WHATS IN A NAME????

Ryder Zachary Monson is our newest little guy. Zachary is my brothers name and he is so excited to have his nephew named after him. We were stuck on a middle name not really knowing what to do. Kel went to his parents house to help with the kids in the morning and after he left the birth certificate girl ( no idea what her title is) came by and said she needed the paperwork in as hour. I called Kel and told him that we needed to come up with somethingand quick. A little later Kelly called me and said "What do you think?" We both knew we wanted to use a family name but we haven't really agreed on the family names that we like. I wanted to suggest my brother's name but I didn't want to assume that he should be named after my family. I suggested it nonchalantly and Kel said "Good that is what I was thinking too."
So now Uncle Zach has a lot to live up to! :) We love Zach and we know Ryder will love carrying his name.
Pictures to come tomorrow.... I PROMISE!

ITS A.....

BOY!!!!!!!!! Yes yes we had a healthy robust little boy today. he was born at 3:43 pm, 7 lbs 10 ozs, 20 3/4 inches long. He has chubby cheeks and meaty hands and he is soooooo sweet. We've also been told by the NICU nurses that he is the loudest in the nursery... why does that not surprise me?
We haven't decided on the full name yet, but we know his first name will be Ryder. We had never thought about this name before, but at 5 am after I got called to go in Kelly suggested it. We were both pretty convinced that we were having a girl so I honestly didn't think about it. But the more and more I said it the more it seemed to be the right name for our newest Monson. Liam and Arie came up to visit and Liam immediately took to the name Ryder as well. So I think we have a first name. Middle name is another story - we have NO idea what that will be. Hopefully by tomorrow we will have one though.
Kel and I are still being lazy but as soon as we put the pics on our computer I will put them on the blog with more details about our big day.
All I can say is I'm so happy to have another sweeet little baby to love on. And seeing Liam and Arie with him for the first time was a really sweet and priceless moment.

in the hospital...

Well I'm FINALLY in the hospital!!!!!!! Got a call at 5 this morning telling me they had a bed for me. I've never been so excited to get a call tht early before. Right now I'm just eating ice chips and waitingfor the pitocin to start working its magic.

We'll keep you posted.....

Baby Update...

Well as of now I'm scheduled to be induced on the 21st. I didn't really want to be induced this time but right now it sounds soooooooooooo appealing! But to be honest - I think I can induce this labor on my own. Never before with my other pregnancies have I had such a desire to walk, have sex, drink castrol oil, all tricks that supposedly work. Only problem... Kelly is still in GUAM! I want this baby out but I don't want to have the baby without him here. I need him in the delivery room and it would break his heart to miss out on our big surprise. But the minute he gets here I will attempt to get this baby out! In fact I may try walking home from the airport just to see if I can make something happen HAHA!
I've been reading online about all the things women experience when they are about to go into labor. I have never experienced these things because I have always been induced and my body never had those "signs" of labor. But I have to say A LOT of those things are happening to me and it is a little freaky. Normally I would be thrilled, but I'm so afraid of having this baby without Kelly. I try to only let myself have 1-2 projects a day. If I do more than that then the contractions start and literally feel like the baby is falling out of me! I tried to talk to Kelly yesterday about all the early labor signs I'm experiencing but once I mentioned the words mucous plug he got mad and wanted to immediately end our conversation! HAHA It was sooooo funny.
So Kelly will be here in about 5 days and I will be induced in 8. We'll see how that schedule ends up working out. My doctors appt. is Friday and I will be really interested to see what she says. Maybe Kel will be able to jump on the plane sooner and we can get this show on the road!
Wish us luck!!!!!
Only 8 more days till we know if we've been blessed with a HE or a SHE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Liam

I'm sitting on the couch checking my email (ok really I'm playing Mafia Wars) and Liam comes up, leansup against me, sighs, and says "Ahhh snog flag!"

????What????

Soooooo close!

Well I'm finally in the 30's... days that is... until I have this baby! I feel like this pregnancy has lasted forever and I'm so ready for it to be over. Everything is going pretty good right now. Sadly Kel is in Guam while I deal with my heathen children on my own. Actually Liam has been unusually sweet and easy lately, while Arie is in the throws of the terrible terrible two's! I seriously think I forgot how bad the two's are. I also think she is figuring out that something major is about to happen. She never wants me to be out of her sight and she is always telling me what to do and when to do it. And she is always saying "I'm the baby." It will be interesting to see how she handles the change. Liam seems to be really excited about the new baby. He thinks we are going to have a girl. He is so set on it being a girl that I'm afraid he will be disappointed if it isn't one. Kelly and I of course don't care what it is... I'm just ready to not be pregnant. But if it is a boy, it probably won't have a name for a while. We can't seem to agree on a boy name. My dad has always been really good at predicting the sex of someones baby. I'd say he has only been wrong maybe twice his whole life! Papa predicts girl... we'll see! Some days I think I know and then other days I have no idea. I'm so excited about it being a surprise though! I almost don't even want to know when the baby is born!!! Does that sound dumb. There is a part of me that wants to wait and find out when I change the first diaper or something. I mean I know the surprise can't go on forever, but it really has been so fun. Even on Christmas morning there is a part of me that doesn't want to open any gifts because I like the anticipation of getting a gift and not knowing what it is. I was NEVER the kid who snooped through their parents closet to find their presents.
Well, I'm getting closer so that is good. I hope that the kids and I make it through this next month with out killing each other. I think I hear "I want Daddy!" about 10 times a day already!

Anniversary and Cruise

This post is loooong over due. And considering Arie ripped off the "E" key on our computer two nights ago, I don't know if I will finish this post or not. But I will try.

Kelly and I recently celebrated our three year anniversary (Feb. 24th). I know three years really isn't that long, but it is the longest I've ever been married :). We actually celebrated our anniversary about 7 weeks ago. We flew to Singapore and went on a four day cruise to Malaysia and Thailand. Being as it was our first cruise we felt it was smart to only do four days - what if we hated being on a boat??? And living so far away from family it is hard to find someone to watch your heathen children for you! We luckily have great friends here who agreed to help out so that we could get away together. Thanks!
We started off flying to Tokyo where we had to race through the airport to make it to our next flight that would get us to Singapore. We made it right before they started boarding! It is always funny to see people running in the airport, but I think it is funnier when one of those people is a pregnant person trying to keep up with her long legged husband! And Japanese people don't do things like run through the airport... they are always way ahead of schedule.
From Tokyo we flew 7 hours down to Singapore. The flight seemed like a breeze! I'm so used to doing a 13 hour flight with two children... 7 hours with Kel was easy! Once we got to Singapore we took a cab to my see my cousin Bryant and his roommate Alex. I hadn't seen Bryant in soooo long and it was really great to spend time with him. We also had so much fun with Alex. She is a blast and her Mandarin skills came in handy when ordering traditional Singaporean fare! We quickly stripped out of our travel clothes and put on something we could sweat in. We weren't going to work out or anything; Singapore is sooooooooooooo hot and humid! A quick change of clothes, and then on to food! Food seems to be the theme when hanging out with Bryant and Alex. It is the theme of my life as well HAHA!

Ok - you know those moving sidewalks they have in airports? In Singapore they call them travellators! I thought it was funny! I'm random I know!

Kel in front of the Yu-Kee food house. Doesn't sound very appetizing!

The food in Singapore was soooooooooo good!!! I wish I would've gotten some pics of the delicious traditional Chinese desserts that we had. They were so yummy. Everyone says you gain weight when you go on a cruise but I think we gained all our weight the night before the cruise! Thanks Alex and Bryant!

The next day we spent the morning and lunch time with Alex and Bryant. They took us to a shopping mall that had the most amazing food court ever for lunch (here I go again about food). Once again we ordered more then we could actually eat. It was a mix of Dim Sum, Indian, Chinese, Taiwanese, and Singaporean. I think we hit up every vendor!
The ship was right outside the shopping mall at the Port of Singapore. We said our goodbyes and then hopped on the boat!

We got to our room... I know what you are thinking.. yes it was a little too 1960's in there. Don't worry, we had them push our beds together so that our anniversary trip wasn't completely devoid of "action" :)

We then had to head out with our life jackets to our mustre station. This was our "in case of emergency" drill. Boring but we tried to have fun... I look like I'm having fun... right???

Next we said our goodbyes to Singapore and then went exploring our ship "Legend of the Seas".

That was my first time to play shuffleboard. Kelly was so excited when he saw that they had shuffleboard, so I indulged him. Can you tell my pregnancy hormones made me a little competitive? I look like I want to kill someone!

This was our first cruise and I have to say I was so impressed! Our boat was the smallest in the Royal Caribbean fleet but I thought it was AMAZING!!!!! I couldn't believe everything that was offered.

That night we ate dinner and met the people that would be at our table the rest of the cruise. We were told by Royal Caribbean that this particular cruise was geared to the Asian customer. We were excited because we love all types of Asian cuisine, but we were thinking that we would probably be eating with a bunch of people that didn't speak any English. That wouldn't have been a big deal - I can't remember the last time we traveled to a place where people spoke English. We were pleasantly surprised to be sat at a table with a Canadian couple and an Australian couple. Both couples were retired. The Canadians had been visiting their daughter who lived in Perth, and they decided to give her a break and go on this short cruise. The Australian couple were using the cruise a jumping off point to a six month backpacking trip through Malaysia and South Eastern Asia. They were so great and they were a lot of fun to talk to every night.

After dinner we went to a show with the Canadian couple (behind their back we would refer to them and Mom and Dad). At the show we were introduced to our Cruise Director - the guy who is supposed to make sure everyone is having a good time. He was sooooo cheesy! The whole time I was watching him I kept thinking how much I would love to see my brother Zach do an impression of him. Not only was he cheesy and not very funny, but about 90% of the audience was from somewhere in Asia - his type of humor was totally lost on them. I think Kelly felt bad that no one was laughing at his jokes, because you could always hear Kelly laughing!

The next morning was our first stop - Port Kelang Malaysia. We decided that since I was preggers we would sign up for the organized tours. We normally don't do things like that, but we only had half of a day there and we didn't want to spend our time walking around aimlessly while my ankles got fatter and fatter. Can you tell how tired we were???

Ready to take on Kuala Lumpur!

First we went to the palace. Well we went outside the palace and looked through the gate at the grounds. Here we are doing our best to annoy the guards...

Next it was on to Chinatown. It was a lot like every other Chinatown - fake bags and watches produce stands, cheap clothes. We were lucky enough to find a vendor selling peanut pancakes. We thought they sounded interesting and smelled fabulous so we bought just one and walked away. I wish I would've bought ten of them!!!!! They were DELICIOUS! Then it was on to the Petronis Towers.



We walked around the gigantic mall at the Petronis Towers before loading back onto our tour bus. I was pretty tired on the way back to the ship, but I was still lucky enough to hear our tour guide go on and on about how Malaysians are a superior race - especially when compared to Singaporeans. It was pretty funny. Bryant and Alex told me that Malays are always trying to find reasons why they are better than Singaporeans. I think they feel like the ugly step child since Singapore broke off or something. We loved both places!
That night on the boat was the "formal" dinner. Kel didn't wear a tux but he did wear a suit and he looked schnazzy! We were able to chat again with our Canadian mom and dad and then we saw the show afterwards with them as well. It was a 60's British music variety show. It was actually very entertaining and all the songs were great.
The next day we would port at Phuket island Thailand. We didn't arrive there until 2 pm which was GREAT!!!!! Kel and I had signed up to take a Yoga class that morning but instead we slept in until 10:30 then laid in bed and watched Mamma Mia! It was a fabulous morning. We finally pealed ourselves off the bed, rushed to the Indian lunch buffet and then joined our tour group. Once again we decided to go with a tour because we only had about 7 hours and we wanted to get a lot done. It wasn't our first time in Thailand but it was our first time on Phuket. Our ship took us to the beach where the Tsunami hit several years ago. You really couldn't tell anything had happened. Everything was brand new. The beach there was sooooooooo beautiful! The sand was white with glitter in it and the water was so gorgeous. The water in Guam is fabulous as well but we don't have very many sandy beaches here so it was really nice to see. Another lovely part was all the European men laying out in there teeny tiny swimsuits! It would have been less offensive if they were naked!! HAHA!
We stopped at a typical tourist trap - Thai gemstone dealer. They brag about the low cost of their Rubies (which they smuggle in from Burma, but no one admits it) and then they are actually the same price if not more than the rubies in the states! We couldn't get out of stopping there - our tour bus took us. But actually it is part of the Thailand experience - if you don't get trapped in one tourist trap then you didn't have a successful vacation. Then we took a bus over to mainland Thailand where we went inside a Buddhist temple that was built in a huge cave! VERY COOL!

There were monkeys everywhere around the temple and there was this awesome little machine; that if you put coins in it would give you prayer of the day. I loved it!

We got back on the bus and toward the Phang Nga Bay. The Phang Nga Bay is really beautiful. Huge rock islands jut out of the water everywhere. Movies and like The Beach, two different James Bond movies, and Bridget Jones' Diary two were filmed in the Phang Nga Bay. We picked this particular tour because there wasn't a lot of walking involved and we thought it would be relaxing. At the start of it we sort of regreted picking this tour. WE felt like we could've seen more if we did Phuket on our own. Seeing the rock islands and the famous James Bond island was really beauitful though.


Everything we saw was really beautiful, but we just wanted to get back to Phuket in time to get a Thai massage before we had to be on the ship. Little did I know that the coolest part was just about to come! Well as I write this I realize what a nerd I am... We stopped at this village that was built entirely over the water. 200 years ago 30 Indonesian fisherman decided to settle on one of the rock islands. The only usable land space on the island they used to build a mosque. Everything else was built on stilts over the water. 200 years later they are a poplulation of 1200 or so. It was really incredible to see. It wasn't particularly beautiful in fact it was horrendously smelly in a lot of parts; but to see an entire population living this way was really incredible. We pretty much had to walk through other peoples houses to get to certain parts of the village. The grade school there was very small with a wooden basketball court built over the water. There were a few restaraunts, a small clinic, and lots of booths selling seashell crafts. The village used to rely only on fishing as a source of income; but ever since James Bond was filmed close by they rely on tourists stopping through for extra cash. The children were all filthy, but so precious! At one point a lady threw her monkey on me, demanded that Kelly take a picture of it, then demanded money! IT was so funny. We just felt bad because we only had like two baht to give (about 25 cents). There is only one other village in the world like this one and it is in Brunei. Maybe it doesnt sound interesting to anyone else, but it I thought it was fascinating. I'm so glad we chose the tour that was chose just so I could get a glimpse into a lifestyle that I had no idea existed. It was amazing.



Once we got back on dry land we ate a yummy Thai buffet then we sat on a very long bus ride back to the beach where we waited to be taken back to the ship. We weren't hungry but we did make it to the show that night and we spent a little more time with Canadian mom and dad.
The last day was just sailing. It was so relaxing! We spent most of the day laying by the pool and soaking up some rays. There were lots of activites on the ship; like a male beauty pageant (I laughed so hard I cried), and Harry Hudini like magic show, and lots of music and dancing. I accidentally got a little too much sun but other than that the day was fabulous.
We docked the next morning early in Singapore. We made our way over to Alex's and Bryant's place and got mentally prepared for another day of stuffing our faces ( I love those two). Singapore was really neat that day because it was the Friday before Chinese New Year and the whole city was being decorated. We ate in China town and did some shopping for the kids. Later that night we went to Arab street looking for some middle eastern/mediterranean food. We passed by the mosque during evening prayer and you could hear the prayer out on the streets. It was so beautiful, I wanted to go inside the mosque and join them... but then I remembered that I'm a girl and they would kick me out immediatly. OH WELL! We found a yummy Turkish restaraunt where we all attempted to gain another 5 pounds. Thanks Bryant and Alex again for the good times and extra pounds! I want to travel with them soon, but I will have to do my best to become anorexic the month before!

We made it back to Guam and back to our kids. We loved having time for just Kelly and I, but we were so excited to see Liam and Arie again we could hardly stand it! Liam immediatly started asking about presents, and Arie was so excited to see us she couldn't stop laughing for like 30 minutes.
Our actual anniversary date here on Guam was much more low-key. I decided to make some of Kel'l favorite things and do a little picnic. I cut up some veggies and made some homemade hummus, boiled some shrimp and made a cocktail sauce (70% horseradish, 30% cocktail sauce), some yummy eggnoodles (don't ask me why he loves them but he does) and some yummy lime perrier (that was more for me!). We dropped our kids off at a friends house, drove our Guam Bomb (our ghetto ride) to Agana Bay, opened up the back and had a picnic watching the sunset. Guam sunsets are some of the best in the world; in fact we know a couple that moved here 40 years ago because they heard Guam had the best sunsets. It was our most laid back anniversary but we both agreed it was our favorite one. We ended up renting some movies at Blockbuster and going to be early! I love you Kelly!