Baby Girl!

Thank you to all who have expressed excitement for us and this little miracle that WILL be joining our family next year. We are both beyond thrilled and even more so terrified for this next stage in life!

For those of you who may know any sort of background story of the past 4 years, Kevin's remark that I "finally" let him post the picture hopefully did not surprise any of you. If you don't, you can ready Matthew's story here.

 http://leesaandkevinelkins.blogspot.jp/2011/06/what-difference-year-makes.html#comment-form

It's emotional, it's raw, it's long, and it's messy. But it is also what has got us to this point so I am forever grateful for that little boy and this little girl.

Anyway, back to this little one. On our 3rd anniversary, Kevin had just gotten back from tech school, I had just finished Student Teaching, and we were down in Salt Lake for the weekend before saying our final round of goodbyes and leaving for Japan. He was set on starting a family as soon as we got to Japan. Me, not as ready for that roller coaster again. We were in the Salt Lake Temple and as I'm sitting there, I get the distinct and audible impression of "not yet". It took me awhile to connect the advice to babies. I told Kevin afterward and obviously he was disappointed, but he obliged. Not like he really had much of a say in it at that point anymore.

So we moved 4,500 miles away from anyone and anything we'd ever known. We started working, paying off school, buying nice things, making friends and making a life here. And for several months Kevin sat by patiently until I, after months of constantly praying and asking when was the right time, finally told him that I wasn't getting the "not yet" response anymore so now was as good of time as any. 

End of July: still wasn't pregnant (that we knew of), so we got Molly instead. Well, not instead, but if I had been pregnant, we would have not gotten her. And she is just the cutest thing ever and I'm so glad we have her. 

End of July/beginning of August we found out I was pregnant. Thanks to the magic of Tokyo Disneyland/ Disneysea! Too much? Sorry guys...

Probably around September, Kevin found out that there were 2 different taskings for his shop. One for a 7 month deployment, from late November-late June. The other was for 6 months from early early November-early May. No one knew about the baby yet, but he had to let his supervisors know in hopes of not being sent on one of them. Unfortunately, he was tasked with the 6 month one, but was told they would figure out a way to get a 40 day early release amended to his orders so that he would be here for the birth. 

So it's less than a week before he's supposed to leave, still no orders, still nothing waiting for them when they get there. So they delay it until end of November-June. 

So baby girl will be arriving at least 2 months before daddy will get to meet her unfortunately. It is what it is and I know I'm not the first, nor the last to have a baby without the father present. But it still just pisses me off to say the least. Mostly I'm sad for Kevin though. At least by the time he gets back, he'll have lots of leave, R&R, and paternity leave that he WILL be taking. And I will be taking naps. Lots of naps.

But we knew going into this that it was a very strong possibility to have happen. I just keep telling myself that this baby would not even be on her way if the government wasn't paying for everything anyway :) So maybe they're actually doing some good still...at least for now.

Anyway, dozens of lovenox shots. Check.

More to go? Definitely.

Even more Prenatal pills, Folic Acid supplements (to prevent the chance of spina bifida), and B Vitamin supplements (help curb morning sickness this time around) Check Check Check.

Growth scans at least every 4 weeks? Yep.

But she is measuring exactly on date, yesterday was 24 weeks, 2 days and 1 lb 7 oz. (+/- 3 oz)

Whoo Hoo!

She was only 15 oz 3 weeks ago! Pack on the chub little one!

I on the other hand, thanks to a 3 week trip home, well I'm already up 20 lbs. Awesome. It's worth it though because this little one is healthy as can be, absolutely NOTHING is wrong with any organs, bones, or her size. 

But I refuse to complain about anything to do with pregnancy, at least in a public forum. I think it's tacky and rude, especially when people struggle to 1) get pregnant and/or 2) stay pregnant.

And even more so tacky to complain about it when you are someone that does struggle. Ok, side tangent/rant over. 

Now she just has to stay in there as long as she can to keep cooking. Also, I have absolutely nothing ready for her. So stay put.

Love, Mom <3

Yoshi Bear

Ok, so I know it's been forever since I've blogged. I realized yesterday that I never introduced the newest member of our family, Yoshi!!

We just love him and think he's the greatest thing ever! He's so fun and full of energy. After a long day, sometimes it's a little frustrating that he just wants to play, but it's just too precious to resist. He's a purebred Corgi and he's about 17 months old now. We got him back in the beginning of December. We're already his third owners, so there's been a few struggles because of that, but nothing major. He's so smart. Too smart sometimes.

Just a few minutes ago, I told him that he's very needy and "I hope that's  just a corgi trait." He cocked his head to the side (normal for him-like he's confused) and starting walking towards his treat cupboard. It took me a minute to realize that he heard "trait" as "treat". Of course I just had to give him a treat after that! I'm such a pushover.

Sadly, today while on a walk, I realized his paw was bleeding so we stopped and I checked it out. He wasn't too thrilled about me looking at it. We took him to the vet and the vet said that he had been walking too much recently (about 5ish miles per day this week) and the cement had worn it down. Looking at it closer tonight, it looks more like his nail broke off at an angle. It's pretty sad looking. But it didn't really bother him. Definitely didn't think you could "over walk" a dog. Sorry puppy!

Kevin is his favorite, of course. He goes to Kevin to play. And when he has to go down to go to the bathroom, he barks at me. Awesome. He pretty much barks at any new noise, or any noise out in the hallway, too. But his "potty" bark is different. It's desperate sounding. But he understands "potty" and what it means.

He has some tricks he can perform. Sit, shake, speak, kisses (he'll put his nose up to yours! adorable!), and we're working on lay down. Of course, all rules go out the door once we go to the dog park. Oh he loves the dog park!! As soon as we walk or drive around the corner, he knows exactly where we are and will go the the end of his leash and pretty much choke himself because he can't get there fast enough. He has a girlfriend named Jana. Seriously, it's kind of uncomfortable to watch them play sometimes. Recently there have been quite a few other corgis coming to the dog park. They all love to play with Yoshi and follow him around everywhere. It's so cute. I think they think he's their daddy because he's so big. Seriously, average corgi weight is 25-30 lbs. This dog is 34 lbs. They may not seem like a lot but when he's maybe a foot tall, 4-9 lbs. is a lot.

Corgis are also herding dogs. He always wants us in the same room. He'll go back and forth between us if we're not in the same room. Of course he spends more time wherever Kevin is. At least every few days, while walking through the hallway, we'll feel him nipping at our ankles. Not enough to actually feel teeth, but just enough to know that he's there and we better keep going the direction he wants us too. It's funny, but annoying too. But mostly funny because I don't think he can really help it. It's just in his genes.

Corgis are supposed to be really great with kids. He's great with kids starting at about the year mark. Because they actually look and act like humans at that point and will interact with him without just crying. However, we've babysat for Kevin's coworker a couple of times. They have a 7 month old. Yoshi's not so sure about him. And of course, any sound (knock, bell, ding,etc.) Yoshi has to bark at it and growl. Babies don't really like that. And Yoshi definitely doesn't like that the baby doesn't like it. So it might be a couple rough years whenever we have kids during the infant stage. Once they get to be a toddler, he loves them though. Should be interesting.

So here are some more pictures of our baby! They're pretty blurry since they're all from my phone, but you get the idea.

 This is how I found him sleeping one morning when I went to go let him out.

See, they're each other's favorites. I just can't win.

This is what he did to the fluffy ball on the top of my hat. I was not happy. Then Kevin showed me how similar it looked to the end of his rope. Almost the exact same. I couldn't be mad anymore...

 He was too quiet one morning while I was getting ready. This is how I found him. Awkward, Yoshi.

This is our good friends' youngest. They love each other but sometimes when all 3 kids are over here, Yoshi gets a little overwhelmed. This time, he went to hide and Austin followed him. No where to hide with kids!

He constantly does this. Not sure why. I think he's trying to itch his back.

He loved all the snow that was here! I, however, am glad it's gone finally.

You can't really hear it that well, but a balloon from Valentine's day was in our closet (where all balloons have to stay otherwise he won't go near them) and he just started growling at it. It took us awhile to figure out what he was growling at, but it was definitely the balloon! He's such a baby.

This is what I mean when I say he cocks his head to the side. This was the third time Kevin was making that noise and Yoshi was distracted by the ding when my phone started taking video, but you get the general idea. It's normally a lot more to each side. It's awesome.

And that concludes our ode to Yoshi. I am that crazy lady that doesn't  have kids so she takes pictures and videos of her dog. He's like our child and I am not ashamed to admit it. We LOVE him!