20 Weeks - We're halfway there!

This Sunday marked the beginning of my 20th week of pregnancy. We're so excited, as this means we're halfway to meeting our sweet little one! We got to celebrate this milestone with our 20-week ultrasound. We're still waiting on word from the midwife, but the ultrasound tech said everything is looking great. While the tech was scanning, Baby Diego was showing off his/her acrobatic skills by constantly somersaulting! It actually allowed the tech to get all of the needed pictures quickly and provided some entertainment for Branden and I. Many of you have asked and I'm happy to say that we resisted the temptation and did NOT find out the sex of Baby Diego! I know this disappoints some of you but we will find out soon enough. Besides, won't it be so fun to receive news from us in November with a subject line of "It's a _____!"?

The most incredible aspect of the ultrasound was being able to see every little bone in Baby Diego's body. We could see the entire skull, his/her little arm and leg bones and every single vertebrae in the spine. We could also see all four chambers of the heart and all of the teeny tiny little fingers and toes. It's amazing, considering he/she doesn't even weigh a full pound yet! We managed to get a few photos, but they didn't scan very well, so I apologize for the poor quality. Our favorite is the one of Baby Diego's little feet - this was taken in a rare moment of relaxation for him/her, when he/she was just laying there, legs crossed at the ankles. It was too cute!

Baby Diego's little arm and hand ^ - the white images are the bones, just like you see in the picture below

Baby Diego's spine ^ - it's hard to make out in this scanned version of the picture, but there is black space in between each of the vertebrae (again, shown in white). When you see it on the screen, you can actually make out each of the 33 vertebrae!



Our favorite picture! Diego's tiny feet ^, crossed at the ankles, just relaxing in my belly :)

Mini Marty Update

Time continues to fly! The last month has been as hectic as ever. As many of you know, I love to be organized and prepared (not quite sure why I'm so messy, but I just chalk that up to my "creative" side). Given that, I've spent the last month researching, planning and preparing for Mini Marty. Branden and I were finally in town at the same time last weekend, so I made him drive all over San Diego to take care of "baby errands". With a little more than half of this pregnancy left, we've got our stroller and nursery furniture purchased, we start childbirth classes next week and we are interviewing doulas this weekend. I know, I'm crazy! Surprisingly, Branden says this pregnancy has actually made me more mellow...what was I like before?! Honestly, I was overwhelmed when I realized everything that needs to be done in preparation for a baby and spreading out the tasks makes me feel less anxious about getting it all done. Now we just need to pick names, paint and set-up the nursery, write a birth plan, stock up on baby necessities, fill out my maternity leave paperwork, find childcare for after my maternity leave (do you know how long some of these waiting lists are?!), order birth announcements, etc etc etc...we have a lot to do, but we are so happy to do it!

I know you really came here looking for updates on Mini, so here is the latest. Mini Marty (aka "Baby Diego") is 18 weeks old now! He/she has a new nickname, Baby Diego, and I felt him/her start to move last week! That was incredible. I don't feel the movements every day, but my midwife says I will soon. Saturday morning, while I was at pilates class, Baby Diego was moving a ton! It felt like he/she was doing pilates right along with me. The other movements have felt more like little punches, which I don't appreciate quite as much. :) I can only imagine how those jabs will feel as he/she grows in strength and size.

I had a check-up with my new midwife this morning (my doctor got transferred to the East Coast) and Baby Diego's heartbeat is still strong, in the 150s. The midwife had our test results ready for us (for Down's, Trisomy, etc) and everything looks great. We are very thankful for that.

We have our "big" ultrasound (and likely, our last) next Friday and, of course, we are very excited for that. At this ultrasound, they will check Baby Diego in detail and make sure that he/she is progressing as expected. We love seeing our little one on the big screen and I'm sure the progress Baby Diego has made since our last ultrasound will be remarkable. Hopefully, we will get some great pictures and, if so, I will be sure to post them here.

I do want to take a quick moment to thank you all for your well-wishes. I've tried to keep up with the emails, but I know I haven't gotten back to everyone. Please know that we greatly appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers and feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family sharing this experience with us.

Not just getting pudgy...

Have you seen me lately? If so, you were probably too sweet to notice the pounds I've slowly been packing on. Don't worry, I haven't completely let myself go (though, it does feel like it some days)...those are baby pounds!!! Yes, we are finally going to be blessed with a mini Marty in early November!

We are so very excited to share this amazing and exciting news with you! I apologize now if we've lied, dodged or completely ignored a question about babies from you recently, but we weren't ready to share our news until now. On Friday we had our third ultrasound and the Mini looks amazing! It is incredible to see the changes in just a few short weeks. Mini now looks like a real baby! The ultrasound pics don't do the experience justice, but it was awesome and overwhelming to see our healthy baby on the big screen and to hear a strong heartbeat of 150 bpm. We even got a little wave, like he/she was saying "hello"!

Enjoy the pictures and check back for more updates. While you're here, take our poll on the sidebar and let us know if you think Mini will be a boy or a girl. We're not finding out, so we're guessing too!

Living the dream

While our life certainly isn't perfect (hello, six month deployments!), we definitely feel very blessed and lucky. We have one another, live in a fabulous city and enjoy love and support from wonderful family and friends. When you think about it like that, it makes the small bumps seem pretty insignificant.

That said, while Branden's current job has him traveling a lot, there are also some fun perks. Recently, an admiral from the British Navy (called a "Commodore") was in town for some meetings and work with Branden's office. Over the weekend, the two admirals Branden works for hosted the Brits for a sunset cruise and dinner party. We were lucky enough to tag along and enjoy the festivities!

In February we also celebrated Branden and Colin's birthdays (Colin just moved out here from Florida, if you recall) and got to spend Valentine's day weekend in Chicago with our good friends.

Chilly Chicago (our future hometown? We hope so!) for Valentine's Day weekend

Steph, Rach & Steph - I love hanging out with my college roomies! I miss them so much!

Our new roommates (can't stay in college forever!) - Billy, Rachie's hubby, my sweetie, and Dusten, Steph's soon-to-be hubby!

Happy 29th, my love! Welcome to the club of almost-30!

Happy be-glad-you're-not-29-yet Birthday, Colin!


Sailing around the bay at sunset with the Admirals!

Yea for Soiree!

I have to share my VERY exciting news!

In December, I entered one of my invitation creations in a contest with Paper Source. If you don't know, Paper Source is an amazing paper company that started in Chicago and now has 29 stores in the US.

So, as I said, I entered their holiday card contest and was sad that I never heard back. I mean, of course I'm biased, but I thought my card(s) were really cute (yes, I actually entered two). Well, you guessed it...I got a letter from Chicago today and I WON!!

To be clear, I'm not the only winner (each store has one), but I was still pretty excited about this. The best part is that my creation will be featured on the Paper Source website later this year! They will be featuring all the winners to "inspire our fellow PS card makers to Do Something Creative Everyday!"

Of course, I will email you all and show it off once it hits the site. While you're waiting, check out my own little website, seen here. I'm on an unofficial hiatus while I design, create, and assemble my dear sister's wedding papers, but someday I'll get back to it more regularly.

Thanks for letting me gush!

America's Finest City

Have I previously used the post title "America's Finest City"? If so, I apologize. But, really, with weekends like these, how can you blame me?

Oh, and I didn't make that name up, "America's Finest City". It's official.

By the way, sorry if I've confused you. Branden is still in Bahrain; these pics were taken two weeks ago.

Another Pilot!

January has been a busy month for us (who knew getting older meant getting busier?! ). After just two weekends at home, we traveled to Pensacola, Florida for Colin's winging. You may remember, both of Branden's brothers are Marines. Ryan, the "little" one, is in the Special Forces (I don't really know what that means, but I 'm pretty sure it is bad a**) and Colin is, now, a helicopter pilot like B. Congrats, Colin!

On a side note, the rest of the month consisted of Steph traveling to wine country for work and B traveling to Hawaii, Virginia, DC, Korea and Bahrain (he's there now). I guess, if nothing else, all this traveling keeps the marriage fresh! :)


And, now, back to Colin...

Colin and his huge winging (graduation) class (sign of the times?). Branden graduated with just 15 or so pilots five years ago.

I'm very happy to report that Colin will be moving to San Diego next week!! The downside is he is only here for six months or so, and then he's off to North Carolina for about three years .

Ellen & Ryan, on their four-week wedding anniversary!


After the winging ceremony, each class sponsors an after-party at a local bar. You'll see, it gets a little rowdy...

Oh, geez. This is my darling husband doing the dance to Beyonce's "Put a Ring On It." Watch the video and you'll understand. No, he didn't look ridiculous.


Not.at.all.

Aaaaaaaand, now he's got Ryan doing it with him.

Thankfully, night two was a little more subdued. We went to one of my favorite Pensacola restaurants, Dharma Blue. Yum. If you ever go to P-cola (as we fondly refer to it), please eat here. Ah-mazing!

Yes, I am officially ghetto. Waffle House is my other favorite Pensacola restaurant. Lucky for you, these fine establishments can be found in many Southern cities, not just P-cola.

Hmmm...thinking of asking for orders to Mobile. I'll keep you posted.