NOOOOOOOOO!

NOOOOOOOO.

Does this photo even need more of a caption?

The word "no" is in full effect here at our house. Not only does he know how to use it, which he has for a long time now, but he now knows how to put his attitude into it. I mean, look at this face while he is saying it. HAHA.

We are all doing great! Ryan as four more days of work, AHH! And we have six days until we hit the road. Our moving company is coming a few days before we move and I think that is when it will all sink it. It is so weird not having done much prepping (packing wise) for this move.

Pregnancy wise, I am feeling pretty good. I can feel the third trimester creeping it's way in though. I get tired so fast and bending over is getting close to impossible.

Ryan, Gavin and I braved the crowds today for Black Friday shopping...well sort of. We woke up at our leisure and went in to the store at 9:00am, just to see if what we wanted was still in stock. We totally scored!! We talked about getting up at 4am to go wait in line for a few things and I am SO glad we didn't, as everything we wanted was still on sale at the same price and still in stock for everything down to the color choices we wanted. On top of practically being done with our Christmas shopping, we were able to get a few items we have been eying for a couple weeks, one being a new electric griddle for less than $10! We also needed to get Gavin some warm winter clothes, as everything we had was for our "cold" fall and winter, LOL. Our store here on base will price match any other store and is also tax free, so our savings automatically includes almost 10% just on that.

I have my Christmas pictures ordered, so if you want one, please send me your mailing address, especially if you have moved in the last year or two, my e-mail is kelsey.scrupps@gmail.com.

Week 25 & 26 | Moving Update

I have been BUSY! We have had a lot to do in the past couple weeks as we got our official moving news so late in the game. I feel like I have been constantly on the phone, trying to figure out what thing or the other...From giving notice to our housing, scheduling shut-offs and turn-ons of utilities, to a few trips to the Hospital (all is good), scheduling movers. to trying to maneuver the new wonderful Affordable Healthcare Act (sarcasm...if you would like to hear an earful about that just ask me, because I am willing to complain and bitch about how it has been a nightmare for us personally...) I can say that it's been pretty hectic here at the Scrupps Household. But, I can say that my fancy dancey checklist is complete, and now it is pretty much just the waiting game. We are going to try to leave California on December 5th, but that might vary by a day or so depending on Ryan getting the proper paperwork he needs to be "released" from the military.

I have been extremely busy with my photography lately, which has been nice as it has helped the time fly by. I have six photo sessions just this weekend. I really should be editing some of my photos, but I need to take a little break for a few!

Pregnancy wise, I have been feeling pretty good. I can feel that third trimester sneaking up on me though, as I am tiring much easier and I am getting that welcomed friend, pelvic pain, returning. It feels like I can literally feel my hips and pelvis being pulled apart. Not cool. But what is cool is that this baby is a MOVER. There is constantly kicking and flipping and jumping and tap dancing on my bladder happening. Other than the bladder part I really enjoy being able to feel the baby, it's a very cool experience.

We've been having fun trying to choose names, and though we haven't really decided we are thinking Kjerstin for a girl and Jamison for a boy. We haven't decided on middle names quite yet but have some good contenders. Even though we are pretty set on both of these names, they are still subject to change, as Gavin's did several times before we settled on his. Choosing a name is one of the hardest things to decide on! It is such a big decision and there are so many different things you need to weigh when making the choice, it's so stressful, haha!

Gavin is doing great, and is damn near talking in sentences. He is putting words together, like "mama's cup, mama's shoes," etc., and pretty soon it's going to be a full blown sentence. He is such a character, he has so much to say, and is constantly talking. And I mean constantly. I think his favorite thing right now is signing and dancing, it is so cute. He runs back and forth in our house "dancing" and signing on this little microphone he got for Christmas last year. It plans Christmas music and when you sign into the mic it makes your voice sound like an elf. We had to change the batteries in the damn thing he has used it so much, haha! He also has already learned the "as soon as mama and dada are talking or get on the phone I am going to be as loud as humanly possible" trick. That's been great.

Ryan is good as well, he has been busy getting his end of things settled for checking out of the Marine Corps. His hours have been a little more flexible which have been nice as he is able to spend more time with Gavin, which Gavin has LOVED. He has become quite the Daddy's boy the past couple weeks. <3

Nap time

Gavin wearing Sarah's heels. LOL

Some "rumor" squashing and 24 Week Update

Just to start out -

We are NOT having twins. It would be very cool, and amazing, however after four ultrasounds, I feel confident in the fact that it is just ONE baby.

Now that we have that out of the way...

24 weeks. 6 months. We are SIX months along already! WOW! It still seems so far away when you think 24 weeks out of 40, but when you think SIX months, it seems like we have very little time left! We are a month over halfway, and that is pretty crazy! I go back and forth between hoping I would wake up and it would be February 25th, so I would only have one more day left of being pregnant, to wishing I was still only just starting my second trimester. (Notice how I didn't want to start at the beginning again...) I am still feeling pretty good, however slowly but surely the remaining symptoms of pregnancy are adding up. I am getting achy, and I can feel my ribs expanding. I feel like expanding ribs is a sort of torture the terrorists would use, it is just as horrible as it sounds. I also realize that I am not a very good advocate for pregnancy! So on that note, I'll share a couple things, pregnancy related, that have been awesome.

This baby is a MOVER. He/she is kicking and moving around all the time. I love it, there is no other experience or way to describe it. Yes, some say it is freaky, and in a sense it kind of is, but it is a miracle and beautiful. I love dreaming about what the baby is going to look like, whose traits he/she will take and if he/she will have Gavin's attitude and personality. I know they will be different, but in what ways? It's fun to imagine them growing up together and I hope that they are best friends. I knew that keeping the baby's sex a surprise would be difficult, but I never knew how much I would love it. This is the one and only true secret and surprise that the world has to offer and having that to look forward to is incredibly amazing. All of these things outweigh every single negative pregnancy symptom you could ever have.

In other news, each year for the Marine Corps Birthday, each Battalion hosts a Marine Corps Ball. The ball for 9th Comm is on Saturday, so I will be pregnant in heels once again for a fun evening of watching a ton of Marines get tanked! Haha! I am excited to get dressed up, and have a night celebrating with friends. We are going with some good friends and I think we are sitting with some fun people, so it should be fun! The ball is being held in San Diego at one of the hotels in Fashion Valley. I hope we have a better time than we did a few years ago! Gavin will be staying home with his "Sasah" (my friend Sarah, who is loves). So we get a child free evening! I'll post pictures as soon as I can!

WE'RE COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

I have been waiting to write this post for almost three months now!!! The Scrupps family will be moving home in 29 freaking days!!!!!! There are no words to describe our excitement! We are moving back up to Odessa for GOOD! We are on Cloud Nine and are counting down the days, hours and seconds!

About six months ago we decided that Ryan would apply for an early release program. There were many factors that went into this decision and we had been weighing them for about two years now. We finally decided that we would at least apply for 90 days early, mostly so that Ryan could get back up to the farm to help his Dad. Also - we are just so ready to be home! We had to wait almost two full months after Ryan submitted the application to find out if it was approved or not and we got the final word this week!!

For all of our close family and friends, I will be sending out our Christmas Card with our new address. If you would like to receive one, e-mail me at kelsey.scrupps@gmail.com. Chances are I probably have it, but just in case or especially if you have moved!

Odessa, we will see you SOON!

The Scrupps' will be HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Video Vom...Just kidding! I just finally uploaded them all to share!

Gavin signing twinkle star:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUyszHpaNpw&feature=youtu.be

The best part comes at 0:51 on this one...:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHqskR0VDOQ&feature=youtu.be

Reading fairy tales to Mama:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2Rpw-SItvU&feature=youtu.be

Hair twirling:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-NI2ZHGlew&feature=youtu.be

Pumpkins and Dancing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQpIwI2Jt5E&feature=youtu.be

23 Weeks & Ultrasound Check-up

23 weeks down! Still feeling pretty good! My body is really starting to ache, and the heart burn is kicking in. Other than that though I am feeling excellent!

We had to have a follow up ultra sound because in our appointment at 20 weeks, the baby was moving so much they were unable to get a good enough picture of the spine. They asked us to come back in, which we did today. They got what they needed I guess and said everything looks good! This little baby is a moving and a grooving. I told Ryan it's like he/she is doing jazzercise or something! Getting ready to keep up with Gavin I guess!

I'll be back to update this post with some photos and videos. Gavin has been quite the talker lately, it's so cute.

Update:

So the day after I wrote this original post I got a phone call from our Midwife, telling us that the Radiologist who oversees the ultrasound techs still wasn't happy with the images of the spine. Even though he and our midwife said it wasn't because there was something unusual or alarming and not to panic, I panicked. I got three calls within two hours to go in and schedule an appointment. Insert more panic. (I think the tech who did our ultrasound got into a little bit of trouble because he called me himself twice to accommodate me coming in).  Needless to say I was a hot mess the entire morning, assuming the worst and that something was wrong. They asked if I could come in at noon that day, which I did and when I checked in I was told that there was only one tech working and it might be over an hour before I was seen. Besides being worried sick about something being wrong with my unborn child, I was also on the phone and hitting wall after wall with healthcare crap all morning, so it has been a long long day up to this point. I am guessing if looks could kill, I might have killed everyone in the Radiology department of the hospital because the Navy Corpsman checking me in looked up at me and said, "ohhhhh, uhm, ok.....," and needless to say I was in in 10 minutes.

The tech got the images, again, and this time went to show the Radiologist himself before having us leave the room. Two minutes later the Radiologist comes in and says he wants to get the pictures himself. I am literally about in tears at this point because I am thinking something HAS to be wrong. He was very very nice and told me it wasn't that they were seeing anything wrong, it was just that they weren't able to see what they needed to see at all because of the baby's movement and the way the baby was positioned. They poked and prodded the baby to move, I laid around in a couple different positions and he was finally able to get what he needed. He said everything was great, we had a healthy baby and healthy mama. WHEW!!! What a relief!!! I should have asked him for a decent profile picture of the baby in return for the stress he caused me, but of course I didn't think of it until I was in the car on my way home.

And...here are some pictures from the last week or so!

Gavin twirls his hair as a comfort thing, so he always has this little twirl at the top of his head. So cute!

 Watching some TV. Such a man/child.

Playing at the park!

 Elmo's loot!

Whatcha think, boy or girl??

On the right hand side of this blog, you can vote whether you think our new little baby will be a boy or girl! Good luck :-)