Maternity fashion show....Not Really

Love This brown Motherhood sweater I got for $2! Am I glowing yet?

Not sure what kind of face I am making.....

Well Today I am 21 Weeks along with the 4th child =) God is so good. I usually try and avoid maternity clothes until the last trimester just because I don't like looking pregnant. Most maternity clothes fit in such a way that they really accentuate your belly. Oh and not mention when I go into a store with 3 young children the looks and questions I get....."Are they all yours?"....."You've got your handsful." ......"This is the last one right?"

However I got some really great deals on maternity clothes at a yard sale and my sister picked up some shirts at a consignment sale they were having at her YMCA. I figured tommorrow is not promised neither are any more pregnancies, and don't want all the cute clothes to get little use. So I might as well as enjoy my pregnancy despite any discomfort from my varicose veins, tiredness, and having my husband miss the whole pregnancy and birth due to a year deployment. So today I decided to bring out the maternity clothes at just 21 weeks along . I have so much to be thankful for and know so many women out there have heavy hearts because they can't even have one successful pregnancy. I am so blessed and am going to enjoy my growing belly everyday that God gives me =)

Military Hospitals

So, since someone at the whiteman AFB finance office decided not to process our move and change our housing allowance for the last 2 and half months (over 1 thousand dollar difference) I cancelled with the midwife. I decided I would rather not take anymore from our savings account and focus on paying off one last debt we owe. So that leaves us with another military Hospital experience. The first birth at Nellis AFB went well we checked in so late they had no time to give iv or suggest pitocin. The staff however had some rude comments about us refusing the pitocin after the birth, the erythromycin in the babies eyes, the hep B vaccine, and not getting Christian circumcised. We signed an early release form and left the next day. The 2nd birth at Portsmouth naval hospital was terrible: I didn't have the baby until 17 hours after checking in and was badgered about not recieving pitocin and an epidural for the whole 17 hours! I was needed told to starve and not eat until the baby was born. I had to sneak out and eat at the cafe, ask to use the bathroom during the last part of labor so I could squat and not have to lay down and sit still with that cursed fetal monitor around my belly. So finally after having a natural birth the staff tells me that I have no choice, I have to take pitocin for the next 6-8 hours...ouch with a nursing baby and no drugs. I got two roomates, one left our shared toilet bloody and had a bunch of cursing loud navy friends in and out of the room. I had the side of the room with no window and had to walk across her side of the room to use the toilet. I had to threaten to stay the rest of my visit in the lounge room with the vending machines before getting my own room. The Third baby at a civilian hospital in Missouri was much better. However, since I checked in 3 days early because my water broke I was again interregated as to why I would not take pitocin. Doctors and midwives came and told me how I was going to die and the baby if I didn't take it. So finally I had the baby with no drugs or interventions and the recovery room was great no roomates and I got to leave the next day =) They even let the boys spend the night in the room in the pack n play =)This time around Fort Belvoir Army Hospital will be where I deliver. I have had one appointment so far; aside from it taking 20 minutes circling the parking lot to get a parking spot it went pretty well. I go in for a sonogram on wednesday =) The ladies at church and my mom have been so helpful and reliable for help with the boys. So I think I can survive at most 6 more appointments and 24 hours of military care. Prayerfully our bah will be changed soon and we will be debt free within the year =)

$$$$ Drug Store Deals $$$

Well since we are in an area that has all 3 drug store competitors I figured I should take advantage of the deals. So Last night I went to Riteaid and my mom stayed in the car with the boys good thing too I was in there for over an half hour making sure I got all the up rewards (riteaid money). I think I threw the machine off because I had more coupons than items. So here is what I bought

3 jumbo packs of Huggies pure and natural diapers (some for Joshua some for new baby)

2 oral B cross action toothbrushes

1 crest toothpaste

2 packs of kotex pads

1 container of quaker oats

2 bottles of windex green works spray

24 pack bottled water

I spent $30 out of pocket got $15 worth of up rewards and will get a $10 riteaid gift card in the mail! So after the rewards and gift card it is like spending $5 on all of the above. So excited tonight I will get 2 free deoderants from CVS and Tommorrow we will head to Walgreens to get 3 free reach toothbrushes!

Really need some rest.

I have been so sleepy. Maybe it is because I have been staying up past twelve almost every night or the two flights of stairs in our house or the bday party or maybe the extra workload from not having chris to help or maybe from being pregnant I don't know.....I have been in VA for a month now and I can't say I don't miss my friends in Missouri I didn't know how attached I was to those ladies until the day before we left. Chris has been gone for 17 days!! It feels like forever. I get to see my mom alot and am thankful for that I wish she would come and stay with us for the year .....I don't know why she wants to stay in a smelly old apartment. Contimplating on whether or not to find out if I am having a boy or a girl and going to meet with the midwife on friday. I think I might just have a surprise just for fun I am sure by the time I venture out of the house I will have had time to shop online for some clothes I will just get some yellow and white layettes and diapers of course. Okay I am sleepy and going to be it is 11:24 pm....

Deployment #3

Sigh....Yet another deployment. It seems the deployments get worse and worse each time. the first one to Quatar for 4 months, a relatively safe place and short time period. The next tasking for Iraq for 6 months (2 months completed) after 2 months of training a little less safe and alittle more drama. The next one just 9 months later to Afghanistan for 365 days! So sad and I am 3 months pregnant. However we are still blessed and have no need to complain, we are all alive and well and are getting to spend some time with family in VA. Week one is done though just 51 more weeks to go!

4th of JULY NOW and THEN

vs

ON GOVERNMENT

"It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible." President George Washington

"Whatever we once were, we're no longer a Christian nation." OBAMA

ON EDUCATION

"As a student of history, I also know civilization's debt to Islam." OBAMA

“What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus Christ.” --GEORE WASHINGTON

In Benjamin Franklin's 1749 plan of education for public schools in Pennsylvania, he insisted that schools teach "the excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or modern."

"But we also recognize the importance of good medical care for women, that we’re also recognizing the importance of age-appropriate education to reduce risks. I do believe that contraception has to be part of that education process." OBAMA

George Washington in a speech to the Delaware Indian Chiefs May 12, 1779

"It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors."

Charles Carroll - signer of the Declaration of Independence Portrait of Charles Carroll" Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure...are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments."

ON LIFE

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--

"I think it’s very hard to know what that means, when life begins." OBAMA

Patrick Henry said, "It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.” [May 1765 Speech to the House of Burgesses]

"Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is okay and that eating shellfish is abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith?" OBAMA

Family Photos 2010