Camp Underdown is official!

We made it home to Coeur d Alene, Idaho!! We tried to leave early Wednesday morning but when it was all said and done we were not on the road until 9:30.  This was not ideal for me….Brandon had me towing that jeep and I have NEVER towed anything in my life, let alone in Southern California traffic.  I was scared to say the least, I have a hard enough time changing lanes in my car before someone else swoops in and takes the spot I was going for and now I would have two vehicles…eek! Brandon said it would be fine and he would be behind me running defense so I could just change lanes in front of him, well apparently once we got on the road he forgot that little tidbit.  So there I was all alone back there, I only had to cut off one person, who promptly blew her horn and gave me the finger.  We got Bashlyn a portable DVD player and I put it in the middle seat where she sits so she could watch it…bad move.  She kept kicking it and pushing buttons with her toes so it was turning off the movie.  It made my hour spent in the thick of traffic, taking exits and having semis right along side me that much more stressful as she is screaming because her movie won’t play.  At the next stop I moved it to one of the side seat headrests and it was smooth sailing from then on…that is until I put in “A Bugs Life”.  She had never seen this movie so I thought it would be great, something new to capture her attention, WRONG! Apparently those big mean grasshoppers are a little too scary for my babe and she screamed in fear when they came on, from then on we stuck to Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo and Frozen for the next 1,000 miles :) 

We made it to Redding, CA on Wednesday night about 9 pm.  We stayed at this cute little park for the night.  Bash was pretty wired because she fell asleep in the car around 6 and there was nothing I could do to keep her awake so that was a little tough but eventually we all got to sleep. Thank goodness for Starbucks in the morning! We drove about 11 hours from Redding to Yakima Thursday.  Northern California is absolutely gorgeous! It was so breathtaking to see real lakes again and I saw my first Semi hauling a load of logs. Its funny the things you don’t even realize you miss until you see them.  Thursday was my favorite day of the drive, beautiful and less traffic :)  We made it to Yakima around 7 and stayed at Uncle Chances house.  Anna fixed the best tacos I have ever tasted and Brandon actually got to relax and have a couple beers with the guys.  It was awesome seeing Bashlyn play with Jackson, they are both mobile and starting to talk a bit now so it was super cute! We left Yakima about 6:45 Friday and only had 3.5 hours to go before we pulled into beautiful Coeur d Alene! We pulled into the RV park around 11:30 and were finally able to breath a sigh of relief that we were (almost) home.  

The next few days were busy to say the least! Saturday Brandon did a bunch of prep work on the pad.  The grass was so tall it was up to his knees so he had to rent a bushwhacker and get everything knocked down.  Monday was the biggest day so far.  Brandon rented a backhoe and had to drive it from Hayden, about 13 miles from our place, it was pretty funny but he made great time on that thing! We were going to have the rock pit deliver our gravel for us so Brandon would just be spreading it and rolling it as they were delivering it.  We thought it would be bout $150 in delivery cost but turns out it was going to be $560!!! Big difference so I quickly got a job! We rented a dump trailer and I made runs to the pit and delivered the gravel to Brandon as he worked his magic.  I was scared to death to take the truck and trailer through the scales, it was such a teeny squeeze (I felt but as Brandon reminded me semi trucks go through there) but I did it! My mom came out and brought us lunch, she took Bashlyn to the park so she didn’t have to sit in her car seat all day.  Brandon's mom came out and brought us dinner and she became Brandon’s water girl.  She didn’t know she was going to get a job just for coming to visit, haha but she sure was a big help.  She sprayed the gravel all down as Brandon was moving it and rolling it to help with compaction.  I am so thankful for my mom and Patty, they sure made the day go that much smoother! 

We pulled Piper into her new home for the summer Tuesday morning.  We are just in love!! It turned out even better than we could have pictured.  Its so peaceful out here and the best part is I cannot see ANYONE for as far as I look out my window!!! Bashlyn is getting used to playing in the dirt a lot and actually having space to to run and play with her toys.  Its been pretty much all work and no play since we pulled in.  We have another couple of days before we are completely done with all our work.  Last night Tyson came out and hooked up our power and this morning Brad came out and hooked up our water so we have full hookups now!! Brandon is busy backfilling all the trenches that he had to dig for the water and power so a bit more work but mid next week we should have everything put back together, grass seed spread and ready to relax in Coeur d Alene!! We are going to sneak away to Car d Lane tonight (hopefully)! Its a really cool old car show in CDA, something we used to love to do when we lived here but haven’t been able to go in years.  

I will be honest with you, when we talked about “putting in hookups at our place” I had NO IDEA the amount of work it would be.  Its been almost 7 days straight of work work work but we are almost there! I am so impressed with Brandon.  I have never seen a man use so many different pieces of equipment in such a short time.  He uses them like he is just using an extension of his hands, he is simply incredible and makes my heart go pitter patter!  I am so thankful for our friends Tyson and Brad for coming out and helping us get the water and power hooked up, obviously we couldn’t have done it without you so THANK YOU!! 

It sure is going to be a beautiful Summer and one of the best ones we will ever have! I am beyond proud of Brandon for working so hard and having the foresight to see what is really important in life.  We are so exited to spend so much time together as a family over the summer, he will get to go to every doctor appointment with me and have 5-6 weeks to bond with Coleman when he arrives.  Possibly even more, we’ll see how everything goes.  Bashlyn just lights up around daddy and she’s going to him for things before me, which is funny to me.  They are so precious together and I could just watch them interact together all day long and never get bored.  

We are planning on heading back to SoCal in the fall, October/November depending when Coleman makes his grand appearance.  We definitely have to get out of here before the snow flies…hehe yes I am 28 years old and already a snowbird! 

Hello, Hello, Hello.....

Hello all! I know it has been almost 8 months since I posted last, gosh I am sorry! Let me explain a little bit...
Obviously my blog is mainly about living life with my lineman on the road, the apprenticeship highs and lows and all the adventure that comes with this lifestyle.  Once  Brandon topped out and we made it to California we were lucky we were able to get settled pretty quick.  We found an RV park and haven't moved once, Brandon took a call for a yard 5 minutes away and we were able to settle into a pretty normal routine.  I didn't really feel like I had much to tell you about because nothing was changing.  We were able to spend our time at the beach, disney, shopping, seeing local attractions, hiking and all that southern California has to offer.  We have a beautiful life and honestly I kind of felt like any post I could write would be more of a brag post than anything and I didn't want to do that, so I didn't write.

In our personal lives we were going through one of the hardest things we have thus far.  I suffered my third miscarriage in November, on vacation none the less.  After the third miscarriage I found a new doctor and the gamete of tests started.  There was one day I went in and had 16 vials of blood drawn so they could test for everything possible that was making my body reject these pregnancies.  Every pregnancy I lost at 6.2 days, although the 2nd loss I didn't find out until 8.6 days when I went in and there was no heartbeat.  I went to the doctor and she went over all my test results with me.  Everything looked perfect, except my thyroid antibodies.  They were 857 when they should have been around 60 or less.  My doctor told me this could be the main cause of the miscarriages but as soon as I got pregnant again she was going to have me start progesterone as well as blood thinning injections to be on the safe side.  The blood thinning injections were to prevent any blood clot that could get into the placenta and make the baby stop receiving blood and nutrients it needed from me, thus causing a miscarriage.  While I didn't test positive for any blood clotting disorders, they only tested for 3 and there are many different ones that would have been far to expensive to test for.  Two days later I found out I was pregnant! It was a mad rush to get all the medications I needed and get in to see the specialist about my thyroid.  I got the shots that day and started learning how to give myself shots in the stomach.  The medicine burned like hot lava, I didn't do a good job and bruised pretty bad. I had my blood drawn every 2 days to check that my HCG levels were increasing as expected.  I was able to get an appointment with the thyroid specialist and he diagnosed me with Hashimoto's disease, better known as hypothyroidism.  He said this was of no cause of my own, it can happen to women after the first year of childbirth.  He prescribed me some medication and said we would monitor my levels with blood tests every 4-6 weeks.

The next 10 weeks were hard.  I wasn't able to connect to the pregnancy because I was so scared I would lose it.  This was the 5th time I was pregnant but the first time I didn't dream about who this little person would be. Instead I was taking 6 pills a day and injecting myself with shots that burned for 20 minutes after.  My days were spent being scared every morning when I woke up and every time I went to the bathroom. I scoured every blog post, forum and app I could find to find similar stories that had a beautiful outcome.  I kept my friends up too late at night and too early in the morning with worried texts.  When I made it to 6 weeks and got the see the heartbeat that was incredible, the tiniest flicker you'd ever seen on the screen!

6 Weeks! The size of a grain of rice, technology is incredible! 

Then when I made it to 8 weeks and there was still a heartbeat, ahh sigh of relief.  By 10 weeks I was doing pretty good.  I had the hang of the shots down and was hardly bruising now.  I was even able to have Bashlyn wipe my stomach with the alcohol swab and sit with me while I gave it, she loved helping "Bebe" (baby).  Around 12 weeks we went home and Brandon was so excited to tell everyone we were pregnant.  I felt ok telling people because things were going well at this point.  What I didn't realize is I was so disconnected from the pregnancy that everyone else's happiness and reaction made me feel guilty.  They were so excited, happy and crying about the news of a new little baby and I didn't feel any of that. Its horrible to admit and looks even worse in writing.  Its so hard to explain, I now think it was a huge self defense mechanism to protect myself.  The 3 previous pregnancies I never thought I would lose them, dreamt of who they would be and each time I lost them it hit me like a wall of bricks crushing my body.  This time I was just numb, going through the motions, taking the medications I was supposed to and praying nightly they would work.


When we got back from Idaho I had another doctor appointment at 12 weeks 6 days.  This was the appointment that changed everything for me.  She was looking everything over and said everything looked perfect.  Bashlyn was crying, as she did at all my appointments and I told her, "look do you see baby brother or sister, look how cute" The ultrasound tech only heard me say brother and she goes, "so you had the gene testing done right, you know what you are having"  I said No and she responds with "Oh ok, do you want to know?" I sat up "You can tell me this early?!" She says "I can give you a 95% guess, its pretty obvious, if I had to say I would definitely say that is a little boy.  I thought you had the gene testing done so I was agreeing with the test that yeah it was a boy".  My heart jumped completely out of my chest.  I would have been thrilled to have either gender but I so badly wanted a little boy.  Now I was able to start picturing life with this little baby, who he would be, how he would look like Brandon and the many other dreams I had racing through my head.  I spent the next two weeks obsessing over my ultrasound pictures and texting Candace 100 times a day asking if she still thinks its a boy( sorry girl!)

Sweetest little face, first profile shot! 12w6d

BOY?!

 At 14 weeks the doctors told me to stop taking the blood thinning injections.  I was scared to death to stop.  I hated taking them but I felt a sense of security.  I felt like they were what had saved my baby at this point, I didn't want to just stop for no reason.  After a long tearful visit with the doctor we decided I would stop the shots at 14 weeks 1 day.  The next couple of weeks were scary and I prayed and prayed the doctors were right and my baby would be ok.

At 14 weeks 6 days we went to an elective ultrasound place and had a beautiful ultrasound done.  It was confirmed that our little baby was indeed a boy and absolutely perfect in every way.  This was the first time Brandon was able to be at the doctor appointment, so the first time seeing his son!

We had another anatomy scan at 18 weeks 6 days, again two techs confirmed boy and spent over an hour measuring all his limbs to make sure everything was perfect and it was :)  It was so fun getting to see him on the screen just wiggling around in there and arching his back so they couldn't get the measurements they needed.

18w6d handsome boy! 

So now here I sit, 23 weeks 2 days, a little over 16 weeks to go and I cannot wait! I am so excited to have a newborn, the sweet snuggles, tiny little diapers, nursing, the yawns, stretches and smiles.  Oh I cannot wait! This time it will be so different though.  Brandon only got 3 days off work when Bashlyn arrived.  We are making sure it is different this time.  We are going to head home to Idaho to bring our sweet baby boy into in the world in the most beautiful place.  I am so excited to have friends and family visit us at the hospital, something we never got with Bash.  I am so happy to have Brandon there for all the firsts throughout the first 5-6 weeks. I am definitely going to need it with our wild child bouncing off the walls! :)


We are going to be headed home to Idaho in just a couple weeks (or less) with such an amazing summer ahead.  Friends getting married, BBQs, fires, real camping, and being outdoors in the woods! It is going to be a wonderful time of family bonding and reconnecting with our friends again.  Brandon has worked so hard while we have been in SoCal.  We have sacrificed greatly and achieved our goals so now we get to reap the benefits of living in Idaho for the summer! We get to celebrate Bashlyns 2nd birthday and bring our sweet baby into the world, what more could anyone ask for?

Sorry this has been so long but that is what happens when I don't write for FORVER!! Until next time my friends!