Ready or not...

Well, after 35 weeks of an extremely uneventful pregnancy, I was surprised by the sudden turn of events yesterday. At my weekly doctor appointment they noticed elevated blood pressure and presence of proteins in the urine, signs of preeclampsia. So the doctor wanted me monitored at the hospital for a while. That turned into an overnight, 24+ hour stay as they monitored me and baby. I was completely shocked when the doctor said if my protein levels were still high today they would induce today. If they were okay, they'd get me to 37 weeks and then induce.

Fortunately, this afternoon I was given the okay to go home yet stay on strict bedrest. They want me back on Saturday for a non-stress test and then again on Monday to see the doctor. She said she wants to induce within the next week. WOW! Not at all what I expected.

I was quite relieved to have an ultrasound this morning and find everything okay with the baby. Size and weight looked average for 36 weeks and lungs were functioning, so Baby Sak should be okay to deliver early. I will be 37 weeks on Monday but want to wait as long as the doctor will let me! The news is still settling in...I was fully expecting to go to 40 weeks (or longer) and still have lots to do, but that will all have to wait for now. Baby...ready or not, here you come!!! :)

Finally...New Countertops

Yesterday held the arrival of our much anticipated countertops. After a week of no kitchen due to tearing out the old ones, the new ones were installed in less than 4 hours. Of course Nate was gone all week and didn't have to deal with it, but fortunately my dad and mom took care of my dietary needs. :)

We love the countertops, and now just have to work on installing the tile backsplash and remaining trim around the windows. This was one thing I really wanted finished before baby, and I can't believe it actually happened! It's nice to have a kitchen back. Nate even got the new cooktop working, so now we just have to wait for the glue to dry before using the sink and we're set! Yay!

The Before: The Original Kitchen

After refinishing the cabinets and installing recessed lighting

Almost finished...just need a backsplash and trim! Well, a new dishwasher too but that will come eventually. :)

33 weeks and counting...

Well, I see it's been a while once again. I've hit my 33 week mark and am slowly marching towards 34. Yeah! 7 weeks seems like an eternity, but I know it will come eventually. I had another appointment today and my doctor confirmed Aug. 2 as my due date. We are gradually gathering things for the baby and have most of the basics now. Fortuanately my sisters have allowed me to borrow their things which really helps a lot.

It's hard to believe it is almost summer...it sure doesn't feel like it here. We've had too many rainy and overcast days. I am very ready for some warmer weather. Nate's busy season is picking up. He is out in Eastern WA right now for the week. I just tell him he's not allowed to travel within a 2-3 week window before my due date. :) We'll see how that goes.

Samson finished obedience school a few weeks ago. While he has all the basic commands down, he has a hard time with "come"... chasing bunnies or sniffing up in the woods is much more fun. We've had our hands full with this little pup. He still keeps us quite entertained and we can never stay mad at his big, innocent, puppy eyes for long.

Our graduate

33 weeks!!!

Static

This is for my sister's sake...she was wondering how Raya's hair got so tangled and messed up yesterday. Well, here is the reason.

Samson Memories

I was looking through my pictures and couldn't believe how big Samson has gotten since bringing him home. Here are some favorites from the last 7 months. I laugh every time I watch that video...he is so tiny and clumsy!

Baby Samson...the day we brought him home

Helping (?) daddy with our house construction

King of the hill!!!

Out cold while watching TV

His "sling" he was carried around WSU in

So sleepy

Kisses!

I think he forgets how big he is sometimes

More kisses

So big!

Life Update

Busy busy busy...that's about all I can say for the last several months. We have been working like crazy on our house. The bathrooms are our latest project. I am very excited that finally we have one almost finished bathroom downstairs and the upstairs one is coming along. I did laundry the other day without having to put on my shoes and didn't need to do a balancing act to get in there!!! We were able to get away for a weekend in San Francisco/Monterey. We joined 8 other college friends there for a mini-reunion.

Baby Sak is still doing well and everything seems to be moving along nicely. I am 23 weeks along and feeling great. Nate was able to come to my 20-week ultrasound and enjoyed seeing the baby move and stretch. I think it helped make it a little more real for him.

Here are some highlights of our trip: Alcatraz, walking along the pier in San Francisco, the gorgeous down Hwy 101, Monterey Acquarium, Pebble Beach Drive, hiking along the beach, and many games/chats with friends.

As you can see we had BEAUTIFUL weather

Part of the gang on Alcatraz

Puppy Pics

Boy is Samson growing fast! I am sad I no longer have a tiny puppy, but I am glad the early morning walks and potty training days are over (well, almost). He continues to make us laugh with his "brilliant" puppy antics. (As I type he is chasing his tail). He has made friends with the neighbor dogs, so that is a good thing. They have a puppy about his age he gets along with well.

Nate has been doing a significant amount of traveling so we haven't gotten much done on the house lately. The bathrooms are STILL unfinished but we hope to get them going soon. I am now 16 weeks along and still feeling great. I haven't busted out any maternity clothes yet and hopefully can hold off on that for a while. Thankfully things are going smoothly and we are praying this continues until the end!

Finally...some pics

So here are some of the "Before" pictures (the "After's" yet to come):

Front door on the left, taken from kitchen. (All the wood paneling went)

Upstairs bathroom (The first thing we did once we bought the house was tear down this hideous wallpaper!!!)

Downstairs bathroom...once again I couldn't wait to rip that paper off

Basement (that is the master bedroom door)

Basement from other direction. Once again, all the wood paneling on the walls is now gone.

Upstairs living room (looking towards dining room then kitchen)

Kitchen

Living Room

Upstairs bedroom...we turned this one into our office

So, although we are not near finished I will work on getting some after pictures on what we have accomplished. So far, the office and master bedroom are almost completely done with just a little trim work remaining. The kitchen is almost done; we just need to get new countertops yet. The living rooms up and down are mostly done except they need all the trim yet. Much to do yet we have come so far!

Big News

For those who haven't heard, we have some big changes coming up in our life. This big change will happen around August 4 when our baby arrives. A baby? Yep...though it still hasn't even sunk in for us yet. I am almost 13 weeks, so into my 2nd trimester now. (yeah!) Things have been great (too great I worry at times) since I haven't been sick or even felt pregnant yet. An ultrasound a few weeks ago did confirm the fact and we are now eagerly looking forward to the summer.

Hopefully, our house will be finished to a certain degree so we can turn our attention to more important things in life, namely, a baby. Samson, who is growing FAST, will almost be 1 and he will have to learn to adjust to being a big brother. :)

We learned other very exciting news at Christmas when my sister Juli announced that she too is expecting. Her due date is August 14, so our babies will be only a week or so apart! Needless to say, my mom is very excited. Nate's family is also ecstatic as this will be the first baby on their side of the family.

So for now as we try to wait patiently all we can do is pray for this little one and hope you remember us in your prayers as well!

Happy New Year

Wow...this is awful. I realize I haven't posted since before Thanksgiving. The last month turned out to be a wonderfully crazy and chaotic month! A lot has happened, so I'll just give a brief summary of events.

December started by me flying out to Sioux Falls for about a week. I went out to help my sister Sheri travel to WA with her 3 kids (a 3-year old and twin 1-year olds). It was fun to be there over the twin's birthday and I got to watch Kiera's Christmas program. The weather was WAY to cold though...I definitely don't miss that part of the Midwest. The trip home went surprisingly well, though we were both ready to be done traveling by the end of the day.

My sister Tami and her 3 kids flew out the day after we arrived in WA, so the blessed chaos increased. In all there are 8 kids, 7 of them are 4 & under. We had a great time hanging out. Going anywhere proved to be quite the sideshow with all the car seats and highchairs but it was great. We celebrated my 25th birthday by going to Red Robin with just the adults (a rare treat).

In the midst of all this chaos our house was slowly getting worked on. The cabinet people finished retaining our cabinets, we finally finished painting, and carpet was installed downstairs the week before Christmas. With all the people in my parent's house Nate and I decided to move into ours even though it wasn't completely ready. So I guess we are now moved in, but a lot of work is yet ahead of us. We finally emptied our storage unit (and the van we had parked in storage last year still full of stuff!). It was like Christmas as we went through everything, some stuff we had never even opened since we didn't have a lot of room in Olympia.

As I look back it is hard to believe it has almost been one full year since leaving Olympia. We are VERY ready to finally settle in and get our lives organized. It is amazing to see God's hand in all the events, from losing our jobs in Jan, and incredible trip to Europe, Nate's new job allowing us to live close to family, and my availability to help my dad as he underwent chemo and radiation this summer. God is good!