27 weeks

Pregnancy comments from then general public have started coming at me in full force lately. So far I've been asked if I'm due any day now, if I'm having twins, and if all the food I'm buying is for me or for "the baby" (why my husband is never included in the food equation, I'll never know!) I hate to inform you world: I still have 13 more glorious weeks to go! You think I'm big now...wait til you see me when I have about 6 more pounds of baby. Add on to that my new pregnancy craving of chocolate dipped ice cream cones from Dairy Queen and then just maybe I'll be asked if I'm having quadruplets by the time July gets here!

Charlie is doing good- moving around like crazy. He's gotten so big and strong that I can actually see him move now. I put my phone on my belly the other night to see if he would kick it so Dennis could see and sure enough he did! It feels like just yesterday that we had gotten an ultrasound at 8 weeks and he was 1.8 CENTIMETERS. Now he's about 15 INCHES long from head to toe!
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I've been doing alot of reading and research on a drug-free birth and it's something I've become passionate about doing. I was able to switch into the midwife program at the hospital and I have my first appointment with them next week for my 28 week check up. I think it will be a much more positive experience for all of us by not being delivered by an OB in the baby factory. Childbirth is an amazing thing and I look forward to experiencing every aspect of it to the fullest... as excruciating as it may be! Not to mention that I can hold it over Charlie's head for the rest of his life! ;) Of course there is always the possibility that things may not go as planned and I will need some form of medical/drug intervention but I'm hoping that's not the case.
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We've also decided that we will be cloth diapering Charlie. I'll be the first to admit that just a few months ago I would have NEVER considered it. I thought it was disgusting until I learned just how far the cloth diapering world has come. After doing alot of research and talking to other cloth diapering moms, it's definitely something that we want to do. It saves money, it's better for the environment, it's better for the baby, and the diapers are just so cute! We've still got a ways to go to complete our stash before he gets here but here's a look at what we've got so far:

We're going to be doing prefolds with covers during the day and a pocket diaper at night time. The covers for the prefolds are what you see in the picture I posted above. They go over a single flat cloth diaper like these:

So really when it comes down to it, we're investing maybe a couple hundred dollars up front that will end up saving us a couple thousand in the end. Especially if we reuse them for our next baby!

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Other than that we're just trying to finish stocking up on all of the gear that we'll need for Charlie's arrival. We purchased his carseat/stroller combo a few weeks ago. It's the Chicco Keyfit 30 and came highly recommended to us so when we saw it on sale one night at the exchange we went ahead and got it. I can't believe that in just under 3 months, our teeny little baby will be sitting in that carseat!

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That's all for now! I'll update after our 28 week appointment next week!

26 Weeks & an art project (updated)

We're 2 weeks away from the 3rd Trimester! Insomnia is starting to kick in big time- I think it's my body's way of letting me know that as much as I don't want to believe it, I will be able to function on very little sleep once Charlie gets here!

Dennis and I went to the zoo yesterday- I had been before but he hadn't. Actually, he hasn't done alot of things because he was gone for the majority of his first year here so we're making an effort to get out of the house every weekend and do something new. The Honolulu Zoo is awesome- Their set up makes it feel like the animals are so close! I brought my camera and zoom lens in hopes to capture some good photos for Charlie's room. We've decided that instead of just monkeys, we're bringing in some other zoo animals as well. I wanted some really cool black and white animal photos to hang in his room and in the end, I have so many good ones to choose from!

Here's a few:

My plan is to transfer a few of them to 8x10 canvases and make a collage for one of Charlie's walls. We'll see how that turns out! I'll post pictures when I'm done.

update...

-------------------------------------------I finished!!-----------------------------------------

This is the changing pad cover I made for the changing table:



These are the letters I made for the wall above his dresser:

25 weeks

No interesting news for us lately- things are still progressing the way they should. Charlie will be here before we know it!

I was cleaning out one of our closets and found a baby picture of me. Dennis' dad then sent us a picture of Dennis when he was a baby.

Poor Charlie is going to look like a crosseyed Jabba The Hutt.

22 weeks

(I thought I'd have a little fun with photoshop.)

Hives, Insomnia, and Baby kicks

When we moved to Hawaii we could only bring one of our dogs. We had to leave Zoey, our chihuahua/chinese crested mix in Virginia with my parents. She wasn't up to date on her vaccinations in time and she would have had to stay in Quarantine in Hawaii for 4 months. I couldn't stand the thought of our 7lb dog being left alone like that so we had to leave her behind. We brought Riley, our Jack Russell/Rat Terrier mix with us. Riley definitely went through a little bit of doggy depression in Hawaii. She has always been around another dog and definitely lost her playful personality being by herself. About a week before Dennis deployed, Dennis and I talked about getting another dog to keep Riley company. We went to the humane society, looked in the classifieds and looked on Craigslist. We came across an ad for a 5 month old Jack Russell/Chihuahua mix. Her owners couldn't take care of her because they weren't home enough and were willing to give her to us for free because they knew we'd give her a good home. We drove out that day and picked her up.

Little did we know... you get what you pay for.


This is Roxy.

Roxy hates EVERYONE. I take that back, she hates everyone but Dennis and I. We can't take her outside without her flipping out at anyone who happens to walk by. No one can come into our house without her spazzing uncontrollably. Since Dennis was only with her for a few days before he deployed, I was convinced that she would not remember him and hate him too. Wrong. The second he walked in the door, the psychotic satan dog that I had known for 6 months transformed into a lovable little puppy that wouldn't leave him alone.

Roxy makes me crazy.
She is a pitbull in a 9lb body. She bullies Riley, chews holes our sheets, and at one point during Dennis' deployment she even dug a hole in our memory foam mattress. But...she loves us unconditionally and that is why she has lasted in this house as long as she has.

Fast forward to now.

Our dogs are incredibly spoiled. Because they are so small we have allowed them to sleep in the bed with us (a habit that we will be breaking before Charlie's arrival.) On Friday night at 4am, I was woken up by the sound of a dog puking. I turned on the lights and sure enough, Roxy had puked EVERYWHERE. After getting up, throwing all of the bedding in the washing machine, putting the dogs in their crates and putting clean bedding back on the bed, neither Dennis or I could fall back asleep because we had to be up at 6am for an MRI appointment anyway. When we got home from the appointment, we kept the dogs in their crates and went upstairs to take a nap to make up for the lack of sleep we'd had that night. Roxy had a different idea. She proceeded to bark, and whine and make as much noise as possible in order to keep me from falling asleep. After about an hour I went downstairs and gave up on the idea of a nap. I figured I'd just go to bed early that night. Once again Roxy had a different plan. At some point in the morning she developed hives. Her entire body was covered in lumps and she was itching uncontrollably. I couldn't stand the thought of locking her in the crate that night when she was already miserable so I told Dennis that I would just sleep downstairs with her. She didn't sleep AT ALL... from 12 am - 5 am she was up, down, itching, scratching, turning around in circles, jumping up on the couch, jumping down off the couch...making me CRAZY. It reminded me of an episode of House or some other medical drama where they were treating a homeless, schizophrenic, crackhead who was convinced that they had bugs under their skin and was going INSANE. By 5am, I had slept a total of 6 hours in a 48 hour time period. I told Dennis it was his turn and I went upstairs to bed and he came downstairs with Roxy. I was exhausted...I understand that sleep deprivation will be a big part of our lives when we have a newborn but I didn't sign up for it while being pregnant!

Apparently Charlie wasn't a fan of the lack of sleep either because at 6am this morning while I was laying in bed, I had my hand on my belly and he kicked it. Hard. I'd been feeling him move on the inside for a couple of weeks now but this was the first time I'd actually felt him on the outside. I can honestly say that it's one of the creepiest, most amazing things I've ever felt. Every time I put any pressure on where he was, he kicked again. I feel asleep for a few hours and woke up to Dennis telling me it was his turn to sleep. (Is this a foreshadowing of what the first few weeks of Charlie's life will be like?!?!?) I went and bought some benadryl for Roxy and within a couple hours she was feeling much better and the crazy itching had stopped... but for awhile there I couldn't help but think just how peaceful our house would be without the devil dog. She better realize just how lucky she is! A few hours later when Dennis woke up, he was able to feel Charlie kick for the first time too. We may have had a rough 24 hours, but Charlie's little feet made it all worthwhile.


(oh- and incase you are wondering why I have a dog in a baby sling in the picture, I posted....Roxy is TERRIFIED of loud noises so of course the fireworks on New Years Eve were a complete nightmare. She wouldn't come out from behind the couch and I felt so bad for her that I made an impromptu sling and that's where she stayed most of the night.
Like I said, our dogs are spoiled.)

20 weeks

We're halfway there!!!

It seems like just yesterday that we received the devastating news that this pregnancy would not last... look at us now! We made it to 20 weeks! We had our 20 week anatomy scan ultrasound today where they measured all of his body parts and checked on his heart, brain, and all of the other important stuff. Everything looks PERFECT! Charlie has 2 perfect little feet, 2 perfect little hands, a cute button little nose and perfect little lips! He is 2 ounces shy of a pound and is definitely already on the bigger side! His stubborn, laid back personality was still shown in full force... once again he absolutely refused to move for the tech no matter what she tried.

He looks like he's already practicing his field goal kicking moves... he had his foot straight up next to his head!


The u/s tech also confirmed that he is still most definitely a boy!


Towards the end he gave us a nice big "thumbs up" letting us know that everything is going ok in there!
On another note, Dennis is still recovering from the accident 2 weeks ago. He's still in alot of pain but is definitely able to function a little bit better now. We have to schedule an MRI in two weeks to check on things so hopefully we will find out where the majority of his pain is coming from.

Charlie's Nursery Progress

Most people would probably say that it's too early to start putting the nursery together...

Not Dennis and I!

I feel like God has continuously proven that He's in control of this pregnancy and I no longer have the "what if" worries that would keep me from shopping and planning! Plus with tax return season in full effect, Dennis and I figured what better timing to start shopping for the 'big stuff.'
(Plus, I still haven't quite figured out that 'patience' thing.)

Before we knew that Charlie was a boy, I was set on the nursery theme we would have gone with for a girl. For a boy- I was clueless. I told myself over and over that I wouldn't go with a normal, traditional boy theme. I looked everywhere and couldn't find anything that I liked...especially something within our budget. I honestly can not validate spending $200+ on bedding that will more than likely be peed, pooped, and puked on! Thankfully, there is a wonderful little website called Amazon.com!

I found this 10 piece bedding set for $69.98 and my non-traditional ways flew out the window! I fell in love with the monkeys (and the price) and decided to run with it.

We're still waiting for the dresser to come in but I found the tall bookshelf at Target for $33!

If your name is Charlie and you have a monkey themed room, then of course you need a monkey named Charlie!

We have alot more to do but I think we've got a good start on it!


Here's a picture from 2 weeks ago: