Who would have thought?

As I mentioned before, Ryan got his reenlistment bonus last Friday. Oh goodness, have we been spending money like crazy over the past few days! We had a list of all the stuff we wanted to do with the money and we have gotten most of it done so far. I've never had money like that before... money that I could just spend on fun stuff. I know they say that money doesn't buy happiness, but seriously ya'll, it really helps! It's been so fun to buy stuff that we've been needing/wanting. And until my glider gets here, the most exciting thing is my NEW VACUUM! Only a mom/housewife would say that but it's seriously true. My other vacuum was awful and heavy and hard to push and left everything smelling like dust. Yuck. My new one arrived today and Lord Almighty, it is fantastic. The thing seriously pushes itself. Which is much needed when you are 9 months pregnant and get tired just walking around. Not to mention is actually cleans well and has an allergen filter. I am having so much fun vacuuming my house. Who would have thought that those words would ever come out of my mouth?! LOVE IT!

36 weeks

Ohhhh.... it's that time again. I really can't believe that I'm 36 weeks. Although I feel like I've been pregnant forever, it really has gone by pretty fast. I very much remember when I first thought I might finally be pregnant and I just kept forcing myself to wait to take a prego test. The funny thing is, I took one the day I was supposed to start and it came back negative. AND it was one of those early response tests. Lame. Anyway, I really can't believe that was way back in September. 

This past week has been pretty good. Ryan officially reenlisted for 3 more years... which means a big, fat bonus check for us! So that has been fun. I finally bought a glider/ottoman combo for the nursery. It's back-ordered right now, but I can't wait for it to get here. We're slowly checking off some of the final things we need/want before Jax is here. Ryan is working on painting the living room so that it's not paint-y smelling with Jax in the house. I'm pretty exhausted all the time. If we do any significant amount of walking I get pooped really quickly. I just try to force myself to keep going... it's the end result that keeps me quasi-motivated! Jax moves around a lot, especially right after I get out of the shower. I hardly ever have to wait more than 20 minutes to get the 10 movements I need for the kick count every evening (ok, most evenings...). I had a doctor appointment on Tuesday and my doctor wanted to make sure his head is still down (which I know it is because ohhhh the pain!), so I got to see him on an ultrasound again. And once again, he flashed his boy parts with no shame! It makes me laugh every time. I am measuring perfectly and everything looks good. I go back in every week now until I have him.

Full term next week!!! Woo hoo!

Warning...

The following pictures may be scary to certain audiences!

Ok, I'm mostly joking... but in all reality, here's a serious look at what I'm carrying around everyday

The whole thing

Here's what I see

Full frontal... or something like that

I told you it's scary :)

The Graduates

Ryan graduated from 11 months of PSYOP training!

I graduated to VVPG... not quite as exciting

35 weeks

The final countdown ya'll! One month away! I'm full term in 1 wk+5 days and I'm due in 4 wks+5 days. That's only 4 more Sundays of going to church with just the two of us, 4 more American Idol cast-offs, 4 more doctor appointments (one a week!) and 4 more sleeping-in Saturdays. It's crazy to think that in reality, there could be even less of all those things. Yes, I know there could also be more of them, but we won't go into that. 

I know it's still a tad on the early side but I really feel like Jax is ready to be here. I've just had this hunch that he will come early. I don't know if I've convinced myself of that because I'm feeling HUGE or if it's really "mommy intuition". I don't exactly trust my "mommy intuition" because it told me that we were having a girl. So who knows? Plus, I really want my mama to be here when I have him and she's only coming 4 days before I'm due. I'm just getting really antsy. There isn't much else for us to do to prepare for his arrival... physically or mentally. We are just ready, ready, ready!

Oh... and here's a picture of Ryan in the dressing room at Motherhood Maternity. He's such a dork!

Some information

A few updates on life...

Ryan graduates tomorrow! He is officially done out-processing from school. He doesn't have to be at work until NOON tomorrow. Yay! He has a graduation ceremony tomorrow afternoon and then he's 100% PSYOP. I'm so proud :) As of now, he has an "in-between" unit for the next few weeks, then he gets leave after that. We are really hoping it works out for him to have leave right when I'm due. But looking at the timing, his last day of leave might end up being the exact day I'm due. So we'll see. He's going to try to work it out with his new unit. Who knows... maybe Jax will show up early and it'll be right in the middle of Ryan's time off. 

I have made some progress with what to do about school. I've spoken to University of Phoenix and had them evaluate my credits. I basically have two options. 1) Bachelor of Science in  Education-Elementary. Less than half of my credits will transfer, it will take me a little over 3 years to finish and it's not 100% online because of observation hours and student teaching. 2) Bachelor of Science-Psychology. About half of my credits will transfer, it will take me about 2 1/2 years and it's 100% online. The only downside is that it's rather expensive for both, but especially for the BS-P. Soooo... I really have no idea what to do. I've been praying about it, but so far nothing is clear.

Praises for Ryan and prayers for me... that's the latest and greatest in our lives. Hope ya'll are having a fabulous day!

Five pounds, nine ounces

No... Jax isn't here yet, but according to the estimate at my ultrasound, that's how big he is! That measurement can be off by up to 13 oz but the technician said that he is at least 5 lbs! And to think that there are babies born at 2 and 3 pounds. Weird! He's getting so big. He's measuring exactly how he should be, which is great. She got much better pictures of his spine and everything looks good. She did a little close up on his heart, which is pretty much the most amazing thing in the world to look at. He was also flashing his boy parts with NO SHAME. I'm gonna blame that on his daddy. His head is down, praise the Lord... Even though it's not the most comfy thing for VPG.  Let's pray he doesn't decided to do any crazy acrobatics and flip back around. No breech babies, please. So basically, the ultrasound was great and he is perfect... No surprises there :)

Happy Easter!

I thought I would celebrate this wonderful day by sharing some recent, super-cute pictures of Mojo. I know that it has nothing to do with Easter, but Jesus makes me happy and so does Mojo. See... there's a connection!

She loves laying in the middle of the porch in the sunshine

Napping with daddy... all sprawled out!

She found one sliver of sunshine on the edge of my chair

Hanging out, in the sun of course, under her brother's swing

On the window sill in front of my desk... she loves this spot!

I know I brag about my dog a lot, but she's seriously cute. Just wait until Jax is here... the pictures will never end :)

34 weeks

Ryan got home on Friday! Which means I finally got another picture of my big ol' tummy. I'm really counting down the days now. Only about 20 more until I'm full term and 40 more until my due date! YAAAAY! I'm getting so impatient and I can't believe he is going to be here so soon. I just keep trying to tell myself to enjoy these last few weeks of alone time/time with Ryan. Once Jax is here, our lives will be changed forever.

I went to the doctor this past week. Jax is measuring perfect and his heartbeat sounded great. I go back in 2 weeks, then every week after that. I scheduled all my appointments until I'm due and oooooh that was exciting! It makes it feel so real, so soon. Jax is about 5 lbs now (yowza) and about 19 inches. At this point, there can be such a big weight/height range so those are just averages of all babies. I have an ultrasound tomorrow and that will give us a better estimate of how big he actually is. I'm also curious to see how he's sitting. I think his head is down because I feel pressure and am pretty sore down there. So we'll see. I know these next weeks are going to fly by and before we know it, I'll be posting pictures of our new baby boy!

Let me just tell you...

...that I have proof there is a God. 

Yesterday I was feeling pretty low. Lately I've been feeling big and ugly and fat and all the not-so-fun stuff that comes with being VPG. So today I FORCED myself to go to a maternity fair that my delivery hospital was putting on. It had a bunch of information, free stuff and tours of the Labor/Delivery and Mother/Baby units. I was not thrilled to go by myself but I went anyway. While I was there, I had a random stranger tell me how beautiful I looked and that I was just the "prettiest pregnant person". I then ran into my doula and she said the same thing and on top of that, she said I was totally glowing! She also said it was because my husband isn't home, but that's neither here nor there :) To top the whole thing off, I was in my car getting ready to leave and I got a call saying that I had won a raffle drawing for a mommy pampering basket. I waddled my way back inside and picked that up. Fun stuff. God certainly knew how down I was feeling and he totally stepped in and made my day. How can you say there isn't someone looking out for us?!

In my good spirits, I decided that I needed a pedicure to top it all off and now I have semi-lovely toes to match my lovely day... too bad the pedicure lady did a crappy job!

33 weeks

So here's the deal.... Ryan isn't here to take my picture this week (sad), so you'll have to wait until next week to see me. But I will fill you in on how this past week has been. Up and down... that's the best way to describe it. Ryan left for the field on Tuesday morning, which is never any fun. I hate saying goodbye and even though it is only for ten days, I just keep thinking that this is how it's going to be when he deploys later this year. That makes me sad. I miss him a lot and it's only been 3 days. How did I get through 15 MONTHS??

Jax is doing well. I do my kick counts every evening after dinner and I love that time. It's fun to just sit, relax and feel him moving around. He is approximately 4 pounds and 19 inches. So big! Only 7 weeks left. I'm definitely feeling big and gross, but I can do it. I'm full term in 4 weeks so that makes me feel good. It's also nice to be able to say that I'm due NEXT MONTH. That's so soon! Woo hoo!