A letter to my first born.

Opal, my dearest Opal.. You are the light of mine and your Daddy's eyes. We adore you, love you, and think you're the greatest creation in the entire world. Pretty soon you are going to be given the greatest gift in the world- a sibling. You will forever bear the responsibility and title of being a big sister. He is going to look up to you, come to you for advice before he turns to anyone else, and always expect you to back him up... and you will. 

Coming from someone who bears that title as well, I will always try to help you and guide you as you guide him. You will never be alone.We will shed light on the right and wrong things to show your baby brother. I promise. You're going to rock at being his big sissy! Really!

Before he comes though, we are going to soak up every second we can of alone time with you. We're going to make sure you know that we love you... that we really love you. We're not trying to divide up our love, but rather spread more. He is a blessing, and so are you. I am going to do everything I can to capture the little moments that we have with you forever behind my camera lens. 

You have been my best friend the past 18 months. And now I will have to share you.. Because I know your heart is going to be snatched by his little baby hands.You're going to climb up next to me, but not for our normal cuddles, hugs, and kisses.... but to smother Oliver in hugs and kisses. You're going to look up at me, with that sweet smile on your face, and say, "baby!" and I'm gonna hold back tears. But that's okay. That is exactly what Mama and Daddy want for you both. We know that you will need each other.

Oliver is seriously the luckiest little boy in the whole wide world- because he's got you by his side.

 This week you will be a big sister, 

and I can't wait to see you grow into the greatest one ever.

 Opal, my dearest Opal, I love you so much.

-Mommy.

37 weeks pregnant!

Hey Everyone! We are another week closer to my sweet boy coming Earth side! 

   

Oliver should be around 6.5 lbs so far, and gaining 1/2 a pound each week! He also is pretty much at his birth length around 19-21 inches long. His lungs should be matured, but that doesn't mean he is necessarily ready to breathe on his own outside of the uterus.

He is now considered "Early term." I know a lot of people consider this week as full term, but that has actually been changed! "The nation’s ob-gyns have redefined ‘term pregnancy’ to improve newborn outcomes and expand efforts to prevent nonmedically indicated deliveries before 39 weeks of gestation," according to www.acog.org. You can read more about that here.

I am having Braxton Hicks contractions (false labor- practice contractions) here and there. They don't feel like period cramps this time around, they're more intense and feel comparable to shorter active labor contractions. I continue to have pubic bone pain. My OB's have said that it is because the ligaments in my pelvic bones are now too soft and separated too much. It is called Symphysis pubic dysfunction, or SPD. (You can read more about that here.) I experienced this with my first pregnancy, and have had the pain this time around since 20 weeks. It is not pleasant at all! 

With my last pregnancy I was devastated to see my tummy gradually be covered in stretch marks. It was painful to see my body tear itself the way it did. By the end of my whole birthing experience and being over packed with fluids in the hospital, I had stretch marks cover my hips, inner thighs, lower torso and everywhere under my undies. I was stretched to the max and my skin paid for it. So, this time around I was very scared that it would only get worse. 

I have been using Palmer's cocoa butter stretch mark tummy butter on it every day, and thankfully they have not gotten darker in color. Until this past week I actually hadn't been itchy or in pain. My C-section scar is starting to feel overstretched, sore and is now dark in color. the stretch marks that run through it are welted and swollen. They hurt to touch at this point. I hope this changes after my delivery.

Lastly, I am starting to really experience forgetfullness. I have been starting sentences and then I guess I just stop talking. My husband has been constantly asking me what I was going to say... and I don't even remember. I forget everything I need to take places with me, time and dates, etc. It is really getting annoying. I know this wont end soon... Exhausted mommy brain is going to be hitting me even harder in 2 weeks.

 I have been trying to make myself feel better every day by doing something for myself. I paint my nails a new color every other day. I try to have my hair done at all times. I try to sneak in long showers during nap time at the expense of cleaning my house. I do my makeup every Saturday and Sunday. I wear perfume nearly every day to smell and feel pretty too. 

It is ALL about self confidence this pregnancy. 

I am loving myself just as much as my children and husband love me.

This is the very end of my pregnancy, and this is what we plan to be my last pregnancy. We still plan on expanding our family- just not biologically. The plan for a couple years down the road once we are done with school will be to open our home to foster kids and hopefully adopt 2 more children. Ideally we would be bringing in a set of siblings to keep them together. That is my dream and something I really hope happens. We have so much love to give, I know we will be great foster and adoptive parents.

I actually opted out of my weekly visit for this week and just scheduled my next visit for my 38th week.  I will be scheduling my C-section at that appointment, so I will have more info on that next
Wednesday. :-)

On another note- the pregnancy cravings have shifted from breakfast foods (donuts) to milkshakes and french fries. Did you know that Five Guys is testing AMAZING milk shakes at certain locations? Well, you're welcome! They're delicious!!

xoxo, Chelsea.

Week 36 of pregnancy. Decision time.

I can't even believe we are finally SO close to meeting our little man.

We have about 4 weeks left, (3 if I elect a C-section!) THREE WEEKS!

He is around 19-22 inches long and 5.5 lbs. 

I definitely think he is on the long side, because he is making me super uncomfortable!

I think this upcoming weekend I am going to go out and pick up the last of the things that I need for my hospital bag.. and I should pick out a little cute outfit for him to come home in. 

I am hoping it wont be too hot the day we bring him home. You just never know here in the DMV, it can be 90 degrees but raining out of no where! :-)

I am getting really nervous for my next appointment. For some reason my doctors like to pretend that the only thing that matters is that your baby is head down. But for some women, their positioning is JUST as important. I am not sure if there is something about my body (like the shape of my pelvis, or that my pelvis is misaligned) but my daughter was posterior (meaning that she was facing my belly button rather than my spine; also referred to as "sunnyside up".) This is a problem because the diameter of her head was too large to fit through my pelvic bones, and she got stuck pretty bad.

Because of the baby being in that position I had extreme back pain, long drawn out labor (weeks of prodromal labor [false labor], and days of actual labor). I was told by my doctors weeks ahead of time that she was sunnyside up. I was told the chances of it leading to a c-section but told that it probably wouldn't happen. But that was by ONE of my many doctors. She was really upfront about it all and honest. It gave me a lot of time to try to turn her with recommended exercises. (Check out Spinning Babies for more information.) 

But for some reason, a lot of the doctors at my clinic like to pretend that I am naive and don't know anything about the situation. They say that the baby will turn and that I have nothing to worry about. They said that everything I've read about and all the research is false. They said that the exercises on spinning babies is not going to do anything, (yet with my last pregnancy I was encouraged to do them....?) I hate that I don't have one set provider. I hate seeing strangers that don't know me. I hate that they all contradict eachother. Something inside of me tells me that if I listen to them and I attempt my VBAC everything is going to end up the same exact way it did last time. 

I don't think I am doubting myself; I think I am just coming to terms with the fact that a c-section is the smartest way to go if I know he is posterior. I just vaguely remember the surgeons saying that my pelvis was shaped a certain way while they were tugging away trying to get Opal's head out of my body. I have more peace in my heart knowing what will happen if I do elect a repeat c-section than if I let the doctors fill my head with my dream birth and then it be robbed from me again.

I honestly cannot let what happened last time happen again. I was there for 6 days with an infection. I was told I lost too much blood and was going to need blood transfusions.. I was swollen from head to toe because the nurses neglected to take my IV out causing my body to be over packed with fluid.. I didn't even get to use the restroom or walk until day 5. It was torture. I was neglected and not taken care of, honestly. I just want to go in, have my baby, and leave like a normal person. I don't want to be away from Opal for a week. I don't want to be in worse shape than the average woman who goes in and has a c-section, all because I was pressured into a VBAC knowing that my babies don't like to turn.

So, all in all, I am skipping my checkup for the 2 wk mark and just chose to go to the last appointment (38 weeks). I'll be scheduling my c-section and going to have Oliver the next week. I have been stewing over this decision for weeks now, and I am starting to feel happy and confident about it. I feel in my heart that this is what is best for my baby, and best for my body. I don't want to put myself through the painful labor that a posterior positioned baby causes. I want to be at peace with this birth, since I am still traumatized from the last. 

I don't think I will be choosing an "easy way out" that most people perceive about c-sections. I honestly think I am choosing the harder route. I am trying to mentally prepare myself for a potentially horrible looking scar (I am really happy with the one I have now, and don't want it to be worse), the fact that I will have weight lifting restrictions, not be able to hold my oldest for months, etc. I really will have a rough road ahead of me, especially with a move across country happening just 3 weeks later. I hope that it all works out. 

I am just so thankful that I have my husband and my daughter by my side. It is the most reassuring feeling. I hope that my sister and my in laws will be here for the birth or soon afterwards. It will help so much to have people here to show Opal that she is not forgotten or unloved. That is the last thing I want for my precious girl.

All in all, I know it will all work out. I know that it is the most stressful situation right now just because we still don't know whats going on with the Marine Corps or child care for Opal.. But I know in my heart that the Man above is watching over us and going to make sure we are taken care of and that all is well. I have faith. <3

xoxo, Chelsea.

My pregnancy at 31 weeks.

Hey guys! I'm another couple of weeks done with this pregnancy, and that much closer to meeting our little man! I am getting so excited with every week that passes. I am truly an inpatient woman and waiting 40 weeks for something so incredible is a true test of my patience. This pregnancy seems to be going by pretty fast, which is good and bad. Like I said in my previous pregancy post, we are waiting (still) to hear about our future with the Marine Corps. 

I thought for sure that I would have some good news to finally share with my friends, family, and blog followers about the whole thing, but we've been told that news wont come for ANOTHER 3 weeks. We've been waiting on this news for months now, and it just keeps getting pushed back. It has been hard dealing with the stress of not knowing where we will be working or living come the middle of July. But- that's life, I suppose.

Back to a more positive topic- THIS PREGNANCY! I saw my OB last week, and happened to see the one that delivered Opal in December 2013. (I have a whole team of OB's that I see through the span of my pregnancy. On the day of my delivery it will be whoever is on call that delivers my baby. I don't really get to choose just one.) So anyways, I shared an update on my personal IG, but not on my blog instagram.

I had a pretty great visit. She answered a lot of my questions about my upcoming VBAC.

I was told that if we don't have child care Opal can be with us in the room unless for some crazy reason I have to have a c-section again, I'd be in the operating room alone. I can go for a while without an epidural, but I do have to have one placed at some point (but it can be set to the setting JUST above a walking epi).

I only gained 2 lbs during that last month which is perfect. My gestational diabetes test came back great. My fundal height was measuring ahead, so she will order an ultrasound at my next appointment if it still is. I also came back as anemic so I'm on iron pills now. Basically, everything went great. I loved hearing from her especially that she thinks I am a good candidate for VBAC, because she remembers everything about my last delivery.

Hopefully when I give my 33rd week update I will have some more great news to share, both about the baby and our future with the USMC. :-) 

xoxo- Chelsea.

My last big sister duty.

We're upon my last day! I pick Dillon up tonight, (after a lot of flight changes and drama)..

But last night I got to do my last big sister duty! I took my baby sister to her winter formal, and photographed her and her friends. I love doing this stuff with her. I hope I can be here next year for her senior prom!! I'm so proud of her and how far she has come. She is nearing her last year and then *hopefully* will continue on to culinary school. I say hopefully because she has been second guessing her choices and options. I would love for her to go on to culinary school to become a pastry chef because it is definitely her calling. She is meant to do that for sure. :-)

Well, anyways! I am going to take her to the movies and hang out with her today until I leave to get Dillon tonight. (I have a 2.5 hr drive to San Jose Airport in my future.)

Here are some photos I took:

half way there.

My pregnancy is going by amazingly easy. With Opal, I had a miserable time from day one. It was really honestly the hardest time.  I am loving this pregnancy, mostly because it is SO easy that I forget that I am even pregnant.

I recently started to feel him pushing up against me. I can feel his feet against my tummy and then release them away. My belly is nice a round up in the front. I don't look pregnant anywhere else, and in my last pregnancy you could tell from every angle that I was expecting.

I can't believe that we are already half way to this baby being in our arms. I don't know exactly how I am going to handle an 18 month old, newborn, packing my house, and moving two weeks postpartum to somewhere we still don't know of. I am the epitome of stressed and excited all rolled into one big pregnant messy haired lady.

I have a lot of excitement for the next 2 weeks though, because Opal and I will be driving to Washington, DC with Dillon to finish out the rest of his contract with the Marine Corps. We are still unsure of the next step for his career... we find out by the middle of March...
and we're nervous. So to get my mind off of that I have been getting myself super excited for the decorating of my new apartment!

This will be my fourth move.. and our third home. I am very excited. Our first apartment (400M) was on Capitol Hill and was basically a studio. I can't believe we lasted a whole year there. Our second home (on base) was a beautiful town home, but it was just too darn big. We loved it but it was hard to keep up with. I'm not sure how it will be going from three stories (and three bedrooms) to a smaller 2 bedroom apartment. I certainly hope it will be easy to maintain and to not get too cluttered.

Dillon went out and faithfully ordered our table and sofa set (without seeing them! The store didn't carry the specific ones I wanted in his location!) I just love them so darn much. I can't wait to get them in our new place. I feel  like they will look perfect and just so amazing. I have been day dreaming of cream colored curtains and a beautiful area rug... and cuddling my hubby with a soft throw on our sofa.

I can't wait for my life to be perfect and whole again in just 2 weeks!! And I can't wait to show you guys the transformation of our Virginia apartment.

We're expecting!

So I just realized that I never shared on my blog one of the biggest events going on in my life!

My husband and I found out that we are expecting a little baby in June!

I wont type out a big thing about it all, I'll let the photos from the past couple weeks share our excitement.

why I can't wait for the day AFTER Christmas...

So as most people know, Opal and I are leaving on Christmas day to go visit her daddy. 

We are very excited to go see our handsome man, and I just can't wait to hug and kiss him!

The funny thing about it is, we land at midnight basically, so really we are arriving the day AFTER Christmas.

Why is that funny? Well, the last time Dillon and I were dealing with a long distance situation was the very first time we met in person! Yup! Face to face for the first time and it was the day after Christmas.

I am so excited that I am counting the days so hard right now, haha! I don't care at all about presents or anything else. I am just wanting to fast forward to my (I'm sure long and painful flight alone with Opal) and landing in DC! I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HA!

So anyways, here are some photos of Opal opening gifts early.

(We let her open a majority of her gifts early because we leave Christmas morning and wont have time to wait a bajillion years for her to unwrap them.)

We have a ONE year old!

Can you believe it? Our little girl is officially the big ONE!

 She is 18 lbs. 28 1/2 inches long.

She loves all things sofia the first and doc mcstuffins.

She loves to stick her tongue out, 

dance to Taylor Swift, and sleep to Miranda Lambert.

Her favorite toys are the ride/ push toys.

She loves to facetime her daddy on mommy's phone.

Kissing and hugging mommy are new, and she loves to do it.

This year flew by so quickly, I don't know where it went! Last year, I was in DC with Dillon and gave birth to our little winter princess in the middle of a snow storm that had the DMV area closed down. This year, I have been living in California with my family. 

We celebrated Opal's big day with an "Opal the first" birthday party with all of her cousins, aunts, and uncles in attendance. This girl was showered with love and gifts and had such an amazing day. 

I am thankful that she got to spend this day like a normal kid with all of her family having a blast. Especially knowing that next year it will probably just be her daddy and I spending the day with her. 

So here are some photos of her party.. I'll also give little descriptions of the items that I did craft myself.

 This was the kids table. I washi taped coloring pages down to the table cloth.
I placed buckets of crayons/ markers on the table. (cute buckets can be found in Target's $1 bins)
I found the wood magnets at the 99 cent store in 5 packs.
The pirate patches and party hats were from target's party section.

 This was her cake table.
I used yarn and clothes pins to hold photos from her first year.
I got the canvas from Walgreens (SAME DAY PICK UP!)
The "ONE" is cut from foam poster board (dollar tree) and I hot glued
silver tinsel to it. (also dollar tree).

 Chalk board info sign is actually a black foam board (dollar tree)
and I used a 4 pack of chalk pens from Michaels ($12- used a coupon to get it cheaper)

 For snacks I didn't want a bunch of candy, so I found these donut holes at my local grocery store's bakery. popped some cupcake toppers (dollar tree) on and wa-lah!

 The cookies are also from my local bakery.
The rice crispies are from the box. I dipped 'em in melting chocolate (food colored) and dipped in sprinkles with a cake pop stick on the end.

 plates were from target.
Is served fruits and licorice as my "candies".

Not pictured: I had brown paper bags for the kids.
Inside were heart shaped PB&J sandwiches, a paper cup filled with apples, grapes, carrots, and a orange slices. a cheese stick was also inside the bag, and desert were jello cups.