COME OOOON BABY!

Still no sign of my little man wanting to come out to play yet :(  I had a doc appt today to check on me and the baby and we're both doing dandy (he's doing a little too dandy in my opinion...not wanting to come out the brat!).  I have a non stress test scheduled for this Friday morning to see if he's still doing alright.  If not then they will induce me that day, otherwise I have my induction scheduled for the 27th.  Here's hoping that I don't have to worry about any of that and he comes out before Friday.  Keeping my fingers crossed that he is kind to me and does just that :)  The doc was actually able to get to my cervix today (with some struggle mind you), but she says I'm still at about a 1 and tried to do the stripping.  We'll see if it helps any.  I have scheduled a maternity massage for tomorrow afternoon to hopefully help me out too.  I'm hoping she can do acupressure too (I'm willing to try almost anything to get this baby out at this point!).  Plus I need something to help me relax.  At least we know for sure that I will only be pregnant for just one more week if he doesn't come on his own.  That makes me feel much better :)  Anyway, other than my doc appt we haven't done too much today (or lately for that matter).  Ernie and I went to the Dole Plantation today and I got myself a pineapple float (soo goood!) and Ernie just got some ice cream with pineapple chunks.  We might go for a walk later too (as long as it is not super cloudy out like it has been the last couple of days).  I think the hardest part of this is for me to try to just be patient and relax.  I think I might soak in the tub tonight just to see if that helps me.  Cuz before I know it he will be here and my "me time" will be on the back burner for quite a while.  Which I'm sure I won't miss too much at first.  I'll be too absorbed in the baby and being a Mommy to really miss it I think :)  Well, that's all the news I have for now.  Here's hoping the next post I have is about the baby being here ;)

~Nicole

and....

My due date is today, but nothing has happened so far.  Granted the day isn't over yet so I still have lots of time to have him today (if he indeed feels like coming out that is ha ha).  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he does :)  Luke, Ernie and I went on a nice walk around the neighborhood this afternoon, but nothing has really happened as a result from it.  I had Luke take a couple pics of me today cuz you never know when I won't have a belly to take pics of anymore :)  Here they are:

I look pretty tired in these photos (for one thing I'm not wearing makeup, which would help me not look as tired ha ha). 

Anyway, I'll keep everyone posted once things start happening.  The sooner the better :)

oh the waiting game...so not fun

Had my 40 week appt today and the doc still couldn't reach my cervix so no stripping happened today :(  I'm getting the feeling that I will be getting induced before my body ever decides to go into labor on it's own...sigh.  Luke told me that he had a dream that we were at the hospital last night about to have the baby.  This is the first time he's had a dream related to the baby (and told me about it) so I thought it was cute that he told me :)  I can't wait until that dream is a reality and I'm holding my baby!  If he hasn't come by Monday afternoon I have a doc appt to get looked at and schedule my induction.  If that ends up happening I will try to get induced asap so that Ernie still has some time to spend with us and help me out before she goes back on the 3rd of May.  We still have no name for him yet though.  I've decided that we will just wait until he's born (basically I'm tired of fighting Luke and hearing his silly suggestions).  So it will be a surprise for all of us!  Ernie and I went to Ko'Olina again today for a little over an hour.  The weather has been so nice lately so I'm glad that we are able to go.  I've been looking pretty pale lately anyway ha ha.  Anyway in other news, Luke started working nights this week (last night was his first shift).  He's not sure if he likes it yet, but I'm sure he'll warm up to it.  He's a night owl anyway so once he's used to the schedule I'm sure he will love it.  Instead of working 7am to 3pm he works 2pm to 10pm so it works out better anyway since he would stay up til midnight when he was on the day shift and not get as much sleep.  He will definitely get more sleep on this schedule (that is until the baby comes...not sure how much sleep either of us will get then).  Well, that's all the news I have for now.  Just playing the waiting game and hoping that I go into labor sooner rather than later.  Hope everyone has had a good week so far!  I will keep everyone updated when things start happening (as soon as I can that is).  Have a good one!

~Nicole

holy cow...

Just 7 more days left!!!

39 weeks at Ko'Olina Beach

 
my patience will pay off...eventually :)

slowly but surely...

My Mother-in-law, Ernie, arrived last night safe and sound (minus a little issue with her luggage, but it was sorted out this morning)!  We went to Costco and my doctor's appt and the grocery store today to keep us busy.  She was super excited to hear the baby's heartbeat (she recorded a couple videos of it that I'll post at the bottom of this entry).  I'm only dilated to a 1 so it's not looking like he'll be here too soon.  I just hope that by next week I will have progressed more.  Tomorrow I'll be 39 weeks along...I really can't believe that he'll be here soon!  Ernie and I are going to the beach tomorrow after I show her how to get to the hospital so that she knows for when the time comes to go there :)  I'm stoked about going to the beach!  I haven't been in a while so it will be nice to just go relax there for a little while.  Ernie plans on taking me on long walks to help put me in labor ha ha.  Well, nothing else really exciting has happened to us this week so I'll leave you with these videos of the heartbeat (ignore my growing basketball of a belly and remember to pause the music). Have a good one!

~Nicole

14 days....the end is almost here!

I am so ready to have this baby!  Well, ready in the aspect of not having to be pregnant anymore.  I'm not so sure I'm totally ready to be a parent yet, but I hear that comes with time and lots of practice ;)  Ernie is flying in around 5pm on Wednesday!!  Which will bring me even closer to my due date and the day that I am holding my little one in my arms :D  I went in for my 38 wk checkup yesterday and found out he's starting to drop ( I honestly can't feel or see the difference yet since I'm constantly going to the bathroom anyway) which made me happy that he's getting ready to make his grand appearance!  Hopefully next week I'll have started to slowly dilate.  Anyway, here's a couple pics of me that were taken today:

Do I look ginormous or what?  I've gained a total of 33 lbs (give or take) so far with this pregnancy.  I'm feeling pretty good too (aside from being tired all the time...which will only get worse after I have the baby...)!  I am glad that I didn't have much trouble putting on the lbs either (I was worried about that).  I hope my recovery is just as easy.

Anyway, in other news, Luke finished his ALS course on the 31st of March (YAY YAY YAY!!!) so we attended his Graduation Banquet that night.  It was fun to attend and even more exciting for us since he was given the Leadership Award (it's presented to the student who exhibited exemplary leadership, follower ship, support, interpersonal relations and professional behavior throughout the course.  Selection for the award is based on peer evaluations, instructor evaluations, and personal interviews).  One person from each classroom (there were 3) was nominated for the award and he was the winner!!  I'm so proud of him!  My only disappointment for that evening was that I had forgotten to take the camera with us, but luckily one of his classmates had theirs and was nice enough to take some photos of us.  I'm waiting to get them in an email (more like I'm waiting on Luke to check his for them ha ha) and then I'll post them.  I'm so so glad that this course is over with!  I know that Luke is even more thrilled about that fact :)  (he's been dying to play his Xbox ha ha).  Now our only major worry is playing the waiting game with this baby. 

Anyway, that's what has been happening with us this last week.  Hope all is well in your neck of the woods :)

~Nicole

37 down and only 3 more to go!

It's getting closer to when I will be holding my little one and I'm so excited and nervous for that day to come!  It's crazy to think that in less than a month I will have a baby in my house, that it won't be just Luke and I anymore...I hope the adjustment to the change will be somewhat easy for us.  He's a very active baby still (it takes him between 5-10 min for me to count 10 movements when he's most active) and he has the hiccups often.  At times when he's super wiggly it kinda hurts sometimes and he still hasn't dropped yet so the heartburn is still there as well as my issues with breathing and sleeping.  I guess this is all preparing me for when he's here since I hear you get very little sleep with a newborn.  I'm also having super strange dreams at night or when I take a nap during the day.  Not too sure I enjoy those.  Unless it's one of me holding my baby, then I'm totally happy :)  I'm looking forward to when I can do the things I used to, like sleep on my back or tummy, paint my toenails, shave my legs...things that I didn't know I'd miss until I couldn't do them anymore.  But the thing I am looking forward to most is just cuddling my guy and being a Mommy :)  And I can't wait to see Luke with him too.  He's gonna be a great Dad and I'm excited to see the relationship he will have with our son.  April 16th can't come soon enough (and that's if he feels kind enough to come by then...I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he isn't going to be overdue..)!!  Anyway here's a pic of me that was taken today:

Man do I feel huge!  Good thing it's only for 3 more weeks :)  And just 12 more days until Luke's Mom flies in!!  I'm so glad that she's coming out here to help us!  She's staying until May 3rd.  We are really grateful to her for making this trip.  It's hard for our family to be here for us since we live so far away and plane tickets are super expensive so when anyone comes out to see us it's a big deal.  Makes me wish we were back on the mainland even more. I'm really glad that we have good friends here though to help us out when family can't be there :) 

Anyway, I am going to get ready for bed now since it's almost midnight so I will talk to you later!  Goodnight!

~Nicole

happy and healthy...just as I knew he would be :)

Here's the ultrasound pics that were taken today of our little guy.  He's weighing in at 6lbs, 5oz already!  His head is also one week ahead in size and his feet are already 3 in long!  He was snuggling his arm towards the end of the appointment which was so cute :)  I love him so much and can not wait  to hold him!

he's snuggling his arm in this one.

my baby's face :)

his cute little nose

his head (I think)

and his cute (not so little) foot :)

I'm really glad that everything is fine and even more excited that he will be here before we know it!  Luke asked me the other night when we could "let him out" ha ha.  As if I was holding him in my belly against his will ;)  As long as he waits until the 8th of April then I'll be ok with an early arrival.  If he comes before that I won't complain too much, just won't be as easy without Ernie here to help us.  Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful day and has a good rest of the week.  Later!

~Nicole

being patient is oh so hard

Just 4 more weeks until my due date!! I'm getting all kinds of anxious since I have 2 people in my family that have had their babies already and my friend too! So that makes 3 people so far, and all of them had boys too. But I think I can wait a couple more weeks... In fact I need to wait that long so that I have someone here to help me while Luke goes back to work. We are saving his paternity leave for a potential vacation in June to go to a family reunion and see my parents from MN. It will be great to see everyone! And we will get to show off the little one :) Anyway here are a couple pics of me that were taken today.

Luke told me to bend forward like a cow...this is my reaction ha ha

Well, I better go find something productive to do until Luke is ready to go to the movies with me. We are going to see Alice in Wonderland! I'm super excited! Well, have a good one, ttyl!

~Nicole

Baby Ian :)

Here's some pics I got of my friends new baby and the family. He's sooo cute and squishy! :) Can't wait till I have my little guy.

Welcome to the world Ian Alexander!

~Nicole

just 5 more weeks til the big Due Date!

Like the title says, I've got just 5 more weeks left until my due date! Here's a pic of me taken today:My ultimate wish is that he will come between the time my mother in law gets here (the 7th of April) and my due date (16 April). That way we have someone to help us with the labor and delivery part of this adventure since we weren't able to get into a birthing class (although I found out that there is someone I can call that will make a house call to help us with that issue...I should get on that). I'm really hoping that the baby doesn't feel like camping out in my womb past the 40 week mark (I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he doesn't)! The end is almost here and then I will be snuggling my little man in my arms instead of my belly :)

In other news, I got the car back from the body shop this past Wednesday! It only took almost 5 weeks for them to fix it...but it's all better now. Well almost all better. It needs a new transmission, but when I took it to the service center this morning it was super busy (thanks to Furlow Fridays...grr) so it took them 4 hrs to do the computer check just to tell me that they would need to spend another 3-4 hrs looking at something before they even got to the transmission!! I opted to just bring the car back on Monday morning for them to do that. Hopefully it won't take too long for them to do whatever it is they have to do so I can get it all fixed. After getting the car back today I made the "mistake" of going to Costco (forgetting about the Furlow Friday thing again) because it seemed like everyone and their Mom was there!! Most of my time was spent in line, but luckily the lines were moving pretty fast so I wasn't there for too long :) Now I'm going to go find an afternoon snack and take a nap before Luke gets home. Have a good weekend everyone!

~Nicole

call me crazy but...

I think I want to paint the Nursery. I'll be out of the military on the 29th and will have all kinds of free time until the baby comes, sooo I was thinking that maybe I could keep myself busy by doing that. Now I just need to get a color scheme for the room (I'm going to go off of the star comforter that I got for the baby) and then all the supplies that I'll be needing to complete the job. I'm actually really excited about this! I've been asking Luke if we can paint some of the rooms for a while now and he hasn't been too keen on the idea (probably because he thought he'd be doing ALL the work which I told him wouldn't be the case). He said that I could paint the nursery, but is concerned about me doing it, being pregnant and all. I told him I'd wear a mask and the windows would be open the whole time so the room would be well ventilated. That seemed to make him feel better. I can't wait to get started!! I'll take before and during and after pics (as long as I remember to do that ha ha) and post them when I'm all done.

I can't believe that on Friday I'll be ending my second trimester and starting the last one...according to many people I don't even look like I'm 7 months pregnant, but I sure am! And I'm so excited for the next three months! And even more excited for when the baby is actually here! I have a routine doctor's appointment on Monday and then I will get to schedule our tour of the Labor & Delivery floor and the baby classes that we will need to attend soon. So much to do! Our biggest issue right now is thinking of and agreeing on a name for him. Hopefully we can have one picked out before he is born, but if not we'll just have to hurry up and think of one after he's here! He can't be called "baby" for the rest of his life ha ha :) Here's a pic of me today at 27 weeks and 4 days along. Luke thought it would be fun to make me laugh while taking my picture ha ha :)


Well, I'm going to go play some video games until Luke comes home so talk to you later!

~Nicole

The "finished" Nursery :)

Here it is! All done ( I think). I put the glider together by myself the other day (it was really easy to do too!) Now all we need is...a baby to put in it :) I really like how the room turned out.

I'm 27 weeks along as of today. Just one more week and I'll be starting my 3rd and final trimester! It's crazy how fast time has gone by! Before I know it I'll be holding my little man in my arms :) I'm just 2 weeks away from being out of the military too (well out as in going on my last month of leave and then I'll be out on 2 Mar)! Can't wait to really get into the nesting phase since I hear that I won't be doing much cleaning after the baby comes for quite a while. Well, hope everyone had a great week! Talk to you later!

~Nicole

The Nursery :)

Here's some pics of what we've done with the nursery so far:

The Crib

the bedding for the crib
(I LOVE the stars on it!)

The dresser/changing table
(the changing table is just a thin piece of board on top so I'm not gonna use it as a changing table)

it will just be used to hold other things :)

And that's about all we have so far. My glider rocker is coming in the mail sometime within the next week or so and that's pretty much the last piece of furniture that will go in the room for now. I'm so excited for the baby to come! I'm 26 weeks along as of today so just 14 more to go! That is, of course, if the little guy feels like coming on time and not early or late ha ha. Well, I'm gonna go do some tidying up before bed so talk to you later!

~Nicole

another crafty moment :)

I made a blanket for my friend Erin today for her baby boy that she's gonna have in March. I think this one turned out pretty cute too.


~Nicole

crafty me :)

I made a rag quilt for my baby yesterday and wanted to show you all the final product. I think it turned out super cute :)

The Front

The back

~Nicole

It's a......

BOY!

We had our ultrasound today and confirmed (without a doubt) that we are having a little boy! Look at his cute little face!! I just want to squish those cheeks! I think he has Luke's mouth and my nose :) Now I can add boy things to our registry and look/buy cute boy stuff!! WOOHOO! Just 3 more months and I'll be holding this little guy in my arms! I can't wait!

~Nicole

baby bump

Here's me today at 22 weeks and 4 days along! I finally have a baby bump :)


Now if only we knew what the little one was! The 28th needs to hurry up and get here already! One things for sure, it's a wiggler ha ha :) and it likes to wiggle at the most inconvenient times like when I'm trying to go to sleep. Oh well, it makes me smile every time I feel the kicks and nudges hehe.

Anyway, now I'm going to bed ha ha. Night!

~Nicole

Almost time!

I'm so excited to be going on vacation on Tuesday! I just have to do some packing and finish cleaning the house before we leave on Tuesday night. We were able to get Luke's tickets (and lucky enough for him to be on the same flights as me too!) so we are good to go! We'll be in New Mexico for about 10 days and then it's off to Utah to see the fam there too! You all will finally be able to meet my wonderful hubby and get to know him better! And get to see my little baby bump too ha ha. Since I'm only 16 (almost 17) weeks along it's not much of a bump, but it's there just the same! We are having a doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon before we leave and I'll be able to schedule my first (and probably only) ultrasound for when we get back. I'm so ready for that ultrasound! Can't wait to see the little one and know what it is! We might be lucky and see if we can get one done at a military hospital while we are home, but we don't know if that is a possibility or not. It would be awesome if it is! But if not then I will have to be patient. I can't believe I'm already in my second trimester! Time sure has flown by! Well, I better go do some chores before heading off to bed so talk to you later!

~Nicolehere's me at 16 weeks

oh the joys of pregnancy

After my last post I have realized that things aren't going the way I thought. For example, I was hoping I could get through this pregnancy without being sick...WRONG! dadgum nausea! It's not that I don't mind it so much as I just wish I would go from feeling like I need to puke to actually puking...not stay in that need to stage...not fun! Hopefully I will start to feel much better here in a couple weeks. I'm 3 months along now this week so things have just flown by. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat last Monday! All I kept saying was "aww!" and had the biggest grin on my face! I'm super excited to be able to wear maternity clothes soon! I will start wearing the military one this week cuz my old stuff is too small already. One of several good things that is coming from this pregnancy though is that I will get to separate from the Military next spring (around the beginning of March). That way we won't have to worry about childcare and I can focus on being a Mommy. I'm really glad that Luke is so supportive of my choice to be a stay at home Mom! And I'm also glad that he will be a SSgt next year which means more money for us!

I'm so ready for it to be November already! Our trip home is most needed. We'll be sure to let everyone know the fine details once we get them sorted out. I have to wait until 30 days prior to file for leave so just one more week and then we can get things planned! And I can finally buy plane tickets! Being home for Thanksgiving will be so awesome! It's been YEARS since I was able to see family on that holiday. And I'm so excited to be able to enjoy some good home cooked food too :)

Anyway, the house is slowly being put together and whatnot. I got some pictures hung up on the walls the last couple days and did some cleaning (the floors we're pretty nasty..). I made pancakes for breakfast this morning too which was fun and rewarding :) I'll be making chicken cheese squares for dinner tonight too (been wanting them for a long time now) which I'm pretty excited about. Anyway, I need to go tidy up a bit cuz I have a friend coming over so I will go now. Have a good one!

~Nicole