2010 In Review

February:
-Loss of baby number 2
-Celebrated 4th wedding anniversary with Mr

April:
-Turned 24
-Started Bachelor's degree

June:
-Mr turned 26

July:
-Positive pregnancy test July 4th
-Dillon finally recieves diagnosis of Dyspraxia and Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (pdd-nos)

August:
-Ultrasound to confirm viable pregnancy

October:
-Dillon turned 3 and aged out of Early Intervention program
-Found out gender of baby (it's a girl!)

November:
-Dillon started special ed pre-school

December:
-Our last Christmas as a family of 3

Those are the major points in this past year. It was a long one and at times, very hard.

I hope 2011 brings a lot of happiness, good health and change to those who need it.

Be safe if you are going out tonight. I'll be in bed long before 2011 finally arrives here in Hawaii.

He Makes Me So Proud

This afternoon after Dillon woke up from his nap, he was back banging on the loveseat in his room. The slight squeak was enough to wake me over the baby monitor, from my nap on the couch downstairs. My hips were hurting and I really did not want to get up and climb the stairs to open his bedroom door if I didn't have to. There are about 8-10 steps, a landing, 2 steps, another landing and then 8-10 more steps to the top. I get so out of breath just going up them...even at only half way...no matter how slowly I go.

So I yelled his name a few times to get his attention and then told him several times to "open the door" along with a few "come on" thrown in there for motivation. I hear a quiet boing from his doorstop and then some footsteps on the carpet. A few seconds later I hear pitter-patter on the tile and see his little face!! He had twisted the knob and pulled open his door all by himself for the first time! He can open twist and push doors, but never a twist and pull door before. It was exciting and I was so proud of him. I gave him kisses, hugs and lots of praise to show how proud I was of him for doing such a good job! He saved Mommy the hassle and pain of going up the stairs and making her so out of breath on top of it all.

Other than that and our quick trip to Target this evening, it has been a slow and lazy day around here. I worked on the baby's blanket on and off and Dillon watched some tv, a movie and played on and off also.

Despite getting a nap and Dillon letting me sleep until 7 am (which is quite late for me), I am so tired now. With each trimester I have gotten progressively more tired than the last. I never got that trimester or even a few weeks of having energy and feeling great like I did when I was pregnant with Dillon. Of course him being on winter break doesn't really help a whole lot because he's here and some days just driving me absolutely batty! He goes back in less than a week...hopefully we can pick up those cry/pout free departures when I drop him off like we did the last week and half before he went on winter break. I'd hate to have to start all over again with that.

Hope everyone had a happy Hump Day. Only a few more days left in 2010...

Busy Busy Busy

That sort of explains the past few days, which is why I haven't blogged. It's a mix of busy and tired.

On Sunday, I had my third 3D ultrasound session and Maliya cooperated. We finally got our photos and dvd and don't have to go back anymore. I think she looks just like Dillon but we'll see when she's actually here! I can't wait, just under 10 weeks until my due date. I turned 30 weeks yesterday and I had Mr take a full body photo, which I don't ever do even when not pregnant. So I would like to share it with ya'll because I don't think it looks that bad. My face is a bit round, but that happens I guess! So here is me at 30 weeks pregnant.

Yesterday I took Boog to get his hair cut, it was just too shaggy and with his cowlick...shaggy doesn't look right at all to me. I absolutely love how it turned out, the woman did an amazing job. I'm going to request her when I make his future appointments. She did the cut exactly how I wanted it to look, I was very pleased. Then we went to Best Buy and stood in line for what felt like forever, so I could make a payment on my Best Buy credit card. It was the return line at the customer service desk...so that wasn't fun. At least Dillon was a good boy while we were there, he just looked at the cards and photo albums where we were standing. 

Last night we recieved awful news. Our close friends son lost his battle with Retinoblastoma. He beat the cancer twice but it came back again and he couldn't fight anymore. I was devastated when Mr called me from work with the news, Dillon got dinner late because I was crying so hard. I had baby-sat him as a newborn and we've known the couple since 2004. Mr and the husband were together in bootcamp, roomates in training school and even on the same ship together, which is rare for the military. I cannot even imagine what they are feeling right now. I just hope they and their families find strength and peace in knowing that their son won't have to suffer anymore and they won't have to stand by and watch it happen. You will never be forgotten and you will always be loved Hayden: 12/16/06-12/27/10. He had just turned 4 years old.

Today nothing is planned. Mr is sick and has quarters, training and then a watch board for work later this morning/afternoon. He worked last night. I hope he is feeling better soon...whatever he has I really hope we don't get. He had a low-grade fever when he got home and said his joints ached really badly and whenever he coughed his lower abdomin hurt. His throat isn't really sore but last night he said he had a lot of sinus pressure. I am going to call today and see if I can get him an appointment tomorrow since he's off work. So I may go to the store later this afternoon to pick up some gatorade, drinks and water but other than that I don't want to do much. I should get dishes done today too...but we'll see. I've been super tired still since Christmas, it seems like I can't catch up on sleep. When I am really tired I can't fall asleep and when I am unable to take a nap (ie-things to do) I am struggling to keep my eyes open! Of course the rainy weather we keep having doesn't help...

Christmas Cheer

It was a very long, exhausting, fun and exciting Christmas Day for us!

After I finished wrapping Boog's presents (only a few were left) on Christmas Eve and Santa made his stop at our home, I went to bed. Around 12:30 am I woke up in terrible pain from my wrists. So I tried to shake it off and get comfortable to go back to sleep. I woke up again at 1 am and kept waking up every 10 minutes until 2. I gave up at that point, got up, went to the bathroom, got a drink and took some Tylenol. I also put on my splints to see if that would help. I finally fell back asleep around almost 2:30 am and woke up again at 3:45 in terrible pain again. I kept waking up about every 15-20 minutes after that and around 4:15 am I gave up trying to sleep. So Mr and I got up for the day. His lower back was sore, so he took a shower and I went downstairs, plugged in the tree and called my grandparents (since it's a five hour time difference from here to where they are in Florida).

We phoned the rest of our families after Mr got out of the shower and Dillon finally woke up around 6 ish. So Mr went up and got him and once he was awake, we started opening presents. Mr's mom downloaded skype and we used the video chat while we opened our presents. It was the first time she has seen Dillon other than photos, so it was a real treat for all of us!

After we opened all our gifts and picked up the paper mess, we relaxed and played with some of the goodies we each had gotten. After gifts were opened at Kelly and Dad's we were able to video chat with them on Skype! Dillon got his Pap and Nana a webcam for Christmas and we asked them to open it last night so they would be able to download skype and have it all ready to go by today. So that was really nice for all of us too. I am glad that family can see us in real time and not just still photos while we are here in Hawaii. Too bad I hadn't thought of it sooner!

I managed to get a nap while Dillon did and of course I woke up, my wrists killing me. And that was only about a 2 hour nap. I am going to call my midwife at the ob/gyn clinic on Monday and ask if I can be seen before my next appointment, which isn't until the 6th. There has to be something that can be done, the splints aren't working anymore, Tylenol isn't working long enough...I can't suffer this way for the next 10 weeks and possibly longer. I did google pregnancy carpal tunnel this morning after I had taken some Tylenol and found that I should call my dr if the pain interferes with daily activity or sleep and it surely interferes with sleep. It's strange though, I only have problems at night when I am sleeping (or napping during day). Pretty much if I am laying down it seems. And since I am very far along, I can't be sleeping on my back anymore so my sides are the only option and lately whichever side I am on, that wrist starts hurting even more. I don't understand it. I have gained far less weight at this point in my pregnancy this time around (with Dillon I gained 80 lbs total and at 29 weeks I had only gained 16 lbs this time), so I don't understand why I am having more physical problems than I did with Dillon.

Tomorrow we are going to my third 3D ultrasound session, hopefully Maliya gives us a good post-Christmas present and cooperates so we can have our photos, dvd, etc and not have to go back again! Cross your fingers, please.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I did and I am certain that my family did as well. I won't go through the list of the goodies I got, but I'll list my top 3 favorites which are the 160gb iPod from Mr, a 14 megapixel Canon Powershot point-and-shoot camera also from Mr and a white gold necklace and charm that is a heart and says "MOM" in the middle with diamonds down one side of the heart from Dillon. I also do love my new comforter too...Mr did a good job picking it out, it is really pretty and I can't wait to sleep with it tonight!

Sweet dreams.

Eve of Christmas Eve

Where has time gone? Christmas Eve is already tomorrow??!!! I finally found Mr's last gift today so that is wrapped and under the tree as well as the new camera that he bought me as one of my gifts. I wrapped them both this morning, I really cannot wait until Christmas Day, I am excited to take ton's of photos!

It has been such a busy day, I do not even know where to begin. This morning Boog and I were going to go shopping after my shirt finished drying, but then I heard this really loud zap and the power went out. So I found a shirt, although it had a small stain on it, and we left right away. I am running low on shirts that fit, as in length-wise. The belly is getting too big I suppose...

So after we got home about an hour and a half later the power was still out. I wrapped Mr's gift I had purchased and then the camera which came last night. I also put together Mr's stocking. I feel bad, I'm not good with buying stocking stuffers, but he has some pretty awesome gifts under the tree though! Then I worked on finishing the border on Dillon's blanket and the power came on. So Dillon watched a little Spongebob then ate lunch and I put him down for a nap.

I finished the blanket and was really pleased with how it turned out. All of the sides are even, no crooked-ness anywhere at all. It really looks great, probably the best crochet blanket I've ever made to date! Now I can focus on working on and completing Maliya's thinner baby blanket. 

About two hours after I put Dillon in bed for a nap...I heard him moving and occasionally talking in his bed. So I go upstairs because he is definitely getting in trouble as I told him if I came up again he was going to be. I open his door and it looks like it snowed all over his bedroom floor. He had ripped all of the stuffing out of the body of his build-a-bear we bought and made him years ago (it has Mr's voice recorded and in the paw). I was furious. After I crawled around on my hands and knees, picking it all up and put it back into the bear...Dillon got his little butt spanked. He knows better. He still didn't end up napping, but I had to start Mr's dinner so it'd be done in time for work so Dillon stayed in his room until Mr got up to watch some of the football game.

I made shake-n-bake chicken for Mr and my homemade potato salad, it is what he wanted when I asked this morning. Dillon and I will have some too since there is plenty of left-overs. I'm too tired to even think about eating right now though. On top of having a busy day...Dillon decided to wake up this morning over an hour earlier than usual at 5:15 am. So it has been a long one for both of us seeing that neither of us napped at all.

Here are some photos of the blanket I completed today! The first one is of it folded sort of in half, I didn't make it an even fold so that you could see the border well. The second one is of it just folded up nicely. 

Have a good eve of Christmas Eve everyone!

Stimming Overload

First, I will get the update about my second 3D ultrasound session out of the way. Maliya sort of cooperated. Mr did get to go since he was off work, so that was really nice. She kept half of her face in the placenta the entire time, but we got to see her open her mouth and yawn, put her fingers in her mouth and she was also licking the placenta. Yes, I said licking. While in 2D view, we could see her little mouth open and her tongue come out...it was so...weird. She also opened her eyes while we were in 3D view, which is the one good photo we got to bring home that day. It was really exciting, I had no idea babies opened their eyes while in the womb. The tech said some do, but not usually. So that was a cool experience. I have to go back again on Sunday, the 26th. Hopefully she gives Mommy, Daddy and her big brother a good gift and shows us her entire face!! Cross your fingers, please.

Dillon has been stimming excessively since he's been out of school on winter break. It is getting to be a lot for me to deal with every day, it has become quite exhausting to say in the least. I know it is because he is not as busy like when he is in school all day long, playing and learning with his friends and constantly going here or there for lunch or the library, etc. And his other behavior has been bothering me too. He has started pinching himself recently. It seems he does it when he gets in trouble or when he is frustrated, but it is still concerning. I stop him and explain that it isn't nice to do and to be nice. Usually he tries to keep doing it other places or will try to tug his hair and I have to keep stopping him and explaining it to him.

Sometimes I feel like I have failed as a mother. I feel like I did this to him somehow, although I know that is not logical at all. I can't help it though. I mean, as mothers we carry our babies in our bodies until they are born. Naturally I blame myself because I was the only one caring for him during that time. And as my due date gets closer...I find myself getting more anxious about Maliya and if she will also have Autism or any other developmental problems. I know that Autism is more common in boys and it was a random happening in our situation as no one in mine or Mr's family has any history of Autism or any other developmental problems. I wish I didn't have anxiety over these things. I don't know how not to have it. It just adds to my exhaustion, between Dillon and being in the 3rd trimester now too.

I am just so ready for March to be here so our baby girl can join our family already. Well, first I want Christmas because I love Christmas time!!! Then I wouldn't mind fast-forwarding to March....

I hope everyone is ready for Christmas!! It is only a few days away!!! I still have to get Mr's last gift, wrap the rest of Boog's gifts, wrap my camera that was delivered this evening and one of Mr's stocking stuffers I bought today. Goodness...men are so hard to shop for!

Semi-Wordless Wednesday

This is my first time taking part in Semi-Wordless Wednesday, or any weekly blogging event for that matter. Also, the first time I am posting personal photos on my blog too...such a treat!

It's finally starting to look like Christmas around here!!

He was intent on keeping me from working on his blanket, which I am almost finished with by the way!

I had my second 3D ultrasound session yesterday and I will write up a blog maybe tonight or tomorrow morning and post it up. I want to keep it simple today :)

Flip Flops and Pearls

Christmas Eve Is A Week Away!

Can you believe Christmas Eve is next Friday?? It has come so quickly, that is for sure! I still need to buy Mr's last gift (we're exchanging 3 from each other and 1 from Dillon) and a few more stocking stuffers for him too. I also need to wrap the rest of Boog's presents as well. Since he's on winter break starting today, I will have to get the wrapping done during his naps or at night after he goes to bed. He told me "cooh" this morning and I told him there was no school and he got very upset with me. It is going to be a long two weeks....

Last night I went to Babies R Us and took advantage of their awesome sale going on right now until the 24th. I got a little magazine flyer in the mail a couple weeks ago with coupons and a 20% off card on the front of it too. So I used the $20 off a carseat coupon for her carseat, I also bought a sleeper on sale for 50% off which ended up costing $7. I also bought two packs of pink hangers and a blanket that was $24.99 but I used the 20% off one item card and got $5 off that. So total I spent about $168 and got lots of goodies considering one was a carseat! A very successful shopping trip if I might say so myself.

Today there really isn't much planned. I just need to get a few things at Target, so Dillon and I might go do that this morning. I may wait until Mr wakes up and go this evening though. He still has to go shopping for my gifts today or tomorrow, so if he goes today then I'll have to go later this evening. I won't know what he's doing until he wakes up. I do want to take Dillon to the playground this evening though. I also have to do dishes at some point. Yuck. Other than that just a relaxing day. Have a good Friday!

3D Ultrasound

This afternoon I had my 3D ultrasound for Maliya.

Of course she did not want to cooperate. I drank orange juice on the way and she was kicking up a storm, but by the time I got there and in the room she was trying to sleep! She had her legs and arms bent up in front of her face and she was curled up in a ball. When I finally got her to move her arms and legs, she wanted to bury her face in the placenta! So what little bit we did get to see was kind of blurry. Dillon had his face in the placenta every time at his 3D ultrasound, I had to go back a total of 3 times for him! I go back next Tuesday to try again. Cross your fingers she cooperates so I can get all my goodies and not have to return.

My neighbor and Dillon went with since Mr had to work last night and again tonight and needed sleep for work. I wanted her to come to at least keep an eye on Dillon incase he got rowdy, but he was good. She and the tech both agreed that Maliya looks just like Dillon, they have the same nose and mouth from what we got to see. Maliya even stuck out her tongue, smiled and pointed her finger. It was exciting and kind of weird. I guess pregnancy still hasn't totally sunken in. Like...I understand we're having another baby but it doesn't seem real yet for some reason. Especially after losing the last baby and trying for so long for that one.

Dillon was excited to go to school today! Last night he told me, cooh (school), aye (car) bye. Basically he wanted to go to school in the car. I told him he couldn't until tomorrow (meaning today) and he got very upset. Today when we got there to drop him off, he ran from the fence to the bench where his class meets and sits in the mornings. I barely got a kiss goodbye! He also brought home a cute little Rudolph paperbag puppet he made and also a present for Mommy and Daddy that he made. It's wrapped up with a tag on it that reads: To Mommy and Daddy, Love Dillon. So I put it under the tree and we'll open it on Christmas day with the rest of our gifts :)

Well enough rambling. I am exhausted, no nap again today. I tried but just couldn't fall asleep as tired as I am. I am going to bed earlier tonight though, for sure. I need to go make Boog dinner though and then take a Tums. Have a goodnight!

Tired Tuesday

Last night was definitely not the best night I have had in a long time. It was the total opposite.

I had braxton hicks contractions all evening and my lower back was very achy. I was very tired from them and it just was not my idea of fun.

Mr and I made my homemade chicken noodle soup together. It was so nice of him to help me make it since he knew I wasn't feeling good from the braxton hicks. He did the majority of the putting it together, I cut the veggies and the chicken when it was done blanching. We made a double batch and the only thing big enough was the crock pot. So we tried it out...

Total fail. It was on high setting for hours and the veggies were still crunchy. So I added the egg noodles and I have no idea what happened but they overcooked and it just tasted awful. Very inedible. So we were both starving and frustrated about that because we had waited hours and hours, anticipating a huge bowl of delicious soup...just to be disappointed because the noodles didn't cook right. 


Then I offered to go get us some fast food since it was already 9 pm and neither of us had eaten. I went to my car and there were 3 little bugs (I have no idea if they were roaches or some other kind of bug) on the passenger seat. I was definitely not going anywhere! So Mr made himself some chicken fries and I just went to bed. The braxton hicks had me exhausted and I was just too drained physically and emotionally to eat anything. It was really upsetting that the soup was ruined too, since we had waited for such a long time last night and then couldn't even eat it.


This morning after I took Dillon to school I waited a bit, ate my pop tarts and water for breakfast and then went to the cafeteria. I helped him make his mock Gingerbread House...which I ended up doing all of the work! He did put one marshmellow on the outside though. He was just more interested in eating the fruit loops and pretzels. Then when it was time for me to go, he cried. Of course I felt awful but it was nice seeing him for a half an hour. He was so excited when I came up behind him and he saw me before we started the project!! It was nice being involved with his school stuff :)


When I got home I got down to work. I detailed the entire inside of my car to try to figure out why I had seen those bugs last night. The car wasn't messy because I had picked up the receipts and empty water bottles days before. It did need a good vacuuming and wipe down though. So I took out all of the stuff from the back seat, just two bowling ball bags, a pair of old shoes that were Dillon's and a few other empty bottles that were hidden. I found a single french fry under the passenger seat in back from Dillon having dropped it at some point. So I am now 100% sure that the bugs aren't in my car due to lack of cleanliness because in the past (since living here) there have been more fries on the floor and there have never been bugs in the car. If they were a different kind of roach, they I am thinking they are from the garbage can outside the garage which is next to the front of the car in the driveway. When I finished cleaning the car out, vacuuming, wiping and even vacuumed the trunk...I sprayed some Lysol fabric freshener on the floors. I like it better than Febreeze because it kills germs too! So hopefully I don't see any more bugs in my car...I have no idea why they were in there or where they came from. 


Now I am relaxing for a while...I figured I'd write since I didn't really have a good night last night and I'm now in a better mood and having a better day. In about an hour I am going to go to the store and get all new stuff to remake soup again this evening. But definitely making it on the stove! I also might go to Target and get a larger pot than the big one we have so I can make another double batch, but successfully this time.


Mr works tonight and tomorrow night and after the botched soup last night...I am certain he will love some fresh, correctly made soup tonight at work!! I know I am looking forward to it.

Oh My Aching...

Everything aches today, it seems. My lower back and lower belly area is sore. My gut is not feeling so hot from Maliya's booty and legs all up in there, moving around. And I am pretty tired since I didn't get a nap yesterday or today. So hopefully I can get one tomorrow.

Today I went and voluteered at Boog's school, to help pack supplies for the Gingerbread House project that the kindergarden classes and the 2 sped pre-school classes are doing tomorrow. I had not planned to attend tomorrow to avoid any detachment issues with Dillon by him seeing me and then me having to leave and he would have to stay. So sitting in a chair meant for a 5 year old at a desk that barely came up to my knees when standing...was not fun at all. And after talking to his teacher, she suggested I come tomorrow and see how it goes. If all else fails, I can just leave. But I am hoping it works out because I really do want to see him make a gingerbread house and interact with the other kids!

Mr asked me this morning if I knew what sounded really good for dinner tonight....I replied with "chicken noodle soup" and he agreed. My Aunt had posted on her Facebook yesterday about making some and it made me get a craving. So tonight I am going to make a double batch of soup so we have more leftovers than normal! It gets eaten so fast because Mr just absolutely loves it! And he isn't a chicken noodle soup eater either, he prefers his tomato soup-at-hand cans. But he loves my soup and says we should sell it because it's so good :) Makes me feel good that he enjoys it that much!! So I am looking forward to eating some soup for dinner, although I am not looking forward to standing there and cutting the veggies since my lower back is already hurting. I may just sit at the table and cut them up so at least I can sort of rest at the same time.

I am half done with my two classes...it has been a struggle getting through them. I have just been so tired, but I have over an 80% in both classes as of right now so that is good. They are pretty easy, not much paper writing at all and the papers I did have to write I got perfect grades on, much to my surprise. So that was cool! It's mostly discussion questions and replies to classmates for participation points. The participation is what I am slacking on. But...I'm doing the best I can despite being 7 months pregnant and just physically and emotionally exhausted all the time!

Tonight I am probably going to go buy Maliya's carseat. Babies R Us is having the best sale right now until December 24th. Carseats are $20 off if they cost over $100 and the one I want is about $130. They also have a sale on strollers (same one as carseats) but I will wait on that because I won't really be needing it right away. Plus after the first of the month I want to order her bedding set which is around $170 (ish) and then hopefully in January or February get her swing and bouncer. They don't even come out until January anyways, same with the bedding.

This coming Sunday my friend is going to come watch Dillon so I can go to my labor and delivery tour. Mr has to work that night and I figured I'd ask my friend to watch him so that way Mr can get enough sleep for work. He may not do a whole lot while he's at work, but sitting at a desk for 12 hours has to be boring and exhausting! Plus I think he works a few days in a row so he'll definitely need all the sleep he can get. I just wanted to help him out in that area and make sure he gets enough rest!! She offered to help me put the baby's crib together but I think I am going to save that for Mr and I to do together. I do want to do that sometime in the near future, maybe after the New Year. I still have to clear out her corner of our room anyway. I can't wait to start all of this stuff...as I mentioned before, I feel like I am running out of time and that there is so much to still do!

Under Pressure

I finished the z-pak I was prescribed by my OB several days ago and although my sinus infection seems to be gone, I am still experiencing a lot of pressure in my right ear and sinuses. At my appointment she had said that my right ear drum was bulging badly from the pressure, but it really doesn't feel any better. I need to start taking the Claritin she prescribed me also, but I have no idea if that will do anything for the pressure headaches I am still getting from all of this. I was in tears the other night and right now I am patiently waiting to see if the Tylenol I took helps any.

Last night Mr gave me some fun money and I used half of it to get a pedicure. Which cost probably twice as much as normal because I got the wax treatment on my feet and then also a design on my big toes. The wax was an extra $10 and I think the design was like $5 or $10 for both toes. Plus tip. It was nice though, very relaxing. I don't like to get pedicures often because I have really dry feet from constantly being barefoot or just wearing slippers (flip flops). So usually when my feet are soaking the skin turns white and then the little korean lady doing my feet makes a funny face or comment and it's just really awkward. It makes me feel very uncomfortable. But last night the lady was so nice and didn't make any faces or comments to make me feel uneasy at all, plus my feet weren't too bad from soaking! They are still soft from the wax.

After I got home, I made it in time to see the main event from the UFC pay-per view that he ordered. Then when that was over he and his friends went to play poker in the garage and shortly after I put Dillon to bed. Once he was asleep I went to the mall in search of a hoodie to fit my big ol' belly. I went to Motherhood Maternity, got some more maternity panties, a white tank/cami and I found a hoodie that is a loose and thin enough material to fit me now and hopefully in the coming months while it is zipped up. Then I went home and went to bed.

Tonight we're going to dinner to Chili's after we watch some of the Monday night game, then we're going shopping for the rest of Dillon's Christmas gifts. It's the last year we can go together and be able to take him because next year he should understand Christmas and Santa and we definitely can't take him then! I've already gotten several things for him, but Mr wants to pick some stuff out too so we're all going tonight to get some more things and then that's it. I am hoping to have Mr pick something out for the baby too from their small baby section at Toys R Us...Maliya has to have something that Daddy picked out for her!!

Boog is getting sick, again. Some kind of cold I am guessing. He has a stuffy/runny nose and a productive cough from the congestion. Thankfully no fever this time (knock on wood). He just got over a viral infection the week of Thanksgiving. Poor kid can't catch a break from being sick!! This is his last week of school before winter break, it's not even a full week. At least he'll go on break and be away from the other kids and all of their germs! I guess I should be prepared for him to be sick much more often now that he's in school and not home with just me all day.

We Made It

We made it the entire week with no cries or pouty faces when I dropped Dillon off at school!! That is fabulous! Thursday he actually ran up to the bench where his class was sitting and then Friday we were running late and almost didn't make it on time for him to line up and walk to breakfast with his class. Mr got out of quarters late and it was really bad weather. But I pulled up as they were lining up and they saw me, so thankfully we made it in time.

A couple more days and I am in the third trimester. It is crazy how fast it's gone by, but I wish it'd go by faster now. I can do without the hip/pelvic pains, the back pain, the pregnancy induced carpal tunnel, the headaches from my sinuses and not being able to take stronger medicine besides Tylenol. My savings is pretty much gone between buying baby stuff and Christmas gifts, so that really stinks. And the next few checks I am due to get are really small for some reason. That stinks even more. I have about $300 left in my savings so I am trying to decide if I want to spend half of that on a 3d ultrasound session before I get too much further along and then use the other half on a carseat (Babies R Us is having an awesome sale until the 24th). Or I don't get a 3d ultrasound and then get the carseat and a sit/stand stroller while the sale is going on. I really do want a 3d ultrasound though, I had one with Dillon and if I am going to do it, it needs to be now before I'm too much further along and things are too cramped in there.

I am hoping to clear out our bedroom soon and have Mr carry up the crib so I can put it together. That way at least I can put all of her belongings in the crib until I buy the bedding next month and also it'd get all of her things out of the living room. She has several big bags of stuff, the boppy still in the plastic zippy bag and then a bin full of stuff. And I have a small pile of things on the ottoman that I need to find a place to store or put them into another bag. I have this 3 drawer thinger on my registry, I may just buy that and when it gets here start putting things away. I feel so unprepared this time around. With Dillon I had started setting things up by now and I haven't done much and feel like there is still so much do and buy. And with the holidays and school...it's overwhelming at times.

Santa, Baby...

I really do love this time of year. I have a very dear friend who recently got out of the Navy and moved across the country back to her home state. She's going to school full time and has a little boy who is almost a year and half (roughly). We were talking one day about Christmas and she mentioned how sad she was that money is so tight that she wouldn't be able to afford much, if anything, for her son for Christmas. This just broke my heart...even more so because I consider her a close friend of mine.

So...I did a sneaky thing. I nonchalantly asked questions to get ideas what kind of things her son liked and what types of things she was into. She is a girly girl so that was more than enough information for me! I bought her son two things and then bought her a few things I thought she would like and mailed out her package this past Monday with a few others I needed to send out. She had no idea and I didn't tell her to expect anything (she thought it was a card when I said to watch her mailbox in about a week).

Well she got her package today and I told her that her son has to wait until Christmas to open his but if she couldn't wait, then she could open hers today. She said she did but put it back to re-open it on Christmas. It really makes me feel good inside knowing that I made her day a little brighter than it was. I love giving gifts to the people I love and care about, not even just at Christmas time. I've been known to randomly send things to people here and there, for no reason at all! It just gives me a really good feeling to know that I made someone smile or possibly gave them a good day because I saw something I thought they would like and sent it to them and they were totally unsuspecting.

Dillon had a great day in school today, he even woke up from his nap a little late so I had to wait for him after school let out. Then he wanted his juice and his cup had been forgotten in the classroom so he and his teacher went back and got it while I chatted with the two aides in his classroom. I'm so proud of his progress since starting school. He tries more often to say words and the words he already can say are becoming so much clearer! It's been very exciting to say in the least. Infact, he just appy sah (apple sauce) for the first time!!! He was eating some after eating his chicken, while he waited for his fries to finish cooking in the toaster oven. I am so excited and proud, I cannot even put it into words!!!!

Finding Nemo

Boog is watching a movie, so I figured I'd write up a little blog since it's been a few days and there is much to share.

Dillon went and saw Santa on Sunday. It was his 4th year seeing Santa, his first time he was 2.5 months old and this year is the first time he cried. I was sort of surprised, but then again not really. Since becoming pregnant he has been much more clingy, sensitive, whiny...all of the above. He cries some days when I leave him at school even and he has never cried when I've had to leave to go somewhere without him. It is almost as if the further along I get the more clingy he is.

Monday I had an ob check up, I turned 27 weeks. No weight gain since my last ob appointment 4 weeks ago, so my total weight gain so far is still 15.5 pounds. Go me! I finally got medicine for this nasty sinus infection, after being scolded for waiting a week to see my midwife. I had an upcoming appointment and just figured I'd wait a week until then. She said I should have come sooner. Oh well. But I should be feeling better within a week hopefully. She said my right ear drum was bulging very badly from all of the pressure but no fluid in either ear, so at least that was good news. Maliya is now head down and very low. The dr said she could move again but it's unlikely. I took a photo when I turned 26 weeks last week (I take them bi-weekly) but yesterday I had noticed my belly looked smaller in the mirror, so I took a photo. Sure enough my belly is like half the size it was in last week's photo. So she has definitely dropped down already too. Dillon didn't drop the first time until at least 33 or 34 weeks (ish).

This week I started a distraction technique for when I take Dillon to school. Yesterday I let him carry a small to-go pack of tissues that had Toy Story characters on the front and today he carried in his brush. Hey, it's working so far...no tears or even a pouty face. We'll see how tomorrow goes, I'll have to figure something else out for him to take that will keep him distracted enough.

Lastly, Mr and I put up the Christmas lights this weekend! Well...he put them up, I handed him the hooks and held up the string so it was easier for him to hang while he stood on a chair. We make a good team, it looks pretty! He also put the solar powered candy cane lights into the ground, but he accidentally broke one when stepping down from the chair. Oh well, it's not a big deal, for now we've just leaned it against the stake that's sticking out of the ground. I need to get some krazy glue next time I go to the store and glue it back together. I also have to get a longer, one piece extension cord for the lights. For now we have two small cords connected to each other and the string of lights hanging and it's a tight pull across the front patio. It looks a little tacky up close but you can't really tell from the street. Hubby has work tonight so I'll have to go tomorrow after I drop Boog off at school and get a new cord and then the glue. I also had bought these cool suction-cup snowflake lights that are battery operated. I stuck them to the big window next to our door. The tv sits in front of that window and I wanted to put some kind of lights in it so that worked out great. And the colors change too, they were only $5 each as well! I might get a few more for some other windows around the house, we'll see.

Alrighty, time to get moving. I'm making homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner for Mr to take to work tonight. Yum!

Internet Outage

I've been MIA the past couple of days, I know. Our internet was not working, there had intially been a service outage in the are due to maintenance. Well our internet still wasn't working the next day so I called and they needed to send a technician here to check out the problem. And he didn't come until today, so that was three days with no service.

Turns out a different technician must have read a service ticket wrong and "accidentally" came to our address and shut off our internet service! I know this because the tech that came today showed me the device that they have to put in place when they turn off service and said they are the only ones who can put them on and take them off. So I was not happy about that, at all. I had a paper due days ago that I couldn't finish and post on time. Thankfully I had my professor's email address and could email her from my Blackberry. And she was so understanding, she said not to worry about it and have a good weekend. I am lucky she's like that because she definitely doesn't have to be!

Dillon has been doing great in school since going back after being sick. He had been out Monday and Tuesday and when he went back Wednesday it had been a whole week he was out of school between sickness and the holiday weekend. His teacher said he jumped right back into the routine with ease and then yesterday we chatted for a bit also. He had been soaked so one of the aides took him to change his diaper and clothes before I took him home. His teacher said that he said the numbers "1, 2, and 3" at random, which he can count to 10 so that was no surprise. We talked about how he is trying to say some shapes now and is doing so so well! It was exciting!

Boog got a haircut last night at the salon, he did so well and looks extra handsome! He makes me so proud...sitting there all grown up and calm. Afterwards he was all smiles and giggles, as if he knew just how handsome he looked or something.

Monday afternoon Mr and I are hanging outside Christmas lights! Well, Mr is hanging them since I can't be climbing on chairs. But I'll hand him the little hooks like last year and then help put out the solar powered candy canes around our walk-way. I'm excited, it is going to look so pretty! We have colored icicle lights to hang and then the solar powered candy canes. I also have a little snowman from last year that is staked into the ground, plugged in and all lit up. I also had bought a hanger and a plastic wreath for outside of the screen door since our front door won't close with it on there. It's got sparkly balls on it and smells like real pine even though it is plastic. I love Christmas time! And I bought little command sticky hooks to try for our stockings. Tis the season!

I might take Dillon to see Santa tomorrow and get photos taken. I want to get them done and into the cards so that I can have those mailed out this coming week. I also need to mail several packages on Monday too. Have a happy weekend!!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Tonight we finally put up our Christmas tree :) Mr helped put it up and helped decorate it. He probably hung more ornaments/candy canes than I got to, it was really nice to do it together. I put the few gifts I have bought and wrapped for friends/family under the tree until I ship them out and then I also put two of Mr's gifts under the tree. I still need to get his 3rd one and then his gift from Dillon. Dillon's presents won't go under the tree anymore until Christmas Eve when he's asleep. In past years we just put them under the tree as we bought and wrapped them, but he's getting older and it'll be more exciting for him to see them all show up over night!

Dillon had a great day at school according to the teacher. Despite being out for a week between the holiday and then getting sick...she said he picked up the routine with ease, so that was wonderful news! I was a bit nervous he might have "forgotten" the routine and rules but she said he did great.

I felt worse today than I did yesterday, so that was not fun. Wednesday's are early release, so I only got to run to Target and then made sure I got a nap in. I am so exhausted from rolling side to side every hour throughout the night and when I do, I am in such excrutiating pain in my pelvis. It really is not fun at all. At least it's almost bed time for Dillon and then for me. I am exhausted.

Still Alive

I know, I know. It has been quite some time since I last blogged and I am sure the few readers I have are long gone. Life has just been busy, there is much to update about tonight.

Dillon started pre-school, he's been doing so well too might I add. He stayed home yesterday and today since he has been sick since last Wednesday afternoon, but he can finally go back tomorrow since it's been 48 hours since he last had a fever. The school prefers that time frame and we wanted to give him one more day (today) off from school in hopes his cough would be better before going back to school. And it is.

I get great reports from his teacher and I've seen him "in action" at the library during story time one day. It was cute, he had no idea I was there. It was exciting seeing him interact with his classmates and dance to the music story that was told. For Thanksgiving he brought home two crafts that he made. One was an indian headset with feathers and the sort, I took the cutest photo of him wearing it! And he also brought home a wind-sock that he made with a turkey on it that he colored. It has some Thanksgiving color-themed streamers hanging from it also that he glued on.

I love how excited he gets when he sees me sitting on the bench waiting for him after school. He jumps up and down and wants to run to me. He shrieks and when he is finally close enough he runs into my arms and says "hi baby!" It is adorable, it really makes me feel loved!

The baby is growing well, I am just over 26 weeks now. I finally sold my HP laptop and bought a crib and mattress the other night. Which I got quite the deal, I had a 20% off coupon that was used on the crib, so the crib ended up costing about $134 and some change and the mattress was $106 and some change. Not bad at all. We've got a lot for baby Maliya, but there are still some big items left as well as a few more smaller ones. I'm not stressing nearly as much as I was before I finally bought her crib.

We are putting up the Christmas tree tomorrow night, I am so excited! Then this weekend we are hanging the outdoor lights!!! I love decorating for Christmas. I've done some gift shopping and have a lot of it wrapped. I absolutely love buying gifts for those I love and care about, it makes me feel really good.

I will definitely update more often again. I just got so side tracked when Dillon started school and then Thanksgiving was approaching and then we all got sick. Life just catches up so quickly and makes you lose track of things sometimes!

New Term Today

Today, I start a new term of classes at school. I am taking two classes; Personality Development and Exploring The 1960's (it's a social science class). I managed to make it to seminar this morning for Personality Development. With the time difference I didn't go to any seminars last term for either class I was in. It's basically a chat room where all of the students come together to discuss the material from that week and ask questions or anything else, with the professor. The professor usually has audio, so you can hear them speaking. I really like them, a lot of information is discussed and gone over. I hope I can manage to attend this seminar each week at least, if not the one for my other class as well.

I've come to terms, well for the most part, with Dillon starting school on Monday. It's still hard to accept emotionally, but I am doing better than I previously was when thinking about it happening. It's just happened so soon it feels. Almost like it's too soon. But it will be great for him and seeing the classroom and cafeteria helped me feel a little better about it...so we'll see. I need to go buy a back-pack for him and also the things on the list from the teacher. I was hoping to order his shirts but I never got an email from the woman at the school working with us, yesterday. He will have to wear a "uniform" t-shirt every day.

Tonight we're going to dinner, I have no idea where yet, but I am looking forward to it. I am thinking maybe Chili's or something. We've gone to Buffalo Wild Wings the last few times so I kind of want a break from wings. I would say we should go to Kobe Steakhouse, it's a hibachi grill, but I'm not sure how that would work with Dillon. Plus it's always packed.

I do know I am pretty tired already and it's only just after 8:30 am. Dillon woke up around 5:30 am (ish) so...I've been up since pretty early. I am definitely going to try to take a nap this afternoon. I wanted to yesterday afternoon and I was tired enough, but I had recieved bad news. A close long time family friend of mine died yesterday in a farming accident. It was very tragic. So that had me upset yesterday afternoon and I cried again when Mr finally woke up and I told him and could finally get a hug.

Things like that just really put it into prospective how short life is and how quickly it can end.

I Am Not Ready

Today, I took Dillon to get his TB shot and then picked up a copy of his shot records and also a print out of his check up scheduled for the 22nd. Then we went to the school and got the registration packet so I can fill it out and turn it in Friday when I register him for school. He has to wait until Friday to have his arm "read" from the TB shot, so that afternoon I can register him for special education pre-school. Then Monday he will officially start.

I am so not ready, but seeing his classroom and the lunch room really helped to alleviate some of my anxiety. He got to play with the kids that were there today, which most were in class. I am really excited for him, but it still makes me come to tears thinking about not having him home all the time and that I will miss all of the new things he is learning and doing.

I also have a list of things to buy and I need to find more shorts for him. The teacher said she prefers elastic waist because he will be learning self help and also it is easier when they start to teach him potty training when that time comes. I forgot to ask when I will have to buy his uniform (it's just a t-shirt).

I am really glad to have the rest of the week with him though. That is a huge relief for me. I can give myself some time to emotionally prepare for Monday.

Just Some Things

I can admit, it was a pretty good day for us. Dillon and I went to the swap meet at Aloha Stadium with a friend of mine, Katherine, and we searched for a couple of Hawaiian dresses for the baby. We ended up finding 3 that I loved enough to buy, they are bigger sizes though. But that works, I think the cute dresses look better on toddlers rather than new borns.

Dillon said a new word tonight. He was playing with his mini magna doodle that came with a Toy Story 3 drawing book and I asked if he wanted to draw (he had been making me draw on it) and he said "drah." It was very exciting! I am going to be so sad when he starts school and I won't get to hear him say things for the first time. I will really miss that, it is a special moment between us.

I heard some bad news this evening. Mr is playing on the xbox 360 and one of the people he's playing with is a friend of ours (we have known he and his wife for many years now). They have a 3 year old son, Hayden, who was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma some time between his first and second birthdays and this past summer they said he was finally cancer free. The dr's had also said there was a small chance of the cancer coming back. Well tonight our friend told Mr that Hayden was back in the hospital because the cancer came back. He turns 4 this coming December. I cannot even imagine going through what they are or seeing my son go through any of that. Of all the chemo and radiation and everything else, Hayden's poor little body can only take so much. I hope that he can finally beat this cancer for good this time. He's already had his eye removed and has a fake one in place now. He doesn't deserve this and neither do his parent. They are all such good people. It really breaks my heart :( No innocent, helpless child should have to endure that kind of thing.

Eligibility Conference

Today was Dillon's elibility conference for special education pre-school. They went over the assessment results with me for each assessment that they did. It was very hard, as a parent, to see that my three year old son is developmentally around the age of an 18-24 month old. I know it is irrational to blame myself, but I cannot help to feel that I some how have failed him.

After we went over the assessments, I signed a paper stating that he was accepted into the program for said reasons. It was a relief that he was accepted, but very overwhelming. After that we made his iep (individualized education plan) for pre-school this coming year. Basically, what we did was set goals for Dillon and his development and then set time frames as to when we had wanted to try to make sure he achieves those goals by. Everything sounds great other than him eating lunch in the large cafeteria with sped and non-sped students. Dillon has the shortest attention span the majority of the time and when there are too many people he cannot focus. Our old ot therapist was at the meeting also since our care coordinator could not make it and she brought up concern about the cafeteria before I mentioned it. With such a large room and so many children, he will not want to eat. Plus he will need to be in a high chair or some kind of restrained chair and he back bangs very hard on top of that. So they would need to make sure that he is being watched closely because he can easily tip over in the high chair from the banging and he also over-stuffs his mouth some times. Add that to the back banging while eating and there has even been times here at home that he's come close to tipping over the chair (once he did but he was just sitting on the normal chair and wasn't hurt) and he has choked/gagged many times from over-stuffing and banging. So that makes me very uneasy, because it's a safety issue. I know how he is. They don't.

It has been such an emotional day because of all of this. I know this is a good thing for him, he needs it and will benefit greatly from it. But it is so overwhelming for me. I spend every day, all day with him. To go from that, to only afternoons and evenings on the weekdays will be such a huge change. Not to mention it makes me really upset that I won't be there to see the new things he is learning and doing at school. I've never missed anything new he's done or said and now I will. I think that probably upsets me the most out of it all. Plus I know he won't even bat an eye in my direction when I drop him off in the mornings. Of course I'll be bawling my eyes out when I walk out of the doors...hopefully when the time comes it's not as bad as I feel like it's going to be.

I just wish someone could understand how this is all affecting me. Hearing that it will be ok and Dillon will be fine is something I already know, but it doesn't make it any easier for me. My baby boy going to school doesn't only affect him, it affects our entire family. I just really hope it goes much smoother than it feels right now.

Busy Bee

Halloween was great! Dillon looked awesome in his costume and he got lots of candy. I'm still paying for the fun, physically, but it was worth it :)

So my HP Pavilion crapped out...again...and I had to take it into Best Buy for repair...again. They had to send it off of course, to the mainland. So that'll be back in 2-4 weeks. While I was there I checked out the Macbooks and asked about the payment plans and such. I had them check if I was approved for a line of credit with the store and I was, for 2 grand. So after talking with Mr and doing some thinking...I went back with Dillon last night and got a Macbook Pro. Once the HP comes back, I can clear it off and give it to Mr and he can toss the Dell out. It's completely infected and worthless anyway. I was going to get him a new, simple and cheap, laptop for Christmas anyway. Now he can have my somewhat new, moderately priced HP. For what he uses it for...it will do just fine. I need something reliable for school, especially since I want to go for my Masters after we PCS in a couple of years. So, I've joined the darkside and I am now a Mac. So far I am liking it. I have a friend coming over to help me out and show me some things since she has a ton of Apple products including a Macbook and a Macbook pro. Hopefully this one lasts for what it costs...otherwise it's just got to be me. I'm excited and hopeful about it.

I'm 22 weeks and 1 day now...time sure is flying! I feel her moving on and off during the day, all on my left side. I have yet to feel anything on the right at all. Oh well, she must be cozy and comfy in there on the left.

Dillon has said a new word, the other day. I forget if I blogged about it or not, but he said "happy" and it was very exciting! Then on Halloween, towards the end of the night when he was too tired to yell/talk at people handing out candy...he tried saying "trick or treat" which just came out as "tree tree" but it was still a try! He was so tired, we walked probably over a mile and half total that night.

Now it's time to start preparing for Thanksgiving....

Soup, Pumpkins and Excitement

Tonight I made the recipe I found for homemade chicken noodle soup. It was so good for my first time making it! Even Mr said it was really good, when he called me a bit ago from work. When he first woke up while it was finishing simmering on the stove, he said it was kind of bland. But when he called a bit ago he said it was actually really good and he thinks it just tasted bland because he had a stuffed nose when he woke up. So that made me feel good, I really didn't think he liked it and was just trying to be nice about it. I'm so happy it turned out so yummy!

Dillon and I had a busy morning. We went grocery shopping, he handed me everything we bought so I could put it away and he picked up all the plastic bags for me. So I decided to give him $5 for doing such a good job helping Mommy out. It's rough having to bend down constantly to pick up groceries from bags on the floor, let alone the bags themselves when they are empty, at almost 22 weeks pregnant! I'm so thankful he's a great helper. He's going to be such a good big brother!!

After groceries were put away we went to Target. I had to buy some candy to hand out tomorrow night after we get back from trick or treating and I also needed to get pumpkin carving booklets since I kept forgetting all these weeks. They didn't have any, so we checked KMart and they didn't have any either. Bummer, oh well. We'll have to be creative with our carvings is all. We're going to be carving tomorrow afternoon-ish. It stinks we can't carve a few days before so they will be out...but it's too hot and they'll rot out in one afternoon once they are carved! That's one thing I miss about Virginia, at least this time of year it wasn't sweltering.

I'm so excited to get Boog all dressed up tomorrow night for trick or treating! He's going as Joker from Dark Knight movie, with full face paint. That's what I am most excited about!! He is going to look awesome, I hope. I told Mr earlier when we spoke on the phone that I want him to help me get some good photos of Dillon after he's dressed up before we go trick or treating. I know Dad and Kelly will want to see him all decked out, not to mention other friends and family of course. But I mostly want good photos for us and for Dad and Kelly to see.

Alrighty, enough blogging tonight. I have a Spongebob Halloween dvd in right now and Boog is watching it. I'm half watching it, so far I've seen the episodes...so it's boring for me. I can't watch Spongebob over and over the way he can. I wanted to watch Casper, but when I put it on the night I bought it last week...Dillon wasn't really interested. So maybe I will watch it after he goes to bed! It's a classic and it's the night before Halloween. I would watch something scary...but Mr is working and I get paranoid enough as it is. I don't need to add to the anxiety I already deal with when he's working at night.

Oh, I almost forgot! Dillon said a new word today! I got him a happy meal from McDonald's for lunch today and I said "do you want a happy meal?" And he replied, happy!! I even recorded it, it was exciting!! I'm so proud of him and all of his progress!!!
Have a safe and Happy Halloween tomorrow night!

Baby Registry

Since we found out that we're having a little girl coming this March, I started working on the baby registry I had created a while ago. I am finally able to put gender specific items on there now, so it's been exciting. I put on typical baby items and a few clothing items that I really liked. I am trying to make a range of prices incase any friends or family back home want to get anything off of it...that way there is something within everyone's price range. I'm not counting on it, but it'll be there if they want. I decided to do it that way since I am not having a baby shower, unfortunately.

I'm coming across a few things that frustrate me while updating the registry. Several things I have come across are limited stock or out of stock. Out of stock, the bedding set I want. I have it set up to recieve an email when they are back in stock, if not then I know of other websites I can find it on. It's not as cheap, but at least I can get the one I want if it came down to it! Limited stock, some clothes as well as an overnight/diaper bag I put on there that is so cute. It's good for overnight trips with baby or if you have multiple children. With Dillon I still have to take a sippy cup and snack with us most places and I like to take the 'to go' case of wipes too. You never know when you need a wipe! I'm thinking about buying it just in case because I really like it and it's pink. I don't know yet.

I've been having a lot of anxiety about all of the stuff we have to buy with a new baby coming. I'm talking big ticket items like crib, dresser, car seat, swing, bouncer, possibly a double stroller...those kinds of things. Dillon broke the crib he had, which was given to me brand new, barely used and for free. He broke it about a year ago from his back banging...broke a slat clean off. And I don't feel comfortable using any kinds of glue or screws to repair it, nor do I know how to go about that. So it's garbage now unfortunately. But, this time I want to just get a basic crib. That one was convertible and had he not broken it we still would have gotten him a toddler bed and saved that crib for when we had another baby. That was the plan...but he had other plans than we did I guess. It's overwhelming because of where we live. If we can't find something here then we'll have to order online and shipping is a nightmare to Hawaii. Or some websites won't even ship here, which I found that out with Diapers.com. I ordered a super cute outfit and had to have it shipped to my in laws in Virginia, which isn't a big deal. Thankfully she's already got something to send to us so the outfit can be added...but if I had to ship something there and then they shipped just that to us...it's really a lot to do for everyone! And twice the shipping costs.

I'm really ready to move back to the mainland already. Less than two years...I have to just keep telling myself that. Hawaii is absolutely beautiful and quite an amazing place. I do feel very lucky to be able to say I have been here, let alone lived here. But living here is no where near the same as vacationing here, that's something a lot of people fail to recognize. Living here is not like a permenant vacation at all, it's quite stressful and lonely. I just miss my in laws a lot and I miss being in the same time zone as everyone I know.

The Big News

I know it's been several days since I updated. I've just been so exhausted and then Dillon and I started getting sick. He seems to have gotten better from it but I am feeling worse each day.

Yesterday I had really wanted to blog, but with the excitement of the big ultrasound and talking to friends and family...it just didn't happen. Not to mention I had 3 hours, by the time I said enough chatting, to complete two final papers for my classes and turn them in. Finals can't be turned in late so I had to work my butt off despite being exhausted. I managed to get them done and I think they turned out really well. I hope anyway.

I don't know if any of the people who "follow" this blog actually read it or not, but we found out the baby's gender yesterday :)

It's a girl! Mr and I decided on the name Maliya Rayne. It's said like mah lee ya and it's Hawaiian. And we will probably call her Liya for short (lee ya). Last night we ruled against a celebration dinner because we were so tired and had a late lunch, so we were going to take Dillon to the park. As we left it was sprinkling so I took Boog shopping with me at Target instead. He looked so heartbroken when we told him we couldn't go. So I had Mr put him in the car while I grabbed my stuff and his sippy cup.

Dillon picked out a cute button up sleeper that says "daddy's little girl" for his little baby sister. I also got another sleeper, some pants with ruffles on the butt, a pack of onesies that are pretty and colorful, a baby book, her first blanket, a long sleeved onesie that says little sister and some matching pants to go with it. I think that's it. It was fun. I can't wait to go to the swap meet and buy her some Hawaiian dresses!!

Tonight we're going to dinner to celebrate. I can't wait for my yummy hot bbq wings, celery and ranch. I just hope I can taste it seeing that I am getting sick. I'm hoping to feel better after a nap this afternoon.

I Get So Emotional, Baby

I haven't been blogging every day as I intended to when I started, but it's been at least every other day. I have been so emotional, hormonal, insert which ever you would like.

I am going to force myself to do a final paper today for one of my classes, both end this coming Tuesday night. I need to do one now and maybe one tomorrow so they are not left for the last minute. I also need to re-do two papers from past weeks in my Research Methods class to improve the grades on them. I've had a hard time balancing motherhood, pregnancy, home, marriage and school. I explained everything to both of my professors and thankfully they have been understanding and are working with me on things. I've got a good grade in my Arts and Humanities class, but Research Methods has been a struggle. The professor suggested re-doing those two papers so help improve my grade. I need 100 more points to ensure that I am passing with at least a 60. That's not what I am capable of, but since hitting the second trimester I barely have the energy to do normal, every day things. Let alone sit and write papers about boring research topics and methods.

Mr works tonight and tomorrow night and then he is off for four days. I am hoping maybe the day we find out the baby's gender (on Tuesday morning) we can go out to dinner that night to celebrate, as a family. It's a reach I am sure...but we'll see. If he doesn't want to then I'll just take Dillon. I'm tired of being stuck in the house because I want to do things as a family and he isn't really interested. I'd go with just Dillon, but it's really too much for me being 20 weeks pregnant and in this heat. Just last night I had to move Boog's carseat over. I wanted to keep it in the middle of the backseat, as it is safer. But with my growing belly and the heat, I can't climb into the backseat anymore to buckle him, put him in, or take him out of his seat. It's getting to be too much, so last night before we went to Target I moved his seat over to the passenger side in the back. That way I can still see him and reach him if need be. The baby will be going in the middle when it comes. I'm really happy that the side seats in the back have the latch system like the middle seat does, that made me 100% more comfortable with moving him so soon. And I already child-locked that door and keep the window locked. He seemed to like it. Although I can't say I am happy with the fact the ac doesn't reach him anymore. At least in the middle I could blow it directly on him when it was hot...now I can't because the passenger seat is in the way.

Enough rambling for today. It's only about 7:30 am and I am still trying to wake up. I couldn't sleep last night, my tummy felt upset and I was restless. I am definitely looking forward to naptime today.

Oh, one more thing. A friend helped me find a girl name to add to my little list, last night. So that was exciting.

20 Weeks

I'm officially half way done with this pregnancy, I am 20 weeks today. Only about 20 more to go! We also only have five more days until we hopefully find out the sex.

Dillon said a new word yesterday morning! He came downstairs, went to the pantry and started pointing at the box of Lucky Charms while saying ceee (cereal). So I asked him, "cereal?" And he said yea, yea, yea. It was so wonderful!! I gave him praise and kisses and he gave me a high five! Then the butt head didn't even eat much of the small bowl I poured for him. Figures.

Other than that nothing has really been happening. I have been emotional and just...pregnant. Yesterday I had to go do an early glucose test because my dr made me. I didn't want to because I have to in like 8 or 9 weeks from now, again. Which if this one is negative I am refusing to do it again. Once is enough. And all because by medical standards I am "obese" *insert eye roll*

The majority of healthy, normal weight adults in this country are probably considered overweight or obese. Those standards don't take into consideration a person's build or body type. I think they need revision, personally.

*edit*

Dillon said another new word today after his nap! We were in his room, I was sitting on the loveseat and he was digging in the toy bin and brought me two beanie babies. I held up one and told him "frog, ribbit ribbit" and he pointed at it and said frah (frog). It was so exciting!!! I held it up a few more times and asked him what it was. Every single time he stopped, looked and said frah. I'm so proud!!!

Rough Day

This morning I had planned to take Dillon with me to the commissary to grocery shop. He had other plans.

We ate breakfast, he had a toasted bagel with butter and I had a toasted bagel with cream cheese. He didn't want to eat all of it, which usually he eats about three quarters of the bagel, but he didn't even eat half this morning. After he ate breakfast he layed around, yawning a lot and watching cartoons. I was debating whether taking a sleepy boy grocery shopping would be a good idea or not. I didn't want to end up dealing with a meltdown in the middle of the store.

I was sitting down to write my grocery list and all of a sudden Dillon started throwing up. My poor baby, he got sick twice on the couch and two more times on the blanket while sitting on the floor. Once he stopped, I cleaned off the couch before it dried into the microfiber and then stripped him down and put him into a luke warm bath.

Afterwards we came downstairs and I put just a diaper on him and had him wrapped in his hooded towel with the same throw blanket draped in front of him incase he had to throw up some more. He was very pale, his lips were so white. He felt warm and had layed down on my legs and was very tired. I wanted to lay him on pillow at least so I could get up and get my blackberry and call the clinic to see if I could have him seen today.

Bad idea. After I gave him some motrin he threw up several more times. It was thick, sticky vomit...almost like it had a lot of phlem in it or something. I decided to take him to the hospital because the clinic didn't have anything open until tomorrow (of course) and the only way he would be seen was at the emergency room, although I did not feel it was an emergency...it was my only option.

So I packed his mini back pack and loaded him into the car with a towel draped over him incase he got sick more while I was driving, thankfully he didn't. We got there and I had to valet park because there was no parking and being almost 20 weeks pregnant in this heat and carrying a sickly 3 year old...I was not parking further than the area by the door. It was only $5 though, not too bad. I've never valet parked before but that doesn't seem like a lot to me.

Of course the emergency room was packed. We signed in and waited an hour before we were called to triage. Which Dillon ran toward the door because he didn't want to get on the scale and someone pushed the button on the door and it squished his toe. When it rains, it pours. Poor guy was bawling his eyes out, his toe was swollen but it went down eventually and it fine. Just a little squish, no major damage.

He only weighed just over 33 pounds, which means he's lost a pound and a half in the past week or so, roughly. They took his temperature and it was 100.8, which I knew wasn't high. But I had wanted him to get something since he didn't keep down the motrin I gave him at home. They gave him a Tylenol suppository and also a tablet of Zofran that dissolved in his mouth, for the vomiting. She said if we were still there in an hour to have them re-check his temperature and then we went off to the waiting room.

An hour passes, Dillon has been drinking his juice finally and talking...carrying on like his normal self for the most part. Just very exhausted. My hips and back were hurting from sitting for two hours with Boog on my lap and I was starting to shake because I was so hungry. I went and had his temperature re-checked and it was down to 100.3 and they gave him a popsicle. I told them we were going to leave and if he got worse we would definitely come back.

We get home, I put him down for a nap and he's out within minutes. I wanted to lay down too but needed to get some gatorades for Mr as well as Dillon and I and I also wanted to get some water for myself and some Pedialyte for sickies boy. Then I stopped and got Mr a sub from Subway for dinner since nothing would have been defrosted in time and I didn't get to grocery shop today. I made it a very quick trip incase Dillon woke up while I was gone and got sick again (Mr was asleep too but he's a heavy sleeper so he wouldn't have heard Dillon getting sick). I got home, put everything away and managed to get an hour and half nap.

Dillon woke up and felt pretty warm. He layed around on the couch and I gave him some Motrin. He felt like he was burning up even more so I checked his temperature and it was 102.8. I started getting upset because Mr was already gone for work and I didn't know what I should do and he had already taken Motrin a half hour prior so he couldn't have more and we had no Tylenol. I checked his temperature again about 20 minutes after the first time and it went down to 102.6 so I calmed down a little after seeing it was going down little by little.

My neighbor brought over some Tylenol for me to borrow a dose of since I had no car to get to the store and all we had was Motrin. I wanted to give him the Tylenol before bed since he can't have another dose of Motrin until an hour and half after he goes to bed. I figured I'd try to give him some apple sauce since he hadn't eaten since breakfast, which he threw up all of it.

He ate a small bowl with no problem. I didn't want to give him anything dry or any dairy because those are not fun things to have come back up. He wanted strawberries but we didn't have anymore so I gave him some peaches and he ate almost the entire mini can of them. Then he had a popsicle and 4 handfuls (my hand full and on a plate, one serving at a time) of goldfish crackers. That's what he had asked for. He was also drinking the gatorade/Pedialyte mix I put in his sippy cup after he woke from his nap.

He started feeling better I guess because he was enjoying the movies we watched, Toy Story and Alvin and the Chipmunks. I gave him a luke warm bath and he played for a bit in the water, then we came downstairs and I dressed him and put on one last movie, Ratatouille. While he was eating his last plate of goldfish, I gave him the Tylenol and after the movie ended I brushed his teeth and he went up to bed on some nice clean, germ free bedding.

He's already out, thankfully. He started to feel a little warm when I put him in bed, but I hope that Tylenol kicks in soon. I am going to give him another dose of Motrin before I go to bed, hopefully he doesn't wake all the way up, but just enough to swallow the medicine.

Needless to say, it's been a very long day and despite getting a nap....I am exhausted. I wanted to blog about our day though, it always makes me feel better to get everything out after something happens. I'm just hoping he wakes up feeling like himself in the morning with no more fevers and definitely no throwing up. He hadn't gotten sick since about 9:30 am. I can handle fever, but when he's vomiting as well it's frustrating because the medicine doesn't stay down long enough to work! I'm just glad he was feeling a little better this evening, even if only for a little while. He got to enjoy some movies, a bath and put some food in his belly.

New Words

I realize I did not blog yesterday, but I was really so exhausted. I had intended to though about Dillon's new word he can say, it is very exciting!

I bought him a counting book (yet another) when we were at the NEX the day before yesterday. On the very last page it has numbers one through ten on the same page. Dillon (and I) started counting them. Previously Dillon could not say 4, 7 and 8. He knows the numbers, as in what comes before and after them, but he just could not say them. When we got to the letter eight, he said eigh (eight) and it was so wonderful! I praised him and gave him hugs and kisses and we counted again several more times. He has consistantly been saying it whenever he is counting the last page in the book so I am very confident "eigh" is here to stay. Often times he will say a word and then I won't hear it again for weeks or months.

He has also been getting better with saying please. He was whispering it, which I could not tell you why for the life of me. But as of late, he is saying it aloud and it's getting clearer. Instead of psss it now sounds like pwees.

I really am so proud of him!! He is trying so hard. And he did marvelous at dinner tonight feeding himself by the way. He ate Toy Story macaroni and cheese and didn't make a mess at all. He's such a big boy now :)

Only a week and one day until the big ultrasound. I can't say that I am nervous or anything like that, I am just ready to get it over with and know. I remember with Dillon the anticipation was built up so much...but it seems I have little interest from my family (my meaning my side-not Mr's). My inlaws are pretty much the only family showing any excitement and interest, but that is just fine with me. It's still kind of hard though, not having at least my Nanna on board with some excitement....her lacking kind of takes from my excitement. I just want to know already so we can pick a name and I can buy a few things.

This coming week, starting Wednesday, is my last week of this school term. Then I will get two weeks off, thankfully. I need a break. I also need to start working on my two final papers for my classes. But right now all I can think about is going to bed and how I wish Dillon's bedtime was less than the hour and half it is from now. I didn't get a nap today so I am extra tired.

At least last night I bought a bunch of scrapbooking materials. I just need to order prints and I can get Dillon's scrapbook caught up, as well as his baby book. All that needs are photos from pregnancy and a few from his first year and then birthdays. I also bought a memory book for school. It starts with preschool and goes all the way to 12th grade and has a page for graduation photos. It was well worth the $25 it cost. Memories have no price on them.

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

In honor of today, October 15th which is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day, I wrote a letter to the baby I lost this past February. 

Dear Peanut,

It's been 8 months since we officially said goodbye. But not a day passes that you don't cross my mind and I wonder how life would be if you were here today. Daddy and I tried for 6 months to make you and we were lucky enough to find out December 23rd, 2009 that we finally succeeded. We were surprised but very excited to hear the news about you.

When I had my first ultrasound, we thought you were a lot bigger than you ended up being. But I kept hope that everything would be ok and waited each week for an ultrasound to find out. After a month of waiting and periodic ultrasounds, we recieved our answer.

Something was wrong when you were developing and you were absorbed into Mommy's body, but her belly kept growing as if every thing was ok. The dr called it a Blighted Ovum pregnancy. I had accepted that we had probably already lost you before we found out for sure, but when the remaining tissues from your short existance finally left my body it was too much to handle.

I didn't think it would hurt me as much as it did because I thought I had prepared myself for losing you. I felt like I did something wrong and I didn't understand why this happened to us. I cried almost every night for you for weeks once you were completely gone.

I still have all of the photos from the ultrasounds where we watched and hoped that you would appear in my belly, they are tucked away but I'll never forget what they look like. I had even bought you a security blankie, since we thought you were bigger when we first found out the day before Christmas Eve. I considered giving it to your big brother when I found out that you were gone, but I saved it and I am going to give it to the little brother or sister you will have. I hope they cherish it as much as I know you would have.

You would be a month and a half old today, if you had not left us. You were due to enter our lives September 8, 2010 but instead you left us on February 18, 2010. I hope you are looking upon us and know that I love you so much even though you can't be here with us. You may be lost, but you will never be forgotten.

Mommy will always love her little angel, Peanut.

19 Weeks, A Check Up and A Puzzle Pendant

One more week and I will be half-way through this pregnancy. I am 19 weeks today.

I had a check up this morning, I have gained 9.5 pounds total and the baby's heart rate is 148. The midwife took a minute or two to find it, but that was because she was trying on the wrong side and also the baby was moving like a maniac! Probably the orange juice I had this morning with breakfast.

I also found the perfect puzzle piece necklace to show my love and support for Dillon (as well as other Autistic children in the world). It is Opal, which is ironically Dillon's birth stone, and it is on a 36" sterling silver chain. It is $88, but with $5 shipping it came out to $93 total. It is more than worth it to me, it's such a beautiful piece. I ordered it this afternoon and I will even include a photo.

It is absolutely beautiful and I am really excited.

Headache, In My Eye?

Although I am fighting off a headache that is practically throbbing in my eye, I wanted to get a blog up tonight. We had another uneventful day. Dillon took a nap and after four days, I was able to take a nap myself. It was very refreshing, I was so tired, I slept about 2.5 hours, maybe a little more. Dillon slept about 3 or so hours himself.

We went to Target after dinner, I thought it would be nice to take him along since he didn't get out of the house today or yesterday. He was good and picked out two shirts for himself. One is Halloween and the other is just a colorful one. I saw a shirt that says "I don't have a mute button" and I absolutely had to buy it because that is so true for him!! I can't wait until he gets to wear it.

As we pulled into our culdesac, I thought I would check the mail. Our neighbor was checking his also and he had their son, Keanu with him. Keanu and Dillon are two peas in a pod, they love playing together and Keanu even can say part of Dillon's name! He's about a year and a half old, but they have fun together. Well Dillon got very upset when he had to say "bye bye" from his carseat in the backseat. It was just after 7:30 pm and Keanu was about to go to bed, besides Dillon goes to bed at 8:30 pm. So there was no way he could go play with Keanu tonight, boy he was not happy. He cried in the car, he cried walking into the house, he cried inside the house, holding onto me. I felt bad, he really really wanted to play with Keanu. Jeremy invited us to the beach tomorrow around 11 am, but that is just before Dillon's lunch time and his nap is at noon. So there's no way we could go that late in the morning. But I am hoping that they can play maybe in the evening or afternoon. I know his sister is arriving tonight for a visit...so we'll see I guess. Dillon and Keanu are just best buds, I love seeing how excited they get when they see each other and play!

Tomorrow I am 19 weeks, a week shy of half way. It's so weird, this pregnancy. I really don't feel like I am pregnant other than being more tired than usual and everything giving me heartburn. I feel kicks once in a while during the days, but they are not so distinct and can't be felt on the outside yet. I know they are kicks because it's the area where baby is and it's definitely not gas. I have an appointment tomorrow so hearing the heartbeat will be reassuring and my ultrasound is just under two weeks away. I've added another girl name to the small list I am making for when we find out the gender, if it happens to be a girl. Since we are not discussing names anymore until we know...I've been making a list so I don't forget the ones I like the most. There's only a couple of boy names that I like and I've already proposed one to Mr. He never said yes, but he didn't say no. So I hope we can use that name if it ends up being a boy. I just want to take Dillon shopping and have him help pick a few things out for his little brother or sister. Well...only if he cooperates of course. He's like his daddy, he doesn't like clothes shopping at all.

A Day Off

I realized this morning that I did not blog yesterday, which I had absolutely intended to. The morning was busy for us, running errands to the Commissary and I had to pick up a Money Gram that my aunt and uncle sent for Mr and I and also money for Dillon's birthday. I made tacos for Mr since he had work last night too. Also, yesterday afternoon I had a breakdown. I was feeling so defeated because Dillon fought another nap. Two hours it took for him to fall asleep...for the second day in a row. So that is three days now that I haven't been able to get a nap myself and I've been exhausted.

Instead of writing my paper that is due tonight, I decided to write here. It isn't due until 6 pm HT so I have more than enough time to get it done. I have something exciting I wanted to share and besides, who wants to write a boring paper anyway?

Mr and I both have membership accounts with Navy Federal Credit Union. Mine is from when I went into the military as well as his and we've just kept separate accounts. I have been meaning to count and roll Dillon's money from his piggy bank, which I finally got around to doing the other morning. Since the bank was closed yesterday, I called their customer service line today and asked what I would need to open him a savings account, in his name. The woman said I could actually do it all over the phone if I'd like and that was just wonderful news for me. The bank branch here is tiny and their parking lot is even smaller, so it's always busy and there is never anywhere to park. Not a place I prefer to go...I stick to atm, phone and internet transactions when possible. She then asked if I wanted to open him just a savings account or a membership. Perks of having a membership are that he can one day open a checking account as well as get loans and lines of credit once he is 18. I opted for the membership for him. We're going to get all of his new account information in the mail soon and I also ordered him an atm card so I can conduct deposits into his savings account at the atm instead of inside the bank branch. That will arrive soon as well. I am so excited! She said since he is a minor, I would need to be on the account as a secondary, but his name would be the primary name on the account...which I figured that much.

So once we recieve his atm card and pin and I call to activate it, I am going to deposit his money. But, now that I think of it, that just won't work out. I just realized that he has almost $100 in rolled coins and those cannot be deposited via the atm. Darn, I was hoping to avoid the bank, but I guess I can't this time. Oh well. Maybe I will run and deposit it today then, so it can start building interest today instead of in a week or so from now.

I am very happy with this, though. He has his own savings account, in which his name is on, and his money can build up interest and he can start building tenure with the credit union. I am excited for him, although he doesn't know or understand any of it yet. I just think it is great that my 3 year old son has his own bank membership and savings account. More parents should start out this early with their children's gift and piggy bank monies.