WhidbeyGirl

I think your 5 year plans sounds like a good idea.

He agreed to the 5 year (or 20K in savings) plan .

Congrats Mumtaz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HisGirl - I see from your signature that you received your approval email today???? CONGRATS TO YOU TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! When do you get visa in hand????

Congrats Taj!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why the H E double hockey sticks is it only valid for LESS than 2 months??????????????? Did they actually approve it back in September but wait to issue?????? They are supposed to valid for 6 months - at least that's what I thought. My husband's was issued 9/24/09 and is valid until 3/23/10 (he's obviously already used it). That just doesn't make sense.

As for as valid reason I have no idea - sorry

BUT CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Congrats!

Yeh, I wish.....IDK the doctors are really on my back about getting induced earlier because of the possibility of discrepancy in my LMP(last menstrual period) date. My first couple of ultrasounds, taken at 6 weeks to 12 weeks show a due date of Feb 14th....each time. All other ultrasounds taken, which were all in either the second or third trimester mention dates earlier than this, like every ultrasound I've had after the first trimester has given due dates like these in this order....feb 7th, than feb 6th, than feb 5th than feb 4th and now my recent ultrasounds keep showing a date of feb 1st....but that is according to LMP. And since I'm not so sure about my LMP due to some amount of time I was on birth control before getting pregnant....I don't know how accurate ANY of these dates may be.

Though, my theory is that at earlier growth ultrasounds, the baby would have had less genetics involved in the way that he looked and was growing. Since most fetus's will be the exact same size, or very close in the first trimester due to genetics not kicking in...it wouldn't matter whether the mother or father are tall or short once the ultrasound gives a due date...it is most probably accurate the earlier it is done. And now....the issues the doctors are having are that they say the babies head and femur are measuring somewhat small by about 2 weeks...but the baby's cerebelem is measuring larger than even the feb 1st due date they want to stick w/. So that is why they feel that inducing would be best. I personally want to avoid an induction unless it's truly completely necessary....so I let them perform an amniocentesis last Friday to check if the amniotic fluid indicates whether the babies lungs have matured enough to be born yet. That came back negative.....and instead of telling me the due date may just well be further along...like feb 14th(valentines day..lol) they asked me to keep having NST's(non-stress-tests) twice weekly and a doppler and ultrasound before I come back in to the hospital to try and be induced ON MONDAY!!!!. They ARE REALLY ON MY BACK ABOUT THIS INDUCTION STUFF! I just don't know what to do.

But yeh.....somehow my mind..or maybe my heart more so....keeps telling me that maybe if they induce I shouldn't object because I want the baby in my arms so badly already.....but that is totally selfish...and what's the point of that if the baby might have to (god forbid) be in the NICU for a week or two because of my and the doctors selfishness.....not to mention how painful and how much worse being induced makes labor and delivery compared to if it were to occur naturally of it's own accord.

*sigh*.....they say I'm not supposed to have any stress during these last few weeks...........but they sure are making it difficult if thats the case!LOL.

I agree earlier u/s are more accurate. Do what you can to avoid induction - it hurts a whole heck of lot more!!! Been there 3 times! Nature is most of the time the best at starting labor. BUT that being said, continue with the non-stress tests and fetal movement counts (daily)- if at any time you're worried for baby's health get in to see dr! A few days/weeks in NICU is better than the alternative. My dr probably saved my baby girls life, she saw something on the heart rate monitor and decided to do a c-sect and my little girl had the cord wrapped around her neck.

Just dropped in to say hi! We're doing well. How is everyone else?

We also live on an island (off Florida coast), and my husband is also pretty tired of it. He would like to be in a bigger city and near any other Ghanaians.

However, we looked together at rental costs and taxes in a big city, the higher costs of insurance and all, as well as the greater competition for the jobs he would be able to do, and the bottom line, financially, convinced him it's better to stick it out here in our small town so we can save money in order to move back to Ghana in a few years. So, it might help to put a spreadsheet and statistics in front of him!

Every three months or so we go or he goes on a short trip to a big city to visit friends or just explore. It seems to help a lot. He also spends a lot of time chatting over Skype video with his friends from Ghana, so that helps, too.

Good luck!

Thanks a&o. I'm making a better effort in getting to the city. Next month we're spending 2 days in Seattle. I also did make a spreadsheet (so funny you mention that) and decided we each need to save $10K to move so that if we have a hard time getting jobs we'll be ok. I figure it will take 5 years. I haven't presented to him yet, but will do soon. I maybe even sooner if we put tax refund in savings.

Does he want to return to LA because he knows people there or its the weather he likes? Perhaps when he saves up enough money both of you can visit LA where he used to live as a way for him to know that even though you are on an island, there are times when you can get away for a short vacation.

Hope all works out

Yes he talks with a friend there just about daily (like 1000 minutes a month, just on cell phone, not to mention the calls to/from our home number!)

When I bought his ticket to the US I included a trip to LA in July so at least he's going to go. I'll probably use our tax return and buy tickets for the rest of us, the younger two kids haven't been to Disneyland so would be an opportunity to do that.

enraptured - it's not that LA sucks - I have family there. I am just not fond of lots of people and living so close together. I like my 4 acres of land and my farm!!

Congrats Mumtaz & V.

Best of luck HisGirl

Mumtaz you're almost fully cooked!!! Full moon is the 30th so I'd guess Jan 27th - Feb 2nd

I lost 5lbs last week. And I been working out 5 x a week for an hour. Yahoo. Life is good with God in it.

Congrats, I'm down 4 since Jan 2, but just making eating changes right now. I hate working out in the cold weather, videos get boring and can't afford a membership so it will just be diet for the next few months

Congrats!!! and best of luck!!!

ohhhhh-I would be so mad! I'm sorry! You should make him write a completely original message for every pre-fabricated message

Were they in French or English?

All in English. He speaks many languages but since he knows I am only fluent in English that's what he uses. I want to get my French back so I'm wanting him to use it more with me.

I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope you figure it out soon. Did your husband live in Dakar when he was in Senegal? If so, I can see how that would be a big adjustment. Are there any community activities that he can become involved in? English classes or a soccer team?

He lived in TambaCounda - over 100,000 people compared to less than 2,000 here. He also grew up in Lagos - big city. I think he just misjudged how hard it would be. Right now there isn't much to do here, I'm also an introvert and he is very extrovert - so I'm going to start extending myself some more and getting us out on the weekend even though I'd prefer to just stay home. We'll get through this, I'm sure of it.

maybe have him watch "gangland" on history channel might change his mind.

He live in LA on Crenshaw for over 2 years.

K&L - I'm so sorry.

Do you just not want to leave Whidbey or do you not want to leave this area? Because Sequim is relatively temperate. Not a lot of rainfall, more sunshine than the rest of the area....

Or what about closer to Oregon?

That's a toughie. You have to appreciate all he gave up to be here, but at the same time I know it's not easy for you to leave either.

Whidbey is my home, we are living in the house I grew up in and running the small farm. When my parents pass the house will become mine. He wants MAJOR city like LA. While yes I do appreciate all he gave up to be here, I told him of my concerns MANY months and was told, "Don't worry, it's not a problem, I can live anywhere as long as it with you.", etc.

My husband won't admit it but he is definitely suffering from SAD also some issues with isolation. He says Vitamin D does nothing for him so can't go that route any longer. While I wouldn't mind moving somewhere warmer, I have BIG issues with big cities - I like my isolated island.

The funny thing is I sent him an email 6 months before he got here and the TWO top issues that I told him I was concerned about: 1. Climate 2. Population

He understands that right now there is NO WAY we could relocate - money just isn't there, but he desperately wants to leave here and I adamently don't. Not sure what we're doing about it, but somewhere someone has to give.

huh? care to clarify?

Have discovered that most all the very lovely text messages my sweetie sent me came from MaxAbout website.

Just curious if y'all have experienced the same thing. While I knew that some of the texts were not his own creations I did think he would write some of his own.

If you wanna check just put a line of the text into Google and see what comes up.

CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you have the female CO?

CONGRATS!!!!!! Sorry I'm late.

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL MY FFFF's

ok thanks. just seems to me that Homeland Security would have issues with that! Also, I know I had to register my passport number when booked my airline tickets, so how do you put that you're using two?

We'll be in the same situation in the future as my husband intends to build a house in Nigeria and be bi-continental.

My husband's friend, a Nigerian who is now a US citizen, is making his first trip back to Nigeria as a citizen. He has this plan (which I think is CRAZY!!!) to travel to Nigeria with a Nigerian passport, so that he doesn't have to get a visa and then for his return trip home use his US passport. I don't know the answer for certain, but to me that sounds ILLEGAL! Surely Homeland Security doesn't want people to have and travel with two seperate passports.

What do y'all know.

Thanks Hopp but not the info I was asking for.

My husband asked me to ask of y'all:

What are the visa requirements for he and I to visit Nigeria now, after he obtains a US passport, and after he becomes a citizen.

I told him I was pretty sure that regardless I will always need a vistor visa, but I can't find anything to confirm or deny that. Also, logic tells me that after he becomes a citizen of the US he would for sure need a vistor visa, but the other two situations I do not know.

Info anyone??

We loved JFK for POE too!!! The entire thing for us was less than 20 minutes including getting fingerprinted and picking up luggage! Best of luck with the rest of your pregnancy!