Presto Prego

Many of you are asking me about the belly and for an update on the baby...well, this one's for you!

As we arrived here they were in the process of opening up a brand spanking new hospital on Camp Foster (the original hospital is on Naval base Camp Lester). Labor and delivery was one of the last departments to move over, but it is now safe to say we will be delivering baby at the new facility. Pretty pumped about this! The old hospital was nice, but they were shared rooms and bathrooms were shared between up to 4 patients. No very private during one of the most private times in life, eh? At the new hospital we will get to be in the same room for labor, delivery and recovery.  They are completely private suites with unshared bathrooms and all rooms have ocean views. Pretty sweet deal, if you ask me. We should be touring next week.

As for my doctor, I was wishing and hoping for a midwife. Well, I got what I wanted. Our first encounter was awesome! She was vibrant and honest and I was really looking forward to her guidance along my journey. Unfortunately, two weeks later at my second appointment things quickly turned sour.  She was trying to push a c-section on me due to some issues with birthing Riloh. This is very unorthodox coming from a midwife. She had mentioned it at our first appointment, but by the second was actually pushing it on me and trying to instill fear in my head.  She said a few terrifyingly inappropriate comments that made me begin to question who's line of care she had in mind.  Totally messed with my chi!! Needless to say, I couldn't shake her unnecessary banter from my mind, so I had Todd call and switch providers for me. I thought they would ask twenty questions and deny him, but I was set up with an OB, appointment switched and no questions asked.  I will be meeting the new doctor Friday. Send a prayer my way, please! I will meet this doctor once and then it will most likely be go time...

 

We are due March 26th, that is just 8 days away...Eeek!  You guys are just days away from learning the name...Is that exciting or what?!! I know the suspense is killing a few of you.  I'm always taking predictions as to what day he will actually come-- so feel free to comment, send me an email, text, whatever with your predicted date...winner shall receive a prize!!  Keep in mind we are 17 hours ahead of most of you, so think of it as an entire day later ;)

 

We set up a maternity shoot with a photographer here.  It took awhile to actually get together, but she was able to capture a few shots of us at 36 weeks. The beach was really windy blowing my hair all over the place and Riloh was NOT having it.  She wanted Todd to hold her the entire time and insisted he stand in the water. HA! When he tried to dip her feet in the water she would pull them up like a monkey and whine in fear. It was another gorgeous day in Okinawa. Here are a few shots, taken from Kadena Marina....

36 weeks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wasn't lying when I said, "she wasn't having it"

 

 

Yet another one of our notorious "jump" photos. This is also a slight recreation from our maternity shoot while pregnant with Riloh...see:

 

 

These crack me up...mainly from Todd's awesome facial expressions. Pretty fun to look back on.

 

Like I said before, it was cold and windy and Riloh wasn't feeling the photo shoot. Our photographer felt really bad and you could see in her face she was not satisfied with our photos.  In fact, she would not even take my money when I tried to pay her.  We may meet up again to take a few more. But being the adventurous family we are, we set out the following weekend to explore a new beach and snap some shots of our own. We absolutely love having our Canon Rebel 2Ti camera instead of the little point and shoot cameras we used to go through like toilet paper. If you have a growing family and want to capture those precious moment-- best investment ever, quit messing around and get a good camera! We take our tripod and camera everywhere, sure saves us money on trips to the studio for posed and cheesy pics.  Why pay more when we can create our own posed and cheesy pics in the great outdoors?! 

 

There is a beautiful beach just a little north of where we live called Maeda Point or Cape Maeda. Its a gem! There is a gorgeous bluff you can walk out on and see all of the East China Sea and beach line for miles. This is a cliff at parts, so we kept our precious cherub away, she's pretty fearless and we didn't want to take any chances. You follow a beautiful stair-lined pathway down to the beach. It is surrounded by lava rock, bluffs, banyan trees, lush greenery and the sandy shore. As we ascended down to our little piece of heaven there was a man there setting up for romance. He had collected wood and bamboo scraps from around the beach to make an aisle, then littered it with flower petals and green leaves. At the end of his aisle lay two paddle boards and some sort of note on the ground. He was pacing around anxiously, carefully plotting and planning as he awaited the arrival of his girlfriend. This little honey dripper was going to propose! It was sweet. Todd was super concerned about us taking our maternity photos on the beach as he did not want to jeopardize this man's master plan. But we had plenty of time and we were out of the way. She showed up about an hour later at sunset, her man out at sea paddle boarding away. She waved to him, walked down the aisle, picked up the note and read it, got on her board and set to meet him at sea. They cruised in the sunset for a few moments and then we saw him get down on one knee...I don't know what her answer was, but the kissing and hugging and ear to ear grins was a definite indicator that things worked out in his favor. We took a few pictures of them, like the stalkers that we are. It was a sweet a moment for all of us ;)

The proposal

 

 

Out there awaiting his love, I'm sure his heart was pounding and he was sweating bullets

 

He paddles back to greet her as she arrives

 

They sail off into the sunset like a classic scene from "The Bachelor"

 

The beached whale anxiously waiting, watching, predicting...exclaiming, "OMGosh, he's about to do it...Its going to happen!!"  Peeking.

Down on one knee, spilling it all out into the East China Sea. This was followed by a lost oar, some balance toggling, hugs and kisses. Then they paddled back onto the beach where they had a little toast picnic photo shoot on the sand. This guy had it all set up! Kudos to him....

 

37 weeks

 

 

 

This is the trail that leads to the bluff cliff vista point. Its absolutely beautiful with all the surrounding green foliage, creepy spiders and all!

 

Riloh says, "I kiss baby brother," this absolutely melts my heart. She can't wait to meet him!

 

 The stairway to heaven, seriously.

Smoochy smoochy. Riloh did not want to participate.

 

 This shot is another "recreation" from our Riloh maternity shoot. We have conveniently cropped out the name in the sand for your viewing pleasure ;)

 

Somewhere around 30 weeks pregnant with Riloh at Canon Beach in Oregon.

 

She is starting to turn into a Daddy's girl! The past 2 years she has been glued to my hip and always picked me first, but oh how the tables are beginning to turn.  Love that she loves her Daddy :)

 

Loving on my baby girl. She only has a few more days of being an only child, then our sweet little family of 3 will be a completed family of 4...what a trip!

Saying "Hi" to baby brother

 

 

 I'm not one to normally publicize "kissing" photos, not really my style...but this was a candid shot captured during a "staged kissing pose" taken from an auto sequence of frames. We were laughing uncontrollably and I love how it turned out.

 

Riloh's photo shoot

 

Getting in the zone

 

Practice "cheese"

 

Oh so cheeky

 

Head to toe modeling

 

Strike a pose

 

I've got more, Mom

 

She's a natural

Playing on the rock with Daddy

 

This girl loves sand and the beach

 

 

38 Weeks

 

 

We had a little family day at the beach. Perfect weather, still blows my mind that we are walking around in swimwear in the beginning of March! 

HUGE belly! I had to post this as proof, that my skin does actually have color pigment when it meets the sun. I was so pasty pale you could see my veins and organs under that epidermic layer thanks to Washington. Check out my new "pregnancy glow" this was NOT photo shopped :)

 

Riloh being a cheese ball. I used to smile like this when I was a little girl!  See, she's not 100% a micro-Todd, there are bits of "me" in there.

Does this swim suit make me look fat?! Awe, look at our matching bellies. Priceless.

Habu Hobble

 

When we lived in Spokane we always enjoyed exploring and trying to find new things to do. The weather wasn't always permitting for outdoor activities which was probably the hardest adjustment for us during our time there. They did have some cool runs though. Bloomsday was our fave! It was a 12K with over 50,000 runners coming from all over, people dressed crazy and we ran through the Lilac City, all in celebration for the coming of Spring.  My point being, we fell in love after our first Bloomsday. It was a great experience, got us involved in the community, some stellar cardio and tons of hilarious photos.  Well, I received an email from the key spouse of Todd's squadron about a St. Patrick's Day 5K called the Habu Hobble. I was immediately pumped. I love green, I love dressing in green, playing Irish, running around like a banshee and I sure can "hobble." I thought what a great way to jump start our submergence into  our new Okinawa life. Its symbolic right?! So I talked Todd into running on his day off. When Saturday came, we suited the family up in green and headed to base. The map we have is inaccurate so we had a little trouble finding the location for registration, but we arrived about 10 minutes prior to start time. We registered and headed to the Habu Trail. Everyone had already taken off when we made it to the start line, but we weren't exactly racing for the gold. It was our first time testing out my sweet Double BOB stroller I bought off the yardsale site from Fairchild...boy, was she NICE! Riloh was a happy little camper for about the first 15 minutes and then went into meltdown mode. I just wanted to run to see if I was still capable!! I was doing Cross Fit and staying pretty active throughout my pregnancy until the end of January when we began our move.  Riloh wanted to walk, then be held, then find dandelions and all sorts of dilly dallying. Todd held and entertained her while I trucked on...mind you, my running speed is about how fast Todd power pushes a stroller, so we all were able to stay together for most of the course. The Habu Trail is an up and down trail full off hills and swirls surrounded by lush jungle. The course was set up so you turned around and ran back from the 1.5 mile marker...well, as people were turning around and coming back toward the finish, passing us was an entire scene in itself. I don't know what it is, but people were quite impressed that I was running while pregnant, we got cheers and claps and hollers and commentary galore. I'm pregnant NOT handicapped!! But it put smiles on our faces.  I get a little embarrassed because it was certainly more praise than I am worthy of.  You would think there was a leprechaun sighting or a field filled with four leaf clovers with the amount of enthusiasm these people had! We managed to get Riloh back into the stroller and finish the race. All the finishers were relaxing on the grass near the finish line and they began rooting and clapping as we came in. It was so embarrassing! HA! Surprisingly we weren't the last to finish...that's right, there were about 3 stragglers behind us.  So we survived our first 5K run, 10 days until due with a kicking and screaming 2 year old...Our award is in the mail ;) 

 

 

Some video testimony from the start

 

We forgot to take a family photo before or after the race, so here's a car shot.  We're all in good spirits. Riloh passed out moments later. Hope everyone had a fun and safe St. Patrick's Day!!

Baby is due in 8 days. We are all excited and delighted and can't wait to meet the little man. Keep you updated and do wish us luck!!

<3 Love Love Love <3