Here is what is going on...

So, I decided we could join the blogger world so that it is easier for our friends to keep up with our ever changing lives. It would seem that things are changing, and FAST lately. As you know, I am pregnant, will be 20 weeks this coming Sunday. I had my 20 wk. anatomical ultrasound this morning. I could have found out what the sex of the baby is but Jared and I decided not to find out...YET. The nurse printed a picture and wrote down on a card what we are having and then sealed it in an envelope. When I go and see Jared at the end of May we will open it together. How can I be so patient you ask? Well, it is worth more to me to be with Jared and experience it together than know a few weeks early so I don't feel like it will be difficult to wait. I have already waited 20 weeks, what is 5 more? I am more impatient about seeing Jared right now...it has only been 101 days since I last had the chance to wrap my arms around his neck...but who's counting!

Shackelbaby sure is moving a lot these days also. It would seem he/she does laps daily right around 10pm...when I am crawling into bed. It is so amazing to feel this life inside of me. What is even more amazing is to watch his/her heart beat during the ultrasound. I got to see up close (as up close as the ultrasound picture can get) the beating of the heart and the 4 chambers of the heart. Seems to be beating strong. Legs are all over the place of course. During the ultrasound, in one picture baby Shack had his/her foot up in front of his/her face. All 10 toes are present...check! I guess he/she is going to take after mom with the flexibility! woohoo!

On another note, our other children (Niki and Sadi) are surviving! Niki is as rambunctious as ever. I don't think she knows or has any sense that I am pregnant. Sadi on the other hand has gotten very clingly. She hardly leaves my side when she is inside. Poor Sadi has also started (in the past week) to have some issues with her "good" back leg. Yes, the one she has not had 4,000 surgeries on. She has started limping on it and treating it like it is hurting her...much like she did when she was recovering from surgery on her right leg. I talked to 2 different vets and it looks like if she is having the same tear occur in her left leg as occurred in her right leg, there is nothing we can do to prevent it...just delay it. It breaks my heart that there is possibility that she will have to undergo ANOTHER surgery, this time on her other leg. This poor dog has been through enough and she is way too young to have both knees go out. We have started laser therapy and acupuncture sessions to help delay the inevitable and possibly help the tendon heal. I guess we will see how it goes.

As for the healthy part of my small family, Jared is in Japan right now doing sims. He is there with Tacoma and a few other guys. They aren't having any fun at all...right! He is having a ball in Korea. I am not sure if you know or not but he put in for a VML slip and it was granted so he will be leaving Korea some time between January and April. We are of course hoping for January but I suppose we will see what plans the AF has for us. He will be here for the birth, assuming everything goes as planned. Baby Shack's due date is Sept 4...my nephew Brenden's birthday! How exciting! Of course, what are the odds that the baby comes when the dr's say he/she will come...not good, i know.

That is all for now. As soon as I can figure out how to post pictures I will. I also need to be at a computer that has my pictures on it...I am at work, shhh, don't tell anyone about my misuse of government property!

I am going to do my best to keep this updated with what is going on with the baby, with the husband and with the dog. Hope you all are well.