And we're having...

...A girl!

Little Miss Rory Kellyn has a great group of friends that already love her and are as excited to meet her as we are!

Side note, here's the story behind Rory's name and why we picked it. Mike came downstairs one day and asked me what I thought of the name Rory if we were having a girl. I've always liked that name ever since hearing it on the show "Gilmore Girls" but I never suggested it to Mike because I thought he wouldn't like it. When he said that, I was really excited because not only was it a name that we both liked, but it was an Irish name which is what we were going for. It's funny because literally the next day, I checked my email and Molly wrote and asked me what I thought of the name Rory as well. Guess Mol and Mike both new what to name her before I did! As for the middle name, I found it in a baby name book, suggested it to Mike and that was it! Rory means "little fiery one" and Kellyn means "descendant of the bright haired one." Do you think I'm secretly hoping for a red-headed baby? You bet I am. But regardless, I'll love her just the same, red hair or not!

Ok, back to our party! We had a blast at our "Gender Reveal Party" hosted by our great friends and neighbors Kim and Hillary (although I must give a shout out to their husbands since they were put to work as well)! From the awesome taco bar to the decorations and all the wonderful things in between, the day turned out perfect and it was a really great way to include not just the ladies, but guys as well! A lot of guys from Mike's work were saying they had no idea how much fun a baby shower would be but they really seemed to enjoy themselves (and the food!).

Yummy Taco Bar

And of course, the yummy desserts!

The only shot of me with my girls! We are planning a ladies night to The New Sanno later this week though so we'll be sure to get some pictures then ; )

Before the party started, the skies opened up and a torrential downpour took place and got a lot of the decorations soaking wet. Fortunately, it stopped minutes before people started to arrive so we were still able to have the party outside. On the bright side, it really cooled things down so people weren't miserable hanging outdoors.

Isn't this onesie just the cutest? Kim made it and I just LOVE it ; )

We had a great time and it's so fun to finally reveal what we are having! Now the I'm a "lady of leisure" for one month (35 days to be exact if Rory comes on time), I've been putting my nesting urge into overdrive and ferociously working on her room and getting the house organized and cleaned up for her arrival. Once it's done, I'll post some pictures but I've still gotta hang up some pictures, nothing major.

Before the gender reveal party, my work hosted a baby shower as well but this one was super girlie since they knew what I was having (and boys were not invited!)

Cute Japanese decorations set up by my dear friend Bonnie

Beautiful cupcake flowerpot display created by Danielle

Yummy "Welcome Baby Quinn" cake

My 1st grade pod ladies (and hosts of the shower!)

Bonnie and I (another host of the shower)

All of my Yokota West ladies (minus Danielle). I'm sure going to miss seeing them every day but I know Rory will keep me preoccupied.

And just to make you smile, Kim and I were at my house exchanging items for the party and looked out my window and this is what we saw. It just cracks me up to have two househusbands both doing the same chore at once.

Pregnancy Rant

Whew. I just got back from a 2 mile walk. A 2 mile walk that probably took me an hour to complete. "Why?" you may ask... well if you're asking why I walked 2 miles... it's really the only thing active I can do these days. That's why. It makes me feel a little less guilty that I'm not out there taking workout classes, going for a jog, or riding my bike. Now if you're asking why did it take me over an hour to walk 2 miles, well that's because I had to stop multiple times and sit on a curb or lean against a tree under some shade. At one point I actually got a little scared because I was so lightheaded and started to feel like I was going to faint. I was conveniently close to a playground with cozy benches just begging me to sit on them but fortunately enough, the gate to the playground was locked. So what did I do? I parked my ass right on the curb in front of the playground to catch my breath. I felt silly when someone asked me if I was ok and I know they were just trying to me nice, but I just felt frustrated that I couldn't even walk a block with plopping my 30+lbs self (in addition to my prepregnancy weight of course) on the sidewalk.

Now it's weird cause not all days are like this. I just did this same walk last night with Mike and was talking away and walking sort of fast actually. It may have to do with the way the baby is positioned and the time of day itself. It mean, it's summertime now so it's not like the temperature is suitable for a pregnant woman who's already roasting all the time. Mike and I have conveniently switched roles in that I want the AC on ALL.THE.TIME. and he complains that he's freezing. Aw such is life.

Yesterday marked my 34 week milestone. Wow, 34 weeks seems like a long time, considering I found out I was pregnant back in the fall. Now I've got 3 weeks until the baby is officially "cooked" and ready to come out, and another 3 weeks until baby's deadline to come out! That's 6 weeks people and do I feel ready? No... Am I scared? YES! I mean, I seriously had post-partum depression when we got Huey as a puppy. I took everything he did personally and I blamed myself when he wasn't acting like an angel. Having a baby will probably multiply those feelings. But you know what? The good thing is that I've done a lot of reading on babies and I know that we can handle this. It's always so different when it's your first one. You really don't know how it's going to be until you just dive right in and tread the water yourself. Since Molly is due any day now, she's my little test dummy. She's my sister so I can ask her anything, even if I think it may be a dumb question (like one time, I asked her if our dog Bobby could get me pregnant...don't judge, I was only like 9...or maybe it was last week, I can't remember anything these days.) I love having an older sibling because then you learn from them. Learn what NOT to do, OR, in fact, learn what has worked well. So she's my source of comfort these days.

Here's the most recent preggo pic I have. I was 31 weeks when this picture was taken I think. This is actually a dress that I wore last summer (now it works better as a shirt) and if some of you can recall, I was wearing it in our Christmas card photo. Oh, maybe someday I'll have that body back and this "shirt" will pass as a dress once again.

On a side note, I am now officially unemployed. Wahooo right? Well, it's kind of scary actually. Mike and I were talking the other night and he said, "Basically we're gaining an expense and losing an income." Um, yep that pretty much sums it up. Of course we can live comfortably on just one salary so it's great that I don't have to work. However, my whole life I've had a strong work ethic and don't really feel productive if I'm not contributing to society in some way (whether I'm a student or in the working field.) Any money that I brought in before was used merely for fun stuff like vacations, or school stuff like Mike's tuition money with Penn State (sidenote, ridiculously expensive even when the military assists in some way), or simply put, savings. Now that my paycheck won't be coming anymore, I've started to think of other ways that I can bring in some money without having a full time, committed schedule. My first thought was to be a professor online. You've gotta have a masters (bonus since I've checked that box) and that's basically it. I've already contacted some people so we'll see if any of them are interested in me. I've also kept my name on the substitute roster for next school year (but who knows how I can pull that off with a baby because it would be dumb to put the little one in daycare since I'd be paying for it anyway and then I'd only earn a days worth for subbing.) Anyway, the title of this post is "Pregnancy Rant" and I've stopped nothing short of ranting to you readers.

I'm off to go sip some more of my iced pregnancy tea, take a shower and get this baby room thing in order. I always tell my students "too much chaos" when I think things are getting rowdy and out of hand. Well, that's our house now and when your husband tells you that we should be featured on an episode of Hoarders, ya know there's a problem...

Photo 6

A picture of a person I'd love to trade places with for a day...

Well, again...this is a tough one. I really honestly love my life and don't feel like I'd want to trade places with anyone.

But, because this is the next photo challenge, I would say that I'd trade places with the least important person that will be in the room with Molly (my sister) when she goes into labor. I really do want to be there with her and I'm sad that I'm all the way across the world and am no longer allowed to fly. Every day I check my messages when I come home and talk to Molly to see what her status is. It's hard playing the waiting game, especially when you're OVERDUE and everyone is asking you if you had the baby or not. I'm SO excited for Molly and Ben and my mom. It's so cool to think that I'll be an aunt, Mike will be an uncle, my mom will be a grandma, and most importantly, Molly and Benny will be parents. I'm anxious to hear about her delivery as the way she goes is most likely how I'll go since we're practically the same in every way!

Because this photo challenge is a difficult one, I don't have an actual picture of who I'd replace in the delivery room. Obviously I can't replace the midwife (nor do I have a picture of her), and I certainly wouldn't want to replace my mom or Ben while they're with Molly. So I choose the anonymous passerby that will be helping Molly while she's going labor and I wish that I could trade places with this unknown individual.

Love you Mol, Lily will come soon!

Photo 5

A picture of my favorite memory...

I have to say that is tough because I've got a lot of favorite memories that make me smile, make me laugh and make me wish I could go back to that very day. However, being that I have to decide on a photo, I've chosen the one where Mike and I got engaged on top of a snow covered mountain in Pennsylvania.

Now does this picture do either of us justice? Certainly not as we are awkwardly wearing ski masks and the camera is basically a straight shot up my nose but still, that is why I love this picture. It reminds me of the nervousness that we both felt (that nervous butterfly feeling that doesn't happen too often when you've been with someone for quite sometime). I remember Mike arranging this whole ski trip and I thought it was kind of odd and definitely had my suspicions. I remember skiing down two hills and Mike claiming he had a "leg cramp" and needed to stop on the side to stretch his legs. I remember commenting on how beautiful it was because we were the only ones at the top of the mountain and the view was gorgeous. And I remember watching Mike do some ridiculous stretches around me to the point where I got annoyed and decided to sit down with my skis still on. I then remember Mike being very perturbed that I was sitting down and demanding that I stand up, to which I thought was weird but obliged, thinking that we were going to start skiing then. And then I remember him swooping down on one knee, spitting out some sweet words really fast (to which I can't really remember but they were loving nonetheless) and pulling out a ring from inside his pocket. It was freezing cold and the ring barely stayed on my finger but it was wonderful and such a nice surprise. I was excited to share that moment with only him and it's one that I'll never forget.