Our little Bean at 8 weeks

Hiding his face with his hands, 14 weeks

Incontrovertible proof that Baby is a boy! - 14 weeks

Sucking his thumb, 24 weeks

His little feeties! 25 weeks

Arm up by his head, 25 weeks

28 weeks - This one looks a bit creepy, sorry about that. It's because his face was smushed up next to the placenta, apparently. This is actually the least creepy face picture from today. You're welcome.

This is long, sorry about that.. But I've been wanting to get it off my chest for a while, so here goes!

When we were looking for a rental home in Hawaii, we were thrilled to meet our current landlady and landlord. They seemed like (and truthfully, are) wonderful people, with wonderful Christian attitudes. They made us feel like we would basically be welcomed into their family if we were living in the top part of the house. I was willing to look past a few little things because I wanted to find a home quickly, and these people just seemed so darn nice!

Well, here we are, 9 months later, and I have a different attitude. Yes, my landlady and her husband are very nice people, and obviously they are also very good Christians, but had I known about the little quirks that come with living here, I would have opted out.  There seriously needs to be a Yelp for rental homes! Couldn't someone who lived here before us just have given a little review? Let me know some of the things I'm about to tell you..?  Isn't that possible?

Psst.. If you would like to see some of the things I'm bitching about, please refer to the blog I wrote when I still had happy stars in my eyes over this house:  Our New Home, Sweet Home

First of all, the idea that having a closet for a laundry room was acceptable because the kitchen was so wonderful.. Where the hiz-ell did that come from, Emily?? Know what's NOT fun? Banging your head on the dryer door almost every single time you transfer clothes in and out of it. And it's not like I'm just an idiot.. the friggin door never stops moving! Even if I push it all the way back, and hold it there for a few seconds, the damn thing has swung back into my head space the instant I bend into the washer. I HATE my laundry closet.

Secondly, why did I think it would be ok to have to park on the street when we a) have a baby, and b) live in the rainiest area of the island? Why?? The land-couple have the garage and driveway, you see.. so we are forced onto the street. Which, really, wasn't *that* big of a deal.. until we realized how often they have company, and that their company also parks on the street in front of the house.. in "our" spots! Wouldn't it be considerate to tell your visitors that your tenants park there, and that maybe said visitors can park further up the street, or on the opposite side?

As if that wasn't enough, we have recently realized that the land-couple's adult daughter, her husband, and their infant seem to have moved in. I think that's the only logical explanation for the fact that her Corolla has been either blocking my mail box, or flat out IN MY SPOT for the past 3 weeks. I'm starting to get really angry about it, but of course I can't say anything.

Also, I find it extremely inconsiderate that the land-family's dog poops in my match box sized front yard every morning, and landlady never cleans it up. I mean.. I get that it's her house, too. But they have the entire back yard! While most people on the street walk their dogs and have little baggies for their doggy doody, landlady just opens up the garage door and lets Hoku out to poop in the front yard.. or on the sidewalk I have to traverse to get to my car on the street. Sigh.

And here is my kicker, but I warn you.. it's quite a story.

When we were about to leave for Thanksgiving vacation, we let land-couple know that we would be gone for 3 weeks. They were actually relieved, because they told us they needed to do a little work on the house, and it would be easier if we were gone. They explained that they were having the house appraised, and they would need to prove that it was a single residence, not two separate homes. So, where there was currently a wall at the top of a landing that created the separation between our floors, they would need to put in a door or tear the wall down all together. Since we would be gone anyway, they would just come in, do it, have the appraisal, and then build the wall back afterward. No problem, right?

We got home from vacation, and the first thing I noticed was that my cute little Martha Stewart kitchen rug was outside on the front steps, in the rain.

Um? Pardon?

Then, upon reaching the front door, I saw that my huge foyer rug was now the outdoor welcome mat.

Huh??

We opened up the front door, and saw where the outdoor welcome mat had become the foyer rug.

Well, that makes sense..

Not a single rug was in it's original location, my living room was completely re-arranged, and items were simply MISSING from my kitchen! Seriously, it took me 2 days to find my large chopping block that normally lives on my island, nearly a week to find my stove top covers.

Landlady told us that upon tearing down the wall, there was a ton of dust, so they had to clean up after themselves. Ok.. so why are my rugs still outside??  Then later, when I still hadn't found my broom or Swiffer, she laughed and said that her elderly mother had been helping her clean, and her mother must have thought those items belonged to her. Ok, fine... blame your elderly mother. So my Swiffer showed up on my front step 2 days later, but my broom was still nowhere to be found. Jason stole her's from the garage, and we've been using it ever since.

Katie Beth is a walking, talking little Lady About Town. She never stops, and quite honestly, I think it's the cutest thing ever. I've never seen such energy before! I see pictures of my friends' babies cuddling with them for story time, or even sitting down to watch a movie.. Nope. Not KB. The only time she stops is when she's tired, and then it's nap time, not cuddle with Mommy time.

I do get cuddles in the morning, and it's probably my favorite time of day. She wakes up, I change her diaper, and then we head into Mommy and Daddy's room. We climb back in the bed and cover up, and she cuddles with me for about five minutes before play time begins. It's so cute, though. She'll point to my eyes, ears, nose and mouth, and call them by name. She babbles on and on, telling me, I assume, about her dreams from the night before, and if George (her giraffe) was a good sleeping buddy. Then, about 10 minutes into our cuddle time, she announces "Berries!" which means it's time for breakfast.

Ah, berries. I have purchased more plastic containers of blueberries in the three weeks that we've been home than I have ever seen in my entire life. I'm positive she's been through a gallon of them in the past three weeks. She wants them at every single meal, and as snacks. In fact, there was a period of about two days where blueberries were all she would eat, but I blame that on teething. She even has to have them when we are in the grocery store, which I feel awful about. If we pass through the produce section, she somehow spots them immediately and starts yelling "Berries! Berries!" So inevitably, I break down and pick up a container to let her munch on them while I shop. I know that's bad.. I know they need to be washed. But it's either that or have a screaming child in the commissary. I can deal with a screaming child on my own, but I don't want to subject every other shopper to her lungs. Maybe I should pack some berries before we shop.. Why didn't I think about that before?

So, about those lungs of her's... Holy moly. I didn't realize that the "terrible two's" started so early. We're only at 15 months, people! She just turned 1! But folks, this little girl knows what she wants, when she wants it, and she thinks she knows how to get it.

Yes, I have a screaming toddler. In fact, I have a toddler who, about 2 weeks ago, screamed so hard and with such force, that she gave herself a nose bleed. Yep. I have a toddler who screams until she doesn't have air left in her lungs, then forgets to inhale, and passes out. She's done that a grand total of 5 times now. Last week she did it twice in one day. Thank Heavens, every time she has done that, she's either been in mine or Jason's arms, or lying on the floor. I would hate for her to give herself a concussion on top of it.

I brought this up with the pediatrician, and he says it's totally normal, and just a part of her temperament. He also said that she would probably outgrow it, especially if I don't give in to her demands when she's throwing such a tantrum. I *never* give in, by the way. I will NOT have a child who demands things, and then gets them. The battle of wills is starting early in my house, and so far it's Mommy 5, KB 0. I just hope I can hold out after Baby G arrives.

Now that I'm a good 2 weeks removed from being home in November, I can't think of anything to write. We had a truly wonderful time! By far my favorite part was getting to see Katie Beth bond with her extended family members. For instance, at first she was a little wary of her Papa, Jason's dad.  But by the time we left two weeks later, she was all about giving him hugs and kisses.

She learned how to ride a horsey while we were in Tennessee!

Our niece Shelby was definitely Katie's favorite family member. Shelby is 3, and is a wonderful older cousin! She played with Katie, shared with her, talked to her.. it was so sweet! Katie wanted to be where Shelby was at all times. She smothered Shelby with kisses, gave her big hugs.. and the sweetest thing ever.. Shelby got scolded for something and she cried. KB climbed close to her and wiped her tears away! I'm telling you, Katie Beth LOVED Shelby! That makes me so happy because I know that a girl's cousins are her very first best friends. I am so looking forward to the day that KB and Shelby are telling secrets in their bedrooms, or giggling about boys.

Shelby and Katie Beth - Cousin love!

KB's second favorite person wasn't a person at all. In fact, it wasn't even *one* of anything. If there was a dog around, KB was a happy girl. In fact, there were times where she wouldn't even say the name of the person we were with, but she would learn the dog's name in a matter of minutes. She never said Papa, Pop, Mimi, Mammaw or Pappaw.. but she did say versions of the names Hannah, Ally, Luther, and Lacey. We seriously have to get this kid a dog soon.

Getting reacquainted with Lu-Lu (Luther)

Roxie coming in for kisses

Getting love from A-La-La (Ally)

Getting totally ignored by An-Na (Hannah)

First, I must tell of our debacle trying to get to Tennessee, and why I will *never* fly through San Francisco again, if I have the choice.

We were scheduled to leave San Diego on Friday afternoon. We were flying into St. Louis, but had a small layover, just 40 minutes, in San Francisco. We got all loaded up on the plane, and started taxiing out for take off. That is, until the Captain came over the intercom and told us that there was a weather delay in San Francisco, and we weren't being allowed to leave. In fact, this weather delay was a TWO HOUR delay, so they were sending us back to the terminal.

We were so freaked out because we only had a 40 minute layover to begin with, and now it looked like we were going to miss our flight to St. Louis all together. We lined up with all 798 other passengers (or so it seemed) to try and figure out what we were going to do about our flight. About 45 minutes into waiting, we heard one of the attendants announce that the St. Louis flight was greatly delayed also, and that we would definitely make it. Well, we did, because he was right. Our flight to St. Louis was delayed an additional 2 hours out of San Francisco because of the weather. Apparently, SF has a very small flight line, but they schedule 2 flights to land and take off at a time on Fridays. This is fine except for Fridays where the weather is even the slightest bit windy, or rainy, or whatever, and then only one can go of the scheduled two. Soooooo, pretty much every flight on the West Coast is delayed if San Francisco has crappy weather. Awesome.

Flying with a toddler is not a good time, in case you were curious. Flying with one who has been awake since 7 am, with few chances at a nap, is even worse. There's just not enough Yo Gabba Gabba in the world to occupy her. She did have a really good time in the SF airport, though.  You see, Katie Beth has a new obsession with dogs, which I briefly mentioned in my last blog. I don't really know why, considering we haven't had a dog since before she was born. But seriously, she adores them. Anyway, we were hanging out in the terminal, when she started pointing behind me and declaring "Daw! Daw!" I turned around numerous times expecting to see a service dog or something, and there just wasn't one there. Katie Beth, however, INSISTED that there was a dog. After about 5 minutes of this, I realized what she was pointing at.... A lady behind us was wearing a fur-lined jacket. I love my kid :)

Oh my goodness, it's been so long since I last wrote. I plan on getting back to the 10 Day You Challenge just as soon as I have 10 days to devote. Our past month has been a whirlwind, and it was wonderful! We got to see our friends, our family, and most importantly to Katie Beth, our pets! Kidding about that last part.. Katie Beth made some serious bonds with her grandparents and great grandparents over the last month, and that is what I'm most grateful for.  So I'm going to chronicle our trip here, and I hope you don't mind. I won't do it all at one time, I promise :)

KB enjoying a little Yo Gabba Gabba on the flight

The first leg of our trip was in San Diego. Honey was asked to attend a Submariner conference - TANG: Tactical Advancements for the Next Generation. All I know is that he had a great time, made some awesome business connections, and was able to voice some ideas for the advancement of the submarine force.

While he was busy doing all that, KB and I explored the city. Oh. My. Gosh. I LOVED San Diego! Ever since we've been married, I've told Honey that I don't want to live on the West Coast.. I just don't feel like I'm a West Coast type of girl. And I'm still not, but San Diego could really change my mind. There was so much to do, the weather was perfect, and the city is so baby and pet friendly. There were dogs (on leashes, being properly cared for) everywhere! And all of their owners were nice enough to let my toddler squeal and pet them.

One of the dogs that KB fell in love with upon first sight. This was a such a sweet bull dog!

As for the baby friendly thing, oh wow! San Diegans love babies! Everywhere we went, men and women spoke to KB, commented on her, and made me feel like I have the world's most precious baby. (Which, obviously, I do..)  I loved that there is a Children's Museum that gets amazing reviews. We didn't go because I think KB was still just a little young to appreciate it. If she had been even 6 months younger, we would have gone and stayed all day.

Loving the giraffe on the carousel at Sea Port Village

Another high point for us was Sea World. Since we went during November, it was incredibly slow. We didn't feel over crowded, which was awesome. We got to see some pretty cute penguins, and KB was entranced. The Shamu show was a lot of fun, but not quite as exciting as I think they used to be since the trainers no longer get in the water with the orcas.

OMGoodness!  PENGUINS!!

Big squeals for Shamu and friends

The coolest part of Sea World was that it was FREE. Yep, free. Sea World, Busch Gardens, and a few other places take part in the Heroes Salute program, which allows service members and 3 dependents to attend one of the parks for free once a year. For more information, go here : http://www.herosalute.com/

Since Jason and I are such foodies, we loved the restaurant scene in San Diego. We were excited about *real* Mexican food, which you just can't get in Hawaii. We ate at some other great places too, like the Broken Yolk Cafe, Nicky Rotten's, and this hole in the wall pizza joint called Gaslamp Pizza. All of it was great stuff!

Loving the Mexican!

We had an amazing time in San Diego. I was so happy to wear jackets and jeans and not sweat in November, but to still have a great view of some ocean. So, from here on out, San Diego will be duly considered for future duty stations.

I'm not going to list my obvious loves, like Jason, KB, our family and friends..  I'm going to go for the off the wall random things that I adore.  So, in no particular order:


1.  Peanut butter. I'm pretty sure it deserves it's own food group.


2.  Hearing the birds outside my window every morning.. and afternoon.. and night.  That's probably my favorite thing about living in Hawaii.


3.  Grocery shopping. Weird, huh?


4.  Chanel perfumes, even the ones that I would never wear. Some remind me of my mom, and some just make me happy when I smell them.


5.  Vera Bradley bags. Paisley prints make me so very happy!


6.  Feeling Baby G kick me in the belly button.


7.  The smell that wafts through my living room after it rains.


8.  Painting my toe nails, but not my finger nails.


9.  Seeing the ocean every day.


10.  Baked sweet potatoes

I've been looking for a reason to write, and I can't seem to think of anything. I think that's probably because my brain is SO full of things, I don't know where to start. Mrs. Duh is doing the same over on her page, and I thought it sounded like fun. So here we go!




Day One - Ten Secrets

1.  I can't sleep with doors open.  At least I used to not be able to. Jason broke me of having to have the closet doors closed, but the bedroom door is still a problem.

2.  Speaking of sleeping, which happens at night...  when I go to the bathroom and then come back to bed, I have to resist the urge to jump the last foot to the bed. I'm still scared that something is going to grab me from under the bed.

3.  I like teen fiction novels far more than I like adult ones.

4.  I've had my favorite pair of sweat pants since I was 18. The holes make them more comfy!

5.  I can't watch scary movies, and if I watch something on tv about ghosts, I don't sleep well that night.

6.  I once went without shaving my legs for 2 months, at which point my Dad told me I was disgusting and made me go shave. Hey, it was winter time, and I was only 14.. nobody was touching my legs!

7.  I can't stand to see a chair rock with nobody in it, like when someone stands up and it keeps rocking. My aunt once told me that it would rock someone's life away, and I can't get that out of my head! I always make sure the chair is still after I stand up.

8.  I love the middle name I've chosen for Garret because it sounds so good all together, but every time I say it, I think of a boy I *hated* in high school.

9.  I didn't crave sweets in this pregnancy until after I got diagnosed with GD. Then again, this was around the same time as Halloween, so the huge bag of snack sized candy bars in my kitchen may have something to do with it.

10.  I'm obsessively checking the Pers42 website, Facebook and Twitter feeds to see if they have made any announcements regarding DH's slate. I'm ready to know!!

I feel like I complain on here a lot, and I feel badly about that. I'm really not this much of a complainer, usually. This is my place to vent and complain, however, so that's probably why.

Days like today, though, remind me of why I'm so happy (in general). Today was such a good day, and nothing spectacular happened.

I went to the Sub Officer's Spouses Assoc. meeting this morning, which was fun. It's probably only fun to me because I get to be around women with whom I have at least a little bit in common. That's rare, so it's always nice.

Then I had lunch with a great friend, and got to have more friend/grown up time. It's even better because KB loves her so much!

I met KB's new sitter today, which was one of the highlights. She's not too expensive, and I think she'll be great for KB. She's actually keeping her tomorrow morning so I can go to the stupid GD clinic and get trained on how to prick my fingers. (Blah)

Then we came home and met the cable guy, who fixed our cable problems! He made the channels that weren't working, work! Magic! And he made our enhanced features that weren't working, work too! More magic!

Then, the absolute highlight of my entire day:

KB was playing on the floor. She looked up and smiled at me, then she crawled over, kissed my knee (the closest part of my body she could reach) and then crawled back over to play. It was the sweetest thing that's happened to me in a long time, and that says a lot when I have KB as a little girl. She's always offering up hugs and kisses and giggles, and they remind me why I love being a mommy so much.

All of these great things took place on my Honey's birthday, but he wasn't with us today since he had duty :(  We've already done his birthday dinner, but I think I'm going to make him something delicious tomorrow anyway. Maybe a cheesecake? I've never made one before, so hopefully he'll be forgiving if it doesn't turn out well.  I also plan to let him sleep through the wake ups tomorrow night, because I'm the best wife ever!

I'm going to get my little rant over with at the beginning, so here goes.

I have Gestational Diabetes, and I'm pissed off about it. I'm mad that my body (apparently) doesn't handle pregnancy well. I'm angry that I have to do this diet or risk having a huge jaundiced baby. And lastly, I'm REALLY mad that my chances of having Type 2 Diabetes later in life are greatly increased.  Pissed, I tell you!

There is good news here, being that I don't crave sweets this time nearly as often as I did with KB. I know I can do the diet, I'm just not happy about it.  The other good news is that once I start the diet on Friday, I will most likely lose weight, or at least not gain much more. I'm at a grand total of 5 pounds gained now, so maybe I'll just stay around there.

Now on to the real good news!

We saw KB's dietitian last week, and she made me feel so much better about my tiny girl. She was very impressed with the variety of foods that KB will eat, and even how much of some foods she will eat. She said to keep doing what we're doing, which is a lot of cheese, butter and avocado. She helped me with the balance issue by telling me to pretty much give KB what we eat, with a side of something fattening. Ahh, that makes more sense!  She was also very impressed with KB's development. She gushed over how well she stands, especially for as small as she is. KB got really talkative after we'd been there a while, and the dietitian was really impressed with her vocabulary, too. So yay for my awesome, tiny little thing!

More good news!

We had another ultrasound on Monday, and the tech saw that we have a big, healthy boy in there. And when I say big, I mean big. She measured his femur and she said, "Oh wow.. Really??  Well, I guess Dad is tall, too." She said he's going to be very tall, and he's already in the 76th percentile on height for his gestational age. I was glad to hear that he's a big boy after what we went through with KB.

After the ultrasound I met my new specialist. He's a Maternal Fetal Internist, to be exact. (I'd never even heard of that until I scheduled my appointment with him.)  He was so friendly, joking with me the whole time. He was also happy with how much I know about what my body went through with KB. I laughed, thinking "Yes, I'm obsessive and did my homework." He was happy that I've been taking baby aspirin since 8 weeks, and recommended that I take it until just a few weeks before delivery. We went over symptoms and he said he thinks I have about a 70% chance of not having issues this time.

Overall, I have a good feeling about the pregnancy, despite the GD.

I guess I should be thankful, because, if nothing else.. the GD adds 3 more people who are monitoring me and Baby G.  As of right now I have an Obstetrician, an Internist, a Dietitian, a Nurse Practitioner, and a Perinatologist.  I'll meet the Dietitian and NP on Friday when I go for a class on GD. Then I'll meet the Perinatologist on the 4th. I don't even know what a Perinatologist does, other than I know he'll be monitoring me and G to make sure I have the healthiest pregnancy possible.

1. A word that always makes me laugh is doo-doo. I'm embarrassed just writing that, and I'm sorry for being crude. But every single time I hear that word, I think of one of my brothers saying it when he was about 6, and it makes me laugh so hard.

2. If you looked in my refrigerator right now, the oldest thing you'd find is a container of low-fat cream cheese that's been in there for probably 4 months. I was on a health kick before we left for the mainland, and before I found out I was pregnant. When we got back from visiting family, we got hardcore into giving KB high fat items, so that cream cheese just hasn't been touched since then. I also sort of fell off my healthy wagon.

3.  If I were written about in the newspaper today, on the front page, the headline would say "Pregnant woman finds out she has gestational diabetes and crawls into a hole for three days" --  Seriously, I just don't even feel like talking about it. I even had a blog all planned, but I figure I'll wait until I'm a little less bitter to write it.

4. The last movie I saw was 50/50. At least I tried to see 50/50.. Jason and I were both so tired that we only made it about 30 minutes in before we left.

5. The best thing that happened to me in the last few weeks was ----  finding out that we are having a baby boy!

• It isn't just about abortion, folks. If this law was only about abortion, and had no unintended consequences, I'd be all for it. In fact, if there was a bill up for vote that strictly said "Abortion should be banned in all cases except those where the mother's life is in danger." I'd vote yes in a heartbeat. Banning abortion, however, is not the only thing Proposition 26 could do.

• Proposition 26 could make it illegal to purchase the Day After Pill, which is not an abortion pill. The Day After Pill prevents implantation. While I don't agree with people using it as a form of birth control, I could see where it could come in handy, such as in cases of rape.

• Proposition 26 could make women who smoke and drink during their pregnancies, and then happen to have a miscarriage, criminals.

• Proposition 26 could outlaw some other forms of contraception, such as IUD's.  HELLO?! Mississippi has an incredibly high teenage pregnancy rate. We definitely don't need to outlaw any forms of contraception.

• Proposition 26 could outlaw certain types of genetic research and manipulation.

• Proposition 26 could make a doctor a criminal if he were to end a pregnancy or deliver a baby when the mother's life is in danger. There are situations where the baby's life may be at risk if he/she is delivered at that time, but the mother's life is most definitely at risk. For instance, pre-eclampsia, toxemia and you got it: HELLP Syndrome.