Orders: Check, Port call: Check, Tickets: Check-Check-Check….31 days and counting

Our time in Okinawa is coming to an end!! Sad yes, the feelings are bittersweet. Knowing that we’ll have to say “so long” to some great friends is sad, but a necessary evil in the life of the Military family. Now we are trying to experience as much of the island and the Okinawan culture that we can. Unfortunately there are things we missed, like Whale watching, Dragon Boat races, Cherry Blossom Festival, and the Lily festival to name a few. A lot of it is because I was too scared to go off base with Richard by myself when he was still little. But what’s done is done there is no going back.

Now that we’re getting things taken care of we’ve tried going out a bit more, and I’ve noticed the one thing that I’ve always been nervous about; Japanese people rushing to see Richard. And it usually happens when it’s just Jason with Richard. The minute that I walk out of the store that I was in within a minute of me being there the girls leave. I said something to Jason about it and he said it was a territory thing, they didn’t want to “invade” what was mine. The constant feeling of being watched is unnerving and when I’m out and about with Richard I really feel it. I’m kind of glad Richard isn’t a good walker yet because I’m able to keep him in the stroller rather than him getting away from me in a crowd. And as a preemptive strike for the inevitable I’ve already purchased a “leash” for him. Luckily we’ll be back in the states, but I don’t ever want to be worried about someone snatching up my baby and running off with him. There are too many sicko’s out there and if my having my child on a “leash” makes me a “bad parent” to some people, well then they need to take a look in the mirror and stop being judgmental.

Anyway off that tangent and on to what this entry is really about! Our next destination is Camp Lejeune, Jacksonville North Carolina. We’ll be within four hours (two different directions) from some of my family. And we’ll be reunited with some really good friends of ours that we graduated High school with. I can’t wait to see Charlie and Sarah Auge again and see how their Kayo has grown! Well with only 31 days left on island (One MONTH!! HOLY COW) we’re going to be busy cleaning sorting and last bit of exploring!! Pictures of the ending of our adventure to follow.

Time is moving too quickly!

 I am surprised that I haven’t had someone get after me about the fact I haven’t written a blog!! Life has been so busy… Beginning of June, Jason came home. What an amazing, long, and nerve wracking day it was!! I was planning on having one of Jason’s buddies hold Richard while I got the hug first, but when it came down to it I thought it was better if he held the sign that I made above our heads, and made Jason hug both of us. We were a little worried about how Richard would respond to Jason, but I don’t think I could have asked for a better welcome. Once Richard heard Jason’s voice his little face lit up, and he smiled as if he were saying “Hey I know you!” I managed to get a really sweet woman/photographer to take our homecoming pictures and I am so happy I did.

Then two weeks later Richard and I flew back to the states by ourselves to be home for my best friend’s wedding. I’ve been friends with Maggie Bloomgren since 9^th grade, and she’s been like a sister and someone that I could be myself with. There was no way I could in good conscience miss what would be the biggest day of her life. Especially when her wedding day just happened to be on mine and Jay’s 5^th wedding anniversary. Unfortunately because of a few of Jason’s higher ups he was unable to join us, and followed on his own the Monday after the wedding.

 Which we then spent the next two weeks all together as a family, with our families. Every day we were doing something different, seeing people and going places. We were glad that we were going to have some time back on Okinawa before he had to go back to work because we were both very tired. We went to the Erie Zoo with my sister, her husband and boys. As well as my father in law, because he just wanted to spend more time with Jason and his grandson. And on July 1^st we celebrated Richard’s turning one a month early, because I felt it was something important for our family to share with us.

While we were home we were blessed to watch a friendship blossom between Richard and his cousin Coltin. When “together” they couldn’t be more than 5 feet apart otherwise they’d start yelling. They shared their food, sippy cups and toys. I believe it made us all happy that they became such good little buddies. And it was such a precious site to see.

Needless to say we came home to Okinawa July 10^th. We managed to get our internal clocks reset, and then some just “us” family time. Thanks to Coltin one week after we got home Richard became fully mobile. Meaning no more crawling!!! And into EVERYTHING!!! I swear this child is as curious as the day is long, and I’m constantly jumping to get him out of trouble or to sooth away any bumps that happened because he was walking around like what we call “A drunken sailor”.

On July 28^th I had my very first consultant party, Tupperware!! I decided I really needed to get some cereal storage containers, and I knew the best I could find would be Tupperware. Plus I was curious what they had on sale at the time, and I think I managed to get some pretty nice stuff J Then the following week on August 4^th my Okinawa friends and family helped us to celebrate Richard’s actual birthday.

I can honestly say that this past year has had its rough spots. I remember moments when Richard would start crying and because of how I was feeling depressed, lonely, tired and any negative feeling you could imagine, I sat with him holding him crying too. I can honestly admit I would have preferred to be back in the states with the family, but because there are no Doctors in the area that are approved by Tricare (the insurance) I knew I had to stay on Okinawa for Richard’s appointments.  In the end I have to say I have never been so happy as I am now. This little boy has brought so much joy to our lives, that I am so deeply grateful to God for our precious gift.

Now that my hormones have calmed down..

So my mom got after me about my last post. And I believe that I do need to clarify one thing, at the time I wrote the blog my post partum depression, and just depression over all was hitting me. No it does not excuse the non-acknowledgement of the good time that Richard and I had while we were at home. It does however explain that the "ruff" and "bad" things were on my mind and bothering me. Its nice to not have the black cloud of depression hanging over my head. I've been enjoying Richard more and I've put more effort into my loosing the baby weight. And now I'm getting anxious about Jason coming home, and I think that has lifted my spirits a lot. But in the end we did have a good time while home, visiting with family and friends.

Now for whats been going on lately. Right now Richard is sick. He caught a upper respiratory virus and I've had to keep him home with me all this week so that he didn't get any other babies at the CDC sick too. He's trying to work very hard on this walking thing.He is constantly pulling himself up on things and trying to get into things. I've concluded that we have a lot of stuff that we don't need. I keep trying to down-size on the amount of stuff we have, but the piles only seem to get slightly smaller rather than significantly.

The last couple of weeks I did take Richard out and around American Village to find a Birthday Present for Xander. At one place I had a bunch of the store clerks gather around and oo and ahh over how cute Richard is. I've even had baggers at the base grocery store play with him to see if they couldn't make him smile while I was checking out. The thing that made me chuckle recently was I was sitting at the pharmacy in the hospital waiting for our number to be called and I had a Marine Staff Sgt sit down next to me and randomly start playing with Richard and getting him to smile and make noises at him. It was like "you want to play with my child, sure thing!"

Next Monday we have Richard's 9 month baby well check up. I'm excited to see how much he's grown. He's gotten so big since Jason left, but I'm glad that through the pictures that I send and post on Facebook, Jason has been able to see him grow :)

Long Over due update.

I apologize for the over due update. In December Richard and I made the long exhausting trip from Okinawa to Buffalo NY to spend Christmas and New Years with family rather than being alone on the island. It took two weeks for Richard to become acclimated to the time change. And about the time we left he had decided that he was done breast feeding and needed to start having formula instead. I blame it on my stopping pumping and then the stress of dealing with some of the drama that I had to endure with when I went home. The whole experience proved the old saying "You can't go home again." I'd prefer not to go into detail about the drama, so please don't ask. The ones that it involved know about it and that's all that really matters. Lets just say I was relieved to get back to my own home and among my own stuff.
Since then Richard and I have been just doing our daily errands. I helped decorate cupcakes for a friends baby shower that she had right before she gave birth to her second baby girl. But other than that we haven't been doing much. I was able to get Richard signed in to the CDC: Child Development Center. And normally he goes twice a week for about four hours each time so that I can have some "mommy time". Unfortunately his little internal schedule got messed up so this week he is home with me while I try and correct this situation. He's doing great so far, poor thing gets bored to tears (literally) sometimes but we get through it.
I had to take him to the Dr, last week because I was afraid that he had a sinus infection. Turns out he just had a cold. However at seven and a half months Richard measured to be 28 inches and a whopping 21 pounds! He's such a heavy little chunkier. And he's started crawling now. He does a combination of the military crawl and up on his knees. He even gets into the position where it looks like he's doing planks or about to do a push up and he tries to crawl that way.
But in all honesty nothing is going on. We are still waiting to hear from housing on when we will be moved to the new building. They are scheduled to finish it at the end of April now.  So in about a month and a half we should be moved into our new apartment. Until then we just hang out in our house, with me trying to clean things because the mess gets on my nerves. This Saturday Richard and I are participating in the March of Dimes walk. But other than that its a pretty lonely existence that we have. Well Richard is screaming about something so I need to go. I'll update when something actually happens. Just know that no news is good news for the moment.

Thoughts...

So the other day when I looked at a calendar I realized that around this time last year I had an OBGYN Dr. tell me, that I would probably never be able to get pregnant on my own; Over the phone no less.  I hit an all-time emotional low, and after a few weeks felt like God was telling me to snap out of it and start taking care of myself and focus on my husband. And now when I think back to then, I give the baby that “probably never would be” an extra squeeze and kiss, then continue to praise God for his blessings.  Because I stopped worrying about other people so much and worrying about my husband and truly making more of an effort to be an “obedient/honorable” wife, I feel that our relationship is stronger and better than it has ever been. We laugh and marvel that we’ve been “together” for eleven years now and we’re still as crazy about one another as we were back in high school. We used to dream about what life would be like if we ever had a baby, and now we get to live it!! I remembered one day a dream Jason told me he had way back then about me picking our sleeping baby up off his chest, at the precise moment I was picking Baby Richard up from him while the two of them were passed out sleeping. J Just goes to show that Dreams really do come true.

Baby Richard, is now almost three months old. At his two month check-up on September 29^th he weighed 12.8 pounds, and was 22.83 inches. Recently when I took him into the Dr. because he has some red spots/sores in his little fat rolls between his legs, he weighed 14.85 pounds and was 23.75 inches long! He’s been sleeping for about ten and a half hours each night, which has allowed me to get some much needed sleep.

I have been very hesitant to take him off base to go for walks or shopping, mainly because he still has some pretty baby blue eyes. I keep hoping they change colors to look more like Jason’s eyes but at the same time I secretly hope that they stay their pretty blue. When I go home for Christmas I really want to get a picture of my dad with his three blue eyed grandsons. So my fingers are crossed that his eyes will at least stay blue until he gets to go to the states and meet all the family.

For the time being Jason and I are enjoying our time together. And I love watching him with Richard. I can honestly say I don’t think I’m ready for Jason to leave us again so soon, but I will endeavor to handle the upcoming separation no matter what.

One month !!!

I can't believe how time is moving so fast. My sweet little baby is one month old already!! Our little Jelly Bean is turning into such a little sweetheart. In the morning he loves to snuggle after he has his "breakfast", but then he is happiest when he's snuggling with me anyways. He snorts like a little pig when he's eating. I laugh every time because its so silly and cute. We are starting to work on learning that "I don't need mommy to hold me while I go to sleep".. So far I think its going pretty good, because he's been going down for naps by himself better. As long as he has his Bink he's happy. When ever we leave the house at first he screams at me for putting him in his car seat, but then after a couple minutes of "moving" to get to the van he calms down and will eventually fall asleep. Then he stays asleep for anywhere between 3 and 4 hours. Once in a while he'll be out for 5 hours but I try not to let that happen to often.
I am so glad that he sleeps while we're out.. mainly because that means his pretty blue jean colored eyes are shut. Reason why, the Japanese LOVE blue eyed babies. They will get in children's faces to see if they have blue eyes if its not obvious. I've even seen them come up to blond haired blue eyed babies and kiss them on the mouth without first speaking to the parents. I know it bothered that babies mother, heck it made me uncomfortable and I was just meeting the girl for the first time!! Because the light colored hair and blue eyes is so uncommon for the Japanese to "see" they love seeing babies with any "not dark" haired baby or a baby with eyes that aren't brown. (Robin be glad you cant' come out here with both your boys.. Xander would probably get completely freaked out by the attention he would get with his pretty eyes.)
I know that eventually I'll have to deal with locals getting in his face to see what color his eyes are. And more than likely I'll have them ask to take pictures with him (so they have proof they were with a blue eyed baby). I'm not going to lie, I'm a little nervous about it.. but I know that when the time comes and we have to deal with it, I'll handle it somehow. In the meantime I'll be flooding Facebook with pictures of our little man, so his daddy can "watch" him grow from afar. Thankfully soon he'll be home from this training deployment he's on. But once he goes to Afghanistan there should at least be one picture posted a day, so Jason can see how Richard is spending his days :)

At 12:25 am on August 1, 2011.....

God blessed both me and my husband with this beautiful and amazing baby boy.

Richard Everett Jones.

And thanks to the good ole' Marine Corps in combination with 9th ESB, starting week 2 after his birth I started to learn what it was like to be a "single mother". Jason had to go to the rifle range, so that left me at home with a new born baby by myself. To be honest I was scared to death, and I still sort of am. But thanks to "time" and advice from my friends who are all experienced mommies I'm getting the hang of it. My mom and dad came to Japan, and lucky for us Jason wasn't sent on his training deployment until two days after they got here; so they were able to spend some time with him.

And now baby Richard and I just "hang out" until Jason returns from the desert. Thankfully God blessed me with friends who are all willing to come over and spend time with the both of us to give me a break as well as conversation with an adult. I'll admit its hard to do this on my own without Jason, and I can't wait for him to come home. It will be nice to be a "complete" family once again.  Tomorrow Richard will be one month old, I'm sad that Jason isn't here to watch our son grow. But one day this being "separated" thing will be all over. God will give me strength when I feel as though I can't hold on anymore. Right now I praise him for his blessings that he's given me.

Richard Everette Has Arrived!!!

His Birth Story

On Monday my Dr scheduled me to be induced on Friday at 8am, because on Friday I would be a full 41 weeks pregnant. I was to call Labor and Deivery to find out if they had a room available for me. So starting at 7 am like I was told to I started calling, and as luck would have it every single bed was full and would be full for the most of the day. I finally got the call to report at 5 pm. So Jason and I packed up and went in. Before hooking me up to the IV the midwife checked me.. I was still at only 2cm, the cervix has yet again moved back behind the baby's head, and the baby has yet again gone back "up". The Midwife even said "this is going to take a while." Around 7:30 she came back in.... There is a woman who it is no longer safe for her to be at home, and they need to get her in. Because they hadn't gotten the chance to even start my induction they had to make the decision as to who needed their help more. Obviously the other woman wins that choice hands down, and I completely understand. For some reason just about every single pregnant woman except 3 (including me) who have gone to Labor and Delivery friday gave birth. So all five rooms have been utilized all day. The Midwife said that, usually they don't induce on weekends but because it is evident that this baby needs to come out I get first priority tomorrow morning. If we didn’t get a call in the middle of the night to come back in, we were to call at 5 am.
Needless to say that’s what we did, I called once and then Jason took over calling because my induction was scheduled and I needed to get my baby out. When I called they told me that they promised to call, and then at 10, Jason started getting very frustrated and called, he even gave them a little attitude saying how this was scheduled…. Time went by a little bit and we made cheeseburgers for lunch. (one of the last things we had in the freezer to make) and then I laid down to take a nap. Then around 12:40 Jason’s cell phone rang. Why his cell we have no clue but the call came. I heard the people on the other end ask Jason how long did he think it would take us, and he told them about 30 minutes. When he hung up alls he said to me was “move” and I bounced off the couch so fast that Jason had to stop and look twice. And I called my mom to let her know , that our little man would be on his way eventually.
Second time around we walked in and they took me back to the same room as before. Got me all hooked up and re-filled out some paperwork that because it was back dated . Then they wasted no time what so ever and gave me the medicine that would allow for my cervix to soften and dilate. And thus the waiting began Saturday July 30 at approximately 1:30 in the afternoon.
I went through the rest of Saturday randomly getting “checked” and experiencing almost constant pain, yet I still felt that I wasn’t in enough pain that I needed an epidural yet, so they gave me a different type of med that relaxed my entire body so that I barely felt any pain. It did however make me high as a kite. I got laughed at a lot but it didn’t bother me much. I slept a lot to make time go faster, or I played with my ipod. The only things I was allowed to eat were popsicles, ice chips and a major abundance of water! I was put on Pitocin, to help “move things along” however before we knew it, it was Sunday morning and the Saturday crew was on their way home.
The Doctor from Saturday kept trying to push me using a balloon of sorts that would go up into my slightly dilated cervix and then more manually force me to dilate. I refused because I had never heard of it before and because I did not want to experience feeling anything being shoved up me while I was in so much pain. However when Dr.Hoffman, (a female dr) “took over” she explained to me that she would make sure I was given my epidural and some pain medicine before they did it so I wouldn’t feel anything. She explained that they couldn’t go ahead and give me a C-Section because with this being my first pregnancy they had to get a history and try to let my body dilate. At that point I was only 3 cm dilated and begging for them to just get it over with and get the baby out of me because of the pain. So in came the epidural, as well as some sort of pain medicine that went into my IV and they had previously shut off the Pitocin. The next thing I knew Dr. Hoffman was putting her hand on my head and saying “Ok Sweetie we need to get this thing started.”
This was after about an hour and a half of having the Pitocin turned off, and Dr. Hoffman checked to see where things were and announced to the nurse “She doesn’t even need it!! She’s 6 cm Dilated. Let’s get the Pitocin restarted, break her water and work to try and get this baby out!”
Time went on, and I started to feel like I needed to attempt to push around 7:30 pm, Day crew had switched over with the night crew by that point as well. I wasn’t allowed to push for at least an hour because there was a “lip” of the cervix that was over the baby’s head. The Dr. said that if I started pushing we would be running the risk of tearing the cervix before the baby even had a chance to make it through my pelvis. When night crew switched I ended up having two male Nurses taking care of me. And around 8 pm we were given the go ahead and with the help of the one lead male nurses, and Jason I started pushing.
First off let me say Jason was AWESOME!!! He was a great coach reminding me to constantly keep breathing like I was supposed to, and constantly trying to help me with any other pain that I was dealing with. (I had developed a huge knot in between my shoulders) And while I did end up getting moody and grouchie with him, he still took it with a grain of salt and told me to knock it off when I started getting bad. When it came time to put my epidural in he came over to the bed and put his forehead on mine and had me focus on him and my breathing. And when it came time to push and we discovered what worked for me when it came to pushing, He helped me hold my legs up in the air and counted for me,
So like I said I was given the go ahead to attempt push the baby out. The male nurse would always tell me “push harder” and once I pushed so hard that I just let out this huge scream while I did it that made all three of us laugh and even resulted with the Dr. coming in to check on us :p Apparently everyone out and about the monitors stopped what they were doing and looked at each other when I screamed, and then looked at Dr. Hoffman, whose response was “uum I’m going to go check on that.” Only to find the me, Jason and the RN laughing. The RN even said “if she could keep pushing like that this baby would be out in no time.” Needless to say it made Dr. Hoffman chuckle and I promised not to scream like that again so as “I wouldn’t scare the other patients” :p So I continued to push… and push… and push… and push… I was fully dialated, but for some reason was no more closer to getting the baby out than I was when I first started. When I hit the three hour mark I was exhausted in a ton of pain and numb all at the same time. Dr. Hoffman came in and checked on me. The baby was unable to descend into my pelvis and it was looking like the baby’s head was swelling a lot, so they needed to get me into a c-section. I just looked at her with tears in my eyes exhausted and simply said “Please” And everyone sprang into action then. I was set up and made ready to go into the OR as quickly as possible (took roughly 30 minutes) My body was numbed again and I was given more pain meds to make it so I couldn’t feel anything and before I knew it I was strapped down in the OR and they were bringing Jason in to sit up by my head and hold my hand.
The first cut or whatever it was felt so weird that I can’t even describe it!! But once Dr. Hoffman got to the baby Jason and I could hear say “Oh yea this baby isn’t fitting through your pelvis at all! He is huge!” (pulls baby out of my belly and holds him up.. I heard Richard’s watery squeaky cry) “I’d say he’s at least 10 lbs. Go ahead and give her that medicine.” Things became blissfully dark.. and I was suddenly dreaming of “The Matrix” and everything was white and all the people who were working on me were there also dressed in white.. HAHAHA Then I woke up and they took me back to my room where Richard was being assessed and Jason was doing the good Hubby thing and taking pictures like I asked him to. The entire C-Section process took maybe 45 minutes.. Richard was Lester Naval Hospitals first baby of August being born at 12:25 am. And the biggest of the weekend being 8 lbs 13 oz, 21.9 inches long.
I can’t get over how cute he is. I kept waking up those first two days feeling like I was dreaming that what I was experiencing wasn’t real. But now that I’ve already started to deal with the first of what I know will be many “New Mommy Doubts”, I know that everything I went through was for a reason. Now the only thing I can do is be the best mommy I can be to this precious baby boy that God has blessed me with.

(pictures to follow in next entry)

Oh baby where are you??

Baby Richard’s due date has come and gone… I keep getting asked by certain family members why my Doctor hasn’t done anything to “help me” because of how miserable I have been. While it’s true that if I were home, back in New York or Pennsylvania more than likely the Doctor that I would have seen probably would have gone ahead and brought Richard into the world earlier. However the Military Doctors here have a completely different policy.
I’ve shed many tears over this, and I’ve been in A LOT of pain and endured with a significant amount of discomfort. I’ve even asked God the same questions over and over. Why? Why would the Doctors here allow a pregnant woman to go through a month of seemingly perpetual misery? Knowing that the baby inside her is on the large side while the woman herself is small in stature, why not do something to ease the woman’s pain?
The only answer I got from the Doctors was; “We have to follow the guidelines. And that means we won’t induce you until you’ve reached 41 weeks.”
I figure that I’ll never really understand, because in the end as long as Richard comes out “ok” and perfect… Large and perfect that is all that matters. Everything I’ve endured will mean nothing because in the end no matter what I’ll have the precious little life that God has granted me the privilege of nurturing.
I know when I go home for Christmas, more than likely some family member will ask me why the Doctors didn’t help me or didn’t induce me earlier than what they are. And will have some criticizing comment to make. Here is my answer to anything that may be said to me: I have been in a completely different situation than anyone here has ever had to deal with. I have been in a foreign country, being taken care of by military doctors. Who have been educated and trained that they must always go by guidelines and policies that have been set aside by the people who are in command over the entire Navy medical. In the end all that matters is Richard is born, and I live through it.
And as I sit here and look at the swing that was given to us, hours ticking by, bringing us closer to the moment when the precious life inside me will take its first breath of air, I can’t help but realize that life as we know it will truly never be the same. Life will be so much more important and special, all because by the end of this month we will be parents, and only God can take that away from us.

Maternity Pictures

Yesterday I met with the photographer who did my Maternity pictures and got the CD from him. Jason and I LOVE how the pictures turned out. Even though it was a little on the pricey side it was worth it. Here are a few of our favorites! Oh and Disclaimer I am wearing clothes!! We just covered them up with very large pieces of cloth...(all pictures are copywritten by Hanna Photography. Please do not steal)

It’s the beginning of the end….

The end of this pregnancy!!! Today I am officially 37 weeks, aka FULL TERM!!!! Jelly bean is getting bigger every day, how do I know this... My stomach has grown to accommodate him and let’s just say it has gotten rather obvious to me at least that the poor thing is rather frustrated with his oh so cramped surroundings. The way I can tell, you know how when you get really frustrated you’ll maybe clench your fists and just shake them (or want to) yea sometimes Richard will be wiggling around and all of the sudden he does that, just shakes. It makes me giggle, but at the same time I feel bad for him.


Our last prenatal appointment was on the 23rd, and at first my new Dr. wasn’t going to check me but I told her about the change in the discharge and I could completely tell that she got one of those feelings that said she better check. So at 35 weeks and 6 days I was 80% effaced, 1 cm dilated, and baby was in the -1 position. I could hear the surprise in her voice when she commented on how “low” the baby was, and the fact that my cervix is behind the baby’s head rather than in front. (This makes for a very difficult time checking to see how the cervix is doing) The one thing that I appreciate the most is she has not gotten after me about my weight gain, each time I’ve seen her she asks how big Jason and I were when we were born and then explains “you are just all belly.” She has also explained that because of how big “daddy” was and is, explains a lot as to why I’ve gained so much weight and why my belly is so big. Then when she squeezes my belly to estimate how big Jelly bean is she always comments on how big he is and that he is “solid”. This last time she did her estimate she said 7 ½ pounds, (which could be a half a pound less or more) and said that if I don’t go into labor within the next couple weeks they were going to have to do something to ensure that baby Richard doesn’t get to big for me. So Jason and I are both guessing that baby Richard will be approx. 8 lbs. (give or take some ounces) and at least 19 to 20 inches long. Chunkier than I was when I was born (6lbs 7 oz. 21 inches) but slightly longer than Jason was when he was born (9lbs 18inches).

We had my maternity photo-shoot done when I was 34 weeks by Hannah Photography. I honestly just wanted to see what he could do with me. We’re still waiting on the photographer to get the pictures all edited. As a result of this photo-shoot I am going to be taking a lesson from the makeup artist to learn how to do my own make up sort of in the way she did it for the shoot. Jason is being very encouraging about it, because he knows I’ll have fun and it will be something that I’ll be able to use for various reasons. (Gotta look good for those MC Balls right :p)

Other than that not much is going on besides trying to evict the small one from my body. I can honestly say that being away from home and halfway around the world from family who would be helping out with things makes this hard. When I’m having false labor contractions I deal with it on my own, rather than having my mother or sister there to reassure me that I’m ok it’s just my body getting ready for what’s to come. I end up having to wait to call them either first thing in the morning or late at night when we’re about ready to go to bed. Which, I still get the same encouragement from them, but it is strained and different because there is only so much one can really do over the phone rather than in person. I try to rely on Jason as much as I can, but at the same time he is being bogged down at work and comes home sometimes not until 8 o’clock and is practically dead on his feet. So I feel bad during the week asking him if he can help me do things like wash the dishes or just the general house cleaning chores. He does it, but the majority of the cleaning gets saved for the weekends.

I guess that’s it for now… Baby Jones Watch 2011 has officially begun!!!

Wake up call!

Update: So the baby showers went great. Baby Richard got completely spoiled :p I am so very grateful for everyone who is celebrating with us our little miracle baby!!

I was talking with my friend Siggie and I explained how the one OB Dr. I saw told me I’d probably never be able to have children on my own and she laughed and said “Your body probably said ‘oh yea watch this’ just to prove him wrong.” Definitely sounds like something I’d do.


The temperature here is getting very humid and hot. Like right now we are supposed to be experiencing a high of 78 degrees... however the temperature outside is 84 degrees with a 75% humidity. If I don’t drink enough water I get very very uncomfortable. And if I don’t drink enough water I start having bad contractions. This brings me to the “wakeup call” we recently had.

Last Wednesday I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions on and off all day, anywhere from an hour to 30 minutes apart. Then it got to the end of the day where I was feeling a little weird but I was taking the kids out to the “bus stop” to be picked up then I’d be able to go home soon. I ended up taking one little girl to a bench to sit and wait for her mommy because her mom was late. I started having a contraction that just seemed to get worse. Richard had been laying side-ways and all of the sudden he moved… into the perfect position for being born. I literally felt him “click” once he got settled like he was locked and loaded for take-off. Then the extremely painful contractions started, they went to 10 minutes apart, and I called Jason when they were 7 minutes apart. I told him “I need you to come here and get me, I’m having contractions at least 7 to 8 minutes apart and they really hurt and I know I need to go to Labor and delivery.” And like any “new” daddy he rushed as fast as he could down the island to come get me. He had me call the people in L&D and explain to them what was going on, by the time I got them on the phone I was having contractions 5 minutes apart. We went in with in the next 15 minutes of me getting off the phone with them and they already had a room ready and waiting for me. The first nurse who started working with me was awesome, and as it turned out also happened to be the OB educator so she sat there and answered all our questions and gave us a crash course of what is going to happen the next time I come in. Which as it turned out I was in labor, I had some contractions that were 3 minutes apart, and Jason said he remembered were reading at a 60 on the contraction counter. They hooked me up to an IV which hurts like all get out, (I’m not looking forward to doing that again) and got some fluids in me, and that managed to stop my labor. During the sonogram the Dr. said that the baby was measuring that he was 5 and a half pounds, which is very large for a then 32 week fetus. I noticed his head looks rather big (like his father’s poor thing :p)But again the Dr. while she seemed very overwhelmed was nice enough to answer our questions and let us know what was going on. According to the test they ran there was a 98% I would NOT be giving birth in the next two weeks, and I heard her say that she gave me four weeks before I was back. Her parting words were “Because of the size of your baby we’re going to have to keep a good eye on you guys from now on to make sure everything is ok.”


I go see a new OB Dr. on Thursday, because the other Dr. I was seeing is PCSing soon and said that it would probably be a good idea if I saw one of the other doctors because he wasn’t planning on taking on very many appointments during the month of June so that he could get ready to leave… Plus there was also a conflict of personalities between us, where I felt I wasn’t being “listened to” very well and that he rushed us throughout appointments rather than showing concern over something other than my weight gain.


So like I said our eyes have been opened, time is getting short. And soon very soon we will officially be a family of three… For the most part the nursery is ready, the pack ‘n’ play has the bassinet in it and is now in the bedroom with us. My bag is for the most part ready to go, and Richard’s diaper bag is packed. I just have to make a list of things for Jason to come back and get once everything is all over and he’s able to get away to get himself cleaned up and changed, and let people know that Baby Richard has been born. I have two more weeks of work, please pray with me that I make it through with no further problems!!!

Belly Update.

Today I had my 28 week OBGYN appointment, last week I ended up having a three hour glucose test and had to schedule this appointment a week later to find out what the results were. Luckily I do not have gestational diabetes!!! Plus the last time I had blood work done I was told that I was slightly anemic, this is no longer the case, My Dr. said that everything is looking good!!!
I also realized something today, the Dr. I have been seeing is the “Department Head” of the OBGYN. So I’m thinking if the department head isn’t showing signs of being worried about how I’m doing with my pregnancy then I have no reason to worry, Right? Right!  

While there is a seemingly constant concern with random people about how “big” I am I do have to say that I’m definitely not done yet … I still have my belly button. This picture was taken during week 26 when I was at Girl Scout Camp. Yes you read that right I volunteered for Girl Scout camp. I was not however in charge of any children. I volunteered my “services” as the photographer for multiple reasons. Mainly so they would get pictures and I would get some experience working with my camera more. The week was very busy for me and very exciting, and I did manage to go “swimming” in the pool finally on Thursday which my back and body greatly appreciated! I had a friend take a picture of me in my new maternity swim suit, and I promise to post that once she emails me the picture. However for now I can leave you with this :

I had Jason take a picture of me one morning before work because I realized it has been a while since I had a belly picture taken of me. And yes I understand and realize that I’m “huge” but at the same time I like to remind myself that at least the majority of the 25 pounds I’ve gained so far are all in the belly where little Richard is “baking”, because I still manage to fit into my pre-maternity clothes I just can’t button them because of how low baby likes to sit in my tummy.

Today I also went and got a "packet" that tells us what we need to do to "register" the baby with the US government and get him his very own passport. Its looks like we are going to be paying $205, to get everything done by the people done at the hospital. i figured it would be much much easier to do it that way rather than trying to go to the American Consult and doing it ourselves. I can honestly say I am very glad that we brought our birth certificates and marriage lisence with us because they're going to need them. I just have to hope and pray that once the baby is born we will be able to get right in and make the appoinment to get all of the paper work filed. More on this subject as we deal with it.
I do have some sad news to share. As many of you know I spoil my pets and have a tendency to try new things that are "animal friendly". Thus was the case this past week. I had heard and read a bit about the "Carefresh Bedding" for small animals and how it was supposed to be great for reducing odor and for the animals to be able to burrow in it. So I thought I'd give it a try and put some in Mimi's cage, because well she had a tendancy to stink. I did that on Sunday, Monday I noticed she wasn't feeling well and wasn't able to get her in to see a Vet until Tuesday when she just seemed a lot sicker. Turns out Mimi had eaten some of the bedding, and it had caused a blockage in her stomach which made her very sick. I did everything the vet asked me to. I had this gut feeling that she wasn't going to get better and asked them to please put her down so she didn't suffer, unfortunately the particular clinic doesn't euthanize animals except under special circumstances and this case did not fall under those guide lines. So I had to continue to "force feed" her and give her medicine and hope and pray she got better. Friday afternoon however Mimi's little body couldn't take it anymore, and she died. While some may say my pregnancy hormones lead me to freak out the way I did only those who truly know me (ie my immediate family and husband) understood completely. And Jason came home from work to "take care" of things. While I'm sad I understand what happened and had I done more research on the product I would have never choosen it for the sheer fact that if eaten by a small animal (ie, rabbits, hampster,etc) it would cause a "blockage" in their stomach and make them very sick and possibly kill them. Which in poor Mimi's case it did. We still have Leo, and while he seems slightly lonely he is doing well. Both Jason and I have been making more of an attempt to play with him daily, and make sure we check on him and pet him. And I shall now end my book, and try very hard to remind myself to post again very soon.. probably after I have the two baby showers that are being planned for me :-)

Taking a moment....

Its so easy to get wrapped up in life and not take the time to stop and praise God for the blessings he's given us. And I want to take the time to do that today because I really feel that its important to do.

First off Thank you God for the family and friends back home who care about us and love us enough to check on us and make sure we are ok despite the earthquake and tsunami warnings from Mainland Japan.
Thank you for the people that I have met here on the island who I feel I can truly call my friends. They are the people that I can turn to when I need help, people I can share my joys with, who I can go to for advice and learn from. It is these people with whom I feel truly hold me up and wish no ill will to ever come to me or mine.
Thank you, for blessing me with a husband who truly loves me despite my faults. Who tries everyday to be a good husband to me and is so very excited to finally become a daddy.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to come and live in a different country, that surrounds us with your beauty. I know there is a reason for us to be here and I will be contented to live my life here seeking and following your will, even if your reasoning never becomes clear. I'm happy to be doing what you want me to do.
And Thank you so very much for blessing me with the life of the child inside of me. This is an experience that for months I thought I'd never get to experience, and was told that it probably wouldn't happen. Every ache and pain, movement from within, and new development just screams to me how precious this little life is. Every time something good happens I get so excited and want to shout to the world about my little miracle. Despite the complications that have come about (mainly the bleeding) still I am blessed with experiencing the movements of a very active baby boy. You've blessed me with Doctors who care, and show their concern every time I see them. Doctors who want nothing more than for this child to enter into the world healthy. and again I thank you.
Thank you God for the All of the Blessings you have given me!
~ Amen~

Go team blue!!!

Yep thats right.. for those of you who aren't on my facebook and don't know yet.. Jelly Bean is a BOY!!!!

His name will be Richard Everett, and he is expected to arrive sometime around July 22nd. At 20 weeks and 4 days he was already measuring at being 13 oz.

He wiggled around soo much during the ultrasound the poor Ultrasound tech had to go out of order for the pictures that she needed and get what she could when she could. And she commented a couple of times "I can't believe how active your baby is!" She also laughed a couple times saying that he was showing off for mommy.

At one point he was laying sideways, then he moved and was "chilling out" on my bladder. We watched him touch his feet to his head, all folded up like a taco, and cross his ankles. When we got a good view of his face I got the impression that he has his daddy's nose. Jason saw it too when he came in. Also once Jason was in the room the baby started to relax, and we watched him yawn and rub his eyes and settle down.

Needless to say Jason is SUPER excited. Since we started talking about children he always wanted a boy first, and now he has one. I'm happy that my intuition was right because throughout this whole pregnancy I've been saying I thought/felt that the baby was a boy. And I had to laugh, my parents only had girls, and now they're getting all boy grandson's. Heaven help us if our next child is a girl!!

what's been going on...

For the past month and a half I keep thinking to myself “I really need to write a blog…” and then life happens or I get sleepy and the blog entry doesn’t happen. The past couple months have been a whirlwind of experiences. The day I hit the 12th week of my pregnancy I started bleeding. Jason was still in the states for his mother’s funeral and I had just finished my day at work. I was “resting” because I had started spotting earlier in the day and when I stood up to go get myself some dinner I just felt like I just peed myself. So I went to the bathroom… and needless to say I had started bleeding. I quickly changed my clothes and drove myself to the ER in a panic. In the ½ hour it took to get to the ER I had filled one pad, but the bleeding seemed to subside by the time they checked me. I never wish that experience on anyone. Here I was by myself thinking that I was losing my baby, the baby that I had been told wouldn’t happen, right after my mother in law died. As I was running out the door I called the friend who has a key to our apartment and asked her to please come to my house and call Jason to let him know what was going on, that I couldn’t think straight to tell her the number other than to tell her it was on the computer under Grandpa Miller. Thankfully the Dr’s were worried about me having someone with me and when I looked through my phone the because my friend was already busy letting Jason know what was going on the only person I could think of calling was Stephanie, Ryan’s wife, because she is the closest thing to Family that I have out here.
It was determined to be a slight hemorrhage in the placenta, and I was put on bed rest for the next three days. Jason came home on Monday night and Tuesday I was finally able to get in to see a Dr. for the follow up apt where it was again determined that the baby and I were fine. In fact the baby was kicking like crazy and as the Dr. said being difficult (taking after its father already). Jason finally got to see our little jelly bean, and had the same reaction I did, fell in love.
Since then Jelly Bean has grown A LOT, and started poking out making me look very pregnant. I’ve had multiple comments said about how my baby is going to be “big” and am I sure I’m not having twins? You’d think after 3 ultrasounds I’d know if I was having twins, but people still question it. Which is frustrating because it’s just making me feel like I’m getting fat and putting on a ton of weight when I’m still able to fit into numerous pre-pregnancy pants. At my fifteen week appointment my Dr. told me what is probably going to be the best advice I’ll ever get in my life: “Stop listening to people. Every woman develops differently, stop looking stuff up on the internet and stop listening to what people are say to you.” Unfortunately we didn’t get an ultrasound; the Dr. just checked the baby’s heart beat which is at a 150 rate. He seemed very confident that the baby and I were doing fine.
I stopped spotting at week 16, and my Primary Care Manager (aka. A different Dr.) checked me to see how I was doing when I asked about leaking fluids, because my OBGYN Dr. had asked me if I was leaking fluids but I couldn’t tell at the time because I was still spotting. The next day my PCM called me to check on me again and reconfirm that if I ever wonder about the leaking fluids or have any questions to let him know, that phone call brought some tears to my eyes because I really felt like God put me here and had my PCM continually change to end up with this man, and be under the care of these Dr.’s so that my baby and I would be well taken care of. Needless to say I’m not leaking fluids, and the baby is definitely growing and wiggling around in there.
On Valentines day Jason was whining about not being able to feel the baby yet, by then we could get a general idea of where the baby was hanging out. So I had Jason put his hand on my stomach in the area that I was feeling some movement. It felt weird like I was getting tickled from the inside, and after a minute Jason got a huge grin on his face, he had felt some part of the baby rub up against my stomach at the same time I got the biggest “internal tickle”. Since then Jason has had this uncanny ability to reach over and gently tickle my belly right where the baby happens to be, and it always feels like the baby kind of tickles back a little.
Through all of this joyful baby stuff I’ve been dealing with Girl Scout Cookie sales. They are over now thankfully, but if that wasn’t a stressful time I don’t know what is!! My troop all agreed that we want to go camping at Okuma for one weekend towards the end of the year with our cookie money, and later this month we will be having a sleep over at the Girl Scout hut to start preparing us for our weekend. Girl Scout camp is quickly approaching, and I’ve been trying to help with recruiting some ladies to help out as counselors. And other than my escapes to the Ceramics room to “relax” and work on a project, that is pretty much all I’ve been doing. Girl Scouts, work, Dr. Appointments, and spending time with my hubby. Next week we find out what Jelly Bean is, if it’s going to be a Richard Everett or a Lorelai Denise. I can’t wait and we are both super excited!! If only the week would go by a little faster so we could find out. Here is a picture of me from last friday when Jason and I were out walking and playing with my camera.

Awareness

At the end of October I started seeing a counselor because I knew that I needed to start taking time for myself and taking care of myself, and really just changing what I was focusing on in my life. I really believe that making that decision and putting it into effect and practice I was able to conceive the little miracle that is growing inside of me. After three sessions my counselor said to me "your homework is to come up with new goals because since you've become pregnant, you've achieved all the goals we came up with at your initial meeting." If that's not a confidence booster I don't know what is!!
While I was in my session today my counselor pulled a book off the shelf and opened it up to the "Personal Bill of Rights" and I have to say that after reading it I knew that it is perfect to describe the overall way that I am feeling about myself as a person, and is definitely something that I will forever be working on.

Personal Bill of Rights
1. I have the right to ask for what I want.
2. I have the right to say no to requests or demands I can't meet.
3. I have the right to express all of my feelings, positive or negative.
4. I have the right to change my mind.
5. I have the right to make mistakes and not have to be perfect.
6. I have the right to follow my own values and standards.
7. I have the right to say no to anything when I feel I am not ready, it is unsafe or it violates my values.
8. I have the right to determine my own priorities.
9. I have the right not to be responsible for others' behavior, actions, feelings or problems.
10. I have the right to expect honesty from others.
11. I have the right to be angry at someone I love.
12. I have the right to be uniquely myself.
13. I have the right to feel scared and say 'I'm afraid."
14. I have the right to say 'I don't know.
15. I have the right not to give excuses or reasons for my behavior.
16. I have the right to make decisions based on my feelings.
17. I have the right to my own needs for personal space and time.
18. I have the right to be playful and frivolous.
19. I have the right to be healthier than those around me.
20. I have the right to be in a non-abusive environment.
21. I have the right to make friends and be comfortable around people.
22. I have the right to change and grow.
23. I have the right to have my needs and wants respected by others.
24. I have the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
25. I have the right to be happy.

Our Holiday experience...

What can I say, our Holiday season has been one to remember. And it all started back on November 21, the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I woke up that morning and listened to the little nagging voice I had in the back of my head and did a home pregnancy test. After being told at the beginning of October that more than likely the only way I’d ever get pregnant was through In-vetro, I was honestly thinking “I know I’m not pregnant, maybe if I take this test my cycle will start.” Needless to say I was in for the biggest shock of my life. Almost immediately the test screen was filled with two pink lines. I ran from the bathroom to the living room where my phone was and called Jason. He was standing barracks duty that night, and I was going to be going and picking him up later so that he wasn’t driving tired. When he answered the phone my first words were “I HAVE TWO PINK LINES!!!” “Ok… what does that mean?” “It means I’m PREGNANT!!!!” “YAY!!.... calm down babe you sound like your about to hyperventilate!” HAHA.. Eventually as the morning went the logical side of my brain kicked in, that initial pregnancy test had been sitting under my sink for months now, and I wondered if it was really all that accurate. So later after Jason and I made a quick stop into the ceramic shop I went and bought three more boxes of three different types of pregnancy tests. When we went back to the ceramic shop to finish spending the afternoon I went to the bathroom and took one with me. Needless to say it came back positive too. Later when I got home I peed in a plastic throw away cup and took three more tests, for a total of five tests taken throughout the day, and needless to say all five came out positive.

That night we called both of our mothers. Jason’s mom Penny was in the hospital being treated for Pneumonia, while mine was at home with my father. Both mothers’ had the same reaction; they started crying, and couldn’t be happier for us. Penny’s words were “It’s about time!!” We waited until Thanksgiving day to tell other family, and let most of them know that we wanted to keep it a secret for a little while first, because I was only 4 to 5 weeks pregnant at that time. Three weeks later, and we couldn’t keep up with the “slip ups” on Facebook anymore, and ended up announcing it.

Fast Forward to the week before Christmas, and we learned that Penny was back in the hospital except this time it was due to what they thought was a blood clot from a biopsy on a lump that was in her leg. That happened on Wednesday, Thursday we learned that she had cancer, Friday morning (Christmas eve) we learned that it was stage 4 terminal cancer. Jason and I were hoping and praying that we would be able to go to my first OBGYN apt and find out if I could go home with him before we made plans. However that was not to be the case, and because I had told my mother what our plans were for Christmas morning she was able to get ahold of us at Stephanie’s, (my cousin’s) and told us there was an emergency Jason needed to get a hold of his Uncle Wes. Chaos then consumed our lives, Penny had taken a turn for the worst and Jason needed to get home as fast as he could.

Jason made the decision that I wasn’t going to come with him. His words were “Mom wouldn’t want you to lose the baby just to come and see her die. You stay here and you take care of the baby.” (Someone seems to have stepped into the role of protective daddy rather well in my opinion.) So I ended up helping him pack, and making sure he had an empty water bottle in his carry on along with some “snacks” i.e. Christmas cookies that we had made the day before and some candy. My heart broke that I couldn’t go with him, and that there was a very strong chance that he wouldn’t make it home in time. We raced to the Naha airport where Jason ended up making flight arrangements over the phone with people in Tokyo, and wrote the info down on the pieces of paper that he had to take with him. Which later when we needed to try and find him to let him know that he didn’t make it, turned our lives upside down to say the least. Penny knew that her son was on his way home to her, I had been told that the last time she was coherent that was one of the last things she said.

When Jason got to the states and finally had a layover he got his laptop out and got on Facebook, so it was my pleasure to call people at home and tell them “I found him!!! He’s in Newark New Jersey!!!”. I let him know what was going on, that he didn’t make it in time, but that mom knew he was on his way before she went. She just couldn’t hold on any longer for him, even though she tried. And thus our real life game of “Where’s Waldo?” came to an end.

Last Monday I had my first OBGYN apt where I had my routine physical and they did an ultrasound to check on the baby, and my day, my life took on a whole new meaning. Through the screen showed a tiny little baby floating happily in my tummy, with arms, hands, legs and a big head (just like it’s daddy :p) I saw the little heart beating, and the Dr. let me hear it. My baby’s heart rate is a whopping 150. And then my child did something that amazed me and brought a smile to my face despite everything I was going through. The Dr., the nurse and I watched as the baby did a little wiggle of its arms, then stretched its left arm away from its body and open and closed its teeny tiny hand as if waving to say “Hi mommy!” Ever since I can honestly say that my heart even though it was already lost to the little jelly bean, was completely wrapped up into the little life that is beginning inside of me.

Since then after talking to my boss to request a few days off of work to spend with Jason when he comes home, I have been completely taken back by the experience and lesson that I am going through. Life, the beginning of one, and the unexpected end of another. I am seeing first hand, how one life can change and affect the lives of so many people. How the simplest movement of a child inside its mother’s womb can bring so much joy and promise, and I can’t help but be humbled to be reminded how precious life really is. We can go about our lives being careful so that things do not happen to us, get so wrapped up in a single aspect of our life that we neglect another, and choose not to experience things for one reason or another. But it’s those choices that will enable us to live our lives, shape who we will be in the end, and come into contact with the people that we will inevitably have an effect on. My child will never get to meet its Grandma Macdonald, but I know that my husband and I will tell our child how much their grandma loved them, and how excited she was that they were going to be a part of her family. I know without a shadow of a doubt that Penny will forever watch over all of her Grandchildren, no matter how big the number may grow to be.

Penny-Thank you for giving birth to the wonderful man I call husband, for loving me, and for considering me one of your children. I pray that you are able to rest in peace and know that you alongside Grandma Miller will be watching over all your family as we go on to live the rest of our lives that you have so greatly affected.

First Birthday in Okinawa

My day started rather early... I believe 5:30 to be exact. All because at 7:30 the night before both Jason and I were having trouble keeping our eyes open, so we went to bed. Being in bed for 10 hours is very rare for me now a days, but was still greatly appreciated. Jason gave me a kiss and said Happy Birthday while we were still "waking up" just so he could be the first one to tell me Happy Birthday ON my birthday. But my nephew Xander had told me Happy Birthday a couple days before "practicing".

Once we were up, Jason let me edit some pictures while he cooked me breakfast, 2 eggs and a honey wheat English muffin with a glass of orange juice. It was very good. Around that time my sister called and both she and Xander sang to me Happy Birthday. Listening to Xander's sweet little voice trying soo hard to get all the words out melted my heart and made me miss them just a little bit more. Then while I was "cleaning" the bunny cage Jason got a bubble bath ready for me :) Which is about the same time he took it upon himself to give me 25 spankings with a pinch to grow an inch.. Not that the pinch would really do any good, I think I am forever doomed to remain my whopping 5 feet 3 inches.

I ended up having to clean the rabbit cage again because Mimi has been having issues going potty on the floor.. A lot. So to use up some time I ended up mopping the floor using hot dawn dish soapy water. It made the room smell A LOT better. By the time I was done it was after 9 am so by then things would be open for business. We stopped at the post office to mail off a couple Christmas presents, and then went to Starbucks where we both got some coffee. I got an Iced Pumpkin Latte with a chocolate chip muffin, it was very yummy. Then we went to Kadena's BX to do a little Christmas shopping.

It rained all day, I swear Okinawa is as bad as Seattle when it comes to rain, but then it reminds me that we are on a Sub-tropical Island, which requires a lot of rain to keep it looking pretty green. I joked with Jason that the world doesn't know how to handle my "big" birthdays, because when i turned 18 all the electricity for a 10 to 15 mile radius went out because of a snow storm. So now turning 25 it just had to rain all day :p

Needless to say we just stayed at Kadena's BX mall most of the day. Jason and I looked at the shoes and the fashion snow boots with the fur on top and joked about how my dad would make a comment about them not being good barn boots. We found a pair of clog like shoes with really big heels instead that I liked, and Jason laughed because when stepped into them I grew a good five inches!! Don't worry about me killing myself in them, I walked up and down the row of shoes first to make sure I could do it. I found a long sleeve shirt that looked comfy for Jason and he even commented that it looked nice and I put it in the basket to get for him. My argument was "Its my birthday and if I want to buy you something then I can!" Needless to say he couldn't argue with that.

We ended up going to the auction that was going on down stairs in the concession mall and got a couple Christmas presents there. I wanted to stay and see if they would bring out one of the really big remote controlled helicopters, but Jason was noticing that I needed to get some lunch in me so he made us leave and go to the food court. After I got done eating he suggested we keep walking around.. then he directed me over to the "SPA" and when we walked it I swear I had this bewildered look on my face because the day before when i told him I wanted to make an appointment for a massage he told me they were booked and that he tried. But apparently they only had a slot for a back massage and he signed me up for it. I feel 100 % better now by the way, I'm very happy he was able to get me the massage. And when I came out he had some flowers for me. the only thing I had that was "wide" enough was a empty spaghetti sauce jar, but hey it works right? They smell beautiful and we can smell them from the dinning room table all the way over to the couch.

After the massage Jason and I went and saw "Despicable Me", which was a really cute movie and we agreed that when it comes out on DVD we'll have to get it. After that we went to Sam's Anchor Inn and had dinner. Which I ended up only being able to eat half of it but at least I gave my best effort! I don't understand how the locals can have such big meals and still remain soo tiny! When we came out of the restaurant it quit raining.. and we just went home and spent our night watching Marmaduke and snuggling with Leo. (The good bunny)

Its amazing to think how last year we were finishing up packing up our house with the movers, we were living in a hotel room, I was heartbroken because I had just saw all my family for the last time before we were supposed to leave and I had to give my dog away because of her breeding... Weelp on to another year.

The Holidays are upon us!!

A couple weeks ago I woke up to see a very surprising status update on facebook. My friend Sara had gone into labor three weeks early!!! Needless to say I rushed to the hospital and was able to take a few "day old" pictures of the new little princess. 8 days later we had her "official" first photo shoot. Sophia's pictures turned out to be the second new born that I was blessed to be given the chance to take pictures of. If you are interested in checking out the pictures you can find some of my favorites on my photography web page that Jason helped me to build. www.erinmphoto.com
Other than taking pictures of these adorable little babies, I have been busy with work and discovering every day why I love my job. Yesterday we had our first afternoon class, and when I came into the classroom after completing my recess duty, the littlest boy in my class got a really big smile on his face and he said "Ernn!" His greeting melted my heart and reminded me for what seems to be the millionth time why I love my job.