Potty Training 101

***Disclaimer: I'm not a potty training expert! This is just what is working for Anna and for us as her parents. I just wanted to share some of the resources we are using and how we've adjusted them to work best for us.***

It's hard to believe that our sweet baby girl is ready to bid farewell to diapers, but we're now in the middle of potty training (today is day 3) and so far, so good! I'm hoping that she will be completely diaper free by the time Baby P arrives in mid-March. At the rate she's going, it's looking pretty promising!

Anna is just shy of 21 months so we started a little earlier than most but rather than go by age, we went by other 'cues' that she was ready:

• Telling us when she needed changed
• Being able to tell us when she had to go ("Mommy! Potty!!")
• Showing interest in the 'princess potty' we got her from Amazon.com before we even started



We love this potty seat because it fits over the regular toilet and is easy to move between the different bathrooms in our house.

We decided to wait until after the holidays to begin the actual potty training because of all the travelling we did. Also, Anna is a little older and there are fewer distractions and trips to take at home.

We picked out her "big girl pants" at Target on Thursday. They're pretty adorable, plus they're "training pants" so they are thicker than regular underwear but don't feel like diapers. Pull-ups and training pants with the outer plastic lining still feel like diapers so toddlers will continue to treat them as such so using the training pants really drives home the point of "This is NOT a diaper!" The brand we found is Gerber and they come in a variety of colors and sizes. Unfortunately, the only in-stock size was 3T- way too big for our petite baby but with a few stitches on the waistband, they stay up pretty well. Dan picked up some 2T ones today from the Base Exchange and they fit much better!

We went with the training pants instead of the naked bottom approach (which many moms swear by) but we're only putting the training pants on her rather than putting pants over top of it. This is mostly for speed when it comes to getting her on the potty. Even though it's January, we're in Mississippi so it's still pretty warm and we're wearing lots of dresses out and sticking with t-shirts when we're inside.

We are using mostly tips from this helpful article on Instructables.com as well as some from BabyCenter.com. Here are the most important things we've implemented this weekend:

1. Dedicate a whole weekend to start potty training. This weekend worked well for us because it's a long weekend for Dan so 2 adults with their focus on one potty-training toddler.
2. Stick to uncarpeted areas for the first day. This is mostly for ease of cleaning up accidents! We blocked off access to our living room and brought several of Anna's toys into the kitchen/eating area. I made sure to have a few surprises for her to keep her interest- I bought markers for her new easel and we spent A LOT of time drawing together as a family. We also had many tea parties, built with blocks and Anna enjoyed running around our island.
3. Encourage dry/salty snacks to increase thirst a little. This helps the toddler become more aware of a full bladder and connect that with using the potty. Anna has always loved juice, milk and water so we didn't need to increase her thirst too much but the Cheez-Its and Goldfish definitely helped!
4. Set a potty timer. This took a little trial and error because we always seemed to miss Anna's potty time by a couple minutes resulting in several wet pairs of panties. However, once we fine-tuned it a bit, it was helpful.
5. Make trips to the potty exciting but not distracting. Anna is pretty patient but after several trips to the potty, she started getting bored and not wanting to sit there for several minutes. We've found that simple games (Itsy-Bitsy Spider, Pat-a-Cake, Simon Says) work well for the couple minutes before she actually goes. Bringing in toys (we tried her little toy piano) didn't work very well because she ended up just sitting there and playing- not going to the potty!
6. Praise is the best reward. While we did reward Anna with chocolate the first day for all successful trips to the potty, we're backing away from that already. She doesn't seem to mind and is delighted when we cheer for her after she goes. Time will tell how well it works but she is very proud of her big girl pants and I think that's enough reward for her.

Both articles that we are taking our tips from say not to take the toddler out of the house for very long in the first couple days which makes a lot of sense, but we like to go to church as a family so we took a leap of faith (along with several blankets, an extra set of panties and another dress in our bag) on Sunday morning. During church (a 1 hour service), Anna used the potty twice without incident. I was worried she wouldn't go without her potty seat but she did just fine while I held her up on the big potty. We also let her nap in her big girl pants and she woke up dry both times.

Every day has been an improvement and I'm hopeful that Anna will continue to grow in confidence as she gets to wear her big girl pants all the time. The Instructables article says to continue to use diapers at bedtime until they are accident free for 2 weeks. We're going to play it by ear. Anna wakes up dry pretty consistently but I think we'll see how the next few days go.

Travelling with Anna

So it's been a really long time since I posted and for this I apologize. Anna and I had a great trip and I couldn't imagine the flights or car rides going any smoother! Daniel drove us to OKC Airport early Saturday morning and after checking bags, Anna and I headed through security. I had borrowed a Snap'n'Go stroller that Anna's carseat fits into from a friend, along with a 'gate check' bag for the carseat and base so they wouldn't get filthy during the flights. These were 2 essential items! Thank you Allison and Jamie!

I 'wore' Anna using a Moby wrap which was great because once we were on the plane, it folded up easily and fit into my diaper bag. I was a little nervous about Anna and the plane ride, but she did wonderfully! I was able to feed her on both legs of the trip getting to Myrtle Beach Airport and she got some cat naps in during the flight from Dallas to Myrtle. The toughest part was eating for me! Since our flights were so close together, I grabbed a water bottle and fries (so healthy, right?) from McDonald's in Dallas (12:30) after eating some Cheerios for breakfast at 7:00am. Needless to say, I inhaled the Sonic combo I got in Myrtle Beach while Mom, Anna and I waited to pick up my grandparents at the airport.

The longest travel day for us was heading to Pittsburgh after a great week at the beach. It was a 14 hour ride (usually 12 but we hit some major traffic) but Anna only cried for 10 minutes of it! We stopped more than we usually do but that's because of Anna's eating schedule and who wants a hungry baby crying in the car? Not us! It was a tight squeeze and every seat was occupied in my Dad's Acadia, but we made it safely to Pittsburgh!

The trips to Chicago from Pittsburgh and then from there to Oklahoma City were smooth as well. Both of those flights were on Southwest and since they don't assign seats, we got to choose our own. This was great but we received a lot of unpleasant faces as the other passengers boarded- I'm sure they were thinking "Oh great, a baby. Let the crying begin!" But our little girl proved them all wrong! She was the happiest passenger on the plane, playing with Tigger and smiling at the flight attendents.

After three weeks away, Anna and I were both so happy to see Daniel back in Oklahoma. We stopped at Cracker Barrel where we had some great 'home cookin' and found Anna a cute little dress for the fall.

I'll be posting pictures and more details about the three weeks soon. But this post was just to fill you all in on how well Anna did on her first 4 flights (and one long road trip) in 3 weeks of travels.

Our Little Angel...

Our sweet little Anna is almost 3 months old and keeping us busy... but not keeping us up! She has been sleeping through the night consistently for almost 2 months! This has been great since Daniel needs a good night's sleep to do his best in the classroom and he'll be flying soon, so being well rested is a must.
Right now, she loves playing Patty Cake with Mommy, listening to Carrie Underwood's "American Girl" and chewing on anything she can get her mouth on... usually her fist, her Tigger or her bib.
Here are some pictures!

Fourth of July Recap!

I hope all of you wonderful people reading this had a great Fourth of July! We certainly enjoyed ourselves on our four day weekend in Wichita Falls, TX! The military gives several 'family days' throughout the year where you get the day off but it doesn't count against your leave time and Friday was one of them. So Daniel requested a pass to visit his parents who live just 3 1/2 hours south of us in Texas. With his pass approved, we left 1323 Books St. and hit the road on Thursday evening. Our little girl did so well in the car and after we pulled over to feed her about halfway through the trip, she slept the rest of the way.

It was a very relaxing weekend. Dan's brother, Ben, is in China with the Baylor I5 program, so there was less 'gaming' than usual but Daniel introduced me to a game he has which I've now become rather addicted to- Spore. You create an alien life form from a single cell and 'evolve' it until you rule the galaxy... I'm only at the 'civilization' part which is the fourth level but Daniel's way ahead so he helps me along.

Anna's grandparents were thrilled to see her and rarely put her down- which she loved! She told Grandpa all kinds of stories (she's talking so much now!) and gave Grandma lots of smiles for some really cute pictures. With more than willing babysitters, Daniel and I were able to do a quick shopping run on Saturday and saw a matinee movie on Sunday. We saw Toy Story 3 and loved it! It was definitely made with the original viewers of the first two movies in mind, but I'm sure younger kids enjoy it too. ;-)

Fortunately for us, the Freedom Fest fireworks were on Saturday, the third, instead of the actual 4th of July since it rained for most of Sunday. Daniel and I drove to see the show while Anna stayed at home- we didn't want her little ears exposed to those louds BOOMS! It was a beautiful show and a great Fourth of July with my favorite serviceman.

Before we left on Monday, Pat and I went to Toys R Us and Storkland to get some things for Anna. We picked up a Bumbo seat (which gives Anna enough support that she can sit up by herself), new binkies, and a mirror for the car (which lets us see her face in her rear-facing carseat) at Toys R Us. And at Storkland we got a bunch of fun headbands as well as bows and flowers to go with them- they're so cute!!! Pat bought Anna a beautiful outfit that she wore today to Playgroup with one of her new headbands. I'll post pictures soon.

All in all, we had a wonderful weekend and it's always great to see Daniel's parents. Now it's back to home (which needs cleaned... badly) and work (Daniel is still in academics and just had a test today- he got 100%!). Our little angel is fast asleep and I'm off to bed myself. Have a good night, all!

Anna Grace's Big Trip!

A little background: So I finally became Facebook friends with my brother, Bobby, and was looking through pictures of him this evening. There were plenty of pictures of him running, hanging out with friends and going to homecoming and prom... plus a ton of pictures with our amazing cousins. Many of them were from the past several beach vacations we took as a family to Sunset Beach.

Cousin pyramid 2009!

Bottom: Me, Daniel, Bobby, Zach Middle: Megan, Hannah, Katie Top: Patrick and Maura

We have gone to Sunset Beach, NC for about the last 14 years. It was originally just my immediate family but after a few years, my Uncle Terry and Aunt GiGi with their girls (Megan, Hannah and Maura) as well as my Aunt Annie and Uncle Tommy with their boys (Zach, Patrick and Ryan) joined us. Also within the last couple of years, our grandparents have also become a part of the "Beach Crew." Daniel was welcomed into the crew last year when we joined the family after our honeymoon.

Knowing that Daniel would be in pilot training this summer, I figured that last year would be my last time at the beach for awhile since I didn't want to go without Daniel but our little surprise of a beautiful baby girl changed that. Since Anna hasn't met most of the family, I've planned a 3 week trip to introduce her to the family and the first stop is Sunset Beach!

Anna and I will head out from Oklahoma City and make our way to the beach by way of Dallas on Sunday and spend our first week soaking up the sun, the ocean and the salty sea breezes. At the end of the week, we'll drive back to Pittsburgh with my family where we'll get to see the rest of my extended family and some family friends.

Pittsburgh at night

Following our Pittsburgh visit, we'll head to the windy city: Chicago! In Chicago, we'll be visiting a few of my college friends including my freshman year roomy, Emily who is expecting her baby in early August. We'll also be staying with Anna's godmother, Sharon, and her husband. Hopefully, we'll also get to see Annaliese and a few other friends that live in the city. After our visit there is finished, we'll "follow the star to where the world begins" and head home to Enid!

I'm really looking forward to all of our visiting especially with our family. Anna is the first baby born far away from Pittsburgh and I'm eager for her to meet all of her great-grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunts. There's nothing quite like family.

Tough day as a mommy...

My sweet little angel girl had to get her 2 month immunizations today. Thank goodness that Dan was able to be there or else I would have been even more of a mess! She had to get 4 vaccinations- 3 shots and an oral one. I held her and gave her the oral dose which she wasn't too sure about. She made the same face that she gives us when we give her the Vitamin D solution- I guess when you drink nothing but breastmilk, anything else tastes a little funny.
The shots were quick and the nurse did a great job but that didn't stop me from crying as I held Anna and kept her little legs still as she got poked- twice in the right leg and once in the left. I had never heard her cry like she did today. Usually she only cries when she wants something, but this cry was one of pain and shock. It broke my heart to see her like that!

"Three shots and a drink, sounds like we're in a bar!" - Nurse that gave Anna her vaccinations trying her best to relax a very nervous mom...

Thankfully, she settled down by the time I had finished talking to the Referral Management people about getting her a well baby check up with a pediatrician off base since the one we had (and loved) recently separated from the Air Force (meaning he fulfilled his obligation and is now a civilian doctor). She fell asleep in her carseat before we even left the clinic. I figured it would be a good idea to get some infant Tylenol in case she had a reaction to all the vaccines and got a fever. Of course, there was a recall on this recently so it took 3 stores and a phone call between 2 Walgreens stores to find a generic equivalent but we got it.
Anna did really well the rest of the day. She took a really long nap (so did Mommy) and was pleasant this evening when Daniel came home. She was all smiles for her Daddy and is now fast asleep in her room.

Welcome to the Catholic family, Anna Grace!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks and I've loved every minute! My friend, Sharon, came out to visit for a whole week including Anna's baptism on June 12 since she is Anna's godmother. She was the driving force behind all the unpacking that happened before our families came in for the baptism festivities. Even though Daniel's family helped us over the weekend to pack and unpack the entire house, there was still a lot to do and with Anna's 4am wake up calls, my motivation and energy level weren't very high... and that's where Sharon came in and saved the day. "Do you want to unpack some boxes? Where does this go?" were frequent questions and little by little we got boxes unpacked and our new house set up.

Daniel started pilot training in the middle of Sharon's visit but still was home to enjoy the fun of having a friend here in the evenings. We had some great meals (with 2 new recipes) and lots of fun with board games and our ever-entertaining Anna Grace. She was all smiles for her Aunt Sharon and we captured some sweet pictures of the two of them.

On Thursday, my family arrived and I was so happy to introduce my brother to his little niece for the first time and show Dad, Mom and Gracie how much she'd grown since they were here in April. Unfortunately, my sister, Katie, was unable to make it. With a case of mono, an eighteen hour car ride was not the best thing for her. We missed her a lot but I'm looking forward to seeing her in August!

My mom, the party planned extraordinaire, helped me plan my first big celebration as a mom- Anna's baptism luncheon. She brought her delicious Italian sausage from Pittsburgh and I made some shredded beef for sandwiches. With pretty pink plates to go with our pink theme, our guests enjoyed lots of yummy food, including this cake:

After a little clean up, our little family headed home so Anna and I could grab a nap and then we were off to St. Francis Xavier Church to get our little girl baptized! She slept through the whole thing except for a few peeks to see what was going on when Father Kevin poured the water on her head.

After the Mass, we headed back to the community center to eat some leftovers and finish cleaning up. It was a wonderful day and I was so happy to have our friends and family here to welcome Anna into the church!

Oh Baby!

Our little girl is one month old! We had a little photo shoot on May 25 to commemorate this milestone and thankfully, she was very cooperative!

She had a little growth spurt over the weekend which meant she loudly demanded to be fed every 3 hours. This is our normal day schedule but she usually goes for a longer stretch at night but not this weekend. Hopefully, she'll sleep well over the holiday weekend since we're heading to the "big city" for a couple days and one night to have some fun outside of Enid. Our hotel has an indoor pool and we might even visit the Oklahoma City Zoo! One thing is for sure- we're doing some shopping! We'll hit up the stores that our little town doesn't have, including Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Babies R Us and the Home Depot.

In other baby news, our friends Nathan and Megan just found out that they're having a little boy! They had their 20 week ultrasound and the baby was cooperative in showing "his Y chromosome at work" according to Megan. It's so exciting to have friends going through a pregnancy so soon after our little girl arrived. And even though they live in Florida and we're out here in Oklahoma, we stay in touch via Facebook and talk about our babies through wall posts and photo comments.

Also in baby fashion news, I found some really cute Air Force related apparel at CafePress.com where they also have apparel for all military branches as well as just cute baby things!

Here's one of my favorites:

I love being a mommy!

As I sit here with Anna fast asleep on my chest, I still can't believe she's ours. She is so sweet and wonderful and Daniel and I can't get enough of her little noises and faces. She changes everyday and is growing big and strong. She's visited the pediatrician twice for her well-baby check ups. The first visit she was back to her birth weight (6lb. 3oz.) and on Friday, she weighed in at 7 pounds 1 ounce which means she averaged more than an ounce per day in between her visits! With this news, the doctor told us we don't have to wake her for feedings anymore- she'll let us know when she's hungry. And she certainly does! Her little cries come over the monitor and we're up and tending to our little princess.

She's met all of her baby friends and they (along with their wonderful mommies and more of my friends) welcomed her with an All Pink baby shower on Thursday. It was so much fun! Anna slept through a good part of it, but I enjoyed talking with my girlfriends, eating delicious food and playing shower games. We got so many beautiful gifts and Anna has been in a new outfit every day since then! She's so tiny that many of her 0-3month clothes are still too big but she has a lot to grow into and she'll be stylin' for a long time.

Anna Grace is Here!!

Our little miracle arrived at 7:32pm on April 25, 2010 weighing 6 pounds 3.4 ounces and measuring 20 inches long. Her debut into this world came after a long, hard labor for me but she is well worth all of it.

I went into labor Saturday afternoon during a game of Scrabble with my wonderful husband. My contractions became more regular by 5- just in time to go to church and I breathed through them every 20 minutes until it was time to go home. We ate some dinner (which happened to be a terrible idea on my part.) and got ready to go to the hospital. A little after midnight when I threw up my entire dinner, we decided it was time to go to the Birth Place at St. Mary's Hospital. With my contractions coming every 5 minutes we were sure that I had made some progress but was disappointed to find out that I was still only 1 cm dilated after the nurses had set up a room for me. They weren't sure if they were going to keep me but I'm so glad they eventually registered me as an in-patient the next morning- after a long night of contractions and no sleep for Daniel or me.

I was still only about 3 cm after lots of walking up and down, up and down the halls as well as laboring in the whirlpool tub they had in the room. With the contractions getting more painful and me getting more tired, I decided to get an epidural. After 16 hours of unmedicated labor, it was the right choice. Unfortunately, even with the epidural and some pitocin, I wasn't making much progress. To make matters worse the nurses had rolled me onto my right side to try to get the baby's heartbeat doing what it was supposed to be and none of the epidural was going to my left side- I felt everything for about 15 minutes (felt like an eternity) before the anesthesiologist came in to fix it. Shortly after that was corrected, Tonnya, one of my nurses, came in and told us that the doctor (not my doctor since he wasn't on call) had made the call to do a c-section. It was an extremely disappointing moment for us since I had labored more than 24 hours at this point. However, it was the best thing for the baby and we knew that a regular delivery was no longer an option. Dan called both sets of our parents to let them know and then changed into scrubs while they got me ready for surgery. Once I was all numbed up and scrubbed down, they started the surgery and after a few minutes, our little baby was born. Daniel saw her before I did since I was behind the big blue screen but after she was all cleaned up, he introduced me to our beautiful daughter. This is very fitting since he was the one who told me that the pregnancy test I took in August was positive.

We received excellent care while at the hospital and came home Wednesday afternoon. It's been wonderful having my mom, great-aunt and little sister here. They've taken good care of us and eating my mother's cooking has been fabulous! (She made us chicken parm last night. It was so yummy!) My Aunt B left for Pittsburgh this morning and my Dad is coming on Wednesday.
Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes. We are so happy to finally have our little angel.

Still here, still pregnant!

I'm 2 days away from my due date with very little progress made within the last week. I saw the doctor yesterday and he said I'm only 1 centimeter dilated. It's normal for the first baby to take a little longer, but I really want to have this baby now! I'm hoping that we'll see some action this weekend, but we'll have to wait and see. All the moms in my bible studies have told me the old wive's tales are exactly that and won't help at all.

"Don't try the castor oil. It won't work and it's disgusting!" -Jessa (mom of 2).

We have an appointment for Wednesday morning and I'll keep everyone posted on if it's necessary. Keep praying for the health of the baby and that he or she decides to make their arrival before we have to induce!

The Waiting Game...

At 39 weeks with no progress made at all, I'm getting a little impatient with our baby. It's just that I can't wait to meet him or her and knowing that I can do nothing to speed up the arrival of our bundle of joy is frustrating. However, there is a plus side to the 'no progress' report from Dr. M- Daniel and I are taking a weekend trip to visit his parents. They're only a few hours away and it will be nice to get in one more pre-baby visit.

As we continue to wait for the baby, we also continue to prepare ourselves for parenthood. Our monitor, high chair, baby tub and some other items arrived this week and they've all been set up. We took an Adult/Infant CPR class on Wednesday morning and both passed the final test. It was a great class that covered CPR, working an AED, as well as how to help someone who is choking. We made a trip to Lowes earlier this week for some more finishing touches to the house and ordered a beautiful coffee table and end table set from a local furniture store that will be here in a few weeks. With Daniel's beautiful installation of our living room curtains and a shelf in the bathroom, our dresser delivered yesterday (it would've been accompanied by our mirror but that broke before it even got here so they are sending us a new one- whenever that will be!), and our wonderful, comfy couches residing in the living room, our house finally feels like a real home.

We also received our video camera that we ordered from Sears. We're really happy that it arrived before the baby did! It will be wonderful to capture our baby's life on tape (or digital memory, as in this case) right from the beginning. I'll be sure to post little clips on here so all of you can meet our bundle of joy.

Home Sweet Home!

I have never been happier to see 2 toothbrushes in the bathroom holder or the Irish Spring soap bar in the shower or the Subaru Forrester sitting in the drive... Daniel is finally home and will be home for a long, long time. He successfully completed his training in Colorado and arrived back in Enid yesterday around five- just in time for dinner!

It's so nice to have him back at home. We had a wonderful meal of roast beef, Olive Garden roasted potatoes, and some green beans. I even made my mom's classic dressing for his after-dinner salad. I also baked some brownies for dessert but we didn't get to them since we were so full from dinner! I would have toasted him with champagne, but in my current condition, it's best to stay away from the bubbly stuff.

The baby has been very obedient- we both asked him/her to stay put until Daniel came home and he/she did. I saw the doctor on Wednesday and I'm not dilated at all. He said that there's plenty of time for things to progress naturally but also mentioned that he won't let me go past 41 weeks, which would make the deadline April 30th. Hopefully, we won't have to go the induction route, but it's all in God's hands.

Daniel's only been back 24 hours, but he's been very busy- already picked up and put together (with a little help from me) our headboard and nightstand. We're expecting our couches tomorrow and the rest of our bedroom set arrives on Wednesday. It will be so nice to have all of our furniture in our house instead of on a truck or in a warehouse. We need just a few finishing touches, like curtains for our sliding glass door and a rug for the baby's room, and we'll be set!

Update on the Baby

So we're finally in the home stretch- I'm 36 weeks along (I'll be 37 weeks on Friday.) and ready to not  be pregnant anymore! Daniel's training is right on track and if weather and scheduling cooperate, he might even be home early. (Continue to pray for him and for good weather in Pueblo!) Combined, these two things mean that we will be ready to welcome our addition in just a few weeks!

I saw Dr. McFadden this morning and he said the baby looks nice and healthy. He noticed that the baby was measuring a little on the small side, in about the 14th percentile instead of the 50th where 36 weekers usually are. However, since the fluid around the baby was good, the doctor isn't worried about the size. He called calculating the weight from the ultrasound "an elaborate guessing game" so it's not exact and since Daniel and I, along with our siblings, were on the smaller side at birth, Dr. McFadden said that our baby is just fine.

I can't say I'm completely ready for the whole labor and delivery thing, but what first time mom ever feels 100% prepared for something she's never experienced before? After our birthing class and reading What to Expect When You're Expecting, I feel better prepared and I know I'll have Daniel, who's a wonderful coach, by my side the whole time. I hope to have a drug-free delivery, but I'm not ruling out medical intervention- we'll see how I handle the pain when the time comes!

Score One for Team Baby Boy!

I'd like to formally announce the arrival of another Kelly cousin- Ryan Thomas Carr. He arrived the morning of March 26 and weighed 8lbs 5oz. He joins his brothers- Zachary (19) and Patrick (2) along with his mom and dad, my Aunt Annie and Uncle Tom. He had a lot of visitors at the hospital- my mom sent me a picture of a bunch of cousins who came to meet the newest member of the family. All together my grandparents have 24 grandchildren and 4 (soon to be 5) great-grandchildren but each one is a huge blessing and cause for much celebration.

Ryan is the 2nd new baby of this year and has tied up the score: Girls- 1 Boys-1. We'll just have to see what we have to see which side wins!

Spring has Sprung!

I just got back from running errands around base and the best part was definitely the weather- it is absolutely gorgeous outside. The breeze is warm, the sun is shining and the sky is a perfect blue. I turned off the heat in the house and opened our sliding glass door for the first time since moving in! It's hard to believe that just over a week ago I was shoveling a 16" snow drift out of our driveway. I've learned that Oklahoma weather is incredibly fickle, but right now, I love it.

The warmth outside reflects the warmth in my heart as I settle back into my house. For the last week, I was in Wichita Falls, TX staying with my in-laws, Pat and John. It was wonderful to spend time with them and have some company. I've been lonely since Daniel left for Colorado, but his training is about halfway over and I'm hoping that he will be home soon. Pat and I did a lot of baby shopping at Toys R Us since we don't have one here in Enid. She bought her grandbaby a brush since the doctor informed us that he could see hair on the baby's head with the ultrasound. On Friday, she hosted a baby shower for me with her Bunco group. They are wonderful ladies who meet monthly to play Bunco and spend time together. I had a lot of fun and am so thankful for the beautiful gifts they gave to our baby.

Another source of my 'warm, fuzzy' feeling is my Monday morning bible study. It's made up of women from the Student Spouses Group, meaning that all of our husbands are here at Vance for pilot training. Every one of us can understand (or will soon understand) demanding schedules, rigorous academics and husbands that are rarely home since they're either in the air, in the classroom or in a study group. Each of the girls brings something special and I'm so blessed to have found a group that is so faith-filled and family oriented (about half of us have babies). We're doing a Beth Moore study of the book of Daniel, which is focused on integrity. We have 2 sessions under our belts and so far, so good!

A true blessing from God...

"I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb." Jeremiah 1:5

The Lord has a plan for our little one and I am so excited to find out what that plan will be as it unfolds. Daniel and I have already bonded with our baby and we haven't even found out if it's a boy or a girl. Since Daniel left for his Initial Flight Screening in Colorado today and will be gone for up to a month, we took some photos of our growing family. It worked out well since I was already dressed up for my virtual baby shower that my wonderful mom threw for me today. We used Skype and webcams so I could attend the festivities and got to talk to some of my family and friends. It's amazing that even at 1000+ miles away, I could still 'speak' through signing to my Aunt Randi who is deaf and give everyone a tour of our new house. It was wonderful to see so many familiar smiling faces on my screen. I look forward to introducing our baby to all those that helped us prepare for his or her arrival.

Here are some photos from our 'family photo shoot'

Maybe It's a Sign...

As of tomorrow, I will be 34 weeks pregnant and that means about 6 more weeks of back pain, constant forgetfulness and baby punches to the bladder. Daniel is continuing to do his reading of "Heading Home with Your Newborn" and we both attended "Infant Communication" class today. It was really interesting and I'm glad we went. Besides learning about Baby Signs and how to teach our little one this "in between" communication before he/she can form words, it was a chance for me to see some women that I hadn't seen in a long time. I met them at a coffee in January when Allison was still pregnant and Maggie had her baby Drew in tow at just 3 months old. Now, Allison is a mommy of 2 and brought her 4 week old baby boy to the class and Drew is 5 months old and getting so big! It's great to be back in a community of women who will be together for more than 6 weeks (like at ASBC). They're so welcoming and sweet! They invited me to join in a Beth Moore bible study that will be starting in a couple of weeks as well as the baby playgroup that Maggie hosts at her house.

The one thing that I've noticed about being around other military wives is that we look after our own- when I mentioned that Daniel was going to Colorado for IFS and taking the car (which I can't drive anyways...), Maggie said "But how will you get to the store?! If you need anything, we're always in the car and can take you where you need to go." Allison was also very generous and said that she'd be able to give me a lift to bible study and to the playgroup since she's on base and just down the street from me. It's nice to know that there are so many people around us that are experiencing what we are or soon will be experiencing- TDYs (temporary duty assignments, like IFS or ASBC), new babies, husbands who are spending most of their days on the flight line, and knowing that we won't be here for more than 2 years, at most. It's a different kind of lifestyle, but I wouldn't trade it- I have my wonderful husband who has his dream job, I'm about to become a mom and we have a home of our own with great neighbors around us. Life is good.

Baby Update!

Between the kicks to the ribs and punches to the bladder, our little one is making his or her presence known quite frequently. We got to see our little bundle of joy on the ultrasound last Monday and the doctor says he/she weighs about 4 pounds 2 ounces! Another positive note is that the baby is pretty much head down, which will make a natural delivery easier.

Belly at 32 weeks- in our new kitchen!

Daniel and I toured both of the hospitals in town and have picked St. Mary's, which is the smaller of the two. Both hospitals have level II nurseries, lactation consultants, nice amenities (tv, dvd player, stereo) and nice rooms for mom and baby as well as a place in the room for daddy to sleep comfortably. We decided on St. Mary's for a few reasons: they have LDR (labor, delivery, recovery) rooms and then separate postpartum rooms, which have beds that are more comfortable and lower to the ground than those in the LDR rooms; the jacuzzi, which helps to relieve labor pains, is separate from the shower and bathroom (Integris has them, but they're connected to the shower); according to our doctor (chief of the L&D wing at St. Mary's) the food is better at St. Mary's and they even have their own pastry chef! [The food was not a deciding factor in our decision, but it certainly doesn't hurt!] We'll be attending a childbirth class on Saturday at the hospital since it's the only one offered between now and the due date that Daniel will definitely be here to attend.

It's been wonderful setting up the nursery in our new house and washing all the little clothes. I washed, dried and ironed all of the bedding and valances today. Once we get some supplies, it will really start coming together- we need to get paint and some hardware for hanging the window treatments. I promise to post pictures as we continue to get our house together. I also finished the sweater I've been working on for the baby. It's made from alpaca wool (red) and a merino wool (cream). Here are some pictures of that:

Along with getting ready for our baby, I am delighted that a few more babies are on their way! Not only are Nathan and Megan expecting (see earlier Pensacola post), but so is another friend of mine from Saint Mary's along with a friend here from Vance, Andrea. It's really neat to know Andrea and Matt are expecting because before we left for Alabama, she mentioned to me that they were going to start trying for a baby using NFP (natural family planning) and they were successful! So now even more bundles of joy will be joining us this year and I ask that you all keep the babies and their parents in your prayers. God Bless!

Baby Update

As my belly grows and it gets harder to see my feet, I'm getting very excited to welcome our little one. I'll be 29 weeks along tomorrow which means I've been in my third trimester for 2 weeks. It's hard to believe that in less than 3 months we'll finally meet our baby. Here is the most recent picture of my baby bump taken at 28 weeks:

I finally started working on a baby registry to make a list of all of the items we need for baby. I'm still researching strollers and car seats but we did pick out our high chair. Another ASBC wife, Desiree, who is a mom of 2, showed me her high chair and what she liked about it- removable tray insert, recline feature, and an adjustable height for when the baby is big enough to sit at the table. She found hers on craigslist.com and I was able to find a similar model at Babies R Us.

Earlier this week, I recieved a beautiful gift from a fellow Bump.com member who is also due in April. We had set up a gift exchange among a group of "April Due Drops" and I received 2 adorable long-sleeved onesies made from organic material. Both are in neutral colors- green and yellow- and one has a pea pod on top of a globe and says "Peas on Earth." I'm looking forward to shopping for more baby clothes and having my baby wear booties, socks and the sweater that I've knit!