The Boxes Keep Coming...

We opened more boxes last night. This set came to us from Grandma & Grandpa Crandall, Grandma & Grandpa Mendolia, Aunt Ann, Aunt Carol & Uncle Gary, Scott & Melanie, Diney, The Inces' and the Bennett's.

I think I'm still amazed that we're getting surprise shower gifts, and that we're actually having a baby. We only have 6-8 weeks to go, and up until now, I just haven't prepared anything for his arrival. But, after all this, I feel much more prepared! This shower has really made me excited to have another baby on the way! Thank you so much!

Here's some pics of some of the latest gifts. This time we had a little help from the Soon-To-Be Big Sister...

And here's a pic of Emily testing out her brother's crib:

3 Days of Boxes

Well, after the initial surprise that everyone sent a present for the new baby, we finally decided to open what we had received thus far. We had three-days of boxes, and got gifts from...Jamie & Melanie, Great Grandma & Grandpa Humphrey, Matt & Katie, Ted & Marie, Tom & Denise, Susie, Chrissy, Aunt Josie, Alicia & Allen, Shaun & Jenna, John & Cindy, and Aunt Karen.

(Our weather has been up-and-down the past week or so...so, if you've sent something, I'm sure its on it's way - we get socked in with fog at times and no planes land on the island; this includes the mail plane.)

I'm sad that we weren't home to be able to do this in person, but here are some pictures of the totally awesome gifts we've received for the new baby thus far:

We did receive more packages today and I'll post pics of those when we open them tomorrow.

Thanks again for everything!

We just can't thank you all enough!

Something like this means so much to both of us,

and it definitely helps us to be more prepared for the new baby's arrival!!

(Only 6-8 weeks to go! - personally, I think he'll be early...we'll see!)

Surprise at the Post Office

I got home early from work this afternoon. It was a little after 3 o'clock and I was looking forward to getting some chores done around the house before the rest of the family got home from work & school. I pulled into the driveway and walked out to the mailbox. It was actually a nice day today in Kodiak, which these days are unreliable and unpredictable. I opened the mailbox and to my surprise, there were 3 "parcel pick-up postcards" from the Postman. Now, I was thinking to myself "This is odd...what did I order?"



I order quite a bit online these days, and we usually have to go to the post office and pick-up any packages that we receive. I thought to myself I could have ordered, maybe, 1 package...maybe they gave me the post cards in triplicate by mistake...or maybe something was on back-order and it's finally here...or maybe my parent's sent me something again. You see, I just got a package from my dad a few days ago and they have been bugging me to let them know when it arrived. As you may have heard me mention...avocados here are a delicacy, and REAL guacamole just doesn't exist. So, my dad sent AN ENTIRE flat rate box FULL of avocados from his tree in the backyard. I made a huge bowl of guacamole and STILL have about 20 avocados left! Anyway, the Preggy-Lady (me) LOVES avocados, but I was thinking to myself Gosh, I hope this isn't more avocados; I won't know what to do with them all!

So, I continued doing my chores around the house until it was time to pick-up Emily from school. I figured that I would stop by the post office on my way to get her and do it all while I'm out. So, a little over an hour later, I pulled up to Safeway.

Now, I need to digress a little here...the post office for our area is located inside Safeway, which is just down the street. It's Safeway employees and they do all the regular mail-stuff you'd expect from your neighborhood post office. Yes, we do have a post office...it's not that rural here, but the Safeway post office location is close to our house, so they leave all of our packages there.



So, I pulled into the parking lot...parked the car...and went inside. I walked up to the counter and handed the girl my 3 post cards. I wasn't quite sure what to expect??? I didn't order anything. She left with my cards and came back about 30 seconds later and said "You better go grab a shopping cart and meet me at the back door." Seriously?!? You got to be kidding me! What the heck am I getting here???



So, I grab a grocery store shopping cart and walk to their back door where she invites me to come inside. Now, how many people get to say that they got to go behind-the-scenes at the post office?

I walk back into their storage room lined with boxes...with my Safeway cart. The girl is waiting for me near a wall of flat rate boxes and starts to put boxes in my cart. I'm imagining only 3 boxes...I only had 3 post cards. So, she loads 3 boxes in and I start to walk away...she stops me before I go anywhere and throws in 3 more boxes! 6 boxes! There must be some mistake!



Just then....I start to thinking...ok, something is going on here. I didn't know what was happening. There were packages in there from Grandma Humphrey, Matt in Hawaii, Lauri, my friend Chrissy, Cindy...ok guys, what is going on here?!?!?! There is something MAJOR FISHY about all of this!



So, how to get to the bottom of this..................MOM.



Who could be responsible for this...Who knows the answers...



I called mom.

Mom wasn't much help. She knew what was going on, I could tell, but didn't want to tell me. She said that I'd have to wait and talk to Lisa. To my surprise, Lisa has thrown me a "Surprise Baby Shower" via USPS. I just can't believe it! I am just shocked! Surprised! Amazed! And, I had NO IDEA this was coming! I never expected anything!

When Lisa was here a few months ago, her and I registered for baby boy stuff online. I figured we probably wouldn't get much in the way of presents (we're so far away) but at least we could tell people that "we're registered" if anyone should ask. So, her and I had a good time picking everything out. (Sadly, Chris was in Texas during this time and didn't get to participate much.)

And then, today, to find out that Lisa had orchestrated this whole thing...It warms my heart to have her as my sister. It means a lot to me that she rallied our friends and family back home to help us celebrate this new Baby Boy. Exciting events, such as this, make it difficult to be so far away; and makes us miss family more and more. Lisa has brought the family and the celebration to Kodiak - and I can't thank all of you enough for all your love and support.

We were thinking about opening the packages we've received thus far over the weekend, and any others as they come. I'll be sure to put up as many photos and video as I can so that you all "can be here with us."

Again, I can't thank all of you enough for the warm-fuzzies you're sending from home; it means the world to me! Thank you for all your love and support, and thank you for helping us welcome Baby #2 into the world. ...and, Lisa, you amaze me...I love you.

By the way, "Baby Boy" has a name...you'll have to hang in there to find out what it is.

Don't worry, we'll tell you his name real soon. :0)

Pumpkins

Emily's new favorite things are pumpkins!!

We were at the market the other night and she saw pumpkins out in a bin. Her and Chris went over and picked one out...she really hasn't let it go since. She tried to sleep with the pumpkin that night, but we wouldn't let her...and then, the next morning, she tried to take the pumpkin to school with her. I found a "pumpkin stress ball" in our box of Halloween decorations, and gave that to her...she hasn't put it down since! She still LOVES the real pumpkin...but, she can sleep with the small/soft pumpkin. And, yes, that one went to school today.

I can't wait to see her reaction when we carve the pumpkins!

Sick Again

Well, I hate to say it, but about every 6-weeks Emily gets sick. It's school...that place is like a petri dish of germs! So, if you haven't heard, the latest thing going around is "Fifth Disease."

Apparently it shows up in children as a regular cold, with a rash. But, in adults, it can be much more harmful. Now, most of us adults probably caught it as children and therefore built up immunities to it - but if we break out with Fifth Disease we can get diseases such as Polio, and it can cause major issues to unborn fetuses, so therefore pregnant women are suggested not to be exposed to the disease. This worries me a little, but...what can we do...Emily gets sick, we all get sick...it's just the cycle of things. It's not like we can sterilize the environment.

As far as The Preggy-Lady is concerned...I was tested for the disease last week and we should hopefully have the test results back soon. But, hopefully I was one of those "lucky children" who caught it young and built immunities to it. In the meantime, it hasn't been confirmed that Emily has this Fifth Disease, but Emily's sick yet again!

Our Little Superstar

More exposure for Chris: http://www.uscgalaska.com/go/site/780/

Belly Bump

The 7-month doctor's appointment was today! We're well on our way to having Baby #2! No, no more ultrasounds, so we'll see the little-guy in December. But, here's a picture of the belly bump. He's definitely a bit bigger than I remember Emily being.

The 7-month appointment has been the "shot appointment." It wasn't fun, and I'm sure Chris is tired of me complaining, but I got 2 shots, gave 2 viles of blood, and needed to drink the sugar-syrup. (The sugary-syrup appointment is tomorrow...and I think they'll be drawing more blood again)

I got a flu shot and an RH Shot (I'm negative, Chris is positive...blood type) That shot went in my hip, so I had trouble walking for a few hours afterwards. Flu shot went in the arm, no worries there...Flu Season in Kodiak is far worse than Flu Season in CA...people actually die up here.

The blood was drawn for a precautionary measure. Emily's School had a Fifth Disease Outbreak last week and if pregnant women are exposed it can be extremely bad for the unborn fetus and the mother. So, if I've contracted it, we should have those results back by early next week. I'll let you know.

And next the sugary-syrup. I think the hardest part about that will be fasting. Luckily my appointment is in the morning, but it's hard not eating anything...they said a few crackers would be OK, so that should get me by. And then, I think, more blood after that. FUN! (j/k)