The proposal

I was just asked by Caleb if I would marry him! He said I can give him video games and I will get a necklace instead of a ring! He is so darn cute! This is our fifth month almost of a seven month deployment with three kids and it has been okay so far. Lots of trips to docs, tons of omg moments. We can do it!!!!!

Christmas 2011

Christmas this year was great but we missed a special person!  Josh was deployed to Japan this past Christmas.  We still did it up right, as always.  Dad, Jon, Chris, Court, Mandi and Toby were all here to welcome in the holiday.
We went to dinner the night before which was followed by projectile vomiting from Caleb on the way home;)  Courtney helped put the train set together (noticed I said "helped", haha).  At 0230 dad came into my room because Matthew decided to toss cookies from the top bunk onto the carpet (dad was sleeping right below;(.  Needless to say dad was trying not to get sick while I was cleaning up on Christmas morning!!!!  The day was like all other days, tons of excitement.  Dad and I went to church while everyone put together a great lunch.
My 32nd birthday was the next day so Mandi and I got our nails done (gift from them).. I got a carpet shampooer from my brother and dad, hmmm, I wonder what made them think of that (Mattthewwwww;) We checked out a few boots at the boot store and then had a great lunch with the family. Everyone said their goodbyes and Matthew went for the first time to Virginia by himself!  He LOVED it of course, didn't miss me a minute.  He said he got to party with PopPop on New Years, oy;)  Here are some great photos of our special holiday without Josh;(It was Sam's first Christmas too, which is why he is the very first picture on my blog.  Enjoy!

THANKSGIVING 2011

This year's Thanksgiving was celebrated with the Spencer family at our house in Oakleaf.  Josh was leaving the following Monday so we decided it would be a great way to be together before he left for his overseas duty.  It was such a blast this year. Josh of course made his turkey and used my mom's stuffing.  Jennifer and Sheila went wayyyy out of their way to prepare the sides and the desserts. Emily and John drove from Georgia also. Courtney and Chris live here in Jacksonville but also enjoyed the day with us.  Hopefully we will add more family members next year to the table, Emily is pregnant and due very soon, Feb 2012! 

HAPPY 31ST BIRTHDAY JOSH!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH!!! 31 YEARS OLD!!!

For Josh's big day Sheila and Dan had the two oldest stay with them so Josh could enjoy a weekend of fun for his bday.  Courtney watched Samuel so Josh, Chris, and I could go to the range and shoot shotguns!!  We had a "blast" and then watched movies.  Later we did our annual trip to Ruth's Chris thanks to mom and dad for giving him a fantastic gift card.  He really enjoyed spending time with his family and doing dinner at a new place in Deland.  We love you guys and thank you so much for letting us enjoy another birthday weekend.

Samuel Scott

So apparently I labored at home for 4 days before my new beautiful son was born. The story goes like this:

On Thursday September 16th I went to my doctor appointment, she did a cervical check and I was 2cm dilated and 60% effaced. I was thrilled but after reading many books this didn't mean much. So, that very night I started losing more mucus plug and having contractions 10 min apart all night. I was a very concerned because Josh was doing his all night Chief indoc and would not see us till the next day Friday at noonish. After not sleeping all day I woke up drained and my uterus very sore. I got up and took the boys to Dunkin's and actually began to feel better. So I decided to go to Josh's Chief pinning which turned out to be nice. Throughout the weekend I felt very tired and run down with contractions very sporadic. Monday came I went to pump class that day but couldn't finish. I had a hard time even doing the elliptical which is very unlike me. That evening out of no where I started contracting again only this time from back to front and low. I knew then that this was going to mean early baby. The next morning after not sleeping all night I got up at 0400 (Josh slept upstairs so I wouldn't keep him up) and decided if I had to get this baby out on my own I was going to do that unthinkable........treadmill workout...I did an hour workout and about an hour after that I had the bloody show. I showered and took all the kids to school with contractions hitting about every 10 minutes. I even went to ortho to get my new retainer. After ortho I decided to go to Sears to look around but after walking a little bit I started feeling lots of pain and pressure. I went and met Josh for lunch which was weird because although I was hurting I was very hungry. Josh decided it would be best to stay at work to finish stuff up until the evening. He got home about 330ish and at that point I couldn't get up from the couch. Later the contractions were very very strong so we called our friend Mich and she came to stay with the boys with her friend Collette. By 10'oclock that night they contractions were 5 to 7 minutes apart some even 3 minutes so I decided regardless of what the nurse said to go into L&D. By the time we showed up I had already had 4 contractions in the truck (Josh got an ear full of course) and then all of a sudden they stopped. I registered then went to L&D. They couldn't see my contractions but could tell by the way I was not able to talk through them they were real. Finally, the nurse checked me and I was already 5 going on 6 cm and not going anywhere. She said "welp, by the looks of it she may be having him tonight but def by tomorrow". We were so exhausted already after me being up for already 24 hours plus. The epidural guy came down but I decided to forgo the meds until I couldn't take it anymore. I was doing this as a vbac which means they won't allow me to have much of anything to help and if things went south csection would be done without thinking twice. So I did my squats, lunges you name it in the hospital room. By 0330 I was 7cm and my water hadn't broke. My doctor wasn't coming in until 0600 ish but the nurses felt he needed to come in because the only thing stopping my progress was the bag of waters. So at around 0400 I got the epidural which had to be done twice. Finally, my doctor came in around 0630 and broke my bag of water. At the time he decided to hook me up to a low dose of pitocin to move things along faster. The baby deceled immediatelly so that was brought to a hult. The new doctor on call Dr. Foutz took over and decided to hook me up to many different machines to track both contractions and the baby's heart rate. She told me after several decells we were looking at a csection due to his inability to recover after contractions. I took that very seriously and from that point on was not going to let him or myself give up. We got oxygen and ran withit! I started deep breathing techniques during each contractions and moving as much as I could to get him down. The nurse said everything was looking better but the doc forbid pitocin for this delivery....it was up to me and Sam at this point. The doc was giving me another hour to progress then reevaluate for csection. I could hear nurses calling my doc several times during scary moments. Turns out the nurse even got me prepped and ready for csection and had all her stuff ready too. Josh and I made a pac that unless the baby was in extreme danger we were not going to allow the csection. I was going to go for the 48 hour plus with no sleep to progress on my own, I was not going to be rushed. I was crying of course because I wanted him to be healthy and me to be healthy and a csection in my mind is the last resort and causes wayyyy too many problems esepcially with nursing.

However, once she checked me she noticed I was 10cm and ready to push. She called my doctor and she was soooo happy she didn't have to csection me. in one push my baby's head was out...and.............the cord was wrapped three times around his neck which is why he decelled. After she unwrapped his little head I pushed and Samuel Scott Spencer was born into this world weighing 5 pounds 10.2 oz and 18inches long. He was small at 37.5 weeks. He was very very healthy at birth and still is. He just had no fat at all, just all lungs and legs;) He is the sweetest baby ever and nurses like a pro. We are very grateful for this little guy. I'm just very sad that this is my last baby, I will miss the excitement of bringing a life into the world.

Josh Pinning

Josh was selected to E7 but had to do 7 weeks of hell training. In the end I had contractions the night before "all night" which turns out was the beginning of my week long early labor. Here are pics of the pinning. Josh wanted Matthew and myself to pin him as you see in the pics. I was 37 weeks that very day and only 5 days later we had our last and final baby boy Samuel so really I guess it was myself and Sam pinning Josh:) His sponsor who was a very sweet Senior Chief also put his cover on his head which was actually the very moment he was a "real"chief!!

Throughout his 7 weeks we he made boats on wheels, wood boxes and soooooooooooooo many long crazy nights. Glad its over!

Gators Class of 2011!!!!

I finally graduated from University of Florida on August 6, 2011! My folks flew in the Friday before and we hung out until I had to go to the meet and greet for Josh's Chief's mess. Saturday was super busy with a bike ride with dad then off to Gainesville, Florida to participate in the Summer 2011 graduation. I think the coolest part was when they asked the those graduating who have served in the military or being commissioned after graduation to stand and I'm pretty sure I was the only female, super cool.
Dan, Sheila, Grandad, My folks and Josh attended. Afterward Josh treat my parents and I to dinner at Whitey's fish camp, super yummy.
I'm so happy I finally have my Bachelors of Business Administration (BSBA)!!! My next plan is to wait until Josh returns back from Japan too start either my MBA or Nursing school! Wish me luck;)