When Life gives you Lemons...........

So most of you know, that last year in June, my husband took a job in Everett, Wa. The plan was that it was only going to be a year or two, that's not reeeeaaaallllyyyy that long, so he was going to live out here and work and the boys and I were going to stay in Kansas. Well....that lasted about 6 weeks. We missed each other way to much. They boys missed him. He missed the boys. All around, we wanted our family to be together. So, we decided to make the "temporary" move to Washington.

On July 26, 2011 My boys and I set off across country with our dog, Duke, to join my husband in Washington.
It's been almost a year since we have been here and we have seen a lot of things, did a lot of things and met a lot of people that will become lifelong friends.  We have made so many memories and with the exception of Wrangler, Hunter and Trapper will forever have these memories of the time they spent here.  Do we miss home? YES. Do we want to be home? YES. Every trip home that is made to visit, makes it harder and harder to come back to Washington!

When it was recently brought to my attention that we are only out here for my husband to work because we "like" the money, I really had mixed emotions about it. I mean, yes, who doesn't like money??  And how many people honestly WORK at a job just because they love it so much.....? Most people WORK because the MONEY is what pays the bills, but, most importantly, SUPPORTS their family. The Money puts a roof over their childrens head and puts food in their bellys. Money also pays for school supplies, school field trips, school lunches, clothes, Dr, Dentist and Optometry visits and I could go on and on, but I'm sure you get my point.

It's a tough world out there and sometimes we have to do things that we may not want to do, simply to survive. Applying for jobs in our home state has been done. You then play the waiting game, and HOPE and PRAY that your resume looked impressive enough to get you an interview somewhere.  You can only do so much until you actually receive a job offer that is suitable for your family.  It's easy to point fingers and judge someones situation when you really have no idea what they are doing and what is going on.  

We have 3 boys and a baby girl on the way that our family and friends are missing out on their growing up. We KNOW this job situation out here is only temporary and we will once again be back in Kansas. Until then, Our Life in Washington can be viewed through photos, Skype and phone conversations. When these options are made available to YOU then it's up to YOU to make the effort to actually look at those photos, install Skype on your computer and see what we are up to out here in Washington.  It's not fair to say that we up and left everyone and everything just to go "make some money", when most people know how poor the job market is back home AND how bad we want to be home!!!

Again, you do what you have to do at that time until something else comes along.  Moving 1900 miles away was never in our plan, but we are making the most of it while we can.  Our children are enjoying it, learning new cultures at school, making new friends that they know when we make it back to Ks, they will have to leave these friends behind, but they are ok with that, because they say they don't know when they will get another opportunity like this.  Sometimes I wish that grown adults could see the world from a childs eyes. Then maybe they understand a situation and the good that comes out of it.  

So for now, we will continue our life in Washington, not missing a beat or an opportunity to go to the Ocean,    camp and fish up in the mountains, or drive to surrounding states and do some sight seeing there as well. Of course, we will miss everyone more and more with each passing day, but what gets us through this is KNOWING that we will be home again soon, and until then, we make the best of our time here!

31 Weeks...9 Weeks....63 Days..... 1,512 hours....

Whew......I am FINALLY into the single digits for the weeks remaining until I get to meet this little Baby Girl!!!!  

Today marks 31 weeks being pregnant........I have 9 weeks to go, or (as you can tell from the title) 63 days or 1, 512 hours!!!!  Hey, Who's counting!?!  

I had my last OB check on Monday, Baby Girls Heart rate was 152, a little lower than it has been, she must of been resting from her night time exercise routine of Baby Kung Fu. I am measuring right where I need to be. Baby Girl is still head down, but she is not engaged yet. Dr. Johnston seems to think that she is going to be a small baby.....hmmmm.....I wonder what she will weigh. She offered to do a weight sonogram closer to delivery to see how much she is "estimated" to be weighing, but I am going to pass. I think that since we already know the gender of the baby, the "estimated" weight and height should be a surprise! 

Dr. Johnston gave me the Ok to take a vacation in June to Ks. Of course, being 34 weeks pregnant, I have to take precautions as far as the traveling goes......lots of travel breaks to get my blood circulating, lots of water, which will mean lots of pee breaks....which will be lots of breaks to get my blood circulating.....I see a pattern here....... :) 

We will travel to Ks and then travel back around 38 weeks pregnant. That part does scare me a little bit...but hey, nothing like living on the wild side!?!?  Once I get back to Wa, Dr. will check me and see how far if any that I have dialated and then talk about an inducing. YES!!!!!!! 

So until then, I just keep doing what I am doing! Preparing this baby girl for the world as well as her Daddy!!! Our 3 boys are so excited they can't hardly stand it! I think this little missy is going to have not only her daddy wrapped around her finger, but also 3 boys too!!! We are all so excited to welcome Baby Girl to our family!!!!!! 

Until next time............

Baby Girl!! 

The Countdown is on.....

Soooo, here we are today, May 9, 2012 and I officially hit the 30 week mark!!  That means there are 10 weeks to go, or 70 days or 1,680 hours....that's a lot of numbers!!!!!! 


A lot has changed. I look like I swallowed a basketball already, I can't see my toes, I have increased our water bill tremendously by all my trips to the potty, I know what noises are being made at midnight, 2 am, 3 am and 5 am now due to the frequent night time potty trips. My appetite is HUGE now....and so is my Indigestion, but I keep eating only to have Spearmint Tums be my after meal dessert! With this little lady riding so high, breathing is a chore, I'm pretty sure I have internal bruising from all of her jabs at me, and I till have 10 weeks to go!!!!!!!!!!  I think she's going to be a feisty one!! 


My boys think it's super neat to see her moving around in my belly. I tell them that when I push on her, she is getting mad, so Trapper tells me to make her mad all the time, so he can feel her kick me!!!  Wrangler tells me that I need to "move" baby sister, so he can sit on my lap. Hunter keeps talking about when she will be 2 years old and doing the things that Wrangler is doing now. Trapper is making her "profiles" on all their Wii and Xbox games, so when she is able to play them, she will already have the things unlocked, so she can play the fun stuff!!!


As far as mommy and daddy go, I think we are still taking in the fact that we are going to have a girl. Everywhere we go, people see us, with our 3 boys, and they say..."oh, is the next one a girl"....so when we tell them "yes", we usually have to spend about 5 minutes talking to complete strangers about how our lives are going to completely change with a little girl in the picture....ummm, thanks, but YES, we know this!!!  We already know this because we have NOTHING girly and there is NOTHING girly about our family!!! I look at all of the toys our boys have, and they are 100% pure boy. Monster trucks, Tractors, Trains, Snakes, dinosaurs, dragons you name it, it's all boy...there is nothing girly at our house!!! 


So, as I sit here and think about what is going to happen in the next 10 weeks, and what all needs to be done, and all the preparation for this little girl, I start to panic a little bit!!! I have never been this unprepared or unorganized, I always have a plan put in place. But right now, I am just enjoying the little miracle growing inside of me. I know that things will fall in place, just like they usually do and there is nothing to worry about, other than how I am going to tie my shoes in the upcoming weeks!!!


Have a great week everyone!!