It is a BABY:)

I had an OB appointment today. I am 10 weeks 5 days and willing the end of this trimester to come. I loved the doctor I saw today. She was so nice and personable. She just had twins 12 weeks ago and has two older children as well. She took her time and answered all my questions and even gave me another ultrasound since the baby is too small to hear with the doppler yet. Everything looked great. It looks like a mix between an alien and gummy bear. Jacob is not referring to it as "the alien gummy bear" :) Poor kid names already. It was such a huge relief to see life. It almost makes feeling like hell almost all day everyday worth it. Note the "almost". The baby was measuring ahead about six days but because its under a week my due date of 11/19 will stay as is at least for now. She said just don't be surprised if I don't make it that far which I would be shocked as it is if I did since I have yet to see 40 weeks. Just crossing fingers, toes and everything else that Ian can make it back in time.

I wanted to share these last two pictures my friend Aliesha sent me. This is of all our kids together eating cake on Easter. They were too cute:) Then the last one is an adorable picture of Owen. I love that he finally is hamming it up for the camera.

Happy Easter!

Well, it has been quite the challenging week filled with me feeling absolutely horrible at times and then Owen getting a cold and Jacob getting a flu bug. But we made it. I made it through dying eggs and making some rice crispy treats with Owen yesterday. The Easter Bunny came and left goodies for the boys. Jacob and Nathan were most especially excited about their new XBox game. We missed church due to trying to make sure Jacob was not contagious but he kept everything down since last night so we went and had dinner with my friend Aleisha and her boys. Its nice to be able to get together while our daddies are together on the ship.

I am glad this is the only major holiday we have to do without Ian. We are almost done with our first row of stars on our countdown. Slowly but surely.....

Happy Easter!

Decorating Eggs






Owen painting (he LOVES doing crafts!!) and of course cooking with me


The Goods:)!

Only Ian's Son

Would love dog food and biscuits as much as Owen does. He literally will lay on the floor and eat out of Keira's bowl if I don't watch him. And dog biscuits...lets just say he would prefer that over food. Its so nasty! I blame it all on Ian:)

Beach Day!!

I think all in all today was a great day. It was long as Owen was up at 5:40 but after the Easter shindig we came home and he and I rested and then it was off to Coronado to the beach with our friends the McFarlanes' (whose daddy is on the ship with (Ian). It was 88 here at the house and just about 80 when we got to the beach. I LOVE that we can go to Coronado on base and not fight swarms of people. It was the perfect time as a lot of people were leaving. We found parking right away and had a great three hours playing. Owen is getting to the point where he really scares me. Once he is used to the water he wants to just GO. He is very much like Jacob in that way. They all had fun playing together and being goofy and Aleisha and I just enjoyed talking to another adult! I forsee many afternoons like today in our future over the next six months. I even got an email from Ian sitting on the beach. I can't begin to say how much I love my smartphone!:)

Dont' ask....this is how he walked up to me and how could I not take a picture for his father to see. yes he was doing a hula dance too.....







by the end the kids were pretty cold. Owen wanted to be wrapped all up so this is how he stumbled to the showers (well half way till I carried him:) He sure was hamming it up today. I have to crack up at his "cheese" face. I look back at pictures of me at that age and its TOTALLY how I was.

Operation Homefront Spring Event

I signed the kids up for Operation Homefront's Spring Event over a month ago thinking it would be a good thing for them to look forward to after Ian left. They really do a lot of neat things for Military Families (kids). They had crafts set up and the kids got to decorate cookies and then they had a drawing and we won a gift basket with all the stuff to make different dishes ie chili, muffins, soup with measuring cups, a dish towel etc. Plus we got some candy goodies and the kids each got a kite and a bag with treats (the best part was it was NOT candy it was crackers, fruit snacks etc). We had quite the loot once we came home. They even gave us a reusable bag with a nice towel in it. Perfect for Owen who needed a new beach towel.

Playing outside and waiting to go into the event.



Decorating cookies!! (or in Owen's case inhaling his)



Playing with the airplanes they got in their goodie bags.

The LOOT!

And one last picture because I thought it was hilarious. Owen wants to cook ALL the time. To the point of its annoying. This morning I decided to make the boys little cinnamon rolls using crescent rolls. I mixed butter and sugar and cinnamon and let him stir it and help spread it on the rolls. He thought he was the coolest kid on the block:) I could not resist taking a picture.

Our Countdown Wall

I was telling my sister Christina about our countdown and she was amazed I could fit so many stars on one thing so I told her I would take a picture and share it. As long as there are no delays there are enough stars for each and every day until Ian's return. The boys took down the first three tonight for today and the two days prior. Its nice to see a few down. It is a bit daunting to walk down the stairs and see all those darn stars staring back each time. BUT I know in a few weeks as we start to see them disappear it will be invigorating:) I think it will really help the kids too.

I also put up a world map so we can chart daddy's route and put some pictures up. If he emails more we will add them around the map. (hint hint Ian!)

Safe Sailing Daddy....We Love You

Let the countdown begin. Today is a bit of a sad day but we will get through it. We were up and down at the base early. They opened the ship to families from 7 to 8:30 and after Ian and I talked we decided it would be good for the boys to at least see where he will be sleeping and where he will be eating. So Ian took the boys on a tour and they even got to climb up in his rack which they thought was pretty darn cool. They were jealous of all the drinks in the galley:) They got to walk around a bit and then it was time to say goodbye. Owen just could not handle standing there or being held for hours until it was time to go and we felt it would be easier for him to walk us to the Van and say our goodbyes there. So that is what we did. I think I could have held on to him forever but we kept it very short and quick to try to keep emotions at bay. The boys and I headed to the commissary and did our shopping (I figured why not torture myself more:) and they got to pick out junk food and (yucky) luncheables for lunch and a movie and game from redbox. We are having a hang out day and I am hoping to feel well enough to clean a bit. I am trying to not let the pregnancy hormones get the best of me. Thankfully the Zofran the doctor put me on seems to help at least some. Some days are better than others. One of the last things I said to Ian before I let go was "next time you see me I will be fat and bloated probably 20 pounds heavier and I never in a million years thought I would WANT that but I really hope that is the case." We are just praying that they come back on time and I can waddle down the pier rather than hand him an already born new baby. No matter what happens though we will survive. The boys are doing okay. Jacob is angry at the world but it will get better. He is such a helper to me and I am thankful for him more everyday.

We are ending the day having pizza with friends whose daddy left today with ours and then Jacob has scouts. Hopefully it will pass quickly and we can take off our first star on the countdown.

We love you Ian and are going to miss you so much!! Here are a few pictures I took. I look like hell but hey thats about how I feel right now so it is fitting:)

Nathan in Daddy's Rack. Number 82 as they so excitedly told me.

The boys having their hot cocoa and donuts waiting for daddy to come get us to take us on board.


Ian and the boys. The facial expressions on Owen and Nathan especially are amusing.

Jacob was starting to get upset so I took his picture to distract him:)

Owen sharing his donut with daddy before getting in the car to leave:(

Jacob

I had meant to take so many more pictures of Jacob and our family at his baptism but just was not feeling well and did not get around to doing what I wanted. So, on Sunday when he wore his suit again to church I made him stop outside before going in the house to change so I could get a couple of him. He is so adorable. A little man for sure. He even has tie "bling" (a tie clip) that has the emblem CTR on it (stands for Choose The Right). He told me a while back he really wanted one so we got him one for his baptism. Nathan is back at school as of this week but Jacob is off for another three weeks. Poor kid. Stuck here at home with a mom who is not feeling all that hot and a 2 year old stubborn little boy:) He is my big helper though and I appreciate every minute of it. Oh and he got some new glasses too. :) He is looking pretty sharp these days.

Family Picture!

I had not really planned on doing family pictures until Ian returned in the fall but as I thought about it more I decided we needed a new one of the five of us before he goes. So today we were off to the mall and just went to Picture People with the hopes of getting one good family shot and a picture of the boys. Well, we got a few cute family ones but Owen was not really wanting ANYTHING to do with it (which we figured would be the case). He flat out refused to take a picture with Jacob and Nathan without daddy there so I just decided why not get a picture of Ian and his boys. So that is what we did. The scanner was being a pain so I finally just took a picture of the pictures so it really does not do the quality of the pictures justice but I love that even Owen is smiling. I am proud of my little family. There are of course everyday challenges but I can't imagine my life with out all my "men" and I love seeing how much the boys change day by day.

Ian will be gone very very soon. It is starting to sink in especially as I watch him fill his sea bag. This deployment is going to be overly tough for many reasons but I know we will be fine. There is huge relief as we hear tonight that we will actually get a full pay check this week. For now that is one stressor off my shoulders. It is starting to sink in for the boys though as well as both Jacob and Nathan are becoming quite emotional and Nathan actually climbed in Ian's lap and cried tonight. All we can do is communicate with them and try to ease them into it as best as we can. Its going to be a long 7 months! God is good though and I know he will get us through it.