Wednesday, April 25, 2018

ALL of the Bumpdates from Pregnancy #2

Can you believe that I never shared a single one of my weekly bumpdates on here the entire time I was pregnant with Josephine?! Crazy, right? I was diligent about sharing each and every one while I was pregnant with Annabelle. I feel a little terrible, but... second child syndrome, I guess. Sorry, Josie.

I do want to share them, though, but I don't want to bombard everyone with 30+ weeks worth of photos in separate posts... so I'll be sharing them ALL here today. I delivered at 37 weeks, so I'll be sharing weeks 5 through 36.

The pregnancy was anything but uneventful. The first half was normal... we found out she was a girl at 16 weeks, but then at our anatomy scan at 19 weeks, we found out she only had a single umbilical artery - or a two vessel cord! That happens in less than half of one percent of pregnancies, and we had to be monitored extra closely to make sure she didn't have any heart or kidney problems (she didn't / doesn't) and that she kept growing on track (she did) because those babies can be smaller. It also increased our chance of having a stillbirth by quite a bit, so I was going to be induced around 39 weeks anyway... but then at 30 weeks, I tested positive for pre-eclampsia, so the goal was to just get me to 37 weeks.

I had twice a week BPP ultrasounds. If she failed that, I had to do an NST immediately, which happened three times. I met with my OB once per week and the midwife on staff once per week. They did a growth ultrasound every three weeks. I had to go to the lab for blood work one time each week and 24 hour urine tests every three weeks. I was on modified bed rest, which my OB referred to as "chill out rest" because he met Annabelle at appointments and knew there was no such thing as bed rest with a husband in the military. It was so insane, and we utilized a lot of hourly care at the CDC during that time so I could rest.

I was induced at 36 weeks 6 days, and she was born at 37 weeks 1 day! It was a really tough second and third trimester due to stressing over those issues, but in the end, it all worked out. I was able to labor and deliver how I wanted for the most part (I'll share her birth story soon), and Josephine was born absolutely perfect, so all the craziness was 100% worth it!

Without further adieu...


































Sorry about that! But I really want these to be documented here, even if it's just for my own personal benefit. Thanks for looking... or for pleasantly skipping over this post if it's not your kinda thing!

Monday, April 23, 2018

Behind Her Name: Josephine Jayne

Josephine Jayne has been with us for a whopping five months now. That's crazy. One of these days soon, I'll share her birth story with you guys. But for now, I'll share the much shorter post about her name.



Just like Annabelle, we chose Josephine as a name that we just love. I'm particular and wanted a name with the same amount of syllables (three) that had a few good nickname options to match her sister's name. Josephine fit the bill perfectly, and it even has the same number of letters! Bonus! We can call her Jo, Joey, Josie, Pheenie, Sephie... lots of options! Right now, she's mostly just Josephine or Josie, but I really like Joey and JJ as well. We'll see what she morphs into as her personality changes.

Her middle name of Jayne was much easier for me. Dan took a little more convincing, but once he realized the significance, we went with it. My dad's name was Jay, and since we are never going to have a son, I realized we could turn his name into a feminine form and go with the normal "Jane" but add a 'y' into the middle. I'n not normally a fan of adding letters to names, but this just felt SO right. So perfect. I'm glad that Josephine will always carry her grandfather's name with her.

If you want to read about how we chose big sister Annabelle's name, click here. (Side note: we never call her Anna Kate like that post implies we would... we DO, however, call her Annie Kat sometimes!)

Friday, April 20, 2018

Annabelle: 2.5 Years Old

Somehow, I blinked, and my first baby turned 2.5 years old. This happened back at the beginning of March, and she's now closer to three than she is to two. And she sure has the attitude to show it!



Our little Annie finally has all of her teeth, but she is somehow STILL in pain. She has really struggled with those dang teeth, but we're hoping we're almost done dealing with them.

She's still super tall and super skinny! Lucky girl! But it's still tough finding clothes that fit her correctly. Thankfully, she's been really into dresses lately, so that's been a little easier. I just make her wear biker shorts underneath because she seems to always be upside down. I give her two choices every morning: first, she chooses if she wants a dress or shorts/pants and a shirt for the day. Then, once she chooses, I pull two of whatever she picks out, and she then chooses her outfit. She's can get undressed by herself completely, but she is just starting to be able to put her clothes on correctly. It takes her a while, but she's getting it.

Annabelle loves dancing, and she goes to ballet class once a week. She has a recital coming up in June that we are really excited about! She seems to be very musical as well - she sings all day every day and always asks for music to be playing if it's quiet in our house (or outside).

She is strong and quick and sassy. She throws tantrums like none other, but she also gives the very best hugs, kisses, and Ugga Muggas. She is still learning to follow directions quickly, but as long as we're not in a huge rush, she does okay. She likes baths again and asks for them daily. She is obsessed with Paw Patrol, Trolls, and Daniel Tiger. She colors with crayons or markers every single day.

Annabelle is the BEST big sister. She walks out of her room every morning saying, "Good morning, Josie!" and is almost always eager to give her kisses and throw away diapers for me.

We can't believe how much Annabelle has grown as a person lately. She's a little human with emotions (lots of them) and opinions (also lots of those), and we're hopeful that we can help guide her into the best person she can be.

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

B Course Half Way Update

I can't believe B Course is already about half way over. It seems like we just arrived in Florida, and now we *might* be getting ready to move again! We should find out around the end of this month (I'll believe it when I see it - ha!) if we are staying here at Tyndall AFB or moving to Langley AFB in Virginia, Hickam AFB in Hawaii, or Elmendorf AFB in Alaska.

Dan started B Course at the beginning of January, and he will graduate toward the end of August. He is really enjoying flying, but it is an exremely heavy workload. He is gone ALL DAY most days. If he flies in the afternoon, he isn't home until at least 7:00 but usually more like 8:00 or 8:30.

If he isn't flying, he's doing simulators or in class. He is ALWAYS busy. It's a good busy for him, but the girls and I wish he had a bit more time at home.

We love watching him from the front yard. If we know when he's taking off, we go outside and watch, and it is just really awesome knowing it's him up there! (See video at the end of this post for the view we have all the time!)

Dan has been able to take off with the afterburner a few times and always comes home so excited telling me about how amazing that is. He's also been able to refuel mid-air several times. To do that, they hook up with a KC-135 tanker. I'm hoping someday I'll be able to go on a spouse flight on the tanker and watch him refuel. Some squadrons do that, and I have my fingers crossed!

Time is flying by. I know how badly Dan wants to finish B Course and be a part of the "real" Air Force finally - he'll be deployable soon after, and with the way things are currently going in a certain part of the world, that makes me pretty uneasy... but it's what he's been training to do for what feels like forever!

Here's how cool his job is - and it's great being able to watch!



Do you have any questions about pilot wife life? Or B Course? In general? I'd be happy to answer - just drop me a comment or send me an email!

Monday, April 16, 2018

First Flight in the F-22 Raptor!

On Thursday, February 22nd, 2018, Dan got to take the F-22 Raptor up in the air for the very first time! If you want to skip all the chatter, be sure to watch the one minute video of him taking off... it's at the very end of this post!

All flights are solo since it's a single seat jet, and let's just say I was terrified out of my mind. A friend took me up to the tower at Tyndall AFB (another pilot in Dan's class) so I could watch him take off, so luckily he was able to explain everything to me as it was happening.

As nervous as I was (and still am every day that he flies), I know he was more than prepared for this after all the simulated flights he's "flown" from the ground.

He had a blast and did well! He has since conquered a few phases of B Course and even refueled in the air with a tanker! So cool!

This is probably the neatest photo we have together - I'm obvious... but my stud of a husband is in that jet taxiing behind me! SO COOL.













Since it's been a while since I've given an Air Force life update, I'll write a separate post about that soon. It's hard to believe he's already about half way through B Course!