Please vote for Harris County Library

Good News! Ryan's video is a finalist for the following contest:

www.ideapaint.com/360Vote

People can vote once a day until December 4th. Please vote for him! My husband and the kids worked very hard on this submission for the Harris County Library, see video on the very bottom of the link and watch the magic.

Thanks, Liz

November...

This November has flown by. I guess it is because it is the last month to be a family of 3. We have been getting ready to be a family of four at the end of this month. On November 13th, Ryan and I thought we were having our last date night before Baby #2 came with the Homer's at Zelko Bistro. Instead it was a suprise baby shower with all our friends. That sneaky Sarah had arranged for Barbie, Robert, Amy, Dr Huang, Chris, Tootie, Chad and Sarah and Aaron. It was fun and they all got me a double BOB stroller!!! The food was delicious and the company was awesome. The following weekend, we went to a wedding reception for Ryan's old roommate from college at University of Charleston. He got married in Thailand back in August and had a reception here with Andy's side of the family on November 19th. They had pics of their wedding as a slideshow on the tv screen. Their wedding looked amazing and their reception here was very nice too. It was good to see Pang and Andy-Congrats to you both again! We were saying at the wedding how it was funny that the last time we saw them was when we were in New York (where they live) and I was pregnant with Guen and now when we get to see them again I am preggo with F2. We said next time we see them again Pang better be the one that is preggo, not me. For turkey day weekend, I had to work Thursday, but fortunately my parents held off Turkey Day til Friday when I was off so I could celebrate too. On Friday the 25th, we went over to my parents house and my sister Missy came up from San Marcos and we all had Thanksgiving together. It was a FEAST!!!! After turkey, my sisters and Chad came over to help Ryan and I put up the xmas decorations. We put up everything early this year because of F2's imminent arrival. I just did not think that I would want to be decorating when dealing with 2 children, much less one child. The next big news is we are buying a new car. It is going to be hard for me to swallow a car payment after not having one for so long. Both of our cars are 9/10 years old. But Ryan's car is on the brink of death and before it goes, it would nice to have a new and bigger car before the baby gets here. So I have been frantically emailing dealerships this past weekend, trying to get us the best deal/APR. Hope everyone had a fabulous November/turkey day. Next time I write will be the posting of F2's arrival. Exciting!!!!

Busy October....

This past October went by so quickly. Besides the big October 3rd birthday of Guen turning 2 years old, there was a lot more fun that I want to share. During October, Guen and I took at road trip to San Marcos. We went to visit Missy, who lives in my parents old house. I have not been to San Marcos since my parents moved here 2 years ago. It was neat to see how much San Marcos has changed. The night we rolled in, Thursday, we ate at Herberts, then the next day, Friday, Guen and I went to New Braunsfels to visit my friend Amy and her son Grahm. It was great to see them. It was such a beautiful day, we went to Landa Park and the kids played. Amy was kind enough to feed us lunch after that too. Guen and I went back to Missy's house where my friend Randi, whom is a teacher and took a half day just for us, had come down from Austin to visit us. We talked a long time (2.5 hours) while Guen napped and then went to Paper Bear for ole times sake. We met Missy at Grin's for dinner and ate out on the patio because it was such a nice night. For a sweet treat afterwards, we went to the San Marcos food trucks located behind the old Mr Gatti's and we all had cupcakes. Then Randi went home. Saturday, Missy was off and we went to have breakfast tacos at this yummy Mexican place in San Marcos, called Ta Molly's. It was so filling and delicious. I miss central texas tex mex food!!! Then we went to the outlet mall to look around. After that Guen and I headed home to Houston. Guen did really well on the trip back and forth. I was proud.
This month, on October 25th exactly, my work peeps through me a baby shower. I thought it was so sweet considering I just had a baby 25 months ago and have everything, except if it is a boy. Anywho, it was actually held at my OB/GYN's house. He is married to a NICU nurse whom I work with. It was kinda funny to have all my NICU friends there and then my doctor there too. He actually hung out with us girls too, so sweet, I love my OB/GYN Dr McGuirk. We had a fun time and I made out with A LOT OF LOOT!!!!
Another exciting event was my parents combined birthday party weekend. Since my Mom's birthday is on the 24th of October and my Dad's birthday is on November 5th, we had a combined birthday party on October 29th. Missy came over to Houston and we all went out for lunch at my mom's favorite Red Lobster. Then we came back to our house where we opened prezzies and had black and white cheesecake made back Missy and apple crisp a la mode, made by me. It was such another pretty day, we spent most of the party on my back porch watching Guen play and enjoying the weather. After the party, Tootie and Chad stayed behind and helped me move Guen into her new big girl room. We officially moved Guen into the other bedroom and left the nursery for the new baby. We finally got all the painting and construction done this month too. So that is exciting. Now it is down to the final details to get the back half of the house finished. I promise to show pics when it is all done, but there is still a lot of little things to do. Guen had no problem adjusting to her new room and seems to like it.
Lastly, Guen and I went to Wyatt's birthday party on the 29th which was another beautiful day. She got to rewear her Halloween costume from last year and it fit perfectly. She had a blast at the party. The Guen and I went to go trick or treat on Halloween and she finally "got" Halloween and what to do. She kept saying "one more house" and came home with lots of candy. See pics from October below. Hope you are doing well. Count down is on here at the Fennell house. 25 more days till F2 arrives!!

Happy Birthday to Guen

Goodness, I have not been writing lately. It seems like with this new baby coming, I always have an excuse. But I am sitting down to write a little piece about my Guenie growing up and turning a big whopping two years old! Her birthday was Oct 3rd, Monday, but we started the birthday activities earlier that weekend. My family came over Saturday for lunch. I made sandwiches, dips, and a pumpkin dump cake for her birthday cake (something I was craving and wanted to try out a new receipe from Pintrest). I thought it turned out yummy, kinda like a pumpkin pie, upside down. Topped it with vanilla ice cream-delicious! I also tried another receipe of 7 layer Greek dip with hummus, Greek yogurt, cucumber, tomatoes, feta cheese, and other veggie with pita chips-delicious again! Anywho, we had a great time and Guen has finally gotten the hang of presents, that the paper is not the fun part, it is what's inside. She received a Barney Balloon from us, sit and spin, coloring book, Barney book, from my parents, a purse, play money/coins, note pad, colors from Aunt Missy and a coat, sweater, furry boots, jeans, dress, cardigan, and stuffed dog from her Aunt Tootie. On top of all that, and probably more importantly, everybody made contributions to Guen's college fund too. Unfortunately Ryan was not there cause he had to work that day. My sisters, Chad (Tootie's boyfriend) Guen and myself went to the mall that evening after she woke up from her nap after all the birthday festivities. Missy and I went off shopping, while Tootie Chad and Guen went off so I could shop without her. What a treat not having to watch to see if she is going to pull clothes off the hanger or get fussy, etc. When we got home, Missy, Tootie, Chad put Guen to bed with dinner, bath and reading. Another thing that does not happen often, while Ryan, who was now home from work, and I could relax.

Sunday, we went to church and Guen took her usual long nap after church. When she woke up, the entire Fennell family was over for her birthday. We had the same thing for an early dinner but I also made some cupcakes since I new the Fennell cousins would like that. Thank goodness, the entire weekend was fantastic weather, so we celebrated most of the festivities outside. For her gifts from the Fennell family, she received a non spill bowl from her Lovey, a tent, purse, lipgloss from the Fennell family and a bracelet from the Rajski family. She liked playing with all her cousins and had a ball.

Monday, her actual birthday, I had off from work and Ryan went in late for work that day. So we had a big birthday breakfast. We gave her a big girl brush and some rubberbands to pull back her mullet. We later went and had lunch at my parents house that day and she had another birthday cake over there. They watched Guen while I went to my 31 week appointment which all looks good. We came home and took it easy for the rest of the day.

Hope you had a great October so far. Will be posting soon before/after photos of some renovations we are doing to the house this coming week in order to get ready for baby number 2. Love Liz

Great News!!!!

We had our appointment today with the perinatologist and the ultrasound indicated that the choroid plexus cysts were gone. We are truly blessed with such news. Of course we are still cautious as we should be with any birth, but this is a huge weight that has been lifted. Thank you so much for your prayers and support.

Vacation Report

We just got back from our annual summer vacation. We left this past Thursday, August 18th. Minus last summer, due to Ryan's broken back that needed surgery, Ryan and I have gone on a big vacation somewhere every summer. This year it was Portland Oregon. Why Portland? It is cooler than Houston, nough said. This was our first trip with Guen, not counting when I was pregnant with her in 2009. Although we were so scared she would be horrible on the trip, she was such a great companion. Advice to any parent, get the kid their own airplane seat. Even though she is under two and technically we could have kept her on our laps, we got her, her own seat. We had enough airline miles for all of us to fly free so that was another reason we did it. She did great on the plane! Thank God for Barnie too. That kept her entertained many times too. Portland is a great city for pedestrians, so we did not get a car. We took the Max light rail from the airport to our hotel, checked in and headed back out. We walked to some food trailers and ate at the Brunchbox, famous for the hamburgers but instead of buns, there are two grilled cheese sanwiches for the top and bottom bun. Yes a heart attack was in the back of our heads while we devoured it but it was delicious. In fact we were so hungry and splitting it was not enough for me, I ended up getting a chicken gyro at another trailer because I was still hungry. Needless to say, we were stuffed. Next we got on the bus and headed up to the Oregon Health Science Center Hospital where there is an aerial tram that you can ride. It had a fabulous view of the city and Mount Hood. It was cool. Next we took the rail to Portland State University to walk around. It was a beautiful campus, got a tshirt at the campus bookstore and Guen played in the quad/park area. We headed back to the hotel and got some chinese/sushi at the resaturant hotel Dragonfish that ended up being pretty good. We were all in bed by 8pm.

Friday, we were up early and headed to breakfast at a diner-raunt called The Original. It was very delicious and cool. Their blueberry pancakes and biscuits and gravy were the bomb! We then took our filled bellies back on the rail to go to the zoo. We showed up exactly when it opened at 9am. It was 63 degrees and a perfect day-plus it was Ryan's and I 5th wedding anniversary. The zoo was fabulous! We went through about half of the zoo, then took the "choo choo train" to the Portland Rose Gardens. It was breathtaking and smelled so good. There was a children's park next to the Rose Gardens that we stopped at so Guen could get outta the stroller and play some. Then we went to the Japanese Botanical Gardens which was small but pretty. We got back on the "choo choo train" and headed back to the zoo. We got some lunch at the zoo and finished up looking at almost all the animals. It was huge! One fun fact we learned at the zoo was from the lady that was holding a volcher and screeching owl. We all know that birds have hollow bones to make them lighter so they can fly. But another fun fact that Ryan and I did not know it that all birds do not have a bladder to make them lighter to fly too. That is why poop and pee just kinda leak outta them. Interesting! After the zoo we headed back to the hotel and took an hour nap. We all needed it! We got up and went to the famous Powell's Bookstore. It is huge and takes up 3 city blocks. They have a map when you walk into the store so you don't get lost. We looked around at some stuff, Ryan got a tshirt and then we walked to Kenny and Zukes to have dinner. It was delicous. I had a meatloaf sandwich with coleslaw with gazpacho soup and a brownie sundae which was yummy. Ryan got a pastrami sandwich with potato salad. We did not get back to the hotel til late and were in bed by 9pm, which is very late for Guen, especially with the time change.

Saturday we got up early and walked to Mill's End Park which is the tiniest city park in the world. Supposedly it was built for the leperchans one Saint Patricks Day. It was funnny. We walked along the Williamette River that runs through downtown. We went to the famous VooDoo donuts. We stood in line for an hour waiting for these famous donuts and they were good. Guen was a trooper and was very patient. Right down the street was the Saturday Market that we walked through and saw all the neat local artist goods. We walked through Chinatown to the Pearl District which is known for their cute shops. We stopped at a park in the Pearl District so Guen could get outta the stroller for a bit. I needed to use the restroom and went into the Museum of Contemporary Craft to beg them to let a preggo woman use their potty. They said that the museum was open for free right now cause the security alarm system is broken. I thought that was a weird reason to have the museum open for free and why would you want people to know that. Anyways I was just so thankful and went and got Ryan and Guen. We all went potty and then we looked around the museum at the Nikki McClure exhibit and the at the Crafty Wonderland exhibit. There were some neat crafts in the gift shop from the crafty wonderland exhibit and we saw that their shop was by our hotel. We made a mental note to stop by the shop later during our trip. That was random unplanned fun at the museum. Then we walked around the Pearl area. It was so pretty and there were so many shops and restaurants. We ate at 50 Plates for lunch and it was delicious. We were walking back to the hotel and were all exhausted at this point. We did stop at Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams store. Even though there is one in Houston, I have always wanted to go but never had. Since we were walking past it, we walked in and took a look around. This is when we noticed that Guen had fallen asleep in her stroller. SHE NEVER FALLS ASLEEP IN HER STROLLER! We were shocked. She must have been really tired. You know how you walk in the mall and see all the kids in the stroller asleep. No, not my Guen. She has never done that except maybe when she was an infant. Anywho, we kept walking back to the hotel and came upon the Crafty Wonderland shop and stopped there too. There were some prints that I loved and wanted to frame and put in the new babies room or Guen's new room but they were too big to fit in our suitcase for the ride home. Darn. Instead Ryan got some Portland cards to take to his friends at work. We got to the hotel and Guen was still asleep, she slept another hour, after getting her outta the stroller and putting her in the crib. After we all woke up we went to see the Portland County Library. It was old huge and so pretty. Ryan had to take a look around and get some ideas and Guen and I hung out in the childrens section. We went to a Toy store across the street where all Guen could play with is a stroller where she put a ball and baby in and pushed it all around the store. After that we just decided to get some Italian take out from across the street which was decent. We had a garden tub with jets in our hotel room and I turned it on for Guen. She loved the "bubbles" it made and stayed in there for about an hour. Her toes were so wrinkly.

Sunday, we took the bus to the Hawthorne District. It is also a fun little area of town but has older craftsman style homes and hippy-ish stores to shop in. We started out with breakfast at The Waffle Window. It rocked! I got the The Spicy Bacon Cheddar Jalapeno Waffle which has thick cut peppered bacon, diced jalapenos and a slice of Tillamook Cheddar topped with fresh made avocado-tomatillo salsa. Ryan got the Banana Rumba which has fresh sliced bananas, banana caramel sauce, whipped cream, granola crunch topping. Guen got Berry Bliss which has three kinds of fresh local Berries that change with the season anything from strawberries and blueberries to marions and tayberries. served with whipped cream and berry coulis. Can we all say together-YUM! After our big breakfast we worked it off walking around the Hawthorne area looking at all the cute craftsman style homes and ended up in a park where Guen could get outta her stroller to play. We then stopped at a grocery store so we could get Guen some snacks for the airplane trip home the next day. We then took the bus to another area of town called Laurelhurst. It has the beautiful older homes of Portland and was a gorgeous area. We landed in another park called Grant Park. It has statues of Beverly Clearly's characters of Ramona, Henry and Ramona's dog. I wanted a statue of her cat Picky Picky but we did not see one. Portland is the home to Beverly Clearly. It was cute and the park was great. We took the bus/rail back to the hotel and called it a day. We knew we had to get up early the next day so we got take out local Picatto Pizza which was great and were all in bed asleep by 730pm. We were exhausted.

Monday we got up at 330am to take the rail back to the airport and get on our plane by 6am. Even though Ryan booked our seat to be all in a row, when we checked in, two of them were together and the other one was not. The flight was packed and we asked the Continental lady if she could switch our seats. She paged the guy to switch the one seat. It was actually a better seat, the one with lots of leg room toward the front. The guy had already boarded the plane so she told us to ask him. When we got to the seat we asked the old guy to switch with us and he said "NO". So Guen and I sat next to him and Ryan sat up front. About 10 minutes after we sat down he leans over to me and says "I fly 30-50 times a year and whenever I switch seats with someone, something always goes wrong". I told him, no big deal, even though I was thinking in my head, you are bizarre. Ryan came back to get something outta the backpack and he tugged Ryan's arm and reluctantly said, "after we take off I will switch with you but I want to come back to the seat when we land". So that is exactly what happened. After the seatbelt light went off after we took off he switched seats with Ryan and we got to sit all together, but when we were descending into Houston, he came back and wanted to sit in his seat. Maybe that is why our plane did not blow up, cause he sat in his correct seat during take off and landing. What a freak!!! Anyways, I was glad to have Ryan with me during most of the plane trip cause Guen was a little more crazy on the way home. Probably because she had to get up at 330am. But we made it. We had so much fun!! Here are some pics from the trip.

Aerial Tram:


The Quad/Park at PSU:


The zoo entrance, aren't you jealous of the weather?


Getting on the "choo choo train" to go to the Rose Garden/Japanese garden:


This pic does not do the Portland Rose garden justice:


Japanese Botanical Garden:


Zoo


Powells Bookstore


Smallest Park


Vodoo Donuts


Some of our yummy donuts


Public LIbrary


Waffle Window


Ryan's yummy waffle


Laurelhurst neighborhood


4am on our way home

Update

We went to the perinatologist on Wednesday July 6th. The markers of the choroid plexus cysts were still there. I was hoping they would be gone in the two weeks since the last scan. But the doctors say they usually don't disappear til 26-32 weeks. Anyway, the scan with the doctor was uneventful besides seeing the cysts again. He said he did not see anything wrong with any of the other main organs and the baby was measuring fine. For a baby with Trisomy 18, he said, you would usually see many other gross anomalies with the cysts. He does want to rescan me at 26 weeks to see if the cysts were still there. That will be August 31st. This doctor was very short and dry unlike my ob/gyn. Now that we have had some time to let this sink all in, I will have many questions for my ob/gyn when I see him this month. We are so thankful that he did not see any other markers. We are also so thankful for all the concerns and prayers we have received from all our friends and family. We will keep you updated.