Meyer2010

Hello girls!!! Remember me??? hee-hee!! I've been so busy, sorry for being MIA for the last month! My sister came for a visit to Shanghai so I have been preparing for her arrival for a while. My boss unexpectedly gave me the whole week off to spend with her. So we tore the town up! lol I turned "34" on July 22nd and had a great bday! We went to a Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant and had too much sake. Ha-ha!! We flew home (Michigan) on July 27th and fly back to China August 10th. We've been having a great time and it will be hard to head back to China next week! We are also having our kitchen remodeled after we head back to China... we picked out new cabinets, granite countertops, a sink, kitchen appliances and paint for the walls!!! What fun and we don't have to live through the dust, his brother will manage the project and it will be all completed before we get back in December... Yayy!! Susie - Sorry for the drama... that's no fun! Krista - Your pics are BEAUTIFUL!!! You looked stunning!!! Baby Momma's - how is everyone doing? I've been trying to keep up with pics on FB... how are the bumps coming along? We have 4 momma's on here right? As for me I won't be able to join you for the NYC trip... I won't be back until Christmas time. So have fun!!! Well.. time to wake the hubby up to get some errands done!!! Have a good day!!!

Hey girls!!! Sorry, I've been away. This month we really tried to make a baby. I hope it works! I'm so ready to be a momma! There are 6 girls in my office that are pg!!! In Chinese culture when a woman wants to get pg she will buy her hubby a small cactus to put on his desk at work. This will supposedly help his "boys" get their act together and protect them from the harmful rays of his laptop - go figure!!! So, yes I bought him a cactus a few months ago and I hope it is working! I have a good feeling about this month so we will see. Krista - wow.... the days are ticking away! Yayy... so excited for you! Now we can all relive our memories through you. Everything will be perfect and your AHR will be a blast! I agree that the more people you invite and the more nice the reception is the more money you will receive. We walked away with $7500+ gifts... not too shabby! It will be all worth the hard work in the end. Hang in there girl, YOU'RE GETTING MARRIED!!! Susie - You and your stories!!! You have the best stories ever... When he asked when you were going to have a baby you should of asked when is his funeral!? J/K kind of mean huh? I have been a little brat the past few weeks. Poor Jason! That is why he is telling me I'm pg... he said is "Irritability" a pg sign? I will take a test next week. PLEASE keep your fingers crossed for me. I've had elevated temps 99.1-100.5 the past 8 days... yayyy!!!! *hugs* to all!!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by L&C In Love Thanks so much for the reassurance Erica!! I am starting to feel less stressed since I made this decision, i just don't know if we will get married first or after, but I am leaning towards after. One question, did the minister speak English? The suite sounds so great, I will definitley request a suite on the RM side, I don't think it will be a problem if we book with Yucatan. I finally feel like things are starting to come together, I ordered my STDs last night! YAY! Yes.... the minister did speak English! He was great and was very professional. Good Luck!

Oh... and we did book a suite and were so glad we did. We needed the space and we used the tub on the patio alot. We had tub parties and our friends came over. Everyone loved to hang out on our patio and sometimes we would all run to the buffett, grab some food and race back to our patio and hang out. It was such a great memory. Plus the bed was huge and you could block the room in half which was excellent on the wedding day while we got ready on one side the photographer stayed on the other half! Not to mention the fridge, safe and two sinks were great too. We felt very taken care of in the suites and they were always filling our fridge with goodies. Also, we were about 25 steps from the pool/beach which was so handy! We would get up early throw our towels out on the chairs, eat some breakfast and then lay out. We had 40 people join us and we all seemed to see eachother most of the time. We enjoyed the swim up tequila bar on the Yucatan side but I wouldn't want to stay on that side. Things were boring over there and it seemed like all the older people stayed on that side. It was kind of a buzz kill and nobody was ever in the pool over there. If you want my suggestion, stay on the RM side, you won't regret it!!! We can't wait to go back and I think we will get the same suite... it was room 8101!!! Good Luck!!! ~ Erica

Quote: Originally Posted by L&C In Love Well I think after much deliberation I have decided to go with the Renewal of the Vows at the Cat. The legal requirements in Mexico and the lack of hearing back from Elena has just made me want to go the easier route! Also I really want to have the ceremony personalized and in English and having the legal ceremony meant I really wouldn't get that. Meyer2010, I know that you went this route as well. How was your experience with this whole process? Did the minister you had perform the ceremony work out well? Did they make "real like" so others didn't know it wasn't actaully a legal ceremony? Also I think you said the Cat didn't require you to have the marriage cert at the resort so you didn't have to have the legal marriage done before? Did you stay for a honeymoon as well? I think some resorts want to see a marriage cert to give you a honeymoon package. I was going to go somewhere else for our honeymoon, so that is why I am a little worried as I would want to get legally married after Mexico. Yes, we were soooo happy we did the renewal of vows ceremony. It was cheaper and the minister we hired was great. It was very "real" and not a bit fake. We did get legally married before we went to Mexico and brought our marriage certificate just in case we needed it. But we never had to show it and things went very smooth. You will love how organized Elena/Cora/Marisol are!!! We arrived on a Sunday, got married on a Wednesday and left on a Sunday. So, actually no, we didn't have a honeymoon. We are hoping to take one this fall!!! Good Luck to you!!! ~ Erica

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!! Krista - Great news on your hormones doubling! I told you that you had a tough little fetus in there! Brooke - thanks for the travel advice. I did hear that sometimes you need doctor slips allowing you to fly in your 3rd trimester so I know that is definitely not what I want! 14 hour flight + being very pg = misery lol Speaking of flying with young babies, in February we were flying to the US for our wedding and this Chinese woman boarded with her mother, sister, sister's kids and her 9 month old baby. We start taxi'ing down the tarmack (sp?) and her baby starts crying.... she stands up walks to the front of the plane and demands to the flight attendants to get off the plane. They said NO, it's too late and please go sit back down. She said NO, my baby won't stop crying and I think something is wrong with her. The FA asks if this is the babies first flight and she answers YES. The FA calmly tells her it is okay and the baby will be fine once we get in the air. THe mother refuses to sit down again! Starts shouting "THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THIS PLANE!!! MY BABY KNOWS SOMETHING BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO THIS PLANE!!!" now all the passengers are getting fed up with this woman and start making rude remarks to her. Finally the FA's tell the pilots what is going on and we start heading back the gate. 1.5 hours later the woman gets off the plane, they get her luggage off and we start heading back out (as all the passengers are clapping). Suddenly, then her mother stands up and wants to get off too. So, 45 min. later she gets off the plane with her luggage. So our flight was almost 3 hours late leaving China. Everyone is PO'ed the pilot gets on and says he is going to try and make up some time for those passengers with a connecting flight. Once we land in Chicago the pilot gets on the intercom and says "United Airlines ONE - BABY ZERO" it was the funniest thing ever!!! How many of you have pools? No fair! It's MONDAY for me today auggghhhhh.

Well, I was glad we had the white tent because it was a little wet most of the morning and then the sun came out full force as I was walking down the aisle. It saved our guests and the kids from the rain and the heat. Not to mention you are only down there for 30 min. at the most! We had them hang flowers on the tent which made it look more tropical. The other nice thing is they moved all of our flowers and chair sashes to the buffet for us and when we were finished getting our pictures done and had a few drinks at the PCO bar we walked to the buffet and they had it decorated so beautifully free of charge. We also got married on a Wednesday which was "Mexican" night in the buffet. There were mariachi players that came over to our tables and played for about 20 min. Since CAT was an AI resort we weren't ready to pay $40/pp for a private reception. We were so glad we had our reception in the buffet that way our guests could enjoy a huge variety of food and free drinks! It was perfect and I wouldn't change a thing!! Good Luck!

Marisol is wonderful! She speaks great english and was very helpful for us! If she is unsure of anything, don't worry, she will get the answer. Write all your questions down and make a copy for her... that way she can have a list of her own. Good Luck!

Yep... everyone was right. Our guest LOVED them. They used them every chance they got. I'm so glad we did them! We had to order 250 of them but we doubled them up to give to our guests and had some extras left which is great for visitors when they stop over to our house! Good Luck ladies!

Hey girls... remember me? Sorry I've been MIA lately... Wow... I'm trying to get up to speed on what's new with all of you. First of all, Krista.... I'm sorry to hear about your scary news. But, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything turns out okay. Sounds like you have a tough little fetus in there! Stay positive and try not to worry (easier said than done - I know!) I've read that some women can still have AF every month during pregnancy. Maybe your conception date was later than you think and that could make your date off a little. Keep the oven on and keep that bun cooking! Please keep us posted! *hugs* AFM - Nothing really new except our company gave us our date for moving back to the USA... (((MARCH2011))). I'm excited and sad at the same time. It's been a great opportunity and we've been here for 1.5 years so far. So right now we are kind of holding off on TTC since if we were to get pg in the next month or so we would be due in February. I'd rather hold off and have a baby in the USA. Plus, our family wants to be there when we have our first. So, with us moving back to Michigan next year... we have a list of visitors that are coming to visit us before we head back. My 22 year old sister is coming in July, my BIL/SIL is coming in October and my MIL/FIL are coming in December. Quite a line up! Okay, enough about me! Sounds like the weather is getting nice in North America! Shanghai has been getting warmer by the week. Today is 75 and by next week it's supposed to hit 85. Augghhh... the only problem with that is there aren't many places that enjoy A/C so we suffer. Last July it made it to a record 102. Yayy!!! Not! We are heading back to MI for a visit in late July. I can't wait. I promise I'll do a better job and keeping tabs on everyone! xo ~ Erica

Ha-ha... nope it was pretty far from Shanghai. That doesn't mean I don't worry all the time if we are going to be next! My Friday is almost over! My hubby has to work tomorrow so I'm going to go to the grocery store and then the flower market. Flowers are sooooo cheap here so I'm going to get about 12 plants for my balcony! I can't wait! Then we offered to babysit our boss' kids (twin girls - 8 years old & 6 year old boy). Did I mention it is going to be a sleepover and they are all soooo excited to stay at our place!!! It's going to be a night full of games, making cookies and playing wii!!!! I think we will have our hands full! Wish us good luck!!! What is everyone else doing this weekend?

Krista H - oh the drama... so sorry you have to go through this! A brunch is a great idea. My MIL had one for us and it was so much fun. My parents, my siblings, his brother and a few other family members came. I think we had 22 people in all! We brought all of our wedding gifts to their house and opened them there. Everyone enjoyed seeing what we got. We saved the box of cards for us to open by ourselves that night! It was fun taking turns opening the cards and adding up the money! Chris - I know what you mean on the pics. I have about 15 favorites but I thought I'd have way more!!! Oh well... I might check into shutterfly and have a book made too. Hmmmm.... That is annoying having someone like that working with you. I hate those types of people that tries to steal other's thunder! All I have to say is Karma is a bitch! Susie - so sorry to hear about your grandpa! That is always hard to see those you love get older and pass away. I think you made the right decision on not going for the funeral. Like you said, you said goodbye to him last year! Hang in there! *hugs* Alison - that is what my gyno said last year too. So I think it is a matter of time. I also heard that most gyno's won't do anything until after the 1 year mark of trying. Just have fun and try not to get too stressed! AF came yesterday so I'm out of the running for a Christmas baby. I'm okay with that because that means I wouldn't be able to be home for Christmas and would have to spend Christmas in China. I'm okay with having a 2011 baby! I also want to focus on my fitness and plan on hitting the gym hard this month!!!! We will still be "trying" but not getting stressed about it. Plus, I ovulate twice this month yippppeeee!!! Krista (July) - All of our weddings may be over with but it will be fun to sit back and see all the details of your wedding! Alright, time to get back to work! Happy Friday (well it's Friday in China anyways!) Oh, and sorry my picture is so friggin' GIGANTIC... I changed the pic in photobucket to small but it is still large! WTH ~ Erica

Got our wedding pictures FINALLY!!!!! I'm just trying organize them and then I will post the link. Here is a sneak peak of one of the ones that I LOVE!!!

engaged_maya - I brought my wedding dress as one of my carry on items. They stored it in the first class cabin. No problem at all. I don't think you will have any issues. All of the flight attendants I dealt with were excited to help!!! L & C In Love - We did bring an outside photographer in and I think the all day pass was $40 per person. Also, we asked the CAT to suggest a minister for our ceremony and they did and he was $300. We did the "Renewal of Vows" cermony since we got married in Michigan before we left for Mexico. Hope that helps & Good Luck! ~ Erica

Krista - Here are a few pics of our tables. We went with flowers, candles, rice paper & mirrors - Elegant and yet simple. I had to show you our cupcake tree too! We got so many compliments on it!!!! I need to work on my review thread too! Good Luck! Those 3 months are going to fly! Just remember to have fun and take it all in slowly! ~ Erica

Chris - Yes, I know that some of these women on the forum have been trying for a long time and they are very irritable but I've joined a few groups with 30 something woman TTC #1... so it's been very helpful since we are all going through the same thing. I've learned so much and got some great info/tips from reading their posts! Brooke - I ♥ your ticker! So cute. Now we can keep up with your pregnancy too!!! AF isn't due until April 16th so now I have to wait till next week to see if we were successful! Thanks for th support and keeping your fingers crossed! Send me some of your magical baby mojo/dust! Krista - I like the punchbowl idea but all I can think about is spillage, condensation and little kids dipping their hands in the bowls because it's so colorful and yummy! What about having one of those punch fountains and then people just stick their cups under the fountain and fill their cup up. I also liked those at receptions! When we got married at the courthouse (before MX) I signed our license with my "new" last name. It was the first time I was able to use it legally. And I can't lie, I did practice alot writing it before hand. I'm still perfecting it though. Good Luck! We are here for you! ~ Erica

Awww Krista! AF sucks sometimes... but now you can start over and get back in that bedroom! Ha-ha! My hubby loves all the babymaking attention he is getting. He was singing that 50 cent song to me the other day "Have a baby by me, baby" he is so silly sometimes! I have been drinking tons of water so I have to use the bathroom like every 30 min. I'm getting my exercise just running back and forth to the bathroom! We are going to start working out hardcore next week. I've gained 4 pounds since the wedding and I want to shed that. Has anyone else gained? Chris - you should check out BabyCenter | Homepage - Pregnancy, Baby, Toddler, Kids I'm addicted to their forum "Actively Trying" hopefully it will be our turn soon. Have you started your prenatal vitamins yet? I started last summer to get used to them. I also take Vitamin D. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for us! I wish I could watch that 16 and pregnant show! I heard it was really addicting! Maybe I can dial it up online. Hmmmm... I've been addicted to watching DWTS since they offer full episodes online. We only have a few english tv stations and I'm really missing the reality tv!

OMG!!! I haven’t been on here in like 2 weeks I think! What a lot of catching up to do! I was on here for 1.5 hours trying to get the latest scoop on you girls! Congrats- First of all congrats to the knocked up newlyweds <<<Sabrina & Brooke>>>!!! That is so exciting. Sounds like Sabrina will have a Turkey baby and Brooke will have a Christmas baby! Keep us posted!!!! I’m keeping my fingers crossed for both of you! Hmmm… I’m having thoughts of twins… do they run in any of your families? Vacation- We just got back from a romantic “mini†honeymoon to a private island called Sanya. It’s still in China but it was a 3 hour flight south. It was gorgeous and HOT (88F) every day. We enjoyed ourselves at the resort and spent some great quality time (wink-wink) in the bedroom too! I was suppose to “O†on Easter so I’m hoping that all this baby making will pay off and I can join the “February Brides Baby Forum†lol I did get a UTI before we left so the first few “fertile†days were wasted because I wasn’t feeling 100% and on antibiotics. I’m feeling better now so I’m guessing this month wasn’t our month since we didn’t try very hard. Oh well, there is always next month! I have been off bc pills since April 2009 but we didn’t start “actively trying†until February 6th. I’m trying not to stress out and I don’t want to get Jason all freaked out either. I have been reading a lot of articles online but I’ve trying to not think about it too much. Although with living away from home I chat with my mom daily on Skype and she keeps asking “Are you pg yet?†“How about now?†“How are you feeling, any pg symptoms yet!?†So, finally I told her NOOOOO… please don’t ask me every time. You are going to stress me out!! Aughhh… mothers!!!! Susie… where are you?!!? How do I keep my mom off my back?!?!? Photos – The contract we have with our photographer was 8 weeks. So today marks exactly 8 weeks that we were married. So I emailed him today and he said he is working on them and will have them ready this week! Yayyyyy!!!! Changing name/combining accts- Yes and Yes! I have started the process of changing my name. The first thing I changed was my FB, then my work email, then my business cards, and then my passport. Since we live in China I wanted to get that process going soon. It only took 2 weeks to change my passport that was quick!!! So, I have a few more things to change and then I’m all set! We started a joint acct. after we got engaged. It was called “Wedding fundâ€, that is where we would put money away for our wedding and such. We also deposited all our cash/checks we received from our reception. We still have a hefty credit card bill from our wedding/vacation but we aren’t touching the money in our acct. We are remodeling our kitchen this summer when we are home and we will use some of that money for appliances! Yayyy!!! We do still have separate accts but eventually those will get combined into one once we get back home to go to the bank and do the paperwork. It’s hard living 8,000 miles away and having to wait to do all that fun banking stuff! I'll do a better job at keeping tabs on you girls from now on!!! xo ~ Erica

Susie!!! You live in a mansion with a pool! Holy crap! We are so having a pool party at your house this summer! lol I'm so jealous! I can see both sides… on one hand you are ready to start a new life together and a house would be the perfect time to do that… a fresh start! On the other hand you want to enjoy yourself and let your life calm down a bit before you take a huge step like this and have to worry about packing and selling your current house. Hmmmm… maybe flip a looney? Or is it a tooney? I can never remember the currency in Canada! But, I am in love with the house you chose though… I love how spacious it is! Just do what is right and listen to your hearts! Good Luck! Krista – Yum! An ice-cream social! Love the idea! I think everyone would enjoy it but how many people will you have at your reception? I just wonder how quickly it can be served or does someone serve the ice-cream for them. Hmmm… We had a phootobooth at our reception…. And let me tell you it was a riot!!!! * Warning: This might be TMI * Babymaking is super fun! I have been charting a few things. I have only been keeping track of good ole AF (aunt flo) and CM (cervical mucus) and when I’m ovulating. We’ve only been trying for a month but I actually thought I was pg last week. AF was late and I had a ton of symptoms. Then I found out that progesterone is a bad bad hormone and it makes your body mimic pg symptoms! AF started on Saturday and I was so bummed because I was really thinking I was pg. I have to not read into this pg stuff, it can get pretty depressing. But we are still keeping it fun and don’t want to turn into a “chore”. How is the charting of your Basal Temp going? I haven’t started to do that because I don’t have a proper BBT. Living in China is hard to find the everyday things. I just found a store that carries pg tests! I have a package arriving this week that contains “Preseed” it is a sperm friendly lube and it actually helps you when conceiving. Okay, alright, I know.... enough of my TMI stuff. lol Brooke – get in that bedroom girl! Show your hubby how much you miss him! That stinks you are traveling so much! Can you kidnap him and take him with you? Well girls sorry I have been away but it’s been a busy few weeks at work and I’ve been consuming myself in baby info and TTC stuff. Xo ~ Erica

Oh the drama Susie! I am also shocked the school allows kids to be on FB!!! Wow!!! You get her Susie! I'm glad you stood up and didn't take any sh!t!!! Good Girl! Shell - so happy your "fiesta" went well. Our AHR was awesome too! We had 197 show up and we didn't close the bar till midnight! What a night! We surprised everyone and had pizza's delivered at 9:30 for those that needed some food with their drinks! *wink-wink* We didn't want everyone getting loaded and then getting pulled over. Krista - that's so cute you had a "date night" awwww... stay in that bed and get busy on that babymaking! hee hee! Timberly- Sorry you're bummed about not getting so many gifts/money etc. But just remember you and your hubby are a gift to eachother and you are so lucky you found one another and have a beautiful daughter to show for it. ♥ Who needs gifts/money when you have eachother?! ♥ Not to mention, think of all those thank you's you would have to fill out!!! lol Tricia - We were talking about combining our accts too! Since we don't go back to the states until July we are just transfering our $$$ back and forth between accts. Once we are back in the states we will combine our accts. We agree with having one acct and not seperate ones! But, yeah i will have to get used to him saying "what is this?how much?you bought what? lol Well, I better get back to work! xo ~ Erica

Welcome back!!! We were going to do the private reception too but couldn't justify the $40/per person charge when we were staying at an all inclusive. So, if you are a penny pincher like me ask them if you can have your "reception" in one of the buffets! We did that and we had a great time and they decorated our tables so nicely and we didn't have to pay a dime!!!!!! We had 40 guests so an extra $1600 wasn't an option for us! Good Luck! ~ Erica

Quote: Originally Posted by SusieQ I have officially started spring cleaning in my house!!!! We have a little snow in our back yard but thats because my backyard is all pool and it is one huge deep chunk of bloody ice. It keeps the snow for "oh weeks after everyone else is seeing grass". Wow... I guess we can have a pool party at Susie's this summer... woohoo!!! lol

The same thing happened to most of us! That is just their policy, actually if you look into other resorts they have the same policy as well. We booked our resort on June 30th of last year and our wedding was in February so yes, you can see you can't book too far ahead. Don't worry, things will work out! If you wait and book the CAT you won't be disappointed! We had 40 guests in February and most of them are going back to the CAT in the future. We even were told by my aunt who goes to Mexico every 2 years and goes to a different resort every time that she will book the CAT again in two years! She is a hard woman to convince and she loved the CAT. Good luck with the rest of your planning. ~ Erica

Quote: Originally Posted by SusieQ Ok ladies those of you that are on the getting prego ASAP plan, (I'll first fess up, I don't knit) My gfriend does lovely work and she has told me that she will make a beautiful blanket for the first bride that confirms "I'm prego". You can choose the colour and I will buy the wool. I will ship to china if it's Erica.... So ladies "lets get her done".... My gfriend just loves the fact we are all so close, she was with me when I met two other brides from this site in Mexico, one was Jody (she got married same day I did and the other was Amy she got married the 4th Feb)... Anyway she will be doing a blanky for the first Feb bride that gets pregnant. The challenge is on... SUSIE!!!! You lied to us!!! Bad girl! Ha-ha... we have been DTD (doing the deed) like every other day. What a bunch of work! Holy crap! lol That is the reason for me not logging on in a while because we are always in the bedroom! TMI TMI TMI I miss you gals though! Who is all trying? I've just signed up with BabyCenter | Homepage - Pregnancy, Baby, Toddler, Kids the other day and I've found some very useful info. Like... did you know that saliva kills sperm!?!? Also, most lubricants are not sperm friendly. So I ordered some "Preseed" it's a special lube that helps make conceiving easier. I know I know TMI TMI TMI again! What a dirty girl I am talking about DTD all the time! lol My hubby is loving all the booty though, let me tell you! LMAO Nice pics girls... It's sad that February is over but we can relive our weddings anytime we want to, right!?!?!?! Wednesday is our ONE MONTH anniversary... OMG!!! I think I will watch our wedding video again tonight and have a good cry! It took me about 30 min. to catch up with all the posts, so I better get back to work now. hee-hee! ♥ Sending my love from China ♥ ~ Erica

Oh... and as far as a videographer, I never had to look for one since my brother was mine! He is going to school for it and did a fantastic job at capturing our whole week and putting it on dvd. ~ Erica