2 months to go!

Well, we are in the home stretch of my pregnancy and only 2 more months until we get to officially meet Baby Haponski (aka: Juan). Juan was a nickname decided on by Garrett and I last Fall when we were at our Marriage Retreat. It is after St. Juan Diego.

Juan has been very active and loves to kick me in the ribs on the right. I am not getting as much sleep as normal either because I am constantly moving to try to find a comfortable position. I guess Juan is just preparing me for the lack of sleep I will be getting when he/she arrives. I usually have to get up to pee 2x during the night, luckily Oscar doesn't think that this means I am going to take him out. The first few times I did this early on in my pregnancy, he thought that mom getting up meant he needed to get up too. Oscar has done very well so far with the baby preparation. He is much more lovey dovey in the morning and will take naps with me when I come home for lunch. He knows what toys are his and what toys are the babies. He doesn't try to take the baby toys although he cocks his head back and forth with any of them that make noise.

I am only working till the end of this month and then it is all baby time after that. I am looking forward to having some time to NEST. Our roommate will be moving out the end of the month, so we will finally have a baby room to start decorating. We have gotten some of the big baby items such as the crib and stroller, but the rest will have to wait until we have room to put it all. Babies take up so much space!

Sorry no photos this go around, but feel free to check out our totsite at: http://www.totsites.com/tot/haponski
for photos throughout our pregnancy!

Back in Ketchikan

Garrett and I have both gotten really busy with work which is great! I am booked out until the end of May which will work perfectly. I will have a few weeks to just relax right before the baby arrives. Hopefully I will still have a lot of energy by then. Garrett has been recruiting a lot of new patients through his business networking group (BNI). He is very excited about all his hard work finally paying off. We should be doing great if we can keep this up through June when we have of our baby!

I am currently down in Ketchikan while my dad is at NCLC out in DC and my mom is have eye surgery in Seattle. It was a beautiful day the day I flew in and Monday but now we are back to Ketchikan weather with rain and cold. I thought this would be a good trip to catch up with friends but I came down with a bug Monday evening. Every plan I had made to get together with people I had to cancel. I had lost my voice and was all congested. I guess it has been going around Ketchikan, but that was sure a small incubation period from the time I got her to the time I started feeling crappy.

 Anchorage in the Winter...exquisite!

I head back to Anchorage tomorrow morning and I am anxious to see Garrett and my puppy. We have been keeping Oscar out of the kennel at night this past week because he started getting symptoms of kennel cough. There have been a few dogs at the dog park that have had similar symptoms. Since we started keeping him out he hasn't coughed at all. I told Garrett I don't know if we will continue this habit because I don't want Oscar waking up with the baby, but we will see how things go.

Oscar sure loves being close to us whenever possible. When I am home, he sleeps next to the bed while I work on projects and follows me from room to room. He is so mellow the majority of the time, the only time he gets really excited is if someone comes to the door who he hasn't seen in a while. We are working on correcting and channeling that energy. Work in progress...

Garrett and I are starting to look at housing options because things are going to change soon. There isn't enough room in our current apartment so we are looking at other options. We would love to buy a house but don't know if that is even a possibility yet. We shall see where we stand after taxes are all finished.


Our baby is doing great and so is mommy! Baby Haponski weighs about 1 lb today and is the length of a spaghetti squash. I haven't had any problems this trimester and I have my energy back which makes a big difference. I am sure things will change next trimester as I get closer to delivery, but for now we are blessed! Garrett and I love to lay in bed and feel the baby's gross movements and kicking. Our baby is most active at about 9:30pm when we are just getting ready for bed. It also wakes me up at about 2:30am every morning sitting on my bladder. It seems like clockwork that I have to get up and pee at that time EVERY morning. I don't think there has been a night prior to week 6 of this pregnancy that I haven't gotten up at 2:30am to pee. Luckily, I have mastered the art of putting on my slippers and using the restroom and getting back to bed without ever having to open my eyes.
 

Astin Bush and I showing off our bellies on her birthday. 

She is 28 weeks and I am 20 weeks in this photo.

Preggos

10 Weeks  Pregnant

 

16 Weeks Pregnant

Yes, Garrett and I are expecting our first little one this summer! We are super excited, and so Blessed! We found out on Garrett's Mom's birthday in October and surprised her with the news. Garrett's parents and Aunt and Uncle had already booked tickets to come up this August so this is an added bonus! GRANDBABY # 2 for both of our parents!

My due date is June 30th but my guess is the baby will be a week earlier or later. Who knows for sure, the baby will come when it wants to come and we are ok with that. Oscar is excited and he can tell something is different. He follows me around the house more now than before and he is constantly smelling my belly. Animals have a great intuition about changes.

The first trimester of my pregnancy went well. I was tired more than usual, but overall felt pretty good. I did get some queaziness, but never threw up. It was more just sensitivites to smells and nothing sounded good foodwise. The one food I had trouble eating was fish. Of all things, (normally one of my favorites) it tasted TOO FISHY for me. Poor Garrett worked so hard at cooking dinner and every time he cooked fish I had to eat something else.

All of that subsided as I finished the first trimester. I am currently in my 17th week and almost halfway through. Crazy how the first half goes by so quickly! At my last prenatal appointment we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat. It was pretty exciting, I have heard plenty of fetal heartbeats working in an OB office in high school but there is something so awesome when it is YOUR baby. Living proof that there is something inside of me and I am not just feeling off kilter for no reason. ;) Garrett came with me so he was able to hear it too.

Lots has happened since last post!

I have been really bad about posting onto my blog because we no longer have the internet at the house...therefore I have to do this in my spare time at work or make a trip to the library...

So to get you up to date:

This summer I worked up in Fairbanks, AK until September. Garrett came up and visited me with Oscar and we went to the Chena Hot Springs. It was fun and we were able to meet up with Senator Lisa Murkowski at an event there.

The following photos are from in Fairbanks/Chena Hot Springs.

Then I flew out to North Carolina to be a bridesmaid for my best friend Amy's wedding! It was awesome and it was so good to see her again! I hadn't seen her since our wedding which was over a year ago. The wedding was beautiful and while I was there I was able to stay with some other friends from chiropractic school. It was great to catch up with Rich and Lynn Bowes.

Garrett and I spent Labor Day weekend out at the cabin, and just enjoyed relaxing. Garrett saw his first wild brown bear on the bank of the Kenai River while he and Jon were floating down it. He was thrilled! Of course no one had their cameras, so no proof. ;)

In October I flew down to Washington for my cousin Alicia's wedding. It was fun to hang out with all of the family down there and my parents made it down as well. I spent an additional week down there with my Grandma. We canned a TON of corn and mixed vegetables. I also was back and forth to our storage unit sorting through things to bring back up in my truck. My cousins Rick and Alicia came and helped me sort and move boxes. We didn't have to move storage units because the guy gave us a cheaper rate if we just stayed there. That worked for me. Rick worked on my truck before we left, but couldn't get the front axles replaced properly. So I had to bring it to Les Schwab...$600 later. I also bought new all weather tires for my truck costing about $550. Later that week my brother Jason flew down to Washington to drive back up to Alaska with me and my full truck. We decided to drive all the way through with just stops for gas and bathroom breaks. We took turns sleeping in the passenger seat.We left on Friday at about noon.

We made it through all of Canada and half-way between Tok and Glennallen when my car decided to DIE! It was only about 3:30am in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, Verizon worked and I was able to call Garrett. We managed to get a tow truck to haul us back to Glennallen for a small $450. Then, poor Garrett had to drive about 4 hours to come and pick us up. We made it back to Anchorage...without my truck and our stuff...on Sunday by 4pm. I eventually had my truck trailered back down to Anchorage and my water pump and timing system were replaced for a minor $1200. All in all, it was an extremely expensive trip. My truck runs great now though. :)

I have been busy working for doctors here in Anchorage the past few weeks and flew to Ketchikan last week to work for my parents. Garrett is keeping busy in his office and we are enjoying life in Alaska.

Home to Anchorage again

I headed back to Anchorage this past weekend. It was so nice to have some downtime. Before I arrived home, Garrett had picked up a new dining room table and set it up in our kitchen. I was so excited to see a new table and it is a beautiful one at that! In honor of having a new table, I did quite a bit of cooking while I was home. I cooked up Halibut, red salmon, blueberry muffins, and chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Garrett appreciated me being home so he didn't have to cook.

On Saturday Garrett and I went to Ethan's 3rd birthday party. He is the son of Charley and Jen who we went to chiropractic school with. It was so much fun to be around all those kiddos. Ethan kept asking with every gift he opened, "Is this for ME?!". It was adorable to watch and participate in.

Over the weekend we took Oscar on a few long walks down to Kincaid Park and also to the dog park. While down at Kincaid Park we saw another bull moose. This time I had my camera with me to take a photo. He was a legal bull...meaning he was BIG! We sat and watched him for a while. Oscar doesn't seem to be bothered by moose. He just sits and watches them. Before going to the dog park we met up for breakfast with friends from the dog park. We have so much fun with all our friends here in Anchorage. Oscar loves going to the dog park. He has so much fun swimming in University Lake and wrestling with the other big dogs. This visit to the park he was playing with Zeke who is a HUGE German shepherd. Zeke pummeled Oscar the whole time, but he slept well when we got home. Oscar is now 33lbs and only 18 weeks.

On Sunday, Angela and Mike made it home to Anchorage after driving for 6 days. We went over to say hello and I was able to see my nephew. I haven't seen him since he was a week old. He is now 3 months! He is HUGE! I think Angela said he is around 15 lbs. Garrett and I went to mass and then over to Matt and Amy's to play with baby Emma and eat nutella and banana crapes. It was a great weekend and I look forward to next weekend when I come home again for our young adult camping trip! Here are the photos to go along with my stories!

Me holding Baby Michael. He fell asleep while I was holding him.

Oscar swimming in the water at the dog park.

Bull moose at Kincaid Park. He was HUGE!

Family photo along the trail in Kincaid Park. It was a beautiful day and 70 degrees!

Here is my baby...he is looking more and more grown up every week I go home!

Our cute little family on the lawn in front of our apartment.

Ethan's Birthday Party!

Our new dining room table! No more card table for us!

Brent Sass and Puppies!

Ok, so when I get homesick and miss my puppy, I get to go hang out with Brent Sass...he has 19 of them!
This afternoon I was able to hang out with Brent Sass...he is a musher in the the Yukon Quest race which is held up here near Fairbanks every year. It is one of the toughest races in the world with temperatures reaching -50 degrees F. Brent won it his first year back in 2006 with his lead dog Silver leading the way through one of the worst blizzards in yrs.

He is a local up here in Fairbanks but grew up in MN. Check out his website for more info photos and updated video of the puppies!!!
http://wildandfreealaska.com/
Brent is accepting donations and sponsorship if anyone is interested... :) Thought I would throw that plug in there.

He currently has about 40 dogs and 19 puppies! I had to see the operation in action so I went over there and it is incredible. It takes a lot of work and thought to make something like that run smoothly. All of the dogs are so fun and energetic. I had a blast playing with the puppies and running them on the property.

Golden Days

This past weekend I went to Golden Days here in Fairbanks. It was a lot of fun with lots of activities. It commemorates the days when people originally moved to Fairbanks for the Gold Rush. Fairbanks was a mining town and still has some mining today. They had a parade with over 90 floats on Saturday morning. The Chamber of Commerce sponsored a rubber duck race like we do back in Ketchikan. They float the ducks down the Chena River. It was pretty cool to watch 6000 ducks coming down the river. I attending the comedy show on Friday night. I laughed so hard at the comedy show that my cheeks hurt the next morning. It was very funny.

After mass on Sunday I went to the Governor's BBQ. It was fun to be there for the big event. I was one of the first ones there and so I was at the front of the line for hot dogs. I did get to see Sarah Palin, but I had to leave before her official changing of the guards to go to Heather's baby shower.





These were the shirts that people were wearing at the BBQ. Pretty commemorative.

Here is Heather with little Ruby who was born on July 2nd. She is so cute and snuggly!

Trip to Anchorage

Garrett and I went fishing this weekend and here are photos from the trip. :) We went with our friends Jon and Matt. Garrett and Jon whooped us in # of fish caught. I personally got skunked, but we walked away with 4 fish that we kept. Overall it was a fun trip...we fished until 11:30pm.

4th of July Weekend in Anchorage and Seward

Garrett and I started the weekend on Friday because we both had the day off. It was a hot day in Anchorage with the temperature reaching 80 degrees. We decided to go to the lake and take Oscar to go swimming. The water was a little mucky and so Garrett and I just waded in rather than swimming.


On July 3rd Oscar finally went for his first real swim. He went in and retrieved his tennis ball. It was a very exciting moment for us! Previously he was scared of the water and has only been gradually getting his feet and belly wet but never going in to the point where he couldn't touch the bottom. Today was finally the day! Now we just have to start having him retrieve dummies in the water. He is such a smart dog and we have really enjoyed training him.

On the 4th we left early (relatively) to go down to Seward, AK to watch the mountain marathon and enjoy the ocean. Traffic wasn't bad on the way out there because everyone else had left Friday night. We did see a horrible accident along the road and I think there was at least one fatality from it. So sad.

We arrived in Seward and both Garrett and I took a deep breath in and smelled the salty sea air! It is one of the BEST smells in the world! Nothing like it. We brought Oscar with us because he had never been to the ocean yet. He did well walking through all of the people until we arrived at the food tents. There was so much food scraps and garbage on the ground that he wanted to eat EVERYTHING! We quickly moved to another part of the street where it was cleaner.

Garrett and I decided that we would stop and get some food for lunch and we ate at the American Legion. They were selling half-racks of BBQ ribs with beans and cole slaw for $10! It was such a great deal and the food was delicious!!! From our table we could watch the mountain marathon runners running up the mountain. That is a crazy race! It is all uphill for the 1st half (literally up a mountain) and then a steep decent down so everyone finished with dirt all over their butts and legs and backs from sliding down the mountain. I told Garrett we should try it next year...he didn't think that sounded like fun. :)

After lunch and watching the men's race, we walked down to the beach and enjoyed the sea breeze and the 80+ temperatures. Oscar enjoyed the ocean but didn't go in past his legs because the waves were pretty big. He did like drinking the saltwater and eating the seaweed.
Seward is such a beautiful community nestled in amongst the mountains right on the ocean. It reminds me of home but with much less rain. The ocean is also a turquoise color from all the glacier runoff.

Garrett and I stopped and got some pasta for dinner at a small diner in Seward and then a milkshake from the ice cream parlor near the marina. The food was good and the ice cream was very refreshing. We packed up and headed back to Anchorage to beat the Sunday rush of people on the road. There was still traffic when we left but we were going the speed limit rather than puttsing along. We met up with our friend Matt Thibodeau for a bon fire and then down to the ball park to watch the fireworks at midnight! I have to say, watching fireworks when it is still somewhat bright out isn't as cool as when it is actually dark.

Sunday we went to mass and then a tailgate party with the other young adults from church. It was so much fun with BBQ and Frisbee. It was a fairly mellow day with a few errands to run in the mix.

Monday, Garrett headed back to work but I didn't head back up to Fairbanks until Wednesday morning. So, Astin Bush and I took Oscar and our roommates dog up Rabbit Creek Trail to the Lake. It was a GREAT day for a hike with temperatures in the mid 80's. The view was beautiful as most of them are in AK. Astin and I failed to bring any bear spray or gun because she had never heard of any bears on that particular trail. There was too many people. Luckily we didn't run into any this trip either, but we did see a fresh pile of bear poop about halfway up the trail. At least we had dogs with us to give us fair warning if a bear did come around. There were some pretty dense parts of the trail too where you couldn't see through the brush on either side. A little nerve racking, but we survived. :)



When Astin and I arrived at the lake we were so hot as were the dogs. After we got about 2/3 the way up the trail it turns in to alpine and there is no tree cover or shade. We brought plenty of water for ourselves and the dogs but it still was HOT. Astin had been up the trail the week prior and said there was still ice on the lake...not this week! There was still ice on the mountains behind the lake, but not in the water. The water was a beautiful blue teal color and as clear as ever! Oscar immediately jumped into the water and swam around to cool off. He is getting much more brave. I decided that we had hiked all the way up, it was hot, I may as well dive in. So I did, soon followed by Astin. The water was FREEZING and almost took your breath away. We didn't stay in long but as soon as we got out we warmed right back up in the heat of the sun. It was a great way to descend the mountains...wet!


Tuesday I hung out with Natalie and we took Oscar to the dog park and to the tennis courts. He enjoyed going in the brush behind the courts to find more tennis balls that people had lost. I think we found like 10 of them. It was a great 5 days of being home with Garrett and friends. Only another 2 weeks before I am back again!

One Year Anniversary

Garrett and I had an amazing weekend! I came home for our anniversary weekend after spending two weeks working up in Fairbanks. It was so good to see Garrett and our puppy Oscar again. I can't believe how big Oscar has gotten in just two weeks. He is already 15 lbs and is only 10 weeks old.

Garrett and I decided to go camping and fishing up along Willow Creek. It was a beautiful weekend and warm. Garrett and I stayed at a campground that was SUPER crowded...we went just when the king salmon were starting to run. We will remember that for next time and camp out along the river farther up near Hatcher's Pass.

On our trip we saw a big porcupine. It is still funny to see them around here. We don't have them down in Ketchikan.





We went fishing at the mouth of the Willow and also farther up. We decided to fish for trout rather than kings so that we didn't have to combat fish. We decided to drive up and through Hatcher's Pass only to find that once we got up to the top the road was closed. This made us a little late for Mass on Sunday because we had to backtrack. We stopped and got ice cream sundaes from McDonalds on the way back to Anchorage. It was so good on a hot day.


Garrett and I went out to dinner following mass. We went to the Glacier Brewhouse and had excellent food! They gave Garrett and I a complimentary dessert as an anniversary present! We had strawberry shortcake and it was fantastic!

It is crazy how quickly the last 12 months have gone. We have done so much in the past year and moved all the way across the country. We are anxious to see what the next 10, 20, 50+ years brings for us! It is such an adventure and one I am thrilled I get to experience with Garrett! He is such a great man!