Half Way There!

It's been a while since I dedicated a post just about my pregnancy, so here you go! I am about 21 1/2 weeks right now, so right about half way. Yay! Overall things have been going really well. I'm doing well, baby is doing great, and right now things are right where they should be. My only complaints are that I tire easily and my feet seem to always be swollen. The swelling started on our journey from Japan to Boise, and took a while to get back to normal. My mom talked to some of her doctor friends at work and they said it's not really something to worry about. Unless my blood pressure goes up, but that has actually been really good. So I just get to deal with fat feet. :)

Like I said, baby is doing great! Right before leaving Boise we found out we'll be having a GIRL! We really thought it was a boy, but are super excited to have a girl on the way. We've already decided on a name- Kaylin Michele Hulse. And until now the only people we've told the name to is family and a few friends. It hasn't even been announced on Facebook yet. :) Kaylin is super active and loves touching her face with her hands and feet. The past few ultrasounds we've had done she's always bent in half with her feet up by her head and wiggling all around. I love that feeling! I love to feel her move, although her favorite time to do it is when I lay down. She's getting big enough that Ben can feel her a little bit too. He described it as the flutters I felt in the beginning, but she doesn't feel much like flutters to me any more. We went to a movie this afternoon and I would smile every time she jumped at a loud noise. I can only imagine how much more I'm going to feel as she gets bigger. I'm never going to get any rest! :) She's growing like she should though and has a nice strong heartbeat. Her legs are nice and long, so I have a feeling she's going to be tall like her daddy. We've already seen that she's flexible like he is. :)

And here's a picture to end with. At my ultrasound this past Thursday she finally gave us a profile shot! Not the best since she doesn't like to hold still, but still an alright one. We can't wait to meet our little wiggle worm! :)

The Sexy Beast

After being in Hawaii for less than a week, we decided we needed our own car. The WTB has designated drivers to take us to all of his appointments, but you have to wait on their schedule which can be a bit of a hassle sometimes. We could have had the mustang shipped over, but we decided that between the time it would take to get here (at least a month, give or take), the cost to get everything done here that has to be done (like inspections and stuff), and the road conditions (lots of tall speed bumps and some roads that could use some repaving), it would be easier to just get a car here. We've been looking for a while, and knew we wanted either a truck or SUV. So we did some internet browsing with some dealers that are known to have great military benefits, emailed a few, and waited for a response. The first to respond had just what we were looking for. He had a couple vehicles in mind for us to look at- a truck and an SUV. We looked at both and ended up with this:


A 2006 Ford Expedition XLS! The price was right, the dealer already had a loan approved for us, and all we had to do was decide what we wanted it and sign the papers. We took it for a test drive around the block and Ben fell in love. It took a bit more convincing on my part. It's a lot bigger than I'm used to, but it is what we've been looking for. There is plenty of room for the baby and the dogs (which is what we need).

It seats nine, and all six of the back seats fold down flat. There is some decent leg room in the back (at least in the middle seats I didn't climb all the way in the back) so my brothers/ passengers won't have to get all scrunched up when they ride with us. :)

It has just under 59K miles on it, which is actually less than the Mustang. It was taken care of really well by the one previous owner and is nice and clean and in great shape. The gas mileage is pretty decent for being as big as it is (16-18 city and 18-22 highway). Still costs a bit to fill it up (25 Gallon Tank), but it doesn't help when gas prices are over $4 a gallon. It was $4.37 on post when we drove by the other day, and that's one of the cheaper places. We'll survive though. It's not like we'll be driving down to Waikiki every day. :) So all in all, we are happy with our purchase. I'm getting used to it, and it is what we were looking for. Plus it leaves us with lots of growing room. :)

Aloha!

There is lots to talk about, but I'm going to try and make this quick. It's been a busy day and I'm ready to sleep. We made it to Hawaii safe and sound yesterday. The flight was a bit bumpy at the end, but overall it was a good one. Today was full of appointments and in processing. We met with Ben's doctor, who will actually be his doctor the whole time we are here. Which is a good thing, we really like him. He ordered a whole bunch of tests, including an MRI for his shoulder, abdomen, and knee. So it's good to know they will address ALL his problems while here. We met with his case manager, who actually happens to be from Idaho Falls. We like her too, but I guess she'll only be our case manager for the first 30 days. It's kinda crazy how that all works. From what I understand the first 30 days is more of just an evaluation time, and after that they'll transfer him to an actual battalion. We will be here for at least a year. The whole med board process takes about a year, but I don't know how soon they will actually start all that. The plan is also to transition out after the med board. So we'll be done with the Army once we are done here. And they will help us with all the transitioning stuff. That way we have a plan once we do get out. We also met with our social worker this afternoon. He seems like a good guy, and will actually be our social worker the whole time we're here. We also met with the housing office this afternoon. We are officially on the list, which really isn't a list. They have open houses right now, so we should actually have a house by next week. We have to go back tomorrow and talk to another guy, but should have a house soon. Looks like it will only be a 2 bedroom, but we'll have to see what they have available exactly. Then we also went and saw the dogs this afternoon. They have to stay in the state quarantine until the 21st. Bummer for them (and us), but we should have a house by the time they are done. So that is pretty much all the big news for today. We've got more appointments throughout the week. I think this will be a good place though and we'll finally get the help for him that he needs. I'll do my best to keep this updated. I've got more just everyday stuff I could write about, but it's time for bed. I'll try to do that in the next few days though. :)