Hiking Koko Head

It's been over a year since I've made any posts but I figure since we are now so far from home it would be the perfect time to start. Soooo I'll start with my birthday last week. Since we moved here we've been trying to be healthier. We're eating better and exercising more. My favorite thing to do is hike! I try to got 2-3 times a week although I'd love to go every day. Koko head has been on my bucket list since before we moved here but I kept saying I'd do it when I  get in better shape. Well I'm in a little better shape and everyone told me that it doesn't matter what kind of shape you're in it's going to be hard.

So the night before my birthday we were watching Hawaii Five-0 and they had a scene where they were running up koko head and one of them fell and sprained their ankle. I jokingly said to Andrew that we should do it for my birthday and he said yeah why not. So we decided that when he got home from work he'd grill us some steaks for my birthday and we'd head out for a sunset hike. I was so nervous!!

We parked at Koko head district park and followed the road to the trail head. Although this trail is only 1.5 miles it raises in elevation by 1200 feet. Here's Hunter at the beginning of the trail.

 

This is the beginning of the trail where the steps weren't too steep. I told Hunter we were going to pretend to be trains but he wanted to be a wolf....

 

Here's the bridge everyone talks about. A lot of people find it too scary and use the trail that takes you around it. I wanted to get the full experience so we took the bridge. I found the bees on the bridge scarier then the height. Andrew ended up carrying Hunter across the bridge. On the way up going across the bridge was actually the easiest part of the trail for me, going down was another story.

 

 

 

They did a whole lot of waiting on me. It was hard!! And I was just being nice and letting Hunter take breaks ;)

 

 

Hunter did sooo good!! He loves making it to our destinations because then he gets to eat his clif bars. Food is good motivation.

And I can't forget our Gru. He did so good too. Andrew carried him in the lillebaby on his back. He didn't fuss at all. 

 

 I can't believe I did it!! I know I said it already but it was hard. It took the boys 52 minutes and I was a few minutes behind them. 

 

 The views were amazing!! The pictures just don't do it justice. The ridge right there in the center is the hike we did last week for sunset, Hanauma Bay ridge. It was beautiful and way easier.

We didn't get to see the sunset because these crazy clouds were blocking the sun. The clouds did help keep us cooler, so the hike wasn't completely miserable. 

 My kid is a beast!! Everyone told me that this hike is too hard for kids so I was waiting till someone (Andrews parents) came to visit and have them babysit for us. Then I figured why not try. Worst thing that could happen is we'd have to turn around. I can say that there is no way I could have worn Grady on my back but Andrew is obviously stronger then me and had no problem.

 

It was pretty much completely dark before we started to head back down. Luckily Andrew bought us some awesome headlamps. 

 

 

 Going back down was hard too. Again Andrew carried Hunter down the bridge. I found going down the bridge was the hardest part. I don't know if it was because it was dark or from going down hill while trying to balance on railroad ties.

 But we did it!!!! We made it to the bottom in 45 minutes!! This was quite the experience but I will definitely be doing it again so I can beat my time.

 

Grady Nikolaus

I just want to start off with saying how luck I am. I have the most amazing husband and two little boys! I could not ask for more. This blog entry is going to be Grady's birth story. Not that it was anything crazy but I just want to record it so it'll be written for him to see one day.

At my 20 week anatomy ultrasound not only did we found out we were having a boy but we also found out I had placenta previa. Not a huge deal. It's actually very common and usually corrects itself before birth but requires a c section if it doesn't. I did have to have ultrasounds every 4 weeks so they could keep an eye on it. At 35 weeks they said that it had just barely corrected itself and if the baby turns head down then I would be go to go with a vaginal delivery. Right after 37 weeks he finally turned head down. It was such a relief once he turned head down because for whatever reason when he was transverse he made my resting heart rate sit at 130 and go as high as 170 while doing no physical work. So I had to see a cardiologist and had to do a bunch of tests (CT scan, multiple EKGs, echocardiogram and some others) to make sure that my heart was ok. Everything came back normal and they just diagnosed it as tachycardia caused by pregnancy. Once he went head down heart rate went back to a normal level I was finally able to breath. They wanted to do another ultrasound at 38 weeks. I was really excited for this one because it was just a couple days after Andrew returned home from deployment and he would be able to see the baby for the first time. The ultrasound went great but at the end the high risk doctor at that office wanted to do another transvaginal ultrasound to double check the placenta. Well she found a blood vessel coming off the placenta and blocking part of the cervix so she told be that I'd have to have a c section just to be safe. So that night my OB called me and scheduled our section for April 30th, a day before I would be 39 weeks.

 

 

So we arrived at Charles Regional Medical Center at 6am on April 30th. I did not sleep at all the night before. I was terrified. I had never had surgery before and just was not sure how recovery would be. After the did some monitoring and filled out some paper work they moved us into another room by the operating room and discussed how the whole operation would go down. This is where I finally saw my doctor and she went over some more info with me. It's nice going to OB where there are only 2 doctors because you get to become comfortable with. I didn't that this would be important but that morning I was so happy to see Dr King's face. Then they took me into the operating room. This was my least favorite part. I did not want to be separated from Andrew while they did all the pre op stuff like the spinal block but it is what it is. The spinal block was crazy. I could not feel anything from my shoulders down. I could feel my arms enough where I could wiggle my fingers but that was about it. It was the weirdest feeling. After everything was ready to go they brought Andrew into the room. They allowed him to take pictures the whole time which I thought was crazy.

 

 

By the time they allowed Andrew in I was already feeling pretty loopy. I thought everything was funny then my blood pressure would drop really low and I would start throwing up. So the anesthesiologist had to keep pumping medicine into me so I wouldn't get too sick. It was a rollercoaster.

 

 

Andrew watched the whole thing. We even got some pictures of it. I freak out when I get my blood drawn so I'm glad I had that blue curtain. When they took him out the brought him straight to this table and cleaned him up. I wasn't able to see him at all so I'm thankful Andrew got these pictures.

He was perfect!! He got a 9/9 on his APGAR.

 

 

Then I finally got to meet him!! It was a very short little visit before they took him out of the room. So I was once again left alone in the room while I got stitched up. It felt like it took forever!! I was so sick but all I wanted to do was go see my baby.

 

 

Before he was born Andrew and I took a guess at how much he would weigh. I guessed 8lbs 6oz and Andrew guessed 7lbs 8oz. So I won with our little man weighing 8lbs 4oz.

 

I wasn't there for any of this but here's his first bath.

 

Of course Andrew had to take a selfie lol

 

 

I thought this was so cool! I wish we would've gotten Hunters footprints too.

 

 

I love this picture!!

 

Then they finally brought me to them. I was able to nurse him right then and he latched on great which was awesome because I was too sick the rest of the day to nurse him and his blood sugar was low so they had Andrew give him formula. Around 10pm that night I was finally able to nurse him again. I hated having the oxygen in my nose but my levels were low. Thankfully they were able to take it out before Hunter got there.

 

 

At around 5 they had a tornado warning and had to bring everyone out of their rooms and out to the nurses station. Luckily we were at a very small hospital so there was only like 8 people there. I was on the phone in this picture because Aunt Jenny was on her way over with Hunter but I told her to take her time so Hunter got a little extra time at café rio.  

 

I wish I would've felt better so I could have enjoyed this part more. But I was so excited for Hunter to meet his little brother. He completely understood that this was the baby that was in my belly and the doctor had taken him out. He is such a good big brother. He gives him his pacifier when he cries and today he told me baby brother needed milk and insisted that I feed him. He is very protective. Hunter did not like the doctor touching Grady at his 1 week checkup. It's so funny to watch. Right now he is rocking him in his rock n play and telling him to stop sucking on his fingers.

 

Hunter doesn't really like to hold him. He says he's too heavy. But he's always interested in what he's doing.

 

 

 

Hunter came back the next morning and we took our first family photo!!

 

Farm Trip Aug 2013

Two weeks ago we went up to the Farm with my brother Rick and his family and my dad.This picture up above pretty much sums up our weekend! It was nice and relaxing. Ricks family had bought an RV and they were nice enough to let Hunter and I stay in there.

Hunter loves his Aunt Jenny!! Besides his mommy and daddy I would say Aunt Jenny runs a pretty close third. I don't really have any pictures of him with his Uncle Ricky but he was pretty attached to him too! It was a sad day going home. Luckily he was sleeping when they left.

These little girlies love their momma!

The girls love taking pictures! I can't wait to get the pictures from Jens camera. Sophia got some awesome ones of Hunter! And some pretty awful ones of me. These girls have some natural talent!

The swing was all of the kids favorite thing!

At night we had a campfire and smores and did glow in the dark bubbles! They were so cool!

Care Package #1

Andrews Birthday was just a little over a week after they left so I made sure to send out his birthday package the day after he left. It didn't quite make it there in time but that's ok. He didn't tell anyone it was his birthday so when he opened the box everyone was like what the heck! Why didn't you tell us?

 

 So this is his package! This picture is awful but I think it turned out really nice! I put some cupcakes in there from the bakery, he said they were crushed when he got them but the were still delicious.I also put in some cake batter oreos. I made him some of his favorite cookies- Pineapple cake batter cookies with white chocolate chips. I don't really remember what else I put in there, just some other treat's I thought he'd like like slim jims, k-cups and combos and some pictures Hunter drew for him.

Goals

One of my goals through this deployment is to keep this blog, obviously I'm not good at doing that so I'm going to try. I want to be able to look back at this and think wow I didn't just make it through this I really did awesome.

 The ship officially pulled out of port today. So it's official and there's no going back. I got some pictures of them leaving from other truman spouses on FB. I'm kind of glad I didn't go down, I think it would be really hard to see them leave.

 

 

I mailed his first care package this morning. It won't be there in time for his birthday but it'll be just a couple days late. There's lots of fun things in there but I don't want to post it cause he does get internet access sometimes and I wouldn't want him to look on here and have the surprises ruined. 

 

 

 

 

Hunter is so sweet, he went upstairs and got some fake flowers out of my craft room and brought them down to me saying happy birthday mommy over and over. I love him.

http://www.wavy.com/dpp/military/harry-s-truman-csg-deploys

Here's an article on the ship leaving earlier today. I did already get a phone call from him and I'm hoping to get another tonight. I'm ready for him to come home already!

So back to goals. I need some. Obviously like everyone else I want to lose weight but mostly just become healthier. I want to do a bunch of crafts. I have so many ideas! I love pinterest! I want to travel a lot. I'm going to the farm this weekend with my favorite people besides Andrew. I want to got to TX, NC and AZ for sure and visit family. I want to keep my house cleaner. Also be less lazy. Learn to be more patient with Hunter. I'm trying to figure out some more goals but I still don't know. The biggest thing I'm going to learn but I don't get a choice in it is to become more independent. I have been with Andrew since the day I turned 17 so I haven't really been alone ever. So I'm going to be independent. Exciting, Right? Oh, and get Mr Hunter potty trained!

Getting this over with!

 

Our last family picture- Hunter was already sad, once he saw the sea bag by the door he knew what was going down. Also he only slept for 2 hours cause we let him stay up till 6am having family time.

 

Hunter passed out on the 2 min car ride there. 

Andrew left for his deployment today. And as much as it sucks and it was awful saying goodbye I am so grateful to finally have it over with! I have been dreading this day for such a long time. It made me literally sick every time I thought about it. We even had the fake leaving back in February which was so hard and then they delayed it the day before they were supposed to leave. He's definitely leaving this time. But that means we get to get this over with. Bitter-sweet maybe? I don't know. Overall though today didn't go as bad as I thought it would. I would say the worst part was pulling Hunter off of Andrew while he was screaming and kicking cause he knew what would happen once he let go of Andrew. After they drove off in the van I had to carry Hunter back to the car while he was screaming and yelling at me saying he was mad at me and daddy was mean for leaving. But that is all done with and now we get to move on and get this over with. 

Andrews birthday is in a little over a week so we got him a care package put together and ready to ship in the morning. We even made him some of his favorite cookies. 

I love my little family so much and I am so grateful to be able to snuggle with little bear tonight!

Day 1 down!!

Virgina Aquarium 2013

We were recently able to take a week long vacation in Virginia Beach. We definitely miss living there! This was a very stressful week for us. We hadn't seen Andrew in 3 weeks and until the day before we left to come back home we thought we wouldn't be seeing him again for 9 months. So we tried to do everything possible in our short time. The most important thing we wanted to do was visit the Virginia Aquarium. As I was finally looking through the pictures from our trip it amazed me at how much Hunter has changed in the last year and 4 months since we were there. These are a few of the pictures that I thought were the craziest.

Crazy!! My little boy is growing up!