Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Here's what happened in our neck of the woods:

My friend Erin's water broke this morning so she sent me a text saying that they couldn't make it to dinner tonight (ha ha). She delivered her baby boy at around 4 PM today!! I don't know any other stats yet, but I'll find out tomorrow when I go see them :) They named him Ian Alexander Bloomfield :) I bet he's super cute :) I'll add pics of him and the family once I get some. Erin told me that I'm good luck because I had told them that if she hadn't gone into labor yet they should come over for dinner for St. Patrick's Day and that if she did go into labor at my house then they would be closer to the hospital ha ha. They never made it to our house, but it's still St. Patty's Day :) I'm so excited for this family! I bet little Maggie is way excited to be a big sister :)

Dinner didn't happen as planned today. Aside from the fact that the Bloomfields are at the hospital, I had some issues come up too. I was going to make corned beef with potatoes, carrots and cabbage for dinner, but I spent the afternoon at Tripler instead. I went in for my 36 week check up today and everything seemed fine... That is until I was about to drive home and the doc called me and asked me to go to Tripler (a 20-30 min drive away from the clinic) to have a non stress test done and get my amniotic fluids checked with an ultrasound to see if the baby was ok. This cause for concern was due to the fact that I had not gained more than a pound over the last 3 weeks (even though I had weighed myself on Monday and was at 138, but today I was just over 136...) so the doc was worried that the baby was under some kind of stress and not gaining weight himself. So I drove to Tripler and once I got there (30 min later, not to include finding parking which took another 10-15 min) I had to wait for a few min before being seen since they were having a hard time finding me in the system (they didn't know if they should log the results from what they did today under my old Active Duty info or the current non active duty stuff under Luke since that's where my stuff goes now). Once they got that all sorted out I was strapped to a monitor for the non stress test. The most boring 30 min of my life. The only plus was that I got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the entire 30 min. I was also entertained by him since he kept kicking the monitors on my belly and moving away from the heartbeat one ha ha. After that test was over with (everything was totally fine) I got to wait again until I was called back for an ultrasound to check the fluids. Everything checked out ok in that department too (as I had suspected would be the case). I knew that nothing was wrong with me or the baby. He's definitely still a boy ha ha. When I mentioned that he gets the hiccups often the ultrasound tech told me that that was a very good sign that he's doing just fine which made me feel even better. I just have to keep eating normally (3 meals a day plus snacks) and drink lots of water. I'll be getting his growth and weight looked at next week with another ultrasound just to be sure though. I look forward to seeing my little man again :D I got to see him breathe today. And his 4 chamber heart was beating away :) He was kinda shy at first and hiding his face with his hands which is so cute. He's also head down too so that took some weight off of my mind. Here's hoping he stays that way for the next 4 weeks until he is born :)

Anyway, so after all the above mentioned was finished I didn't get home until 10 til 5pm due to traffic so my St. Patty's Day dinner is being postponed until the weekend. Erin and her fam will be home from the hospital by then  so I will be taking them some food to share :) Well, hope everyone's day was as eventful as mine! Later everyone!

~Nicole

p.s. Did you wear some green today? ;)

me and my belly buddy :)

Today was pretty productive for me. I took the car into the service center this morning and they just need to replace a couple parts to the transmission, but since it's ok to drive I was able to have my car back after lunch. The best part about all this is that it doesn't cost us anything since the transmission is still under warranty :) that made me very happy!

Anyway, this afternoon I spent some good quality time with one of my best friends, Erin and her little girl Maggie. We went to Walmart to pick out fabric for Erin to make me a baby sling (I'm so excited!) and then went back to their house for a couple hrs before I went to run errands. It was nice just spending time with someone instead of sitting at home all alone till Luke gets home from class. She is the friend of mine that is also expecting a baby boy, the only difference is that she is due this coming Sunday and she's pretty much ready to have him any day now :) I'm so excited for her!! I can't wait to meet their little guy! We had her husband take a couple pics of us with our bellies (since she will soon not have her's anymore and I will still have mine for a couple more weeks). Here's a couple of the pics he took of us:

Me and Erin being silly ha ha

Me, Maggie and Erin
Maggie was touching the bellies (which also tickled me ha ha)

Aren't we cute with our baby bellies? I think so :)

Well that's pretty much what went on in my life today. I'm really grateful for good friends and this chance I have at becoming a Mommy with someone else! I can't wait for the playdates we will have with our boys!

Anyway, it's time for dinner so I better go feed my other boy who is playing Xbox at the moment ha ha. The poor guy is in ALS right now (Airman Leadership School) which is a taxing course that SrA (E-4) have to take before they sew on SSgt (E-5). He has long 8+ hr days of class time and then comes home to hrs of homework every night. This makes for a slightly grumpy and oh so hungry husband that I get to welcome home each day ha ha. He's taking a break today for an hr before hitting the books though(hence the Xbox). Anyway, I better go make us some dinner now so ttyl!

~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

basketball bellies and funny feet

Here's a couple pics of me that were taken today (33 weeks and 2 days along):
and here's a pic of my weird feet...I have no idea why just one foot is swollen today so I thought I'd take a pic ha ha.
On a side note, we are going to tour the Labor & Delivery floor this Tuesday! Hopefully finding it won't be as confusing as finding the breastfeeding class was last week. I swear Tripler is one of the most confusing hospitals I've ever been in. And that isn't very comforting considering that's where I'm going to be delivering this baby. The last thing I need is to be confused trying to find the place I'm supposed to give birth at! Which is why we are doing this tour now. Plus we can get a head start on some of the paperwork that will need to be done for me to be admitted to the hospital, making it much easier on Luke (and less stressful too) when the time comes. Well, I need to go find something to make for dinner so ttyl!

~Nicole

and we're ok

The tsunami ended up being very weak by the time it got to Hawaii so no major (or minor for that matter) damage was done. Luke and I are all safe and sound at home :) He spent the afternoon putting in new headlights on the truck with my friend Erin's husband, Alex's help while Erin, Maggie (their daughter) and I watched Shrek the 3rd. It was a pretty relaxing afternoon to say the least. I'm glad that nothing serious happened here. There is enough sorrow in the world today in Chile. My heart goes out to them :( Makes me grateful for my own safety and the safety of our family and reminds me that I should never take anything for granted.

~Nicole

Tsunami time..

Today we were woken up to phone calls and sirens alerting us that we are in a tsunami alert. So much fun...NOT! We just got back from Safeway and it took us over an hour to get through the checkout (the lines were CRAZY!). Luckily I think we have everything we need to last us at least the weekend. The power could possibly go out so I'm writing this now and I'll write an update once it's all over with. Hopefully we'll be alright. Last I heard the biggest waves that will hit us will be 6 feet high...here's hoping that's the biggest they get! At least we are lucky this time and have plenty of time to evacuate if needed. It's really sad that this is the result of a massive earthquake in Chile. I can't imagine what it is like over there right now. Well, just wanted to let people know that we are ok for now. The tsunami is expected to hit at around 11 am our time so just an hr and a half left before the big event. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers! Love you!

~Nicole

just 7 more weeks...I can do this!

I will be 33 weeks along tomorrow and I can not WAIT to have this baby! Just 7 more weeks to go until my due date. I have a feeling they are going to be the longest 7 weeks of my life...Oh to be able to sleep on my tummy or back again..and not have back pain, or the pain you get from stretching..or the heartburn..and the list continues...sigh.

I know that once the baby is here I will have a whole new list of "issues", but I think I can handle them :) If I can handle carrying this kid for over 9 months I can handle taking care of him outside my tummy too! :D We scheduled the rest of my OB appointments today from now until my due date which makes it seem that much closer to my goal of having a happy and healthy little boy :) We still don't have a name for him yet. Who would have thought that naming a baby would be one of the hardest parts of pregnancy? I certainly didn't, but being married to a stubborn man makes things difficult ha ha. He's a goober too so that doesn't help when we are trying to think of a name either. He wants all the goofy/"original" names. I just want him to have a name that is normal, easy to pronounce and won't cause him grief when he gets older. What Mother wants her kid to come home all beat up (physically or mentally) after playing at the playground because of his name? Not me that's for sure! We'll be lucky if we have picked a name before he's born ha ha, or better yet before we leave the hospital :P

It's been a long day for me, so I will go now. Plus I am hungry which makes it snack time :) Later!

~Nicole

NOW the Nursery is ALL DONE!! :)

I finished painting the closet doors today and Luke helped me put the furniture back into the room. I'm so happy it's all done now! I really like how it turned out too :)Now I need another project to keep me busy until the baby is born. I am 32 weeks along today so just 8 more to go! I think I'll do some much needed scrapbooking since I have a lot to catch up on before he gets here.

Well, hope everyone had a good week and have lots of fun things planned for the weekend! Talk to you later!

~Nicole

painting the closet...not an easy task to say the least

This has by far been the hardest part of my painting project. Here's the closet before I started painting:
and here it is just after one coat of paint:and the second coat that I started doing today, but my arm got tired after over an hour of painting:
Looks like it will be needing at least one more coat of paint though. This is gonna take me almost as long to finish as the whole room did (that's a long time..). It will look good when it's all done though. And then Luke can move the furniture back into the room. My patience and hard work will pay off :)

~Nicole

the walls are ALL DONE!! :)

I finished the last wall today! The original plan was to leave the closet doors black, but since I got some white paint on them I have decided that I will be painting the doors the light brown/tan color. That is the very last thing that needs to be painted in the room! I feel very accomplished after doing this project. And now I want to do more painting in the rest of the house ha ha. But that will have to wait. Here's a pic of the stuff I did today:

I'm so happy with how this turned out! :)

~Nicole