37 Weeks!

Well, we have officially made it to term! We keep thinking good thoughts that the duration of the pregnancy is smooth and we are able to safely deliver our little girl a few days after Tasha's wedding on the 27th.

I am still in a bit of disbelief that we are so close...this pregnancy has been SO different for a lot of reasons. I am way more healthy, Kevin has been gone for the majority, I am not working, and I'm fully engaged with caring for Riley. And of course the pregnancy itself has just been different as far as symptoms, how I'm carrying, and whatnot.

Please keep us in your thoughts as we draw nearer to meeting our precious daughter. We look forward to sharing her with you when she chooses to make her grand entrance. Until then...here are some pictures of her in utero...

11 weeks

37 weeks (a little low, ya think?)

Six Wonderful Years

Just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge that six years ago today I married the most wonderful man in the world. On June 2nd 2007, I never thought we'd be where we are today...and it has required a lot of sacrifice and effort...but I wouldn't have it any other way. I look forward to each and every moment of our future together. You make my dreams come true, Kevin. I love you with every ounce of my being (and you get an extra bit this year since I'm all bloated with baby)!

I know...I know...

I'm the worst blog updater EVER!

So, since it's been 10 weeks since my last post about this pregnancy, I figured I owed you all SOMETHING.  I'm just about 29 weeks along at this point.  I've got some compare and contrast photos to show our progress with our darling girl -- and also a few pics from my pregnancy with Riley so you can see how DRASTICALLY different a "paleo/primal pregnancy" is from a "standard American diet pregnancy."

Before I dive into the pictures, I'll give you a quick rundown of how things have been going symptom-wise.  As I enter the 3rd trimester, I JUST started getting a bit of heartburn.  Dizziness and light-headedness is pretty much gone (other than if I get a bit dehydrated or forget to eat).  Sleep has been OK...I remember sleep being more difficult with Riley at this point, but my belly really hasn't bothered me much.  Second trimester was probably worse because my knees and hips were aching a lot as I "expanded."  Our little girl is so low in my belly that my lung capacity hasn't suffered too much at this point.  She is head down (at the moment) and I hope she stays that way for the duration.  I can feel her movements so much more clearly than I could with Riley (probably because I'm so much smaller -- I only JUST hit the weight where I STARTED the pregnancy with Riley)...it's awesome when she sticks her little bottom up against my ribs.  Of course, by awesome I mean unpleasant and slightly painful.  Anyhow, that's the rundown.  Things are going well and we certainly hope that they continue on the same trend through her successful delivery.

5 weeks

11 weeks

19 weeks with Riley (left) and Baby Girl (right)

28 weeks with Riley (top) and Baby Girl (bottom)

I know every pregnancy is inherently different, but boy do eating habits have a MASSIVE impact on things.  I wouldn't be surprised if this little girl gives Riley a run for his money right off the bat ;-)  I'll get some photos with that original outfit one of these days -- I stopped doing weekly progress shots at 11 weeks...but it'd be kind of funny to see the drastic difference at this point.  My abs held everything in until about 20 weeks and then they gave up and revealed the bump.  I'm still fitting pretty comfortably in a lot of pre-maternity clothes, but I'm usually wearing "farm clothes" anyway, so they have plenty of room in the first place and Kevin's jackets accommodate the belly very nicely.

Still tracking for a 31 July due-ish date.  I'll keep everyone posted as things continue to progress.

How did this happen?

How do we have a TWO YEAR OLD?!?! I think we are both still in a bit of denial that Riley has had our world turned upside down for two years already. What a wonderfully chaotic little blessing he is. We absolutely adore our little man and cannot wait to see him as a big brother.

Here are some pictures from the quaint gathering we had here this past weekend.

Thanks, Grandpa, for the popped collar.

Happy Birthday, big guy!

Up to something...no surprise there.

Please excuse the weak birthday cake and candles...I assure you it was made with lots and lots of love (but no dairy).

Made with love = YUM!

Train table!!!!!

After the festivities, we had a low key day for his actual birthday.  The weather didn't exactly cooperate and let us do anything super fun outside...but it did break long enough for him to get his big gift from us.

His own John Deere Tractor.  We love you, Riley!

 

Happy Easter!

Just wanted to share a few short videos of Riley going for an Easter egg hunt in the house this morning. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

19 Weeks and Counting

We had our mid-term ultrasound yesterday morning!  Everything looks wonderful and right on target with growth and anatomy.  The baby was apparently laying on the placenta -- like a giant bean bag chair.  *Glad you're not hesitating to make yourself comfortable in there!  Just make sure you're ready to vacate the premises after 27 July (Tasha & Steve's wedding).*  Anyway, the little one just has quite a bit more growing to do over the next 20+ weeks.  At this point in the pregnancy, I have gotten over the hump (I hope, anyway) of the not-so-fun symptoms.  I haven't had any nausea or cramping like I did during the first trimester.  The only bothersome stuff I'm experiencing at this point are some normal aches and pains and light-headedness.  It's all well worth it though :-)  I'm a lot more active (thanks to ditching the 3hr round-trip commute everyday and having to single-mom it on the farm half the time) during this pregnancy, so I think that has helped me feel pretty darn good to this point.  I hope it continues!

I probably should've warned you to put on sunglasses to shield your eyes from my dreadfully pale skin...sorry.

We will certainly keep you posted (hopefully a bit better than we have been) for the duration of the pregnancy.  In the mean time, here are a few pictures of the newest addition to the Gilles Clan.

Same little nose as Riley (and the same camera shyness as well).

Quit wiggling just long enough to get a few good profile shots.

Cute little foot!

And now for one of the most highly anticipated images...

We love you and are so excited to meet you, sweet baby girl!

Life of a Backyard Chicken Farmer

Most people think we're a little nuts with the animals we've slowly added over the last 5+ years as a married couple.  Here's a recap for those who don't know: 3 dogs, 2 horses, 1 fish, 1 cat, and 6 chickens.  And we've housed and cared for others as well, they just aren't in the current tally for various reasons.  The chickens are probably among the quirkiest, yet easiest, animals we've had to care for over the years.

Now, don't get me wrong, plenty of effort went/goes into their care.  Kevin purchased a coop and built an awesome run for them prior to picking them up from "the crazy chicken lady" (seriously, imagine the crazy cat lady and then replace the cats with chickens).  He is about 90% finished with a second mobile coop as well -- built that from scratch with mostly extra materials at home.  And day to day, we have to make sure their have plenty of food and water, clean the coop as needed, let them out of the coop run in the morning to free range, and then close it up at night to keep them safe from the critters.  So, when it comes to day to day maintenance, they're really pretty easy.

Remember when I said quirky?  That's where having a backyard flock gets interesting.  Chickens are weirdos.  Here are a few of the more interesting experiences we've had so far...

1.  Right now, we have one particular hen (a lovely little black australorp) who has gone "broody" -- which means she is desperately trying to hatch an egg.  Normally, I'd just let her, especially because we do have a rooster and having little chicks would be pretty cool (much cooler than just buying some from Tractor Supply this Spring).  Problem is that our brilliant little bird is trying to hatch golf balls.  At first, she'd go sit on the other hens' eggs.  But they all lay in different nesting boxes, so she ended up being overwhelmed and just stuck to a couple nesting boxes.  She had stayed in the same spot for a couple days, so I checked under her to see if she actually had an egg under there...Nope. Just a nice warm Nike golf ball.  So, now I get to try and break the broodiness by pulling her off the nest and setting her outside.  If she snaps out of it, she should start laying again.  Though, if she ends up sitting on an ACTUAL EGG, I'll probably let her stick with it to see if she is successful.  I'll keep you all posted.

2.  Responsible pet owners know that their animals need to be de-wormed on a regular basis (or put on a preventative) to prevent a nasty infestation.  Well, same goes for chickens.  I just did the first round of worming our flock has experienced. An initial dose of wormer, wait 10 days, then a second dose.  The real bummer is that you have to wait 14 days after each dose until you can eat the eggs again.  Giving the birds the medicine is the tricky part.  The first stuff I used just went in their water and they drank it up, no big deal.  The second dose was different, I had to give them 1/2 cc orally.  The broody hen was the easiest, she had her mouth open, squawking at me and I was able to squirt the medicine in her mouth with one of Riley's old Advil droppers.  One other chicken let me hold her while I gave her the meds, but the rest had to be dosed by saturating a piece of bread with the medicine and then getting the chicken to eat the bread.  Hardest part of that process was distracting the other birds so the target bird could eat his medicated piece.  Not exactly as easy as dropping a meat flavored Heartgard chunk into their food bowl...

3.  Only one of the chickens has a name -- that's our rooster (JJ).  Another now has a nickname: The Egg Bomber.  She lays her eggs first thing in the morning (way before the sun comes up), which is odd.  Her clock is a bit off because of the winter and even though the lamp on the coop is on a timer, she still struggles in the morning.  So, either out of laziness or confusion, she doesn't go into a cozy nesting box to lay her egg. Instead, she drops her egg where she stands...on the highest roosting bar in the coop...crack....splat...And she lays the most beautiful huge brown eggs too.  It has been such a bummer to go out there and see her egg destroyed on the floor of the coop.  I was really afraid it would encourage egg eating in the chickens too, because they'd been able to taste the yolk (sounds gross, but they think it's super yummy).  So, I instituted a chicken training program.  I used some of the extra hardware cloth and stapled it over the front of one of the nesting boxes.  At night, I'd grab the hen off the roost and put her into the enclosed box.  After doing that for a few nights in a row, she got back into the habit of coming off the roost to lay in a nest.  I'm glad it ended up being that easy to retrain her.  I've only had to repeat the training once so far -- and I think she was just being a pansy and was too cold to get off the roost to lay.

I'm sure a lot of you just yawned, but I have found raising these chickens to be pretty enlightening and rewarding.  I would recommend having a backyard chicken flock to anyone interested.  It really is super easy.  You can go away for a weekend and not have to kennel them or anything :-)  Plus, you can bribe neighbors with eggs if you need to go away for longer than a few days.

We have also recently lost a member of the flock.  She is the hen who prompted the worming, but I think she was too sick to make it through treatment.  I made a hospital coop for her and she had a nice space heater blowing on her, and after rallying a few days into treatment, she took a big turn for the worse and passed away while I talked softly to her.  It was really sad.  I felt like I let her down.  We will be better backyard chicken farmers because of her, more aware, and better educated.  But I'll sure miss her.  She was lovely and gave us an abundance of beautiful blue/green eggs.  Rest in peace, little chicky.
 

Our Next Big Adventure

These days we find ourselves maintaining a routine to maintain our sanity -- in Riley's and my case anyway.  We are continuing to count the days until Kevin/Dada gets home (mid-February cannot come fast enough) and trying to keep busy with play dates and family time.  We've been able to manage our little farm pretty well, even with the dreaded "Blizzard of 2012."  Riley received a wonderful sled for Christmas (just in time for the snow), so I can pull him on it out to the barn with me in the mornings.  Riley loves it and I love not having to wrestle a stroller through the snow, drive the truck all 100 yards out to the barn, or carry him around the whole time (imagine carrying a really awkwardly shaped kettlebell around while you do chores).  Really the only things that are especially tough about the cold weather/snow are the horses feet getting caked with ice by the end of the day and their stupid water trough freezing into ridiculously huge slabs of ice. 

Oddly enough, while we are eager for time to pass, we are also savoring every second of this time in our lives.  Our next big family adventure is right around the corner, and I suspect it is going to turn our world upside down.  It will be a time when routines will be revised and revised and revised...and probably thrown out the window on occasion.  But we wouldn't have it any other way.

We are thrilled to announce that our family will be expanding around the end of July.  We are cautiously optimistic that the pregnancy will go well and that we will meet our little one shortly AFTER my dear friend Tasha's wedding on 27 July.  She has asked me to be a bridesmaid, so of course I went and got pregnant with a due date 4 days after her nuptials.  Best bridesmaid EVER.  Seriously though, we are excited, nervous, and filled with so much love we could burst.  We cannot wait to see Riley as a big brother.  He is such a good little helper right now, we're hoping that continues when we bring a newborn home to stay.  I have no doubt that he will have his moments, but I think his little sibling is going to absolutely ADORE him.

We will keep you all updated on our progress throughout the pregnancy.  In the meantime, take a listen to Gilles Nugget #2:

     

Play dates!

Riley and I have ventured outside of our comfort zones in the past few weeks.  We needed an excuse to get out of our pajamas out of the house and socialize with other Mommas and their kiddos.  So, I got on Meet-up.com and found a pretty awesome playgroup with a bunch of women from all over my county.  I was certain most everything would be closer to Indy, so I was pleasantly surprised to find a group geared toward folks in the suburbs West of Indy.

Other than having my good friend Emily and her son Quinn over to our house for playtime, we have only been to one play date.  It was held at a library that has a fantastic children's area.  I'm talking not just books, but tables with train sets, shopping carts, little tables and chairs, lots of stuff to climb on/in/around, and more.  It was great.  Riley spent the first 5 minutes laying face down on the ground anytime someone got close or looked at him...and then he pooped his pants (nice first impression, fella).  But after he got ALL of that out of his system, it was game on.  He did a great job.  Didn't really play WITH any of the other kids, but didn't attack any of them either.  And he was very stealthy when he stole someone else's toy -- he totally waited until they were distracted and swooped in, avoiding ALL drama.  I was proud.

We will go to another one of these group play dates on the 14th, but in the meantime we have another play date with a mom/son duo we met at the library.  Her son is just a month younger than Riley and might be just as crazy!  He was climbing on the book shelves at the library.  I think he and Riley will be best friends forever. 

Yay for not being social outcasts anymore!

Trade Off, Revisited

A few weeks after my parents visited, my Mom sent me a link to my cousin's family blog after he had written about the trade offs between work and family.  He talks about chasing the almighty dollar early in his career and the sacrifices his wife made while he worked long hours and traveled often.  He has since realized that time with his family and enjoying the special times that you can never get back are what is truly important.  I was not entirely sure what the intended message was from my Mom given my current profession, but it led to a lot of thought on my part.  It is no secret that a lot people don't love my current situation because of the time away from my family and the environment in Afghanistan.  I understand the concern and realize that most people don't really understand what I do or see the benefits of the schedule.  Sometimes Ashley and I have to remind ourselves, we revisit them each time I'm home.  At some point, the benefits won't outweigh the time away.  But for now, they do and we like it.  It works for us.  And that's what matters.

Before accepting the job with FlightWorks, Ashley and I were both working full time, her on days and me on nights.  Riley was still an infant, making our opposite schedules that much more difficult to manage.  To be perfectly honest, my schedule at Target was killing me.  I was averaging less than three hours of sleep during the week and flipping my schedule back to days on weekends.  It just wasn't healthy and although I was home every day, I was not getting any true quality time with the family.  With FlightWorks, I am gone for large of chucks of time but when I'm home, I have nothing interfering with the time I get to spend with Ashley and Riley. We literally get 60 days at a time where neither Ash nor I have to get up to go to work.  In addition, my 6 month a year job also let's Ashley be a stay at home Mom. She loves it and I love knowing that she loves it.  It's pretty special and rare that any kid gets to spend that much time with both parents.  The time away is tough but with technology today, it is bearable - so much so that we think it is worth the trade off - for now.

I also love what I do at FlightWorks.  The level of job satisfaction is second to none. The following is one of the many reasons why I can make that statement.

While I was home, Ashley and I heard that one of my classmates, Seth Nieman, was injured by an IED in Afghanistan and was at Walter Reed recovering.  When I returned to Afghanistan, the guys I work with showed me the following note:

As you already know from visiting TSGT Matthews, XXXX took a pretty significant IED attack several days ago.  The Detachment Commander, CPT Seth Nieman, was severely injured during the incident and had to be medically evacuated to Germany and ultimately Walter Reed Medical facility back in the States.  I spent many hours over the 30+ hr period while he was here at BAF talking with him and catching up. Although he was heavily sedated he just couldn't stop saying how impressed he was with the flight crew that was delivering them supplies.  He stated that the few times we had military birds conduct the drops they were way off the mark.

They knew that HESCOing in the DZ it would make it more challenging but had to do it for force pro reasons.  They fully understand that sometimes a bundle or two might go outside the HESCO.  He wanted me to let you all know that the support you all are providing is much appreciated and keeping the team in the fight.

Thanks again for all your outstanding support.

Larry
Service Detachment Commander

Doesn't get much better than that.  Get well soon, Seth.

We miss you already!

Well, it's that time again. Riley and I took Kevin to the airport this afternoon so he could begin his trek to Afghanistan. I stress about him flying, so the next 24-36ish hours won't be all that much fun. It must sound strange that I breathe a sigh of relief once he has his feet on solid ground...in Afghanistan. But, he is at Bagram -- anyone familiar with Afghanistan knows that it's a pretty darn decent place to be as far as Afghanistan goes.

Tomorrow, Riley and I will get back into the routine that I stick to (or risk losing my mind) while Kevin is gone. We will get up before the sun and have our breakfast. As soon as the sun comes up enough for me to see the barn without a flashlight, we'll head outside to tend to the horses and chickens. On our way back in, we will feed the dogs breakfast. Then it's back inside to play, read books, MAYBE nap. Of course, we will have lunch, dinner, and perhaps run some errands or go on a field trip (not necessarily in that order). Then it's back outside (this time, I have to use a flashlight) to tend to all the animals again before we head up for a bath and bedtime. The next day, we will get up and do it all again. Pretty exciting, huh? Trust me, it doesn't get old or mundane...Riley would NEVER allow that to happen.

For now, we are counting the minutes until we can get our hands on Kevin again. We love you! And we miss you already!

Bling!

Traditionally, Kevin and I do not go crazy on gift-giving holidays/birthdays (and often don't really celebrate them at all when it comes to one another).  We have spent so many of these holidays apart, that we just kind of shrug them off.  I suppose now that we have a little monster to dote on, these days will be more and more celebrated and anxiously awaited with each passing year.

So, here I am, keeping with tradition and only thinking a few times about what small token I'd like to get for Kevin to celebrate Christmas.  We agreed to celebrate before he departs for Afghanistan again, but I fully expected a Riley-centric event...boy was I wrong.

We parted ways on Monday to run some errands and Kevin made a pretty big deal about doing his errands without me, so I knew something was up.  Of course, my errands involved meeting my mom for lunch, getting groceries, and picking up dog food.  Kevin's errands...not so much.

When I returned home, there was a decent sized rectangular box wrapped on the table and Kevin quickly suggested we go outside (presumably to let Riley play around a bit, since it was nice) to open it.  "Ok, whatever you say." First, I unwrap the Ariat boot box (I know he didn't buy me new riding boots, lame). Next, I unwrap the Apple Mac Book Air box (I seriously got excited, because I love his new compy).  Then, open it up to find an empty box except for a tiny Reis-Nichols Jeweler box tucked in the corner.  Oh. My. Gosh.

Please excuse my sad nails.

There is not a chance in the world that I can top this gift.  It is so incredibly beautiful.  I am not much of a jewelry girl, but we agreed that my engagement ring was actually kind of sad (diamond is nice, but the setting was sort of janky).  I would've NEVER expected to get this as an upgrade though...holy crap.  I have an awesome husband.  Give him a pat on the back or a hearty handshake when you see him, because he done good.

Country Living

Living on a farm in the country is a lot of work and sometimes can be overwhelming, but there is no place I would rather live. Not only are we excited to watch our kids grow up with space to roam around and get into trouble outside like we did as kids, but we get to share it with all sorts of wildlife. The morning after Thanksgiving, we had a flock of 5-8 wild turkeys show up in our back yard. Seriously, the morning after!  I wasn't quick enough with the camera that day but here are a few of my favorite photos that Ashley and I have taken from our home over the past few years.

Sunrise on the farm (Fall '12)

Sunset after the ice storm (Feb '11)

Hawk in flight

Two of our resident hawks 

One of the few bucks that hung around long enough for a picture

Deer are in abundance around here, we probably see them at least 10 days a month

Nana and Papa Visit!

My Mom and Mark came to Indiana a few weeks ago to visit. Ash and I would like to think they came to see us, but the reality is Riley was the main attraction.  It was just nice that we were here, too. Riley is at an age where he is more cautious of people that he isn't around a lot, so we weren't sure how long it would take for him to warm up to Nana and Papa. Turns out we had nothing to worry about as they were best buds again before we made it home from the airport.  It ended up being a wonderful visit that included a number of instances of Nana almost having a heart attack due to Riley's antics (yes, he is all boy and is completely fearless), many hours of playing ball, and too many books read to count.  All of these are some of Riley's favorite things to do right now so he had a blast during the visit.

Nana and Riley reading a book.

In addition to a lot of relaxing time at the house, we got to take Mom and Mark to their first Colts game versus the Dolphins at Lucas Oil Stadium.  If you know Mark, you know that he is a sports nut like the rest of us so he thoroughly enjoyed arriving to the stadium 3 hours before kick off to take part in pre-game on the field and in the club. The game was close to the end, but the Colts pulled off the victory putting them in great position to make the playoffs in Andrew Luck's rookie year. It was a great performance as he set the record for the most passing yards in a game by a rookie and I was glad Mom and Mark got to experience a raucous crowd at LOS. Thanks to Dan for assisting in getting them great seats for the game and for the pre-game on the field experience.

Mark in the South end zone.

A trip to the farm can't be all play and no work, even if you do come from California. I made good use of Mark's help while he was here to frame and paint our chicken tractor, or mobile second coop.  It's been a long time since we have done anything like that together so it was nice for the guys to get to enjoy the good weather.  Despite having to replace the wheels right away with more sturdy "off-road" tires and wasting a half gallon of paint figuring out my new paint sprayer, we were happy with the final result.  Now it's up to me to do the finish work which includes installing chicken wire, a door, and a chicken ramp for the chickens to get from the run into the coop.  Thanks for the help, Mark!

The chicken tractor.

Thanks for coming Nana and Papa. We love you!

Time for a Change

I have to admit, I never thought Facebook would become what it is today.  I often am terribly disappointed in the content friends and family deem appropriate and have been considering deleting my account in favor of a family blog for sometime. While I'm not completely ready to walk away from Facebook, I figured I would at least explore the blogging world that seems to be the newest trend in social media.  

I mentioned the idea to Ashley a week or so ago and she said that she too had been toying with the idea of starting a blog but was struggling to come up with a creative blog name and template that she liked.  As it turns out, her struggles became our struggle and coming up with a name we both agreed on was at least as difficult as naming our first child.  I offered up a few dozen names, all of which were quickly shot down.  "Growing Up Gilles" was Ashley's idea and like most things Gilles, I do what she says (and I liked it too). 

While the name was important to us, we figure the content is more important to our readers.  I figure most of what we blog about will be about our family, the farm, and our menagerie, but I won't limit us to just that.  We have lots of other stuff to talk about, too!