39 weeks

haha, look at all the little stretched out flowers. My poor shirt. 

So we've arrived at 39 weeks. Mom and sister will be here tomorrow so Baby E can come any time.
Part of me just wants her to come this weekend. But part of me wants her to wait. She can wait until Sunday and steal Renji's birthday on the 2nd, a few days later is my dads birthday, the 7th (her due date) is Pearl Harbor day. But I would really like to have her on or before her due date.

I am so full of baby. I feel huge and tired all the time. My sciatic hurts after one trip up the stairs with the laundry. My pregnancy symptoms are normal, sciatic pain, minor cramping, BH contractions. Not much as far as cravings.. well I really want sonic now that I think about it, but I am not driving an hour and a half just for a cheeseburger, a juicy delicious cheeseburger, with jalapeños and mayo and cheese, and tater tots, and a cherry doctor pepper and... no not driving an hour and a half just for that....
I have been wearing my glasses lately, remember them? well I wore them for most of the spring and a little in the summer, then they got annoying because I couldn't really tell a difference with out without them. Well the last month or so I've noticed I can't read the DirecTV menu very well, it was blurry, and then it got to where the actual TV shows seemed a little fuzzy. Then it started to effect my interneting. So I dug them out of my glove box and now I wear them about 60% of the time I am home. I don't wear them out of the house though. I don't feel I need them to grocery shop or eat, and those are the only two things I leave the house for nowadays.

I had really put off baby prep because I thought we would be moving very soon, but it's looking like we could move next week, or maybe next month (January), and with it being highly likely she'll arrive before we move, or even have orders, I need to do a few things. Like I need to move her stuff into my room. She cannot live in the living room, where all of her stuff currently resides. But that means I need to clean my room. haha, I sound like a teenager. But really, I have laundry (mostly clean) all over the floor and I need to get that cleaned up. We have everything we need, but I was just going to wing it. I still will have to but I'll be making it up as I go along here, instead of wherever we end up living.

I also need to box up the stuff we aren't going to need right away, like the cutsy decorations, and clothing 3mos and up. All of which is also currently in my living room. I have a few things I need to order still, baby monitor, sheets for the pack n play, the sheets are all I really need, because she'll be sleeping in the pack n play and her rocking bed thing until we move. and I need to sew the changing pad covers, even though we won't be using the changing pad until we set up her room, I'll just change her on the pack and play, or wherever I am sitting when she potties. But I think I'm as ready as I can be.

- Alana

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( I would like to acknowledge  that little meltdown yesterday, Pregnancy has really messed with my emotions and sometimes you just need to let it out. I wont take it down, because it's still all true, but had I been in a normal state of mind I would have kept that to myself.) 

Recruiting Duty

Recruiting Duty is hard on families. That's no lie. But I can deal with the long hours, the stress, the cranky husband. But we have had to deal with more bullshit in the last two years than the entire 7 years we have been together. 11 months left and we are back to the fleet. I really don't think I can take much more.
We may be about to loose another house because we are still waiting on orders. Paul has been commuting over 150 miles a day for over a month. He has very well likely spent more on gas than it would cost to just move us. I have a feeling we'll be here until christmas. I know I wouldn't care as much if I weren't going to have a baby any day now. I feel so out of control. There is nothing I can do, nothing. No one I can call and complain to, no one I can cry to, well not anyone that can make any matter.
I worry about him commuting in bad weather, the roads suck when it snows, and we live in the great white north. Yeah he can just stay down there, which he will when the roads are really bad. But I don't want to be all alone up here with a new baby. I want him to be here with us. I don't want him to have to get up at 3 am every day just to go to work. I don't like when he goes to bed at 8pm because he has to be up at 3.
Early Nov we were told around the 15th, then we were told any day, last week we were told by the end of the month, today no one can give us an answer.
I just want this to be over with. I want to have a new home. I just want to be past this shit already. I don't want Paul to miss a moment of being a dad.

- Alana

5 for Five!

So I am linking up for the first time with Jessica at Fantastically Average for her 5 for Five

It's supposed to be done on Mondays but I do what I want :)  

The concept is fairly simple: 

1. Set five goals that you want to accomplish over the next five days of the work-week.  
2. Share your goals with all of Blogland.
3. Power through that list during the week.
4. Come back the next week to share you how did.
5. Set some more goals for yourself, and repeat!

So here is my to-do list: 

1.  Not have a baby.

2.  Get all the laundry done and put away, all of it.

3.  Start packing, maybe get at least the old computer room packed up. 

4.  Get all the baby stuff out of the living room. 

5.  Carseat in the car. 

- Alana

Winding Down

Things are winding down in this pregnancy. We are nearing the end. My due date is in 11 days, but my doctor is going to strip my membranes in 7.
I am ready. Well, physically. I am ready to have my body back. I am ready to lay on my side without my hands going numb. I am ready to pee without great difficulty cleaning up, and to pee less than once an hour. I am ready to bend down to get the dog bowls for dinner and be able to not worry if I will topple over. I am ready to go up and down the stairs and not be out of breath. I am ready to walk anywhere and not feel like my lady bits are about to fall out.
I am not sure if I am ready as in I have everything I will need. But I have a car seat, so I can take her home from the hospital, I have clothes to put her in, and blankets to wrap her in, and I have diapers for her to poop in. I have somewhere for her to sleep. I even have books to read to her, and pacifiers for her to suckle on, if she wants them.
There's just one thing, and everyone keeps telling me its normal. But it still doesn't feel real yet. It hasn't sunk in that in about 2 weeks or less I am going to have a baby. A real live baby is going to come out of my body and come home with me. Maybe it's because I can't see her, even yet. It's not like adopting a puppy where you go and look at it, and pick it out, and bring it home. No, I just have this weird feeling in my stomach, and I have expanded quite a bit over the last 9 months, and the thing inside me is about to come out. I've been told that this feeling can stick around for a bit, even after she is born, even after I take her home it may take a few weeks for it to hit me that she is mine, and she isn't going anywhere.
I've just about finished washing her stuff. Now we just need a home to put it in. Hopefully that'll be next week. My mom and sister get here Saturday, so she can make her appearance any time after that. In my head I am thinking she'll be a few days early. Maybe Monday or Tuesday. I would like to have her while we are still living in Helena, It'll just make things easier if I don't have to drive an hour to get to the hospital, especially since the weather is very sketchy this time of year, and we have a mountain pass to drive through.

I hope the next week goes quickly and uneventfully and the following week we welcome our happy, healthy, precious little peanut into this world.

- Alana

Sunday Social

1. Name 4 jobs you've had in your life. Lifeguard, Retail (cashier & manager), cookware demonstrator, receptionist    2. Name 4 movies you would watch over and over. The Sweetest Thing, Indiana Jones ...(any),  Knocked Up, LOTR

3. Name 4 places you have lived. Tucson, Az; Chicopee, Ma; Okinawa, JP; Helena, Mt   4. Name 4 of your favorite foods. Mac & Cheese, Enchiladas, Cheeseburgers, Margaritas   5. Name 4 things you always carry with you. iPhone, Mil ID, chapstick, some form of plastic money

6. Name 4 places you have been on vacation. Disneyland (when I was like 10), Pinetop, Az (many many times), Bryce Canyon, Ut; Okinawa Japan (I know I lived there, but it was like a 3 year vacation!)

- Alana

Happy Anniversary

I cant find the digital copies of the good pictures, and I'm too pregnant and lazy to scan the ones I have printed out, so this is what you get. 

6 years ago, On November 23rd, Thanksgiving day, I married that guy. 

Every day of the last six years has been an adventure. 

I am so grateful that I found such a great, caring, understanding man, to put up with my shit. 

I'm not good at mushy sappy words, so I'll just leave it at that. 

- Alana

37 weeks (& 4 days) update

Holy Frijoles I am 3 weeks away from having a baby. That ish is bananas. B.A.N.A.N.A.S.

Today is one of the first days in a while I have felt pretty. So I savored it and ran all kinds of errands I was saving for tomorrow, because who knows, Tomorrow I may look like shit again.

How far along? 37 w 4 d

Size of baby? Watermelon (19-22 inch 6.5-7 pounds)

Weight gain? Hanging tough at just around 30, not bad I guess. Still under 200 which is my goal. 

Sleep?  not so much, I pee about 300 times a night so sleep sucks.

Best Moment of the Week? I ordered my car seat, that's pretty darn exciting. Oh and husbeast cleaned the kitchen, I am forever grateful. 

Miss anything? Dude I want a margarita so bad. A big ass, cold, margarita. Oh and I miss being able to "hold it" now when I gotta pee, it's a right now kinda thing.  

Movement? Punch, Punch, Punch, on my bladder goes the baby. Plus the hiccups, don't get me wrong, I love her and I adore feeling her move but she has the hiccups ALL THE TIME! and it's really annoying. It's like a muscle twitch in you belly that keeps coming back, like 5-6 times a day!

Food Cravings? Not really, I want soda, and I could go for a burger. But nothing I really really want. 

Gender? I have this nagging fear that she will be a he. Symptoms? Acne has returned with a vengeance, as with sciatic pain, and my crotch hurts.  

Belly button in or out? .Still in, I think it wont pop. Its almost flush with my belly skin, but it's still a little in. 

Looking forward to: My mom getting here so I can stop worrying about her coming before.  

Next baby boy check-up?: Next monday! 

Other that that, lets see... Doctor says I am measuring right on, and on the 3rd she is going to strip my membranes. But I am hoping on the third I will go in and she will say "nope, you're ready to go, meet you at the hospital in a bit!"  

I am still nervous about the housing situation, but we found one, and I got an email from the lady today and she is going to continue to hold it for us because our situation is out of our hands. I just hope that we get word this week. 

Car seat should be here tomorrow! Then we are as ready as we can be. I got my maternity photos back, I'll share them soon. 

- Alana
Go find me on Facebook and Instagram (AlanaMarie36)

Merry X-mas

Paul and I have never been huge on Christmas. We put up a tree, and buy a few presents, but it's not been a huge deal to us. We don't do a whole lot of decorating, besides the tree. 

I think with the impending arrival of our wee one, I am really sort of getting excited about it. I am really hoping that we are in our new home so I can decorate, and go overboard, and give her the best first Christmas she'll never remember. 

Pinterest has given me lots of ideas too. In fact, I think Pinterest has really created this whole feeling of excitement. 

Source: jpmdesign.blogspot.com via Alana on Pinterest

I think these would be cool if the hot glue were done on some fishing wire, so they could be hung in a window. 

Source: bystephanielynn.com via Alana on Pinterest

Source: weddingchicks.com via Alana on Pinterest

Source: madebygirl.blogspot.com via Alana on Pinterest

Source: ikea-download.de via Alana on Pinterest

Source: realsimple.com via Kari on Pinterest

Source: vwbblog.com via Alana on Pinterest

fill a jar or a bowl with these

Source: blog.craftzine.com via Alana on Pinterest

The blurb for this one says "Kids' Christmas list in an ornament with the year. It would be so cool to go back and see what the children asked for years ago"

But for babies first few Christmases you could write down what baby got. 

Source: familyoffarmers.blogspot.com via Alana on Pinterest

Source: marthastewart.com via Alana on Pinterest

Source: crybabyink.blogspot.com via Alana on Pinterest

Source: curiositiesbydickens.com via Alana on Pinterest

Source: adiamondinthestuff.blogspot.com via Alana on Pinterest

Source: craftster.org via Alana on Pinterest

Source: ploughyourownfurrow.wordpress.com via Alana on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Alana on Pinterest

Source: kaboodle.com via Tamyhra on Pinterest

Source: grizzlybearmodern.com via Tamyhra on Pinterest

Before I got pregnant I actually was saving bottles for this very project. I have an assload under my kitchen sink. More than I'll ever need. 

Source: cleverlyinspired.blogspot.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: sayyestohoboken.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: asortafairytaleblog.com via Janna on Pinterest

Source: cmro.travis-starnes.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Adrianne on Pinterest

Source: lessonplans.craftgossip.com via Chellie on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Kari on Pinterest

Okay, that's enough. 
But you can clearly see I am a little excited about this whole thing. I just hope that it's as perfect as I am imagining it. 

- Alana

Wyoming Vacation & Marine Corps Ball

One super upside of Recruiting Duty is the awesome Marine Corps Ball weekend. For the last two years we have had the awesome opportunity of spending the weekend in Jackson Hole, Wy at the Spring Creek Ranch. We are allowed to do this because our recruiting station is spread out over 4 states, so continuing training is hard, because everyone is spread out. So part of the weekend is spent with the recruiters in training. 
Wednesday we drove down to Wyoming, it was such a nice drive, we only got a little lost, we laughed and had fun the whole 6 hour drive. 

Our minor detour was when we missed our turn and headed towards West Yellowstone and Quake Lake. We saw this cool river (above) and took a few pictures. Shortly after I realized we were on the wrong road and got back on the right path. 

Paul and I back in our room afterwards. 

look at that belly! 

The ball itself was fun, the guest speaker was quite nice, short and sweet, but funny and he didn't drone on. Food was pretty good and the cake was great, too bad I only got a piece as big as my thumb (I had been craving cake for two days, so I wanted more). We cut out early because it was snowing, and a bit cold inside, and neither of us were drinking, so it was a little boring, with everyone drunk and dancing, and I couldn't really dance because I am huge and achey. But we had a good time. 

The views at Spring Creek are just breathtaking, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to have gone there. This year and last. It can be so relaxing and pretty, so nice to just poke around and take a few pictures (even though it's cold as shit)  

The Drive home Saturday was a mess, it started to snow the night before and it was just really really yuckie. The roads were shitty almost the whole way, except about 80 miles in Idaho. We took the freeway home, although its a bit longer we were hoping for better road conditions, they may have been better, but still not good. Regardless, it was still a beautiful drive.

 Okay this next picture you have to click on to get the full effect. See we were just outside Helena, about 30 miles, and we come across this pasture full of cows, but I noticed the brown cows and the black cows were separate. I thought it was weird but as we passed I realized the brown cows were not cows at all, but Elk, lots of Elk! Maybe 30-40 Elk! and if you click for the full image and you look closely standing in the middle you can see 2 big huge Bulls! there are several smaller Bulls you can spot if you have your elk eyes on.
This picture really made me want to get a better telephoto lens, I cropped the crap out of it and it's still hard to see.  The second picture is an uncropped, just from the side of the road, photo.

The end. 

We are home now and slowly getting back to real life. I have a boat load of laundry to do, and We are still playing the waiting game on housing in Butte, I really hope we hear something by this week. 

- Alana
Make sure to like the Facebook page, when it comes time for baby all updates will be through there until I can get my shit back together: