Halfway there, sweet baby!

First off, I'd like to say that we all need to say a prayer for the people in Boston today. I can't believe something like this has happened on US soil again.





Next, we are so proud to announce that Jaxon is going to have a little SISTER! We had an early elective ultrasound done on March 7. The ultrasound tech knew within 30 seconds that we were having a sweet little girl. I cried, of course. Jaxon couldn't have cared less at the time and Jake was overjoyed as well. Here are some pictures we took to announce that baby Evalyn was on the way:

Here are a couple of the ultrasound pictures. None of them are great quality, but we will have more ultrasound pictures in a couple weeks as I have my level 2 ultrasound on April 30.

Well, today marks 20 weeks of pregnancy. That means I'm halfway there to meeting our baby girl and can't believe time has flown by so quickly. Little Miss Evalyn Jane Lester weighs about 10.5 ounces now and is about 10 inches long from head to toe. She is quite the little squirmy wormy in my belly! I started feeling her move around 15 weeks, but I wasn't 100% positive it was her until 16-17 weeks. She is also such a little kicker that Daddy can feel her already!

Jaxon and I visited Jake in Yuma over Easter weekend. He only had Sunday off, but we arrived Saturday evening and left Monday morning. It was great for Jaxon to see Jake again since he had been gone for several weeks at that point. He is due back April 29, just in time for our next ultrasound. Also over Easter weekend I started getting lovely Braxton Hicks contractions. I got them frequently with Jaxon starting around 22ish weeks I believe, but they started earlier this pregnancy.

I signed up to compete in my first race on May 19. It is a 4 mile run over the Coronado Bridge. Once I started training for it, I realized something wasn't right when I went running. My uterus would get so sore and crampy after only a minute or so. It would then be sore the entire next day, sometimes two days- just like a sore muscle would feel like after a workout. I talked to my OB about it and she said that I was going too hard and that I shouldn't be running or jogging anymore. So now I'm back to doing low-impact exercises and will be pushing Jaxon in his stroller on race day.

Still no official word on Japan. We turned in a Naval message to delay our orders since Eva is due right after we're expected to arrive on the Okinawa island. We're hoping it pushes our orders back to December/January time. We will be putting the house up for rent at that time and pray that we find good quality renters and that our house isn't vacant for long.

Mr. Jaxon is such a big boy now. He was 23 lbs 9 ounces and 30 3/4" tall at his 15 month check up. He turned 16 months old yesterday. He is so smart and understand so much of what we're saying. He can follow some simple 2-step instructions too. He is a little behind in his speech. They wanted him to be saying one word other than mama and dada consistently at his 15 month appointment. He still calls everything dada in one form or another. At his 18 month check up if he doesn't have 3 other words besides mama or dada they're going to get a hearing test done and look into some options for us. So far everything is still dada but he is using mama more frequently. No new words besides that, though. Like I said, his comprehension is terrific, he just has trouble with the vocal part of it all. One thing Jaxon is great at is being a big brother! I can ask him where his sister is and he'll lift up my shirt and give my belly a big kiss. Well, lately, he's been blowing raspberries on my belly instead of giving Eva kisses, but I'm sure she loves it either way. He's only got a few more months to practice until she's really here!

I'm planning our first trip to Disneyland. We had it planned out to go in early November, but Jake just got word that he might be back at WTI in the Fall to be an assistant instructor. Hopefully that is not the case because he would be leaving shortly after Eva is born and returning late October, early November. Sometimes I think the military has an evil plan to always keep us separated!

My school is going well. The two classes I'm taking now end in May. I am wanting to take 15 credits this summer to get as much out of the way before Evalyn arrives, but Financial Aid will not be disbursed until July, so I may have to scale back on those 15 credits since we'll be paying out of pocket for them. I'm hoping to graduate in the Spring, as long as I can juggle a toddler, newborn, husband, dogs and a house. It won't be the end of the world if I have to finish up during the summer, but I'd really like to get my Bachelors degree ASAP.

Little Miss Eva and Jaxon both woke up from their naps. I've got one kicking me telling me she's hungry and one standing up in his crib throwing his stuffed animals out in protest. I really will try to keep this updated as much as possible. I'll leave you with a couple pictures. The first is of my belly today with Evalyn and the second is a side-by-side comparison picture of my belly 20 weeks pregnant with Jaxon and Evalyn.

Love and miss you all,
Mommy, Daddy, Jaxon and Eva