

17 Weeks

20 Weeks

23 Weeks - (Currently)

Babymoon

MAUI

We recently got back from an awesome vacation in Maui. It was our last vacation before we enter the world of parenting and true responsibility. This will be a long post, but it was such an amazing place I want to tell as much as possible.

First Class
Our flight was upgraded to First Class by my boss as a token of his appreciation for all the work I have done and "not acting pregnant and complaining". You have to know him to appreciate his sense of humor. We had to call 24 hours in advance to upgrade so we crossed our fingers both trips to make sure seats would be available. You can get spoiled in First Class -- free food and drinks, leg room, flight attendants that are pleasant, etc.

Arrival/Departure
As we are driving to our condo, taking in all the landscape, we see all these cars pulled off to the side of the road. Well, we did too and saw a mother whale and its calf. We actually saw whales 2 -3 times daily everyday.

On the last day we left Maui at 10:20pm. When booking the flight it seemed like that was the best idea so we would have full day. We should have known we were in trouble because 1. we never stayed up past 9:30 during our stay 2. The highway streetlights are few and far apart 3. It was our last day so we woke up early to fit in as much as possible. Brent was asleep on the plane before it even took off.

Beaches
The beaches are amazing. You will see white, black and golden sand beaches. You can also lounge, snorkel and bodyboard at all beaches. I have never been to a place that offers so much at one place. Most of the beaches I have gone to you can only lounge or bodyboard but not both. The other amazing thing is the clarity of the water. It was crystal clear. I could see the legs of the people wading in the water when a wave would pick them up.

Ocean Life

Brent and I snorkeled at 3 different beaches on our own and saw colorful fish, sea turtles and untouched corral. Often times snorkeling you would feel like you were right on top of the coral only to swim away and see it was 10 feet below.

The sea turtle I saw had roughly a 3-foot shell. We followed him for 15 minutes as he swam through the coral, surfaced for air and laid at the bottom of the ocean. It was so neat. Brent later saw an even bigger turtle after I returned to the beach. Like I mentioned above we also saw whales every morning from our balcony and then occasionally as we were hanging out at the beach. Our underwater camera did not do justice to the color of the fish or how big the turtles are.

Food
Maui is a place for seafood and fresh fruit. Brent and I went to the grocery store and bought items for breakfast and lunch, but I will have to admit that you can only eat so many ham sandwiches before you need a change. There were also times at dinner that we were just too tired to go out. We ate Domino's one night :)

Below is a picture of an item I ordered at Mama's Fish House. I guess I didn't understand when the waiter said "It's a small fish, so we serve it whole". I was thinking both fillets, but what a surprise! And yes, I did eat it!

Luau
The Luau was a really fun experience. We were welcome with fresh leis and tropical drinks. They cut my lei as a Hawaiian tradition for women that are pregnant. We saw the buried pig unearthed. It was good, but somewhat gross to watch them take it out of the ground. It reminded you that what you are eating was once an animal.

The hula dancers were amazing! I think the women's hips are not connected to their torso. The guys were great too.

Activities
There is so much to do in Maui! I highly suggest getting the book Maui Revealed by Robert Doughty. We found lots of hiking trails and side excursions for beaches, look-outs and food that we would have missed without the book. A few pictures below are from the Nakele Blowhole, Olivine Pools and Hana.

BodyBoarding
Brent was brave enough to body board with some of the locals on Kaanapali Beach. The waves were about 12-15 feet high so I stayed back to video tape. Two demolished body boards later, we have a few good videos and pics.

There are a ton more pictures and stories to tell, but if you can find a good deal to go to Hawaii like we did . . . GO! It is the most beautiful place I have ever been.

It's a baby . . .

We have had an amazing 2 weeks. Not only did we take a vacation of a lifetime we also found out the gender of our baby.

WE ARE HAVING A LITTLE BOY!

We went to the doctor's office on Friday for our 20 week sonogram and visit. Brent and I saw the head, femur, spine, ribs, hands and feet, heart, stomach and kidneys. It was amazing to see all the body parts fully formed. The spine was the most amazing visual of the little body inside.

At first, our baby was not cooperating and the technician had to push him around to get in the right position. Then he moved and it was a VERY clear picture that we are having a boy. It makes this whole process even more real to now be able to refer to the baby as "he". Now we start our next challenge of naming our son.

Here is a picture of me at 20 weeks:

We will update the blog soon with details of our Hawaii trip.

My Husband the Engineer

If you don't know, Brent is a very analytical and logical person. No major purchase is made without extensive research and Excel spreadsheets. This is a great quality to have because I always know we have made the best decision. I personally would just pick the TV that looks the best.

So, when I came home from work today below is what Brent has created:

(Click on the picture to make it larger)

This is a project plan preparing for our baby. Has anyone ever seen anything like this! ! ! I hope we don't come in over budget and over hours.