First Belly Pics

Well, Chris made it off ok and YES I was a blubbering baby when he left. Now I am back in Utah and living with my sister and her family again while I work. I have been super busy moving in and unpacking and adjusting back to work. Chris has called a few times and I love hearing from him. Even though he always calls me in the middle of the night when I am sleeping, it's comforting to talk to him and know that he is ok.

I thought I should send Chris a few pictures of his wife's baby bump, so he's not shocked when he comes home. Sadie was so nice to be my lovely photographer...

13 WEEKS

Update on Chris

This is Chris' first deployment, which means it is my first deployment as an Army wife as well. I am learning that I dont get to hear from him very often and when I do, it is in the middle of the night and he only get a few minutes to call. I am always anxious to hear from him and I worry when I have not heard from him in more than a week. He has only been gone a month, but it is still hard everyday worrying about him, not knowing where he is or what he is doing. When we do talk, it is difficult, because there is so much that he can not say and so much that I can not ask. When I ask something as simple as what time is it there or what did you do today? His simple response "Shell..." lets me know its not a good question and to not ask again.

My First "Red Line Message"

Before Chris left, he gave me the name and number of one of his SGT's wife and said that if I needed anything to call her and that if anything happened to him, she would call me. I didn't think anything of it and just tossed the number. I figured I wont need anything and nothing is going to happen to Chris, so I'm good. Well, yesterday while I was shopping with Sadie, for some maternity clothes, I got a call from a 253 area code. My battery had been beeping low for over an hour and it had already cut off earlier while I was talking to mom, so my initial thought was to ignore the call because my phone would probably just die anyways, but then something told me to just answer it. When I answered the call I was actually in a dressing room trying on clothes. She said her name and let me know she was calling with a "Red Line Message". Not knowing what that meant, I said 'OK' and paused. She continued to tell me she was going to ready the information she received. She said that there was in incident during a mission where a bunch of people were injured in a specific company of the battalion. She then said, if your soldier was wounded, you will get a 2nd call later today, and if your soldier was not, he will personally call you when he is given the opportunity. And that was it...she said good bye and my phone died. I have no idea how my phone made it through that 7 minute call in the first place, but I am so grateful it did.

Sitting in the dressing room I starting to panic, tears filled my eyes and I had the sickest feeling come over me. Luckily Sadie was with me and could give me a hug and tell me it was going to be ok. All I could think about was, We are having a baby in a few months and our baby needs a daddy...Chris has to be ok, he has to come home safe, he's only been gone a few weeks! I quickly changed back into my clothes and we raced out of the store and went directly to the Verizon store to buy a new battery, so I could answer hopefully my husbands call. If not answer the 2nd call to tell me he was hurt. I got a new battery and waited anxiously for another call from somebody, but nothing! Sadie encouraged me to relax and just finish shopping, so we did. Hours and hours passed and still no phone call. Bed time came and still no phone call...Finally at about 2am, Chris called! It was so comforting to hear his voice and know that he was ok.

I never want to get another call like that, but unfortunately they will probably happen again.

It's Time...

The dreaded day is here...Chris leaves on his first deployment tomorrow! I knew when he joined the Army, he would have to go, but I never imagined this soon. He has only been out of training for 3 months. I guess the one thing I have to be grateful for is that being a Ranger he only has to deploy for 3-5 months at a time. That is a lot better than the soldiers who go for 12-18 months at a time. I don't think I could handle that! Plus he would miss his the birth of our baby. He should be back sometime in May or June. I am not quite sure how I will do tomorrow, dropping him off, but we will see!!!

While Chris is gone, I will be back in Utah working. Part of the agreement, when I left Utah was that I could keep my job and work from home in WA as long as I came back there to work when Chris was gone. So, I myself better start packing and get ready to head back to Utah since I leave on Saturday.

I'm off to spend one last night with my hubby!

Happy New Year!

To me, New Years is just dumb holiday for those that drink to have another excuse to drink (as if they need an excuse)! For the rest of us, what is the fun in forcing yourself to stay up late just to say "Happy New Year!" and then go right to sleep? Well, as dumb as I think it is, year after year I find myself participating in the tradition. So, last night Chris and I rented a few movies and got a pizza. We really wanted to spend as much time as we could together before he deploys next week. But As hard as I tried though, I couldn't make it to midnight, I was sound asleep well before 10pm. I told Chris it's because I'm pregnant and I'm just so tired! I think I'm gonna love using the pregnancy excuse...hehehe! But he was sweet and just let me sleep. Then just as the clock struck midnight, he leaned over and whispered "Happy New Year Baby!" with a sweet kiss on my cheek. I woke up long enough to return the gesture and wished him a happy new year. Maybe next year I'll do better at staying awake!

Merry Christmas!

Grandma and Grandpa Fields usually spend Christmas at our house, but since mom and dad were in Utah, they called and asked if they could spend it with us. They came over Christmas Eve to spend the night. Grandma brought over some food and some snacks and treats for us. It was nice to be able to visit with them after being gone in Utah for so long and Chris in Georgia. We told Grandma the news about me being pregnant and she was so excited! Christmas morning we work up early and opened presents together. Then Grandma made us breakfast. It was so yummy! Here are a few pics of us Christmas morning...

Our Christmas Jammies

No, they are not Lincoln Logs Honey...Just an empty box I used.

Chris wanted 35 lb weights, but they were way to heavy for me to wrap up, so I bought two little 1 lb weights and wrapped them up. A first he was a little confused, but when I told him the real ones were hiding in my mom's closet he was excited.

Since I was not about to attempt an entire Christmas dinner myself, we decided to go with Grandparents to to Sean and Ann's for dinner. My aunt and uncle and cousin Chris were there too. It was a great dinner and so fun to share our baby news with them too!

This is a picture of us all dressed up before we went to dinner.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Our Christmas Surprise

Christmas Eve morning I woke up snuggling in bed with Chris, enjoying the fact that neither of us had to get up to go to work. All the sudden it hit me...I hadn't bought anything for his stocking!!! What kind of Santa's lil helper would I be with no stocking for my love? Of course, I couldn't admit it to him, so I told a little white lie and said that I needed to go pick something up for dinner that I forgot. I ran to Rite Aid to get some candy and a few other things for him. When I was at the store, I walked pasted the pregnancy test isle...it got me thinking...when was my last period? I realized that I was 4 days late. My periods are so irregular I figured it would just come in the next day or two, but I thought to myself "I'll just pick up a test and if it doesn't come in the next few days, I'll take it!" So chocolate and pregnancy test in hand I checked out and headed home. When I got home curiosity got the best of me and I just had to know. I didn't want to tell Chris and get his hopes up if it was negative, so I snuck into the bathroom and took the test...waiting...waiting...waiting...POSITIVE!!! Totally not what I was expecting. I was so excited and I wanted to run upstairs and tell Chris, but I thought "What if its wrong?" I decided to wait an hour or so and take the second test. Sure enough...POSITIVE!

Now, how to tell my husband...hmmm??? It was Christmas Eve, so I thought about waiting until Christmas morning to tell him, but then I thought, I can't keep it a secret that long! We have a tradition of opening Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve, so I decided to wrap up both pregnancy test and give him them with his pj's. Sitting in our bed, I opened my new Christmas jammies and gave him his. He opened the jammies and then I handed him another present with a huge grin on my face! I could not stop smiling! He looked at me kinda funny and said "What's this?" I said it's a present just open it. With a confused look on his face he opened the present and sorted through the never ending pile of tissue paper I stuck in there. Finally he pulled out a small Ziploc with two little pregnancy tests in it. Still confused, he picked them up and took a closer look to see what they said. He looked up at me with the sweetest look on his face and tears starting to swell in his eyes and said with a little chuckle "Are you serious?" Still grinning I said YEP!

We called my sister's house and Chris wanted to tell my mom. It was so cute, because he was so excited and couldn't stop smiling. Then we called his mom and sister and told them too. It was the best Christmas present ever!