Post Holidays

Well now that the Holidays are over and we're back into our normal routine of work and home life. During the Holidays Lance's work schedule changes and he has duty every third day rather than every 6th day, but the other two days in between are a half day and then a day off, so at the same time as feeling like he's gone a lot we still got to have him at home a lot too. As special as a childs first Christmas is, we decided this year not to have a Christmas at home because we were leaving to Arizona just a few short days after Christmas and didn't want to worry about buying all the cute festive decorations (since it was our first Christmas together being married because he was somewhere on the other side of the world last year) and a tree when we were going to spend the rest of December and beginning of January in Arizona. So we had Christmas a few days late, but it was still just as Christmas-y and we got to see all of our family and be with them which is part of what makes Christmas special anyways! We all got sick the last few days we spent in Arizona and are just now finally getting over our stuffy noses and sore throats. I'm pretty sure Adaline got it the worse and it was not fun and so sad! She's generally a happy baby and not very fussy so having her cry and fuss all the time was definitely something new for me. But we survived and she'd back to being my happy baby. She's growing up so fast and I can't believe she'll be 1 in just a couple short months. She's almost walking and has her own baby language that makes us laugh on a daily basis. She eats just about anything and everything, but some of her favorites our her baby cheetos, sweet pees, bread, and shortbread cookies. We're still working on getting a hang of a sippy cup and straws, but am still hopeful she'll get it by or around turning 1 because I plan on weaning her from nursing. She is such a joy to be around and brings so much happiness to our family.

Starting Fresh

It's time for some re-commitment and devotion. I hate to admit it, but I've neglected our blog and haven't been on here for months! I got on to read a few of my newlywed friends blogs that they just started and they're all so cute that they inspired me to redesign and start fresh with ours. Honestly, I'll be using this as something to help me be more productive, organized, and creative and honestly I'll really have to be creative because if I were to just write about my everyday, ya'll would be bored real quick. As busy and time consuming as being a mom is, its not all that exciting day after day and with only one child. At least to all who might read it won't be. Don't get me wrong I love and enjoy life very much, but the things that fill my everyday life like Adaline's crazy personality and the way we laugh at each other and how she's all over the place are things that aren't quite as entertaining written in a sentence as they are in real life and as experiencing it as being her mother is. So for the sake of all of you I will have to come up with other more interesting, thoughtful, maybe controversial topics to write about. Heck what am I thinking..You will probably still get the low down on things we as a family do most of the time, but there are a few other things that I've got on my mind that don't involve me telling you we're going back to Arizona, me missing Lance, or bragging about him(like all my previous posts) so there will be some new kool-aid in the mix! Talking about starting fresh how about I fill you in on where and how we got to where we are. Taking it all the way back to the beginning for all you new folk that haven't had the amazing opportunity to meet or get to know me or Lance or me and Lance. We met in 2008 through a job and family friends (theres actually a lot more to the story than that, but we'll just keep that part simple) We starting talking (texting, meaning we got each others numbers) August 8, 2008 (8-8-08, since I didn't keep track of any other "official" dates of any kind besides the day we got married, I tend to consider this when we started "dating" even though we were just friends at the time) it was the night I went to the Jesse McCartney concert, which is the only reason I remember the exact date, and haven't stopped talking since! Lance left for U.S Navy Boot Camp in January of 2010, He was stationed in San Diego mid 2010, We were married January 2011, I moved to SD mid 2011, Lance left for deployment November 2011 which I moved back to Arizona to be with family, we became parents to the sweetest, most hilarious baby girl March 2012, Lance returned home from deployment June 2012 and I moved back to SD soon after, and we were sealed as a family for time and all Eternity August 2012. Since then we've just been doing our thing, living our life as our cute little family in sunny San Diego! Life is so wonderful and we truly are so excited to finally be back in SD together with our little sunshine girl continuing our journey now as a family through life! Now as I sit here trying to think of what else to write or how to end in a proper way.. I look at the clock and lucky for me its 11:30 at night and the battery on the laptop is about to die and I'm too lazy to get up and find the charger so with that excuse I'll end here. Glad to be back my friends, Goodnight!

Major update: new mommy and daddy!

Well, I figure it's about time to catch up on everything since one of the biggest, most special things that I will ever expirence in this life has happened to me! I'm a Momma! to the most adorable, perfect, sweet, baby girl! It truly was one of the most amazing, life changing experiences and already wish I could go back to those sweet moments of welcoming her into this world. It was as perfect as it could have possibly been without having Lance here with me/us. I guess I will give you a little play by play of how everything went!

Adaline Elizabeth Hutchins
March 6, 2012 at 1:18pm
8 lbs 3 oz 20.5 in

I didn't ever take a belly picture until I was about 27-28 weeks so heres an update in pictures from 27/28 weeks - today. I was very fortunate to have a very easy pregnancy, I was never sick or super uncomfortable or have anything drastically change physically or emotionally really, besides excitement for our baby girl! I'm very happy to say that my labor and delivery was just as easy.
At my 35 week appointment I was about 1 cm, a week later at 36 weeks I was at 2 cm, then at 37 weeks I was at a 3. I was starting to think and hope that she was going to be here sooner rather than later, especially since I was progressing pretty well and a cm each week, but of course I was stuck at a 3 until my last appointment at 39 weeks when my doctor told me I was almost a 4, but we scheduled my induction because I wanted to have her as close to her due date as possible because I knew Lance would be porting and we would be able to Skype and he could see her. My last doctors appointment was Wednesday, my due date was that Saturday March 3rd and we scheduled my induction for Tuesday March 6th. So of course I was hoping she'd come on her own before then, maybe even on Lance's birthday which was the 4th, but of course she didn't and we made it all the way until Tuesday! I was scheduled to be at the hospital at 5:00 am but had to call at 4:00 just to make sure they weren't too busy. I woke up at 4:00 and was about to call when the hospital called me to tell me to wait to come in because they needed to move some ladies to the postpartum rooms that came into the hospital that night and that they would call me as soon as a labor and delivery room opened up. At this point I'm thinking she was never going to come, but it was only about an hour later that they called me and asked if I could be there within the next 45 minutes, so we got everything together and off to the hospital we went! We were checked in and in the room by 6:30- 7:00. They checked me and I was still 3 1/2- 4, but they said they were glad I was already almost half way there on my own, so they started me on pitocin and broke my water at 8:00, at about 11:00 I got my epidural because my contractions were starting to get stronger, not anything unbearable, but I knew they would only get stronger so I wanted to get the epidural before they were too painful and risk the doctor not being able to come right away. Let me add.. apparently I was having contractions, but again I was lucky enough to have not been feeling them and they only felt like braxton hicks or sometimes just felt like her moving and poking her little tush out like she did so often. After they broke my water is when I began to feel any kind of pain. Also my epidural only worked on the right side of my body, and since it works with gravity they put me on my left side to get it to go to my left side, but I was having better/ stronger contractions when I was laying on my right side so I got flipped a few times. At about 12:00 my contractions really started to kick in and thats when I say I was in actual pain that hurt and I'd have to remind myself to breathe through them and since my epidural never went to my left side no matter what we did I was feeling all the pain as if I was having a natural birth, but just on my left side. So we called the Doctor to give me more medicine which still didn't help and ended up just going to my right side. By this time my right leg was completely numb and I couldn't even hold it up or feel anything in it. Thank goodness I was at a 10 by about 1:00 and as soon as I started pushing I didn't feel any more pain at all. So there was only about 30 minutes- an hour that I actually felt pain that felt like labor! I pushed for about 30 minutes and she was here at 1:18 PM! My sweet baby girl was here! She had a full head of dark hair and big blue eyes, and I could just stare at her forever! It is the absolutely most amazing thing to ever experience. You hear and read it being described by mothers, and once you experience it for yourself you know and understand what they try to describe, but it's even more than that and there are no words to even being to explain what it's really like. I literally just sat and stared at her with tears in my eyes. I was so in love. I was texting/emailing Lance during the whole entire process so he knew everything as it was happening and I think I told him about 50 times how in love I was with her and how perfect she was. Having a child is one of the biggest blessings in life! I was moved to my room a few hours later had some visitors and spent our first night together and went home at about 3:00 or 4:00 the next day. We have been living and spending every moment together since! Again, I have been majorly blessed because she has been a perfect little baby! An amazing sleeper, doesn't ever really cry, caught right on with breastfeeding, and is already growing way too fast! I can't believe she is already 4 weeks old! Her growing up is definitely bittersweet, I am so sad to see her grow from being my tiny little newborn baby girl, but every day older, we're a day closer to Lance being home and having our cute little family together. I can't wait for her to meet her daddy and her daddy to meet her. That will be one of the best days of my life to finally see and have them together.

Few more weeks!

I figured since I only have a few more weeks (7) of having spare time like I do now, that I'd update the blog and kinda catch up a little bit before my life as I know it now changes! I'm sooo so so excited to just finally have her here! Some days I feel as though I'm ready to pop, but most of the comments I get when people see my belly is that "I'm tiny" so I don't really get away with saying how ready I am for her to be out. I actually don't mind my tummy very much, and am just barely starting to really feel pregnant with back aches and sometimes my legs get tired, but I am so grateful for how easy this pregnancy has been! At least I feel very lucky compared to the stories and pains that I'd heard other people having to go thru. The only real big difference I feel is that I have a rounder tummy, and the number on the scale is bigger than it's ever been, but still not too unbearable to look at- Thank Goodness! Me and Lance are pretty set with all the baby equipment, and necessities for the most part, I'm sure after the baby shower we will definitely be good to go! I'm so looking forward to that also. I've also started sewing and am pretty proud of myself for how far I've come along in it, considering I couldn't even sew a straight line at first, and hardly control the peddle haha. But I've definitely learned some patience and have been proud of my last few projects. I'm looking forward to starting a few others in a few weeks too!

Well Lance is doing goooood, just out on the ocean! I/ We are seriously so blessed and fortunate when it comes to us being able to communicate. I talk to him every day via email/text and I love that even though he's far away we or at least I don't feel distant from him. I send him texts all throughout the day about everything I do and if he's working nights (which is our day) he responds as if we were just normally texting and if he's working days (which is our nights) we get a few hours of back and forth responses and then I wake up to more messages in the morning. Not everyone on the ship is that lucky, so I'm definitely counting my blessings! It's crazy to think that it's almost been three months since he's been gone, and we're just a few weeks away from the half way mark of the deployment! WOOOO HOO! I'm so proud of that hubby of mine! I can't wait to see that face again! But I'm most most most! excited for him to be a daddy and for him to finally meet our little girl, and spoil her, and her to become a daddy's girl, cause I know she will! Only a few more months!

Bragging rights

I'm just going to take a moment, as I'm missing my husband and reminiscing on times we've had together and falling in love all over again even though he's miles and miles away, to brag about my sweet husband. There's not a day that goes by (hardly even an hour) that I don't think to myself how blessed, lucky, proud, amazed, grateful, and happy I am to have him not only as my husband, but as my best friend. Now as I was looking through the pictures we got taken earlier this year I kept thinking to myself "geeze I have a freaking hottie husband!" hahah and it's so true I do! so I thought I'd dedicate a little post to just him and share a few of my favorites of him!

Loooooooooooooove him!

Catch up

It's been forever since I have posted, but now that I have plenty of time to post I figured I would re-commit and catch everyone up on a few big things that have happened.

Well we are all moved out of our apartment and I'm no longer a resident of Chula Vista, California :[. I am now back in Arizona semi-permantly, Lance is out on deployment, I am now 24 weeks and 5 days days prego, and my tummy is starting to actually show, and I am planning on getting a seasonal job to help time go by faster and make some spending moneeeyy before our little girl comes.

It was a crazy past couple of weeks moving out, packing up, preparing, cleaning, and spending my last few days with Lance before he shipped off, but I'd say they were pretty successful. We basically moved out in two days and already on our way back to AZ by the end of the second. Everything happened pretty fast. We spent his last weekend here with his family and headed back up to CA the night before he shipped off and just stayed in a hotel with his family that came along. The morning he was leaving (Monday) we got to tour his ship and see where he sleeps and works and spends all his time on the ship then got to say the lovely good-bye, and then watched his ship pull out of port until we could hardly see it anymore and they were off. It is actually pretty surprising to me that I am able to type this without tearing up or getting too emotional about it because I have honestly been on an extreme roller coaster the past few weeks. I am proud to say that I made it through the "see ya later" with only a few tears shed and don't ask me how because I honestly don't know..besides the fact that I have been in denial about him leaving and still am, or that I just kept telling myself over and over "only 7 months..only 7 months". When actually I've just gotta make it through these first 3 1/2 months til March and once the babe comes I know time will fly and she'll keep me busy. And it helps a lot when you've got a husband like I do that is strong in situations like this and helps me not be too dramatic or emotional, and doesn't let me forget how much he loves me, especially the past few weeks. We are also very lucky because he works on computers so he will almost always have access to his email that we basically text back and forth through, throughout his working hours; instead of him having to fight and wait in line for a computer to use for a few minutes. Very fortunate. Watching the ship leave port is actually an awesome sight, if you have ever seen a Naval ship pull in or out of port. Sailors line the flight deck and salute has they go by and for me at least made me very proud to know my husband is on there and going out there to serve. Lucky him though, he'll be in Hawaii within the next couple weeks then off to some other foreign land traveling the world. There is a part of me that is excited for him, because he was excited to visit all the different places.
So now being back here in Arizona I've have a busy first couple days, settling in, unpacking (which I still have a lot of to do), setting up doctor appointments, running errands, finding a job. I just hope to continue to feel busy so this time will fly!

Here is a few pictures from the day he shipped off

A couple picture that were taken by someone from the pier as they were pulling away

The Play by play of the ship going by and then out of port from where we were watching

Good-bye USS Makin Island!

There was one mom with her two little girls that were at the same spot in the harbor as us to watch the ship go by because her husband was on the ship too and the two little girls were so cute. They'd count together "1, 2, 3!" and yell "BYE DADDY I LOVE YOU!" over and over together. It was the sweetest thing. Crazy to think that could be our little daughter one day!

Here she is by the way..at 23 weeks

I'm going to see the midnight showing of the new Twilight movie tonight with all the girls on Lance's side of the family and I'm starting to get really excited to see it! It should be fun!

Isn't he so cute?! Love him!

Ready for the weekend!

I am beyond ready for the weekend! After what seems like the longest appox 2 weeks without Lance I'm excited to finally be back with him..well him back with me here in AZ! My stay here has been quite an adventure- getting a ticket on the way here, locking my keys in the car, hunting down a dress and shoes for my brothers wedding that wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, and seeing a lot of people that I feel like I haven't seen in forever. This weekend and next week will be fun having Lance here with me to spend some time together with his family before the upcoming deployment.. which is a whole other subject!

But as for now, we're just going to think happy thoughts and look at things that make me happy.