Pre-Delivery

Okay, I know it has been awhile. Life has been busy for us. LeMar was hired full time by the local department, he graduated from the police academy, and he passed the state certification exam. Right now he is going through the department's training program so his schedule is a not quite as predictable as it will be come August once he has completed it. His schedule right now is 11 hour shifts (3p - 2a), five days on, 4 days off. He absolutely loves his job, and the pay raise over Sam's club could not have come at a better time for us.


I am now past 37 weeks along, so I am considered to be full term even though my due date is not until June 27th. It would be fine with me if our little girl came sooner rather than later since pregnancy has become uncomfortable. She has already dropped down into the pelvis, my cervix has started to dilate and thin out, and I have Braxton-Hicks contractions daily now, but none of this means labor is eminent. She could stay this for weeks. We are praying she decides to come on LeMar's "Thursday" or "Friday" so that he will have the next few days off to be with the baby and me. He won't be able to take any additional time off of work; the department has a policy of no leave during the first year of employment. As a baby shower gift, our neighbor took some maternity pictures for us. Check out the size of that belly!



Back on May 20th we had another ultrasound. Not much new to report; everything still looks healthy. They were able to see hair! Don't be expecting any bald baby pictures from us.

March Update

Hello family and friends! March is shaping up to be a pretty exciting month for us. I started the month off in Great Falls, MT surprising my best friend, Kendi, for her 6th birthday on the 29th of Feb. It was great to get caught up with Kendi and Cory and our friends from CSU Matt and Rae who came over, too. I got home from my trip on Sunday, and it was off to the doctor for our checkup on Tuesday. The doctor says we're still looking healthy. Our baby girl is pretty active; I think she plays jump rope with the umbilical cord or something 'cause she is always moving around. LeMar's birthday was Friday, but the poor guy had school and work and then had to get up early on Saturday to be back at work at 0630. So, we celebrated his birthday on Thursday with a nice dinner at Firefly in PCB, a trip to Petsmart, and home-made cheesecake. While at Petsmart, we purchased all the hardware to set up our new aquarium. We have a 46 gallon bow front, fresh water, tropical aquarium. After a couple of days of washing gravel, the aquarium is now fully set up except the fish. Throughout the rest of this month and into April we will be slowly introducing fish to a new home in our home. Things coming up this month: Ayrielle is visiting us for a week over the Easter weekend. We are having a baby shower on Easter Sunday while she is here, and some of our friends from college should be able to come over as well. Alissa will be down visiting Brian at Hurlbert, and Casey should be able to come over from Eglin, too.

See our baby girl!

We had an ultrasound yesterday. I'm now past 20 weeks which determines the type of measurements they can make. Of course they can not promise a perfectly healthy baby, but at the same time they saw no indication of any abnormalities, birth defects, or health problems. And they were able to positively determine the gender; it is a girl! She was very keen to have her little hands up by her face and to bury her head into the placenta, so we weren't able to get a great 3D shot of her face. Of course, I still think she is beautiful. We now have about 4 months to figure out a name for her.

Pogo and other news

Well, good news and bad news this time.

First the bad news. We, my parents and I, had to make the decision to put down our dog Pogo. Pogo has been with us for twelve years. He had a great, pampered life with us and brought all of us joy and laughter. Over the last couple of months he's been getting progressively sicker. I'll spare you the details, but it was of the digestive track variety. Putting him down was no easy decision, but he has led a good life and his suffering at the end was minimized. He will definitely be missed.

Now the good news. LeMar was able to feel the baby for the first time last night! Trust me, our baby is an active one. He/she is doing flips, kicks, and summersaults all around my belly. Our next doctor's appointment is Monday, but before you ask, they won't be doing an ultrasound this time.

Baby update - 17 weeks

By the growth charts, the approximate size of our baby is 5 oz and 5 in. I'm feeling him/her move now, which is a very strange sensation to say the least. Trips to the bathroom are pretty frequent, but nausea and vomiting have almost completely subsided. I'm starting to show a little bit and pants aren't quite fitting the same. A few pairs have even been given a sabbatical for the next few months. I've been hunting the web pages to find the best bargains for baby items. I've started a registry at Walmart.com to keep tabs on my favorites.

In other news, LeMar continues to be busy juggling full-time employment at Sam's Club and full-time school at the law enforcement academy run by the community college. He finishes his classes in April and takes the state exam in May. Completing the academy makes him competitive for the Sheriff's Department and all the local departments. It gives him quite a few options, but he will be competing against his classmates for the open positions. Please keep him in your prayers.

I begin my work on my master's degree this week. There were no available programs of interest to me in the area without a two hour one way commute, so I found an exclusively online program in chemistry through Illinois Institute of Technology. I will be working towards a professional master's degree in Materials and Chemical Synthesis. I'm taking two classes this semester for a total of five credit hours. This should occupy the majority of my free time in the evenings. I hope and pray I will be able to handle the demands of the classes while surviving pregnancy.

We continue to miss Colorado. We have found it especially hard this time of year when Colorado gets all the snow and we get thunderstorms. If you have snow, make a snowball for each of us. If you get a chance to hit the slopes, do a run for us. Our love and prayers to you all. God bless!