Side Note

Yesterday we went to a friends house for breakfast and on the way we saw a bull moose, a mama moose, and the baby. We've never seen the whole family together. Usually you just see the mamas and the babies together, but not the dad's too!

Unfortunately, we did not have a camera with us and we were driving 60 mph by them, so you're going to have to use your imagination.

Welcome 3rd Trimester!

Yes, it's here. Two-thirds down, one to go!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: 28 weeks, exactly

Size of baby: 2 1/4 lbs. about the weight of a Chinese cabbage

Total weight gain: Not really sure, I don't trust the scale at home anymore!

Maternity clothes: Mostly all maternity clothes now. I'm beginning to get a little tired of them, but I know I have a little more time of wearing them ahead of me.

Gender: girl

Food Cravings: Not really any, thankfully. I think I've had a pretty even keeled pregnancy so far.

What I miss: my range of motion

Sleep: I still need more, some nights are better than other. I've never been one to wake up in the middle of the night, but know a do sometimes. I judge a good night of sleep on whether or not I woke up in the middle of it.

Symptoms: oohhh... heart burn at night, but I just take a tums and that seems to help stabilize things

Best moment of the week: more and more movement all the time, she's getting pretty strong these days

What I'm looking forward to: Seeing her beautiful face. A friend of ours just had her baby girl a couple weeks ago and seeing her has gotten me really excited about seeing our own little one.

Additional information: She has eye lashes now, but I'm sure they are see-through like mine and she's opening and closing her eyes. We started a child birth class a couple weeks ago. So now this whole labor thing is on the brain. This week we have our 28 week appt. Pray that I don't have gestational diabetes.

24 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How far along: 24 weeks, exactly

Size of baby: 1 ft. long and just over a 1 lb, about the weight of a mango, the length of an ear of corn, and the size of a spaghetti squash

Total weight gain: 18 lbs. per my dr. visit last week, however, I may be taking this off the highlights. I don't really view this as a highlight anymore!

Maternity clothes: I wear some, but they're so big! I've resorted to wearing medium sizes and then when they get to small I'll wear the true maternity clothes.

Gender: Girly girl

Food Cravings: none right now! Except I've been over indulging in candy corn like I alway do at this time of year

What I miss: still coffee, and many of you ask why I just don't drink decaf, but there's actually a lot of other bad things in coffee then just caffeine. So I'm just going to stay away for now.

Sleep: it's never enough it seems. I wake up a lot more for random things. The other night I woke up because there were finger nail clippers digging into my back. I don't know how finger nail clippers got in our bed.

Symptoms: it's getting a little harder to bend over these days, big butt sydrome, and tired, tired, tired!

Best moment of the week: Lots and lots of movement now! Yesterday we bought a glider and today we bought a crib and dresser, now we just need a baby to put in it! And guess what, we got them on Craigslist!

What I'm looking forward to: I'm too tired to think about what I'm looking forward to, I'm just trying to get to the next minute.

Open House

Last week we had Open House at school. I don't really think I like Open House. It's like having all these people come into your home and snoop around and judge everything you have and do. I know my classroom isn't my home, but sometimes it feels like it.

And then there are the parents that want to have a full on conference with you while all the other parents are milling around you. Very awkward. This one parent wanted to discuss the fact that her son seemed to be doodling on all his papers. I wanted to tell her that was the least of her worries. I have had a little trouble with this boy and so I wanted to be honest with her about his behavior. She confided that she sees the same behavior at home and she just "doesn't know what to do anymore." This is not the first time I've heard this from a parent. Speaking of their 6 or 7 year old child, I have had numerous parents say this to me, like I have some miracle answer for them. First of all, I am not the parent of their child. Second of all, I'm not even a parent. Why should I be giving them advise. More over, why are they asking me anyway! And if you didn't notice, you can't give up on parenting them now, you still have 11 years to go!

While reading this post to make sure I spelled everything right, I'm realizing this may sound a little negative, but I don't have a negative tone. It's more of a matter-a-fact tone.

And the winner is...

Girl!

Yes we are having a girl, well, as far was we know we are.

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 21 weeks exactly

Size of Baby: 10 1/2 inches, 12 oz.

Total Weight Gain: 15 lbs. I'm a little embarrassed about this, but then people keep telling me I'm not even showing, so I must be really good at hiding it all!

Maternity Clothes: A couple of things, but I'm in the in between stage where my normal clothes are getting pretty uncomfortable, but the maternity clothes are still too big.

Gender: GIRL

Food Cravings: I guess I'm just weird because I'm really not craving anything, except for chocolate maybe, but that's pretty normal for me!

What I miss: coffee! especially now that school has started. Coffee has been a part of my morning routine since I was a freshman in high school! But it's okay, it's a small sacrifice.

Sleep: lots of sleep is good. I still don't get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. I'm not sure this is a good thing, but no bladder infections so far.

Symptoms: I'm pretty tired still, mostly with school starting. My back and hips ache sometimes, I think the shifting and separating has begun. Random hiccups, lots of them, is this normal?? It's kind of embarrassing at times.

Best Moment of the Week: Of course finding out what we're having. Seeing the heart in the ultra-sound. It's pretty amazing when you think that is probably the only good look at our babies heart anyone will ever have, unless she'll ever have to have an EKG or something. And John finally got to feel her kicking around! She's been a real mover and a shaker the past few days

What I'm Looking Forward to: right now I'm just trying to live in the moment, knowing that life is going to continue to change in the next few months and beyond!

Her little profile

And my not so little profile (I know this isn't a very good picture but John wasn't home to take it, so it was the best I could do)!

18 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 18 weeks and 5 days

Size of Baby: 5 1/2 in. crown to rump, about 7 oz.

Total Weight Gain: 10 lbs.

Maternity Clothes: Some, I've worn a couple shirts but am still fitting into my pants, as long as I unbutton the top button.

Gender: Unknown, but we find out on Aug. 27th

Food Cravings: No real cravings at this time!

What I miss: being able to move as quickly as I used to, it's kind of hard to bend over and get up now

Sleep: Still sleeping good, but I no longer can sleep on my stomach or back, I'm glad it seemed to be an easy transition since I'm very much a stomach sleeper

Symptoms: Not eating as much as I was, but I'm still pretty tired and my back and hips are starting to ache!

Best Moment of the Week: Finally feeling this little bugger inside me! Can't wait till John will be able to feel him/her too!

What I'm Looking Forward to: Finding out the sex

And here is the first picture!

When tragedy strikes

As many of you have heard, our squadron lost a C-17 this past week and all four crew members that were on board. This past week has been the longest and hardest emotional roller coaster I have been on and John for that matter. First there are the feelings of gratefulness when you come to the realization that it wasn't your husband that was on that plane, and then there is the overwhelming loss you feel when you realize it's your friend's husband who was. And as the calls come in asking, "Is everything alright?" your so thankful to say, "John's okay, he's flying tomorrow," yet you know that someone else does not get to say that, and you realize how easily that someone else could have been you. Through all this, I have learned that the Air Force truly does take care of it's people. And it's not the Air Force as an institution, but the people of the Air Force who take care of it's people.

As we move on from this tragic event, feeling a little more fragile and a little less invincible, we remember that our hope is not in the pilots, who like us are only human; our hope is not in the plane, which up until last Wednesday has never crashed; but our hope is in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Please keep the families of Capt. Jeffery Hill, Maj. Aaron Malone, Maj. Mike Freyholtz, and Sen. Master Sgt. Tom Cicardo in your prayers. All were husbands, all were fathers, and all served this country with strength and dignity. We are all proud of the legacy they leave behind.