Half Baked!

Tomorrow is "officially" the 20 week mark! I can't believe we're already to the half way point but I definitely don't feel like time is flying by! Despite having a visible "bump" pretty early, around 10 weeks I'm still very much in an awkward bump position at 20 weeks. Its obvious to me and friends/family but a stranger I still just look like I ate a big lunch or have been putting back to many beers lately. Here is a 20 week bump pic....

I'm still not in love with being pregnant or obsessed with the belly so I have been slacking on regular pictures.  At this point I really can't complain though. I've gained about 10 lbs total and other than pretty rough round ligament pain at times I feel pretty much normal.  I am noticing I get full faster when I eat and will get indigestion if I eat too much/fast but, again, nothing to complain about.

The ultrasound on Monday was incredible. It so amazing what we can see with technology today! I'm still in awe/shock that there is a little person growing inside of me. Since everyone who reads this blog is also on facebook I won't re-post those pictures or the one of cutting the cake to find out we were having a BOY but that has definitely been the biggest highlight of pregnancy so far.  I'm very glad we chose to do the cake and enjoy that moment with close friends.

Now that we know we're having a boy and tomorrow is Father's Day I made my first "gender specific" purchase for Todd...

Todd said when he bought his Harley that he hoped he'd one day give it to his son so I guess we better raise him loving the bike!

Sorry for the random hodge podge of a post.  I need to post about my teaching experience with my student! Its been fun so far :) And next weekend we're going to Denver to shop for furniture so hopefully I'll start adding nursery pictures soon. AND the backyard demo to fix the basement flooding problem should start in the next 2 weeks so I'll add pictures of that.

Running for Two

I always say that running is my drug of choice. I. Love.To.Run.  It makes me feel so good and is my own time of the day that I don't have to talk (or listen) to anyone, I  can zone out and just be in my own world.  I deal with life while running.  I am thankful everyday that I am still able to run while pregnant. My doctor has said since day 1 that as long as I wasn't having any complications, was staying hydrated and not exhausting myself I could keep running as long as I wanted to.  So far I've been able to maintain my pre-pregnancy 25-30 miles a week. Though I have started to slow down and I take more water and bathroom breaks on long runs I am thankful I can still do it.  I don't know how far into this pregnancy I will be able to run. It seems that somewhere around the 30 week mark it starts to get pretty hard from what friends have told me so we'll see. 

I was fortunate enough to get to run the Mickelson Trail Half Marathon this past Sunday for the second year in a row. Its a great race in Deadwood on the famous Mickelson Trail. It got pretty warm for running but I didn't have any trouble since my pre-race game plan was to get water at every water station and take walk through the station to cool down for a minute. I ended up drinking 2 cups of water at each station because of the rising temperature which made me have to stop twice to use the bathroom but I still managed to pull a 2:04:38! By far not my PR but at 18 weeks pregnant I was very happy with it. Here are a few pictures Todd took:

Around mile 10 & P.S- WHY has nobody ever told me how wonderful running skirts were?? First time I ever ran in one (came free when we ordered our jogging stroller :) ) and it was amazing!

After finishing! Baby Saksa has run his/her first half marathon! 

Running for two is definitely different than running for one. You have to listen to your body more and not push yourself too hard but I think the rewards and benefits are worth it.  I doubt I'll run more than a 8 or 10 miler from here on out but I'm very happy with 13.1 while running for two :)

Hawaii

Sadly, our Hawaiian vacation has come to an end.  Despite the fact that our basement flooded the day we left and we spent an unwelcome amount of time dealing with that from 6,000 miles away we had an amazing time.  We feel like we saw and did just about everything there is to do on the islands we went to. We got plenty of rest, ate some wonderful food and spent some great time together just the two of us.  I can't really say that the 16 hours of travel back home and immediately having to deal with a destroyed basement has left me feeling "rejuvenated" but it was nice to get away for a while. Tomorrow we go back to work, start the work in the backyard to fix this nagging flooding problem, move the office and start making it a nursery...all in about 6 weeks before Todd deploys :/  I think I'm going to need another vacation!

Here is the link to just a sample of the HUNDREDS of pictures we took this week! I'll add more once we develop our underwater camera which has pictures from white water rafting in Jackson, WY and our kayaking adventure in Kauai.

Aloha for now!

Quick Update

Just a quick update on life...

Todd is still in Abilene for FIC (Flight Instructor Course) where he is becoming a B1 instructor. He gets back on Saturday and then 4 days later we leave for Hawaii!! SO EXCITED!!

News has finally spread among my co workers and it has actually gone better than I thought. Most seem genuinely happy and one even brought me some books so I'm feeling much better about work knowing.

I had my 14 week appointment yesterday. It was pretty uneventful. Check weight and blood pressure, pee in a cup. Dr Diehl said everything looked good. I did finally get to hear the heart beat on the doppler which was exciting! Todd was bummed he missed that one. My next appointment isn't for 5 weeks for the big anatomy scan ultrasound! I'm very excited that my sister is going to be in town that week and go with us to that appointment. I originally wanted to be Team Green and not find out the sex but Todd has never wanted to be Team Green so our compromise was to not find out during the ultrasound and have the technician write it on a piece of paper and then my sister gets to be the lucky one to know first and will make us a cake that will be either pink or blue and that weekend we'll have friends over and all find out together.  I was still on the fence for this plan but now I'm getting excited to find out.

Overall I'm feeling really good. The second trimester truly is MUCH better than the first! My energy is back, my appetite is back and I'm *starting* to actually look at least questionably pregnant and not fat. I did finally cave and wear maternity pants to work today purely for comfort. My clothes still fit but my work pants have been getting increasingly uncomfortable and being on my feet/moving all day doesn't really make using the Bella band convenient because I was constantly having to adjust it.  I definitely didn't come home and immediately change into sweat pants like I had been doing so I guess I'll embrace the elastic pants!

Once we get home from Hawaii it will be full force conversion of the office to the nursery!

My Husband's Awesome Job!

Many of you know that Todd' squadron recently launched the first ever US based air attack. They literally were told on Friday afternoon that they were sending jets to Libya to support Operation Odyssey Dawn that Sunday and Todd was selected as one of the 5 crews. It was a whirl wind weekend with the worst possible weather conditions but very successful in the end. This is just a short "highlight video" from the weekend. You can briefly see Todd in his camo flight suite just after the start of the Sunday section. I am so incredibly proud of Todd and the other members of the 34th Bomb Squadron and what they do to protect our freedom.

**AMAZING NEWS**

Todd spoke with his squadron commander today and was told that he plans to send him home half way through deployment (around October 10) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So barring any unexpected changes or surprises he WILL be here for the birth of baby Saksa!!! The slight down side is that in order to come home half way he will have to go to Squadron Officer School (SOS-where he learns how to become a flight commander/squadron commander,etc) in December for 5 weeks in Alabama. I will not complain about this because he will be here for the birth and I'll be able to talk to him every day while he's gone!

YAY!! So very happy and relieved to have a plan for this deployment!! Another wife and very good friend of mine is also pregnant and due about a week before me and her husband is getting to do the same thing so double happiness today!!

12 Weeks!

I can't believe we've made it this far! Time certainly isn't 'flying by' but I am very happy to finally be coming to the end of the first trimester.  I finally took a 'bump' picture. I'm now convinced that it isn't just bloat anymore (i.e I wake up with it) Let me preface the pic by saying as of right now I'm  not someone who is obsessed with baby bumps. Right now I just feel gross. My face has been breaking out for weeks and aside from any nausea, headaches, back aches or gas my body is slowly being taken out of my control and I'm not loving that right now.  I feel like to the world I just look like a slob thats 'letting myself  go'. Yes I know its the hormones talking and yes I know that its all changes to grow a baby but for about the last week to week and a half there is really nothing about being pregnant that I like. While I'm eternally grateful and thankful to be pregnant after all we've been through, all things aside, its just how I feel right now. I am feeling better though. I haven't had a day with nausea in about a week and I'm starting to feel my energy levels pick back up.  I just wish there was more to be said about the "pregnancy glow" you hear about. I'm definitely NOT glowing!

Sorry, no face shot...no makeup, acne and bad hair do not need to be made public.

We're finally at a point were we are comfortable telling people, although the thought of putting it out there on facebook is petrifying to me! I'm also very anxious for people at work to know. My boss has known since about 6 weeks for a number of reasons but none of co-workers know, except for my 2 closest friends, neither of which are in my department.  Its very strange but for some reason there is a strange stigma in my department that if you don't wait until you're over 30 to have kids you're too young. I think it makes me feel like I'm going to be looked at like the pregnant teenager who made an  oops.  My boss's first response was actually "why do you want to have kids so young??"...I didn't realize 27 was 'so young'. My mom had my sister at 27, most of our friends already have kids..many of which are on their second kid. I don't know... coming out at work is just making me very anxious.

Ok, enough with the Debbie Downer post of all my anxieties. We made it through the most critical time in a pregnancy and I finally feel like we can breath and start actually planning for this child to come into our lives.