CoCo and Foster

So here we've adopted a new baby to the family. His name is Foster. He's a 2 year old male chihuahua and was not treated very well from his previous owners. A co-worker of Richard's was getting rid of their dog because they were moving to VA. The place they are renting doesn't allow for pets, so they say. But we think they just didn't want to deal with him at all. He reminds me alot of my moms dog Peanut back in Tx. He's cute but still much in the puppy phase. He was left in his kennel for 14+ so he really doesn't know how to act when outside of the kennel. We're slowly working on him. He's come a ways even for the short time we've had him. So everyone here's a pic of our 4 legged babies.
Most of you know Coco. She's been with us for 5 years now. I must say she's my favorite probably because we've had her for so long and as always been the only one. She's not as tiny as Foster but they love to play with each other. So I'm posting a pic of her too. She's the dark chocolate colored one and Foster is the cream colored one.

22 Weeks

OK, so its that time to update everyone on how things are going. They are going well to be honest with you. On Oct. 29 we found out that we're having a baby GIRL!! We already have a name picked out for her it will be Aubreigh Grace. We've let most of everyone who reads this know already and sorry for just now letting everyone else know. The docs said she looks beautiful on paper, that is our last ultrasound we had, they can't wait to see her in person.

As far as how I'm doing or feeling, well pretty good most of the time. My blood pressure is still normal 110/70 and nothing else to worry about. The docs are little concerned that I haven't gained much weight and I need to start eating. I tell them I eat ALL the time. I did let them know that I've had a hard time gaining weight even before getting pregnant. Other than that things have been going pretty good.

Richard's reaction to baby girl!! His words, "Uh oh I'm in trouble." But he's enjoying it even though he would have preferred a boy. Since we've found out that we're having a girl everyday, sometime during the day, he comes up to my stomach and says "Aubreigh." She moves around like crazy. I know they really can't hear at this point but I think it's the vibrations that startles her and she moves. It's really awesome to see him want to interact with her. The other night laying in bed I kept still and felt this little bump on the side of my stomach. At first I thought it was my stomach growling or something but then it happened again. I burst out laughing and Richard was like what. So I took his hand and stuck it under mine on the side of the belly. I said be quite and keep still. He felt her bump up. I guess she had the hiccups who knows but when he felt it he started laughing also. Overall things are good. I'm still having trouble getting to sleep anytime earlier than midnight these days. It seems I must be extremely tired before I can lay down and rest. I hear it only gets worse the further along I get. Oh well. Just getting me ready for when she arrives I suppose.

Picture shown is me at 21 weeks. Half way there!!

18 Weeks and counting

Ok so I'm 18 weeks along and already to have this baby. Crazy right? I have such a long ways to go. We are due for a doc appt this friday coming up and well hopefully be able to find out if a sonogram is coming our way or not. Richard and I are both anxious to find out what we'll be having. But as for the way things are going, they are much better. I haven't been sick since about a month ago. Woohoo.. this is really a bonus for me. I've been able to wear contacts again since I talked to the eye doc. She gave me my old prescription for contacts and haven't had a headache since then. Again another blessing in disguise, nothing major to worry about. Other than that not much else going on with me and the little one. Just taking it one day at a time. I know that March will be here before we know it. I mean come on Christmas is just right around the corner. Ok update again after the doc appt on friday.

5 Years already

Well it's hard to believe that I've been away from my family for 5 years now. Richard and I just celebrated our 5th year anniversary, crazy to think that it happened that long ago. I know to some people it's not long but now adays that's not long at all. Well, due to Richard being in the lovely Navy we were once again not able to celebrate it together. He had to work that night as I work during the day. He did however make me breakfast and give me some flowers with a lovely little message on the card. Here I'll show you how sappy he can be message states "Out of all the thing's I've done wrong, I've must have done something right for God to give me you." Ahh. I love these little things. I'd rather have a sentimental gift like this than any material thing in the world. As for me, I'm not sappy and most guys don't like sappy gifts. I got him his Wii game he wanted. But it put a smile on his face and made his day. He's not one for cards for himself they just go in the trash... but I guess most guys are that way huh? Ok not much else happened for us on this day.

Mumbles? What?

Well Richard and I have been battling it out with the sex of the baby. He comes in daily and says "How's Junior?" I made the comment what if it's a girl, she can't be called Junior that might give her a complex. So he asked what should we call the baby then. I said "Mumbles." You're probably thinking where in the world did I come up with that right? I've been on a Happy Feet movie streak. I've been watching it more than normal not sure why other than it makes me laugh. So that's how I got the name. It's cute but then it's weird to say it.

I'm at 16 weeks today and things have been looking up. I have been off medication since Sept 12. Woohoo.. and I've only had 1 incident since then. My appeptite has definitely kicked in, but not as much as it might later on. I eat what seems to be every 2 hours. I've learned that wearing contacts has caused me to have headaches. I tested this theory out myself. I worn my glasses Sept 19-Sept 21, no headache. Put my contacts in for work on the following Monday and well I came home with a pounding headache. So this last appt I had, which was on Friday, Sept 26. I let the doctor know and well he kind of snickered at me and said I've never heard anyone say that. It was then I realized that my glasses perscription was weaker than my contacts. I was picking up new contacts and asked the doctor there if she knew of the cause. She looked at my glasses and then my current perscripition and said well that could be a reason. So I have a test pair of contacts that are the same as the glasses. Will try them out this week.

What else has been happening with baby. Heartbeat is now 145 so it's lower than last month but they say its normal. Had blood work done to test for down syndrome and few other things. Not sure if we'll get another sonogram to find out the sex of the baby but we'll see. No cravings, just trouble sleeping at nights. Well that's the update for now. More to come in a few weeks.

Dominican Trip

Hola!! This was one of the famous words we heard all week long, no matter what we were doing. The resort we stayed at was pretty nice. We plan to visit again within the next couple of years. This was our honeymoon since we never got to take one seeing how Richard is in the Navy. Anywho. Our trip went really well considering we almost had 2 hurricanes hit our area. But weeks before we left I kept praying and asking for just 3-4 days of sunshine. Man, the Lord answered that prayer. We were able to get 3 days of good sunshine while there. Richard got burnt but it was gone before we came back to the states. We watched the local show every night, not movie theater show, but live show. Dancing, acting, and game playing at night. Over all the trip was just for us to relax and enjoy spending time with each other. This is exactly what we did. 8 Days was a long time and both of us were ready to go home by friday or saturday. Well that's it really. Not much else to say other than it was a great time to relax and that's exactly what we did.

Oh on a side note.. Americans need to realize how spoiled we are here. People there had a smile on there face no matter what conditions they were in. The poverty here was really bad, all Richard and I could say is, wow.. can you imagine having to live in these conditions. Connecticut isn't so bad afterall..

We want to thank all of those who were praying for us during our trip. We had many people concerned about our safety and lots of phone calls making sure we arrived back in the states safely. Thanks again..

Bye Bye Chow Chow... the other famous phrase heard all week..

Baby Update #1

Well we went to the doc on Aug 25 to have an ultrasound done. It was a pleasant experience for both Richard and I. I think we both were weary about this visit. Richard just kept reminding me that the Lord is in control. I just wanted to hear the baby's heartbeat, it would make this whole experience more real just knowing the baby was alive and doing well. Yes, the Lord is in control. We heard the baby's heart beat which was extremely fast 167 and 4.2 cm long at this present moment.

We both stayed really calm during the whole visit which was according to Darcy, no fun.. She thought one of us would have cried. I guess I could say I had a tear come down but that was it. I just remember wiping my eye shortly after the heartbeat was heard. Richard was asking if the heartbeat was too fast.. the nurse said no that's normal. But we're 11 weeks along and due date is still March 17, 2009. So more to update at the next appt. I will have a sonogram pic displayed sometime this week.

Oh morning sickness is still here.. but hoping it will start to fade in the next couple of weeks.

Insurances' Stinks

So as you have read from the last post, I'm pregnant with pretty bad morning sickness. The doc put me on Zofran on Aug 6 and gave me 15 tabs. I was like that's cool I'll just call and get a refill when this is all done. So Monday this week I called the doc and they were willing to call it in for me. Yeah!! Right?!?! Much to my avail I received a phone call from the pharmacy that night stating they needed more information from the insurance company. So me being the person that I am, I called to make sure everything was ok and if there was something that I could help them with. They said well your insurance company will only pay for 15 tabs every 30 days... AHHH!!! Those were not the words I wanted to hear. So I have gone back to puking my brains out since I no longer have the meds in my system. I have another doc appt on Monday, Aug 25th so hopefully they can give me something different or I'll have to suffer until the 29th which is when they can fill it again. So this is me complaining about morning sickness once again.

But I must say that my husband has been soo good to me.. He is just so understanding about this whole pregnancy morning sickness bit. I couldn't have asked for a better husband to help me through this new journey not only in my life but his as well. I love him soo much... He's treated me like a princess since day 1. He keeps saying it will pass soon. I say I know. So pray for us while we continue through our journey becoming parents even before the baby arrives. Thanks for reading. post again after the doc appt. Take care and God Bless.

The Word is OUT!!!

So the word is out.. what could I be talking about you must be thinking. Well Richard and I are going to be parents. We're expecting our first little one. We finally told my side of the family and our church family. We broke the news last Wednesday and well our Pastor did a double take. It was actually funny to be honest. We just finished up our message on things that hinder your prayers and started on our prayer request for the week. Everyone mentioned theirs and well Richard waited till the very end before raising his hand. He was like and was very serious about it, he said. Can you pray for Candace and I as we're going to have our first child. I don't think Pastor heard him clearly but he did say.. "Are you serious?" It was funny. The entire church just went up in a great cheer. Then I was mobbed by all of the ladies of the church afterwards. But I must say I enjoyed breaking the news, now I don't feel so bad when they ask what's wrong I can just say "morning sickness."

Speaking of morning sickness.. oh has it got the best of me. I have not been able to keep much down these days. I eat because I have to then shortly after I'm heading for the porcelain goddess.. I've tried everything. I've tried royal jelly that Sunae said, I've tried unisom that helped my sister, crackers, preggie drops. You name it I've tried it. I have my first appt tomorrow so I'm hoping that the doctor can help me with this. Please pray that it doesn't last much longer. According to the doctors visit on July 11, I'm exactly 8 weeks today. So I'm slowly making my way through the first trimester. But that's it for now. I'm excited but not showing it because I just feel like "poop" these days. Richard is thrilled and can't keep from talking about it. He's ready for me to start showing so he can feel the baby and just love all over the tummy.. He's now in the habit of saying good night love, and good night jr. It's cute.

What are we having.. boy or girl.. you tell me what you think? Richard thinks a boy. Me I'm just hoping for a healthy baby regardless of the sex. Well I'll keep you posted with all of this. I have my first sonogram on Aug 25th. So once I get pics I'll post and tell you all the good details. Thanks for stopping in..

What a Good Sport She Is

Our church family plays volleyball every Tuesday night at the Gauthier's house. Last night was well a night that everyone would remember, especially Bonnie (Pastor's wife), Beth (Youth Pastors wife), Janice (friend from church) and well me.

We played volleyball for about 2 hours and everyone jumped into the lake. Gauthier's live right next to a lake in Preston, not sure of the lake name. Anywho. I walked over to Bonnie and said can we throw you into the lake. At that moment she grabbed onto the grass where she was sitting in. I picked her up from underneath her arms and Beth and Janice got the rest of her body. I had plans to walk her into the water and sit her in it. Beth and Janice said lets take her off the dock. So we walked over to the dock. Just was we started down the dock I slipped and well Miss Bonnie fell with me. She thought she was bleeding but no blood was shed externally. I believe she'll have a nice bruise on her back from this incident. But it was pretty funny because all the guys were in the lake just watching us as we're taking Bonnie over to the dock. Everyone grabbed camera's. I don't have any pics at the moment but maybe Bonnie or Beth will blog about it as well and put up a pic.

I must say Miss Bonnie is a GREAT sport throughout all this for us. She wasn't really fighting it but did kick Beth 2 times. I hope she's doing well and not too bruised. Lunch is on me Saturday since I was the one who dropped her. But now that I think about it. It's probably good that we didn't get her in the lake to begin with she would have lost her sunglasses. I do feel really bad about the whole situation. Bonnie.. I'm sorry for hurting you... Can you ever forgive me?

Most Pastor's wife's wouldn't have let us do this but Bonnie is not the normal Pastor's wife. She likes to have fun with us young gals.. Love you miss Bonnie...

Rodeo Smodeo

What an adventure we had last friday. It all started when Beth, youth pastor's wife, Darcy, friend from church, and I all had lunch out at Pauls Pasta.. I must say that's the best place to have pasta in the Groton area. Anwho back to the story. While eating lunch Beth said she really wanted to go to the rodeo. I was like if you really want to go then I'll hop in the car and drive with you. I'm always down for road trips. So we thought Sarah, Darcy's daughter would enjoy it as well. So we waited for her to get off work and do the stuff she needed to at the barn for Cadbury ( probably spelled that wrong). So we took off around 4:45pmish and we knew we had a far drive.. Well Beth the crazy driver she is..lol.. not really got us to our halfway point in roughly 30-45min. Granted our drive is about 2 hours away. So we got stopped in traffic I'd say for about 20-30min so once we finally got around the traffic Beth made up time where she could.. driving like a crazy woman.. no again just kidding.. So we had 2 different directions on how to get there and well to our amazement we didn't know how to read Beth's directions very well so we did the smart thing and call her lovely husband Chris at work. He got us on track. Woohoo go Chris. We make it to the city Goshen where the actual rodeo is located and well got lost again to say the least. We turned around like 4-5 different times. We even had a moment were a man on his motorcycle was holding up traffic due to trying to answer his cell phone while driving.. what does Beth do, she gives him a honk and he gives us well lets just say it wasn't nice at all.. So after all this travel we finally made it....

Yeah!! Right!?!?! Well Beth was very disappointed and well I was to to be honest with you. I'd never been to a rodeo and the only thing I could compare it to was what I've seen on tv. This was really small, very crowded as far as watching the guys ride bulls and the like. 1 guy did really well while all the others didn't do so well. So after watching them for about 1 and half hours to 2 hours we wanted to walk around to see what else was there. We saw everything in a matter of 30 mins so it was extremely small. I did get to pet a horse.. go me.. well i must tell you about this story. I was sitting there talking to Beth and Sarah during the intermission and this guy on his horse came over to talk to some people who sat in front of us. About 5-10 mins goes by and I decided to go pet the horse. Just as I got to the gate to pet it, the guy left. I was like aww man. So his friends call him back and I get to pet the horse. It was alot funnier in person than my story. We then went inside to see what else was there. There was baby pigs, lambs, goats, and ducks. It was awesome.. I think I enjoyed that more than the little kids there. But the best part about the whole trip was the ride Beth and I decided to ride. Ring of Fire is what I believe it's called. 1 continuous loop. It was great Beth was laughing at me the whole time because my hair was down and when we were at the very top it would just hang.. I was laughing at her because she was laughing at me. So overall it was joy to spend time with Beth and Sarah. I enjoyed the ride up and the ride back.. So that was my weekend... Hope everyone enjoys reading this.

The BIG 25

Wow.. I can't believe that I actually made it to 25 years of age. When I was young, around the age of 10, I never thought I would make it this far in life. I always thought the Lord would come to bring us home with him and not have to endure the things of adulthood, what did I know, I was only 10. Life has changed in so many ways. It seems just like yesterday I was in high school doing the things a teenager would do and well here I am 7 years out of high school living on my own, with my husband who I met in high school, in another state. Life goes by so fast it's unreal. Lets get back to the birthday story. Not much to it but it was fun. I got up and much to my surprise my mother calls and leaves me a message at 6am. Doesn't she know that I'm still sleeping, lol. Then the phone starts ringing, however, I didn't get most of them until after work. It was a long day there and didn't get out until 6pm. Came home and went to dinner and then to bed. I was exhausted.

To be kids again...

Well to be honest this happened in March, but I'm not very good at blogging these days. But this day was really fun for me. See most of you know that Richard serves in the Navy and for the last couple of years, 4 to be exact, he was out to sea most of the time, this doesn't allow for much quality time with each other. So one Saturday afternoon we decided to go to Harkness Park to take out Coco out for some nature time. This seems to be our favorite place to go with each other just because we walk the beach, throw the frisbee, and well this time we acted like big kids. We do that most days but we felt more like kids this day.



I was in the mood to climb trees and well so was Richard. I actually remembered to bring the camera and take pictures. But it was an enjoyable day for the both of us. Not to mention that CT doesn't have many nice days due to the fact we have about 6 months of cold weather here, not my favorite at all. Here Richard is well hanging upside down from this tree. I didn't think he could do it, but to my surprise he showed me up. I tried but didn't do so well so I'm not going to show that picture of me.Well I'll be nice and show me trying to hang upside down. I had to cheat and hang on with an arm...Here are just a few shots of us spending time together in God's beautiful picture he has provided for us to enjoy. I hope you enjoy them as well.

Donations... Good or Bad?

Well yesterday my friend talked me into donating blood to the American Red Cross. I was like cool, I've always wanted to do that. But I had NO idea what it does to your body. So I get in and start giving blood, ask the lady who's inserting the needle how long this will take. I was concerned with getting back in time for my meeting I had later on that day. She said about 5-10 minutes. I was like cool. She kept talking to me to get my mind off what was going on. So I made it to about 7 minutes into the whole process and started to feel dizzy. I told her and from that moment on it all went down hill.. I broke out into sweat and had to lift my legs up, they made me take deep coughs and well I almost vomitted on the poor lady. I'm soo sorry.. But after I settled down a little they gave me some water to drink then some grape juice. I was like now I have to go to the bathroom. I slowly got up and walked over to the restroom and well I had to sit down really quickly as I really almost fainted.. ahhh!! all this for trying to do a good deed right.. But it continues. After actually making it into the stall well I was done within a couple of minutes and the ladies walked me over to the sink.. I sat down washed my hands then was escorted out of there by the doc. They sat me down on the scretcher that rolled and wheeled me into the room where everyone was. I was made to lay down for about 45 minutes. After 2 grape juices and 6 crackers I finally felt well enough to make it back to my office. The time is now 1:30pm and I started at 11am. Craziness.. So then I drove home and went to bed for the rest of the day.. I doubt I'll give blood again.. but who knows not everyone reacts the same to it.. So that's it for now.. I hope everyone gets a better experience to giving blood than I did. More Power to you!! Thanks for stopping in to seeing how we're doing..

2008 Starting out Great!

Hello to all. Well this month has been a very busy one for the both of us. Richard has applied to the Thomas Edison school for the military. He is pursuing a degree in Nuclear Technology. He has been diligently studying for CLEP exams so he doesn't have to sit through all the class work some of them entail. As for Candace, well I have decided to take a break from school. I know such a big shock right. I was about to start my second semester of Nursing school but decided it wasn't for me at this point and time in my life. I just need a break from all the studying and school life. I will be working full time for a complete year. Woohoo..

As most of you know we own our house here in CT. We have now lived there for almost 4 years, come this May. We've had to live with a maroon bathtub the ENTIRE time..Yes, I did say maroon. But to much looking into and with the help of my father-in-law, it has become a white tub within a matters of just 2 days work. Rick, father-in-law, said to look for someone who can restore it instead of having to replace the entire bathtub. So we looked them up and found someone to do it for alot less than replacing the entire bathroom. For those of you who have seen the tub you will be amazed, it looks brand new.. YEAH!! Best bucks I've spent so far this year.

Well that's it for us at the moment. Check back as we'll be updating here later on.