It's Another Boy!!

I am now halfway through my pregnancy and I've got to say, it's such a relief to be halfway to meeting our little baby.
At first, it felt like we'd never get here, and that May was too far away. But here I am, 20 weeks pregnant and 4 months away from meeting our new baby boy.

So, usually you find out the gender around 19-20 weeks when you have your anatomy scan ultrasound, but we knew Cameron would be working and wouldn't be able to make that ultrasound, so our amazing OB scheduled to have us find out the gender on Dec. 11th when I was 17.5 weeks. Lucky for us, Cameron's parents were in town that same weekend and would be able to come with us to the ultrasound!

My Dr ended up being switched to on-call that week, so when I went in for my appt, I didn't know if we'd even be able to do the ultrasound because my Dr could possibly be delivering babies. So we hoped, prayed and crossed our fingers that we would be able to do the ultrasound. When we checked in for the appt, they got us into a room right away, and my Dr was in shortly after and spent plenty of time with us to find out the gender. Our little baby was being just a little stubborn, but it was really fun watching my in-laws reactions to seeing our little baby move around. And then when we go close to the baby's legs, suddenly we all saw without a doubt, we were having another boy!!!! We are so SO excited to welcome Walker James into our family!

Now, being 20 weeks, the kicks and flutters are getting stronger and stronger. Cameron was finally able to feel Walker kick last week, which is one of my favorite parts of pregnancy!

I had my 20 week scan this last Friday. The appt took about an hour, which I was fine with cause I got to see Walker moving around a lot. But the tech was a little rough, she kept digging into my stomach to get certain pictures of Walker. My belly was extremely sore afterwards, and it's still a little sore today. I loved watching Walker move around, opening and closing his mouth, and seeing that he looks a lot like his big brother!!!

What Do You Do?

"What Do You Do?" I get asked this A LOT during Cameron's deployment. What do I do to keep sane? What do I do to keep busy? What do I do to keep myself from getting depressed?

At first it was a lot of, "Well, I don't work so I mostly stay home with my son. We go to the park, I craft and crochet." And I always felt bad about how much that answer lacked busy-ness, but it doesn't! I care for my toddler son 24/7. I get no breaks. I also keep up with the house. I water the lawn. I fix what needs fixin'. I cook all the meals. I do all of the chores. I make sure all of the bills are paid. I make sure our cars are running properly. And somehow in between all of that, I find time to work on puzzles, crochet a new project, or watch a show.

So my answer has changed. What do I do? I do all the roles of mom, wife, daddy and husband. Of course I have friends who are more than helpful, and spend time with me to help pass the time.

The other major thing I do while my husband is gone? I workout! Yep, I keep a workout routine going for many reasons. Working out makes you happy! It helps boost your endorphins to make you happy, which helps keep you from getting depressed, and gives you something to look forward to each day. I also workout so that I can look and feel amazing when my husband gets back ;) I always feel so much more confident about myself when I work out. I don't like being insecure, so I workout to help me feel more secure about myself.

Along with working out, I can keep track of what I'm eating. That takes up some time as well with planning your meals and keeping track of your what you're eating.

Visiting family is a great way to pass deployment time. At the beginning of this deployment my son and I went to visit family for 3 weeks, and it helped out a lot. I was able to be with family, and do lots of things to help pass the time like park days, going to the lake, parties, and family dinner dates.

There is a lot to do, and a lot to be done while your spouse is on deployment. It's just having the perspective to see that.

So what do I do when Cameron is gone? Everything.