The Final Stretch!!

It is less than a month until Baby Muller's estimated arrival!! Ahhhh!! It's crazy to think Dennis and I will soon have a little human being in our lives. It's getting more and more real by the day. Somedays I can't wait to give birth but other days I just think it's so much safer for this baby inside the womb. It could stay in another month or two and it would be alright with me.  A lot of people tell me that I am not going to want to be pregnant towards the end but I have to say so far I still love it. I love feeling Baby Muller kick and having a baby bump....especially to rest items on ;) But I guess I still have about 30 more days to go so I will let you know how I feel in the end. As for my tummy, I really can't imagine it "stretching" anymore but I am sure it will. I will keep on posting pics of my progress :)

36 weeks pregnant! 

Nesting has come into full force and I have rearranged the furniture again but this time I actually really like where it is and didn't make Dennis move it back. I talked to Dennis on the phone that day before he came home from work and told him I had a surprise. He walked in and saw all the furniture moved and said "This is not surprising at all" LOL! Other than moving furniture, I went through every cabinet and closet to see if I could organize, clean, and make room for potential baby items. Now all I want to do is start some projects like painting stripes on my curtains or building some shelves for the baby room. I think both of these projects might be fueled from too much pinterest and will end up being a little too ambitious for my lack of craftiness. The nursery is still a work in progress as far as decor goes. We have all the essentials ready but it is lacking some wall decor. It has all been ordered, mostly from etsy, but just takes a little while to get out here to Japan. I will post some pics once everything is up and looking cute.

What is your birthing plan?

I ultimately would like to have a natural, non-medicated child birth. I know things could change and it might not ending up being the final outcome but I am going in with the hopes of a all natural labor. My thoughts are women have been doing this for hundreds of years without medication or surgery and it's what are bodies are made for. Plus, there are so many benefits of natural childbirth for the mother and baby. I know I could possibly be singing a different tune once the labor pains start but my mom told me think of this....If she was able to go through natural childbirth with me, mind you she has one of the lowest pain tolerances of anyone that I know, than I can do it too. I think that's going to be my motto going into birth. If mom can do it, I can do it. I have read a couple of hippie books on pain management to try and prepare myself for what I will be feeling and how to better deal with it. Hopefully, with those and Dennis at my side I can have a nice easy labor.



I hope everyone has a great labor day weekend! We will be hitting up the beach, relaxing, enjoying   one of the last few weekends of it being just the two of us, and watching some college football! I will appropriately end this blog with a Go Gators!!!!!

Nesting

 KJ and me trying to keep cool in the Pacific Ocean.
33 weeks pregnant.  

It has begun....I am 8 months pregnant and I have become a nester. Dennis comes home to find all the furniture moved into different places just for me to tell him that I am not sure about it and have him move it back. Poor guy. I have been organizing and cleaning like crazy to get ready for the baby's arrival in just over a month. The other day I even looked up online the most efficient way to fold a onesie. Those little suckers are really awakard to put in drawers....Haha. I still don't have the nursery completely ready just yet but it is slowly getting there. I am still waiting for some cute decorations that I ordered from Etsy to get here for it really to feel complete. Other than nesting, I have been feeling pretty good still. I am a little achy in the morning when I wake up and my feet are starting to hurt by the end of the day. But I can't complain too much....I am still able to workout and do pretty much everything I did before pregnancy just a tad bit slower and a little bit more labored depending on the activity. For example, bending over to put on shoes is requiring a little more effort than usual.

The only real complaint I have about being pregnant is being extra hot. Thankfully, the base recently approved one portable floor a/c unit per household. We bought one on Amazon Japan the other day and it arrived in just three days and it feels like it was heaven sent. With the very limiting specs they gave us the unit can only cool down one small bedroom efficiently but I have to tell you it's a lifesaver at night. We have it in our bedroom and it makes a world of a difference compared to us sweating in bed before and it's only really cooling the room to 77. Compared to how it was before it feels like 65 degrees to us. We are so thankful that the base finally approved this and I am sure Baby Muller will be thankful once he/she is here as well.

While I have been back in Japan, my good friends Corban and Amy threw Florencia (another pregnant lady in my squadron) and I a baby shower. It was such a great time, with great food and company. The 13th and 14th squadrons are so generous and Dennis and I are so thankful to have them in our lives. Thank you to all who attended and showed their love to Baby Muller. A special thank you to Corban and Amy for hosting the shower. It was a perfect event and I am so lucky to have amazing friends like you.

What are you and Dennis thinking Baby Muller's gender is going to be? 

I have gone back and forth but I think it's going to be a boy and Dennis thinks it's going to be a girl.  I think we are both secretly hoping, well mine isn't so much of a secret, for the opposite genders than we are predicting. Either way, we are going to be so happy no matter the sex and we can't wait to meet our little baby boy or girl in late September. It's coming up so soon!

I hope everyone is enjoying the last weeks of summer and to all my teacher friends I hope you have a great start to the school year! We can't wait to see most of you in November/December!

Christmas in July

Love these ladies! 31 weeks pregnant.

I am back home in Japan now after visiting the states for a couple weeks and I am in my 8 month of pregnancy. It's always bittersweet leaving the states because I love being with my family and friends but it's great to go back home to the hubby and puppy. The states were fantastic and the American food was everything I remembered and hoped for. I can't believe next time I am home I will have an infant with me. Crazy!!

When I got home, I opened up the nursery and there were about 30 packages. Dennis said he went to the post office one day after being gone for a week and there were so many packages that they barely fit them in his large SUV. Since he really is not interested in the baby gear and wouldn't even know what half of the items were I opened them all once I got into town. It was like Christmas!! I loved reliving my shower and reading all the little gift notes from everyone. Thank you to everyone who sent Baby M such wonderful stuff. We are just so blessed.

How are you feeling now that you 8 months pregnant? 

I still feel wonderful and surprisingly have lots of energy. One thing that has changed is that my feet get tired really easily now. I think I need to buy some orthopedic old lady shoes to walk around in now. I did have my first feet swelling last night and let's just say my feet were not looking their sexiest. Other than that, I am starting to feel the heat of Misawa since we do not have air conditioning in our homes but my car does so I might just sleep in there for the next 2 months. LOL!

What are you doing about clothes? 

My best childhood friend Allison is an ultrasound tech and has scanned me at various time throughout my pregnancy. She is the only one who knows the sex of the baby. No, you will not get it out of her....her lips are sealed shut. She scanned me one last time while I was in the states to confirm her earlier prediction. So this is how it's going to work....I will be registering for boy/girl clothes online and giving her some money. She will buy them and have them shipped to me in Japan.  I will only open them after I come home with the baby. That way I won't just have gender neutral outfits to dress Baby Muller in. As I have been online looking at clothes, I realize how much more fun it is to buy girl clothes. They are just soooo adorable. I filled up a cart at gap baby with about 3 times the amount of girl clothes than boy clothes. Now it's just figuring out what I am really going to need for Baby Muller when he/she arrives.

If anyone is interested in buying Baby Muller clothes once we find out the gender I would highly suggest buying them online and having them shipped directly to Japan. It saves you so much money compared to shipping them yourself. Especially since a lot of online stores have free shipping and the package will arrive here in about a 1-2 weeks. Gap, Old Navy, and Amazon are great sites for this.

Matt and I showing off our bumps ;) 

Before I sign off, I want to send a HUGE thank you to my Mom and Dad for putting me up and taking care of me while I was home. I love you both so much and I know you are going to be such wonderful Grandparents to Baby Muller! See you in November!

Florida and Showers

I am currently back in the states for about 3 weeks and I cannot tell you how nice it is to be back in good ole America. I am here mostly to spend time and visit with family and friends while I am pregnant and to have a little baby shower while in town. Not to mention it's a great time for me to satisfy any of the food cravings. I have been to chick-fil-a twice already. lol!

Everyone has been asking about the flight and how I did being all big and pregnant. It was only one stop  a 12+ hour flight from Tokyo to Newark with a little lay over and a short 3 hour flight down to Palm Beach. Traveling was really not too bad, just long, and I got to test out my sexy compression stockings which worked great! I surprisingly did not swell at all. It probably helped that I got up about a fifty times while I was on the plane to pee and take walks. I know I was getting stares before I got on the plane by people probably wondering if I should even be flying and hoping that I don't give birth on the plane. I'm sure a lot of you are worried about me traveling during my 7-8 month and just to put your minds at ease my doctor said since I am having a healthy pregnancy that I am okay to travel up to 34 weeks. The only uncomfortable part of traveling was the hot, not well air conditioned airports, especially in Japan. Thankfully, after waiting about 5 hours to check in and sweating like crazy waiting in line for about an hour just to get my ticket, I got to my gate and right next to it was a dayroom/shower. You can rent a room to take a nap in or a shower for a small amount of money. I rented a shower room for about 10 bucks which comes with fresh towels and a vanity. After an already long day of waiting around in the airport it was nice to feel clean once I got on my flight and not be the smelly kid. It would be great if more American airports to adopt this idea of day and shower rooms.

Love the decorations! 

While I have been town my mom and sister hosted a baby shower in honor of Baby Muller. We had a lot of friends and family, even some out of towner's, come to celebrate Baby Muller. The shower was a lot of fun, with amazing food, and lots of love and laughter. At the shower, everyone took a guess of the baby's gender, due date, and weight. It was close but majority guessed a girl. As for weight, everyone was on the average side. With me being 8 pounds and Dennis being 9+ we are counting on a bigger baby but who knows, we could be surprised with a little guy or girl. Then we had some jokesters like Aubrey who guessed that the baby would be 23 pounds...haha!

Thank you to everyone that came out to our baby shower and even those of you who weren't able to make it but still sent your love. Thank you Allison for planning the games, to Kathy for the delicious cupcakes, and Megan for helping with decorations and cleaning. A big thank you to my Mom and Sister for hosting and for the wonderful food and decorations. It was perfect! Baby Muller is so loved.

Me with the Great Grandmothers! 

Megan flew all the way in from Texas to come to the shower. 

Before I go, I want to send a big congratulations to my friends Meredith and Brian on their beautiful baby girl, Charlotte! I know both of you are going to be AMAZING parents. I can't wait until Baby Muller is born so Charlotte can have a little friend.

Third Trimester

I am officially in my third and final trimester!! It feels like the pregnancy is going by so quickly and it is getting me more excited to meet Baby Muller. Dennis got to feel the baby kick about a week ago and he thought it was one of the coolest feelings. Now I feel like the baby never stops kicking especially on my bladder. I did have a doctor's appointment the other day where the doctor went over all my lab results and she said I was doing great! She even knows that I am doing Crossfit and since I am healthy and was doing it before she said I could continue. She did see some scrapes on my legs and shins and asked where they were from and I told her beach volleyball. She then scolded me and said no more of that. lol! Sleeping is still a minor issue for me but it's been more of a bother lately about having to go to the bathroom a couple times a night. I guess it will be good to prepare me for the baby but I have joked with Dennis that I would love to wear an adult diaper to bed. Other than not sleeping through the night, everything has been great still and I hopefully will enjoy my third trimester as much as I have loved the last two.

This week a fellow squadron wife took some maternity photos of me around Misawa. They came out great and I was grateful that she had thought of me when she asked if I could help her out with her portfolio. Below is a little preview of the beautiful photos. The link to her blog is http://www.paperairplanesphoto.com/

From the polls and talking to people, everyone seems to be thinking we will be having a Boy. If it is a boy it will be Dennis Joseph Muller III. I have been trying to think of cute nicknames for the little guy since it can get very confusing when your husband and potential son have the same exact name. So far, I have come up with D, Little D, DJ, Denny, and Trey. But I am still secretly hoping for a little Heidi Alice Muller. No nicknames required there ;)

I leave on Tuesday for Florida and I am super excited! The OB gave me some awesome knee high compression stockings for my 12+ hour flights. They should look super sexy ;) I am going to miss Den and the puppy a lot while I am gone but it will be nice to be in America for a bit. I can't wait to see you all and I can't wait to celebrate with some of you with a Baby shower in about a week. I hope you had a great holiday!

Boy or Girl?!?

26 weeks pregnant in my flight dress. 

Time has been flying by and I will be in my third trimester in a week. That means only a little over 3 more months until Dennis and I get to meet our little bundle of joy. I have already been noticing some of the side effects of the third trimester like wanting to take a nap in the middle of the day, harder to get to sleep and get comfortable at night, being super clumsy, or my favorite, Snissing (Sneezing and peeing a little at the same time). Other than those minor hiccups, I have been feeling great and got a baby who is kicking like crazy. I am enjoying every moment of being pregnant.

26 weeks pregnant! 

One exciting thing since I last posted is that the nursery is beginning to actually look like a nursery. I painted the walls last week a light teal/turqouise color which is very gender neutral and looks great. Dennis also built the crib and dresser/changing table this weekend and they look fantastic with the wall color. It definitely still needs some decorations but I think we have a good start. I will post some pictures once it is a little more completed.

Girl or Boy?

Even though Dennis and I are not finding out the sex it is always fun to take a guess at things. At first, I thought I was going to have a girl because I craved the same exact sweets as my good friend Meredith. And by same, I mean she told me she was craving starbursts and skittles and those two exact items I had bought from the store during my whole first trimester. All my friends here at Misawa seem to think I am having a boy. As of right now, I am not really sure and I am not leaning towards either side. So I looked up some old wives tales which help you "predict" the gender and I thought they would be fun to try. I am not going to go out and buy all pink or blue after this but I thought it would be fun to look back at it and see which predictions were correct. They all have a 50/50 chance so here it goes.

1. Chinese Gender Chart = Girl
2. Mayan odd and even numbers = Girl
3. Heart rate. Faster (>140) is Girl. Slower (<140) is Boy. = Girl 
4. Cravings. Sweet foods is Girl. Salty foods is a boy. = Girl 
5. How you are carrying the baby. High is Girl. Low is Boy. = Boy (Low I think but it could be in the middle. lol!)
6. String over belly test. String goes in circle is Boy. String goes back and forth is a girl. = Girl
7. Bad acne is a girl. It says that she is stealing her mother's beauty. = Boy 
8. Dry Skin is a boy or Soft Skin is a girl. = Boy 
9. Linea Nigra Line. All the way up the belly is Boy. Just to belly button is Girl. Mine is very faint but from what I can tell it stops at the belly button =Girl 


There is also one where you mix your pee with Drano and whichever color it comes out equals a certain gender but I am not willing to try that one. Seems not too user friendly with the fumes and I don't want to buy drano just to do it. So from the results above it looks like I should definitely break out the pink, or coral in my case, because I am having a girl. Which I would be super excited about if it  was accurate but then again I would be just as excited for a little boy. Honestly though, the only thing Dennis and I are hoping for is a healthy and happy baby no matter the gender. We are just so excited to have something to look forward to in the delivery room.

What do you think the sex will be? Click the link below and take the poll.

Click here to take a poll!

On another note, I got named this weekend by the Lady Panthers. My name is "SPADES" which is due to my love of Kate Spade purses and some other things but we will not get into that. ;) It was a fun naming just wish I had been able to partake in the drinking part. Other than that, things have been good over here on the other side of the world. Looking forward to coming home in about two weeks. I hope everything is going well for everyone back home and I can't wait to see most of you soon :)

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.