Happy Conception Day Archer!

 Today marks the fourth year since Archer was conceived. First time's a charm! Boy do I love that Boy and his Daddies!

I'm Humbled...

Be thou humble in thy weakness, and the Lord thy God shall lead thee, shall lead thee by the hand and give thee answers to thy prayers.

Mike Turns 35!

For Mike's Birthday we went roller skating and had sparklers on his yummy cake Ashley made! Happy Birthday Sweetheart! You are a wonderful Daddy and Husband.

 

Our Family Dynamics...

Are Ever Changing...

So to update everyone on our family I will start youngest to oldest....Again...

Ezekiel age 4 is starting preschool, loves trains and riding bikes as well as swimming and his big Sister Ashley. Zeke thinks everything is funny and loves to make everyone around him laugh. I love my little man.

Marley age 5 is starting Kindergarten, loves sports, swimming and snuggling with his Mama. Marley loves to make silly faces like his Daddy and play pretend animals with his big Sister Violet. I love my big little man.

Violet age 9 is starting Fourth Grade in the Fall, loves swimming, playing with her friends and doing art projects. Violet just finished reading Charlotte's Web and is super excited about reading. I'm so happy about that. 

 

Ashley age 17 is starting her Senior Year in the Fall, loves music, chocolate, boys (grrrrr) her baby brother Zeke and cooking. Ashley is helpful around the house and I'm so happy she is home.

Brittani age 20 is living and working in Utah. Mike got to see her recently and says she is doing great! I miss my girl and love her very much.

 

 

Archer Turns 3!

I love you.

P.F. Changs Rock and Roll...

Half Marathon Completed! 13.1 miles...Ya baby!

Hello!

Face of Birth extras - My Say - Michel Odent

What's Going Down In Wittville?

Since January our life has changed in so many amazing ways. I'm going to try an summarize the changes for you here...
Starting with Ezekiel who will be 4 in October... Zeke is doing very well in preschool learning numbers, colors etc. He loves to ride his Strider bike and sometimes scares me with how fast he can go. He has also learned to ride his regular bike with no training wheels! My big little boy is growing so fast and is so smart! Zeke loves to swim and dig in the dirt, he enjoys Otter pops and rock-n-roll music. His best friend is Sammy who he loves to play cars with. Ezekiel is all about his Daddy and wrestling, working on motorcycles together and helping him anyway he can. Zeke also like helping in the kitchen when meals are being made. He also loves to pick flowers for me and tell me I'm pretty! He is a wonderful part of our family and we love him so much!


I figure youngest to oldest will work...
Marley who will be 5 in December is loving his Mario Brothers on the old school Nintendo and totally awesome at one, two and three! He also really enjoys his Strider bike from Uncle Mark as well as riding his regular bike without training wheels! Marley's best friend is Mason and they enjoy jumping on the trampoline and playing dress up together. Its nice to have great friends for my kids. Marley has started Kindergarten in home school and he loves his teacher Haley as well as his learning buddy Gretchen. Those two are just so sweet together...sigh...the other day Marley says to me "Mom you don't have to put the life jacket on Gretchen to swim because I'm here to keep her safe." Oh my how sweet he is. Marley is all about getting people to play the Nintendo with him or work on his home school Kindergarten. Marley is the tender heart of the family and is always thinking of thoughtful things to do for others.


And then there is sweet Violet who is 8 years old and starting home school third grade! I let her pick this year if she wanted to go back to AZ Charter and she wanted to stay home with Haley as her teacher. So far those girls are rockin the school year. Violets best friends are Esther, Lizzy and Mona Lynn. They enjoy girls nights together and play dates to the pool etc. Violet is still an excellent artist and enjoys making cards for others, especially when I go to a birth. Violet loves swimming, listening to her mp3 player and dancing in the living room.


Everyone Needs A Haley: To bad there is only one like mine!
Haley is the best Nanny ever! Really!
I cannot express how blessed I am to have Haley living with our family and helping us get through the day to day stuff while I work on my Midwives Apprenticeship. She is so easy going and willing to do whatever needs to be done. I feel peaceful when I leave my children with her that they are safe and happy. My children love her! I like that she does not take any crap from them and can still have fun with them. Haley is so smart I call her the human encyclopedia, I love to listen to her talk about the writing she is doing and also her perspective on life. I could not ask for more. Everyone needs a Haley, but sorry, you can't have mine!


Looks like I am next since I'm not the oldest...hehehe...
I have been steady working on my Apprenticeship at A Blessed Beginning under Pamela Qualls, LM. I could not be more pleased with my experience thus far. I am on call 24 hrs a day so I must constantly be aware of the location of my phone so I don't miss any calls from Pam. Its funny sometimes she will call me for non birth related things but even then my adrenaline starts pumping the second I hear her special ringer. Yes you could say I'm a "Birth Junkie". I am learning something new all the time between my book studies and hands on training. The more I do the more I fall in love with this line of work. I keep extra busy doing prenatals, births and postpartum visits as well as student and midwife meetings. I never find myself dreading any of it even when I have to hold my eyes open after being up for 24 hours at a time. I am sufficiently in love with my professional life right now. Pam gives me a pretty steady flow of childbirth class participants and that helps with a little extra income. I am finding the more I follow my strong intuition the better things go for my family and my clients.
Speaking of intuition I am studying yoga with a very special friend of mine two times a week and then as an individual another four days a week. Since I started this practice I am slowly beginning to work through all my well, "junk" for lack of better words. My spirit feels lighter and my mind more clear after each session. I am very blessed to have my Jerrie, she is a shining star in my life.


I recently trained for and ran a Half Marathon with my Mama and feel very accomplished for having done so. I am currently training for the PF Chang Rock and Roll in January I'm super excited about running this with my family and friends.


I also just after the 13.1 miles had the hardware removed from my left ankle that I got put in after my fall while pregnant with Archer. The surgery some how brought back allot of my emotions about my surrogacy journey and helped me to process some of those tougher emotions, if that makes any sense to any of you.


My older brother Neal and his family just moved to AZ about an hour from me so this makes me super happy!

I love spending time with my children "chillin" in the not so hot tub and snuggling them to sleep. I am so blessed to have my family.


On to Mike! The hard working graduated mechanic is working and living in Utah for the time being. Yes its very hard. I cannot express how difficult things are here in AZ without him. We are trying to make the most responsible decisions for our family even if they are hard to make. I hope he gets to visit home very soon, we all miss him very much.


Last but not least Uncle Keith! He has a great job driving truck and today he passed his physical which gives him the health clearance to continue driving for the next year. He seems happy with how things are going and I'm happy that he is happy. We love having him around when he drives through town.


Okay, that is the latest update, I'm sure some things got left out...ah well. Until next time....


Love,

That Was Easy...

Click me Mother...

Half Way To FULL!

My Mama is rocking the pavement with her awesome new hobby! I'm so proud of you my cute Mama! Go check out her blog to see how many miles she has run now! You can do everything you put your mind to! I love you!

And So It Begins...

As I embark on my Midwives Apprenticeship I am finally at peace with where the energy of the world has placed me for my education. Although nervous about the unknown I am anticipating a challenge unlike any I have ever encountered prior to this. I think about the sleep deprivation and the breaking points this will bring. I wonder what will be my first life changing challenge and how I will deal with said challenge? Will I be bright enough to grasp each concept and level enough to carry them out? Will I be connected enough to my intuition and the Spirit to follow its lead? I have great anticipation to be a part of the beauty that is birth and the love that surrounds this sacred rite of passage. I look forward to discovering the best and the worst of myself. I've heard that the path to becoming a Midwife does just that. In some ways I see it being as emotionally challenging as surrogacy. I am up for this challenge. I look forward to all I will learn and am grateful for those I will learn from. I'm truly blessed.
Becoming a Midwife is my hearts desire, what I am determined to be. I am meant to be here. now. following my dream.

Happy New Year

With a New Year comes new goals. I am looking forward to a fresh start this year. Many changes and advances are in store for my family and I. My heart is full of joy, I am thankful for all I have. I am thankful for my family, especially Mike who works day and night to support our family. God blessed me with a hard working talented husband who makes me happy, with children who are the light of my life and a Mother who lifts me up and loves me endlessly.
This year I will be throwing myself into Midwifery so I don't see a visit to Utah in the near future although Mike is planning one without me. I have placed all my ducks in a row by getting a live in nanny, placing Violet in a charter school...yes school... which she is enjoying. I'm glad she is having fun. She often comes home to tell me how she already knows what they learned that day. Yes, this makes me feel good that I kept her right on track. She is so bright in Math, I'm proud of my little girl. I've let go of several other responsibilities in order to focus and accomplish my goal of becoming a midwife in 3 or less years. Attending birth gives me a baby fix and so no need to get pregnant. Must focus and stay not pregnant.
So Happy New Year. :)

Go Mom Go!



My Mom ran her first six miles yesterday. Her dedication to training for the marathon is impressive. She placed 4th in her age group :) Who looks happy when running? My Mom does! Go Mom Go!

Never To Young For Your First Motorized Vehicle

Archer had a fun filled Christmas with lots of joy and love. I love you.



Christmas 2010

We were so blessed this season by many who gave our children and us very kind gifts. We also had a very special visit from Grandma and Grandpa Monson, they planned several special activities like making chocolate covered pretzels and more. We are grateful for all their thoughtful efforts to make this Christmas a success. Over all a beautiful Holiday with lots of love and cheer! I did not take as many photos as I would have liked but here are some of the kids in all their Christmas Joy. Enjoy!

Career Progress Update for Mike and Alicia

I will start with Mike. He had been working at a boat place that made plenty of promises to provide the work and comfortable income that we would need to support our family but they just did not come through with them. Mike was getting very little hours and they did not give him the raise after 30 days as promised. So, Mike quit his job on Tuesday and drove around to every well know custom chopper building shop in the valley hoping to find a job opening. Although several were interested none were hiring, he then proceeded to ask each shop who does their paint jobs as he is an excellent painter and a talented artist. From every single one of the eight shops he visited, he received the same answer "Steel Visions Design". So as the Universe was pointing him to Steel Visions he found their location and asked if they were hiring. They in fact were! They said they had two other guys coming to interview that day in about two hours. Mike asked for a hands on interview offering to show them what he's made of for FREE! Well, as with most people you can't pass up some FREE labor so they agreed. They let him choose between body working a fender or a gas tank he choose the fender and they left him alone to work telling him he had the rest of the day to finish. About an hour into his work they came to check on his progress. He had both parts going, working on each one as the other one dried (Mike says this only makes sense not to sit around during dry time.) They were very surprised by his progress and ambition. He got done in one hour what they expected him to take the rest of the day on. So they canceled the other interviews and had him fill out paperwork on the spot. The company was also very excited about his pending graduation from MMI since he knows how to disassemble and reassemble the bikes for paint and send them out the door within specs. They did not have someone with the capability to get the bike running again after paint. They would outsource to other mechanics for this. They also did not have someone who can fabricate fiberglass parts and Mike is great at this. So, overall both parties are thrilled, Mike so much that he has not slept for two nights. So he was up bright and early this morning getting ready for work. A happy husband makes for a happy wife. Yep I'm bragging about my Man, but I can do that because he is mine. God really does answer prayers.  Happiness.



Click the graphic to see their website :)

My Apprenticeship is a slow progression and although I am doing it I still have not decided on whether or not this practice is the match for me. I have some other prospective considerations that I will be looking into but for now I will continue with where I'm at till I am sure of what direction my education will take.
Hooray for following our dreams.



The Christmas Love

I really think he could be the happiest boy on the planet! So handsome :) Look at all those teeth! Merry Christmas Archer! I hope all your Christmas dreams come true! Surrogacy really is a blessing, no doubt about that.



The Apprenticeship Begins...

After declining the opportunity to work with the practice whom I interviewed with earlier they contacted me again and asked for me to reconsider. I agreed on a three month trial basis to establish whether or not we are a good match. I'm looking forward to the exciting things I will be learning. So I'm reserved but happy about my educational progress. Also considering a educational trip to CASA in El Paso, TX along the Rio Grande with Juarez, Mexico across the way. Or Haiti with Mama Baby Haiti (Depending on the Cholera Outbreak status and the WHO recommendations for service workers.)
Included for your viewing enjoyment a home water birth, ahhhh. I love birth.
(Not Graphic) This Mama did awesome.