Easter Weekend

Pictures from Easter weekend with Cody's family! It's safe to say that I made up for all the great food I missed out on at Thanksgiving and Christmas when I was so sick in my first trimester.

My sweet nephew, Kache! Mimi and her great-grandson.

Cody, Kache and Nonnie (Cody's mom)Confetti Eggs

23 weeks

For all you belly watchers..
Cody thought I needed to post this one... you gotta love his idea of taking belly pictures

Excuse me, you have a wasp nesting in your hair...

This is Trinity Lutheran Church in the community formerly known as Clara, TX. I love little country churches and this one is completely out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by wheat fields and pastures. This church is even more special to me because this is where my granddaddy (who I was very close to) was baptized, confirmed, and married. Knowing how special my granddaddy was to me and how much I loved this church, Cody proposed to me at this church last August. And now my brother and Melanie are getting married in this church this August! We decided to attend a service here a few weeks ago so dad, Dusty, Melanie, me, and Cody all loaded up and went together! Little did I know what an experience this would be for us...

I'm throwing these pictures in below so you can see the inside of the church to get a better mental image of the story I'm about to tell (and let's be honest, I just like them). First of all, as I mentioned, this church is in the middle of nowhere so there was only about 20 other people attending this service and the average age of everyone in there had to be about 75. So you know we had lots of attention on us as the "new people" and we even all got personally introduced by the pastor.

One strange thing about this church (compared to what I'm used to anyway) was that the congregation could request what hymns we sang and I don't mean by writing down your requests and send them to the front. As the pastor finishes introducing my family and telling our life story, he asks for the first hymn request... "537!!!" yells a man in the back with his hands cupped around his mouth as a megaphone. I felt like I was at an auction or something. Don't get me wrong, there's absolutely nothing wrong with doing things this way...it's just very different from what I'm used to and the enthusiasm stuck me funny.

As the service goes on, I become aware of the yellow-jackets flying around inside.
This wasn't a big deal to me until one landed in the old woman's hair in front of us during the church prayer. Cody and I both notice it. We start finding it hard to pay attention to the prayer as the yellow-jacket seems to be nesting in her beautiful grey curls stiffened with what appeared to be an entire can of aqua net. The wasp nestled his way from one side of her head to the other and luckily she never felt a thing.

The prayer is still going on and the wasp has been in her hair for at least a good 2 minutes now when it starts crawling toward her ear. Cody and I look at each other because we're both thinking she'll for sure feel that and go to scratch her ear while it stings her fingers. She had to be 85 years old and we couldn't let that happen while we watched and waited for it. And it's not like you can tap her shoulder and tell her while everyone is still silent in prayer. SO Cody does the next best thing... He reaches for the wasp with his church bulletin and tries to "flick" it off of her. FAILURE...the wasp only held on to her stiffened curl and Cody ends up moving all of her hair as one solid unit instead.

I lost it at this point but while trying to keep myself from laughing out loud, I started the thing where your shoulders shake uncontrollably. I'm sure it was just one of those moments that seemed funnier because it was an inappropriate time for laughter but Cody and I couldn't stop cause we were feeding off of each other.

Next thing I know dad and Dusty have now lost it, too. I didn't realize they saw anything because when I looked over at them, they both had their eyes tightly shut. It's funny to hear dad tell this story because from his point of view, he's just standing there with eyes closed and concentrating on prayer when he feels the need to open his eyes..."only to see my son-in-law messing with the old lady's hair in front of us!". Our entire pew (which was filled up completely by the 5 of us) was now shaking from all of us laughing so hard. The prayer is still going on.

I finally regain control. The wasp flies out of the poor lady's hair but comes straight for my dad who swings at it with a fully extended arm as if he were scared of the thing. Not subtle at all... and now we've all lost it again.

We were sitting towards the front with about 5 open pews behind us and another cluster of people behind that. There's no telling what these people thought of us because you know they could see us all laughing during the prayer. They may have even seen Cody messing with the lady's hair but it's doubtful that they could tell there was a yellow-jacket in there that was the cause of it all. I'm sure we made a wonderful first impression.

I'm sure this is one of those things that is much funnier if you were actually there but I speak for all of us when I say we hadn't laughed that hard in a long time.

21 weeks

Cade man is doing GREAT so far! We had another sonogram to check the anatomy and make sure everything is going as hoped and all we got was good news! My cervix is holding up great (to everyone's surprise, including my doctor) looks like we may avoid the cerclage after all!

I started feeling the little guy move around at about 16 weeks. Of course at that time it felt more like little flutters and bubbles. Now he's really active-busy kicking and punching. Sometimes I can even feel him turn over (it's really fun to watch him on a sonogram and feel it at the same time).

Poor Cody has missed out on getting to feel the movement. Cody and I don't get to see each other too often and it seems like the little guy just wants to sleep when Cody's around. Cody and I were laying around yesterday talking about my ever growing belly when we SAW him kick. It was so funny. Caden kept us entertained for about 15 minutes watching my belly move around while he kicked and squirmed. I'm so glad Cody was there for that!

Here is our little guy hanging out upside down (head towards my feet--doctor said he'll probably stay in this position until he's here). See the legs and feet??

Profile shot in 4D. Looks like a Coltharp (and possibly my Marten forehead, poor guy) :)

AND the bump. Notice I finally gave into the maternity clothes?!?! Strangers have started to comment on my belly. They've all been sweet comments, but has forced me to get over my ridiculous denial. It's not that I'm not excited about being pregnant--I just like to think my life won't change that much. I wanted to think I could do anything exactly the same way I could before...although I'm becoming more aware that this is NOT the case each day as I tie my shoes.

Speaking of the growing belly, my dad informed me that I was "swellin' up". I say this because I think it's funny. He also refers to me as "5 months bred" like I'm cattle of his. Then there's Cody who talks about the future when "we have a kid on the ground". I haven't decided what's scarier, that my dad and husband both talk like we're cattle, or that I'm starting to realize that my dad and Cody have way more in common than I thought.

Best day EVER (so far)

One year ago today Cody came home from Iraq! I can't even describe how great this day was for me--I was so proud of him, feeling so blessed to have him home safely, and so excited to have him back.

Cody was activated in May 2008 and sent to California for their pre-deployment training (remember the dolphin shirt story?) He left for Iraq the first of August and finally came home again on March 17th. His deployment was such a great experience for both him and for us (although I'll be perfectly happy to not do it again). The Marine Corps always warns you that things will be different in some way after each deployment and it definitely holds true for us. It was a challenging time for both of us but only strengthened our relationship in a way that makes me confident that we can handle any stresses life presents us. It now makes me laugh at how so many people are shocked that we're married and don't live together. They actually ask "well how does that work?" Although not the way we prefer to do things, living 160 miles apart is NOTHING to us...

Isn't he cute though? (ugh...I mean rugged and tough looking?)

Here they are with some Iraqi soldiers.

Another picture from Iraq...and people complain about Lubbock?!?They caught some sleep whenever (and wherever) they actually had the chance.This was Cody and his roommate's "can" aka room for 8 months. Here he is on the webcam. Skype was the best thing ever! (Too bad we didn't discover it until about halfway through the deployment). These were our "phone dates" for a while! I didn't get talk to him everyday (at one point I went almost 6 weeks without hearing from him) and on top of that the 11 hour time difference made it even harder to catch each other.For those of you that really know me, know how excited I get over little things and this was no little thing to me. We didn't know what time he would be getting flying in from California so I was READY early. Turns out they couldn't get them on flights for a while and they didn't get in to Lubbock until 11:00 that night! This means I literally bounced and skipped though the house all day in excitement waiting.
FINALLY, I could breathe again!Group picture of all of us welcoming him home! Mimi, Nenaw, Pepaw, PaPa, me, Cody, Zach, Cindy (his mom), Uncle Butch, and Randy (his dad).

Can't believe it's already been a year...

I woke up on the wrong side of...pregnant

Yesterday was a very weird day for me. I woke up at 6:30 not feeling like myself--I wasn't feeling sick, or cranky but I just felt DIFFERENT. As I mentioned before, the crazy hormones come on suddenly, unexpected, and present themselves in an unpredictable way!

My weird mood immediately got worse when I decided to put on jeans (sadly I've been wearing sweats to class almost every day--we can get away with that in PT school). I grabbed the biggest pair of jeans I own and put them on (unbuttoned of course with a belly band) and a real shirt...that I had to change 6 times before finally settling on a t-shirt. Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with my belly growing and gaining baby weight. What I wasn't ok with is how uncomfortable I was in these clothes and how unflattering they were.

The thing about the belly band is that it was great for a while (belly bands allow you to wear your jeans unbuttoned without it showing or being a problem). However, lately when I wear it, everything is secure and covered while standing but as soon as I sit down the band rolls up above my pants and then the jeans cut into belly. The end result--very uncomfortable.

I'm standing in my closet wearing this and catch myself on the verge of tears which leads me to get mad because i'm not one to come close to crying over something so silly. Somehow this then turned into me being mad at Cody because he's not ever here to watch me go through these weird things of pregnancy or to feel the baby kick, etc. Once I get upset about him not being here I really got weird--frustrated with being pregnant while still in school--stressed about how we are going to afford a baby with me not working--stressing about how I'm going to juggle clinicals, classes, studying for licensing exam and taking care of the baby--the list went on and on.

I skipped my first class because I was in no condition to be around people. I made it to my second class but only after a minor freak out because I couldn't find my classroom. Once again I've got tears in my eyes=mad at myself for being silly. I make it to class and sit next to Kim who immediately notices that there's something different about me and asks "who are you"? For the last 2 years I have spent almost all day in a small classroom with the same 32 people. We know each other very well.

As class went on I quit freaking out but I couldn't shake this feeling that I was a different person. Sounds crazy but I felt like there was this fog constantly crowding my brain. I never was in a bad mood really, and I wasn't upset anymore but I was saying and doing weird things all day. The best way I can describe how I was acting was as if I had too much to drink and no one else had. That feeling like you know you're the weird and slightly inappropriate one so you're trying very hard to act normal but are very aware of the fact that you are doing a poor job of it.

I did, ever so insightfully at 20 weeks pregnant, point out to my classmates that I was finally giving in to the maternity jeans "because they might actually fit better than my normal clothes". Good thing I'm working on a doctorate degree or I might not have come up with that brilliant statement!

I survived the crazy hormones this day. I just now wish that not so many people got to witness them...

18 week belly

One thing I have figured out about being pregnant is that people are VERY interested in the belly. My classmates gripe at me for trying to hide it while they attempt to check it out in class. I told myself I was going to take these pictures (because I will want them later) but I didn't plan on posting them... After a few complaints, I've started feeling guilty and decided to put them on here. It's finally looking like a baby bump and less like a beer gut!

Update

Well I had another doctor appointment today... just routine to do a pelvic exam. I was told that i'm 2 lbs ahead of schedule, which isn't a huge surprise to me since i've been eating horribly. In my first trimester I had the mindset of "at least I am actually eating" (it didn't happen much) so I didn't mind that I was eating poorly. Since then my appetite has come back in full force and my eating habits didn't go back to normal. They will now though! I have too many weddings coming up right after having the baby!

The other problem is that running has always been my preferred exercise and he advised me not to be running. It's usually not a big deal but we're concerned about the possibility that I could have an incompetent cervix and running may be too much impact for me. So far the cervix is holding up, but better to play it safe! That just means I'll be taking Bailey dog for more walks and maybe I'll be doing some yoga or water aerobics.

During my pelvic exam I was (in so many words) informed that I have a narrow birth canal which includes an extra long tailbone (that will get in the way of a baby coming through). He said we'll just have to see how big the baby gets (Cody and I were both porkers close to or over 9lbs). I'm starting to sense a C-section in my future...Or a very long and painful delivery. :) At least I get those 8 weeks off that I mentioned before!

Speaking of babies... Cody and I have a new nephew. Cory and Tamie Coltharp are the proud parents of Kache Zachery Max Coltharp. We made a trip to Dallas last weekend to go meet the little guy. He sure is a cutie and looks just like the rest of those boys! That Coltharp stamp seems to be a strong one! Here are a few pictures from the weekend...

Cody's Nenaw and her great-grandson.

Cody had a weird fascination with the elephant humidifier? This went on for entirely way too long.

Cody and Kache (and their matching hairlines)
Cody and his youngest brother, Callan, wrestling at the hotel--some things never change!

Another Video

I forgot to add this to my last blog. Video of baby Coltharp at 16 1/2 weeks. He started the session lazy but got pretty active later on and seemed to be throwing a fit. Hope that's not an indication of what's to come when he's born--ha! I love watching him move around. I guess I may start feeling it soon??

It's a BOY!

We had another sonogram today. I'm only 16 1/2 weeks so we were really only going to check the length of my cervix (so far so good!) but since a friend of mine is doing our ultrasounds we did a little more... It's so much fun to have Lindsey doing this! Anyway, we are having a boy! We're continuing the trend of Coltharp boys but it's been a while since a boy has been born in the Marten family! We're THINKING we're going to name him Caden Layne Coltharp. We were wanting to branch out of the C or K names since almost everyone's name in Cody's family starts that way...but we really have loved this name for so long so I'm pretty sure that's what we're sticking with.
We even were able to get a 4D shot of him! Lindsey said they never turn out this good so early in the pregnancy...we got lucky! I think this is sooo cool!