The Year of 3's

This year officially marks the year of three's for Jason and I:

Three years of friendship
Three years of dating
Three years of marriage
And now...
Baby Kent will officially be making us a family of three!

There is even a little more humor in the fact that we officially found out we would be entering the journey of parenthood on June 3rd!

As many of you now know, we have been plotting, planning, and making preparations for several months now. The final giveaway being the purchase of a sedan :)

Jason and I made an impromptu visit to the hospital at 6 weeks, and were able to see the first images of our sweet little baby. It was to early to hear the heartbeat or even get an accurate count of the heart rate, but we were able to see the tiny little heart beating away :) It was so great to watch Jason's reaction as he saw the baby for the first time, making things so much more real for him before he shared his Father's Day news.




Yes, that little blur there is a 6 week old baby. Our official due date is February 7, 2012.

So far, things have been going pretty smoothly with exception of our little bump in the road. I have been feeling pretty well, with the first signs of nausea making there grand appearance at 6 weeks and really hitting at 8-9 weeks. I have been able to keep it at bay for the most part with Preggie Pop Drops (an amazing sour hard candy with herbs and ginger), Mommy's Bliss (a ginger supplement), plenty of ginger ale, and eating alllll day long. I had one bad morning when I changed from my peanut butter toast routine, and needless to say, I wont be doing that again!

Jason and I have much enjoyed (ha!) going through my wardrobe to find me "fat" pants, which are only two pair of jeans and one pair of capris to accomodate my daily varying baby bloat! I had nooo idea how bad it would be- there are days where I already look 4 months along! I am assuming (and hoping) most of this has to do with my extra progesterone boost I am currently getting and will end at 12 weeks when I get to bid it farewell.

We go to our next appointment July 13th and are anxiously awaiting the opportunity to hear our little ones heartbeat and make sure everything is progressing as planned. I am praying for all good news to post next week :)

2011

This has been a big year for us so far! Which is still no excuse for blog neglect.... and I am not going to try and make one :) But here is at least a brief overview:

Jason has officially returned to school full-time! The plan for now is mechanical engineering, although he can help but be tempted by something in the medical field after watching stuff on TV, seeing my pretty great work schedule, and listening to my conversations with co-workers at social gatherings. He is loving school so far and doing great! Even with incredibly poor study habits ( at least in my eyes ;) ) he managed to pull of a 3.75 GPA his first semester back! Not to brag, but I am pretty darn proud and impressed with that after a five year break from school. Now he is busy working his way through summer school with his first online school experience.

Next up is vacation!

We went on our third cruise in October with stops in Samana, Tortola, Antigua, Dominica, Barbados, and St. Kitts. We enjoyed several excursions- kayaking in Samana,a full beach day at Jost Van Dyke in Tortola, snorkel/swimming with GIANT stingrays in Antigua, a private tour with a local that another couple and us hired after all of our excursions were canceled due to rain in Dominica (which is now by far my favorite place in the world!), sadly walked around through he destruction left in Barbados after a hurricaine hit the day before we arrived, and ended off the amazing 10 day cruise with ziplining in St. Kitts. We had an amazing time, made great new friends, and can't wait for our next cruise! Here are those photos:

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We also had our first experience traveling outside of the "kids in school" time of year in March over springbreak. It actually wasn't quite as awful as we thought it was going to be! We drove to Florida- our longest road trip yet- which went great until a semi-truck decided to side swipe us and keep on driving. We arrived at our hotel soon after, checked in, and spent the next week enjoying to "tourist" side of Orlando. We spent a day at Seaworld, then another day at Seaworld's sister park Discovery Cove where we did some amazing snorkeling and swimming, then we did a two day park hopper pass to Universal Studios for which we also invested in fastpass (aka get dirty looks as cut the entire line! I must say, it was enjoyed :) ), and we ended off the week spending way to much at the outlet malls- and, yes, I did NEED two new Coach purses! Here are the pics from that trip:

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Otherwise, we have spent this year revamping our "live on a budget" aspect of life. Planning for the future and being a one income family has brought the importance of this to the top of our priority list. Just this last month Jason dedicated time to get quotes for home owners and car insurance and ended up saving us a whopping $900 per year! He has even bargained with the trash company and got our three month bill dropped by $25 bucks. Most importantly, he has found a much higher interest savings account for us to make our money go even a little further. Kudos to him for having the patience and dedication it takes to make the most of our income! Next on his list is to tackle my retirement savings/401K.

As far as the rest of this summer goes....

We will be spending the next two months with Jason in full time summer school and me working full time/overtime at work. August is really what we are excited about! Jason and I are taking an escape before fall semester starts and spending a week at an all inclusive resort in Mexico- this will be our first time together with a prolonged beach stay in one place. We can't wait! Soon after we return we get to spend time with the entire Kent/Rosen/Redd clan for David and Brittney's wedding! We are so happy for them and can't wait to have the whole family together :)

I hope you all have a wonderful summer!

Crystal and Jason