Weeks 16 and 17

I'll do a bigger update next week, but for now here's a quick Mac 'N' Cheese update.

At 16 weeks, the babies were about the size of avocados: 4.5 inches and 3.5 ounces. I was feeling movement, but not regularly and it was still very light. Babycenter told me that my uterus should be halfway between my belly button and my pubic bone. 

Ha! I think Babycenter is unaware that I am on a third pregnancy, and it's twins. My uterus is more like halfway between my belly button and my ribcage! If I have a full bladder and I'm lying down, I can palpate the top of my uterus about at the bottom of my ribcage.

 As usual, Azaria looks to Shane to make sure she is doing her job correctly.

At seventeen weeks, my helpers deserted me to run through the sprinkler out back with Grandma. However, the twins are supposedly the size of onions (which are smaller than my avocados, but whatevs).  The babies are about five inches long, and weigh about 5 ounces. That's a nice growth spurt, and I can tell as my stomach got better and I've started feeling regular strong movement! One of the babies, A I'm guessing, can usually be felt to the lower left of my belly button. The other, B I think, is mostly often in the very top right of my uterus, in my ribs. Azaria spent most of her time lodged on my right side in my ribs, and I well remember how uncomfortable it could get!

Babies skeletons are turning from cartilage to bone now, and they are practicing sucking and swallowing. I've started to get some energy back finally, which probably has to do with the amount of naps I've been able to get while I've been staying at my parents--between one and two hours every day the first weekend, plus every day of the week that my dad was home during the kids' rest hour. It was amazing!

17 Weeks {6 Days}

I think I've now gone from "she ate too many Doritos" (which, let's be real, I have), to "I'm pretty sure she's pregnant but you never ask that question so what do I do?" I think this because at our church ladies Christmas party on Friday several ladies came up and cautiously asked if I was pregnant. I am! Bet you didn't know that:!

The other new thing this week is that I felt Baby kick from the outside today, as I was putting Shane down for a nap. It was very faint, but I could feel it on the palm of my hand! And of course I'm feeling Baby move a lot more, several times a day usually.

This afternoon I took my first nap in several months. Usually while Shane naps I do schoolwork or chores, but today I just fell asleep for about 45 minutes. It felt so good! Once school is done I will probably spend Shane's naptimes packing or organizing or even crafting but once we move and I don't have to pack up a house anymore I will most definitely be working in some more frequent naps!

At 17 weeks Baby is about the size of a baked potato--it weighs about 5oz and is about 5 1/2 inches long. Over the next six weeks its weight will increase approximately six times. Finger and toe nails are also beginning to grow, which is why they already need cut by the time they are born! When Shane was born we cut his nails when we brought him home, even though the hospital will tell to file them instead. Actually, my mom cut his nails and showed me a neat way to kind of slide the clippers and clip as you go, and I've never cut Shane's finger. I used to only cut his nails while he slept but now he sits in my lap and we sing the ABC's while we clip. Sometimes it takes two sittings, but he's pretty good about having it done.

Navy Update

When Nathan originally went to MEPS, he was scheduled to leave for basic training on August 6th, 2012.  We were a little bit disappointed because we were hoping it would be a little sooner than that, but we got used to the idea and I was glad I'd be able to stick with my midwife and birth center and have the baby before we moved. When Nathan asked, he was told that there was no way he could leave earlier.

Last Thursday, after Nathan's DEP meeting, he called me and said the recruiter wanted to meet with both of us on Tuesday morning. He wanted Nathan to leave earlier, because if he didn't go to basic before I had the baby he could only join the Reserves. Nathan said the recruiter was talking after Christmas. My mind flew into a whirl, list after list after list forming in my head. I only got a couple hours sleep that night. And the next night.  Finally I tried writing things down as I thought of them, but that didn't really help. Still no sleep. I wondered why the recruiter had to make the meeting so far off! I was totally fine with him leaving earlier, I just wanted a more definitive timeline and more information. I despise feeling like I don't have all of the information. It leaves me feeling helpless and unable to plan.

Finally Tuesday morning rolled around and so did the meeting with the recruiter.  I went to the meeting armed with a notebook page full of questions! Nathan said, "what a surprise". See, I just like to KNOW things. Makes life incredibly easier. Anyways, the long and short of the conversation was that since Nathan already has two dependents (Shane and I) they want him to go to basic now because if I have the baby that gives him three dependents, in which case he has to get a waiver which the Navy has to approve and, well, they may choose not to approve it. Confused? It's ok. So the recruiter is putting in the paperwork to get Nathan sent early and he will for certain be home until January 3rd. The recruiter thinks he will probably go in January or February. Now I know that doesn't give me a whole lot more definitive timeline but since I do know that he will at least be here until 3 Jan, I can take a little breath. I got all of my questions answered, which makes it easier to plan some other things as well. Knowledge is Power, people.

Our plan is to pack up as much as possible, all of the things we don't use on a daily basis. As soon as we find out what we're having I'll be able to decide what I can pack of Shane's things as well. When Nathan goes to basic we will be getting a storage unit for all of our things (the Navy will pay to move them when Nathan gets stationed) and I will be moving to Ohio while Nathan is in basic and A-School. (About 5 months). We are letting our house go since we are on a month to month lease and I'll get a little apartment as close as possible to my parents house. Toddlers can be overwhelmingly energetic and because my parents and my grandparents live together, we thought it might be best if Shane and I had our own space and we can spend evenings and weekends together. But this way I'll be close enough that they can help if I need it especially in the later stages of pregnancy and when the baby is born.

I am actually really glad that the leave date is being moved up. I am totally ready to get started with this new stage in our life. To be honest, the only thing I'm really grieving is the loss of the birth I had planned to have. I love my midwife, the birth center, the birth tub, the personalized care. I have actually been excited to labor and deliver because of Midwife Emily and the relationship we've been developing, as well as the waterbirth I'd planned to have. I'm not going to lie, I'm a little sad to be missing that. But mom and I did some looking around online last weekend and found a few birth centers in their area that look like they do waterbirths, so we are going to check them out when I get up there. That alleviates the sting a little bit. And of course I'm excited to be close to my family.

There are SO many things that we have to do before Nathan leaves and unfortunately most of them plus the packing will fall to me, since Nathan is working nights.  So if you can pray that I'll have some extra energy and strength. I always seem to be packing and moving while I'm pregnant! And that makes it a little more challenging. Also, if anyone wants to come play with Shane for a few hours so I can pack, let me know. I have my finals next week so I am going to focus on that, and then after that it's preparing to leave. I'd rather be ready too early than to have Nathan leave and have to try to do everything alone. I'd also like to try to see each of our friends at least once before we leave. I'm a lot more mentally calm about things since our meeting, after all it's not like I've never done this before!  Or, you know, like twenty times. Ish.

Holiday Fun

Wow, I have a lot to catch up on! Unfortunately I was unable to find my camera cord, so while I have lots of good pictures of my time at home, I don’t have any to put up. I will try to put some up later

I’m just going to do a brief day-by-day rundown of each day’s activities. I had so much fun with my family and we made a lot of memories. I really enjoyed watching Nathan interact with my family as they don’t know each other well because of the distance.
Most evenings we did Advent, watched Christmas movies and other movies, and endlessly cooked and did dishes

12/17—Thurs—As you know we went to the Dr. to find out we were having a boy, then we packed and left for OH around 10 in the evening.

12/18—Fri—Drive, arrive in OH around 6 and see baby stuff mom bought

12/19—Sat—I shopped with mom all morning—Once upon a child, Mall, Target, Walmart, Chipotles!, the Boys did their own thing, then in the evening the boys went to the movies and to the mall, and Mom and I went to The Greene for the live Nativity. I met Mom and Dad’s pastor, and we bought a Chai Latte and shared it while we walked around.

12/20—Sun—Visit Mom and Dad’s church, then go to the Air Force museum. Nathan and I went on the tour of the presidential and experimental aircraft. Erika and her fiancé Nate, and a few of his siblings joined us there. Erika was with us from this point on.

12/21—Mon—Got family photos taken at Walmart (and they did a great job!), went to get schwarmas but the shop was closed :(, so we had lunch at Long John Silvers instead. Then we went Christmas shopping at Valley Thrift store. The four of us kids shopped, and we got $5 to spend on each person in the family. And you would not believe the amount of gifts we all bought for our money! It was really fun—a new take on something we did when we were kids in Africa. On the way back home we had a family outing to the Pitt Stop tire store, then spent the evening gift wrapping, packing for the tripto NY, movie watching, and baking stuff that couldn't be done in oven in NY. (We only had camp stoves in the NY house, since Mom had brought her nice stove to OH)

12/22—Tues—Drive to NY, us kids took Mom and Dad out to lunch at Bahama Breeze for their 25th anniversary, and we decorated the NY house for Christmas.

12/23—Weds—Went to Ellicottville to go to Doug (PTL!) and get back and hips adjusted. He actually did adjustments on Mom and Dad and Nathan and I. Then we all went down to this cute little coffee shop just the four of us. Nathan and I walked around and window shopped while Mom and Dad went to their realtors office. Later that afternoon my cousin Ethan came over and brought Guitar Hero (which apparently my mom loves to play!) and we all took turns for several hours. While we were having fun, Dad was down in the cold basement replacing mom’s brakes. That night was our Baby Shower/Party at the church, which was really fun. Grandma and Grandpa Holtz bought the cake, which was super cute, and we got to see a lot of relatives, friends, and church family. Baby got some really nice presents too! After the party the Coulters came over to the house and we got to visit with them for a while longer.

12/24—Thurs—Chrismas Eve—Played guitar hero all morning while Miah and Dad were working at Grandad’s house. Mom and I had to go to Uncle Den’s to borrow a cheese grater but we stopped at Brooks and sneaked a sub sandwich. Nathan , Erika, Mom and I spent the afternoon making the Christmas Eve foods and we had over the Stovers and the Rineharts. Aunt Bonnie, Derek, and Brian stopped by for a few minutes to say hello, but didn’t stay long.

12/25—Fri—Christmas—Family day. Grandad came over for a brief visit and everyone mostly just played games and watched Christmas movies.

12/26—Sat—Packed up and cleaned up house(it’s still able to be shown), drive NY-OH, stop to meet the Gould family (the family of Erika’s fiancé), and see our old family dog Cadet, who now lives with the Goulds. When we got back to Mom and Dad’s we unpacked the cars, and then Nathan and I packed up our stuff to leave the next morning.

12/27—Sun—Drive OH-TX. Cry on and off for most of the day while I’m driving. I hated leaving. More on this one later.

12/28—Mon—Back in Texas. Sleep in, unpack, weep some more, go see Alvin and Chipmunks Squeakwell as a matinee.

12/29—Tues—Back to work

12/31—Thurs—New Years Eve—Off work early. Ordered pizza and Melissa, Thomas, Nathan and I sat around and watched TV. I fell asleep (big surprise!), but they watched all the festivities.

Then on Saturday Melissa and Thomas left—they moved down to the coast of Texas. I am happy for them since it gives them a lot of new opportunities, but for me I am sad because Melissa is my best (and basically only) friend and I will miss her big bunches. With her gone, I’m back to just having Nathan. And don’t get me wrong, he’s my best friend and I love him to death, but the reality is that he is gone way more than half of the time and that leaves me kind of lonely sometimes.

Christmas was amazing and such a happy time. I am so glad that we got to go and that God provided the means and kept us safe. I really needed that trip. The New Year has started out a little bit sad, but I do have Piglet’s birth to look forward to this year, and my mom (and hopefully Dad) coming down to visit after he is born.