Belly Pix

For comparison:

11 weeks 5 days

18 weeks

21 weeks in hotel where we couldn't get a whole body shot!

23 weeks 

Weight: +10 pounds total....gain since last appointment: ZERO! The doctor's scale said I actually lost a pound or two on my trip up here. With non stop eating out, I feel like I've gained fifteen pounds. So today was a delightful surprise! 

Blood pressure: 117/75 today...woo hoo!

Clothes: maternity jeans, regular comfy athletic pants, maternity shirts with regular tank top underneath + the ever present hoodie since it can be chilly up here in Alaska!

Cravings: Still really love salad with ranch dressing, nectarines, mexican food, eggs

Actual Eating: Nectarines, apples, potato salad with boiled egg whites added, shredded wheat, yogurt, strawberry ice cream, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and ramen (possibly the worst food in the world but since I'm stuck in a hotel room...)...plus our one meal a day that we typically eat out at Q.doba, a local mexican restaurant, Out.back, McDs (hang head in shame) or wherever I can get a good salad! I can't wait to have a kitchen again!

Move Status: Just finished the inspection on our house, waiting for appraiser, hoping to close by Aug 3. Refrigerator purchased. Windows measured for blinds. Fence estimate tomorrow.

Stretch Marks: I haven't spotted any but I'm on the lookout!

Baby Name Status: Need middle name!

Love to all who read. Hope to my friends who are TTC.

xoxo

The fish tank

My husband likened my belly to a fish tank the other day. You know how the signs on the tanks in the pet store say, "Please don't tap the glass"? That's what he likes to tell me when I rub or push on my little guy. It cracks me up since he likes to say it in a very stern authoritative voice. Mostly, I like it because I see my him start to show more of his interest in our little guy. His way of dealing with a potential loss is to not celebrate until we have that wailing baby in our arms. So while he obviously has interest, he doesn't express it as much as I do. I swear he things that I'm going to hurt the little guy because he also likes to pipe up with "abuse!" when I poke my belly. Silly man. I love him so much.
******
Today I finally got cleared to make an appointment at the hospital with the OB clinic here. Despite my hatred of making phone calls, I promptly called this morning because I really want to hear him since it's been a month! After that, I headed over to Air Force side of the joint base where the hospital is located. Looking at the hospital from the outside, I wanted to cheer and turn cartwheels.  It seems like the Army hospital facilities I have seen are clean and functioning, but not that nice. This hospital looks brand new and well spaced out which gives me hope that the delivery area will be nice! Of course, I had to fill out a ton of paperwork and then find out they don't have any appointments until July 27th. Seriously? With the Army, they would usually just look at me after saying this like it is my problem. However, the nice Air Force member, took the initiative to say that waiting that long would not work. I obviously agreed and pointed out that I am high risk with my lovely blood pressure and infertility. Hopefully I'll hear back from her as promised with an appointment. It left me feeling so hopeful that this might be a good experience to bring my son into the world.
*******
On my drive over to the hospital, I got a very serious lecture from Fairyeggs that we are taking far too long to name our son. Over dinner my hubby and I were talking about this and laughing so we finally talked about a few names. He even pulled out his phone to retrieve the list I emailed him a few days ago (I am such a dork). I think one may have stuck, but we're going to mull it over. . . haha FE and Auntie D!
*******
There has been much angst over the house as we have been working through an issue with the builder and the home owner association. It's been a roller coaster, and I hope we're almost to the end of the ride!

That's it for my thoughts from all over the place.

xoxo

So much stuff!

So much stuff has been going on and I'm not feeling very verbal so excuse my bullet points!

• Arrived in Anchorage to find our reservation for this week is at a complete dump! I use to do these places with no problem when I was younger, but now I find myself wishing I had spent the extra $400 for a decent place. When we first got here, we immediately went to the store to buy the heavy duty Febreeze to kill the "I'm hiding a body under the bed" smell. Hallelujah it worked!
• Upon arriving at the car vehicle pick-up facility, we found that some idiot driver couldn't shift the car into drive so he tore the whole shifter section including the cover off trying to fix it. In doing so, he disconnected and tore all of the wires that run to the transmission. Then they pleasantly informed us that they had no idea how it happened and that we'd have to take it up with the Army since it was a mechanical issue. What? I can't wait. $1400 to replace it.
• Took our FJ into the dealership to get serviced since it just drove 5k miles. Things are a little more expensive here as our big 60k bumper to bumper service ran almost $1000. Ouch. 
• Went house hunting with our new realtor. Husband realized that he wanted to move towards the top of our budget so we could get a spacious house. Unfortunately, the first absolutely dreamy spacious house we found went under contract the night before we looked at it. We continued to look and found very similar house which went under contract that morning. Finally the last house of the day which was slightly over our top budget made the clouds part and heavens sing as it was just lovely and had a view. Sigh. We put in an offer and are now waiting to hear back. My hubby is very impatient with the whole waiting process (aka, he drove me crazy today!)
• Had serious cravings for Mexican food. Found a delightful restaurant near the possible house with a cheery waitress and yummy food. Love that!
• Found out that three fabulous friends are flying out to my baby shower in California! We are going to have so much fun!!!
• Baby update: I think I feel him kicking in there! 
• This area of Alaska is absolutely amazing with its snow covered mountains, clear air, and gobs of trees! I'm going to love it here!!!

Take care! 

xoxo

Alaska Ho: Canada

Hello from the land of the Canucks! This is the first stop I've had time to wait the five minutes it takes for each picture to load and haven't been completely wiped out from sight-seeing! We spent a great couple of days just south of Seattle visiting army friends. I got a nice amount of snuggle time with my friends' sweet little girl who was born in January and is still tiny at only 13 pounds. Leaving with a bag of chocolate chip cookies (yum!), we headed up into Canada. Here we sat at the border waiting to cross:

When we got up to Vancouver, we spent a frustrating two hours in the car trying to find my friends' house. Seriously, they had some great roads running east/west, but trying to go north/south was NOT easy! Eventually we made it there and had a great time meeting her two boys and laughing over dinner once her hubby got home. It was so cool to see her as we went to high school and college together before she married a fellow volleyball player and moved to Canada. There's something so comforting about hanging with someone who has known you for such a long time. 

The next day we headed north through some beautiful mountains that disappeared into the clouds to a little town called Quesnel. Then we headed off to Smithers and the following day to Stewart. Stewart is only two miles from the southern tip of Alaska where a tiny little town named Hyder stands. 

What you see above is basically the entire town! However, from here you can drive about fourteen miles up through some beautiful country to the Salmon Glacier which is part of the Tongass National Forest. 

So there we are driving through this beautiful area and the temperature keeps dropping slowly as we go up -- a full ten degrees! My hubby had on shorts and, I was sporting my flip-flops and sweatshirt when we made it up to the glacier. 

It was amazing seeing all of the striations in the ice that have been created over time. The other sweet part was that we saw probably fifty small to medium waterfalls on our drive up! I love the sound of running water even when I'm pregnant! Sweetpea also got into the action climbing over a little stream into the icy snow. The cold snow always puts her into the frisky play mode which I makes me laugh.

The one thing I haven't appreciated about these small Canadian towns is how expensive all of the food is! We easily spend as much as we do at PF Changs on a little diner meal of sandwich and fries. I think I'm in for a rude awakening with food prices when we get to Alaska! The cost didn't really bother me until yesterday when the diner completely nickeled and dimed us. So this morning when we got up we decided we would wait until the next city to eat because we were still so annoyed. Big mistake! We didn't hit anything with real food until we reached our destination around noon. Thank god for my stash of granola bars! However this just started out my annoyance when I realized this leg only took us five hours instead of the expected seven and a half. Boo Mapquest. Then we found ourself in small town hell with an anal hotel proprietor who refused to clean our room out of order despite the fact that no one else was around and the grumpy owner of the only restaurant in town who wouldn't let us order anything actually printed on her menu. The whole experience just gave me the heebeejeebees like I've entered into the Twilight Zone. I think after two weeks, I'm just ready to be in Alaska and get on with finding a house. :)

** I must add that despite this one experience all of the other Canadians we have encountered have been LOVELY. :)

Twenty week belly picks coming soon!

Stay away from the crazy folks people.

xoxo

Pee

I can now hold it throughout the night which is a bloody miracle. However, sneezing got the best of me a few minutes ago. I called my dog over to give her the daily antibiotics for her UTI when a sneeze came out of no where. Wouldn't you know, I got a lovely little stream of pee to accompany it.

Hot stuff!

xoxo

Adventure Alaska has begun!

After our joyous anatomy scan that I'm still marveling over, my hubby, dog, and I hit the rode on our next adventure together--Adventure Alaska!

First, I must say that the anatomy scan was anti-climatic as I didn't get to watch most of it! The ultrasound tech told me from the start that she would be doing her measurements and then reviewing some of the key pictures with me. That wasn't ideal, but I didn't complain too much because my hubby did get to watch all of the details. All of the major organs were measured and there were four chambers of the heart and two kidneys which made me very relieved. I don't take anything for granted anymore. Seeing the little upturned nose and lips were adorable when he actually let us get a peek at them. He was busy playing patty-cake right with his hands right around his mouth for most of the u/s. :) When she pointed out his equipment, I looked over at my husband who had a big old smirk on his face. You can tell he's excited too which makes me love him all the more.

That's a good thing too since we're traveling together via car for about 4500 miles as we wind our way up to our next home in Alaska!  We left on Saturday morning from Missouri to travel to Omaha, Nebraska. It was a nice easy eight hour drive, and we are being really careful to stop every two hours to stretch my legs out and water the dog. After some horrible directions which had us navigating the many one way streets there filled with construction, we managed to make our way to our hotel. My not-so-little Sweetpea decided to perch on top of our cooler for part of the trip instead of the soft comfy bed we made for her.

The next day we traveled from Omaha, NB to Rapid City, SD for a little stopover so we could see the presidents and crazy horse which I thought was much cooler in person than in pictures!

 

Tomorrow we're off again! Hope you are well!

xoxo

Itsa

I guess the seven psychics who told me I would have two girls were wrong because...

xoxo

A few points in my life...

Apparently I have misrepresented myself. Yes, I have cravings for lettuce, spinach, egg, and tomato filled salads on a daily basis. However, I'm also forced to eat bad things like hamburgers and french fries since our kitchen is now boxed up and crated. Forced people! lol. Okay, I truly love a good cheeseburger. However now when I'm choosing what to eat, I imagine those bad choices to stick directly on my pregnant body without any hope of sliding off. Being a made-with-butter girl simply doesn't give me the option of packing on a ton of weight with this pregnancy. Let's face it, I wouldn't be a beached whale. I would be a beached whale with rockin' boobs! :)

So let me rephrase:

Cravings: salad with juicy tomatoes, peanut m&ms, oranges, root beer, pringles...

Actual eating: salad wherever I can get it, subway chicken breast sandwiches on wheat, fruit, triscuits, shredded wheat, oatmeal AND cheeseburgers & french fries. :)

As far as the move goes, we hit the jackpot with this moving company as they are quick, efficient, very attentive to detail, and professional. I don't feel like someone creepy is going through all of stuff which is nice. They had our house packed up in no time and today went on to fill all of the crates they brought by two. Since we are technically moving overseas under Army regs, all of our stuff is not only packed in boxes, but then packed into large wooden crates and nailed shut. Tomorrow, they will need just a few hours to finish up. The joy of this is that my husband has felt secure enough with their work to let me go rest during the day. Usually I would be glued on a section of the house watching them work....but no! I have spent the days getting lunch for us, checking on the dog at the hotel, and napping (sigh, I love naps).

Since the last few weeks have been crazy, I have missed some of the last minute details that I usually take care of before a move like getting a haircut. So my bright idea today was to duck into a random salon and take care of it. Why do I do this to myself? Inevitably, a place like this will totally screw up my hair! Today was no different. So instead of having overgrown hair, I now have cute perky soccer mom layered hair which is exactly what I told her I DIDNT want! Egh. Serves me right for ducking into the random shop.

Another thing I have noticed over the past few days is my vision going wonky. I hear this is a common side effect of the pregnancy hormones, but the reality of having blurry trees and street signs is obnoxious. I can only hope this too will go with time.

xoxo

Wow, they are huge...

*Dad, another TMI alert for you!

Yes, as you can see from the pictures, my boobs have hit p*rn star levels. Let me start off by saying, that I have always had huge knockers. In eighth grade, I was a 32C on the verge of a D while I wore a size eight. As time has gone by, they have enlarged with the rest of me to a 38DD. Well now, it's not so much the size of my bra, but the fact that my boobs are completely full and round like fake ones! I look down at them and marvel at their shape and bounce.

My sister, who is also very well endowed, has always made fun of my boobs since they have a gravity sloped shape while hers sit high and round. Not any more sista! I've got boobs like you now!

xoxo

18 weeks + Belly Pics!

Here is the progression for you:


11 weeks 5 days

13 weeks

18 Weeks

Yes, it looks like I've just been eating too many jelly donuts instead of having a true bump. I want a nice round bump that identifies me as preggo!!!! :) But the key thing is that I am in fact still pregnant and my little pumpkin is on track.

Weight: +10 gulp. Yep, in the month since my last appointment, I gained five pounds which is way too much for me! Since I'm already a made-with-butter-girl, I don't really need to gain a ton of weight. What's crazy is this happened in four days when I went to see my sister-in-law in New Hampshire. Hello? Go away weight gain! My midwife didn't give me a lecture, but she did tell me to be careful. 

Clothes: Maternity shirts, shorts, and jeans combined with regular undies and my regular athletic pants. 

Cravings: salad with juicy tomatoes and strangely I really want a giant rice crispy treat.

What I'm actually eating: salad wherever I can get it, oatmeal or shredded wheat, bananas, oranges, triscuits, sandwiches

Move status: We're waiting for the movers to come after the long weekend. However our house is ruthlessly organized, clothes are packed in suitcases, and our trailer is packed. Since we'll be gone for about three weeks traveling up to Alaska and then probably in a hotel for a month, we have quite a bit of stuff to actually take with us. Hence, we have a trailer! There are only a few staples in the refrigerator and we are now transitioning to finding food outside of the house. This makes eating healthy difficult but not impossible!

Hope all is well with you! 

xoxo

The deed.

*Don't read this dad!

Okay, so my hubby and I finally after seventeen weeks of being pregnant + three weeks of being in California for treatment without him--did the deed. We've been way too nervous to think about it before now. We were so relieved that our little pumpkin was apparently undisturbed by the adventure.

As a side-note, I've been banned by my Dad and Fairyeggs from calling the baby Caligula...so I guess we're back to pumpkin. :)

xoxo

Girl or Boy?

So on June 4th I'm going in for my level two ultrasound at 18 weeks 5 days. Yes, it's a little early because I'll be on the road for a month as we meander our way up to Alaska. However, it's still within the appropriate window of time. So here is the question: is it a girl or boy? I have no idea!

boy or girl? What do you think?

xoxo

Visits Galore

I feel so remiss in my blogging in that I can't keep up with all of my visits and fun! Let's summarize:


Last week I recovered from my trip to New Hampshire and Boston with a quick day to turn around a pile of finals and then a run to St. Louis to pick up Fairyeggs! This was just a quick trip in for a few days which is perfect so that she doesn't start to pine for her kids too much!! We had a fantastic time eating at PF Changs and registering for my baby paraphernalia. I loved having her there and simply registered for everything she told me to! I figure that I am clueless and after three kids, she is a pro. We spent a good four hours at the store going through each aisle. I even took notes. Geesh, I am such a dork. 


The best part of the visit is that we talked about our feelings for this baby. Fairyeggs was actually a wee bit nervous to see how things had changed. To both our delights, I think that we are both headed along the same lines. This experience has given us this inexplicable tie between our families. My parents and sister are so infinitely grateful for her gift and also had a chance to get to know Fairyegg's mom and daughter whom they adore. Fairyegg's mom and sister have both followed me through my entire journey and have cried with happiness over our success. Now more than ever, I feel this tie to her family whom I always loved.  It's like they have moved into the realm of those family friends who are truly part of your family. I am so lucky to have all of them.


After Fairyeggs departed, I turned around to unsuccessfully grade my next set of finals and ended up sleeping the day away instead. No matter! I picked myself up the following day to drive the four hours to visit my grandma. I haven't mentioned this here, but we found out a couple of months ago that she had uterine cancer. After a surgery, we found out that radiation was also needed which she just completed last week. For my infinitely healthy grandma in her eighties, we were all pretty shocked with the news. Since we moved so close to her, I haven't actually been able to get down to see her. First there was the holidays, trips to California, pregnancy, and endless nausea. With the nausea, there was absolutely no way I could make the drive as I could barely take fifteen minutes in the car. Needless to say, I finally got down to see her which was lovely. I love her dearly. All of my cousins, aunt, and uncle who live there also made the time to come over and see me which I appreciated. It's so nice seeing all of my cousins as adults. 


I finally hauled myself back home and am now desperately putting off grading finals. However, I must get to it! The move has creeped up on us, and the movers come right after Memorial Day! One week people! We'll leave the following week for our trip and new adventure in Alaska! 


xoxo

Weekend Trip

I finally managed to flee my house and get out of dodge this weekend. My SIL and BIL, the only ones I have now, moved to New Hampshire last year. My hubby hasn't seen them since before his deployment nor since his brother died a few months ago. I thought it was important to go before we move far far away to the land of snow next month.

During the weekend, I managed to exist without naps which I must say was an incredible feat.

We had a great time hanging out in their charming house that was built in the 1700s and also going to Boston. Despite traveling all around the world, I have not spent much time in New England and have never set foot in Boston until this weekend. Between eating, we managed to fit a trip to the USS Constitution and Fanueil Hall with a nice walk to simply take in the city. It was raining the day we hit Boston, so we didn't make it everywhere I wanted, but I still got a little flavor of the city. It's still on my list to go explore though when I have more time. On Sunday, we decided to hit up the local movie theater, Chunkys, for a little "Iron Man II" action. This place cracked me up as you sit at tables and order food during the movie. After our local rinky-dink theater, it was a nice change of pace.

After getting in late last night, we were able to pick up my sweet pup from the kennel. There is nothing like the joy of a dog who is happy to see you! Now she is sleeping at my feet while I guzzle water in an effort to get my swollen fingers and feet back to a normal size. Note to self: don't weigh yourself when you know you are swollen!

xoxo

Small things

There are some days where I still can not believe that I am so lucky that our third time was a charm (along with some kicking Fairyeggs of course). This blog has helped me in so many ways in simply getting through the days that led up to this. I have really appreciated everyone known and unknown who comments and supports me. Without this, I really don't know if I would have every made the choices that led me up to where we are now. 

That being said, I get that it is incredibly painful for some of my fellow infertiles to continue to read about my happiness. If you must go, I understand. I hope that the future brings you peace and success in building your families. But, I really hope that you'll stay.

~~~~~~~

My hubby and I were able to escape to a city about an hour south of us and hit up a few stores. We are trying to put together a survival pack in case anything happens on our big adventure north. Those purchases didn't go so well, but I was able to hit up the shops for some maternity jeans, soft shorts, and a very cute dress. The dress was great because it actually covered up the girls completely which can be hard sometimes for me! I also scored a pair of Merrell winter boots for 1/2 price which will be helpful when we move to the land of snow! Finally, we hit up Old Navy for my hubby's favorite flag shirt which he buys every year. We also bought our first baby item in the picture at the bottom. :)

Seeing how incredibly tiny the little onesie is brought it home for me that this is happening. That this really could happen. In mere months there could be a little squirmy baby inside. I think my heart melted.

xoxo

Ache of the Head (Are those voices too?)

Okay peeps, I need suggestions as I feel like I am about to go crazy with my head pounding, aching, and pain induced nausea. My doc gave me Fioricet but it didn't even touch my headache today. Nothing helps much as I've tried Tylenol, massages, hot showers, cold packs, and sleep. Suggestions on alternatives? Help.

xoxo

I bit the bullet...

This morning I went to my 13 week appointment and got to peek at little Caligula's backside. My little wiggle worm didn't want to flip over for us, but it was great to see the head, neck, body and umbilical cord jiving around. Joy of joys, my doc wants me to do the 24-hour urine test to establish a baseline since I have high blood pressure. Peeing in a jug...sweet.


Before I went to my appointment, I got an email from my mother with only a subject line message, "time to post of facebook girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Thank you mother for that subtle hint. lol. So, I bit the bullet a few minutes ago and just said it, "In honor of National Infertility Week, it makes me incredibly happy to share with you that after years of trying and hundreds of needles, I am in fact--pregnant! If everything goes well, Baby Cini will be arriving around Halloween! We couldn't be more terrified and excited all at the same time. :)" Hopefully that's not too obnoxious. 

So mother, now you can shout it to the rooftops...you're going to be a granny. :)

xoxo

Caligula

My sister has a fetish for baby names that started long before I started TTC.  Now instead of sending me lists and lists of names, she picks out her favorite name for the day and texts, emails, or calls me with the name. We started talking about Roman names since my husband has a love affair with history.

So the other day I decided that pumpkin is way too innocuous of a name for this little one inside of me that makes me want to hurl and gives me nightmare headaches. So, I affectionately named him Caligula (after a slightly off his rocker Roman Emperor). hee hee hee Believe me, I love my little Caligula. However as I near the conclusion of my fourth day of a constant excruciating headache, I would like my little Caligula to settle down these crazy hormones! I need some peace.

These are the things they don't share with you when they talk about glowing pregnant women! lol.

Hope all is well with you!

xoxo