So it's been a while...

I suppose it's been a while since I've written anything, and I apologize for that. Things have been a bit crazy. Life is pretty different now, I'll admit. I mean, I've only moved 2,000 miles. No biggie!

Let me try to think of some of the biggest changes: move to California, baby's gender reveal, getting our stuff & setting up our home, and hospital trip #3. Wow. Lot's of stuff.

So I now live in California! It's been a pretty big change coming from Springfield, MO to Seaside, CA. It's always nice here. Mid 60s to low 70s every day. It's gorgeous. The drive was crazy - so long, but definitely interesting! My wonderful dad drove out with me - it was so fun. The cats were a lot better than I thought they would be! We only had one accident in their cages in over 30 hours. Boo yah. My dad and I were exhausted for over a week after we drove out. (Btw, we drove straight through - no big deal) It was so fun to venture into states that I have never seen before. We went through Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and California. It was great. Sure, there were some super boring parts, but lucky me - I got to sleep through those :) One of the weirdest things about living in California is being 2 hours behind pretty much everyone I've ever known. It's changed how I converse with people and it's even changed how I watch my tv shows! My mom gets to watch everything before me. Like hours before me. It's strange! Being in California has been amazing though, mostly because I'm back with my husband. Being apart for several months was hard. I have so much respect for the spouses who are apart from their husbands/wives for a year or more. It's so hard. I feel so lucky that I get to live with Matthew again. He starts class this Thursday, and he's getting really excited.

After I got to California, I found an OB. Luckily, he was super nice and I loved him! (If anyone in the Seaside/Monterey area needs an OB - check out Dr. Stephen Walker. Seriously, he was great.) Anyway, I was really hoping that I'd get to find out the gender of our baby as soon as possible. I was originally supposed to find out on September 5, but then I moved. I didn't think I'd get to find out at this appointment since it was my first one. But I was wrong! We did an ultrasound and found out that Baby Gleaton is a.... BOY! We are SO EXCITED to be having a boy. His name will be Phoenix. Matthew came up with it. Isn't it awesome!? So now we are starting to get things ready to bring our  baby boy into the world.

About 3 weeks after I arrived in California, our stuff finally arrived! Living in an empty house for three weeks was harder than we expected, that's for sure. But we managed. The movers got here around 8 and left about 12:30. Didn't take them too long to get everything off the truck! And we've been very fortunate - there were only a few things that were slightly damaged. Matthew and I have been busy unpacking everything. And by Matthew and I, I mean mostly Matthew. Sadly, I cannot do a whole lot because of the baby. Our home is definitely coming together. Slowly but surely. We made a big step towards this by getting cable and internet! We are so excited to have AT&T UVerse. I have a DVR finally!! Yaaaay :)

Hospital trip #3 of the year 2014. Yikes. Whew. I can't even handle this. On Sunday afternoon, I started having some chest pain. At first I thought it was just heartburn and that I was going to have to just suffer through it. But by Sunday night, I started thinking that maybe something else was wrong. I was in so much pain - I could hardly breathe and I was crying and it was just a mess. Finally, I asked Matthew to take me to the ER. I had taken my heartburn pill and tums and it wasn't working. We arrived at the ER around one in the morning. They rushed me right in and started doing tests. They immediately did an EKG to rule out my heart. Then not long after the doctor came in. By this time I had started noticing that the pain was only on one side of my chest - my left side. So the doctor ordered a blood test to check for inflammation and/or a clot. It was difficult because there's so many things they can't do due to Phoenix. After waiting around for a few hours, the blood results were back. No clot, but inflammation. My doctor diagnosed me with costochondritis. This is when the joints where the ribs meet the sternum become inflamed. It has been said that the pain is comparable to a heart attack. Normally, they will give narcotics to help, but again, because of Phoenix, I can't take them. So I've been taking it extremely easy and taking Tylenol. Thankfully, I'm starting to feel better. But from what I've heard and read, this is something that could follow me through the rest of my pregnancy. So cool.

So, it's already been quite the adventure in the last month and a half! But I've fallen in love with California. We've met some amazing people since being here and we have a social life! In fact, we have a dinner date tonight with some new friends. I'm very excited. I'm never going to want to leave this wonderful place and these wonderful people.