Ultrasound Pics

These are 2 pictures from the ultrasound on October 25.

Pics

12 weeks (of poptart eating)

21 weeks 5 days

We were about to get in the shower. Ava had to get in the shot (and she was very full, haha). :)

Settling In

Well it's official: I "live" in GA again... at least for a while. Ava (and the pups) and I are staying with my mom for this deployment. So far the adjustment has gone quite well. Ava is a little more clingy ("Where'd Mama go?" every time I leave the room) as I am now her only real constant, but that's to be expected. We've had so much fun already. Ava plays Shane's drums and the piano all the time and we've played outside a lot, taking advantage of the beautiful days we still have left before the "cold" really hits. She LOVES going to the playground, particularly because she likes to swing. Like, she'll go down the slide once or twice and want to swing the whole rest of the time. BB, Pancake, and Roman are having a blast together. I'm singing in the choir at Mom's church, which is something I didn't really realize I've missed. I enjoy actually reading music and blending with many other parts, etc. I've also been making a conscious effort to eat well and get plenty of rest/sleep. I've been napping with Ava almost every day since we've been here, so that's been nice. Baby Girl has been moving A LOT. I really am going to post an0ther pregnancy picture. I just keep forgetting to get Mom or Shane to take a picture of me. I went to a new Primary Care Manager yesterday to get a referral to an OB/GYN so hopefully I will be able to get an appointment soon to stay on track with my every 4 weeks appointments that I've had thus far. I'm anxious to see the results from a repeat sonogram in a few weeks; hoping my placenta is moving up a little each day!
I just got off the phone with Richard and he is doing well. He is settled in where he's going to be for the year so now he will just be getting into a regular work routine as the rest of the unit arrives.
I'll update again as soon as I have a new picture or anything else interesting to post!

Smart Little Bug

So I just have to say that Ava might be a little genius. Yes, I'm a little partial as her mom, but still. :) We read books all the time and she can identify so many things that are hilarious and ridiculous. (astronaut, accordion, anchor, banjo, dinosaur, drill, easel, eagle, flute, flamingo, guitar, hay, hippopotamus, harmonica, iguana, jump rope, jewelry, jack-in-the-box, kazoo, koala, laptop, lock, nutcracker, needle, porcupine, starfish, unicorn, vulture, whistle, wrench, x-ray) Those are just the ones that are funny to hear her say or are funny that she knows at all (from one of her books). She knows all her basic colors and can correctly identify them. Ex: "Ava, what color is your shirt?" "Green!" She can count to ten and can identify about half of the letters in the alphabet. Usually when she sees me on the computer she wants to sit on my lap and point out the letters on the keyboard. Right now she is outside playing with Uncle Jordan and Uncle Shane. :) She is starting to understand plurality and tenses. Ex on tense: "BB tooted" instead of "BB toot." She is also grasping the concept of time in some capacity. We were driving the other day and she wanted a snack. I couldn't reach the goldfish and we were going to stop soon so I told her "You can have a snack in a little bit. We need to ride in the truck for a little bit longer and when we stop you can have a snack." And she added "Not yet." "That's right, not yet." Really!?!?
Mom says I was very much like that at her age and that I knew all the books of the Bible by age three, haha! Anyway, she's such a cutie and learning every second of every day. I just had to brag on her a bit. :) 21 week pregnancy picture coming as soon as I get someone to take it.

Richard Update

Well I finally got to talk to Richard today (for the first time since last Monday). He called me this morning and said he is out of the hospital, feeling fine, and should be heading on to Iraq tomorrow. This is what he said happened *to the best of my understanding and in summary*: Wednesday he was feeling bad throughout the day and felt like he had a fever coming on. He took some Tylenol early on and that seemed to keep the fever away for a while but later he was still feeling bad and Tylenol wasn't helping. So when he got off the plane in Kuwait he was feeling really bad, kind of a little faint and nauseous, so they checked him out and discovered his blood pressure was abnormally low. They sent him to the hospital where he was given some IV fluids and Phenergan (sp?). He was feeling much better but when they took the IV out he felt like he was going to pass out. This brought on further monitoring and they discovered he had a low heart rate. After 24 hours or monitoring his heart they determined that he has a "1st degree AV block," which basically means that the electrical impulses from the atrium to the ventricals are slower than normal. This condition doesn't have any symptoms, "is common in well trained athletes, does not usually require treatment, and is prevalant in the normal young adult population." So basically they discovered the stuff about his heart by accident while treating him for what seems to have been some kind of virus or something unrelated. It shouldn't be a problem in the future and there is no treatment necessary at this time. Richard will see a cardiologist in Baghdad once he moves on to Iraq just to keep an eye on things to make sure everything is still good. Praise the Lord! Thank you for all your prayers.