Random updates!

Hello bloggy. I have neglected you for a long time, but that isn't new or anything. I think about you from time to time, and about how I should visit, but man, I've just been really busy. Forgive me? Okgood.

SO lots of things have happened since, uh, February? I think that's when I last put new words on here.

Anyway.

Husband is home! Bean loves him as usual. Probably even more than he loves me, but he still always wants mommy to hold him when he falls or something. +1 for mommy.

Husband also got a new job and is moving to a new unit shortly! We're all really happy for him and can't wait to see where this takes our family. It's something he has wanted for a long time and it'll probably be a big change for us. But we'll do what we have to do (:

Oh and there's this too:

The Bean is getting a new sister! We are very excited and can't wait to welcome our new little one into the family!

We also moved into a bigger house so we wouldn't all be crammed into our tiny old one. While it was perfect for the 3 of us, it just wasn't going to work out with a new baby (and all those irritatingly HUGE baby things), a growing toddler, a dog and us parents. Thankfully our new house is big enough for all of us and we'll hopefully be here for a while. And get this, we went from one shared bathroom (connected to the master AND the hallway for everyone in the house to use) to THREE bathrooms! OR 2.5, but still! We have a master bathroom (not connected to the rest of the house!) and a regular upstairs bathroom and a downstairs half-bath. I'm seriously in heaven!

Anyway, I think thats about it. I'll try to keep up with this thing a little better. Hopefully we'll FINALLY be able to get ourselves into a good routine. Things have been sort of crazy for a really long time, and now that Hubs is getting settled into a new job and we're finally past the morning sickness and fatigue stage. So I'm praying we can get back to our normal selves, but I really doubt that. Especially with Christmas (and my birthday and our anniversary and Bean's birthday, wow!) looming over us!

But we'll see (:

Hurt

About a week and a half ago I wrote up a blog. About friends who have jumped ship and family who couldn't be bothered to be here for Nathan and I through the past 6 months. It had a lot of anger and sadness in it. I yelled at everyone I talked to that night, cried to my husband, drank a glass of wine, and then I went to bed. I didn't post the blog that night... But to be honest? I wish I had. I deleted it after I woke up the next morning to sunny skies and a giggly little boy. I started clean and gave the new day a chance to be a new beginning. And then the next day. Now here we are a week and a half, and about 10 new days later....

Wanna know something?? I still wish I had posted it.

Because some people never get it.

The past 6 months have tested me. We have had ups and downs like I couldn't have imagined 6 months ago. I pushed my way through N's first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, NYE and his first birthday. I spent my birthday pretty much alone, and our wedding anniversary the same way. I rang in the new year in an empty house without my friends or family, my son was fast asleep and my husband was half a world away. Somehow, knowing all this, my friends and family didn't step up. Nobody calls to see how we're doing. Nobody sends cards or emails to check in. Most of the time nobody even answers the phone when I call them because I need to know that someone cares.

In the beginning I got the "Oh if you need ANYthing, just let me know." and "I'll come out and visit you guys while he's gone, so you can have a break." and "When you come home in December we'll take the baby so you can go out with your friends or just have some time to yourself." Fast forward to the end of the deployment and nobody calls anymore, nobody has come out to help or just to visit or keep us company, and when I was in Ohio for and ENTIRE MONTH I went out without Nathan twice and got nasty comments from each and every person that we didn't spend enough time with them. After I drove my child and my dog from California to Ohio in the winter to spend time with you all. Thats all the help I've gotten the entire time. I have needed help, someone to talk to, and even just the "You're doing great. You can do this." Nothing.

The point of all this isn't just to be a B... Its just to let you all know, that if you're my friend or if you're in my family, that you probably suck. And in the future? Be a better friend. Be a better family member. Call. Send a card. Ask me how I'm doing and let me know you're here for me. I'm too proud to ask for help, but chances are I have gotten to the point when needed it at one point or another and you didn't even answer the phone when I called. Or you said you would call and I didn't hear from you for a week.

Now this has turned into an emotional rant and I'm sure it doesn't make sense or it comes across as too mean. But I don't care. It is time for a reality check, people, because over the last 6 months I have learned a hell of a lot about myself. I have been given the opportunity to see who my real friends and family are. And while it sort of feels like getting punched in the stomach sometimes, it also feels pretty good to not be under the impression that our relationships are something they aren't.

So thanks, I guess.

The baby isn't a baby anymore...

I would like to put out a missing baby report. He's short, kinda fat and the happiest baby you'll ever see. He has a lot of hair and blue eyes. If you see him, send him back my way. I kinda miss him!

Seriously.

My baby is gone. I'm not quite sure when this happened or how I missed this monumental transition, but it came and went. And I've been left with this heart-breakingly handsome little BOY. One who walks around and brings me tubs of goldfish crackers when he gets hungry. He smacks his lips together when its time for lunch. He brings me books to read and stacks his blocks all by himself. I can't believe the past year has flown by. This time last year I was wondering if he would ever grow out of his newborn clothes, and if the day would ever come that those 12 month clothes would fit around his tiny waist. That day, too, has come... and almost gone! And every few days we find another shirt, pair of pants or pair of little socks that stretch a little too tightly around his little body, and it gets tossed into the ever-growing bin of too small baby clothes.

I hate to admit it, but I'm incredibly sad and missing my little baby enough to ask Husband if we could maybe consider possibly having another baby... someday. He laughed at me when I said it. And I cringed inside when I said it. I can't believe I said it. I must have had a temporary lapse in judgement because this little guy we have here is more than enough to keep me busy. I pick up toys like, 4 or 5 times a day and I'm constantly finding cheerios under the coffee table and sippy cups dripping onto the carpet. Those are the times I ask myself what the hell I am thinking when I get the ache for another little one. Because for now, Stinky Bean is MORE than enough. At least until he's out of diapers...

I'm such a liar. And I'm lazy, too.

Remember, oh, about 2 months ago, when I promised and swore that I would update you THREE followers on our life? Yeah. Sorry about that. I've been trying to stay busy and I've been pretty successful.

We've had dinners with friends and taken walks. We go to Target every other day just to get out of the house. We went to Ohio for almost a month, which was... interesting. To say the least. More overwhelming and stressful than happily busy like I wanted it to be. Unfortunately this deployment landed right on top of every single holiday that holds any significance for our family. I had to fight to put on a smile for Stinky Bean's first Christmas, our wedding anniversary and then when we got back home, Bean's first birthday. It was hard, but we made it through. I can't tell you how happy I was to sit in the car with a smelly dog and a fussy baby for 36 hours, because it meant we were going home. And that's all I needed, to be among our things and have our family photos around me and sleep in the bed I share with my husband.

Now that we're back home and getting into the swing of things again I am so grateful. The day we left Ohio for the long drive back here marked the halfway point. Now its time to clean out closets and find homes for the clutter and toys we managed to collect over the last few months. Its time to order banners and paint white bedsheets to hang along fences and over the garage door. We can breathe a little more easily because he's coming home soon. One day, not too far away we'll dress in our best and go hold up signs to welcome daddy home! I can't wait. I want to cry thinking about how that day will go. I can't wait for it.

N knows who his daddy is. He walks around the house looking at all the faces in our photos and points out "dadada" to me. He absolutely lights up when he sees a picture of his daddy. We have this (slightly creepy) thing called a "daddy doll" which is basically a full body shot of a daddy (or mommy) that is cut out and printed onto a pillow-doll-thing that little ones can hold and hug and carry around. And the kid loves it. The picture my lovely husband chose was one that depicted a man who hadn't had access to showers in upwards of 3 weeks and obviously hadn't shaved in a week or two. So he looks preeeeety rough to say the least. Its cute though. I miss that man. Even when he looks like he's homeless.

So all is well for now. Except that our tiny, little baby has grown up and learned to walk and is tearing apart every single thing he can get his chubby little hands on. Which means I'm constantly cleaning up some mess. Like the bowl of cheerios he dumped on the living room floor and the contents of his dresser drawers he so thoughtfully rearranged and relocated to the living room.

At least I'll be able to stay busy through this last stretch.

Two days in a row. WHAT?

Yep. I posted last night... And here I am doing it again. Crazy, right?

So... I made the cookies and they were great. The cream cheese frosting is sweet. Obviously it's sweet. I know, it IS frosting. But its just not my taste. A little bit goes a long way with this stuff. But it goes great with the cookies. The recipe I used didn't say whether I should use milk chocolate chips or semi-sweet. I used milk chocolate. Next time I'll definitely go with the semi sweet. I think it will just balance out a little better. All in all though, the recipe is a winner. I'll link when I have a chance to log on with a different browser.

I've been catching my monster cruising, and every now and then he'll be standing next to the couch or table and he'll take his hands away to see what happens. What happens is that he can stand on his own. He just isn't too interested in doing it. He is perfectly happy crawling, which is fine with me. Less of a chance he'll fall and hurt himself. Which he already does. Often. He's going to be walking before too long though. I can't believe how big he's getting. He is going to be 10 months next week. I just can't believe it!

Anyway, I've been having a rough few days. I haven't heard from Zach in a while, he broke the power cord for his computer (Which was actually mine... Go figure!) so he hasn't been able to email or anything. It really sucks, because I'm having a hard time with the holidays getting closer and all. It doesn't exactly help that I am obsessively counting down the days until his approximate return date. I have plenty to do, but I'm just not interested in it right now. I have some projects in the works though, and hopefully I'll be able to stay busy enough to get through until I can start preparing for his return.

And for now that's all I have. I'm tired. I'm going to bed before the babe wakes up and wants to hang out.

See ya.

More Promises. That I'll keep this time! I PROMISE!

Internet Explorer 9, the worst browser ever, (I know, I know, its a beta. But still... It blows. And Husband is gone, and I can't figure out how to go back to the old one. So I'm just stuck here whining about it.) (Anyway...) just deleted my entire entry. And I had a real one. One full of promises to update my blog. You know, the ones I make every time I write on here. But this time I'm not lying. I'm really going to do it. Because now I have time.

I'm past the crying all the time stage. Now I'm just crabby and bored. And I can't sleep at night because 7 pillows are not equivalent to Husband. Not even close. They don't cuddle back.
They are remarkably quiet though, and I never wake up wondering where my blankets are...
In all seriousness though, I miss the snoring and blanket-stealing.

But we're getting by.

Bean is dealing with some separation anxiety I can only guess stems from the fact that Daddy left so suddenly. It isn't like he knew what was going on when we said goodbye. So when Daddy wasn't there to play every day, I think he started to get concerned that I would leave too. So we dealt with a lot of night-waking and not being able to walk into the other room without a full blown meltdown. Luckily its getting better. He's still very clingy, and actually wants me to HOLD him from time to time, but he's almost back to sleeping all the way through the night. It's hit or miss though. He wakes up from time to time for some snuggles. We usually watch some late night tv and then he goes back to bed without a fight.

Otherwise we're pretty boring. Which is really getting to me. I do the same thing every day. And every night. I'm planning on going to the fabric store and starting some new projects. I have a few in mind, including an attempt at a portable fabric highchair that I found on this Mama makes stuff. I'll post a link as soon as I can figure out how to get it to work. IE9. Sucks. I'm tellin' ya.

Anyway, that's all I have for right now. I'm exhausted and if I get to bed fast enough I might be able to fall asleep instead of watching reruns of Family Guy and Good Eats.

OH! I'm gonna try some pumpkin choclolate chip cookies with cream cheese frosting tomorrow. Which I found on MADE. (Again... I'll link when I figure out how to do it. When I click the link option above nothing happens.) I'll report back with the results (:

Goodnight!

I'm reviving this thing

Zach is on his way overseas. And we're learning how to get by without him. So it's only fitting that I put all this extra time to use and start posting on here a bit more.
I have lots of new things going on, and lots to be excited about, so hopefully in the next few days (or weeks) I can rally a little bit and get back to myself. Hopefully it doesn't take long. I need to get out of the house and get some stuff done. Like grocery shopping and getting ready for our trip to Las Vegas!
I'll have more later, but for now the little one is demanding I give him the run of the house.

I'm back!

I know, it's been a long time... But seriously? Nobody reads this. Maybe if I updated once in a while. Or once ever. I think my entire pregnancy I wrote on here like 15 times. Maybe I'm being generous.

Whatever.

The point is: I'm here. And I promise I'll update more often. Besides, I have LOTS more to talk about now. Now that the constant nausea and bathroom breaks have come to an end. THANK GOD. I don't know what I would do if I were still pregnant. No, I do. I. Would. Die.

Ok. So. Nathan is 5 months. Good golly. When did that happen? I seriously feel like the past 5 months have absolutely flown by. I don't know where my tiny baby went. Now I have this giant thing who rolls over and constantly pulls on the dog's ears. Oh. And he sits. On his own. He has likes and dislikes. And I suspect he is forming little baby opinions in his little baby head. Thank God he can't talk yet. I'm not ready to hear those little baby opinions.

I'm good, Zach is good. The dog... Well, he is great. I have a feeling Max and Nathan like each other more than they like Zach and I. They are like soul mates. I've caught Max licking Nathan's face a few times, and what does Nathan do? He opens his mouth. Lets the dog get a nice taste of Enfamil and sweet potatoes. Awesome right? It's disgusting, really. But they love each other. So it's good. I was worried there would be problems... Nope. Not in our house. They are obsessed with each other. I cannot give an accurate enough description of how much they love each other. It's kind of weird.

Other than that everything is good. I'm getting more and more tired of California, and our recent trip to Ohio doesn't help. I miss the seasons. I miss thunderstorms and rainy days. I have a pair of rainboots that decorate our patio because you know what? It doesn't rain here. Ever. In Nathan's short little life it has rained maybe 5 days. I need to clarify. When I say rain I mean sprinkle. Drizzle at best. It sucks. I miss the anticipation of fall and those hot days where the only thing on your mind is the cooler breeze and the changing leaves. When you long to pull out your sweatshirts and make a pot of chili. When grilled chicken and corn on the cob get old. I miss Christmas. This past Christmas we had the patio door open and I wore jeans and a thin turtleneck with flip-flops. FLIP-FLOPS! On Christmas. I need piles of leaves and frosty windows. I need April showers and fresh-cut grass. Don't even get me started on the earthquakes and fires. Over the weekend there was a fire on one of the ranges across the street from our neighborhood. Too close for comfort if you ask me. It's been cold lately too. That stupid June gloom won't go away. Needless to say California has lost it's appeal. It's nice, don't get me wrong. I'm just an Ohio girl to the core.

With that said, it's actually warm here for once, so I'm going to go on a walk with my baby man and some of our friends. And later on I get to catch up with a very old friend who happens to be in the area for a few days. I love when that happens!

I'll post a few pictures later. I can't for the life of me figure out what I did with the stinkin' camera.

See ya!

Bean is here!

This is just a repost of what I put up on facebook after we got home from the hospital. After I make dinner tonight I'll give you all an update from the past 2 weeks and his 2 week checkup and I'll put up a few NEW pictures of him! Enjoy!

Since we are finally home and starting to settle into a little routine I figured I would post an update on here about our new little family member (:

Nathan was born on Sunday night (January 24) at 9:05, weighed 6 lbs 10 oz and was 18.25 in long!

Saturday night Zach and I decided to drive down to San Diego to get some yummy fried seafood, do some walking and just enjoy what I hoped would be our last weekend as a couple. Everything went well and I was having contractions but they weren't painful or particularly close together so I assumed (like every other time) that I wasn't going into labor anytime soon. After going to dinner, the mall and target to pick up a few last minute baby things we headed home and watched a movie on the couch together and went to bed.

I woke up at 5:30 the next morning with some painful contractions and went to the bathroom (where my water broke as I would later find out), came back to bed and woke Zach up. I told him I thought my water broke and we might have to go in and he woke right up and started timing my contractions to see how they were progressing since I wasn't sure it actually was my water. They were closer together than they had been, but still not very regular and we just laid in bed and watched tv to see what was going on. After a few hours I decided that my water definitely had broken and told Zach we needed to get ready to head in to the hospital. We called our parents and let them know and finished packing the bags for the hospital and we left around 8:45 or so.

When we got to the hospital a nurse took me into a triage room to check me out and took one look at me and walked me back to my room. I got all hooked up to the monitors and she started my IV and we waited for the dr to come check my progress. Well wouldn't you know that I had made ABSOLUTELY NO PROGRESS since my 38 week appointment! I was still a "fingertip" dilated and about 50% effaced. Since my water had broken, they couldn't send me home so they monitored me a little longer and decided give me pitocin to actually put me into labor, which made the contractions come much stronger and closer together. After a little while on the pitocin I was starting to feel a lot of pain so they gave me some morphine in my IV and a shot in the butt to help take the pain away since I was still a long way from pushing.

After a few hours with the morphine my contractions started getting stronger and the morphine started wearing off and I was prepped for my epidural which I was very grateful for. It actually didn't hurt at all and I would absolutely do it again in a second. Once I got the epidural it was smooth sailing and I actually made a lot of progress really quickly. The dr came in and checked me around 8:20 and I was fully dilated, 100% effaced and ready to start pushing! I only had to push for about 20 minutes and Nathan was born at 9:05. His apgar scores were 8 and 9 and the only problem we had was that he didn't cry much after he was born so they were worried he wasn't getting the fluid out of his lungs. It turns out he was just fine though.

We stayed in the hospital for about a day and a half. Nathan has a little bit of jaundice, but his levels were low enough that they sent us home a few hours early on Tuesday with instructions to come back and have his levels checked Wednesday morning. At his appointment the nurse told us his bilirubin levels had dropped and he gained 2 oz since his discharge and that everything looked really good.

Now we're just hanging out at home getting adjusted to our new lives as parents. I'm very tired and still pretty sore, but I couldn't be happier with everything. Zach has been absolutely wonderful and is so excited to be a daddy. He is absolutely in love with Nathaniel and so am I. I can't wait to introduce him to all of our friends and family, and really wish we could be closer to share him with you all!

I am too pregnant to live

Not much has been happening over the past few weeks. We moved to our new house (: If you want the address let me know and I'll get it to you! There are pictures up on facebook and I'll post some more one day when its all clean and I can take some with our actual stuff in it.

Now for the baby: As of Thursday I am 39 weeks, which means he could come any day now... but we have come to realize that he probably won't. I'm having plenty of contractions but nothing timeable enough to warrant a trip to to L&D. At my 38 week appointment I was checked and hadn't made much progress. The dr said I was a "fingertip" dilated (not even a whole cm!) and 50% effaced, but those numbers don't mean much. She also told me that if I don't go into labor on my own by my next appointment at 40 weeks (this coming Thursday) that they will schedule an induction that will most likely be a week after my due date. So we're looking at absolutely having him out here with us around February 4th or so. I really hope he decides to be born soon, because I would like to avoid having to be induced. And trust me, I've tried just about everything I can do on my own! So I guess it's all up to the babe at this point. Anyway, there's a new belly picture up that Zach just took today, and I'll probably try to take one every day until he's born. Not sure if I'll post

those, but I will probably post at least one more before he's born.

So that's all I have for now. I took a shower and got dressed and actually pulled out my straightener and some makeup. We're probably heading downtown for some walking and some yummy dinner and, chances are we'll get down there and Bean will finally decide he's ready. Especially since I went through the trouble of putting on a nice shirt and doing my hair and makeup. Here's to hoping I guess...

Hope all is well at home! We love and miss you all!

36 weeks 1 day

Hello! Here are the pictures I promised (: They are all from the past week or so. And the last one is from tonight.

Oh. The stretch marks have finally broken out on my tummy. I have a few down low on either side of my belly button. I'm pretty sad, but not surprised!

Happy New Year

Because I am exhausted and would rather be doing ANYTHING but cleaning and packing. And we don't have pictures yet...

How far along: 36 weeks!

Maternity clothes? Yep. But even the jeans are not so comfortable anymore.

Stretch marks? A few on my tummy. I can't see them unless I perform incredible pregnant acrobatics... And I know you don't want to see that. I have some on my legs too.

Sleep: Its all I want to do.

Best moment this week: Reaching 36 weeks. And getting a move-in date for our new house.

Movement: He is hurting me. He has his feet in my ribs and I can feel him drag them across my tummy. He also gets the hiccups a lot and I can feel those too!

Food cravings: Dr. Pepper still. Otter pops. Gatorade.

Gender: Still a boy I hope. I just took off the tags and washed all his clothes through 3 months!

Labor signs: Lots of Braxton Hicks. Mostly 10-25 minutes apart. They're starting to hurt and its hard to breathe when I get them. It feels like he dropped too.

Belly button in or out? Out and its so ugly! I can't wait for it to go back in.

What I miss: Sleeping on my tummy and being able to bend over.

What I am looking forward to: Moving and having this baby!

Weekly wisdom: Its mostly advice for myself... STOP PUTTING STUFF OFF. You'll regret it!

Milestones: I'm finally in my 9th month. And I guess he can be considered full term now.

We're moving!

Zach and I went to the housing office today after calling and calling for 2 weeks without being able to reach anyone. Luckily we went in because I guess they had a wrong phone number for us and had been calling us for a few days. When we got there we asked about our application and the girl told us they had something available for us on the 26th of January. I freaked out a little bit but we told her we had to move in before that because of my due date and she was able to shuffle some stuff around and find us a place we could move into after the 8th. So we went and signed a few papers and made an appointment to sign our lease and walk through our new place. We're moving in anytime after January 11! It is such a relief to have that taken care of, and to know that we won't be scrambling to extend our lease or find something else. Hopefully the move goes smoothly and Nathan waits a little longer to come out so we have time to get everything ready. Right now we have a feeling that he might try to make his debut a little early. I've been having a lot of nausea and the braxton hicks contractions are starting to hurt and come a lot more frequently. Bean has also dropped a little bit, and I'm definitely feeling like he might come any time now. Zach is convinced he's coming in the next week or so. I'm just praying he stays in until after we get the keys to the new place since we have a lot to do to get ready for the move.

I have some pictures to put up, and some more to write about, but tonight I am absolutely exhausted so you'll have to wait a little while for those. I hope everyone had fun over Christmas!

I have pictures (:

This picture is from 31 weeks and 2 days!

The rest of these are from 33 weeks and 1 day!

From the front...

And a bare belly picture because I'm so happy I got this far without stretch marks all over! I'm just waiting until the morning I wake up with a road map on my tummy (:

8 Weeks to go!

Hey everyone! Its been a little bit since I have updated and I am trying to be a little better at this updating thing. I have a few pictures to post, but I'm going to have to wait until Zach gets home to put those up since I'm updating from his computer (thanks to the stupid virus that ruined my computer). We'll take a new one tonight and post it along with whatever I have that you haven't seen (:

Last week we had a little bit of a scare and early on Thanksgiving morning Zach and I had to go into labor and delivery. I had been up all night (an unfortunate new hobby of mine...) and around 3:45 had noticed some braxton hicks contractions that just kept coming. I drank water, laid on my left side and went to the bathroom but they just kept coming. After I had 8 I decided to call and the nurses in L&D told me I should come in to be checked, so we went. We got there around 5:30 and they hooked me up to the monitors and had me drink lots of water while they made sure everything was ok. After about 30 minutes of being on the monitors they did a quick internal exam to make sure I wasn't actually progressing and they sent us home with instructions to come back if they became painful or my water broke. Luckily everything was fine though.

Today I went in today for my 32 week checkup and got my test results from the blood work I had done at 28 weeks and everything was fine. I asked about the position of the baby since he was breech at all the ultrasounds I have had so far, and when I should start to worry about it. The dr checked to see if she could feel him and figure out what his position was. She poked around and told me that as far as she could tell he was head down. I was happy to hear that since I have been worried that he wouldn't turn. Hopefully he stays that way and doesn't turn himself back upright, but we'll see. If he hasn't turned by my next appointment at 36 weeks then we'll start talking about other options to get him ready. The dr also told me the results from my last ultrasound, that he looks great and measured in the 77th percentile that week! I can't believe he's so big! He should be measuring about 4 lbs right now, but if he is still up there in the 77th percentile he might be a little bigger than that. Hopefully he doesn't get too big! I'm so happy to know that everything is going well in there though.

I'll post later tonight or tomorrow with some more pictures! We love and miss you all!

10 weeks to go!

Hello everyone! Sorry it has been so long since I've updated. When we got home from Ohio Zach and I were exhausted from making the drive in only 2 days and we were both still trying to fight off a cold or something. Ever since we got back I have just been exhausted and my body doesn't want to adjust to a normal sleep schedule. Unfortunately thanks to my shrinking bladder and heartburn that seems to be triggered by every. single. food. I am finding it harder and harder to sleep through the night, and I get my best sleeping done after Zach has left for work and I can take over the whole bed. This results in me sleeping almost the entire day and getting absolutely nothing done. This weekend Zach and I helped out at a friend's garage sale and we got up around 6:30 on Saturday and I made it to 4 and then napped for about an hour. We went to bed early that night and I got up around 9:30 Sunday. Hopefully I can keep up with this trend, because its so much easier. I won't be surprised if I fall back into sleeping all day though, I'm just as tired as I was in my first trimester... Maybe even more so. 

I had my glucose tolerance test a few days after we got home from Ohio. Surprisingly, aside from how bored we were sitting there for an hour, it wasn't so bad. The drink was like a melted popsicle or one of those little hugs drinks. It made me a little nauseous, but nothing horrible. We were just so bored because I had to wait an hour between drinking the glucola and having my blood drawn. My numbers were fine though, and we aren't worried about gestational diabetes. The next week was my 28 week appointment and I made a mistake about the time and showed up almost 30 minutes late so I had to reschedule for the next week. I swear I am absolutely losing my mind because I was so completely sure that my appointment was at 10:45, but it had been scheduled for 10:20. So when I finally got in for my appointment I mentioned how I had called in October about being exposed to 5th disease and was curious about what I should do because it can be dangerous if you contract it during your pregnancy. The dr. seemed to have no clue what I was talking about. She ended up having me go downstairs to the lab and give them some blood to see if I had been exposed to it before and had me schedule another ultrasound to make sure everything was OK with the baby. Last Monday we had the ultrasound and although we haven't heard the results of the bloodwork yet the ultrasound tech told us everything looks great with the baby and I'm "on track to having a 7 or 8 pound baby!" Now I'm not so sure about the 8 lbs idea, but I'm thankful to know he is doing ok in there. He was so active that it took her twice as long as normal to get his measurements, and he actually had his feet up over his head with his legs in front of his face. We got some pictures, but they are so blurry from him moving around that its hard to tell what is what! He has some pretty big feet, and he was 3 lbs 1 oz when she measured him! 

So everything is looking good with the baby so far! It feels like its flying by so fast! I can't believe I am less than 10 weeks away from my due date and we'll be meeting him soon!! Zach and I decided we are going to move when our lease is up. We have talked about it for a while and been back and forth with our decision many times, but we finally went to the base housing office and turned in our application. We'll be hearing back in the next few weeks what they have available and hopefully we'll be able to move in about mid-January. It is really close to my due date, which is why we changed our minds about it so much, but after getting home with all the baby stuff and setting up the crib and carseat/stroller we decided we would ALL be much better off if we got a bigger place where we all can have enough room. I think thats about all I have for now. Hopefully when Zach gets home I can get him to take a new belly picture to post on here! 

We love and miss you all!

Belly Pictures!

Here's a belly picture from when Zach and I were in Ohio. I think I was about 25 weeks in this picture...

This is a picture from the Marine Corps Ball. I was around 27 weeks.

And here is one from the side (:

Thats all I have right now. I went to the Dr. today and everything looks fine. I'll post a real update tomorrow!

OHIO!

So we made it home to Ohio on Sunday and have just been relaxing and enjoying it so far. We have lots of plans to see family and friends but if anyone else out there wants to get together just let me know! We'll be here for another week and a half (:

How far along: 24 weeks

Maternity clothes? Yep. All the time. I just got a whole bunch of new ones yesterday at the mall with Karen (: I can still wear some of my shirts and sweatpants though.

Stretch marks? A few. None on my belly though. Zach has been rubbing cream on my belly at night though.

Sleep: Surprisingly I'm back on a much normal sleep schedule. I've been waking up before noon every day.

Best moment this week: Coming home and seeing everyone!

Movement: I'm feeling  a lot more on the outside. And seeing a lot more on the outside.

Food cravings: Cici's Pizza and cake

Gender: Boy

Labor signs: None

Belly button in or out? Its totally starting to pop out ):

What I miss: Sushi. Being able to wear my wedding rings every day. 

What I am looking forward to: Going to the football game Friday, seeing my family this weekend and eating baby shower cake.

Weekly wisdom: I got nothin

Milestones: As of this week Bean has a higher chance of surviving outside of my belly if (God forbid) he is born early.

21 weeks and some change!

How far along: 21 weeks and 4 (?) days

Maternity clothes? I can wear a lot of my old shirts, and some of my old pants/shorts if I rubberband the button... Its a stretch with the pants though. I like my fatty pants though. They are super comfy (: And the shirts make my belly look bigger!

Stretch marks? Not yet. Thank God!

Sleep: I sleep really late during the day because I'm having trouble sleeping at night and getting to sleep at bedtime.

Best moment this week: Watching my tummy move with the baby

Movement: Plenty (:

Food cravings: Dr. Pepper, FaveREDS starburst. I'm getting really exciting for the food we get to eat in Ohio though!

Gender: Its a boy!

Labor signs: Nope. I have had some BH but nothing serious. Hopefully it stays that way.

Belly button in or out? In. But Zach doesn't miss a chance to tell me it is changing. He says he can see the bottom of it. Booo!

What I miss: Feeling good. And not being tired, nauseous, headachey. And sushi. 

What I am looking forward to: Baby-wise: Getting bigger. Life-wise: Going home for a few weeks!

Weekly wisdom: The naval hospital is a pain in the butt.

Milestones: I'm past the halfway mark! He's growing so fast!

I've been pestering Zach to take a new belly picture, so I'll get him to do that and post a new picture up here by tomorrow night! 2 weeks until we are on our way home!!!

This thing!

So before I get into my little update let me say that this thing is so confusing! If you notice, I changed my background-layout thing and I swear to you it took me over an hour. Its not like I actually made it myself either. I found a website that has super adorable background-layouts and all I had to do was copy and paste the code into a box like the directions told me. Still took me over an hour. And don't even ask me how long it takes me to post pictures. My last update with the 4 DIFFERENT PICTURES took me almost 20 minutes. There are some things that don't mesh well with me and technology is one of them. I'm lost when it comes to this stuff! 

BUT! I have another update for you all. Jaws are probably dropping as you all read this. THREE updates in one week? And PICTURES too? It must be a mistake. No. Its not. And here's another picture to prove it! Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come (:

There he is! (And he's still a he!) This picture was taken yesterday at my ultrasound. Let me say: this boy LOVES the camera. He let the tech get all of her measurements and was great about showing EVERYTHING off. He had his little legs wide open and kept on flashing his goods so he could be sure we knew. He gave us some adorable little poses and waved his arms and legs arounda ton! Everything looks great! He's growing so much. They couldn't measure his length this visit, but the tech estimated him to be about 11 oz and she said he was probably about the size of a banana. She also told me I have an anterior placenta (its between my tummy and the baby) so the placenta is absorbing a bunch of kicks, but I am absolutely still feeling plenty! Over the past few days Zach has been able to feel them too, which I think makes him a little more excited about the baby. Up until now it has been a little hard to believe that I was actually pregnant, but now with my growing belly and the kicky little guy who has taken up residence in there, there is no doubt for either of us!

So everything is going well and I can't wait to come home for a while. I've been counting down all summer long! Its so hot and dry here. It will defnitely be a nice change to see some clouds and rain. I'm praying that I'll have to wear pants and a jacket. I never in my life thought I would feel that way...! We'll have lots of pictures and hopefully plenty of belly to show you all when we're home! Let me know if you want to get together while we're in town! I would love to see as many people as possible!

<3