6 months

6 months pregnant in front of the Viper. 

Six months into the pregnancy and I think I was made for this. I have been in the best mood over the last couple months and can't stop smiling and laughing. Pregnancy just suits me. Hopefully, this trend will continue on and crossing my fingers, I will have an easy birth as well. I went in for my 24 week appointment last week and everything was looking good. They measured my belly which was exactly at 24 inches. They say from the bottom of your pelvic bone to the top of your uterus should usually measure about how many weeks you are. The only scary thing they told me is that I have to go in soon for my gestational diabetes test in the next couple weeks. The doctor said I should be fine but it's just one of those things that you never know. So say a little prayer for me and hopefully I will be in the clear. I heard from other mom's to be that Gestational diabetes is no fun especially since you have to restrict your sugar intake. Other than that, I have been feeling the baby kicking a lot more lately. I actually have felt it faintly with my hand on my belly but the doctor said it would be a little harder since my placenta is at the front of my uterus. When that moves to the back I am sure I will feel a lot harder kicks and at some point get a little sick of it. I just can't wait until Dennis gets to feel the little guy/girl.

Speaking of boy or girl, I think Dennis and I have finally settled on our baby names. If it's a boy it will be Dennis Joseph Muller III and if it's a girl it will be Heidi Alice Muller. We both have recently fell in love with the name Heidi and thought it was very appropriate with both of our German Heritage. The girl name could change, you never know, but for right now that's what we are leaning towards.

The nursery furniture is here! We had to order from the military catalog store since no where online can you ship a crib or dresser to an APO address. Just one of the little things we have to work around being overseas and in the military. We ordered a crib and small dresser/changing table (espresso color) and will be keeping our Queen bed in the room for any guests that may come visit or sleepless nights with the baby. It will be a tight fit in our little military housing but I think we can make it work. I will be mixing some paint colors together this week to try and get a turquoise color for the walls. It should be a fun experiment. I will be sure to post some pictures of our progress and once we get the whole room together.

I want to send a big thank you to Dennis' mom, Ms. Cheryl, and my parents for sending us some really adorable baby stuff. Baby Muller is so loved already. Just an FYI for anyone else that might be thinking about sending a package while we are overseas. To save a little money I would go to the post office and get a flat rate box to ship the items in. Even if you have to use more than one it usually ends up being cheaper since weight is not a factor in those boxes. Just a heads up.

I will be home in less than a month and be having a baby shower on July 13th back in the states. I can't wait to see all my family and friends and also eat some much craved Chick-fil-a. Which I should probably tell my mother that the shower should be catered by them. Haha! I hope you all have a great weekend and to all my teacher friends I hope you are enjoying your much needed summer break.

Beer Belly or Baby Bump?!?

23 weeks pregnant.

So I finally crossed over into the stage of my pregnancy where people can tell that I am actually pregnant and not just sporting a really awesome beer belly. It's been nice so far to be in this part of the pregnancy because people just seem to be a lot more pleasant to me. Maybe here they have even more sympathy because they know soon you are going to have to go through hell and bare the summer heat with no air condition. One of the not so fun things about living on base in Misawa. Overall, I like this stage because I feel like I look a lot cuter sporting a little bump but I am still very mobile. Plus, I think I finally felt the baby kick. It's really been hard to tell since I don't know what it feels like. I always think to myself...is it the baby or just gas? Well, last night in bed I believe I was finally able to distinguish between the two and felt the baby. I was so excited that I woke Dennis up from his slumber. I just can't wait until he gets to feel Baby M too.

While forming my my lovely baby bump I have continued to workout and actually participated in Memorial Day Murph this past weekend. It is a workout that was meant to honor a fallen hero and Medal of honor recipient, Michael Murphy. Though I might not have done the workout as prescribed like last year (1 mile run. 100 pull ups. 200 push ups. 300 air squats. 1 mile run.) I did do a mini pregnancy prescribed version of it called "Baby" Murph (800m run. 65 pull ups. 65 push ups. 65 air squats. 800m run) It was still hard and I pushed myself to the point where I had a nice tear in my hands from doing all 65 pull ups but this was a minor sacrifice compared to the ultimate sacrifice Michael Muprhy gave for this country. Thank you to all the service men and women who are serving or have served. You are truly the hero's of this nation.

Right before Memorial Day Murph at 22 weeks. 

Other than working out, Dennis and I have been trying to get out a lot and enjoy the nice weather of Northern Japan. We went camping this past weekend which was a lot of fun and even got to play some beach volleyball. It was a great weekend with friends and we are looking forward to more warm weather in our future. I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend. I can't wait to see most of you in July! 

PS-I wanted to send a big thank you to my Naner. She sent me a package with an amazing body pillow and some other goodies. Thanks for thinking of me! Love you!

Halfway There!

We have officially passed the halfway mark in the pregnancy! Cue the "Oooohhhh! We're halfway there" song. Baby Muller is now about 10 1/2 inches long and weighs about 13 ounces. I had my 20 week ultrasound a couple of days ago and Dennis and I got to see the little guy/girl. If you read my last post you know that we are not finding out the sex so there is no big news to report except that everything is looking good for Baby M. He/she is measuring pretty close to the due date, has ten fingers and toes, and all the scary tests I took for things like cystic fibrosis and downs came back negative which is wonderful news. I have been feeling great still and I am so blessed to be having such an easy pregnancy so far. I just love being pregnant!

Baby Muller at 20 weeks 

Other than our latest appointment, we ordered the baby furniture for the nursery. I can't wait until it comes in and we can get started on painting and decorating. I am thinking turquoise walls with yellow and white accents. I have been eyeing an adorable plane mobile on etsy and thinking we might go with a "Oh the places you will go" theme for the baby room. If it ends up being a girl I am sure I will sneaking some of my favorite coral color in the mix. Dennis likes to say that the coral and turquoise is too close to gator colors for his liking. LOL! I just can't help that they are my two favorite colors lately and he is just lucky that I am not going with an alligator themed baby room.

Last Sunday was mother's day and I want to wish all the mother's out there, especially my Mom, a Happy Mother's day. I got my mom a cute wine glass that says "Omi's sippy cup" (Omi is grandmother in German) and Dennis' mom one with Mimi's sippy cup. I thought they were really adorable and appropriate for both our moms especially because of the contents they hold inside. I had my first mother's day this past Sunday which was really nice. My parents sent me some cute gifts. Dennis did really well and got me a some pretty flowers and a Canon Rebel T3 camera. Perfect timing for a grown up camera with the baby coming and I am sure I will be taking tons of pictures.

Mug from my parents :) 

Before I sign off, I thought I would answer another question that I have been getting a lot lately....

What are some of the names you and Dennis are thinking about?

Well, if it is a boy it will be Dennis Joseph Muller III. So naming the boy is going to be super easy. Plus, I like to joke that when I married Dennis it was written in the contract that the first boy will take Dennis' name. HaHa! (We don't really have a contract)
If it is a girl the only thing for certain is that we want her middle name to be Alice after my Grammy. She is one of the most wonderful, spiritual, loving woman in my life and my daughter will be so lucky to be blessed with such a meaningful middle name. As for first names that is a little harder....we have been tossing up names like Brooke, Grace, Evelyn, Heidi (a true little german girl name), and a couple of others. It's really hard to choose the right one and it doesn't help that everyone has their own opinion of each name. I just need to remember that our opinion matters most and whatever name we choose should be meaningful and beautiful to us. I know we will pick a good one :)

I hope everyone is doing well! I can't wait to see some of you in July!

Baby "M"uller

15 weeks pregnant

If you haven't heard the big news yet Dennis and I are expecting our first child September 25th, 2013. We are both so excited to be parents!! So I thought it would be a good to start up my blog again and keep everyone updated on the pregnancy.

I thought I would answer some common questions first...

Were you and Dennis trying or was it a surprise? 
Dennis and I were trying but it was definitely surprising how quickly it happened. We joke around and say that we are going to name our baby Bora Bora after our honeymoon.

How have you been feeling? 
I have been real lucky and have been feeling great! No morning sickness at all. I was tired the first trimester. Let's just say I could of slept on the couch all day if I had my way. But since I have hit the second trimester I have been way more energetic. Other than that I have been feeling amazing! Just now getting used to a little belly that I have been sporting the past couple weeks.

Are you finding out the sex? What do you think it is? 
No. We are going to make it a surprise. I know it's going to be hard but we have heard from friends that it is one of the most amazing moments of your life. I can't wait for Dennis to yell out in the delivery room "It's a BOY/GIRL!!!" I think it will be so special. As for what the baby's sex is...I'm thinking a girl but we will see :)

What have you been craving? 
Pretty much anything sweet. I love to eat lots of fruit and drink chocolate milk. I also like to indulge in some candy like gummy bears, starbursts, etc...

How did you tell your parents? 
Well if you have been following me on Facebook you would of saw that I went home for a while to see my family in Florida. One of the main reasons I went home was to tell my family that we were having a baby. I thought it would be so much fun to tell them in person. So when I told them I was already 12 weeks. It actually worked out perfectly because I was at my Grammy's and I brought in a gift for my parents. I told them I had gotten them a present from Bora Bora and they pulled it out and it was a framed picture of the sonogram saying "You're going to be Grandparents". They were so thrilled and so was my Grandmother and Great Aunts. It was such an amazing moment.

Are you still working out?
Yes. I am still working out 4-6 times a week and it is mostly still Crossfit with a lot of modifications. For example, lower weights and no handstand pushups anymore. There are so many great websites out there now of women that have done crossfit the whole pregnancy. They preach how beneficial it was for them, their easy births, and getting back into shape post baby. Besides crossfit, I go on walks/runs and hit up a yoga or spin class when I get a chance. I know to take it a little easier now and most importantly I listen to my body.

Are you planning to come back home again before you have the baby? 
Yes. As long as everything keeps on going well I plan to come back in July sometime. I hopefully will have a baby shower than and maybe get some maternity photos taken with my cute bump (hopefully it's cute). It will be nice to see the family one last time before having the baby.

When will be your first visit home with the baby? 
We are planning to come home with the baby in November around Thanksgiving time. New Orleans first, for Thanksgiving and then Florida for the weekend after Thanksgiving. The baby will be about 2 months old and it will be so nice for family and friends to see him/her.

I hope you enjoyed reading up on my pregnancy so far and I will keep you updated with some more blogs throughout it. Let me know if you have anymore questions you would want answered. Let me leave you with some some belly pics throughout the pregnancy below.

6 weeks. Tummy still flat :) 

10 weeks

11 weeks

13 weeks at Disney World

14 weeks

18 weeks 

18 weeks front view 

19 weeks at the Cherry Blossom Festival 

Perks of the Air Force Wife

One of the major perks of being a military wife overseas is being to hop on military planes from different bases in the Pacific Region. I decided when Dennis was going TDY to Guam that I would not buy a plane ticket and try to hop down there for free. That's right, FREE! If you are a military dependent you can take a cargo or tanker plane wherever you heart desires for no charge. But before you get too jealous there are risks like getting stuck on a remote island because your plane had to divert or the flight you were planning to take gets canceled last minute forcing you to wait another day or maybe weeks until there is another one. So when me and another wife saw that the Tankers that were going to bring our guys down to Guam were coming up to Misawa we were super excited! We were thinking....how easy it would be for us to get down to Guam and actually fly right next to our guys the whole time. Well, like most hops the plan ended up changing a little bit. We found out the day before we were planning to leave that the planes were not going to come to Misawa anymore but were being diverted to Yokota (A base down near Tokyo). If I haven't told you yet, it snows A LOT in Misawa. It is really hard for bigger planes to land in the conditions here so some of the times they will go to another base down south instead. At first when I saw this news I was kinda of bummed thinking maybe I wouldn't be able to go to Guam but then I thought twice and I called Corban, the other wife who was planning to go, and told her we should get on the bullet train today and head down to Yokota. So last minute we packed, while I just did laundry and repacked since I already had most tropical clothing out already, and we headed to the Misawa Train Station. Getting down to Tokyo is not too bad since there is a bullet train that only takes about 3 hours to get down to Tokyo station. The only bad part is that the train costs about $150 one way. Japan is not a cheap country to travel around. The only hard part of the journey was getting to tokyo station and trying to figure out how to get to Yokota. We thankfully got on all the right subways but we were definitely a little crowed with people and us with our big bags.

Letting me talk to Den while he is flying :) 

The next morning Corban and I wake up early to get to the roll call for Guam. When they list seats online it is never guaranteed. So we were praying that we could still get on the flight. It actually worked out perfectly when we got to the terminal because there was no one else trying to get on the flight. I knew that Dennis was going to re-fuel with tanker #1 so I asked to be on that tanker and the request was granted. They bused us out to the KC-135 and we got to meet the crew who were so awesome. It took a while to take off since we were waiting on the F-16s up in Misawa. They had some bad weather up there (typical) but once we got up in the air we were ready for take off. The crew let us sit up in the cock pit for take-off and it was incredible view with Mount Fuji to our left as were taking off. Once we got up in the air it wasn't long until we got to see the guys flying next to us. The "Boom" operater let us come to his back area to watch the re-fueling. The Boom is the stick the fighters attach to re-fuel mid air. We laid down and got to look out this little window where we could see the boys pull up to the boom. So when it was Dennis' turn to re-fuel he said he could see me through the window and when he was pulling away took off his mask and blew me a kiss. The Boom operator was also all about me talking on the radio to Dennis. Which I loved but I think Dennis probably found a little more embarrassing when I told him "I loved him" over the frequency. This was one of the most memorable experiences of my life and I loved getting to see a little bit of what Dennis does in the air. I couldn't be more proud of him. Let's just say this was one of the biggest perks of being an Air Force Wife :)

Den re-fueling!

Taking off in the cockpit 

We got Maui'd

All you need is love...

Aloha! We have been waiting and planning for this day for about a year and a half. We finally got to have our dream wedding in Maui with our family and close friends present. It was everything we wanted it to be and more.

All the wedding festivities were perfect. We had our welcome dinner at the local Maui Brew pub which was fantastic! Drinking local beer and getting to see all our guests was wonderful. The ceremony at the Olowalu Plantation House was just incredible. The house was beautiful and so was the outdoor setting with the Pacific ocean view to set the background for the ceremony. The ceremony was started and ended with a blowing of the conch shell which made it very Hawaiian. The food was great and we all danced the night away. Some of us even ended the night with a jump in the pool in full clothing :) It was a magical evening. The next day we had a farewell brunch, which most of us were able to make, and we got to say goodbye to some of our family and friends that were leaving in the next couple days.

The only bad part of Maui was saying good bye to our friends and family. We are so blessed that so many wonderful people came out to Maui to be part of our celebration. We are so lucky to have you in our lives and you made our time so memorable.

After saying goodbye to the family and Maui, Dennis and I got to hang our in Honolulu for a couple of days before leaving on our honeymoon. I guess you could call it a mini-moon. Honolulu was nice except for the fact that it rained almost the entire time we were there. We did get to visit Pearl Harbor, drive the North Shore, and visit some Crossfit classes, which all were fun. But I have to say that the best part of Honolulu is the shopping!! Dennis just loves to go shopping with me. lol!

After we said Aloha to Hawaii we had a six hour plane flight to the beautiful Bora Bora in French Polynesia. We had to endure some not so perfect weather the first day we were there but after that it was incredible. During the honeymoon we did a lot of snorkeling and saw some pretty amazing sea creatures and coral. We loved doing anything active while in Bora Bora and thankfully we had access to kayaks, stand up paddle boards, and bikes. It was really a once in a lifetime kind of trip and I am so thankful we were able to go there.

Overall, the wedding and honeymoon experience was just fantastic! Everything was perfect and we wish we could relive it all again. Aloha!

Surf and Turf

Konnichiwa!

In Japan there seems to be a festival just about every weekend for various things. Could be flowers blooming like the Cherry Blossoms, a Japanese Holiday, or just because it's so darn cold and they make some cool things out of ice for the annual ice festival. Dennis and I have been to two festivals so far while living in Japan and both have been amazing in their ways.

Beef and Garlic Festival. 

The first festival we went to was the Beef and Garlic Festival in Takko Japan. Takko is the largest distributor of Garlic in the country. The town is actually sister cities with Gilbert, California and another city in Italy which are two other garlic capitols of their regions. I think beef and garlic are two of my favorite things to eat so I could not wait to go. We went with a huge group from Den's squadron which made the day even better. We caravaned out there and knew we had arrived when we saw garlic shaped light bulbs. When we parked at the festival their were also garlic headed scare crows. Duh! We had to take a picture with those little guys. At the festival you pick out your beef from several different cuts and buy this amazing garlic sauce to cook it in. Once you have gotten all your goodies you take it to one of the many grills outside and cook up some of the scrumptious garlic flavored beef. The whole grilling outside made me feel like I was at an SEC football game tailgating with a bunch of my new Japanese friends. We even were allowed to bring our own cooler with some adult beverages and let's just say we had an amazing time with all our friends.

My Salmon Catch

He was a big one 

The second festival that we attended was the Salmon Festival in Oirase. This is another food festival but the interesting part of this one is you had to catch your own food. At this festival there were the standard food booths with beer and meat on a stick. They even had a local Indian food vendor selling curry and nan....yum!  But the main event was the salmon catching. The salmon which were caught earlier in the week are all in a small pool about mid calf deep. When the announcers say to go everyone gets into the water and try's to catch a salmon with their bare hands. There is a time limit and you don't want to be caught empty handed so you are determined to catch a salmon. It is harder than you think especially when you're wearing super cool kitchen gloves and the salmon slip right through your hands.  Once you have caught your fish the Japanese men in the pool hand you a bag and you exit the pool to get in line to have your fish fileted. While I was watching my fish's head get cut off I made a puppy lip sad face and all the Japanese men just laughed at me. I felt bad for that poor little bugger. But at least we know that his death was not in disgrace. We grilled and baked up Salmon for the next week or so.

Den's Catch! 

Both festivals were great and really got you out in the Japanese culture. We are looking forward to attending more in the years to come. On a side note, I am a working woman now! (Dennis is so happy) I had my first subbing gig at the elementary school on base. It was fun to be working with the kiddos again....definitely makes me miss teaching music full time.

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season! For those of you coming to Maui at the end of December I can't wait to see you there. It's getting a little too chilly in Misawa and I will need to escape the never ending snow :)