A Few Of My Favorite Things

A few of my favorite things..

It's amazing how the littlest of features can create the biggest feeling of love in our hearts. Her little toes call out to be kissed at least once a day. Her tiny ears hear me sing to her and tell her that I love her. Those sweet little hands stroke my face and, while be it painful, grab my cheeks to pull my face in closer so her tiny lips can give me a big and sloppy kiss. :)

It has been six months since I labored for 10.5 hours with Savannah. Six. Whole. Months. (I know.."only six months" some would say..) Time is flying faster than I would like it to. While it's wonderful and amazing to see just how much she grows and changes on a daily basis, it's a constant reminder that she is not the little peanut who just loved to sleep in my arms and eat, eat, eat. (And sleep some more). I am holding her less and less these days now that she is discovering her newfound love of independence and playing with her toys on the floor. She wants me for snacks and a quick meal but then quickly will unlatch, look at me and smile, look around and want back down. I love that she is growing into her own person (ya!), but, it's bittersweet that me being her sole need is over.

Since Matt has been home (when she just turned 4.5mo) she has thrived into a little thing who likes to rock on all fours, "crawl" in her own way to toys (and the dog's toys) , and put everything she can grab into her mouth (and I mean everything. Socks..waste basket tag..water bottles..you name it). She has tried peas and bananas for the first time ever and made a gag face every time for both.(<-- I think her gag reflexes are still sensitive so I haven't ruled them as foods she does not like...yet).

She squeals. She grunts. She drools. She kicks. She gives happy wiggles. She pulls on hair. She finds delight in the pups. She also has said her first word: Mama! (or mamamama when she is extra upset!) By the way..letting her try to cry it out is near impossible (ok..impossible) when her little voice is crying out for you. It pulls at these big ol' heart strings of mine. I just can't do it!

Her six month half-birthday landed on the same day as the Marine Corps Ball that we were attending. We didn't really celebrate but I took some pictures of her that morning wearing my pearls and cute floral bloomers. They came our really well, I think!

Leaving her for the first time ever wasn't as bad as I was preparing myself for it to be. I thought for sure my anxiety would be through the roof. But, I had a friend I trusted come over to watch her. I had a glass of wine while getting ready. When we left the house Savannah was in decent spirits and playing on the floor. My friend sent us pictures and updates throughout the night which really helped me relax and trust that everything was okay. I wasn't so worried about the safety of Savannah and if she was okay, but I was anxiety-ridden that she was going to fuss and cry the whole night  making it absolutely miserable for both parties. But, everything was great! Matt and I had a wonderful time celebrating the Marine Corps' birthday..we drank a little, had a big dinner, caught a couple songs the DJ played before heading out..It was much needed for both of us. Then we rushed home excited to see our cuddly creatures.

***

Now that I have gushed about some of the things that I absolutely love and adore about her..I'll be real for a second..it's not always a cake walk. The wonderful by far outweighs the struggle..but a struggle is still a struggle and they're never easy.  She is increasingly forgetting that she used to like going to bed by 8:30pm (leaving me with a couple hours to just be Lauren..not Mom). Now, she is back to midnight bedtimes. Still, she is sleeping through the night for the most part (sometimes she is up again around 1:30 needing to be nursed to go back to sleep) but I'm sure now that I've said it, she will be up all night this whole week (isn't that how this whole parent jinxing thing works?!). She is going through sort of a stranger-danger/new place anxiety phase. If she hasn't had a nap and doesn't have a full tummy then it's safe to say she will have a meltdown where we are at and be absolutely inconsolable. The only thing that has worked in the past was to strap her in her stroller and just rock it back and forth or make our way to the car where we will sit alone until she latches on (which could take 10 or so minutes depending on her level of fussiness) and then eat until she falls asleep.  It's exhausting having a baby who is so upset and not understand why or how you can easily fix the problem. Then, the hormones kick in...when she is that upset..especially in public..I start to get hot and I'll start to sweat. Anxiety takes over which I know never helps the situation. I have left the commissary or the BX near tears just completely overwhelmed with the fact my baby has been crying and crying for over 20 minutes and nothing I did would calm her down. But like every other hurdle...you pass it and move on to the next day in hopes (big hopes) everyone is relaxed and happy and loving life! (which, she normally does..but like every baby she has her moments). So, at the moment that's my biggest hurdle with her: the public meltdowns. I have been working hard at making sure she naps when she is showing signs she is tired, which is usually darkness under her eyes and her rubbing her ears.  I make sure she is full when we leave the house and I say a prayer when taking her out of the car seat going inside somewhere that she will be content and happy lol. It's always a coin toss.

Aside from that, she really is a good baby. I feel very lucky and blessed every single day..easy or hard.

So that's little Savannah. Miss Independent. Miss Personality with the expressive facial expressions. Miss Cutie Pants.
And speaking of naps and saying "mamama", little beauty is now awake and crying out for me. Donning my mom-cape and going to her rescue....
Until next time... XOXO

Time Flies When You're In Love

So I am sitting down taking a moment to myself (very rare) and looking through all the pictures on my phone, starting from the day Savannah was born. I cannot believe that she is already four months old this Saturday (the 7th). It's so crazy just how fast time is flying! One minute she is seven weeks old and her daddy is deploying with the MEU..the next I am looking at a not-so-tiny infant who is smiling, rolling, scooting, sucking fingers, grabbing at toys and pulling herself up into a standing position on my lap. Four months old.

This little baby amazes me every day.  I have mornings that start at 2am. I hear her cry and I am immediately annoyed and in a fog. I grumpily drag myself out of bed praying the dogs stay put and don't want to take that opportunity to go out. Then I stand over her bassinet and look in. The resentment and grumpiness melts away. My heart fills with mush all over again and I quietly talk to her while I change her diaper. I cherish the quiet morning hours I can cuddle her in bed while giving her the opportunity to nurse. It's her favorite thing. She passes out almost immediately. She just wanted the comfort of her mama and it's hard to get mad at that! 

Matt has been gone since June 25th and surprisingly we are holding up really well. When he is gone I sort of go into a daze and one day melts into another. Most of the time I can't even tell you what day it is because I just don't even worry about days until I start my countdown to homecoming. We now have about a month, give or take, and I am getting those butterflies again. That's probably the only perk to deployments: the homecoming butterflies. 

Since he has been gone Savannah and I have gone through sleepless nights. We have gone through a growth spurt or two (unfortunately that includes both of us..). We have changed a million diapers..sometimes in the dark. I've gotten pretty good at that! We have ventured to the movies which she is so well-behaved at! All it takes is a boppy, the lights out, and a boob within reach lol We have let the house go to shambles. Then I clean clean clean. Savannah has decided to give herself a bed time all on her own, and that's usually 8:40ish when she starts getting tired. Mommy gets a couple hours each night to just sit. Sit and not worry about a thing, really. Savannah has learned to roll from tummy to back and back to tummy. She has learned to soothe herself by sucking her thumb. Savannah has discovered her fingers and plays with them a lot. She likes them better than toys most of the time! She is learning the art of scooting: pulling her knees up under her and propelling herself forward..potentially giving herself rug burn on her face. She is interested in sitting up and now trying to pull herself up in a stand. She's wobbly, but she's strong. Once she learns that her hands can actually hold on to the edge of the Pack n' Play to hold herself up, she will be a pro in no time.  She likes when I sing her "Part of Your World" from the Little Mermaid. 

So you see what I mean when I say I am amazed at all the things she can do in the blink of an eye???
She is the best thing I ever did..aside from marrying her daddy. I cannot wait for him to get home. I know he misses her like crazy and is looking forward to seeing all she has learned.
Every sleepless night, prolonged healing, running on fumes and usually late, inability to hit a gym, melt down and half-ass meals is all worth it.  I would do it all over again (and plan on it!).
So, kiss your babies and fur babies. I'm kissing mine and taking advantage of every second of this sweet stage of their life. 

Recovery

In my opinion, post delivery recovery was worse than labor. No one warns you about some of the things you will experience. I did not spend my first day home just a little sore and a lot a bit tired. No. I felt like I got hit by a bus, a tractor and King Kong.

Every single muscle in my body hurt. Even my fingers. I guess that's where laboring for 9+ hours with no meds will get ya! I tried my hardest not to clench during contractions but let me tell you..it's hard!

I was exhausted as all get out. I got maybe 4 1/2 hours of sleep (total) at the hospital. For one, I was too excited after the delivery to sleep! And two, I had a newborn in the room with us where I was her source of food. There's no sleep when ya got a hungry 9lb baby!

My nipples felt like they were going to fall off. Due to some imperfect latches I got micro-cuts and at one point tiny blisters. It all got better after about 5 days..but those 5 days were full of tears every time i heard her cry for food. Lanolin ointment was a life saver.

The non-period period. Such a gross nuisance. Stock up on tons of maxi pads people!

The actual stitched up area wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I just felt pressure when I walked around. Witch hazel pads worked wonders for relief.

The cramping in the lower abdomen. Oh man was that a pain (literally). Every move I made my round ligament area really really hurt as well at my lower ab area, which I guess would have been my uterus shrinking. At one point I got worried about how much it all was hurting but I guess it was normal.

Baby blues. It happens to most. I cried at the drop of a hat. I couldn't even attempt to sing a song to Savannah without crying. Every time I thought of her growing up fast I would ball. I felt like I was in a funk a lot of the time. Finally around day 9 the blues cleared up and I was able to 110% enjoy this little bundle of cuteness. Not that I didn't enjoy and love her from the get go..I absolutely did. But feeling lousy and in pain and emotional...it's hard to see through that cloudiness sometimes.

At week 3 is when I finally started feeling completely human and not needing my Motrin 3x a day. Now, at 7 weeks, I feel great. My abs are still a little sore, but hey, that's going to happen when your muscles separate and then try to put themselves back together again.  Breast feeding still has it's ups and downs. I'm pretty sure I have a clogged duct at the moment which is pretty painful. Hopefully it works itself out soon. Other than that I feel like the old me again. An old me which is finding it hard to fit into my tops like I used to (the joys of breast feeding and bigger assets).  My feet don't hurt anymore. My knees don't hurt anymore. I can bend over without having to grab something to hold on to. I can finally sleep on my tummy again. The non-period period is gone (thank gawd) so no more wearing pads that can soak up the sea if need be. I can finally pick up my baby without wincing (ya, it took a week or two to be able to do that..). 

All I have to say is: thank goodness for Matt and him being a wonderful daddy and husband. He took care of me like no other. For the first week he changed every single diaper. I may have changed a few but he volunteered to do 99% of it. He cooked for me. He brought me water. He walked the dogs. He got up to get a crying Savannah to bring her to me to nurse so I didn't have to strain myself. Without him I wouldn't have gotten through the baby blues as fast as I did.

When I get pregnant again this will be what has me the most anxious: going through recovery all over again. Not gaining weight and feeling the discomforts of pregnancy. Not the labor or the delivery. But the recovery. Ugh.

Savannah's Birth Day

Meet Sweet Savannah...

The story of her birthday:

On Monday, May 6, I had my 40 week checkup which showed I was still not dilated and she was still high up in there. My doctor scheduled the induction date for the following week if she hasn't come by then. Scary thought! Matt and I were nervous about forcing things along and using pitocin (I've heard going on pitocin can increase your chances of having to get a cesarean). We went home that night feeling a little discouraged and anxious. We took a long walk with the dogs, I sat on an exercise ball instead of the couch, and followed a few other of the doctors recommendations. 

Sometime in the middle of the night I got up to pee and felt a little leak of fluid which I thought was discharge (sorry if TMI!) or that I peed myself a little (hey, when you're overdue it's bound to happen!).  I changed undies and went back to sleep.  I slept in and relaxed in bed until about 11, when I decided to get up so I can meet my friend Lauri for a Starbucks date. As soon as I stood up I felt a bigger leak and seriously thought I peed myself.  I went to the restroom and noticed there was pink on my undies so I called Matt to tell him that I possibly had my water break, then I called the nurse line at my clinic. She told me it definitely sounds like my water broke, and that it most likely broke initially during that midnight potty break! That means I had to get myself to the hospital pronto because it's been hours and I haven't felt any contractions yet. 

We checked in with labor and delivery triage around 12:30. That was not the most pleasant experience. In order to check to make sure my water did break they had to swab me but could not use gel for the speculum, as it could read a false positive. Ouch ouch ouch!  The lady checked me and said I was 1 maybe almost 2 cm dilated. Matt and I thought we were going home at that point..but nope! She told us I'm getting admitted as I'm in labor and my water broke hours ago. And apparently I was contracting (according to the monitor) but I didn't really notice the contractions. 

Once they brought me to my room they started me on pitocin right away (ugh). Let me tell you...pitocin is not fun. My natural contractions I was able to handle. As soon as the meds kicked in it got pretty brutal. There was no way I could lay down as the contractions were more uncomfortable that way! So I sat on a labor ball the majority of the time with the baby's heart monitors strapped around my belly (those are a huge pain...I hated them). Matt was awesome and would bring me popsicles, ice chips and he would rub my back or my hands to try to relax me.  A few hours went by and my midwife wanted to check me. I was 3cm dilated and I wanted to wait until I was past 4cm before considering the epidural. 

A few hours later I just could not handle the pressure anymore. My contractions were literally on top of each other. The nurse said I was having cluster contractions where I would have my long one then as soon as that dropped I immediately would have a short one. After less than a minute it'd start all over again. I guess they had the pitocin up all the way and eventually they decided my body has kicked in on labor stuff on it's own a while ago and is making contractions that much more intense. So, it's 10:15 and I say I want the epidural. The guy comes in, has me sit on the edge of the bed and that's when things got bad to worse for me. All of a sudden a gush of fluid released itself and a little part of me was worried it was blood (I've seen too many shows/movies where something went wrong haha) but I think it was just the rest of my water breaking. The contractions got even worse, which made it hard to sit still for the needle (but I did..I just shook the heck out of my feet and squeezed the nurses hands for dear life. Matt had to sit at the doctors request while the doc performed the epidural). At some point during the procedure I threw up my popsicles (lovely).  The needle was and everything was all set. Or so we thought. But then a contraction hit. And another. Getting more intense. It's about 10:30 and the epi doctor said he's going to give it another 10 minutes because it should have kicked in by then.  At that point the nurse decided to check me to see my progression and I was still at around 4-5cm. 

While waiting for the 10 minutes to pass the contractions got stronger. Finally, the epi doc had me roll to my side and he pulled the epidural out just a little to readjust. It's about 10:40/10:45. Just then my midwife walked in and said she wanted to check me herself. As soon as I scooted down for the check the meds finally kicked in (thank you Jesus!). That's when she said "okay, looks like you're good to go". Matt and I look at her like, 'what?' and she says "you're 10cm. You're going to start pushing now". We immediately said, "no I'm not ready!". lol I mean, that was a big moment! I wasn't prepared to push because 1.) just minutes ago I was 4-5cm, and 2.) the meds just kicked in...what if I wasn't numb "down there" yet?!  But I put on my big girl panties and started pushing...

I have to say...the pushing was the easiest part of the whole labor process! I felt good for the first time in 9 hours. I could breath. I could joke in between pushes. Matt actually looked down there while I'd be pushing and be amazed that they could all see baby girl's head already and with lots of dark hair to boot! He jokes that there was a little pony tail. 

Savannah Grace was born 11:22pm weighing 9.05lbs. Big girl!  I'm amazed and thankful I was able to deliver her the way I wanted to with no complications (aside from my blood pressure being high during labor). There was some tearing which required me getting stitches. I try not to think about it because it still freaks me out. 7 weeks later I feel back to normal..but still..it's an icky thought! 

It's amazing to think that for almost 10 months Matt and I have been daydreaming and planning for our little girl to arrive..and now she is here and we are even more in love than we could ever imagine. Every tiny thing she does we talk about like it's the most amazing thing on earth. I mean, who doesn't think their baby's spit bubbles aren't the cutest?! Or how they spread their little toesies when they're stretching? Or how adorable their tiny sneezes are? Oh the joys of parenthood..my how our lives have changed. And I love every second of it :) 

40 weeks + 3 days

33 Weeks and Counting

Today I am 33 whole weeks with child! That's 8mo +1wk! It's so crazy to think about. Reality is slowly but surely setting in.  In the beginning all you worry about is getting to that safe 13 week mark. After that you do what you can to make sure you and the baby remain healthy and look forward to that 20 week mark where you get that nice long ultrasound looking at the heart, feet, hands, head, tummy and even the sex, should you choose to find out!   After that appointment, you start to feel the kicks which nudge you to comprehend that , yes, there is in fact a real live baby in there and you don't have only ultrasound pictures to prove it!   After that, you focus on getting that registry completed and await the baby shower!  Get the nursery set up (or start to)...and then you think, "where has the time gone??".   It's flown.

Last weekend my friends here threw me a wonderful baby shower! It was very pink, dainty, plenty of great food and lots of love.  It was a bitter sweet day. Bitter in the sense that I couldn't have any of my family or close friends from back home there.  I've always imagined my mom being with me, my sisters by my side, my best friend sharing these experiences, my husband's sister..I can go on. But, this time around, just having them in my thoughts and heart would have to do. Maybe the next few babies we will have better luck ;)   The day was still very special and very sweet...I was honored and blessed to have friends here who took the time and love to make this day memorable. I remember sitting down after opening all of Savannah's gifts just thinking, "wow..this little girl is already so truly loved and she hasn't even been welcomed into the world yet".  It makes me so incredibly happy to see friend's and family's love and excitement for her.  I can't wait for her daddy to get home so he can see what I see. <3

Speaking of....

Matt gets home pretty soon from his deployment!! I am so thrilled to have him come home and share these last weeks of pregnancy.  I put the bedding in Savannah's crib the other night..which again..hit me with reality. A baby will be sleeping in there. I know him walking into her room will just blow him away.  Him being on a ship for weeks on end, I think it's easy for things to continue to feel surreal.  Obviously he knows he has a little girl on her way..and is so excited..but I think walking into a room and seeing her bed, her little baby shoes, bows, blankets, etc will just open up those eyes!

So, how has mommy been feeling lately?

- occasional heartburn..maybe a couple times a week the last 2 weeks for 5min-40min
- hands are pretty sore, especially at night, due to pregnancy-induced carpal tunnel (glad to hear it goes away)
- running out of breath more easily these days
- lower back and feet are hurting more frequently due to weight gain
- feet get puffy at times...really have to watch and make sure I drink plenty of water and elevate when I can to keep the swelling down
- round ligament pain, which has been a painful problem since week 6 , has finally subsided a lot! I can now go on walks with the dog around the base vs just around our circle
- oh...and I am tired...constantly.  The week 3rd trimester started I felt like I had mono. No matter how much rest I try to get I still feel so tired and unrested. I toss and turn a lot at night (which is a feat of it's own) and get up once or twice to pee..so, the broken sleep doesn't help.

That's about it!! I know reading it as a list it doesn't seem like pregnancy can be fun...but..to me this is nothing compared to what a lot of other women are experiencing on a constant basis..so I consider myself lucky. I consider these the "normal aches and pains".  I am enjoying it while I can. After all, I only have 4-7 weeks left until we get to meet this wiggly little creature inside me! (4 is when I am officially full term).

First Week Down

It's Sunday night which means tomorrow is the start of another week! While Matt left last Tuesday and it hasn't technically been a full week since he's been gone, I'm tackling this deployment on a week-by-week basic and it's always easier to start (and hate on) a Monday.

Things have been going pretty well, actually. I haven't had any pits of depression yet (though you never know with these hormones!) and the days seem to be going by pretty quickly, in my opinion. Of course I wish he was here...he's the one I love to laugh with! But having done this before recently, I put up certain walls and try to refuse to always think, "I wish he was here" and "this isn't funny without him". Mind you, it hasn't even been a whole week so it's easy for me to say things are great right now lol  But I just keep telling myself to get through this month and then I can officially start the Homecoming Countdown!

A perk being here by myself?  I get the whole bed to myself (well...I guess I share with the doggies)! That means I get all five pillows and I can toss and turn without trying to be quiet or still about it (and let's face it..I toss and turn constantly). 

I will admit that I did have one "I wish he was here to see this" moment: I felt Savannah hiccuping for the first time! After a while of feeling constant gurgling and then actually paying attention to the movements I noticed that there was a rhythmic pulsing in there. It wasn't kicking or squirming because it was too constant and keeping a beat. I found it to be really neat :)  On top of the hiccuping for another five minutes, I noticed that today she has been extra wiggly and squirmy! I can now tell when she is taking her little naps. I wonder if her sleep habits in the womb show what she will be like out here..because she is quiet throughout the night! I feel her now, up and about at 11pm, but as soon as I lay down she will be still until I get up out of bed around 8 or so..whenever the dogs get me up to take them out.

Happy Groundhog Day Weekend everyone..glad it looks like an early Spring for you state-siders! It definitely feels like Spring here being able to walk the dogs at night and in the morning in a tank top or t-shirt! Gotta love it! :)

Deployment Numero Dos

Well...time flew by like I thought and here we are back on another deployment. I dropped my honey off yesterday morning and since then I've just been hangin' at the house with the pups relaxing.  This deployment feels different than the last (talk to me in a couple weeks and see if I am still singin' this tune). The goodbye was much easier. I didn't cry this time around! I think we both know that, "hey, this trip is shorter than the last and what makes it awesome is that when Matt gets home it's almost baby time"!

This time around I have more friends I can reach out to and go out for coffee or treats or shopping if I need to get out of the doggie domain.

This time around I am comfortable driving and navigating the streets of Okinawa.

This time around we are more settled into our home.

This time around Scuttle is (for the most part) housebroken! That's a big one. One of my biggest stresses in holding down the fort was working my butt off to house break Scuttle while combating threatening morning sickness and exhaustion. Now, she just jingles the bells on the baby gate letting me know she needs out. Such a big difference! Especially now that I am striding along into my 3rd trimester soon and I hear exhaustion kicks back in!

I'm optimistic time will fly with Matt being gone..there's still so much to do to prep for baby girl! Luckily, Matt took care of the big things like painting her room and putting her crib together. Now I can put in the bedding, unload clothes as they come in as well as little toys and baby books :) My friend, Lauri, is wonderful and is throwing me a baby shower in early March! So that's something to occupy my mind and look forward to as well!

So speaking of babies...here's the update on Savannah Grace :

-I'm now 26w 5d along ..so close yet so far! It's crazy to think that in about 10 weeks I'll be full term...Baby Girl can come ANY time after that date..the thought is leaving me anxious, excited, nervous, scared, excited (did I mention, excited?)

- she's kicking up a storm! A couple weeks ago I felt all her kicks near the surface of my belly..now-a-days I feel the kicking and thumping more internally..closer to my cervix and now bladder area. It's a strange feeling, that's for sure

- I feel bruised, as if someone punched me in the pubic bone (I hope that's normal!)

- as of last night I have gained about 17lbs. While I am told it's normal and healthy and I am on track, it also freaks me out! I have 13 more weeks to go until my due date..how much more am I going to gain?!  It's an adjustment. I can feel my belly has gotten bigger and heavier. It's leaving me anxious wondering if/when  I am going to spot my first stretch mark.

- I am feeling more anxious about labor and delivery. More so about the labor. I hope I am able to tell the difference between a Braxton Hicks contraction and a real one. I hope someone is here to drive me when the time comes. I hope that I have time to get to the hospital (40-45 mins away) and receive my epidural. The wonder drug.

- I have been craving oatmeal in the mornings now vs my regular Special K cereal. My appetite has increased recently..I find myself wanting to snack more often, so,  I am keeping my fridge stocked up on apples and kiwis and string cheese. I fight the strong urge to go into the pantry, grab my Ruffles and a jar of French Onion dip and satisfy my salty needs. Only once in a while will I do that and that's when I know I've been "good" for breakfast and plan on having a healthier dinner.

I just can't wait to meet my little one. After 40lbs and mommy marks and swollen ankles and feet I know it will all be worth it just to kiss her little cheeks, inspect her fingers and toes and smell that soft baby smell. Seeing Matt become a father and how he looks when he meets his little girl for the first time will also make everything else worth it.

 That, folks, is the skinny on baby updates and how I'm doing on night #2 of deployment #2.

Slow down, January

It's now January and while, to many, this month is about new resolutions and getting excited to start the year fresh, mostly what weighs on my mind is that this is the month Matt leaves again for deployment (sigh..).   He's only been home a month and I feel like our time together is wrapping up. He doesn't leave for another few weeks but you know what they say: time sure flies when you're having fun!

There's still lots to do around the house before he takes off: we have to clean out the nursery (as it's our temporary upstairs storage room at the moment), paint it and set up the crib. Well, I guess that's not a lot but it will take up a good solid day or two.  This past weekend we reorganized the whole downstairs of our house. We scrubbed the kitchen and set up the dining table (where it used to be in the back of the living room), hung up my aprons and new calendar, in the living room we moved the entertainment center to another wall and moved all the couches, kept the tall cocktail table and hung a few things on the walls. The new set up is pretty great! I always love a change and the seating arrangement in the living room makes much more sense. The room doesn't look as full as it did which gives it a little more space (and more space for our future Pack 'n Play and other baby things!). 

Even though he leaves soon I'm thankful that he was able to be home for the holidays and special events (ie. 20wk ultrasound appointment and gender reveal).  Speaking of the "big ultrasound".... I think it went pretty well! I say that not knowing for sure because the doctor has yet to call me after looking at the measurements and pictures taken to let me know if there is anything that needs worrying about. I've called the office a couple times and left voicemails..still no return calls. Gotta love military clinics....  Okay, but aside from not knowing the results of everything, from what I saw, things look good! The heartbeat was 156 and strong.  The tech was able to easily spot the four chambers of the heart and made a comment that it looked very strong. We got to see the spine, the legs, the feet and at one point saw a close up of the face which was really cool (I wish I had asked him to take a picture!). Little one's arm was up by her face as if saying "oh woah is me", so, seeing her face framed under the arm and her little chest under the face creating interesting shadowing was probably the neatest experience of my ultrasound visits.  They had me get off the table a few times to go use the restroom (to empty bladder) and to walk around 5-10 mins in hopes of Jelly Belly rotating or turning a little so they can get a good measurement of her head.  Not sure if it worked..the tech said at the end of the appointment that the doctor may call me to go back for another ultrasound to retakes photos and measurements. Not a word, yet.  As for confirming it's a boy or girl..no concrete confirmation! From what we saw it still looks like a girl! I just hate when techs use the wording "well it looks like it could be a girl, I don't see male parts...but I can't be sure. I think girl."  I'm such a literal person, I like a definite yes or no! (I know, even if it were clear as day they can't tell me anything is yes or no for sure). But Matt and I are still convinced we have a little ballerina on our hands with the original gender reveal (and the picture that came along with it) as well as what we saw at the most recent ultrasound.

 At the appointment she was measuring to be 21wk 4 d with her estimated due date being May 6 versus the original estimated due date being May 4 (our 20wk appointment was actually 22wk). I'm still going to go by the original due date just because it's easier that way for me. It's only two days off so..we'll see :)

Okay, January, feel free to take your time because I'm soaking in all that I can of it! After that, feel free to fly until end of March/sometime April! :D