Update On The Twins...

Today Meg and I went to our second ultrasound to get some good shots of the twins.



Top view of their heads.



Nice shot of one of the twins. I think the other twin's leg is above.






Distinctive male shot on twin A.



Distinctive male shot on twin B.


That's right! We're having two boys!

Ok....

I woke up this morning at around 8:45 AM. I really felt the need to sleep in til noon due to a sore back from the previous night at work but I had more pressing matters to attend to. Sleep will have to wait til after I write this blog. I got up and showered, quickly. No time for cereal today. An apple will have to do for my breakfast this morning. I got into my car, noticing just how badly I need to clean it. Tomorrow though. I have things to do today.

I arrived at Meg's work, a little earlier than planned. She clocked out and entered my car. We had a few minutes to kill so we drove around to see her old house and much to her dismay, the new owner has left his Christmas lights up. Unacceptable. Someone should contact his HOA to go tell him what's what. Not now though. We'll leave that to the right people. Our drive offered a bit of solace from our crazy lives. Meg has been working fairly long hours and I have been working late nights with too much physical activity demanded of me. When we're not working, we're helping my sisters out in their day-to-days. But today required us to take a drive. We needed to gain certain information that could make or break our afternoon.

I drove us to our location and we searched long for a proper place to park. Aha! Right in front of.....the.......wrong doors. Oh well. We can walk. We entered the massive building and rode the elevator to the third floor. Megan found the correct office and pointed us in the right direction. We entered the office and found the right people to deal with. Megan did all the talking. We were told to take a seat for a few moments. Then our names were called. We're getting closer now. They are ready for us.

We entered a room where a young woman asked Meg a few questions about her personal life. Too personal. But, necessary I suppose. After the interrogation, a man entered and told us to follow him to another room. I was getting uneasy. We followed and he shut the door behind us. He then told Meg to...





THE FOLLOWING TRANSCRIPT HAS BEEN REMOVED AT THE REQUEST OF THE EDITOR.






His pause was unbearable. This could be a bad sign. His eyes were focussing hard of the black and white screen. Still no response. "What could this mean??!!!" I thought, "Just say something!!!!!"

After a long pause he turned to us and said, "Well it looks like you guys were very successful."

Meg and I both looked up at the screen to see, not one, but two babies. "Twins??" Yelled Meg, jubilantly.

I tried to grasp what I was looking at, and what was happening altogether. Then realization set in. "Oh sh- shoot."






it's hard to tell now but there are 2 dark areas. One at the bottom and one to the right. Those are my children.

Good Times With Mom....

Another first without her. I woke up this morning and immediately thought of my Mom. I don't know how to honor her on Mother's Day without her here. All I can do is miss her but I do that every day. For a really long time I could only remember her as being really sick. It was hard to picture her as she used to be before she found out about cancer. But as time goes by those last memories are replaced by happier ones from better times. She was the best Mom ever. I remember she would do anything for her kids. We always came first.





This is from our cruise/Disneyworld trip back in 1993 or 94, I don't remember. My Mom is holding crutches because she broke her leg. I remember we all would use her to get in the front of the lines at Disneyworld and she would go along with it without complaining. She never minded taking one for the team.






I want to say this picture is from one of our trips to Sun Valley but I could be way off. She loved traveling with her family. She always made everything fun.






Some of my most vivid memories of my Mom come from when she was around her best friend, Debbie Tyler. Things became strange when they were together. I remember how much they would laugh around each other. It was pure entertainment.





This was from Mother's Day last year. Her last Mother's Day. Even though we were all thinking of how it might be her last, we all still had so much fun because of her. I love you Mom! I miss you so much every day. Happy Mother's Day!

It Has Already Been A Year???

It has been a year now since the vile illness made itself known to the public at the expense of my Mom. I stayed up til almost 5 am the previous night playing call of duty and honestly, that was pretty much all I cared about at the time. That all changed the next day.

I remember waking up to Megan that afternoon because nobody could reach me by phone. She drove home from work to wake me up because it was apparent that something was wrong. She told me that my Mom was going to the hospital because she couldn't breathe. I immediately got up and showered. I knew my Mom's health wasn't "great" and I remember thinking it was about time she went in for a check up but nothing too serious could possibly be wrong. I went to my sister Jenn's house to teach her son Tanner how to draw caricatures. She seemed worried but I think she felt the same way as me. After Tanner's lesson I went home to meet Meg after work. I kept getting more and more phone calls and the news seemed to be getting worse. It was Jenn who called and said they found spots on her lungs and it might be cancer. I could tell in Jenn's voice that she was really worried. I called my Dad to see if they needed any help and he said "no." I wanted to talk to my Mom but I actually felt nervous. I went to work with a huge knot in my stomach.

The next morning I drove to my Mom's house and as I was pulling into the driveway, I thought for the first time in my life that I could soon come to this house and not have my Mom there to greet me. I went inside feeling sick because I was so nervous. I found my Mom on the computer and she greeted me as she always does. I asked her how she was feeling and she said "scared." She was about to go back to the hospital for her biopsy to find out if it was in fact cancer. She walked downstairs with me to show me her x-rays. As I looked at the various spots on her lungs she walked to me and gave me a huge hug and I could tell she was crying. That was the moment that I felt that something serious was happening and my life was about to change. I tried to make her feel better and asked if I could go to the hospital with them.

That was the beginning of the strangest three months of my life. I still miss her so much every day. It still feels unfair that she was taken from me. This all happened way too fast.

I'd Settle For A Phone Call...

What was I doing a year ago? Probably playing Call of Duty 4, hanging out with friends, going to movies, spending time with my fam, working.....

Nowadays, I look at my daily routine and it's pretty much the same as it was a year ago. I still can't get enough Call of Duty. I still work at UPS every night doing what I've done for the past five years. And I still wake up late and go meet someone from my family for lunch. Same basic routine. Except back then I could (and would) hear a comforting voice whenever I wanted every day. It was just a phone call away. And when I would hear it I wouldn't feel any different, but if I could hear it now I would be freaking out. It wasn't a huge part of my day. It was taken for granted. But it was there every day. And I miss it more than anything right now.

Eye of the Tiger

I stumbled upon a video that I forgot about the other day. I have been compiling some videos of my Mom for a DVD I'm giving to my family on my Mom's birthday this Saturday. I found a video from a karaoke party on new years eve 2007. It features my brother-in-law, Brett and my nephew, Tanner singing "Eye of the Tiger." But it looks like my Mom knows how to rock as well as she's doing so in the background. Enjoy.