A Long Story...Shortened...Yet Still Long

We had a little scare last night and this morning. There is no such thing as an "on call" nurse here, so my only option was to call the ER, but they aren't allowed to give any advice over the phone. So it was either drive the 30 minutes to the ER or stick it out til morning. I decided to wait because I didn't think there was much they could do for me in the ER.

This morning I got ahold of someone in the OB clinic. I told them what was going on, got yelled at by a nurse for not going to the ER, and then was told to come ASAP to the lab to get some hormone levels drawn. Of course by this time I'm freaking out and totally emotional. Clint didn't have to be to work until 2, so luckily he was there to calm me down. He couldn't go with me to the hospital, but he ended up calling someone from church to go with me because he wanted me to have some support. She met me at the hospital 30 minutes later and I had my blood drawn around 1130. They told me I could see a dr. at 1245.

Went up to the OB clinic at 1245, finally saw the dr at 145. She did an ultrasound, listened to the baby's heartbeat for a minute, printed me a picture, and then said that everything looks okay and should get better within a week or 2. She said I need to take things extremely easy for the next 2 weeks. Too much activity may (or may not) cause more complications. The dr. didn't sound too worried because my hormone levels are very high, but then she said, "if you're gonna miscarry then you're gonna miscarry, no matter what." Which made me feel a little unsure about things.

So, luckily the baby is alive and well at this point. Clint is leaving tomorrow morning for a 3 week training thing up north, so it might be rough to take it easy. I was supposed to have a playdate with the Primary President from church this afternoon and when I called her to cancel and tell her what was happening she offered to find help for me and is going to look for some people willing to drive out here and help me with Morgan and keep me company.

I'm going back to the hospital for another blood test tomorrow and then again on Tuesday next week for a regular appointment.

If you could...just shoot a pray to the big guy upstairs for our little halfbaked bun. We'd really appreciate it.

We feel so blessed to have met so many amazing people here who care about us, worry about us, and are willing to support us in our times of need. We are so fortunate to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints, where we have met some wonderful friends who lift us up and strengthen us and guide us in the right direction. Who comfort us and give us a spiritual uplifting when we need it. I know that Heavenly Father sent us to this country for a reason and that He has placed these angels in our lives to teach us and guide us and help us understand the reason we're here. I've learned so much in the last 4 months and I'm sure I'll learn a lot more while we're here. I'm overwhelmed with joy and gratitude for all of the things we've been blessed with in our lives. We ARE very blessed and we know that all things come from our Father in Heaven.

Here's a picture of our little stinker winker. Official due date is September 21st. Kind of funny, its the exact same due date as our first pregnancy.

Military Spouse's Prayer

Lord, Grant me the greatness of heart to see,

The difference in duty and his love for me.

Give me the understanding to know,

That when duty calls he must go.

Give me the patience to know in my heart

That he's serving his country and doing his part.

Give me the strength to carry on

When he's working late or must be gone.

Give me a task to do each day

To fill the time while he is away.

Give me others who can share

The ups and down and who'll really care.

Give me the wisdom to get me through

When I'm not quite sure of what to do.

Lord, while our family is here

Keep us healthy, safe and full of cheer.

And when duty takes him far away

Keep him safe, this I pray.

Author Unknown.

My little tiny baby brother got married on February 6. Its been hard for me to have not been able to be there to at least congratulate them and spend some time with them during their special occassion. I thought it might make me feel better to blog about it. So congratulations Tyler and Alicia. Love ya! Hope things are going well and then you're settling in to your new life as Newlyweds.

A Few New Pictures

On Friday night last week we went to a Valentine's Party for our branch. It was a lot of fun and we got to know a lot of great people. Childcare was provided at the party, which was so great. Clint and I were able to enjoy the party and the company without worrying about Morgan.
Saturday morning Morgan woke up with a bad rash from head to toe. Even inside her ears. We don't know what it was or where it came from, but our guesses are heat rash, or an allergic reaction to some strawberries she ate. Here's a picture of the rash, you can't see it that well though.

Morgan loves when I put stuff on her head in the bath and she can make it fall off into the water.
On Friday after we got home from the party I found this sitting in the hallway. I've been BEGGING for a sewing machine for so long now.

Saturday night we went to dinner with a new couple in our ward. This is a goofy picture of Morgan on the ride to Yongsan.

This video was taken February 10th. I love watching this kid learn. Its so fun.

Morgan Playing

Morgan Reading a Book

Morgan Eating JELLO

America's Most Smartest Model

WOW I'M SURPRISED SO MANY OF YOU KNEW THE ANSWER! ITS GRAND 'OL PARTY. I ALWAYS THOUGHT IT WAS GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE.

A couple of weeks ago Clint and I were watching America's Most Smartest Model (okay so our English channels are very limited). The challenge was that they were asked a question and if they got it wrong they had to eat junk food. If they got it right, they ate something healthy. One of the questions was this...

What does GOP stand for when referring to the Republican party?

Don't look it up, but tell me what you think it means. Cause I had no idea but one of the guy models got it right.

Milestone

As of Saturday the 7th, Morgan is officially off of the bottle. Completely 100% off. She hasn't had one since Friday night. I'm a little concerned though...

I had her down to 2 bottles a day. One in the afternoon and one in the evening. But last week we had an appointment at the hospital and a lady (we'll call her a "nutrition consultant") told me that Morgan should have been off the bottle at 12 months and that I had made a mistake by giving her milk in her bottle. I thought this was a little outrageous. I don't know many 12 month old kids that are completely off the bottle and boob.

I decided to see what Morgan would do if she didn't have a bottle all day or all night and lo and behold, she was perfectly fine without it. She slept her usual 10-12 hours at night and never woke up once. So I guess she doesn't need it, but now the thing thats concerning me is that she refuses to drink milk out of her sippy cup. So she's not drinking any milk anymore. I'm worried that she's not getting the calcium, vitamin D, and fat that she needs in her diet.

What do you think?

Last Week

Morgan in her tutu. Our good friend Erin made it for her for Christmas. She likes to try to pull it apart.

This was on the camera, not sure why, I guess Clint was bored.
Ready for church. Sunday the 8th.

Daddy does my hair, isn't it cute?

Hmmmm, I wonder....

A New Bed, a Park, and a Buddhist Temple

We've been shopping for a new comforter set for our bed and finally found one for 50% off and free shipping on Dilliards.com. The picture doesn't really do it justice. Its much prettier in real life. It just needs to be ironed.

On Sunday after church it was nice and sunny outside so we decided to go for a walk. Morgan was excited.

We found a little park down the street from our house. We played on the teeter-totter until Morgan fell off and all the Koreans looked at us like we were child abusers.

So we switched to the swing.

After the park Clint said he wanted to walk across the street and show me a little temple his company had run to for PT one morning. Here is a lovely statue of Buddha to greet you as you come up the steepest hill I've ever walked up in my life.

The guard dogs (aka stray puppies)

The Buddhist Temple

They ring this bell every morning at 0530 and every evening at 1730.

A nice guy that works at the temple saw us walking around outside and invited us to go inside. He spoke very good English, and in fact studied English in Utah.

Left to Right: Buddha of the past, Buddha of the present, Buddha of the future. They pray to Buddha of the present.

On the left and right sides of the Buddha statues are walls covered in smaller Buddha statues (pictured below)

The ceiling of the temple.

This is a painting on one of the walls.

This is a smaller temple just down the hill a little ways. Pretty much the same thing inside.

A closer picture of the decorative artwork. It is so beautiful and amazing! Who knew we could walk across the street and see such wonderful Korean culture. I had no idea this temple was here.

And a little video of Morgan trying to climb the slide at the park.

For Shelly (and everyone else who wants to know the details)

Okay, I think everyone who is going to see our little announcement has probably seen it by now. I found out on January 16th that I was pregnant. That night Morgan's old infant carseat was sitting out so I picked it up and said, "I guess we can put this away since we won't be needing it for 9 more months." Clint didn't say anything so I said something again about putting it away since we won't need it for 9 more months and he said, "wait 9 months? Are you pregnant?" I started laughing and told him I was and he just said, "well thats cool." It was pretty funny. You probably had to be there.

By my estimate the baby is due around September 21st. And yes, we did it on purpose. Morgan will be 21 months older than baby #2. It worked out perfect for us because we will be able to bring the new baby home with us for Christmas this year to meet everyone. We wanted an August baby, since there are already 5 September birthdays in our families, but we're just thankful that it happened so fast this time. It took 14 months to get Morgan, and I was afraid that would happen again.

I'm not able to get a dr. appt until our command sponsorship goes through, so we're hoping that happens soon since its been 6 months now since we initially applied. I emailed the batallion commander yesterday and made a fuss about not being able to get an appt when I'm pregnant. Hopefully he'll be able to help.

We're both really excited for this baby. I didn't think the second one would be as exciting, but it is! I've been nauseated since before I even found out I was pregnant and I'm so tired and exhausted all the time. Oh, and the headaches, I'm getting headaches again with this one. No throwing up yet though. Oh ya, and I'm craving Fruit Loops like crazy! I remember being tired with Morgan, but I was in school, so I didn't have a choice but to get up and go. Now its hard for me to get out of bed everyday. I'm not complaining though, just documenting :)

Any other questions?

The Pictures Say It All