Our Family is changing

Our view of our family will be changing once again in April when we welcome our surprise new addition Micah Andrew. We weren't necessarily planning on having another baby so soon, but apparently God thought it was a good idea. My due dates are 18 months apart exactly.
We are going to be changing things up a bit since life got a little more complicated after I had a c-section with Stephen. We decided that if possible and if we could make it work it would be best for me to NOT have major surgery and just opt for a repeat c-section. But instead to try for a Vaginal Birth after Cesarean (VBAC). Unfortunately to get a VBAC and find not only a supportive VBAC hospital but a provider as well that met my criteria (mainly that they could handle and emergency delivery if it became necessary) we have decided to go up to Portland to have this little one. I found out that my insurance will cover OHSU as "in network" and they also have a group of midwives who do VBACs up there. I'm actually really excited for the opportunity. There are parts of me that are a little nervous. Mostly of the unknown: when will I go into labor, will Lonnie make it in time, will I know I'm going into labor, will I be able to do it without pain meds (one of my goals so I know if something bad is happening), will everything go well, will I end up with a repeat c-section. Ultimately I am okay with a repeat c-section. The way I see it is that I have a 100% chance of surgery if I sign up for a repeat c-section, I have a 35% chance of surgery if I try for a VBAC. The thought of recovering from major surgery while taking care of an 18 month old does not sound appealing in the slightest, but I will do it if I have to. I feel fortunate in many ways because of my experience as an L&D nurse. I KNOW what to look for, what to listen for, what things are emergent and what isn't. I'm hoping and praying that this delivery goes off without a hitch and I get a nice, normal, boring vaginal delivery.
Including that and having a nice normal pregnancy, things have been going great. Stephen and I just got back from a trip to Australia for my sister Janell's wedding. Unfortunately Lonnie wasn't able to come, but we survived somehow. Let's just say 30 hour journey's are NOT for the weak. Stephen is also walking up a storm now. He took his first steps Nov 1st, and now he walks everywhere. He LOVES to walk around with things in his hands whether it's his ball, soda cans, mini pumkins...whatever. It's just amazing to see him grow and change. He's such a blessing to our lives every day.
Lonnie's job is still going well and he is considered the best report writer in the office. It has it's pluses and minuses in that he doesn't get the opportunity to go out and supervise people because he's busy writing reports. But, everyone thinks very highly of his writing abilities. My work is also going well. Things don't slow down in the baby birthing business and we are busier then ever.

So there's the update on the fam and the changes we are going through. I'm hoping to write on here more and maybe not just do family updates but write about other things that I think about too.

Heading home!!

We are heading home tomorrow morning. It has taken a fair amount of packing and figuring to pack it all up and get it all in the car. We are going home with a fair bit more then what we came with so that has been a challenge for Lonnie's super packing skills. We are planning to stop in Redding and pick Sherman up. Then Lonnie has to cut off at Yreka and do two more days of training there, while we continue home and I have to be the single parent of a baby and a pup for a few days.

I am totally stoked to get home and to be in my own space. Granted this has been a really good situation for us. Stephen and I were able to join Lonnie for 5 out of the 6 weeks he'd be gone which is incredible. We had a great hotel arrangement which has been awesome. I think the thing I am most excited for is just to sleep in my own bed. I never realized how incredibly awesome our bed was until we've had to sleep in a bed that has a dip in the middle similar in size to Crater Lake. Lonnie's parents are going to meet us as home to help me get the baby and the pup situated.

The tough thing going home is figuring out all the things that I need to do with the puppy. We really want him to be a good member our family. We want to make sure from the get-go that he has good behavior. We've been reading a number of books by Cesar Millan who is "The Dog Whisperer." He has a lot of good tips and things to do to help you raise the perfect dog. So hopefully we will be able to raise the pup well and we won't have many of the behavioral issues that many other people have. We'll see. Like Stephen this pup is the first "baby" we've ever had, so I'm sure there will be mistakes along the way.

Our newest family member!

Lonnie and I have been on the hunt for a puppy. We have wanted to get a dog for awhile but just haven't gotten one. So we've been looking and reading and watching online to find the one that we want. Because purebreds are so scarce in Crescent City, we thought that we might have a better chance of getting the dog we want if we get it while we're down here in Sacramento. Originally the plan was to get a Staffordshire Terrier because they are known to be very good with kids, and from our understanding our apartment has a 20 lb limit on pets. Well, Staffies can be up to 35 pounds and it made me really nervous that the dog might get too big. See, we have an apartment manager who is perhaps a little bipolar. One day you can be on her good side, the other you're on her bad. And she can make life really difficult if you get on her bad side. So I really don't want to piss her off if I can avoid it. So, we changed our focus and tried to find a dog that would meet the standards. We wanted a dog that was cute, great with kids and patient, and would be under 20 lbs or right around that. We considered a dachshund but they aren't known to be very patient with kids. We ended up stumbling upon the Shetland Sheepdog or Shelties as they are commonly known.
We started looking and found that it was very difficult to find one, especially one for less than $1000. We found a couple of 5 month old pups that were 3 hours away. We strongly considered going to get one or at least go look at them but we found another ad for 8 week old puppies. We called on the smaller puppies and they still had two available. We decided that we'd like to have a smaller puppy because we wanted the pup and Stephen to grow up together. We also didn't want to chance having a dog who had already settled itself into unknown habits. We drove up to Redding on Saturday to take a look at the pups. I fell in love with the smaller of the two right away. I like all things miniature so it made it easy for me. We spent a little time holding and watching each of the pups and decided to go for the smaller one. Stephen did well with them and like he does with everything else he tried to eat the dog. He wanted to hold his ears and grab his fur. We definitely have a ways to go in trying to teach him to be gentle. We talked to the breeder and she was willing to hold the dog for us until next Sat as we drive home. This made things so much easier because it was going to be difficult to figure out keeping a dog in the hotel. We decided to name him Sherman, a name that just popped into my head one day as I was driving. He's such a cute dog and I know that he and Stephen will grow up to be good buddies.

Trip to Long Beach

We decided that since we were closer then we would be from home we would drive down to Long Beach and see my brother Tim and his wife Gina. We saw them last at their wedding in November but didn't get to spend much time with them at all(for obvious reasons). My brother David hitched a ride from San Diego so he could be there for the weekend too. It was nice to be able to go and see them for a little bit of time. We drove down Friday after Lonnie was done with his class and got there just before midnight. We slept on their "hotelement" mattress which fits in the back of my brother's Honda Element. Stephen slept on a blanket in the closet. On Saturday we hung out around the house. In the morning Lonnie went with Tim to go and take some pictures. Stephen snuggled with Uncle David who complained about being woken up until I reminded him that he will VERY RARELY get to snuggle with his nephew. We ended up spending most of the day around the house, though Gina and I took a walk down to a park and learned a little bit about lawn bowling. We had dinner that night of Carne Asada tacos that Tim made. We also had a bonfire in their fire pit and made s'mores. On Sunday morning we ate breakfast at their house (it was more of a lunch). Then we took a walk to the Colorado Lagoon where Tim has done some conservation work. After the trip to the park it was time for us to go home. We drove home and got home late that night. It was a nice visit and I'm glad we got to see them.

Trip to Monterey

We discovered last minute that my sister Amanda and Brother-in-law Bill were going to be in Monterey for the Big Sur Marathon on April 25th that my BIL was running. Not sure how we all missed that and didn't plan ahead, but we decided to head down there to meet up with them anyways. It took us a few hours of driving but we got there. We ended up going to downtown Monterey and walking around a bit, ate some lunch. We visited the check-in for the marathon. Then due to fatigue and needs for naps Lonnie, Stephen and I all went back to their hotel room and took a nap for a bit. Then we met them for dinner at a pizza place that was packed out. We finally made it home by midnight but it was nice to check in and see them. We hadn't seen them since Christmas so they got to see how much Stephen had changed in 4 months.

Stephen's half birthday

So, I'm getting caught up now. Stephen had his half birthday on Tuesday April 20th. We were down in Sacramento with Lonnie. And he got to celebrate with his first trip into the swimming pool. He really enjoyed himself! Here are a few pictures!

6 Month Photo shoot

Well since Stephen is just about 6 months old we decided to have my friend Bekah do some family pictures for us. She took my pregnancy pictures, the pictures when Stephen was 2 weeks old, and now these. And she always does a great job. We live too far away to get any studio type of pictures so these are the replacement. Plus it's such a steal for $40 if you ask me.