Rest in Peace, Zoe

I'll always remember how you loved to eat my leftover toast crusts and how you always ran meet me when I got off the school bus. Rest in peace, Zoe girl. You gave us 16.5 years of love and were the best 12th birthday present ever. Say hi to Prince for me.

Re-Enlistment and a Cross Country Move, Oh My!

Today Mike re-enlisted for three more years of service to his country--I'm so proud of him! His Commander had nothing but great things to say about Mike and encouraged other NCOs to emulate him. Mike hated every minute of it--haha.

One of the things that comes with this re-enlistment is a PCS (Permanent Change of Station for you civilian folks) to Fort Rucker! That's right, we're moving! For real this time. A slot was created just for Mike down there and we will be heading down south in late September--with a brand new baby! We're going car shopping this weekend for a larger vehicle that will accommodate the baby, Mike, myself and our four fur kids. We plan to ship Mike's Mustang so that we can all travel in one car; I think that will just be so much easier with the baby. His report date is 10 October so we expect to leave here sometime in the last week of September. So yeah, the beautiful nursery we painted? She'll never sleep in it. Oh well, we'll just have to paint it the exact same color once we get down there.

A cross country move with a six (?) week old, two kitties, a 65 pound "lap dog" and an 80 pound crabby lab/husky...oh and a husband, of course!  Better start praying for me now. :)

20 Weeks Bumpdate

20 Weeks and Half Baked

How big is baby? The size of a cantaloupe.
Symptoms: Acne and horrible constipation. Headaches if I don't drink enough water and I get worn out pretty easily. I started using Bio Oil and so far I haven't had any new stretch marks on my boobs but they're starting to get really itchy! I haven't thrown up in three weeks thanks to my new BFFF, Zofran.
Total Weight Loss/Gain: No clue. I know I've gained more now that I am able to eat!
Maternity Clothes: All the time except my pajamas. My bump has really come out to play!
Sleep: I am sleeping much better these days. I love snuggling my body pillow. I think I should name him.
Best Moment This Week: Feeling outside baby kicks!!
Gender: GIRL!!!!
Movement: I am pretty sure I can tell her when she's awake now. I can definitely feel her moving around in there and every now and then I will feel an outside kick. Best.feeling.ever.
Food Cravings: I'm not really craving things but when I get hungry I HAVE to eat right away because I'm absolutely ravenous and you don't want to even talk to me until I'm fed.
Labor Signs: None.
Belly Button In or Out? Still in but getting more and more shallow every day.
What I miss: Beer.
What I am looking forward to: Our big ultrasound on 4/3. I can't wait to see our baby girl on screen again.
Next Appointment: 4/3 for our big ultrasound.
Weekly Wisdom: Seriously, don't skimp on the water intake.
Milestones: Mike commented that my belly now sticks out farther than my boobs--does that count? Outside baby kicks. I LOVE it.

Bare belly at 20 weeks.

I can hardly believe I am officially halfway there!! Some days it's still hard to believe that I'm actually pregnant, let alone halfway finished with my pregnancy. We will be bringing home a baby girl in a just a few months. INSANE! I have been struggling with that a little bit this pregnancy--denial.  I know I'm pregnant but infertility has left me scarred and fear of loss has prevented me from getting too terribly attached, I think. I feel guilty for saying that but it's true. Self preservation maybe? However, now that I'm feeling her more and more and we're really beginning to get things ready for her arrival I am happy to say that I am feeling much more connected to my baby. I LOVE being pregnant and will definitely be sad when this incredibly special time is over. For those of you who are wondering, no we don't have a name picked out yet.  We have an idea of names we like but we're not going to name her until we meet her and we're keeping our choices a secret. You won't know our LO's name until she's introduced to the interwebs.

I finally went through and washed the clothes our friends gave us. Check out baby girl's closet now! Newborn and 0-3 month clothing is on top and the bottom to bars are 3-6 month clothing. Wow! All I have to say is that she'd better still be a girl at my ultrasound on Tuesday!!!

Earlier this week I was actually feeling well enough to head to the gym for a long walk on the treadmill. The weather here is still pretty crappy (40s and raining) and I hate the cold so to the gym we went! I don't think my Seattle Sounders shirt is going to fit much longer!! My bump has really come out these past few weeks. Thank GOODNESS no strangers have tried to touch me yet because I don't think they'd like what I'd do back to them very much.

This week and weekend has been rather exciting and eventful. First, Mike find out that Fort Rucker, AL is available as a re-enlistment option.  It wasn't on our list originally but since starting my research I really haven't heard any drawbacks to the place. I love being close to my brother (he's only an hour away in Seattle) but Rucker would be within driving distance of both sets of this little one's grandparents as well as both my sisters.....and only SEVEN hours from Walt Disney World (if you're a long time follower of my blog then you'll know this is very exciting!)  Mike's been in the Army for 8 years and we've been at Fort Drum and Fort Lewis--both duty stations have gorgeous summers but are less than desirable the other parts of the year. I can't imagine being stuck inside with a toddler here for 9 months out of the year because all it does is rain.  It would be absolutely lovely to live somewhere with sunshine and warm weather for a change. The biggest thing drawing us to Rucker right now is the fact that it comes with stabilization for at least two years. Stabilization = no deployments. With a baby girl on the way, one we've waited a very long time for, this sounds absolutely amazing. Of course I'm a little (a lot) nervous about living in that part of the country, surrounded by uber conservative bible thumpers, but I would live almost anywhere if it meant keeping our family together. A deployment will be hard no matter when it happens but I think it's really important for him to be here for all the first big milestones. Here's the scary part--we don't know when we'd move. It could before the baby comes or it could be right after. I'm not sure which is scarier--the prospect of moving in the third trimester or with a newborn and four animals. We should know more tomorrow once he talks to his retention officer. Please send happy thoughts that it works out for our family!

On Friday my sister in law, the one who is expecting twins, was taken to the ER for bleeding. She got off the bus and by the time she walked three doors down to her house there was blood all over her jeans. My brother called me in a panic on his way home to pick her up. The ER doc was able to find the babies' heart beats right away but they admitted her for observation and an ultrasound. She was admitted around 8 on Friday evening and didn't see a doctor again until around 3 Saturday afternoon. Isn't that absolutely ridiculous? Very thankfully, the babies and SIL are healthy and well. They think her bleed was caused by partial placenta previa and seems to be a one time thing--hopefully! She's on bed rest for the next 3-4 days but I'm sure she's okay with that, considering the alternative. How scary!

Today we had to make an emergency trip to the vet with our eight year old lab/husky mix, Zero. One of the great things about our new house on post is that there are lots of squirrels for our girls to chase. The downside is that sometimes our aging pups get a little too rambunctious. Today was one of those days for poor Zero. We heard a yelp from the yard and didn't notice anything at first but then I saw that there was blood dripping from Zero's paw. Mike tried to take a closer look but she wouldn't let him touch it. The bleeding wouldn't stop and we knew we needed to take her to the vet right away. She tracked blood all over the vet's office and actually had to be put in two different rooms because she got so much blood on the floor of the first one. The vet bandaged her up to try to get the bleeding to stop so they could anesthetize her to take a better look. They thought she might have lacerated her nail and paid and would need some stitches. Other than the first yelp of pain, she wasn't acting abnormally. She was her normal, happy, goofy self in the office.




We left her there and went home for a few hours, waiting for news. She ended up ripping her nail completely (we think she got it caught on the fence when she was trying to get to the squirrel) to the bed so they clipped it down and cauterized the wound. No stitches, thankfully. Her pad and paw are fine. She's on pain meds and antibiotics and has to wear The Cone of Shame for the next 7 days. She seems to be okay though--as soon as we got her home she went to the door and wanted to go out and chase the squirrels again! Her paw is bandaged and she has a little plastic booty we have to put on her when she goes outside to potty. Poor, poor pup! At least she's okay. Hopefully the remainder of this weekend will be uneventful and we can relax!

Cone of Shame

It's Starting To Feel Real

Menopur comes in powder form and needs to be mixed before it can be injected and I received 40+ vials of diluent in the mail today. My Menopur will be here in a few days and I'll get my Lupron from my RE.  This is starting to feel real! Now, if Mike would just come home. I know some of my fellow military wives are rolling their eyes right now because it's only been a week and a half since MH left. Okay, okay you got me but it's been a long time since I had to be apart from him for this long and I have had zero contact with him for nearly a week thanks to the Mojave. He's in what's known as "the box" while they play glorified laser tag and blow stuff up and he'll be there for another eleven days. I've spent a total of eight or nine days with him since the last week of September. Ah, the life of an Army Wife.

I did put up a few decorations last weekend--pretty much everything except the tree and exterior lights. Mike and I have a tradition of buying ornaments every time we go somewhere so we like to reminisce every year when we put up the tree. We have about eight new ornaments this year from England and our trip to Leavenworth!



It's been pretty chilly here so I put on the flannel sheets last weekend. I love climbing into flannel sheets! Without Mike here to keep me warm at night I've been letting Bailey, my 65 pound mutt,  sleep under the blankets with me. She happily snoozes for about 15-20 minutes until she gets too hot and then moves to the top of the blankets. I know she misses Mike but she sure is happy when she gets to sleep with me!

My brother is having his TESA tomorrow so I'll be sending him some good vibes. Apparently the lady he spoke with at his clinic misquoted him and he is going to have to pay $800 more than he expected. Not exactly what you want to hear the day before your procedure. :( I really hope the procedure goes well for him. He's getting knocked out completely so I hope he doesn't have much pain afterward. 

Okay, one last picture. I took this when I was out and about last week. It was taken on the road to my subdivision and it's a rare day when we can see all of Mt. Rainier! Blue skies are kind of a rarity around here. Isn't the Pacific Northwest gorgeous?! ::swoon::

****************UPDATE*****************
I just found out that a soldier from here was killed in an accident at NTC, where Mike is currently training.  A styrker rolled over and one soldier died and four others were injured. The family has been notified so I know it's not Mike (he wouldn't be in a stryker anyway, but still......) but my heart is still pounding.  This is the absolute worst fear of a soldier's wife. This nightmare always crosses our minds when we say goodbye for a deployment but the thought of losing Mike during a training accident has never, ever crossed my mind before now. I hate the box and NTC now more than ever! Please keep the family in your prayers.