Our Valentines Day... one week ago

I had been trying to come up with something really fun and unique to do for Ken for Valentines day. He was in bootcamp last year so I wanted it to be something really special. After thinking and thinking of something that would be fun and that we would both enjoy I finally decided on scheduling a 3D ultrasound session. He had mentioned earlier how he thought it would be really neat and special if we could do one at some point during the pregnancy. So after finding a local place that would do them at a reasonable price I called and scheduled the apt, I just barely hung up the phone when he came in the door. However the lady called me back like 10 minutes later wanting to know if I was interested in setting an earlier date. He didn't hear the conversation... whew. Operation surprise Ken was still in full effect. Then he sat down at the computer, and me being the pregnant ditz that I am left the web site up. Well he was still super excited!!! And I accomplished an amazing Valentines day gift that neither one of us will ever forget.

33 weeks getting ready to leave for our ultrasound apt!!

It's sticking out there

Ken and I in baby's room getting ready to head out.

We were 45 min early to the apt ( didn't know how long it would take us to get there, no gps, refer to previous post) Ken was tired from working all day and this chair was really comfortable. I thought it was funny so I decided to snap a picture. One of the many things the military has taught him, take a nap when one is available lol.

Our little man, he is so adorable (I'm biased) but really... come on, is he cute or what?? My little nose, and the chubbiest little face ever!!

I'd like to think that maybe he was conjuring up some really deep thoughts here. With all the brains he is taking away from me lately I'm betting he's going to be a genius.

His little foot hiding the goods. You can see the jewels peaking out but I think he knows how much Ken and I showed off his previous ultrasound that showed his goods. So he hid them this time.

We had such an amazing time and I would recommend 3D ultrasounds to anyone!! It's such an amazing experience!! Happy Valentines day honey and Happy Valentines day to our little man!!!

Cravings??!!!???

Muffins.... ooey gooey sweet satisfying muffins!!! There is nothing better or more fulfilling than biting into a muffin. Lemon Poppyseed with Lemon Glaze, Chocolate Chocolate Chip, nice and hot out of the over...MMMMM. Lately I can not get enough muffins. Ken in his infinite wisdom suggested I buy boxed muffin mix so I (well ok he) would not have to keep running to the gas station for muffins. Then my more than sweet hubby helped me make the delicious mouth watering baked goods.
YUMMY!!!!

Disappointed

So last night I wasn't feeling very well, I couldn't really pin point a reason I just felt...blah. This morning I woke up had really bad lower back and pelvic pain. I decided to take things easy, but as I was laying on the couch I started cramping. It didn't go away like the normal ligament and uterus stretching that can cause cramping during pregnancy. So I called the Labor and Delivery Triage and they told me to drink some water, lay down and to come in if it doesn't go away. Well it went away for about 45 min. I should mention that my amazing husband was home less than 10 minutes after I texted him and told him not to worry but described what was going on. It was nice knowing that he can be by my side that fast. After about 30 minutes of him being home ( and waiting on me) my cramps came back. So off we went to the hospital just to be safe. It didn't take us very long to get checked in, and the staff was really friendly. They ran a urine test, hooked me up to a fetal monitor to check to see if he was in distress. It also monitored my contractions. They did see that the baby was doing perfectly. He seems very content where he is and doesn't seem like he is ready to come out any time soon. (Whew...) After about 30 min on the monitors they took it off, did an ultrasound. For some reason our son loves to play hide and seek. Every ultrasound, fetal heart tone, and even when his daddy goes to play with him he loves to shy away and come back. We eventually saw him and he has grown so much. After the external ultrasound they did a physical and internal ultrasound they determined my cervix was NOT getting prepared for labor, and neither was baby. The conclusion they came to was that I was having contractions due to dehydration... Yes I'm very pleased I was not in pre-term labor. But I feel so disappointed in myself. I have totally wiped out caffeine from my diet, I have been watching what I eat and taking every opportunity to walk around. I feel mad and upset at myself for not drinking enough. I thought I was in taking enough fluids but I guess not. I am definitely going to be drinking A LOT more from here and out. I'm feeling a lot better but can't help but be mad at myself.

Oh BABY BABY... (stuff)

My amazingly talented hubby drew this for the little man's room, while I was still in WA. His mom absolutely loved precious moments so this is a good tribute and reminder of her. He looked up the figures online and drew them (In PEN), he added the sailor hats and anchors. I absolutely love it and we are going to frame it for his room.

We have 9 weeks & 6 days left of this adventure!! Currently 30 weeks and 1 day, and I can not believe how fast it is going. It feels like just yesterday I was peeing on that life changing stick and seeing if our 2 year dream in the making was finally coming true. We have quiet a bit of baby stuff already, we have some more on the way (Thanks to my loving and amazing Mom Alese) and some more stuff to get. We received A LOT of clothes at my shower and quite a bit of gift cards too, which we used to go on a shopping spree when we came back to Virginia. We bought some newborn diapers, a huge stock of wipes, bath and diaper changing supplies. A baby bath, a sleep position-er which is said to reduce the risk of acid indigestion and SIDS, some organizers for the closet, a safety kit, and a whole bunch of misc items. Overall we had an amazing shower. I'll have to blog about that later on though when I have some pictures!! Right now I wanted to put some pictures up of the furniture and other items we have!! I'm very excited to be able to put his room together.
His newborn clothes, I think he might need a little more. ( his closet organizer has socks, and receiving blankets until we get a dresser then I'm going to use the organizer something else, I think.

His baby bath!! It's so amazing thinking that we only have basically 2 1/2 more months until he will be here and we will be using this. Our adorable travel system my mom Alese bought me. She has been amazing with her support not only financially but emotionally too. I know if I'm having a hard time she is someone I can always count on.
She sent us emails yesterday asking what we were looking for in a bassinet and this has everything we wanted. It also vibrates and plays music. This of course will be what we will use in our room for the first few months, then afterward we can use it as a regular pack n play.

She also sent us some rocking chair samples and this is the one we really like so not only did she order the travel system, bassinet but also the rocking chair. She is an amazing mom and I'm so grateful to have her in my life.

My sister Amanda got this bag for us at the baby shower. Super cute, front.

The personalized back. Of course we are doing a little sailor theme, I'm very proud of my husband and his service and there is nothing cuter than sailor babies ( I think)

My mom (biological) sent these to me. They are adorable I think they will go on the shelf with the picture Ken made him!!

That's it so far for the baby items, I can't wait until he has some furniture in his room and we can start getting it all set up. There is still some stuff on my list to get; swing, crib, dresser. But we have way more accomplished than I thought.

One Year Ago... yesterday!!

One year ago yesterday Ken left for bootcamp. I can't believe it has been a year since we started this military life together. It definitely has been an adventure. I was scrapbooking in his Navy scrapbook sunday and it hit me that one year has already past. While I was scrapbooking, I was reading some of the letters we wrote to each other. We have definitely grown in this past year and some other changes have occured, including; our cross country move, paying off some of our debt, the conception of our little man, and so much more. Thought it would be interesting to do a time line of his bootcamp story.

Jan 13th -Ken left for Bootcamp
Jan 15th-I received my first phone call was 4 min and 33 seconds long, I cherished every second.
Jan 16th- Received a box with all of his belongings. When I opened it I was secretly hoping he was in the bottom of the box. I absorbed his smell in everything and slept with his shirt until March.
Jan 22nd-My first letter!!! The most beautiful thing in the world to me was his handwriting, I read it over and over again.
Feb 1st-Moved out of our first married apartment together and in with my dad, was hard leaving the first place we lived together as husband and wife.

I received 4 more phone calls before graduation. I was so fortunate to never have missed his call, he always called at the most perfect times. I was always so anxious about missing his call, I didn't have service where I nannied. His last phone call was while we were driving to Chicago we pulled over right before we started going over the Wyoming mountains to eat, he called right before we pulled out of the parking lot. Five minutes after I got off the phone and we started driving again, I lost service. His timing was always perfect.

Mar 8th-Kens 21st birthday.... sad day, because he wasn't home and I wasn't able to talk to him.
Mar 9th- My 21st birthday, not as sad because we (My sister, nephew Adam and I) drove to Idaho... this started our drive to Chicago for his graduation on the 13th. I thought of being able to drive to see him as the best birthday present ever.
Mar 10th- After picking up my mom in Idaho we continued our drive to Chicago. My mom had to sedate me while she drove (at night with sleep medicine), I guess all my excitement and anxiety was making me a very controlling back seat driver.
Mar 13th- I scanned the rows and rows of sailors, they all looked the same. My sister pointed him out with the view on the camcorder... then it died.. DAMN. At least I had spotted him and now could watch him. After the ceremony waves of people flooded onto the floor and being so short I couldn't see anything. After searching and searching I see my sister and hear the sweetest voice ever... my hubby's, he was bending down to pick up my nephew ("Hi bud, where's Aunt shell?") Then I ran over to him and hugged him like I have never hugged anyone before. Of course I cried... who wouldn't. It seemed like ages!!

Going Crazy......

I am going crazy thinking of all the things we still need to do to prep for Baby K's arrival. And I'm still in Vancouver so my need to do this is met with not being able to so it's driving me even more crazy. I am going to be starting my 7th month on Monday and it seems to be going by so fast, and I keep thinking of all the things we need to do and buy to prep for his arrival.

Things to buy

Crib
Changing Table
Dresser
Glider w/ottoman
Pack n play with bassinet
Diapers (some size newborn and some size 1)
Wipes
Travel system with extra car seat base
Nursery set
Shelves, picture frames, misc stuff
Diaper Genie w/ refills
baby bath & washcloths


Things to do

Take a tour of the labor and delivery room and part of hospital, ask all questions running through my head
Hang up all of baby's newborn clothes and some 0-3 put all others in dresser
Get letter blocks to spell out his name and paint them
Organize a baby designated area in bathroom and kitchen for his things
Put up shelves and pictures, decorate baby's room with finishing touches

I think this is everything so far but it seems like every hour I am coming up with something else to put on this list. So I thought the best thing to do would be to write it down. Even though I'm sure I will come up with even more things later.

I'm a bad blogger

So today is New Years Eve and I have been so busy with spending time with my family I have not blogged as much as I was planning on it. I had an amazing Christmas, Ken and I received a digital camera which we really wanted but had no clue we were getting. The best present so far was getting to see my niece again. Tiara was born on the 18th and I was able to see her born but she was taking out of the room right away and was taken to the nicu. She had swallowed a lot of fluid and they were having a hard time clearing it out. Also they found her white blood cell count was really high which lead them to believe she was fighting some type of infection. They kept her there for a whole week on antibiotics and heavily guarded (only 4 people including her parents were allowed to see her). She was released Christmas day at about 1pm and we were all at my dad's house anxiously awaiting her arrival. I saw her the day she was born and my dad was able to see her once while she was in the nicu so there were so many others in my family that wanted to meet her.

Ken is going to make such an amazing daddy. He was so amazed and felt so loved when she wrapped her little finger around his.

I loved watching him with her.

She is so precious.

My dad and Tiara after she woke up.

She is doing so well now. Tara hasn't had any problems and hasn't needed to take her back in at all. I was hoping to get belly pictures of us together while I was up here but unfortunately Tiara had other plans.

In other news, Ken went back home on Monday it was sad having him end his vacation without me and having to say goodbye. But I'm thankful for the understanding relationship we have and the fact we can spend vacations apart and still feel so in love. It's only a week until I go back home so it's not like we haven't been apart longer. Still I miss him.