I know it seems like I haven't been keeping up on the blog, but the truth is........ our life is pretty boring here in Alaska.  The only interesting thing we really have going on right now is the pregnancy.  I am now 26 weeks & my growing belling is slowly getting bigger.  My only complaints are back pain, a lot of back pain, & my new found relationship with heartburn, which doesn't seem to be going anywhere any time soon.  The baby kicks hard enough now that Kolt can feel her when he puts his hand on my belly.  I can definitely tell she is getting bigger by her movements & that she now kicks me in the ribs.  A couple weeks ago I had a glucose screening to test for gestational diabetes, which came back negative.  This Monday we go see the doctor for our monthly checkup.  During the month of May we will be taking a childbirth class every Monday night & our Baby Shower will be June 2nd.  Kolt started working the midnight shift a few weeks ago & so we have been adjusting to his new schedule.  He will stay on mids until he goes on leave when the baby is born.  Kolt seems to like it & it is slowly growing on me as well.  

Pregnant Belly at 24 weeks:

25 Weeks:

26 Weeks:   

Community Garage Sale

Ever since we moved to Sitka & our household goods were delivered, Kolt & I have been filling our storage unit with boxes of items that we have realized we do not need.  It has been a few years since we had all of our belongings in one place at the same time & nothing in storage.  Our living situations (there have been several) over the past few years, have caused us to buy multiples of things, mostly kitchen stuff, or we had things that we no longer needed or used, like the washing machine & dryer, or we just simply no longer had room to store things, like wedding gifts from 2005 that had never been opened or used.  I am NOT a clutter bug AT ALL!  I do not like keeping things in the house that do not get used & quite honestly I'm shocked that we had managed to keep 2 unopened boxes of wine glasses that were given to us as wedding gifts.  We don't even drink wine!!!  Anyways, with all of our storage space maxed out & a baby on the way, we needed to get rid of things.  The Sitka Coast Guard Air Station has an annual community garage/ yard sale inside the hangar where Coast Guard families can buy a table to set up & then the Sitka community is invited to come into the hangar & shop, kind of like a little swap meet or flea market.  I didn't realize that we had that much to sell until we were setting up this morning & realized we should have gotten 2 tables instead of 1.  Since we live in Coast Guard housing, they supply us with a washing machine & dryer for the laundry room & the set we had were taking up space in the storage unit.  We also decided when we do move again & if we were to buy a house we wanted a new set, so they went to the garage sale.  We arrived & started setting up at 9am & they were going to open the doors to the public at 10am & it was supposed to end at 1pm.  Our washer & dryer sold to another Coast Guard family that are moving out of housing, before the doors even opened.  Almost everything else we had, including a desktop computer with printer & webcam, was sold by 11am.  We ended up leaving with a few pieces of clothing, about 5 books, a couple flower vases, & some plastic cups & went straight to good will to donate our small amount of unsold items.  All in all, we cleared out a good amount of room in the shed & made almost $1,000.  With a new baby on the way & all the stuff we have to buy for her & her bedroom, we were very pleased with the extra income.  Now, I get to move & rearrange our storage spaces for the 4th time since moving in.  I am also very proud of myself for not buying anything from any of the other tables while we were there AND there were SEVERAL tables of very cute baby girl clothes.  
After the garage sale was over & we were driving to the bank, we noticed that ALL of the fishing boats were leaving the harbors & headed north.  Herring season was about to start & game & fish put the commercial fishermen on a standby.  This meant that all the fishing vessels were heading to "the spot" to sit and wait & as soon as game & fish says "go", they drop their nets.  We decided to drive north towards the boats to see if we could watch, however, they were too far out from the island.  A lot of people were pulled over on the side of the road trying to watch, but unless you had binoculars, there wasn't much to see.  They ended up opening herring season around 2:30pm for about an hour & a half.  We brought the binos with us so we could see all the boats & all the spotters flying around in the air above.  There was a ton of boats out on the water & we were so disappointed that it wasn't happening closer to land.  Kolt is going to go out on the boat tomorrow to do some fishing & he will probably head up to the herring area to get a closer look if they open it again.  
Our baby shower/ BBQ, that the neighbors are throwing for us, has been set for June 2nd & the invitations are absolutely adorable.  They match the bedding we are going to get for Brinleigh's room.  

       

Spring? or Winter?

This past week in Sitka has been absolutely beautiful.  We had about 5 days in a row of clear blue sunny skies & no rain or snow.  EVERYONE is usually outside when we have weather like this & there are tons of boats out on the water.  We have a lot more boats here right now since herring season is about to start.  Herring season is something that the Sitka community looks forward to every year & Kolt & I are VERY excited to experience it this year.  Boats come in from all over Alaska & even from Washington since Sitka has some of the best herring seasons.  Since game & fish announces the season opening only days or hours before it opens, fishermen come to Sitka in the beginning to mid March & wait until it's go time.  The commercial herring season is also only open for a few days & there is a lot of money that can be made, sometimes an entire year of income can be earned from just a few days of good herring catches.  From what we have heard & seen on tv, there will be A LOT of boats out on the water, some of which hire "spotters" who fly above in their planes to look for & guide the crews to the big schools of herring.  All these boats in the water racing to catch all the herring & all the look out planes in the sky make for a very exciting scene for the community to watch.  
Kolt has taken our boat out a few times this week & I went out one day for my 2nd time since we have been here.  It was a quick trip to check a friends crab pots but Kolt has gone out several more times to actually do some fishing.  Even though the weather has been beautiful it is still cold...... too cold for me on the boat.  I had to do some serious shopping & invest in a good set of thermals & I have slowly started learning about the "layering" system & the different types of thermals & outerwear. 
We now have quite a bit more daylight since we started gaining it back & with the daylight savings time change.  The sun comes up around 6am & it is usually dark by 8pm.  I have finally invested, ordered, & started hanging blackout curtains in the bedrooms.  Our room was the most important, especially because Kolt is going to be working midnights starting April 1st.  I have now moved on to the baby/guest room since we have company coming in May.
After a week of sunshine, we are expecting rain & snow in the next few days, according to the weather channel anyways.  I'm not quite sure when exactly the weather makes up its mind here in Alaska, but hopefully spring is around the corner & we will have more days of sunshine & beautiful weather.    


Kolt's Rock Fish

CRABS!!!!

Baby Registries

Babies"R"Us - Baby Registry

Target

Kohls:  Registry Number:  1675233

It's A Girl!!!!!!

We found out last week at our 20 week ultrasound that our little bean is a GIRL!  Kolt was a little shocked at first, I think mostly because we were certain that based on his family history that we would have a boy.  I however, was not as shocked since I have thought it was a girl from the beginning.  But it was nice having the confirmation & being able to now refer to "it" as a "her" & to start getting more serious about picking out a name.  Since before we got pregnant we always liked the name Savannah for a girl, but we recently decided it was more common than we wanted.  After looking through the baby name book & only making it to the F names, we decided on the name Brinlee & then changed the spelling to Brinleigh since my middle name is Leighann.  It is a name Kolt & I both fell in love with & have never heard before & it means "sweetheart".  The middle name we really like is Dilan (Dylan) & as of right now that is her name, Brinleigh Dilan, unless we decide to change it in the next 4 months.  
During the ultrasound the baby was quite active, moving around & looking right at us on the monitor.  She kept putting her hands together & then placing them next to her face & she also smiled a lot giving us some great ultrasound pictures.  Today at our monthly check up the Dr went over the radiology report & informed us that everything looked great.  They found nothing to be concerned about or any abnormalities.  We also had a quad screening done last month which came back negative as well.  (The quad screen testing is a maternal blood screening which checks for 4 specific substances produced by or affecting the fetus, placenta, & ovaries.  These specific substances can indicate a possibility of down syndrome, neural tube defect, mental retardation, or other birth defects.)   
I have gained 4 pounds which the doctor is very pleased with & my belly is measuring at 21 weeks ( I am 21 weeks & 4 days).  My own personal measurements that I do at home show that my belly is currently 36 inches all the way around.  At the ultrasound last week the baby was measuring at the correct gestational age & weighed 12 ounces.  I am officially wearing mostly all maternity clothes now & I have also started to feel the baby move a lot more & have even felt some kicking.  It is some times hard enough to surprise me & make me jump but still not hard enough for Kolt to be able to feel.  The guest bedroom is now completely cleared of anything not related to the baby except the guest bed & we have all of the baby furniture set up, including our new changing table that Kolt's mom bought for us.  Now it is all ready to be decorated & set up with all of her stuff.  We have decided on a girly jungle/ safari theme called Cocalo jacana:

     

Preparing for baby

Operation "prepare for baby" is in full effect in the Foreman house.  Since I am now in my 2nd trimester & have a lot more energy & have been feeling great, I have not only been able to keep up with the house work, (I owed Kolt for my 1st trimester's weeks of laying on the couch), but we have also started re-organizing & making space for the baby.  Ever since Kolt & I got married, we have always managed to have 2 separate closets, which has pleased us both.  But now that we have a little one coming, Kolt had to move all of his stuff out of the guest room & into our bedroom.  I don't mind this as our room is big enough for the both of us, haha, but Kolt was not happy about the lack of "man space" he will now have.  Thankfully, he has accepted the new concept of sharing closet space & we are both happy with the outcome.  After hours of shopping online for the perfect crib & dresser in a decent price range & from a company that would ship to Alaska, our furniture arrived last week & thankfully not damaged at all.  I ordered from Kohl's & got what I would consider to be an amazing deal.  Both the crib & the dresser were on sale & I also had a 15% off coupon.  Shipping for both pieces was under $100 & I earned $70 in Kohl's cash for a future purchase.  Our furniture was also delivered within a week of when I ordered it.  With the Kohl's cash, another 15% off coupon, free shipping, & a gift card from Christmas, I was also able to order a crib mattress that was on sale.  I ended up paying $5 for a crib mattress that is normally sold for $120.  This past weekend Kolt & I got to work, cleaning out the guest room, & re-organizing the laundry room & storage closet & putting the baby furniture together.  You can guess which of us did the furniture building & who did the re-organizing.  I must say, Kolt did a GREAT job putting our baby's furniture together & it looks great.  Now, we have 3-4 weeks until we can find out the sex of the baby & start picking out the crib bedding & decorating the room.  Since we only have a 2 bedroom house, an extra bed (which would not fit in the storage unit), & hope to have many visitors while we live here, we couldn't give up the guest room completely.  Plane tickets are expensive enough to fly here, we couldn't possibly expect our visitors to pay for a hotel room also, therefore, the 2nd room is now the baby's room & the guest room.  It will have all of the baby's stuff as well as the guest bed, which will match the baby room decor.  When visitors come, the baby will stay in our room or can stay in the laundry room which is almost the equivalent in size to a regular bedroom.  Don't worry, we aren't that cruel to stick our baby in a closet, there is plenty of space & a big window.  If we have a lot of visitors as once, we actually plan on setting up an air mattress in this room for guests.  The down side to keeping the extra bed in the baby's room is that we don't have a lot of room for extra furniture that I would like such as a glider & ottoman & a changing table.  I am actually still debating on if we have the space to fit a changing table comfortably with everything we have in there now.  I know most of you are just as concerned about the lack of space so I will keep you updated ;)

 

Winter Storms

After a week of freezing temps, we got more snow again last week.  My car was frozen shut a couple weeks ago & then this past week my car got stuck in the parking lot several times, one time leading to a minor pregnancy meltdown.  On top of all the ice that has stuck around, it has been a pain to deal with.  Gunner absolutely LOVES playing in the snow.  We took a video of him playing & you can see it if you click on the link below.  Last night we had a high wind alert with wind gusts up to 70mph.  It took down a few trees & pushed our boat, which is currently parked in front of the house, out into the middle of the road.  Kolt hasn't been able to get the boat into the boat lot with all the snow & ice.  I am now 15 weeks pregnant, feeling good & have more energy, but still not showing much.  We ordered the baby's furniture & it should be delivered next week so I have been trying to rearrange the guest room/office which will become the baby's room.  I will be coming home to visit in 2 weeks & in 3 weeks Kolt will be going to Mississippi for a week long school.  After we both return to Sitka, we will have our 20 week ultrasound & will hopefully be able to find out the sex of the baby.  Kolt will be doing survival training next week which consists of him & a group of other guys being flown to a location & left for 2 days & 3 nights.  They are only allowed to bring with them whatever they are wearing & a small ziplock back of "essentials".  Kolt is VERY excited about this.  We will keep everyone posted on how that goes.     

video of Gunner playing in the snow